This study was undertaken as a beginning of an analysis of "zoning in action." Henrico County, Virginia, has had a rural zoning ordinance in force for over a third of a century. During this period, the County was transformed from a rural locality to an urban-suburban one. The study had as one of its objectives the tracing of rural zoning in response to population growth in Henrico County. The study sought to probe the types of requests sought, the manner in which they were sought, and whether or not they were granted. The consequences of zoning on real estate values were also probed. The study has shown how the initial, rather broad Ordinance has evolved in 35 years into a complex, quite restrictive ordinance. In 1933, there were four use districts. Today there are 16. Building regulations have been strengthened by the "beefing up” of older regulations and the addition of many new ones. As new problem uses have appeared, they have been incorporated into the Ordinance. Population pressures and the advent of unforeseen situations were responsible for most changes. Variance requests have been similar since the inception of the Ordinance. Sideyard and setback requests have predominated. As the Ordinance has become more restrictive, other requests have become more frequent. The vast majority of requests continue to be granted. Public interest in variance requests is for the most part dormant. The granting of variance requests affect assessed real estate values significantly only if the variance renders the property useful, where previously it was not. Zoning requests, over time, have changed markedly, however. Prior to urbanization of the County, most zoning requests were from an agricultural designation. Today agricultural requests trail business and residential requests in number. Most importantly, the ratio between zoning changes recommended by the advisory board and granted by the Board of Supervisors has changed. As requests have increased in size and in value, and as opposition has become more prevalent, professionals have dominated the presentation of requests. Rezoning of a tract to a more intensive use usually results in a doubling of its assessed value. / Master of Science

The goal of this study is to promote understanding of the complexities of urban systems. The main objective of this research project is to establish a systematic framework in order that planners can analyze and understand the implications that public policies have on urban development and transportation planning perspectives. We examine a system dynamics model of a hypothetical region which evolves with time. The urban development process is represented by the integration of land use, property market, job market, population, and transportation infrastructure. The interactions within each subsystem and between them are studied through scenario analysis using simulation (Dynamo Ill) and analytical techniques. The range of policy covers social and economic measures, traffic strategies, transit management, and highway expansion programs. Certain combinations of these options are also studied. Population distribution and travel time are the two key performance indicators. In so far as people's adaptation to inflating travel cost is not accounted for in the utility model, the travel time improvements associated with the pricing policy is likely to be overestimated. In as much as regional transportation planning can benefit through local traffic measures, reduction in collection-distribution time improves accessibility and reduces additional travel, partly offsetting the travel time savings otherwise gained. The most desirable state of development - social, urban, and transportation - according to the final analysis points towards the expansion of highway capacity, the control of land use, the expansion of bus fleet, and the restructuring of transit fare. While the resulting improvement in travel time is at least as promising as a number of other alternatives, the suggested set of policy changes is relatively easy to implement, reasonably inexpensive, and least controversial. / M.S.

Inflated fabric is being considered as new structural material at the present time. It can be used in certain applications with the advantage of reducing the weight of structures, it is adaptable as an architectural element of construction; moreover, it may be developed to be one of the most economical, and simple structural materials in the future. A number of experimental investigations of these inflated fabric structures has been studied by research units of airship and fabric companies. However, due to the difficulties of solving such problems by analysis, there is still lack of theoretical methods, even approximate solutions. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate theoretical analysis for finding the relation between the applied load and the deflections, stresses, and also the end shortening of an inflated cylindrical fabric envelope subjected to axial compression, by the energy method. A cylindrical shape is selected because sphere and cylinder are considered more general in use and more easily to be treated than any other geometrical shapes. Also, for the sake of simplicity, a constant internal pressure is assumed in the analysis. The use or large deflection theory for finding the critical buckling loading of thin shells was first advanced by Von Karman and Tsien (reference 6 and 7). Based on their conception; numerous studies concerning the buckling strength under various loadings have been investigated by others subsequently. The strain-displacement relation in their papers is expressed in the following form including terms up to second order: ε_x= ∂u/∂x+(½)(∂w/∂x)² ε_x= ∂v/∂y+(½)(∂w/∂y)²-(w/R) In this thesis, although the idea is applied to develop an analysis by the energy method, the strain-displacement relation is expressed in a different way which will be shown in the following sections. Generally, in avoiding the mathematical difficulty of solving the differential equations obtained from the energy expression, most boundary-value problems in the theory of elasticity may be solved by assuming a solution in the form of a series which satisfies the boundary conditions, then minimizing the energy expression to determine the values of unknown parameters in the assumed solution. In this thesis, instead of using the variational method mentioned above, a graphical method for solving the differential equations is presented. However, owing to the fact that not all of the boundary conditions are specified at one point, the final results have to be obtained. by trial and error. / Master of Science

Records of 176 Hampshire pigs, consisting of 118 barrows and 58 gilts, were used in this study. The least squares method was applied to estimate the effect of rate of gain during four periods of growth (birth to 50 pounds, 50 to 100 pounds, 100 to 150 pounds, and 150 to 200 pounds) on carcass characteristics. The results were expressed as partial regression coefficients in terms of square inches or inches per pound for deviation in growth rate. The loin eye area and the average back fat thickness had a consistent, but not statistically significant association with the live weight groupings as arbitrarily designation. The carcass length was inconsistently and statistically nonsignificantly related to the live weight. Sex of the animal did effect the carcass in that gilts had leaner carcasses than barrows as shown by larger loin eye areas and thinner back fat. When the average daily gain increased one pound during 100 to 150 pound growing period, the loin eye area was 0.40 square inches larger at a slaughter weight of 200 pounds. When the average daily gain increased one pound during the suckling period, the average back fat was 0.25 inches thinner at 200 pounds. As the daily gain increased one pound during the second growing period, the average back fat was 0.15 inches thicker in the finished pigs. The growth rate had a statistically nonsignificant effect on the carcass length during any period of growth. The growth rate during period other than those shown had no effect on the carcass characteristics measured in this study. / Master of Science

B7-H6, un membre de la famille B7, est exprimé sur diverses cellules tumorales humaines et active les cellules NK via NKp30. En revanche, B7-H6 n'est pas détecté à la surface d'aucunes cellules saines testées. Mon projet de thèse était d'identifier les mécanismes impliqués dans l'induction du gène B7-H6 et savoir si d'autres conditions que la transformation tumorale peuvent induire l'expression de B7-H6.Nous avons montré que B7-H6 est induit de façon sélective à la surface de neutrophiles et de monocytes CD14+CD16+, suite à des stimulations de type inflammatoire in vitro et in vivo. De plus, cette expression est de mauvais pronostic pour la survie de patients atteints de sepsis sévère. Nous avons également mis en évidence une forme soluble de B7-H6 produite, in vitro par des monocytes et des neutrophiles activés, et in vivo chez certains patients atteints de sepsis sévère à Gram négatif. Fait intéressant, cette forme soluble semble bloquer l'activité des cellules NK et avoir une tendance à être de mauvais pronostic pour la survie de ces patients.Par conséquent, mes travaux renforcent le concept immunologique selon lequel les ligands des récepteurs NK activateurs sont sous-exprimés dans les cellules saines et subissent une dérégulation qui les surexprime dans les cellules qui subissent. De plus, B7-H6 apparait comme un acteur potentiel dans l'immunité innée antibactérienne. La description systématique du profile de B7-H6 chez les patients atteins de sepsis pourrait permettre d'envisager de nouvelles prises en charge thérapeutiques basé sur les cellules NK et B7-H6 et aider à classer les patients en fonction de leur risque de développer une forme sévère de la maladie. / B7-H6, a new member of the B7 family, is expressed on several human tumor cells and triggers NKp30-mediated activation of human NK cells. However, B7-H6 is not detected in any normal cells tested. My thesis project was to identify the mechanisms causing the induction of B7-H6 gene and whether conditions other than tumor transformation could lead to B7-H6 expression. During my thesis, we showed that B7-H6 is selectively induced at the surface of neutrophils and CD14+CD16+ monocytes upon inflammatory stimulation in vitro and in vivo, these cells could also triggers NKp30-mediated activation of human NK cells in a context of inflammation. Moreover, this expression is a poor prognosis for survival of patients with severe sepsis. We also detected a soluble form of B7-H6 produced in vitro by activated neutrophils and monocytes, and in vivo in some patients with severe Gram-negative sepsis. Interestingly, this soluble form appears to block the activity of NK cells and have a tendency to be a poor prognosis for survival of these patients.Therefore, my work supports the immune concept that ligands of NK activating receptors are downregulated in normal cells and undergo deregulation that overexpressed in cells upon stress such as tumors, infection and inflammation. In addition, B7-H6 appears as a potential player in the antibacterial innate immunity. The systematic description of B7-H6 in patients with sepsis could allow to envisage new therapeutic treatment based on NK cells and B7-H6 and help classify patients according to their risk of developing a severe form of disease.

NK cells are important part of immune system, recognizing and eliminating tumor cells and cells infected by viruses. For the target cell recognition, binding of ligands by activating receptors plays a crucial role. Activating receptor NKp30, protein of family of natural cytotoxicity receptors, is able to bind multiple ligands either present on tumor cell surface or being part of some viruses. B7-H6 is one of the ligands of NKp30 and its specific constitutive expression on some tumor cells and cell lines makes it an interesting biological target. Although the NKp30/B7-H6 complex structure has been solved, structural basis of some important features of their binding is not explained yet. Soluble form of NKp30 receptor binding domain creates oligomers, presence of which is dependent on C-terminus length of its domain and its N-glycosylation; however, structural insight into formation of the oligomers and their significance is not known. Furthermore, binding affinity of NKp30 to its ligands is dependent on presence of its glycosylation and glycosylation type. We have already found out that NKp30 oligomerization is dependent on its glycosylation. In my work, I attempted to gain detailed functional and structural information about oligomerization of NKp30 and its binding to B7-H6 by multimethodical...

Forensic literature has shown particularly high prevalence of violent behavior in offenders convicted of rape but not the otherwise. There is empirical and theoretical support for the development of rape behavior being preceded by a sequence of increasingly non-violent and violent acts. All these point to rape as a subset of violent behavior. However, no existing research has studied the co-occurrence of rape and violent behavior coupled with their underlying mediating factors. This study represents the first empirical attempt to explore the developmental paths to rape behavior in association with its co-occurred violent behavior within the cognitive framework, tracing from distal developmental adversities to cognitive variables common and specific to rape and violent behavior, and then pornography use. Using structural equation modeling, the hypothesized model was tested in a sample of 175 adult male prisoners serving sentence in the Correctional Services Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the conviction of rape and / or violent offence. The resulting Developmental Sexual-Aggressive Model of Rape Behavior explicated that distal developmental adversities, a host of cognitive mediators namely hostility toward women, sexual masculinity factor, antisocial / violent attitudinal factor and entitlement, together with the more proximate behavioral precursors namely pornography use and violent behavior all contributed to explain rape behavior after controlling for social desirability. While hostility toward women and sexual masculinity constituted rape-specific cognitive constructs, the other cognitive constructs were common factors of both rape and violent behavior. The strongest cognitive construct was hostility toward women which emerged early on in the developmental model. Three etiologic paths underlying the development of rape behavior had been identified: one Sexual Path and two Aggressive Paths. The extent of influence between the Sexual Path and the two Aggressive Paths in total was comparable but the two Aggressive Paths became more influential to repeat rape behavior with higher frequency. The Aggressive Paths not only rendered empirical support to the co-occurrence of rape and violent behavior but more importantly revealed a violence-to-rape behavioral pattern. Taking a developmental perspective, the model made direct clinical implications for multiple entry points for rape prevention strategies targeting the general population, the at-risk males and the convicted rapists in order to achieve the ultimate goal of protecting public safety. Research implications with suggestions for future empirical studies were also included. / 犯罪學文獻表明暴力行為在犯了強姦罪名的犯人中特別普遍，但相反則不然；亦有實證和理論支持強姦行為是由一連串非暴力以致暴力行為逐步發展而成。這都顯示強姦行為是暴力行為的一個子集。然而，沒有任何現有的研究探究了強姦行為和暴力行為的共存，及它們背後的中介因素。這項研究是第一個科研致力探討強姦行為和與它並存的暴力行為的發展路徑。在認知框架下，發展路徑從遠端成長期遇到的逆境，至強姦行為和暴力行為共同及特殊的認知因素，然後到色情資訊的使用。根據結構方程式模型，假設模型在175名因強姦和/或暴力罪名，在香港特區政府懲教署服刑的男性成年犯人所組成的樣本進行測試。研究控制了社會讚許變項後所得的「性侵略性模型發展」(Developmental Sexual-Aggressive Model)，闡述遠端成長期遇到的逆境、一系列認知中介因素即敵視女性、以性主導的男子氣概、反社會 / 暴力思想及權利主意，行為方面的近因即色情資訊的使用和暴力行為，有助於解釋強姦行為。敵視女性及以性主導的男子氣概構成強姦行為特殊的認知因素，而其他認知因素則構成強姦行為和暴力行為的共同因素。敵視女性是當中最重要的因素，而又在發展模型中早期出現。強姦行為背後的三個病因路徑是：一個性的路徑(Sexual Path)和兩個攻擊路徑(Aggressive Path)。單一的性路徑和總的兩個攻擊路徑之間的影響程度是類似的，但兩個攻擊路徑對高頻的重複強姦行為變得更有影響力。兩個攻擊路徑不僅提供了實證支持強姦行為和暴力行為的共存，更重要的是揭示了「暴力演變至強姦的行為模式」(violence-to-rape behavioral pattern)。研究所得的模型別具臨床意義，為預防強姦的策略提供多個入口點，包括針對公眾、存有風險的男性和被定罪的強姦犯，以達到保障公眾安全的最終目標。最後，對未來的實證研究亦提出了建議。 / Lee, Kit Shan Yvonne. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-223). / Abstracts also in Chinese; appendixes in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 06, January, 2017). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Sun, Li. / Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-286). / Abstracts also in Chinese; some appendixes in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 26, October, 2016).

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No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Kellen Rosa da Cruz - 2016.pdf: 2861182 bytes, checksum: 0321c4e0cfb84ad753664693273c2e23 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / LVV-hemorphin-7 (LVV-h7) and LVV-hemorphin-6 (LVV-h6) are bioactive peptides resulting from degradation of hemoglobin β-globin chain. LVV-h7 is a specific agonist of angiotensin IV receptor. This receptor belongs to the class of insulin-regulated aminopeptidases (IRAP), which also exerts oxytocinase activity. Herein, our aims were: i) to evaluate whether LVVs modify centrally-organized behavior and cardiovascular responses to stress and ii) to assess whether underlying mechanisms involve activation of oxytocin (OT) receptors, as result of reduction of IRAP proteolytic activity upon OT. Adult male Wistar rats (270-370g) received (ip) injections of LVV-h7 and LVV-h6 (153nmol/Kg), or vehicle (0.1ml). Different protocols were used: i) open field (OP) test for locomotor/exploratory activities; ii) elevated plus maze (EPM) for anxiety-like behavior; iii) forced swimming (FS) test for depression-like behavior and iv) air jet for cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress exposure. Diazepam (2mg/Kg) and imipramine (15mg/Kg) were used as positive control for EPM and FS tests, respectively. The antagonist of OT receptors, atosiban (1 e 0,1 mg/Kg), was used to determine the involvement of oxytocinergic paths. Both LVVs: i) increased the number of entries and the time spent in open arms of the maze, an indicative of anxiolysis; ii) reduced the immobility during FS test, an indicative of antidepressant effect; and iii) increased the exploratory activity, but locomotion episodes were significantly increased only by LVV-h7; while the specific OT antagonist, atosiban, did not revert the effect anxiolytic-like evoked by LVVs. It also changed the effects upon exploration evoked by LVV’s and the antidepressant-like effect promoted by LVV-h7. Besides, LVV-h6 and LVV-h7 did not change the cardiovascular reactivity and neuroendocrine responses to acute stress. We conclude that LVVs modulate behavior, display antidepressant and anxiolytic effects and do not change the cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress exposure. LVV-h7 behavioral effects are mediated in part by oxytocin receptors. / LVV-h7 e LVV-h6 são peptídeos bioativos resultantes da degradação da cadeia β-globina da hemoglobina. LVV-h7 é um agonista do receptor de angiotensina IV. Esse receptor pertence a classe de aminopeptidases reguladas por insulina (IRAP), que também exerce atividade ocitocinase. Ao se ligar ao receptor, LVV-h7 inibe a atividade catalítica de IRAP sobre neuropeptídeos, incluindo ocitocina (OT), levando ao aumento nos níveis de ocitocina. Assim, nossos objetivos foram: i) avaliar se as LVVs modificam o comportamento organizado centralmente e as respostas cardiovascular ao estresse agudo emocional e ii) verificar se os mecanismos responsáveis pelos efeitos, envolvem a ativação de receptores de ocitocina, como resultado da redução da atividade proteolítica de IRAP sobre a OT. Ratos Wistar, adultos, (270-370 g) receberam injeções i.p. de LVV-h6 e LVV-h7 (153nmol/Kg), ou veículo (0,1 ml). Diferentes protocolos foram usados: i) labirinto em cruz elevada para comportamento tipo-ansiedade; ii) campo aberto para atividade locomotora/exploratória; iii) nado forçado para comportamento tipo-depressão e iv) estresse por jato de ar para reatividade cardiovascular à exposição ao estresse agudo. Diazepam (2 mg/Kg) e imipramina (15 mg/Kg) foram usados como controle positivo para LCE e NF, respectivamente. O antagonista de receptores de OT, atosibano (1 e 0,1 mg/Kg), foi usado para determinar o envolvimento de vias ocitocinérgicas. Ambas LVVs: i) aumentaram o número de entradas e o tempo despendido nos braços abertos do LCE, um indicativo de ansiólise; ii) reduziram a imobilidade durante o NF, indicando efeito tipo antidepressivo e, iii) aumentaram a atividade exploratória no CA, episódios de locomoção foram significativamente aumentados apenas pela LVV-h7; iv) o antagonista de receptores de OT não alterou o efeito evocado pela LVVs sobre o efeito tipo ansiolítico. Entretanto, reverteu o aumento na exploração evocado pelas LVV’s e também o efeito tipo antidepressivo evocado apenas pela LVV-h7. Além disso, LVV-h6 e LVV-h7 não alteraram a resposta pressora, taquicárdica e neuroendócrina evocada pelo estresse egudo emocional. Nós concluímos que LVVs modulam o comportamento, desempenhando efeito tipo ansiolítico e tipo antidepressivo e não são capazes de alterar a reatividade cardiovascular ao estresse. Os efeitos comportamentais de LVV-h7 são mediados, em parte, por receptores de OT.

This dissertation presents a self-tuning regulator (STR) design method developed based upon a state-space linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control strategy for rejecting a disturbance in a flexible structure in the face of model uncertainty. The parameters to be tuned are treated as additional state variables and are estimated recursively together with the system state that is needed for feedback. Also, the feedback gains are designed in the LQ framework based upon the estimated model parameters. Two problems concerning the uncertainty of model parameters are recognized. First, we consider the uncertainty in the system matrix of the state space model. The self-tuning regulator is implemented by computer and the control law is obtained based upon a discrete-time model; however, only selected continuous-time parameters with physical meanings to which the controller is highly sensitive are tuned. It is formulated as a nonlinear filtering problem such that both the estimated state and the unknown parameters can be obtained by an extended Kahman filter. The capability of this design method is experimentally demonstrated by applying it to the rejection of a disturbance in a simply supported plate. The other problem considered is that the location where the disturbance enters the system is unknown. This corresponds to an unknown disturbance influence matrix. Under the assumption that the system matrix is known and the disturbance can be measured, it is formulated as a linear filtering problem with an approximate discrete-time design model. Similarly, the estimated state for feedback and the unknown parameters are identified simultaneously and recursively. Also, the feedback gains are calculated approximately by recursively solving the discrete-time control Riccati equation. The effectiveness of the controller is shown by applying it to a simply-supported plate, when the location of the disturbance is assumed unknown. Since implementing LQG self-tuning controllers for vibration control systems requires significant real-time computation, methods that can reduce the computing load are examined. In addition, the possibility of extending the self tuning to disturbance model parameters is explored. / Ph. D.