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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Kentucky, 2003. / Title from document title page (viewed June 21, 2004). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 55 p. : ill. Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-54).

The experiments presented in this thesis were based on the evidence of previous research that suggests that the memory functions dependent on the integrity of the hippocampus and frontal lobes, namely declarative and working memory respectively, are sensitive to the effects of corticosteroids (stress hormones). The first experiment investigated the effects of acute changes of three different levels of cortisol (high vs. control vs.low) and time of day (am vs. pm) on working memory and the episodic and semantic components of declarative memory. This was carried out using a singleblind, mixed (3 x 2) design with three groups of young, healthy males (N = 20 per group). Whilst significant differences in salivary cortisol levels were observed, the results failed to demonstrate any significant differences in any aspect of memory performance as a function of corticosteroids. However, whilst the results also failed to demonstrate significant differences in either aspect of memory performance as a function of time of day, they did identify a significant positive relationship between morning cortisol levels in the control group and two measures of episodic memory in the morning; this suggests that, in the morning, these aspects of memory performance were facilitated by higher cortisol levels. They also identified a significant negative relationship between afternoon cortisol levels in the high cortisol group and one measure of semantic memory in the afternoon; this suggests that, in the afternoon, this aspect of memory performance was impaired by higher cortisol. The second experiment investigated the effects of acute changes in corticosteroids following activation of the different corticosteroid receptors on working memory and the episodic and semantic components of declarative memory. This was carried out using a repeated measures design with nine patients with Addison's disease. The results suggest that, whilst significant effects were not identified across all memory tasks, activation of the mineraIocorticoids appears essential during sensory storage (i.e., encoding) whereas activation of the glucorticoids appears essential during memory consolidation and retrieval. This supports previous research carried out in rats (Oitzl & De Kloet, 1992). The results also suggest that balanced activation of the mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids is necessary for optimal memory function. The contributions made by both experiments are discussed

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Seamless middleware integration requires conversion of the message format from the source of the request to that of its target. A number of solutions have been proposed and implemented, but they lack wide applicability and ease of use. This thesis proposes an improved solution based-on dynamic protocol-level systems integration using configuration, rather than programming. This allows large complex enterprises to extend and enhance their existing systems more easily. The major components of this solution are a Middleware Protocol Definition Language (MPDL) based on the Object Management Group (OMG) Interface Definition Language (IDL) that can describe a wide range of protocols declaratively, and a run-time environment, The Ubiquitous Broker Environment (TUBE), that takes these protocol descriptions and performs the necessary mediation and translation. The MPDL can describe a range of synchronous, asynchronous, object-based, and binary and text-based protocols. Ea ch protocol need only be described once, and the framework provides a means to easily implement special extensions to the protocol. Further, this approach can be used as the basis for developing new middleware protocols; the protocol used internally by TUBE is itself defined and executed using this approach. TUBE has been implemented and successfully tested across a range of commonly used middleware, including synchronous, asynchronous, object-based, binary and text-based protocols. Key components of the system are currently in operation in a large Australian corporation.

The purpose of this thesis was to delineate the neural underpinning of three types of declarative memory retrieval; autobiographical, episodic, and semantic. Autobiographical memory was defined as the conscious recollection of personally relevant events, episodic memory as the recall of stimuli presented in the laboratory, and semantic memory as the retrieval of factual information and general knowledge about the world. Young adults participated in an event-related fMRI study in which pictorial stimuli were presented as cues for retrieval. By manipulating retrieval demands, autobiographical, episodic, or semantic memories were extracted in response to the same stimulus. The objective of the subsequent analyses was threefold: firstly, to delineate regional activations common across the memory conditions, as well as neural activations unique to each memory type (“condition-specific”); secondly, to delineate a functional network common to all three memory conditions; and, thirdly, to delineate functional network(s) of brain regions that show condition-specific activity and to assess their overlap with the common functional network. The results of the first analysis showed regional activations common to all three types of memory retrieval in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, right caudate nucleus, bilateral thalamus, left hippocampus, and left lingual gyrus. Condition-specific activations were also delineated, including medial frontal increases for autobiographical, right middle frontal increases for episodic, and right inferior temporal increases for semantic retrieval. The second set of analyses delineated a functional network common to the three conditions that comprised 21 functionally connected neural areas. The final set of analyses further explored the functional connectivity of those brain regions that showed condition-specific activations, yielding two functional networks – one involved semantic and autobiographical conditions, and the other involved episodic and autobiographical conditions. Despite their recruiting some brain regions unique to the content of retrieved memories, the two functional networks did overlap to a degree with the common functional network. Together, these findings lend support to the notion of a common network, which is hypothesized to give rise to different types of declarative memory retrieval (i.e., autobiographical, episodic, or semantic) along a contextual continuum (i.e., highly contextualized or highly decontextualized).

The purpose of this thesis was to delineate the neural underpinning of three types of declarative memory retrieval; autobiographical, episodic, and semantic. Autobiographical memory was defined as the conscious recollection of personally relevant events, episodic memory as the recall of stimuli presented in the laboratory, and semantic memory as the retrieval of factual information and general knowledge about the world. Young adults participated in an event-related fMRI study in which pictorial stimuli were presented as cues for retrieval. By manipulating retrieval demands, autobiographical, episodic, or semantic memories were extracted in response to the same stimulus. The objective of the subsequent analyses was threefold: firstly, to delineate regional activations common across the memory conditions, as well as neural activations unique to each memory type (“condition-specific”); secondly, to delineate a functional network common to all three memory conditions; and, thirdly, to delineate functional network(s) of brain regions that show condition-specific activity and to assess their overlap with the common functional network. The results of the first analysis showed regional activations common to all three types of memory retrieval in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, right caudate nucleus, bilateral thalamus, left hippocampus, and left lingual gyrus. Condition-specific activations were also delineated, including medial frontal increases for autobiographical, right middle frontal increases for episodic, and right inferior temporal increases for semantic retrieval. The second set of analyses delineated a functional network common to the three conditions that comprised 21 functionally connected neural areas. The final set of analyses further explored the functional connectivity of those brain regions that showed condition-specific activations, yielding two functional networks – one involved semantic and autobiographical conditions, and the other involved episodic and autobiographical conditions. Despite their recruiting some brain regions unique to the content of retrieved memories, the two functional networks did overlap to a degree with the common functional network. Together, these findings lend support to the notion of a common network, which is hypothesized to give rise to different types of declarative memory retrieval (i.e., autobiographical, episodic, or semantic) along a contextual continuum (i.e., highly contextualized or highly decontextualized).

Writing declarative models of software designs and analyzing them to detect defects is an effective methodology for developing more dependable software systems. However, writing such models correctly can be challenging for practitioners who may not be proficient in declarative programming, and their models themselves may be buggy. We introduce the foundations of a novel test automation framework, AUnit, which we envision for testing declarative models written in Alloy -- a first-order, relational language that is supported by its SAT-based analyzer. We take inspiration from the success of the family of xUnit frameworks that are used widely in practice for test automation, albeit for imperative or object-oriented programs. The key novelty of our work is to define a basis for unit testing for Alloy, specifically, to define the concepts of test case and test coverage as well as coverage criteria for declarative models. We reduce the problems of declarative test execution and coverage computation to partial evaluation without requiring SAT solving. Our vision is to blend how developers write unit tests in commonly used programming languages with how Alloy users formulate their models in Alloy, thereby facilitating the development and testing of Alloy models for both new Alloy users as well as experts. We illustrate our ideas using a small but complex Alloy model. While we focus on Alloy, our ideas generalize to other declarative languages (such as Z, B, ASM). / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

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