Microorganisms are widespread in all ecosystems and play critical roles in nature. They are major players in global biogeochemical cycles that are fundamental in nutrient cycling. Molecular ecology surveys that investigate the microbial diversity of many different environments have revealed an impressive diversity of microbes in nature and have highlighted our inability to cultivate the vast majority of them in the laboratory. The improvement of our ability to grow uncultivable microbes in laboratory conditions will help us in this challenging task. Standard cultivation methods that have helped to bring to culture many relevant microorganisms in the past century are, however, characterized by limitations which hamper the isolation of novel microbes. For this reason, alternative cultivation strategies have been developed in recent decades which have allowed to expand the collection of environmentally relevant but poorly represented microbial strains. The use of such novel approaches for investigating the microbial diversity of underexplored natural ecosystems, such as sub-tropical mangrove forests, can result in the isolation, in laboratory conditions, of bacterial strains belonging to previously undescribed taxa. Mangroves are unique environments exposed to strong selection forces with respect to other marine environments, including high temperatures, salinity and oligotrophy. I hypothesize that these unique combinations of environmental features have selected microbiomes with unique characteristics. The aim of this PhD research is to explore the bacterial diversity of the Red Sea mangrove ecosystem, by applying an alternative cultivation strategy that uses oligotrophic conditions and long incubation time. I also exploited the diffusion chamber to cultivate bacterial taxa belonging to rarely isolated or even novel genera. This approach allowed me to isolate four novel bacterial taxa. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the isolated bacteria were identified as one novel species and three novel genera belonging to Alpha-proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes, respectively. These isolates were further characterized and described through genomic, phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, and phenotypic analysis to describe their ecological significance in the ecosystem of origin (i.e., mangrove sediments). This study reveals that the extreme conditions of the Red Sea mangroves have selected a unique and yet mostly untapped culturable microbiome with great potential for environmental applications.

WE SEE THINGS WITH OUR EYES AND WE WANT THEM is a novel is stories following a female narrator, Janine, through adolescence and adulthood. Whether inspired by a spark of sexual tension over snack cakes, a broken down purple ‘96 Saturn named Lydia, a child’s pool party, or an ill-advised journey through a hospital air-vent system, Janine finds herself obsessed with trying to understand those she loves, and attempts to share the deeper parts of herself in the process.

This thesis presents an analysis of the ghosts in Samuel Richardson’s 1747-48 novel Clarissa, and synthesizes traditional literary criticism on that novel with British folklore and ghost traditions. It examines the novel historically and demonstrates that Richardson’s novelistic approach changed between 1740 when he wrote Pamela and 1747 when he began writing Clarissa in that he relies on the ghost image to discuss the complexities of individual identity. In Clarissa, Richardson outdoes his previous attempt at depicting reality in Pamela because his use of the ghost motif allows the audience to see beyond the physical reality of the plot into the spiritual depths of the human heart. Clarissa involves the journey of a young woman attempting to establish a sense of identity and selfhood, and the ghosts of the novel supply a lens for interpreting her course toward a sense of self that transcends the material world, its wants, its objectives, its myriad institutions, and the identity she has constructed by association with those entities.

This dissertation proposes a novel and effective system for tracking high-speed skaters. A novel registration method is employed to automatically discover key frames to build the panorama. Then, the homography between a frame and the real world rink can be generated accordingly. Aimed at several challenging tracking problems of short track skating, a novel multiple-objects tracking approach is proposed which includes: Gaussian mixture models (GMMs), evolving templates, constrained dynamical model, fuzzy model, multiple templates initialization, and evolution. The outputs of the system include spatialtemporal trajectories, velocity analysis, and 2D reconstruction animations. The tracking accuracy is about 10 cm (2 pixels). Such information is invaluable for sports experts. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed system.

The biotechnology revenues in the United States exceeded $100 billion in 2010 and the potential impact of synthetic biological engineering has been identified nationally as an emerging technology to further expand the national bioeconomy. Synthetic biological engineering approaches biology from an engineering perspective to make biology easier to engineer. The potential to engineer microorganisms for novel applications can have far-reaching implications and benefits for society. Some of the potential applications range from biosensors, biofuels, therapeutics, and biomaterials. In this study two biomaterials were produced in genetically engineered Escherichia coli: polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs) and spider silk. PHBs are bioplastics that have similar properties to petrochemical-derived plastics. Synthetic biological engineering can be used to optimize PHB extraction from E. coli by secretion of the PHB polymer outside of the cell. Another biomaterial, spider silk, was also produced in E. coli. Spider silk is a unique material with high tensile strength and elasticity and thus could have a wide range of potential applications. Since spider silk is not naturally produced in microorganisms, the DNA sequences were optimized for increased production in E. coli. In addition to optimization of bioproduct production in microorganisms using synthetic biology, another major cost is the carbon substrate. In this study wastewater microalgae were used as an alternative carbon substrate. Coupling synthetic biological engineering and sustainable engineering could potentially make production of bioproducts economically viable in the future.

The block building, Lego construction, pen drawing, and painting of four preschool children were analyzed in terms of the construction of form diversity and new form production. Social descriptive reinforcement, contingent on the production of any form not previously constructed within the current session and overt modeling of forms never seen produced during the study, increased form diversity scores per session and new form production (forms never seen before in the child's total prior sequence of blockbuilding sessions). The results indicated that after training, form diversity scores generalized to topographically similar and dissimilar media of expression. New form production generalized to topographically similar and dissimilar media in the majority of the children.

Wendt's accomplishments as an artist of Polynesia and positions he held at different universities are presented in Chapter I. This marks the significant contributions he has made in different genres in which he has written, like novels, short stories, and poetry, that make him a major influence in the Pacific. Chapter II analyzes the theoretical framework within the fa'a-Samoa in which a matai (chief) is presented, a revered office filled by respectable individuals. To make this point clear, I present the theoretical groundwork in Appendix A of how an individual becomes a matai. Chapter III explores how Faleasa Osovae, the protagonist of Pouliuli, mirrors Mersault of The Stranger. This points out Camus's influence on Wendt. Chapter IV investigates similarities of behaviors found among Faleasa Osovae, Mersault, and Bazarov of Turgenev's Father's and Sons. It connects Wendt and Camus to nihilism. This philosophical orientation, however, is toned down when a historical figure, Tupua Tamasese, III (Appendix B), is presented in contrast to remind readers about the historical role of a matai in the fa'a-Samoa. Chapter V explores the cognition theory that looks into behaviors of protagonists. Chapter VI is a discussion of the irony of Faleasa Osovae's behavior. Though I offer some explanation for Faleasa's behavior when I draw parallels between him and Mersault of The Stranger and Bazarov of Father's and Sons, which almost gives him justification for behaving like King Lear, it would be improper in Samoan thought to consider Faleasa a cultural artifact of the fa'a-Samoa.

Suite aux premiers travaux réalisés par Ito, Hayashi, Unimoto et Hashmi à la fin du siècle dernier, de nombreux groupes de recherche à travers le monde ont contribué à l’important développement de la catalyse homogène à l’or. Ce dernier, possédant une activité catalytique unique, donne accès à un bon nombre de nouvelles synthèses de composés, jusque-là inaccessible en utilisant d’autres méthodes.Les ynamides, un sous-groupe d’alcynes hétéro-substitués, sont des intermédiaires de synthèse ayant une réactivité et une stabilité modulable. Ils trouvent leur application dans des réactions telles que les additions, les cycloadditions et les cycloisomérisations.Dans ce manuscrit sont présentés deux travaux impliquant des réactions d’ynamides en présence d’un catalyseur à l’or.1) Réarrangement d’éthers de propargyliques d’ynamides catalysé par l’or (I) : Un accès pratique aux allénamides substitués.Les allénamides sont des composés qui présentent de nombreuses applications, d’où l’engouement présent pour accéder à ces composés. Nous avons montré que des allénamides substitués et fonctionnalisés sont facilement accessibles par une réaction de transfert d’hydrure [1,5] suivi d’une fragmentation, le tout catalysé par de l’or et en utilisant des ynamides comme substrats.Notre méthode est rapide et pratique. En effet, la réaction se fait dans des conditions douces (température ambiante) avec une charge catalytique faible (4 mol% de catalyseur à l’or) et donne d’excellents rendements (jusqu’à 99%). En plus d’une bonne compatibilité fonctionnelle sur le carbone terminal (R1 et R2), notre méthode tolère aussi des substituants azotés variés (R’ et R’’). De plus, d’autres transformations in-situ sur les allénamides formés in-situ ont été effectuées. Quelques composés spiros et diènes interessants ont été obtenus avec des rendements excellents.2) Catalyse duale à l’or : Une synthèse originale de dérivés tertahydroquinolines par un mécanisme formel d’addition [4+2]Bien qu’une vaste majorité de la catalyse à l’or contient une activation du système π d’une liaison multiple par un seul complexe d’or, des innovations récentes mettant en jeu deux atomes d’or sur une seule molécule ont été développées par plusieurs groupes, dont le nôtre.Le cycle catalytique est initié par la formation de l’acétylénure d’or et par la coordination d’un autre complexe d’or de la liaison triple de l’ynamide. Après une attaque nucléophile de l’acétylenure d’or sur l’ynamine, un vinylidène d’or est formé. Ce dernier est piégé par la double liaison, donnant naissance au cycle aromatique. / General introductionSince the pioneering work by Ito, Hayashi, Unimoto and Hashmi in late of last century, homogeneous gold catalysis has witnessed tremendous development by contributions from research groups all over the world. Gold catalysts, possessing unique catalytic reactivity, intrigued a large number of novel approaches to target molecules which cannot be accessed by other methodology. Ynamide, which belongs to a subclass of hetero-substituted alkynes, represents a versatile building block with balanced reactivity and stability and found a series of applications in useful transformations, such as additions, cycloadditions and cycloisomerizations.As part of our ongoing interest in gold catalysis and ynamide chemistry, in this manuscript, two works involving ynamide in the presence of gold catalyst was presented:1). Gold(I)-Catalyzed Rearrangement of Propargyl Ethers of ynamides: A Practical Method for the synthesis of Substituted AllenamidesAllenamides are versatile synthetic building blocks that have seen numerous applications and therefore great efforts have been devoted to the access to such compounds. We have shown that a series of substituted and functionalized allenamides were easily accessible via a gold catalysted 1,5-hydride shift/fragmentation sequence using ynamides as the starting material. Our method is rapid and practical. It can be performed under very mild conditions (room temperature) with low catalyst loading (4% gold catalyst) and gave excellent yields (up to 99% yield). Besides the good functionality compatibility in the carbon terminal (R1 and R2), our method also tolerate variuous Nitrogen substituents (R’ and R’’). Moreover, further transformation using in-situ formed allenamides was achieved. Some interesting spiral and diene compounds were also formed in excellent yield.2). Dual gold catalysis: a unique approach to derived-tetrahydroquinolines by a formal [4+2] pathwayAlthough vast majority of gold catalysis features π-activation of a multiple bond by a single gold complex, recent innovative advance involving two gold centers in one single molecule was disclosed recently by several research groups and also by our group.The catalytic cycle was initiated by the formation of gold acetylide and coordination of another gold complex to the triple bond of ynamide. After nucleophilic attack of gold acetylide onto ynamide, gold vinylidene was generated. The formed gold vinylidene was then trapped by double bond, giving rise to aromatic rings.

No description available.

No description available.