Epidemiological characteristics and diagnostic approach in patients admitted to the emergency room for transient loos of consciousness: Group for Syncope Study in the Emergency Room (GESINUR) study

Aims: To assess the clinical presentation and acute management of patients with transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) in the emergency department (ED). Methods and results: A multi-centre prospective observational study was carried out in 19 Spanish hospitals over 1 month. The patients included were 14 years old and were admitted to the ED because of an episode of T-LOC. Questionnaires and corresponding electrocardiograms (ECGs) were reviewed by a Steering Committee (SC) to unify diagnostic criteria, evaluate adherence to guidelines, and diagnose correctly the ECGs. We included 1419 patients (prevalence, 1.14%).ECG was performed in 1335 patients (94%) in the ED: 498 (37.3%) ECGs were classified as abnormal. The positive diagnostic yield ranged from 0% for the chest X-ray to 12% for the orthostatic test. In the ED, 1217 (86%) patients received a final diagnosis of syncope, whereas the remaining 202 (14%) were diagnosed of non-syncopal transient lossof consciousness (NST-LOC). After final review by the SC, 1080 patients (76%) were diagnosed of syncope, whereas 339 (24%) were diagnosed of NST-LOC (P , 0.001). Syncope was diagnosed correctly in 84% of patients. Only 25% of patients with T-LOC were admitted to hospitals. Conclusion Adherence to clinical guidelines for syncope management was low; many diagnostic tests were performed with low diagnostic yield. Important differences were observed between syncope diagnoses at the ED and by SC decision.

UBURYO: open source software for managing microcredits in education

One of the major problems in developing countries is minority access to higher education. Traditional scholarships usually focus on paying tuition fees for bringing brilliant students to developed countries (from where they seldom return). But local grants seldom target the more needy students. We propose a system of student loans to pay tuition fees in exchange for technical work. This appears to be a satisfactory and sustainable solution. We also provide UBURYO (a Kirundi word meaning opportunity). UBURYO is the free open source software, that we have developed, to manage this loan system in a simple, trustworthy, fair and efficient way.

Evaluation of an application for managing microcredits in education

One of the major problems in developing countries is minority access to higher education. Traditional scholarships usually focus on paying eventually tuition fees or bringing brilliant students to develop countries. Additionally, these systems used to be opaque and, consequently, a corruption source. We propose a system of student loans to pay tuition fees in exchange for work. We also provide UBURYO. It is the FOSS, that we have developed, to manage this loan system in a simple, trustworthy, fair and efficient way. We deployed the loan system in the University of Ngozi (UNG, Burundi). A shallow evaluation demonstrates that system sustainability is feasible.

Evaluation of Development Projects: a Process-Centered Approach in the Outskirts of Lima, Peru.

Development cooperation projects work with people involved in processes of change and social transformation. While the main objective of the intervention is the development process itself, the project?s quality will be determined by the way of implementing it. Its success lies in the sustainability of the generated processes and the connection with them by the involved actors. The evaluation analyses both aspects. This article examines the evaluation, under a process approach, of a project on urban agriculture in Lima (Peru). The results show that the use of this approach, which combines different evaluation tools, allows the identification and analysis of the processes with the involved members, providing a better understanding of the real sustainability of the results.

The intermediate band approach in the third solar cell generation context

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films were deposited using a high pressure sputtering (HPS) system. In this work, we have studied the composition and optical properties of the films (band-gap, absorption coefficient), and their dependence with the deposition parameters. For films deposited at high pressure (1 mbar), composition measurements show a critical dependence of the purity of the films with the RF power. Films manufactured with RF-power above 80W exhibit good properties for future application, similar to the films deposited by CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) for hydrogenated amorphous silicon.

Validity and reliability of AMPET Greek versión: a first examination of learning motivation in Greek PE settings

Validity and reliability of AMPET Greek versión: a first examination of learning motivation in Greek PE settings

Application of Bayesian approach in geotechnical engineering

En esta Tesis Doctoral se emplean y desarrollan Métodos Bayesianos para su aplicación en análisis geotécnicos habituales, con un énfasis particular en (i) la valoración y selección de modelos geotécnicos basados en correlaciones empíricas; en (ii) el desarrollo de predicciones acerca de los resultados esperados en modelos geotécnicos complejos. Se llevan a cabo diferentes aplicaciones a problemas geotécnicos, como es el caso de: (1) En el caso de rocas intactas, se presenta un método Bayesiano para la evaluación de modelos que permiten estimar el módulo de Young a partir de la resistencia a compresión simple (UCS). La metodología desarrollada suministra estimaciones de las incertidumbres de los parámetros y predicciones y es capaz de diferenciar entre las diferentes fuentes de error. Se desarrollan modelos "específicos de roca" para los tipos de roca más comunes y se muestra cómo se pueden "actualizar" esos modelos "iniciales" para incorporar, cuando se encuentra disponible, la nueva información específica del proyecto, reduciendo las incertidumbres del modelo y mejorando sus capacidades predictivas. (2) Para macizos rocosos, se presenta una metodología, fundamentada en un criterio de selección de modelos, que permite determinar el modelo más apropiado, entre un conjunto de candidatos, para estimar el módulo de deformación de un macizo rocoso a partir de un conjunto de datos observados. Una vez que se ha seleccionado el modelo más apropiado, se emplea un método Bayesiano para obtener distribuciones predictivas de los módulos de deformación de macizos rocosos y para actualizarlos con la nueva información específica del proyecto. Este método Bayesiano de actualización puede reducir significativamente la incertidumbre asociada a la predicción, y por lo tanto, afectar las estimaciones que se hagan de la probabilidad de fallo, lo cual es de un interés significativo para los diseños de mecánica de rocas basados en fiabilidad. (3) En las primeras etapas de los diseños de mecánica de rocas, la información acerca de los parámetros geomecánicos y geométricos, las tensiones in-situ o los parámetros de sostenimiento, es, a menudo, escasa o incompleta. Esto plantea dificultades para aplicar las correlaciones empíricas tradicionales que no pueden trabajar con información incompleta para realizar predicciones. Por lo tanto, se propone la utilización de una Red Bayesiana para trabajar con información incompleta y, en particular, se desarrolla un clasificador Naïve Bayes para predecir la probabilidad de ocurrencia de grandes deformaciones (squeezing) en un túnel a partir de cinco parámetros de entrada habitualmente disponibles, al menos parcialmente, en la etapa de diseño. This dissertation employs and develops Bayesian methods to be used in typical geotechnical analyses, with a particular emphasis on (i) the assessment and selection of geotechnical models based on empirical correlations; on (ii) the development of probabilistic predictions of outcomes expected for complex geotechnical models. Examples of application to geotechnical problems are developed, as follows: (1) For intact rocks, we present a Bayesian framework for model assessment to estimate the Young’s moduli based on their UCS. Our approach provides uncertainty estimates of parameters and predictions, and can differentiate among the sources of error. We develop ‘rock-specific’ models for common rock types, and illustrate that such ‘initial’ models can be ‘updated’ to incorporate new project-specific information as it becomes available, reducing model uncertainties and improving their predictive capabilities. (2) For rock masses, we present an approach, based on model selection criteria to select the most appropriate model, among a set of candidate models, to estimate the deformation modulus of a rock mass, given a set of observed data. Once the most appropriate model is selected, a Bayesian framework is employed to develop predictive distributions of the deformation moduli of rock masses, and to update them with new project-specific data. Such Bayesian updating approach can significantly reduce the associated predictive uncertainty, and therefore, affect our computed estimates of probability of failure, which is of significant interest to reliability-based rock engineering design. (3) In the preliminary design stage of rock engineering, the information about geomechanical and geometrical parameters, in situ stress or support parameters is often scarce or incomplete. This poses difficulties in applying traditional empirical correlations that cannot deal with incomplete data to make predictions. Therefore, we propose the use of Bayesian Networks to deal with incomplete data and, in particular, a Naïve Bayes classifier is developed to predict the probability of occurrence of tunnel squeezing based on five input parameters that are commonly available, at least partially, at design stages.