A case of acute retinal pigment epithelitis: spectral domain optical coherence tomography time course and physiopathologic hypothesis.

PURPOSE: To report the time course of retinal morphologic changes in a patient with acute retinal pigment epithelitis (ARPE) using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). METHODS: A 30-year old man was referred for blurred vision of his right eye after five days that appeared suddenly 15 days after recovery from a flu-like syndrome. SD-OCT was performed immediately, followed by fluorescein and infracyanine angiography at eight days and then at three weeks. RESULTS: At presentation, a bubble of sub-macular deposit was observed on the right macula with central golden micronodules in a honeycomb pattern. SD-OCT showed an "anterior dislocation" of all the retinal layers up to the inner/outer segment (IS/OS) line and irregular deposits at the OS level together with thickening of the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) layer. As visual acuity increased, eight days later, the OCT showed reduction of the sub-retinal deposits and an abnormal hyperflectivity of the sub-retinal and RPE layers was observed. The patient showed a positive serology for picornavirus. DISCUSSION: The acute SD-OCT sections of this patient with ARPE were compared with histological sections of a 35 day old Royal College of Surgeons rat. Similar findings could be observed, with preservation of the IS/OS line and accumulation of debris at the OS level, suggesting that ARPE symptoms could result from a transient phagocytic dysfunction of the RPE at the fovea, inducing reversible accumulation of undigested OS. Picornaviruses comprising enterovirus and coxsachievirus described as being associated with acute chorioretinitis. In this case, it was responsible for ARPE. CONCLUSION: We hypothesize that ARPE syndrome results from a transient dysfunction of RPE, which can occur as a post viral reaction.

cis- and trans-acting elements of the estrogen-regulated vitellogenin gene B1 of Xenopus laevis.

Vitellogenin genes are expressed under strict estrogen control in the liver of female oviparous vertebrates. Gene transfer experiments using estrogen-responsive cells have shown that the 13 bp perfect palindromic element GGTCACTGTGACC found upstream of the Xenopus laevis vitellogenin gene A2 promoter mediates hormonal stimulation and thus, was called the estrogen-responsive element (ERE). In the Xenopus vitellogenin genes B1 and B2 there are two closely adjacent EREs with one or more base substitutions when compared to the consensus ERE GGTCANNNTGACC. On their own, these degenerated elements have only a low or no regulatory capacity at all but act together synergistically to form an estrogen-responsive unit (ERU) with the same strength as the perfect palindromic 13 bp element. Analysis of estrogen receptor binding to the gene B1 ERU revealed a cooperative interaction of receptor dimers to the two adjacent imperfect EREs which most likely explains the synergistic stimulation observed in vivo. Furthermore, a promoter activator element located between positions --113 and --42 of the gene B1 and functional in the human MCF-7 and the Xenopus B3.2 cells has been identified and shown to be involved in the high level of induced transcription activity when the ERE is placed at a distance from the promoter. Finally, a hormone-controlled in vitro transcription system derived from Xenopus liver nuclear extracts was exploited to characterize two additional novel cis-acting elements within the vitellogenin gene B1 promoter. One of them, a negative regulatory element (NRE), is responsible for repression of promoter activity in the absence of hormone. The second is related to the NF-I binding site and is required, together with the ERE, to mediate hormonal induction. Moreover, we detected three trans-acting activities in Xenopus liver nuclear extracts that interact with these regions and demonstrated that they participate in the regulation of the expression of the vitellogenin promoter in vitro.

Control of gene expression in melanocytes and RPE by conserved distal regulatory elements

Résumé Durant le développement embryonnaire, les cellules pigmentaires des mammifères se développent à partir de deux origines différentes : les melanocytes se développent à partir de la crête neurale alors que les cellules de la rétine pigmentaire (RP) ont une origine neuronale. Un grand nombre de gènes sont impliqués dans la pigmentation dont les gènes de la famille tyrosinase à savoir Tyr, Tyrp1 et Dct. Certaines études ont suggéré que les gènes de la pigmentation sont régulés de manière différentielle dans les mélanocytes et dans la RP. Dans ce travail, les gènes de la famille tyrosinase ont été étudiés comme modèle de la régulation des gènes de la pigmentation par des éléments régulateurs agissant à distance. II a été montré que le promoteur du gène Tyrp1pouvait induire l'expression d'un transgène uniquement dans la RP alors que ce gène est aussi exprimé dans les mélanocytes comme le montre le phénotype des souris mutantes pour Tyrp1. Ce résultat suggère que les éléments régulateurs du promoteur sont suffisants pour l'expression dans la RP mais pas pour l'expression dans les mélanocytes. J'ai donc cherché à identifier la séquence qui régule l'expression dans les mélanocytes. Un chromosome artificiel bactérien (CAB) contenant le gène Tyrp1 s'est avéré suffisant pour induire l'expression dans les mélanocytes, comme démontré par la correction du phénotype mutant. La séquence de ce CAB contient plusieurs régions très conservées qui pourraient représenter de nouveaux éléments régulateurs. Par la suite, j'ai focalisé mon analyse sur une séquence située à -I5 kb qui s'est révélée être un amplificateur spécifique aux mélanocytes comme démontré par des expériences de cultures cellulaire et de transgenèse. De plus, une analyse poussée de cet élément a révélé que le facteur de transcription Sox 10 représentait un transactivateur de cet amplificateur. Comme pour Tyrp1, la régulation du gène tyrosinase est contrôlée par différents éléments régulateurs dans les mélanocytes et la RP. Il a été montré que le promoteur de tyrosinase n'était pas suffisant pour une forte expression dans les mélanocytes et la RP. De plus, l'analyse de la région située en amont a révélé la présence d'un amplificateur nécessaire à l'expression dans les mélanocytes à la position -15 kb. Cet amplificateur n'est toutefois pas actif dans la RP mais agit comme un répresseur dans ces cellules. Ces résultats indiquent que certains éléments nécessaires à l'expression dans les deux types de cellules pigmentaires sont absents de ces constructions. Comme pour Tyrp1, j'ai en premier lieu démontré qu'un CAB était capable de corriger le phénotype albinique, puis ai inséré un gène reporter (lacZ) dans le CAB par recombinaison homologue et ai finalement analysé l'expression du reporter en transgenèse. Ces souris ont montré une expression forte du lacZ dans les mélanocytes et la RP, ce qui indique que le CAB contient les séquences régulatrices nécessaires à l'expression correcte de tyrosinase. Afin de localiser plus précisément les éléments régulateurs, j'ai ensuite généré des délétions dans le CAB et analysé l'expression du lacZ en transgenèse. La comparaison de séquences génomiques provenant de différentes espèces a permis par la suite d'identifier des régions représentant de nouveaux éléments régulateurs potentiels. En utilisant cette approche, j'ai identifié une région qui se comporte comme un amplificateur dans la RP et qui est nécessaire à l'expression de tyrosinase dans ce tissu. De plus, j'ai identifié les facteurs de transcription Mitf et Sox10 comme transactivateurs de l'amplificateur spécifique aux mélanocytes situé à -15 kb. L'identification et la caractérisation des ces éléments régulateurs des gènes tyrosinase et Tyrp1confirme donc que la régulation différentielle des gènes dans les mélanocytes et la RP est liée à des éléments régulateurs séparés. Summary Pigment cells of mammals originate from two different lineages: melanocytes arise from the neural crest, whereas cells of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) originate from the optic cup of the developing forebrain. A large set of genes are involved in pigmentation, including the members of the tyrosinase gene family, namely tyrosinase, Tyrp1 and Dct. Previous studies have suggested that pigmentation genes are differentially regulated in melanocytes and RPE. In this work, the tyrosinase gene family was used as a model for studying the involvement of distal regulatory elements in pigment cell-specific gene expression. The promoter of the Tyrp1 gene has been shown to drive detectable transgene expression only to the RPE, even though the gene is also expressed in melanocytes as evident from Tyrp1-mutant mice. This indicates that the regulatory elements responsible for Tyrp1 gene expression in the RPE are not sufficient for expression in melanocytes. I thus searched for a putative melanocyte-specific regulatory sequence and demonstrate that a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) containing the Tyrp1 gene and surrounding sequences is able to target transgenic expression to melanocytes and to rescue the Tyrp1 b (brown) phenotype. This BAC contains several highly conserved non-coding sequences that might represent novel regulatory elements. I further focused on a sequence located at -15 kb which I identified as amelanocyte-specific enhancer as shown by cell culture and transgenic mice. In addition, further functional analysis identified the transcription factor Sox10 as being able to bind and transactivate this enhancer. As for Tyrp1, tyrosinase gene regulation is mediated by different cis-regulatory elements in melanocytes and RPE. It was shown that the tyrosinase promoter was not sufficient to confer strong and specific expression in melanocytes and RPE. Moreover, analysis of tyrosinase upstream sequence, revealed the presence of a specific enhancer at position -15 kb which was necessary to confer strong expression in melanocytes. This enhancer element however failed to act as an enhancer in the RPE, but rather repressed expression. This indicates that some regulatory elements required for tyrosinase expression in both RPE and melanocytes are still missing from these constructs. As for Tyrp1, I first demonstrated that a BAC containing the Tyr gene is able to rescue the Tyr c (albino) phenotype in mice, then I inserted a lacZ reporter gene in the BAC by homologous recombination, and finally analysed the pattern of lacZ expression in transgenic mice. These mice showed strong lacZ expression in both RPE and melanocytes, indicating that the BAC contains the regulatory sequences required for proper tyrosinase expression. In order to localize more precisely these regulatory elements, I have then generated several deletions in the BAC and analysed lacZ expression in transgenic mice. Multi-species comparative genomic analysis then allowed identifying conserved sequences that potentially represent novel regulatory elements. Using this experimental approach, I identified a region that behaves as a RPE-specific enhancer and that is required for tyrosinase expression in the retina] pigment epithelium. In addition, I identified the transcription factors Mitf and Sox l0 as being transactivators of the melanocyte-specific enhancer located at -l5 kb. The identification and characterization of these tyrosinase and Tyrp1 distal regulatory element supports the idea that separate regulatory sequences mediate differential gene expression in melanocytes and RPE.

Elements i estructures auxiliars en la construcció de l'absis de la Catedral de Santa Maria de Tortosa

El present document es centra en un dels edificis més emblemàtics i de més valor patrimonial de la ciutat de Tortosa, la Catedral de Santa Maria, i dintre d'aquest, en la capçalera de la nau central, l'absis, tot durant la seva construcció entre els segles XIV i XV. L'objectiu principal és aconseguir un recull suficient de dades que expliquin diverses idees d'autors, arquitectes, enginyers, etc. que tractin aquests temes, i extraure al final, una idea general que ens permeti realitzar una hipòtesi sobre la metodologia constructiva aplicada, i sobre els elements auxiliars que es van utilitzar en aquell moment.

Metal surface and subsurface inspection using nondestructive optical methods

This thesis considers nondestructive optical methods for metal surface and subsurface inspection. The main purpose of this thesis was to study some optical methods in order to find out their applicability to industrial measurements. In laboratory testing the simplest light scattering approach, measurement of specular reflectance, was used for surface roughness evaluation. Surface roughness, curvature and finishing process of metal sheets were determined by specular reflectance measurements. Using a fixed angleof incidence, the specular reflectance method might be automated for industrialinspection. For defect detection holographic interferometry and thermography were compared. Using either holographic interferometry or thermography, relativelysmall-size defects in metal plates could be revealed. Holographic techniques have some limitations for industrial measurements. On the contrary, thermography has excellent prospects for on-line inspection, especially with scanning techniques.

Using the optical mouse sensor as a two-euro counterfeit coin detector

In this paper, the sensor of an optical mouse is presented as a counterfeit coin detector applied to the two-Euro case. The detection process is based on the short distance image acquisition capabilities of the optical mouse sensor where partial images of the coin under analysis are compared with some partial reference coin images for matching. Results show that, using only the vision sense, the counterfeit acceptance and rejection rates are very similar to those of a trained user and better than those of an untrained user.

Using the optical flow to implement a relative virtual mouse controlled by head movements

The following paper introduces the work conducted to create a relative virtual mouse based on the interpretation of head movements and face gesture through a low cost camera and the optical flow of the images. This virtual device is designed specifically as an alternative non-contact pointer for people with mobility impairments in the upper extremities and reduced head control. The proposed virtual device was compared with a conventional mouse, a touchpad and a digital joystick. Validation results show performances close to a digital joystick but far away from a conventional mouse.

Prospective motion correction of 3D echo-planar imaging data for functional MRI using optical tracking.

We evaluated the performance of an optical camera based prospective motion correction (PMC) system in improving the quality of 3D echo-planar imaging functional MRI data. An optical camera and external marker were used to dynamically track the head movement of subjects during fMRI scanning. PMC was performed by using the motion information to dynamically update the sequence's RF excitation and gradient waveforms such that the field-of-view was realigned to match the subject's head movement. Task-free fMRI experiments on five healthy volunteers followed a 2×2×3 factorial design with the following factors: PMC on or off; 3.0mm or 1.5mm isotropic resolution; and no, slow, or fast head movements. Visual and motor fMRI experiments were additionally performed on one of the volunteers at 1.5mm resolution comparing PMC on vs PMC off for no and slow head movements. Metrics were developed to quantify the amount of motion as it occurred relative to k-space data acquisition. The motion quantification metric collapsed the very rich camera tracking data into one scalar value for each image volume that was strongly predictive of motion-induced artifacts. The PMC system did not introduce extraneous artifacts for the no motion conditions and improved the time series temporal signal-to-noise by 30% to 40% for all combinations of low/high resolution and slow/fast head movement relative to the standard acquisition with no prospective correction. The numbers of activated voxels (p<0.001, uncorrected) in both task-based experiments were comparable for the no motion cases and increased by 78% and 330%, respectively, for PMC on versus PMC off in the slow motion cases. The PMC system is a robust solution to decrease the motion sensitivity of multi-shot 3D EPI sequences and thereby overcome one of the main roadblocks to their widespread use in fMRI studies.

Optical analysis of textured plastic substrates to be used in thin silicon solar cells

Light confinement strategies in thin-film silicon solar cells play a crucial role in the performance of the devices. In this work, the possible use of Ag-coated stamped polymers as reflectors to be used in n-i-p solar cells is studied. Different random roughnesses (nanometer and micrometer size) have been transferred on poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) by hot embossing. Morphological and optical analyses of masters, stamped polymers and reflectors have been carried out evidencing a positive surface transference on the polymer and the viability of a further application in solar cells.

Exploring transparent approaches to the authentication of signatures on artwork

This thesis is composed of three main parts. The first consists of a state of the art of the different notions that are significant to understand the elements surrounding art authentication in general, and of signatures in particular, and that the author deemed them necessary to fully grasp the microcosm that makes up this particular market. Individuals with a solid knowledge of the art and expertise area, and that are particularly interested in the present study are advised to advance directly to the fourth Chapter. The expertise of the signature, it's reliability, and the factors impacting the expert's conclusions are brought forward. The final aim of the state of the art is to offer a general list of recommendations based on an exhaustive review of the current literature and given in light of all of the exposed issues. These guidelines are specifically formulated for the expertise of signatures on paintings, but can also be applied to wider themes in the area of signature examination. The second part of this thesis covers the experimental stages of the research. It consists of the method developed to authenticate painted signatures on works of art. This method is articulated around several main objectives: defining measurable features on painted signatures and defining their relevance in order to establish the separation capacities between groups of authentic and simulated signatures. For the first time, numerical analyses of painted signatures have been obtained and are used to attribute their authorship to given artists. An in-depth discussion of the developed method constitutes the third and final part of this study. It evaluates the opportunities and constraints when applied by signature and handwriting experts in forensic science. A brief summary covering each chapter allows a rapid overview of the study and summarizes the aims and main themes of each chapter. These outlines presented below summarize the aims and main themes addressed in each chapter. Part I - Theory Chapter 1 exposes legal aspects surrounding the authentication of works of art by art experts. The definition of what is legally authentic, the quality and types of the experts that can express an opinion concerning the authorship of a specific painting, and standard deontological rules are addressed. The practices applied in Switzerland will be specifically dealt with. Chapter 2 presents an overview of the different scientific analyses that can be carried out on paintings (from the canvas to the top coat). Scientific examinations of works of art have become more common, as more and more museums equip themselves with laboratories, thus an understanding of their role in the art authentication process is vital. The added value that a signature expertise can have in comparison to other scientific techniques is also addressed. Chapter 3 provides a historical overview of the signature on paintings throughout the ages, in order to offer the reader an understanding of the origin of the signature on works of art and its evolution through time. An explanation is given on the transitions that the signature went through from the 15th century on and how it progressively took on its widely known modern form. Both this chapter and chapter 2 are presented to show the reader the rich sources of information that can be provided to describe a painting, and how the signature is one of these sources. Chapter 4 focuses on the different hypotheses the FHE must keep in mind when examining a painted signature, since a number of scenarios can be encountered when dealing with signatures on works of art. The different forms of signatures, as well as the variables that may have an influence on the painted signatures, are also presented. Finally, the current state of knowledge of the examination procedure of signatures in forensic science in general, and in particular for painted signatures, is exposed. The state of the art of the assessment of the authorship of signatures on paintings is established and discussed in light of the theoretical facets mentioned previously. Chapter 5 considers key elements that can have an impact on the FHE during his or her2 examinations. This includes a discussion on elements such as the skill, confidence and competence of an expert, as well as the potential bias effects he might encounter. A better understanding of elements surrounding handwriting examinations, to, in turn, better communicate results and conclusions to an audience, is also undertaken. Chapter 6 reviews the judicial acceptance of signature analysis in Courts and closes the state of the art section of this thesis. This chapter brings forward the current issues pertaining to the appreciation of this expertise by the non- forensic community, and will discuss the increasing number of claims of the unscientific nature of signature authentication. The necessity to aim for more scientific, comprehensive and transparent authentication methods will be discussed. The theoretical part of this thesis is concluded by a series of general recommendations for forensic handwriting examiners in forensic science, specifically for the expertise of signatures on paintings. These recommendations stem from the exhaustive review of the literature and the issues exposed from this review and can also be applied to the traditional examination of signatures (on paper). Part II - Experimental part Chapter 7 describes and defines the sampling, extraction and analysis phases of the research. The sampling stage of artists' signatures and their respective simulations are presented, followed by the steps that were undertaken to extract and determine sets of characteristics, specific to each artist, that describe their signatures. The method is based on a study of five artists and a group of individuals acting as forgers for the sake of this study. Finally, the analysis procedure of these characteristics to assess of the strength of evidence, and based on a Bayesian reasoning process, is presented. Chapter 8 outlines the results concerning both the artist and simulation corpuses after their optical observation, followed by the results of the analysis phase of the research. The feature selection process and the likelihood ratio evaluation are the main themes that are addressed. The discrimination power between both corpuses is illustrated through multivariate analysis. Part III - Discussion Chapter 9 discusses the materials, the methods, and the obtained results of the research. The opportunities, but also constraints and limits, of the developed method are exposed. Future works that can be carried out subsequent to the results of the study are also presented. Chapter 10, the last chapter of this thesis, proposes a strategy to incorporate the model developed in the last chapters into the traditional signature expertise procedures. Thus, the strength of this expertise is discussed in conjunction with the traditional conclusions reached by forensic handwriting examiners in forensic science. Finally, this chapter summarizes and advocates a list of formal recommendations for good practices for handwriting examiners. In conclusion, the research highlights the interdisciplinary aspect of signature examination of signatures on paintings. The current state of knowledge of the judicial quality of art experts, along with the scientific and historical analysis of paintings and signatures, are overviewed to give the reader a feel of the different factors that have an impact on this particular subject. The temperamental acceptance of forensic signature analysis in court, also presented in the state of the art, explicitly demonstrates the necessity of a better recognition of signature expertise by courts of law. This general acceptance, however, can only be achieved by producing high quality results through a well-defined examination process. This research offers an original approach to attribute a painted signature to a certain artist: for the first time, a probabilistic model used to measure the discriminative potential between authentic and simulated painted signatures is studied. The opportunities and limits that lie within this method of scientifically establishing the authorship of signatures on works of art are thus presented. In addition, the second key contribution of this work proposes a procedure to combine the developed method into that used traditionally signature experts in forensic science. Such an implementation into the holistic traditional signature examination casework is a large step providing the forensic, judicial and art communities with a solid-based reasoning framework for the examination of signatures on paintings. The framework and preliminary results associated with this research have been published (Montani, 2009a) and presented at international forensic science conferences (Montani, 2009b; Montani, 2012).

The embryonic blood-CSF barrier has molecular elements for specific glucose transport and for the general transport of molecules via transcellular routes.

In vertebrates, early brain development takes place at the expanded anterior end of the neural tube, which is filled with embryonic cerebrospinal fluid (E-CSF). We have recently identified a transient blood-CSF barrier that forms between embryonic days E3 and E4 in chick embryos and that is responsible for the transport of proteins and control of E-CSF homeostasis, including osmolarity. Here we examined the presence of glucose transporter GLUT-1 as well the presence of caveolae-structural protein Caveolin1 (CAV-1) in the embryonic blood-CSF barrier which may be involved in the transport of glucose and of proteins, water and ions respectively across the neuroectoderm. In this paper we demonstrate the presence of GLUT-1 and CAV-1 in endothelial cells of blood vessels as well as in adjacent neuroectodermal cells, located in the embryonic blood-CSF barrier. In blood vessels, these proteins were detected as early as E4 in chick embryos and E12.7 in rat embryos, i.e. the point at which the embryonic blood-CSF barrier acquires this function. In the neuroectoderm of the embryonic blood-CSF barrier, GLUT-1 was also detected at E4 and E12.7 respectively, and CAV-1 was detected shortly thereafter in both experimental models. These experiments contribute to delineating the extent to which the blood-CSF embryonic barrier controls E-CSF composition and homeostasis during early stages of brain development in avians and mammals. Our results suggest the regulation of glucose transport to the E-CSF by means of GLUT-1 and also suggest a mechanism by which proteins are transported via transcellular routes across the neuroectoderm, thus reinforcing the crucial role of E-CSF in brain development.

Elements crisipians en àlgebres d-completes i àlgebres de Sales

El autor estudia los elementos de comportamiento clásico, o crisipianos, en álgebras d-completas (introducidas por él mismo como el sustrato algebraico de las lógicas completas) y en álgebras de Sales (sustrato algebraico de las lógicas multivaloradas). Da caracterizaciones de estos elementos en ambos casos. Estudia la relación de dichos elementos con los espectros irreducible, primo y completamente irreducible. Además obtiene que el conjunto de elementos crisipianos de un álgebra de Sales es una subálgebra y es un álgebra de Abbott (o de implicación).

Key elements for, and indicators of, a successful transition: an international Delphi study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to reach an international consensus to determine what key elements should be part of a transition program and what indicators could be used to assess its success. METHODS: For this purpose, a Delphi study including an international panel of 37 experts was carried out. The study consisted of three rounds, with response rates ranging from 86.5% to 95%. At each round, experts were asked to assess key elements (defined as the most important elements for the task) and indicators (defined as quantifiable characteristics). At each round, panelists were contacted via e-mail explaining them the tasks to be done and giving them the Web link where to complete the questionnaire. At Round 3, each key element and indicator was assessed as essential, very important, important, accessory, or unnecessary. A 70% agreement was used as cutoff. RESULTS: At Round 3, more than 70% of panelists agreed on six key elements being essential, with one of them (Assuring a good coordination between pediatric and adult professionals) reaching an almost complete consensus (97%). Additionally, 11 more obtained more than 70% agreement when combined with the Very important category. Among indicators, only one (Patient not lost to follow-up) was considered almost unanimously (91%) as essential by the panelists and seven others also reached consensus when the Very important category was included. CONCLUSIONS: Using these results as a framework to develop guidelines at local, national, and international levels would allow better assessing and comparing transition programs.

Corporate Identity and Desired Image Elements as a Basis for Corporate Image Development, Case: Myllykoski Sales

Tutkimuksen päätavoitteena oli auttaa Myllykoski –ryhmää määrittämään, mistä tekijöistä ryhmän uuden myyntiorganisaation, Myllykoski Salesin, tulevaisuuden imagon tulisi koostua. Näin ollen tutkimus pyrki selvittämään Myllykoski –ryhmän yritysidentiteetin nykytilaa ja Myllykoski Salesin toivottuja imagotekijöitä, sekä vertaamaan niiden vastaavuutta. Lisäksi tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia Myllykoski –ryhmän nykyistä ja toivottua tulevaisuuden imagotilaa. Jotta imagonrakennusprosessi olisi menestyksekäs, rakennettavan imagon ja viestittävien imagotekijöiden tulisi perustua yritysidentiteetin todellisiin tekijöihin. Yritysidentiteetin voidaan määritellä olevan yhtäläinen sisäisten sidosryhmien muodostaman yritysmielikuvan kanssa ja näin ollen nykyinen yritysidentiteetti voidaan paljastaa tutkimalla henkilökunnan mielipiteitä työorganisaatiotaan kohtaan. Näin ollen käsiteltävä tutkimus suoritettiin tekemällä kaksi sähköpostikyselyä, jotka suunnattiin Myllykoski -ryhmän myynti- ja markkinointihenkilökunnalle. Tutkimusten vastausprosentit olivat 71,4 % (johto, 14 lähetettyä kyselyä) ja 51,9 % (muu henkilökunta, 108 lähetettyä kyselyä). Saatuja vastauksia analysoitiin sekä laadullisesti että määrällisesti. Saaduista vastauksista oli selvästi havaittavissa Myllykoski –ryhmän yritysidentiteetin nykytila, nykyinen ja toivottu imagotila, sekä Myllykoski Salesin toivotut imagotekijät. Verrattaessa toivottuja imagotekijöitä ryhmän yritysidentiteettiin havaittiin, että suurin osa halutuista imagotekijöistä vastasi ryhmän identiteetin nykytilan ominaisuuksia ja näin ollen kyseisiä tekijöitä voitaisiin huoletta viestiä rakennettaessa Myllykoski Salesin imagoa. Joidenkin toivottujen imagotekijöiden viestintää tulisi kuitenkin vakavasti harkita, jottei rakennettaisi epärealistista imagoa.

Synergies between optical and physical variables in intercepting parabolic targets.

Interception requires precise estimation of time-to-contact (TTC) information. A long-standing view posits that all relevant information for extracting TTC is available in the angular variables, which result from the projection of distal objecs on to the retina. The diferent timing models rooted in this tradition have consequently relied on combining visual angle and its rate of expansion in diferent ways with tau being the most well-known solution for TTC...