Guiding Monte Carlo tree searches with neural networks in the game of go

A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements to the degree of Master in Computer Science and Computer Engineering

A study at high energy-resolution and at low primary energies of the secondary emission from (100) tungsten

This work was supported by the Joint Services Electronics Program (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract No. DA 28 043 AMC 00073(E).

Home and group-based implementation of the "Growing Up Happily in the Family" program in at-risk psychosocial contexts

"Growing Up Happily in the Family" is a program to prevent child maltreatment targeted at parents of children aged 0-5 years old in at-risk psychosocial contexts. The program is delivered via either a group-based or a home-visit format. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of various implementation components in the home and group versions on changes in parental attitudes about child development and education. At-risk and non at-risk parents participated in the group-based (196 participants in 26 groups) and home-visit (95 participants) versions of the program delivered through local social services. We analyzed program adherence, adaptations, participant responsiveness, quality of delivery, and implementation barriers as predictors of changes in parental attitudes. The results showed that greater program adherence, better quality of delivery and participant responsiveness, and positive climate predicted changes in parental attitudes in both formats. Therefore, it is important to take into account the quality of the implementation process when testing the effectiveness of early group-based and home-visit interventions in at-risk families.

INVESTIGATING THE POSTWAR DECLINE OF RACE IN SCIENCE

Race as a biological category has a long and troubling history as a central ordering concept in the life and human sciences. The mid-twentieth century has been marked as the point where biological concepts of race began to disappear from science. However, biological definitions of race continue to penetrate scientific understandings and uses of racial concepts. Using the theoretical frameworks of critical race theory and science and technology studies and an in-depth case study of the discipline of immunology, this dissertation explores the appearance of a mid-century decline of concepts of biological race in science. I argue that biological concepts of race did not disappear in the middle of the twentieth century but were reconfigured into genetic language. In this dissertation I offer a periodization of biological concepts of race. Focusing on continuities and the effects of contingent events, I compare how biological concepts of race articulate with racisms in each period. The discipline of immunology serves as a case study that demonstrates how biological concepts of race did not decline in the postwar era, but were translated into the language of genetics and populations. I argue that the appearance of a decline was due to events both internal and external to the science of immunology. By framing the mid-twentieth century disappearance of race in science as the triumph of an antiracist racial project of science, it allows us to more clearly see the more recent resurgence of race in science as a recycling of older themes and tactics from the racist science projects of the past.

Europeanization beyond the EU: The case of Georgia.

320 p.

Transdiscipline and research in health: Science, society and decision making

Significant advances in science should be given to addressing the needs of society and the historical context of the territories. Although technological developments that began with modernity and the industrial revolution allowed human beings to control the resources of nature to put to your service without limits, it is clear that the crisis of the prevailing development models manifest themselves in many ways but with three common denominators: environmental degradation, social injustice and extreme poverty. Consequently, today should not be possible to think a breakthrough in the development of science without addressing global environmental problems and the deep social injustices that increase at all scales under the gaze, impassively in many occasions, of formal science.

PNAES : uma análise da implementação da política de assistência estudantil no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Brasília

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade UnB Planaltina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gestão Pública, Mestrado Profissional em Gestão Pública, 2016.

MICHIGAN TEACHER EXCELLENCE PROGRAM: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND IMPACT

This report is a summary of the effects of the Michigan Teacher Excellence Program (MITEP) on me as a science educator. The first chapter is a report of an action research project jointly authored with two other science teachers participating in the MITEP program titled “Station Activities and Misconceptions in the Chemistry Classroom.” The second chapter is a reflective essay evaluating the impacts of the MITEP experience on my teaching skills and practice, knowledge of science education and science education research, and leadership skills. The most significant impacts were a dramatic increase in my earth science content knowledge, a deeper understanding of inquiry-based teaching methods, and an expanded professional network of science educators.

MICHIGAN TEACHER EXCELLENCE PROGRAM: A LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE

The first chapter consists of an action research report submitted by Rebecca Joyce, Kari Luckett, and Claudia Witt as part of the Action Research class taken through the Michigan Teacher Excellence Program (MiTEP) during the winter of 2013. The research involved the use of stations to address student misconceptions in urban high school chemistry classrooms. Chapter two contains a personal reflection on the MiTEP program and how it has affected teaching strategies/practices, personal confidence, and professional relationships.

Oral vaccination with heat inactivated Mycobacterium bovis activates the complement system to protect against tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a pandemic affecting billions of people worldwide, thus stressing the need for new vaccines. Defining the correlates of vaccine protection is essential to achieve this goal. In this study, we used the wild boar model for mycobacterial infection and TB to characterize the protective mechanisms elicited by a new heat inactivated Mycobacterium bovis vaccine (IV). Oral vaccination with the IV resulted in significantly lower culture and lesion scores, particularly in the thorax, suggesting that the IV might provide a novel vaccine for TB control with special impact on the prevention of pulmonary disease, which is one of the limitations of current vaccines. Oral vaccination with the IV induced an adaptive antibody response and activation of the innate immune response including the complement component C3 and inflammasome. Mycobacterial DNA/RNA was not involved in inflammasome activation but increased C3 production by a still unknown mechanism. The results also suggested a protective mechanism mediated by the activation of IFN-γ producing CD8+ T cells by MHC I antigen presenting dendritic cells (DCs) in response to vaccination with the IV, without a clear role for Th1 CD4+ T cells. These results support a role for DCs in triggering the immune response to the IV through a mechanism similar to the phagocyte response to PAMPs with a central role for C3 in protection against mycobacterial infection. Higher C3 levels may allow increased opsonophagocytosis and effective bacterial clearance, while interfering with CR3-mediated opsonic and nonopsonic phagocytosis of mycobacteria, a process that could be enhanced by specific antibodies against mycobacterial proteins induced by vaccination with the IV. These results suggest that the IV acts through novel mechanisms to protect against TB in wild boar.

An Integrative Case Study of Positive Youth Development in a Recreational Community Sport Program

Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2016-07-21 14:22:50.954

Enhancement to the Mortgage Licensing Process

The Consumer Finance Division of the South Carolina State Board of Financial Institutions is responsible for the supervision, licensing and examination of all consumer finance companies, deferred presentment companies, check cashing companies, and non-depository mortgage lenders and their loan originators. This project specifically focuses on the licensing of Mortgage Lender/Servicer ( company), Mortgage Lender/Servicer Branch (branch) and Mortgage Loan Originator (loan originator) licenses. The problem statement is how the Division can handle increasing the number of mortgage loan originators in the state without delaying the time to process applications. The goal of this project is to make the current licensing process more efficient so that the Division can handle the increased workload without having to hire additional personnel.

Les facteurs affectant les taux de réussite des cours d’anglais et de sciences humaines des étudiants dans les programmes de formation technique

A large percentage of Vanier College's technology students do not attain their College degrees within the scheduled three years of their program. A closer investigation of the problem revealed that in many of these cases these students had completed all of their program professional courses but they had not completed all of the required English and/or Humanities courses. Fortunately, most of these students do extend their stay at the college for the one or more semesters required for graduation, although some choose to go on into the workforce without returning to complete the missing English and/or Humanities and without their College Degrees. The purpose of this research was to discover if there was any significant measure of association between a student's family linguistic background, family cultural background, high school average, and/or College English Placement Test results and his or her likelihood of succeeding in his or her English and/or Humanities courses within the scheduled three years of the program. Because of both demographic differences between 'hard' and 'soft' technologies, including student population, more specifically gender ratios and student average ages in specific programs; and program differences, including program writing requirements and types of practical skill activities required; in order to have a more uniform sample, the research was limited to the hard technologies where students work hands-on with hardware and/or computers and tend to have overall low research and writing requirements. Based on a review of current literature and observations made in one of the hard technology programs at Vanier College, eight research questions were developed. These questions were designed to examine different aspects of success in the English and Humanities courses such as failure and completion rates and the number of courses remaining after the end of the fifth semester and as well examine how the students assessed their ability to communicate in English. The eight research questions were broken down into a total of 54 hypotheses. The high number of hypotheses was required to address a total of seven independent variables: primary home language, high school language of instruction, student's place of birth (Canada, Not-Canada), student's parents' place of birth (Both-born-in-Canada, Not-both-born-in-Canada), high school averages and English placement level (as a result of the College English Entry Test); and eleven dependent variables: number of English completed, number of English failed, whether all English were completed by the end of the 5th semester (yes, no), number of Humanities courses completed, number of Humanities courses failed, whether all the Humanities courses were completed by the end of the 5th semester (yes, no), the total number of English and Humanities courses left, and the students' assessments of their ability to speak, read and write in English. The data required to address the hypotheses were collected from two sources, from the students themselves and from the College. Fifth and sixth semester students from Building Engineering Systems, Computer and Digital Systems, Computer Science and Industrial Electronics Technology Programs were surveyed to collect personal information including family cultural and linguistic history and current language usages, high school language of instruction, perceived fluency in speaking, reading and writing in English and perceived difficulty in completing English and Humanities courses. The College was able to provide current academic information on each of the students, including copies of college program planners and transcripts, and high school transcripts for students who attended a high school in Quebec. Quantitative analyses were done on the data using the SPSS statistical analysis program. Of the fifty-four hypotheses analysed, in fourteen cases the results supported the research hypotheses, in the forty other cases the null hypotheses had to be accepted. One of the findings was that there was a strong significant association between a student's primary home language and place of birth and his or her perception of his or her ability to communicate in English (speak, read, and write) signifying that both students whose primary home language was not English and students who were not born in Canada, considered themselves, on average, to be weaker in these skills than did students whose primary home language was English. Although this finding was noteworthy, the two most significant findings were the association found between a student's English entry placement level and the number of English courses failed and the association between the parents' place of birth and the student's likelihood of succeeding in both his or her English and Humanities courses. According to the research results, the mean number of English courses failed, on average, by students placed in the lowest entry level of College English was significantly different from the number of English courses failed by students placed in any of the other entry level English courses. In this sample students who were placed in the lowest entry level of College English failed, on average, at least three times as many English courses as those placed in any of the other English entry level courses. These results are significant enough that they will be brought to the attention of the appropriate College administration. The results of this research also appeared to indicate that the most significant determining factor in a student's likelihood of completing his or her English and Humanities courses is his or her parents' place of birth (both-born-in-Canada or not-both-born-in-Canada). Students who had at least one parent who was not born in Canada, would, on average, fail a significantly higher number of English courses, be significantly more likely to still have at least one English course left to complete by the end of the 5th semester, fail a significantly higher number of Humanities courses, be significantly more likely to still have at least one Humanities course to complete by the end of the 5th semester and have significantly more combined English and Humanities courses to complete at the end of their 5th semester than students with both parents born in Canada. This strong association between students' parents' place of birth and their likelihood of succeeding in their English and Humanities courses within the three years of their program appears to indicate that acculturation may be a more significant factor than either language or high school averages, for which no significant association was found for any of the English and Humanities related dependent variables. Although the sample size for this research was only 60 students and more research needs to be conducted in this area, to see if these results are supported with other groups within the College, these results are still significant. If the College can identify, at admission, the students who will be more likely to have difficulty in completing their English and Humanities courses, the College will now have the opportunity to intercede during or before the first semester, and offer these students the support they require in order to increase their chances of success in their education, whether it be classes or courses designed to meet their specific needs, special mentoring, tutoring or other forms of support. With the necessary support, the identified students will have a greater opportunity of successfully completing their programs within the scheduled three years, while at the same time the College will have improved its capacity to meeting the needs of its students.

Impacto del Programa de Alimentación Escolar en el Trabajo Infantil: Una aproximación desde la toma de decisiones familiares

Esta investigación analiza el impacto del Programa de Alimentación Escolar en el trabajo infantil en Colombia a través de varias técnicas de evaluación de impacto que incluyen emparejamiento simple, emparejamiento genético y emparejamiento con reducción de sesgo. En particular, se encuentra que este programa disminuye la probabilidad de que los escolares trabajen alrededor de un 4%. Además, se explora que el trabajo infantil se reduce gracias a que el programa aumenta la seguridad alimentaria, lo que consecuentemente cambia las decisiones de los hogares y anula la carga laboral en los infantes. Son numerosos los avances en primera infancia llevados a cabo por el Estado, sin embargo, estos resultados sirven de base para construir un marco conceptual en el que se deben rescatar y promover las políticas públicas alimentarias en toda la edad escolar.

Climatic zoning of the Ibero-American viticultural regions.

The Ibero-American Network of Viticulture, a component of the program of agricultural technology of the CYTED (Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development), is developing the project ?Zoning Methodology and Application in Viticultural Regions of Ibero-America?. An objective of the project is the climatic characterization of this large viticultural region with the participation of ten countries: Argentine, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, and Uruguay.