Dynamics of a large submersed plant bed in upper Chesapeake Bay

A large SAV bed in upper Chesapeake Bay has experienced several abrupt shifts over the past half-century, beginning with near-complete loss after a record-breaking flood in 1972, followed by an unexpected, rapid resurgence in the early 2000’s, then partial decline in 2011 following another major flood event. Together, these trends and events provide a unique opportunity to study a recovering SAV ecosystem from several different perspectives. First, I analyzed and synthesized existing time series datasets to make inferences about what factors prompted the recovery. Next, I analyzed existing datasets, together with field samples and a simple hydrodynamic model to investigate mechanisms of SAV bed loss and resilience to storm events. Finally, I conducted field deployments and experiments to explore how the bed affects internal physical and biogeochemical processes and what implications those effects have for the dynamics of the system. I found that modest reductions in nutrient loading, coupled with several consecutive dry years likely facilitated the SAV resurgence. Furthermore, positive feedback processes may have played a role in the sudden nature of the recovery because they could have reinforced the state of the bed before and after the abrupt shift. I also found that scour and poor water clarity associated with sediment deposition during the 2011 flood event were mechanisms of plant loss. However, interactions between the bed, water flow, and waves served as mechanisms of resilience because these processes created favorable growing conditions (i.e., clear water, low flow velocities) in the inner core of the bed. Finally, I found that that interactions between physical and biogeochemical processes led to low nutrient concentrations inside the bed relative to outside the bed, which created conditions that precluded algal growth and reinforced vascular plant dominance. This work demonstrates that positive feedbacks play a central role in SAV resilience to both chronic eutrophication as well as acute storm events. Furthermore, I show that analysis of long-term ecological monitoring data, together with field measurements and experiments, can be an effective approach for understanding the mechanisms underlying ecosystem dynamics.

Understanding information use in multiattribute decision making

An inference task in one in which some known set of information is used to produce an estimate about an unknown quantity. Existing theories of how humans make inferences include specialized heuristics that allow people to make these inferences in familiar environments quickly and without unnecessarily complex computation. Specialized heuristic processing may be unnecessary, however; other research suggests that the same patterns in judgment can be explained by existing patterns in encoding and retrieving memories. This dissertation compares and attempts to reconcile three alternate explanations of human inference. After justifying three hierarchical Bayesian version of existing inference models, the three models are com- pared on simulated, observed, and experimental data. The results suggest that the three models capture different patterns in human behavior but, based on posterior prediction using laboratory data, potentially ignore important determinants of the decision process.

Métrique sur le fibré unitaire tangent au plan hyperbolique

RÉSUMÉ: Toute variété différentiable $M$ admet une métrique dite métrique riemannienne.\\ En définissant $\mathbb{H}=\lbrace z\in\mathbb{C}: Im(z)>0\rbrace$, on peut munir de $\mathbb{H}$ d'une métrique riemannienne $ds^{2}=\frac{dzd\bar{z}}{(Im(z))^{2}}=\frac{dx^{2}+dy^{2}}{y^{2}}$.\\ Muni de cette métrique, $\mathbb{H}$ est une variété riemannienne à la quelle on associe le fibré tangent, $T\mathbb{H}$ ainsi que le fibré unitaire tangent, $T^{1}\mathbb{H}$. Les éléments de $T^{1}\mathbb{H}$ peuvent être exprimés, de façon bijective, en termes des éléments du groupe PSL(2,$\mathbb{R}$) dont l'action sur $T^{1}\mathbb{H}$ est transitive et libre.\\ La métrique définie sur $M$ (en particulier sur $M=\mathbb{H}$) permet de définir sur $TM$ (en particulier sur $T^{1}\mathbb{H}$) une métrique connue sous le nom de métrique de Sasaki.

Metabolomics as a tool to explore the staphylococcal biofilm

Orthopaedic infections can be polymicrobial existing as a microbiome. Infections often incorporate staphylococcal species, including Staphylococcus aureus. Such infections can lead to life threatening illness and implant failure. Furthermore, biofilm formation on the implant surface can occur, increasing pathogenicity, exacerbating antibiotic resistance and altering antimicrobial mechanism of action. Bacteria change dramatically during the transition to a biofilm growth state: phenotypically; transcriptionally; and metabolically, highlighting the need for research into molecular mechanisms involved in biofilm formation. Metabolomics can provide a tool to analyse metabolic changes which are directly related to the expressed phenotype. Here, we aimed to provide greater understanding of orthopaedic infection caused by S. aureus and biofilm formation on the implant surface. Through metagenome analysis by employing: implant material extraction; DNA extraction; microbial enrichment; and whole genome sequencing, we present a microbiome study of the infected prosthesis to resolve the causative species of orthopaedic hip infection. Results highlight the presence of S. aureus as a primary cause of orthopaedic infection along with Enterococcus faecium and the presence of secondary pathogen Clostridium difficile. Although results were hindered by the presence of host contaminating DNA even after microbial enrichment, conclusions could be made over the potential increased pathogenicity caused by the presence of a secondary pathogen and highlight method and sample preparation considerations when undertaking such a study. Following this finding, studies were focused on an orthopaedic clinical isolate of S. aureus and a metabolome extraction method for staphylococcal biofilms was developed using cell lysis through bead beating and solvent metabolome extraction. The method was found to be reproducible when coupled with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and bioinformatics, allowing for the detection of significant changes in metabolism between planktonic and biofilm cultures to be identified and drug mechanism of actions (MOA) to be studied. Metabolomics results highlight significant changes in a number of metabolic pathways including arginine biosynthesis and purine metabolism between the two cell populations, evidence of S. aureus responding to their changing environment, including oxygen availability and a decrease in pH. Focused investigations on purine metabolism looking for biofilm modulation effects were carried out. Modulation of the S. aureus biofilm phenotype was observed through the addition of exogenous metabolites. Inosine increased biofilm biomass while formycin B, an inosine analogue, showed a dispersal effect and a potential synergistic effect in biofilm dispersal when coupled with gentamycin. Changes in metabolism between planktonic cells and biofilms highlight the requirement for antimicrobial testing to be carried out against planktonic cells and biofilms. Untargeted metabolomics was used to study the MOA of triclosan in S. aureus. The triclosan target and MOA in bacteria has already been characterised, however, questions remain over its effects in bacteria. Although the use of triclosan has come under increasing speculation, its full effects are still largely unknown. Results show that triclosan can induce a cascade of detrimental events in the cell metabolism including significant changes in amino acid metabolism, affecting planktonic cells and biofilms. Results and conclusions provide greater understanding of orthopaedic infections and specifically focus on the S. aureus biofilm, confirming S. aureus as a primary cause of orthopaedic infection and using metabolomic analysis to look at the changing state of metabolism between the different growth states. Metabolomics is a valuable tool for biofilm and drug MOA studies, helping understand orthopaedic infection and implant failure, providing crucial insight into the biochemistry of bacteria for the potential for inferences to be gained, such as the MOA of antimicrobials and the identification of novel metabolic drug targets.

As percepções de alunos, professores e encarregados de educação sobre a disciplina de educação musical: Um estudo de caso no âmbito do 2º ciclo do ensino básico

Este estudo teve como grande finalidade conhecer as percepções de alunos do 2° Ciclo do Ensino Básico de uma escola da periferia de Lisboa e dos respectivos professores e encarregados de educação, relativamente à disciplina de Educação Musical. No estudo foi utilizado um desenho metodológico de cariz naturalista, com aproximação ao estudo de caso, em que a técnica de recolha de dados de suporte foi o inquérito por questionário, aplicado aos três elementos da comunidade educativa antes referidos. Os principais objectivos do estudo foram, entre outros, os seguintes: #) Conhecer a importância que é dada à Educação Musical, enquanto disciplina integrante do currículo escolar, por alunos, professores e encarregados de educação; #) Contribuir para uma tomada de consciência, por parte da comunidade educativa em geral, sobre a importância da Educação Musical na formação integral do cidadão. A análise dos resultados obtidos permitiu chegar a diversas inferências e conclusões, destacando-se, entre outras, as seguintes: - Em relação aos alunos, a Educação Musical foi por eles considerada uma disciplina razoavelmente importante para a sua formação face à qual afirmaram nutrir algum interesse, sobretudo quando nela são promovidas actividades práticas; - No que diz respeito aos professores, estes consideraram, na sua maioria, que a disciplina, apesar das suas potencialidades formativas, acaba por não ser aproveitada na sua plenitude; - Os encarregados de educação tenderam a considerá-la uma disciplina importante, parecendo estar informados sobre as actividades e as funções a ela associadas. A música pareceu, além disso, fazer parte da vida da maior parte dos inquiridos dos três grupos participantes no estudo, tendo os mesmos indicado que ouviam música todos os dias e que já haviam assistido a, pelo menos, um concerto ao vivo. ABSTRACT; The aim of this study was to acknowledge the perceptions of students of the fifth and sixth grades of a Basic school in Lisbon periphery, their parents and teachers, about the subject of Musical Education. ln that purpose, we are in front of a naturalist investigation, approaching the case study, were the support instrument of data collecting was the questionnaire, applied to the three members of the educative community we have already referred to. This study had, as main goals, the following, among others: #) To know the importance that is given to Musical Education, as a subject which is part of the school curriculum, by students, parents and teachers; #) To contribute for the acknowledgement, by the general educative community, of the importance of Musical Education, for the growth and formation of the individuals. The analisys of the results allowed us to reach, among others, several conclusions and inferences: - Concerning the students, musical education was considered a subject of reasonable importance for their formation, and by which they showed some interest, especially when teachers promote practical activities; - The majority of the teachers considered that the subject was very important for the formation of the individual. However, and in spite of its formative potentialities, musical education is not applied and used as much as it should be; - Parents seem to consider it an important subject and also seem to be well informed about the activities and functions associated to it; Music seemed to be part of the lives of all the inquiries, who revealed listening to music every day and, in the majority of cases, have already been to a live concert.

Commission on the Loose? Delegated Lawmaking and Comitology after Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon has altered the institutional mechanism of the European Union. The introduction of formal hierarchy of legal acts has important implications for the balance of power among the EU institutions. This paper argues that the Commission is likely to enjoy some discretion in delegated lawmaking while remaining in the shadow of the legislators’ activism. The Commission has also successfully positioned itself to diminish the influence of comitology committees on the adoption of implementing acts, though a new layer of complexity was added. The possible outcomes of this new institutional battle are analysed in the context of the new challenges to the Community method. Some important inferences of this institutional shift for the debate on the democratic deficit in the EU are also drawn up.

Teoria prawa Zygmunta Ziembińskiego

Zygmunt Ziembiński was one of the most prominent theoreticians of law in Poland in the second half of the 20th century. He developed an original theory of law defined as a theory of legal phenomena, which covered both logical-linguistic as well as real aspects of law. The theory served as a base for the development of a unique so-called advanced normative conception of sources of law, one of the greatest achievements of theory of law in Poland. This conception encompasses all the indispensable elements of a coherent system of binding legal norms: 1) indication of a political justification (ideological assumptions) of the entire system of law; 2) pre-judgment of law-making competence of government agencies; 3) determination of the status of custom and precedent; 4) compilation of a catalogue of permissible interpretation rules; 5) compilation of a catalogue of permissible inferential rules (permissible rules of legal inferences); 6) compilation of a catalogue of permissible collision rules.

Modelo de regressão beta para teste de estresse em risco de crédito de instituições financeiras

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Estatistica, 2015.

On the Movements of the North Atlantic Subpolar Front in the Preinstrumental Past*

Three sediment records of sea surface temperature (SST) are analyzed that originate from distant locations in the North Atlantic, have centennial-to-multicentennial resolution, are based on the same reconstruction method and chronological assumptions, and span the past 15 000 yr. Using recursive least squares techniques, an estimate of the time-dependent North Atlantic SST field over the last 15 kyr is sought that is consistent with both the SST records and a surface ocean circulation model, given estimates of their respective error (co)variances. Under the authors' assumptions about data and model errors, it is found that the 10 degrees C mixed layer isotherm, which approximately traces the modern Subpolar Front, would have moved by ~15 degrees of latitude southward (northward) in the eastern North Atlantic at the onset (termination) of the Younger Dryas cold interval (YD), a result significant at the level of two standard deviations in the isotherm position. In contrast, meridional movements of the isotherm in the Newfoundland basin are estimated to be small and not significant. Thus, the isotherm would have pivoted twice around a region southeast of the Grand Banks, with a southwest-northeast orientation during the warm intervals of the Bolling-Allerod and the Holocene and a more zonal orientation and southerly position during the cold interval of the YD. This study provides an assessment of the significance of similar previous inferences and illustrates the potential of recursive least squares in paleoceanography.

Programa de aquisição de alimentos (2003-2010): avaliação da implementação pela CONAB no Rio Grande do Norte

This thesis aimed to evaluate the implementation of the Food Acquisition Program(PAA) through CONAB RN in the period of 2003-2010 with the perception of all agents involved in the implementation of the government program.For the methodological trajectory it was adopted a descriptive bibliographical and documentary approach with triangular qualitative and quantitative, also called evaluative research.The theoretical model was supported by the authors Draibe (2001), Aguilar and Ander-Egg (1994) and Silva(2001), among others, that focused on family farming and evaluation of implementation of public policy having as a category of analysis the size implementation of policy and the latter divided into 10 theoretical dimensions.The universe consisted of three groups: the first were the managers and technicians from CONAB(RN and Brasilia), totaling 15 subjects. The second group was of associations/cooperatives that participated in the programin 2010, totaling a sample in each access of 15 representatives. The third group of subjects totaled with 309 representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations that received donations of food for the same period. Semi-structured interviews and forms were adopted as instruments of data collection.The data were processed qualitatively by the analysis of content (interviews and documents) and quantitatively by means of statistical tests that allowed inferences and adoption of frequencies. Among the key find ingests that the program is not standing as a structure supported by planning. The interests of the performers do not necessarily converge with the objectives of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA). A shockof goals was identified (within the same program) when comparingthe financial agent (Ministry of Rural Development and of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger Ministry r) and the executor, CONAB/RN. Within the assessed dimensions, the most fragileis the sub-managerial decision-making and Organizational Environment and internal assessment, still deserves attention the sizeof logistical and operational Subsystem, as this also proved weak.The focusin the quest toexpand thequantificationof the resultsof theFood Acquisition Program (PAA)by CONAB/RN does forget a quality management focused on what really should be:the compliance with the institutional objectives of the government program.Finally, the perspective for the traded implementation should be re-examined because excessive discretion by managers along with technical staff has characterized there al role of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) as public policy. We conclude that the implementation model, which apparently aggregates values to the benefitted citizens, has weakened the context of work on family farms having the management model of the implementation process be reviewed by the Federal Government and point too ther paths, which have as a guide line the emancipation and developmentof the field or in the field andat the same time enables the reduction of nutritional deficiency of beneficiaries in a balanced and coherent way

Adaptação do paradigma orientado a notificações para desenvolvimento de sistemas fuzzy

This work proposes to adjust the Notification Oriented Paradigm (NOP) so that it provides support to fuzzy concepts. NOP is inspired by elements of imperative and declarative paradigms, seeking to solve some of the drawbacks of both. By decomposing an application into a network of smaller computational entities that are executed only when necessary, NOP eliminates the need to perform unnecessary computations and helps to achieve better logical-causal uncoupling, facilitating code reuse and application distribution over multiple processors or machines. In addition, NOP allows to express the logical-causal knowledge at a high level of abstraction, through rules in IF-THEN format. Fuzzy systems, in turn, perform logical inferences on causal knowledge bases (IF-THEN rules) that can deal with problems involving uncertainty. Since PON uses IF-THEN rules in an alternative way, reducing redundant evaluations and providing better decoupling, this research has been carried out to identify, propose and evaluate the necessary changes to be made on NOP allowing to be used in the development of fuzzy systems. After that, two fully usable materializations were created: a C++ framework, and a complete programming language (LingPONFuzzy) that provide support to fuzzy inference systems. From there study cases have been created and several tests cases were conducted, in order to validate the proposed solution. The test results have shown a significant reduction in the number of rules evaluated in comparison to a fuzzy system developed using conventional tools (frameworks), which could represent an improvement in performance of the applications.

Motivic Decomposition of Projective Pseudo-Homogeneous Varieties

Let G be a semi-simple algebraic group over a field k. Projective G-homogeneous varieties are projective varieties over which G acts transitively. The stabilizer or the isotropy subgroup at a point on such a variety is a parabolic subgroup which is always smooth when the characteristic of k is zero. However, when k has positive characteristic, we encounter projective varieties with transitive G-action where the isotropy subgroup need not be smooth. We call these varieties projective pseudo-homogeneous varieties. To every such variety, we can associate a corresponding projective homogeneous variety. In this thesis, we extensively study the Chow motives (with coefficients from a finite connected ring) of projective pseudo-homogeneous varieties for G inner type over k and compare them to the Chow motives of the corresponding projective homogeneous varieties. This is done by proving a generic criterion for the motive of a variety to be isomorphic to the motive of a projective homogeneous variety which works for any characteristic of k. As a corollary, we give some applications and examples of Chow motives that exhibit an interesting phenomenon. We also show that the motives of projective pseudo-homogeneous varieties satisfy properties such as Rost Nilpotence and Krull-Schmidt.

Necessidade de cognição, memória de trabalho e recuperação de contra-exemplos para condicionais causais

A procura de contra-exemplos é provavelmente a fase mais importante do raciocí - nio dedutivo, uma vez que visa garantir a validade da conclusão. A explicação mais difundida para a diminuta procura de contra-exemplos é a capacidade limitada da memória de trabalho (Markovits & Barrouillet 2002; De Neys, Schaeken & d’Ydewalle, 2002; 2003; 2005a; 2005b) o que não parece ser suficiente para explicar a pouca iniciativa dos sujeitos em utilizarem a procura de contra-exemplos como estratégia de verificação (Oakhill, & Johnson-Laird, 1985). No presente trabalho testou-se a hipótese de que a necessidade de cognição dos sujeitos (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982) tem influência no processo de recuperação de contra-exemplos, para condicionais causais, de modo aprofundar o conhecimento das razões que levam a que os sujeitos procurem tão poucos contra-exemplos durante o raciocínio dedutivo (Oakhill, & Johnson-Laird, 1985; Johnson-laird, 2006). Para o efeito, um total de 60 participantes (15 alunos do mestrado integrado em psicologia, 15 alunos de doutoramento, 15 operários fabris e 15 empregados de mesa) realizou 3 tarefas: escala Necessidade de Cognição (Silva & Garcia-Marques, 2006), uma tarefa de raciocínio e uma tarefa para avaliar a capacidade da memória de trabalho (Guerreiro, Quelhas & Garcia-Madruga, 2006). Os resultados indicam que o processo de recuperação de contra-exemplos é influenciado pela necessidade de cognição e que esta influência além de significativa é superior à influência da capacidade da memória de trabalho.

Raciocínio contrafactual e modelos mentais

A ideia central deste estudo é de que «... raciocinar sobre factos e raciocinar sobre possibilidades e impossibilidades, baseia-se nos mesmos tipos de representações mentais e processos cognitivos» (Byrne, 1997, p. 107). Quer dizer que as pessoas raciocinam através da construção e revisão de modelos mentais (e.g., Johnson-Laird, Byrne, 1991). As condicionais contrafactuais requerem que os raciocinadores tenham em mente não apenas o que é suposto ser verdadeiro, mas também o que é supostamente verdadeiro mas factualmente falso (Byrne, 1997, p. 117; cf. Johnson-Laird, Byrne, 1991, pp. 72- -73). E a hipótese de que a representação inicial de uma condicional contrafactual é mais explícita do que a de uma condicional factual, permite prever que as inferências Modus Tollens e Negação do Antecedente deverão ser feitas com maior frequência a partir das condicionais contrafactuais do que das factuais. Byrne e Tasso (in press) encontraram evidência para esta hipótese. No estudo que apresentamos, também procuramos replicar esses resultados encontrados por Byrne e Tasso, e acrescentamos algumas hipóteses relacionadas com as latências para compreender os dois tipos de condicionais, e para escolher a conclusão. Utilizamos condicionais neutras do tipo «Se houve um círculo, então houve um triângulo», e apresentamos aos participantes os quatro silogismos condicionais no programa SUPERLAB.

Relação de alcance em dígrafos transitivos e a propriedade Z

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Matemática, 2016.