abstract: This dissertation investigated positive intergroup contact and communication in the experiences of fans at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Guided by concepts from Intergroup Contact Theory (ICT), formerly Allport’s (1954) Contact Hypothesis, I asked fans to identify and discuss factors that were relevant to their experiences at the event. These factors are reported in previous literature to foster positive intergroup relations. The fan participants also provided detailed, experience-based rationales for why and how the factors supported each other and created individual models of their experiences of ICT at the Olympics. The study relied on participant-centered, in-depth qualitative interviews using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) software. Based on an integration of ICT, communication theories, social capital concepts, and calls from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and mega-sporting event industry, the dissertation sought to answer four research questions. It started with a broad approach to the array of previous scholars’ ICT factors in order to identify what factors were present and relevant in fans’ experiences. It also sought to understand why and how the factors worked together by analyzing the ways factors related to and supported each other in Olympic fans’ experiences and producing a composite meta-structure of the factors’ relationships. Additionally, through thematic analysis, the research explored where and when in fans’ experiences the factors emerged and were active. Finally, the study identified the functions that each ICT factor served in fostering positive intergroup contact and communication and offered suggestions for practitioners and organizers of intergroup contexts. The study aimed to make theoretical contributions by addressing gaps and calls in ICT literature, as well as practical contributions by providing insight about how to organize intergroup contexts to foster positive contact and communication. In addition to addressing its research questions, the study provided a comprehensive list of previous scholars’ ICT factors, a preliminary, tentative model of ICT for ideal intergroup contexts adapted from Pettigrew’s (1998) model of group membership transformation for problematic contexts, and promising future directions given the unique, ideal, and unexplored features of the Olympics. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2017

O núcleo resistente, considerado um dos principais elementos componentes dos sistemas estruturais de edifícios de andares múltiplos, quando associado ao sistema de contraventamento, consegue conferir à estrutura um razoável acréscimo de rigidez. O núcleo é ainda o único elemento estrutural capaz de resistir isoladamente a todos os esforços atuantes na estrutura de um edifício, contribuindo na determinação mais precisa dos seus deslocamentos. Baseado nestes fatores, acredita-se que as diferentes modelagens, adotadas para o núcleo, proporcionarão diferentes resultados para a mesma estrutura de contraventamento. Este trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar a influência que estas modelagens exercem na estrutura de contraventamento. Inicialmente, são apresentadas algumas das modelagens mais utilizadas para o núcleo. Com estas modelagens foram processadas algumas estruturas, e os diversos resultados obtidos utilizados no processo comparativo. Para o processamento foram consideradas análises em teoria de primeira e segunda ordem e, para as fundações, vinculação rígida. Não serão consideradas as deformações por esforço cortante nos elementos. / Resistant cores, are considered one of the principal elements of the structural systems of multistory buildings. When associated to the bracing structure, it gives to the structure a reasonable stiffness increment. The core is still the only structural element capable to resist separately all the efforts in the structure of a building, contributing to a more accurate determination of its displacements. Based on these factors, it is believed that different modeling adopted for the cores will provide different results for the same bracing structure. The main aim of this work is to analyze the influence that these modeling exerts on the bracing structure. First, some of the most used core modeling were presented. Then some structures were processed, using these modeling. The several obtained results were compared. For all the analysis it was considered the first and second order theory and rigid connections for the foundations. Shear deformation were not considered in the elements.

Recent geodynamic modeling studies suggest that the geometry of structural landforms in the Ouachita Mountains (OM) has been influenced by the reactivation of a weak scar in the mantle-lithosphere during intracontinental orogenesis. As deformation on one-plate planets such as Mars can be considered intracontinental, and impact cratering deeply scarred the Martian lithosphere, we hypothesize that structural geometries on Mars may also reflect heterogenous networks of lithospheric scarring. To investigate this hypothesis, we model the pre-erosional fold structure of the Maumelle Chaotic Zone in the OM to compare fault and fold geometries with that of the seismically-imaged mantle-lithosphere scar. We then numerically model deformation within the Martian crust and mantle-lithosphere in the presence of scarring to understand tectonic reactivation on one-plate planets. We find that structural geometries in the OM are consistent with a subsurface scar, and tectonic landforms on the surface of Mars may indeed reflect deformation generated by a network of lithospheric heterogeneity.

我國集合住宅市場常見一個案有數種面積產品混合之現象，在過去研究指出不同面積之產品進行投資組合已成為建商降低風險與穩定報酬的手段，僅在供給面被討論，卻忽略了住宅市場應以『使用』為目的，換言之，產品面積混合(Housing mix)隱含購屋者其生活水平及背景之異質性(Social mix)，將可能造成社區管理維護上之不易，本文試圖延伸過去此現象在需求面及管理維護上探討的不足。在實證方面，採問卷調查台北市建管處公寓大廈管理科所提供之已報備成立管理組織的主任委員2,877份，回收率為11.30%，剔除沒有舉辦活動之社區並符合設定樣本大小與母體可容忍誤差α=10%之要求下，共307筆有效問卷。輔以公寓大廈科報備資料掌握至所有面積及其對應之戶數，建立『面積混合度』之衡量，結合當前國內外住宅混合與住宅隔離議題，透過路徑分析方式衡量面積混合對社區管理維護績效之影響為直接影響或間接影響？釐清混合對管理維護影響過程之因果關係。 研究結果顯示，建商供給者之面積混合策略對於住戶需求者之管理維護績效將是間接負面影響而非傳統迴歸所觀察得到的直接影響，驗證了國外負面外溢效果在國內亦是如此。而主要影響路徑為面積混合愈高則提高了社區衝突，進而對管理維護產生負面影響。其次，過去認為除面積混合之外，新舊社區與大小規模亦會影響管理維護，故進行兩群分析究竟何者影響管理維護較大？實證發現混合社區在經過搬遷磨合期將減緩混合因異質性所造成的不和睦，但混合之負面影響仍大於新舊社區之影響。 / The phenomenon of one construction case with housing mix usually appears in the condominium market. Some studies indicated that the portfolio of housing mix has become a means of reducing risk and having a stable reward for construction companies. However, the discussion was only on supply, and ignored that “use” should be the main purpose in the condominium market. In other words, housing mix implied the social mix of homebuyers’ living standard and background, and it might make the community management and maintenance not easy. The study tries to extend the deficiency in the treatment of the phenomenon on supply or on community management and maintenance. In proof, a questionnaire survey was adopted in the study. There were 2877 pieces of questionnaires released to the chairmen of registered management organizations according to the data from the Apartment and Building Management Division in the Building Administration Office of Taipei City Government. The recovery rate was 11.3%. The communities without holding activities were culled out, and in order to satisfy the requirement of the set sample dimension and the error tolerance of matrix belowα=10%, total valid questionnaires were 307 pieces. The measurement of “housing mix” can be built up by the supplementary information from the Apartment and Building Management Division, which includes all square measure and corresponding houses. Combing the subjects of residential mix and residential separation at home and abroad, housing mix could be measured by path analysis to see whether it has a direct or indirect affect on community management and maintenance to further figure out the casual relationship during the affection process of the housing mix and the community management and maintenance. The study results show that the policy of housing mix from the suppliers, construction companies, has an indirect negative affection on the performance of community management and maintenance for residents, the demanders, instead of having a direct affection observed by traditional regression analysis. The result proves the negative spillover effect no matter at home or abroad. The path of impact is that the higher the housing mix is, the higher the community conflict will be, and the situation will generate negative affection on community management and maintenance. Furthermore, except the housing mix, new and old communities or the sizes of communities were thought to affect community management and operation, and they were usually divided into two groups to analyze which one has greater affection on management and maintenance ? It is found by evidences that the communities with housing mix show less disharmony caused by social mix after the run-in period of movement. However, the negative affection of housing mix is still higher than the one of new and old communities.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-24T19:38:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SHEILA BOREIKO.pdf: 2469578 bytes, checksum: d94618ec9a9eb25acc74ab5a7a6ca5d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-26 / Fundação Araucária de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Paraná / Chagas' disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is one of the seventeen neglected diseases according to World Health Organization. In the last two decades, this parasite specific metabolic pathways have been evaluated as therapeutic targets, making the prospect for the development of more specific and less toxic drugs. To achieve this goal, there is the need for studies to get knowledge on the pathway protein three dimensional structures.Protein structures can be studied experimentally by the X ray diffraction technique and computationally by homology modeling, however, other structural information can also be obtained by spectroscopic techniques. Thus, in this work, structural studies of the enzyme Urocanate Hydratase from Trypanosoma cruzi (TcUH), which participates in the histidine metabolic pathway, were carried out. The enzyme was expressed functionally in E. coli and,by affinity chromatography, effectively purified and crystallized, however, no minimum quality for X-ray diffraction was observed. Thus, we carried out the structural study by circular dichroism (CD), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and homology modeling. The TcUH is mainly composed of α-helices and its denaturation process by temperature starts near 50 ° C, being irreversible after completed. The SAXS study indicated that the protein in solution was not monomeric. With the homology produced model, docking studies indicated that some promising molecules to be carefully studied for possible inhibition tests. / A doença de Chagas, causada pelo protozoário Trypanosoma cruzi, é uma das dezessete doenças negligenciadas de acordo com a Organização Mundial de Saúde. Nas últimas duas décadas, vias metabólicas específicas deste parasita têm sido avaliadas como alvos terapêuticos, o que abre perspectivas para o desenvolvimento de medicamentos mais específicos e menos tóxicos. Para alcançar este objetivo, há a necessidade de estudos para conhecimento da estrutura tridimensional de proteínas que fazem parte destas vias. As estruturas das proteínas podem ser estudadas experimentalmente pela técnica de difração de raios X e computacionalmente pela modelagem por homologia, porém, outras informações estruturais também podem ser obtidas por técnicas espectroscópicas. Sendo assim, realizaramse, neste trabalho, estudos estruturais com a enzima Urocanato Hidratase de Trypanosoma cruzi (TcUH), que participa da via metabólica da histina. A enzima foi expressa em E. coli de forma funcional e, por meio de cromatografia de afinidade, purificada efetivamente e cristalizada, porém, não apresentou qualidade mínima para análise por difração de raios X. Assim, realizou-se o estudo estrutural por meio de dicroísmo circular (CD), espalhamento de raios X a baixo ângulo (SAXS) e modelagem por homologia. A TcUH é constituída majoritariamente por hélices-α e seu processo de desnaturação térmica inicia-se próximo a 50 °C, sendo irreversível após completa. O estudo de SAXS indicou que em solução a enzima não se apresenta monomérica. Com o modelo produzido por homologia, que apresentou razoáveis índices de qualidade, os estudos de docagem indicaram algumas moléculas promissoras que deverão ser estudadas criteriosamente para possíveis testes de inibição.

Les modèles géologiques sont couramment utilisés pour estimer les ressources souterraines, pour faire des simulations numériques, et pour évaluer les risques naturels ; il est donc important que les modèles géologiques représentent la géométrie des objets géologiques de façon précise. La première étape pour construire un modèle géologique consiste souvent à interpréter des surfaces structurales, telles que les failles et horizons, à partir d'une image sismique ; les objets géologiques identifiés sont ensuite utilisés pour construire le modèle géologique par des méthodes d'interpolation. Les modèles géologiques construits de cette façon héritent donc les incertitudes d'interprétation car une image sismique peut souvent supporter plusieurs interprétations structurales. Dans ce manuscrit, j'étudie le problème de réduire les incertitudes d'interprétation à l'aide des données sismiques. Particulièrement, j'étudie le problème de déterminer, à l'aide des données sismiques, quels modèles sont plus probables que d'autres dans un ensemble des modèles géologiques cohérents. Ce problème sera connu par la suite comme "le problème d'évaluation des modèles géologiques par données sismiques". J'introduis et formalise ce problème. Je propose de le résoudre par génération des données sismiques synthétiques pour chaque interprétation structurale dans un premier temps, ensuite d'utiliser ces données synthétiques pour calculer la fonction-objectif pour chaque interprétation ; cela permet de classer les différentes interprétations structurales. La difficulté majeure d'évaluer les modèles structuraux à l'aide des données sismiques consiste à proposer des fonctions-objectifs adéquates. Je propose un ensemble de conditions qui doivent être satisfaites par la fonction-objectif pour une évaluation réussie des modèles structuraux à l'aide des données sismiques. Ces conditions imposées à la fonction-objectif peuvent, en principe, être satisfaites en utilisant les données sismiques de surface (« surface seismic data »). Cependant, en pratique il reste tout de même difficile de proposer et de calculer des fonctions-objectifs qui satisfassent ces conditions. Je termine le manuscrit en illustrant les difficultés rencontrées en pratique lorsque nous cherchons à évaluer les interprétations structurales à l'aide des données sismiques de surface. Je propose une fonction-objectif générale faite de deux composants principaux : (1) un opérateur de résidus qui calcule les résidus des données, et (2) un opérateur de projection qui projette les résidus de données depuis l'espace de données vers l'espace physique (le sous-sol). Cette fonction-objectif est donc localisée dans l'espace car elle génère des valeurs en fonction de l'espace. Cependant, je ne suis toujours pas en mesure de proposer une implémentation pratique de cette fonction-objectif qui satisfasse les conditions imposées pour une évaluation réussie des interprétations structurales ; cela reste un sujet de recherche. / Subsurface structural models are routinely used for resource estimation, numerical simulations, and risk management; it is therefore important that subsurface models represent the geometry of geological objects accurately. The first step in building a subsurface model is usually to interpret structural features, such as faults and horizons, from a seismic image; the identified structural features are then used to build a subsurface model using interpolation methods. Subsurface models built this way therefore inherit interpretation uncertainties since a single seismic image often supports multiple structural interpretations. In this manuscript, I study the problem of reducing interpretation uncertainties using seismic data. In particular, I study the problem of using seismic data to determine which structural models are more likely than others in an ensemble of geologically plausible structural models. I refer to this problem as "appraising structural models using seismic data". I introduce and formalize the problem of appraising structural interpretations using seismic data. I propose to solve the problem by generating synthetic data for each structural interpretation and then to compute misfit values for each interpretation; this allows us to rank the different structural interpretations. The main challenge of appraising structural models using seismic data is to propose appropriate data misfit functions. I derive a set of conditions that have to be satisfied by the data misfit function for a successful appraisal of structural models. I argue that since it is not possible to satisfy these conditions using vertical seismic profile (VSP) data, it is not possible to appraise structural interpretations using VSP data in the most general case. The conditions imposed on the data misfit function can in principle be satisfied for surface seismic data. In practice, however, it remains a challenge to propose and compute data misfit functions that satisfy those conditions. I conclude the manuscript by highlighting practical issues of appraising structural interpretations using surface seismic data. I propose a general data misfit function that is made of two main components: (1) a residual operator that computes data residuals, and (2) a projection operator that projects the data residuals from the data-space into the image-domain. This misfit function is therefore localized in space, as it outputs data misfit values in the image-domain. However, I am still unable to propose a practical implementation of this misfit function that satisfies the conditions imposed for a successful appraisal of structural interpretations; this is a subject for further research.

Le contrôle de l'évolution des logiciels exige une compréhension profonde des changements et leur impact sur les différents artefacts du système. Nous proposons une approche de multi-modélisation pour l'analyse d'impact du changement pour une compréhension des effets des modifications prévus ou réels dans les systèmes distribués. Ce travail consiste à élaborer une modélisation des artefacts logiciels et de leur différents liens d'interdépendance pour construire un système à base de connaissance permettant, entre autres, d'assister les développeurs et les chargés de l'évolution des logiciels pour étblir une évaluation a priori de l'impact des modifications.La modélisation que nous élaborons intègre deux descriptions majeures des logiciels, dans un premier temps, la description structurelle sous-jacente qui englobe l'ensemble des niveaux granulaires et l'abstraction des constituants logiciels, et ensuite la description qualitative conçue pour s'intégrer à la description précédente. Deux modèles, d'abord élaborés individuellement pour les deux descriptions respectives, ont été intégrés ou mis en correspondance dans l'objectif d'étudier l'impact de toute modification et sa potentielle propagation à travers les constituants logiciels concernés. Lors de chaque modification, il devient alors possible d'établir un bilan qualitatif de son impact. La modélisation intégrée est élaborée pour se prêter à un raisonnement à base de règles expertes. La modélisation proposée est en cours d'expérimentation et validation à travers le développement d'une plate-forme d'implémentation basée sur l'environnement Eclipse. / The software evolution control requires a complete understanding of the changes and their impact on the various systems artifacts. We propose a multi-modeling approach for the change impact analysis to provide assistance in understanding the effects of projected or actual changes in distributed software systems. This work elaborate the modeling of software artifacts along with their various interdependencies to build a knowledge-based system, which allows, among others, an assistance for the software developers or maintenance engineers to establish an a priori evaluation of impact of changes. The model we develop integrates two major descriptions of software, at first, the underlying structural description that encompasses the levels of granularity and abstraction of software artifacts, and then the qualitative description designed to integrate the structural description. Initially, the formal models are designed separately for the respective descriptions, and then these are integrated for the objective to study the change impact and its potential propagation through the affected software artifacts. For a change, it is important to establish a qualitative assessment of its impact. The integrated modeling leads to a reasoning based on expert rules. The proposed model is being tested and validated through the development of a platform, implemented in the Eclipse environment.

The KATP channels play an important role in the membrane excitability and vascular tone regulation. Previous studies indicate that the function of KATP channels is disrupted in oxidative stress seen in a variety of cardiovascular diseases, while the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate S-glutathionylation to be a modulation mechanism underlying the oxidant-mediated vascular KATP channel inhibition, the molecular basis for the channel inhibition and the alleviation of the channel inhibition by vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). We found that an exposure of isolated mesenteric rings to H2O2 impaired the KATP channel-mediated vascular dilation. In whole-cell recordings and inside-out patches, micromolar H2O2 or diamide caused a strong inhibition of the vascular KATP channel (Kir6.1/SUR2B) in the presence, but not in the absence, of glutathione (GSH), indicating S-glutathionylation. By co-expressions of Kir6.1 or Kir6.2 with SUR2B subunits, we found that the oxidant sensitivity of the KATP channel relied on the Kir6.1 subunit. Systematic mutational analysis revealed three cysteine residues (Cys43, Cys120 and Cys176) to be important. Among them, Cys176 was prominent, contributing to >80% oxidant sensitivity. Biochemical pull-down assay with biotinylated glutathione ethyl ester (BioGEE) showed that mutations of Cys176 impaired the oxidant-induced incorporation of GSH to the Kir6.1 subunit. Simulation modeling of Kir6.1 S-glutathionylation revealed that after incorporation to residue 176, the GSH moiety occupied a space between slide helix and two transmembrane helices. This prevented the necessary conformational change of the inner helix for channel gating, and retained the channel in its closed state. VIP is a potent vasodilator, and is shown to have protective role against oxidative stress. We found that the channel was strongly augmented by VIP and the channel activation relied on PKA phosphorylation. These results therefore indicate that 1) the vascular KATP channel is strongly inhibited in oxidative stress, 2) S-glutathionylation underlies the oxidant-mediated KATP channel inhibition, 3) Cys176 in the Kir6.1 subunit is the major site for S-glutathionylation, and 4) the Kir6.1/SUR2B channel is activated in a PKA-dependent manner by VIP that has been previously shown to alleviate oxidative stress.

National Health Insurance (NHI) can be said to play the most significant role among all the other social securing systems. People pay great attention to its policy and institution. NHI is an obligatory social insurance, protecting all the citizens in Taiwan. The insured is required to enroll into the NHI only by their employers¡V be it a school, a business company, an institution, an organization, private business employer or any other work unit. When the insured are underwritten by or withdrawing from the system, all the changes must be made through the employers who refer to and enroll their employees with the NHI. The Bureau of National Health Insurance, operating in coordination with the e-government policy that aims to provide much more convenience to the Taiwanese people and to improve government efficiency, as well as for the sake of energy conservation and carbon reduction, has been encouraging people to use on-line applications for the NHI affairs. As much effort as they have put on promoting such policy to the employers who are responsible to insure their employees with the NHI, currently, the popularity of using on-line applications for NHI affairs is barely satisfactory, as a matter of fact. Many parties are involved in the procedure of processing on-line applications for NHI affairs; therefore, this dissertation uses Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) from Interactive Management (IM) theories conducting the research. All participating parties will have conversations with one another; therefore, there will be a workshop. The purpose and subject for this workshop is to explore practical strategies that would effectively promote the usage of on-line applications with the NHI affairs. Through such an interactive dialogue collecting diverse viewpoints, there are thirteen strategies concluded to be effectively helpful achieving the aim: The NHI sectors responsible for on-line applications should (1) provide favorable incentives for on-line applicants, (2) simplify the net identification procedure and the NHI operational network and (3) the logging-in system, (4) increase the network bandwidth, (5) resolve NHI insurers¡¦ qualms of network security using online-applications. Also, they may need to redesign the network platform and (6) simplify procedure for users, and (7) more frequently promote the advantages using on-line applications and expand contents of their service, so that (8) the web search function for the NHI will be able to provide wider, faster, more efficient service. (9) the relative NHI sectors should really receive guidance and assistance carrying out this project, and (10) negotiate the assigned policy with their superior supervisory sectors to give clear order to their subordinate sectors using on-line applications and (11) set up trainings for instructors to establish future training resource, and (12) hold workshops to give more information and verification on the scene permitting the participants of the workshops to use on-line applications, and (13) finally achieve the aim that to have applications for NHI affairs completely done on-line. Among them all, strategy 3, ¡¥simplifying logging-in system¡¦, ranks 11 using NGT sequencing (strategy 11, 12, 13 all get the same points in the vote). However, in the enhancement structure, strategy 3 ranks number 1, has net score points 10. Therefore, strategy 3 should be given as much priority as to and carried out with strategy 1 ¡¥providing favorable incentives for online applicants¡¦ that gets the most points, in the NGT sequencing process. This research has given the participants questionnaires at two stages during the interactive workshop. The participants¡¦ concern, or understanding of using on-line applications for NHI affairs, appears to have risen after the workshop. There is unexpected, significant satisfaction over the promising conclusions from the workshop, which proves the workshop to be non-redundant and have reached consentient results. Also, the research, primarily using ISM program, has reduced the voting numbers when comparing two strategies from 156 times to 58. This has saved great amount of the time from the voting procedure in discussion, so that the workshops was able to finish in one day and hence did not exhaust the participants¡¦ enthusiasm. ISM is therefore proved to be efficient in saving time and assures that not losing the participants in different stages of the workshop.

The overall theme of this dissertation is the genomic analysis of poxviruses using bioinformatics. The first analysis presented in this dissertation (Chapter 2) focuses on a new method for predicting which open reading frames (ORFs) in poxviruses are likely to be expressed. A measure that takes into account the amino acid and purine content of all predicted open reading frames (ORFs) in the genome was developed and when used on the vaccinia virus (VACV) strain Copenhagen genome (training case), the measure had a success rate of 94%. Using the measure on an extremely adenine and thymine rich entomopoxvirus (test case), 241 ORFs were found to be potentially expressed and 51 ORFs were likely not expressed although further biochemical experiments will be required to confirm this result. The second analysis of this dissertation (Chapter 3) focuses on determining the nature of an interesting background pattern similar to a set of stripes that was observed while analyzing a self-dotplot of the molluscum contagiosum virus genome. These stripe regions were further analyzed and were found to have a nucleotide composition and amino acid usage that was different to the remainder of the genome. Given this differing nucleotide and amino acid usage, the genes contained in these stripe regions are thought to have been recently acquired from the host or another virus, making these regions similar to bacterial pathogenicity islands. The third analysis of this dissertation (Chapter 4) focuses on predicting the function of “unknown” poxvirus proteins by using a hidden Markov model (HMM) comparison search tool to scan all “unknown” proteins in the VACV genome looking for any database matches that may have been missed by conventional approaches (BLASTp and PSI-BLAST). One protein, the VACV G5R protein, in this scan showed a promising hit (96% probability) to an archaeal flap endonuclease (FEN-1) protein. A structural model of the G5R protein was created and subsequently compared to the crystal structure of the human FEN-1 protein and was found to be highly conserved in both secondary and tertiary structure and with three of the five main features of the FEN-1 protein including the active site suggesting that the G5R protein should be classified as a flap endonuclease protein. Related to the analysis in Chapter 4, are the results presented in Chapter 5 of this dissertation that focus on locating a protein encoded by the VACV genome that is similar to proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Knowing that the FEN-1 protein requires PCNA as an intermediary to contact DNA, the genome of VACV was scanned using InterProScan in order to identify any potential proteins that were similar to PCNA. One protein (VACV G8R) was identified and subsequently modeled and compared to the crystal structure of the human PCNA protein. The secondary and tertiary structure was highly conserved between the two proteins suggesting that the G8R protein should be classified as a sliding clamp similar to human PCNA.