Search results for "SAF"
showing 10 items of 2183 documents
Italian pediatric respiratory society recommendations on pediatric pulmonary function testing during COVID-19 pandemic
2020
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a public health emergency of international concern caused by a newly discovered coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2). Person-toperson transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs primarily through close contact with an infected person, mainly occurring via respiratory droplets and after touching contaminated objects. Accordingly, pulmonary function testing (PFT) could be considered at high-risk for viral transmission due to the potential for coughing and droplet formation during PFT procedures. The most likely surfaces for possible contamination by this route are mouthpieces, proximal valves, and tubing. Also, both technic…
Safety assessment of food-contact paper and board using a battery of short-term toxicity tests: European union BIOSAFEPAPER project.
2005
International audience; An European Union (EU)-funded project QLK1-CT-2001-00930 (BIOSAFEPAPER) involves the development, validation and intercalibration of a short-term battery of toxicological tests for the safety assessment of food-contact paper and board. Dissemination of the results to industry, legislators (e.g. DG Consumer Protection, DG Enterprises, DG Research), standardization bodies such as CEN, and consumers will create an agreed risk evaluation procedure. The project involves pre-normative research in order to establish a set of in-vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity tests that will be easily adaptable to food-contact fibre-based materials and have endpoints relevant to consume…
Prevalence of bacteria and absence of anisakid parasites in raw and prepared fish and seafood dishes in Spanish restaurants
2015
This study evaluated the presence of bacteria and anisakid parasites in 45 samples of raw anchovies in vinegar, a dish widely eaten in Spain, and in 227 samples of cooked fish and cephalopods served in Spanish food service establishments. Our analysis showed that, according to European and Spanish regulation, 14 to 30% of the prepared fish and cephalopod dishes exceeded the maximum allowable level for mesophilic aerobic counts, and 10 to 40% of these samples exceeded the allowable levels for Enterobacteriaceae. None of the studied samples showed evidence of anisakid parasites, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, or Listeria monocyto genes. These results indicate that applic…
Photoactivated chlorophyllin-based gelatin films and coatings to prevent microbial contamination of food products
2008
[EN] The aim of this work was to develop antimicrobial photosensitizer-containing edible films and coatings based on gelatin as the polymer matrix. incorporating sodium magnesium chlorophyllin (E-140) and sodium copper chlorophyllin (E-141). Chlorophyllins were incorporated into the gelatin film-forming solution and the inhibiting effect of the cast films was tested against Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. The results demonstrated that water soluble sodium magnesium chlorophyllin and water soluble sodium copper chlorophyllin reduced the growth of S. aureus and L monocytogenes by 5 log and 4 log respectively. Subsequently, the activity of self-standing films and coatings con…
Probabilistic analysis of truss structures with uncertain parameters (virtual distortion method approach)
2004
A new approach for probabilistic characterization of linear elastic redundant trusses with uncertainty on the various members subjected to deterministic loads acting on the nodes of the structure is presented. The method is based on the simple observation that variations of structural parameters are equivalent to superimposed strains on a reference structure depending on the axial forces on the elastic modulus of the original structure as well as on the uncertainty (virtual distortion method approach). Superposition principle may be applied to separate contribution to mechanical response due to external loads and parameter variations. Statically determinate trusses dealt with the proposed m…
Dynamic behaviour of cracked granite and marble columns retrofitted with steel collars
2014
Marble and heavy stone columns are widely diffused in ancient churches and historical buildings in all the Mediterranean area. Their good mechanical properties allowed carrying great load values, while their bright colours and aesthetical characteristics have been used by a lot of ancient architects to achieve structural solutions with great visual impact. Despite their good compressive strength, marble columns could be damaged from environmental effects (e.g. longterm effects or thermal loads), which could crack the structural members. In this way, the slenderness of the column increases drastically and the presence of an imposed ground shaking could be critical, since the column will be m…
What drives willingness to purchase and stated buying behavior toward organic food? A Stimulus–Organism–Behavior–Consequence (SOBC) perspective
2021
Abstract The consumption of organic food is gaining ground globally due to consumers’ concerns for personal health and food safety. Several countries, such as Japan, are turning their focus to promoting organic food consumption, but research is scarce on Japan’s organic food market. Additionally, despite consumers’ positive predisposition, retail sales in Japan for organic food are low, and there is a need to understand the reason for this disparity. The present study addressed this need by examining factors that may drive consumers’ willingness to purchase (WTP) and stated buying behavior (SBB) toward organic food through the Stimulus–Organism–Behavior–Consequence (SOBC) paradigm. The deve…
Digital generation of multivariate wind field processes
2001
Abstract A very efficient procedure for the generation of multivariate wind velocity stochastic processes by wave superposition as well as autoregressive time series is proposed in this paper. The procedure starts by decomposing the wind velocity field into a summation of fully coherent independent vector processes using the frequency dependent eigenvectors of the Power Spectral Density matrix. It is shown that the application of the method allows to show some very interesting physical properties that allow to reduce drastically the computational effort. Moreover, using a standard finite element procedure for approximating the frequency dependent eigenvectors, the generation procedure requi…
Competition between the buckling-driven delamination and wrinkling in compressed thin coatings
2012
Abstract The competition between two common failure modes of a thin coating under in-plane compression, the surface wrinkling and the buckling-driven delamination, is studied to assess the critical strain when the mechanical instability may occur at given geometrical and material parameters. A buckling map is constructed based on results of a finite element analysis, which relates the critical applied strain for the onset of instability to the interface adhesion and elastic properties of materials. An approximate scaling relation is derived for the energy release rate of buckling-driven delamination of a coating deposited on a compliant substrate.
Some consistency issues in multi-criteria decision making
2017
The complexity of decision-making problems included under the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) paradigm has favored the proliferation of many schools of thought and varied methodologies. It has not yet been possible to prove the supremacy of any of these approaches. Moreover, in some cases it is difficult to combine the theoretical validity of the approximations with their practical appropriateness. It seems that rigor and applicability are two opposing concepts, something that should not be so. It is our responsibility to bridge the gap. To reduce the gap between theory and practice and use effective methodological approaches, it is necessary to combine the rigor and objectivity of tr…