This project was designed to correlate environmental variables with the development of Pierce’s Disease (PD), an infection caused by the gram negative bacterium Xylella fastidiosa (Xf), in grapes (Hopkins et al. 2002). PD is one of the most difficult crop pathogens to manage because it is vectored by insects and its continued presence in the vine is usually fatal. PD is influenced by the interaction of host, disease and vector, and probably many other environmental variables. The general objective was to study and identify the most important variables involved in the expression of Pierce’s Disease. Over a two year period, from a total of eight sites in northern and southern California data was collected on forty-five environmental variables including those relating to soil moisture, soil chemistry, soil nutritional status, vine nutritional status, vine water status, in-season and dormant season climate, incidence of Xf in adjacent vineyard vegetation, sharpshooter species and abundance at each location, and proximity of vineyard field sites to citrus or riparian areas. The environmental variables were analyzed with canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) to determine significance of each as they correspond with increased disease severity. The significance of environmental variables produced by CCA indicates increased soil moisture as the leading cause for increased PD incidence; several other environmental variables positively correlate with increased disease presence. Conversely, vineyard factors identified by CCA as not conducive to disease formation may play an inhibitory role in PD severity. We undertook polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test for the presence of PD in vegetative samples, using a 733 base pair probe specific to Xf. These samples indicate alternative hosts in adjacent locations which act as reservoirs of Pierce’s Disease as well as verifying diseased vines within the vineyard locations.

The occurrence of phytoplankton taxa, with special focus on harmful algal bloom (HAB) taxa, was monitored for one year off the central coast of California to examine both their co-occurrence and physical and chemical variables influencing their temporal patterns. Bi-weekly samples were taken from October 6, 2008 to October 5, 2009 in San Luis Obispo Bay, CA. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of weekly samples indicated that 46.1% of the variability in species abundance was explained by the variables in the model, higher than previous reports. Cluster analysis divided phytoplankton communities into HAB and non-HAB groups of species, while shared distribution analysis identified specific co-occurring species of HABs. The HAB dinoflagellate group consisted exclusively of HAB taxa, including Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef, Dinophysis acuminata Claparède & Lachmann, and Alexandrium spp., and was correlated with a homogeneous water column and high nitrate concentration during the fall and winter seasons. The domoic acid producing diatoms Pseudo-nitzschia seriata (Cleve) H. Peragallo complex and Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima (Cleve) Heiden complex grouped with several other non-HAB diatoms, and were correlated with warm, thermally stratified waters of the summer season. These results contradict the classic diatom / dinoflagellate succession theory and suggest that event-scale processes influencing water column stability within seasons may influence the distribution of HAB species in near shore upwelling dominated regions.

Research on creativity examines both the processes and products of creativity. An important avenue for analyzing creativity is by means of spontaneous improvisation, although there are major challenges to characterizing the output of improvisation due to the variable nature of the products. In the case of musical improvisation, structural approaches have used methodologies like musical transcription to look for recurring or variable musical features across a corpus of improvisations, while creativity-centered approaches have had experts make ratings of the novelty of the improvisations. One important concept missing from many analyses of improvisation is the idea that the products of a corpus can be organized into a series of “style types”, where each type differs from others in certain key structural features. Clustering methods provide a reliable quantitative means of examining the organization of style types within a diverse corpus of improvisations. In order to look at the potential of such methods, we examined a corpus of 72 vocal melodic improvisations produced by novice improvisers. We first classified the melodies acoustically using a multidimensional musical-classification scheme called CantoCore, which coded the melodies for 19 distinct features of musical structure. We next employed the simultaneous use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and k-means cluster analysis with the data, and obtained three relatively discrete clusters of improvisations. Stylistic analysis of these clusters revealed that they differed in key features related to phrase structure and rhythm. Cluster analyses provide a promising means of describing and analyzing the products of creativity, including variable structures like spontaneous improvisations. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Background: Global health is a complex, interdisciplinary, and contested field. It is rapidly growing and undergoing ideological and methodological changes. Despite many theoretical claims over what global health research ought to be, there are few empirical reports on what global health is, as a present field of research. The aim of this study is to: 1) determine patterns in global health research, based on key research characteristics; and 2) determine relationships between these characteristics to identify and define conceptual frameworks in global health research. Methodology: A systematic review of research in global health journals was conducted for papers published in the years 2010, 2015, and 2020. Categorical data on 17 research characteristics was extracted from all studies included in the analysis. The relationships between these characteristics was analyzed and visualized using multiple correspondence analysis, as implemented in the R’s ca package. Significance tests of independence determined relationships between pairs of variables. Results: The final analysis was done on 1033 included studies from 14 journals. 56% of the studies used a quantitative observational methodology. While 82% of research had at least one author affiliated with a high-income country, 96% of research funded (at least partially) by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had at least one author affiliated with a high-income country. There was a significant relationship between the use of social and structural determinants of health and the authors’ affiliations (X2=59.06, p < 0.001), with the use of social and structural determinants of health lower among lower-income authors than high-income authors. The first and second dimensions of multiple correspondence analysis explained 38% of the variables’ deviation from independence. Conclusion: Multiple correspondence analysis offers a novel way of understanding global health research, contributing empirical data to the discourse on what lies ahead for the field of global health. The relationship between the use of social and structural determinants of health, authorship, and research methodologies point to the need for important conversations on the direction of global health research, starting from where we are at now. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / While the importance of the field of global health is more prominent than ever, it is a field of uncertainty, controversy, contested merit, and often disreputable history. Conversations abound on the strengths and weaknesses of the field and what needs to change; yet, there is a lack of empirical grounding for these discussions. In this study, I reviewed global health research literature, identifying 17 key characteristics that surface in theoretical conversations on global health, and scored 1033 global health research studies according to these characteristics. Using multiple correspondence analysis, the 17 characteristics were analyzed together and visualized to elucidate the relationships between the characteristics. I found that: over half of the studies were quantitative observational; most research in global health had at least one author from a high-income country; and middle-income authors were less likely to study social and structural determinants of health than high-income authors. These findings lend important empirical evidence to conversations on the direction of the field, starting from where we are at now.

Around 10% of women in fertile age have endometriosis, despite this there is little known about its origin. It can take years from the first experienced symptoms to an established diagnosis, which is done using invasive methods. A database from the Lucy application containing 11720 questionnaires with up to 41 questions each was examined for signs of associations between lifestyle factors and health indicators with endometriosis. The database was restructured and unusable questionnaires were pruned, leaving 5719 questionnaires for analysis. Questionnaires were assigned a label depending on whether the respondent had an endometriosis diagnosis, some other diagnosis or no diagnosis. Histograms were created for 36 questions to visualize answer distributions among the labels while wordclouds were created for 3 questions to determine commonly used words. Pearson’s chi-square test was performed on 24 questions to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in how respondents answered with regards to their diagnosis. Then, 26 questions were divided between seven question groups based on their similarities. The relative prevalence of endometriosis for every answer alternative was determined and compared withthe average for that group. This was then followed up by a multi-correspondence analysis for every question group. It was found that there are associations between endometriosis and 12 health indicators. These being: affected by infertility, always being tired, regarding own health as bad, having more than 100 birthmarks, severe chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, regularly whole-body pain, muscle stiffness, neck and shoulder tension, forgetfulness, concentration difficulties, regularly experiencing that stress worsens physical symptoms. No statistically significant association between lifestyle factors and endometriosis could be found in the survey database. There were findings of socioeconomic differences between respondents with endometriosis and those without a diagnosis which may have affected the result. / Runt 10% av kvinnor i fertil ålder har endometrios, trots detta är lite känt om dess ursprung. Det kan gå flera år från första upplevda symptom till en etablerad diagnos, som kräver invasiva metoder. En databas från Lucy applikationen med 11 720 enkäter upp till 41 frågor vardera undersöktes efter tecken på kopplingar mellan livsstilsfaktorer och hälsoindikatorer med endometrios. Som ett första steg omstrukturerades databasen och oanvändbara enkäter sållades bort, vilket lämnar 5719 enkäter för analys. Enkäterna blev tilldelad en etikett baserad på huruvida respondenten hade en endometriosdiagnos, någon annan diagnos eller ingen diagnos. Histogram skapades för 36 frågor för att visualisera svarsfördelningen mellan etiketter medan ordmoln skapades för 3 frågor för att bestämma vanligt förekommande ord. Pearsons chi-kvadrattest utfördes på 24 frågor för att bestämma huruvida det fanns signifikanta statistiska skillnader i hur respondenter svarade med avseende på deras diagnos. 26 frågor blev uppdelade i 7 olika grupper baserade på deras liknelser och den relativa utbredningen av endometrios bestämdes för varje grupp och jämfördes med snittet i varje grupp. Slutligen följdes detta upp med multikorrespondensanalys för varje grupp av frågor. Det hittades associationer mellan endometrios och 12 hälsofaktorer. Dessa var: infertilitet, alltid vara trött, betrakta sin egna hälsa som dålig, ha fler än 100 födelsemärken, uppleva allvarlig kronisk bäckensmärta, dysmenorré, regelbunden helkroppssmärta, muskelstelhet, spändhet i nacke och axlar, glömskhet, koncentrationssvårigheter, regelbundet uppleva att stress förvärrar fysiska symptom. Ingen statistisk signifikant association kunde hittas mellan livsstilsfaktorer och endometrios från undersökningsdatabasen. Det hittades socioekonomiska skillnader mellan respondenter med endometrios och de utan diagnos vilket kan ha påverkat resultatet. / FEMaLe

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Active and engaged citizens are the backbone of a strong democracy and a vibrant civil society. Yet recent trends of low electoral turnout in Europe and decreasing levels of civic engagement have called into question the legitimacy of governments and the stability of democracy in the long term, particularly in Europe. Against the background of such developments this research sets out to provide a comparative study of civic engagement and analyse the variations in civic engagement between countries. The study is mainly based on the analysis of the European Social Survey 2002, covering 35,000 individuals from 19 European countries and applies advanced statistical modelling techniques including Multiple Correspondence Analysis MCA) and Multi-level modelling. Although there is a good deal of research examining civic engagement using individual level data or aggregate level data, very few studies have combined both approaches. This study addresses this gap and applies multi-level modelling to examine the relative importance of an individual’s socio-demographic characteristics and his/her country in determining levels and types of civic engagement. Thus, it has the advantage of identifying whether civic engagement is significantly affected by country characteristics or the converse, whether a person’s characteristics (age, education, social class etc.) are all that is needed in order to account for the variations in civic engagement. The innovative application of MCA to explore indicators of civic engagement has led to the identification of three dimensions of civic engagement; political activities, political consumerism and associational involvement. Moreover, by projecting all activities on a two-dimensional map it become evident that citizens who tend to carry out ‘individual’ types of political consumerism such as ‘buycotting’, boycotting and signing petitions are also more likely to be involved in New Social Movement organisations. These significant results shed new light on activities usually regarded as ‘individualistic’ type of activities and suggest viewing them in the context of a wider array of collective actions. Furthermore, in addition to the standard contextual measures such as economic development, welfare regime, income inequality, and levels of democracy, this study introduced two innovative policy measures. To consider the impact of government policies on levels of civic engagement measures of governments’ support of the voluntary sector and civic education at school (comparing the education policies of 19 European countries from 1945-2002) were developed. The results confirmed the importance of both individual level characteristics as well as country level characteristics in explaining civic engagement in Europe. However, differences between countries were reduced to a greater degree when contextual factors were introduced. Particularly the welfare state, showed the greatest effect. This implies that socio-economic conditions and in particular social policy and the degree to which it reproduces egalitarian structures determine to a great extent citizen involvement. In other words the results of this study suggest that the national context matters and that governments can and do shape the nature and levels of civic engagement.

This study investigated the impact of three edaphic factors on the distribution of forest plants in Sweden. Based on 2657 plots with 22 common species, Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Generalized-linear-model (GLM) were performed with pH measurements in the top layer of the soil, latitude and deciduous tree proportion as explanatory variables. Variation of the species occurrence could to a substantial degree be explained by pH, latitude and proportion of timber volume of deciduous tree species. Furthermore, the majority of species were affected by the studied environmental variables. Therefore, these factors have an important role in the ecological interactions in the forest. All species also showed broad pH-niches with many occurrences spread out within the species entire pH-range. Finally, the study relates to educational science through designing a meaningful excursion for secondary school when teaching ecology.

Nos últimos anos a sociedade brasileira tem criticado os lucros alcançados pelos bancos, por considerá-los excessivamente elevados. Tal situação tem, inclusive, incentivado medidas, por parte do governo federal, para proteger o consumidor em relação às tarifas e aos juros cobrados pelas instituições financeiras. Por sua vez, a sociedade parece enxergar o setor de forma homogênea, sem atentar para as diferenças existentes entre seus integrantes. Este estudo tem o intuito de explicitar eventuais diferenças, relativas à rentabilidade, existentes no setor, de forma a fomentar uma visão mais crítica e menos superficial do segmento bancário, podendo, eventualmente, contribuir na elaboração de políticas para o setor. Para tanto, avaliou-se a uniformidade dos resultados dos bancos em relação a origem de capital, tamanho e nível de operações de crédito, a partir de uma base de dados, que compreendeu o período entre 1996 e 2006. O intervalo de tempo total foi dividido em três partes, de 1996 a 1998, denominado 1º período; de 1999 a 2002, 2º período; e, de 2003 a 2006, 3º período. Com esta divisão é possível identificar alterações nas relações entre as categorias das variáveis de um período para outro, além de averiguar a uniformidade da rentabilidade no decorrer do tempo. A análise de correspondência (ANACOR) e a análise de homogeneidade (HOMALS) foram as técnicas estatísticas empregadas no trabalho. A hipótese geral formulada, de que os bancos apresentam rentabilidade não uniforme quando classificados por tamanho, origem de capital ou NOC, foi rejeitada. Todavia, verificou-se que a rentabilidade bancária só apresenta comportamento uniforme quando contraposta ao tamanho dos bancos, pois, quando contraposta à origem de capital, ao nível de operações de crédito e ao tempo, seu comportamento foi, em geral, não uniforme. A categoria de rentabilidade mais baixa associou-se ao 1º período, enquanto as categorias mais altas associaram-se ao 2º e 3º períodos. Os bancos privados nacionais caracterizaram-se pela associação às categorias de rentabilidade e de nível de operação de crédito mais altos; os bancos públicos apresentaram tendência de melhora de desempenho no decorrer dos períodos, afastando-se, progressivamente, da categoria de rentabilidade mais baixa; enquanto os bancos estrangeiros apresentaram comportamento volátil, associando-se à categoria de rentabilidade média no 1º período, muito alta no 2º, e baixa no 3º período. No último período, os bancos estrangeiros associaram-se à categoria de rentabilidade mais baixa, o que fornece indícios de um desempenho inferior aos bancos públicos, contradizendo a literatura pesquisada sobre o assunto. / Nowadays, the brazilian society has criticized banks profits considered excessively high. This situation has motivated government initiatives to protect the consumer from the banking charges and taxes. Besides, the society seems to face the segment in a homogeneous way, without realizing the differences among the banks. This research has the goal to identify differences, in terms of profitability, among the banks, in order to motivate a less superficial approach, and, eventually, contribute for future government initiatives related to this segment. In order to accomplish, the banking profitability homogeneity was assessed relative to the kind of control, size and level of credit operation, using a brazilian banking database between the years of 1996 and 2006. The total period was divided into three parts, namely, respectively, 1st (1996-1998), 2nd (1999-2002) and 3rd (2003-2006) periods, with the intent of identifying changes in the several categories relation from one period to another and to evaluate the homogeneity in profitability within the periods. The correspondence analysis (ANACOR) and the homogeneity analysis (HOMALS) were the statistical techniques applied in this research. The main hypothesis, that the banking profitability is not homogeneous in relation to any one of the three variable chosen, was reject. Although, it was found that the banking profitability is homogeneous just in relation to the banking size, otherwise, in general, has a non-homogeneous behavior when considering the kind of control, level of credit operation, and periods. The lowest profitable category was associated to the 1st period, while the highest profitable categories were associated to the 2nd e 3rd periods. The domestic private banks were associated with the highest profits and level of credit operation categories; the government owner banks apparently enhance their performance during the periods, getting, progressively, further away from the lowest profit category; while the foreign banks showed a volatile performance, associated with the middle profit category in the 1st period, the highest in the 2nd and the lowest in the 3rd period. In the last period, the foreign banks associated to the lowest profit category, which seems to mean a worse performance than government owned banks, this was not found before in the national literature.

Com o objetivo de compreender quais fatores abióticos determinam a ocorrência das diferentes formações florestais na região de Batatais, entre as coordenadas 20038S e 20058S e 47037W e 47028W, foram escolhidas três propriedades agrícolas (Fazenda Monte Belo, em Restinga, SP e Fazenda Magnólia e Sítio Pratinha, em Batatais, SP), que apresentavam remanescentes florestais representativos da região (floresta ribeirinha paludícula, floresta estacional semidecídua ribeirinha e cerradão). Para descrever a composição florística e a estrutura da comunidade arbórea foram amostradas 05 parcelas de 10 x 10 m ao redor de cada estação tensiométrica. Para o estudo dos fatores abióticos foram determinados os parâmetros físicos e químicos dos solos e as curvas de retenção de água nos solos e piezometria. A discriminação das variáveis abióticas e de vegetação foi feita através da análise de componentes principais (PCA) e, na correlação entre a abundância de espécies e fatores abióticos, foram feitas análises diretas de gradiente por meio de Análise de Correlação Canônica (CCA). A textura dos solos (teores de argila, silte e areia) e a posição no terreno (cota), foram as variáveis ambientais mais importantes na distribuição das espécies e nas variações das fisionomias florestais, com influência na retenção hídrica e nos índices de fertilidade dos solos. Essas diferenças nos teores de argila em profundidade ao longo do declive, com influência direta na retenção de umidade dos solos ou mesmo na formação de ambientes paludículos, determinaram grupos distintos de espécies e fisionomias florestais: (i) um grupo de espécies de ocorrência típica nas fisionomias de Cerrado e fortemente associado às cotas mais elevadas (solos menos férteis, bem drenados e porcentagens mais baixas de argila e silte nas camadas mais profundas), entre as quais: Matayba juglandifolia, Trichilia pallida, Lithraea molleoides, Anadenanthera falcata, Myrcia tomentosa, Copaifera langsdorffii, Erytrhoxylum pelleteranum, Platipodium elegans, Chrysophyllum marginatum, Luehea divaricata, entre outras e (ii) um grupo com espécies indicadoras de Florestas Paludículas ou de ocorrência comum nestas fisionomias, associado aos solos das cotas mais baixas (Gleissolos), com porcentagens altas de argila e silte nas camadas superficiais, mais férteis e maior retenção hídrica: Cecropia pachystachya, Citronella gongonha, Rapanea guianensis, Talauma ovata e Tapirira guianensis. Pode-se considerar um terceiro grupo de transição entre Floresta Estacional Semidecídua e Cerradão, nas cotas intermediárias e menos úmidas (espécies amostradas em parcelas localizadas nas bordas das Florestas Paludículas), onde ocorreram espécies tanto de ambiente de Cerradão, como de Floresta Estacional Semidecídua, e algumas poucas de ambiente paludículo. As porcentagens mais elevadas de Areia nos solos do Sítio Pratinha, com influência na menor retenção hídrica e também nos índices de fertilidade (solos álicos, com maior acidez e os menos férteis), podem explicar algumas diferenças na composição e abundância das espécies entre fisionomias florestais iguais. O Cerradão da Fazenda Monte Belo, mostrou-se diferente floristicamente do Cerradão do Sítio Pratinha. Esta mesma diferença ocorreu em relação às Florestas Paludículas da Fazenda Magnólia e a do Sítio Pratinha. As poucasespécies de ocorrência comum tiveram populações diferentes. A CCA evidenciou também correlações de algumas espécies com determinadas variáveis de solo. / In order to understand what abiotic factors determine the occurrence of different forest formations in the region of Batatais, coordinated between 20038\'S and 20058\'S and 47037\'W and 47028\'W, three agricultural properties were chosen (Monte Belo, in the city of Restinga, SP and Magnolia and Pratinha in Batatais, SP, Brazil), which had forests representative of the region (swamp forest, semi-deciduous riverine forest and forested savanna). To describe the floristic composition and structure of the arboreal community, 05 plots of 10 x 10 meters around each tensiometric station were sampled. For the study of abiotic factors, the physico-chemical characteristics of the soils, the soil-water-retention curves and the groundwater fluctuation were determined. The discrimination of the environmental variables and arboreal species were made through the Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and in the correlation between the abundance of species and abiotic factors, direct analyses of gradient through Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were made. The texture of the soil (levels of clay, silt and sand) and the position on the ground (altitude) were the most important environmental variables in the distribution of species and variations of forest physiognomies, with influence in the retention rates of water and soil fertility. These differences in levels of clay in depth along the slope, with direct influence on the retention of soil moisture and even in the development of swampy environment, determined distinct groups of species and forest physiognomies: (i) a group of species of typical occurrence in physiognomies of Forested Savanna and strongly associated with higher altitude (less fertile, well-drained soil and lower percentages of clay and silt in the deeper layers), including: Matayba juglandifolia, Trichilia pallida, Lithraea molleoides, Anadenanthera falcata, Myrcia tomentosa, Copaifera langsdorffii, Erytrhoxylum pelleteranum, Platipodium elegans, Chrysophyllum marginatum, Luehea divaricata, among others, and (ii) a group with indicator species of Swamp Forests or common occurrence in these physiognomies, associated with lower altitude (Gleisoil), with high percentages of clay and silt in the upper and more fertile layers, and greater water retention: Cecropia pachystachya, Citronella gongonha, Rapanea guianensis, Talauma ovata and Tapirira guianensis. A third group of transition between Semi-deciduous Forest and Forested Savanna, in intermediate altitude and soils less humid (species sampled in plots located at the edges of Swamp Forests), occurred both in the Forested Savanna and in Semi-deciduous Forest and a few in swampy environment. The highest percentages of sand in the soil of Pratinha, with less influence on water retention and also on the rates of fertility (alic soils, with greater acidity and less fertile), may explain some differences in the composition and abundance of species of forest physiognomies equal. The forested Savanna of Monte Belo, has proved floristically different from the Forested Savanna of Pratinha. This same difference occurred in swamp forests of Magnolia and Pratinha. The few species of common occurrence had differentpopulations. The CCA also revealed correlations of some species with certain variables of soil.