Mushrooms and insects are both integral components of ecosystems worldwide. Interactions between these two groups of organisms are particularly interesting to study due to the transient nature of mushroom fruiting bodies, which form for a short period of time when environmental conditions are optimal to allow the fungus to distribute its spores. Despite this unpredictability in where and when mushrooms will grow, a variety of insect species use mushrooms as a food source and a substrate on which to lay their eggs. Interactions between these two groups of organisms have been documented extensively in Europe. However, little is known about the diversity of insects that associate with mushrooms in Canada. In this study, 1,017 mushrooms were collected from forests in Hamilton and the Tillsonburg, Ontario regions between fall 2018 and fall 2019. Mushrooms and their associated insects were identified through DNA barcoding using sequences of the nuclear ITS region and the mitochondrial CO1 gene for the mushrooms and insects, respectively. In total, more than 100 insect species from at least 35 families and five orders were identified from the approximately 200 mushroom species collected. While some insect species displayed evidence of specificity in their choice of mushroom host, the larger network of associations was moderately generalized and many insect species inhabited mushrooms from multiple families and orders. This study highlights the incredible diversity of organisms that rely on mushrooms for survival and contributes to our overall understanding of mushroom-insect associations in this region of Southern Ontario. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Mushrooms and insects are both highly important organisms within ecosystems around the world. Mushrooms play key roles in breaking down organic matter within forests and contributing to plant health, while insects are important decomposers and pollinators. This project involved collecting over 1,000 mushrooms from two regions in Southern Ontario and identifying the insect species found living within these mushrooms in order to examine patterns in the interactions. To our knowledge, this is the first time a survey of mushroom-insect associations has been conducted in Canada. The collected mushrooms were inhabited by a diverse range of insect species, which included mostly flies and beetles, and each of the main sampling locations had their own unique mushroom and insect communities. Some insect species displayed preference in their choice of mushroom host. Overall, this study contributes greatly to our current understanding of mushroom and insect diversity in this part of Canada.

<div><div><p>Important cellular processes such as migration, differentiation, and development often rely on precise timing. Yet, the molecular machinery that regulates timing is inherently noisy. How do cells achieve precise timing with noisy components? We investigate this question using a first-passage-time approach, for an event triggered by a molecule that crosses an abundance threshold. We investigate regulatory strategies that decrease the timing noise of molecular events. We look at several strategies which decrease the noise: i) Regulation performed by an accumulating activator, ii) Regulation dues to a degrading repressor, iii) Auto-regulation and the presence of feedback. We find that either activation or repression outperforms an unregulated strategy. The optimal regulation corresponds to a nonlinear increase in the amount of the target molecule over time, arises from a tradeoff between minimizing the timing noise of the regulator and that of the target molecule itself, and is robust to additional effects such as bursts and cell division. Our results are in quantitative agreement with the nonlinear increase and low noise of <i>mig-1</i> gene expression in migrating neuroblast cells during <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> development. These findings suggest that dynamic regulation may be a simple and powerful strategy for precise cellular timing.</p><p>Autoregulatory feedback increases noise. Yet, we find that in the presence of regulation by a second species, autoregulatory feedback decreases noise. To explain this finding, we develop a method to calculate the optimal regulation function that minimizes the timing noise. Our method reveals that the combination of feedback and regulation minimizes noise by maximizing the number of molecular events that must happen in sequence before a threshold is crossed. We compute the optimal timing precision for all two-node networks with regulation and feedback, derive a generic lower bound on timing noise, and compare our results with the neuroblast migration during <i>C. elegans</i> development, as well as two mutants. We finds that indeed our model is aligned with the experimental findings.</p></div></div><div><p>Furthermore, we apply our framework of temporal regulation to explain how the stopping point of the migrating cells in <i>C. elegans</i> depends on the body size. Considering temporal regulation, we find the termination point of the cell for various larval sizes. We discuss three possible mechanisms: i) No compensation; here the migration velocity is constant across the mutants of <i>C. elegans</i>, and this results in the migration distance to be constant but the relative position to be different across various sizes; ii) Total compensation; here the velocity is compensated with body size, hence resulting in the same relative position of cells across mutants; and iii) Partial compensation; here the velocity of migration is correlated with body size to some degree, resulting in a non-linear relationship between termination point and body size. We find that our partial compensation model is consistent with experimental observations of cell termination.</p><p>Finally, we look at the detection of traveling waves by single-celled organisms. Cells must use temporal and spatial information to sense the direction of traveling waves, as seen in cAMP detection by the <i>amoeba </i><i>Dictyostelium</i>. If a cell only uses spatial information to sense the direction of the wave then the cell will move forward when the wave hits the front of the cell, and move backward when the wave hits the back of the cell, resulting in neutral movement. Cells must use temporal information along with spatial information to effectively move towards the source. Here we develop a mechanism by which cells are able to integrate the spatial and temporal information through a system of inhibitors. We find the optimal time to release the inhibitors for maximizing the precision of directional sensing.</p></div>

The concept of ecosystem services is getting more used in planning. One important type of cultural ecosystem services is recreation, which has to be consumed where it is provided in contrast to services that can be transported to the beneficiaries. This creates a demand for users to move to the site of the service, making accessibility an important characteristic of the service. In a sustainable region the access to different services, including recreation, has to be considered in planning. With general transit feed specification data available, storing spatial information and time tables for public transport, the possibility to create time table dependent travel time models emerge. This study utilizes a prototype tool for a geographic information system software to create a network model using time tables to calculate travel times between different origins and water related, cultural ecosystem services via the public transport network in Stockholm County, Sweden. This allows for mapping of spatial variation of access within a region, and by combining this with current census data and population forecasts potential visitors to different recreational sites now and in the future can be estimated. By consulting regional planners in the design of the study the results were made useful for the study area Stockholm County as planning support system.

The primary aim of this dissertation was to examine the implications of conceptualizing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a multilateral and multilevel phenomenon. The first research study in the dissertation examines the implication of a multilateral perspective on FDI in our assessment of the relationship between inward FDI and the economic growth and development of the host countries. This study showed that inward FDI positively impacts the economic growth of the host countries in both the short and long term. The second research study focused on conceptualizing FDI as a multilevel phenomenon. The fundamental premise of this chapter was to explicitly acknowledge that even though the implications of FDI can be observed at the aggregate level, such as host countries, as was the case in the first research study, these consequences emerge from the decisions of the individual firms. Furthermore, the findings of this research study demonstrate that different levels of FDI are interconnected but have different implications for the firm’s performance. Drawing upon the existing literature, two considered levels were location-based FDI networks and interfirm collocation networks. Empirical analyses showed that location-based networks are characterized by agglomeration and lead to positive production externalities, while competitive interactions characterize interfirm collocation networks and lead to negative production externalities. Consequently, increasing agglomeration is associated with increasing production output, and increasing competitive interaction is associated with decreasing production output of the firms. In the last research study, we considered how different network externalities, as explicated in the previous chapter, impact the firms' strategic decision-making. This study shows that firm membership in the country-of-origin network helps them make better decisions, while membership in interform collocation networks worsens their decision-making abilities. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

La fièvre de la Vallée du Rift (FVR) est une arbovirose zoonotique décrite pour la première fois en 1930 au Kenya. Transmise principalement entre ruminants par des moustiques des genres Aedes, Culex et Anopheles, elle peut aussi se transmettre à l'homme par contact direct avec des produits d'avortement ou des fluides corporels d'animaux virémiques. Cette maladie a été décrite dans de nombreux pays d'Afrique ainsi que sur la péninsule arabique et dans l'Océan Indien. La circulation du virus de la FVR (VFVR) a été décrite dans 3 écosystèmes distincts : (i) les zones semi-arides sud- et est-africaines, (ii) les mares temporaires des zones arides, (iii) les zones irriguées adjacentes à de grands fleuves. Au sein de chacun de ces écosystèmes, le rôle des mouvements d'animaux dans l'introduction du VFVR et des moustiques vecteurs dans sa transmission ont fortement été mis en avant. Malgré l'existence de modèles statistiques pouvant prédire l'émergence du VFVR en Afrique de l'est notamment grâce au niveau de pluviométrie, les mécanismes de transmissions en jeu dans les autres régions sont encore incertains. L'apparition de foyers dans un écosystème tempéré et montagneux de Madagascar, où les espèces et abondances vectorielles ne sont pas favorable à la persistance du VFVR, suscite des interrogations quant à ces mécanismes. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'identifier les facteurs et les processus épidémiologiques permettant la circulation récurrente du VFVR dans un écosystème tempéré de Madagascar. L'étude a pris en considération les pratiques socio-économiques ainsi que les principaux moustiques vecteurs du virus de la zone tempérée des hautes terres malgaches. Les principaux modes de diffusion du virus entre bovins ont été étudiés au cours de 3 années de suivi sérologique. Un modèle mathématique calibré sur la base de nombreuses données empiriques collectées dans cette zone est proposé. Deux pratiques commerciales ont pu être distinguées : le commerce classique et une pratique traditionnelle de troc. Les résultats de l'analyse suggèrent une implication différente de ces deux pratiques dans la circulation du VFVR. Alors que le commerce pourrait permettre l'introduction du virus, la pratique du troc serait quant à elle le support de la circulation au sein de la zone. Un modèle déterministe est construit afin de comparer quatre scénarios pouvant expliquer la circulation virale dans cet écosystème peu favorable. Les résultats suggèrent que, si la transmission vectorielle reste la principale voie de transmission dans cet écosystème inhabituel, la transmission directe lors du vêlage de vaches virémiques pourrait également jouer un rôle. La circulation du VFVR est de plus favorisée par les pratiques socio-économiques de la zone qui permettent, malgré la saison sèche, l'exposition des bovins introduits et potentiellement virémiques aux moustiques vecteurs. / Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic disease first described in 1930 in Kenya. Primarily transmitted between ruminant by mosquitoes of Aedes, Culex and Anopheles genus, it can also be transmitted to humans by direct contact with abortion products or body fluids of viraemic animals. This disease has been described in many African countries, in the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Ocean. The circulation of RVF virus (RVFV) has been reported in three ecosystems: (i) semi-arid areas of South and East Africa, (ii) temporary ponds in arid areas, (iii) irrigated areas near large rivers. Within each of these ecosystems, the role of animal movements in the introduction of RVFV and that of mosquitoes in virus transmission has been strongly emphasized. Despite the existence of statistical models that predict the emergence of RVFV in East Africa based on rainfall level, the transmission mechanisms involved in other areas are still uncertain. The occurrence of an outbreak in a temperate and mountainous ecosystem of Madagascar, where the species and vector abundances are unfavorable to the persistence of RVFV, raises questions about these mechanisms.The objective of this thesis is to identify the factors and the epidemiological processes that support the RVFV recurrent circulation in a temperate ecosystem of Madagascar. The study took into account the socio-economic practices as well as major mosquito vectors of the area. The main modes of virus spread between cattle were studied during a three years serological follow-up. A mathematical model was elaborated and calibrated using empirical and field data collected in the area. Two cattle exchange practices could be distinguished: the usual trade and a traditional practice of barter. The results of the analysis suggest a different impact of these two practices in RVFV circulation. While trade may allow virus introduction, the barter practice would support its spread within the area. A deterministic model was built to compare four scenarios that could explain the recurrent virus circulation in this unfavorable ecosystem. Results suggest that, if the vector-based transmission remains the main transmission mode, direct transmission from viremic cows at calving could also play a role. RVFV circulation is favored by socio-economic practices of the area that led, despite the dry season, to the exposure of introduced, and potentially viremic, cattle to vectors.

Ventilation problems raised with the beginning of underground mining. In underground mining, to provide safe and healthy working conditions, ventilation should be designed properly. Especially in the planning stage of the project, to design ventilation properly is very important. The latest upgrade of the popular ventilation simulation program, known as VnetPC 2000, has been applied for the ventilation design. In this study simulation is conducted to both auxiliary and main ventilation at &Ccedil / ayirhan G Field. Information describing the geometry of a ventilation network, airway characteristics and locations, characteristics of different fans were prepared as an input. The output includes predicted airflows, frictional pressure drops, air power, losses in airway and fan operating points for different trials. After different trials it has been found that for auxiliary ventilation, where minimum required amount of air is 6 m3/s, ENGART, 30A 40SCV/60HR model fan which is the most economical one was selected. For main ventilation system, 5 fans which provide airflow more than minimum requirement were chosen. Among them the most economical one, that is ALPHAIR-5400VAX2100 HB, was selected for the mine.

The astonishing progress of molecular biology, engineering and computer science has resulted in mature technologies capable of examining multiple cellular components at a genome-wide scale. Protein-protein interactions are one example of such growing data. These data are often organised as networks with proteins as nodes and interactions as edges. Albeit still incomplete, there is now a substantial amount of data available and there is a need for biologically meaningful methods to analyse and interpret these interactions. In this thesis we focus on how to compare protein interaction networks (PINs) and on the rela- tionship between network architecture and the biological characteristics of proteins. The underlying theme throughout the dissertation is the use of small subgraphs – small interaction patterns between 2-5 proteins. We start by examining two popular scores that are used to compare PINs and network models. When comparing networks of the same model type we find that the typical scores are highly unstable and depend on the number of nodes and edges in the networks. This is unsatisfactory and we propose a method based on non-parametric statistics to make more meaningful comparisons. We also employ principal component analysis to judge model fit according to subgraph counts. From these analyses we show that no current model fits to the PINs; this may well reflect our lack of knowledge on the evolution of protein interactions. Thus, we use explanatory variables such as protein age and protein structural class to find patterns in the interactions and subgraphs we observe. We discover that the yeast PIN is highly heterogeneous and therefore no single model is likely to fit the network. Instead, we focus on ego-networks containing an initial protein plus its interacting partners and their interaction partners. In the final chapter we propose a new, alignment-free method for network comparison based on such ego-networks. The method compares subgraph counts in neighbourhoods within PINs in an averaging, many-to-many fashion. It clusters networks of the same model type and is able to successfully reconstruct species phylogenies solely based on PIN data providing exciting new directions for future research.

Cette thèse propose un cadre d’analyse renouvelé de la gouvernance des territoires ruraux, telle qu’elle est mise en oeuvre dans des dispositifs institutionnels dédiés. Dans un monde globalisé, dans lequel la focalisation sur les processus de croissance des régions entraîne des mutations rapides et parfois peu maitrisées, le développement territorial joue un rôle majeur. Mobiliser les acteurs et valoriser les ressources locales favorise la différenciation des territoires et contribue à la durabilité des actions. Des politiques publiques peuvent soutenir cette démarche en proposant des dispositifs institutionnels de gouvernance, comme les « Collèges de développement territorial » mis en place par le programme du gouvernement brésilien « Territoires de la citoyenneté ». Mais la faible densité démographique de certains territoires, l’existence de projets sociétaux fortement différenciés et les compétences limitées en matière de gouvernance constituent autant d’obstacles. Le travail présenté ici vise à enrichir la réflexion à partir d’investigations réalisées dans deux territoires contrastés de l’État du Pará, situés en Amazonie brésilienne : le Baixo Amazonas et le Nordeste Paraense. Nous avons mené des enquêtes sur les dynamiques territoriales et les dynamiques d’interaction auprès des acteurs impliqués dans les collèges et, à un autre niveau, dans des « Arrangements Productifs Locaux ». Les zonages à dires d’acteurs ont mis en évidence l’influence déterminante des dynamiques entrepreneuriales, des cadres normatifs, de l’urbanisation et des infrastructures sur l’évolution des territoires. Il apparait que les initiatives des acteurs locaux et des institutions publiques sont insuffisamment coordonnées pour favoriser le développement rural. Les analyses des réseaux et des proximités, réalisées à partir d’entretiens ethnographiques et sociométriques, montrent que les dispositifs institutionnels facilitent les collaborations entre les acteurs distants géographiquement ou initialement peu enclins au dialogue, tout en limitant le repli sur des logiques de similitude ou des logiques locales. Il en ressort qu’un accompagnement soutenu doit être apporté tout particulièrement aux membres des dispositifs inscrits dans les réseaux à différents niveaux pour qu’ils adoptent une posture de médiateurs de la gouvernance territoriale et acquièrent les savoir-faire nécessaires. / This thesis proposes a renewed analytic framework of the governance of rural territories, implemented within institutional arrangements. In a globalized world, where focus on growth processes leads to fast and frequently poorly controlled mutations, territorial development plays a fundamental role. Mobilizing actors and developing local resources supports the differentiation of territories and contributes to the sustainability of actions. Public policies can support this approach by proposing institutional arrangements such as the “Territorial Development Collegiate Body” set up by the Brazilian government's “Territories of citizenship” program. Nevertheless, the low demographic density of many rural territories, the existence of societal projects strongly differentiated and the limited competences on governance constitute many other obstacles. This work aims to enrich the reflection, starting from investigations carried out in two contrasted territories in the State of Pará, located in Brazilian Amazon : Baixo Amazonas and Nordeste Paraense. Surveys on territorial dynamics and interaction dynamics were carried out with actors participating within collegiate bodies and with those at the level of “Local Productive Arrangements”. Zoning based on stakeholders' mental representations highlighted the determining influence of entrepreneurial dynamics, normative frameworks, urbanization and infrastructures on the evolution of the territories. It seems that initiatives of local actors and public institutions are insufficiently coordinated to support rural development. Social networks and proximity analysis carried out starting from ethnographic and sociometric interviews show that institutional arrangements facilitate collaborations between actors who are geographically distant or initially not very inclined to communicate, while limiting closure on logics of similarity or local logics. This reveals that a constant assistance must be brought particularly to the members of the arrangements who are embedded in networks at various levels so that they adopt a posture of mediators of the territorial governance and acquire the necessary know-how.

Text in German with summaries in German and English / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 197-211) / Biblical studies in New Testament are generating considerable interest in the investigation of historical groups, for example by using prosopographic approaches. This thesis presents a new approach to reconstruct the early Christian network in Acts 1-12. We consider the social network analyses (SNA), critical spatiality and Proximal Point Analyses (PPA). Although these approaches show interesting results, they suffer from a global distance measure. Thus, we introduce a novel approach combining SNA and critical spatiality to analyse geographic and social distances. This method represents a valuable alternative to traditional theological tools for answering exegetical questions concerning the social network in Acts 1-12 offering ways for re-thinking and re-interpretation. The network represents the first fulfillment of the promise given in Acts 1:8. Moreover, it allows us to distinguish between protagonists and their influence. Using different distance measurements, we were not only able to describe the high level of solidarity in this network but could also find strong evidences for Peter, Philip and Barnabas being key figures. Acts 1-12 describes mission as led by God and performed by different people with Jerusalem as the centre of activity. This mission is both peripheral and open to people with diverse social, religious and geographic backgrounds. In the novel network of people belonging to the body of Christ human leadership is not important. It was not possible to apply this method to all exegetical questions due to the fact that there are only limited historic sources available. / In der neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft wurden verschiedene Methoden wie die Prosopographie zur Erforschung bestimmter Personenkreise verwendet. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Rekonstruktion des frühchristlichen sozialen Netzwerks nach der Darstellung in Apg 1-12. Dazu wird die Methode der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse (SNA), der critical spatiality sowie die Proximal Point Analyse (PPA) verwendet. Dabei werden die methodischen Ansätze von verschiedenen historischen Netzwerkanalysen zusammengetragen und durch eine Verknüpfung von SNA und critical spatiality eine einheitliche Herangehensweise hergeleitet, die auch geographische wie soziale Distanzen darstellen kann. Dabei finden sich in Apg 1-12 sowohl exegetische Fragestellungen, auf die diese Methode aufgrund der schlechten Quellenlage nicht angewendet werden kann, als auch Fragestellungen, die mit dieser Methode unter neuen Gesichtspunkten interpretiert werden kann. So lässt sich im rekonstruierten Netzwerk von Apg 1-12 der erste Abschnitt der Erfüllung der Verheißung aus Apg 1,8 erkennen. Außerdem hilft die SNA, die einzelnen Akteure und ihr Handeln in der Apg besser zu würdigen. So ist ein eigenes Kapitel nicht nur Petrus, sondern auch Philippus und Barnabas gewidmet. Apg 1-12 stellt eine Mission dar, deren alleiniger Urheber Gott ist und die von verschiedensten Menschen mit der Stadt Jerusalem als Zentrum überwiegend dezentral und offen für verschiedene soziale, religiöse und geographische Hintergründe ausgeführt wird. Sie zeichnet ein besonderes Bild vom urchristlichen sozialen Netzwerk, das wenig menschliche Leitung beinhaltet und sich qualitativ unterscheidet. Die Analyse mit verschiedenen Zentralitätsmaßen zeigt ebenfalls die starke Verbundenheit der urchristlichen Gemeinschaft und den signifikanten Beitrag mehrerer Personen / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)

Unemployment among young, less-educated coloured individuals is a major problem in the community of Worcester in the Western Cape. The purpose of the research study is to gain in-depth insight into the impact of unemployment on psychological well-being among young coloured people in Worcester. The study is based on a qualitative approach by conducting semi-structured interviews with twelve unemployed, coloured persons in Worcester. The ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 30 years, with the median age of 20.33 years. Purposive sampling and snowball techniques were used to select these unemployed young persons. Two instruments, a demographic questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide, were used to gather data on the research participants. The transcribed data were analysed by means of content thematic analysis and aided by thematic network analyses. The findings of the study suggest that unemployed participants experience negative feelings daily as a result of their unemployment. Some participants blamed themselves for previous mistakes that they had made, they feel a sense of failure to provide for their children's needs as parents, they expressed feelings of guilt or shame, and compared themselves with employed peers, which is indicative of low self-esteem. Furthermore, unemployment has a financial impact on participants which includes financial dependency on others, unemployment serving as a barrier to being able to fulfil future plans and aspirations as well as unemployment having an effect on the social life of participants in that participants appear to withdraw from social interaction and isolate themselves. For some participants there was a loss of a sense of purpose experiencing difficulties in structuring their time and generally spent their time with passive and purposeless activities. Despite being unemployed, certain other participants seek a sense of purpose and try to spend their time engaging in menial tasks or social activities. Participants expressed an overall positive attitude towards employment which includes regarding work as being very important as well as remaining optimistic about their chances of finding a job. Coping with unemployment daily emerged as one of the struggles experienced by the participants in the study. The process of coping with unemployment daily includes utilising a variety of coping strategies to manage their unemployment as well as to manage negative feelings that emerge from being unemployed. The coping strategies indicated by the participants include listening to music, sleeping, reading the Bible, and talking to their friends or family members. Participants also revealed that they needed and received two types of social support from family and friends to help them cope with their unemployment predicament; including a need for emotional support and a need for instrumental support. Participants in the study experienced judgment by community and family members daily because of their unemployed status which includes stigmatising comments. These comments are internalised by participants which may exert a negative impact on their psychological well-being. Limitations of the study includes, participants could have answered the questions of the semi-structured guide in a socially desirable manner as well as the audio-recorded interviews were transcribed into Afrikaans and translated into English and as such, some of the meaning of what the participants had said could have been lost in the translation process. Recommendations for further research includes exploring whether perceived support have a greater beneficial effect on the psychological well-being of unemployed individuals than received support, as well as the role such types of support play in coping with unemployment. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)