[pt] A parametrização de superfícies triangularizadas, orientadas e sem bordo não se realiza em um único domínio planar e, por vezes, são sensíveis às descontinuidades ora introduzidas entre os múltiplos domínios planares solicitados. Para tanto, um domínio base não planar é exigido com uma estrutura diferenciável, bem como, a parametrização da superfície por este domínio. A principal abordagem desta tese utiliza uma estrutura de multi-triangulação que direciona a simplificação da superfície inicial numa superfície base e propõem uma projeção hierárquica dos vértices iniciais sobre este domínio. A projeção hierárquica é combinada com um sistema de parametrização da superfície base em domínios locais que são relacionados por funções de transição suaves. Como aplicação, o remalhamento semirregular de superfícies triangularizadas converte a superfície inicial, possivelmente irregular, em outra superfície com triangulação semirregular. A qualidade da triangulação e a preservação da forma original são aspectos importantes para o remalhamento e são resultantes da combinação de componentes envolvidas durante a sua construção, como a superfície base que aproxima a superfície inicial sem bordo, o particionamento semirregular desta superfície base e o reposicionamento de sua geometria. Um desafio significativo está no reposicionamento da geometria dos vértices que decorre da parametrização da superfície inicial. A otimização hierárquica realizada nestes domínios locais buscando reduzir as energias de distorção introduzidas pela parametrização, tal como, os atributos da superfície base são fundamentais para a qualidade deste remalhamento. A estrutura hierárquica permite flexibilidade durante a otimização e influencia no tempo de convergência. / [en] The parameterization of triangulated, oriented and free boundary surfaces does not take place in a single planar domain, and sometimes are sensitive to discontinuities introduced between the various planars domains requested. Therefore, a non-planar base domain is required with a differentiable structure, as well as a parameterization of the surface by this domain. The main approach of this thesis uses a multi-triangulation structure that directs the simplification of the initial surface to base surface and proposes a hierarchical projection of the initial vertices on the domain. A hierarchical projection is combined with a parameterization system of the initial surface composed of local domains related by smooth transition maps. As an application, the semi-regular remeshing of triangulated surfaces converts an input surface, possibly irregular, to another surface with semi-regular triangulation. The quality of the triangulation and the shape preserving are important aspects for the remeshing and are resulting from the components merge used during its building, such as the base surface that approximate the initial free boundary surface, refinement of the semi-regular surface and geometric fitting. An important challenge is the geometric fitting that results from the parameterization of the initial surface. The hierarchical optimization carried out in these local domains that minimizes the distortion energies produced by the parameterizations, such as the base surface attributes are fundamental to the quality of this remeshing. The hierarchical structure allows flexibility during optimization and influences the convergence time.

With an increasingly globalised market and growing asset universe, estimating the market covariance matrix becomes even more challenging. In recent years, there has been an extensive development of methods aimed at mitigating these issues. This thesis takes its starting point in the recently developed Hierarchical Principal Component Analysis, in which a priori known information is taken into account when modelling the market correlation matrix. However, while showing promising results, the current framework only allows for fairly simple hierarchies with a depth of one. In this thesis, we introduce a generalisation of the framework that allows for an arbitrary hierarchical depth. We also evaluate the method in a risk-based portfolio allocation setting with Futures contracts.  Furthermore, we introduce a shrinkage method called Hierarchical Shrinkage, which uses the hierarchical structure to further regularise the matrix. The proposed models are evaluated with respect to how well-conditioned they are, how well they predict eigenportfolio risk and portfolio performance when they are used to form the Minimum Variance Portfolio. We show that the proposed models result in sparse and easy-to-interpret eigenvector structures, improved risk prediction, lower condition numbers and longer holding periods while achieving Sharpe ratios that are at par with our benchmarks. / Med en allt mer globaliserad marknad och växande tillgångsuniversum blir det alltmer utmanande att uppskatta marknadskovariansmatrisen. Under senare år har det skett en omfattande utveckling av metoder som syftar till att mildra dessa problem. Detta examensarbete tar sin utgångspunkt i det nyligen utvecklade ramverket Hierarkisk Principalkomponentanalys, där kunskap känd sedan innan används för att modellera marknadskorrelationerna. Även om det visar lovande resultat så tillåter det nuvarande ramverket endast enkla hierarkier med ett djup på ett. I detta examensarbete introduceras en generalisering av detta ramverk, som tillåter ett godtyckligt hierarkiskt djup. Vi utvärderar också metoden i en riskbaserad portföljallokeringsmiljö med terminskontrakt.  Vidare introducerar vi en krympningsmetod som vi kallar Hierarkisk Krympning. Hierarkisk krympning använder den hierarkiska strukturen för att ytterligare regularisera matrisen. De föreslagna modellerna av korrelationsmatrisen utvärderas med avseende på hur välkonditionerade de är, hur väl de förutsäger egenportföljrisk samt hur de presterar i portföljallokeringssyfte i en Minimum Variance portfölj. Vi visar att de introducerade modellerna resulterar i en gles och lätttolkad egenvektorstruktur, förbättrad riskprediktion, lägre konditionstal och längre hållperiod, samtidigt som portföljerna uppnår Sharpe-kvoter i linje med benchmarkmodellerna.

[pt] Séries Temporais que podem ser organizadas em níveis de acordo com, por exemplo, o tipo de produto, região geográfica, classe de consumo, dentre outros, são chamadas de Séries Temporais Hierárquicas (ou agrupadas, quando possuem mais de uma variável de agregação). Informações referentes à previsão destas séries são fundamentais para a tomada de decisão seja no nível gerencial ou operacional de todo tipo de negócio. Para atender a essas informações, são utilizadas técnicas de previsão hierárquica, que têm como foco reduzir os custos e melhorar a acurácia da previsão. O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar abordagens para agregar/desagregar previsões feitas para Séries Temporais Hierárquicas ou Agrupadas. Como resultado do trabalho destaca-se a apresentação das abordagens que representam o estado da arte em previsão hierárquica: Reconciliação Ótima (também chamada de Combinação Ótima) e Top-Down baseada na Proporção das Previsões. Ainda referente aos resultados destaca-se a análise das diversas técnicas de previsão hierárquica encontradas na literatura aplicadas a duas séries clássicas do contexto brasileiro: a série agrupada de consumo de energia elétrica agregada por região do país e classe de consumo, e a série hierárquica de demanda de transporte aéreo representada pela variável RPK (Revenue Passenger Kilometers). O desempenho preditivo das abordagens foi avaliado com base na métrica MAPE, e o teste de Diebold-Mariano foi aplicado para verificar se a diferença no desempenho das abordagens novas e tradicionais é significativa. / [en] Time Series which can be arranged in levels according to, for example, the type of product, geography, consumption class, among others, are called Hierarchical Time Series (or grouped, if they have more than one aggregation variable). Information relating these series prediction is fundamental for decision-making at the management or operational level of all types of business. To meet these information, hierarchical forecasting techniques are used, which are focused on reducing costs and improving the accuracy of prediction. The objective of this work is to study approaches to aggregate / disaggregate predictions for Hierarchical or Grouped Time Series. As a result of the work there is the presentation of the approaches that represent the state of the art hierarchical forecast: Optimal Reconciliation approach (also called the Optimal Combination) and Top-Down Forecast Proportions approach. Still on the results highlight the analysis of the various hierarchical forecasting techniques found in the literature applied to two classic series of the Brazilian context: a grouped series of electricity consumption aggregated by region of the country and consumer class, and the hierarchical series air transport demand represented by the variable RPK (Revenue Passenger Kilometers). The predictive performance of the approaches was evaluated based on the metric MAPE and the Diebold-Mariano test was used to verify that the difference in performance of new and traditional approaches is significant.

<p>Postpartum depression has become a major public health concern for women within a specific time period after delivery. Depression is possibly associated with some risk factors such as socioeconomic status, social support, maternal mental and physical health, and history of anxiety. TOMIS III, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is a prospective cohort to study the associations between delivery method and health and health resource utilization.</p> <p>Clinically, we investigated the associations between mode of delivery and outcome of postnatal depression, maternal and infant health, and we implied the risk predictors for outcomes by statistical methodology of marginal model with generalized estimating equations (GEE). Statistically, a variety of regression models, namely, generalized linear mixed effect model (GLMM), hierarchical generalized linear model (HGLM) and Bayesian hierarchical model were applied for this analysis and results were compared with GEEs. Some imputation strategies, namely, mean imputation, last observation carrying forward (LOCF), hot-deck imputation and multiple imputation were employed for handling missing values in this study.</p> <p>Analysis results demonstrated that there was no statistically significant association between mode of delivery and postpartum depression [OR 0.99, 95% CI (0.73, 1.34)]. However, the development of postpartum depression was found to be associated with low income, low mental and physical health functioning, lack of social support, the low number of unmet learning needs in hospital, and English or French spoken at home. Results were consistent for all regression models but GEE provided the best fit and an excellent discriminative ability. GEE models were constructed on different datasets imputed by mean, LOCF, hot-deck and multiple imputation, and LOCF was recommended to handle the missing data in this longitudinal study.</p> <p>Analyses on the outcome of maternal health and infant health stated that method of delivery had a statistically significant influence on maternal health but no significant impact on infant health. Risks of maternal health problems were associated with cesarean delivery, good/fair/poor infant health, low maternal mental and physical health functioning, lack of care for maternal mental health, and good/fair/poor health before pregnancy. Risks of infant health problems were associated with good/fair/poor maternal health before pregnancy and after discharge, inadequate care or help for infant health, fair/poor community services after discharge, low maternal mental health functioning, non-English or non-French spoken at home, and mothers born outside of Canada.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Clive J. A. Fullagar / Entrenched within the sphere of positive psychology, the present series of studies takes a progressive approach to understanding and furthering the practical application of constructs subsumed within the subfield of positive organizational behavior (POB). The progression begins with Study 1, which analyzes the factorial structure and psychometric footholds of the primary measurement instrument for Psychological Capital (PsyCap), one of the newer positive psychological constructs. This study suggested that both the measurement of this construct in addition to its factor structure may need to be reevaluated in order to best conceptualize the multifactorial nature of this variable. In turn, Study 2 involves resilience, one of the four aspects of PsyCap, and suggests that it may play an important role in molding employees’ work experiences. Specifically, Study 2 explores the relations between workload and eudaimonic and hedonic well-being over a two-week period, finding that workload is negatively related to eudaimonic well-being, but, interestingly, positively related to hedonic well-being. However, hypotheses suggesting that resilience and role salience may independently moderate workload’s relations with eudaimonic and hedonic well-being were not supported. Finally, recognizing the potential value of these positive psychological constructs (resilience and well-being in particular) for employers and employees alike, Study 3 aimed to develop interventions capable of increasing individuals’ positive personal resources, whereby they may enhance their ability to endure work challenges and even thrive in the face of such challenges. Findings indicated that the intervention targeting resilience did not result in significant differences between a control group and the intervention group. The intervention targeting well-being resulted in no differences in hedonic well-being, but did evidence differences on the personal growth aspect of eudaimonic well-being. Overall, these three studies taken together speak to the applicability of positive organizational behavior constructs in the workplace, and how such constructs might be enhanced in employees.

Vector autoregressive (VAR) models are frequently used for forecasting and impulse response analysis. For both applications, shrinkage priors can help improving inference. In this paper we derive the shrinkage prior of Griffin et al. (2010) for the VAR case and its relevant conditional posterior distributions. This framework imposes a set of normally distributed priors on the autoregressive coefficients and the covariances of the VAR along with Gamma priors on a set of local and global prior scaling parameters. This prior setup is then generalized by introducing another layer of shrinkage with scaling parameters that push certain regions of the parameter space to zero. A simulation exercise shows that the proposed framework yields more precise estimates of the model parameters and impulse response functions. In addition, a forecasting exercise applied to US data shows that the proposed prior outperforms other specifications in terms of point and density predictions. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

<p>Chlamydia trachomatis, the causative agent of trachoma and sexually transmitted infections, employs a type III secretion (T3S) system to deliver effector proteins into host epithelial cells to establish a replicative vacuole. Although the temporal manner in which effectors are secreted is important for the proper manipulation of host cell functions, the mechanism remains a mystery. In this study, we provide several lines of evidence that T3S chaperones may impart coherence to effector secretion. In addition, we identified a new early T3S effector in Chlamydia. Aside from the phosphoprotein TARP, a Chlamydia effector that promotes actin re-arrangements, very few factors mediating bacterial entry and early inclusion establishment have been characterized. By defining proteins that associate with the three most abundant T3S chaperones, Slc1, Scc2 and Mcsc in invasive C. trachomatis elementary bodies (EB) by immunoprecipitation coupled with mass spectrometry, we identified Ct875, a new Slc1 client protein and T3S effector, which we renamed TepP (Translocated early phosphoprotein). We provide evidence that T3S effectors form stable complexes with Scl1 in vitro and that Slc1 enhances their T3S-dependent secretion in a heterologous Yersinia T3S system. We demonstrate that TepP is translocated early during bacterial entry into epithelial cells and is phosphorylated at tyrosine residues by host kinases. However, TepP phosphorylation occurs later than TARP, which together with the finding that Slc1 preferentially engages TARP in EBs leads us to postulate that these effectors are translocated into the host cell at different stages during C. trachomatis invasion. TepP co-immunoprecipitated with the scaffolding proteins CrkI-II during infection and Crk was recruited to nascent inclusions. Importantly, C. trachomatis mutants lacking TepP failed to recruit CrkI-II to inclusions, providing genetic confirmation of a direct role for this effector in the recruitment of a host factor. Finally, endocervical epithelial cells infected with a tepP mutant showed altered expression of a subset of genes associated with innate immune responses and lack of C. trachomatis-induced morphological changes. We propose a model wherein TepP acts downstream of TARP to recruit scaffolding proteins at entry sites to initiate and amplify signaling cascades important for the regulation of innate immune responses to Chlamydia.</p> / Dissertation

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) is a public domain standard for file formats which is documented and maintained by the National Center for Super Computing Applications. HDF is the standard adopted by the F-22 program to increase efficiency of avionics data processing and utility of the data. This paper will discuss how the data processing Integrated Product Team (IPT) on the F-22 program plans to use HDF for file format standardization. The history of the IPT choosing HDF, the efficiencies gained by choosing HDF, and the ease of data transfer will be explained.

The diffusion behavior of guest molecules introduced in porous materials has been studied. Diffusion studies in such porous materials may help for elucidating the structural properties, transport mechanism and/or surface barriers of the zeolite structure. The focus of this work is on diffusion in nanoporous materials with complex pore spaces. First a short introduction in the basics of diffusion and the PFG NMR technique (Pulsed Field Gradient Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) is described. In the following two chapters the diffusion in hierarchical pore spaces or, to be more precise, zeolites with generated mesopores, which traverse the microporous bulk phase, are investigated. The hierarchical pore spaces consists in the first case of micro- and mesopores and in the second case of micro-, meso- and macropores. The diffusion behavior in these materials has been investigated revealing diffusion acceleration in the mesoporous samples, as compared to the purely microporous material. In the next chapter the diffusion behavior in glass samples with different porosity and their complementary pore space is investigated. Diffusion with full loaded pore spaces and surface diffusion, where the molecules were only able to diffuse along the pore walls, has been explored. The aim was to find out to what extent the diffusion in two complementary pore spaces is correlated. In the last chapter, the effect of an inorganic binder on the transport in zeolite pellets has been studied. First the diffusion behavior in binderless zeolite beads in comparison with the zeolite powder employed for their production has been explored. The particular interest was to find out up to which extent the diffusion patterns observed with the powder samples could again be recognized in the beads. In a second study the transport characteristics within binderless molecular sieves have been investigated, with the purpose to reveal differences in the diffusion behavior in comparison with their binder-containing counterparts.