Septic shock due to bacterial infections is one of the main causes of death in intensive care units of the developed world. To a great extent, the efforts to improve the outcomes of life-threatening infections including septic shock have focused on the deployment of antimicrobials of ever increasing potency. However, many pathogenic bacterial strains have acquired resistance to available and even recently introduced antibiotics. Alternate pharmacokinetic strategies constitute another pathway to increased antimicrobial efficacy. In this study, we have demonstrated that a single very high dose of gentamicin can eliminate sensitive and moderately resistant bacterial strains at an accelerated rate with a lower risk of regrowth in an in vitro pharmacodynamic model compared to standard (once daily-equivalent) dosing. This approach may be clinically viable if potential toxicity concerns can be addressed.

Récemment, le développement de systèmes intelligents dédiés pour la compréhension du comportement humain est devenu un axe de recherche très important. En effet, il est très important de comprendre le comportement humain pour rendre les machines capables d'aider et interagir avec les humains. Pour cela, plusieurs approches de l'état de l'art commencent par détecter automatiquement un ensemble de points 2D ou 3D, appelés marqueurs, sur le corps et/ou le visage humain à partir de données visuelles. L’analyse des séquences temporelles de ces marqueurs pose plusieurs défis dus aux erreurs de suivi et aux variabilités temporelles et de pose. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons deux nouvelles représentations spatio-temporelles avec des outils de calcul appropriés pour la compréhension du comportement humain. La première consiste à représenter une séquence temporelle de marqueurs par une trajectoire de matrices de Gram. Les matrices de Gram sont des matrices semi-définies positives de rang fixe et vivent dans un espace non-linéaire dans lequel les outils d’apprentissage automatique conventionnels ne peuvent pas être appliqués directement. Nous évaluons l’efficacité de notre approche dans plusieurs applications, impliquant des marqueurs 2D et 3D de visages et de corps humain, tels que la reconnaissance des émotions à partir des expressions faciales la reconnaissance d’actions et des émotions à partir des données de profondeur 3D. La deuxième représentation proposée dans cette thèse est basée sur les coordonnées barycentriques des marqueurs de visages 2D. Cette représentation permet d’utiliser les outils de calcul et d’apprentissage automatique tels que les techniques d’apprentissage de métrique. Les résultats obtenus en reconnaissance des expressions faciales et en mesure automatique de la sévérité de la dépression à partir du visage montrent tout l’intérêt de la représentation barycentrique combinée à des techniques d’apprentissage automatique. Les résultats obtenus avec les deux méthodes proposées sur des bases de données réelles montrent la compétitivité de nos approches avec les méthodes récentes de l’état de l’art. / Developing intelligent systems dedicated to human behavior understanding has been a very hot research topic in the few recent decades. Indeed, it is crucial to understand the human behavior in order to make machines able to interact with, assist, and help humans in their daily life.. Recent breakthroughs in computer vision and machine learning have made this possible. For instance, human-related computer vision problems can be approached by first detecting and tracking 2D or 3D landmark points from visual data. Two relevant examples of this are given by the facial landmarks detected on the human face and the skeletons tracked along videos of human bodies. These techniques generate temporal sequences of landmark configurations, which exhibit several distortions in their analysis, especially in uncontrolled environments, due to view variations, inaccurate detection and tracking, missing data, etc. In this thesis, we propose two novel space-time representations of human landmark sequences along with suitable computational tools for human behavior understanding. Firstly, we propose a representation based on trajectories of Gram matrices of human landmarks. Gram matrices are positive semi-definite matrices of fixed rank and lie on a nonlinear manifold where standard computational and machine learning techniques could not be applied in a straightforward way. To overcome this issue, we make use of some notions of the Riemannian geometry and derive suitable computational tools for analyzing Gram trajectories. We evaluate the proposed approach in several human related applications involving 2D and 3D landmarks of human faces and bodies such us emotion recognition from facial expression and body movements and also action recognition from skeletons. Secondly, we propose another representation based on the barycentric coordinates of 2D facial landmarks. While being related to the Gram trajectory representation and robust to view variations, the barycentric representation allows to directly work with standard computational tools. The evaluation of this second approach is conducted on two face analysis tasks namely, facial expression recognition and depression severity level assessment. The obtained results with the two proposed approaches on real benchmarks are competitive with respect to recent state-of-the-art methods.

Studies have highlighted a growing national problem regarding the number of untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs). A 2011 National Institute of Justice report revealed Los Angeles alone had 10,000 untested SAKs. This backlog has fueled the need for specific and efficient testing of SAK evidence. In traditional workflows, serology tests are used to indicate the presence of a targeted bodily fluid and prioritize samples for genetic analysis. However, given the lack of sensitivity and specificity of modern serological assays, current SAK workflows often skip serological identification altogether for a “direct to DNA” approach. While these Y-Screen workflows achieve rapid screening of samples for the presence of a detectible male contributor, they do not provide any serological information. As a result, samples lack what can be critical investigative context. Improved serological capabilities with enhanced sensitivity and specificity would provide greater confidence in results for the confirmatory identification of seminal fluid. At a minimum, forensic biologists should understand the limitations associated with traditional serological approaches to seminal fluid identification when processing SAK samples. Current serological techniques based on antigen-antibody binding have exhibited both sensitivity and specificity limitations. False positive results for semen can be obtained by non-target biological fluids such as breast milk, urine, and vaginal fluid, or by non-specific binding events. This study evaluates a promising emerging technique that combines high specificity protein biomarker detection with targeted mass spectrometry. This research targeted human-specific peptide markers for seminal fluid proteins and peptide standards to perform quantification of seminal fluid peptide targets using an Agilent 6495 mass spectrometer coupled to a 1290 series liquid chromatograph. This approach has shown to be both more specific and sensitive in identifying a bodily fluid compared to current immunological based approaches. Thus, this proteomic workflow was used to evaluate authentic false positive rates of current immunochromatographic techniques for seminal fluid identification. Self-collected vaginal swabs collected from participants not engaging in barrier-free vaginal intercourse with male partners were tested using various immunochromatographic assays designed to detect both semenogelin (Sg) (RSID™-Semen) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) (ABAcard® p30 Test and SERATEC® PSA Semiquant). Similarly, three seminal fluid biomarkers (semenogelin 1, semenogelin 2, and prostate specific antigen) were used for seminal fluid identification via mass spectrometry. Any samples producing positive results on any immunochromatographic assay were evaluated to determine whether the target protein was actually present at levels above the reported sensitivity limits of the lateral flow tests. Additionally, Sperm HY-LITER™ Express was used to microscopically confirm the absence of spermatozoa in all samples producing positive immunochromatographic results. In addition to using the quantitative proteomic assay to estimate the rate of authentic false positive results associated with lateral flow assays, this research sought to establish the correlation (or lack thereof) between absolute quantitation of seminal fluid markers and the ability to successfully generate DNA profiles. Self-collected post-coital swabs from donors engaging in barrier free vaginal intercourse with male partners over varied periods of time between 1-8 days after intercourse were collected. All samples were analyzed using the quantitative seminal fluid protein mass spectrometry assay, once again targeting SgI, SgII, and PSA. Both autosomal STR profiles (GlobalFiler™) and Y-STR profiles (Yfiler™ Plus) were subsequently generated. With regard to immunochromatographic assay false positive rates, a total of 17 false positives for semen were observed (n=150), 14 of which were consistent with PSA and 3 with Sg, for a corresponding total false positive rate of 9.3% and 2%, respectively (11.3% overall). These samples were all confirmed to be sperm negative with mass spectrometry and microscopic analysis. This data supports the use of current immunochromatographic assays for the presumptive detection of seminal fluid while also providing further support for the improved specificity of alternative serological approaches using mass spectrometry identification of biological targets. With regard to the relationship between quantitative levels of target seminal fluid peptides and the ability to generate STR profiles from vaginal swabs collected at various post coital intervals, a total of 61 post-coital samples were tested. Of these, 48 samples had a seminal fluid target greater than the limit of quantitation for the mass spectrometry assay and 26 produced an STR (n=9) and/or Y-STR (n=10) profile. A correlation between peptide quantitation and ability to generate a genetic profile was unable to be determined from this initial sample set. Overall, however, it has been demonstrated that the use of proteomic mass spectrometry for the identification of seminal fluid targets (with its enhanced sensitivity and specificity) would enable forensic practitioners to make better use of serological information during the analysis of challenging sexual assault samples.

Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2007.

Thèse (Ph. D.)--Université Laval, 2009. / Bibliogr.: f. 166-196. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

This study investigated the role of contextual factors in personnel selection. Specifically, I explored if specific job factors such as the wage, training, available applicant pool and security concerns around a job, influenced personnel decisions. Additionally, I explored if the individual differences of decision makers played a role in how the previously mentioned job factors affected their decisions. A policy-capturing methodology was employed to determine the weight participants place on the job factors when selecting candidates for different jobs. Regression and correlational analyses were computed with the beta weights obtained from individual regression analyses. The results obtained from the two samples (student and general population) revealed that specific job characteristics did indeed influence personnel decisions. Participants were more concerned with making mistakes and thus less likely to accept candidates when selecting candidates for jobs having high salary and/or high training requirements.

An agreement on guilt and punishment The presented thesis deals with the relatively new institute of the criminal procedure, namely the agreement on guilt and punishment (hereinafter also referred to as "agreement") that was implemented into Czech law by an amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure, namely by the Act no. 193/2012 Sb., effective from 1 September 2012. The introductory chapter deals with a closer description of the agreement on guilt and punishment. The author presents first available definitions of the agreement and points up its questionable classification as one of the so called "deviations" from the regular criminal procedure. The thesis evaluates the harmonization of this institute with the basic principles of criminal procedure, the fulfilment of which is decisive for the typical character of the continental criminal procedure. In this chapter, the thesis also deals with the question whether the agreed sanction is capable of fulfilling the purpose of punishment as such. The second chapter of the thesis is focused on the prerequisites that are necessary for the prosecutor and the accused to be allowed to enter into the agreement on guilt and punishment. Further, the chapter elaborates on the negotiation process and legal requisites of the agreement. Last but not least, the...

Zugl.: Linz, Universiẗat, Diplomarbeit, 2007.

Zugl.: Eichstätt, Ingolstadt, Univ., Diss., 2007

Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2007.