This study aimed to identify factors associated with taste acuity in healthy older European adults aged 55-87 years, employing a factorial independent design to recruit older adults from centres in France, Italy and United Kingdom. Adults aged 70-87 years (N=387) were recruited in Rome (Italy) (n=108) and Grenoble (France) (n=91) and aged 55-70 years in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) (n=93) and Clermont-Ferrand (C-F) (France) (n=95). A signal detection theory (SDT) approach was used for detection threshold assessment of the four basic tastes (salt; sweet; bitter; and, sour). Trial data were converted to R-indices. Diet was assessed by means of four day food diaries. Dietary data were converted using WISP and then reduced, using a principal components analysis, to four components: Component 1 'high fat and salt'; Component 2 'high vitamins and fibre'; Component 3 'high fat and carbohydrate'; and, Component 4 'high trace elements'. Socio-demographic information was collected by self report survey. Four separate regression analyses were carried out, one for each of the four basic taste qualities (sweet; sour; bitter; salt). Mean ROC scores for each taste quality were the response variables and age, sex, country, social class and dietary components were predictor variables. The main predictors of taste acuity were age, sex, social class and country, which had differential effects for each taste quality. These data suggest that socio-demographic and cultural factors should be taken into account when considering taste acuity in older people.

Increased possibilities during the last decades for early detection of prostate cancer have sparked research on preventable or treatable risk factors and on improvements in therapy. Treatments of the disease still entail significant side effects potentially affecting men during the rest of their lives. The studies of the present thesis concern different aspects of prostate cancer from etiological risk factors and factors influencing treatment to an improved methodology for the detection of treatment side effects. Papers I, II, both based in the population based cohort ULSAM (Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men), investigate possible risk factors of prostate cancer with options for intervention: selenium levels and the metabolic syndrome. The phenomenon of competing risk of death from other causes than prostate cancer and its impact on and importance for choice of statistical methods is also exemplified and discussed for the first time in prostate cancer research. -Smokers with low selenium status have an increased future risk of later development of prostate cancer. Influence of genetic variability appears plausible. -The metabolic syndrome and especially its increased waist circumference component are associated with later development of prostate cancer – taking competing risks of death from other causes into account. Papers III and IV using pharmacoepidemiological methods investigate aspects of drug utilisation in prostate cancer using nationwide and international databases. In Paper III factors influencing anti-androgen use in prostate cancer are investigated, both from a prescriber- and patient perspective.  The age and disease risk group of the patient, unsupported scientifically, influence both the prescribers’ choice of dose and the patients’ adherence to treatment. -Adherence, not previously investigated in male cancer patients, was considerably higher than reported for adjuvant breast cancer treatment. Subgroups of men suitable for intervention to increase adherence were identified. Paper IV, investigates the feasibility of improving an established method for screening large adverse drug reactions databases, the proportional reporting ratio (PRR), this by using restricted sub-databases according to treatment area (TA), introducing the concept of PRR-TA. -The PRR-TA method increases the signal-noise relationship of analyses; a finding highly relevant for possibly conserving manual resources in Pharmacovigilance work in a drug-authority setting.

Orientador: João Marcos Travassos Romano / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T03:58:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ribeiro_MoisesVidal_D.pdf: 5330417 bytes, checksum: ebf89b90c9327ce0ba7f3c169b5e260f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: A presente tese tem por objetivo propor e discutir o uso de algumas técnicas de processamento de sinais e de inteligência computacional para a melhoria da transmissão digital de dados via redes elétricas e da análise da qualidade da energia elétrica em sistemas de potência. No que tange à transmissão de dados via rede elétrica, novas técnicas são introduzidas para solucionar os problemas de cancelamento de ruídos impulsivos e equalização de canais de comunicação. Para a melhoria do monitoramento da qualidade da energia elétrica, propõem-se novas técnicas para a análise espectral das componentes fundamental e harmônicas, e para a detecção, a classificação e a compressão de distúrbios. As várias técnicas apresentadas no presente trabalho são fundamentadas no princípio de dividir e conquistar, largamente utilizado em diversas áreas do conhecimento. A aplicação adequada desse princípio através de técnicas de processamento de sinais e de inteligência computacional nos permitiram fornecer análises mais precisas dos problemas estudados e propor novas soluções para os mesmos. Os resultados numéricos obtidos nas simulações computacionais confirmam a relevância das técnicas propostas / Abstract: This thesis is aimed at proposing and discussing the use of signal processing and computational intelligence techniques to improve digital communications through power line channels and a more precise power quality analysis of power systems. Regarding power line communication applications, advanced techniques for impulse noise mitigation and channel equalization are introduced. For power quality monitoring applications, novel techniques are proposed for spectral analysis of power line signals and for detection, classification and compression of disturbance events. The techniques proposed are developed on the light of the divider and conquer principle. The appropriate application of such principle, by means of signal processing and computational intelligence techniques, enable us to offering a more precise analysis of the problems investigated and novel solutions for them. By introducing a set of signal processing techniques along with some computational intelligence ones, this contribution succeeds in offering improvements for all the problems investigated. Numerical results obtained by computational simulations verify such improvement and confirm the relevance of the techniques proposed. / Doutorado / Telecomunicações / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

This diploma thesis deals with the design and implementation of an electronic module for acoustic detection. The module has the task of detecting a predetermined acoustic signals through them learned classification model. The module is used mainly for security purposes. To identify and classify the proposed model using machine learning techniques. Given the possibility of retraining for a different set of sounds, the module becomes a universal sound detector. With acoustic sound using the digital MEMS microphone, for which it is designed and implemented conversion filter. The resulting system is implemented into firmware microcontroller with real time operating system. The various functions of the system are realized with regard to the possible optimization (less powerful MCU or battery power). The module transmits the detection results of the master station via Ethernet network. In the case of multiple modules connected to the network to create a distributed system, which is designed for precise time synchronization using PTP protocol defined by the IEEE-1588 standard.

Cette thèse porte sur la façon dont les individus prennent des décisions en présence de risque et d'incertitude. Elle est composée de quatre essais qui étudient théoriquement et expérimentalement la prise de décision.Les deux premiers essais étudient des situations où un décideur doit décider si un événement a eu lieu en utilisant des informations incertaines. Le fait d'identifier correctement que cet événement s'est produit est plus rémunéré que le fait d'identifier correctement qu'il ne s'est pas produit. Ce problème de décision induit une divergence entre deux qualités d'une décision : l'optimalité et l'exactitude. Les deux essais reproduisent de telles situations dans une expérience de laboratoire basée sur des tâches perceptuelles et analysent les décisions en utilisant la théorie de la détection du signal pour étudier l'arbitrage optimalité-exactitude. Le premier essai confirme l'existence d'un tel arbitrage avec un rôle dominant de la recherche de l'exactitude. Il explique l'existence de cet arbitrage par utilité non-monétaire associée au fait d'avoir raison. Le deuxième chapitre montre que présenter les informations perceptuelles en dernier contribue à l'existence de l'arbitrage optimalité-exactitude.Le troisième essai étudie comment les préférences vie-à-vie d'autrui interagissent avec l'attitude face à l'ambiguïté. Il présente les résultats d'une expérience où les sujets doivent faire des dons à des associations caritatives. Les dons peuvent avoir des coûts ou des bénéfices ambigus. Nous constatons que l'ambiguïté a pour effet de rendre les individus plus égoïstes. En d'autres termes, nous montrons que les individus utilisent l'ambiguïté comme une excuse pour ne pas donner. Ce comportement d’auto-justification est plus marqué pour les coûts ambigus que pour les avantages ambigus.Le quatrième essai examine la validité externe des mesures de préférence pour le risque en laboratoire en utilisant des décisions dans d'autres tâches expérimentales risquées et des décisions prisent sur en dehors du laboratoire. Nous constatons que les mesures de préférence pour le risque permettent d'expliquer les premières, mais qu'elles n'expliquent pas les secondes. / This thesis investigates how individuals make decisions under risk and uncertainty. It is composed of four essays that theoretically and experimentally investigate decision-making.The first two essays study situations where a decision maker has to decide whether an event has occurred using uncertain evidence. Accurately identifying that this event has occurred is more rewarded than accurately identifying that it has not occurred. This decision problem induces a divergence between two qualities of a decision: optimality and accuracy. Both essays reproduce such situations in a laboratory experiment based on perceptual tasks and analyze behavior using Signal Detection Theory to study the optimality-accuracy trade-off. The first essay confirms the existence of the trade-off with a leading role of accuracy. It explains the trade-off by the concern of individuals for being right. The second chapter finds that presenting perceptual evidence last contributes to the existence of the optimality-accuracy trade-off.The third essay studies how other-regarding preferences interact with attitude toward ambiguity. It reports the results of an experiment where subjects have to make donations to charities. Donations may have either ambiguous costs or ambiguous benefits. We find that other-regarding preferences are decreased under ambiguity. In other terms, we highlight that individual use ambiguity has an excuse not to give. This excuse-driven behavior is stronger for ambiguous costs than ambiguous benefits.The fourth essay challenges the external validity of laboratory risk preference measures using behavior in experimental risk tasks and naturally occurring behavior under risk. We find that risk preference measures are related with the former but that they fail to explain the latter.

[pt] Na primeira parte desta tese, são desenvolvidos dois esquemas de detecção por listas para sistemas MIMO multiusuário. As técnicas propostas usam uma única transformação de redução de reticulado (LR) para modificar a matriz de canal entre os usuários e a estação base (BS). Após a transformação LR, um candidato confiável do sinal transmitido é obtido usando um detector de cancelamento sucessivo de interferências (SIC). No detector em múltiplos ramos com redução de reticulado e cancelamento sucessivo de interferências (MB-LR-SIC) proposto, um número fixo de diferentes ordenamentos para o detector SIC gera uma lista de possíveis candidatos para a informação transmitida. O melhor candidato é escolhido usando o critério maximum likelihood (ML). No detector por listas de tamanho variável (VLD) proposto, um algoritmo que decide se o candidato atual tem uma boa qualidade ou se é necessário continuar procurando por um candidato melhor nos ordenamentos restantes é utilizado. Os resultados numéricos mostram que os esquemas propostos têm um desempenho quase ótimo com uma complexidade computacional bem abaixo do detector ML. Um esquema de detecção e decodificação iterativa (IDD) baseado no algoritmo VLD é também desenvolvido, produzindo um desempenho próximo a um sistema mono usuário (SU) livre de interferências. Na segunda parte desta tese, uma técnica de detecção desacoplada de sinais (DSD) para sistemas MIMO massivo é proposta. Esta técnica permite que o sinal composto recebido na BS seja separado em sinais independentes, correspondentes a diferentes classes de usuários, viabilizando assim o uso dos procedimentos de detecção propostos na primeira parte desta tese em sistemas MIMO massivos. Um modelo de sinais para sistemas MIMO massivo com antenas centralizadas e/ou antenas distribuídas operando em redes heterogêneas de quinta geração é proposto. Uma análise baseada na soma das taxas e um estudo de custo computacional para DSD são apresentados. Os resultados numéricos ilustram o excelente compromisso desempenho versus complexidade obtido com a técnica DSD quando comparada com o esquema de detecção conjunta tradicional. / [en] In the first part of this thesis, we introduce two list detection schemes for the uplink scenario of multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MUMIMO) systems. The proposed techniques employ a single lattice reduction (LR) transformation to modify the channel matrix between the users and the base station (BS). After the LR transformation, a reliable candidate for the transmitted signal vector, provided by successive interference cancellation (SIC) detection is obtained. In the proposed multi-branch lattice reduction SIC (MB-LR-SIC) detector, a fixed number of different orderings, generates a list of SIC detection candidates. The best candidate is chosen according to the maximum likelihood (ML) selection criterion. For the proposed variable list detection (VLD) scheme, an algorithm to decide if the current candidate has good quality or if it is necessary to further explore different orderings to improve the detection performance is employed. Simulation results indicate that the proposed schemes have a near-optimal performance while keeping its computational complexity well below that of the ML detector. An iterative detection and decoding (IDD) scheme based on the VLD algorithm is also developed, producing an excellent performance that approaches the single user (SU) scenario. In the second part of this thesis, a decoupled signal detection (DSD) technique which allows the separation of uplink signals, for each user class, at the base station (BS) for massive MIMO systems is proposed. The proposed DSD allows to implement the detection procedures proposed in the first part of this thesis in massive MIMO scenarios. A mathematical signal model for massive MIMO systems with centralized and distributed antennas in the future fifth generation (5G) heterogeneous cellular networks is also developed. A sum-rate analysis and a study of computational cost for DSD are also presented. Simulation results show excellent performance of the proposed DSD algorithm when combined with linear and SIC-based detectors.

[pt] Nesta tese estudamos o potencial que terão a próxima geração de detectores de neutrinos (JUNO, Hyper-Kamiokande e DUNE) para a detecção dos efeitos da matéria da Terra através da identificação das modulações no espectro de energia dos neutrinos de supernovas de colapso de núcleo em nossa galáxia, assumindo a possibilidade do decaimiento invisível de v2 após os neutrinos terem deixado a estrela, caminho da Terra. Simulações recentes do colapso gravitacional (e subsequente explosão) de estrelas com massa maior do que ~ 8Mo mostram que durante a fase de esfriamento as energias médias (Eve) e (Evx) tornam-se muito semelhantes e os fluxos tendem a se igualar, tornando difícil observar os efeitos da matéria da Terra usando um único detector. Neste trabalho mostramos que a inclusão do decaimiento dos neutrinos também cria a possibilidade de observar os efeitos em consideração no canal de detecção de neutrinos se o ordenamento de massa for normal e no canal anti-neutrino se o ordenamento for invertido, o que não é esperado na ausência de decaimento. Em particular, se a taxa de decaimento for maior do que ~ 70%, descobrimos que o decaimento invisível de v2 pode aumentar as possibilidades de observação dos efeitos da matéria da Terra, mesmo para supernovas a uma distância de 10 kpc de nós. / [en] In this thesis we studied the potential that the next-generation neutrino detectors (JUNO, Hyper-Kamiokande and DUNE) will have to the detection of the Earth matter effects through the identification of the modulations in the energy spectrum of neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae in our galaxy, assuming the possibility of the invisible decay of v2 after the neutrinos have left the star, on their way to Earth. Recent simulations of gravitational collapse (and subsequent explosion) of stars more massive than ~ 8Mo show that during the cooling phase the average energies (EVe) and (Evx) become very similar and the fluxes tend to equalize, making it difficult to observe the Earth matter effects using a single detector. In this work we show that the inclusion of neutrino decay creates also the possibility of observing the effects under consideration in the neutrino detection channel if the mass ordering is normal and in the anti-neutrino channel if the ordering is inverted, which is not expected in the absence of neutrino decay. In particular, if the decay rate is more than ~ 70%, we find that the invisible neutrino decay of v2 can enhance the observation possibilities of Earth matter effects even for supernovae at a distance of 10 kpc from us.

År 2019 var början av den pandemi som drabbade svenska restauranger och nattklubbar i hög grad på grund av de restriktioner som infördes i landet. Denna uppsats har ämnat undersöka hur krishanteringen inom dessa branscher i Uppsala har påverkats som följd av Covid-19. Empirisk data samlades in genom kvalitativa intervjuer med sex ledare för olika verksamheter inom de studerade branscherna. Resultaten visade att verksamheterna har blivit mer riskaverta och placerat större fokus på kostnadsminimeringar, att kommunikationen med externa parter har förändrats, samt att innovativa tillvägagångssätt för att hantera coronakrisen har inneburit märkbara förändringar inom verksamheterna. Ytterligare fynd var att ledarna övergick till ett ledarskap där relationer värderades i högre grad, samt att motiven hos ledarna har en inverkande faktor för krishanteringens utformning och inriktning, vilket dels grundades i identitetsskapande och dels deras etiska förhållningssätt. Verksamheterna har således erhållit lärdomar som följd av Covid-19 som har påverkat deras krishantering inför framtiden. / The year 2019 marked the beginning of the pandemic which came to have devastating effects on Swedish restaurants and nightclubs following restrictions implemented within the country. This essay has examined how crisis management within these businesses in Uppsala has been affected as a result of Covid-19. Empirical data were collected through qualitative interviews with six leaders within the studied industries. Results indicated that the organizations have become more risk averse and put greater focus on cost minimizations, a change in communication with external parties, and that innovative approaches to the corona crisis resulted in significant organizational changes. An additional discovery indicated a change in leadership style which prioritized relationships. The leaders’ motives were also shown to influence the design and direction of the crisis management, and rooted in identity formation as well as ethical philosophy. The organizations have thus gained insights following Covid-19 which will affect their future crisis management.

Measures of workload have been developed on the basis of the various definitions, some are designed to capture the multi-dimensional aspects of a unitary resource pool (Kahneman, 1973) while others are developed on the basis of multiple resource theory (Wickens, 2002). Although many theory based workload measures exist, others have often been constructed to serve the purpose of specific experimental tasks. As a result, it is likely that not every workload measure is reliable and valid for all tasks, much less each domain. To date, no single measure, systematically tested across experimental tasks, domains, and other measures is considered a universal measure of workload. Most researchers would argue that multiple measures from various categories should be applied to a given task to comprehensively assess workload. The goal for Study 1 to establish task load manipulations for two theoretically different tasks that induce distinct levels of workload assessed by both subjective and performance measures was successful. The results of the subjective responses support standardization and validation of the tasks and demands of that task for investigating workload. After investigating the use of subjective and objective measures of workload to identify a universal and comprehensive measure or set of measures, based on Study 2, it can only be concluded that not one or a set of measures exists. Arguably, it is not to say that one will never be conceived and developed, but at this time, one does not reside in the psychometric catalog. Instead, it appears that a more suitable approach is to customize a set of workload measures based on the task. The novel approach of assessing the sensitivity and comprehensive ability of conjointly utilizing subjective, performance, and physiological workload measures for theoretically different tasks within the same domain contributes to the theory by laying the foundation for improving methodology for researching workload. The applicable contribution of this project is a stepping-stone towards developing complex profiles of workload for use in closed-loop systems, such as human-robot team iv interaction. Identifying the best combination of workload measures enables human factors practitioners, trainers, and task designers to improve methodology and evaluation of system designs, training requirements, and personnel selection

[EN] Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a non-invasive nuclear medical imaging modality that makes it possible to observe the distribution of metabolic substances within a patient's body after marking them with radioactive isotopes and arranging an annular scanner around him in order to detect their decays. The main applications of this technique are the detection and tracing of tumors in cancer patients and metabolic studies with small animals. The Electronic Design for Nuclear Applications (EDNA) research group within the Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M) has been involved in the study of high performance PET systems and maintains a small experimental setup with two detector modules. This thesis is framed within the necessity of developing a new data acquisition system (DAQ) for the aforementioned setup that corrects the drawbacks of the existing one. The main objective is to define a DAQ architecture that is completely scalable, modular, and guarantees the mobility and the possibility of reusing its components, so that it admits any extension of modification of the setup and it is possible to export it directly to the configurations used by other groups or experiments. At the same time, this architecture should be compatible with the best possible resolutions attainable at the present instead of imposing artificial limits on system performance. In particular, the new DAQ system should outperform the previous one. As a first step, a general study of DAQ arquitectures is carried out in the context of experimental setups for PET and other high energy physics applications. On one hand, the conclusion is reached that the desired specifications require early digitization of detector signals, exclusively digital communication between modules, and the absence of a centralized trigger. On the other hand, the necessity of a very precise distributed synchronization scheme between modules becomes apparent, with errors in the order of 100 ps, and operating directly over the data links. A study of the existing methods reveals their severe limitations in terms of achievable precision. A theoretical analysis of the situation is carried out with the goal of overcoming them, and a new synchronization algorithm is proposed that is able to reach the desired resolution while getting rid of the restrictions on clock alignment that are imposed by virtually all usual schemes. Since the measurement of clock phase difference plays a crucial role in the proposed algorithm, extensions to the existing methods are defined and analyzed that improve them significantly. The proposed scheme for synchronism is validated using commercial evaluation boards. Taking the proposed synchronization method as a starting point, a DAQ architecture for PET is defined that is composed of two types of module (acquisition and concentration) whose replication makes it possible to arrange a hierarchic system of arbitrary size, and circuit boards are designed and commissioned that implement a realization of the architecture for the particular case of two detectors. This DAQ is finally installed at the experimental setup, where their synchronization properties and resolution as a PET system are characterized and its performance is verified to have improved with respect to the previous system. / [ES] La Tomografía por Emisión de Positrones (PET) es una modalidad de imagen médica nuclear no invasiva que permite observar la distribución de sustancias metabólicas en el interior del cuerpo de un paciente tras marcarlas con isótopos radioactivos y disponer después un escáner anular a su alrededor para detectar su desintegración. Las principales aplicaciones de esta técnica son la detección y seguimiento de tumores en pacientes con cáncer y los estudios metabólicos en animales pequeños. El grupo de investigación Electronic Design for Nuclear Applications (EDNA) del Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M) ha estado involucrado en el estudio de sistemas PET de alto rendimiento y mantiene un pequeño setup experimental con dos módulos detectores. La presente tesis se enmarca dentro de la necesidad de desarrollar un nuevo sistema de adquisición de datos (DAQ) para dicho setup que corrija los inconvenientes del ya existente. En particular, el objetivo es definir una arquitectura de DAQ que sea totalmente escalable, modular, y que asegure la movilidad y la posibilidad de reutilización de sus componentes, de manera que admita cualquier ampliación o alteración del setup y pueda exportarse directamente a los de otros grupos o experimentos. Al mismo tiempo, se desea que dicha arquitectura no limite artificialmente el rendimiento del sistema sino que sea compatible con las mejores resoluciones disponibles en la actualidad, y en particular que sus prestaciones superen a las del DAQ instalado previamente. En primer lugar, se lleva a cabo un estudio general de las arquitecturas de DAQ para setups experimentales para PET y otras aplicaciones de física de altas energías. Por un lado, se determina que las características deseadas implican la digitalización temprana de las señales del detector, la comunicación exclusivamente digital entre módulos, y la ausencia de trigger centralizado. Por otro lado, se hace patente la necesidad de un esquema de sincronización distribuida muy preciso entre módulos, con errores del orden de 100 ps, que opere directamente sobre los enlaces de datos. Un estudio de los métodos ya existentes revela sus graves limitaciones a la hora de alcanzar esas precisiones. Con el fin de paliarlos, se lleva a cabo un análisis teórico de la situación y se propone un nuevo algoritmo de sincronización que es capaz de alcanzar la resolución deseada y elimina las restricciones de alineamiento de reloj impuestas por casi todos los esquemas usuales. Dado que la medida de desfase entre relojes juega un papel crucial en el algoritmo propuesto, se definen y analizan extensiones a los métodos ya existentes que suponen una mejora sustancial. El esquema de sincronismo propuesto se valida utilizando placas de evaluación comerciales. Partiendo del método de sincronismo propuesto, se define una arquitectura de DAQ para PET compuesta de dos tipos de módulos (adquisición y concentración) cuya replicación permite construir un sistema jerárquico de tamaño arbitrario, y se diseñan e implementan placas de circuito basadas en dicha arquitectura para el caso particular de dos detectores. El DAQ así construído se instala finalmente en el setup experimental, donde se caracterizan tanto sus propiedades de sincronización como su resolución como sistema PET y se comprueba que sus prestaciones son superiores a las del sistema previo. / [CA] La Tomografia per Emissió de Positrons (PET) és una modalitat d'imatge mèdica nuclear no invasiva que permet observar la distribució de substàncies metabòliques a l'interior del cos d'un pacient després d'haver-les marcat amb isòtops radioactius disposant un escàner anular al seu voltant per a detectar la seua desintegració. Aquesta tècnica troba les seues principals aplicacions a la detecció i seguiment de tumors a pacients amb càncer i als estudis metabòlics en animals petits. El grup d'investigació Electronic Design for Nuclear Applications (EDNA) de l'Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M) ha estat involucrat en l'estudi de sistemes PET d'alt rendiment i manté un petit setup experimental amb dos mòduls detectors. Aquesta tesi neix de la necessitat de desenvolupar un nou sistema d'adquisició de dades (DAQ) per al setup esmentat que corregisca els inconvenients de l'anterior. En particular, l'objectiu és definir una arquitectura de DAQ que sigui totalment escalable, modular, i que asseguri la mobilitat i la possibilitat de reutilització dels seus components, de tal manera que admeta qualsevol ampliació o alteració del setup i pugui exportar-se directament a aquells d'altres grups o experiments. Al mateix temps, es desitja que aquesta arquitectura no introduisca límits artificials al rendiment del sistema sinó que sigui compatible amb les millors resolucions disponibles a l'actualitat, i en particular que les seues prestacions siguin superiors a les del DAQ instal.lat amb anterioritat. En primer lloc, es porta a terme un estudi general de les arquitectures de DAQ per a setups experimentals per a PET i altres aplicacions de física d'altes energies. Per una banda, s'arriba a la conclusió que les característiques desitjades impliquen la digitalització dels senyals del detector el més aviat possible, la comunicació exclusivament digital entre mòduls, i l'absència de trigger centralitzat. D'altra banda, es fa palesa la necessitat d'un mecanisme de sincronització distribuïda molt precís entre mòduls, amb errors de l'ordre de 100 ps, que treballi directament sobre els enllaços de dades. Un estudi dels mètodes ja existents revela les seues greus limitacions a l'hora d'assolir aquest nivell de precisió. Amb l'objectiu de pal.liar-les, es duu a terme una anàlisi teòrica de la situació i es proposa un nou algoritme de sincronització que és capaç d'obtindre la resolució desitjada i es desfà de les restriccions d'alineament de rellotges imposades per gairebé tots els esquemes usuals. Atès que la mesura del desfasament entre rellotges juga un paper cabdal a l'algoritme proposat, es defineixen i analitzen extensions als mètodes ja existents que suposen una millora substancial. L'esquema de sincronisme proposat es valida mitjançant plaques d'avaluació comercials. Prenent el mètode proposat com a punt de partida, es defineix una arquitectura de DAQ per a PET composta de dos tipus de mòduls (d'adquisició i de concentració) tals que la replicació d'aquests elements permet construir un sistema jeràrquic de mida arbitrària, i es dissenyen i implementen plaques de circuit basades en aquesta arquitectura per al cas particular de dos detectors. L'electrònica desenvolupada s'instal.la finalment al setup experimental, on es caracteritzen tant les seues propietats de sincronització com la seua resolució com a sistema PET i es comprova que les seues prestacions són superiors a les del sistema previ. / Aliaga Varea, RJ. (2016). Development of a data acquisition architecture with distributed synchronization for a Positron Emission Tomography system with integrated front-end [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/63271 / Premios Extraordinarios de tesis doctorales