Avaliação de eficiência por Análise de Envoltória de Dados: conceitos, aplicações à agricultura e integração com Sistemas de Informação Geográfica.

O trabalho faz uma breve descrição sobre os modelos DEA clássicos, bem como uma revisão do estado da arte de sua aplicação à agricultura. Além disso, é apresentada uma curta discussão sobre a possibilidade de integração dos resultados de DEA aos Sistemas de Informação Geográfica, como forma de apoio ao entendimento do problema.

Program Improvement by Automatic Redistribution of Intermediate Results

Introducing function sharing into designs allows eliminating costly structure by adapting existing structure to perform its function. This can eliminate many inefficiencies of reusing general componentssin specific contexts. "Redistribution of intermediate results'' focuses on instances where adaptation requires only addition/deletion of data flow and unused code removal. I show that this approach unifies and extends several well-known optimization classes. The system performs search and screening by deriving, using a novel explanation-based generalization technique, operational filtering predicates from input teleological information. The key advantage is to focus the system's effort on optimizations that are easier to prove safe.

Manawydan Uab Llyr: Trydedd Gainc y Mabinogi

Hughes, I. (2007). Manawydan Uab Llyr: Trydedd Gainc y Mabinogi. Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru.

Informe Final : Asesoría en Diseño Gráfico.

56 hojas : ilustraciones, cuadros.

Development and characterization of novel transgenic techniques for the study of neuronal circuitry

Modern neuroscience relies heavily on sophisticated tools that allow us to visualize and manipulate cells with precise spatial and temporal control. Transgenic mouse models, for example, can be used to manipulate cellular activity in order to draw conclusions about the molecular events responsible for the development, maintenance and refinement of healthy and/or diseased neuronal circuits. Although it is fairly well established that circuits respond to activity-dependent competition between neurons, we have yet to understand either the mechanisms underlying these events or the higher-order plasticity that synchronizes entire circuits. In this thesis we aimed to develop and characterize transgenic mouse models that can be used to directly address these outstanding biological questions in different ways. We present SLICK-H, a Cre-expressing mouse line that can achieve drug-inducible, widespread, neuron-specific manipulations in vivo. This model is a clear improvement over existing models because of its particularly strong, widespread, and even distribution pattern that can be tightly controlled in the absence of drug induction. We also present SLICK-V::Ptox, a mouse line that, through expression of the tetanus toxin light chain, allows long-term inhibition of neurotransmission in a small subset (<1%) of fluorescently labeled pyramidal cells. This model, which can be used to study how a silenced cell performs in a wildtype environment, greatly facilitates the in vivo study of activity-dependent competition in the mammalian brain. As an initial application we used this model to show that tetanus toxin-expressing CA1 neurons experience a 15% - 19% decrease in apical dendritic spine density. Finally, we also describe the attempt to create additional Cre-driven mouse lines that would allow conditional alteration of neuronal activity either by hyperpolarization or inhibition of neurotransmission. Overall, the models characterized in this thesis expand upon the wealth of tools available that aim to dissect neuronal circuitry by genetically manipulating neurons in vivo.

BSHM meetings: British Mathematics Colloquium

Report on the British Mathematics Colloquium, which took place in York, 25-28 March 2008. Also includes abstracts of the individual talks.

Enzyme-catalysed synthesis and reactions of benzene oxide/oxepine derivatives of methyl benzoates

A series of twelve benzoate esters was metabolised, by species of the Phellinus genus of wood-rotting fungi, to yield the corresponding benzyl alcohol derivatives and eight salicylates. The isolation of a stable oxepine metabolite, from methyl benzoate, allied to evidence of the migration and retention of a carbomethoxy group ( the NIH Shift), during enzyme-catalysed ortho-hydroxylation of alkyl benzoates to form salicylates, is consistent with a mechanism involving an initial arene epoxidation step. This mechanism was confirmed by the isolation of a remarkably stable, optically active, substituted benzene oxide metabolite of methyl 2-( trifluoromethyl) benzoate, which slowly converted into the racemic form. The arene oxide was found to undergo a cycloaddition reaction with 4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione to yield a crystalline cycloadduct whose structure and racemic nature was established by X-ray crystallography. The metabolite was also found to undergo some novel benzene oxide reactions, including epoxidation to give an anti-diepoxide, base-catalysed hydrolysis to form a trans-dihydrodiol and acid-catalysed aromatisation to yield a salicylate derivative via the NIH Shift of a carbomethoxy group.