A non-extensive maximum entropy based regulations method for bad conditioned inverse problems

A regularization method based on the non-extensive maximum entropy principle is devised. Special emphasis is given to the q=1/2 case. We show that, when the residual principle is considered as constraint, the q=1/2 generalized distribution of Tsallis yields a regularized solution for bad-conditioned problems. The so devised regularized distribution is endowed with a component which corresponds to the well known regularized solution of Tikhonov (1977).

Obesity-related phenotypes are associated to parental longevity in a Swiss population-based study

METHODS. We analyzed data from a population-based sample of 2561 participants (1163 men and 1398 women) aged 55-75 years from the city of Lausanne, Switzerland (CoLaus study). Participants were stratified by the number of parents (0, 1, 2) who survived to 85 years or more. Trend across these strata was assessed using a non-parametric kmean test. The associations of parental age (independent covariate used as a proxy for longevity) with fasting blood glucose, blood pressures, blood lipids, body mass index (BMI), weight, height or liver enzymes (continuous dependent variables) were analyzed using multiple linear regressions. Models were adjusted for age, sex, alcohol consumption, smoking and educational level, and BMI for liver enzymes. RESULTS. For subjects with 0 (N = 1298), 1 (N = 991) and 2 (N = 272) long-lived parents, median BMI (interquartile range) was 25.4 (6.5), 24.9 (6.1) and 23.7 (4.8) kg/m2 in women (P <0.001), and 27.3 (4.8), 27.0 (4.5) and 25.9 (4.9) kg/m2 in men (P = 0.04), respectively; median weight was 66.5 (16.1), 65.0 (16.4) and 63.4 (13.7) kg in women (P = 0.003), and 81.5 (17.0), 81.4 (16.4) and 80.3 (17.1) kg in men (P = 0.36). Median height was 161 (8), 162 (9) and 163 (8) cm in women (P = 0.005) and 173 (9), 174 (9) and 174 (11) cm in men (P = 0.09). The corresponding medians for AST (Aspartate Aminotransferase) were 31 (13), 29 (11) and 28 (10) U/L (P = 0.002), and 28 (17), 27 (14) and 26 (19) U/L for ALT (Alanin Aminotransferase, P = 0.053) in men. In multivariable analyses, greater parental longevity was associated with lower BMI, lower weight and taller stature in women (P < 0.01) and lower AST in men (P = 0.011). No significant associations were observed for the other variables analyzed. Sensitivity analyses restricted to subjects whose parents were dead (N = 1844) led to similar results, with even stronger associations of parental longevity with liver enzymes in men. CONCLUSIONS. In women, increased parental longevity was associated with smaller BMI, attributable to lower weight and taller stature. In men, the association of increased parental longevity with lower liver enzymes, independently of BMI, suggests that parental longevity may be associated with decreased nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Paediatric bi-ventricular external assist device based on artificial muscles

Objective: Existing VADs are single-ventricle pumps needing anticoagulation. We developed a bi ventricular external assist device that reproduces the physiological heart muscle movement completely avoiding anticoagulants. Methods: The device has a carbon fibre skeleton fitting a 30-40 kg patient's heart, to which a Nitinol based artificial muscle is connected. The artificial muscle wraps both ventricles. The strength of the Nitinol fibres is amplified by a pivot articulation in contact with the ventricle wall. The fibres are electrically driven and a dedicated control unit has been developed. We assessed hemodynamic performances of this device using a previously described dedicated bench test. Volume ejected and pressure gradient has been measured with afterload ranging from 25 to 50mmHg. Results: With anafterload of 50mmHg the system has an ejection fraction (EF) of 10% on the right side and 8% on the left side. The system is able to generate a systolic ejection of 5,5 ml on the right side and 4,4 ml on the left side. With anafterload of 25mmHg the results are reduced of about 20%. The activation frequency is 80/minute resulting in a total volume displacement of 440 ml/minute on the right side and 352 ml/minute on the left side. Conclusions: The artificial muscle follows Starling's law as the ejected volume increases when afterload increases. These preliminary studies confirmed the possibility of improving the EF of a failing heart using artificial muscle for external cardiac compression. This device could be helpful in weaning CPB and/or for short-term cardio-circulatory support in paediatric population with cardiac failure.

Strategies and tools for preventing neurotoxicity: to test, to predict and how to do it

A change in paradigm is needed in the prevention of toxic effects on the nervous system, moving from its present reliance solely on data from animal testing to a prediction model mostly based on in vitro toxicity testing and in silico modeling. According to the report published by the National Research Council (NRC) of the US National Academies of Science, high-throughput in vitro tests will provide evidence for alterations in"toxicity pathways" as the best possible method of large scale toxicity prediction. The challenges to implement this proposal are enormous, and provide much room for debate. While many efforts address the technical aspects of implementing the vision, many questions around it need also to be addressed. Is the overall strategy the only one to be pursued? How can we move from current to future paradigms? Will we ever be able to reliably model for chronic and developmental neurotoxicity in vitro? This paper summarizes four presentations from a symposium held at the International Neurotoxicology Conference held in Xi"an, China, in June 2011. A. Li reviewed the current guidelines for neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity testing, and discussed the major challenges existing to realize the NCR vision for toxicity testing. J. Llorens reviewed the biology of mammalian toxic avoidance in view of present knowledge on the physiology and molecular biology of the chemical senses, taste and smell. This background information supports the hypothesis that relating in vivo toxicity to chemical epitope descriptors that mimic the chemical encoding performed by the olfactory system may provide a way to the long term future of complete in silico toxicity prediction. S. Ceccatelli reviewed the implementation of rodent and human neural stem cells (NSCs) as models for in vitro toxicity testing that measures parameters such as cell proliferation, differentiation and migration. These appear to be sensitive endpoints that can identify substances with developmental neurotoxic potential. C. Sun ol reviewed the use of primary neuronal cultures in testing for neurotoxicity of environmental pollutants, including the study of the effects of persistent exposures and/or in differentiating cells, which allow recording of effects that can be extrapolated to human developmental neurotoxicity.

Phylogenetic study of the Grimmia Hedw. (Grimmiales, Bryopsida) based on a combination of morphological and molecular characters

Résumé Les mousses sont la plus ancienne lignée de plantes terrestres et leur longue évolution a été accompagnée par des tendances à la simplification des caractères morphologiques. Ce phénomène a quelque peu compliqué les reconstructions phylogénétiques basées sur la morphologie. Les analyses génétiques ont permis de donner de nouvelles informations dans le cadre des analyses phylogénétiques et une réévaluation de certains caractères morphologiques. La plupart des études combinant les données morphologiques et moléculaires ne concernent que des niveaux systématiques élevés comme l'ordre ou la famille et très peu considèrent le niveau du genre. La présente étude tend à tester les relations phylogénétiques du genre Grimmia à l'aide d'une combinaison de caractères morphologiques et moléculaires. Les 40 espèces de Grimmia utilisées dans la première partie de cette étude représentent la majorité des espèces trouvées en Eurasie, un des centres de diversification du genre. Lors de l'analyse morphologique, 52 caractères morphologiques/anatomiques (33 du gamétophyte et 19 du sporophyte) ont été numérisés. Malgré le peu de support statistique des arbres, la topologie des arbres est stable. Les Grimmia, comme décrit précédemment, sont paraphylétiques. Trois clades, correspondant respectivement aux sous-genres Rhabdogrimmia Limpr, Litoneuron I.Hagen et Gasterogrimmia Schimp. sont présents, tandis que le restant des taxons appartenant aux Grimmia forment un groupe non-résolu et indistinct des autres Grimmiaceae. Les séquences chloroplastiques trnL-trnF et rps4 combinés à la morphologie ont été ensuite utilisés pour reconstruire la phylogénie des Grimmia. Les arbres obtenus soutiennent la monophylie des Grimmiaceae tandis que les Grimmia, sont paraphylétiques. Deux clades principaux correspondant aux "Rhabdogrimmia" et aux "Grimmia" se détachent. Seules les espèces de "Rhabdogrimmia" produisent des gemmules foliaires (reproduction asexuée). Dans une étude considèrant 91 séquences trrIL-trnF les espèces appartenant aux "Rhabdogrimrnia" (reproduction asexuée essentiellement) ont des variabilités intraspécifique très faible et interspécifique relativement élevée tandis que les "Grimmia" possèdent la tendance inverse (plus de reproduction sexuée). Summary The mosses are a very old land plant lineage and their long evolutionary history has been accompanied by a trend of morphological character simplifications. This phenomenon has somewhat complicated morphological based phylogenetic reconstructions. Genetic analyses have provided new insights for phylogenetic studies, and have allowed morphological data to be re¬evaluated. Most of the studies combining morphological and molecular data have concerned the higher systematic levels of order and family and only have few considered the genus. The present study aims to test the phylogenetic relationships of the genus Grimmia using a combination of morphological and molecular characters. The 40 chosen Grimmia species represent the majority of those found in Eurasia, one diversification centers of the genus. For the morphological analysis, 52 morphological/anatomical characters (33 gametophyte and 19 sporophyte characters) were numerized. Although the internal statistical support was relatively low, the tree topologies were stable. Grimmia as currently defined was found to be paraphyletic. Three subclades, corresponding to the subgenera Rhabdogrimmia Limpr., Litoneuron I.Hagen, and Gasterogrimmia Schimp. were observed in the trees, while the reminder of the Grimmia species formed an unresolved group indistinct from other Grimmiaceae. Chloroplast (trnL-trnF and rps4) DNA sequences combined with morphology were used to reconstruct the phylogeny of Grimmia. The resulting trees supported the monophyly of Grimmiaceae and that the genus Grimmia, as currently defined, as paraphyletic. Two main clades were resolved corresponding to "Rhabdogrimmia" and "Grimmia". The species belonging to "Rhabdogrimmia" produce foliar-gemmae (asexual reproduction). In a study using 91 sequences of trnL-trnF,"Rhabdogrimmia" species (mainly asexual reproduction) have very low intraspecific variability and high interspecific variability whereas the "Grimmia" species possess the inverse tendency.

Survey of management of first-ever seizures in a hospital based community

Résumé Contexte: Bon nombre d'études épidémiologiques concernant les premières crises comitiales ont été effectuées principalement sur des populations générales. Cependant, les patients admis dans un hôpital peuvent présenter des éléments cliniques différents. Nous avons donc mené une étude prospective auprès de sujets dans une population hospitalière ayant subi une première crise d'épilepsie, afin d'étudier leur pronostic et le rôle des examens complémentaires (examen neurologique, imagerie cérébrale, examens sanguins, EEG) dans le choix de l'administration d'une médication antiépileptique. Méthodes : Sur une période d'une année, nous avons suivi 177 patients adultes, admis consécutivement, ayant présenté une crise d'épilepsie dont l'évaluation aiguë a été effectuée dans notre hôpital. Pendant 6 mois, nous avons pratiqué pour chaque patient un suivi du traitement antiépileptique, des récidives de crises et d'un éventuel décès. Résultats : L'examen neurologique était anormal dans 72.3% des cas, l'imagerie cérébrale dans 54.8% et les examens sanguins dans 57.1%. L'EEG a montré des éléments épileptiformes dans 33.9% des cas. L'étiologie la plus fréquemment représentée était constituée par des intoxications. Un traitement antiépileptique a été prescrit chez 51% des patients. 31.6% des sujets suivis à six mois ont subi une récidive ; la mortalité s'est élevée à 17.8%. Statistiquement, l'imagerie cérébrale, l'EEG et l'examen neurologique étaient des facteurs prédictifs indépendants pour l'administration d'antiépileptiques, et l'imagerie cérébrale le seul facteur associé au pronostic. Conclusions : Les patients évalués en aigu dans un hôpital pour une première crise comitiale présentent un profil médical sous-jacent, qui explique probablement leur mauvais pronostic. L'imagerie cérébrale s'est avérée être le test paraclinique le plus important dans la prévention du traitement et du pronostic. Mots-clés : première crise d'épilepsie, étiologie, pronostic, récidive, médication antiépileptique, population hospitalière Summary Background: Epidemiological studies focusing on first-ever seizures have been carried out mainly on community based populations. However, since hospital populations may display varying clinical features, we prospectively analysed patients with first-ever seizure in a hospital based community to evaluate prognosis and the role of complementary investigations in the decision to administer antiepileptic drugs (AED). Methods: Over one year, we recruited 177 consecutive adult patients with a first seizure acutely evaluated in our hospital. During six months' follow-up data relating to AED treatment, recurrence of seizures and death were collected for each patient. Results:. Neurological examination was abnormal in 72.3%, neuroimaging in 54.8% and biochemical tests in 57.1%. Electroencephalogram (EEG) showed epileptiform features in 33.9%. Toxicity represented the most common aetiology. AED was prescribed in 51% of patients. Seizure recurrence at six months involved 31.6% of patients completing the follow-up; mortality was 17.8%. Statistical analysis showed that brain CT, EEG and neurological examination are independent predictive factors for AED administration, but only CT scan is associated with outcome. Conclusions: Patients evaluated acutely for first- ever seizure in a hospital setting have severe underlying clinical conditions apparently related to their relatively poor prognosis. Neuroimaging represents the most important paraclinical test in predicting both treatment administration and outcome.

FPGA-Based Control Design for Power Electronic Applications

Tehoelektoniikkalaitteella tarkoitetaan ohjaus- ja säätöjärjestelmää, jolla sähköä muokataan saatavilla olevasta muodosta haluttuun uuteen muotoon ja samalla hallitaan sähköisen tehon virtausta lähteestä käyttökohteeseen. Tämä siis eroaa signaalielektroniikasta, jossa sähköllä tyypillisesti siirretään tietoa hyödyntäen eri tiloja. Tehoelektroniikkalaitteita vertailtaessa katsotaan yleensä niiden luotettavuutta, kokoa, tehokkuutta, säätötarkkuutta ja tietysti hintaa. Tyypillisiä tehoelektroniikkalaitteita ovat taajuudenmuuttajat, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) -laitteet, hitsauskoneet, induktiokuumentimet sekä erilaiset teholähteet. Perinteisesti näiden laitteiden ohjaus toteutetaan käyttäen mikroprosessoreja, ASIC- (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) tai IC (Intergrated Circuit) -piirejä sekä analogisia säätimiä. Tässä tutkimuksessa on analysoitu FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) -piirien soveltuvuutta tehoelektroniikan ohjaukseen. FPGA-piirien rakenne muodostuu erilaisista loogisista elementeistä ja niiden välisistä yhdysjohdoista.Loogiset elementit ovat porttipiirejä ja kiikkuja. Yhdysjohdot ja loogiset elementit ovat piirissä kiinteitä eikä koostumusta tai lukumäärää voi jälkikäteen muuttaa. Ohjelmoitavuus syntyy elementtien välisistä liitännöistä. Piirissä on lukuisia, jopa miljoonia kytkimiä, joiden asento voidaan asettaa. Siten piirin peruselementeistä voidaan muodostaa lukematon määrä erilaisia toiminnallisia kokonaisuuksia. FPGA-piirejä on pitkään käytetty kommunikointialan tuotteissa ja siksi niiden kehitys on viime vuosina ollut nopeaa. Samalla hinnat ovat pudonneet. Tästä johtuen FPGA-piiristä on tullut kiinnostava vaihtoehto myös tehoelektroniikkalaitteiden ohjaukseen. Väitöstyössä FPGA-piirien käytön soveltuvuutta on tutkittu käyttäen kahta vaativaa ja erilaista käytännön tehoelektroniikkalaitetta: taajuudenmuuttajaa ja hitsauskonetta. Molempiin testikohteisiin rakennettiin alan suomalaisten teollisuusyritysten kanssa soveltuvat prototyypit,joiden ohjauselektroniikka muutettiin FPGA-pohjaiseksi. Lisäksi kehitettiin tätä uutta tekniikkaa hyödyntävät uudentyyppiset ohjausmenetelmät. Prototyyppien toimivuutta verrattiin vastaaviin perinteisillä menetelmillä ohjattuihin kaupallisiin tuotteisiin ja havaittiin FPGA-piirien mahdollistaman rinnakkaisen laskennantuomat edut molempien tehoelektroniikkalaitteiden toimivuudessa. Työssä on myösesitetty uusia menetelmiä ja työkaluja FPGA-pohjaisen säätöjärjestelmän kehitykseen ja testaukseen. Esitetyillä menetelmillä tuotteiden kehitys saadaan mahdollisimman nopeaksi ja tehokkaaksi. Lisäksi työssä on kehitetty FPGA:n sisäinen ohjaus- ja kommunikointiväylärakenne, joka palvelee tehoelektroniikkalaitteiden ohjaussovelluksia. Uusi kommunikointirakenne edistää lisäksi jo tehtyjen osajärjestelmien uudelleen käytettävyyttä tulevissa sovelluksissa ja tuotesukupolvissa.

Design and implementation of FPGA-based LQ control of active magnetic bearings

The need for high performance, high precision, and energy saving in rotating machinery demands an alternative solution to traditional bearings. Because of the contactless operation principle, the rotating machines employing active magnetic bearings (AMBs) provide many advantages over the traditional ones. The advantages such as contamination-free operation, low maintenance costs, high rotational speeds, low parasitic losses, programmable stiffness and damping, and vibration insulation come at expense of high cost, and complex technical solution. All these properties make the use of AMBs appropriate primarily for specific and highly demanding applications. High performance and high precision control requires model-based control methods and accurate models of the flexible rotor. In turn, complex models lead to high-order controllers and feature considerable computational burden. Fortunately, in the last few years the advancements in signal processing devices provide new perspective on the real-time control of AMBs. The design and the real-time digital implementation of the high-order LQ controllers, which focus on fast execution times, are the subjects of this work. In particular, the control design and implementation in the field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuits are investigated. The optimal design is guided by the physical constraints of the system for selecting the optimal weighting matrices. The plant model is complemented by augmenting appropriate disturbance models. The compensation of the force-field nonlinearities is proposed for decreasing the uncertainty of the actuator. A disturbance-observer-based unbalance compensation for canceling the magnetic force vibrations or vibrations in the measured positions is presented. The theoretical studies are verified by the practical experiments utilizing a custom-built laboratory test rig. The test rig uses a prototyping control platform developed in the scope of this work. To sum up, the work makes a step in the direction of an embedded single-chip FPGA-based controller of AMBs.

Short communication.Wood identification based on their common name and their transversal surface anatomy. Application to the batch from the expedition of Ruiz and Pavon

Aim of study: To identify species of wood samples based on common names and anatomical analyses of their transversal surfaces (without microscopic preparations). Area of study: Spain and South America Material and methods: The test was carried out on a batch of 15 lumber samples deposited in the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid, from the expedition by Ruiz and Pavon (1777-1811). The first stage of the methodology is to search and to make a critical analysis of the databases which list common nomenclature along with scientific nomenclature. A geographic filter was then applied to the information resulting from the samples with a more restricted distribution. Finally an anatomical verification was carried out with a pocket microscope with a magnification of x40, equipped with a 50 micrometers resolution scale. Main results: The identification of the wood based exclusively on the common name is not useful due to the high number of alternative possibilities (14 for “naranjo”, 10 for “ébano”, etc.). The common name of one of the samples (“huachapelí mulato”) enabled the geographic origin of the samples to be accurately located to the shipyard area in Guayaquil (Ecuador). Given that Ruiz y Pavon did not travel to Ecuador, the specimens must have been obtained by Tafalla. It was possible to determine correctly 67% of the lumber samples from the batch. In 17% of the cases the methodology did not provide a reliable identification. Research highlights: It was possible to determine correctly 67% of the lumber samples from the batch and their geographic provenance. The identification of the wood based exclusively on the common name is not useful.

Blood culture-based diagnosis of bacteraemia: state of the art.

Blood culture remains the best approach to identify the incriminating microorganisms when a bloodstream infection is suspected, and to guarantee that the antimicrobial treatment is adequate. Major improvements have been made in the last years to increase the sensitivity and specificity and to reduce the time to identification of microorganisms recovered from blood cultures. Among other factors, the introduction in clinical microbiology laboratories of the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology revolutionized the identification of microorganisms whereas the introduction of nucleic-acid-based methods, such as DNA hybridization or rapid PCR-based test, significantly reduce the time to results. Together with traditional antimicrobial susceptibility testing, new rapid methods for the detection of resistance mechanisms respond to major epidemiological concerns such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, extended-spectrum β-lactamase or carbapenemases. This review presents and discusses the recent developments in microbial diagnosis of bloodstream infections based on blood cultures.

ISO standars on test methods for water radioactivity monitoring

Water is vital to humans and each of us needs at least 1.5 L of safe water a day to drink. Beginning as long ago as 1958 the World Health Organization (WHO) has published guidelines to help ensure water is safe to drink. Focused from the start on monitoring radionuclides in water, and continually cooperating with WHO, the International Standardization Organization (ISO) has been publishing standards on radioactivity test methods since 1978. As reliable, comparable and"fit for purpose" results are an essential requirement for any public health decision based on radioactivity measurements, international standards of tested and validated radionuclide test methods are an important tool for production of such measurements. This paper presents the ISO standards already published that could be used as normative references by testing laboratories in charge of radioactivity monitoring of drinking water as well as those currently under drafting and the prospect of standardized fast test methods in response to a nuclear accident.

Load and Performance Testing of Web Applications on Service Based Environments

Suorituskyky- ja kuormitustestien tekeminen sovelluksille on erittäin tärkeä osa tuotantoprosessia nykypäivänä. Myös Web-sovelluksia testataan yhä enemmän. Tarve suorituskyky- ja kuormitustestien tekemiselle on selvä. Testattavan ympäristön tämänhetkinen, mutta myös tulevaisuuden toimivuus taataan oikein tehdyillä testeillä ja niitä seuraavilla korjaustoimenpiteillä. Suurten käyttäjämäärien testaaminen manuaalisesti on kuitenkin hyvin vaikeaa. Sirpaleisen ympäristön, kuten palveluihin perustuvien Web-sovellusympäristöjen testaaminen on haaste. Tämän työn aiheena on arvioida työkaluja ja menetelmiä, joilla raskaita teollisia Web-sovelluksia voidaan testata. Tavoitteena on löytää testausmenetelmiä, joilla voidaan luotettavasti simuloida suuria käyttäjämääriä. Tavoitteena on myös arvioida erilaisten yhteyksien ja protokollien vaikutusta Web-sovelluksen suorituskykyyn.

Predicting the outcome of post-anoxic comatose patients based on single-trial EEG analysis

Les maladies cardio-vasculaires représentent la première cause de mortalité en Suisse. Après un arrêt cardio-respiratoire, une minorité des patients survit sans ou avec peu de séquelles fonctionnelles. L'évaluation du pronostic se fait classiquement selon des critères établis par l'Académie Américaine de Neurologie (AAN) en 2006, soit précédant l'introduction de l'hypothermie thérapeutique. Depuis, ces critères semblent insuffisants, et de nouveaux examens para-cliniques sont nécessaires afin d'identifier les patients ayant un pronostic favorable. La détection d'irrégularités auditives, et plus particulièrement l'évolution de cette détection sur plusieurs jours, pourrait être un indicateur du pronostic de patients comateux suite à une anoxie cérébrale. En effet, lors d'une violation de la régularité établie par des séries de sons identiques, deux signaux sont détectables à l'électro- encéphalographie (EEG). Le premier, dénommé «Mismatch negativity» (MMN), peut être enregistré après une violation locale d'une régularité établie au niveau de chaque son. Il reflète un processus inconscient et ne demandant pas de ressources attentionnelles. Le deuxième, dénommé « complexe P300 » survient par contre après une violation globale d'une régularité établie au niveau de groupes de sons. La littérature actuelle indique que ce deuxième phénomène requerrait la présence de capacités attentionnelles. Dans notre étude, nous avons testé l'existence de cette détection d'irrégularités auditives globales chez des patients dans une phase précoce de coma post-anoxique, sous hypothermie thérapeutique. Nous avons enregistré la réponse électro-encéphalographique lors de violations de régularités auditives globales, à l'aide d'un protocole expérimental qui intégrait en plus un paradigme de MMN classique, afin de tester la détection d'irrégularités auditives locales également. Notre analyse finale inclut 24 patients comateux ayant subi un arrêt cardio-respiratoire, et bénéficié du protocole hypothermie du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) à Lausanne. Après une analyse multivariée des réponses électro-encéphalographiques de chaque tracé individuellement (« single-trial »), nous avons trouvé que 8 patients sur 24 pouvaient discriminer une irrégularité globale, alors qu'étant définis comateux selon l'échelle de Glasgow (GCS). De plus, l'amélioration de la détection d' irrégularités auditives entre deux EEG consécutifs (en hypo- puis normothermie), était un facteur de bon pronostic. Notre test pourrait ainsi être un complément para-clinique dans l'évaluation du pronostic de patients en coma post- anoxique.

Allelic diversity and population structure in Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal based on nucleotide sequence analysis

Comparative analysis of gene fragments of six housekeeping loci, distributed around the two chromosomes of Vibrio cholerae, has been carried out for a collection of 29 V. cholerae O139 Bengal strains isolated from India during the first epidemic period (1992 to 1993). A toxigenic O1 ElTor strain from the seventh pandemic and an environmental non-O1/non-O139 strain were also included in this study. All loci studied were polymorphic, with a small number of polymorphic sites in the sequenced fragments. The genetic diversity determined for our O139 population is concordant with a previous multilocus enzyme electrophoresis study in which we analyzed the same V. cholerae O139 strains. In both studies we have found a higher genetic diversity than reported previously in other molecular studies. The results of the present work showed that O139 strains clustered in several lineages of the dendrogram generated from the matrix of allelic mismatches between the different genotypes, a finding which does not support the hypothesis previously reported that the O139 serogroup is a unique clone. The statistical analysis performed in the V. cholerae O139 isolates suggested a clonal population structure. Moreover, the application of the Sawyer's test and split decomposition to detect intragenic recombination in the sequenced gene fragments did not indicate the existence of recombination in our O139 population.

Evolutionary computing in search-based software engineering

This master’s thesis aims to study and represent from literature how evolutionary algorithms are used to solve different search and optimisation problems in the area of software engineering. Evolutionary algorithms are methods, which imitate the natural evolution process. An artificial evolution process evaluates fitness of each individual, which are solution candidates. The next population of candidate solutions is formed by using the good properties of the current population by applying different mutation and crossover operations. Different kinds of evolutionary algorithm applications related to software engineering were searched in the literature. Applications were classified and represented. Also the necessary basics about evolutionary algorithms were presented. It was concluded, that majority of evolutionary algorithm applications related to software engineering were about software design or testing. For example, there were applications about classifying software production data, project scheduling, static task scheduling related to parallel computing, allocating modules to subsystems, N-version programming, test data generation and generating an integration test order. Many applications were experimental testing rather than ready for real production use. There were also some Computer Aided Software Engineering tools based on evolutionary algorithms.