Building upon the form of a middle school, this thesis is an examination of several architectural questions. This new middle school is imagined to exist at the old Blacksburg Middle school site on Main street between Clay and Eheart streets. Fundamental to the thesis is the concept of centrality. Correspondingly, a large central gathering space forms the heart of the school. Flow emanates from this heart into arterial hallways that open up to the classrooms and finally to capillary hallway window nooks and occupiable classroom windows. These nested spacial and circulatory scales form another focus of the thesis. Additionally, a series of classrooms types are explored giving consideration to furnishing and lighting. / Master of Architecture

In the last few years, large-scale experiments have generated genome-wide protein interaction networks for many organisms including Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast), Caenorhabditis elegans (worm) and Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). In this thesis, we examine the vertex and edge betweenness centrality measures of these graphs. These measures capture how "central" a vertex or an edge is in the graph by considering the fraction of shortest paths that pass through that vertex or edge. Our primary observation is that the distribution of the vertex betweenness centrality follows a power law, but the distribution of the edge betweenness centrality has a Poisson-like distribution with a very sharp spike. To investigate this phenomenon, we generated random networks with degree distribution identical to those of the protein interaction networks. To our surprise, we found out that the random networks and the protein interaction networks had almost identical distribution of edge betweenness. We conjecture that the "Poisson-like" distribution of the edge betweenness centrality is the property of any graph whose degree distribution satisfies power law. / Master of Science

When a romantic relationship ends in dissolution, the ex-partners may experience distress similar to post-traumatic stress or complex grief (i.e., dysphoric mood, feelings of loss, intrusive memories, negative rumination regarding the relationship, and a loss of self-esteem). Interventions designed to reduce post-breakup distress have historically attempted to foster integration of the breakup into the self-narrative through techniques such as expressive writing. Recent research indicates centrality, or heightened integration of an event or concept into an individual’s identity, predicts heightened levels of distress in the case of negative life events, including romantic relationship dissolution. Given the role romantic relationships themselves play in identity formation, exploration is warranted of the potential distress resulting from over-identification with a romantic relationship itself, or relationship centrality, after a breakup has occurred. Furthermore, if an individual has overly-integrated a relationship into their identity, the effectiveness of interventions focusing on further integration of the breakup is called into question. This study explored the centrality of participants’ previous romantic relationships, the distress resulting from the dissolution of those relationships, and the role of expressive writing as a distress reduction tool when centrality is taken into account.

EUROPEAN AIR HUBS IN THE CONTEXT OF NETWORK AND ITS RESISTANCE AGAINST DISTURBANCES Abstract The submitted master thesis is addressing the theme of connectivity of European Air Transport Network, its properties and resistance against negative influences based on data from flight schedules for winter season 2018. The main objective of the thesis is to analyse European Air Transport Network from the point of connectivity in order to find out the most important airport hubs according to their geographic conditions, community structure and resistance of the whole network. Used methods are based on the Graph Theory and the centrality measures as indicators of connectivity. The empiric part of the thesis is divided into three parts. The aim of the first part is to find out, what airports are the most important in the European Air Transport Network. In the second part are explored properties and structure of the network. The last part is aiming to analyse the resistance of the European Air Transport Network from the view of robustness and resilience. Among the most important air hubs in Europe belong airports, that are serving world cities and tourist attractive localities. There is a strong dominance of the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, the El Prat airport in Barcelona and the Frankfurt Airport. The European Air...

O objetivo deste estudo é, a partir da delimitação de um espaço central de São Paulo compreendido simbólica e rizomaticamente entre a Via Elevada Presidente João Goulart (Minhocão, no Centro) e o Largo da Batata (Pinheiros, Zona Oeste), investigar como se comportam determinadas ações culturais institucionais e não institucionais circunscritas nessa centralidade que promovem a conexão entre a cultura e a produção da cidade, operando numa tensão contínua entre o consenso e o dissenso e na tensão entre as noções de público e de privado na cidade, num movimento que se dá por esforços intencionais -- muitas vezes por razões econômicas --, mas também pelo inesperado e pelo encontro fortuito com o simbólico nas brechas e contrabrechas da cidade. Deseja-se, com esta reflexão, contribuir para o pensamento de novos caminhos para a Ciência da Informação e a Política Cultural, em que a promoção do diálogo entre os recursos culturais da cidade e seus atores sociais se dê a partir de conexões móveis e muitas vezes imprevistas, que partem do que é próprio do tenso e do instável, sim, mas em busca do que é comum e que projete outros futuros em que o fortuito, o desejo e a necessidade não estejam tão apartados. / The main objective of this thesis is to examine the impact of certain institutional and non-institutional cultural actions circumscribed in the central region of the city of São Paulo --understood symbolically and rhizomatically between the elevated highway President João Goulart (\"Minhocão\", in the downtown district) and the Largo da Batata, in the Pinheiros district, in the western zone of the capital. Such organizations promote the connection between culture and the production of the city. They operate in a continuous tension between consensus and dissent and between the notions of public and private in the city, in a movement that occurs by intentional efforts --often for economic reasons. We will investigate the unexpected and fortuitous clashes with the symbolic in the breachs and in the counterbreachs of the city. We want to contribute to the thinking of new paths for Cultural Policy and Information Science, in which the promotion of dialogue between the city\'s cultural resources and its social actors occurs on improbable connections and many unforeseen times. Constantly starting from the shock and the unstable, yes, but always in search of what is common and projecting other futures in which desire and need are not so far apart. We want to contribute to the thinking of new paths for Information Science and Cultural Policy, in which the promotion of dialogue between the city\"s cultural resources and its social actors occurs on improbable connections and many unforeseen times. Constantly starting from the shock and the unstable, yes, but always in search of what is common and projecting other futures in which the fortuitous, desire and need are not so far apart.

O objetivo deste estudo é, a partir da delimitação de um espaço central de São Paulo compreendido simbólica e rizomaticamente entre a Via Elevada Presidente João Goulart (Minhocão, no Centro) e o Largo da Batata (Pinheiros, Zona Oeste), investigar como se comportam determinadas ações culturais institucionais e não institucionais circunscritas nessa centralidade que promovem a conexão entre a cultura e a produção da cidade, operando numa tensão contínua entre o consenso e o dissenso e na tensão entre as noções de público e de privado na cidade, num movimento que se dá por esforços intencionais -- muitas vezes por razões econômicas --, mas também pelo inesperado e pelo encontro fortuito com o simbólico nas brechas e contrabrechas da cidade. Deseja-se, com esta reflexão, contribuir para o pensamento de novos caminhos para a Ciência da Informação e a Política Cultural, em que a promoção do diálogo entre os recursos culturais da cidade e seus atores sociais se dê a partir de conexões móveis e muitas vezes imprevistas, que partem do que é próprio do tenso e do instável, sim, mas em busca do que é comum e que projete outros futuros em que o fortuito, o desejo e a necessidade não estejam tão apartados. / The main objective of this thesis is to examine the impact of certain institutional and non-institutional cultural actions circumscribed in the central region of the city of São Paulo --understood symbolically and rhizomatically between the elevated highway President João Goulart (\"Minhocão\", in the downtown district) and the Largo da Batata, in the Pinheiros district, in the western zone of the capital. Such organizations promote the connection between culture and the production of the city. They operate in a continuous tension between consensus and dissent and between the notions of public and private in the city, in a movement that occurs by intentional efforts --often for economic reasons. We will investigate the unexpected and fortuitous clashes with the symbolic in the breachs and in the counterbreachs of the city. We want to contribute to the thinking of new paths for Cultural Policy and Information Science, in which the promotion of dialogue between the city\'s cultural resources and its social actors occurs on improbable connections and many unforeseen times. Constantly starting from the shock and the unstable, yes, but always in search of what is common and projecting other futures in which desire and need are not so far apart. We want to contribute to the thinking of new paths for Information Science and Cultural Policy, in which the promotion of dialogue between the city\"s cultural resources and its social actors occurs on improbable connections and many unforeseen times. Constantly starting from the shock and the unstable, yes, but always in search of what is common and projecting other futures in which the fortuitous, desire and need are not so far apart.

Boolean networks are coarse-grained models of the regulatory dynamics that controls the survival and proliferation of a living cell. The dynamics is time- and state-discrete. This Boolean abstraction assumes that small differences in concentration levels are irrelevant; and the binary distinction of a low or a high concentration of each biomolecule is sufficient to capture the dynamics. In this work, we briefly introduce the gene regulatory models, where with the advent of system-specific Boolean models, new conceptual questions and analytical and numerical challenges arise. In particular, the response of the system to external intervention presents a novel area of research. Thus first we investigate how to quantify a node\\\'s individual impact on dynamics in a more detailed manner than an averaging against all eligible perturbations. Since each node now represents a specific biochemical entity, it is the subject of our interest. The prediction of nodes\\\' dynamical impacts from the model may be compared to the empirical data from biological experiments. Then we develop a hybrid model that incorporates both continuous and discrete random Boolean networks to compare the reaction of the dynamics against small as well as flip perturbations in different regimes. We show that the chaotic behaviour disappears in high sensitive Boolean ensembles with respect to continuous small fluctuations in contrast to the flipping. Finally, we discuss the role of distributing delays in stabilizing of the Boolean dynamics against noise. These studies are expected to trigger additional experiments and lead to improvement of models in gene regulatory dynamics.

Adopté en 2000, le premier Plan d'Aménagement Territorial de Bogotá (POT) définit un modèle territorial de ville polycentrique. En conformité avec les principes de la planification stratégique au niveau international, des centralités urbaines, existantes ou à créer, sont identifiées et délimitées. Elles doivent articuler au niveau spatial des objectifs de compétitivité urbaine et d'équité territoriale : insérer la ville dans les réseaux de l'économie mondiale et démarginaliser les périphéries. Cette étude a pour objet de mettre à l'épreuve ce projet urbain à partir d'une triple réflexion au niveau des discours, de l'action publique et des dynamiques socio-territoriales. L'analyse de la mise en œuvre du plan par l'action publique révèle des expériences innovantes mais des écarts importants par rapport au projet urbain. Elle identifie de multiples obstacles dans la prise en compte par les politiques urbaines de la dimension territoriale, ainsi que la redéfinition des arbitrages entre compétitivité urbaine et équité territoriale. L'étude de la production, des pratiques et des représentations des centralités qui émergent dans les périphéries populaires montre que ces dernières ne correspondent que très imparfaitement à la figure définie par le POT de « centralités d'intégration urbaine » permettant d'améliorer l'accès à la ville des citadins vivant dans les périphéries. / In 2000, the adoption of the first Territorial Management Plan (POT) defines an urban project for a polycentric city. In accordance with the principles of the strategic planning at the international level, urban centralities, whether existing or not, are identified and delimited. They must articulate, at the spatial level, the goals of urban competitiveness and territorial fairness: inserting the city in the world economy networks and integrating urban peripheries. This research aims at testing this urban project by analyzing its application from a three-dimensional reflection that includes the discourse level, public action, and socio-territorial dynamics. The analysis of the implementation reveals not only innovative experiences but also significant deviations from the urban project. It identifies many obstacles in taking into account the territorial dimension in urban politics and the redefinition of arbitration between urban competitiveness and territorial equity. The study of production, practices, and representations of centralities emerging in the popular peripheries shows that they correspond, only very imperfectly, to the figure defined by the POT "urban integration centralities" and thus the access to the city of the dwellers living in the peripheries should be improved.

Cette thèse fournit au lecteur un recueil d'applications de la théorie des graphes ; à ce but, des outils sur mesure, adaptés aux applications considérées, ont été conçus et mis en œuvre de manière inspirée par les données.Dans la première partie, une nouvelle métrique de centralité, nommée “bridgeness”, est présentée, basée sur une décomposition de la centralité intermédiaire (“betweenness centrality”) standard. Une composante, la “connectivité locale”, correspondante approximativement au degré d'un noeud, est différenciée de l'autre, qui, en revanche, évalue les propriétés structurelles à longue distance. En effet, cette dernière fournit une mesure de l'efficacité de chaque noeud à “relayer” parties faiblement connectées d'un réseau ; une caractéristique importante de cette métrique est son agnosticisme en ce qui concerne la structure de la communauté sous jacente éventuelle.Une deuxième application vise à décrire les caractéristiques dynamiques des graphes temporels qui apparaissent au niveau mésoscopique. L'ensemble de données de choix comprend 40 ans de publications scientifiques sélectionnées. L'apparition et l'évolution dans le temps d'un domaine d'étude spécifique (les ondelettes) sont capturées, en discriminant les caractéristiques persistantes des artefacts transitoires résultants du processus de détection des communautés, intrinsèquement bruité, effectué indépendamment sur des instantanées statiques successives. La notion de “flux laminaire”, sur laquelle repose le “score de complexité” que nous cherchons à optimiser, est présentée.Dans le même ordre d'idées, un réseau d'investisseurs japonais a été construit, sur la base d'un ensemble de données qui comprend des informations (indirectes) sur les filiales étrangères en copropriété. Une question très débattue dans le domaine de l'économie industrielle, l'hypothèse de Miwa-Ramseyer, a été démontrée de manière concluante comme fausse, du moins sous sa forme forte. / This thesis provides the reader with a compendium of applications of network theory; tailor-madetools suited for the purpose have been devised and implemented in a data-driven fashion. In the first part, a novel centrality metric, aptly named “bridgeness”, is presented, based on adecomposition of the standard betweenness centrality. One component, local connectivity, roughlycorresponding to the degree of a node, is set apart from the other, which evaluates longer-rangestructural properties. Indeed, the latter provides a measure of the relevance of each node in“bridging” weakly connected parts of a network; a prominent feature of the metric is its agnosticism with regard to the eventual ground truth community structure.A second application is aimed at describing dynamic features of temporal graphs which are apparent at the mesoscopic level. The dataset of choice includes 40 years of selected scientific publications.The appearance and evolution in time of a specific field of study (“wavelets”) is captured,discriminating persistent features from transient artifacts, which result from the intrinsically noisy community detection process, independently performed on successive static snapshots. The concept of “laminar stream”, on which the “complexity score” we seek to optimize is based, is introduced.In a similar vein, a network of Japanese investors has been constructed, based on a dataset which includes (indirect) information on co-owned overseas subsidiaries. A hotly debated issue in the field of industrial economics, the Miwa-Ramseyer hypothesis, has been conclusively shown to be false, at least in its strong form.

Study of complex networks by researchers from many disciplines has provided penetrating insights on various complex systems. A study of the world wide web from a network theoretic perspective has led to the design of new search engines [65]. The spread of diseases is now better understood by analyzing the underlying social network [26]. The study of metabolic networks, protein-protein interaction networks and the transcriptional regulatory networks with graph theoretic rigor, has led to the growing importance of an interdisciplinary approach [71]. Network centrality measures, which has been of interest to the social scientists, from as long as 1950 [13], is today studied extensively in the framework of complex networks. The thesis is an investigation on understanding human navigation with a network analytic approach using the well established and widely used centrality measures. Experiments were conducted on human participants to observe how people navigate in a complex environment. We made human participants way-find a destination from a source on a complex network and analyzed the paths that were taken. Our analysis established a fact that the learning process involved in navigating better in an unknown network boils down to learning certain strategic locations on the network. The vertices in the paths taken by the participants, when analyzed using the available centrality measures, enabled us to conclude experimentally that humans are naturally inclined to learn superior ranked vertices to navigate better and reach their intended destination. Our experiments were based on a word game called the word-morph. A generalized version of the experiment was conducted on a 6x6 photo collage with an underlying network hidden from the participant. A detailed analysis of the above experiment established a fact that, when humans are asked to take a goal-directed path, they were prone to take a path that passed through landmark nodes in the network. We call such paths center-strategic. We then present an algorithm that simulates the navigational strategy adopted by humans. We show empirically that the algorithm performs better than naive random walk based navigational techniques. We observe that the algorithm produces rich center-strategic paths on scale-free networks. We note that the effectiveness of the algorithm is highly dependent on the topology of the network by comparing its functionality on Erdos-Renyi networks and Barabasi-Albert networks. Then we discuss a lookahead algorithm to compute betweenness centrality in networks under vertex deletion operations. We show that the widely used Brandes algorithm can be modified to a lookahead version. We show that our proposed algorithm performs better than recomputing the betweenness centrality values in the vertex deleted graph. We show that our method works 20% faster than the Brandes algorithm.