Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2007. Dept. of Computer Science. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-139).

Oral administration is the most common route for administration of drugs. With the growing cost of drug discovery, the development of Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) as computational methods to predict oral absorption is highly desirable for cost effective reasons. The aim of this research was to develop QSAR models that are highly accurate and interpretable for the prediction of oral absorption. In this investigation the problems addressed were datasets with unbalanced class distributions, feature selection and the effects of solubility and permeability towards oral absorption prediction. Firstly, oral absorption models were obtained by overcoming the problem of unbalanced class distributions in datasets using two techniques, under-sampling of compounds belonging to the majority class and the use of different misclassification costs for different types of misclassifications. Using these methods, models with higher accuracy were produced using regression and linear/non-linear classification techniques. Secondly, the use of several pre-processing feature selection methods in tandem with decision tree classification analysis – including misclassification costs – were found to produce models with better interpretability and higher predictive accuracy. These methods were successful to select the most important molecular descriptors and to overcome the problem of unbalanced classes. Thirdly, the roles of solubility and permeability in oral absorption were also investigated. This involved expansion of oral absorption datasets and collection of in vitro and aqueous solubility data. This work found that the inclusion of predicted and experimental solubility in permeability models can improve model accuracy. However, the impact of solubility on oral absorption prediction was not as influential as expected. Finally, predictive models of permeability and solubility were built to predict a provisional Biopharmaceutic Classification System (BCS) class using two multi-label classification techniques, binary relevance and classifier chain. The classifier chain method was shown to have higher predictive accuracy by using predicted solubility as a molecular descriptor for permeability models, and hence better final provisional BCS prediction. Overall, this research has resulted in predictive and interpretable models that could be useful in a drug discovery context.

Maintaining a fair balance between individuals’ interests and the public interest is arguably believed to be the most effective approach in serving the ultimate objective of copyright: to promote social, economic and cultural development for the benefit of both rightsholders and the public at large. Through this balanced approach, creativity can be maximised and thrive better than by tilting towards one or the other. In copyright law, such balance is reflected by the way in which the short-term grant of exclusive rights respects the long-term public interest represented by limitations and exceptions to copyright. Despite an unclear and non-uniform definition and scope, the importance of the public interest has been implicitly and explicitly recognised through disparate forms of safeguards in different jurisdictions. However, the last few decades have seen a rapid development of information technologies which, in turn, has contributed to an unparalleled legislative drive at international level towards overprotecting the interests of rightsholders. This has then left the public interest under-protected and now constitutes an imbalance of copyright. This thesis therefore examines legislative intervention into the international copyright regime in an attempt to ensure that the public interest is uniformly and mandatorily safeguarded at international level. In particular, it strives to establish an overarching public interest defence capable of protecting certain aspects of public values embedded in copyright works. In achieving this, the thesis examines the scope of the defence, what it should entail, and what aspects are to be taken into account in the course of formulating and giving effect to the defence. The substantive chapters investigate the public policy grounds, the right to freedom of expression and the international three-step test, i.e. the roles they play in shaping the latitude and operations of the defence, respectively. Finally, the thesis also evaluates different ways in which the defence can be incorporated into the international copyright regime in order to effectively counterbalance the rightsholder-centric tendency and restore the balance of copyright.

High-impact academic papers are not necessarily the most cited. For example, Einstein's 'Special Relativity' paper from 1905 received (and continues to receive) fewer citations from other papers than his 'Brownian Motion" paper of the same year, despite the former radically changing the course of an entire scientific discipline to a much greater extent. Similarly, 'impact' metrics using citation count alone are, it is argued, not adequate for determining the scientific influence of papers, authors or small groups of authors. Although valid, they remain controversial when used to determine influence of larger groups or journals. While the term 'impact' has become closely linked to a journal's citation-based Journal Impact Factor score, this thesis uses the term 'influence' to describe the wider effectiveness of research, combining citation and metadata analysis to allow richer calculations to be performed over large-scale document networks. As a result, more qualitative influence ratings can be determined and a broader outlook on scientific disciplines can be produced. These ratings are best applied using an ontology-based data source, allowing more efficient inference than under a traditional RDBMS system, and allowing easier integration between heterogeneous data sources. These metrics, termed 'Semantic Bibliometrics' or 'Semiometrics', can be applied at a variety of levels of granularity, allowing a compositional framework for impact and influence analysis. This thesis describes the process of data preparation, systems architecture, metric value and data integration for such a system, introducing novel approaches at all four stages, thereby creating a working semiometrics system for determining influence at different semantic levels of granularity.

The animation of articulated bodies presents interest in the areas of biomechanics, sports, medicine and the entertainment industry. Traditional motion control methods for these bodies, such as kinematics and rotoscoping are either expensive to use or very laborious. The motion of articulated bodies is complex mostly because of their number of articulations and the diversity of possible motions. This thesis investigates the possibility of using dynamic analysis in order to define the motion of articulated bodies. Dynamic analysis uses physical quantities such as forces, torques and accelerations, to calculate the motion of the body. The method used in this thesis is based upon the inverse Lagrangian dynamics formulation, which, given the accelerations, velocities and positions of each of the articulations of the body, finds the forces or torques that are necessary to generate such motion. Dynamic analysis offers the possibility of generating more realistic motion and also of automating the process of motion control. The Lagrangian formulation was used first in robotics and thus the necessary adaptations for using it in computer animation are presented. An analytical method for the calculation of ground reaction forces is also derived, as these are the most important external forces in the case of humans and the other animals that are of special interest in computer animation. The application of dynamic analysis in bipedal walking is investigated. Two models of increasing complexity are discussed. The issue of motion specification for articulated bodies is also examined. A software environment, Solaris, is described which includes the facility of dynamic and kinematic motion control for articulated bodies. Finally, the advantages and problematics of dynamic analysis with respect to kinematics and other methods are discussed.

This thesis aims to create a fundamental historical and geographical framework for the study of runes written in medieval manuscripts. It does so by examining the transmission of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian rune-rows and runic alphabets within the wider context of contemporary medieval scholarship. The focal points of this study are the questions of the origin of the phenomenon, and how it developed between the eighth and the twelfth centuries, as evidenced by manuscripts currently held by continental and English libraries. In order to contextualise this study, a brief introduction is dedicated to the concept of runic manuscripts and to an overview of the scholarship which has been carried out on this material thus far. The observations from this discussion are then used to define the limitations of this work. Finally, a number of the issues currently faced by scholars with regard to defining the field of manuscript runology are examined, and the comparison with its epigraphical counterpart is made. The study includes thirty-nine manuscripts with alphabets or rune-rows; these are listed and described in a catalogue which comprises the main body of the thesis. Each manuscript receives a description of its history and contents, an analysis of the runic material it contains, and an examination of the immediate and wider contexts in which the runes appear. The information gathered in the catalogue is collectively analysed in the final chapter, which focuses on determining the origin and development of the phenomenon of runes in manuscripts. The examination of origin uses commonalities between the contexts of the runes to achieve insight into the medieval perception of manuscript runes, and to construct a possible point of origin. The development section then follows the evolution of the tradition and compares and contrasts its execution on the Continent and in the British Isles. Finally, these results are used to indicate the place of written runes within medieval learning, and to construct a general framework which can be used to build upon for future research.

No description available.

Information and communication technologies have been playing a crucial role in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of learning and teaching in higher education. Two decades ago, research studies were focused on how to use artificial intelligence techniques to imitate teachers or tutors in delivering learning sessions. Machine learning techniques have been applied in several research studies to construct a student model in the context of intelligent tutoring systems. However, the usage of intelligent tutoring systems has been very limited in higher education as most educational institutions are in favour of using virtual learning environments (VLEs). VLEs are computer-based systems that support all aspects of teaching and learning from provision of course materials to managing coursework. In this research study, the emphasis is on the assessment aspect of VLEs. A literature review revealed that existing computer-based formative assessments have never utilised unsupervised machine learning to improve their feedback mechanisms. Machine learning techniques have been applied to construct student models, which is represented as categories of knowledge levels such as beginning, intermediate and advanced. The student model does not specify what concepts are understood, the gap of understanding and misconceptions. Previously, a snap-drift modal learning neural network has been applied to improve the feedback mechanisms of computer-based formative assessments. This study investigated the application of snap-drift modal learning neural network for analysing student responses to a set of multiple choice questions to identify student groups. This research study builds on this previous study and its aim is to improve the effectiveness of the application of snap-drift modal learning neural network in modelling student responses to a set of multiple choice questions and to extend its application in modelling student responses gathered from object-oriented programming exercises. A novel method was proposed and evaluated using trials that improves the effectiveness of snap-drift modal learning neural network in identifying useful student group profiles, representing them to facilitate generation of diagnostic feedback and assigning an appropriate diagnostic feedback automatically based on a given student response. Based on the insight gained into the use of this novel method, we extend it to identify useful student group profiles that represent different programming abilities for writing an object-oriented class. The purpose of identifying student group profiles is to facilitate construction of diagnostic feedback that improves the development of basic object-oriented programming abilities. Overall, the main objectives of this research project were addressed successfully. New insights are gained into the application of unsupervised learning in general and snap-drift modal learning in particular. The proposed methods are capable of improving the feedback mechanisms of existing computer-based formative assessment tools. The improved computer-based formative assessments could have a huge impact on students in improving conceptual understanding of topics and development of basic object-oriented programming abilities.

Over the past two decades (1980s and 1990s), changes in environmental factors demanded that higher education institutions should be managed more efficiently. It is necessary for library administrators to evaluate their organisational structures in order to meet their customers' rising expectation and parent institutions' vision, mission, and strategy for future development. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent oflibrary reorganisation within the UK and Taiwan universities, and the principal differences and similarities on organisational structure changes between 1985 and 2001. This study was a population study. This study was composed of two surveys (the initial survey and the follow-up survey) in the two countries. Quantitative data was gathered though a questionnaire. The researcher investigated general aspects of library reorganisation, then focused specific on eight research problems and conducted comparison between the UK and Taiwan. Thirteen hypotheses centered on the issues concerning organisational structure changes were tested. Of the thirteen hypotheses, some were supported by the study and others were not. Comparisons were made among organisational charts during this IS-year period. The main findings are: (1) The extent of library reorganisation for the two countries was high over the IS-year period (1985-2001). However, there had been an overall decline during the follow-up survey period. If the non-respondents represented a biassed set (they all had not conducted organisational structure change), then the extent of change in the two countries was actually not so high. The plans of organisational change will continue with 30% respondents from UK and 24% from Taiwan in the follow-up survey were considering the possibility. (2) There was no significant relationship between the extent of the library reorganisation and the selected background of libraries studied. (3) Of the environmental factors responsible for organisational structure changes, Service reasons and management reasons played the top two major roles. Economic and technological influences on organisational change declined over the survey time. 'Changes in higher Education', 'the development of digitized collection/digital library', 'change in human expectations', and 'changes in scholarly publishing/communication' became the important reasons for changes in the follow-up survey period. (4) Most of the libraries conducted internally reorganisation rather than externally. The top two methods adopted in internal reorganisation were: 'creating new functions/departments/units', and 'combination of functions'. Convergence activities were only reported by several responding libraries, the results showed that the extent of convergence activities seemed increased with time. The major reasons for the convergence were: shared vision; to pursue a more effective administration; to cooperate in supporting teaching, research, and learning; overlapping missions and strategies; exchanges of specialization between organisations; more economic administration; to cooperate in development of digital resources and digital collection; sharing of staff, facilities, and equipment. (5) After reorganisation, most university libraries in the UK adopted hierarchical structure and based on a combined functional/subject-based pattern. Team-based structure was the second favorite. Almost all respondents' libraries in Taiwan preferred a hierarchical structure and based on a functional pattern, however, 'teamwork' concept was adopted by some libraries. (6) The new organisations mostly emphasized user services, integration of the management of varied resources in libraries, and technological support. (7) The management levels of libraries in the UK tended to be flatter after reorganisation. However, most of the libraries in Taiwan retained the same management level after reorganisation. (8) The title of library managers within UK universities became more versatile after reorganisation. However, most of the library managers in Taiwan retained the same title even after reorganisation. (9) The considered important challenges of organisational change were: 'the parent institutional climate'; 'managerial support within and outside the library'; 'the climate of the libraries'; 'the staff strengths and weaknesses'; 'staff attitudes towards change'; 'the attitude of library directors'. (10) The results of library reorganisation have been mostly positive, and have provided lessons in organisational change from which other libraries may benefit.

Examines the historiographical and practical problems of using newspapers in historical research. Studies the methods of different types of professional and non-professional historians, to evaluate the value of newspapers as historical documents and the problems particular to them. Examines the difficulties associated with newspapers in library collections from both the perspectives of newspaper users and custodians. Seeks to provide recommendations for both groups to facilitate the use of newspapers. The research adopted essentially qualitative methods. Using questionnaires and interviews, the opinions and experiences of historians in Wales were studied. Case studies of newspaper collections in Wales were undertaken to examine current policies and strategies at a local level. The research was also undertaken with collaboration from the British Library Newspaper Library and with specific reference to the work of the NEWSPLAN project. Concludes that newspapers are an important source for all manner of historical enquiries, but that historians often require further guidance in order to search, use and evaluate them. Different patterns of use were observed among different types of historians. Also suggests that newspapers are unlike other historical documents, because of their nature and role in society. Specific techniques are provided to assist the historian using newspapers. The use of newspapers is also shaped by the policies and strategies of both local and national newspaper collections. Thus, guidelines and recommendations are provided to assist these organisations. Further work is urged, to understand the needs of historians and the specific problems that newspapers present, following the five million pound Heritage Lottery Fund Award for the NEWSPLAN project in March 1999.