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Isolamento de Sporothrix schenckii de garras de felinos domésticos (domiciliados e querenciados) e daqueles mantidos em cativeiro, em São Paulo (Brasil) / Isolation of S. schenckii from the nails of domestic cats (indoor and outdoor) and in captivity, in São Paulo (Brazil)Tatiana Saleme Borges 30 July 2007 (has links)
Esporotricose se constitui em micose intermediária, resultante do adentrar do fungo Sporothrix schenkii na pele ou no panículo. Trata-se de uma micose com características zoonóticas (sapro e antropozoonose). Objetivou-se: determinar a ocorrência de esporotricose-infecção ou esporotricose-doença, em felinos domésticos (domiciliados e querenciados), em animais de gatis de benemerência e daqueles felinos selvagens ou exóticos, mantidos em cativeiro, a partir do isolamento do fungo Sporothrix schenckii de decalques de garras em meio de cultivo. A amostragem foi composta por 132 felinos domésticos, selvagens ou exóticos. Da totalidade dos animais, 120 (91,0%) eram felinos domésticos, 11 (8,3%) selvagens e um exótico (0,7%). Segundo o sexo, 89 (67,4%) eram machos e os 43 (32,6%) restantes eram fêmeas. A maioria dos animais (80,3%) não apresentavam precisa definição racial, sendo que a média de idade foi de, aproximadamente, 71,8 meses. Vinte e um (17,5%) felinos eram querenciados. Da totalidade dos animais, 89 (67,4%) mantinham contato com outros animais da mesma espécie. Foi possível isolar o Sporothrix schenckii, das garras de um dos felinos investigados, com quadro generalizado de esporotricose. Os agentes, patógenos em potencial, Microsporum canis e Malassezia pachydermatis foram isolados, respectivamente, em 12,1% e 5,3% dos animais. Isolaram-se fungos anemófilos, reputados como contaminantes: Penicillium sp 28 (52,9%), Aspergillus sp 13 (24,5%), Rhodotorula sp cinco (9,4%), Candida sp cinco (9,4%), Trichoderma sp um (1,9%) e Acremonium sp um (1,9%). Pela magnitude de ocorrência (0,7%) de S. schenckii nas garras de felinos, o pressuposto potencial dos gatos, ora investigados, como possível fonte de infecção, na cidade de São Paulo, se mostrou bastante baixo. / Sporotrichosis is a subcutaneous mycosis, acquired through the skin and panniculus by the insertion of the Sporothrix schenckii fungus. It\'s a zoonotic mycosis (sapro and anthropozoonozis). The goals of this study were: to determine the occurrence of sporotrichosis infection or sporotrichosis disease in domestic felines (indoor and outdoor) cattery and wild or exotic in captivity, through the S. schenckii isolation from nail imprinting in culture media. The sample comprised 132 domestic, wild or exotic felines. From the total, 120 (91.0%) were domestic cats, 11(8.3%) wild and one exotic (0.7%). They were 89 (67.4%) males and 43 (32.6%) females. Most of animals (80.3%) were non-breed and the average age was 71.8 months. Twenty one (17,5%) felines lived outdoor. From the total 89 (67.4%) animals have had regular contact with other of the same species. It was possible to isolate the Sporothrix schenckii from the nails of an investigated one, with generalized sporotrichosis condition. The potencial pathogen, Microsporum canis and Malassezia pachydermatis agents, were isolated in 12.1% and 5.3% respectively. Air fungus, considered as contaminants, were isolated: Penicillium sp 28 (52,9%), Aspergillus sp 13 (24,5%), Rhodotorula sp five (9,4%), Candida sp five (9,4%), Trichoderma sp one (1,9%) e Acremonium sp one (1,9%). The low occurrence of S. schenckii (0.7%) in the feline nails, in this investigation, shows it with a small probability as a source of infection in the city of São Paulo.
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Seis sonatas e partias para violino solo de J. S. Bach ao violão: fundamentos para adaptação do ciclo / Six sonatas and partias for solo violin by J. S. Bach on the guitar: adaptation principles for arranging the cycleGustavo Silveira Costa 30 March 2012 (has links)
Os Sei solo â Violino senza Baßo accompagnato de Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1001-1006) têm sido transcritos para violão em movimentos isolados desde o final do século XIX e a transcrição (1934) da grandiosa Ciaccona pelo espanhol Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) tornou-se uma peça central no repertório para violão, sobretudo porque que a escrita para violino sofreu um redimensionamento na adaptação do violonista. Por outro lado, as abordagens do ciclo completo no violão têm se aproximado cada vez mais da escrita original para violino. Kazuhito Yamashita (1989), autor da primeira gravação do ciclo completo no violão, se mostra ainda influenciado pela prática segoviana de transcrição, mas Frank Bungarten (1988 - Sonatas/2000 - Partitas) chega a rechaçar a transcrição BWV 1006a, em que o próprio compositor adiciona baixos e preenchimentos harmônicos; Elliot Fisk (2001) segue o exemplo de Bungarten, realizando linhas de baixo apenas ocasionalmente e Timo Korhonen (2009- 2010) leva esse tipo de abordagem ao ápice, não fazendo adição alguma. Contrariando a tendência atual, a única referência coeva que temos de J. S. Bach tocando seus solos de violino é ao clavicórdio, adicionando quanta harmonia ele julgasse necessário, segundo seu aluno Johann Friedrich Agricola. Transcrições dele e de seus contemporâneos nos mostram que a prática de transcrição sempre envolvia a modificação da escrita original para violino tendendo uma maior elaboração polifônica da obra segundo os recursos da nova instrumentação (normalmente teclado ou alaúde). Ao se transcrever os Sei solo para o violão, a prática da época revela que uma pretensa fidelidade ao texto original é tão equivocada do ponto de vista estilístico quanto seria a versão de Segovia se essa fosse julgada fora dos padrões de sua época. Por outro lado, há gravações parciais dos Sei solo ao violão que seguem em maior ou menor grau as práticas de transcrição e de execução barrocas, além de várias gravações do ciclo completo por alaudistas e cravistas que não hesitam em transfigurar a textura original da escrita para violino, para a adequação da escrita aos seus instrumentos. O presente estudo visa estabelecer os fundamentos de uma prática de transcrição para violão dos Sei solo com base nas técnicas de transcrição e de execução do período da composição sem a pretensão de autenticidade ou fidelidade, mas como fonte de recursos de instrumentação (pela reelaboração da textura polifônica com adições de linhas de baixo e preenchimentos harmônicos) e de expressão (pela adaptação de recursos estilísticos essenciais como as articulações e os ornamentos). Em segunda instância, o estudo apresenta uma nova transcrição para violão dos Sei solo como exemplo de aplicação dos fundamentos de adaptação dessas obras. / The Sei solo â Violino senza Baßo accompagnato by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1001-1006) have been arranged for guitar as isolated movements since the end of the 19th century and the transcription (1934) of the great Ciaccona made by the Spaniard Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) became a central work on the repertory, mainly for he remodeled the violin writing when adapting it for guitar. In the other hand, more recent approaches of the cycle have been became progressively simpler and closer to the original writing for violin. The first recording of the cycle on guitar, made by Kazuhito Yamashita (1989), still shows influences of Segovia, but Frank Bungarten (1988 - Sonatas/2000 - Partitas) rejects even Bach\'s own transcription of the 3rd Partia, BWV 1006a, where the composer adds bass lines and harmonies; Elliot Fisk (2001) follows Bungarten\'s example, with few bass additions; Timo Korhonen (2009-2010) goes further and does not add any notes, relying just on the violin score. In opposition to today\'s tendency on guitar, the only reference we to Bach himself playing the violin Solos is on the clavichord, adding as much harmony as he considered necessary, as reports his student Johann Friedrich Agricola. Bach\'s and his contemporaries\' arrangements clearly show us that the change of the medium in a composition (usually violin or cello) always involved the modification of the original writing, generally having more polyphonic elaboration after the resources of the new instrument (normally keyboard or lute). The period\'s practice reveals that an intentioned fidelity to the original musical text in a guitar arrangement is as misplaced as it would be the Segovia\'s version when judged by today\'s standards. In the other hand, there are partial recordings of the Sei solo on the guitar that seek to follow the baroque\'s arrangement and performance practices. There are also several recordings of the whole cycle made by lute and harpsichord players that do not hesitated about changing the original writing for violin in order to adequate the works for their instruments. The present study aims to establish the adaptation principles of the Sei solo for guitar based on period\'s arrangement and performance practices with no pretention of reaching neither authenticity nor fidelity, but simply as instrumentation resources (when rewriting of polyphonic texture with additions of bass lines and harmonies) and expression resources (when adapting stylistic essentials like articulations and ornaments). The secondary purpose of this research is to exemplify an application of the adaptation principles by presenting a new arrangement of the Sei solo for guitar.
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Preparação, caracterização morfologica e aplicações de hidrogeis de P(N-isopropilacrilamida-co-acido acrilico) / Preparation, morphological characterization of P(NIPAAM-CO-AAc) hydrogelsGonzalez, Regiane da Silva 12 August 2018 (has links)
Orientador: Marcelo Ganzarolli de Oliveira / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T09:59:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
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Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Hidrogéis compostos de redes poliméricas são de grande interesse como biomateriais. Neste trabalho, foram sintetizados hidrogéis de poli(Nisopropilacrilamida) copolimerizados com ácido acrílico (P(NIPAAm-co-AAc)) e reticulados com metileno-bisacrilamida (MBAAm) em diferentes graus de reticulação, interpenetrados (IPNs) e semi-IPNs com PVA. A presença de AAc permitiu elevar a temperatura crítica inferior de solução (LCST) para 37° C. Observou-se que as propriedades mecânicas dos hidrogéis melhoram significativamente com a presença de PVA na rede polimérica e com o aumento do grau de reticulação. Observou-se que o aumento de 3 para 5% no grau de reticulação leva a uma mudança da morfologia dos poros dos hidrogéis de esféricos a tubulares e que a difusão de azul de metileno a partir dos hidrogéis com poros tubulares é aumentada quando o eixo principal dos poros está orientado paralelamente ao fluxo de soluto. Demonstrou-se que tanto o aumento do grau de reticulação como a redução da temperatura de 37 para 25° C levam a uma redução das velocidades de difusão de S-nitrosoglutationa (GSNO) e S-nitroso-Nacetilcisteína (SNAC) incorporadas nos hidrogéis. Verificou-se que tanto a absorção como a difusão destes solutos dependem das interações entre suas cargas elétricas resultantes e a carga da matriz polimérica em um determinado pH. Hidrogéis contendo GSNO e SNAC foram capazes de causar vasodilatação local na pele em aplicações tópicas, através de suas ações como doadores de óxido nítrico (NO). A ação vasodilatadora mais intensa e de mais curta duração da SNAC comparada à GSNO foi correlacionada com seu maior coeficiente de difusão na matriz de hidrogel. A aplicação do hidrogel aderido com adesivo de fibrina em um modelo animal de gastrosquises promoveu uma proteção efetiva das alças intestinais herniadas, com redução da inflamação. / Abstract: Hydrogels composed of polymeric networks are of great interest as biomaterials. In this work hydrogels of poly(N-isopropilacrilamide) copolimerized with acrylic acid (P(NIPAAm-co-AAc)) and cross-linked with metilene-bisacrilamide (MBAAm) at different cross-linking degrees, interpenetrated (IPNs) and semi-IPNs with PVA. The presence of AAc allowed increasing the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) to 37° C. It was observed that the mechanical properties of the hydrogels are significantly improved with the presence of PVA in the polymeric network and with the increase in the cross-linking degree. It was observed that an increase from 3 to 5% in the crosslinking degree leads to a change in the pore morphology of the hydrogels from spherical to tubular and that the diffusion of methylene blue from the hydrogels with tubular pores is increased when the main axis of the pores are parallel oriented to the flow of the solute. The diffusion of S-nitrosothiols showed that the increase in the cross-linking degree from as well as the reduction in temperature from 37 to 25° C, leads to a reduction in the diffusion rates of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) and S-nitroso-N-acetylcysteine (SNAC) incorporated in the hydrogels and that both the absorption and diffusion of these solutes depend on the interactions between their net electrical charge and that of the polymeric matrix at a given pH. GSNO and SNAC containing hydrogels were able to cause local vasodilation in the skin in topical applications through their actions as nitric oxide (NO) donors. The more intense and less lasting vasodilation action of SNAC, compared to GSNO was correlated to its higher diffusion coefficient in the hydrogel matrix. Application of the hydrogel bound through fibrin adhesive in an animal model of gastroschisis, provided an effective protection of herniated bowel, with reduction of inflammation. / Doutorado / Físico-Química / Doutor em Ciências
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Identificação molecular de Staphylococcus aureus formadores de biofilmes em ambiente de ordenha / Molecular identification of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm-producers in milking environmentSarah Hwa In Lee 28 February 2012 (has links)
O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a ocorrência de cepas de Staphylococcus aureus no ambiente de ordenha, analisar seu perfil genético e a produção de biofilme, provenientes de 10 propriedades localizadas nas regiões de Franca e Ribeirão Preto, estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Foram analisadas 220 amostras de leite individual de vacas positivas no teste CMT (California Mastitis Test), 120 amostras de leite de tanque de expansão, 389 swabs de utensílios e equipamento relacionados com ordenha e 120 swabs de mãos de manipuladores. As coletas de amostras foram realizadas mensalmente durante o período de agosto/2010 a janeiro/2011. Das 849 amostras analisadas, 56 cepas de S. aureus (6,6%) foram isoladas, sendo 12 (5,4%) de leite individual de vacas, 26 (21,6%) de leite de tanque de expansão, 14 (3,6%) de utensílios e equipamentos e 4 (6,9%) de mãos de manipuladores. Os resultados indicam uma baixa prevalência de S. aureus nas propriedades analisadas, não havendo diferença significativa entre as frequências encontradas nas duas regiões analisadas. A técnica de PFGE (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) permitiu identificar 31 perfis genéticos (pulsotipos), utilizando-se a enzima de restrição SmaI. Nos ensaios de produção de biofilmes em microplaca, 19 (63,3%) de 30 pulsotipos avaliados foram considerados produtores de biofilme. Nos ensaios conduzidos em aço inox, 13 (43,3%, N=30) foram positivos e, para o silicone, não houve produção de biofilme. O elevado percentual de isolados no leite de tanque de expansão evidencia um problema de saúde pública, considerando que no Brasil muitas vezes o leite é consumido sem pasteurização. A ocorrência de pulsitipos de S. aureus formadores de biofilmes indica a persistência do patógeno em diversos pontos no ambiente de ordenha, bem como provável envolvimento dos mesmos com casos de mastite e sua eliminação no leite, ressaltando a necessidade de práticas higiênicas para prevenir a formação de biofilmes nas propriedades estudadas. / The objective of the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of biofilm-producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus in the milking environment from 10 farms located in the regions of Franca and Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Twohundred twenty samples of milk from individual cows previously tested for CMT (California Mastitis Test), 120 samples of bulk tank milk, 389 swabs of equipments and utensils related to milking and 120 swabs of milk\'s handlers hands were analyzed. A total of 56 (6.6%) S. aureus strains were isolated out of 849 samples analyzed, being 12 (5.4%) from milk samples from individual cows, 26 (21.6%) from bulk tank milk, 14 (3.6%) from swabs of equipments and utensils, and 4 (3.3%) from swabs hands of milk\'s handlers. Results indicated a low prevalence of S. aureus in the dairy farms analyzed, and there was no significant difference between the percentages found in the two regions evaluated. On the basis of PFGE results (using SmaI enzyme), 31 profiles (pulsotypes) were found. In the biofilm-production assay using microplates, 19 (63.3%) of 30 pulsotypes tested were considered positive (biofilm producers). For assays conducted in stainless steel, 13 (43.3%) of pulsotypes were biofilm producers, although no pulsotype was able to produce biofilms on the surface of silicon. Results of this trial showed a high percentage of bulk tank milk samples contaminated with S. aureus, hence indicating a public health problem especially in Brazil were milk is often consumed without pasteurization. The occurrence of S. aureus pulsotypes which were also biofilm-producers suggests the persistence of the pathogen in several sites at the milking environment, as well the probable involvement of S. aureus biofilms with mastitis and its excretion in the milk. The need for adoption of hygienic practices to prevent the formation of biofilms of S. aureus in the dairy farms evaluated is stressed.
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In Vitro S-Glutathionylation of S-Nitrosoglutathione Reductase from Arabidopsis Thaliana and Phenotype Determination of Sensitive to Formaldehyde 1 Knockout Strains of Saccharomyces CerevisiaeTruebridge, Ian 04 April 2018 (has links)
Cells are constantly exposed to different stresses – one being redox stress, which is induced by metal, reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species. S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) helps modulate redox stress by two different mechanisms – either by reducing S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) to oxidized glutathione (GSSG) or by oxidizing hydroxymethyl glutathione (HMGSH), a biproduct of glutathione and formaldehyde, to formic acid. GSNO has the potential to posttranslational modify proteins in two different manners, either by S-nitrosation or by S-glutathionylation. Interestingly, GSNOR can be modified by its substrate GSNO, either by S-nitrosation, which has previously been reported, or, as discussed in this thesis, by S-glutathionylation. As S-glutathionylation has been reported to occur through intermediate species, the S-glutathionylation of GSNOR appears to occur though the S-nitrosated intermediate, instead of the most common route of an oxidation pathway. It is hypothesized that the S-glutathionylation, and the overall presence of glutathione, can act as a buffer to regulate the amount of nitrosation that GSNOR experiences, and thus the enzymatic activity. It is has reported that the S-nitrosation occurs on three different non-structural, non-catalytic, solvent-accessible cysteine residues. Experimentation was conducted using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism to determine how those three cysteine residues of the GSNOR homolog Sensitive to Formaldehyde 1 (SFA1) participate in the indirect detoxification of formaldehyde, through the hydroxymethyl glutathione pathway. It has been determined that cysteine 370 is not as important as previously thought, but the other one or two cysteines (either cysteine 10 or 271) do indeed play a role in the detoxification, but further analysis needs to be conducted.
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Identification of Factors Involved in the Regulation of the <i>Bacillus subtilis metK</i> GeneAllen, George M. January 2016 (has links)
No description available.
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DERIVED PARAMETER IMPLEMENTATION IN A TELEMETRY PREPROCESSORBossert, Kathleen B. 10 1900 (has links)
International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1992 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Today’s telemetry preprocessing systems are often required to create and process new
telemetry parameters by combining multiple actual parameters in a telemetry data stream.
The newly created parameters are commonly referred to as “derived parameters” and are
often required for analysis in real time at relatively high speeds. Derived parameters are
created through algebraic or logical combinations of multiple parameters distributed
throughout the telemetry data frame. Creation and processing of derived parameters is
frequently performed in telemetry system preprocessors, which are much more efficient at
processing time division multiplex data streams than general purpose processors.
Providing telemetry system users with a “user friendly” method for creating and installing
newly derived parameter functions has been a subject of considerable discussion.
Successful implementation of derived parameter processing has typically required the
telemetry system user to be knowledgeable of the telemetry preprocessor architecture and
to possess software programming skills.
An innovative technique which requires no programming language skills is presented in
this paper. Programmers or non-programmers may use the technique to easily define
derived parameter calculations. Both single derived parameters and multiple derived
parameters may be calculated in the preprocessor at high throughput rates.
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Celiac Disease, Prices and Consumer Food Choices: Empirical Evidence from the UKLeucci, Anna Caterina <1987> 26 February 2016 (has links)
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease for which the only treatment is
a strictly gluten free diet.
Prices of gluten free products are higher than common grain-based food.
A consumer who must eat only gluten free products can't choose the price
he prefers and faces higher prices. The aim of this research is to evaluate
the economic impact associated with the higher prices faced by consumers
who receive a celiac disease diagnosis.
A protocol to collecting price data on gluten and gluten free products was
defined. Following the guidelines specified in the data collection proto-
col, gluten and gluten free prices were collected considering the on-line
shops of the four most important UK supermarkets, and considering all
products potentially containing gluten. The resulting dataset allows us to
describe the current situation of gluten free food supply both in terms of
the range of available product by category and the corresponding prices.
Using the 2012 Living Cost and Food Survey data, an Almost Ideal Demand System was estimate.
The estimations of the AIDS provide the key informations needed for the evaluation of the impact of coeliac
disease. In practice, we consider the price gap between gluten-free foods
and foods containing gluten as an implicit tax.
The resulting welfare loss of the celiac consumers was then estimated
using compensating variation, based on the AIDS coeficients estimated
in the previous step and the collected price data. Hence, we estimate
the additional amount of food expenditure which is needed by a celiac
consumer to reach the same utility level of a consumer whose choice is not
restricted to gluten-free products.
Demand and welfare analysis was conducted both for the total population
and for three different income brackets, in order to explore the relative
impact and potential inequalities across income groups.
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The geology and geochemistry of Closepet granite, Karnataka, South IndiaOak, Keith Alan January 1990 (has links)
The Archaean craton of southern India has four main components. The multi-phase Peninsular gneiss, with ages from 3360-2900 Ma, is spatially dominant and grades from granulite facies in the south to greenschist facies in the north. Ages for the Peninsular gneiss range from 3360-2900 Ma. Within the craton are two suites of Greenstone Belts and supracrustal rocks. The older, high-grade Sargur type occur as enclaves in the Peninsular gneiss and are in places older than 3360 Ma. The younger, lower-grade type occur occasionally have unconformable bases with the Peninsular gneiss and have been dated from 3100-2605 Ma. Granitoids form the last major component with the Closepet granite being the largest, ages for the emplacement of the Closepet granite and many of the other granitoids cluster around 2500 Ma. The Closepet granite outcrops from Kabbal Durge in the south to the Deccan Plateau in the north, a distance of some 450 km. A 320 km section from Kabbal Durga to Hospet in the north exposes a linear trending granite. The granite outcrop varies from one of essentially partial melting and melt extraction in the south to a zone of melt accumulation in the central zone to a zone of high level intrusion of large granite bodies. Related to these changes in primary processes are changes in the granite phases, size, shape and intrusive style. The petrography of the granite phases is described. These studies help to constrain phase relationships. The petrography also provides evidence to suggest that the K-feldspar megacrysts are in fact phenocrysts. Analyses of major and trace elements utilised standard X.R.F. methods. However, the analyses of REE on selected samples involved the setting up of the department's "ICP for routine operation. This procedure is outlined. The geochemistry of the granite's is described melting and crystallization models being used to explain their petrogenesis. Harker diagrams indicate that plagioclase, sphene and apatite have strong controls on major element composition and that biotite was a residual or fractionating phase. The removal of restite biotite as granite magmas intrude is thought to be a significant process.Evidence from the petrography agrees with the equilibrium phase diagram at PH2 0 ~ 5 kbar. Plots of Peninsular gneiss in the granite phase diagram have a range of compositions which could provide minimum and non-minimum melts capable of producing the Closepet granite trend. Predicted fractional crystallization would produce a sequence of magma compositions comparable to those of the Closepet granite with an order of phase crystallization that agrees with petrographic evidence. The phase relationships further constrain subsequent melting and crystallization models utilising trace elements and REE.
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Predicting Nominal Data in Presence of Poor Information. An Application to Air TicketsStacchini, Annalisa <1984> 26 February 2016 (has links)
This thesis proposes an original interpretative key to a crucial problem of business travel: minimizing the flights cost, managing change and cancellation risk, choosing the optimal fare. Hitherto this topic was addressed only with reference to the revenue management of airlines, possibly because getting the information needed to model the traveler’s behavior, which, as highlighted by a qualitative study, is determined by one-off events, private life and business snags, is nearly impossible. Given that available data, collected by a travel management company for other purposes, concern mainly the tickets and flights’ characteristics, the results obtained in this work are very satisfying. For coping with the informative limitations, some original solutions were developed.
First, as the literature suggests a seasonal pattern, tied to vacations, an attempt was made to insert a guess, for a vacation effect, not precise enough to be exploited within a Bayesian framework, directly in estimated models. This improved all the models’ predicting capability, but the value of a business-specific loss function, to assess predictors economically, was disappointing. Therefore, a new classification algorithm, amplifying faint signals, exploiting the whole matrix of estimated probabilities, for each prediction, was conceived. It is very flexible, as it can be applied to any matrix of probabilities, estimated by any classifier, and very effective. In fact, it improved the predictive performance of all the predictors and yielded an estimated global gain of 109,011 euros. Finally, a problem for selecting the best models for two nodes emerged, as all the candidates displayed identical forecasting performance, as assessed through the traditional measures for nominal data, based only on the predicted outcomes. Thus, a Predictive Accuracy Score is elaborated, for evaluating estimated probabilities, which are important, because, when the cost data is available, the expected value of the flights cost will be computable.
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