Conceptual models for designing information systems supporting the strategic analysis of technology environments

1 6 STRUCTURE OF THIS THESIS -Chapter I presents the motivations of this dissertation by illustrating two gaps in the current body of knowledge that are worth filling, describes the research problem addressed by this thesis and presents the research methodology used to achieve this goal. -Chapter 2 shows a review of the existing literature showing that environment analysis is a vital strategic task, that it shall be supported by adapted information systems, and that there is thus a need for developing a conceptual model of the environment that provides a reference framework for better integrating the various existing methods and a more formal definition of the various aspect to support the development of suitable tools. -Chapter 3 proposes a conceptual model that specifies the various enviromnental aspects that are relevant for strategic decision making, how they relate to each other, and ,defines them in a more formal way that is more suited for information systems development. -Chapter 4 is dedicated to the evaluation of the proposed model on the basis of its application to a concrete environment to evaluate its suitability to describe the current conditions and potential evolution of a real environment and get an idea of its usefulness. -Chapter 5 goes a step further by assembling a toolbox describing a set of methods that can be used to analyze the various environmental aspects put forward by the model and by providing more detailed specifications for a number of them to show how our model can be used to facilitate their implementation as software tools. -Chapter 6 describes a prototype of a strategic decision support tool that allow the analysis of some of the aspects of the environment that are not well supported by existing tools and namely to analyze the relationship between multiple actors and issues. The usefulness of this prototype is evaluated on the basis of its application to a concrete environment. -Chapter 7 finally concludes this thesis by making a summary of its various contributions and by proposing further interesting research directions.

Travellers and substance use in Ireland: Recommendations for drug and alcohol policy

The Traveller community was traditionally protected from drug use by distinct traditional anti-drug norms and potent family networks within their ‘separateness’ from the ‘settled’ community. Estimations of Traveller substance use remain clouded due to lack of ethnic monitoring in drug reporting systems, and poor service utilization by Travellers. This article draws on a Traveller and substance use regional needs analysis in Ireland, comprising 12 Traveller focus groups and 45 interviews with key stakeholders. Drug activity in terms of both drug dealing and drug use among Travellers is increasing in recent years [Van Hout, M.C. (2009a). Substance misuse in the traveller community: A regional needs assessment. Western Regional Drug Task Force. Series 2. ISBN 978-0-9561479-2-9].   Traditional resiliency factors are dissipating in strength due to increased Traveller housing within marginalized areas experiencing drug activity and increased levels of young Travellers encountering youth drug use within school settings, by way of their attempts ‘to fit in’ and integrate with their ‘settled peers’ [Van Hout, M.C. (2009b). Irish travellers and drug use – An exploratory study. Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, 2(1), 42–49]. Fragmentation of Traveller culture is occurring as Travellers strive to retain their identity within the assimilation process into modern sedentarist Irish society. Treatment and outreach policies need to protect Traveller identity by reducing discriminatory experiences, promoting cultural acceptance with service staff and addressing literacy, implementing peer led approaches and offering flexible therapy modalities.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Synchronization of EEG: bivariate and multivariate measures.

Synchronization behavior of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals is important for decoding information processing in the human brain. Modern multichannel EEG allows a transition from traditional measurements of synchronization in pairs of EEG signals to whole-brain synchronization maps. The latter can be based on bivariate measures (BM) via averaging over pair-wise values or, alternatively, on multivariate measures (MM), which directly ascribe a single value to the synchronization in a group. In order to compare BM versus MM, we applied nine different estimators to simulated multivariate time series with known parameters and to real EEGs.We found widespread correlations between BM and MM, which were almost frequency-independent for all the measures except coherence. The analysis of the behavior of synchronization measures in simulated settings with variable coupling strength, connection probability, and parameter mismatch showed that some of them, including S-estimator, S-Renyi, omega, and coherence, aremore sensitive to linear interdependences,while others, like mutual information and phase locking value, are more responsive to nonlinear effects. Onemust consider these properties together with the fact thatMM are computationally less expensive and, therefore, more efficient for the large-scale data sets than BM while choosing a synchronization measure for EEG analysis.

Coadaptation and malaria control

Malaria emerges from a disequilibrium of the system 'human-plasmodium-mosquito' (HPM). If the equilibrium is maintained, malaria does not ensue and the result is asymptomatic plasmodium infection. The relationships among the components of the system involve coadaptive linkages that lead to equilibrium. A vast body of evidence supports this assumption, including the strategies involved in the relationships between plasmodium and human and mosquito immune systems, and the emergence of resistance of plasmodia to antimalarial drugs and of mosquitoes to insecticides. Coadaptive strategies for malaria control are based on the following principles: (1) the system HPM is composed of three highly complex and dynamic components, whose interplay involves coadaptive linkages that tend to maintain the equilibrium of the system; (2) human and mosquito immune systems play a central role in the coadaptive interplay with plasmodium, and hence, in the mainten-ance of the system's equilibrium; the under- or overfunction of human immune system may result in malaria and influence its severity; (3) coadaptation depends on genetic and epigenetic phenomena occurring at the interfaces of the components of the system, and may involve exchange of infectrons (genes or gene fragments) between the partners; (4) plasmodia and mosquitoes have been submitted to selective pressures, leading to adaptation, for an extremely long while and are, therefore, endowed with the capacity to circumvent both natural (immunity) and artificial (drugs, insecticides, vaccines) measures aiming at destroying them; (5) since malaria represents disequilibrium of the system HPM, its control should aim at maintaining or restoring this equilibrium; (6) the disequilibrium of integrated systems involves the disequilibrium of their components, therefore the maintenance or restoration of the system's equilibrium depend on the adoption of integrated and coordinated measures acting on all components, that means, panadaptive strategies. Coadaptive strategies for malaria control should consider that: (1) host immune response has to be induced, since without it, no coadaptation is attained; (2) the immune response has to be sustained and efficient enough to avoid plasmodium overgrowth; (3) the immune response should not destroy all parasites; (4) the immune response has to be well controlled in order to not harm the host. These conditions are mostly influenced by antimalarial drugs, and should also be taken into account for the development of coadaptive malaria vaccines.

WePreserve 2009: DPE/Planets/CASPAR/nestor Joint Training Event: The Preservation challenge: basic concepts and practical applications (Barcelona, 23-27 març 2009)

Reseña del congreso WePreserve 2009 que tuvo lugar los pasados 23 al 27 de marzo en Barcelona, organizadopor la Facultad de Biblioteconomía y Documentación de la Universitat de Barcelona, con la colaboración del Institut d'Estudis Catalans, la Biblioteca de Catalunya y el Consorci de Biblioteques de Barcelona. El seminario 2009 WePreserve se celebra anualmente desde el año 2007 y participan todas las figuras de referencia europeas en materia de investigación en sistemas y metodologías que garantizan la preservación digital de los documentos: Digital Preservation Europe (DPE), Preservation and Long-term Access Through Networked Services (Planets), Cultural Artistic and Scientific Knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval (CASPAR), y Network of expertise in Digital long-term preservation (nestor).

Cluster analysis of behavioural and event-related potentials during a contingent negative variation paradigm in remitting-relapsing and benign forms of multiple sclerosis

Background: Event-related potentials (ERPs) may be used as a highly sensitive way of detecting subtle degrees of cognitive dysfunction. On the other hand, impairment of cognitive skills is increasingly recognised as a hallmark of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). We sought to determine the psychophysiological pattern of information processing among MS patients with the relapsing-remitting form of the disease and low physical disability considered as two subtypes: 'typical relapsing-remitting' (RRMS) and 'benign MS' (BMS). Furthermore, we subjected our data to a cluster analysis to determine whether MS patients and healthy controls could be differentiated in terms of their psychophysiological profile.Methods: We investigated MS patients with RRMS and BMS subtypes using event-related potentials (ERPs) acquired in the context of a Posner visual-spatial cueing paradigm. Specifically, our study aimed to assess ERP brain activity in response preparation (contingent negative variation -CNV) and stimuli processing in MS patients. Latency and amplitude of different ERP components (P1, eN1, N1, P2, N2, P3 and late negativity -LN) as well as behavioural responses (reaction time -RT; correct responses -CRs; and number of errors) were analyzed and then subjected to cluster analysis. Results: Both MS groups showed delayed behavioural responses and enhanced latency for long-latency ERP components (P2, N2, P3) as well as relatively preserved ERP amplitude, but BMS patients obtained more important performance deficits (lower CRs and higher RTs) and abnormalities related to the latency (N1, P3) and amplitude of ERPs (eCNV, eN1, LN). However, RRMS patients also demonstrated abnormally high amplitudes related to the preparation performance period of CNV (cCNV) and post-processing phase (LN). Cluster analyses revealed that RRMS patients appear to make up a relatively homogeneous group with moderate deficits mainly related to ERP latencies, whereas BMS patients appear to make up a rather more heterogeneous group with more severe information processing and attentional deficits. Conclusions: Our findings are suggestive of a slowing of information processing for MS patients that may be a consequence of demyelination and axonal degeneration, which also seems to occur in MS patients that show little or no progression in the physical severity of the disease over time.

Epidermal growth factor receptors, testosterone levels and parotid gland changes in rats infected with Trypanosoma cruzi

It has been demonstrated that parotid glands of rats infected with Trypanosoma cruzi present severe histological alterations; changes include reduction in density and volume of the acini and duct systems and an increase in connective tissue. We evaluated the association between morphological changes in parotid glands, circulating testosterone levels and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) expression in experimental Chagas disease in rats. Animals at 18 days of infection (acute phase) showed a significant decrease in body weight, serum testosterone levels and EGF-R expression in the parotid gland compared with a control group. Since decreases in body weight could lead to a reduction in circulating testosterone concentration, we believe that the reduction in EGF-R expression in parotid glands of infected rats is due to alterations in testosterone levels and atrophy of parotid glands is caused by changes in EGF-R expression. Additionally, at 50 days (chronic phase) of infection parotid glands showed a normal histological aspect likely due to the normalization of the body weight. These findings suggest that the testosterone-EGF-R axis is involved in the histological changes.

In-vitro cell exposure studies for the assessment of nanoparticle toxicity in the lung: a dialog between aerosol science and biology

The introduction of engineered nanostructured materials into a rapidly increasing number of industrial and consumer products will result in enhanced exposure to engineered nanoparticles. Workplace exposure has been identified as the most likely source of uncontrolled inhalation of engineered aerosolized nanoparticles, but release of engineered nanoparticles may occur at any stage of the lifecycle of (consumer) products. The dynamic development of nanomaterials with possibly unknown toxicological effects poses a challenge for the assessment of nanoparticle induced toxicity and safety.In this consensus document from a workshop on in-vitro cell systems for nanoparticle toxicity testing11Workshop on 'In-Vitro Exposure Studies for Toxicity Testing of Engineered Nanoparticles' sponsored by the Association for Aerosol Research (GAeF), 5-6 September 2009, Karlsruhe, Germany. an overview is given of the main issues concerning exposure to airborne nanoparticles, lung physiology, biological mechanisms of (adverse) action, in-vitro cell exposure systems, realistic tissue doses, risk assessment and social aspects of nanotechnology. The workshop participants recognized the large potential of in-vitro cell exposure systems for reliable, high-throughput screening of nanoparticle toxicity. For the investigation of lung toxicity, a strong preference was expressed for air-liquid interface (ALI) cell exposure systems (rather than submerged cell exposure systems) as they more closely resemble in-vivo conditions in the lungs and they allow for unaltered and dosimetrically accurate delivery of aerosolized nanoparticles to the cells. An important aspect, which is frequently overlooked, is the comparison of typically used in-vitro dose levels with realistic in-vivo nanoparticle doses in the lung. If we consider average ambient urban exposure and occupational exposure at 5mg/m3 (maximum level allowed by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)) as the boundaries of human exposure, the corresponding upper-limit range of nanoparticle flux delivered to the lung tissue is 3×10-5-5×10-3μg/h/cm2 of lung tissue and 2-300particles/h/(epithelial) cell. This range can be easily matched and even exceeded by almost all currently available cell exposure systems.The consensus statement includes a set of recommendations for conducting in-vitro cell exposure studies with pulmonary cell systems and identifies urgent needs for future development. As these issues are crucial for the introduction of safe nanomaterials into the marketplace and the living environment, they deserve more attention and more interaction between biologists and aerosol scientists. The members of the workshop believe that further advances in in-vitro cell exposure studies would be greatly facilitated by a more active role of the aerosol scientists. The technical know-how for developing and running ALI in-vitro exposure systems is available in the aerosol community and at the same time biologists/toxicologists are required for proper assessment of the biological impact of nanoparticles.

Sex steroids and gender differences in nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To review and summarize current knowledge on gender differences and sex steroid hormones in nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer. RECENT FINDINGS: Beyond the proven role of gender as a risk factor for the development of bladder cancer, recent studies indicate that women present with more advanced bladder cancer tumor stages than men, which may be due to differences in both bladder cancer care and biology. In addition, female gender has been identified as an independent prognostic factor for both recurrence and progression and may be associated with worse response to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin instillation therapy. Overall, sex steroid hormones and their receptors impact bladder carcinogenesis, recurrence and progression. Basic and transitional research evidence suggests that estrogens may initially protect against bladder cancer development, but later promote bladder cancer progression. Androgens, in contrast, seem to initiate and drive bladder cancer with its receptor playing a central role. Promising novel research shows a potential role of sex steroid hormones as therapeutic targets. SUMMARY: Whereas men are more likely to develop bladder cancer, women present generally with more advanced disease and have worse oncologic outcomes even after adjusting for tumor stage. Sex steroid hormones and their receptors play an active role in bladder cancer development and progression and represent attractive therapeutic targets for gender-specific care.

Application for fault location in electrical power distribution systems

Fault location has been studied deeply for transmission lines due to its importance in power systems. Nowadays the problem of fault location on distribution systems is receiving special attention mainly because of the power quality regulations. In this context, this paper presents an application software developed in Matlabtrade that automatically calculates the location of a fault in a distribution power system, starting from voltages and currents measured at the line terminal and the model of the distribution power system data. The application is based on a N-ary tree structure, which is suitable to be used in this application due to the highly branched and the non- homogeneity nature of the distribution systems, and has been developed for single-phase, two-phase, two-phase-to-ground, and three-phase faults. The implemented application is tested by using fault data in a real electrical distribution power system

Hippocampal sparing whole brain radiotherapy and simultaneously integrated boost with helical tomotherapy in patients with brain metastases

Materials/Methods: Four patients who underwent whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) and simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) between August 2010 and February 2011 were included to this study. Their age were 60, 61, 65, and 70 years. Primary diagnosis was infiltrative ductal breast cancer in two patients, sigmoid adenocarcinoma in one, and transitional bladder cancer in the other patient. All patients underwent cranial surgery but not all of the metastases were operated in 2 patients. All but one (five metastases) patient presented with single brain metastasis. In 2 of the 4 patients, hippocampus was spared contralaterally due to vicinity of the lesions to unilateral hippocampus. Planning irradiation dose was 30 Gy in 10 fractions for WBRT and 40 Gy in 10 fractions for SIB over two weeks in three patients. In one patient, WBRT and boost doses were 36Gy and 50.4 Gy in 18 fractions. Our maximum dose constraints for hippocampus and eyes were 10 and 20 Gy, respectively. All organs were contoured manually. Hippocampi were contoured according to published guidelines, and 5-mm margin expansion was used for hippocampal avoidance volume. All plans utilized a field width of 2.5 cm. Modulation factors ranged between 2 and 3.5. A pitch of 0,287 was used for all patients. All plans were evaluated according to conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), target coverage (TC), and mean normalized total dose (NTDmean). An alpha/beta ratio of 2 was assumed for the hippocampus.Results: Median planning target volume (PTV) for metastases was 17.47 cc.Median hippocampal avoidance volume was 14.73 cc (range, 9.25-16.18 cc). Median average hippocampaldose was 11.84 Gy (range, 10.14-21.01 Gy). PTVs were fully covered with more than 95% of the prescribed dose for all patients. With a median follow-up time of 6 months (range, 3-9 months), all patients were alive without recurrent intracranial disease. To date, no neurocognitive decline reported in any of the patients.Conclusions: Preclinical evidence suggests that hippocampal sparing during cranial irradiation may mitigate neurocognitive decline. Using HT, we significantly reduced the mean dose to the hippocampus without jeopardizing coverage of metastases and whole brain.

The Endocannabinoid System as Pharmacological Target Derived from Its CNS Role in Energy Homeostasis and Reward. Applications in Eating Disorders and Addiction

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) has been implicated in many physiological functions, including the regulation of appetite, food intake and energy balance, a crucial involvement in brain reward systems and a role in psychophysiological homeostasis (anxiety and stress responses). We first introduce this important regulatory system and chronicle what is known concerning the signal transduction pathways activated upon the binding of endogenous cannabinoid ligands to the Gi/0-coupled CB1 cannabinoid receptor, as well as its interactions with other hormones and neuromodulators which can modify endocannabinoid signaling in the brain. Anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are severe and disabling psychiatric disorders, characterized by profound eating and weight alterations and body image disturbances. Since endocannabinoids modulate eating behavior, it is plausible that endocannabinoid genes may contribute to the biological vulnerability to these diseases. We present and discuss data suggesting an impaired endocannabinoid signaling in these eating disorders, including association of endocannabinoid components gene polymorphisms and altered CB1-receptor expression in AN and BN. Then we discuss recent findings that may provide new avenues for the identification of therapeutic strategies based on the endocannabinod system. In relation with its implications as a reward-related system, the endocannabinoid system is not only a target for cannabis but it also shows interactions with other drugs of abuse. On the other hand, there may be also a possibility to point to the ECS as a potential target for treatment of drug-abuse and addiction. Within this framework we will focus on enzymatic machinery involved in endocannabinoid inactivation (notably fatty acid amide hydrolase or FAAH) as a particularly interesting potential target. Since a deregulated endocannabinoid system may be also related to depression, anxiety and pain symptomatology accompanying drug-withdrawal states, this is an area of relevance to also explore adjuvant treatments for improving these adverse emotional reactions.

Learning about Distributed Systems

This paper presents the "state of the art" about distributed systems and applications and it's focused on teaching about these systems. It presents different platforms where to run distributed applications and describes some development toolkits whose can be used to develop prototypes, practices and distributed applications. It also presents some existing distributed algorithms useful for class practices, and some tools to help managing distributed environments. Finally, the paper presents some teaching experiences with different approaches on how to teach about distributed systems.

Early Cretaceous life, climate and anoxia

Early Cretaceous life and the environment were strongly influenced by the accelerated break up of Pangaea, which was associated with the formation of a multitude of rift basins, intensified spreading, and important volcanic activity on land and in the sea. These processes likely interacted with greenhouse conditions, and Early Cretaceous climate oscillated between "normal" greenhouse, predominantly arid conditions, and intensified greenhouse, predominantly humid conditions. Arid conditions were important during the latest Jurassic and early Berriasian, the late Barremian, and partly also during the late Aptian. Humid conditions were particularly intense and widespread during shorter episodes of environmental change (EECs): the Valanginian Weissert, the latest Hauterivian Faraoni, the latest Barremian earliest Aptian Taxy, the early Aptian Selli, the early late Aptian Fallot and the late Aptian-early Albian Paquier episodes. Arid conditions were associated with evaporation, low biogeochemical weathering rates, low nutrient fluxes, and partly stratified oceans, leading to oxygen depletion and enhanced preservation of laminated, organic-rich mud (LOM). Humid conditions enabled elevated biogeochemical weathering rates and nutrient fluxes, important runoff and the buildup of freshwater lids in proximal basins, intensified oceanic and atmospheric circulation, widespread upwelling and phosphogenesis, important primary productivity and enhanced preservation of LOM in expanded oxygen-minimum zones. The transition of arid to humid climates may have been associated with the net transfer of water to the continent owing to the infill of dried-out groundwater reservoirs in internally drained inland basins. This resulted in shorter-term sea-level fall, which was followed by sea-level rise. These sea-level changes and the influx of freshwater into the ocean may have influenced oxygen-isotope signatures. Climate change preceding and during the Early Cretaceous EECs may have been rapid, but in general, the EECs had a "pre"-history, during which the stage was set for environmental change. Negative feedback on the climate through increased marine LOM preservation was unlikely, because of the low overall organic-carbon accumulation rates during these episodes. Life and climate co-evolved during the Early Cretaceous. Arid conditions may have affected continental life, such as across the Tithonian/Berriasian boundary. Humid conditions and the corresponding tendency to develop dys- to anaerobic conditions in deeper ocean waters led to phases of accelerated extinction in oceans, but may have led to more luxuriant vegetation cover on continents, such as during the Valanginian, to the benefit of herbivores. During Early Cretaceous EECs, reef systems and carbonate platforms in general were particularly vulnerable. They were the first to disappear and the last to recover, often only after several million years. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.