Search results for " measures"

An experimental investigation on air quality inside WindJet aircraft

2012

ABSTRACT In order to improve the passengers and crew comfort during the flight, the aim of the present paper is a study of the cabin air quality through experimental measures on randomly selected flight segments of an Italian airline company, WindJet. Carbon dioxide, ultrafine particles, temperature and relative humidity have been measured by using low cost high efficiency instrumental equipments. Exploring ways to improve aircraft cabin air quality, WindJet and University of Palermo are investigating equipment, filters and components of the ventilation system. In this paper, after description of both ventilation systems for aircrafts of WindJet and the instrumental equipments used to measu…

Optical gain, spontaneous and stimulated emission of surface plasmon polaritons in confined plasmonic waveguide

2010

International audience; We develop a theoretical model to compute the local density of states in a confined plasmonic waveguide. Based on this model, we derive a simple formula with a clear physical interpretation for the lifetime modification of emitters embedded in the waveguide. The gain distribution within the active medium is then computed following the formalism developed in a recent work [Phys. Rev. B 78, 161401 (2008)], by taking rigorously into account the pump irradiance and emitters lifetime modifications in the system. We finally apply this formalism to describe gain–assisted propagation in a dielectric–loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguide.

Effect of different ergonomic supports on muscle activity of dentists during posterior composite restoration

2019

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different ergonomic supports on the muscle activity of two trunk muscles while a group of dentists performed a common dental procedure on a phantom head, divided into three tasks.MethodsA one-way repeated measures study (ANOVA) was conducted on a group of 36 dentists. The middle trapezius and lumbar erector spinae muscles were measured with and without the use of different ergonomic supports (ergonomic stool, magnification lenses and both) using a portable surface electromyography (sEMG) device. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and the absolute standard error of measurement (SEM) were used to establish the reliability o…

2021

Background: The goal of the treatment of Alport syndrome (AS) is to delay the progression of kidney damage. The current standard of care is the use of Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System (RAAS) blockers: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition (ACEi), angiotensin receptor blockade, and, recently, spironolactone (SP). Aim of the study: the purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the efficacy (reduction of proteinuria and changes of glomerular function) and safety of a sequential introduction of RAAS blockers up to a triple RAAS blockade in pediatric proteinuric patients with AS. Methods: in this retrospective study (1995 to 2019), we evaluated proteinuria values in AS patients, …

Changes in Body Composition in Anorexia Nervosa : Predictors of Recovery and Treatment Outcome

2015

The restoration of body composition (BC) parameters is considered to be one of the most important goals in the treatment of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). However, little is known about differences between AN diagnostic subtypes [restricting (AN-R) and binge/purging (AN-BP)] and weekly changes in BC during refeeding treatment. Therefore, the main objectives of our study were twofold: 1) to assess the changes in BC throughout nutritional treatment in an AN sample and 2) to analyze predictors of BC changes during treatment, as well as predictors of treatment outcome. The whole sample comprised 261 participants [118 adult females with AN (70 AN-R vs. 48 AN-BP), and 143 healthy controls].…

Comparison of discretization strategies for the model-free information-theoretic assessment of short-term physiological interactions

2023

This work presents a comparison between different approaches for the model-free estimation of information-theoretic measures of the dynamic coupling between short realizations of random processes. The measures considered are the mutual information rate (MIR) between two random processes [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] and the terms of its decomposition evidencing either the individual entropy rates of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] and their joint entropy rate, or the transfer entropies from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] and from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] and the instantaneous information shared by [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see…

Analyzing the Correlation of Classical and Community-aware Centrality Measures in Complex Networks

2021

International audience; Identifying influential nodes in social networks is a fundamental issue. Indeed, it has many applications, such as inhibiting epidemic spreading, accelerating information diffusion, preventing terrorist attacks, and much more. Classically, centrality measures quantify the node's importance based on various topological properties of the network, such as Degree and Betweenness. Nonetheless, these measures are agnostic of the community structure, although it is a ubiquitous characteristic encountered in many real-world networks. To overcome this drawback, there is a growing trend to design so-called community-aware centrality measures. Although several works investigate…

Pharmacological blockade of the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) alters neural proliferation, apoptosis and gliosis in the rat hippocampus, hypothal…

2015

Endocannabinoids participate in the control of neurogenesis, neural cell death and gliosis. The pharmacological effect of the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor URB597, which limits the endocannabinoid degradation, was investigated in the present study. Cell proliferation (phospho-H3(+) or BrdU(+) cells) of the main adult neurogenic zones as well as apoptosis (cleaved caspase-3(+)), astroglia (GFAP(+)), and microglia (Iba1(+) cells) were analyzed in the hippocampus, hypothalamus and striatum of rats intraperitoneally treated with URB597 (0.3 mg/kg/day) at one dose/4-days resting or 5 doses (1 dose/day). Repeated URB597 treatment increased the plasma levels of the N-acylethanolamine…

The World Bank’s Early Reflections on Development: A Development Institution or a Bank?

2009

Until the late 1960s, the World Bank presented itself as an institution devoted to making sound and directly productive project loans. Yet, during its very early years, some discussions developed inside the Bank regarding the possibility of issuing different types of loans, namely (i) loans aimed at tackling social issues ("social loans"), and (ii) loans aimed at providing foreigncurrency to address disequilibria in the balance of payments ("impact loans"). This paper brings together historical analysis and theories of organization development to study the housing issue as a case in point. The analysis reveals that the Bank was unwilling to lend for housing programs not because these were n…

Influencia de los factores de contingencia en el desarrollo del cuadro de mando integral y su asociación con un rendimiento mejor. El caso de las emp…

2016

En este trabajo se analiza la relación entre algunos factores de contingencia, el nivel de uso del cuadro de mando integral (CMI) y el beneficio percibido gracias a su aplicación. El CMI es una herramienta capaz de ofrecer a los responsables de las organizaciones una visión completa de cómo a través de la integración de medidas financieras y no financieras se ejecuta la estrategia. Del análisis realizado sobre la base de los datos obtenidos de las sedes centrales de 61 empresas españolas de productos y servicios se deduce que el grado de formalización y estandarización en las empresas tiene una influencia directa y positiva en el desarrollo del CMI hacia niveles más integradores y orientado…