Biological systems constantly evolve and adapt in response to changed environment and external stimuli at the molecular and genomic levels. Building statistical models that characterize such dynamic changes in biological systems is one of the key objectives in bioinformatics and computational biology. Recent advances in high-throughput genomic and molecular profiling technologies such as gene expression and and copy number microarrays provide ample opportunities to study cellular activities at the individual gene and network levels. The aim of this dissertation is to formulate mathematically dynamic changes in biological networks and DNA copy numbers, to develop machine learning algorithms to learn these statistical models from high-throughput biological data, and to demonstrate their applications in systems biological studies. The first part (Chapters 2-4) of the dissertation focuses on the dynamic changes taking placing at the biological network level. Biological networks are context-specific and dynamic in nature. Under different conditions, different regulatory components and mechanisms are activated and the topology of the underlying gene regulatory network changes. We report a differential dependency network (DDN) analysis to detect statistically significant topological changes in the transcriptional networks between two biological conditions. Further, we formalize and extend the DDN approach to an effective learning strategy to extract structural changes in graphical models using l1-regularization based convex optimization. We discuss the key properties of this formulation and introduce an efficient implementation by the block coordinate descent algorithm. Another type of dynamic changes in biological networks is the observation that a group of genes involved in certain biological functions or processes coordinate to response to outside stimuli, producing distinct time course patterns. We apply the echo stat network, a new architecture of recurrent neural networks, to model temporal gene expression patterns and analyze the theoretical properties of echo state networks with random matrix theory. The second part (Chapter 5) of the dissertation focuses on the changes at the DNA copy number level, especially in cancer cells. Somatic DNA copy number alterations (CNAs) are key genetic events in the development and progression of human cancers, and frequently contribute to tumorigenesis. We propose a statistically-principled in silico approach, Bayesian Analysis of COpy number Mixtures (BACOM), to accurately detect genomic deletion type, estimate normal tissue contamination, and accordingly recover the true copy number profile in cancer cells. / Ph. D.

Yes / Assessing and interpreting dental and skeletal age-related changes in both the living and the dead is of interest to a wide range of disciplines (e.g. see Bittles and Collins 1986) including human biology, paediatrics, public health, palaeodemography, archaeology, palaeontology, human evolution, forensic anthropology and legal medicine. ... This special issue of Annals of Human Biology arises from the 55th annual symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology in association with the British Association for Biological Anthropological and Osteoarchaeology held in Oxford, UK, from 9–11 December 2014. Only a selection of the presentations are included here which encompass some of the major recent advances in age estimation from the dentition and skeleton.

Thesis (M.Phil. (Environmental Law and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2009 / In recent years, a lot has been said about global warming and climate change. Governments and Institutions have been congregating more frequently all over the world. The subject of global warming and climate change is believed to be a ticking time bomb, which can have catastrophic effects on the existence of the human race and other living organisms. This led me to think and ponder about all our coastal towns in South Africa. What would happen if the melting of the glaciers continues and the sea levels rise by over two meters? This surely is a recipe for disaster and hence a look at the Western Cape Province was really necessary to find out on the province and the country‟s preparedness. Climate change has been scientifically proven to be occurring and is being aggravated by industrialisation1. With South Africa being the 19th Green House Gas (GHG) emitter in the world, the government should definitely take action by either mitigating or adapting to these effects.2 Rightly so, something is being done not only at national level, but at a regional and international level. A number of treaties, conventions and protocols to do with climate change and its related effects have been passed and ratified by most countries. The most notable international protocol is the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change‟s (UNFCCC) Kyoto protocol. At a regional level, New Partnership for Africa‟s Development (NEPAD) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), have come in support of environmental initiatives like the Atmospheric Pollution Information Network for Africa (APINA). The Western Cape Province, in line with most of these agreements and national strategies, have come up with their own polices in trying to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change.

No description available.

This is a study of local roads in two villages in the interior of Småland to see how much of the older road network can be found by studying maps from the 19th century, today's digital maps with height shading and Fornsök's map service. The introduction will be a review of other people's studies and their results that are used to be able to answer three questions.1- How to distinguish older roads from newer ones?2 -Which method can be used to determine the age of roads using maps?3 -How can you distinguish older hiking trails or other guides in map material?Throughout the texts show that ancient monuments are often close to older roads and that our roads today go the same routes as before. Locally in the villages, the rural roads are fewer today than what is seen on the oldest map from 1814 and to get a grip on changes and events, a method used by Kalle Måhl used in Gotland villages will be used together with Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger phenomenology archaeological theory. The theory is based on the fact that we have the same spatial perception based on bodily experiences in terms of direction and scale. The method means that you look at today's roads and compare them with the 1843 map in my case, note changes and compare these with the older map from 1814. With facts from Fornsök, you can analyze the changes and get a result. The result in this case with Bodaryd, Uggleryd and their road network is that they existed at least in 1549 as two farms and that the emerging villages were split by law change 1814-1843 with a number of scattered farms and several smaller settlements in the forests that today only exist as ancient finds in Fornsök. In addition, the connection between a registered hollow road and the rural roads has been established, however, there is only a theoretical connection to an unregistered hollow road that is without connections on the maps.

Bakgrund: Stroke är en av de främsta dödsorsakerna globalt bland hjärt-kärlsjukdomar. Det inträffar när blodflödet till hjärnan plötsligt avbryts, antingen av en blodpropp eller en blödning, vilket resulterar i syre- och näringsbrist i hjärnan och potentiellt leder till förlust av motoriska och kognitiva funktioner. Dessa komplikationer kan avsevärt påverka patienternas livskvalitet och kräver noggrann och omfattande vård samt rehabilitering för att hantera dem effektivt. Syfte:  Syftet var att beskriva vuxna patienters upplevelse av att leva med komplikationer efter en stroke. Metod: En allmän litteraturöversikt användes enligt Friberg för att granska och kategorisera elva kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: Resultaten visar tre huvudteman - upplevelse av fysiska förändringar, emotionella förändringar och sociala förändringar - med åtta underteman som beskriver olika aspekter av strokeöverlevares upplevelser. Slutsats: Strokeöverlevare möter en komplex resa präglad av fysiska, emotionella och sociala utmaningar efter stroke, vilket betonar behovet av adekvat stöd och interventioner för att underlätta deras rehabiliteringsprocess. / Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death globally among cardiovascular diseases, occurring when the blood flow to the brain is abruptly interrupted either by a blood clot or a hemorrhage, resulting in oxygen and nutrient deprivation in the brain and potentially leading to the loss of motor and cognitive functions. These complications can significantly affect patients' quality of life and require careful and comprehensive care and rehabilitation to manage them effectively. Aim: The aim was to describe the experiences of adult patients living with complications after a stroke. Method: A general literature review was used according to Friberg to examine and categorize eleven qualitative scientific articles. Results: The results show three main themes - experience of physical changes, emotional changes, and social changes - with eight subthemes describing various aspects of stroke survivors’ experiences. Conclusion: Stroke survivors face a complex journey characterized by physical, emotional, and social challenges after stroke, emphasizing the need for adequate support and interventions to facilitate their rehabilitation process.

The purpose of this essay is to provide a deeper understanding of how the notion of risk and its intangible features affects the spatial planning of Karlstad Municipality with focus on how central actors (Karlstad Municipality and Länsstyrelsen Värmland) are handling the notion of flood-risks. This is interesting to study especially when considering building new living areas on ground that is troubled with floods. What becomes interesting to study is how the view on risk-management differs among actors. The methods used for conducting this research are document analysis and interviews which hopefully will bring a deeper understanding of how the notion of risk is being treated differently depending of which actor is being studied. In this study, a case-study was made on a planning-process of a new residential area located on flood-prone area. The result shows that both actors studied are not willing to take any risks when it comes to prognoses of climate change. On the other hand, for Länsstyrelsen there was a small doubt towards building on these kinds of areas. The difference in the view of risk seems to lie in which understanding we have of what we know. Länsstyrelsen seems to be skeptical to the trust in knowledge and technology that Karlstad Municipality seems to have. That view could be involuntary though, especially because of the lack of residential apartments along with the market ideals of building close to water. The problem is that they are building on attractive but yet risky areas, and to reduce these risks a flood guard has been built. The situation becomes a paradox where they want to have the cake and still eat it. This dilemma is very expensive and at the same the solutions made are not 100 % safe regarding the uncertainty of climate change. This paradox implies that risks are being created which later have to be dealt with. The central actors deal with the situation in the best way through trusting the technology and the prognoses that are provided today. / Syftet med uppsatsen är att ge en djupare förståelse för hur riskbegreppets ogreppbarhet påverkar Karlstads samhällsplanering med fokus på hur centrala aktörer (Karlstad kommun och Länsstyrelsen Värmland) förhåller sig till översvämningsrisker. Detta är intressant att undersöka med tanke på att det byggs nya bostadsområden på mark som är översvämningsdrabbat. Det som då blir intressant att undersöka i en sådan här fråga är hur synen på risk skiljer sig olika centrala aktörer emellan. Metoderna som använts som försök för att besvara dessa frågor är dokumentanalyser som tillsammans med intervjuer förväntas ge en djupare förståelse för hur synen på risk kan se olika ut beroende på vilken aktör som studeras. I detta fall gjordes en fallstudie på en enskild planprocess tillhörande ett område som i skrivande stund planeras byggas i ett riskfyllt område. Resultatet visade att båda parterna inte är villiga att ta några som helst risker när det kommer till de prognoser vi har idag. För Länsstyrelsens del fanns dock en grundläggande skepsis mot dessa typer av byggnationer. Skillnaden i synen på risk verkar ligga i förhållandet till det vi vet. Länsstyrelsen visade sig vara skeptisk till den tillit på teknik och kunskap som Karlstad kommun verkar ha. Problemet är att det byggs på ett eftertraktat område som innebär tydliga risker och för att minska dessa risker byggs ett översvämningsskydd. På så sätt blir det ett dilemma som är väldigt kostsamt och som till 100 % kanske inte ens går att lösa med tanke på osäkerheten i klimatförändringarna. Denna paradox innebär alltså att man bygger sig till risker som sedan måste hanteras. Situationen är dock som den är idag vilket gör att de centrala aktörer som spelar en roll i denna nyexploatering helt enkelt måste göra det bästa av situationen och förlita sig på den teknik och de prognoser som finns idag.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.