Master of Fine Arts Thesis

I have always been compelled to that which is &ldquo;beautiful&rdquo; to the point of beauty becoming a primary motivation for creation. Obviously the notion of beauty is highly subjective--the topic of aesthetics being an elusive, at times controversial one. Although my opinions about beauty may be debatable, I do appreciate a few aesthetic formulas which have been accepted on &ldquo;popular&rdquo; levels in many cultures--the shape of a vase, flower or shell, various color combinations or geometric configurations. These appear frequently in my work, not only because of a personal attraction but also for their immediate accessibility to the viewer. I have elected to paint the imagery in my painting for its inherently beautiful shape or linear quality and for what the image symbolizes. I suggest forms--a deer, a bowl, a map or a tree--as a point of reference for the viewer to focus upon. These gestural &ldquo;clues&rdquo; may be symbolic of my specific personal experience, a dream or a story, perhaps a tribute to a literary or cultural source. But they are arranged in a mysterious manner, the images contradicting each other spatially or in color, scale and literal meaning. I invite whomever is looking at the painting to interact with it--to use imagination, to interpret as he or she pleases, or merely to enjoy it for the formal aesthetic qualities. In this way I hope to create work that is not only beautiful but mysterious. &nbsp;</p

Potential of legume lectins as antagonistic biomolecules to root knot nematode, meloidogyne incognita in tomato

Lectins from pigeonpea, and chickpea were extracted from their mature seeds and evaluated their potential use as biomolecules antagonistic to root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita on tomato in a phytotron providing 25°C day and 20°C night temperature with 12h photoperiod. Exposure of egg masses of M. incognita to a concentration of 100 ?g/ml lectin protein of chickpea and pigeonpea, haemagglutination activity of 5 and 12 units respectively, reduced hatching of second stage juveniles by 15 to 29%, adversely affected mobility of the hatched juveniles and restricted their invasion into roots by 78 to 81%. The fecundity and the soil and root population density of M. incognita were also adversely affected as recorded at day 90, ultimately reducing the hazard indices measured in terms of root galling of tomato. Analysis of lectins in different wild relatives of pigeonpea showed genotypic differences in the levels at different stages of pod developmen

Profiling of Haemophilus influenzae strain R2866 with carbohydrate-based covalent probes.

We demonstrate the application of four covalent probes based on anomerically pure d-galactosamine and d-glucosamine scaffolds for the profiling of Haemophilus influenzae strain R2866. The probes have been used successfully for the labelling of target proteins not only in cell lysates, but also in intact cells. Differences in the labelling patterns between lysates and intact cells indicate that the probes can penetrate into the periplasm, but not the cytoplasm of H. influenzae. Analysis of selected target proteins by LC-MS/MS suggests predominant labelling of nucleotide-binding proteins, including several known antibacterial drug targets. Our protocols will aid the identification of molecular determinants of bacterial pathogenicity in Haemophilus influenzae and other bacterial pathogens

Musicians as teachers: Developing a positive view through collaborative learning partnerships

Previous research with classical instrumental musicians has highlighted the intrinsic benefits of teaching in addition to the perhaps more obvious benefits of securing a regular income, and yet despite the presence of educational activities in the portfolio of most musicians it remains on the periphery of many music performance programs. The hierarchical inference in musicians? self-report of success as a soloist, instrumentalist or teacher is perpetuated in the separation of education and performance students during their university education. This study investigated the effects of providing a positive engagement with teaching through a unit of study delivered to a combined cohort of 2nd year undergraduate music education, composition and performance students. The unit was designed to increase students? understanding of the realities of professional practice, and to form productive and mutually beneficial partnerships: promoting a better appreciation of career development and self-identity during the formative years of study. Students? responses were gauged with the use of surveys implemented at the commencement and conclusion of the unit. Performance and composition majors reported a positive change in their perception of the role of teaching in their careers, and music education majors reflected a growing awareness of the benefits of working in partnership with performers. The study demonstrated that positive teaching experiences within the training of musicians, increases the likelihood that students will plan a positive engagement with teaching

Troublesome trade-offs: balancing urban activities and values when securing a city-centre governmental quarter

Background Homeland security measures increasingly affect urban life and activities. Standoff distance, which prevents unscreened vehicles from approaching within a certain distance of a building, is a widely applied measure when protecting buildings against attacks with vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. This measure both is rather inexpensive and has few negative externalities when implemented in rural areas. Unfortunately, sites with protection needs often are situated in city centres. Methods We apply the so-called Security Function Framework to illuminate the externalities or the ‘troublesome trade-offs’ between protecting a high-value site against vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and protecting other urban values. Results This paper demonstrates that standoff creates challenges for other important values, such as functional office spaces for all employees, deliveries and emergency vehicle access. Simultaneously, standoff creates opportunities for reinforcing social-responsibility requirements, such as accessibility for pedestrians and environmental considerations. Conclusions Security measures can have both negative and positive externalities and planning might alleviate some of the negative ones

Pourquoi et comment changer de metier. Solus, la direetion de Jean-Robert De"bray. Preface de Jean Fourastie.

(Parisji Fayard-Marne, (1971 h 6., 276

Modélisation, analyse mathématique et applications numériques de problèmes d'interaction fluide-structure instationnaires

Jury de thèse: Olivier PIRONNEAU (Président), Luca FORMAGGIA (Rapporteur), Marius TUCSNAK (Rapporteur), Yves ACHDOU, Frédéric HECHT, Yvon MADAY (Directeur de thèse), Bertrand MAURYIn this work, we consider unsteady problems in fluid-structure interaction in a two-dimensional framework. First, we study existence and uniqueness of solutions for an elasticity problem in large displacement and small strain. We then insert this structure model in a coupled system with a viscous fluid: we prove existence of solutions for this problem. Furthermore, we consider fluid-structure interaction problems in the aim of numerical applications. This work is motivated by blood flows in an artificial heart ventricle. We apply two different approaches: the first one with a simplified ALE method, and the second one by using the immersed boundary method. For this last study, we deal with an optimal control problem by means of a feedback.Dans cette thèse, nous considérons des problèmes instationnaires en interaction fluide-structure. Nous nous plaçons en outre dans un cadre bidimensionnel. Dans un premier temps, nous nous attachons à étudier l'existence et l'unicité de solutions pour un problème d'élasticité en grands déplacements et petites perturbations. Nous introduisons ensuite ce modèle de structure dans un système de couplage avec un fluide visqueux: nous montrons l'existence de solutions pour ce problème. Par ailleurs, nous considérons des problèmes d'interaction fluide-structure en vue d'applications numériques. Ce travail est motivé par les écoulements sanguins dans un ventricule cardiaque artificiel. Nous effectuons deux approches distinctes: l'une à l'aide d'une méthode ALE simplifiée, et l'autre en utilisant la méthode de la frontière immergée. Concernant ce dernier point, nous abordons un problème de contrôle optimal par feedback