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In this thesis I develop and implement “antibody landscapes”, a method to profile immunity against a pathogen as a function of antigenic differences between a range of strains. Theoretically applicable to any antigenically variable pathogen and measurement of immunity, the work here focusses on antibody-mediated immunity against the A/H3N2 influenza subtype. Applying the methodology to study annual serum samples from individuals monitored for influenza infection over a period of six years, patterns of influenza immunity were found to be remarkably distinct and maintained almost unchanged over time in the absence of influenza exposure. Upon infection, the initial response is strikingly antigenically broad, including responses against viruses far beyond the extent of cross-reactivity observed after a primary infection. Analysis of two vaccination cohorts, one receiving an antigenically advanced vaccine strain and one a more typical vaccine strain choice, revealed many of the same patterns of response as seen with infection. Antigenically advanced vaccination generated greater responses against later strains but surprisingly, due to equivalent boosting of prior immunity, this came at no cost to responses generated against contemporary or older strains. Exploring in more detail the development of immunity over time, analysis of a cohort of children demonstrated that - in contrast to adults with diverse exposure histories - antibody responses to a first infections were remarkably similar in pattern and magnitude. Interestingly, for second infections, although post-infection antibody titres against circulating strains were comparable to those after first infections, overall cross-reactivity of the response against future antigenic variants appeared to be diminished. The findings here underline the significant role prior-immunity plays in affecting the response to new exposures and the importance of understanding it. An important conclusion is that by failing to account for it, current approaches to influenza vaccine strain selection may be suboptimal and pre-emptive vaccine strain updates may improve overall vaccine efficacy where immunity to current strains already exists in the population. Building on the work presented here should help to optimise strain choice and vaccine efficacy even further.

It is widely recognized that landmines pose a significant threat to the development and recovery of post-conflict societies. What is less well understood is the impact that these weapons have on the everyday lives and wellbeing of affected people and the environments in which they live. This thesis therefore seeks to deepen this understanding by presenting the findings from community-level qualitative research undertaken in Cambodia, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. I argue that it is essential to consider the effect that landmines have on people, the environments in which they live, and the relationships between people and environment. In order to explore this, I build on the notion of ‘wellbeing ecology’ introduced by White & Jha (2014). Wellbeing ecology is a place-sensitive approach that considers the inter-connected and dynamic social, economic, emotional, physical and spiritual relationships that people have with each other and their environments over time. By their very presence, landmines represent a threat to both social and natural systems. They also reconstitute people’s experience of place. I explore this in particular through the notion of contaminated landscapes, which draws on and takes forward work on therapeutic landscapes in health geography. My data reveals that local people and mine action actors understand the effects of landmines differently. While mine action actors focus predominantly on material impact, local people conceptualise landmine impact in a more holistic way, referring to its social, emotional, spiritual, psychological and physical meanings. Data from the village highlights the importance of place for wellbeing, revealing that living in a contaminated landscape negatively affects people’s quality of life materially, relationally and subjectively. This demonstrates how a wellbeing ecology approach can usefully add to the understanding of the experience of living with landmines and the effect this has on quality of life.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-07-20T16:35:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Cyanna Missaglia de Fochesatto_.pdf: 5318891 bytes, checksum: 17431955138ae7e5c5d229d82ca31513 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-20T16:35:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cyanna Missaglia de Fochesatto_.pdf: 5318891 bytes, checksum: 17431955138ae7e5c5d229d82ca31513 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-24 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / Este estudo busca fazer uma análise de algumas obras do pintor gaúcho Pedro Weingärtner, de temática regional, que tratem da representação do imigrante europeu e do processo de colonização no Rio Grande do Sul, no período do final do século XIX e início do XX. A análise dessas pinturas foi feita através do entendimento da memória e da biografia de seu criador, para que então fosse possível compreender o tipo de identidade do imigrante presente nas pinturas. Pretendeu-se aprofundar de que forma esse tipo social estava representado nas telas, as suas características, seu modo de vida, os espaços de sociabilidade e trabalho, as paisagens e os elementos sócio-culturais. A relevância desta pesquisa dá-se pela ausência de trabalhos de fôlego sobre Pedro Weingärtner e também pela contribuição no campo dos estudos da história e das imagens, uma vez que colabora – de forma interdisciplinar – com os estudos, principalmente, sobre imigração alemã, imagens e artes plásticas. Encontrou-se ao longo da pesquisa a representação de um imigrante fortemente aliado ao espaço rural e ao trabalho na terra, buscando a construção da imagem de um tipo social que é tanto o trabalhador da zona rural quanto o principal agente causador da transformação da paisagem natural brasileira. / This study aims to to analyze some paintings from the gaucho artist Pedro Weingärtner, a regional theme that address the representation of the European immigrant and the colonization process in Rio Grande do Sul, from the period of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The analysis of these paintings was made through the understanding of memory and biography of its creator, so that it was possible to understand the type of identity of the immigrant present in the paintings. It was intended to deeply understand how this social type was represented in the paintings, their characteristics, their way of life, the gaps of sociability and work, the landscapes and socio-cultural elements. The relevance of this research is given by the absence of a major study on Pedro Weingärtner and also for the contribution in the field of studies of history and of images, once it contributes - in an interdisciplinary way - with studies about German immigration, pictures and fine arts. It was found throughout the research the representation of an immigrant strongly allied to rural areas and work on the land, seeking the construction of the image of a social type that is both a worker in the countryside as the main causative agent of transformation of the natural landscape Brazilian.

When the states of a system can be described by the extrema of a high-dimensional function, the characterisation of its complexity, i.e. the enumeration of the accessible stable states, can be reduced to a sampling problem. In this thesis a robust numerical protocol is established, capable of producing numerical estimates of the total number of stable states for a broad class of systems, and of computing the a-priori probability of observing any given state. The approach is demonstrated within the context of the computation of the configurational entropy of two and three-dimensional jammed packings. By means of numerical simulation we show the extensivity of the granular entropy as proposed by S.F. Edwards for three-dimensional jammed soft-sphere packings and produce a direct test of the Edwards conjecture for the equivalent two dimensional systems. We find that Edwards’ hypothesis of equiprobability of all jammed states holds only at the (un)jamming density, that is precisely the point of practical significance for many granular systems. Furthermore, two new recipes for the computation of high-dimensional volumes are presented, that improve on the established approach by either providing more statistically robust estimates of the volume or by exploiting the trajectories of the paths of steepest descent. Both methods also produce as a natural by-product unprecedented details on the structures of high-dimensional basins of attraction. Finally, we present a novel Monte Carlo algorithm to tackle problems with fluctuating weight functions. The method is shown to improve accuracy in the computation of the ‘volume’ of high dimensional ‘fluctuating’ basins of attraction and to be able to identify transition states along known reaction coordinates. We argue that the approach can be extended to the optimisation of the experimental conditions for observing certain phenomena, for which individual measurements are stochastic and provide little guidance.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (M. Arch. in Advanced Studies)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 142-149. / by Anthony Dominique Nassau Mallows. / M.C.P.

La Frise du Nord est une région de la mer des Wadden située en Allemagne, à la frontière avec le Danemark. Depuis 1991 des agriculteurs et des habitants se sont associés pour acheter et gérer eux-mêmes des éoliennes. Ils ont nommé leurs entreprises « parcs éoliens citoyens ». Elles représentent en 2018, 90% de la capacité éolienne installée en Frise, soit près de 2000MW. Cette thèse est une enquête avec ce, celles et ceux qui ont fabriqué ce paysage énergétique. L’enquête est prise comme méthode pragmatiste qui veut que la solution émerge au fur et à mesure que le problème se précise. Ce faisant, la thèse parcourt, depuis 1975, 40 années de l’expérience des parcs éoliens, qui propose une vision renouvelée des liens entre projets d’énergie et changements climatiques. Ces paysages de l’éolien citoyen, pensés comme une expérience d’habiter le climat, sont tour à tour observés dans leurs dimensions sensible (intensités relationnelles à l’environnement), pratique (processus sociotechniques des montages de projet) et politique (structurations collectives entre citoyens et administrations pour résoudre un problème). La thèse en propose une reformulation pragmatiste et écologiste (John Dewey, Daniel Céfaï et Tim Ingold) comme la fabrique collective des paysages climatiques. Dans cette voie, la thèse explore la notion d’assemblée paysagère, comme forme de paysage, au sens politique inspiré des anciens Landschaften (Kenneth Olwig), pour décrire une figure capable de mener cette expérience, dans ses ancrages, ses montées en échelle et ses ouvertures, et d’en rendre compte. Ce dernier aspect est également discuté en termes d’opportunités démocratiques (Joëlle Zask) et de responsabilité relationnelle (Joan Tronto) pour questionner les manières d’appréhender les changements climatiques. / Northern Friesland is a region on the Wadden Sea shores in Germany, on the border with Denmark. Since 1991 farmers and locals have partnered to buy and manage wind turbines themselves. They named their companies "citizens wind parks". In 2018, they represent 90% of the installed wind capacity in Friesland, ie around 2000 MW. This thesis is an inquiry with those who made this energy landscape. The “inquiry” is here conceived as method stating that the solution emerges as the problem be-comes clearer. In doing so, the thesis scours from 1975, 40 years of experience with collectively developing and managing wind farms, an experience which suggests renewing our understanding of the relations between energy projects and climate change. Taken as an experience of dwelling the climate, these citizen wind landscapes are successively observed along their sensitive (relational intensities to the environment), practical (socio-technical processes of project set-ups) and political dimensions (collective structuring between citizens and administrations to solve a problem). The thesis proposes a pragmatist and ecologist reformulation (together with John Dewey, Daniel Céfaï and Tim Ingold) of this experience as the collective making of climatic landscapes. The thesis also puts forward the concept of landscape assembly, as a form of landscape, in the political sense inspired by the ancient Landschaften (Kenneth Olwig), to describe a plastic figure, heterogeneous and situated, capable of conducting this experience and of giving an account of it. This last aspect is also discussed in terms of democratic opportunities (Joëlle Zask) and relational responsibility (Joan Tronto) to question the ways of apprehending climate changes.

O conhecimento da ecologia das espécies em ecossistemas em constante transformação se faz necessário para entender como essas persistem, como utilizam os novos habitats criados pelas atividades humanas, e se ainda desempenham funções ecológicas, informações essenciais para subsidiar a conservação dos ecossistemas. A presente tese teve como objetivos: 1) avaliar por meio da dieta da onça-parda (Puma concolor), se essa pode ocupar o nicho da onça-pintada (Panthera onca) onde essa está funcionalmente ausente, comparando a dieta de ambas as espécies; 2) analisar mudanças no uso dos recursos, habitat e estrutura trófica de assembleias de mamíferos entre paisagens conservadas e modificadas da Mata Atlântica por meio da análise de isótopos estáveis (SIA) de carbono e nitrogênio; 3) identificar alterações na efetividade funcional de assembleias de mamíferos em relação a estrutura da paisagem na Mata Atlântica. Para determinar a dieta da onça-parda, coletamos amostras fecais em duas áreas no maior contínuo florestal de Mata Atlântica, identificando 15 tipos de presas. Observamos uma preferência da onça-parda por grandes mamíferos, superior a observada em outras áreas do bioma. Comparada a dieta da onça-pintada, a porcentagem de grandes mamíferos também foi superior. Portanto, a onça-parda pode atuar como equivalente funcional da onça-pintada onde essa está funcionalmente ausente, e há disponibilidade de grandes presas. Para o estudo com a SIA, utilizamos os pelos dos mamíferos para análise, coletados em paisagens conservadas e modificadas. Para comparação das paisagens, classificamos os mamíferos em guildas tróficas e utilizamos fatores de fracionamento para corrigir os valores isotópicos. Observamos uma grande mudança no uso dos recursos pelos mamíferos entre as paisagens, com predominância de recursos C3 nas conservadas, e maior proporção de C4 nas modificadas. A estrutura trófica nas paisagens conservadas foi clara, com enriquecimento escalonado de 15N, enquanto desordenado nas modificadas, com enriquecimento flutuante. Destacamos que a matriz agrícola desempenha um papel importante como fonte de recursos e habitat para mamíferos resilientes, incluindo espécies ameaçadas, sendo seu manejo imprescindível para a conservação das espécies. Para o estudo da efetividade funcional, criamos dois bancos de dados, um de assembleias de mamíferos, e outro para determinar a contribuição das espécies nas funções. Selecionamos 10 funções tróficas para análise, classificadas em vulneráveis (espécies sensíveis) e persistentes (espécies resilientes). Para cada assembleia calculamos o nível de defaunação e cinco variáveis de paisagem, utilizando a Modelagem Hierárquica de Comunidades para análise dos dados, e extrapolando os resultados para toda Mata Atlântica. A riqueza de espécies, a massa corporal média e as funções vulneráveis apresentaram relação positiva com aumento na proporção de habitat, e negativa para os usos antrópicos do solo, sendo o inverso para as funções persistentes, similar ao padrão dos níveis de defaunação. As funções vulneráveis ficaram restritas aos grandes blocos florestais, áreas com elevada diversidade de espécies, destacando sua importância para manutenção das funções ecológicas. As paisagens modificadas podem desempenhar um importante papel na manutenção das funções, principalmente se conectadas a grandes blocos florestais. / The knowledge about species ecology in ever changing ecosystems is necessary to understand how they persist, how they used the new habitats molded by human activities, and if they are still performing ecological functions; this kind of information is essential to subsidize the conservation of ecosystem. The objectives of this thesis are: 1) to determine if the puma (Puma concolor) can occupy the niche of the jaguar (Panthera once) where it is functionally absent, by assessing the puma\' feeding habits and comparing it to the jaguar; 2) analyze changes in resource and habitat use, and trophic structure of mammal assemblages in preserved and modified landscapes of the Atlantic Forest, Brazil, by using the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes; 3) identify changes in the functional effectiveness of mammal assemblages in response to changes in landscape structure within the Atlantic Forest. To determine the diet of the puma, we collected fecal samples in two areas of the largest Atlantic Forest continuum and identified 15 prey taxa. We observed that pumas consumed preferentially large prey, a proportion superior to other areas in the biome. Compared to the jaguar\' diet, the proportion of large prey was also higher. Thus, the puma may at as a functional equivalent where the jaguar is functionally absent, and there is availability of large prey. In the study with isotopic ecology, we used mammal\' hair for analysis, which were collected in preserved and modified landscapes. To compare these areas, we classified mammals in trophic guilds and corrected isotopic values using species-specific fractionation factors. We observed a huge difference in mammals\' resource use, with predominant use of C3 resource in preserved landscapes, and a higher incorporation of C4 carbon in the modified ones. The trophic structure was clear in preserved landscapes, with an orderly 15N enrichment, while unordered in modified landscapes, with floating enrichment. We highlight that the agricultural matrix plays an important role as source of food items and as habitat for resilient mammals, including threatened species, and its management is essential for species conservation. To study the functional effectiveness of mammal species, we created two databases, one with mammal assemblages, and other to assess the contribution of species in ecological functions. We selected 10 trophic functions for analysis, which were classified in vulnerable (performed by sensitive species) and persistent (performed by resilient species). For each assemblage we calculated the defaunation level and five landscape variables. We analyze the data using the Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities and extrapolate the results for the entire Atlantic Forest. Species richness, body mass and vulnerable functions showed a positive relationship with increasing habitat amount, while negative for anthropogenic land uses, similar to the defaunation pattern; the inverse was observed for persistent functions. Vulnerable functions were restricted to the large forest block, which have high species diversity, highlighting its importance for ecological functions maintenance. Human-modified landscapes may still perform an important role for functions persistence, especially if connected to the largest forest blocks.

Neste trabalho são apresentadas as paisagens do Distrito de Brasilândia, localizado na Zona Norte do Município de São Paulo, dentro de uma abordagem humanística, na qual as paisagens são desveladas e reveladas pelos moradores que a constituem. É um exercício de interpretação da realidade, que acaba por questionar a inserção social do arquiteto frente a projetos de urbanização em áreas de carência social, urbana e de fragilidade ambiental. A falta de conhecimento empírico do arquiteto sobre a trajetória de luta da população e de organização dos espaços, desde sua formação em escolas de arquitetura, o atendimento a demandas habitacionais e déficits de maneira emergencial, ao perceber paisagens riquíssimas e complexas apenas em seus aspectos de urbanização problemáticos, contribui para seu distanciamento das realidades em que pretende atuar. Busca-se o sentido das paisagens, seus valores, busca-se experienciá-las para pensá-las. Como se propõe no grupo de estudos de paisagem do Laboratório de Gestão e Projeto do Espaço LAB ESPAÇO, são as pessoas que as vivenciam, as que nos revelam seus sentidos, em nosso esforço de desvendá-los, propondo-nos um questionamento do nosso papel enquanto arquitetos. / In this work, many landscapes of the Brasilândia District, located in the North Area of São Paulo city, are presented from a humanistic approach, in which they are revealed and unveiled by their residents, the people who compose them. Its an exercise of interpreting reality, that ends up questioning the social insertion of the architect when facing projects of urbanization in areas of social and urban shortage, and environmental fragility. From the background in Architecture schools, to attending housing demands and deficits in an emergencial way, the architects lack of practical knowledge about the populations path of struggle and organization of spaces, perceiving very rich and complex landscapes only in its problematic urbanization aspects, contributes to increasing their distance with the realities where they intend to act. We pursue the meaning and values of landscapes; we pursue to experience them in order to think them. According to the proposal of the landscape study group, in the Laboratory of Management and Project of Space LAB ESPAÇO, the people are the ones who live the landscape, who unveil their meanings in our effort to discover them, proposing us a questioning of our roles as architects.

Orientador: Sérgio Campos / Banca: Elen Fittipaldi Brasilio Carrega / Banca: Teresa Cristina Tardeli Pissarra / Banca: Fernanda Leite Ribeiro / Banca: Sergio Pascoal de Campos / Resumo: A partir da década de 1950, a população mundial cresceu rapidamente, atingindo hoje mais de 7 bilhões de habitantes, gerando assim o aumento do processo de urbanização. Para atender a demanda de bens de consumo duráveis e não duráveis da atual população, a economia agropecuária expandiu e, consequentemente ampliou suas fronteiras. Com isso, áreas destinadas à cultura agrícola e pastagem ocuparam espaços em que, anteriormente eram ocupados por matas ciliares e florestas nativas; ocasionando a redução ou inexistência da vegetação que circunda as redes de drenagem e fragmentação das florestas. Nesse contexto, a análise do uso e ocupação do solo de Lençóis Paulista, através da utilização de Sistemas de Informações Geográficas e imagens do satélite Landsat, se torna necessária pois as principais empresas geradoras de emprego do município dependem diretamente da matéria- prima rural, como cana de açúcar e eucalipto, presentes em cerca de 80% do território do município. / Abstract: Since the decade of 1950, the world population has dramatically increased, reaching nowadays around 7 billion people, which has caused an increase in the urbanization process. In order to supply the people's demand for durable and non-durable goods, there was an expansion in the agriculture economy, which has as a consequence the expansion of its frontiers. Areas for agricultural activities and pasture have used lands which had been previously characterized by riparian and native forests, resulting in the reduction or even inexistence of vegetation around the drainage network and forest fragmentation. In this context, the analysis of the use and occupation of the land of LençóisPaulista, by means of the use of Geographical Information Systems and images generated by Landsat satellites, is necessary, since the main companies employing people in the city directly depend on rural goods, such as sugar cane and eucalyptus, cultures present in approximately 80% of the city's territory. / Doutor