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Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-24T19:38:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Agnes Thiane.pdf: 3586857 bytes, checksum: 523f528a78c1439ce6c21cb3ef1c1c69 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation presents the processing of seven image datasets and the determination and refinement of two protein structures of Sure (stationary phase survival protein E)from Xylella fastidiosa(XfSurE). The crystals were obtained by the research groupof Prof.Dr.RicardoApariciowith theprotein produced by the group of Profa. Dra.Anete Pereira de Souza, both from the State University of Campinas.Xylella fastidiosa strain 9a5c is aplague bacterium that causes a disease called Citrus Variegated Chlorosis (CVC) in orange grove; itwas the first bacterium to have its genome completely sequenced in Brazil. Studies show that this protein has several functions, amongst them, of a nucleotidase able to dephosphorylate various ribo anddeoxyribonucleic 5-monophosphates and ribonucleoside 3-monophosphatesto inorganic phosphate and nucleosides. Seven different sets of diffraction images were processed,four of them presented rings from ice diffraction. All structures have space group C2, but there are four different unit cells.Molecular replacement was performed with Phaser program and only two sets of images had their three-dimensional structures refined in an iterative process with the programs Coot and Phenix, which were subsequently largely validated. One of them shows a tetramer and the other a dimer in the asymmetric unit. During refinement, Mn+2, I- and PO43-ions were modeled. Comparisons between XfSurE and CbSurE (the correspondent protein fromCoxiella burnetti) indicate that XfSurE isin open conformation, unlike CbSurE. The protein shows the characteristic Rossmann fold-like, with the tetramerizationloop and C-terminal projection into the counter-monomer. / No presente trabalho realizaram-se o processamento de sete conjuntos de imagens e a determinação e refinamento de duas estruturas da proteína SurE (stationaryphasesurvivalprotein E) de Xylella fastidiosa (XfSurE). Os cristais foram obtidos pelo grupo de pesquisa do Prof. Dr. Ricardo Aparicio a partir da proteína produzida pelo grupo da Profa. Dra. Anete Pereira de Souza, ambos da Universidade Estadual de Campinas. XfSurElinhagem 9a5c é uma bactéria praga que causa uma enfermidade chamada Clorose Variegada dos Citros (CVC), grave em laranjeiras; foi à primeira bactéria que teve seu genoma completamente sequenciado no Brasil. Estudos revelam que essa proteína apresenta várias funções, dentre elas, de nucleotidase, capaz de desfosforilar vários ribo e desoxirribonucleicos 5-monofosfatados e ribonucleosídios 3-monofosfatos em fosfato inorgânico e nucloesídios.Dos sete conjuntos, quatro apresentaram anéis de difração por gelo no padrão de difração. Todas as estruturas apresentam grupo de espaço C2, mas há quatro celas unitárias diferentes A substituição molecular foi realizada com o programa Phaser e apenas dois conjuntos de imagens tiveram suas estruturas tridimensionais refinadas em um processo iterativo com os programas Coot e Phenix, queforam posteriormente amplamente validadas. Uma apresenta um tetrâmero e a outra um dímero na unidade assimétrica. Durante o refinamento, modelaram-seíons Mn2+, I- e PO43-. Comparações entre a XfSurE e CbSurE (a correspondente de Coxiella burnetti) indicamque XfSurE está em conformação aberta, ao contrário de CbSurE. A proteína apresenta o enovelamento característico deRossmann-fold-like, com as alças de tetramerização e com projeção de C-terminal no contra-monômero.

This masters´s thesis deals with computational modeling of transtibial lower-limb prosthesis. For assesment of loading character and geometrical configuration, the gait analysis of an amputee, including ground reaction force measurement, strain gauge analysis and motion analysis, was accomplished. Information on geometry was obtained using 3D optical scanning procedure. Material model was gathered using non-destructive mechanical testing and mimicked in a FEA software. For loading conditions the static structure analysys using FEM was accomplished. The critical poins in construction was found. Recognition of agreement about experimental and computational model was accomplished.

All big and important decisions come through analysis. The main aim of the analysis is to examine or investigate more complicated problems by decomposing them into simpler ones whereas we come to certain conclusions on the basis of a detailed recognition of particularities. This diploma thesis is dedicated to analytic tasks solving techniques in Business Intelligence which would describe and support the whole process of analysis, its needs and premises in real surrounding environment. During the project I cooperated with Clever Decision company and took part in the real project. This company deals with Business Intelligence solutions/applications development and this project is meant to set the method of how to treat the development of the solutions. My work consists in designing a template of BI analysis method which is a part of a complex technique. The aim of this diploma thesis is to introduce my own method of Business Intelligence solution analysis, to introduce its basic components and common work instructions for this method. I reached my aim by analyzing documents and reports provided by Clever Decision company and other methods and suggestions. The main contribution of my diploma thesis is that the method works as a draft for assistance and standardizing the process of Business Intelligence solution analysis in Clever Decision company. This draft can nevertheless work as a basis for creating a wholly new method. My work consists of three parts. The first part, a theoretical one, deals with recapitulation of basic terms and methods I worked with. The second part represents properties, components and general working instructions for this method. It moreover presents main outputs, more precisely documents that are practical attachments to the method itself. The third part introduces the method itself including presentation of outputs/document drafts designed by me.

The thesis examines the Children’s Centre Programme in England and develops an understanding of its development at national and local level by using Kingdon’s (1995) streams model. Central to the thesis is a case study of the Children’s Centre Programme which looks at influential factors in the development at national level and implementation of the programme in one local authority. Traditionally Kingdon’s (1995) model has been used to understand the way that a wide range of factors interact to enable policy change at national level but a small number of authors have also used the model at local level showing that the range of factors that impact on the local implementation of a policy are also many and varied. One of the most well know aspects of Kingdon’s model is in showing how the problem, policy and politics streams come together to create a window of opportunity which allows or drives policy change and or enactment. This thesis will use the model in a broader sense showing that although this window of opportunity is important the interaction of the three streams is ongoing and not only does it lead to significant policy change but it also informs debates and policy development on an ongoing basis.

Sure Start Children’s Centres and their predecessors, the Sure Start Local Programmes, were central to New Labour’s drive to reduce social exclusion through early intervention in the lives of families with young children. Where previous research predominantly focused on the impact and effectiveness of programme delivery, there has also been a great deal of emphasis on those families who do not use these services. However, in attempting to understand why parents do not use Children’s Centres, the approach has been one that placed non-participation experiences away from Centres, distanced and unrelated. This thesis presents a sociological analysis of two Children’s Centres where the institutional processes and practices that shape what these spaces mean are explored in depth. In exploring some of the day to day interactions and practices, this thesis challenges some of the taken for granted assumptions, in order to create a meaningful space for dialogue. Using an ethnographic methodology two Centres were studied to explore how Children’s Centres were perceived by those who used them, those who work in them and those who walked past them. The fieldwork was conducted over an eighteen month period and involved a multitude of methods; participation and observation in Centre activities, focus groups with staff, and parents and interviews with parents within and outside Centres. I also had many ‘conversations with a purpose’ with parents in community toddler groups and other spaces that parents, predominantly mothers occupy with their young children. What emerged was that an understanding of these spaces is complex and whilst invaluable to a small number of very regular users they are also insignificant to others. For other users the plurality of meaning reflects the many ways that these spaces are occupied by parents and children. Points of tension were apparent as parents made these spaces their own, sometimes in conflict with how they ‘ought’ to be used. The thesis uses the work of Foucault to explore how power relations are played out within the Centres and the way that government operates at a distance. From this perspective it is clear that Children’s Centres are political spaces, where they have become ‘depoliticised’ as part of the disciplinary processes of the ‘conduct of conduct’. They are spaces where ‘technologies of government’ are employed in practice and where the drive to evidence outcomes focuses practitioners’ attention on end results. As a result the processes, the means to achieving those results, can go unexamined.

Experimental design has applications in many fields, from medicine to manufacturing. Incorporating statistics into both the planning and analysis stages of the experiment will ensure that appropriate data are collected to allow for meaningful analysis and interpretation of the results. If the number of factors of interest is very large, or if the experimental runs are very expensive, then a supersaturated design (SSD) can be used for factor screening. These designs have n runs and k > n - 1 factors, so there are not enough degrees of freedom to allow estimation of all of the main effects. This paper will first review some of the current techniques for the construction and analysis of SSDs, as well as the analysis challenges inherent to SSDs. Analysis techniques of Sure Independence Screening (SIS) and Iterative Sure Independence Screening (ISIS) are discussed, and their applications for SSDs are explored using simulation, in combination with the Smoothly Clipped Absolute Deviation (SCAD) approach for down-selecting and estimating the effects.

This dissertation is a study of non-standard economic behavior. The first chapter concerns two widely observed violations of Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives, the Compromise and Attraction effects. I construct a novel method of representing them by reducing the context of a menu to a frame, encompassing the worst option along each attribute in the menu, and observing a collection of preferences indexed by frames. The agent behaves as though a good’s attractiveness along each attribute is judged relative to the frame with declining marginal utility. This allows me to give a novel interpretation of the compromise and attraction effects: they are consistent with indifference curves rotating clockwise as the frame moves down, and counter- clockwise as it goes left. It also allows me to give a representation theorem showing the behavioral axioms associated with a utility representation taking a good and the frame as arguments. The second chapter applies the representation from Chapter One to electoral politics. It shows that incorporating these preferences generates equilibria where extremist candidates enter plurality elections in order to attractively frame their preferred moderate candidate, even if the extremists have probability zero of obtaining office themselves. While such candidates are frequently observed in elections, and there are papers generating equilibria with centrist sure losers (including Solow (2015)), this is the first paper generating equilibria with these extremist candidates without unusual assumptions on election rules, or non single-peaked preferences. This paper creates a four candidate equilibrium with two extremist sure loser candidates, each on the fringes of opinion. The third chapter concerns the effect of guilt on preferences in the circumstance of gift giving. A decision maker who experiences guilt may receive an increase in surplus from a gift card allowing guilt-free indulgence, potentially beyond even the surplus she’d receive from an equivalent cash gift. This paper isolates the behavior of guilt avoidance by exploiting a multi-period setting which incorporates a distinction between the decision maker’s preferences over what she’d receive, and what she would choose. A representation inspired by Kopylov (2009) is adapted to this setting, providing a representation theorem for these preferences.

Morten Lauridsen is one of the most prolific composers of choral music in the 20th and 21st centuries. His characteristic tone is both readily identifiable and timeless. Works such as Lux Aeterna, Les Chansons des Roses, “Sure on this Shining Night” (from Nocturnes) , and “O magnum mysterium” have solidified his place as one of the most important compositional voices in modern choral music. Lauridsen’s most often-performed choral works have been individual movements excerpted from his larger choral works, due to their accessibility for advanced high school and collegiate choirs. For example, the popular “Dirait-on” comes from the cycle Les Chansons des Roses; “O nata lux” from Lux Aeterna; and “Sure on this Shining Night” from Nocturnes. Although “Sure on this Shining Night” is performed across the United States on a variety of concert programs from high school to professional choirs, it is rare to encounter a performance of the choral cycle Nocturnes in its entirety. Morten Lauridsen composed Nocturnes as the Raymond W. Brock Commissioned Work for the 2005 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Convention in Los Angeles. At the time of its composition, Nocturnes was a choral cycle consisting of three movements: “Sa Nuit d’Été,” “Soneto de la Noche,” and “Sure on this Shining Night.” Later, in 2008, he added a fourth piece, “Epilogue: Voici le Soir,” which would round out the cycle. Interesting elements of both unity and contrast weave through this choral cycle, potentially leaving the listener and performer to wonder what inspired Lauridsen to select the variety of languages, poetry, and instrumentation. Three different languages and poets are utilized throughout the cycle: “Sa nuit d’Été” in French, set to a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, “Soneto de la Noche” in Spanish, set to a poem by Pablo Neruda, “Sure on this Shining Night” in English, set to a poem by James Agee, and “Epilogue: Voici le Soir returning to French and the poetry of Rilke. Another element of contrast exists in the instrumentation, with three out of the four pieces utilizing the piano. “Soneto de la Noche,” however, is a cappella with much more pervasive vocal divisi than the other pieces, making it the most technically difficult piece in the cycle. The variety of languages and difference in level of difficulty is one reason that this song cycle is not widely performed in its entirety. This monograph draws on background information regarding other similar works by Lauridsen, information regarding the poetry of these works, and musical analysis of these works, in addition to an interview with Lauridsen himself.

Variable selection methods play important roles in modeling high-dimensional data and are key to data-driven scientific discoveries. In this thesis, we consider the problem of variable selection with interaction detection. Instead of building a predictive model of the response given combinations of predictors, we start by modeling the conditional distribution of predictors given partitions based on responses. We use this inverse modeling perspective as motivation to propose a stepwise procedure for effectively detecting interaction with few assumptions on parametric form. The proposed procedure is able to detect pairwise interactions among p predictors with a computational time of \(O(p)\) instead of \(O(p^2)\) under moderate conditions. We establish consistency of the proposed procedure in variable selection under a diverging number of predictors and sample size. We demonstrate its excellent empirical performance in comparison with some existing methods through simulation studies as well as real data examples. Next, we combine the forward and inverse modeling perspectives under the Bayesian framework to detect pleiotropic and epistatic effects in effects in expression quantitative loci (eQTLs) studies. We augment the Bayesian partition model proposed by Zhang et al. (2010) to capture complex dependence structure among gene expression and genetic markers. In particular, we propose a sequential partition prior to model the asymmetric roles played by the response and the predictors, and we develop an efficient dynamic programming algorithm for sampling latent individual partitions. The augmented partition model significantly improves the power in detecting eQTLs compared to previous methods in both simulations and real data examples pertaining to yeast. Finally, we study the application of Bayesian partition models in the unsupervised learning of transcription factor (TF) families based on protein binding microarray (PBM). The problem of TF subclass identification can be viewed as the clustering of TFs with variable selection on their binding DNA sequences. Our model provides simultaneous identification of TF families and their shared sequence preferences, as well as DNA sequences bound preferentially by individual members of TF families. Our analysis may aid in deciphering cis regulatory codes and determinants of protein-DNA binding specificity. / Statistics