Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection in a Rural Area of the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil

The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection was evaluated by ELISA in 40 children and teenagers and in 164 adults from a rural area of the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Antibodies to H. pylori were detected in the serum of 31 (77.5%) children and teenagers and in 139 (84.7%) adults. The prevalence of infection increased with age (c2 for trend, p < 0.01) even though no variations occurred in the region in the present century in terms of living conditions or sanitation, economical development and migratory influx supporting the hypothesis that the infection is also acquired during later life in developing countries. An inverse correlation was observed between the prevalence of infection and annual family income (c2 for trend, p < 0.013). There was no correlation between type of system for sewage disposal and prevalence of infection (p = 0.8). In conclusion, the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Nossa Senhora do Livramento, a rural area from Brazil, is very high and similar to that observed in other developing countries. Furthermore, the increase in the prevalence of infection with age observed in this population seems to be due to both, cohort effect and acquisition of the infection during later life

Nouvelle procédure civile et espace judiciaire européen: actes du colloque de Lausanne du 27 janvier 2012

Nouveaux cahiers de linguistique française 30 Département de linguistique, Université de Genève Antoine AUCHLIN, Présentation Tim ROHRER et Mary Jean VIGNONE, The Bankers Go to Washington: Theory and Method in Conceptual Metaphor Analysis, Napoleon KATSOS et Chris CUMMINS, Scalar implicature : Theory, processing and acquisition, Jacques MOESCHLER, Pourquoi le sens est-il structuré ? Une approche vériconditionelle de la signification linguistique et du sens pragmatique, Joanna BLOCHOWIAK, Les questions enchâssant les verbes d'attitude dans le contexte d'explications, Cristina GRISOT et Bruno CARTONI, Une description bilingue des temps verbaux : étude contrastive en corpus, Jacques MOESCHLER, Cristina GISOT et Bruno CARTONI, Jusqu'où les temps verbaux sont-ils procéduraux ? Hasmik JIVANIAN, Relations causales épistémiques : Focalisation de parce que et contrefactualité, Cosmina-Maria HODOROAGA, Les traits démonstratifs de la citation, Maíra AVELAR MIRANDA, L'intégration entre gestes et prosodie : une vision incarnée, Tea PRSIR, L'étude du discours représenté dans le cadre de l'intégration expérientielle, Jean-Philippe GOLDMAN et Yves SCHERRER, Création automatique de dictionnaires bilingues d'entités nommées grâce à Wikipédia.

N-cadherin as a therapeutic target in cancer.

During tumor progression, cancer cells undergo dramatic changes in the expression profile of adhesion molecules resulting in detachment from original tissue and acquisition of a highly motile and invasive phenotype. A hallmark of this change, also referred to as the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, is the loss of E- (epithelial) cadherin and the de novo expression of N- (neural) cadherin adhesion molecules. N-cadherin promotes tumor cell survival, migration and invasion, and a high level of its expression is often associated with poor prognosis. N-cadherin is also expressed in endothelial cells and plays an essential role in the maturation and stabilization of normal vessels and tumor-associated angiogenic vessels. Increasing experimental evidence suggests that N-cadherin is a potential therapeutic target in cancer. A peptidic N-cadherin antagonist (ADH-1) has been developed and has entered clinical testing. In this review, the authors discuss the biochemical and functional features of N-cadherin, its potential role in cancer and angiogenesis, and summarize the preclinical and clinical results achieved with ADH-1.

Pla d'actuació amb alumnes nouvinguts : assessorament a un centre per l'elaboració del Pla d'acollida

L'escola ha de potenciar la convivència i la cohesió comunitària, així com també l'equitat d'accés i adquisició de recursos, i el pla d'acollida del centre ha de ser una eina que ajudi els nouvinguts a acabar l'etapa d'escolarització obligatòria amb les destreses, coneixements i possibilitats que els permetin viure en un territori com a subjectes actius, autònoms i responsables.

Guidelines for the Conversion of Urban Four-Lane Undivided Roadways to Three-Lane Two-Way Left-turn Lane Facilities, April 2001

Four-lane undivided roadways in urban areas can experience a degradation of service and/or safety as traffic volumes increase. In fact, the existence of turning vehicles on this type of roadway has a dramatic effect on both of these factors. The solution identified for these problems is typically the addition of a raised median or two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL). The mobility and safety benefits of these actions have been proven and are discussed in the “Past Research” chapter of this report along with some general cross section selection guidelines. The cost and right-of-way impacts of these actions are widely accepted. These guidelines focus on the evaluation and analysis of an alternative to the typical four-lane undivided cross section improvement approach described above. It has been found that the conversion of a four-lane undivided cross section to three lanes (i.e., one lane in each direction and a TWLTL) can improve safety and maintain an acceptable level of service. These guidelines summarize the results of past research in this area (which is almost nonexistent) and qualitative/quantitative before-and-after safety and operational impacts of case study conversions located throughout the United States and Iowa. Past research confirms that this type of conversion is acceptable or feasible in some situations but for the most part fails to specifically identify those situations. In general, the reviewed case study conversions resulted in a reduction of average or 85th percentile speeds (typically less than five miles per hour) and a relatively dramatic reduction in excessive speeding (a 60 to 70 percent reduction in the number of vehicles traveling five miles per hour faster than the posted speed limit was measured in two cases) and total crashes (reductions between 17 to 62 percent were measured). The 13 roadway conversions considered had average daily traffic volumes of 8,400 to 14,000 vehicles per day (vpd) in Iowa and 9,200 to 24,000 vehicles per day elsewhere. In addition to past research and case study results, a simulation sensitivity analysis was completed to investigate and/or confirm the operational impacts of a four-lane undivided to three-lane conversion. First, the advantages and disadvantages of different corridor simulation packages were identified for this type of analysis. Then, the CORridor SIMulation (CORSIM) software was used x to investigate and evaluate several characteristics related to the operational feasibility of a four-lane undivided to three-lane conversion. Simulated speed and level of service results for both cross sections were documented for different total peak-hour traffic, access densities, and access-point left-turn volumes (for a case study corridor defined by the researchers). These analyses assisted with the identification of the considerations for the operational feasibility determination of a four -lane to three-lane conversion. The results of the simulation analyses primarily confirmed the case study impacts. The CORSIM results indicated only a slight decrease in average arterial speed for through vehicles can be expected for a large range of peak-hour volumes, access densities, and access-point left-turn volumes (given the assumptions and design of the corridor case study evaluated). Typically, the reduction in the simulated average arterial speed (which includes both segment and signal delay) was between zero and four miles per hour when a roadway was converted from a four-lane undivided to a three-lane cross section. The simulated arterial level of service for a converted roadway, however, showed a decrease when the bi-directional peak-hour volume was about 1,750 vehicles per hour (or 17,500 vehicles per day if 10 percent of the daily volume is assumed to occur in the peak hour). Past research by others, however, indicates that 12,000 vehicles per day may be the operational capacity (i.e., level of service E) of a three-lane roadway due to vehicle platooning. The simulation results, along with past research and case study results, appear to support following volume-related feasibility suggestions for four-lane undivided to three-lane cross section conversions. It is recommended that a four-lane undivided to three-lane conversion be considered as a feasible (with respect to volume only) option when bi-directional peak-hour volumes are less than 1,500 vehicles per hour, but that some caution begin to be exercised when the roadway has a bi-directional peak-hour volume between 1,500 and 1,750 vehicles per hour. At and above 1,750 vehicles per hour, the simulation indicated a reduction in arterial level of service. Therefore, at least in Iowa, the feasibility of a four-lane undivided to three-lane conversion should be questioned and/or considered much more closely when a roadway has (or is expected to have) a peak-hour volume of more than 1,750 vehicles. Assuming that 10 percent of the daily traffic occurs during the peak-hour, these volume recommendations would correspond to 15,000 and 17,500 vehicles per day, respectively. These suggestions, however, are based on the results from one idealized case xi study corridor analysis. Individual operational analysis and/or simulations should be completed in detail once a four-lane undivided to three-lane cross section conversion is considered feasible (based on the general suggestions above) for a particular corridor. All of the simulations completed as part of this project also incorporated the optimization of signal timing to minimize vehicle delay along the corridor. A number of determination feasibility factors were identified from a review of the past research, before-and-after case study results, and the simulation sensitivity analysis. The existing and expected (i.e., design period) statuses of these factors are described and should be considered. The characteristics of these factors should be compared to each other, the impacts of other potentially feasible cross section improvements, and the goals/objectives of the community. The factors discussed in these guidelines include • roadway function and environment • overall traffic volume and level of service • turning volumes and patterns • frequent-stop and slow-moving vehicles • weaving, speed, and queues • crash type and patterns • pedestrian and bike activity • right-of-way availability, cost, and acquisition impacts • general characteristics, including - parallel roadways - offset minor street intersections - parallel parking - corner radii - at-grade railroad crossings xii The characteristics of these factors are documented in these guidelines, and their relationship to four-lane undivided to three-lane cross section conversion feasibility identified. This information is summarized along with some evaluative questions in this executive summary and Appendix C. In summary, the results of past research, numerous case studies, and the simulation analyses done as part of this project support the conclusion that in certain circumstances a four-lane undivided to three-lane conversion can be a feasible alternative for the mitigation of operational and/or safety concerns. This feasibility, however, must be determined by an evaluation of the factors identified in these guidelines (along with any others that may be relevant for a individual corridor). The expected benefits, costs, and overall impacts of a four-lane undivided to three-lane conversion should then be compared to the impacts of other feasible alternatives (e.g., adding a raised median) at a particular location.

Use of 2D Sensitivity Encoding for Slow-Infusion Contrast-Enhanced Isotropic 3-T Whole-Heart Coronary MR Angiography.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to improve the blood-pool signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and blood-myocardium contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of slow-infusion 3-T whole-heart coronary MR angiography (MRA).SUBJECTS AND METHODS. In 2D sensitivity encoding (SENSE), the number of acquired k-space lines is reduced, allowing less radiofrequency excitation per cardiac cycle and a longer TR. The former can be exploited for signal enhancement with a higher radiofrequency excitation angle, and the latter leads to noise reduction due to lower data-sampling bandwidth. Both effects contribute to SNR gain in coronary MRA when spatial and temporal resolution and acquisition time remain identical. Numeric simulation was performed to select the optimal 2D SENSE pulse sequence parameters and predict the SNR gain. Eleven patients underwent conventional unenhanced and the proposed 2D SENSE contrast-enhanced coronary MRA acquisition. Blood-pool SNR, blood-myocardium CNR, visible vessel length, vessel sharpness, and number of side branches were evaluated.RESULTS. Consistent with the numeric simulation, using 2D SENSE in contrast-enhanced coronary MRA resulted in significant improvement in aortic blood-pool SNR (unenhanced vs contrast-enhanced, 37.5 +/- 14.7 vs 121.3 +/- 44.0; p < 0.05) and CNR (14.4 +/- 6.9 vs 101.5 +/- 40.8; p < 0.05) in the patient sample. A longer length of left anterior descending coronary artery was visualized, but vessel sharpness, coronary artery coverage, and image quality score were not improved with the proposed approach.CONCLUSION. In combination with contrast administration, 2D SENSE was found effective in improving SNR and CNR in 3-T whole-heart coronary MRA. Further investigation of cardiac motion compensation is necessary to exploit the SNR and CNR advantages and to achieve submillimeter spatial resolution.

Performance comparison of two commercial BGO-based PET/CT scanners using NEMA NU 2-2001.

Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) scanners play a major role in medicine for in vivo imaging in an increasing number of diseases in oncology, cardiology, neurology, and psychiatry. With the advent of short-lived radioisotopes other than 18F and newer scanners, there is a need to optimize radioisotope activity and acquisition protocols, as well as to compare scanner performances on an objective basis. The Discovery-LS (D-LS) was among the first clinical PET/CT scanners to be developed and has been extensively characterized with older National Electrical Manufacturer Association (NEMA) NU 2-1994 standards. At the time of publication of the latest version of the standards (NU 2-2001) that have been adapted for whole-body imaging under clinical conditions, more recent models from the same manufacturer, i.e., Discovery-ST (D-ST) and Discovery-STE (D-STE), were commercially available. We report on the full characterization both in the two- and three-dimensional acquisition mode of the D-LS according to latest NEMA NU 2-2001 standards (spatial resolution, sensitivity, count rate performance, accuracy of count losses, and random coincidence correction and image quality), as well as a detailed comparison with the newer D-ST widely used and whose characteristics are already published.

Automatització d'una planta de processos químics

Resum L’any 1969 es van començar a comercialitzar els sistemes digitals programables coneguts com autòmats programables o PLC’s, utilitzats per controlar qualsevol tipus de procés industrial. Al llarg de tots aquests anys, aquests sistemes i tota la tecnologia en general han evolucionat molt, i només és qüestió de temps que la tecnologia que utilitzem avui en dia quedi obsoleta i substituïda per una de millors característiques i amb més avantatges. Aquest és el motiu de l’elaboració d’aquest treball, que com a objectiu pretén modernitzar un procés de fabricació d’una industria química que ha quedat molt limitat a causa de l’antiguitat de la instal•lació. Per dur a terme aquesta modernització, s’introdueixen sistemes de control amb majors prestacions, s’utilitzen xarxes de comunicacions per facilitar el muntatge elèctric de la instal•lació i un sistema de supervisió i adquisició de dades per poder obtenir un control més estricte del procés de fabricació i de tots els factors que intervenen. El funcionament del procés de fabricació és que a partir d’unes matèries primeres líquides emmagatzemades en dipòsits, es dosifiquin aquestes matèries en l’ordre i la quantitat desitjada dins un o diversos recipients per barrejar-les i aplicar els tractaments que siguin necessaris. Tot aquest procés està controlat per un autòmat programable, i disposa de diferents terminals operadors per poder interactuar amb el sistema. També té implementat un sistema SCADA en diversos ordinadors per aportar una visió general de la planta en temps real, un registre de dades dels paràmetres que es controlen i alhora serveix per enllaçar amb la xarxa d’ordinadors existent. Com annex d’aquest treball, es presenten els esquemes elèctrics i el programa de l’autòmat programable per veure totes les característiques elèctriques dels dispositius i el mètode de funcionament del procés. S’ha aconseguit donar un salt tecnològic i poder gaudir de tots els avantatges que ofereixen les noves tecnologies, que com a resultat s’ha optimitzat i millorat el procés de fabricació. De totes les conclusions, la més destacada és la d’haver dissenyat un sistema de control basat en una estructura descentralitzada molt flexible, que es pot expandir i adaptar fàcilment als possibles canvis.

Domain Adaptation in remote sensing: increasing the portability of land-cover classifiers

Among the types of remote sensing acquisitions, optical images are certainly one of the most widely relied upon data sources for Earth observation. They provide detailed measurements of the electromagnetic radiation reflected or emitted by each pixel in the scene. Through a process termed supervised land-cover classification, this allows to automatically yet accurately distinguish objects at the surface of our planet. In this respect, when producing a land-cover map of the surveyed area, the availability of training examples representative of each thematic class is crucial for the success of the classification procedure. However, in real applications, due to several constraints on the sample collection process, labeled pixels are usually scarce. When analyzing an image for which those key samples are unavailable, a viable solution consists in resorting to the ground truth data of other previously acquired images. This option is attractive but several factors such as atmospheric, ground and acquisition conditions can cause radiometric differences between the images, hindering therefore the transfer of knowledge from one image to another. The goal of this Thesis is to supply remote sensing image analysts with suitable processing techniques to ensure a robust portability of the classification models across different images. The ultimate purpose is to map the land-cover classes over large spatial and temporal extents with minimal ground information. To overcome, or simply quantify, the observed shifts in the statistical distribution of the spectra of the materials, we study four approaches issued from the field of machine learning. First, we propose a strategy to intelligently sample the image of interest to collect the labels only in correspondence of the most useful pixels. This iterative routine is based on a constant evaluation of the pertinence to the new image of the initial training data actually belonging to a different image. Second, an approach to reduce the radiometric differences among the images by projecting the respective pixels in a common new data space is presented. We analyze a kernel-based feature extraction framework suited for such problems, showing that, after this relative normalization, the cross-image generalization abilities of a classifier are highly increased. Third, we test a new data-driven measure of distance between probability distributions to assess the distortions caused by differences in the acquisition geometry affecting series of multi-angle images. Also, we gauge the portability of classification models through the sequences. In both exercises, the efficacy of classic physically- and statistically-based normalization methods is discussed. Finally, we explore a new family of approaches based on sparse representations of the samples to reciprocally convert the data space of two images. The projection function bridging the images allows a synthesis of new pixels with more similar characteristics ultimately facilitating the land-cover mapping across images.

Classification of urban multi-angular image sequences by aligning their manifolds

When dealing with multi-angular image sequences, problems of reflectance changes due either to illumination and acquisition geometry, or to interactions with the atmosphere, naturally arise. These phenomena interplay with the scene and lead to a modification of the measured radiance: for example, according to the angle of acquisition, tall objects may be seen from top or from the side and different light scatterings may affect the surfaces. This results in shifts in the acquired radiance, that make the problem of multi-angular classification harder and might lead to catastrophic results, since surfaces with the same reflectance return significantly different signals. In this paper, rather than performing atmospheric or bi-directional reflection distribution function (BRDF) correction, a non-linear manifold learning approach is used to align data structures. This method maximizes the similarity between the different acquisitions by deforming their manifold, thus enhancing the transferability of classification models among the images of the sequence.

Kansainvälisten yhtiöiden yritysostot Venäjän elintarviketeollisuudessa

Tässä työssä tutkittiin Venäjän elintarviketeollisuuteen vuosina 1992 - 2004 investoineitakansainvälisiä yhtiöitä, niiden käyttämiä investointitapoja ja yritysostojen motiiveja. Viime vuosina Venäjän bruttokansantuote kasvoi yli 4 % vuodessa. Venäjän ostovoima kasvoi talouden mukana. Venäjän elintarviketeollisuudella on vieläkin kasvupotentiaalia. Paikallinen elintarvikevalmistus on varteenotettava vaihtoehto, jota kannattaa harkita. Vuosina 1992 - 2004 meijeri- ja virvoitusjuomateollisuudessa uusien tehtaiden rakentajia oli enemmän kuin tehtaiden ostajia. Panimoteollisuudessa oli enemmän yritysostojen käyttäjiä kuin uuden tehtaan rakentajia. Konditoriateollisuudessa ja kaikilla tutkituilla sektoreilla yhteensä yritysostojen käyttäjiä oli saman verran kuin uusien tehtaiden rakentajia. Tärkeimmät ulkoiset syyt yritysostoihin Venäjällä olivat markkinoiden koko, hallituspolitiikka ja säädökset, ostettavan kohdeyrityksen tuotemerkki ja kohdeyrityksen markkinaosuus. Tärkeimmät sisäiset syyt yritysostoihin olivat ulkomaan markkinoiden rooli strategiassa, tuotteen sopeuttamisen tarve ja yrityksen omat vapaat resurssit.

Yritys- ja pääomatuloverouudistuksen vaikutus konsernien yritysjärjestelyihin.

Tutkimuksessa selvitetään yritys- ja pääomatuloverouudistuksen vaikutuksia konsernien sisäisiin yritysjärjestelyihin. Päätavoite oli selvittää, onko verouudistuksella todellista vaikutusta konsernirakenteiden muuttamisessa käytettyjen yritysjärjestelykeinojen valintaan. Alatavoitteista merkityksellisimmäksi muodostui verouudistuksen mukanaan tuomien epäkohtien etsiminen. Tytäryhtiöosakkeiden purkuvoiton muuttuminen verotuksessa verovapaaksi ja purkutappion vähennyskelvottomaksi, aiheuttaa houkutuksen pyrkiä yritysjärjestelyjen toteuttamiseen siten, että verotusta voidaan kiertää. Tutkimuksessa osoitettiin epäkohtia uudistuksessa, jotka mahdollistavat veronkiertämisen yritysjärjestelyissä. Tutkimustulos osoittaa verouudistuksella olleen vaikutusta yritysjärjestelykeinon valintaan, sillä uudistuksen jälkeen sekä purkamisen ja fuusion veroseuraamukset ovat emoyhtiön osalta toisiaan vastaavat. Merkitykselliseksi muodostuu uudistuksen jälkeen tytäryhtiön verotuksellinen asema. Se on jatkossa syytä selvittää ennen yritysjärjestelykeinon valintaa.

LANGATTOMAN MITTAUS- JA VALVONTAJÄRJESTELMÄN PROTOKOLLAKEHITYS

Tässä diplomityössä esitellään langattoman mittaus- ja valvontajärjestelmän protokollakehitys. Työssä selvitetään protokollakehityksessä huomioon otettavat asiat ja esitetään langattoman tilavalvontaan perustuvan pilottijärjestelmän toteutus. Pilottijärjestelmänä käytetään Ensto Busch-Jaeger Oy:n Jussi-kosteusvahtijärjestelmää, joka muutetaan langattomaksi. Järjestelmän tiedonsiirto on yksisuuntaista ja tapahtuu radioyhteydellä. Käytetty taajuus on 433,92 MHz. Tavoitteena työssä oli kehittää yksinkertainen, mutta luotettava signalointijärjestelmä. Siihen toteutettu protokolla koodaa lähetettävän datan NRZ-L -koodauksen tapaisesti. Virheenkorjaus tehdään pariteettibittiä ja Hamming-etäisyyttä hyväksi käyttäen. Lisäksi tiedonsiirron yhteyskäytäntöön on lisätty rinnakkaisuutta yksisuuntaisen tiedonsiirron varmistamiseksi. Kehitetylle protokollalle tehdyt testit osoittavat sen olevan luotettava valitussa tiedonsiirtoympäristössä.

Yrityskaupat osana konsernistrategiaa, case Metso Oyj

Tämän tutkimuksen päätavoite oli lisätä ymmärrystä yrityksen strategiaprosessista, erityisesti tutkimalla yrityskauppojen osuutta siinä. Käytettävä tutkimusmetodologia oli toiminta-analyyttinen. Teoriaosuudessa syvennyttiin strategian ja strategiaprosessin käsitteistöön sekä yrityskauppaprosessiin ja yrityskauppojen syihin. Empiriaosuudessa tutkittiin Metson strategiaa sekä teorian että julkisen aineiston avulla. Apuna oli myös yrityksestä saatua materiaalia sekä investointipankkien analyyseja, joista osa oli sensitiivisiä. Teorian ja eri sidosryhmien mielipiteiden avulla arvioin valitun strategian järkevyyttä. Vielä ei ole varmuutta siitä, tuleeko paljon huomiota saanut Svedalakauppa toteutumaan. Olen kuitenkin käsitellyt kauppaa ja sen hyviä sekä huonoja puolia. On vaikeata sanoa etukäteen onko jokin strategia hyvä vai huono, mutta olen tuonut esiin joitakin ongelmakohtia, joita on tullut esiin työtä tehdessä ja toivon niiden herättävän keskustelua caseyrityksessä.