Haemophagocytic Syndrome in a 19-Year-Old Male with Plasmodium falciparum Malaria

Objectives: Infectious agents triggering haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) primarily involve the herpes virus group. We report a case of HLH precipitated by Plasmodium falciparum. Materials and methods: Clinical and laboratory findings in a patient presenting with fever were collected. After confirmation of acute malaria, anti-malarial treatment was administered. Results: Despite initial favourable evolution, the patient developed fever again together with a worsening of the haematological parameters and increased ferritin levels. A bone marrow biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of HLH. Conclusion: This case illustrates that HLH should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute malaria in patients with persisting fever and pancytopenia.

Exporting the racial republic: African colonization, national citizenship, and the transformation of U.S. expansion, 1776-1864

The effort to create a colony of African Americans on the west coast of Africa was one of the most celebrated and influential movements in the United States during the first half of the 19th century. While historians have often viewed African colonization through the lens of domestic anti-slavery politics, colonization grew from an imperial impulse which promised to transform the identities of black colonists and indigenous Africans by helping them to build a democratic nation from the foundation of a settler colony. By proposing that persons of African descent could eventually become self-governing subjects, the liberal framework behind colonization offered the possibility of black citizenship rights, but only within racially homogenous nation-states, which some proponents of colonization imagined might lead to a “United States of Africa.” This dissertation examines how the notion of expanding democratic ideals through the export of racial nationhood was crucial to the appeal of colonization. It reveals how colonization surfaced in several crucial debates about race, citizenship, and empire in the antebellum United States by examining discussions about African Americans’ revolutionary claims to political rights, the bounds of US territorial expansion, the removal of native populations in North America, and the racialization of national citizenship, both at home and abroad. By examining African colonization from these perspectives, this dissertation argues that the United States’ efforts to construct a liberal democracy defined by white racial identity were directly connected to the nation’s emerging identity as a defender and exporter of political liberty throughout the world.

Contrasts: Quartets and Art Songs of the Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth-century Romantic era saw the development and expansion of many vocal and instrumental forms that had originated in the Classical era. In particular, the German lied and French mélodie matured as art forms, and they found a kind of equilibrium between piano and vocal lines. Similarly, the nineteenth-century piano quartet came into its own as a form of true chamber music in which all instruments participated equally in the texture. Composers such as Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Gabriel Fauré offer particularly successful examples of both art song and piano quartets that represent these genres at their highest level of artistic complexity. Their works have become the cornerstones of the modern collaborative pianist’s repertoire. My dissertation explored both the art songs and the piano quartets of these three composers and studied the different skills needed by a pianist performing both types of works. This project included the following art song cycles: Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Gabriel Fauré’s Poème d’un Jour, and Johannes Brahms’ Zigeunerlieder. I also performed Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47, Fauré’s Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 15, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25. My collaborators included: Zachariah Matteson, violin and viola; Kristin Bakkegard, violin; Molly Jones, cello; Geoffrey Manyin, cello; Karl Mitze, viola; Emily Riggs, soprano, and Matthew Hill, tenor. This repertoire was presented over the course of three recitals on February 13, 2015, December 11, 2015, March 25, 2016 at the University of Maryland’s Gildenhorn Recital Hall. These recitals can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).

Gimnasios inclusivos: “Diseño de interfaces de uso para la optimización de la interacción de personas con discapacidad en gimnasios regulares”

Esta tesis tiene dos objetivos, el primero es responder a la pregunta: ¿Cómo las personas con discapacidad pueden ser incluidos en los gimnasios regulares de la ciudad de Medellín y mediante la práctica de la actividad física aumentar su calidad de vida? -- El segundo objetivo es la aplicación de un proceso de diseño construido a partir de 3 metodologías: HCD Toolkit de IDEO, metodología de diseño y desarrollo de nuevos productos de Ulrich y Eppinger y las técnicas de ingeniería inversa y desarrollo de nuevos productos de Kevin otto y Kristin Wood, cuyo diferenciador es la ubicación de la usabilidad y la innovación social como eje transversal durante el proceso de diseño -- Para alcanzar estos objetivos, se diseñó una investigación aplicada y explicativa, en la que tuvieron participación medios documentales, de campo y de experimentación como libros, entrevistas, hallazgos guiados por la comunidad de personas con discapacidad en el gimnasio VIVO de la Universidad EAFIT y pruebas de uso de los productos diseñados con el usuario real en el contexto real; adicionalmente, esta tesis fue desarrollada bajo la modalidad de investigación cualitativa de acción en la que se tuvo contacto constante con la población y caso de estudio “población con discapacidad en gimnasios de la ciudad de Medellín” durante toda su ejecución, sin embargo, para efectos de la etapa de desarrollo de producto fue necesario aplicar la modalidad cuantitativa, por lo tanto tiene un carácter mixto -- Se realizó una investigación sobre las dificultades y necesidades que tenían las personas con discapacidad para acceder a un gimnasio regular, esto por medio de una validación en la que se llevó a dichos usuarios al gimnasio VIVO de la Universidad EAFIT donde luego del análisis del ejercicio de validación se identificó la necesidad de diseñar un kit de objetos de interacción que permitiera a las personas con discapacidad, usar los objetos de los gimnasios regulares, específicamente para la población con dificultades para agarrar como cuadripléjicos y artríticos; y para usuarios de sillas de ruedas con dificultades de equilibrio a la hora de interactuar con algunas de las máquinas -- El proceso de diseño aplicado para dicho desarrollo fue construido mediante la mezcla de tres metodologías diferentes mencionadas anteriormente y teniendo en cuenta la aplicación de la usabilidad y la innovación social como eje transversal del mismo proceso de creación -- Finalmente, se diseñó un freno para sillas de ruedas el cual evita que estas derriben al usuario hacia atrás cuando hace fuerza y un elemento tipo guante que reemplaza el agarre y la pinza gruesa de la mano; con estos objetos se logró que la mayoría de personas con dificultades para agarrar objetos o manijas puedan acceder a los gimnasios regulares y realizar una amplia serie de ejercicios con los que pueden aumentar la funcionalidad de su cuerpo y por tanto su calidad de vida

Práwa městská Králowstwj cžeskćho. Podruhé wytisstěná.

Dedication signed: Paulus Christianus a Koldina.

Time Orientation in Organizations: Polychronicity and Multitasking

This dissertation consists of four studies examining two constructs related to time orientation in organizations: polychronicity and multitasking. The first study investigates the internal structure of polychronicity and its external correlates in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 732). Results converge to support a one-factor model and finds measures of polychronicity to be significantly related to extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience. The second study quantitatively reviews the existing research examining the relationship between polychronicity and the Big Five factors of personality. Results reveal a significant relationship between extraversion and openness to experience across studies. Studies three and four examine the usefulness of multitasking ability in the prediction of work related criteria using two organizational samples (N = 175 and 119, respectively). Multitasking ability demonstrated predictive validity, however the incremental validity over that of traditional predictors (i.e., cognitive ability and the Big Five factors of personality) was minimal. The relationships between multitasking ability, polychronicity, and other individual differences were also investigated. Polychronicity and multitasking ability proved to be distinct constructs demonstrating differential relationships with cognitive ability, personality, and performance. Results provided support for multitasking performance as a mediator in the relationship between multitasking ability and overall job performance. Additionally, polychronicity moderated the relationship between multitasking ability and both ratings of multitasking performance and overall job performance in Study four. Clarification of the factor structure of polychronicity and its correlates will facilitate future research in the time orientation literature. Results from two organizational samples point to work related measures of multitasking ability as a worthwhile tool for predicting the performance of job applicants.

African 2, a clonal complex of Mycobacterium bovis epidemiologically important in East Africa

We have identified a clonal complex of Mycobacterium bovis isolated at high frequency from cattle in Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. We have named this related group of M. bovis strains the African 2 (Af2) clonal complex of M. bovis. Af2 strains are defined by a specific chromosomal deletion (RDAf2) and can be identified by the absence of spacers 3 to 7 in their spoligotype patterns. Deletion analysis of M. bovis isolates from Algeria, Mali, Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, and Mozambique did not identify any strains of the Af2 clonal complex, suggesting that this clonal complex of M. bovis is localized in East Africa. The specific spoligotype pattern of the Af2 clonal complex was rarely identified among isolates from outside Africa, and the few isolates that were found and tested were intact at the RDAf2 locus. We conclude that the Af2 clonal complex is localized to cattle in East Africa. We found that strains of the Af2 clonal complex of M. bovis have, in general, four or more copies of the insertion sequence IS6110, in contrast to the majority of M. bovis strains isolated from cattle, which are thought to carry only one or a few copies.

Del teatro al cine: hacia una teoría de la adaptación. (Tres versiones de Macbeth)

¿De qué se componen los sistemas semióticos propios de cada lenguaje, el dramático y el cinematográfico? ¿Cuáles son los complejos procesos de transformación por los que un texto dramático se convierte en una función teatral o bien en una obra fílmica? ¿Qué diferencia esencialmente la recepción de ambas obras? Y, finalmente, ¿existe la posibilidad de una teoría que estudie sistemáticamente el fenómeno de la adaptación? Estas son las preguntas que voy a tratar de responder en este trabajo, que llevarán a elaborar un esbozo de teoría de la adaptación del modo dramático al cinematográfico. Como cimientos previos a la elaboración de esta investigación, planteo un acercamiento a las teorías dramáticas y cinematográficas. Las fuentes que utilizo son, en primer lugar, los estudios sobre ambos sistemas semióticos. Para el estudio del drama utilizo el método de análisis dramatológico perfectamente sistematizado de José Luis García Barrientos en Cómo se comenta una obra de teatro (2001) y en Análisis de la dramaturgia. Nueve obras y un método (2007), complementándolo con las teorías de José Luis Alonso de Santos, Antonin Artaud, Ian Bernard, Keir Elam, John Gielgud, Roger Manvell, Vsévolod Emílievich Meyerhold, Konstantin Stanislavki y Anne Ubersfeld entre otros. Para el estudio de la teoría cinematográfica me apoyo en los estudios, principalmente, de Rudolph Arnheim, Henri Agel, Andrew Dudley, Daniel Arijon, Jacques Aumont y Michel Marie, Béla Balázs, André Bazin, David Bordwell y Kristin Thompson, Fernando Canet y Josep Prósper, Francesco Casetti, Sergei Eisenstein, Joaquín de Entrambasaguas, Jean Epstein, Susan Hayward, Siegfried Kracauer, Yuri Lotman, Marcel Martin, Christian Metz, Jean Mitry, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Vicente Sánchez Biosca y Robert Stam entre otros, quienes, en conjunto ofrecen un compendio muy amplio y dan una idea bastante completa y sistematizada del arte y lenguaje cinematográfico...

Faktorer som påverkar livskvaliteten hos patienter med sömnstörningar

Introduktion: Sömn är ett grundläggande mänskligt behov där den sovande personen är inaktiv vad gäller fysisk aktivitet och medvetandegrad. Omständigheter kan påverka den normala sömnen och därmed orsaka sömnstörningar. Livskvalitet är subjektivt upplevd och innefattar flera dimensioner som: fysisk funktion, känslomässigt välbefinnande samt social funktion. Sjuksköterskor har en betydande roll för patientens hälsa och välbefinnande genom att uppmärksamma patientens sömnproblem. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa faktorer som påverkar livskvaliteten hos patienter med sömnstörningar. Metod: En litteraturstudie utfördes enligt Polit och Beck´s (2012) niostegsmodell. Databaserna Cinahl och PubMed användes vid litteratursökningen. Litteratursökningen resulterade i 14 vetenskapliga artiklar. De genomgick en kvalitetsgranskning utifrån Polit och Beck´s (2012) granskningsmallar. Resultat: Sex kategorier identifierades: Ständig trötthet, Minskad aktivitetsnivå och initiativförmåga, Kroppsliga symtom, Förändrade sociala relationer, Känslomässiga upplevelser och Koncentrations- och minnessvårigheter. Slutsats: Patienter med sömnstörningar upplevde en rad olika faktorer som påverkade livskvaliteten i så hög grad att de hade svårt att leva ett normalt fungerande liv. 

Reforestation challenges in Scandinavia

In the keynote, major reforestation challenges in Scandinavia will be highlighted. The following countries make up Scandinavia: Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. For Iceland, with only a forest cover of 2%, a major reforestation challenge is the deforestation and overgrazing in combination with land degradation and extensive soil erosion. The challenges include the conflicts with livestock farmers. For centuries the commons were used for sheep and horse grazing. However, more and more of farmer grazing land have been fenced up, allowing the regeneration of birch and plantations of other species to increase. With a forest cover of 37% and 69% respectively, for decades a major reforestation challenge in Norway and Sweden has been the risk of seedling damages from the pine weevil. Unprotected seedlings can have a survival rate of less than 25% after being planted. Pine weevils feed on the bark of planted young seedlings at regeneration sites. If the seedling is girdled, it will not survive. In Sweden, and soon in Norway, pesticides have been forbidden. In the keynote, new methods and technology will be presented based on non-chemical protection. In Finland, with a forest cover of 75%, a major reforestation challenge is linked to the forest structure. The structure of Finnish forestry includes many private forests in combination with small regeneration sites. This implies a situation where logistics and methods for lifting and field storage provide a major challenge in order to preserve seedling quality until the planting date. Due to this situation, new logistic systems and technologies are being developed in Finland, including new seedling cultivation programs (including cultivation under Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)) to match the access of fresh planting stock to different planting dates. In Denmark, with a forest cover of 13%, a major reforestation challenge is the possibility of future plantations based on a wide range of relevant species. For this to become a realistic option, new methods and technology have to be developed in reforestation activities that support this possibility. These methods and technology should make it possible to not be limited to certain species due to problems and restrictions during field establishment. This due to the prospect of establishing stable, healthy, and productive stands of various forest species that can be adapted to future climate change.

A Microdata Analysis Approach to Transport Infrastructure Maintenance

Maintenance of transport infrastructure assets is widely advocated as the key in minimizing current and future costs of the transportation network. While effective maintenance decisions are often a result of engineering skills and practical knowledge, efficient decisions must also account for the net result over an asset's life-cycle. One essential aspect in the long term perspective of transport infrastructure maintenance is to proactively estimate maintenance needs. In dealing with immediate maintenance actions, support tools that can prioritize potential maintenance candidates are important to obtain an efficient maintenance strategy. This dissertation consists of five individual research papers presenting a microdata analysis approach to transport infrastructure maintenance. Microdata analysis is a multidisciplinary field in which large quantities of data is collected, analyzed, and interpreted to improve decision-making. Increased access to transport infrastructure data enables a deeper understanding of causal effects and a possibility to make predictions of future outcomes. The microdata analysis approach covers the complete process from data collection to actual decisions and is therefore well suited for the task of improving efficiency in transport infrastructure maintenance. Statistical modeling was the selected analysis method in this dissertation and provided solutions to the different problems presented in each of the five papers. In Paper I, a time-to-event model was used to estimate remaining road pavement lifetimes in Sweden. In Paper II, an extension of the model in Paper I assessed the impact of latent variables on road lifetimes; displaying the sections in a road network that are weaker due to e.g. subsoil conditions or undetected heavy traffic. The study in Paper III incorporated a probabilistic parametric distribution as a representation of road lifetimes into an equation for the marginal cost of road wear. Differentiated road wear marginal costs for heavy and light vehicles are an important information basis for decisions regarding vehicle miles traveled (VMT) taxation policies. In Paper IV, a distribution based clustering method was used to distinguish between road segments that are deteriorating and road segments that have a stationary road condition. Within railway networks, temporary speed restrictions are often imposed because of maintenance and must be addressed in order to keep punctuality. The study in Paper V evaluated the empirical effect on running time of speed restrictions on a Norwegian railway line using a generalized linear mixed model.

Asociación de las violencias física, sexual y comunitaria con el embarazo en adolescentes: análisis multinivel

Objetivos Determinar si existe asociación entre la exposición a violencia, experimentada a nivel individual o municipal, y el embarazo adolescente en mujeres Colombianas entre 13 y 19 años de edad que contestaron la Encuesta de Demografía y Salud en el año 2010. Métodos Estudio de corte transversal, nacional y multinivel. Se tomaron datos de dos niveles jerárquicos: Nivel- 1: Datos individuales de una muestra representativa de 13.313 mujeres entre 13 y 19 años de edad provenientes de La Encuesta Nacional de Demografía y Salud del año 2010 y Nivel- 2: Datos municipales de 258 municipios provenientes de las estadísticas vitales del DANE. Resultados La prevalencia del embarazo adolescente fue del 16.8% IC 95% [16.2-17.4]. El análisis mostró que la asociación entre embarazo adolescente y violencia tanto individual, representada como violencia sexual [OR= 6.99 IC99% 4.80-10.10] y violencia física [OR= 1.74 IC99% 1.47-2.05] así como la violencia municipal medida con tasas de homicidios altas [OR= 1.99 IC99% 1.29-3.07] y muy altas [OR= 2.10 IC99% 1.21-3.61] se mantuvo estadísticamente significativa después de ajustar por las variables: Edad [OR= 1.81 IC99% 1.71-1.91], ocupación [OR= 1.62 IC99% 1.37-1.93], educación primaria o sin educación [OR= 2.20 IC99% 1.47-3.30], educación secundaria [OR= 1.70 IC99% 1.24-2.32], asistir al colegio [OR= 0.18 IC99% 0.15-0.21], conocimiento en la fisiología reproductiva [OR= 1.28 IC99% 1.06-1.54], el índice de riqueza Q1, Q2, Q3 [OR= 2.18 IC99% 1.42-3.34], [OR= 2.00 IC99% 1.39-2.28], [OR= 1.82 IC99% 1.92-2.25] y alto porcentaje de Necesidades básicas insatisfechas a nivel municipal [OR= 2.34 IC99% 1.55-3.52]. Conclusiones Este estudio mostró una relación significativamente estadística entre la violencia sexual y física con el inicio de relaciones sexuales y embarazo adolescente después de controlar por factores sociodemográficos y conocimientos en reproducción sexual en mujeres colombianas de 13 a 19 años en el año 2010. Esta asociación debe continuar siendo estudiada para lograr optimizar las estrategias de prevención y disminuir la tasa actual de embarazos adolescentes en el país y sus consecuencias.

Sequence analysis of bitter taste receptor gene repertoires in different ruminant species

Bitter taste has been extensively studied in mammalian species and is associated with sensitivity to toxins and with food choices that avoid dangerous substances in the diet. At the molecular level, bitter compounds are sensed by bitter taste receptor proteins (T2R) present at the surface of taste receptor cells in the gustatory papillae. Our work aims at exploring the phylogenetic relationships of T2R gene sequences within different ruminant species. To accomplish this goal, we gathered a collection of ruminant species with different feeding behaviors and for which no genome data is available: American bison, chamois, elk, European bison, fallow deer, goat, moose, mouflon, muskox, red deer, reindeer and white tailed deer. The herbivores chosen for this study belong to different taxonomic families and habitats, and hence, exhibit distinct foraging behaviors and diet preferences. We describe the first partial repertoires of T2R gene sequences for these species obtained by direct sequencing. We then consider the homology and evolutionary history of these receptors within this ruminant group, and whether it relates to feeding type classification, using MEGA software. Our results suggest that phylogenetic proximity of T2R genes corresponds more to the traditional taxonomic groups of the species rather than reflecting a categorization by feeding strategy.