3,474 research outputs found
Quantitative trait loci associated with kernel weight and test weight in durum wheat
Tese de doutoramento em HistĂłria, em Altos Estudos, apresentada Ă Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de CoimbraEntre 1943 e 1986, as relaçÔes diplomĂĄticas luso-italianas caracterizaram-se por uma progressiva aproximação. Finda a II Guerra Mundial, a ItĂĄlia, membro do Eixo atĂ© 1943, assinava, em 1947, o Tratado de Paz como paĂs vencido. Em Portugal, os governantes portugueses temiam que a vitĂłria dos Aliados levasse ao fim do Estado Novo, um regime antidemocrĂĄtico e autoritĂĄrio com caracterĂsticas fascizantes. As incertezas e as expectativas internas e externas eram, pois, vividas em Lisboa e em Roma com nervosismo atĂ© ao final dos anos 40, quando os instrumentos principais das relaçÔes internacionais no Ocidente â como a ONU, a OECE, a NATO e a CECA â ficam delineados, permitindo aos dois paĂses integrarem-se numa esfera de interacção comum e no Ăąmbito da qual as relaçÔes luso-italianas ficavam reforçadas. Contudo, se a ItĂĄlia garantia o seu lugar nos projectos de cooperação europeia, Portugal direccionava-se para o Ultramar. TambĂ©m aqui as relaçÔes luso-italianas poderiam encontrar um ponto de reforço se ao anticolonialismo professado pelo Governo de Roma nĂŁo se opusesse o acĂ©rrimo colonialismo do Governo de Lisboa, com a desconfiança do Governo portuguĂȘs a acentuar-se com o inĂcio das guerras coloniais, a partir de 1961. Condenado na ONU, pressionado na NATO, Portugal buscava o apoio da ItĂĄlia, cedido apenas dentro dos limites da solidariedade devida a um aliado no quadro da Aliança AtlĂąntica.
CaĂdo o Estado Novo em Abril de 1974, Roma e Lisboa encetavam um perĂodo de maior identificação em termos de princĂpios polĂticos e de objectivos, com a primeira a ceder os seus prĂ©stimos para garantir o sucesso da transição democrĂĄtica e para acelerar o processo da negociação da independĂȘncia das colĂłnias. Ao fazĂȘ-lo, pretendia nĂŁo sĂł solidificar as relaçÔes diplomĂĄticas com Lisboa, mas tambĂ©m com os novos paĂses surgidos do Ultramar, considerados altamente rentĂĄveis para investir e alargar a presença da ItĂĄlia na Ăfrica. A Democracia de Abril veio tambĂ©m permitir o estreitamento das relaçÔes luso-italianas no campo multilateral, com a ItĂĄlia a ter um papel de destaque no processo de adesĂŁo de Portugal Ă CEE nĂŁo sĂł ao impor um nĂșmero de reformas a executar a nĂvel comunitĂĄrio para optimizar o funcionamento institucional e salvaguardar a economia italiana, produtora de produtos similares Ă portuguesa e com necessidades sĂmiles em termos de financiamentos europeus, mas tambĂ©m ao acelerar a conclusĂŁo das negociaçÔes, em 1985.Between 1943 and 1986, a growing closeness characterizes the Portuguese â Italian diplomatic relations. After the World War II, while the Portuguese leaders feared the ruin of the Estado Novo, an antidemocratic and authoritarian regime with fascist characteristics, the Italian Government signed, in 1947, the Peace Treaty as a defeated ally of the Nazi Germany. The uncertainties and the expectations were, therefore, nervously felt in Lisbon and Rome till the end of the 40ÂŽs, when the two countries join the OEEC and the OTAN and assure their acceptance by the western partners. At the same time, the diplomatic relations between them were strengthened.
However, while the Italians focused on the development of the European communities, the Portuguese focused on their Colonial Empire. By this time, the anti-colonialism of the Italian government, as opposed to the colonialism of the Portuguese government, created some difficulties in the relations between the two. The situation got worse with the beginning of the Portuguese colonial wars, in 1961. Condemned by the UN and pressured by the NATO, Portugal searched for Italy's support, which was given only sparingly. Simultaneously, the African nationalists and the political opposition to the Estado Novo enlarged their support base in Italy, mainly in the political sectors of the left, which had negative consequences in the relations between Lisbon and Rome.
With the revolution of April 25th 1974, the Estado Novo disappeared without resistance. With the new democratic and anti-colonialist regime, the relations between Rome and Lisbon entered a new phase of greater cooperation. The Italian Government helped the new government with the democratic transition, the decolonization and the negotiation of the Portuguese entrance into the European Economic Community. By doing so, Italy attempted not only to strengthen the diplomatic relations with Portugal and with the new African countries, very appealing to the Italian capital, but also to fortify the role and influence of her own and that of the southern Europe in the European communities
Discovering a junction tree behind a Markov network by a greedy algorithm
In an earlier paper we introduced a special kind of k-width junction tree,
called k-th order t-cherry junction tree in order to approximate a joint
probability distribution. The approximation is the best if the Kullback-Leibler
divergence between the true joint probability distribution and the
approximating one is minimal. Finding the best approximating k-width junction
tree is NP-complete if k>2. In our earlier paper we also proved that the best
approximating k-width junction tree can be embedded into a k-th order t-cherry
junction tree. We introduce a greedy algorithm resulting very good
approximations in reasonable computing time.
In this paper we prove that if the Markov network underlying fullfills some
requirements then our greedy algorithm is able to find the true probability
distribution or its best approximation in the family of the k-th order t-cherry
tree probability distributions. Our algorithm uses just the k-th order marginal
probability distributions as input.
We compare the results of the greedy algorithm proposed in this paper with
the greedy algorithm proposed by Malvestuto in 1991.Comment: The paper was presented at VOCAL 2010 in Veszprem, Hungar
Moyal star product approach to the Bohr-Sommerfeld approximation
The Bohr-Sommerfeld approximation to the eigenvalues of a one-dimensional
quantum Hamiltonian is derived through order (i.e., including the
first correction term beyond the usual result) by means of the Moyal star
product. The Hamiltonian need only have a Weyl transform (or symbol) that is a
power series in , starting with , with a generic fixed point in
phase space. The Hamiltonian is not restricted to the kinetic-plus-potential
form. The method involves transforming the Hamiltonian to a normal form, in
which it becomes a function of the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian.
Diagrammatic and other techniques with potential applications to other normal
form problems are presented for manipulating higher order terms in the Moyal
series.Comment: 27 pages, no figure
Identification of the factors associated with outcomes in a condition management programme
<p>Background: A requirement of the Governmentâs Pathways to Work (PtW) agenda was to introduce a Condition Management Programme (CMP). The aim of the present study was to identify the differences between those who engaged and made progress in this telephone-based biopsychosocial intervention, in terms of their health, and those who did not and to determine the client and practitioner characteristics and programme elements associated with success in a programme aimed at improving health.</p>
<p>Methods: Data were obtained from the CMP electronic spreadsheets and clients paper-based case records. CMP
standard practice was that questionnaires were administered during the pre- and post-assessment phases over the
telephone. Each clientâs record contains their socio-demographic data, their primary health condition, as well as the pre- and post-intervention scores of the health assessment tool administered. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis was used to investigate the relationships between the database variables. Clients were included in the study if their records were available for analysis from July 2006 to December 2007.</p>
<p> Results: On average there were 112 referrals per month, totalling 2016 referrals during the evaluation period. The
majority (62.8%) of clients had a mental-health condition. Successful completion of the programme was 28.5% (575
âcompletersâ; 144 âdischargesâ). Several factors, such as age, health condition, mode of contact, and practitioner
characteristics, were significant determinants of participation and completion of the programme. The results
showed that completion of the CMP was associated with a better mental-health status, by reducing the number of
clients that were either anxious, depressed or both, before undertaking the programme, from 74% to 32.5%.</p>
<p>Conclusions: Our findings showed that an individual's characteristics are associated with success in the
programme, defined as completing the intervention and demonstrating an improved health status. This study
provides some evidence that the systematic evaluation of such programmes and interventions could identify ways
in which they could be improved.</p>
GOLPH2 expression may serve as diagnostic marker in seminomas
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: GOLPH2 (Golgi phosphoprotein 2) is a novel Golgi membrane protein. Despite its unknown physiologic function, however, it has been proposed as a biomarker for hepatocellular and prostate carcinoma due to its upregulation in those cancer entities. Whether the overexpression of GOLPH2 is tumour specific or a generic parameter of malignancy and whether this finding is true for additional carcinomas has not been determined. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression pattern of GOLPH2 in testicular seminomas, the most common histologic subtype of testicular neoplasm. METHODS: GOLPH2 protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 69 testicular seminomas and compared to the expression rates in matching normal testicular tissue and intratubular germ cell neoplasia of unclassified type (IGCNU). In addition, a subset of Leydig cell tumours was analyzed accordingly. RESULTS: GOLPH2 was consistently overexpressed (89.9%) in seminomas. Matching non-neoplastic tissue showed weak or negative staining. The observed differences between non-neoplastic and neoplastic tissue were statistically highly significant (p < 0.001). There were no significant associations with tumour status. Interestingly, GOLPH2 was also highly expressed in the intertubular Leydig cells as well as in Leydig cell tumours. CONCLUSIONS: GOLPH2 protein is highly expressed in seminomas and in Leydig cell tumours. This study fosters the association of GOLPH2 with malignant neoplastic processes. The staining pattern is easily assessable and consistent which is a favourable property especially in clinical settings. GOLPH2 could be a novel immunohistochemical marker for the assessment of testicular neoplasms, especially against the background that in analogy to hepatocellular carcinomas complementary GOLPH2 serum levels might be helpful in detecting metastases or recurrent tumour. Therefore serum studies and analyses of GOLPH2 expression in non-seminomatous germ cell tumours are strongly warranted
- âŠ