Search results for "Issues"
showing 10 items of 669 documents
Determinants of success of donation-based crowdfunding through digital platforms : The influence of offline factors
2019
The purpose of this research consist of exploring the extent to which factors traditionally explaining the success of offline fundraising campaigns for social causes may also influence the success of donationbased crowdfunding (DCF) campaigns promoted by social economy organizations (SEO) through digital platforms. Firstly, factors determining the success of offline fundraising campaigns for social causes are identified from previous literature. Secondly, a set of hypotheses linking these determinants to DCF campaigns is proposed. Thirdly, their explanatory capacity is measured through quantitative analysis based on a database of 360 campaigns fostered by small, medium and large-size organi…
An advanced numerical treatment of EM absorption in human tissue
2020
The numerical computation of local electromagnetic absorption at points within the human tissue is proposed by avoiding the mesh generation in the problem domain. Recently, meshless numerical methods have been introduced as an alter- native computational approach to mesh based methods. This is an important feature to generate competitive procedure able to provide final evaluations for large data amounts in real time. In this paper the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method is considered to compute the electromagnetic absorption. First experiments are performed in two dimension at single frequencies by considering incident TM plane wave on 2D cylinder simulating a simplified model of human t…
T-wave alternans analysis improvement by means of curve alignment prior to distance calculation.
2007
Tracking of repolarization instabilities in the ECG, such as T-wave alternans (TWA), has become a popular non-invasive method to assess the vulnerability to malignant arrhythmic events. These instabilities are usually characterized by small amplitude changes and their measurement is difficult due to the presence of noise and artifacts. Several methods have been recently proposed to address this problem. Most of them are based on amplitude analysis of beat-to-beat alternation of the T wave. This paper describes a preprocessing stage intended to be used prior to amplitude analysis and aimed at improving the alignment between consecutive T waves. This increases the accuracy of the difference c…
Some consideration about the gender violence in two States of Eastern and Western Europe
2015
The purpose of the essay is to overcome interpretative dualism between Italian people and Serbian people about gender violence against women. In a comparative approach it will find elements of continuity between the decline of male domination in Italy and the decline of patriarchal power in Serbia as a result of a variety of historical and social causes that, inside the paper, are explained. The emancipation of women finds a block in the violence suffered by partners in some familiar contexts. While globalization and unemployment seem to deprive men of the marks of traditional power, but “men in decline” have an post-patriarchal “identity revanche” in assuming the dominant role of perpetrat…
Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5) as a putative human endometrial stem cell marker†
2013
The endometrium is recognized for its remarkable regenerative and remodeling capacity. Every month this hormonally regu- lated organ undergoes cycles of growth (from 0.5-2 to 7 mm), regression and shedding of two-third of the tissue, leading to its monthly renewal that occurs � 400 times in a woman's reproductive lifetime. Several groups have suggested the existence of a human endometrial somatic stem cell (SSC) population located around the spiral arterioles of the basalis. Different groups have isolated, identified and charac- terized putative endometrial SSC populations in human endometrium based on the general features of undifferentiated cells, such as slow cycling detected using the 5…
The protein tyrosine kinase Tec regulates a CD44highCD62L- Th17 subset.
2010
Abstract The generation of Th17 cells has to be tightly controlled during an immune response. In this study, we report an increase in a CD44highCD62L− Th17 subset in mice deficient for the protein tyrosine kinase Tec. CD44highCD62L− Tec−/− CD4+ T cells produced enhanced IL-17 upon activation, showed increased expression levels of IL-23R and RORγt, and IL-23–mediated expansion of Tec−/− CD4+ T cells led to an increased production of IL-17. Tec−/− mice immunized with heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae displayed increased IL-17 expression levels in the lung postinfection with S. pneumoniae, and this correlated with enhanced pneumococcal clearance and reduced lung inflammation compared with T…
Spanish Secondary School Students' Notions on the Causes and Consequences of Climate Change
2010
This paper is part of an extensive study of secondary school students' preconceived ideas about climate change. Here, we undertake a survey in the province of Valencia (Spain) to ascertain secondary school students' notions of the causes and consequences of climate change. Results show, among other things, that students clearly relate the misuse of motor vehicles and factory emissions to the problem. However, the obvious correlation with household energy use is not observed. The usual confusion with other environmental problems, such as the hole in the ozone layer, as described in previous studies, is also detected. Students know almost no greenhouse gases other than CO2, while the socio‐ec…
Adapting teaching and assessment strategies to enhance competence-based learning in the framework of the european convergence process
2007
In the framework of the European higher education area, one of the key issues is to discuss how teaching, learning activities and assessment can be best organised to allow students to reach both transferable skills and subject related competences. In this context, during the 2005/06 academic year, our School decided to essay different strategies in a first-year Pilot Group, due to the traditional poor academic performance on these students. Thus, the proposal included a learning contract that must be signed for all the pupils enrolled on this particular group. Both active teaching-learning methods and additional assessment strategies were applied to achieve the objectives, defined in terms …
Sizing analysis of interior lighting using tubular daylighting devices
2017
Abstract Daylight access and indoor thermal comfort are key issues for high design level of sustainable buildings. In fact, daylight provides energy savings and visual comfort condition that can foster higher productivity and performance. This paper proposes a case study of sizing of daylight devices for zenith light. It enables the decision-making process of the designer to reach high levels of daylight factor. The proposed method is shown with an example of application. For the case study, a room in south of Italy, 24 different solar tunnels configurations and 12 cases with different number of skylights have been evaluated.
Modelling nanoscale fluid dynamics and transport in physiological flows
1996
The concept of nanotechnology is discussed, and its connection with biomedical engineering is elucidated. For the specific field of nanoscale flow and transport problems of physiological relevance, some typical examples are presented, and their interaction is discussed for some classic biomechanical problems like the flow in arteries with blood-wall coupling. Then, existing computational models are presented and classified according to the length scale of interest, with emphasis on particle-fluid problems. Final remarks address the essential unity of biomedical and engineering behaviour and the possible relevance to small-scale industrial research.