Reliability and validity of the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease

American visceral leishmaniasis is a main public health matter in Brazil. Since dogs have been incriminated as the main urban reservoir of AVL agent Leishmania chagasi, a cohort study aimed at understanding the dynamics of the canine infection was carried out in Jequié--an endemic community in the Northeast of Brazil. The inhabited urban and periurban areas of Jequié were divided into 140 clusters of 0.25 km2. All 1681 dogs domiciled in 34 randomly selected clusters were screened for Leishmania antibodies in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. After the seropositive dogs were painlessly eliminated, a cohort of 1286 seronegative dogs was followed up for 18 months, yielding a total of 1739.7 dog-years. The overall incidence of Leishmania infection, as assessed by the detection of Leishmania antibodies in blood samples collected every six months, was 6.55 cases/100 dog-years (95% confidence interval; CI 6.04-7.26). Two subsets of clusters, with 0.70 and 1.35 relative risks of infection, were identified. The annual emigration rate was 2.26 cases/100 dog-years (95% CI 1.86-2.66). The implications of these findings for the control of American visceral leishmaniasis are discussed.     

Management Levers for Product Platforms

Platforming has become an important means of cost-sharing among industrial products. However, many firms face systemic downward pressure on commonality, with the result that many platforms realize less commonality than intended. Past research has hypothesized that divergence is the result of conflicting tensions between product customization/optimization and cost control. This article investigates the control and incentive levers available to platform managers to shape the behavior of the organization when divergence opportunities arise. Management levers are drawn from a series of 12 industrial case studies, stemming from investigations of the causes of divergences. These management levers are categorized as technical levers, financial levers, and organizational levers. This article illustrates each of the management levers with examples from the case studies.     

A Fully Integrated 0.13- μm CMOS Digital Low-IF DBS Satellite Tuner Using a Ring Oscillator-Based Frequency Synthesizer

A low-IF fully integrated tuner for DBS satellite TV applications has been realized in 0.13-mum CMOS. A wideband ring oscillator-based frequency synthesizer having a large frequency step was used to downconvert a cluster of channels to a sliding low-IF frequency, while the second downconversion to baseband was performed in the digital domain. Eliminating the inductors and using a small-area oscillator has reduced both the parasitic magnetic and substrate coupling, allowing single-chip integration of the sensitive tuner and the noisy digital demodulator. A significant reduction in die area was achieved by using a single oscillator to cover the entire satellite TV spectrum, while a noise attenuator was cascaded with the PLL passive loop filter to reduce the equivalent VCO tuning gain. This improves PLL noise and spur performance and allows the on-chip integration of the loop filter. The digital low-IF tuner allows the use of a discrete step AGC loop that results in lower noise figure and higher linearity. Automatic signal path gain and bandwidth digital calibration was realized using replica ring oscillators. Tuner specifications include: 90 dB gain range, 10 dB noise figure at max gain, +25dBm IIP3 at min gain, 1.3deg rms integrated phase noise, <-50dBc spurs, 0.5-W power consumption from dual 1.8/3.3-V supplies, and 1.8times1.2 mm² die area     

Building environmental assessment methods: applications and development trends

The construction and property sector has seen the development of a number of methods for evaluating the 'greenness' of buildings in the 1990s - both for new designs and existing buildings. These range from very detailed life cycle assessment methods, which account for all the embodied and operational environmental impacts of building materials, to higher level environmental impact assessment methods, which evaluate the broader implications of the building's impact on the environment. In between these two are environmental assessment methods such as BREEAM, BEPAC, LEED, and GBA. In this paper, we discuss the potential market applications of these systems and compare and contrast several of the major environmental assessment methods. Le secteur de la construction et de l'immobilier a ete le temoin du developpement d'un certain nombre de methodes permettant d'evaluer les performances ecologiques des batiments dans les annees 1990, tant sur le plan des nouveaux concepts que des batiments existants. Ces methodes vont de l'evaluation tres detailee du cycle de vie, qui tient compte de l'impact specifique et des incidences operationnelles des materiaux de construction sur l'environnement, jusqu'a une evaluation de l'impact environnemental a un niveau plus eleve. Entre ces deux extremes, on trouve des methodes d'evaluation environnementale telles que BREEAM, BEPAC, LEED et GBA. Dans cet article, nous examinons les applications commerciales potentielles des ces systemes; nous comparons, en les opposant, plusieurs methodes majeures d'evaluation environnementale.