Un modello forward-backward per i certificati verdi nel mercato EU ETS

In questa tesi viene presentato un modello stocastico forward-backward per la valutazione dei certificati verdi nel mercato EU ETS (European Union Emissions Trading Scheme). Anzitutto si spiega l’origine di tale mercato, per poi descriverne il funzionamento e lo scopo. Vengono, quindi, introdotte le equazioni differenziali stocastiche backward lineari, per le quali si mostra un risultato di esistenza e unicità della soluzione. Conseguentemente vengono inquadrati matematicamente i sistemi differenziali stocastici forward-backward, mostrando una loro applicazione nell’ambito del option pricing. Viene quindi derivato il modello forward-backward per la valutazione delle quote di emissione. Il prezzo dei certificati verdi è trovato come soluzione di un’equazione differenziale alle derivate parziali semilineare. L'ultima parte è dedicata all’analisi numerica di tale PDE. Infine viene trattata la valutazione di opzioni europee scritte sulle quote di emissione.

Laparoscopic Antireflux Surgery In Patients With Extra Esophageal Symptoms Related To Asthma.

Asthma, laryngitis and chronic cough are atypical symptoms of the gastroesophageal reflux disease. To analyze the efficacy of laparoscopic surgery in the remission of extra-esophageal symptoms in patients with gastroesophageal reflux, related to asthma. Were reviewed the medical records of 400 patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease submitted to laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication from 1994 to 2006, and identified 30 patients with extra-esophageal symptoms related to asthma. The variables considered were: gender, age, gastroesophageal symptoms (heartburn, acid reflux and dysphagia), time of reflux disease, treatment with proton pump inhibitor, use of specific medications, treatment and evolution, number of attacks and degree of esophagitis. Data were subjected to statistical analysis, comparing the pre- and post-surgical findings. The comparative analysis before surgery (T1) and six months after surgery (T2) showed a significant reduction on heartburn and reflux symptoms. Apart from that, there was a significant difference between the patients with daily crises of asthma (T1 versus T2, 45.83% to 16.67%, p=0.0002) and continuous crises (T1, 41.67% versus T2, 8.33%, p=0.0002). Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication was effective in improving symptoms that are typical of reflux disease and clinical manifestations of asthma.

Effects Of Therapeutic Approach On The Neonatal Evolution Of Very Low Birth Weight Infants With Patent Ductus Arteriosus.

To analyze the effects of treatment approach on the outcomes of newborns (birth weight [BW] < 1,000 g) with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), from the Brazilian Neonatal Research Network (BNRN) on: death, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), severe intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH III/IV), retinopathy of prematurity requiring surgical (ROPsur), necrotizing enterocolitis requiring surgery (NECsur), and death/BPD. This was a multicentric, cohort study, retrospective data collection, including newborns (BW < 1000 g) with gestational age (GA) < 33 weeks and echocardiographic diagnosis of PDA, from 16 neonatal units of the BNRN from January 1, 2010 to Dec 31, 2011. Newborns who died or were transferred until the third day of life, and those with presence of congenital malformation or infection were excluded. Groups: G1 - conservative approach (without treatment), G2 - pharmacologic (indomethacin or ibuprofen), G3 - surgical ligation (independent of previous treatment). Factors analyzed: antenatal corticosteroid, cesarean section, BW, GA, 5 min. Apgar score < 4, male gender, Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology Perinatal Extension (SNAPPE II), respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), late sepsis (LS), mechanical ventilation (MV), surfactant (< 2 h of life), and time of MV. death, O2 dependence at 36 weeks (BPD36wks), IVH III/IV, ROPsur, NECsur, and death/BPD36wks. Student's t-test, chi-squared test, or Fisher's exact test; Odds ratio (95% CI); logistic binary regression and backward stepwise multiple regression. Software: MedCalc (Medical Calculator) software, version 12.1.4.0. p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. 1,097 newborns were selected and 494 newborns were included: G1 - 187 (37.8%), G2 - 205 (41.5%), and G3 - 102 (20.6%). The highest mortality was observed in G1 (51.3%) and the lowest in G3 (14.7%). The highest frequencies of BPD36wks (70.6%) and ROPsur were observed in G3 (23.5%). The lowest occurrence of death/BPD36wks occurred in G2 (58.0%). Pharmacological (OR 0.29; 95% CI: 0.14-0.62) and conservative (OR 0.34; 95% CI: 0.14-0.79) treatments were protective for the outcome death/BPD36wks. The conservative approach of PDA was associated to high mortality, the surgical approach to the occurrence of BPD36wks and ROPsur, and the pharmacological treatment was protective for the outcome death/BPD36wks.

Implantation Of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Prosthesis Through The Ascending Aorta Concomitant With Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Without Cardiopulmonary Bypass.

Introdution: The transcatheter aortic valve implantation in the treatment of high-risk symptomatic aortic stenosis has increased the number of implants every year. The learning curve for transcatheter aortic valve implantation has improved since the last 12 years, allowing access alternatives. The aim of this study is to approach the implantation of transcatheter aortic valve through transaortic via associated with off-pump cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in a 67-year-old man, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arterial hypertension and kidney transplant. Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery was performed and the valve in the aortic position was released successfully. There were no complications in the intraoperative and postoperative period. Gradient reduction, effective orifice increasing of the prosthesis and absence of valvular regurgitation after implantation were observed by transesophageal echocardiography. Procedural success demonstrates that implantation of transcatheter aortic valve through the ascending aorta associated with coronary artery bypass surgery without CPB is a new option for these patients.

Analise quantitativa das adaptações da coluna vertebral em mulheres gravidas

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física

Análise do jogo de goalball : modelação e interpretação dos padrões de jogo da Paralimpíada de Pequim 2008

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Seleções olimpicas de basquetebol feminino do Brasil (2000 e 2004) : correlação entre variaveis tecnicas e fisicas

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Physiological implications of the regulation of vacuolar H+-ATPase by chloride ions

Vacuolar H+-ATPase is a large multi-subunit protein that mediates ATP-driven vectorial H+ transport across the membranes. It is widely distributed and present in virtually all eukaryotic cells in intracellular membranes or in the plasma membrane of specialized cells. In subcellular organelles, ATPase is responsible for the acidification of the vesicular interior, which requires an intraorganellar acidic pH to maintain optimal enzyme activity. Control of vacuolar H+-ATPase depends on the potential difference across the membrane in which the proton ATPase is inserted. Since the transport performed by H+-ATPase is electrogenic, translocation of H+-ions across the membranes by the pump creates a lumen-positive voltage in the absence of a neutralizing current, generating an electrochemical potential gradient that limits the activity of H+-ATPase. In many intracellular organelles and cell plasma membranes, this potential difference established by the ATPase gradient is normally dissipated by a parallel and passive Cl- movement, which provides an electric shunt compensating for the positive charge transferred by the pump. The underlying mechanisms for the differences in the requirement for chloride by different tissues have not yet been adequately identified, and there is still some controversy as to the molecular identity of the associated Cl--conducting proteins. Several candidates have been identified: the ClC family members, which may or may not mediate nCl-/H+ exchange, and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator. In this review, we discuss some tissues where the association between H+-ATPase and chloride channels has been demonstrated and plays a relevant physiologic role.

Técnica de bombeio e prova para medidas de absorção de estado excitado e de emissão estimulada, em materiais sólidos dopados com íons terras raras

Rare earth ion doped solid state materials are the most important active media of near-infrared and visible lasers and other photonic devices. In these ions, the occurrence of Excited State Absorptions (ESA), from long lived electronic levels, is commonplace. Since ESA can deeply affect the efficiencies of the rare earth emissions, evaluation of these transitions cross sections is of greatest importance in predicting the potential applications of a given material. In this paper a detailed description of the pump-probe technique for ESA measurements is presented, with a review of several examples of applications in Nd3+, Tm3+ and Er3+ doped materials.

Influência do local de nascimento e do transporte sobre a morbimortalidade de recém-nascidos prematuros

OBJETIVO: Verificar a influência do local de nascimento e do transporte sobre a morbimortalidade de recém-nascidos prematuros na Região Sul do Brasil. MÉTODOS: Estudo de coorte com recém-nascidos prematuros transferidos para a unidade de tratamento intensivo de referência (grupo transporte = 61), tendo sido acompanhados até a alta. Os dados sobre o atendimento no hospital de origem e transporte foram obtidos no momento da internação. Esse grupo foi comparado com neonatos da maternidade de referência, pareados por idade gestacional (grupo controle = 123), tendo como desfecho primário o óbito e desfechos secundários as alterações da glicemia, temperatura e saturação de oxigênio no momento da internação e a incidência de enterocolite necrosante, displasia broncopulmonar e sepses. Na associação entre as variáveis e o desfecho, foi utilizado o risco relativo. Foi adotado um nível de significância de α = 5% e β = 90%. RESULTADOS: A distância média percorrida foi de 91 km. A idade gestacional média foi de 34 semanas. Entre os recém-nascidos transferidos, 23% (n = 14) não tiveram atendimento pediátrico na sala de parto. No transporte, 33% dos recém-nascidos foram acompanhados por pediatra, e os equipamentos utilizados foram: incubadora (57%), bomba de infusão (13%), oxímetro (49%) e aparelho para aferição da glicemia (21%). O grupo transporte apresentou maior incidência de hiperglicemia, risco relativo (RR) = 3,2 (2,3-4,4), hipoglicemia, RR = 2,4 (1,4-4,0), hipertermia, RR = 2,5 (1,6-3,9), e hipoxemia, RR = 2,2 (1,6-3,0). Foram observados 18% de óbitos no grupo dos transferidos e 8,9% no grupo controle, RR = 2,0 (1,0-2,6). CONCLUSÕES: A pesquisa expõe deficiências no atendimento e transporte dos recém-nascidos, sendo necessária uma melhor organização do atendimento perinatal e do transporte na região nordeste do Rio Grande do Sul.

The relationship between birth weight and insulin resistance in childhood

Chronic diseases that are typical of adulthood may originate in intra-uterine life through inadequate fetal development. The present epidemiological cohort study of 506 healthy children aged 5\20138 years evaluated the relationship between birth weight and insulin resistance in an age group that has been assessed in few similar studies. Insulin concentration was determined by chemiluminescence and insulin resistance by the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA). Blood glucose, total cholesterol and fractions (LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol) and TAG concentrations were determined by automated enzymatic methods. Linear regression analysis investigated the relationship between birth weight (assessed as a continuous variable and in three categories: small for gestational age, SGA; adequate for gestational age and large for gestational age) and the HOMA index, using backward stepwise selection and biological models to explain the causal pathway of the relationship. There were negativeassociations between birth weight (P < 0·001), SGA (P = 0·027) and the HOMA index, and a positive association between waist circumference (P < 0·001) and the HOMA index. Considering the significant associations between birth weight and waist circumference (P < 0·001) and waist circumference and insulin resistance (P < 0·001), we can probably suspect that lower birth weight is a common cause of higher waist circumference and insulin resistance. In summary, the results of the present study showed increased insulin resistance in apparently healthy, young children, who had lower weight at birth and higher measurements of waist circumference. There is a need to develop public health policies that adopt preventive measures to promote adequate maternal-fetal and child development and enable early diagnosis of metabolic abnormalities

Numerical comparison between conventional dispersion compensating fibers and photonic crystal fibers as lumped Raman amplifiers

In this paper we discuss the use of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) as discrete devices for simultaneous wideband dispersion compensation and Raman amplification. The performance of the PCFs in terms of gain, ripple, optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and required fiber length for complete dispersion compensation is compared with conventional dispersion compensating fibers (DCFs). The main goal is to determine the minimum PCF loss beyond which its performance surpasses a state-of-the-art DCF and justifies practical use in telecommunication systems. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Design methodology for multi-pumped discrete Raman amplifiers: case-study employing photonic crystal fibers

This paper proposes a new design methodology for discrete multi-pumped Raman amplifier. In a multi-objective optimization scenario, in a first step the whole solution-space is inspected by a CW analytical formulation. Then, the most promising solutions are fully investigated by a rigorous numerical treatment and the Raman amplification performance is thus determined by the combination of analytical and numerical approaches. As an application of our methodology we designed an photonic crystal fiber Raman amplifier configuration which provides low ripple, high gain, clear eye opening and a low power penalty. The amplifier configuration also enables to fully compensate the dispersion introduced by a 70-km singlemode fiber in a 10 Gbit/s system. We have successfully obtained a configuration with 8.5 dB average gain over the C-band and 0.71 dB ripple with almost zero eye-penalty using only two pump lasers with relatively low pump power. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Pulse train fluorescence technique for measuring triplet state dynamics

We report on a method to study the dynamics of triplet formation based on the fluorescence signal produced by a pulse train. Basically, the pulse train acts as sequential pump-probe pulses that precisely map the excited-state dynamics in the long time scale. This allows characterizing those processes that affect the population evolution of the first excited singlet state, whose decay gives rise to the fluorescence. The technique was proven to be valuable to measure parameters of triplet formation in organic molecules. Additionally, this single beam technique has the advantages of simplicity, low noise and background-free signal detection. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America

Quadruple therapy with furazolidone for retreatment in patients with peptic ulcer disease

AIM: To establish the efficacy and safety of a 7-d therapeutic regimen using omeprazole, bismuth suticitrate, furazolidone and amoxicillin in patients with peptic ulcer disease who had been previously treated with other therapeutic regimens without success. METHODS: Open cohort study which included patients with peptic ulcer who had previously been treated unsuccessfully with one or more eradication regimens. The therapeutic regimen consisted of 20 mg omeprazole, 240 mg colloidal bismuth subcitrate, 1000 mg amoxicillin, and 200 mg furazolidone, taken twice a day for 7 d. Patients were considered as eradicated when samples taken from the gastric antrum and corpus 12 wk after the end of treatment were negative for Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) (rapid urease test and histology). Safety was determined by the presence of adverse effects. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients were enrolled. The eradication rate was 68.8% (31/45). Adverse effects were reported by 31.4% of the patients, and these were usually considered to be slight or moderate in the majority of the cases. Three patients had to withdraw from the treatment due to the presence of severe adverse effects. CONCLUSION: The association of bismuth, furazolidone, amoxicillin and a proton-pump inhibitor is a valuable alternative for patients who failed to respond to other eradication regimens. It is an effective, cheap and safe option for salvage therapy of positive patients. (C) 2008 The WJG Press. All rights reserved.