Accroissement de la prévalence du TDA/H, de la consommation de psychostimulants et des symptômes dépressifs : l’importance du contexte social évaluée à partir des effets d’âge, de période et de cohorte

La présente thèse de doctorat visait d’abord à valider les résultats des études antérieures démontrant un accroissement de la prévalence des problèmes de santé mentale et ensuite, à évaluer l’importance du contexte social dans l’explication des changements de prévalence, à partir des effets d’âge, de période et de cohorte. L’atteinte de ces objectifs s’est faite à partir de deux études empiriques, chacune ciblant sa propre problématique en santé mentale. La première étude, basée sur les données de l’Enquête longitudinale nationale sur les enfants et les jeunes (ELNEJ) de Statistique Canada, a permis de conclure à un accroissement réel de la prévalence du diagnostic de trouble déficitaire de l’attention/hyperactivité (TDA/H) et de la consommation de psychostimulants chez les enfants canadiens entre 1994 et 2007. Toutefois, cette tendance n’est ni constante, ni universelle, puisque des effets de période et d’âge apparaissent clairement : l’augmentation des prévalences est uniquement remarquée dans les années 2000, et survient seulement chez les enfants d’âge scolaire. L’identification d’inégalités de prévalence dues à la période historique et à l’âge des enfants souligne l’importance du contexte social dans la problématique du diagnostic de TDA/H et de la consommation de psychostimulants. La seconde étude a été réalisée à partir des données du Panel Study of Belgian Households (PSBH) et cherchait à expliquer l’accroissement des symptômes dépressifs observé ces vingt dernières années chez les adultes belges. L’utilisation de l’analyse multiniveaux longitudinale permettant la distinction des effets d’âge et des effets de cohortes a été privilégiée. Bien que l’intensité des symptômes dépressifs ait varié de manière relativement importante chez les individus au cours des années 1990, nos conclusions démontrent que les symptômes auto-rapportés de dépression sont davantage associés aux conditions de vie, qu’à la personnalité. L’augmentation résulte d’un effet de la succession des cohortes, où les individus des cohortes les plus récentes rapportent toujours une plus grande intensité de symptômes dépressifs que les individus des cohortes précédentes. Les membres d’une même cohorte de naissance partagent donc des expériences communes à un âge similaire, ce qui a un impact durable sur leurs comportements et sur leur santé mentale. De manière générale, les résultats des deux articles empiriques ont, chacun à leur manière, confirmé la réalité de l’accroissement des problèmes de santé mentale dans les sociétés occidentales contemporaines, et permis de constater que la prévalence diffère selon l’âge et la cohorte de naissance des individus, ainsi que selon la période historique, renforçant ainsi l’hypothèse de l’importance des facteurs sociaux dans l’étiologie des problèmes de santé mentale. Bien que la nature de ces facteurs n’ait pu être testée de manière directe, de nombreuses explications sociales furent tout de même proposées. À cet égard, des changements dans les normes comportementales associées à l’âge, dans les normes sociales, dans la conceptualisation des troubles mentaux, des modifications dans la sphère éducative, ainsi que des innovations pharmacologiques, médicales et technologiques constituent des explications sociales aux effets d’âge, de période et de cohorte qui ont été observés.

Applying 3D modelling technology to traditional craftwork : rapid prototyping in artisanal jewellery making and its impact on the perceived value of jewellery

Depuis la révolution industrielle, l’évolution de la technologie bouleverse le monde de la fabrication. Aujourd'hui, de nouvelles technologies telles que le prototypage rapide font une percée dans des domaines comme celui de la fabrication de bijoux, appartenant jadis à l'artisanat et en bouscule les traditions par l'introduction de méthodes plus rapides et plus faciles. Cette recherche vise à répondre aux deux questions suivantes : - ‘En quoi le prototypage rapide influence-t-il la pratique de fabrication de bijoux?’ - ‘En quoi influence-t-il de potentiels acheteurs dans leur appréciation du bijou?’ L' approche consiste en une collecte de données faite au cours de trois entretiens avec différents bijoutiers et une rencontre de deux groupes de discussion composés de consommateurs potentiels. Les résultats ont révélé l’utilité du prototypage rapide pour surmonter un certain nombre d'obstacles inhérents au fait-main, tel que dans sa géométrie, sa commercialisation, et sa finesse de détails. Cependant, il se crée une distance entre la main du bijoutier et l'objet, changeant ainsi la nature de la pratique. Cette technologie est perçue comme un moyen moins authentique car la machine rappelle la production de masse et la possibilité de reproduction en série détruit la notion d’unicité du bijou, en réduisant ainsi sa charge émotionnelle. Cette recherche propose une meilleure compréhension de l'utilisation du prototypage rapide et de ses conséquences dans la fabrication de bijoux. Peut-être ouvrira-t-elle la voie à une recherche visant un meilleur mariage entre cette technique et les méthodes traditionnelles.

A point-prevalence survey of antimicrobial utilisation within New Brunswick hospitals to focus antimicrobial stewardship efforts and decrease low-value care.

Introduction: Il est important de minimiser le gaspillage et les risques associés aux soins sans valeur. La gestion de l’utilisation des antimicrobiens vise à optimiser leur emploi et doit être adaptée au milieu et à sa population. Objectifs: Évaluer les profiles d’utilisation actuels des antimicrobiens et fixer des objectifs pour les interventions en matière de gestion des antimicrobiens. Méthode: Vingt-et-un hôpitaux du Nouveau-Brunswick offrant des soins de courte durée en médecine générale, en chirurgie et en pédiatrie ont pris part à une enquête sur la prévalence ponctuelle. Tous les patients admis aux hôpitaux participants et ayant reçu au moins un antimicrobien systémique ont été inscrits à l’étude. Les principaux critères d’évaluation étaient le profil d’utilisation, selon l’indication et l’antimicrobien prescrit, le bienfondé de l’utilisation et la durée de la prophylaxie chirurgicale. Des statistiques descriptives et un test d’indépendance 2 furent utilisés pour l’analyse de données. Résultats: L’enquête a été menée de juin à août 2012. Un total de 2244 patients ont été admis pendant la durée de l’étude et 529 (23,6%) ont reçu un antimicrobien. Au total, 691 antimicrobiens ont été prescrits, soit 587 (85%) pour le traitement et 104 (15%) pour la prophylaxie. Les antimicrobiens les plus souvent prescrits pour le traitement (n=587) étaient des classes suivantes : quinolones (25,6%), pénicillines à spectre étendu (10,2%) et métronidazole (8,5%). Les indications les plus courantes du traitement étaient la pneumonie (30%), les infections gastro-intestinales (16%) et les infections de la peau et des tissus mous (14%). Selon des critères définis au préalable, 23% (n=134) des ordonnances pour le traitement étaient inappropriées et 20% (n=120) n’avaient aucune indication de documentée. Les domaines où les ordonnances étaient inappropriées étaient les suivants : défaut de passage de la voie intraveineuse à la voie orale (n=34, 6%), mauvaise dose (n=30, 5%), traitement d’une bactériurie asymptomatique (n=24, 4%) et doublement inutile (n=22, 4%). Dans 33% (n=27) des cas, les ordonnances pour la prophylaxie chirurgicale étaient pour une période de plus de 24 heures. Conclusions: Les résultats démontrent que les efforts de gestion des antimicrobiens doivent se concentrer sur les interventions conventionnelles de gestion de l’utilisation des antimicrobiens, l’amélioration de la documentation, l’optimisation de l’utilisation des quinolones et la réduction au minimum de la durée de la prophylaxie chirurgicale.

STANDARDIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS FOR READY TO EAT FISH PRODUCTS IN INDIGENOUS POLYMER COATED TIN FREE STEEL CANS

In the present work, Indigenous polymer coated Tin Free Steel cans were analyzed fortheir suitability for thermal processing and storage of fish and fish products following standard methods. The raw materials used for the development of ready to eat thermally processed fish products were found to be of fresh condition. The values for various biochemical and microbiological parameters of the raw materials were well within the limits. Based on the analysis of commercial sterility, instrumental colour, texture, WB-shear force and sensory parameters, squid masala processed to F0 value of 8 min with a total process time of 38.5 min and cook value of 92 min was chosen as the optimum for squid masala in tin free steel cans while shrimp curry processed to F0 7 min with total process time of 44.0 min and cook value of 91.1 min was found to be ideal and was selected for storage study. Squid masala and shrimp curry thermally processed in indigenous polymer coated TFS cans were found to be acceptable even after one year of storage at room temperaturebased on the analysis of various sensory and biochemical parameters. Analysis of the Commission Internationale d’ Eclirage L*, a* and b* color values showed that the duration of exposure to heat treatment influenced the color parameters: the lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*)decreased, and the redness (a*) significantly increased with the increase in processing time or reduction in processing temperature.Instrumental analysis of texture showed that hardness-1 & 2 decreased with reduction in retort temperature while cohesiveness value did not show any appreciable change with decrease in temperature of processing. Other texture profile parameters like gumminess, springiness and chewiness decreased significantly with increase of processing time. W-B shear force values of mackerel meat processed at 130 °C were significantly higher than those processed at 121.1 and 115 °C. HTST processing of mackerel in brine helped in reducing the process time and improving the quality.The study also indicated that indigenous polymer coated TFS cans with easy openends can be a viable alternative to the conventional tin and aluminium cans. The industry can utilize these cans for processing ready to eat fish and shell fish products for both domestic and export markets. This will help in reviving the canning industry in India.

Speech Analysis using Modern Techniques of Nonlinear Dynamics

Medical fields requires fast, simple and noninvasive methods of diagnostic techniques. Several methods are available and possible because of the growth of technology that provides the necessary means of collecting and processing signals. The present thesis details the work done in the field of voice signals. New methods of analysis have been developed to understand the complexity of voice signals, such as nonlinear dynamics aiming at the exploration of voice signals dynamic nature. The purpose of this thesis is to characterize complexities of pathological voice from healthy signals and to differentiate stuttering signals from healthy signals. Efficiency of various acoustic as well as non linear time series methods are analysed. Three groups of samples are used, one from healthy individuals, subjects with vocal pathologies and stuttering subjects. Individual vowels/ and a continuous speech data for the utterance of the sentence "iruvarum changatimaranu" the meaning in English is "Both are good friends" from Malayalam language are recorded using a microphone . The recorded audio are converted to digital signals and are subjected to analysis.Acoustic perturbation methods like fundamental frequency (FO), jitter, shimmer, Zero Crossing Rate(ZCR) were carried out and non linear measures like maximum lyapunov exponent(Lamda max), correlation dimension (D2), Kolmogorov exponent(K2), and a new measure of entropy viz., Permutation entropy (PE) are evaluated for all three groups of the subjects. Permutation Entropy is a nonlinear complexity measure which can efficiently distinguish regular and complex nature of any signal and extract information about the change in dynamics of the process by indicating sudden change in its value. The results shows that nonlinear dynamical methods seem to be a suitable technique for voice signal analysis, due to the chaotic component of the human voice. Permutation entropy is well suited due to its sensitivity to uncertainties, since the pathologies are characterized by an increase in the signal complexity and unpredictability. Pathological groups have higher entropy values compared to the normal group. The stuttering signals have lower entropy values compared to the normal signals.PE is effective in charaterising the level of improvement after two weeks of speech therapy in the case of stuttering subjects. PE is also effective in characterizing the dynamical difference between healthy and pathological subjects. This suggests that PE can improve and complement the recent voice analysis methods available for clinicians. The work establishes the application of the simple, inexpensive and fast algorithm of PE for diagnosis in vocal disorders and stuttering subjects.

Global Value Chain Linkages of Manufacturing Export Firms: A Study of The Kannur Home Textile Industry

The literature on the involvement of developing countries in trade has focused on the effects of different aspects of globalization on firms, regions and countries. The study attempts to examine how an export based industry, locallyembedded and originated on the basis of regional strengths has been inserted into the global trade framework. Though the unit of analysis is the manufacturing export firm in the region of Kannur, it represents the entire home textile export industry from the state of Kerala, as close to 90% of fabric exports in home furnishing material, textiles for upholstery and decoration and stitched or fused, and branded made ups are from the region. From a global perspective, how developing countries face newer trade restrictions and overcome non quota barriers by firm and region specific activities within a value chain framework is a major research area, which has already contributions from the Ludhiana woolen cluster (Tewari,1999 ) and the Tirupur cluster in India (Cawthorne, 1995). The study contributes to the value chain literature by examining the governance and upgrading as well as how firms benefit from linkages. India has a number of export oriented agglomerations or regions where firms have been serving export markets for many years. In many cases it is no longer the supply side policy actions that determine how they are able to penetrate new markets or expand existing market share. Based on this study it becomes possible to understand how the global value chain operates in these different industries to examine whether there is a danger of immiserisation of growth or low road growth

Value orientation of professional students in kerala

The present study is on value orientation of professional students•and as such the theoretical value is inherent and implied. Variation on this value is likely to be limited among the subjects. The relevance of the present study is with particular reference, to management as a profession. In organisational settings motivation plays an important role. According to McClelland's theory of needs, achievement, power, and affiliation are the three important needs that help in understanding motivation. Achieve~ent need may be defined as the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed. Some people have a compelling drive to succeed. They have a desire to do something better or more efficiently than it has been done before. McClelland found that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire to do things . better. Considering this fact, 'achievement' is included as one of the values for the study

Marketing of Library Services in an Academic Environment

Marketing of information services is now an important goal of librarians all over the ~orld t? attract mor~ users to the libr~ry. thereby promoting user satisfaction. Marketing IS considered ~s ~n Integr~1 part of libraries and information centres mainly due to the developments In information t.echnology, information explosion, and declining library budgets. Kotler defines marketing as the "analysis, planning, implementation and control o~ carefully formulated programs designed to bring about voluntary exchanges of values WIth target markets fo~ the ~~rpos~ of~chievingorganizational objectives". Organizations suc.h as museums, unrversittes, libraries, and charities need to market their causes and their products to gain. political and social support as well as economic support (Kotler, 1995). In the marketing world people are now migrating from the traditional Four P ~lodelto th~ S~VE mode! (Alt~ns~n, 2013). According to the SAVE model, marketing III an orgarusanon must grve pnonty to 'Solutions' instead of the features or functions of~he.'Product" Similarily it is to focus on 'Access', instead of ,Place'; 'Value' instead of Price" so that the benefits are more stressed, rather than production costs. Instead of :Proliloti.on', marketi~g has. to conc~ntrate on 'Educating' the customers, providing lJlfo~mahol~ about t~eJr specific req~lrements, instead of relying on advertising, public rel~tlons, direct selling etc. From a library point ofview, to ensure maximum utilization of library ~ervices there is an increasing need for definite marketing plans to exploit the techn.ologlcal dcvelop",len~s so ~s to entice the users. By anticipating their changing needs and ~y co.mmulllcatl~g WIth them it should be possible to devise strategies to present various library services and products in a perceptive style.

Attribute reduction and missing value imputing with ANN: prediction of learning disabilities

Learning disability (LD) is a neurological condition that affects a child’s brain and impairs his ability to carry out one or many specific tasks. LD affects about 10% of children enrolled in schools. There is no cure for learning disabilities and they are lifelong. The problems of children with specific learning disabilities have been a cause of concern to parents and teachers for some time. Just as there are many different types of LDs, there are a variety of tests that may be done to pinpoint the problem The information gained from an evaluation is crucial for finding out how the parents and the school authorities can provide the best possible learning environment for child. This paper proposes a new approach in artificial neural network (ANN) for identifying LD in children at early stages so as to solve the problems faced by them and to get the benefits to the students, their parents and school authorities. In this study, we propose a closest fit algorithm data preprocessing with ANN classification to handle missing attribute values. This algorithm imputes the missing values in the preprocessing stage. Ignoring of missing attribute values is a common trend in all classifying algorithms. But, in this paper, we use an algorithm in a systematic approach for classification, which gives a satisfactory result in the prediction of LD. It acts as a tool for predicting the LD accurately, and good information of the child is made available to the concerned

Impact of Product Quality, Service Quality and Contextual Experience on Customer Perceived Value and Future Buying Intentions

Recognizing that high satisfaction leads to high customer loyalty, companies today are aiming for total customer satisfaction. This article explains relative impact of product quality, service quality and contextual experience on customer perceived value and intention to shop in the future. The data has been collected using a questionnaire from 205 customers of a national retailer chain. The relative importance of product quality, service quality and contextual experience on customer perceived value and thus on customer preference and future intentions was measured using multiple regression. Also, the contribution of perceived value to preference and thus on future buying intention was also measured. Structural Equation Model (SEM) using Amos 4 was used to find the overall fitness of the model. It was found that product quality, service quality and contextual experience have a major influence on customer perceived value

Approximate solutions and error estimates for a Stokes boundary value problem

The aim of this paper is the numerical treatment of a boundary value problem for the system of Stokes' equations. For this we extend the method of approximate approximations to boundary value problems. This method was introduced by V. Maz'ya in 1991 and has been used until now for the approximation of smooth functions defined on the whole space and for the approximation of volume potentials. In the present paper we develop an approximation procedure for the solution of the interior Dirichlet problem for the system of Stokes' equations in two dimensions. The procedure is based on potential theoretical considerations in connection with a boundary integral equations method and consists of three approximation steps as follows. In a first step the unknown source density in the potential representation of the solution is replaced by approximate approximations. In a second step the decay behavior of the generating functions is used to gain a suitable approximation for the potential kernel, and in a third step Nyström's method leads to a linear algebraic system for the approximate source density. For every step a convergence analysis is established and corresponding error estimates are given.

Hyperspectral field measurements to determine dry matter yield and nutritive value of legume-grass swards

Summary: Productivity, botanical composition and forage quality of legume-grass swards are important factors for successful arable farming in both organic and conventional farming systems. As these attributes can vary considerably within a field, a non-destructive method of detection while doing other tasks would facilitate a more targeted management of crops, forage and nutrients in the soil-plant-animal system. This study was undertaken to explore the potential of field spectral measurements for a non destructive prediction of dry matter (DM) yield, legume proportion in the sward, metabolizable energy (ME), ash content, crude protein (CP) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of legume-grass mixtures. Two experiments were conducted in a greenhouse under controlled conditions which allowed collecting spectral measurements which were free from interferences such as wind, passing clouds and changing angles of solar irradiation. In a second step this initial investigation was evaluated in the field by a two year experiment with the same legume-grass swards. Several techniques for analysis of the hyperspectral data set were examined in this study: four vegetation indices (VIs): simple ratio (SR), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and red edge position (REP), two-waveband reflectance ratios, modified partial least squares (MPLS) regression and stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR). The results showed the potential of field spectroscopy and proved its usefulness for the prediction of DM yield, ash content and CP across a wide range of legume proportion and growth stage. In all investigations prediction accuracy of DM yield, ash content and CP could be improved by legume-specific calibrations which included mixtures and pure swards of perennial ryegrass and of the respective legume species. The comparison between the greenhouse and the field experiments showed that the interaction between spectral reflectance and weather conditions as well as incidence angle of light interfered with an accurate determination of DM yield. Further research is hence needed to improve the validity of spectral measurements in the field. Furthermore, the developed models should be tested on varying sites and vegetation periods to enhance the robustness and portability of the models to other environmental conditions.

Patent DE10 2004 037 519 B4 “Sensor Process and Device for Determining a Physical Value“. A Proof of Concept

At present, a fraction of 0.1 - 0.2% of the patients undergoing surgery become aware during the process. The situation is referred to as anesthesia awareness and is obviously very traumatic for the person experiencing it. The reason for its occurrence is mostly an insufficient dosage of the narcotic Propofol combined with the incapability of the technology monitoring the depth of the patient’s anesthetic state to notice the patient becoming aware. A solution can be a highly sensitive and selective real time monitoring device for Propofol based on optical absorption spectroscopy. Its working principle has been postulated by Prof. Dr. habil. H. Hillmer and formulated in DE10 2004 037 519 B4, filed on Aug 30th, 2004. It consists of the exploitation of Intra Cavity Absorption effects in a two mode laser system. In this Dissertation, a two mode external cavity semiconductor laser, which has been developed previously to this work is enhanced and optimized to a functional sensor. Enhancements include the implementation of variable couplers into the system and the implementation of a collimator arrangement into which samples can be introduced. A sample holder and cells are developed and characterized with a focus on compatibility with the measurement approach. Further optimization concerns the overall performance of the system: scattering sources are reduced by re-splicing all fiber-to-fiber connections, parasitic cavities are eliminated by suppressing the Fresnel reflexes of all one fiber ends by means of optical isolators and wavelength stability of the system is improved by the implementation of thermal insulation to the Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG). The final laser sensor is characterized in detail thermally and optically. Two separate modes are obtained at 1542.0 and 1542.5 nm, tunable in a range of 1nm each. Mode Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) is 0.06nm and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is as high as 55 dB. Independent of tuning the two modes of the system can always be equalized in intensity, which is important as the delicacy of the intensity equilibrium is one of the main sensitivity enhancing effects formulated in DE10 2004 037 519 B4. For the proof of concept (POC) measurements the target substance Propofol is diluted in the solvents Acetone and DiChloroMethane (DCM), which have been investigated for compatibility with Propofol beforehand. Eight measurement series (two solvents, two cell lengths and two different mode spacings) are taken, which draw a uniform picture: mode intensity ratio responds linearly to an increase of Propofol in all cases. The slope of the linear response indicates the sensitivity of the system. The eight series are split up into two groups: measurements taken in long cells and measurements taken in short cells.