Creació d'un Sistema d'Informació Geogràfica de Carreteres amb GEOMEDIA PROFESSIONAL 5.2

El present document detalla, desglossant la informació en diferents capítols, les tasques realitzades per a la construcció d'un Sistema d'Informació Geogràfica (SIG) de carreteres utilitzant el producte GEOMEDIA PROFESSIONAL 5.2 de INTERGRAPH.

Three essays in Swiss corporate governance

This dissertation is a combination of three relatively independent chapters on the subject of corporate governance. Corporate governance is presently at the epicenter of the global financial crisis. The lack of regulation and the misalignment of objectives have greatly contributed to the major crisis we are now in. Most governance research has been conducted in the United States in a context of widely held corporations and great executive power. It does not reflect the variety of situations around the world and we question the validity of this model in other contexts. The aim of this dissertation is to look at other governance models, in particular the Swiss corporate governance not only from a practical point of view, but also from a multi-theoretical approach. Traditional corporate governance literature has focused on the Anglo-American model that mainly follows the agency theory (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) in a shareholder-manager context, and overlooked other approaches. We focus on three different aspects of corporate governance using three different theories. First, we look at the ownership type of various corporations, using the agency theory in a context where issues between shareholders predominate over the typical shareholder-manager relationship. Second, we explore the adoption process of several governance mechanisms that, due to changes in legislation, has taken place in Switzerland since 2002. We use the institutional theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983), in a context where the environmental pressures are particularly high. Finally, we spotlight the board of directors as a key element of the governance of publicly listed corporations. Particularly, we focus on the independence of the board of directors, using a combination of the agency and resource dependence theories (Pfeffer, 1972; Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978).

Attracting, Developing and Training Effective Teachers - OECD Country Background Report for Ireland

This Country Background Report (CBR) on the teaching career in Ireland forms part of the major OECD study “Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers.” Similar reports are being submitted from twenty six other countries. Nine of these countries are also engaged on ‘thematic’ studies of the teaching career, involving site visits by external reviewers appointed by the OECD. The format of the CBRs follows a common pattern, set out by the OECD in its Design and Implementation Plan. This is to facilitate comparative analysis of sub-themes of the reports. Thus, each CBR involves six chapters. The first two – “the national context” and “school system and the teaching force”– are intended to provide succinct overviews of these themes in line with queries posed in the OECD documentation. Each of the other four chapters is designed on a common format – identification of policy concerns; data, trends and factors; policy initiatives and their impact. Specific questions are posed regarding data, trends and factors. The same questions may be posed in relation to more than one sub-theme which gives rise to some repetition in the report, but is important for the comparative analysis.

Sistema gestor d'empresa d'excavacions

El següent document recull la documentació tècnica generada durant el desenvolupament del Sistema gestor d'empresa d'excavacions amb tecnologia J2EE i el conjunt de decisions que s'han pres per a portar-lo a terme en el termini previst.Aquest, es divideix principalment en 9 capítols:El primer, en el que es defineixen les característiques principals per a la gestió del projecte.En el segon recull els requeriments, l'anàlisi i el disseny del mateix projecte,acompanyats dels respectius diagrames de casos d'ús i de seqüència.En el tercer es descriu el model de dades utilitzat.El quart està format pel model físic del sistema on es defineix la arquitectura, lescaracterístiques tècniques principals del sistema i de la seva implementació, i les decisions adoptades durant el desenvolupament.El cinquè és un recull dels canvis realitzats sobre el disseny original.El sisè està dedicat a les proves de testeig realitzades un cop finalitzat el desenvolupament.El setè, és un manual d'instal·lació, on es descriuen les especificacions necessàries i els passos a seguir per a poder-lo desplegar.En el vuitè es fa una breu valoració econòmica de l'aplicació conjuntament amb un estudi d'oportunitat.I el novè, on es descriuen les conclusions sobre la realització d'aquest treball de final de carrera.

Partial eating disorders among adolescents: a review.

PURPOSE: Many adolescents do not fulfill all the DSM-IV criteria's for anorexia nervosa and bulimia, but do nevertheless suffer from partial eating disorders (EDs). This review focuses on the definition, epidemiology and clinical aspects of these disorders. METHODS: Search on Medline & PsycINFO, review of websites, screening of bibliographies of articles and book chapters. RESULTS: There is still no consensus on the definition of these disorders, which cover a wide range of severity. Affected adolescents often suffer from physical and psychological problems owing to co-morbidity or as a consequence of their eating patterns: chronic constipation, dyspeptic symptoms, nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, headaches, hypotension, menstrual dysfunction as well as dysthymia, depressive and anxiety disorders, or substance misuse and abuse. In comparison with those who are unaffected, adolescents with partial ED are at higher risk of evolving into full ED. However, most of them evolve into spontaneous remission. Adolescents with partial ED engaged, over a period of several months, in potentially unhealthy weight-control practices, suffering from intense fear of gaining weight and a disturbed body weight/image should be offered therapeutic support. CONCLUSION: Future research should focus on the exact delineation of various subtypes of clinical presentations in partial ED and on evidence-based treatment and follow-up of these various situations.

Personality and melanin-based colouration traits in barn owls, tawny owl and kestrels

Individuals need to adapt to their local environment in order to survive. When selection pressures differ in local populations, polymorphism can evolve. Colour polymorphism is one of the most obvious polymorphisms since it is readily observable. Different sources of colouration exist, but melanin-based colouration is one of the most common in birds. The melanocortin system produces this colouration and because the melanocortin system has pleiotropic effects on behavioural and physiological traits, it is a good candidate to be an underlying mechanism to explain the maintenance of colour polymorphism. In this thesis I studied three different raptors which all display melanin-based colouration; barn owls (Tyto alba), tawny owls (Strix aluco) and Eurasian kestrels (Falco tinnunculus). The main question was if there was a relationship between melanin-based colouration and individual behavioural differences. The underlying hypothesis is that colour could be a signal of certain adaptive traits. Our goal was to find evolutionary explanations for the persistence of colour polymorphism. I found that nestling kestrels and barn owls differ in anti-predatory behaviour, with respect to their melanic colouration (chapters 1 and 2). Darker individuals show less reaction to human handling, but in kestrels aggression and colouration are related in opposite ways than in barn owls. More reddish barn owls travel greater distances in natal dispersal and this behaviour is repeatable between parents and same sex offspring (chapter 3). Dark reddish tawny owls defend their nests more intensely against intruders and appear to suffer less from nest predation (chapter 4). Finally I show that polymorphism in the Melanocortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R), which is strongly correlated with reddish colouration in the barn owl, is related to natal dispersal distance, providing a first indication for a genetic basis of the relation between this behaviour and colouration (chapter 5). My results demonstrate a clear link between melanin-based colouration and animal personality traits. I demonstrated this relation in three different species, which shows there is most likely a general underlying mechanism responsible. Different predation pressures might have shaped the reactions to predation, but also differences in sex-related colouration. Male-like and female-like colouration might signal more or less aggressive behaviour. Fluctuating environmental conditions might cause different individual strategies to produce equal reproductive success. The melanocortin system with its pleiotropic effects might be an underlying mechanism, as suggested by the results from the genetic polymorphism, the similar results found in these three species and by the similar relations reported in other species. This thesis demonstrates that colouration and individual differences are correlated and it provides the first glimpse of an underlying system. We can now conduct a more directed search for underlying mechanisms and evolutionary explanations with the use of quantitative genetic methods.

La catedral i Girona: l' entrada del complex episcopal dins murs entre els segles X-XI

Fins a la darreria del segle VIII, el complex episcopal gironí se situava fora murs, al voltant de l'esglésiamartirial de Sant Feliu; a principis del segle IX, el complex es desdoblà amb la consagració d'una segona església episcopal, Santa Maria, dins murs, raó per la qual la seu fou coneguda, al llarg d'aquella centúria, amb la doble advocació de Santa Maria i Sant Feliu. Al llarg del segle X, s'afermà la preeminència de Santa Maria fins al punt que, en l'últim terç del segle. Sant Feliu ja no és esmentada com a seu episcopal, encara que hi continuà vinculada com a una església dependent, sense personalitat ni administració pròpia. Des de final del segle, el procés s'accelerà amb la construcció d'una nova església catedral a Santa Maria, que complementà l'aixecament d'un nou complex episcopal dins murs, en gran part culminat a mitjan segle XI i format per xenodoquium, catedral, palau episcopal i conjunt canonical, a banda de noves residències de canonges i altres clergues en el seu entorn. Aquests fets significaren la consolidació de Santa Maria com a seu única, però també la profunda remodelació urbanística d'un sector significatiu de la ciutat, prop d'un 20% del total, expressió del nou domini del bisbe i dels clergues sobre la 'seva ciutat'

“De genere militari ex utroque parente”: la nobleza eclesiástica y los inicios de la catedral gótica de Gerona

A lo largo de este estudio se pone de relieve el papel fundamental que desempeñaron los miembros del cabildo en el proyecto y construcción de la cabecera de la catedral gerundense. Para este grupo de personajes, básicamente procedentes de la baja nobleza altoampurdanesa, la nueva empresa edilicia supuso la posibilidad de satisfacer el deseo de promover beneficios eclesiásticos así como el objetivo de disponer de nuevos espacios —las capillas de la girola— concebidos como expresión de la gloria y la memoria individual y del linaje

Validity and reliability of the Spanish version of the DN4 (Douleur Neuropathique 4 questions) questionnaire for differential diagnosis of pain syndromes associated to a neuropathic or somatic component

BACKGROUND This study assesses the validity and reliability of the Spanish version of DN4 questionnaire as a tool for differential diagnosis of pain syndromes associated to a neuropathic (NP) or somatic component (non-neuropathic pain, NNP). METHODS A study was conducted consisting of two phases: cultural adaptation into the Spanish language by means of conceptual equivalence, including forward and backward translations in duplicate and cognitive debriefing, and testing of psychometric properties in patients with NP (peripheral, central and mixed) and NNP. The analysis of psychometric properties included reliability (internal consistency, inter-rater agreement and test-retest reliability) and validity (ROC curve analysis, agreement with the reference diagnosis and determination of sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values in different subsamples according to type of NP). RESULTS A sample of 164 subjects (99 women, 60.4%; age: 60.4 +/- 16.0 years), 94 (57.3%) with NP (36 with peripheral, 32 with central, and 26 with mixed pain) and 70 with NNP was enrolled. The questionnaire was reliable [Cronbach's alpha coefficient: 0.71, inter-rater agreement coefficient: 0.80 (0.71-0.89), and test-retest intra-class correlation coefficient: 0.95 (0.92-0.97)] and valid for a cut-off value > or = 4 points, which was the best value to discriminate between NP and NNP subjects. DISCUSSION This study, representing the first validation of the DN4 questionnaire into another language different than the original, not only supported its high discriminatory value for identification of neuropathic pain, but also provided supplemental psychometric validation (i.e. test-retest reliability, influence of educational level and pain intensity) and showed its validity in mixed pain syndromes.

Alternative ways to estimate change points in multinomial sequences. An application to an authorship attribution problem

The statistical analysis of literary style is the part of stylometry that compares measurable characteristicsin a text that are rarely controlled by the author, with those in other texts. When thegoal is to settle authorship questions, these characteristics should relate to the author’s style andnot to the genre, epoch or editor, and they should be such that their variation between authors islarger than the variation within comparable texts from the same author.For an overview of the literature on stylometry and some of the techniques involved, see for exampleMosteller and Wallace (1964, 82), Herdan (1964), Morton (1978), Holmes (1985), Oakes (1998) orLebart, Salem and Berry (1998).Tirant lo Blanc, a chivalry book, is the main work in catalan literature and it was hailed to be“the best book of its kind in the world” by Cervantes in Don Quixote. Considered by writterslike Vargas Llosa or Damaso Alonso to be the first modern novel in Europe, it has been translatedseveral times into Spanish, Italian and French, with modern English translations by Rosenthal(1996) and La Fontaine (1993). The main body of this book was written between 1460 and 1465,but it was not printed until 1490.There is an intense and long lasting debate around its authorship sprouting from its first edition,where its introduction states that the whole book is the work of Martorell (1413?-1468), while atthe end it is stated that the last one fourth of the book is by Galba (?-1490), after the death ofMartorell. Some of the authors that support the theory of single authorship are Riquer (1990),Chiner (1993) and Badia (1993), while some of those supporting the double authorship are Riquer(1947), Coromines (1956) and Ferrando (1995). For an overview of this debate, see Riquer (1990).Neither of the two candidate authors left any text comparable to the one under study, and thereforediscriminant analysis can not be used to help classify chapters by author. By using sample textsencompassing about ten percent of the book, and looking at word length and at the use of 44conjunctions, prepositions and articles, Ginebra and Cabos (1998) detect heterogeneities that mightindicate the existence of two authors. By analyzing the diversity of the vocabulary, Riba andGinebra (2000) estimates that stylistic boundary to be near chapter 383.Following the lead of the extensive literature, this paper looks into word length, the use of the mostfrequent words and into the use of vowels in each chapter of the book. Given that the featuresselected are categorical, that leads to three contingency tables of ordered rows and therefore tothree sequences of multinomial observations.Section 2 explores these sequences graphically, observing a clear shift in their distribution. Section 3describes the problem of the estimation of a suden change-point in those sequences, in the followingsections we propose various ways to estimate change-points in multinomial sequences; the methodin section 4 involves fitting models for polytomous data, the one in Section 5 fits gamma modelsonto the sequence of Chi-square distances between each row profiles and the average profile, theone in Section 6 fits models onto the sequence of values taken by the first component of thecorrespondence analysis as well as onto sequences of other summary measures like the averageword length. In Section 7 we fit models onto the marginal binomial sequences to identify thefeatures that distinguish the chapters before and after that boundary. Most methods rely heavilyon the use of generalized linear models

Predicting spatial patterns of plant biodiversity : from species to communities

Understanding the distribution and composition of species assemblages and being able to predict them in space and time are highly important tasks io investigate the fate of biodiversity in the current global changes context. Species distribution models are tools that have proven useful to predict the potential distribution of species by relating their occurrences to environmental variables. Species assemblages can then be predicted by combining the prediction of individual species models. In the first part of my thesis, I tested the importance of new environmental predictors to improve species distribution prediction. I showed that edaphic variables, above all soil pH and nitrogen content could be important in species distribution models. In a second chapter, I tested the influence of different resolution of predictors on the predictive ability of species distribution models. I showed that fine resolution predictors could ameliorate the models for some species by giving a better estimation of the micro-topographic condition that species tolerate, but that fine resolution predictors for climatic factors still need to be ameliorated. The second goal of my thesis was to test the ability of empirical models to predict species assemblages' characteristics such as species richness or functional attributes. I showed that species richness could be modelled efficiently and that the resulting prediction gave a more realistic estimate of the number of species than when obtaining it by stacking outputs of single species distribution models. Regarding the prediction of functional characteristics (plant height, leaf surface, seed mass) of plant assemblages, mean and extreme values of functional traits were better predictable than indices reflecting the diversity of traits in the community. This approach proved interesting to understand which environmental conditions influence particular aspects of the vegetation functioning. It could also be useful to predict climate change impacts on the vegetation. In the last part of my thesis, I studied the capacity of stacked species distribution models to predict the plant assemblages. I showed that this method tended to over-predict the number of species and that the composition of the community was not predicted exactly either. Finally, I combined the results of macro- ecological models obtained in the preceding chapters with stacked species distribution models and showed that this approach reduced significantly the number of species predicted and that the prediction of the composition is also ameliorated in some cases. These results showed that this method is promising. It needs now to be tested on further data sets. - Comprendre la manière dont les plantes se répartissent dans l'environnement et s'organisent en communauté est une question primordiale dans le contexte actuel de changements globaux. Cette connaissance peut nous aider à sauvegarder la diversité des espèces et les écosystèmes. Des méthodes statistiques nous permettent de prédire la distribution des espèces de plantes dans l'espace géographique et dans le temps. Ces modèles de distribution d'espèces, relient les occurrences d'une espèce avec des variables environnementales pour décrire sa distribution potentielle. Cette méthode a fait ses preuves pour ce qui est de la prédiction d'espèces individuelles. Plus récemment plusieurs tentatives de cumul de modèles d'espèces individuelles ont été réalisées afin de prédire la composition des communautés végétales. Le premier objectif de mon travail est d'améliorer les modèles de distribution en testant l'importance de nouvelles variables prédictives. Parmi différentes variables édaphiques, le pH et la teneur en azote du sol se sont avérés des facteurs non négligeables pour prédire la distribution des plantes. Je démontre aussi dans un second chapitre que les prédicteurs environnementaux à fine résolution permettent de refléter les conditions micro-topographiques subies par les plantes mais qu'ils doivent encore être améliorés avant de pouvoir être employés de manière efficace dans les modèles. Le deuxième objectif de ce travail consistait à étudier le développement de modèles prédictifs pour des attributs des communautés végétales tels que, par exemple, la richesse en espèces rencontrée à chaque point. Je démontre qu'il est possible de prédire par ce biais des valeurs de richesse spécifiques plus réalistes qu'en sommant les prédictions obtenues précédemment pour des espèces individuelles. J'ai également prédit dans l'espace et dans le temps des caractéristiques de la végétation telles que sa hauteur moyenne, minimale et maximale. Cette approche peut être utile pour comprendre quels facteurs environnementaux promeuvent différents types de végétation ainsi que pour évaluer les changements à attendre au niveau de la végétation dans le futur sous différents régimes de changements climatiques. Dans une troisième partie de ma thèse, j'ai exploré la possibilité de prédire les assemblages de plantes premièrement en cumulant les prédictions obtenues à partir de modèles individuels pour chaque espèce. Cette méthode a le défaut de prédire trop d'espèces par rapport à ce qui est observé en réalité. J'ai finalement employé le modèle de richesse en espèce développé précédemment pour contraindre les résultats du modèle d'assemblage de plantes. Cela a permis l'amélioration des modèles en réduisant la sur-prédiction et en améliorant la prédiction de la composition en espèces. Cette méthode semble prometteuse mais de nouveaux tests sont nécessaires pour bien évaluer ses capacités.

EFNS guidelines on the clinical management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (MALS)--revised report of an EFNS task force.

BACKGROUND: The evidence base for the diagnosis and management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is weak. OBJECTIVES: To provide evidence-based or expert recommendations for the diagnosis and management of ALS based on a literature search and the consensus of an expert panel. METHODS: All available medical reference systems were searched, and original papers, meta-analyses, review papers, book chapters and guidelines recommendations were reviewed. The final literature search was performed in February 2011. Recommendations were reached by consensus. RECOMMENDATIONS: Patients with symptoms suggestive of ALS should be assessed as soon as possible by an experienced neurologist. Early diagnosis should be pursued, and investigations, including neurophysiology, performed with a high priority. The patient should be informed of the diagnosis by a consultant with a good knowledge of the patient and the disease. Following diagnosis, the patient and relatives/carers should receive regular support from a multidisciplinary care team. Medication with riluzole should be initiated as early as possible. Control of symptoms such as sialorrhoea, thick mucus, emotional lability, cramps, spasticity and pain should be attempted. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding improves nutrition and quality of life, and gastrostomy tubes should be placed before respiratory insufficiency develops. Non-invasive positive-pressure ventilation also improves survival and quality of life. Maintaining the patient's ability to communicate is essential. During the entire course of the disease, every effort should be made to maintain patient autonomy. Advance directives for palliative end-of-life care should be discussed early with the patient and carers, respecting the patient's social and cultural background.

Towards smart user models in open environments

Our work is concerned with user modelling in open environments. Our proposal then is the line of contributions to the advances on user modelling in open environments thanks so the Agent Technology, in what has been called Smart User Model. Our research contains a holistic study of User Modelling in several research areas related to users. We have developed a conceptualization of User Modelling by means of examples from a broad range of research areas with the aim of improving our understanding of user modelling and its role in the next generation of open and distributed service environments. This report is organized as follow: In chapter 1 we introduce our motivation and objectives. Then in chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 we provide the state-of-the-art on user modelling. In chapter 2, we give the main definitions of elements described in the report. In chapter 3, we present an historical perspective on user models. In chapter 4 we provide a review of user models from the perspective of different research areas, with special emphasis on the give-and-take relationship between Agent Technology and user modelling. In chapter 5, we describe the main challenges that, from our point of view, need to be tackled by researchers wanting to contribute to advances in user modelling. From the study of the state-of-the-art follows an exploratory work in chapter 6. We define a SUM and a methodology to deal with it. We also present some cases study in order to illustrate the methodology. Finally, we present the thesis proposal to continue the work, together with its corresponding work scheduling and temporalisation

Advances in Sequence Analysis: Theory, Methods, Applications

This book gives a general view of sequence analysis, the statistical study of successions of states or events. It includes innovative contributions on life course studies, transitions into and out of employment, contemporaneous and historical careers, and political trajectories. The approach presented in this book is now central to the life-course perspective and the study of social processes more generally. This volume promotes the dialogue between approaches to sequence analysis that developed separately, within traditions contrasted in space and disciplines. It includes the latest developments in sequential concepts, coding, atypical datasets and time patterns, optimal matching and alternative algorithms, survey optimization, and visualization. Field studies include original sequential material related to parenting in 19th-century Belgium, higher education and work in Finland and Italy, family formation before and after German reunification, French Jews persecuted in occupied France, long-term trends in electoral participation, and regime democratization. Overall the book reassesses the classical uses of sequences and it promotes new ways of collecting, formatting, representing and processing them. The introduction provides basic sequential concepts and tools, as well as a history of the method. Chapters are presented in a way that is both accessible to the beginner and informative to the expert.

Unorthodox Humeanism

The thesis is situated in the domain of contemporary metaphysics of science. The question is which ontology fits best with our knowledge of the world. The method chosen is the one of evaluating the consequences of different ontological frameworks against the background of our scientific knowledge of the world. The thesis analyses the two main frameworks in today's metaphysics of science, Humeanism and dispositionalism. It advocates that only an unorthodox version of Humeanism and only an unorthodox version of dispositionalism can be defended, the unorthodox character of these versions consisting in taking the fundamental properties to be relations rather than intrinsic properties. The thesis then sets out in detail what such an unorthodox version of Humeanism amounts to. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the standard versions of Humeanism and dispositionalism, focussing on the accounts of laws of nature and causation. Chapter 3 compares both these positions and concludes that as far as the orthodox versions are concerned, dispositionalism fares better than Humeanism, since it can avoid Humeanism's commitments to quidditism and humility. However, as is argued in chapter 4, instead of replying to the objections from quidditism and humility by switching to dispositionalism, there is an unorthodox version of Humeanism available that does not run into these problematic consequences and that is supported by science: if one takes the fundamental physical properties to be relations instead of intrinsic properties, the objection from quidditism is avoided, since there is no hidden intrinsic essence of relations. As regards the objection from humility, one can maintain that science is in principle able to provide knowledge of the fundamental relations that there are in the world so that there is no principled ignorance. Consequently, the thesis concludes that Humeanism and dispositionalism are on a par as regards the remaining charge of humility. Unorthodox Humeanism provides a competitive and adequate ontology in the light of contemporary science.