Data Processing Toolbox for PET scanners

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a Data Processing Toolbox to process and reconstruct the information acquired by different PET scanners. The Toolbox is divided in three processes: generate realistic list-mode files, histogram list-mode data sets and reconstruct sinograms into 3D images. The first process produces list-mode data from numerical phantoms. This tool is useful in the early stages of developing a PET scanner because permits to process the Toolbox performance when there is not available data. The list-mode file real appearance is due to the bootstrapping and shuffling tools. In addition, the bootstrapping function, which calculates statistically similar sinograms than the acquired, can be used for results realizations and phantom measurements. The second process histograms events from different PET scanners into sinograms. The adaptability to the different scanners is related to the Radon transform dependence with the scanners geometry and format. The third process corrects, rebins and reconstructs sinograms into 3D images. In order to avoid artefacts, different methods have been used to correct the sinograms based on the quantification of events. A rebinning method was selected to work with 3D data due to the computational time decrease and the use of 2D algorithms for the image reconstruction. This method transforms the 3D data to 2D where the information contained in the oblique planes is added to the transaxial planes. The Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization (MLEM) iterative algorithm has been used for the reconstruction of the sinograms into the image domain. The proper Toolbox functionality was demonstrated by numerical simulations and data from two real PET scanners. The numerical phantom and real data are in the two PET data recording options: list-mode file and sinogram data formats. In addition, the evaluation of the Toolbox efficiency is presented studying the parameter dependency with the executing time of the functions. As a conclusion, this thesis describes a useful Toolbox for a PET scanner development and use. The proposed Toolbox can be used for different scanners due to its adaptability to the scanner geometry. Moreover, due to the Toolbox modularity, the functions can be used independently

Poema de amor II

Poema de la poetisa antioqueña Amalia Moreno Restrep

Poema de amor I

Poema de la poetisa antioqueña Amalia Moreno Restrepo

Silencio y melancolía en Cantiga de José Manuel Arango

Silencio y melancolía en Cantiga de José Manuel Arango, pretende profundizar en los temas y problemas que el poeta antioqueño plantea en el texto Cantiga publicado en Medellín en 1987. Orientando el trabajo en los orbitales del texto, el primer capítulo es introductorio y sirve para construir la tesis central del texto en función de aspectos biográficos y anecdóticos, en este orden de ideas, la huella del silencio y de la melancolía por la senda de Arango. El desarrollo del cuerpo del trabajo se limita a las propuestas de Cantiga. De esta manera el segundo capítulo profundiza en la forma de la cantiga desde la tradición española hasta la vanguardia imaginista y propone una lectura del poemario en esta clave. El tercer capítulo pretende contrastar el estilo parco, fragmentado y figurativo del autor con ciertas intuiciones personales respecto al proceso de composición poética que se materializan en las consideraciones de los autores que refieren el marco crítico o el sistema literario donde se desenvuelve la obra. El trabajo de tesis profundiza en todos los poemas del poemario y tal vez su virtud principal es la minuciosidad sobre cada uno en particular y la propuesta de relación entre silencio, melancolía y poesía.Silence and melancholy in Cantiga by Jose Manuel Arango, pretends to dwell the problematics and themes that the Antioquia´s poet exposes in the text published in the city of Medellin in 1987. Directing his work towards the orbits of the text, the first chapter is introductory and is focused on constructing the central thesis of the text in function to biographical aspects and anecdotes, following this order of ideas: the footprints of the silence and melancholy trough Arango s path. The development on the body of the text limits itself to the proposals of Cantiga. In this way, the second chapter deeply exposes the form of Cantiga as it developed from the Spanish tradition up to the imaginative (avant-garde), and proposes as well a reading method of the book of poems by taking this into consideration.The third chapter attempts to contrast the frugal, fragmented and figurative style of the author with certain personal intuitions in relation to the process of poetic composition, materialized in the considerations of the authors that refer to the critical framework or the literary system where the work takes place. The paper work delves in all the poems of the book and its main virtue is the meticulousness in which each piece is studied and the idea he introduces about the relation between silence, melancholy and poetry.Profesional en Estudios LiterariosPregrad

Different Diets Based on Yellow Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor)—Part B: Modification of the Intestinal Inflammatory Response and the Microbiota Composition of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

With the purpose of improving aquaculture sustainability, the search for protein alternatives to fishmeal makes it necessary to test different variables and the possible repercussions of new ingredients. The use of insect meal as a protein source for aquaculture is well described, but the complex composition of insect meals (fat and other components) can affect the physiology of fish. For this reason, as a part of a bigger study, the aim of the current manuscript was to test diets based on three different presentations of insect meal coming from yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor): full fat, partially defatted, and supplemented with a long chain omega–3-enriched oil, and to evaluate their effects on protein digestibility, biometric indices, immunological system and gut health (intestinal histomorphology and microbiota) of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Digestibility of the protein and body indices showed a minor but consistent trend. The non-specific immunological system did not show changes, but the histology of the intestine showed signs that insect meals could be softening a mild inflammatory response. The gut microbiota suffered several changes, which could be associated with the different amino acid and fatty acid compositions of the dietsINIA (Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria)Co-funded by FEDER funds (Ref. RTA 2015-00021-C03).AEI (Agencia Estatal de Investigación) awarded through the financial help of reference BES2017-080567FSE fundsAquaTech4Feed (grant # PCI2020-112204)MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033EU “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR within the ERA-NET BioBlue COFUN

Local ownership, exercise of ownership and moving from passive to active entitlement: a practice-led inquiry on a rural community network

In this paper, we aim to shed light on local ownership from a double practical and theoretical perspective, and examine its meaning as well as the factors that are bound to influence its development in community based interventions. The questions we intend to answer are: How can 'local ownership' be defined in a way that facilitates its investigation in CI practice, and enables at the same time its theoretical examination and relation with other CI key conceptual constructs? What key factors contribute to fostering local ownership in CI initiatives, taking the case of an externally initiated rural community network? To answer these questions, the paper reports on a study which assessed the development of local ownership in a rural community network in South Africa and singled out the factors found to delineate the development of a sense of ownership in local people, as well as driving the exercise of ownership towards autonomous local action. Based on a detailed analysis of the development of community ownership in this project, and in constant dialogue with the community informatics and social science literature, the paper makes three key contributions to CI theory and practice, as well as more specifically to future practice in community networks: An operational definition of local ownership and a conceptual model which highlights relations to other constructs such as responsibility, power and control and emphasises the role of local ownership in moving from passive to active entitlement towards community assets or CI interventions An empirical analysis of the development of local ownership in a community network in rural South Africa, highlighting the critical factors that led to fostering ownership An examination and critical discussion of factors that are positively related with the development of ownership, carried out in dialogue with CI scholarship and highlighting the bearing of and relations with other critical constructs in CI research, such as participation, empowerment, and capacity building These contributions come at a critical stage in community informatics development as a discipline, in which, we argue, a more solid and critical engagement with theory is required to firmly establish its place and the premises for dialogue with other sociotechnical disciplines.Web of Scienc

La virtualización de la economía. La compra de comida por Internet : el consumo, el dinero y el trabajo como acontecimiento

Partiendo de un concepto de virtualización de la economía, donde las prácticas económicas se definen como procesos de desterritorialización y asumiendo que las TICs posibilitan nuevas formas de socialidad, en el presente trabajo se explora una práctica que nos habla de la economía como acontecimieto: La adquisición de comida, a través de Internet. La compra de comida es una práctica singularmente afectiva, que ha expresado a lo largo de la historia diversas formas de socialidad (la compra en el mercado tradicional difiere de la compra en el supermercado). En el presente trabajo exploramos una nueva forma de compra de alimentos, la compra por Internet y analizamos en ella el acontecer económico a partir de tres ejes: el consumo, el dinero y el trabajo.Starting from an economy virtualization concept, where economic practices are defined as de-territorialization processes, and assuming that ICTs (information and communication technologies) make possible new ways for sociality, this paper explores a practice that draws economy as a happening. The acquisition of food through the Internet. Food purchasing is a singularily affective practice, which through history has shown different forms of sociality (traditional market purchasing differs from supermarket purchasing). In this paper we explore a new way of buying food, Internet purchasing, analizing in it the economic happening through three axis: consumption, money and work

Pueblos de indios Postconquista de la jurisdicción de Santiago del Estero : Investigación en las fuentes

Se analizaron fuentes editas e inéditas para localizar “pueblos indios” con los cuales los españoles hicieron contacto en los primeros años de la conquista del territorio de Santiago del Estero.Prime and late sources were analyzed in search of the indian peoples with which the Spaniards were in touch in the first years of the conquest of the territory of Santiago del Estero.Sociedad Argentina de Antropologí

Pueblos de indios Postconquista de la jurisdicción de Santiago del Estero : Investigación en las fuentes

Se analizaron fuentes editas e inéditas para localizar “pueblos indios” con los cuales los españoles hicieron contacto en los primeros años de la conquista del territorio de Santiago del Estero.Prime and late sources were analyzed in search of the indian peoples with which the Spaniards were in touch in the first years of the conquest of the territory of Santiago del Estero.Sociedad Argentina de Antropologí

p120-Catenin Mediates Inflammatory Responses in the Skin

SummaryAlthough p120-catenin regulates adherens junction (AJ) stability in cultured cells, genetic studies in lower eukaryotes have not revealed a role for this protein in vivo. Using conditional targeting in mice, we show that p120 null neonatal epidermis exhibits reduced intercellular AJ components but no overt disruption in barrier function or intercellular adhesion. As the mice age, however, they display epidermal hyperplasia and chronic inflammation, typified by hair degeneration and loss of body fat. Using skin engraftments and anti-inflammatory drugs, we show that these features are not attributable to reductions in junctional cadherins and catenins, but rather NFkB activation. Both in vivo and in vitro, p120 null epidermal cells activate nuclear NFkB, triggering a cascade of proinflammatory NFkB targets. Although the underlying mechanism is likely complex, we show that p120 affects NFkB activation and immune homeostasis in part through regulation of Rho GTPases. These findings provide important new insights into p120 function