The remainder of this thesis is organized as follows. Chapters 2 and 3 introduce the specification formalisms that are used in this thesis. In Chapter 2 we present the computation language. We show... Show moreThe remainder of this thesis is organized as follows. Chapters 2 and 3 introduce the specification formalisms that are used in this thesis. In Chapter 2 we present the computation language. We show that it facilitates the description of specifications that are not partial to a particular mode of execution. Furthermore, we present a semantics and a logic for reasoning about correctness of programs. In Chapter 3 we present the coordination language. We define its semantics and show how it connects to the computation language. In Chapters 4 and 5 we develop a theory of refinement. This theory provides a number of proof techniques that enable us to incrementally refine the behavioural aspects of a program. These chapters form the most theoretical part of this thesis. It should be possible to get an understanding of the methods derived in these chapters without going through all these proofs. In Chapter 7 we illustrate the method of design by considering some case studies. Comparisons with related work and conclusions are described in Chapters 8 and 9. Show less
As a study of the colonial situations of first millennium BC Sardinia, this book is as much an investigation into colonialism as a sociological category, as it explores the specific historical... Show moreAs a study of the colonial situations of first millennium BC Sardinia, this book is as much an investigation into colonialism as a sociological category, as it explores the specific historical conditions of a particular region. Taking a fresh look at colonialism in Mediterranean archaeology from a so-called postcolonial point of view, it examined the archaeologically relevant features of this perspective in conjunction with other current ideas about society, human agency and material culture in order to sketch the contours of a postcolonial archaeology of colonialism. These ideas are subsequently elaborated and practically applied in a detailed study of rural settlement in west central Sardinia. The archaeological evidence for this is provided by the (preliminary) results of the Riu Mannu survey carried out in west central Sardinia since 1992 as well as by a wealth of existing published and archived data. Considering themes such as the (re)creation of identities and cultural resistance, this study especially looks into the ways in which people deployed material culture and inhabited the landscape in order to cope with the colonial situations. Comparing these specific instances of colonialism finally leads to a consideration of historical contingency and structure in colonial situations and to an assertion of the centrality of identity in colonial situations. Show less
Artificial intelligence is an integrated part of our daily life and of many fields in research. In archaeology, however, it does not (yet) play an important role. In the past twenty years... Show moreArtificial intelligence is an integrated part of our daily life and of many fields in research. In archaeology, however, it does not (yet) play an important role. In the past twenty years archaeologists have discussed the potentials of, in particular, expert systems. They have developed some valuable systems, but the general impression is that archaeology is not a suitable host discipline for knowledge-based approaches. In Archaeology and the Application of Artificial Intelligence: case studies on use-wear analysis of prehistoric flint tools, dr.M.H. van den Dries sets out to validate this negative conclusion. She states that since most archaeological applications were mere prototypes and have never been subjected to objective tests, there is hardly any ground for this rather radical inference. In order to ground her conclusion objectively, Van den Dries has built two applications, an expert system and a neural network. She used use-wear analysis of prehistoric tools as the application area. The main objective of the project was to develop a practical training tool for students. As Van den Dries' aim was to demonstrate the practical applicability of both applications, they were exposed to two objective tests in which replicated stone tools as well as prehistoric artefacts were involved. In one test both experience use-wear analysts and students participated. The outcome of this trail has been compared with the results of all other blind tests that human use-wear analysts have carried out hitherto. An important conclusion of Van den Dries' study is that both applications perform well, but that the expert system is better equipped for educational tasks, while the neural network approach mainly suits research purposes. Therefore, the expert system application, called WAVES, has been made operational. It already supports students of several archaeology departments around the world in learning use-wear analysis. Based on her findings Van den en Dries subsequently advises archaeologists to exploit better the merits that artificial intelligence offers them, because it is a means to record unique and valuable expert knowledge, to obtain objective analysis results and to democratize archaeological knowledge. Show less
The study was aimed at the positional cloning of disease genes in Xp22.1-p22.2. To this end a YAC contig covering this region was constructed. To identify candidate genes for the diseases localised... Show moreThe study was aimed at the positional cloning of disease genes in Xp22.1-p22.2. To this end a YAC contig covering this region was constructed. To identify candidate genes for the diseases localised in this region exon trapping was applied. Several novel transcripts were isolated from the region, of which one was analysed in detail. Show less
This thesis is about the classification and mapping of ecosystems, essential for an integratedgeographical approach to environmental management which takes into account spatialdifferentiation. To... Show moreThis thesis is about the classification and mapping of ecosystems, essential for an integratedgeographical approach to environmental management which takes into account spatialdifferentiation. To this end, it considers man's environment as an ecosystem, follows asystems approach and attempts to purposively connect at least three systematic angles forecosystem analysis, viz.:ecosystem processes (corresponding with the central themes of environmentalmanagement);the vertical structure of main ecosystem components (corresponding with themedia of environmental management);the horizontal patterns of ecosystems (to account for spatial variability and ageographical orientation to environmental management). Show less
A unifying framework is presented for describing the phenotypic coevolutionary dynamics of a general ecological community. We start from an individual-based approach allowing for the interaction of... Show moreA unifying framework is presented for describing the phenotypic coevolutionary dynamics of a general ecological community. We start from an individual-based approach allowing for the interaction of an arbitrary number of species. The adaptive dynamics of species's trait values are derived from the underlying population dynamics within the community; in consequence, the evolutionary process is driven by ecological change. We present a hierarchy of dynamical models for the investigation of coevolutionary systems. The necessity of stochastic treatment is demonstrated and deterministic approximations are derived where appropriate. The mathematical framework advanced here to our knowledge is the first one to combine the individual-based, stochastic perspective with a fully dynamical analysis of the phenotypic coevolutionary process. The hierarchy of models presented is particularly geared to infer evolutionary predictions from ecological assumptions. Applications to evolutionary dynamics both in predator-prey systems and under asymmetric competition demonstrate the versatility of our approach. Rich coevolutionary patterns are obtained and novel evolutionary phenomena are revealed. Deductions are given to derive various well-known equations from the literature of evolutionary modelling. Consequently the different domains of validity for these models are delineated and several ad-hoc assumptions are removed. In particular, equations central to the fields of evolutionary game theory, adaptive dynamics, replicator dynamics and reaction-diffusion models of phenotypic evolution are recovered and are identified as special cases within a dynamical theory of coevolution. Show less
Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) is one of the major parasitic infections in tropical areas. It is caused by blood-dwelling flukes, residing in the mesenteric and pelvic veins of the human host. Over... Show moreSchistosomiasis (bilharzia) is one of the major parasitic infections in tropical areas. It is caused by blood-dwelling flukes, residing in the mesenteric and pelvic veins of the human host. Over 200 million individuals are estimated to be infected with these worms, while at least 700 million people are at risk. The conventional method to diagnose this disease is by the demonstration of parasite eggs in faecal or urine specimens. However, this technique has several disadvantages, a.o. infections with low worm burden can be easily missed, and due to a high day-to-day fluctuation in egg counts, repeated examinations are needed to estimate the intensity of infection. Alternatively, schistosomiasis can be diagnosed by the detection of host antibodies directed against schistosome antigens. This technique has shown to be highly sensitive and specific, but is not able to differentiate between active and past infection, or to give information about intensity of infection Show less
In deze studie wordt de invloed van instituties en cultuur op het overheidsbeleid onderzocht. Aan de hand van twee case-studies naar het automobiliteitsbeleid in de steden Birmingham en München... Show moreIn deze studie wordt de invloed van instituties en cultuur op het overheidsbeleid onderzocht. Aan de hand van twee case-studies naar het automobiliteitsbeleid in de steden Birmingham en München wordt duidelijk dat lokale beleidsinstituties en culturen voor een grote mate van invloed zijn op de keuze voor het automobiliteitsbeleid. Een link wordt gelegd met de Nederlandse situatie en het thema van bestuurlijke vernieuwing. Show less
