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Dans cette thèse, on s'intéresse à des propriétés arithmétiques de variétés algébriques. Elle contient deux parties et huit chapitres que l'on peut lire indépendamment. Dans la première partie on étudie la R-équivalence sur les points rationnels des variétés algébriques. Dans le chapitre I.1 on établit que pour certaines familles projectives et lisses X→Y de variétés géométriquement rationnelles sur un corps local k de caractéristique nulle le nombre des classes de R-équivalence de la fibre Xy(k) est localement constant quand y varie dans Y(k). Dans le chapitre I.2 on s'intéresse à des variétés rationnellement simplement connexes. On établit que la R-équivalence est triviale sur de telles variétés définies sur C(t). Dans le chapitre I.3 on introduit une autre relation d'équivalence sur les points rationnels des variétés définies sur un corps muni d'une valuation discrète et on étudie quelques propriétés de cette relation d'équivalence. Dans le chapitre I.4 on étudie la R-équivalence sur les variétés rationnellement connexes définies sur les corps réels clos ou p-adiqument clos. La deuxième partie de cette thèse est consacrée à l'étude de quelques questions liées à la cohomologie non ramifiée. Dans le chapitre II.1 on utilise le troisième groupe de cohomologie non ramifiée pour donner un exemple d'une variété projective et lisse géométriquement rationnelle X, définie sur un corps fini Fp, telle que l'application de groupes de Chow de codimension deux de la variété X dans le groupe de Chow de cycles de codimension deux sur la clôture algébrique, fixés par l'action de Galois, n'est pas surjective. Dans le chapitre II.2 on s'intéresse aux fibrations au-dessus d'une surface sur un corps fini dont la fibre générique est une variété de Severi-Brauer et on montre que le troisième groupe de cohomologie non ramifiée s'annule pour de telles variétés. Dans le chapitre II.3, on établit l'invariance birationnelle de certains termes de la suite spectrale de Bloch et Ogus pour des variétés sur un corps de dimension cohomologique bornée. Sur un corps fini, on relie un de ces invariants avec le conoyau de l'application classe de cycle l-adique pour les 1-cycles. Dans le chapitre II.4, on s'intéresse à "borner" la ramification des éléments des groupes de cohomologie Hr(K, Z/n), r>0, si K est le corps des fonctions d'une variété intègre définie sur un corps de caractéristique nulle k.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-302).

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A obesidade atinge proporções epidêmicas em países industrializados e está relacionada a uma série de doenças metabólicas e circulatórias. Nesse contexto, a atividade física, tratamento não farmacológico da obesidade, acessível a diversas populações e está relacionada com a redução do risco cardiovasvascular mesmo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar, após mudança ou não da dieta, associação ou não a um programa de treinamento aeróbico (PTA) durante 8 semanas, a possível reversibilidade dos danos causados por uma dieta hiperlipídica por 12 semanas. Para tal, 120 hamsters machos da espécie Mesocricetus auratus, com massa corporal de 60 g, foram distribuídos em quatro grupos, cada um subdividido em três subgrupos, com dez animais para diferentes análises. Os grupos Obeso Controle (OBC) e Obeso Exercitado (OBEX) receberam a ração hiperlipídica por 20 semanas, com adição do PTA ao grupo OBEX nas últimas 8 semanas. Os Obeso Ração Padrão (OBRP) e Obeso Ração Padrão/Exercício (OBRP/EX) tiveram a ração modificada para comercial padrão e adição do PTA ao grupo OBRP/EX após as 12 semanas iniciais. Para as análises microcirculatórias, a bolsa da bochecha foi usada para determinação do número máximo de extravasamentos induzidos por 30 min de isquemia seguida de reperfusão e da reatividade microvascular após a aplicação tópica de acetilcolina e nitroprussiato de sódio. No sangue coletado foi avaliado o perfil lipídico, glicemias quinzenais e leptina. As expressões de eNOS e iNOS foram determinadas na aorta por imunoblotting e a composição corporal avaliada nos tecidos adiposos visceral, urogenital e retroperitoneal, retirados no dia do experimento. Os resultados foram analisados com os métodos o teste estatístico de análise de variância (One Way ANOVA - Teste de Kruskal-Wallis), seguido pelo pós-teste de Dunn. Resultados mostram que a modificação dietética, associada ou não ao PTA, reduziu significativamente a massa corporal (p<0,0001), comprimento naso-anal (p=0,0011) e tecido adiposo (visceral [p<0,0001], urogenital [p=0.0004] e retroperitoneal [p= 0,0083]). Nas análises sanguíneas não foram encontradas diferenças com relação ao perfil lipídico e glicemia, já na leptina houve uma redução significativa (p=0,0039). A análise da reatividade microvascular mostrou melhora significativa na vasodilatação endotélio-dependente nos grupos submetidos à modificação dietética associada ou não ao PTA. Nas medidas de permeabilidade a macromoléculas houve redução significativa no número de extravasamentos nos grupos submetidos à modificação dietética associada ou não ao PTA, (5 min [p= 0,0207] e 10 min [p= 0,0057]). Houve um aumento na expressão de eNOS nos grupos submetidos à modificação dietética associada ou não ao PTA, em comparação ao grupo OBC (p=0,0352). Os resultados mostraram que a modificação dietética, associada ao protocolo de treinamento aeróbico melhora a vasodilatação endotélio-dependente, aumenta a expressão da óxido nítrico sintase endotelial e reduz o número de extravasamentos induzidos por isquemia e reperfusão, mesmo sem melhoras nos marcadores bioquímicos tradicionais como glicemia e perfil lipídico. / Obesity is a growing public health problem reaching epidemic proportions in industrialized countries and an independent risk to metabolic and circulatory diseases. Physical activity is seen as a non-pharmacological treatment to obesity and its co-morbities, accessible to the population. Physical benefits are not necessarily related to adiposity loss but on improvement of vascular hemodynamic. The objective of this work was to evaluate if changes on diet associated or not to an aerobic training program (ATP) for 8 weeks could counteract damages on obese hamsters, elicited by high fat chow given during 12 weeks. One hundred and twenty male hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) with body mass around 60g were distributed into four groups, subdivided into three subgroups with ten animals each for different analysis. Obese Control (OBC) and Obese + Exercise (OBEX) groups received high fat chow for 20 weeks, being the last one combined to AET. Groups Obese + Standard Chow (OBSC) and Obese + Standard Chow/Exercise (OBSC/EX) received high fat chow for 12 weeks, returned to the standard chow, being the last one combined to AET. The cheek pouch preparation was used to evaluate the maximum number of extravasations induced by 30 min ischemia followed by reperfusion and microvascular reactivity in response to topical applications of acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside. Blood was collected for lipid profile, biweekly glycemia and leptin. On the day of the experiment, the aorta was excised for immunoblotting of eNOS and iNOS and the body composition was determined by collection of different adipose tissues. For statistical analysis Kruskal Wallis ANOVA for transversal analysis, followed by the Dunn post test. Results have shown that dietary modification associated or not to AET significantly reduced body mass (p<0.0001), naso-anal length (p=0.0011) and the amount of adipose tissues (visceral [p<0.0001], urogenital [p=0.0004] and retroperitoneal [p=0.0083]) in treated groups. Blood analysis did not show any differences between groups in relation to lipid profile and glycemia. Leptin had a significant reduction in all treated groups (p=0.0039). Microcirculatory analysis showed that groups subjected to dietary modification associated or not to AET had better endothelium-dependent responses after topical application of acetylcholine, in all concentrations (10-8M [p=0.0001], 10-6M [p<0.0001] and 10-4M [p<0.0001]). For ischemia/reperfusion, animals subjected to AET associated or not to dietary modification had significantly lower number of leaks (5 min [p=0.0207] and 10 min [p=0.0057]). Immunoblotting assays of eNOS showed linear improvement after AET associated to dietary modification in comparison to obese control animals (p=0.0352). Results have shown that the dietary modification and its association to an aerobic exercise training, could detect substantial improvement on the endothelial response and reduction in the number of leaks on ischemia/reperfusion. These modifications occurred without any significant changes on biochemical markers.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A obesidade atinge proporções epidêmicas em países industrializados e está relacionada a uma série de doenças metabólicas e circulatórias. Nesse contexto, a atividade física, tratamento não farmacológico da obesidade, acessível a diversas populações e está relacionada com a redução do risco cardiovasvascular mesmo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar, após mudança ou não da dieta, associação ou não a um programa de treinamento aeróbico (PTA) durante 8 semanas, a possível reversibilidade dos danos causados por uma dieta hiperlipídica por 12 semanas. Para tal, 120 hamsters machos da espécie Mesocricetus auratus, com massa corporal de 60 g, foram distribuídos em quatro grupos, cada um subdividido em três subgrupos, com dez animais para diferentes análises. Os grupos Obeso Controle (OBC) e Obeso Exercitado (OBEX) receberam a ração hiperlipídica por 20 semanas, com adição do PTA ao grupo OBEX nas últimas 8 semanas. Os Obeso Ração Padrão (OBRP) e Obeso Ração Padrão/Exercício (OBRP/EX) tiveram a ração modificada para comercial padrão e adição do PTA ao grupo OBRP/EX após as 12 semanas iniciais. Para as análises microcirculatórias, a bolsa da bochecha foi usada para determinação do número máximo de extravasamentos induzidos por 30 min de isquemia seguida de reperfusão e da reatividade microvascular após a aplicação tópica de acetilcolina e nitroprussiato de sódio. No sangue coletado foi avaliado o perfil lipídico, glicemias quinzenais e leptina. As expressões de eNOS e iNOS foram determinadas na aorta por imunoblotting e a composição corporal avaliada nos tecidos adiposos visceral, urogenital e retroperitoneal, retirados no dia do experimento. Os resultados foram analisados com os métodos o teste estatístico de análise de variância (One Way ANOVA - Teste de Kruskal-Wallis), seguido pelo pós-teste de Dunn. Resultados mostram que a modificação dietética, associada ou não ao PTA, reduziu significativamente a massa corporal (p<0,0001), comprimento naso-anal (p=0,0011) e tecido adiposo (visceral [p<0,0001], urogenital [p=0.0004] e retroperitoneal [p= 0,0083]). Nas análises sanguíneas não foram encontradas diferenças com relação ao perfil lipídico e glicemia, já na leptina houve uma redução significativa (p=0,0039). A análise da reatividade microvascular mostrou melhora significativa na vasodilatação endotélio-dependente nos grupos submetidos à modificação dietética associada ou não ao PTA. Nas medidas de permeabilidade a macromoléculas houve redução significativa no número de extravasamentos nos grupos submetidos à modificação dietética associada ou não ao PTA, (5 min [p= 0,0207] e 10 min [p= 0,0057]). Houve um aumento na expressão de eNOS nos grupos submetidos à modificação dietética associada ou não ao PTA, em comparação ao grupo OBC (p=0,0352). Os resultados mostraram que a modificação dietética, associada ao protocolo de treinamento aeróbico melhora a vasodilatação endotélio-dependente, aumenta a expressão da óxido nítrico sintase endotelial e reduz o número de extravasamentos induzidos por isquemia e reperfusão, mesmo sem melhoras nos marcadores bioquímicos tradicionais como glicemia e perfil lipídico. / Obesity is a growing public health problem reaching epidemic proportions in industrialized countries and an independent risk to metabolic and circulatory diseases. Physical activity is seen as a non-pharmacological treatment to obesity and its co-morbities, accessible to the population. Physical benefits are not necessarily related to adiposity loss but on improvement of vascular hemodynamic. The objective of this work was to evaluate if changes on diet associated or not to an aerobic training program (ATP) for 8 weeks could counteract damages on obese hamsters, elicited by high fat chow given during 12 weeks. One hundred and twenty male hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) with body mass around 60g were distributed into four groups, subdivided into three subgroups with ten animals each for different analysis. Obese Control (OBC) and Obese + Exercise (OBEX) groups received high fat chow for 20 weeks, being the last one combined to AET. Groups Obese + Standard Chow (OBSC) and Obese + Standard Chow/Exercise (OBSC/EX) received high fat chow for 12 weeks, returned to the standard chow, being the last one combined to AET. The cheek pouch preparation was used to evaluate the maximum number of extravasations induced by 30 min ischemia followed by reperfusion and microvascular reactivity in response to topical applications of acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside. Blood was collected for lipid profile, biweekly glycemia and leptin. On the day of the experiment, the aorta was excised for immunoblotting of eNOS and iNOS and the body composition was determined by collection of different adipose tissues. For statistical analysis Kruskal Wallis ANOVA for transversal analysis, followed by the Dunn post test. Results have shown that dietary modification associated or not to AET significantly reduced body mass (p<0.0001), naso-anal length (p=0.0011) and the amount of adipose tissues (visceral [p<0.0001], urogenital [p=0.0004] and retroperitoneal [p=0.0083]) in treated groups. Blood analysis did not show any differences between groups in relation to lipid profile and glycemia. Leptin had a significant reduction in all treated groups (p=0.0039). Microcirculatory analysis showed that groups subjected to dietary modification associated or not to AET had better endothelium-dependent responses after topical application of acetylcholine, in all concentrations (10-8M [p=0.0001], 10-6M [p<0.0001] and 10-4M [p<0.0001]). For ischemia/reperfusion, animals subjected to AET associated or not to dietary modification had significantly lower number of leaks (5 min [p=0.0207] and 10 min [p=0.0057]). Immunoblotting assays of eNOS showed linear improvement after AET associated to dietary modification in comparison to obese control animals (p=0.0352). Results have shown that the dietary modification and its association to an aerobic exercise training, could detect substantial improvement on the endothelial response and reduction in the number of leaks on ischemia/reperfusion. These modifications occurred without any significant changes on biochemical markers.

It is rarely possible to use an optimal classifier. Often the classifier used for a specific problem is an approximation of the optimal classifier. Methods are presented for evaluating the performance of an approximation in the model class of Bayesian Networks. Specifically for the approximation of class conditional independence a bound for the performance is sharpened. The class conditional independence approximation is connected to the minimum description length principle (MDL), which is connected to Jeffreys’ prior through commonly used assumptions. One algorithm for unsupervised classification is presented and compared against other unsupervised classifiers on three data sets. / <p>Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC 2006:11.</p>

The influence of Chow groups on singular cohomology is motivated by classical results by Mumford and Roitman and has been investigated extensively. On the other hand, the converse influence is rather conjectural and it takes place in the framework of the ``philosophy of mixed motives'', which is mainly due to Grothendieck, Bloch and Beilinson. In the spirit of exploring this influence, Voisin formulated in 1996 a conjecture on 0--cycles on the self--product of surfaces of geometric genus one. There are few examples in which Voisin's conjecture has been verified, but it is still open for a general $K3$ surface. Our aim is to present a new example in which Voisin's conjecture is true, a family of Todorov surfaces. We give an explicit description of the family as quotient of complete intersection of four quadrics in $mathbb{P}^{6}$. We verify Voisin's conjecture for the family of Todorov surfaces of type $(2,12)$. Our main tool is Voisin's ``spreading of cycles'', we use it to establish a relation between 0--cycles on the Todorov surface and on the associated K3 surface. We give a motivic version of this result and some interesting motivic applications.

Tam Wai Wan Vivian. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-233). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Orientation to Domestication --- p.1 / Chapter ´Ø --- Literature Review and Methodology --- p.6 / Chapter ´Ø --- "Popular Culture, Cultural Identity and Discourse" --- p.7 / Chapter ´Ø --- Textual Analysis and Interview --- p.13 / Chapter ´Ø --- "Ideology, Discourses and Domestication" --- p.19 / Chapter 2 --- Introduction to the Four Discourses --- p.40 / Chapter 3 --- Chow Yun-fat's Subversive Past --- p.46 / Chapter 4 --- Domesticating Chow on TV Ads --- p.62 / Chapter 5 --- Taming Chow Yun-fat on Paper --- p.83 / Chapter 6 --- Overview to Reception Analysis --- p.105 / Chapter 7 --- Newfound Pride in Chow Yun-fat --- p.114 / Chapter ´Ø --- Upper-middle Class' Actualizing Actor --- p.114 / Chapter ´Ø --- Small Business Owners' Actor of Class --- p.127 / Chapter 8 --- Colonization or Rejuvenation of the Grassroot Chow Yun-fat --- p.141 / Chapter ´Ø --- Colonizing the Secure Working Class --- p.151 / Chapter ´Ø --- Revitalized Admiration by the Cultured Middle Class --- p.158 / Chapter 9 --- Disenchantment and Alienation of the Insecure Working Class 一 A Chow Yun-fat beyond Survival --- p.168 / Chapter 10 --- Conclusion --- p.192 / Appendix 1: Sample of Interview Questions --- p.197 / Appendix 2: Selected Frames and Shot-by-shot Analysis of Chow Yun-fat Advertisements --- p.198 / Appendix 3: Chow Yun-fat's Filmography --- p.229 / Bibliography --- p.231

The objects studied in this thesis are families of cycles on schemes. A space — the Chow variety — parameterizing effective equidimensional cycles was constructed by Chow and van der Waerden in the first half of the twentieth century. Even though cycles are simple objects, the Chow variety is a rather intractable object. In particular, a good functorial description of this space is missing. Consequently, descriptions of the corresponding families and the infinitesimal structure are incomplete. Moreover, the Chow variety is not intrinsic but has the unpleasant property that it depends on a given projective embedding. A main objective of this thesis is to construct a closely related space which has a good functorial description. This is partly accomplished in the last paper. The first three papers are concerned with families of zero-cycles. In the first paper, a functor parameterizing zero-cycles is defined and it is shown that this functor is represented by a scheme — the scheme of divided powers. This scheme is closely related to the symmetric product. In fact, the scheme of divided powers and the symmetric product coincide in many situations. In the second paper, several aspects of the scheme of divided powers are discussed. In particular, a universal family is constructed. A different description of the families as multi-morphisms is also given. Finally, the set of k-points of the scheme of divided powers is described. Somewhat surprisingly, cycles with certain rational coefficients are included in this description in positive characteristic. The third paper explains the relation between the Hilbert scheme, the Chow scheme, the symmetric product and the scheme of divided powers. It is shown that the last three schemes coincide as topological spaces and that all four schemes are isomorphic outside the degeneracy locus. The last paper gives a definition of families of cycles of arbitrary dimension and a corresponding Chow functor. In characteristic zero, this functor agrees with the functors of Barlet, Guerra, Kollár and Suslin-Voevodsky when these are defined. There is also a monomorphism from Angéniol's functor to the Chow functor which is an isomorphism in many instances. It is also confirmed that the morphism from the Hilbert functor to the Chow functor is an isomorphism over the locus parameterizing normal subschemes and a local immersion over the locus parameterizing reduced subschemes — at least in characteristic zero. / QC 20100908

This essay traces two trends in current philosophical and theological debates concerning forgiveness. One, advocated by Vladimir Jankélévitch and Jacques Derrida, I label “impossible” forgiveness. The second, advanced by John Milbank and L. Gregory Jones, I label “communal” forgiveness. I explore and critically examine each of these positions in the first two sections of the thesis. In the last section of the thesis I examine a recent conversation amongst religious ethicists against the background of the theoretical conversations described in the first half of the essay. Bringing the theoretical conversation together with the religious ethicists’ conversation, I argue that whether or not we embrace forgiveness depends in large part in what tradition, religious or secular, we place ourselves.