The Brazilian textile industry has many years of experience in producing apparel within the country. Brazil is a country with a well developed supply chain, yet they import a big amount of manufactured textile products from Asia each year. Globalization has made fashion brands look outside of the country's borders to be able to deliver a good price to the end consumer. In this study an investigation has been made to elucidate why the apparel companies import from Asia, what is imported from Asia and how the image of the companies would be affected by working more sustainably by utilizing the existing resources available in Brazil. In order to learn why companies do import, semi-structured interviews have been made with people who work and have good knowledge regarding this subject. To put this matter into context a Brazilian apparel company named Cia.hering has been used as an exponent for this report. This to get a more clear view on how the company might be affected by producing more locally and if it would be possible. To learn about how the Brazilian consumers look at sustainable fashion and what they think of Cia.Hering as a company a survey has been conducted. The outcome of this study shows that the consumers have a big effect on how companies choose to produce but that it is up to the individual apparel company to choose how they want to produce their goods. Producing locally makes it a lot easier to control the full supply chain and to work as a more transparent company.

We show that any Borel action on a standard Borel space of a group which is topologically isomorphic to the sum of a countable abelian group with a countable sum of lines and circles induces an orbit equivalence relation which is hypersmooth. We also show that any Borel action of a second countable locally compact abelian group on a standard Borel space induces an orbit equivalence relation which is essentially hyperfinite, generalizing a result of Gao and Jackson for the countable abelian groups.

Promoting trading of locally produced food is one way to challenge the more conventional way of producing food while contributing to a more sustainable consumption. Through empirical research and design practice closely related to its users, this study has explored the motivational aspects behind trading within the platform and concept of REKO-ring Malmö. An analysis of the existing service in relation to its producers and consumers has been made to formulate problems related to how the platform works today. The study results in a design proposal of a new digital platform that shows improvement in meeting the needs and expectations of the consumers found during the empirical research.

Background: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in adults and the most frequent cancer diagnosed in women. In South Africa, breast cancer accounts for 38.5% of cancers diagnosed in women. Since the presence, extent and location of distant metastases is one important prognostic factor in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC), accurate staging at diagnosis is crucial to ensure patients receive the appropriate treatment. Increasing evidence shows that the use of 18F-FDG PET/CT for disease staging of LABC may improve diagnostic sensitivity. Aim: To prospectively assess the difference in diagnostic accuracy between whole-body PET/PET-CT and conventional imagine (CI) for staging LABC. Methods: A total of 42 participants with clinical stage III and a select few stage II breast cancer underwent both 18F-FDG PET/CT and CI. Results: 18F-FDG PET/CT found significantly more (p=0.0077) distant metastatic sites than CI (36% vs. 21%). 18F-FDG PET/CT upstaged 9 (21.4%) of patients from clinical stage IIIa to stage IIIc, and changed management of 54% of patients. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of the patients had their clinical stage unchanged. One of 5 suspected metastatic sites 18F FDG PET/CT was positive for malignancy on biopsy. Conclusion: The 18F-FDG PET/CT is useful for staging locally advanced non-inflammatory infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast. Use of 18F-FDG PET/CT was superior to conventional imaging in assessing metastatic mediastinal lymphadenopathy, but with a poor specificity. The use of 18F-FDG PET/CT in LABC is useful, with the biopsy of isolated suspicious lesions for metastasis increasing its accuracy.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第18044号 / 理博第3922号 / 新制||理||1566(附属図書館) / 30902 / 京都大学大学院理学研究科数学・数理解析専攻 / (主査)准教授 浅岡 正幸, 教授 加藤 毅, 教授 藤原 耕二 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Let $\bk$ be a field of characteristic zero. A Pham-Brieskorn ring is a $\bk$-algebra of the form $B_{a_0,\dots,a_n} = \bk[X_0,\dots,X_n] / \lb X_0^{a_0} + \cdots + X_n^{a_n} \rb$, where $n \geq 2$ and $a_0, \dots, a_n$ are positive integers. A ring $B$ is rigid if the only locally nilpotent derivation $D : B \to B$ is the zero derivation. Consider the following conjecture. \begin{conjnonumber}\label{PBConjectureAbstract} Let $n \geq 2$, and let $B_{a_0, \dots, a_n} = \bk[X_0, \dots, X_n] / \langle X_0^{a_0} + \cdots + X_n^{a_n} \rangle$ be a Pham-Brieskorn ring. If $\min\{a_0, \dots,a_n \} \geq 2$ and at most one element $i$ of $\{0,\dots ,n\}$ satisfies $a_i = 2$, then $B_{a_0, \dots, a_n}$ is rigid. \end{conjnonumber} The $n = 2$ case of the Conjecture is known to be true. In this thesis, we make progress towards solving the above conjecture. Our main results are: \begin{enumerate}[\rm(1)] \item For any $n \geq 3$, in order to prove the above conjecture, it suffices to prove rigidity of $B_{a_0, \dots, a_n}$ in the cases where $\bk = \Comp$ and $\cotype(a_0, \dots, a_n) = 0$. \item For any $n \geq 2$, $X = \Proj B_{a_0, \dots, a_n}$ is a well-formed quasismooth weighted complete intersection if and only if $\cotype(a_0, \dots, a_n) = 0$. \item When $n = 3$ and $\cotype(a_0, a_1, a_2, a_3) = 0$, $B_{a_0, a_1, a_2, a_3}$ is rigid, except possibly in the cases where, up to a permutation of the $a_i$, $(a_0, a_1, a_2, a_3) \in \{(2,3,4,12), (2,3,5,30)\}$. \item We summarize the list of 3-dimensional Pham-Brieskorn rings $B_{a_0, a_1, a_2, a_3}$ for which rigidity is known. It follows in particular that if $B_{2,3,4,12}$ and $B_{2,3,5,30}$ are rigid then the $n = 3$ case of the above conjecture is true. \end{enumerate} In addition to the above, we develop techniques for proving rigidity of rings in general; prove rigidity of many Pham-Brieskorn rings whose dimension is greater than 3; give simple examples of rational projective surfaces with quotient singularities that have an ample canonical divisor and prove that the members of a certain family of singular hypersurfaces are not rational.

Behovet av att se över kopplingarna mellan livsmedelsförsörjningen, hållbarhet och suveränitet - vid tillhandahållandet av livsmedel - har ökat i och med en instabil och osäker omvärld. En ökad lokal och småskalig livsmedelsproduktion skulle på ett nationellt plan kunna göra livsmedelssystemet mer robust och resilient vid eventuella störningar. Denna studie avser att ge en bred bild av konsumenters attityd, engagemang, kunskap och beteende kring beredskapsfrågan, livsmedelssäkerhet samt konsumtion av lokalproducerade varor. Studien avser också undersöka Sveriges nationella ambitionsnivå för att främja utvecklingen av en hållbar, långsiktigt och konkurrenskraftig livsmedelskedja och på vilket sätt samhället bidrar eller kan bidra till att underlätta och stimulera den typen av näringsverksamhet. Resultatet visar att det råder en stark positiv attityd, medelhög kunskapsnivå, medelhögt engagemang samt starkt positivt beteende bland respondenterna. Resultatet visar även att inställningen till lokalproducerade livsmedel är positiv och att den framför allt kan härledas till känslan av samhörighet och värnandet om den lokala levande landsbygden. Gällande beredskapsfrågan så råder det bland respondenterna en tydlig koppling till småskalig och lokalproducerad livsmedelsproduktion såväl som till självförsörjning. Det föreligger dock stora hinder med småskaliga verksamheter i form av pris och tillgänglighet, både i form av utbud, öppettider och kommunikation. Det är idag mest resursstarka konsumentgrupper som köper lokalproducerat och det finns en risk för en ökande segregation i detta. Staten skulle kunna driva på för att få på plats en definition av lokalproducerade livsmedel samt arbeta med mjuka styrmedel såsom exempelvis miljömärkningar. De skulle också kunna höja taket för direkta upphandlingar inom ramen för EU-direktivet om offentlig upphandling så att kommunerna kan köpa in en större andel lokalproducerade livsmedel i sin offentliga upphandling. / The requirement to review the links between food security, sustainability, and sovereignty - in the provision of food - has increased in an uncertain and unstable environment. Increased local and small-scale food production could, on a national level, make the food system more robust and resilient in the event of disturbances and crises. This study intends to give a broad picture of consumers' attitude, commitment, knowledge and behavior regarding preparedness, food safety and consumption of locally produced food. The study also intends to examine Sweden's national ambition to promote the development of a sustainable, long-term, and competitive food chain and in what way society contributes or can contribute to facilitating and stimulating that type of business. The result shows that there is a strong positive attitude, medium level of knowledge, medium commitment and strong positive behavior among the respondents. The results also show that the attitude towards locally produced food among consumers is positive and can be mainly attributed to the feeling of belonging and the protection of the local living countryside. Regarding the issue of preparedness, there is a clear connection to small-scale and locally produced food production as well as self-sufficiency among the respondents. However, there are major obstacles regarding the price and availability, both in terms of range, opening hours and communication. It is today the most resourceful consumer groups in the society that are able to buy locally produced products and there is a risk of increasing segregation in this. The state could also push to get a definition of locally produced food in place and work with soft control instruments such as, for example, an environmental label. They could also raise the amount for direct procurement within the framework of the EU-directive on public procurement so that the municipalities can buy a greater proportion of locally produced food in their public procurement.

Introduction: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In Canada, in 2021 alone, an estimated 21,000 patients have died from this disease. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) constitutes 85% of all lung cancer cases diagnosed. Over the past 30 years, treatment of unresected locally advanced (LA)-NSCLC evolved from treatment with chest radiotherapy (RT) alone to the current standard of care (SOC) of concurrent chemo-radiation (cCRT), followed by consolidative immunotherapy. Modern RT has influenced the survival of LA-NSCLC patients. In this work we analyzed data from provincial and local institutional databases to evaluate whether, i) the use of modern imaging with 18F-deoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET), ii) dose of chest RT to tumors and iii) unintentional irradiation of normal tissues during treatment for lung cancer, influence outcomes of patients managed with RT. Methodology: Ontario provincial databases were searched through the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (IC/ES) for stage III NSCLC patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2017. Surgical patients were excluded, and all patients that received RT with or without chemotherapy were selected. Patients were divided into groups of different RT doses (<40Gy, 40-55.9Gy, and ≥56Gy) and whether they underwent diagnostic FDG-PET. For the next study phase (the institutional level), we retrospectively identified and reviewed LA-NSCLC patients treated at local health integration network area 4 (LHIN4) cancer centres (Juravinski and Walker Family Cancer Centres) from 2009 to 2019. We selected patients treated in that period with chest RT > 40Gy with or without chemotherapy. Patients’ data were reviewed individually for disease characteristics, staging investigations, RT treatment parameters and survival outcomes. Dosimetric analysis was performed on both groups of patients (RT alone group and cCRT group). Results: The provincial analysis included 5,577 stage III patients who had received chest RT without surgery between January 2007 and March 2017. Within this group, 39.8% (2,225) received RT alone, 47.4% (2,645) received concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (cCRT), and 12.6% (707) received sequential chemo-radiotherapy (sCRT). Median overall survival (OS) with RT alone in three dose groups <40Gy, 40-55.9Gy, ≥ 56Gy was 7.2, 8.5 and 13.3 months compared to 16.5, 15.8 and 22 months for cCRT patients. Higher RT dose and PET utilization were independently associated with improved survival in multivariate analysis. At the institutional analysis, 84 patients were treated with RT alone, 184 with cCRT and patients with sequential CRT were excluded. In the RT alone group, the median, 1- and 3-year overall survival were 18.1 months, 64.4% and 24.3%, respectively. In comparison, the median, 1- and 3-year survival outcomes in the cCRT group were 36.3 months, 82.5%, and 50.4%, respectively. Additionally, 79.8% of patients in the radiation alone group and 95.1% in cCRT group had PET staging. In univariate analysis, the RT dose prescribed to the tumor and RT dose delivered to the heart were significantly associated with survival, while multivariate analysis only showed the significant association between RT dose to heart and overall survival. Conclusions: Our population-based analysis confirmed that radiation monotherapy remains a widely used treatment modality in LA-NSCLC. Higher RT doses and utilization of FDG-PET imaging are associated with improved survival in patients with unresected LA-NSCLC managed with RT. The institutional analysis suggests that in well-staged patients with LA-NSCLC, chest RT of ≥40Gy is associated with improved survival outcomes that compare favorably with historical results of definitive RT alone treatment. Further, survival of patients staged well with FDG-PET and treated with SOC cCRT was higher than historical reports. Importantly, in this study we found that RT dose delivered to the heart associates negatively with patient survival. These findings can help improve clinical decision-making in the management of unresected LA-NSCLC and can serve as basis for future clinical trials. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Canada and worldwide. These tumors are present as two main histological types, small cell and non-small cell lung cancer, the latter of which consists the majority of the cases diagnosed. Although treatments with surgery or radiotherapy provide reasonable outcomes in lung cancer cases detected early, a high proportion of patients present with localized but advanced disease that is inoperable. Over the last three decades, treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer has evolved from radiation alone to chemoradiation and immunotherapy. These developments have increased the survival of these patients. In this thesis, we tried to dissect the elements that play roles in the survival of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients. To do this, we evaluated such patients at two levels. First, at the provincial level, we evaluated the type of treatments, and we explored the association of metabolic imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) and the use of high-dose chest radiotherapy with patient survival. Second, at the institutional level, we assessed patients’ outcomes with a more detailed approach. We analyzed the type of treatment along with a detailed dosimetric analysis. The results of our analysis suggest that the use of PET scans and curative radiotherapy is associated with improved survival. On the other hand, the unintentional treatment of the heart with increasing doses of radiotherapy, taking place during chest radiation for lung cancer, is associated with poor outcomes. These results provide a basis for further investigation to improve outcomes of radiotherapy in this disease.

<p>In this thesis we study the complexity of data recovery from synchronization errors, namely insertion and deletion (insdel) errors.</p> <p>Insdel Locally Decodable Codes (Insdel LDCs) are error-correcting codes that admit super-efficient decoding algorithms even in the presence of many insdel errors. The study of such codes for Hamming errors have spanned several decades, whereas work on the insdel analogue had amounted to only a few papers before our work. This work initiates a systematic study of insdel LDCs, seeking to bridge this gap through designing codes and proving limitations. Our upper bounds essentially match those for Hamming LDCs in important ranges of parameters, even though insdel LDCs are more general than Hamming LDCs. Our main results are lower bounds that are exponentially stronger than the ones inherited from the Hamming LDCs. These results also have implications for the well-studied variant of relaxed LDCs. For this variant, besides showing the first results in the insdel setting, we also answer an open question for the Hamming variant by showing a strong lower bound.</p> <p>In the trace reconstruction problem, the goal is to recover an unknown source string x \in {0,1}n from random traces, which are obtained by hitting the source string with random deletion/insertions at a fixed rate. Mean-based algorithms are a class of reconstruction algorithms whose outputs depend only on the empirical estimates of individual bits. The number of traces needed for mean-based trace reconstruction has already been settled. We further study the performance of mean-based algorithms in a scenario where one wants to distinguish between two source strings parameterized by their edit distance, and we also provide explicit construction of strings that are hard to distinguish. We further establish an equivalence to the Prouhet-Tarry-Escott problem from number theory, which ends up being an obstacle to constructing explicit hard instances against mean-based algorithms.</p>

Title: Locally Integrated Groups – A special education alternativeAuthor: Jennie ArvidssonType of essay: Exam essay, second level (15 credits)Supervisor: Barbro Bruce, Examiner: Lisbeth OhlssonProgram: Special Education Program at Malmö Högskola, SwedenDate: 2012-01-12Present study is an attempt to describe how staff perceive their working operations in seven locally integrated groups, for pupils in special educational needs. By submitting a questionnaire to all professions within the groups I have tried to find similarities and differences in their statements from both structured and unstructured questions. The study is an attempt to contribute knowledge about how these groups can be understood and developed, based on a special education perspective, systems theory and sense of coherence (KASAM). The results shows that there is a consensus among the majority of staff opinions of the systems’ opportunities as well as dilemmas. On the other hand, it is possible to discern some differences in how the different professions describe their working operations according to how satisfied they are with didactic activities, interaction with others and the resources the groups has at its disposal. The basis for these differences lies in a variety of factors that have an effect on the staff opinions.Retrospectively, the study shows that the staff of the local integrated groups are looking for a central control of operations, and a clearer formulation of goals and visions. The staff also expressed a desire to establish a network between the groups, which may contribute to an exchange of experiences and increase the feeling of togetherness. More time for planning, developing further skills and continuous supervision are other resources that are sought after.