An equilibrium statistical model for the spreading phase of open-ocean convection

A “most probable state” equilibrium statistical theory for random distributions of hetons in a closed basin is developed here in the context of two-layer quasigeostrophic models for the spreading phase of open-ocean convection. The theory depends only on bulk conserved quantities such as energy, circulation, and the range of values of potential vorticity in each layer. The simplest theory is formulated for a uniform cooling event over the entire basin that triggers a homogeneous random distribution of convective towers. For a small Rossby deformation radius typical for open-ocean convection sites, the most probable states that arise from this theory strongly resemble the saturated baroclinic states of the spreading phase of convection, with a stabilizing barotropic rim current and localized temperature anomaly.

Structural Analysis and Molecular Model of a Self-Incompatibility RNase from Wild Tomato1

Self-incompatibility RNases (S-RNases) are an allelic series of style glycoproteins associated with rejection of self-pollen in solanaceous plants. The nucleotide sequences of S-RNase alleles from several genera have been determined, but the structure of the gene products has only been described for those from Nicotiana alata. We report on the N-glycan structures and the disulfide bonding of the S3-RNase from wild tomato (Lycopersicon peruvianum) and use this and other information to construct a model of this molecule. The S3-RNase has a single N-glycosylation site (Asn-28) to which one of three N-glycans is attached. S3-RNase has seven Cys residues; six are involved in disulfide linkages (Cys-16-Cys-21, Cys-46-Cys-91, and Cys-166-Cys-177), and one has a free thiol group (Cys-150). The disulfide-bonding pattern is consistent with that observed in RNase Rh, a related RNase for which radiographic-crystallographic information is available. A molecular model of the S3-RNase shows that four of the most variable regions of the S-RNases are clustered on one surface of the molecule. This is discussed in the context of recent experiments that set out to determine the regions of the S-RNase important for recognition during the self-incompatibility response.

Dual-function regulators: the cAMP receptor protein and the CytR regulator can act either to repress or to activate transcription depending on the context.

Studies of gene regulation have revealed that several transcriptional regulators can switch between activator and repressor depending upon both the promoter and the cellular context. A relatively simple prokaryotic example is illustrated by the Escherichia coli CytR regulon. In this system, the cAMP receptor protein (CRP) assists the binding of RNA polymerase as well as a specific negative regulator, CytR. Thus, CRP functions either as an activator or as a corepressor. Here we show that, depending on promoter architecture, the CRP/CytR nucleoprotein complex has opposite effects on transcription. When acting from a site close to the DNA target for RNA polymerase, CytR interacts with CRP to repress transcription, whereas an interaction with CRP from appropriately positioned upstream binding sites can result in formation of a huge preinitiation complex and transcriptional activation. Based on recent results about CRP-mediated regulation of transcription initiation and the finding that CRP possesses discrete surface-exposed patches for protein-protein interaction with RNA polymerase and CytR, a molecular model for this dual regulation is discussed.

"Our Father Isaac": Reading the Sahidic Testament of Isaac in an Egyptian Monastic Context

This dissertation argues that the textual community of fourth or fifth century monastic Egypt read Testament of Isaac as an ascetical regimen in order to transform themselves into children of Isaac. T. Isaac highlights three particular dimensions of Isaac's character from the remembered tradition of Isaac that would have resonated in the Egyptian monastic context of the textual community - Isaac as priestly authority, Isaac as sacrifice, and Isaac as blind ascetic - to create a model for the new self that the textual community aimed to achieve. Two important ascetic practices in T. Isaac that the textual community was to perform were copying and reading T. Isaac. These two practices functioned as technologies of the self that helped the members of the textual community to transform their present subjectivity into a new self modeled on Isaac in T. Isaac.

Parenting influences on depression: A moderated mediated model

Little is known about the developmental processes through which parenting factors may influence clinical depression among youth. This study investigated whether parenting influences the onset of clinical depression through the mediating mechanism of negative attributional style, particularly under conditions of high stress, in a community sample of children and adolescents (N = 289). Results supported a moderated mediation model in which low levels of observed parent positive regard and sensitivity to distress during a youth stressor task were indirectly associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing an episode of depression over an18 month period, through the mediating influence of youth negative attributional style, but only for youth who also experienced a high number of peer stressors. These findings elucidate mechanisms through which parenting may contribute to risk for depression during the transition into and across adolescence.

Towards the Consideration of the U.S. Community College Model to Address the Need for Higher Education Reforms in Ghana

ABSTRACT The higher education systems throughout the continent of Africa are undergoing unprecedented challenges and are considered in crisis. African countries, including Ghana, all have in common ties to their colonial legacy whereby they are confronted with weak policies put in place by their colonizers. Having gained their independence, Africans should now take responsibility for the task of reforming their higher education system. To date, nothing substantial has been accomplished, with serious implications for weakening and damaging the structures of the foundation of their educational systems. This qualitative, single case study utilized a postcolonial theory-critical pedagogy framework, providing guidance for coming to grips with the mindset posed by Ghana's colonial heritage in the postcolonial era, especially in terms of its damaging effects on Ghana's higher education system. The study explores alternative pathways for secondary school students to transition to tertiary education--a problematic transition that currently hinders open access to all and equality in educational opportunity, resulting in a tremendous pool of discontinued students. This transitional problem is directly related to Ghana's crisis in higher education with far reaching consequences. The alternative pathway considered in this study is an adaptation of the U.S. community college model or an integration of its applicable aspects into the current structures of the higher education system already in place. In-depth interviews were conducted with 5 Ghanaian professors teaching at community colleges in the United States, 5 Ghanaian professors teaching at universities in Ghana, and 2 educational consultants from the Ghanaian Ministry of Education. Based on their perspectives of the current state of Ghanaian higher education, analyzed in terms of pedagogy, structure/infrastructure, and curriculum, the participants provided their perceptions of salient aspects of the U.S. community college model that would be applicable to Ghana's situation, along with other recommendations. Access to all, including equality of educational opportunity, was considered essential, followed by adaptability, affordability, practicality, and quality of curriculum content and delivery. Canada's successful adaptation of the U.S. model was also discussed. Findings can help guide consideration of alternative pathways to higher education in Ghana and Africa as a whole.

A continuous model for quasinilpotent operators.

A classical result due to Foias and Pearcy establishes a discrete model for every quasinilpotent operator acting on a separable, infinite-dimensional complex Hilbert space HH . More precisely, given a quasinilpotent operator T on HH , there exists a compact quasinilpotent operator K in HH such that T is similar to a part of K⊕K⊕⋯⊕K⊕⋯K⊕K⊕⋯⊕K⊕⋯ acting on the direct sum of countably many copies of HH . We show that a continuous model for any quasinilpotent operator can be provided. The consequences of such a model will be discussed in the context of C0C0 -semigroups of quasinilpotent operators.

Classical Guitar Music in Printed Collections: A New Index and a Model for Indexing Instrumental Music in Score Collections

Classical Guitar Music in Printed Collections is a new, open-access, online index to the contents of published score collections for classical guitar. Its interlinked, alphabetized lists allow one to find a composition by title or composer, to discover what score collections include that piece, to see what other works are included in each collection identified, and to locate a copy in a library collection. Accuracy of identification is guaranteed by incipit images of each work. The article discusses how this index differs from existing bibliographies of the classical guitar literature, its structure and design, and technical details of its publication.

Crop Phenology Estimation Using a Multitemporal Model and a Kalman Filtering Strategy

In this letter, a new approach for crop phenology estimation with remote sensing is presented. The proposed methodology is aimed to exploit tools from a dynamical system context. From a temporal sequence of images, a geometrical model is derived, which allows us to translate this temporal domain into the estimation problem. The evolution model in state space is obtained through dimensional reduction by a principal component analysis, defining the state variables, of the observations. Then, estimation is achieved by combining the generated model with actual samples in an optimal way using a Kalman filter. As a proof of concept, an example with results obtained with this approach over rice fields by exploiting stacks of TerraSAR-X dual polarization images is shown.

Constructing an Indigenous Model of the Self to Address Cultural and Mental Health Issues in the Canadian Subarctic

Since the last decades, academic research has paid much attention to the phenomenon of revitalizing indigenous cultures and, more precisely, the use of traditional indigenous healing methods both to deal with individuals' mental health problems and with broader cultural issues. The re-evaluation of traditional indigenous healing practices as a mode of psychotherapeutic treatment has been perhaps one of the most interesting sociocultural processes in the postmodern era. In this regard, incorporating indigenous forms of healing in a contemporary framework of indigenous mental health treatment should be interpreted not simply as an alternative therapeutic response to the clinical context of Western psychiatry, but also constitutes a political response on the part of ethno-cultural groups that have been stereotyped as socially inferior and culturally backward. As a result, a postmodern form of "traditional healing" developed with various forms of knowledge, rites and the social uses of medicinal plants, has been set in motion on many Canadian indigenous reserves over the last two decades.

The "European model" of international law and its significance for Asia. Some critical reflections. EU Centre in Singapore Working Paper No. 7, June 2012

There is a certain arrogance in the affirmation that a “European model” of regional integration and of compliance with international law should be adopted anywhere in the world, and in Asia in particular. This article argues on the contrary that Asia and Europe are in fundamentally different situations vis-à-vis international law. Based on an analysis of recent events and latest legal developments in Europe, it puts the “European model” of regional integration and the European selective compliance with international law in perspective with regard to the Asian context. Without denying that “civilizations” should learn from one another and that the European experience may be relevant to some extent in Asia, this article concludes that the tools developed in Europe should be used differently in Asia.

Sur les tests lisses d'ajustement dans le context des series chronologiques

La plupart des modèles en statistique classique repose sur une hypothèse sur la distribution des données ou sur une distribution sous-jacente aux données. La validité de cette hypothèse permet de faire de l’inférence, de construire des intervalles de confiance ou encore de tester la fiabilité du modèle. La problématique des tests d’ajustement vise à s’assurer de la conformité ou de la cohérence de l’hypothèse avec les données disponibles. Dans la présente thèse, nous proposons des tests d’ajustement à la loi normale dans le cadre des séries chronologiques univariées et vectorielles. Nous nous sommes limités à une classe de séries chronologiques linéaires, à savoir les modèles autorégressifs à moyenne mobile (ARMA ou VARMA dans le cas vectoriel). Dans un premier temps, au cas univarié, nous proposons une généralisation du travail de Ducharme et Lafaye de Micheaux (2004) dans le cas où la moyenne est inconnue et estimée. Nous avons estimé les paramètres par une méthode rarement utilisée dans la littérature et pourtant asymptotiquement efficace. En effet, nous avons rigoureusement montré que l’estimateur proposé par Brockwell et Davis (1991, section 10.8) converge presque sûrement vers la vraie valeur inconnue du paramètre. De plus, nous fournissons une preuve rigoureuse de l’inversibilité de la matrice des variances et des covariances de la statistique de test à partir de certaines propriétés d’algèbre linéaire. Le résultat s’applique aussi au cas où la moyenne est supposée connue et égale à zéro. Enfin, nous proposons une méthode de sélection de la dimension de la famille d’alternatives de type AIC, et nous étudions les propriétés asymptotiques de cette méthode. L’outil proposé ici est basé sur une famille spécifique de polynômes orthogonaux, à savoir les polynômes de Legendre. Dans un second temps, dans le cas vectoriel, nous proposons un test d’ajustement pour les modèles autorégressifs à moyenne mobile avec une paramétrisation structurée. La paramétrisation structurée permet de réduire le nombre élevé de paramètres dans ces modèles ou encore de tenir compte de certaines contraintes particulières. Ce projet inclut le cas standard d’absence de paramétrisation. Le test que nous proposons s’applique à une famille quelconque de fonctions orthogonales. Nous illustrons cela dans le cas particulier des polynômes de Legendre et d’Hermite. Dans le cas particulier des polynômes d’Hermite, nous montrons que le test obtenu est invariant aux transformations affines et qu’il est en fait une généralisation de nombreux tests existants dans la littérature. Ce projet peut être vu comme une généralisation du premier dans trois directions, notamment le passage de l’univarié au multivarié ; le choix d’une famille quelconque de fonctions orthogonales ; et enfin la possibilité de spécifier des relations ou des contraintes dans la formulation VARMA. Nous avons procédé dans chacun des projets à une étude de simulation afin d’évaluer le niveau et la puissance des tests proposés ainsi que de les comparer aux tests existants. De plus des applications aux données réelles sont fournies. Nous avons appliqué les tests à la prévision de la température moyenne annuelle du globe terrestre (univarié), ainsi qu’aux données relatives au marché du travail canadien (bivarié). Ces travaux ont été exposés à plusieurs congrès (voir par exemple Tagne, Duchesne et Lafaye de Micheaux (2013a, 2013b, 2014) pour plus de détails). Un article basé sur le premier projet est également soumis dans une revue avec comité de lecture (Voir Duchesne, Lafaye de Micheaux et Tagne (2016)).

Macroeconomic Scenarios for the Euro-Mediterranean Area Quantification based on the GEM-E3 Model. MEDPRO Report No. 7, July 2013

Four alternative macroeconomic scenarios for southern Mediterranean countries are quantified in this study with the use of GEM-E3, a general equilibrium model. These are i) the continuation of current policies (business-as-usual scenario), ii) southern Mediterranean–EU cooperation (Euro-Mediterranean Union scenario), iii) a global opening of the southern Mediterranean countries and cooperation with the rest of the Middle East and other developing countries like China (Euro-Mediterranean alliance scenario), and iv) a deterioration in the regional political climate and a failure of cooperation (Euro-Mediterranean under threat scenario). Explicit assumptions on trade integration, infrastructure upgrade, population and governance developments are adopted in each scenario. The simulation results indicate that an infrastructure upgrade and governance improvements in the context of southern Mediterranean–EU cooperation could benefit most of the countries under consideration. The analysis remains important in light of ongoing regional developments and the need to design the best policies to pursue in the aftermath of the Arab spring.

Sur les tests lisses d'ajustement dans le context des series chronologiques

La plupart des modèles en statistique classique repose sur une hypothèse sur la distribution des données ou sur une distribution sous-jacente aux données. La validité de cette hypothèse permet de faire de l’inférence, de construire des intervalles de confiance ou encore de tester la fiabilité du modèle. La problématique des tests d’ajustement vise à s’assurer de la conformité ou de la cohérence de l’hypothèse avec les données disponibles. Dans la présente thèse, nous proposons des tests d’ajustement à la loi normale dans le cadre des séries chronologiques univariées et vectorielles. Nous nous sommes limités à une classe de séries chronologiques linéaires, à savoir les modèles autorégressifs à moyenne mobile (ARMA ou VARMA dans le cas vectoriel). Dans un premier temps, au cas univarié, nous proposons une généralisation du travail de Ducharme et Lafaye de Micheaux (2004) dans le cas où la moyenne est inconnue et estimée. Nous avons estimé les paramètres par une méthode rarement utilisée dans la littérature et pourtant asymptotiquement efficace. En effet, nous avons rigoureusement montré que l’estimateur proposé par Brockwell et Davis (1991, section 10.8) converge presque sûrement vers la vraie valeur inconnue du paramètre. De plus, nous fournissons une preuve rigoureuse de l’inversibilité de la matrice des variances et des covariances de la statistique de test à partir de certaines propriétés d’algèbre linéaire. Le résultat s’applique aussi au cas où la moyenne est supposée connue et égale à zéro. Enfin, nous proposons une méthode de sélection de la dimension de la famille d’alternatives de type AIC, et nous étudions les propriétés asymptotiques de cette méthode. L’outil proposé ici est basé sur une famille spécifique de polynômes orthogonaux, à savoir les polynômes de Legendre. Dans un second temps, dans le cas vectoriel, nous proposons un test d’ajustement pour les modèles autorégressifs à moyenne mobile avec une paramétrisation structurée. La paramétrisation structurée permet de réduire le nombre élevé de paramètres dans ces modèles ou encore de tenir compte de certaines contraintes particulières. Ce projet inclut le cas standard d’absence de paramétrisation. Le test que nous proposons s’applique à une famille quelconque de fonctions orthogonales. Nous illustrons cela dans le cas particulier des polynômes de Legendre et d’Hermite. Dans le cas particulier des polynômes d’Hermite, nous montrons que le test obtenu est invariant aux transformations affines et qu’il est en fait une généralisation de nombreux tests existants dans la littérature. Ce projet peut être vu comme une généralisation du premier dans trois directions, notamment le passage de l’univarié au multivarié ; le choix d’une famille quelconque de fonctions orthogonales ; et enfin la possibilité de spécifier des relations ou des contraintes dans la formulation VARMA. Nous avons procédé dans chacun des projets à une étude de simulation afin d’évaluer le niveau et la puissance des tests proposés ainsi que de les comparer aux tests existants. De plus des applications aux données réelles sont fournies. Nous avons appliqué les tests à la prévision de la température moyenne annuelle du globe terrestre (univarié), ainsi qu’aux données relatives au marché du travail canadien (bivarié). Ces travaux ont été exposés à plusieurs congrès (voir par exemple Tagne, Duchesne et Lafaye de Micheaux (2013a, 2013b, 2014) pour plus de détails). Un article basé sur le premier projet est également soumis dans une revue avec comité de lecture (Voir Duchesne, Lafaye de Micheaux et Tagne (2016)).

Insights from Native American Veterans on Developing a Patient-Centered, Integrative Model for Mental Health Services

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06