published_or_final_version / Computer Science and Information Systems / Master / Master of Philosophy

In 1997, Xian-Jin Li gave an equivalence to the classical Riemann hypothesis, now referred to as Li's criterion, in terms of the non-negativity of a particular infinite sequence of real numbers. We formulate the analogue of Li's criterion as an equivalence for the generalized quasi-Riemann hypothesis for functions in an extension of the Selberg class, and give arithmetic formulae for the corresponding Li coefficients in terms of parameters of the function in question. Moreover, we give explicit non-negative bounds for certain sums of special values of polygamma functions, involved in the arithmetic formulae for these Li coefficients, for a wide class of functions. Finally, we discuss an existing result on correspondences between zero-free regions and the non-negativity of the real parts of finitely many Li coefficients. This discussion involves identifying some errors in the original source work which seem to render one of its theorems conjectural. Under an appropriate conjecture, we give a generalization of the result in question to the case of Li coefficients corresponding to the generalized quasi-Riemann hypothesis. We also give a substantial discussion of research on Li's criterion since its inception, and some additional new supplementary results, in the first chapter. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mathematics & Statistics) -- Queen's University, 2012-07-31 13:14:03.414

Speakers of Persian, like speakers of other languages, utilise Routine Politeness Formulae (RPF) to negotiate central interpersonal interactions. RPF in Persian have not received any systematic description as to their forms, their functions, their typical conditions of use and their discourse structure rules. Bridging this gap, for the first time, RPF from five frequently-used speech acts – namely, greeting, leave-taking, apologizing, thanking and requesting – are documented in this thesis. Data were derived from Persian soap operas and from role-plays with native speakers, and were entered into a database for further analysis. The analysis is qualitative and the data are conceived of as phraseological units to be represented as dictionary entries. The study of the aforementioned speech acts and their related array of RPF reveals the dynamics of interpersonal polite behaviour among Persians, reflecting the following socio-cultural values prevalent in Iranian society: (i) its group-oriented nature, (ii) a tendency towards positive (solidarity) politeness, (iii) sensitivity to remaining in people’s debt, (iv) sensitivity to giving trouble to others, (v) a high premium on reciprocity in interpersonal communications, (vi) the importance of seniority in terms of age and social status, and (vii) differentiation between members of the ‘inner circle’ and the ‘outer circle’. This thesis also reveals the dominance of the strategy of self-lowering and other-elevating. Almost all RPF in Persian allow for the use of this pervasive strategy, which is also manifested by two further sub-strategies: (i) a propensity to exaggerate favours received from others, and (ii) giving precedence to others over oneself. Finally, it is suggested that Islamic teachings have significantly influenced the formation and use of certain RPF. The dictionary resulting from this work can serve as a resource for researchers in sociolinguistics and pragmatics, and for the teaching of Persian to non-Persian speakers.

The thesis studies classes of Boolean formulae for which the well-known satisfiability problem is solvable in polynomially bounded time. It focusses on classes based on unit resolution; it describe classes of unit refutation complete formulae, unit propagation complete formulae and focuses on the class of SLUR formulae. It presents properties of SLUR formulae as well as the recently obtained results. The main result is the coNP-completness of membership testing. Finally, several hierarchies are built over the SLUR class and their properties and mutual relations are studied. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting 2% of the population over 65 years old that lacks effective cure. The current available treatments for PD are largely symptomatic and palliative. Tianma Gouteng Yin (TGY) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula belongs to the formulas that dispel wind. Nowadays, it has been a commonly prescribed formula to treat Parkinsonian-like symptoms such as tremor and paralysis in some of the patients. However, just as most of the TCM formula, the material basis and the underlying pharmacological effects of TGY are still lacking experimental evidence. In this study, a method using UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS and HPLC-ELSD has been developed and successfully applied to qualitatively and quantitatively determine the complex phytochemicals of TGY. Totally 28 phytochemicals were identified, of which 20 were simultaneously quantified. The material basis profile of TGY decoction was delineated for the first time. After full component analysis of TGY, the neuroprotective activity of TGY was verified both in vivo and in vitro. In Drosophila PD models, TGY mitigated rotenone induced toxicity and promoted α-synuclein clearance. In stereotaxic rotenone intoxication rats, TGY exerted neuroprotective effects in terms of preventing dopaminergic neurons loss and alleviating neuroinflammation. TGY alleviated rotenone induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells. Furthermore, we discovered that Geniposide, an important component of TGY, is an autophagy inducer both in vivo and in vitro and is neuroprotective in transgenic Drosophila PD model. In general, our study proves that TGY is neuroprotective in PD models. In addition to the efficacy study, safety of TGY application in terms of TGY-drug interaction was also evaluated. In our study, herb-drug interactions between TGY and one of the most popular drugs used in PD treatment, Sinemet, were studied. The pharmacokinetics data showed that co-administration of TGY could suppress the absorption of Levodopa, the main component of Sinemet, for the first time. This information suggest that in clinical practice, TGY should avoid been administrated with Levodopa containing medicaments at the same time. In conclusion, the data of this study provides valuable information on the material basis, efficacy and safety of TGY. This information is useful reference for the clinical application of TGY in PD treatment. Keywords: Tianma Gouteng Yin, Parkinson’s disease, Drosophila, Rotenone, -synuclein, Geniposide, Autophagy, Sinemet, Herb-drug interaction

本研究的目的旨在通過整理〈傷寒論〉與〈金匱要略〉中關於消渴病的學術思想、以及廣泛收集臨床報導和相關書籍文獻，以經方治療手段，以治療糖尿病腎病為主線, 著重研究經方治療糖尿病腎病在臨床中的運用情況，希望通過本研究可為糖尿病腎病的經方治療的思路、方法提供更多借鑒。 本文以文獻研究的方式，通過搜集整理近10年有關經方治療糖尿病腎病的書籍、文獻，研究當代醫家對於病因病機、辨證論治等方面經驗。歸納總結出臨床上治療糖尿病腎病的常用經方，並從病因病機、方藥配伍、後世醫家對經方的理解和運用等諸多方面加以分析。總結了經方的現代運用、應用要點、常用配伍等。 根據所得文獻的研究得出治療糖尿病腎病常用經方10首，如真武湯、腎氣九、桃核承氣湯、瓜霎霍麥丸、葛根苓連湯、豬苓湯等，常用藥物以補虛藥、利水滲濕藥、活血化瘀藥為主，主要有茯苓、葛根、黃連、附子、人參、桃仁、黃頁、苟藥、黃芩、附子等。選取其中6首經方作重點研究，發現其對於糖尿病腎病均有著優異的療效，尤其是對於中晚期糖尿病腎病患者降低血糖、尿蛋白排泄率和改善腎臟功能等方面效果顯著。相較于單純西醫治療，以經方治療配合西醫基礎治療，其療效有明顯優勢且價格低廉，可以更好的減輕患者身體和經濟上的雙重壓力。 經方治療糖尿病腎病已有多年歷史且臨床回饋表明療效顯著。運用經方治療糖尿病腎病以方證相應、藥證相應為原則，治療上需要根據病因病機為中心點，依據疾病的中心環節、主要因素以及重點階段綜合考量後，按照臨床實際情況予以對症經方合以經方或合時方進行加減化裁。 關鍵字：糖尿病腎病 經方 消渴病 〈金匱要略〉 〈傷寒論〉

Les formules de Thomae classiques (1869) permettent de relier au moyen d'une relation algébrique les points branches d'une courbe hyperelliptique avec les thêta constantes de sa jacobienne. Ces formules donnent notamment un moyen de calculer les thêta constantes d'une courbe hyperelliptique connaissant ses points de ramification ou bien, à l'inverse, de retrouver la courbe en connaissant le theta null point de sa jacobienne. Ceci fournit une réalisation effective du théorème de Torelli. Plus récemment, plusieurs auteurs dont Zemel et Farkas ont proposé une généralisation de ces formules pour des courbes cycliques totalement ramifiées sur la droite projective. Nous nous intéressons dans cette thèse à une généralisation de ces formules pour des courbes galoisiennes résolubles de degré n sur la droite projective. La construction de telles formules suit la stratégie décrite par Farkas et Zemel. Cependant, les points non totalement ramifiés ne décrivent pas des points de n-torsion de la Jacobienne de la courbe via l'application d'Abel-Jacobi. Pour remédier à cet obstacle, nous composons T par theta, où T agit comme une moyenne décrite par un sous-groupe du groupe de Galois de la courbe possédant certaines propriétés. Afin de décrire les zéros de translatés de cette application composée, nous écrivons un analogue du théorème de Riemann sur les zéros de theta. Enfin, nous exhibons un exemple d'une courbe définie par un revêtement de degré 2 suivi de deux revêtements de degré 3 dans laquelle on obtient des formules de Thomae généralisées. / The classical Thomae formulae (1869) provide algebraic relations between the branch points of an hyperelliptic curve and the theta constants of its Jacobian. These formula can be seen as a way to calculate these theta constants from the data of the ramification points of the hyperelliptic curve or in the other way around, to find the curve whose Jacobian is given by its theta null point. This can be seen as an effective version of Torelli's theorem. More recently, several authors including Zemel and Farkas have proposed a generalization of these formula for cyclic curves that are totally ramified on the projective line. In this thesis, we are interested in a generalization of these formula for curves of degree n with a solvable Galois group over the projective line. The construction of such formula follows the strategy developed by Farkas and Zemel. However, the points that are not totally ramified don't describe n-torsion points on the Jacobian of the curve via the Abel-Jacobi map. In order to solve this difficulty, we consider the composed map of T by theta, where T is a mean described by a sub-group of the Galois group of the curve with several properties. We write an analogous of the Riemann's theorem in order to describe the zeros of translates of this composed map. Finally, we show an example of a curve defined by a cover of degree 2 followed by two covers of degree 3 for which we can compute generalized Thomae formulae.

We can associate an incidence graph with any CNF formula. It's a bipartite graph, in which he first part corresponds to variables and the second one to clauses. We can define matched formulas and biclique satisfiable formulas, based on this incidence graph. Both of these classes share an interesting property: Given a formula F which is matched or biclique satisfiable, F remains satisfiable even after we switch polarity of any occurrence of any literal. Class of formulas with this property is called var-satisfiable. In this thesis, we consider a parameterized algorithm introduced by Stefan Szeider for deciding satisfiability of formulas with small deficiency. Here deficiency of a formula is defined as a difference between the number of clauses and the number of variables in the formula. We explain why this algorithm cannot be simply generalized for the case of biclique satisfiable formulas. Since the problem of determining whether a formula is biclique satisfiable is NP-complete, we introduce a heuristic, which tries to find some biclique cover in time O(n2 e), where n denotes the number of variables and e denotes the length of the input formula. We performed experiments testing this heuristic on random formulas. The results of these experiments suggest, that there is a phase transition in the behaviour of the heuristic....

No description available.

No description available.