Distribution of orexin-A-like immunoreactivity (ORX-LI) in rat brains was investigated with the use of a rabbit polyclonal antibody against the full length peptide orexin A. Virtually all the ORX-LI cell bodies were observed in the lateral hypothalamus at the level of median eminence. The large majority of ORX-LI neurons appeared spherical or fusiform, 20-30 μm in diameter and issued two to five cell processes with few secondary branchings. Numerous ORX-LI fibers were observed in subregions of the hypothalamus. ORX- LI cell processes were sparsely distributed in the cortex, hippocampus and thalamus. Many varicose ORX-LI cell processes were situated close to the 3rd and lateral ventricles, some of which appeared to be protruding into the lumen. As a corollary, orexin A may be released into the ventricles and interact with neurons in distant targets, in addition to influencing the activity of neurons with which ORX-LI axons make synaptic contacts.

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Yes / Tanycytes play multiple roles in hypothalamic functions, including sensing peripheral nutrients and metabolic hormones, regulating neurosecretion and mediating seasonal cycles of reproduction and metabolic physiology. This last function reflects the expression of TSH receptors in tanycytes, which detect photoperiod-regulated changes in TSH secretion from the neighbouring pars tuberalis. The present overall aim was to determine the signal transduction pathway by which TSH signals in tanycytes. Expression of the TSH receptor in tanycytes of 10-day-old Sprague Dawley rats was observed by in situ hybridisation. Primary ependymal cell cultures prepared from 10-day-old rats were found by immunohistochemistry to express vimentin but not GFAP and by PCR to express mRNA for Dio2, Gpr50, Darpp-32 and Tsh receptors that are characteristic of tanycytes. Treatment of primary tanycyte/ependymal cultures with TSH (100 IU/l) increased cAMP as assessed by ELISA and induced a cAMP-independent increase in the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 as assessed by western blot analysis. Furthermore, TSH (100 IU/l) stimulated a 2.17-fold increase in Dio2 mRNA expression. We conclude that TSH signal transduction in cultured tanycytes signals via Gαs to increase cAMP and via an alternative G protein to increase phosphorylation of ERK1/2.

Master of Science / Department of Statistics / Paul I. Nelson / The principle of least squares applied to regression models estimates parameters by minimizing the mean of squared residuals. Least squares estimators are optimal under normality but can perform poorly in the presence of outliers. This well known lack of robustness motivated the development of alternatives, such as least median of squares estimators obtained by minimizing the median of squared residuals. This report uses simulation to examine and compare the robustness of least median of squares estimators and least squares estimators of the slope of a regression line through the origin in terms of bias and mean squared error in a variety of conditions containing outliers created by using mixtures of normal and heavy tailed distributions. It is found that least median of squares estimation is almost as good as least squares estimation under normality and can be much better in the presence of outliers.

Median filtering is a non-linear filtering technique which is effective in removing impulsive noise from data. In this thesis, directional median filtering has been implemented using cumulative histogram of samples in several directions. Different methods to implement directional median filtering have been proposed. The filtered images are smoothed along the direction of the filtering window. All implementations aimed to generate outputs in the least amount of time, while reducing the resource utilization on hardware. The implementation methods were designed for Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGA devices but were also attempted on Spartan 3E. The proposed methods used less than 30% of the resources on Virtex 5 FPGA but the resource utilization on Spartan 3E exceeded the number of available resources. After an initial delay, methods 1 and 2 generate a new output for every 5 clock cycles while method 3 generates an output for every 1.5 clock cycles.

Constructing the genomic median of several given genomes is crucial in developing evolutionary trees, since the genomic median provides an estimate for the ordering of the genes in a common ancestor of the given genomes. This is due to the fact that the content of DNA molecules is often similar, but the difference is mainly in the order in which the genes appear in various genomes. The mutations that affect this ordering are called genome rearrangements, and many structural differences between genomes can be studied using genome rearrangements. In this thesis our main focus is on applying combinatorial optimization techniques to genomic median problems, with particular emphasis on the breakpoint distance as a measure of the difference between two genomes. We will study different variations of the breakpoint median problem from signed to unsigned, unichromosomal to multichromosomal, and linear to circular to mixed. We show how these median problems can be formulated in terms of problems in combinatorial optimization, and take advantage of well-known combinatorial optimization techniques and apply these powerful methods to study various median problems. Some of these median problems are polynomial and many are NP-hard. We find efficient algorithms and approximation methods for median problems based on well-known combinatorial optimization structures. The focus is on algorithmic and combinatorial aspects of genomic medians, and how they can be utilized to obtain optimal median solutions.

Constructing the genomic median of several given genomes is crucial in developing evolutionary trees, since the genomic median provides an estimate for the ordering of the genes in a common ancestor of the given genomes. This is due to the fact that the content of DNA molecules is often similar, but the difference is mainly in the order in which the genes appear in various genomes. The mutations that affect this ordering are called genome rearrangements, and many structural differences between genomes can be studied using genome rearrangements. In this thesis our main focus is on applying combinatorial optimization techniques to genomic median problems, with particular emphasis on the breakpoint distance as a measure of the difference between two genomes. We will study different variations of the breakpoint median problem from signed to unsigned, unichromosomal to multichromosomal, and linear to circular to mixed. We show how these median problems can be formulated in terms of problems in combinatorial optimization, and take advantage of well-known combinatorial optimization techniques and apply these powerful methods to study various median problems. Some of these median problems are polynomial and many are NP-hard. We find efficient algorithms and approximation methods for median problems based on well-known combinatorial optimization structures. The focus is on algorithmic and combinatorial aspects of genomic medians, and how they can be utilized to obtain optimal median solutions.

This research attempts to examine whether economic, social, political and institutional factors affected local public expenditures (per capita) in Taiwan. The panel data regression analysis, covering the period from 1989 to 2007, used statistics from the 21 prefectures (5 cities and 16 counties) of Taiwan by applying the median voter model and political business cycle (PBC) model. The findings from the empirical data suggest that the explanatory variable of the median income is significant and has a positive sign as predicted by the priori expectation, with the exception of economic development expenditure. The gap between the median income and average income variables has positive signs in the total, social welfare, police and economic development expenditures. The tax share variable and grant variable on all categories of spending are significant, but the positive sign of the tax share variable contrasts a priori expectations. The population variable and population density variable have negative signs in different expenditures, while the social welfare and the education, science, and culture expenditures have positive signs. Comparing the difference before and after the downsizing of the Taiwan Provincial Government, the significance of the latter is higher than the former, and the effects of various variables differ. The results of this research also indicated that the variables of the pre-election year, election year and post-election year demonstrated statistical significance with varying directional tendencies, and that the results are inconsistent with the traditional hypothesis of the election cycle. The incumbent magistrates or mayors, regardless of whether they do or do not intend on re-election, exhibit no significant influence on most expenditures, and thus this does not agree with a priori expectations. The administrative satisfactions of incumbent magistrates or mayors have statistically significant influence on the expenditures and deficits. Generally, the Pan-KMT incumbent magistrates or mayors have more motives to increase the total and capital expenditures and deficits than the Pan-DPP. Interestingly, the KMT party, which held the majority of seats in the county council, has a positive sign and statistically significant influence on the expenditure of grants to townships. The evidence has demonstrated that a unified government or divided government (horizontal type or vertical type) has no significant influence on most of the expenditure forms, although a negative sign on social welfare expenditure is evident in 21 counties and cities. The lagged deficit is significant with a positive sign, which implies that the insufficiency of local accountability and deficits are becoming a long-term problem. When comparing the power of the median voter model and political business cycle model in explaining the local public expenditure, a non-nested test was implemented. No model was found to hold an advantage over another model. In brief, the current research indicates that the factors of the majority voters' demands, elections and parties indeed have different influences on various expenditure forms in Taiwan.

Constructing the genomic median of several given genomes is crucial in developing evolutionary trees, since the genomic median provides an estimate for the ordering of the genes in a common ancestor of the given genomes. This is due to the fact that the content of DNA molecules is often similar, but the difference is mainly in the order in which the genes appear in various genomes. The mutations that affect this ordering are called genome rearrangements, and many structural differences between genomes can be studied using genome rearrangements. In this thesis our main focus is on applying combinatorial optimization techniques to genomic median problems, with particular emphasis on the breakpoint distance as a measure of the difference between two genomes. We will study different variations of the breakpoint median problem from signed to unsigned, unichromosomal to multichromosomal, and linear to circular to mixed. We show how these median problems can be formulated in terms of problems in combinatorial optimization, and take advantage of well-known combinatorial optimization techniques and apply these powerful methods to study various median problems. Some of these median problems are polynomial and many are NP-hard. We find efficient algorithms and approximation methods for median problems based on well-known combinatorial optimization structures. The focus is on algorithmic and combinatorial aspects of genomic medians, and how they can be utilized to obtain optimal median solutions.