L’augmentation de la vitesse de l’onde de pouls (VOP) est associée à une augmentation de la morbi-mortalité. L’utilisation en pratique clinique de la VOP reste limitée, en absence d’homogénéité des méthodes et par manque de valeurs de référence. L’objectif de ce travail a été de contribuer à l’implémentation de la VOP en pratique clinique chez le sujet âgé, par l’établissement des normes (étude I), la comparaison de 4 méthodes de mesure (étude II) et l’application des normes obtenues pour prédiction d’une hypotension au cours de l’anesthésie (étude III). Patients et méthode : I: étude transversale d’une population générale de 455 patients ambulatoires de 60-80 ans. II: mesure de la VOP chez 50 sujets, utilisant 4 méthodes (Manuelle, PulsePen, Complior et PulseTrace). III: étude prospective d’une population de 45 sujets de 60 à 80 ans avec mesure de la VOP lors de la consultation pre-anesthésique et suivi opératoire. Résultats : Les valeurs de VOP obtenues avec les 4 méthodes sont bien corrélées entre elles, mais présentent des différences significatives de valeurs moyennes, notamment entre PulsePen (8,2±2,2 m/s) et Complior, (6,0±1,4 m/s), dues aux différences de logiciels. En utilisant le PulsePen (étude I), une valeur de VOP à 12,9 m/s (95ème percentile supérieur) a été définie comme seuil de «normalité». Appliquée dans une population du même âge (étude III), ce seuil de VOP était prédictif d’une baisse significative de la PAS au cours de l’induction anesthésique avec propofol-remifentanil. Conclusions : Ce travail a établi pour la première fois des valeurs de référence avec le PulsePen chez le sujet âgé. Une valeur de la VOP >12,9 m/s est associée à une plus forte probabilité d’hypotension au cours de l’induction anesthésique. Les précisions méthodologiques apportées par ce travail contribueront à une plus large utilisation de la mesure de la VOP en pratique clinique chez le sujet âgé. / Background: Increased pulse wave velocity (PWV) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, particularly in elderly. Nevertheless, PWV use in clinical practice is still exceptional due to differences in assessment methods, devices and to the lack of reference values. The aim of this work was to contribute to the clinical use of PWV measurements in the elderly, by establishment of reference values (study I), comparison of four methods (study II) and application of the obtained reference values for prediction of hypotension during anesthesia induction (study III). Patients and Method: I: cross-sectional study of a 455 ambulatory elderly subjects aged 60-80 years. II: assessment of PWV in 50 subjects by using 4 methods (reference method, PulsePen, Complior and PulseTrace). III prospective study in 45 patients with PWV assessment during the pre-surgical evaluation followed by monitored anesthesia induction. Results: despite high correlation between PWV values obtained with the 4 methods, mean values were significantly different, particularly between PulsePen (8.2±2.2 m/s) and Complior (6.0±1.4 m/s) in relation with differences in the used software analyses. Using PulsePen in the study I a value of PWV of 12.9 m/s (corresponding to the higher 95th percentile) was defined as the “normality” threshold. The application of this threshold in another population of the same age (study III) was predictive for hypotension during anesthesia induction with propofol-remifentanil. In conclusion, this work is the first to establish reference values for the aortic PWV with PulsePen in the elderly. A value >12.9 m/s is associated with a higher probability of hypotension during anesthesia induction. The methodological framework of these studies can contribute to develop the use of PWV in clinical practice in aged subjects.

<p>The purpose of this BA-thesis was to study how three daily Swedish newspapers use a specific type of exemplars, which are recognized by a number of attributes. A photograph of the person that is interviewed always illustrates this type of exemplars and at least two persons are asked the same question.    The three newspapers that have been compared in this study each represent one of the major types of Swedish newspapers: morning press, tabloids and local press. By using a quantitative content analysis, one month was examined in all three newspapers in the year of 1997 and 2007.  Two of the theories that have been central in the thesis are Colin Sparks model of tabloidization, which demonstrates the process of tabloidization and McQuail′s description of commercialization.  The results of the study indicate that there are many similarities between the three newspapers use of exemplars. However, there are some differences when it comes to frequency and function. Noteworthy is that the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” did not publish a single exemplar the first year of the study, 1997. Ten years later the very same paper published 15 exemplars during the month of examination.</p>

The purpose of this BA-thesis was to study how three daily Swedish newspapers use a specific type of exemplars, which are recognized by a number of attributes. A photograph of the person that is interviewed always illustrates this type of exemplars and at least two persons are asked the same question.    The three newspapers that have been compared in this study each represent one of the major types of Swedish newspapers: morning press, tabloids and local press. By using a quantitative content analysis, one month was examined in all three newspapers in the year of 1997 and 2007.  Two of the theories that have been central in the thesis are Colin Sparks model of tabloidization, which demonstrates the process of tabloidization and McQuail′s description of commercialization.  The results of the study indicate that there are many similarities between the three newspapers use of exemplars. However, there are some differences when it comes to frequency and function. Noteworthy is that the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” did not publish a single exemplar the first year of the study, 1997. Ten years later the very same paper published 15 exemplars during the month of examination.

Cette thèse évalue l'hémodynamique artérielle et les marqueurs métaboliques du risque cardio-vasculaire associé dans une population HIV et Pygmée du Cameroun / Doctorat en Sciences médicales (Médecine) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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This Master´s thesis describes the design of composite horizontal tail of VUT 100 aircraft. Load calculation and selection of the critical load cases is performed. Internal structure of stabilizer and right elevator is designed. Construction materials are chosen and the structure of the composite materials is proposed. FEM models of stabilizer and the right elevator are created in MSC Patran system and consequently the strength test of the models for the selected load cases is executed using MSC Nastran software and COMPOST.

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Mg-based alloys form a variety of interesting structures including stable and metastable crystalline, stable and metastable quasicrystalline, nanocrystalline and amorphous phases. Many of these phases can be made to coexist by suitable processing leading to an interesting combination of properties. Non-equilibrium processing in combination with suitable heat treatments can be used to control the scale and dispersion of these phases. Further thrust to Mg-based alloys is expected through the development of Mg-based bulk metallic glasses. Magnesium matrix composites are also gaining in prominence. The thesis has been divided into theoretical and experimental parts. The theoretical part focuses on understanding the structure of quasicrystals, rational approximants and related structures. The experimental work involves synthesis, non-equilibrium processing and characterization of specific Mg-based alloys. The structure of quasicrystals and related structures can be understood by working in three dimensions or by projection from higher dimensions. The projection formalism is used to generate quasicrystals and rational approximants in 2D and 3D. Approximants to the Penrose lattice are generated with directions of approximation oriented 90° and 72° apart. Rational approximants to the icosahedral quasilattice are generated and the systematics of lattice-centring in these approximants analysed. Two-dimensional quasiperiodic lattice with 5-fold symmetry, which is periodic along the third dimension, is generated as an approximant to the icosahedral lattice. Approximants are also considered wherein quasiperiodicity is retained along one or two directions. The concept of average lattices can be used to understand diverse structures including vacancy ordered phases (VOP) and orthorhombic approximants to the decagonal phase. VOP which lack incommensurate length scales should be considered as quasiperiodic superlattice (QPSL) approximants rather than as conventional rational approximants and hence have the average lattice scheme built into them. The average lattice approach is further used to unify Kuo’s and Anantharaman's models for orthorhombic approximants to the decagonal quasicrystal. A modified version of Anantharaman's model is also presented. Using the twinned icosahedron model, Robinson and Taylor approximants to the decagonal quasicrystal are generated by the twinning of Mackay and Little approximants to the icosahedral quasicrystal. An indexing scheme based on this model is developed which inherits the merits of the twinned icosahedron model. Further, using cluster of four icosahedra, in a distorted tetrahedral configuration, symmetries of the hexagonal phases, which are related to quasicrystals, are generated. Frank's ratio is brought out as a unifying thread connecting diverse kinds of structures including VOP and hexagonal phases related to quasicrystals, which have pseudocubic symmetry. Experimental work involves the synthesis and characterization of alloys in four systems: a) Mg-Zn-Y, b) Mg-Zn-La, c) Al-Mg-Cu and d) Mg-Cu-Y. Induction melting is used to prepare the alloys and melt-spinning is used as the primary non-equilibrium processing route. The focus in the Mg-Zn-RE systems is in the as cast condition while in the Al-Mg-Cu system it is in the melt-spun condition. Characterization techniques used are XRD, SEM and TEM. In the Mg-Zn-Y system face-centred icosahedral (FC1) phase with quasilattice parameter of 5.21 A is found to coexist with related crystalline phases in the Mg4Zn94Y2 and Mg23Zn5gY9 alloys. A series of crystalline phases with superlattice ordering are seen in the Mg-Zn-Y and Mg-Zn-La systems. These phases with a variety of ordering, many of which display interesting patterns of streaking in the SAD pattern, are related to one-another and to the FCI QC found in the Mg-Zn-Y system. No quasicrystal could be observed in the two alloys investigated in the Mg-Zn-La system with La = 5 and 8 %. Conventional rational approximants were conspicuous by there absence in both the rare-earth containing systems. This is understood in terms of the absence of large clusters in these systems. High Y alloys display a tendency to form nanocrystals in the as-cast condition and amorphous regions are observed in the as-cast alloys with Y > 20 %. Hence, high Y alloys are anticipated to be bulk glass formers. Melt-spinning of the alloys in both the RE containing systems lead to the formation of nanocrystalline regions. The e/a ratio plays an important role in the formation of phases in the Mg-Zn-Y system. An e/a ratio near 2.08 has a stabilising effect on a variety of phases including the FCI quasicrystal, ternary phases related to the quasicrystal and binary phases like YZn12 and Y2Zn17. Formation of quasicrystals in the Al-Mg binary and Mg-Al-Cu ternary seem to be very sensitive to processing conditions and were not observed in the present investigation in the melt-spun alloys. However, β-Al3Mg2 and Mg32(Al,Cu)49 phases with large lattice parameters, which are related to quasicrystals, are observed in as-cast and melt-spun conditions. The Mg32(Al,Cu)49 phase brings out the similarity between this system and the Mg-Al-Zn system. The glass formability of the alloys in the Al-Mg binary and in the Mg-Al-Cu ternary is limited. Except for the formation of amorphous phase in some regions, the alloys were crystalline even when melt-spun at 2800 rpm. The ability to form nanocrystals is also limited in this system as compared to the Mg-Zn-RE systems. Often melt-spun alloys showed a wide range of grain sizes coexisting together.

Face recognition is a field of biometrics that deals with identification of subjects based on features present in the images of their faces. The factors that make face recognition popular and favorite as compared to other biometric methods are easier operation and ability to identify subjects without their knowledge. With these features, face recognition has become an integral part of the present day security systems, targeting a smart and secure world. There are various factors that de ne the performance of a face recognition system. The most important among them are recognition accuracy of algorithm used and time taken for recognition. Recognition accuracy of the face recognition algorithm gets affected by changes in pose, facial expression and illumination along with occlusions in the images. There have been a number of algorithms proposed to enable recognition under these ambient changes. However, it has been hard to and a single algorithm that can efficiently recognize faces in all the above mentioned conditions. Moreover, achieving real time performance for most of the complex face recognition algorithms on embedded platforms has been a challenge. Real-time performance is highly preferred in critical applications such as identification of crime suspects in public. As available software solutions for FR have significantly large latency in recognizing individuals, they are not suitable for such critical real-time applications. This thesis focuses on real-time aspect of FR, where acceleration of the algorithms is achieved by means of parallel hardware architectures. The major contributions of this work are as follows. We target to design a face recognition system that can identify at most 30 faces in each frame of video at 15 frames per second, which amounts to 450 recognitions per second. In addition, we target to achieve good recognition accuracy along with scalability in terms of database size and input image resolutions. To design a system with these specifications, as a first step, we explore algorithms in literature and come up with a hybrid face recognition algorithm. This hybrid algorithm shows good recognition accuracy on face images with changes in illumination, pose and expressions, and also with occlusions. In addition the computations in the algorithm are modular in nature which are suitable for real-time realizations through parallel processing. The face recognition system consists of a face detection module to detect faces in the input image, which is followed by a face recognition module to identify the detected faces. There are well established algorithms and architectures for face detection in literature which can perform detection at 15 frames per second on video frames. Detected faces of different sizes need to be scaled to the size specified by the face recognition module. To meet the real-time constraints, we propose a hardware architecture for real-time bi-cubic convolution interpolation with dynamic scaling factors. To recognize the resized faces in real-time, a scalable parallel pipelined architecture is designed for the hybrid algorithm which can perform 450 recognitions per second on a database containing grayscale images of at most 450 classes on Virtex 6 FPGA. To provide flexibility and programmability, we extend this design to REDEFINE, a multi-core massively parallel reconfigurable architecture. In this design, we come up with FR specific programmable cores termed Scalable Unit for Region Evaluation (SURE) capable of performing modular computations in the hybrid face recognition algorithm. We replicate SUREs in each tile of REDEFINE to construct a face recognition module termed REDEFINE for Face Recognition using SURE Homogeneous Cores (REFRESH). There is a need to learn new unseen faces on-line in practical face recognition systems. Considering this, for real-time on-line learning of unseen face images, we design tiny processors termed VOP, Processor for Vector Operations. VOPs function as coprocessors to process elements under each tile of REDEFINE to accelerate micro vector operations appearing in the synaptic weight computations. We also explore deep neural networks which operate similar to the processing in human brain and capable of working on very large face databases. We explore the field of Random matrix theory to come up with a solution for synaptic weight initialization in deep neural networks for better classification . In addition, we perform design space exploration of hardware architecture for deep convolution networks and conclude with directions for future work.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Between 1974 and 1982 the MOE introduced in two phases the diversification programme [SSCDP] which sought to establish practical subjects in the secondary school curriculum. This study examines the sustainability of implementation efforts beyond project expiry. It was hypothesised that SSCDP is not working as originally intended. The broad research problem was framed thus: What implementation response arises from an open-ended innovation policy? Subsidiary questions are: 1. How far have the policy-makers communicated the meaning of SSCDP and what factors account for mismatches between policy intentions and innovation practice? 2. What is the response of Project schools and what factors explain variation in response? 3. What is their significance for the sustainability of SSCDP? The analysis draws key concepts from the innovation literature on models and strategies of planned change; relationships in the implementation hierarchy; determinants of and orientations to the implementation process. Centred around qualitative research methods, the investigation utilises data from project documents, semi-structured interviews and from observations during school visits. Findings show an overall low level of implementation that varies among project schools. This is attributed to: Poor interpretation of SSCDP goals; Deficiencies in the implementation management; Idiosyncratic school behaviours. The study concludes that the 'practitioner-policy-maker' discrepancy is significant, hence the gap between policy intents and innovation practice. The gap is not regarded so much as an ultimate failure of the programme but as a necessary condition that allows for mutual adaptation between the innovation and its setting. This is reflected in the varied patterns of implementation response, classified as the: faithful; negotiators; selective adaptors; expansionists; and reductionist. As a policy-oriented study aiming at providing an 'improvement value', the findings lead to a proposal of improvements in the strategies of managing change in three areas: shifting focus from an adoption to an implementation perspective. Recognising implementation as a process dependent on a mutual linkage relationship among participants. Recognising schools as important bearers of change. These three are crucial factors in the implementation-sustainability relationship.