Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agronomy / Jianming Yu / Knowledge of the genetic bases of grain quality traits will complement plant breeding efforts to improve the end use value of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). The objective of the first experiment was to assess marker-trait associations for 10 grain quality traits through candidate gene association mapping on a diverse panel of 300 sorghum accessions. The 10 grain quality traits were measured using the single kernel characterization system (SKCS) and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). The analysis of the accessions through 1,290 genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) separated the panel into five subpopulations that corresponded to three major sorghum races (durra, kafir, and caudatum), one intermediate race (guinea-caudatum), and one working group (zerazera/caudatum). Association analysis between 333 SNPs in candidate genes/loci and grain quality traits resulted in eight significant marker-trait associations. A SNP in starch synthase IIa (SSIIa) gene was associated with kernel hardness (KH) with a likelihood ratio–based R[superscript]2 (R[subscript]L[subscript]R[superscript]2) value of 0.08. SNPs in starch synthase (SSIIb) gene (R[subscript]L[subscript]R[superscript]2 = 0.10) and loci pSB1120 (R[subscript]L[subscript]R[superscript]2 = 0.09) was associated with starch content. Sorghum is a crop well adapted to the semi arid regions of the world and my harbor genes for drought tolerance. The objective of second experiment was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield potential and drought tolerance. From a cross between Tx436 (food grain type) and 00MN7645 (drought tolerant) 248 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was developed. Multi-location trials were conducted in 8 environments to evaluate agronomic performance of the RILs under favorable and drought stress conditions. The 248 RILs and their parents were genotyped by genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). A subset of 800 SNPs was used for linkage map construction and QTL detection. Composite interval mapping identified a major QTLs for grain yield in chromosome 8 and QTL for flowering time in chromosome 9 under favorable conditions. Three major QTLs were detected for grain yield in chromosomes 1, 6, and 8 and two flowering time QTLs on chromosome 1 under drought conditions. Six QTLs were identified for stay green: two on chromosome 4; one each on chromosome 5, 6, 7, and 10 under drought conditions.

This internship report contains a comprehensive analysis of the NORD/NOBA Center For Dance, a community partnership between the New Orleans Recreation Department and the New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA). Included are organizational histories and management analyses of the Center For Dance and NOBA, a description of the intern's duties as the Summer Programs Coordinator, management challenges caused by a lack of human resources and planning time, and recommendations for building a stronger manpower base and developing summer planning.

The thesis will analyze the current state of life sports club TJ Handball Jindrichuv Hradec, with an emphasis on economic, organizational and internal and external social aspects. Based on the findings will be formulated recommendations for further development of the sports club.

Student Number : 0204752J - MSc research report - School of Construction Economics and Management - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / Most governments in developing countries are unable to assist in the ever-growing housing needs of the informal sector, which constitutes the major part of most economies. The two reasons for this state of affairs are (i) the ever-shrinking resource base of countries, which makes the provision of subsidies impractical; and (ii) the fact that this sector is normally characterized by irregular incomes, which makes provision for loans by financial institutions difficult. This situation is particularly true for the Kingdom of Lesotho. Due to their unfortunate predicament, the informal sector has become innovative in addressing their housing needs. Various informal credit methods are widely employed to finance their houses, which are built progressively. This research therefore investigates the possibilities of linking the progressive housing investment to bank housing finance, using Maseru - Lesotho as the research focus. In order to achieve the above aim, a household survey was conducted coupled with structured interviews. The structured interviews were held with the commercial banks as well as the government housing authorities. These interviews were mainly to elicit their views about the option of Microfinance of housing. It was established that the respondents as well as the government authorities were not aware of this option. The banks were equally unaware of it and in addition to this, the perceived risk led to skepticism. As such these made Microfinance of housing impractical in the short-run. However it would be advisable to mobilize the formation of a revolving fund to which the commercial banks could on-lend, as a solution to the lack of housing finance.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Law, Commerce and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in 50% fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Security). June, 2016 / This study explores civilians’ perceptions on the impartiality of the international humanitarian organization (IHO) Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). This is done through engaging participants from countries where MSF operates and has experienced different challenges in delivering humanitarian aid to civilians. The countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia. A basic interpretive approach was used to explore and interpret participants’ perceptions. Interviews were conducted with groups of participants based on their respective countries of origin. The interview questions and guide were developed using indicators of impartiality which the researcher formulated based on varying literature and definition of impartiality, independence and neutrality as the core humanitarian principles that guide the work of MSF together with many other IHOs. Participants expressed their perceptions on the impartiality of MSF through reflecting on associations they made between the IHO and parties they considered to have vested interests in humanitarian crises. These parties included Western countries, the military and persons perceived to have discriminatory and colonial intentions. Upon analysis of these perceptions, it becomes clear that MSF, as an IHO that holds itself to operate according to the humanitarian principles of independence, neutrality and impartiality, needs to reflect on how it builds its identity in order to mitigate perceptions that may have potential to hinder its ability to access and assist civilians affected by humanitarian crises. / MT2016

Le paludisme est l'une des maladies infectieuses les plus dévastatrices qui a affecté environ 214 millions de personnes dans le monde. Elle est causée par l'infection par le parasite plasmodium, dont P. falciparum et P. vivax sont les plus représentés. Le développement asexué du parasite dans le sang provoque la physiopathologie de la maladie dont l'évolution passe du paludisme simple au paludisme grave, notamment le neuropaludisme. Nos travaux ont d'abord porté sur l'analyse du transcriptome, par la technologie des microarrays, des cellules sanguines d'une cohorte constituée au Sénégal. L'analyse des résultats a permis d'identifier un ensemble de gènes dont l'expression permettait de distinguer le profil transcriptomique du neuropaludisme de ceux du paludisme simple et des autres formes de paludisme grave. Ces gènes sont enrichis en voies biologiques impliquées dans l'activation des récepteurs des lymphocytes B et T mais aussi des TLR et des récepteurs Fcgamma. On y trouve aussi plusieurs gènes candidats qui ont déjà été testés pour leur résistance au paludisme, dont RNASE3 et IL18R. Nous avons aussi réalisé, avec une partie de cette même cohorte sénégalaise, une étude d’association cas-contrôles qui n’a pas permis de détecter d’association entre le polymorphisme NCR3-412 et le paludisme sévère. Enfin l’approche basée sur une métaanalyse a permis de confirmer son implication dans le paludisme simple, ainsi que celle du polymorphisme LTA+252 dans le paludisme sévère, contrairement au LTA+80, au TNF-238 et au TNF-308. L’ensemble des travaux contribuent à une meilleure compréhension des facteurs génétiques et génomiques impliqués dans la résistance de l’hôte au paludisme. / Malaria is one of the most devastating infectious diseases that has affected an estimated 214 million people worldwide and caused nearly 600,000 deaths in 2015. It is caused by infection with the plasmodium parasite, P. falciparum and P. vivax are the most represented. The asexual development of the parasite in the blood causes the pathophysiology of the disease which can evolve from mild malaria to severe malaria, including cerebral malaria. Our work first focused on the analysis of the microarray transcriptome of blood cells of a cohort composed in Senegal. The analysis of the results allow to identify a set of genes whose expression permit to distinguish the transcriptomic profile of cerebral malaria from those of mild malaria and other forms of severe malaria. These genes are enriched in biological pathways involved in the activation of B and T lymphocyte receptors also TLRs and Fcgamma receptors. These genes also include several candidate proteins that have already been tested for resistance to malaria, including RNASE3 and IL1RN.

Um dos principais interesses na descoberta do conhecimento e mineração de dados é a indução de regras de associação. Regras de associação caracterizam as relações entre os dados a partir de um conjunto de dados estruturado com transações, onde cada transação contém um subconjunto de itens. Seja X e Y dois conjuntos de itens disjuntos, então a regra X → Y define um relacionamento, isto é, a dependência ou a co-ocorrência entre os conjuntos X e Y. Um dos algoritmos mais conhecidos para geração de regras de associação é o algoritmo Apriori. Ele explora regras de associação que respeitam o limiar suporte mínimo, ou seja, as regras devem aparecer em uma quantidade mínima de transações. Esse limiar tem a capacidade de controlar a quantidade de regras extraídas durante a mineração. Entretanto, a frequência ou suporte não consegue medir o nível de interesse de uma regra. Para medir a importância ou interesse de uma regra em relação a outras foram desenvolvidas medidas de interesse. Tais medidas são calculadas a partir das frequências dos conjuntos de itens X, Y e do par XY. Apesar das medidas de interesse realizarem uma filtragem das regras desinteressantes, elas não acarretam na diminuição no tempo de execução da mineração. Para vencer essa dificuldade, técnicas que exploram diretamente regras de associação ótimas foram desenvolvidas. Um conjunto de regras de associação ótimas é um conjunto de regras que otimiza uma determinada medida de interesse. Na literatura existem muitos trabalhos que buscam esse tipo de conjunto de regras de forma direta e eficiente. O trabalho corrente segue esta mesma direção e visou a melhoria dessa tarefa por descobrir uma quantidade arbitrária de regras de associação ótimas. As abordagens anteriores apresentam um entrave em especial, que é a utilização do algoritmo Apriori. Tal técnica realiza uma busca em largura sobre os conjuntos de itens. No entanto, as técnicas mais promissoras que descobrem regras ótimas realizam busca em profundidade sobre o espaço de busca de regras. Em virtude dessa característica, neste trabalho foi adotada a técnica FP-growth, que realiza uma busca em profundidade sobre os conjuntos de itens explorados. Além da adoção da técnica FP-growth, foram desenvolvidas novas estratégias de poda e uma nova estratégia de busca na travessia do espaço de regras. Todas essas inovações foram adicionadas aos algoritmos desenvolvidos no corrente trabalho e proporcionaram melhor eficiência (tempo de execução) em relação ao algoritmo baseline em todos os testes. Tais testes foram realizados sobre conjuntos de dados reais e artificiais. / The induction of association rules is one of the main interests in knowledge discovery and data mining. Association rules describe the relationships between data from a transactional dataset, so that each transaction contains a subset of items. Let X and Y be two disjoint itemsets, then any rule X → Y defines a relationship that represents the dependence or co-occurrence between itemsets X and Y. Apriori is the best-known algorithm to generate association rules. It generates association rules that satisfy a user defined minimum support threshold. This means the rules should occur at least in an arbitrary number of transactions from a dataset. This threshold limits the number of association rules generated by Apriori. Yet, it is not possible to measure the interest of a rule through support. For that, interestingness measures were developed to assess the importance or interest of a rule. The values of these interestingness measures are obtained through frequencies of X, Y and XY. However, it is still an expensive task mining all the association rules and then filter them according to an interestingness measure. To overcome this difficulty, techniques to induce optimal association rules have been developed. Optimal association rules are a ruleset that optimize an arbitrary interestingness measure. In the literature, there are many papers which aim at searching for optimal association rules directly and efficiently. The current MSc thesis follows this direction, aiming at improving this objective. Previous approaches share one obstacle in particular: the use of Apriori. This algorithm performs a breadth-first search on the itemsets space. However, the most promising techniques to find optimal rules perform a depth-first search on the space of rules. Hence, in this research we adopted the FP-growth algorithm, which performs a depth-first search on the itemsets space. Besides using this algorithm, new rule pruning techniques and a new search space traversing on the space rules were developed. The algorithms developed in the current research contain all these innovations. In all tests, the proposed algorithms surpassed the baseline algorithms in terms of efficiency. These tests were conducted on real and articial datasets.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a associação do polimorfismo de variação do número de cópias (CNV) do gene PDLIM3 (ALP) com o desempenho esportivo. Também foi objetivo desta investigação avaliar o impacto dessa variação genética sobre o padrão de expressão da proteína PDLIM3 no músculo esquelético. Mil e setenta e quatro indivíduos fizeram parte deste estudo, sendo 617 brasileiros (328 atletas + 289 não atletas) e 417 australianos (307 atletas + 150 não atletas). O polimorfismo foi determinado por meio de reação PCR convencional utilizando-se 3 primers, os quais permitiam a amplificação da região contendo ou não a inserção. Foi observada maior frequência do alelo I em atletas brasileiros em relação a seus controles (33,7% vs. 26,1%; x2=8,34; p=0,0044). A frequência do alelo I também foi significantemente maior em negros e pardos do que em brancos e, mesmo quando contrastados com grupo controle de mesma etnia, a diferença se mantém. Entretanto, a frequência do alelo I não foi diferente entre atletas de diferentes níveis competitivos. Ainda, o alelo I tendeu a ser mais frequente em atletas de força/potência em comparação com os de resistência em ambas as coortes estudadas. Nenhuma diferença foi observada na expressão da proteína ALP em função da presença do polimorfismo CNV do gene PDLIM3. Em conclusão, o polimorfismo CNV do gene ALP está associado com a condição atlética geral, muito embora não esteja associado com modalidades de força/potência ou resistência. O polimorfismo parece não influenciar o padrão de expressão da proteína PDLIM3 e, portanto, as associações observadas neste estudo devem ser explicadas por um mecanismo não avaliado / The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the copy number variation (CNV) polymorphism in gene PDLIM3 and the athletic status. Another objective was to determine the impact of CNV polymorphism in PDLIM3 gene upon skeletal muscle PDLIM3 expression. One thousand and seventy four subjects took part in this study (617 Brazilians, athletes=328, non-athletes=289; 417 Australians, athletes=307, non-athletes=150). Genotypes were determined through the use of conventional 3-primer PCR reaction, which was designed to amplify the region with/without the insertion. It was observed a higher I-allele frequency in the Brazilian athletes (33,7% vs. 26,1%; x2=8,34; p=0,0044) in comparison to non-athletes controls. Also, the frequency of the I-allele was significantly higher in black and half-black Brazilians as compared to their white counterparts. Despite the higher percentage of black and half-black in the athletes group, the statistical difference was still observed when ethnicity-matched controls where compared to the athletes. No effect of the polymorphism on muscle PDLIM3 protein expression was observed in the present study. In conclusion, CNV polymorphism in PDLIM3 gene is associated with general athlete status, although it is not associated with specific sprint or endurance performance. This polymorphic variant seems to not influence PDLIM3 protein expression at the muscle level and, therefore, all associations observed in this study are due to any other mechanism that does not involve altered PDLIM3 protein expression in skeletal muscle

Thesis advisor: Richard, S.J. McGowan / At the very core of the National Basketball Association’s labor negotiations between the owners and the players during the 2011 lockout was the league’s argument that its economic structure was broken. Owners contended that the NBA’s soft salary cap system, and the resulting payroll disparity, has put small-market franchises at a talent disadvantage and produced a league of haves and have-nots. To remedy this purported competitive balance problem, the owners demanded severe policy measures to decrease the pay dispersion among teams. However, the players union cautioned that these hardline provisions were merely an attempt to transfer wealth from players to owners. This charge warranted further analysis. Existing literature on this topic is either outdated or insufficient in scope. As such, using regression analysis, this thesis evaluated the league’s argument and determined to what extent the league’s soft salary cap system has contributed to its competitive imbalance.The empirical analysis of this thesis produced several meaningful conclusions. While the NBA has relative imbalance, it does not affect consumer demand for the regular season product. Moreover, while pay dispersion exists, additional salary expenditures only marginally add to a team’s winning percentage. There is no significant relationship between payroll disparity and competitive balance. Finally, with the escalating importance of media rights contracts and the historical appreciation of franchise valuation, the league overstated the financial distress of most of its small-market owners. Overall, the NBA and its owners used deceptive rhetoric and misleading economic policies to decrease player salaries, not to increase competitive balance, in a collusive effort to maximize profits and reassert its diminishing monopsony power in an increasingly star-driven league. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Carroll School of Management Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

Estudos co-evolutivos requerem uma base taxonômica e filogenética robusta para estabelecerem de forma inequívoca as relações entre as linhagens envolvidas. Neste sentido, a presente contribuição identificou as linhagens de parasitas marinhos das espécies anfi-Americanas de Himantura Müller & Henle, considerado o suposto grupo-irmão dos potamotrigonídeos - arraias Neotropicais restritas ao sistemas fluviais da America do Sul. O objetivo do presente estudo foi contribuir com o alicerce taxonômico necessário para a elucidar as associações históricas entre as arraias de água doce, seu suposto grupo-irmão marinho, e suas faunas helmintológicas. Neste sentido, este estudo aborda a diversidade de três gêneros de cestóideos, cujas linhagens são compartilhadas entre arraias marinhas e potamotrigonídeos: Acanthobothrium Blanchard, 1948, Anindobothrium Marques, Brooks & Lasso, 2001 e Rhinebothrium Linton, 1890. Cada um destes grupos é abordado em um capítulo individualmente. Os resultados deste estudo incluem a descrição de 11 espécies novas, dentre as quais, sete são parasitas de H. schmardae (Werner) e 4 parasitas de H. pacifica (Beebe & Tee-Van), além da redescrição de três espécies previamente conhecidas para H. schmardae. Todas as descrições e redescrições foram baseadas em um número de indivíduos sem precedentes na taxonomia dos grupos e incluíram dados sobre microscopia eletrônica de varredura dentro dos padrões atuais de descrições taxonômicas. Este estudo também abordou as relações filogenéticas das linhagens de Acanthobothrium e Anindobothrium. Em ambos os casos, dados moleculares revelam congruência entre as relações de parentesco de seus membros e aqueles evidenciados para seus hospedeiros. Os dados parasitológicos apresentados corroboram hipóteses recentes que postulam que potamotrigonídeos compartilham um ancestral comum com as linhagens anfi-Americanas de Himantura. Por fim, algumas abordagens utilizadas neste estudo ilustram os benefícios de integrar diferentes bases de dados no refinamento taxonômico destes grupos dentro do conceito do que hoje reconhecemos como taxonomia integrativa / Studies on the co-evolution require accurate taxonomic and phylogenetic information to unambiguously establish associations within the lineages involved. Therefore, the present study identified marine parasite lineages from amphi-American species of Himantura Müller & Henle, H. schmardae (Werner) and H. pacifica (Beebe & Tee-Van). These hosts are considered the sister-group of potamotrygonids, which are Neotropical freshwater stingrays restricted to river systems in South America. Our motivation was the contribution on sound taxonomic grounds, in order to elucidate the historical associations among freshwater batoids, their alleged marine sister-group and their cestode parasites. To achieve this goal, we documented the fauna of three genera of cestodes, whose lineages can be found both in marine and freshwater stingrays, namely Acanthobothrium Blanchard, 1948, Anindobothrium Marques, Brooks & Lasso, 2001 and Rhinebothrium Linton, 1890. Each chapter addresses each genus separately. Our results consist of descriptions of 11 species new to science, among which seven are found parasitizing H. schmardae and 4 infecting H. pacifica. Furthermore, redescriptions are provided for three species detected in H. schmardae. All descriptions and redescriptions were based on an unprecedented number of specimens and included data obtained from histology, ligth microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. In addition to the taxonomic approach, we evaluated the phylogenetic relationships of Acanthobothrium and Anindobothrium. Molecular data from both genera revealed the congruence between the known patterns of host relationships and their parasites. The parasitological data presented in this study supports the recent hypothesis that potamotrygonids and amphi-American species of Himantura share a common ancestor. Moreover, the combined approach applied in this study illustrates the benefits of integrating different data sources for the taxonomic refinement of these groups within the concept of integrative taxonomy