Primates are the closest living relatives of Homo sapiens and are an important model for understanding human origins. From studying primates and making comparisons to what we know from the hominid fossil record, we can elucidate and make inferences into human physical and social evolution. My research focuses on the social aspects of primate life and attempts to find significant correlations between primate biology and social structure. Specifically, I am interested in how dominance hierarchies and power relationships between male and female primates are established and maintained in primate communities. This study contains a comprehensive dataset on a large sample of known primate species, predominantly from previously published sources and studies. For each primate species, the variables included are body mass, level of sexual dimorphism, brain size, habitat type, diet, life span, age at sexual maturity, gestation length, birth interval, locomotion type, social structure, terrestrial or arboreal locomotion, group size, home range, nocturnal or diurnal, philopatric sex, and dominant sex. Pearson's correlation coefficients between the above variables were calculated. The goal of this research is to determine what factors of primate life, both social and biological, have the largest influence on the formation and maintenance of dominance hierarchies. Certain biological variables related to body mass were found to be correlated with dominance. However, the correlation with sexual dimorphism was not found to be statistically significant and it is presumed that other ecological variables should be studied to better understand primate power relations.

Semantic segmentation of images is an important task in computer vision, as it provides precise pixel labels that benefit various applications such as autonomous driving, medical imaging, and satellite image analysis by providing crucial information about the location and boundaries of objects. Segmenting a pixel requires a deep understanding of the surrounding scene, and the contextual information from nearby and distant pixels plays a crucial role. In this study, we conducted studies to show the impact of contextual information on the performance of segmentation models. Specifically, a method to preprocess the context and refine the input of the segmentation model is proposed, providing it with useful clues to accurately detect the pixels' labels. Additionally, a method for contextual post-processing is developed to improve the consistency of the model predictions based on object boundaries. Finally, a novel context-aware decoder called SPADe is provided, inspired by the human vision system, which effectively captures local and global contextual information with low computational cost. We demonstrate that our proposed solution leveraging contextual information significantly improves the performance of segmentation models compared to the state-of-the-art models.

Introduction: This thesis investigates the relationships that curators have with the collections they oversee. The aim of the study is to learn how this relationship shapes the curators, the objects, and the storeroom itself. An additional purpose is to see whether this relationship creates and maintains a hierarchy of objects in the storerooms. Method: Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with curators working in Sweden at Nationalmuseum of Sweden, Army Museum, Swedish Museum of Performing Arts, Museum Gustavianum, The Museum of Evolution, The Jewish Museum and Skansen. The interviews were tape recorded and the transcripts composed the data for the analysis. Analysis: A qualitative content analysis was carried out on the data. Object-love and material punctum were used as the study’s theoretical and analytical framework. Including three concepts defined by the author as formal-, informal-, and personal- object hierarchies. Results: Personal and emotional relationships to the collections did exist. They were intertwined with the professional relationship and formed a unique love called object-love. A love that defined and regulated both the personal and professional sides of the relationship. A combination of knowledge, intimacy, interest, and time were key factors for the formation of an emotional bond to the objects. The personal relationships further helped create personal and informal object hierarchies in the storerooms but were not exclusively responsible for them. Other factors such as formal object hierarchies and old hierarchical systems contributed to their existence. Conclusion: Object-love is a vital part of a successful curatorship, as it drives the curators to do a good job and go the extra mile. Since prioritization is a big part of the curator’s everyday work, informal and personal object hierarchies become a necessity in the storerooms. Because of object-love these hierarchies fall in line with the museums broader mission. This is a two years master's thesis in museum and heritage studies

Cette thèse traite du calcul et des applications des fonctions tau des hiérarchies de Drinfeld–Sokolov introduites en 1984. Les hiérarchies de Drinfeld–Sokolov sont des suites d’équations aux dérivées partielles intégrables que l’on associe à n’importe quelle algèbre de Lie semi simple. La fonction tau est une fonction associée à toute solution d’une hiérarchie donnée et qui contient toute l’information de la solution. Les fonctions tau sont au cœur des liens qui unissent les hiérarchies de Drinfeld–Sokolov et la géométrie algébrique. Au chapitre 3, nous établissons une transformation explicite entre les fonctions tau polynomiales de la hiérarchie de Korteweg–de Vries (associée à l’algèbre sl(2,C)) et les polynômes d’Adler–Moser (1978). Ces derniers forment une suite de polynômes satisfaisant une certaine relation de récurrence différentielle. Le chapitre 4 traite du calcul des fonctions tau polynomiales par les déterminants de Toeplitz ; une méthode introduite par Cafasso et Wu (2015). En collaboration avec Cafasso et Yang, nous avons obtenu une expansion de la fonction tau en une somme sur les partitions d’entiers. Nous en déduisons un critère de polynomialité de la fonction tau et donnons quelques exemples non triviaux. Au chapitre 5, en collaboration avec Paolo Rossi, nous confirmons la conjecture dite « DR/DZ forte » dans le cas de l’algèbre de Lie simple o(8,C) (D4). Elle prévoit l’équivalence, en particulier, entre les hiérarchies de Drinfeld–Sokolov et d’autres hiérarchies dites de « double ramification, » introduite par Buryak (2015) et construites à partir de la cohomologie de l’espace de modules des courbes complexes stables Mg,n. / This thesis deals with the computation and applications of tau functions of the Drinfeld– Sokolov hierarchies introduced in 1984. The Drinfeld– Sokolov hierarchies are sequences of integrable partial differential equations which one associates to any semisimple Lie algebra. The tau function is a function associated to any solution of a given hierarchy and which contains all the information of the solution. Tau functions are at the heart of the bonds between Drinfeld–Sokolov hierarchies and algebraic geometry. In Chapter 3, we establish an explicit transformation between the polynomial tau functions of the Korteweg–de Vries hierarchy (associated to the algebra sl(2,C)) and the Adler–Moser polynomials (1978). The latter form a sequence of polynomials satisfying a certain differential recursion relation. Chapter 4 is dedicated to the computation of tau functions via Toeplitz determinants; a method introduced by Cafasso and Wu (2015). In collaboration with Cafasso and Yang, we obtained an expansion of the tau function as a sum over all integer partitions. It follows a simple criterion for the polynomiality of the tau function; we give some nontrivial examples. In Chapter 5, in collaboration with Paolo Rossi, we confirm the so-called ‘strong DR/DZ conjecture’ for the algebra o(8,C) (D4). The latter states an equivalence between, in particular, Drinfeld–Sokolov hierarchies and another kind of hierarchies called ‘the double ramification hierarchies’ introduced by Buryak (2015) and constructed from the cohomology of the moduli spaces of stables complex curves Mg,n.

This dissertation is aimed at analyzing how ethnic hierarchies question the environmentalization of indigeneity, which is the foundation of the Colombian state's multicultural policy. In particular, the dissertation develops a comparative ethnographic approach to the way in which the "multicultural turn" of 1991 impacted three indigenous communities located at San José del Guaviare, a colonization frontier in the Colombian Amazon: the Nükak, the Jiw and the Tucano. Against the assumption of multicultural policy that indigenous communities form a vast mass of people radically diferent from mainstream (even portrayed as anti-modern), in San José there is an unequal distribution of the Nükak, Jiw and Tucano in different positions inside local ethnic hierarchies. For some, Nükak incarnate what Hale (2004) label as a "good ethnicity", that serves to promote Guaviare as an eco-touristic destination, the Jiw are a "bad ethnicity" that annoys White people in San José, while the Tucano are portrayed as "civilized Indians". Thus, the dissertation states how these ethnic hierarchies contradict some of the core assumptions of multicultural policies that are based on an essentialized understanding of indigenous peoples as "ecologically noble savages." The dissertation argues that the analysis of contemporary experiences on indigeneity in an Amazonian context such as San José, could be better understood if it observes a set of processes and actors including: the historical transformation of senses on otherness, the production of forests as a field of domain under state regulations, the economic crossroads affecting indigenous peoples on their "resguardos" (indigenous lands) and the intervention of state laws, NGOs, indigenous political organizations, settlers, foreign governments and state officials. The analysis of such a variety of processes and actors shaping contemporary experiences on indigeneity in the Colombian Amazon follows the environmentality approach (Agrawal, 2005). From that perspective, I discuss the following ideas: a) indigenous resguardos were designed as governmentalized localities in multicultural policy to regulate and control how indigenous peoples manage natural resources; b) those communities portrayed as followers of the ecological nobility script act as regulatory communities; c) the technologies for governing the ecological realm do not necessarily assure the formation of environmental subjectivities.

The research aim of this study is to explore how locally anchored women with interest for feminist questions perceive and reflect upon the production and reproduction of gender dichotomies in public space in Husby. Moreover, space is flexible and part of a socio-spatial-dialectic which is both produced and reproduced through social interaction which contain power hierarchies. These dialectic notions and gender contracts have been utilized in this study in order to explore perceptions regarding production and reproduction of gender dichotomies. This is a qualitative study and data was collected through semi-structured interviews with locally anchored women in Husby with interest in feminist questions. The results revealed that patriarchal orders and fear of male violence, the city planning, habits, traditional gender contracts, lack of jobs and apartments, and intersectional tendencies were perceived by the interviewees as factors which influence production and reproduction of gender dichotomies in Husby.

Additive manufacturing is revolutionizing the way of production and use of materials. The clear tendency for shifting from mass production to individual production of net-shape components has encouraged using selective laser melting (SLM) or electron beam melting (EBM). In this thesis, austenitic, duplex and martensitic stainless steel parts were fabricated by laser melting technique using fixed laser scanning parameters. The fabricated steel parts were characterised using XRD, SEM, TEM/STEM, SADP and EBSD techniques. Mechanical properties of the fabricated steel parts were also measured. The mechanism of the evolution of microstructure during laser melting as well as the mechanism of the effect of developed microstructure on the mechanical properties was investigated. It was found that the intense localized heating, non-uniform and asymmetric temperature gradients and subsequently fast cooling introduces unique high level structural hierarchies and microstructure heterogeneities in laser melted steel parts. A unique structural hierarchy from the millimetre scale melt pools down to the sub-micron/nano scale cellular sub-grains was observed. The cellular sub-grains were 0.5-1μm with Molybdenum enriched at the sub-grain boundaries in SLM 316L. The Mo enriched cell boundaries affected the chemical and microstructure stability of the post heat treated samples. Well dispersed and large concentration of dislocations around the cell boundaries and well distributed oxide nano inclusions, imposed large strengthening and hardening effect that led to relatively superior tensile strength (700 MPa), yield strength (456 MPa), and microhardness (325Hv) compared to those of HIP 316L steel. The in-situ formation of oxide nano inclusions provided a unique way for preparation of oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steel in a single process. The formation of oxide nano inclusions in the very low oxygen partial pressure of laser chamber was thermodynamically explained. High concentration of nano size dislocation loops, formation of nitride phases along with nitrogen enriched islands and oxide nano inclusions lead to strong dislocation pinning effect which strengthened the laser melted duplex stainless steel with a total tensile strength of 1321 MPa, yield strength of 1214 MPa and microhardness of 450HV. The grade 420 stainless steel was laser melted in Ar and N2 atmosphere which also showed a two level hierarchy with nanometric martensite lathes embedded in parental austenite cellular grains. The Ar treated sample had relatively higher retained austenite, lower YS (680-790 MPa) and UTS (1120-1200 MPa) compared to those treated in N2 (YS= 770-1100 MPa, UTS=1520-1560 MPa). The mechanism of the effect of atmosphere on phase transformation was explained. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Submitted.</p>

In the archaeological research about the Baltic Sea island of Gotland during Roman Iron Age, 0–400 AD, two different approaches are visible: One that sees the community life on Gotland as different from the one on the main land with a relative stabile development, based on the family and kin, where no higher elite separate itself. The other perception emanates from the changes in southern Scandinavia, where an elite steadily grows and finally isolate itself as an aristocracy with unlimited power over others, the development on Gotland is no exception. This paper is about describing, investigating and explaining these two points of view. By using a selection of written sources the paper tries to answer three questions: What archaeological argumentations are there for that Gotland should be particular? What support the views that the island was a part of an over-regional development when it comes to struggle for power? What lies behind these very diverse positions among archaeological scholars? Two scholars, Kerstin Cassel and Frands Herschend, represents the two opposite standpoints and the three questions are to be answered by a comparison with two of their main archaeological works. This comparison, based on the other written sources and my own understanding, will show that the two different views on the gotlandish development can be traced to, more than anything, the two writers pre-understanding of their own scientific argumentations.

A necessidade de extrair conhecimento útil e inovador de grandes massas de dados textuais, tem motivado cada vez mais a investigação de métodos para Mineração de Textos. Dentre os métodos existentes, destacam-se as iniciativas para organização de conhecimento por meio de hierarquias de tópicos, nas quais o conhecimento implícito nos textos é representado em tópicos e subtópicos, e cada tópico contém documentos relacionados a um mesmo tema. As hierarquias de tópicos desempenham um papel importante na recupera ção de informação, principalmente em tarefas de busca exploratória, pois permitem a análise do conhecimento de interesse em diversos níveis de granularidade e exploração interativa de grandes coleções de documentos. Para apoiar a construção de hierarquias de tópicos, métodos de agrupamento hierárquico têm sido utilizados, uma vez que organizam coleções textuais em grupos e subgrupos, de forma não supervisionada, por meio das similaridades entre os documentos. No entanto, a maioria dos métodos de agrupamento hierárquico não é adequada em cenários que envolvem coleções textuais dinâmicas, pois são exigidas frequentes atualizações dos agrupamentos. Métodos de agrupamento que respeitam os requisitos existentes em cenários dinâmicos devem processar novos documentos assim que são adicionados na coleção, realizando o agrupamento de forma incremental. Assim, neste trabalho é explorado o uso de métodos de agrupamento incremental para o aprendizado não supervisionado de hierarquias de tópicos em coleções textuais dinâmicas. O agrupamento incremental é aplicado na construção e atualização de uma representação condensada dos textos, que mantém um sumário das principais características dos dados. Os algoritmos de agrupamento hierárquico podem, então, ser aplicados sobre as representa ções condensadas, obtendo-se a organização da coleção textual de forma mais eficiente. Foram avaliadas experimentalmente três estratégias de agrupamento incremental da literatura, e proposta uma estratégia alternativa mais apropriada para hierarquias de tópicos. Os resultados indicaram que as hierarquias de tópicos construídas com uso de agrupamento incremental possuem qualidade próxima às hierarquias de tópicos construídas por métodos não incrementais, com significativa redução do custo computacional / The need to extract new and useful knowledge from large textual collections has motivated researchs on Text Mining methods. Among the existing methods, initiatives for the knowledge organization by topic hierarchies are very popular. In the topic hierarchies, the knowledge is represented by topics and subtopics, and each topic contains documents of similar content. They play an important role in information retrieval, especially in exploratory search tasks, allowing the analysis of knowledge in various levels of granularity and interactive exploration of large document collections. Hierarchical clustering methods have been used to support the construction of topic hierarchies. These methods organize textual collections in clusters and subclusters, in an unsupervised manner, using similarities among documents. However, most existing hierarchical clustering methods is not suitable for scenarios with dynamic text collections, since frequent clustering updates are necessary. Clustering methods that meet these requirements must process new documents that are inserted into textual colections, in general, through incremental clustering. Thus, we studied the incremental clustering methods for unsupervised learning of topic hierarchies for dynamic text collections. The incremental clustering is used to build and update a condensed representation of texts, which maintains a summary of the main features of the data. The hierarchical clustering algorithms are applied in these condensed representations, obtaining the textual organization more efficiently. We experimentally evaluate three incremental clustering algorithms available in the literature. Also, we propose an alternative strategy more appropriate for construction of topic hieararchies. The results indicated that the topic hierarchies construction using incremental clustering have quality similar to non-incremental methods. Furthermore, the computational cost is considerably reduced using incremental clustering methods

A problemática central deste trabalho é a multifacetada relação estabelecida entre as estruturas eclesiásticas da América portuguesa e o Santo Ofício por intermédio do clero (e de suas carreiras) no decorrer do século XVIII. Elucidamos aspectos ainda pouco conhecidos dos instrumentos e estratégias que tornaram possível a presença inquisitorial no Brasil, território que nunca sediou um tribunal da Inquisição. Tal ausência hipertrofiava as conexões entre a esfera eclesiástica local e a esfera inquisitorial. Investigamos também o impacto destes aparatos institucionais na sociedade colonial, evidenciando principalmente seus papéis na estruturação das hierarquias sociais. / The main question of this work is the multifaceted relationship established between the ecclesiastical structures of Portuguese America and the Holly Office through the clergy (and their careers) during the eighteenth century. We clarify these little known aspects of the strategies that made possible the presence of the Inquisition in Brazil, a land that has never hosted a tribunal of the Inquisition. This lack hypertrophied the connections between the local ecclesiastical sphere and the inquisitorial sphere. We investigate also the impact of these institutional apparatuses in colonial society, particularly highlighting their roles in the process of structuring of social hierarchies.