Anorexia nervosa is a serious mental disorder with high mortality. It has the lowest prevalence compared with other eating-disorder diagnoses and the onset is related to adolescence, with a majority of female patients. The focus of this thesis is anorexia nervosa and the aim is to study adolescent and adult patients' comprehension and the course of treatment in order to make a contribution to the clinical work relating to these patients. The areas that were studied are expectations of treatment, outcome, predictors of outcome and satisfaction with treatment. Four research papers are included; three originate from work at a specialist eating-disorder unit at Queen Silvia Children's Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden and one from a multicentre study comprising 15 specialised eating-disorder units in Sweden. Paper I has a qualitative design, where participants, 18-25 years of age, were interviewed about their expectations while on the waiting list at a specialist eating-disorder unit. Three main categories of expectations emerged: "Treatment content," "Treatment professionals" and "Treatment focus." The participants expected to receive the appropriate therapy in a collaborative therapeutic relationship and to recover. Paper II evaluated the outcome of a family-based treatment for adolescent patients, 13-18 years old, and their parents. The results indicate that the treatment that is offered appears to be effective, as 78% of the patients were in full remission with less distance and a less chaotic family climate at the 36-month follow-up. Paper III examined the importance of motivation to change eating behaviour, treatment expectationsand experiences, ED symptomatology, self-image and treatment alliance for predicting weight increase in adult patients, 18-46 years of age. Patients' motivation to change eating habits, social relations, self-image, body image and duration of illness were found to predict weight increase both in both the short term (six months) and the long term (36 months). PaperIV studied adolescent patients' and their parents' satisfaction with a family-based treatment a tan 18-month follow-up. The majority of patients (73%) and parents (83%) stated that their expectations had been fulfilled and individual sessions for patients and parents respectively were of great help. Family-based treatment with a combination of individual and family sessions corresponds well to patients' and parents' treatment expectations. Young adult patients' expectations before treatment are multifaceted and should be taken into account in the therapeutic relationship. From the start of treatment, issues relating to patients' motivation, self-image, body image and social relationships should be continuously addressed in order to establish positive collaboration and a weight increase. Anorexia nervosa treatment for adolescents and their parents should be family-based and include family sessions as well as individual sessions for patients and parents. In addition, prevention programmes with the emphasis on early detection should be a prioritised area.

Investments in R&D activities are essential to firms. Decisions to increase or decrease R&D investments may rely according to changes in macroeconomic factors. The purpose of this paper is: to examine how firms in the industries; manufacturing computers, electronics and optics and manufacturing electrical equipment, have increased or decreased their R&D investments, in conjunction with macro factors during the 2000s. The sample is 49 Swedish firms. This paper is based on quantitative firm-level panel data on R&D activity investments and aggregated quantitative macro-level data on macro factors. The firm-level panel data set has been put together completely from scratch, using collected and transformed raw data. Using a logistic regression model, the results show that macro factors do affect R&D investments on a micro-level, to some extent. Further, the results show that change in macro factors does to a greater extent, affect decreases in R&D investments than increases in R&D investments. The process of increase and decrease of R&D investment should be considered as two different dynamic processes. Increase and decrease do not follow the same pattern, thus a decrease of R&D investments is a more explicit decision than a decision to increase R&D investments.

Project cost increase is the main concern in international construction projects which usually results in disputes and conflicts among the project participants. The aim of this thesis is to construct a database that represents risk event history regarding international construction projects and construct a cost overrun prediction model. It is hypothesized that magnitudes of project related, company related and country related risk factors can be predicted by assessing the level of vulnerability by analogical reasoning with previous projects. The vulnerability and risk factors can further be used to predict cost overrun in the bid preparation stage of international construction projects. Thus, prediction models that link vulnerability with risk factors and cost are constructed by using a dataset of 166 international construction projects, which consists of 66 real and 100 hypothetical cases. Case-based reasoning (CBR) technique is used to construct the prediction models. After testing the performance of various CBR models using different weight generation and retrieval methods, error rate of +/- 7.15 % cost increase is achieved. The utilization of CBR models in the prediction of potential risk sources and cost overrun is demonstrated by a real case study. Finally, the benefits and pitfalls of using analogical reasoning for risk and cost overrun assessment of construction projects are discussed.

Kai pradėjau rašyti magistrinį darbą (2006 m.), tai Lietuvos nacionaliniai parkai (išskyrus Aukštaitijos nacionalinį parką) gyvavo jau penkiolika metų, nes visi jie įkurti 1991 m. ir turi labai svarbią reikšmę visai Lietuvos saugojamų teritorijų sistemai. Jie yra įkurti išsaugoti tautai, visoms jos kartoms vertingą gamtiniu, kultūriniu ir istoriniu požiūriu Lietuvos etnokultūrinį palikimą, vertingus moksliniu požiūriu kraštovaizdžio kompleksus, propaguoti Lietuvos etninių rajonų materialinį bei dvasinį kultūrinį palikimą, sudaryti sąlygas poilsiui ir turizmui. Šias funkcijas jie sėkmingai atlieka, tačiau visuose parkuose kiek mažiau akcentuojamos labai sudėtingos socialinės ekonominės ir ypatingai demografinės problemos. Todėl šiame darbe labiau akcentuojamos būtent jos. Trakų istorinis nacionalinis parkas – yra unikalus ne tik istoriniu požiūriu, bet ir savitas demografinių urbanistinių procesų raidoje. Šiame parke vykstantys nepalankūs socialiniai-ekonominiai, o ypač demografiniai procesai kelia didelę grėsmę parko išlikimui. Todėl pateikta jau apdorota ir išanalizuota demografinė informacija ypač naudinga rengiant programas šių parkų išsaugojimui. Darbo tikslas-apžvelgti Trakų rajono gamtos ir kultūros išteklių ypatumus, atlikti Trakų miesto ir jo apylinkių (TINP teritorijoje) sociogeografinę analizę, analizuojant demografinę situaciją 1989-2004 m. išskiriant socialinius pokyčius, remiantis literatūros, mokslinių šaltinių analize bei statistiniais duomenimis, atlikti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / When I started writing this master degree paper in 2006, national parks in Lithuania, with the exception of Aukštaitijos national park, had been existing for 15 years, as they all were found in 1991. Now they have a very important meaning to the whole system of Lithuanian preserved territories. They were found in order to preserve naturally, culturally and historically valuable Lithuania’s ethnocultural heritage, scientifically valuable landscape complexes, to propogate material and mental cultural heritage of Lithuania’s ethnical regions, to create conditions for leasure and tourism. They fulfill these functions, however, all the parks emphasize less very complicated social economic and especially demographic problems. Thereforethis work lays a greater stress on them. Trakai historic national park is unique not only historically but also in the development of demographic urbanistic processes. The unfavourable socioeconomic and demographic process going on there threaten the survival of the park. Here is given the already analyzed demographic information very usefull in preparing programs for the preservation of the park. The aim of the work is to make an overview of the peculiarities of natural and cultural resources of the Trakai district, to make a sociogeographic analysis of the city of Trakai and its districts (in the territory of TINP). This will be done analyzing the demographic situation in 1989 – 2004, pointing out social and economic changes. I will... [to full text]

Η επεξεργασία εικόνας πλέον είναι απαραίτητη σε ένα μεγάλο πεδίο εφαρμογών που χρησιμοποιούν εκατομμύρια χρήστες σε όλο τον κόσμο. Σίγουρα οι αισθητήρες σύλληψης της εικόνας έχουν βελτιωθεί κατά πολύ με την ραγδαία εξέλιξη που έχει ο χώρος των ηλεκτρονικών. Η ελαττωμένη χωρική ανάλυση των εικόνων οφείλεται στους περιορισμούς που εμφανίζουν οι αισθητήρες. Η αύξηση της χωρικής ανάλυσης είναι και το αντικείμενο της παρούσας εργασίας. Στην εργασία αυτή μελετήσαμε διάφορες τεχνικές με τις οποίες προσπαθούμε να αυξήσουμε την χωρική ανάλυση για να βελτιώσουμε την ποιότητα της εικόνας [1]. Η υλοποίηση της έγινε με την βοήθεια των εκτιμητών πυκνότητας πιθανότητας (Kernels). Ως συγκριτική μέθοδος χρησιμοποιήσαμε την συνάρτηση παρεμβολής του matlab (interp2) [8]. Επίσης, το μέσω τετραγωνικό σφάλμα ( Mean Square Error ) και ο μέγιστος λόγος σήματος προς θόρυβο ( Peak Signal to Noise Ratio ) είναι δύο από τους βασικούς τρόπους σύγκρισης της τεχνική μας με την μέθοδο παρεμβολής του matlab. Θα πρέπει να αναφέρουμε ότι τα αποτελέσματά μας αν και χρησιμοποιήσαμε στατιστικά πρώτης τάξης είναι ικανοποιητικά παραπλήσια της μεθόδου παρεμβολής του matlab. Ως σημείο αναφοράς της σύγκριση της τεχνική μας με την μέθοδο παρεμβολής του matlab είναι η αρχική εικόνα. Τέλος, στην προσπάθεια μας να βελτιώσουμε την τεχνική μας, δοκιμάσαμε και άλλες τεχνικές, οι οποίες θα περιγραφούν με λεπτομέρεια στην εργασία αυτή, τα αποτελέσματα των οποίων δεν ήταν τα επιθυμητά. / The image processing is now needed in a wide range of applications used by millions of users around the world. Certainly the design of image sensors have improved greatly with the rapid development that has an area of electronics. The reduced spatial resolution of images due to the limitations inherent in the sensors. Increased spatial resolution is the subject of this work. This thesis reviews various techniques that try to increase the spatial resolution to improve the image quality [1]. Driving done with the help of probability density estimators (Kernels). As a comparative method used the interpolation function of matlab (interp2) [8]. Also, the means square error (Mean Square Error) and the maximum signal to noise ratio (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) are two basic ways of comparing our technique with the method of interpolation matlab. It should be mentioned that although our results using statistical first order is approaching a satisfactory method of interpolation matlab. As a benchmark comparison of our technique with the method of interpolation matlab is the original image. Finally, in our efforts to improve our technique, testing and other techniques, which will be described in detail in this work, the results of which were not desired.

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of dendrometric, morphometric and qualitative variables in the annual periodic increment in basal area free of trees and under competition Enterolobium contortisiliquum. (Vell.) Morong. with a view to making decisions about the management of the species. The study was conducted in the state's central region of Rio Grande do Sul, in the city of Santa Maria. Subjects were measured and collected the dendrometric, morphometric and qualitative variables. Step data of the last 5 years were obtained by analysis of growth roller collected using the auger Pressler. To determine the density of the trees in the forest, it was calculated basal area in hectare per sampling point based on Bitterlich methodology. The timbaúva differs between the conditions in their dendrometric and morphometric variables, but individuals under competition vary more among themselves that free individuals of competition. The height of the bole in individuals free competition and the variables scope Index and formal canopy in individuals under competition does not suffer variation with increasing DAP values. The shape of the crown of free competition individuals ranges from tolerable perfect, the perfect cup is seen mostly in people over 40 cm DAP. In people under competition exists a variation of forms of canopy are assigned to most individuals as classification of good cup. The crown density of free individuals and under competition is lower in individuals under 40 cm DAP. Individuals under competition have canopy characteristics, being classified as to their sociological position in dominant and codominant. The better the shape and density of the canopy greater the slope of the land and the classification of sociological position in individuals at greater competition will be the height of the shaft. The crown diameter of individuals is estimated as a function of diameter breast height by simple linear model DC = - b0 + b1 * √dap for both conditions. The height of the bole of free individuals of competition has a growth behavior defined by average of 2.20 m approximately, being characteristic of the species forking near the base in the absence of competition. In individuals under competition the stem height can be explained in terms of diameter at breast height the equation HF=b1*√dap. Under competition, the total height is influenced by the density of the population differing in level to the conditions existing the need for using separate models, estimated by the equation HT=b1*√dap+b2*G(bit) and the free individuals competition for equation HT=b1*√dap. The growth in basal area of E. contortisiliquum can be estimated by analysis of stem growth rings and there are differences in growth between the two conditions. The IPAG the competition of free individuals is explained due to the DAP and individuals under competition is explained in terms of DAP and increase the qualitative proximity of water variable. / Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a influência das variáveis dendrométricas, morfométricas e qualitativas no incremento periódico anual em área basal de árvores livres e sob competição de Enterolobium contortisiliquum. (Vell.) Morong. com vistas à tomada de decisões sobre o manejo da espécie. O estudo foi realizado na região Central do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, na cidade de Santa Maria. Os indivíduos foram mensurados e coletadas as variáveis dendrométricas, morfométricas e qualitativas. Os dados de incremento dos últimos 5 anos foram obtidos pela análise de rolos de incremento, coletados com a utilização do trado de Pressler. Para a determinação da densidade entre as árvores na floresta, foi calculada a área basal no ponto de amostragem por hectare baseado na metodologia de Bitterlich. A timbaúva difere entre as condições em suas variáveis dendrométricas e morfométricas, porém indivíduos sob competição variam mais entre si que os indivíduos livres de competição. A altura do fuste nos indivíduos livres de competição e as variáveis Índice de abrangência e formal de copa nos indivíduos sob competição não sofrem variação com o aumento dos valores de DAP. A forma da copa dos indivíduos livres de competição varia de perfeita a tolerável, a copa perfeita é verificada em sua maioria nos indivíduos acima dos 40 cm de DAP. Nos indivíduos sob competição existe uma variação de formas de copa, sendo atribuído para a maioria dos indivíduos a classificação de forma da copa boa. A densidade de copa dos indivíduos livres e sob competição é menor nos indivíduos abaixo dos 40 cm de DAP. Os indivíduos sob competição possuem características de dossel, sendo classificados quanto a sua posição sociológica em dominantes e codominantes. Quanto melhor for a forma e a densidade da copa, maior for a inclinação do terreno e a classificação da posição sociológica nos indivíduos sob competição maior será a altura do fuste. O diâmetro de copa dos indivíduos é estimado em função do diâmetro a altura do peito pelo modelo linear simples DC= -b0+b1*√dap para ambas condições. A altura do fuste dos indivíduos livres de competição possui um comportamento de crescimento definido por média de 2,20 m aproximadamente, sendo característico da espécie bifurcar-se próximo à base na ausência de competição. Nos indivíduos sob competição a altura do fuste pode ser explicada em função do diâmetro a altura do peito pela equação HF=b1*√dap. Sob competição, a altura total sofre influência da densidade do povoamento diferindo em nível para as condições existindo a necessidade do uso de modelos distintos, sendo estimada pela equação HT=b1*√dap+b2*G(bit) e para os indivíduos livres de competição pela equação HT=b1*√dap. O crescimento em área basal da E. contortisiliquum pode ser estimado pela análise dos anéis de crescimento tronco e existem diferenças no crescimento entre as duas condições. O IPAg dos indivíduos livres de competição é explicado em função do DAP e nos indivíduos sob competição é explicado em função do DAP e acréscimo da variável qualitativa proximidade da água.

Heavy timber construction is emerging as a viable alternative to conventional building materials, such as steel and concrete, for mid- and high rise structures. With the increasing presence of timber structures at or near potential targets comes an increased risk for damage to the structure and more importantly human casualties. The current provisions related to wood in the blast code (CSA, 2012) are limited and based on general understanding of the material behaviour rather than thorough research studies. Also, the standard does not clearly distinguish between the various types of engineered wood products. A study was undertaken to assess the behaviour of cross-laminated timber panels subjected to simulated blast loading using a shock tube apparatus. More specifically, the aim of this study was to investigate the behaviour of CLT panels subjected to static and dynamic loads to determine a dynamic increase factor in order to quantify high strain rate effects on this material. Testing was completed on a total of 18 CLT panels, with panel thicknesses of 105 and 175 mm corresponding to a 3-ply and 5-ply panel, respectively. An average dynamic increase factor of 1.28 on the resistance and no apparent increase in stiffness from static to dynamic loading were observed. Two resistance material predictive models that account for high strain-rate effects and the experimentally observed post-peak residual behavior were developed. A single degree-of-freedom model was validated using full-scale simulated blast load tests, and the predictions were found to match well with the experimental displacement-time histories.

Accessibility is a gateway to accessing opportunities or service sites, i.e., grocery shopping, healthcare and jobs and it has been used as a proxy to measure inequalities. The equity, in travel time or distance, to accessing of these services is vital to ensure high accessibility hence providing equality. Population increase leading to urban sprawl affects accessibility in the absence of prudent residential spatial planning and transport systems and infrastructure. Urban sprawl creates a distance between populations and centres of services such as grocery stores. This promotes the growth of car-dependency to accessing these services that are not easily reachable by non-motorised transport of walking and biking.This thesis measures accessibility to grocery stores by comparing the travel time of populations in the four neighbourhoods, of Ålidhem, Tomtebo, Carlshem and Sofiehem, by walking and biking. The measuring is done by using the ArcGIS Network Analyst to create and build a single-modal network dataset of pedestrian and bike lanes in the study area. Accessibility to grocery stores is measured using the service areas created based on the grocery store location and it highlights all the accessible streets from the centre within a time impedance. Afterwards, the populations are aggregated in each service area of each neighbourhood to compare the time difference of accessibility to a grocery store.With distance decay effects, the walking time distance restricts accessibility to grocery stores to a limited population in the neighbourhoods. The bike time distance, however, increased the residents in the study area who can access the grocery stores. The new location for a Coop grocery store provides the highest accessibility to grocery stores compared to the Ålidhem Centre grocery store.From the results of the analysis, the bike travel is the most equitable hence equal mode of active transport for all the four neighbourhoods. / <p>The best time to build walk and cycle paths was 20 years ago. The second best time is now! This publication is my first and very close to my heart as it shows how land use and transport are related to reduce travel times and also promote more non-motorised transport usage. </p>

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-05-12T19:39:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 evelyndurcochicarino.pdf: 1298466 bytes, checksum: 75a4ad8ad8936431fdce854984c4726c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-06-27T20:08:24Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 evelyndurcochicarino.pdf: 1298466 bytes, checksum: 75a4ad8ad8936431fdce854984c4726c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-27T20:08:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 evelyndurcochicarino.pdf: 1298466 bytes, checksum: 75a4ad8ad8936431fdce854984c4726c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-28 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Em condições laboratoriais Achatina fulica apresentou padrão de crescimento indeterminado e ganho de massa corporal ao longo do experimento, desacelerando após a maturidade sexual. O isolamento influenciou diretamente na taxa de crescimento e aumento de massa corporal, sendo observado aumento desses parâmetros para Isolados. Durante a etapa de desenvolvimento, houve diferenças significativas na taxa de crescimento e aumento de massa corporal, com maiores valores alcançados nos períodos pós-maturidade tanto para Isolados quanto para Agrupados, porém não diferindo significativamente entre eles. A mortalidade no período pré e pós-maturidade sexual de A. fulica não diferiu para Isolados ou Agrupados, mas quando comparada a mortalidade de cada período da vida entre os grupos verificou-se que essa foi maior para Agrupados. Foi observado mais de um evento reprodutivo para Isolados e Agrupados. Agrupados se reproduziram por um período de tempo mais curto, com posturas consecutivas. Para isolados foi observado o oposto. O tempo médio alcance da maturidade sexual entre os grupos diferiu, Agrupados foram sexualmente maduros mais cedo (284 dias) do que de Isolados (295 dias). Os moluscos Isolados alcançaram a maturidade sexual com maior tamanho (12,5 cm) e ganho de massa (170 g). O número de ovos foi significativamente maior para os moluscos Agrupados e não houve diferenças do número médio de eventos reprodutivos entre Agrupados e Isolados. Isolados produziram ovos, porém não foi observada eclosão de jovens. A temperatura influenciou somente o tempo de incubação e de eclosão dos ovos. De forma diferente, a URA (umidade relativa do ar) foi positivamente correlacionada com o crescimento médio, taxa de crescimento, ganho de massa corporal médio, taxa de ganho de peso, mortalidade, tempo de incubação e taxa de eclosão para ambos grupos. A temperatura não influenciou o número de eventos reprodutivos e número de ovos por molusco para Isolados e Agrupados. Já a URA influenciou no número de posturas e de ovos por molusco em Isolados. O mesmo comportamento foi observado em Agrupados. Houve correlação significativa da temperatura no tempo de eclosão dos ovos e na eclodibilidade. A URA que foi significativa para o tempo de eclosão, porém não houve correlação para a eclodibilidade. Quando avaliado o metabolismo de carboidratos, se verificou um aumento nas concentrações de galactogênio após o primeiro evento reprodutivo, ocorrendo a diminuição de glicose neste período, através do qual realiza sua síntese. As concentrações de glicose e glicogênio foram maiores na fase jovem ao contrário do galactogênio. Na fase adulta, se verificou o deslocamento energético do crescimento para a reprodução, uma vez que o glicogênio da massa cefalopediosa foi maior do que na glândula digestiva, caracterizando um crescimento indeterminado. Acredita-se que as condições utilizadas neste estudo tenha influenciado o processo reprodutivo de A. fulica. Já quando avaliado o comportamento de A. fulica em mesma condição indivíduos adultos foram mais ativos que os jovens ao longo do estudo. Houve diferença para o comportamento “enterrar”, sendo que jovens permaneceram mais enterrados do que adultos. Observou-se diferença para o ato “repousar” (repouso total), sendo maior para adultos. O repouso horizontal no substrato foi mais frequente em adultos, não diferindo estatisticamente com moluscos jovens enquanto o repouso vertical na parede do terrário foi igual para adultos e jovens. Para o ato “deslocar” (deslocamento total) o mesmo padrão foi observado. Porém adultos se deslocaram mais horizontalmente do que jovens, diferindo-se significativamente. Não houve diferença para o deslocamento vertical. Verificou-se sobreposição no horário de deslocamento entre adultos e jovens, embora animais adultos tenham se deslocado por um período maior. Não foi observada diferença para a frequência do comportamento “alimentar”, porém jovens tiveram um período menor para a alimentação, sobrepondo com animais adultos. O mesmo padrão foi observado para “explorar”. Os comportamentos “emergir” e “enterrando” também não diferiram. O ato “defecar” foi observado somente em indivíduos adultos. O comportamento de “interagir” não foi observado em jovens, nem em adultos. A umidade relativa do ar não influenciou na atividade de jovens e adultos. Porém a temperatura teve influência semelhante em ambas idades, sendo tanto maior a atividade quanto maior a temperatura, numa escala de 22 a 26ºC. Esse trabalho sugere que pode haver competição por alimento e espaço entre jovens e adultos, ocorrendo assim um autocontrole populacional da espécie devido à sobreposição de nicho. / In the conditions studied Achatina fulica presented indeterminate standard and mass corporal increase with the long of the experiment, after the sexual maturity. The isolation influenced directly in the tax of increase and gain of corporal mass, being observed increase of these parameters to Isolateds. During the stage of development had significant differences in the tax of increase and gain of corporal mass with greater values reached in the periods post-maturity so much to Isolateds as Grouped, but not deferring significantly among then. The same stardard was observed to the drought and rainy seasons. The mortality in the period pre and post-maturity sexual of. Achatina fulica did not defer to Isolateds and Grouupeds, but when comparated to mortality of each period of life among groups verified that this was greatest to groupeds. It was observed more of an event reproductive to Iasolateds and Groupeds. Groupeds reproduced themselves for a period of time more brief with consecutives postures. For Isolateds was observed the opposite. The middle time reach of sexual maturity among the groups deferred, Groupeds was sexually matures more early (284 days) of that Isolateds (295 days). The molluscs Isolateds reached the sexual maturity with greatest size (12,5 cm) and gain of mass (170g). The number of eggs was significantly greater for the mollusks Grouped and hand’t differences of the middle number of reproductive events and number of eggs for mollusks to Isolateds and Groupeds. Already the URA influenced the number of postures and of eggs for mollusks in Isolateds. The same behavior was observed in Groupeds. There was correlation significant of the temperature in the time of out break of the eggs and in the hatchabity. When avakuated the metabolism of carboidrats, verified a increase in the concentrations of galactogen before the first reproductive event, occuring the diminuition of glucose and glycogen were greatest in the young stage. Unlike of galactogen. It the adult stage, verified the dislocation energy of increase for the reproduction, once the glycogen of mass cefalopediosa was greatest of that in the digestive gland, featuring an indeterminate increase. It believe that the conditions utilized in this study the process reproductive of A. fulica. Already when evaluated individuals were more actives that the young along of study. There was difference for the behavior “to bury”, being that youngs stayed more buried that the adults. It observed difference for the act “to rest” (total rest), being greatest for the adults the horizontal rest in the substrate was more frequent in adults, not differing statistically with young mollusks while the vertical rest in the wall of the terrarium was for adults and youngs. To the act “to dislocate” (total dislocate) the same standard was observed. However adults dislocate themselves more horizontally then youngs, differing significantly. These wasn’t difference to the vertical dislocation. It verified superposition in the timetable of dislocation between adults and youngs though adult animals have dislocated for a greatest period. Not observed difference to a frequence of the behavior “to feed” but youngs had a smaller period for the alimentation, putting over with adult animals. The same standard was observed to “to explorer”. The behaviors “to emerge” and “buring” too did not difer. The act “to defecate” was observed only in adult individuals. The behavior of “to interact” not observed in youngs, neither in similar both ages, being greater the temperature, in a scale of 22 a 26ºC. This work suggests that can have competition for food and space between youngs and adults, occurring so a control population of the kind due to niche overlapping.

Classifier ensembling research has been one of the most active areas of machine learning for a long period of time. The main aim of generating combined classifier ensembles is to improve the prediction accuracy in comparison to using an individual classifier. A combined classifiers ensemble can improve the prediction results by compensating for the individual classifier weaknesses in certain areas and benefiting from better accuracy of the other ensembles in the same area. In this thesis, different algorithms are proposed for designing classifier ensemble combiners. The existing methods such as averaging, voting, weighted average, and optimised weighted method does not increase the accuracy of the combiner in comparison to the proposed advanced methods such as genetic programming and the coalition method. The different methods are studied in detail and analysed using different databases. The aim is to increase the accuracy of the combiner in comparison to the standard stand-alone classifiers. The proposed methods are based on generating a combiner formula using genetic programming, while the coalition is based on estimating the diversity of the classifiers such that a coalition is generated with better prediction accuracy. Standard accuracy measures are used, namely accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve, in addition to training error accuracies such as the mean square error. The combiner methods are compared empirically with several stand-alone classifiers using neural network algorithms. Different types of neural network topologies are used to generate different models. Experimental results show that the combiner algorithms are superior in creating the most diverse and accurate classifier ensembles. Ensembles of the same models are generated to boost the accuracy of a single classifier type. An ensemble of 10 models of different initial weights is used to improve the accuracy. Experiments show a significant improvement over a single model classifier. Finally, two combining methods are studied, namely the genetic programming and coalition combination methods. The genetic programming algorithm is used to generate a formula for the classifiers’ combinations, while the coalition method is based on a simple algorithm that assigns linear combination weights based on the consensus theory. Experimental results of the same databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods compared to conventional combining methods. The results show that the coalition method is better than genetic programming.