Search results for "dynamics."

Relationship of choroidal thickness with pulsatile hemodynamics in essential hypertensive patients

2021

Controversy exists about the association of choroidal thickness (CTh) with blood pressure (BP) values. There is some evidence suggesting that central hemodynamics changes are associated with microvascular disease. Our study was aimed to assess the relationships between CTh and clinic and 24-h BP and between CTh and estimated 24-h aortic pulse pressure (aPP), 24-h aortic systolic BP (aSBP), and 24-h aortic augmentation index (aAIx) in a group of hypertensive patients. We enrolled 158 hypertensive subjects (mean age 48 ± 13 years) all of which underwent evaluation of the choroidal district by Swept-Source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and 24-h BP monitoring, in order to measure periph…

Choroidal thickness is associated with renal hemodynamics in essential hypertension

2020

The choroid is the most vascularized structure of the eye and plays a central role in the development of the retinal vascular changes that occur in arterial hypertension. Changes of choroidal thickness (ChT) assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology could reflect the vascular complications of hypertension. Also, intrarenal hemodynamic damage, associated with endothelial dysfunction, demonstrated to be a good indicator of systemic morphofunctional arterial impairment. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between ChT and renal hemodynamics in subjects with essential hypertension. Routine laboratory tests, clinical history, and physical examination, including blo…

Evolutionary site-number changes of ribosomal DNA loci during speciation: complex scenarios of ancestral and more recent polyploid events.

2015

Genes encoding ribosomal RNA are universal key constituents of eukaryotic genomes, but the number of loci varies between species. We assessed the evolutionary trends in site-number changes of rDNA loci during speciation in a lineage of the cabbage family, characterized by complex scenarios of polyploidy. Our results suggest the existence of constrictions to burst loci amplification in the 5S rDNA family in polyploids and an overall trend to further reduce their number. The 45S rDNA site change in polyploids tells a different story, implying loci amplification in most of the polyploid entities.

Computational and theoretical studies on lattice thermal conductivity and thermal properties of silicon clathrates

2016

The lattice thermal conductivity is usually an intrinsic property in the study of thermoelectricity. In particular, relatively low lattice thermal conductivity is usually a desired feature when higher thermoelectric efficiency is pursued. The mechanisms which lower the lattice thermal conductivity are not known in sufficient detail and deeper understanding about the phenomena is needed and if such understanding is achieved it can be used to design more efficient thermoelectric materials. In this thesis, the lattice thermal conductivity and other thermal properties of several silicon clathrates, which are known to be promising candidates for the thermoelectric applications, are studied by theoreti…

Anthropogenic Influences in Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Mediterranean Forest Landscapes in Sicily

2016

This paper analyzes and quantifies the land use/land cover changes of the main forest and semi-natural landscape types in Sicily between 1955 and 2012. We analyzed seven representative forest and shrubland landscapes in Sicily. These study areas were chosen for their importance in the Sicilian forest panorama. We carried out a diachronic survey on historical and current aerial photos; all the aerial images used to survey the land use/land cover changes were digitalized and georeferenced in the UTM WGS84 system. In order to classify land use, the Regional Forest Inventory 2010 legend was adopted for the more recent images, and the CORINE Land Cover III level used for the older, lower resolut…

Early Effects of No-Till Use on Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.): Productivity and Soil Functioning Vary between Two Contrasting Mediterranean Soils

2022

The diffusion of no-tillage (NT) is to be encouraged because of the benefits it can provide in terms of improving soil fertility and counteracting global warming and climate change as part of climate-smart agriculture practices. However, the introduction of this management can be difficult, especially in the first years of application, and can lead to unpredictable yield results depending on the soil type. Therefore, the aim of this experiment was to evaluate the early effect of NT use, compared to the conventional mouldboard ploughing (CT), on two different soils, a clay-loam (GAL) and a sandy-clay-loam soil (SMA), by monitoring a set of 43 different soil and plant variables that were expe…

Fiberless, Multi-Channel fNIRS-EEG System Based on Silicon Photomultipliers: Towards Sensitive and Ecological Mapping of Brain Activity and Neurovasc…

2020

Portable neuroimaging technologies can be employed for long-term monitoring of neurophysiological and neuropathological states. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and Electroencephalography (EEG) are highly suited for such a purpose. Their multimodal integration allows the evaluation of hemodynamic and electrical brain activity together with neurovascular coupling. An innovative fNIRS-EEG system is here presented. The system integrated a novel continuous-wave fNIRS component and a modified commercial EEG device. fNIRS probing relied on fiberless technology based on light emitting diodes and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). SiPMs are sensitive semiconductor detectors, whose large…

SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODELS TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE COMPANIES IN MANAGING CLINICAL RISK

2012

Emergent ultrafast phenomena in correlated oxides and heterostructures

2017

The possibility of investigating the dynamics of solids on timescales faster than the thermalization of the internal degrees of freedom has disclosed novel non-equilibrium phenomena that have no counterpart at equilibrium. Transition metal oxides (TMOs) provide an interesting playground in which the correlations among the charges in the metal $d$-orbitals give rise to a wealth of intriguing electronic and thermodynamic properties involving the spin, charge, lattice and orbital orders. Furthermore, the physical properties of TMOs can be engineered at the atomic level, thus providing the platform to investigate the transport phenomena on timescales of the order of the intrinsic decoherence ti…

Business schools’ competitive strategies : whose goals, which aims?

2019

Purpose This study reviews the literature on business-school (b-school) competition and competitiveness to extend our understanding of b-schools’ competitive strategies. Design/methodology/approach Both content and network analysis were used in the examination of the scholarly discourse. Findings The analyses distinguish three literature streams. The first concentrates on resources, capabilities and competencies; the second focuses on measures of competitiveness; and the third includes competitive dynamics and strategy discourse. The analysis shows that the conceptions of competitiveness are quite coherent concerning resources, capabilities and competencies. However, in the “measures of com…