Search results for "ECS"
showing 10 items of 2721 documents
Conceptual Key Competency Model for Smart Factories in Production Processes
2020
Abstract Background and Purpose: The aim of the study is to develop a conceptual key competency model for smart factories in production processes, focused on the automotive industry, as innovation and continuous development in this industry are at the forefront and represent the key to its long-term success. Methodology: For the purpose of the research, we used a semi-structured interview as a method of data collection. Participants were segmented into three homogeneous groups, which are industry experts, university professors and secondary education teachers, and government experts. In order to analyse the qualitative data, we used the method of content analysis. Results: Based on the anal…
Life satisfaction of refugees living in Germany
2021
Since 2015, Germany has been hosting noticeable incoming flows of refugees and asylum seekers, leading, in 2020, the ranking of European countries and being the fifth in the world ranking for the number of hosted refugees. Despite the quality of life of refugees is expected to be improved in the aftermath of their arrival to Germany, refugees are still facing several problems of integration and economic deprivation (e.g., about 90% are unemployed). Hence, it is a worthwhile exercise to study how satisfied they are with their present life. Using a sample of 3,408 individuals from the German IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees (regarding refugees and asylum seekers who came to the country betwee…
Longevity-related molecular pathways are subject to midlife “switch” in humans
2019
Emerging evidence indicates that molecular aging may follow nonlinear or discontinuous trajectories. Whether this occurs in human neuromuscular tissue, particularly for the noncoding transcriptome, and independent of metabolic and aerobic capacities, is unknown. Applying our novel RNA method to quantify tissue coding and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), we identified ~800 transcripts tracking with age up to ~60 years in human muscle and brain. In silico analysis demonstrated that this temporary linear “signature” was regulated by drugs, which reduce mortality or extend life span in model organisms, including 24 inhibitors of the IGF‐1/PI3K/mTOR pathway that mimicked, and 5 activators that oppos…
A two gene-based risk score predicts alcoholic cirrhosis development in males with at-risk alcohol consumption
2019
Rosellina Margherita Mancina,1,* Flaminia Ferri,2,* Alessio Farcomeni,3 Antonio Molinaro,1 Angela Maffongelli,4 Monica Mischitelli,2 Edoardo Poli,2 Lucia Parlati,5 Maria Antonella Burza,6 Adriano De Santis,2 Fabio Attilia,2 Claudia Rotondo,2 Maria Margherita Rando,2 Maria Luisa Attilia,2 Mauro Ceccanti,2 Stefano Ginanni Corradini2 1Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Wallenberg Laboratory, Göteborg, Sweden; 2Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; 3Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; 4Department of Gener…
As-needed anti-inflammatory reliever therapy for asthma management: evidence and practical considerations
2021
Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease in which airway inflammation is a key feature, even in the milder expressions of the disease. The conventional pharmacological approach to mild asthma has long relied on reliever therapy with as-needed short-acting beta-agonists (SABAs), while anti-inflammatory maintenance with inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) has been reserved for patients with more persistent asthma. Poor adherence to maintenance treatment is an important issue in asthma management, and can partly explain suboptimal symptom control. Over-reliance on SABA bronchodilators for rapid symptom relief is common in real life and potentially leads to an increased risk of asthma morbidity and m…
Type 5 phosphodiesterase (PDE5) and the vascular tree: from embryogenesis to aging and disease
2020
Highlights • Vascular development depends on the timely differentiation of endothelial and smooth muscle cells, that mutually influence their developmental fate. • Endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) compartments can mutually influence cell and tissue modifications during vascular aging and in vascular disease. • Keeping in mind that PDE5 is mainly expressed in VSMCs, we surveyed the literature on the role of PDE5 in vascular development, aging and disease. • Although most results have been obtained by PDE5 pharmacological inhibition, no data are available, to date, on vascular development, aging or disease following PDE5 genetic ablation.
Role of nitric oxide pathway in the conditioned rewarding effects of MDMA in mice.
2017
It is estimated that 2.1 million young adults used MDMA/Ecstasy in the last year in Europe. Vulnerable subjects can develop dependence after MDMA abuse but currently there does not exist an effective treatment for this disorder. The nitric oxide (NO) pathway seems to have an important role on the rewarding effects of different drugs and has been proposed as a new pharmacological treatment for psychostimulant addiction. In the present study, we intend to evaluate whether the blockade of the NO synthesis (NOS) interferes with the rewarding effects of MDMA in the conditioned preference place (CPP) paradigm in young adult male mice. Our results indicated that mice treated with 7-nitroindazole (…
L1-Penalized Censored Gaussian Graphical Model
2018
Graphical lasso is one of the most used estimators for inferring genetic networks. Despite its diffusion, there are several fields in applied research where the limits of detection of modern measurement technologies make the use of this estimator theoretically unfounded, even when the assumption of a multivariate Gaussian distribution is satisfied. Typical examples are data generated by polymerase chain reactions and flow cytometer. The combination of censoring and high-dimensionality make inference of the underlying genetic networks from these data very challenging. In this article, we propose an $\ell_1$-penalized Gaussian graphical model for censored data and derive two EM-like algorithm…
Model selection for factorial Gaussian graphical models with an application to dynamic regulatory networks.
2016
Abstract Factorial Gaussian graphical Models (fGGMs) have recently been proposed for inferring dynamic gene regulatory networks from genomic high-throughput data. In the search for true regulatory relationships amongst the vast space of possible networks, these models allow the imposition of certain restrictions on the dynamic nature of these relationships, such as Markov dependencies of low order – some entries of the precision matrix are a priori zeros – or equal dependency strengths across time lags – some entries of the precision matrix are assumed to be equal. The precision matrix is then estimated by l 1-penalized maximum likelihood, imposing a further constraint on the absolute value…
A heuristic, iterative algorithm for change-point detection in abrupt change models
2017
Change-point detection in abrupt change models is a very challenging research topic in many fields of both methodological and applied Statistics. Due to strong irregularities, discontinuity and non-smootheness, likelihood based procedures are awkward; for instance, usual optimization methods do not work, and grid search algorithms represent the most used approach for estimation. In this paper a heuristic, iterative algorithm for approximate maximum likelihood estimation is introduced for change-point detection in piecewise constant regression models. The algorithm is based on iterative fitting of simple linear models, and appears to extend easily to more general frameworks, such as models i…