Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium of epidemiologic importance in Canadian healthcare facilities. The contact between MRSA colonized or infected patients with other patients, healthcare workers (HCWs) and/or the healthcare environment can result in MRSA transmission and healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) infections in hospitals. These HA-MRSA infections are linked with increased length of hospital stay, economic burden, morbidity and mortality. Although infection prevention and control programs initiated in 2009 in Canada and other developed countries (e.g., UK, France, Belgium, Denmark, etc.) have been relatively successful in reducing the rate of HA-MRSA infections, they continue to pose a threat to patients, especially to the more vulnerable in long term care and geriatric institutions. Historically, MRSA was a problem mainly in hospital settings but after mid-1990s new strains of MRSA have been identified among people without healthcare-related risks and have been classified as community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA). Furthermore, the distinction between HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA strains is gradually waning due to both the introduction of HA-MRSA in communities, and the emergence of CA-MRSA strains in hospitals. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the feasibility of constructing healthcare networks to evaluate the role of healthcare providers (e.g., physicians) and places (e.g., patient rooms) in the transmission of MRSA in a large tertiary care facility. Method of investigation: a secondary data case-control study, using individual characteristics and network structure measures, conducted at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) between April 1st, 2013 and March 31th, 2014. Results: It was feasible to build social networks in a large tertiary care facility based on electronic medical records data. The networks' size (represented by the number of vertices and lines) increased during the outbreak period (period 1) compared to the pre-outbreak period (period 0) for both groups and at all three TOH campuses. The calculated median degree centrality showed significant increase in value for both study groups during period 1 compared to period 0 for two of the TOH campuses (Civic and General). There was no significant difference between the median degree centrality calculated for each study group at the Heart Institute when compared for the two reference periods. The median degree centrality of the MRSA case group for period 0 showed no significant difference when compared to the same measure determined for the control group for all three TOH campuses. However, the median degree centrality calculated for period 1 was significantly increased for the control group compared to the MRSA case group for two TOH campuses (Civic and General) but showed no significant difference between the two groups from the Heart Institute. In addition, there was a correlation between the two network measures (degree centrality and eigenvector centrality) calculated to determine the most influential person or place in the MRSA case group networks. However, there was no correlation between the two network’s measures calculated for physicians included in MRSA case group networks. Conclusions: It is feasible to use social network analysis as an epidemiologic analysis tool to characterize the MRSA transmission in a hospital setting. The network's visible changes between the groups and reference periods were reflected by the network measures and supported also by known hospital patient movements after the outbreak onset. Furthermore, we were able to identify potential source cases and places just prior of the outbreak start. Unfortunately, we were not able to show the role of healthcare workers in MRSA transmission in a hospital setting due to limitations in data collection and network measure chosen (eigenvector centrality). Further research is required to confirm these study findings.

製藥產業是高度依賴研究發展之產業，因此技術知識網絡在製藥產業中相當活躍，製藥產業因技術的突破，又可分為傳統製藥與生技醫藥兩個分支。本研究旨在探討我國製藥產業技術知識網路與創新績效之關係，透過文獻之探討，以社會網絡理論之觀點切入，利用網絡分析工具UCINET計算出廠商網絡中心性，藉由網絡中心性的分析與評估，尋找出台灣地區製藥產業技術知識網絡中的關鍵行動者。並且以網絡中心性來衡量個別廠商網絡關係的強弱及區分網絡的型態，研究區域內與跨區域網絡對廠商創新成效之影響。 研究結果發現，生技醫藥廠商跨區域合作互動情形愈高，對於創新績效愈有顯著性差異；傳統製藥產業則不論是區域內的合作或是跨區域的合作，皆能帶給其創新的能力，另外，不同的合作關係亦會影響其創新績效之表現，區域內的網絡較著重於直接網絡所帶來的系統性知識，而跨區域的網絡則著重於間接網絡中多樣化的知識。 / As a knowledge intensive industry, pharmaceutical industry cultivates highly active networks among firms and relative actors. Because of technology revolution, Pharmaceutical is divided into two forms: traditional Pharmaceutical and Pharmaceutical biotechnology. This paper aims to advance our understanding of the technology knowledge and innovation capacity of the pharmaceutical industry in Taiwan. We begin by reviewing literatures regarding network and network position. Using the UCINET, a useful method to describe and measure firms’ centralities in a social network, we find out the key players in Taiwan Pharmaceutical industry and offers an emprical examination by examining the geography of technology knowledge associated with innovation in Taiwan Pharmaceutical industry. The empirical results indicate that there is a significant relationship between intra-regional knowledge and innovation performance in Pharmaceutical biotechnology industry, and both intra-regional knowledge and regional knowledge determine the innovation performance of the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, Results of this study indicate that a firm that occupies a central position in regional network of direct ties is more accessible to useful knowledge; in the other hand, firms can innovate successfully in intra-regional network both directly and indirectly.

Krivelevich and Patkós conjectured in 2009 that χ(G(n, p)) ∼ χ=(G(n, p)) ∼ χ∗=(G(n, p)) for C/n < p < 1 − ε, where ε > 0. We prove this conjecture for n−1+ε1 < p < 1 − ε2 where ε1, ε2 > 0. We investigate several measures that have been proposed to indicate centrality of nodes in networks, and find examples of networks where they fail to distinguish any of the vertices nodes from one another. We develop a new method to investigate core-periphery structure, which entails identifying densely-connected core nodes and sparsely-connected periphery nodes. Finally, we present an experiment and an analysis of empirical networks, functional human brain networks. We found that reconfiguration patterns of dynamic communities can be used to classify nodes into a stiff core, a flexible periphery, and a bulk. The separation between this stiff core and flexible periphery changes as a person learns a simple motor skill and, importantly, it is a good predictor of how successful the person is at learning the skill. This temporally defined core-periphery organisation corresponds well with the core- periphery detected by the method that we proposed earlier the static networks created by averaging over the subjects dynamic functional brain networks.

The dissertation describes the names related to justice and places in the landscape where justice was administered, applying an interdisciplinary perspective with place names as the chief source material. One aim is to collect and describe place names in Skåne designating or indirectly associated with meeting places and districts of the court, and to study the named places. The study covers many different periods, but especially the Middle Ages and the transition from the Late Iron Age to the Middle Ages. The analysis raises questions such as: Was there continuity in judicial sites between prehistoric and historic times? How old are the hundreds (härader)? Is there a spatial link between judicial sites and other central functions such as cult, markets, or rulers’ estates? The work is permeated by material-based onomastic research in combination with current perspectives in text research, historical geography, and archaeology. Nine case studies are conducted to describe the interaction between place, linguistic expression, and meaning. The study demonstrates the existence of a large corpus of names reflecting the early administration of justice. Most of the many field names which contain ting ‘court’ and galge ‘gallows’ can be related to the actual administration of justice. The medieval sites where courts assembled and people were executed stand out in particular, but in many cases these have prehistoric roots. Both unbroken continuity and the reuse of earlier places of assembly may be assumed. Close to sites with names indicating the administration of justice there are also landscape features with names that grant epic and mythical status to the locale. The special quality of these places was handed down, incorporated in larger narratives, based on changing ideas and circumstances in different periods. The landscape of the hundred courts (häradsting) is archaic, magnificent and mythical, and shared, qualities that contributed to the maintenance and legitimation of judicial practice. A division into a general, public judicial sphere and a more limited and exclusive sphere can be seen. In the medieval exercise of justice this division is manifested in two different judicial districts – härad and birk – but the phenomenon can be traced back to the Late Iron Age. The study also problematizes a traditional image of the names of the hundreds.

Le commerce a connu à travers le temps de nombreuses évolutions, tant dans sa forme que dans son implantation, passant de grands magasins prestigieux dans le cœur des villes au début du XXe siècle à de grands centres commerciaux à la jonction d’autoroute dans les années 2000. Le lifestyle center est la forme commerciale la plus aboutie, concept américain existant depuis les années 80, il est apparu pour la première fois au Québec en 2006 à Brossard sur la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Ses caractéristiques hors du commun ; une surface de vente de près de 2 000 000 pi² faisant de lui un centre d’envergure supra régional, son agencement de boutiques en plein air regroupé autour d’une rue piétonne ainsi qu’un mix commercial extrêmement varié rompt avec les traditionnels centres commerciaux existants. Ainsi en s’implantant à Brossard le Quartier DIX30 est venu modifier profondément la structure commerciale de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un contre poids de taille par rapport à la domination du pôle des Promenades Saint-Bruno. Cependant, le Quartier DIX30 ne va pas seulement modifier cette structure commerciale, mais plus globalement la centralité urbaine de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un pôle central majeur. Le Quartier DIX30 grâce à sa mixité d’activité et son concept favorisant les interactions sociales est en train d’insuffler un mouvement de concentration d’activité commerciale et tertiaire. Ainsi aujourd’hui se développe au pourtour du Quartier DIX30 de nombreux locaux à bureaux. Cependant, cette nouvelle centralité créée par le Quartier DIX30 soulève des interrogations notamment vis-à-vis de la privatisation d’un espace s’imposant de plus en plus comme un des pôles principaux de croissance de la Rive-Sud. Ainsi, une question légitime se pose, ne sommes-nous pas en train d’assister à une privatisation d’un centre-ville en devenir ? / Over the time, trade has knew numerous changes in term of location and form, passing from prestigious department stores in the heart of cities in the early twentieth century to large shopping centers at the junction of highways in the years 2000. The lifestyle center is the most accomplished commercial form, the American concept exists since the years 1980 and it appeared for the first time in Quebec in 2006 in Brossard on the South Shore of Montreal. Its unusual features: a sales area of almost 2 000 000 square feet (making it a center of supra-regional scale), a mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street and numerous other activities, breaks with the traditional agencement of the existing shopping malls. Thus, by becoming established in Brossard, the Quartier DIX30 modifies profoundly the commercial structure of the South Shore of Montréal. The Quartier DIX30 imposes itself as a major commercial pole against the domination of the Promenades Saint Bruno. The Quartier DIX30 will not only change the commercial structure of the South Shore, but more generally the urban centrality of the South Shore established itself as a major center pole. Due to the variety of activities and its concept of mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street permitting social interaction, the Quartier DIX30 creates a commercial and office concentration. Thus, today develops around the Quartier DIX30 many building with offices. However, this new centrality created by the Quartier DIX30 raises interrogations in particular with respect to the privatization of a space imposing itself more and more like one of the principal poles of growth of the South Shore. Thus, a question legitimate is posed, does we aren't attending a privatization of a downtown area in becoming?

Contextes différents en matière d’histoire et de temporalité migratoires, la France et la Catalogne en Espagne proposent un traitement politique relativement opposé des particularismes. Cette thèse s’intéresse plus particulièrement aux effets de l’ethnoracialisation des populations européennes sur les relations entre habitants des villes moyennes mélangées. Dans les deux pays étudiés, on constate une forme d’homogénéisation dans la pratique quotidienne de l’ethnicité des habitants. L’ethnoracialisation participe à reconfigurer les espaces urbains des villes moyennes, notamment à travers la constitution de centralités minoritaires. Or ces aires urbaines accélèrent l’imbrication des logiques ethniques et racisantes. Ce sont des espaces d’entre-soi, investis par les habitants originaires du Maghreb et ils matérialisent une frontière visible entre les groupes dans la ville. Egalement objet de stigmatisation et de contournements, les centralités minoritaires sont le lieu privilégié d’expression de tensions ethnoraciales dans la ville. Elles génèrent de l’insécurité urbaine qui facilite les processus de différenciation ethnoraciale et les amalgames sur les minorités. Les stéréotypes sur les originaires du Maghreb sont ainsi façonnés par l’expérience urbaine, l’histoire et le cadre national et le contexte plus global : on assiste à l’adoption commune de modalités de traitement des marqueurs ethnoraciaux, sous la rhétorique des civilisations. La peur des différences ethnoraciales justifie alors la naturalisation et la banalité du racisme et pour se dégager des assignations, les minorités usent d’un ensemble de stratégies de dépassement et de résistance au stigmate. / With different historical contexts and migration temporalities, France and the region of Catalogna in Spain apply relatively opposing policies concerning specificities. This PhD thesis focuses more specifically on the effects of the ethno-racialization of the European populations on the relations between people in mixed medium sized cities. In the two studied countries, we can witness a certain homogenization in the everyday practice of ethnicity of the inhabitants. The ethno-racialization contributes to the reconfiguration the urban spaces of medium-size cities, in particular through the establishment of minority centralities. But the urban areas speed up the intertwining of ethnic and racializing logics. These are spaces of self-segregation, invested by population from the Maghreb and it materializes a visible border between the groups within the city. Also subject to stigmatization and bypasses, the minority centralities have become places of ethnoracial tensions in the city. This creates urban insecurities which favours the process of ethno-racial differentiation as well as assimilating them to minorities. The stereotypes about people of Maghrebian origins are thus created through urban experience, History and the national scope, and the more global context : we can witness the common adoption of the use of ethno-racial markers, behind the rhetoric of civilizations. The fear of ethnoracial differences then justifies the normalization and banalization of racism and to escape these designations, the minorities use a numbers of strategies to surpass themselves and to resist the stigmatization.

A verificação dos processos de mutação do Largo Marquês de Monte Alegre, no bairro do Valongo em Santos e, sua conturbada relação com a faixa portuária e frente de água, são o objetivo desta pesquisa. Partindo da análise sistemática de seus elementos constitutivos: geográficos, arquitetônicos, infra-estruturais, urbanos e sociais, são delineados os fatores que determinaram sua construção, sua centralidade e, posteriormente, os fenômenos de degradação e esvaziamento funcional. Aplica-se o termo zona de fronteira ao lugar, por seu caráter emblemático e mutante, onde, através da compreensão e percepção de seu valor histórico, de memória e permanência do patrimônio urbano, é apontada a possibilidade e desejo de sua recuperação, retomando sua condição de centro e elemento indutor da reconversão de toda área histórica da cidade. / The verification of Largo Marquês de Monte Alegre mutation process, in the neighborhood of Valongo in Santos City, and the complex relationship between Santos port and its waterfront, is the main objective of this research. Starting from the systematic analysis of its constituent elements: geographic, infrastructure, urban and social, its possible to outline the mechanisms that once determinated its construction, its centrality and, later, the degradation process and functional emptiness. The term frontier zone can be applied to this place, due to its emblematic and mutant character, where, through the understanding and perception of its historical value, memory and remains of urban patrimony, it opens the possibility and desire for its recovery, bringing back its center condition and inductor element for the whole regeneration of Santos city historical area.

A análise de redes sociais permite estudar a maneira como são estabelecidas as conexões entre indivíduos e como estas evoluem ao longo do tempo. A coautoria é uma das formas mais estudadas e bem documentadas de colaboração científica. Existem muitos aspectos de redes de colaboração científica, os quais podem ser rastreados de forma confiável através da análise de redes de colaboração usando métodos bibliométricos. Diversos esforços em diferentes áreas de pesquisa tentam analisar, entender, explicar e predizer o comportamento de sistemas modelados através de redes sociais. Nestes estudos, os indivíduos são modelados como vértices de um grafo, enquanto as relações entre eles são representadas por arestas. Atualmente, o estudo de redes de colaboração científica é importante e necessário para apoiar o planejamento estratégico, implementação e gestão dos programas de pesquisa científica. Neste trabalho, apresentamos um modelo de análise de redes científicas baseado em Grafos Relacionais com Atributos (ARG). O modelo proposto permite representar as redes de colaboração científica incluindo atributos individuais dos pesquisadores e atributos dos trabalhos colaborativos de pares de pesquisadores. Os dados correspondem às produções científicas de pesquisadores cadastrados na plataforma Lattes e extraídas automaticamente usando a ferramenta scriptLattes. Na primeira etapa, foi implementado o cálculo automatizado da taxa de internacionalização de cada pesquisador, a qual mostra a proporção entre o número de publicações internacionais e o número total de publicações. Esta medida junto com a produção científica individual discretizada em diversos grupos fazem parte das informações armazenadas nos vetores de atributos dos vértice dos ARGs. Por outro lado os vetores de atributos das arestas armazenam informações dos trabalhos colaborativos discretizados segundo a classificação da CAPES. Adicionalmente, neste trabalho foram exploradas duas aplicações relacionadas à (i) predição de trabalhos colaborativos futuros e à (ii) influência dos pesquisadores na rede de colaboração. O resultado da predição de vínculos foi usado para determinar a influência dos pesquisadores na redes de colaboração. A influência tem sido explorada com base na variação da predição de ligações com a presença ou a ausência do pesquisador na rede. Nossa proposta foi avaliada considerando diferentes testes sobre redes de coautoria científica de diversos grupos de pesquisadores. Os resultados obtidos são promissores para a análise de redes sociais em geral. / The social network analysis allows the study of how the relationships are established between individuals and how their are evolving with the time. The co-authorship is one of the most studied and documented scientific collaboration. There are some aspects which could be traced in a reliable way through the social network analysis using bibliometric methods. There are several proposals in different research areas trying to analyse, understand, explain and predict the behaviour of systems modeled as social networks. In this study, the individuals are modeled as vertices of a graph, while the relationships between them are represented by edges. Currently the study of scientific collaboration networks is important and necessary to support the strategic planning, implementation and management of scientific research programs. In this work, we present an scientific networks analysis model based on Attributed Relational Graphs (ARG). The proposed model allows to represent the scientific collaboration networks including individual attributes of researchers and attributes of the collaborative work of researchers pairs. The data correspond to the scientific production of researchers, registered in the Lattes Platform and automatically extracted using the tool scriptLattes \\citep{Mena-Chalco:2009}. In the first step, was implemented the automated computation of the internationalization rate for each researcher, that shows the ratio between the number of international publications and the total number of publications. This measure together with the individual scientific production discretized in diverse groups form part of the information stored in the vertices of the ARGs. On the other hand, the edges store information of collaborative work discretized according to the CAPES classification. Additionally, this work explores two related applications (i) prediction of future collaborative work and (ii) influence of researchers in collaboration network. The result of the link prediction was used to determine the influence of researchers in collaborative networks. The influence in collaboration network is computed based on the variation of the link prediction with the presence or absence of the researcher in the network. Our proposal was evaluated with different real scientific co-authorship networks and with different research groups. The results obtained look promising for analyzing social networks in general.

Depuis l’invention du terme hypertexte par Ted Nelson en 1965, il y a eu des débats fréquents à propos des mérites et des dangers des textes numériques, pour savoir si le développement des technologies informatiques causerait l’obsolescence des supports imprimés. Les prophéties étaient apocalyptiques et l’avenir des livres semblait sombre. Environ cinquante ans plus tard, tant les supports imprimés qui étaient condamnés que les hypertextes numériques qui semblaient être leurs exécuteurs existent encore. Les romans sont toujours populaires et les hypertextes aussi. Nul n’est dépassé ou éradiqué par l’autre. Au contraire, la coexistence des livres et leurs homologues numériques a affecté notre perception des textes, des lecteurs, des auteurs et de l’expérience de lecture. Plus important, l’échange entre les deux médias a eu comme résultat l’apparition d’une fiction expérimentale exceptionnelle à la fois sur écran et sur papier. La conjonction entre la fiction et les technologies numériques est au centre de ce projet qui vise à d’étudier l’hyperfiction, ses racines dans la fiction traditionnelle et ses descendants imprimés. / Since Ted Nelson coined the term “hypertext” in 1965, there have been frequent debates on the merits and dangers of digital texts and whether the development of digital technology would outdate the print-based medium. The prophecies were apocalyptic and the future of books seemed bleak. About fifty years later, the doomed print-based medium and the digital hypertexts, their would-be executioners,both still exist. Novels are still popular and so is hyperfiction. Neither outdated or eradicated the other. Instead, the coexistence of books and their digital counterparts has affected ourperception of text, reader, writer and the reading experience. More importantly, the exchange between the two media has resulted in exceptional experimental fiction both on screen and on paper. The conjunction between fiction and digital technology is of concern to this project which attempts to study hyperfiction, its roots in fiction and its printed descendants.

In relation to last year’s introduction of Digital Archaeological Process this study is supposed to investigate the opportunities of using quantitative methods on the archaeological material. The subject of the investigation is to problematize and process the concept of ”central places”. The investigation is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods executed on seven different grave- and settlement areas during the Iron Age in Skåne. The archeological material is gathered through archaeological reports and later processed in tables. The concept of central places is often based on luxury finds and places with much archaeological material. Quantitative methods on archaeological material are a possibility by many reasons. For example by getting an overview of each grave- and settlement area which is an opportunity for more interpretations. DAP is an opportunity to restore the archaeological material during excavations for future research. The introduction of DAP is a step in the right direction for future archaeology.