Search results for "feasibility"
showing 10 items of 306 documents
UPS fuel cell based: An innovative back-up system
2007
The aim of the paper is to evaluate the technical feasibility and aspects related to the use, in an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), of fuel cells instead of traditional electrochemical batteries. The proposed system, named UPS-FCB (Fuel Cell Based) presents a modular and versatile system configuration; particularly it is possible to integrate it with traditional UPS. Moreover the system features can be modified in terms of power, reliability, back-up time, etc., by changing the power devices. A detailed experimental analysis has been carried out on a passive stand-by UPS integrated with a FCB; experimental results can be easily extended to the other possible system architectures. © 2007…
Endoscopic interventions in the small bowel using double balloon enteroscopy: feasibility and limitations.
2007
Double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) is a new endoscopic tool that not only allows diagnostic workup of small bowel diseases, but also makes it possible to carry out therapeutic interventions. However, for a variety of reasons, endoscopic therapy appears to be more difficult to carry out deep in the small bowel than in the upper or lower gastrointestinal tract.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acute technical success and acute complication rate of DBE.Between June 2003 and July 2006, 353 patients (152 women, 201 men; mean age 60.3 +/- 17.1 yr) with suspected or known small bowel disease underwent 635 consecutive DBE procedures. The majority of the patients were suffering from midgas…
ag) Push-and-pull enteroscopy in the small bowel using the double-balloon technique: results of a prospective European multicenter study.
2005
BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and clinical impact of push-and-pull enteroscopy (PPE) in patients with suspected or documented small-bowel diseases, in a prospective multicenter trial in three European medical centers. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 100 patients (mean age 56 +/- 16 years; range 13 - 90) were included at the three institutions between July and November 2004. The leading symptoms were: acute recurrent or chronic gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 64), polyposis syndrome (n = 8), chronic abdominal pain (n = 7), chronic diarrhea (n = 7), and others (n = 14). RESULTS No major PPE-associated complications such as perforation,…
Stabilisation of MSWI bottom ash with sulphide-rich anaerobic effluent.
2007
Effluent of an anaerobic sulphate-reducing wastewater treatment process was used to stabilise bottom ash. The effect of stabilisation on the concentration and binding of Ca, P, S, Cu, Pb, Zn, As, Cr, and Mo were studied by comparing results of sequential extraction from fresh and stabilised bottom ash. The stabilisation treatment improved the retention of Ca, Cu, Pb, S, and Zn in bottom ash compared to a treatment with ion-exchanged water. In addition to retention, Cu, S, and Zn were accumulated from the anaerobic effluent in the bottom ash. Concentrations of As, Cr, and Mo remained on the same level, whereas leaching of P increased compared to control treatment with ion-exchanged water. Im…
Effects of solid–liquid separation on recovering residual methane and nitrogen from digested dairy cow manure
2006
The feasibility of optimizing methane and nitrogen recovery of samples obtained from farm biogas digester (35 degrees C) and post-storage tank (where digested material is stored for 9-12 months) was studied by separating the materials into different fractions using 2, 1, 0.5 and 0.25 mm sieves. Mass-balances revealed that digested material mainly consists of0.25 mm (60-69%) and2 mm (18-27%) fractions, while fractions between 2 and 0.2 mm made the rest. Incubation of solid fractions0.25 mm of digester material at 35 degrees C resulted in specific methane yields of 0.060-0.085 m(3)kg(-1) volatile solids (VS) during initial 30-50 d and 0.16-0.18 m(3)kg(-1)VS at the end of 340 d incubation. Sim…
Feasibility Studies for Water Reuse Projects: Economic Valuation of Environmental Benefits
2010
Water reuse is emerging as a promising alternative because it enables water resources to be increased and lowers pollution levels by reducing wastewater. In recent decades, significant technological progress has been made in the field of wastewater regeneration; and project feasibility is now mostly subject to just economic assessment. However, the economic aspect is the least addressed aspect of research into water reuse. This is because private costs are generally considered while the external effects are relegated to a series of statements about the advantages of water reuse. Methodologies used to analyze the economic feasibility of these projects usually focus on internal costs. As a re…
The Financial Costs in Energy Efficient District. Alternative Scenarios from the Demo Sites of the CITyFiED Program
2021
The European Union’s environmental policies actively promote the transition to a low-carbon society and to sustainable energy systems that improve people’s quality of life and do not negatively impact the natural environment. To achieve these goals, the European Union funded several programs to pilot energy efficiency measures for buildings and districts and, lately, launched the European Green Deal. The results of these experimentations have shown that often the economic feasibility of retrofitting interventions is not achieved without public grants. This contribution aims to analyze the influence of financial parameters on the profitability of projects of energy efficient districts. The s…
Food of the Gods for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis Related Fatigue?
2019
In their JNNP paper, Coe et al report the preliminary results of a feasibility trial on flavonoid enriched cocoa for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) related fatigue, showing promising results that encourage the conduction of a phase III clinical trial to confirm the results of possible clinical effects on MS related fatigue.1 As described in the paper,1 fatigue is the most common symptom reported by individuals affected by MS, affecting the majority of patients. It is often present even when neurological disability is low and in the early stages of the disease, but impacts significantly the quality of life in MS patients, diminishing independence in everyday activities. Fatigue sym…
On Unsupervised Methods for Medical Image Segmentation: Investigating Classic Approaches in Breast Cancer DCE-MRI
2021
Unsupervised segmentation techniques, which do not require labeled data for training and can be more easily integrated into the clinical routine, represent a valid solution especially from a clinical feasibility perspective. Indeed, large-scale annotated datasets are not always available, undermining their immediate implementation and use in the clinic. Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide. In this study, breast lesion delineation in Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) series was addressed by means of four popular unsupervised segmentation approaches: Split-and-Merge combined with Region Growing (SMRG), k-means, Fuzzy C-Means (FCM), and spatial FCM (…
Synthesis and evaluation of (S)-2-(2-[18F]fluoroethoxy)-4-([3-methyl-1-(2-piperidin-1-yl-phenyl)-butyl-carbamoyl]-methyl)-benzoic acid ([18F]repaglin…
2004
18F-labeled non-sulfonylurea hypoglycemic agent (S)-2-(2-[(18)F]fluoroethoxy)-4-((3-methyl-1-(2-piperidin-1-yl-phenyl)-butylcarbamoyl)-methyl)-benzoic acid ([(18)F]repaglinide), a derivative of the sulfonylurea-receptor (SUR) ligand repaglinide, was synthesized as a potential tracer for the non-invasive investigation of the sulfonylurea 1 receptor status of pancreatic beta-cells by positron emission tomography (PET) in the context of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. [(18)F]Repaglinide could be obtained in an overall radiochemical yield (RCY) of 20% after 135 min with a radiochemical purity higher than 98% applying the secondary labeling precursor 2-[(18)F]fluoroethyltosylate. Specific activity w…