When some population values are completely from observation, the distribution from which the observations came is said to be truncated. Estimation of the parameters from truncated distributions has been an open field for research. This thesis examines the developments which have taken place in this area, giving the major writers and the methods used by them to obtain estimators. A. C. Cohen is responsible for much work involving the maximum likelihood procedure. Using the method of moments and several methods which they have developed, Rider, Plackett, Samford, Moore, Des Raj, and Halperin have made significant contributions. The Poisson, Normal, Binomial, Negative Binomial, and Gamma distributions are included in the investigation and along with the estimators, in some cases, asymptotic variances are given. Though much work has been done, there are many things left to be investigated. Only a small number of distributions have been dealt with, with all multivariate distributions other than the normal lacking any investigation. It is not known how the estimators are affected by small sample sizes, and with the aid of the computer variances can be examined. A new problem arises when the points of truncation are not clearly defined and complicated equations often make estimators difficult to fine. / M.S.

In 2010 the Florence group completed the total synthesis of the natural product chamuvarinin which, in collaboration with the Smith group, was found to be a potent inhibitor of the pathogenic parasite T. brucei. Several simplified analogues were found to maintain this inhibitory activity alongside activity against the related species T. cruzi and L. major. The mechanism of action and structural features of these compounds responsible for the observed biological activity remained elusive despite a large synthetic effort by the Florence group. With the aim of identifying protein targets in trypanosomatids to understand the mechanism of action, several photo-affinity labeling analogs have been successfully synthesised and utilised to identify a primary protein target. This protein target was fully validated and molecule docking to this protein was evaluated in-silico. This computational data was used to evaluate the mode of action and aided in the design of simplified compounds which were found to maintain the previously observed anti-parasitic activity but with decreased toxicity to mammalian cells alongside decreased synthetic complexity. The total synthesis of the natural product ascr#18 is also described alongside the synthesis of photo-affinity labeling analogs. This natural product is implicated in the modulation of pathogen resistance in plants and has potential application in crop production.

No description available.

Durability, Utility and Beauty are the three Vitruvian principles of architecture. They are also my belief of what constitutes architecture. In order to pursue the essence of architecture, I hope to find at least in part an answer through the study of classical buildings that adhere to those principles. Classical architecture is often organized through basic geometric elements such as square, circle and triangle. These geometric elements have endured the history of architecture and suggest being applicable to any contemporary building. Since ancient time, humans had intimate relationships with animals, including horses. Even today, where the utility of the horse is no longer important, people still love to engage with horses on many levels. From this perspective, a horse is in a way a symbol that syncretize ancient and modern times. A horse stable offers itself as a great example to study the relationship between man and horse. As a site, Blacksburg, a small town with a significant animal research branch of the university has rich pasture resources. The proposed architecture seeks to recognize the long-standing horse culture in classical terms, a very usable and beautiful ensemble, based on strong principal geometric elements. / Master of Architecture

Submitted by Cássio da Cruz Nogueira (cassionogueirakk@gmail.com) on 2017-06-09T11:31:58Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_IdentificacaoPortadorasMutacoes.pdf: 1748546 bytes, checksum: dcb49984318f2b4b158034c608be1490 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edisangela Bastos (edisangela@ufpa.br) on 2017-06-12T14:08:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_IdentificacaoPortadorasMutacoes.pdf: 1748546 bytes, checksum: dcb49984318f2b4b158034c608be1490 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-12T14:08:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_IdentificacaoPortadorasMutacoes.pdf: 1748546 bytes, checksum: dcb49984318f2b4b158034c608be1490 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-01 / A hemofilia A é um distúrbio hereditário da coagulação, ligado ao cromossomo X, causado pela deficiência do Fator VIII (FVIII) da coagulação que se caracteriza por episódios de sangramentos espontâneos ou pós-traumáticos, que pode levar à incapacitação física por artropatia, até risco de morte. A deficiência do FVIII é causada por mutações no gene F8. O diagnóstico do estado de portadora do gene da hemofilia A é importante para a realização do aconselhamento genético, assim como para oferecer tratamento para portadoras sintomáticas. Na maioria dos casos, a mulher portadora desconhece este fato. Neste trabalho, pretendemos criar a metodologia necessária para identificação molecular de portadoras de hemofilia A, a partir da análise de 26 pacientes diagnosticados, cadastrados no Centro de Hemoterapia e Hematologia do Pará, e de seus parentes consanguíneos, prováveis portadores do alelo. O grupo controle foi constituído de 110 indivíduos do sexo masculino da população de Belém. A investigação foi baseada nas análises de seis STR (Short Tandem Repeats) localizados na região 3’ do final do gene F8: CTT3, TAAA3, TTTA3, DXS10011, DXS7423, GATA31E08. A utilização dos seis marcadores se mostrou útil tanto na identificação como na exclusão das portadoras, sendo que todas as portadoras obrigatórias foram identificadas. Este protocolo de identificação poderá ser utilizado rotineiramente para identificação das portadoras da hemofilia A, possibilitando o aconselhamento genético nessas mulheres. / Hemophilia A is an inherited X-linked bleeding disorder caused by a deficiency of coagulation FVIII, characterized by spontaneous or post-traumatic bleeding episodes, which can lead to physical incapacitation due to arthropathy and even death. The deficiency is the result of mutations on F8 gene. Diagnosis of Hemophilia A carrier status is important for genetic counseling as well as to provide treatment for symptomatic carriers, which, in most cases, are unaware of the fact. In this work, we intend to create the necessary methodology for the molecular identification of hemophilia A carriers, based on the analysis of 26 diagnosed patients, enrolled in the Centro de Hemoterapia e Hematologia do Pará, and their consanguineous relatives, likely carriers of the allele. The control group consisted of 110 males of the population of Belém. The research was based on analyzes of six STRs (Short Tandem Repeats) located in the 3' end region of the gene F8: CTT3, TAAA3, TTTA3, DXS10011, DXS7423, GATA31E08. The use of the six markers proved to be useful in the identification and in the exclusion of the carriers, and all the obligatory carriers were identified. This identification protocol can be routinely used to identify hemophilia A carriers and to provide genetic counseling in these women.

Digital technology has radically disrupted the established ways of organising the film industry. However, digital initiatives such as marketing and distribution strategies involving social media and online distribution have also provided means through which filmmakers manage this environment. I investigate the role of the digital data involved, which I term Digital Engagement Metrics (DEMs), in market reconfiguration. Through exploratory, longitudinal case study of market construction for independent films, the thesis articulates the interdependent combination of attributes that co-constitute DEMs' highly mobile, and multifaceted valuation capacities, and develops a conceptualisation of their role as a market device. I engage with the literature of translation, calculation, and the performativity and materiality of markets. I then develop an approach for tracing market activity to understand the interaction of networked agencies that shape the arrangement of economic transactions. My analysis is delivered in three empirical chapters, which provide rare data on the emergent digital practice of a film production company. I chart the progressive establishment of DEMs' role in the hybridisation of established market attachment frameworks, and the instantiation of new modes of coordinating market actors. I conclude that the dynamic assembly, content and distributed architecture of market arrangements involving DEMs simultaneously shape the product and enable its calculation. In addition to extending the reach of market studies into a new empirical field, I make a number of contributions to the theoretical literature. My findings bring two coordinating kinds of performativity into focus. These are the creation of felicitous conditions required to mobilise DEMs as an organisational concept, and the digital materialisation of the audience both as the market, and as a qualified property of the market object. Reading DEMs through the market devices lens renders previously hidden modes of calculation visible, and this has implications for developing assemblage-oriented research in the creative industries.

KINEROS and PSRM-QUAL:J two distributed parameter event-based hydrologic models, were applied to Foster Creek Watershed, Louisa County, Virginia. The simulations of the two models were conducted using published data and a ten year database from the Foster Creek Watershed, Louisa County, Virginia. Data management and analysis was supported through the use of PC-VirGIS, a DOS based GIS package developed by the Information Support Systems Laboratory, Virginia Tech. The performance of the two models were based on the criteria established to compare the simulated and recorded peak discharge rates , total runoff volumes and time to peak. Goodness of fit criteria were based on graphic comparison relative error, model efficiency, linear regression, hypothesis testing and variance. Based on these measurements, the simulated results by both models were acceptable. KINEROS generally made better predictions of peak discharge rate and time to peak. Hydrograph shapes also generally matched the recorded sequence more closely. PSRM-QUAL simulated the total runoff volume slightly better than KINEROS. The sensitivity of KINER OS and PSRM-QUAL to the model input parameters was evaluated. For KINEROS, peak discharge rate and runoff volume were very sensitive to changes in rainfall amount, saturated hydraulic conductivity and effective capillary drive. For PSRM-QUAL, peak discharge rate and total runoff volume were very sensitive to changes in SCS CN, initial abstraction coefficient and rainfall amount. / Master of Science

This thesis focuses on children who have lost both parents and are currently living on their own as child headed households (CHHs) in a rural community in Zimbabwe. Children heading households and taking care of siblings is a very “un-childlike” behaviour yet these are growing phenomena. Through an exploration of how CHHs are constituted and evolve the thesis aims to examine whether local constructions of childhood are being (re) conceptualised as a result of Zimbabwe’s escalating HIV/AIDS crisis. In particular it examines whether the socialisation of children within ‘child only’ units is leading to social transformation and/or whether children are in some way attempting to mimic ‘normal’ family/gender relations. It also looks at CHH’s interactions with adults and explores how these affect survival strategies, socialisation and conceptualisations of childhood. This thesis draws on an intensive ethnographic research project with five CHHs and their siblings in a rural community in Zimbabwe. Participant observation, narratives, drama, essays, focus groups, conversations and participatory techniques were employed to gain an in-depth insight into household evolution, the socialisation of family members, gender roles and survival strategies. The thesis shows that while children living in CHHs are vulnerable, they exhibited considerable competence and capabilities to sustain themselves. However, state and non-governmental organisations’ definition of childhood and orphanhood on the other hand, and cultural and local understanding of childhood and orphanhood produce new conceptual struggles of childhood that impacts negatively on the CHHs’ integration into society and their capacity to function fully. The ambivalent position of orphaned children in CHHs needs to be addressed if CHHs are to be recognised as an alternative orphan care arrangement.

The aim of this thesis is twofold: it explores Giacomo Leopardi's (1798-1837) interpretation of, and engagement with, Greek pessimistic thought and, through him, it investigates the complex and elusive phenomenon of Greek pessimistic thought itself. This thesis contends that Greek pessimistic thought – epitomised by but not limited to the famous wisdom of Silenus, the µὴ φῦναι topos – is an important element of Greek thought, a fundamental part of some of Greece's greatest literary works, and a vital element in the understanding of Greek culture in general. Yet this aspect of ancient thought has not yet received the attention it deserves, and in the history of its interpretation it has often been forgotten, denied, or purposefully obliterated. Furthermore, the pessimistic side of Greek thought plays a crucial role in both the modern history of the interpretation of antiquity and the intellectual history of Europe; I argue that this history is fundamentally incomplete without the appreciation of Leopardi's role in it. By his study of and engagement with ancient sources Leopardi contributed to the 19th century rediscovery of Greek pessimistic wisdom, alongside, though chronologically before, the likes of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jacob Burckhardt. Having outlined some fundamental steps in the history of the reception of Greek pessimism, this thesis examines the cardinal components of Leopardi's reception of it: his use of Greek conceptions of humanity to undermine modernity's anthropocentric fallacy, his reinterpretation of the Homeric simile of the leaves and its pessimistic undertones, and his views on the idea that it would be best for man not to be born.

This thesis is the first attempt to provide an assessment of Scottish-Jacobean foreign relations within a European context in the years before 1603. Moreover, it represents the only cohesive study of the events that formed the foundation of the diplomatic policies and practices of the first ruler of the Three Kingdoms. Whilst extensive research has been conducted on the British and English aspects of James VI & I's diplomatic activities, very little work has been done on James's foreign policies prior to his accession to the English throne. James VI ruled Scotland for almost twenty years before he took on the additional role of King of England and Ireland. It was in his homeland that James developed and refined his diplomatic skills, and built the relationships with foreign powers that would continue throughout his life. James's pre-1603 relationships with Denmark-Norway, France, Spain, the Papacy, the German and Italian states, the Spanish Netherlands and the United Provinces all influenced his later ‘British' policies, and it is only through a study such as this that their effects can be fully understood. Through its broad scope and unique perspective, this thesis not only contributes to Scottish historiography, but also strengthens and updates our understanding of Jacobean diplomacy. Furthermore, it adds to European perspectives of international politics by re-integrating Scotland into the narrative of late sixteenth century European diplomatic history.