Search results for "Design"
showing 10 items of 5885 documents
A randomized clinical trial to evaluate the plaque removal efficacy of an oscillating-rotating toothbrush versus a sonic toothbrush in orthodontic pa…
2018
ABSTRACT Objective: To compare the plaque removal efficacy of an oscillating-rotating electric toothbrush with an orthodontic brush head versus a sonic toothbrush in adolescent patients with fixed orthodontic appliances. Materials and Methods: This was a randomized, examiner-blind, replicate single-use, two-treatment, four-period, crossover study with a washout period between visits of approximately 24 hours. Forty-four adolescent patients with fixed orthodontic appliances in both arches were randomized based on a computer-generated randomization schedule to one of four toothbrush treatment sequences. The primary outcome was plaque score change from baseline, measured using digital plaque i…
The Efficacy of Powered Oscillating Heads vs. Powered Sonic Action Heads Toothbrushes to Maintain Periodontal and Peri-Implant Health: A Narrative Re…
2021
Objectives: To compare the efficacy of rotating-oscillating heads (ORHs) VS sonic action heads (SAHs) powered toothbrushes on plaque accumulation and gingival inflammation. Methods: An electronic (MEDLINE, Embase, Inspec, PQ SciTech and BIOSIS) and a complementary manual search were made to detect eligible studies. RCTs meeting the following criteria were included: final timepoint longer than 15 days; year of publication after 2000; patients without orthodontic appliances or severe systemic/psychiatric diseases. Studies comparing two or more different types of sonic/roto-oscillating toothbrushes were excluded. Selection of articles, extraction of data, and assessment of quality were made in…
A genetic algorithm for combined topology and shape optimisations
2003
A method to find optimal topology and shape of structures is presented. With the first the optimal distribution of an assigned mass is found using an approach based on homogenisation theory, that seeks in which elements of a meshed domain it is present mass; with the second the discontinuous boundaries are smoothed. The problem of the optimal topology search has an ON/OFF nature and has suggested the employment of genetic algorithms. Thus in this paper a genetic algorithm has been developed, which uses as design variables, in the topology optimisation, the relative densities (with respect to effective material density) 0 or 1 of each element of the structure and, in the shape one, the coord…
THE TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION IN THE PRODUCT DESIGN PROCESS
2009
The design process represents, already for a long time now, a very interesting research field for the scientific community that has tried, through its own activity of research and development, to make it faster, more reliable and efficient. Thanks to this continuous development, during the last years, the product design process has suffered a remarkable improvement, both regarding the methodological aspect, become mostly structured, objective and rational, and as regards the helping tools for the design like, for example, the software CAD, FEM, CFD, that have been improved in their efficiency and functionality. In this context, the development of more and more reliable and simple to use met…
Psychosocial and environmental correlates of active commuting for university students.
2009
Abstract Objective To examine psychosocial and environmental correlates of active commuting to university (ACU) and explore its association with overall physical activity among college students. Methods The sample included 518 students (mean 22.4 years; 59.7% female) from two universities in Valencia, Spain. Weekly estimations of energy expenditure from ACU and total physical activity were obtained. Socio-economic status, self-efficacy, barriers to active transport, access to car and motorbike, access to public transport, walking and cycling facilities and distance to university were assessed. Data were collected April and May of 2009, using a self-administered survey. A structural equation…
Validation of a method to measure total spontaneous physical activity of sedentary and voluntary running mice
2014
Running wheels are commonly used to stimulate physical activity of mice. To control the effects of physical activity on study results, it is important to measure the total activity (all movements) of both sedentary and running wheel stimulated mice.Because there was a lack of a validated system, we built a force-plate based system specifically for this purpose. The validity of the system and its variables (activity index, activity time and distance) were tested in calibration measurements and in situ by measuring the activity of eight mice both with and without running wheels. Four mice served as sedentary controls. Activity index adds changes in vertical reaction forces induced by moving m…
Evaluation of different mechanical fruit harvesting systems and oil quality in very large size olive trees
2014
In 2006 and 2009, trials were carried out in the Apulia region in Southern Italy to evalu-ate the possibility of mechanizing olive harvesting in groves of old and very large trees. The trees belonged to the cultivars ‘Cellina di Nardò’ and ‘Ogliarola Salentina’. They were 60-100 years old and 7-9 m tall with a canopy volume of 140-360 m3. In the first half of November 2006, with a mechanical beater mounted on a tractor plus hand-held pneumatic combs, the harvesting yield was close to 90% of the total olives present in the canopy, and the harvesting working productivity was around 60 kg of harvested olives h-1 worker-1. With a self-propelled shaker attached to the main branches the harvestin…
Risk exposure to vibration and noise in the use of agricultural track-laying tractors.
2016
Human exposure to mechanical vibration may represent a significant risk factor for exposed workers in the agricultural sector. Also, noise in agriculture is one of the risk factors to be taken into account in the evaluation of workers’ health and safety. One of the major sources of discomfort for the workers operating a tractors is the noise to which they are exposed during work. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of exposure to whole-body vibration for the operator driving track-laying tractors in vineyard orchard and the noise level. The experimental tests were performed with six different track-laying tractors coupled with the same rototilling machine. The results showed that…
IPR gender gaps: a first look at utility model, design right and trademark filings
2018
This study extends the analysis of the gender gap in patenting into design rights, utility model (UMs) and trademarks (TMs), which are complementary methods for protecting intellectual property. The analysis is descriptive and uses register data from the Finnish patent and registration office covering the years 1982–2013. A persistent gender gap is found for all intellectual property rights. The gap has narrowed over time for national patent, design right and TM filings but not for UM filings. It is found that, in comparison to men, women are relatively less often single inventors or designers and more often members of inventor or designer teams. peerReviewed
Refractive index and equilibrium water content of conventional and silicone hydrogel contact lenses
2006
Prova tipográfica (In Press)