Clinical signs of pneumonia in children: association with and prediction of diagnosis by fuzzy sets theory

The present study compares the performance of stochastic and fuzzy models for the analysis of the relationship between clinical signs and diagnosis. Data obtained for 153 children concerning diagnosis (pneumonia, other non-pneumonia diseases, absence of disease) and seven clinical signs were divided into two samples, one for analysis and other for validation. The former was used to derive relations by multi-discriminant analysis (MDA) and by fuzzy max-min compositions (fuzzy), and the latter was used to assess the predictions drawn from each type of relation. MDA and fuzzy were closely similar in terms of prediction, with correct allocation of 75.7 to 78.3% of patients in the validation sample, and displaying only a single instance of disagreement: a patient with low level of toxemia was mistaken as not diseased by MDA and correctly taken as somehow ill by fuzzy. Concerning relations, each method provided different information, each revealing different aspects of the relations between clinical signs and diagnoses. Both methods agreed on pointing X-ray, dyspnea, and auscultation as better related with pneumonia, but only fuzzy was able to detect relations of heart rate, body temperature, toxemia and respiratory rate with pneumonia. Moreover, only fuzzy was able to detect a relationship between heart rate and absence of disease, which allowed the detection of six malnourished children whose diagnoses as healthy are, indeed, disputable. The conclusion is that even though fuzzy sets theory might not improve prediction, it certainly does enhance clinical knowledge since it detects relationships not visible to stochastic models.

Selection of patients for myocardial perfusion scintigraphy based on fuzzy sets theory applied to clinical-epidemiological data and treadmill test results

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a worldwide leading cause of death. The standard method for evaluating critical partial occlusions is coronary arteriography, a catheterization technique which is invasive, time consuming, and costly. There are noninvasive approaches for the early detection of CAD. The basis for the noninvasive diagnosis of CAD has been laid in a sequential analysis of the risk factors, and the results of the treadmill test and myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS). Many investigators have demonstrated that the diagnostic applications of MPS are appropriate for patients who have an intermediate likelihood of disease. Although this information is useful, it is only partially utilized in clinical practice due to the difficulty to properly classify the patients. Since the seminal work of Lotfi Zadeh, fuzzy logic has been applied in numerous areas. In the present study, we proposed and tested a model to select patients for MPS based on fuzzy sets theory. A group of 1053 patients was used to develop the model and another group of 1045 patients was used to test it. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to compare the performance of the fuzzy model against expert physician opinions, and showed that the performance of the fuzzy model was equal or superior to that of the physicians. Therefore, we conclude that the fuzzy model could be a useful tool to assist the general practitioner in the selection of patients for MPS.

Vertaileva tutkimus suomalaisten päivittäistavara kaupan alan yritysten likviditeetin hallinnasta vuosina 2009 - 2013

Tämän Pro gradu -tutkielman aiheena on tutkia suomalaisten päivittäistavarakaupan alan yritysten likviditeetin hallintaa vuosina 2009 - 2013. Tutkielmassa tutkitaan, millä tavalla suomalaisten päivittäistavarakaupan alan yritysten käyttöpääoman hallinta on muuttunut rajatulla ajanjaksolla. Lisäksi työssä tutkitaan millä tavoin valikoitujen yritysten kannattavuus, maksuvalmius ja vakavaraisuus ovat muuttuneet vuosina 2009 - 2013. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös, miten suomalainen päivittäistavarakauppa on kehittynyt tarkasteluajanjaksolla. Tutkimus on rajattu koskemaan neljää suurinta suomalaista päivittäistavarakaupan, pois lukien Lild Suomi Ky taloudellisten tietojen puuttumisen takia, alan ryhmittymää käyttäen kriteerinä vuoden 2013 päivittäistavaramyyntiä sekä markkinaosuuksia. Edellä mainittujen kriteerien perusteella tutkimukseen valikoitui seuraavat ryhmittymät: S-ryhmä, K-ryhmä, Suomen Lähikauppa Oy sekä Stockmann Oyj Abp.Teoriapohjaan tutkimuksessa käytetään aikaisempaa kirjallisuutta ja julkaistuja akateemisia tutkimuksia toimitusketjun ja sen hallinnasta, sekä käyttöpääomasta ja sen hallinnasta. Valikoitujen yritysten tilinpäätöstiedot on koottu Virre -tietokannasta ja toimiala tiedot tilastokeskuksen ohjelmalla PC -Axis 2008. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin käyttöpääomaprosentin ja quick ratio - tunnusluvun välillä pieniä yhtymäkohtia. Kun käyttöpääomaprosentti pienenee, quick ratio -tunnusluku paranee. Käyttöpääomaprosentin muutoksilla oli negatiivinen korrelaatio koko pääoman tuottoprosenttiin sekä liikevoittoprosenttiin. Tutkimuksen kohdeyritykset ovat pystyneet pitämään käyttöpääomaprosentin erilaisilla tehostamistoiminnoilla hyvin tasaisena tiukasta taloustilanteesta huolimatta.

A phonological and tonal analysis of Samue using Optimality Theory

The topic of the present doctoral dissertation is the analysis of the phonological and tonal structures of a previously largely undescribed language, namely Samue. It is a Gur language belonging to the Niger-Congo language phulym, which is spoken in Burkina Faso. The data were collected during the fieldwork period in a Sama village; the data include 1800 lexical items, thousands of elicited sentences and 30 oral texts. The data were first transcribed phonetically and then the phonological and tonal analyses were conducted. The results show that the phonological system of Samue with the phoneme inventory and phonological processes has the same characteristics as other related Gur languages, although some particularities were found, such as the voicing and lenition of stop consonants in medial positions. Tonal analysis revealed three level tones, which have both lexical and grammatical functions. A particularity of the tonal system is the regressive Mid tone spreading in the verb phrase. The theoretical framework used in the study is Optimality theory. Optimality theory is rarely used in the analysis of an entire language system, and thus an objective was to see whether the theory was applicable to this type of work. Within the tonal analysis especially, some language specific constraints had to be created, although the basic Optimality Theory principle is the universal nature of the constraints. These constraints define the well-formedness of the language structures and they are differently ranked in different languages. This study gives new insights about typological phenomena in Gur languages. It is also a fundamental starting point for the Samue language in relation to the establishment of an orthography. From the theoretical point of view, the study proves that Optimality theory is largely applicable in the analysis of an entire sound system.

Concomitant stress potentiates the preference for, and consumption of, ethanol induced by chronic pre-exposure to ethanol

Ethanol abuse is linked to several acute and chronic injuries that can lead to health problems. Ethanol addiction is one of the most severe diseases linked to the abuse of this drug. Symptoms of ethanol addiction include compulsive substance intake and withdrawal syndrome. Stress exposure has an important role in addictive behavior for many drugs of abuse (including ethanol), but the consequences of stress and ethanol in the organism when these factors are concomitant results in a complex interaction. We investigated the effects of concomitant, chronic administration of ethanol and stress exposure on the withdrawal and consumption of, as well as the preference for, ethanol in mice. Male Swiss mice (30–35 g, 8-10 per group) were exposed to an ethanol liquid diet as the only source of food for 15 days. In the final 5 days, they were exposed to forced swimming stress. Twelve hours after removal of the ethanol liquid diet, animals were evaluated for ethanol withdrawal by measuring anxiety-related behaviors and locomotor activity. Twenty-four hours after evaluation of ethanol withdrawal, they were evaluated for voluntary consumption of ethanol in a “three-bottle choice” paradigm. Mice exposed to chronic consumption of ethanol had decreased locomotor activity during withdrawal. Contrary to our expectations, a concomitant forced swimming stress did not aggravate ethanol withdrawal. Nevertheless, simultaneous ethanol administration and stress exposure increased voluntary consumption of ethanol, mainly solutions containing high concentrations of ethanol. These results showed that stressful situations during ethanol intake may aggravate specific addiction-related behaviors.

Analysis of Brazilian consumer preference of filled chocolate

Chocolate is the most popular product made from cocoa. It is mainly consumed with fillings, such as fondant, hydrogenated fat or fruits. This work aimed at assessing the sensory acceptability of chocolate filled with strawberry, orange or passion fruit pulps, mixed in fondant, in a hydrogenated fat base and as truffles. Ninety four consumers participated in the test using a 10 cm hedonic scale to rate the overall liking of the samples. Two-way analysis of variance and the Internal Preference Mapping technique were used to analyze the data. Results showed a good overall liking for almost all samples, especially for strawberry and passion fruit truffles, which obtained 8.4 and 8.8 global means, respectively (p < 0.05), in liking ratings, followed by the hydrogenated fat and fondant fillings. The Internal Preference Map presented two dimensions explaining 72.5% of the variation found. Regarding the flavors, strawberry - traditional in chocolate and confectionary in Brazil - and passion fruit obtained better acceptance, unlike the orange fillings, which showed significantly lower ratings (p < 0.05). The orange fondant filling obtained a global mean of 6.5.

Extreme Observables and Optimal Measurements in Quantum Theory

Optimization of quantum measurement processes has a pivotal role in carrying out better, more accurate or less disrupting, measurements and experiments on a quantum system. Especially, convex optimization, i.e., identifying the extreme points of the convex sets and subsets of quantum measuring devices plays an important part in quantum optimization since the typical figures of merit for measuring processes are affine functionals. In this thesis, we discuss results determining the extreme quantum devices and their relevance, e.g., in quantum-compatibility-related questions. Especially, we see that a compatible device pair where one device is extreme can be joined into a single apparatus essentially in a unique way. Moreover, we show that the question whether a pair of quantum observables can be measured jointly can often be formulated in a weaker form when some of the observables involved are extreme. Another major line of research treated in this thesis deals with convex analysis of special restricted quantum device sets, covariance structures or, in particular, generalized imprimitivity systems. Some results on the structure ofcovariant observables and instruments are listed as well as results identifying the extreme points of covariance structures in quantum theory. As a special case study, not published anywhere before, we study the structure of Euclidean-covariant localization observables for spin-0-particles. We also discuss the general form of Weyl-covariant phase-space instruments. Finally, certain optimality measures originating from convex geometry are introduced for quantum devices, namely, boundariness measuring how ‘close’ to the algebraic boundary of the device set a quantum apparatus is and the robustness of incompatibility quantifying the level of incompatibility for a quantum device pair by measuring the highest amount of noise the pair tolerates without becoming compatible. Boundariness is further associated to minimum-error discrimination of quantum devices, and robustness of incompatibility is shown to behave monotonically under certain compatibility-non-decreasing operations. Moreover, the value of robustness of incompatibility is given for a few special device pairs.

Explaining the intention to play and behavior of playing sports betting games of young Finnish adults : an application of the theory of planned behavior

The aim of this Master’s Thesis was to examine the determinants of intention and behavior of playing sports betting games in order to explain the intention to play in a more precise way and to be able to understand the behavior of playing. The theory of planned behavior was applied in explaining the intention of young Finnish adults aged 18 to 34. A quantitative research method was applied and an online survey was sent to the students of Lappeenranta University of Technology and to the subscribers of Urheilulehti in order to reach a sample that present the young population of Finland. The theory of the study focused on the theory of planned behavior and its antecedents, attitude towards behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control as well as motivation. By analyzing the data, causal relationships were found through which the explanation of intention was possible. The results showed that attitude towards playing, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and motivation impact the formation of intention significantly. The results also indicated that intention impacts significantly to the playing frequency.