No description available.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis begins with a general survey of different model based systems for object recognition. The advantage and disadvantage of those systems are discussed. A system is then selected for study because of its effective Affine invariant matching [Ref. 1] characteristic. This system involves two separate phases, the modeling and the recognition. One is done off-line and the other is done on-line. A Hashing technique is implemented to achieve fast accessing and voting. Different test data sets are used in experiments to illustrate the recognition capabilities of this system. This demonstrates the capabilities of partial match, recognizing objects under similarity transformation applied to the models, and the results of noise perturbation. The testing results are discussed, and related experiences and recommendations are presented. / http://archive.org/details/affineinvarianto00hsut / Captain, Taiwan Republic of China Army

In this thesis a study is made of the space X of all step functions on [0,1]. This investigation includes determining a completion space, X*, for the incomplete space X, defining integration for X*, and proving some theorems about integration in X*.

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The transport systems for proline and potassium represent two of the active transport systems in Escherichia coli. They have further similarities that their transport may be utilized as a response to osmotic perturbations in the environment. The exact mechanism of transport had not been totally elucidated. The transport of proline had been assumed to operate as a proton symport and as such had been used as a model system when other transport systems were being investigated. This study has demonstrated that the major route of proline uptake through the proline permease 1 (PP1), operates as a Na+ - proline cotransport which may accept Li+ in the place of Na+. Unusually, Na+ stimulates the Vmax of transport with little or no effect on the Km. In addition to this transport system, there are two other proline uptake systems which function primarily for the transport of betaine. The transport of K + is also facilitated by more than one system. The Kdp system is a K+ transporting ATPase; the TrkF system is a low rate transport system which may represent leak through another pathway. The TrkA transport system is the major system but the mechanism is not known. Transport through the system is energised by ATP and a pmf, while exchange through the system requires only ATP. The role of ATP was investigated in this study by the use of metabolic inhibitors and vesicles. It was determined that the availability of ATP affected the steady state level of potassium in the cells rather than the rate of potassium upake. It was speculated that ATP would act as a regulator of the system which would be driven by the pmf. ATP may regulate TrkA through phosphorylation or by allosteric modification of the carrier.

No description available.

The importance of Orlicz spaces in the study of mathematics of nance came to the for in the 2000's when Frittelli and his collaborators connected the theory of utility functions to Orlicz spaces. In this thesis, we look at how Orlicz spaces play a role in nancial mathematics. After giving an overview of scalar-valued Orlicz spaces, we look at the rst fundamental theorem of asset pricing in an Orlicz space setting. We then give a brief summary of scalar risk measures, followed by the representation result for convex risk measures on Orlicz hearts. As an example of a risk measure, we take a detailed look at the Wang transform both as a pricing mechanism and as a risk measure. As the theory of nancial mathematics is moving towards the set-valued setting, we give a description of vector-valued Orlicz hearts and their duals using tensor products. Lastly, we look at set-valued risk measures on Orlicz hearts, proving a robust representation theorem via a tensor product approach.

No description available.

The adrenal gland is a highly dynamic organ with the ability to respond to changes in its environment with rapid changes in hormone production, and dramatic remodelling of its structure. Our understanding of the role of the melanocortin peptides in this process has been mostly restricted to the anterior pituitary hormone ACTH, via the melanocortin 2 receptor MC2R. The presence of additional melanocortin receptors and their antagonists has been demonstrated in rat and bovine adrenals, but the role of these in humans has not been well explored. An intensive clinical and biochemical work-up of a single patient with ACTH-independent Cushing's syndrome and a gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) was performed. The data presented are consistent with the possibility that her disease was caused by release of some bioactive molecule released from the GIST. We propose that alpha-MSH is a possible candidate for this molecule, on the basis that the GIST immuno-stained for alpha- MSH but not ACTH, that alpha-MSH but not ACTH was present in supernatant from a primary culture, and that alpha-MSH has the potential to stimulate cortisol production from adrenal cells. The precise mechanism for alpha-MSH secretion from the tumour is not fully elucidated, and further work is required to corroborate this hypothesis. The patient had both pigmented skin and pigmented adrenal nodules, and we further demonstrated the presence of the alpha-MSH receptor MC1R was demonstrated with her excised adrenal gland. The pigment was identified as melanin, and we went on to show that same pattern in primary pigmented nodular adrenal disease, and to demonstrate that the zona reticularis in normal adrenal gland contains melanin, and has additional features in common with melanocytic tissues elsewhere in the body. The role of alpha-MSH in normal adrenal function, and the possibility that melanin is also playing an important role, perhaps for its antioxidant properties, is an exciting area for future study.

La gestion de la qualité des services dans les réseaux IP est devenue une opération complexe et coûteuse pour les operateurs. Les approches de gestion actuelles se sont montionnées peu efficaces par l’importante des interventions humaines necéssaires. La réponse à ce problème est clairement la conception de nouvelles approches de gestion autonome des réseaux. Cette thèse présente un ensemble de solutions qui contribuent à la proposition et la réalisation d’une telle approche. La première partie de cette thèse examine l’état de l’art des approches de gestion des réseaux. Dans la deuxième partie, nous proposons une démarche de mesure de la QoE (Quality of Experience) et une extension du modèle CIM (Common Information Model) pour permettre d’intégrer les métriques de cette démarche. Dans la partie suivante, nous proposons une extension de l’architecture des équipements réseaux vers plus d’autonomie de prise de décision. Dans les parties suiventes, nous proposons une architecture de gestion autonome (ANEMA: Autonomic NEtwork Management Architecture) instrumentée par les politiques comportementales, les objectifs et les fonctions d’utilité. En exploitant un ensemble de politiques de différents niveaux d’abstraction, ANEMA permet au réseau IP d'atteindre un certain niveau d'autonomie dans la gestion de la qualité de ses services. / The quality of services management in IP networks became a very complex and expensive operation from the operators. The actual management approaches are mentioned inefficient because they are mainly based on direct human intervention. It is clear that the response to this problem is to specify autonomic network management approach. This thesis contributes to the specification and the realisation of such approach. The first part of this thesis addresses the state of art of network management approaches. In the second part, we propose a QoE (Quality of Experience) measuring method and a CIM (Common Information Model) extension to model the concepts and the metrics of this method. In the third part, we propose an extension of the network equipment architecture towards more autonomic decision making. In the following parts, we propose an Autonomic NEtwork Management Architecture (ANEMA) based on Behavioral policies, Goal and Utility function. By exploiting several policy description forms described in different abstraction levels, ANEMA allows the IP network to achieve a certain autonomy level in quality of services management.