The present research examined how individuals’ cultural orientations influenced the relationship between their construal level and temporal distance. There were two studies in this research. Study 1 was composed of two parts. In the first part, the relationship between culture and construal level was examined through the Behavioral Identification Form (BIF). In the second part, the influence of culture on temporal distance and individuals’ construal level was investigated by analyzing participants’ descriptions of their lives. In study 2, the three-way interaction between culture, temporal distance, and the construal-level frame of persuasive messages (desirability vs. feasibility focused message) was investigated. A total of 200 students from two different countries (Korea and the U.S.) participated in the study. A fictitious brand and advertisement were created to examine the interaction. The findings revealed that individuals from an individualistic culture (U.S.) prefer abstract thinking to concrete thinking and focus more on the desirability than the feasibility of an event or object. And the reverse was true for individuals from a collectivistic culture (Korea). When individuals are in a proximal temporal condition, those from a collectivistic culture have a more proximal temporal perspective, and they are more likely to represent the future event in low-level terms. In contrast, individuals from an individualistic culture have a more distal temporal perspective and tend to represent the future event in high-level terms. Consistent results were found in an advertising context. When individuals from a collectivistic culture were in a proximal temporal condition, they tended to show a more favorable attitude toward the advertisement emphasizing the feasibility features of the product. The reverse was true for individuals from an individualistic culture. / text

A simplistic view of a dataset is that it is collection of numbers. In fact data are much more than that and all data are collected at a set place and time. Often either the location, or the time, is fixed within the dataset and one or both are disregarded. When the place and time of the collection are incorporated into the analysis, the result is a spatio-temporal model. Spatio-temporal data are the focus of this thesis. The majority of the datasets used are radio tracking studies of animals where the objective is to measure the habitat use. Observations are made over a long period of time and a large area. The largest dataset analysed tracks over a hundred animals, in an area larger than 40 square miles, for multiple years. In this context understanding the spatio-temporal relationships between observations is essential. Even data that do not have an obvious spatial component can benefit from spatio-temporal analysis. For example, the data presented on volatility in the stock market do not have an obvious spatial component. The spatial component is the location in the market, not a physical location. Two different methods for measuring and correcting bias are presented. One method relies on direct modelling of the underlying process being observed. The underlying process is animal movement. A model for animal movement is constructed and used to estimate the missing observations that are thought to be the cause of the bias. The second method does not model the animal movement, but instead relies on a Bayesian Hierarchical Model with some simple assumptions. A long running estimation is used to calculate the most likely result without ever directly estimating the underlying equations. In the second section of the thesis two methods for measuring change from shifts in both spatial and temporal location are presented. The methods, Large Diffeomorphic Deformation Metric Mapping (LDDMM) and Diffeomorphic Demons (DD), were originally developed for anatomical data and are adapted here for nonparametric regression surfaces. These are the first applications of LDDMM and DD outside of computational anatomy.

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El presente estudio fue realizado con el objetivo de conocer la composición y distribución espacial y temporal de la comunidad de Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera y Coleoptera (EPTC) en una quebrada de primer orden, Chanchamayo, Perú. Se realizaron colectas bimensuales desde marzo del 2013 a enero del 2014 en cuatro microhábitats lóticos: piedra, grava, musgo y hojas retenidas en la corriente. Fueron colectados un total de 7825 individuos agrupados en 51 géneros distribuidas en 27 familias de EPTC. La mayor riqueza y abundancia fue registrada en las hojas retenidas en la corriente y durante los meses de julio y setiembre (menor caudal). Las pruebas no paramétricas de Kruskall-Wallis para la riqueza, abundancia y estructura comunitaria (diversidad de Shannon-Wiener y equidad de Pielou) determinaron diferencias significativas (p<0.05) a nivel espacial y temporal; en tanto que el análisis de similitud (ANOSIM) y de agrupamiento utilizando el método no paramétrico de escalamiento multidimensional (nMDS) determinaron diferencias significativas a nivel espacial pero no a nivel temporal. La variación espacial estuvo explicada por la heterogeneidad del hábitat; y la variación temporal se explicó principalmente por la hidrología del ecosistema. El factor espacial predominó sobre el temporal para determinar la estructura de la comunidad de EPTC. Además el análisis de similitud porcentual (SIMPER) permitió identificar las especies que más influyeron en la estructura comunitaria de EPTC. La quebrada Pichita fue calificada como de referencia por el “Riparian, Chanel and Enviromental Inventory” (RCE) y el Protocolo de la Calidad Ecológica de los Ríos Andinos (CERA).

The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) is the most extensively used battery for memory assessment of adults. The third edition of the WMS (WMS-111) represents a substantial revision of previous versions. Accordingly, issues of validity of the revised instrument need to be addressed. The purpose of these studies was to contribute to the validation of the scale in the assessment of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy WE). An important role of the neuropsychological evaluation in TLE is to aid in the localization and lateralization of dysfunction. This is based on the premise that the temporal lobes are specialized for the acquisition of material-specific information, with dysfunction in the left and right mesial temporal regions being associated with verbal and nonverbal memory impairment, respectively. Since the WMS is utilized by the vast majority of epilepsy centres, evaluation of its meaning and utility in this population is essential. In Study 1, the utility of the WMS-I11 in detecting lateralized impairment was examined in a sample of patients with left (n = 55) or right (n = 47) TLE. Methods of analysis included evaluation of group means on the various indexes and subtest scores, the use of ROC curves, and an examination of Auditory-Visual Index discrepancy scores. The Auditory- Visual Delayed Index difference score appeared most sensitive to side of temporal dysfunction, although patient classification rates were not within an acceptable range to have clinical utility. The ability to predict laterality based on statistically significant index score differences was particularly weak for those with left temporal dysfunction. The use of unusually large discrepancies led to improved prediction; however, the rarity of such scores limits their usefulness. ill In Study 2, five competing models specifying the factor structure underlying the WMS- 111 primarysubtest scores were evaluated in a large sample of patients with TLE (N = 254). Models specifying separate immediate and delayed constructs resulted in inadmissible parameter estimates and model specification error. There were negligible goodness-of-fit differences between a 3-factor model of working memory, auditory memory, and visual memory, and a nested- more parsimonious- 2-factor model of working memory and general memory. The results suggested that specifying a separate visual memory factor provided little advantage for this sample- an unexpected finding in a population with lateralized dysfunction, for which one might have predicted separate auditory and visual memory dimensions. These findings add to a growing literature which suggests that the WMS-I11 has little utility in detecting lateralized dysfunction in TLE. This has important implications for the preoperative assessment of epilepsy patients.

Online shopping has rapidly expanded in the last decade. Online shopping necessarily imposes delays on all transactions. Behavior analysis has long studied the effects of delay on choice. Additionally, a number of researchers are beginning to study consumer behavior using a behavior-analytic approach. The current study attempted to extend research focusing on consumer behavior in online contexts. The experimenters attempted to evaluate whether goods acquire functional properties and whether these properties influence consumer choice. The researchers were specifically interested in studying acquisition costs and durability and in simulating a natural online shopping environment. Results from the current study extend the findings showing that delay and price influence choice. The data from the current study provide mixed evidence for control by item durability.

This master thesis investigates and evaluates how a temporal component can help anti-aliasing with reduction of general spatial aliasing, preservation of thin geometry and how to get temporal stability in dynamic computer generated worlds. Of spatial aliasing, geometric aliasing is in focus but shading aliasing will also be discussed. Two temporal approaches are proposed. One of the methods utilizes the previous frame while the other method uses four previous frames. In order to do this an efficient way of re-projecting pixels are needed so this thesis deals with that problem and its consequences as well. Further, the results show that the way of taking and accumulating samples in these proposed methods show improvements that would not have been affordable without the temporal component for real-time applications. Thin geometry is preserved up to a degree but the proposed methods do not solve this problem for the general case. The temporal methods' image quality are evaluated against conventional anti-aliasing methods subjectively, by a survey, and objectively, by a numerical method not found elsewhere in anti-aliasing reports. Performance and memory consumption are also evaluated. The evaluation suggests that a temporal component for anti-aliasing can play an important role in increasing image quality and temporal stability without having a substantial negative impact of the performance with less memory consumed.

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo determinar o número mínimo de anos adequados para identificar o tipo climático e as flutuações entre seus limites pelo método de classificação de Köppen (1918) e de Thornthwaite (1948), avaliar as probabilidades dos componentes do balanço hídrico de Thornthwaite e Mather (1955) na escala mensal e decendial e comparar os balanços hídricos normal, médio e mediano visando oferecer informações mais completas para uma análise climática e planejamento das atividades da agricultura. Para tanto, foram utilizadas 80 anos de dados mensais e decendiais de temperatura do ar e precipitação pluvial de Piracicaba-SP. O método utilizado foi a classificação climática de Köppen (1918) e deThornthwaite (1948), o programa computacional do balanço hídrico (Barbieri et al., 1991) e freqüências e probabilidades dos componentes do balanço hídrico. A partir dos resultados das freqüências e probabilidades da classificação climática de Köppen, para as médias móveis nas ordens de 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 e 35 anos identificou-se que o tipo climático foi Cfa (clima tropical chuvoso, com a precipitação do mês mais úmido menor que 10 vezes no mês mais seco) com transição para Cwa (clima tropical chuvoso, com a precipitação do mês mais úmido igual ou maior que 10 vezes no mês mais seco). Para a classificação de Thornthwaite a região enquadrou-se no tipo climático B1 r B’4 (tipo úmido, com o Índice efetivo de umidade (Im) entre 20 a 40%) com transição para C2 r B’4 a’ (tipo subúmido, Im entre 20 a 0%), os quais possuem pequena ou nenhuma deficiência de água, mesotérmicos, em que 48% da estação de crescimento das plantas se concentram no verão. Identificou-se que 10 anos de observação seria suficiente para identificar o clima de Piracicaba com B1 r B’4 a’ (Thornthwaite) pois apresentou 70% de probabilidades de ocorrências e como Cfa ou Cwa segundo Köppen, pois as probabilidades foram próximas 48% e 51% respectivamente, sendo mais preciso a classificação com 15 anos em que as probabilidades foram de 58% para o tipo Cfa. Existe uma certa tendência dos meses úmidos (DEZ, JAN e FEV) tornarem-se menos úmidos e os meses secos (JUN, JUL e AGO) tornarem-se menos secos, ou seja, um aumento das precipitações no inverno e diminuição no verão. O balanço hídrico normal, médio e mediano apresentaram o mesmo tipo climático pelo método deThornthwaite B1 r B’4 a’, enquanto pelo método de Köppen o tipo foi Cfa para o balanço hídrico normal e médio e o tipo Cwa para o balanço hídrico mediano. As freqüências e probabilidades de ocorrência dos elementos do clima e componentes do balanço hídrico permitem uma análise mais precisa do clima da região de Piracicaba. O balanço hídrico normal decendial tem seus componentes iguais a 1/3 dos componentes do balanço hídrico normal mensal, indicando que uma análise climática tem a mesma precisão utilizando-se valores mensais ou decendiais. As probabilidades dos componentes se forem utilizados do balanço hídrico para as diferentes CADs permitem análises agroclimáticas com relativa precisão. / The present work had for objective to determine the minimum number of years adapted to identify the climatic type and the flotations among its limits for the method of classification of Köppen (1918) and of Thornthwaite (1948), to evaluate the probabilities of the components of the swinging hídrico of Thornthwaite and Mather (1955) in the monthly scale and decendial and to compare the swingings normal, medium and medium hidricos seeking to offer more complete information for a climatic analysis and planning of the activities of the agriculture. For so much, 80 years of monthly data and decendiais of temperature of the air and pluvial precipitation of Piracicaba-SP were used. The used method went to climatic classification of Köppen (1918) and of Thornthwaite (1948), the program computational of the swinging hidrico (Barbieri et aI., 1991) and frequencies and probabilities of the components of the swinging hidrico. Starting from the results of the frequencies and probabilities of the climatic classification of Köppen, for the mobile averages in the orders of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 years he/she identified that the climatic type was Cfa (rainy tropical climate, with the precipitation of the smaller most humid month than 10 times of the driest month) with transition for Cwa (rainy tropical climate, with the precipitation of the month most humid equal or larger than 10 times of the driest month). Para the classification of Thornthwaite the area enquadrou-if in the climatic type B1 r B'4 a' (humid type, with the effective Index of humidity (Im) among 20 to 40%) with transition for C2 r B'4 a' (type subúmido. In among 20 to 0%), which possess small or any deficiency of water, mesotermicos, in that 48% of the station of growth of the plants concentrate on the summer. He/she identified that 10 years of observation it would be enough to identify the climate of Piracicaba with B1 r B'4 a' (Thornthwaite) because it presented 70% of probabilities of occurrences and like Cfa or Cwa according to Köppen, because the probabilities were respectively next 48% and 51%, being more necessary the classification with 15 years in that the probabilities were of 58% for the type Cfa. A certain tendency of the humid months exists (TEN, JAN and FEV) they turn her less humid and the dry months (JUN, JUL and AGO) they turn her less dry, that is to say, an increase of the precipitations in the winter and decrease in the summer. The swinging normal, medium and medium hídrico presented the same climatic type for the method of Thornthwaite B1 r B'4 a', while for the method of Köppen the type went Cfa to the swinging normal and medium hídrico and the type Cwa for the swinging medium hidrico. The frequencies and probabilities of occurrence of the elements of the climate and components of the swinging hidrico allow a more precise analysis of the climate of the area of Piracicaba. The swinging hidrico normal decendial has its components the same to 1/3 of the components of the swinging monthly normal hidrico, indicating that a climatic analysis has the same precision being used monthly values or decendiais. The probabilities of the components if they be used of the swinging hídrico for different CAOs they allow analyses agroclimaticas with relative precision.