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Sartorius muscle transfer for chronic quadriceps tendon rupture: A prospective study
No full textBackground: Quadriceps tendon rupture (QTR) is an uncommon injury. In chronic QTR there may be a large defect and direct repair is not possible with sutures or transosseous anchors. There is no gold standard surgical procedure for the treatment of chronic QTR. We propose a novel technique in which the quadriceps tendon (QT) is reconstructed using a transfer of ipsilateral sartorius tendon. Methods: Between January 2002 and April 2020, 19 patients undergoing sartorius muscle transfer for chronic QTR were prospectively recruited. The Knee Society Score (KSS), range of motion (ROM), and Medical Research Council (MRC) Scale for QT muscle strength were collected preoperatively and at a minimum of 2 years follow up. Results: The mean age of our cohort was 53.4 ± 9.8 years with a female patient count of 12 (54%). The mean body mass index recorded was 28.5 ± 3.2 kg/m2 (range 23–30). At the mean follow up of 53.4 ± 28.1 months the mean KSS was 90.9 ± 6.3 (range 80–100) (P < 0.05), the mean ROM was 119.5 ± 9.9° for flexion (range 100–130) (P < 0.05) and the mean extension lag was 3.8 ± 5.1° (range 0–15) (P < 0.05). The mean MRC scale was 4.5 ± 0.7 (range 3–5) (P < 0.05). The most frequent complication was QT hypotrophy; it was noted in 14 patients. Conclusion: Satisfactory clinical outcomes of ipsilateral sartorius muscle transfer for chronic QTR can be expected a mean of 4.4 years after surgery
Cum tangere: prossimità e distanza in Mrs Dalloway di Virginia Woolf
No full textQuando l’influenza spagnola si manifesta nel Regno Unito, Virginia Woolf ne sminuisce la portata, sebbene registri nel diario la sua avanzata e l‘accerchiamento a cui si sente sottoposta. E si chiede perché ufficialmente se ne parli così poco, concludendo, da pacifista qual è, che le ragioni della guerra prevalgono su quelle della corretta informazione.
Tuttavia, questo trauma collettivo, insieme con quello del conflitto mondiale a cui in un certo senso si salda, riemerge nella sua scrittura negli anni ’20, nel saggio “On Being Ill” (1926), dove, enunciando le difficoltà di raccontare il corpo e la malattia, riflette sul romanzo modernista che lei stessa va mettendo a punto, e nel romanzo Mrs Dalloway (1925). Qui la scrittrice descrive il clima del dopoguerra e racconta i timori e i desideri di una società che sta riprendendo a vivere, attraverso due vulnerabili sopravvissuti: Septimus Warren Smith, il soldato affetto da PTSD, e Clarissa Dalloway, reduce dalla spagnola, un evento di cui riconosce lo statuto ugualmente tragico e catastrofico.
Il saggio intende dimostrare come Mrs Dalloway sia segnato dall’esperienza sociale della malattia, nel senso che sembra scaturire, a partire dal nuovo tunnelling process che Woolf inventa per caratterizzare i personaggi e collegarli tra loro privilegiando la dimensione intersoggettiva su quella soggettiva, dal clima generato dalla pandemia, che costringe a riconsiderare e regolare ex novo la materia quotidiana dei contatti e delle relazioni. Intorno alla protagonista, associata alla spagnola dal corpo indebolito e dai dubbi con le quali affronta il suo ruolo, si dispiega il lessico della lontananza e del contatto, della separazione e dell’avvicinamento di cui la scrittrice costella il romanzo, alternativamente spia della diffusione pervasiva del virus e del suo retrocedere con il reinsediarsi delle antiche abitudini comuni che culminano nella festa della protagonista, celebrazione simbolica del ritorno della collettività alla condivisione e alla vita nella quale si saldano sfera individuale e sfera sociale
Design of a Multimodal Robot-Based Conversational Interface: A Case Study with FURHAT
No full textIn this paper, we propose a system, named SO-Robot, which adopts a multimodal interface to support student orientation by providing information concerning the university’s formative offer. A Furhat Robot acts as a secretary. We adopt NLP-based technology for the dialogues and query the university website database to obtain the needed information. The multimodal interface of the system enables the user to converse with the Furhat while additional content is shown on the board. In particular, we describe the adopted NLP process and the multimodal interface. Future work will be devoted to assessing user engagement and the system’s usability
Salvia pratensis L. extracts as potential eco-friendly herbicides for sustainable agricultural applications
No full textThe aim of this study is based on the searching of "new" potential environmentally friendly plant based products with herbicidal activity. The purpose of the study is also to find the source which is easy to harvest in high amount within the local environment. Salvia pratensis L. is the common medow plant. It is spread all over the world in temperate zone in high density. The investigation of its composition and potential biological activity have been very less studied comparing to the most famous Salvia officinals L. The idea of the research also focused on plant sourse which is easy to reach and harvest as well as provide the experiments economically interested. The extraction of active components were prepared by hot water in two different degrees (60 °C and 100 °C) and soxhlet extraction by three different concentration of ethanol (10%, 30% and 70%). The total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, rosmarinic acid content, as well as the phytotoxic and antioxidant potential of the extracts were evaluated. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) were conducted to compare the different extracts. The extraction method significantly influenced the quantity of dry mass and quantity of phenolic compounds in the extracts. Concerning to phytotoxic activity, the highes effectivity was observed in the etanolic extract with lowest concentration (10%). No germination was observed in any of the four model plants after applying the highest doses. In summary, in current investigation was found the effective low cost extraction method for extraction of secondary metabolites - active components from S. pratensis which than appears to be a promising natural source with potential herbicidal effect
Shift. International journal of philosophical studies (2023). Vol. 2-1: Radical thought
No full textRecensione del testo Sojourner Truth, Schiava e libera. Storia di Sojourner Truth, pioniera dei diritti civili, traduzione e cura di Raoul Lolli, Stilo Editrice, Bari 2023, pp.14
A Novel Approximate Multiplier Based on Improved Logarithmic and Antilogarithmic Conversions
No full textIn this paper, we propose a novel approximate multiplier with error-improved logarithmic and antilogarithmic conversion. In logarithmic multiplication, the forward and backward conversions to the logarithm domain introduce errors in the product. To recover accuracy, we apply an offset when logarithm and antilogarithm are computed, and find suitable values for these offsets in order to make the approximation error with zero mean. The hardware structure of the proposed multiplier is described for signed arithmetic, and a novel hardware-efficient approach, able to compute the sign of the output, is also proposed. Error metrics and synthesis analyses in a 28nm CMOS technology show that our multiplier offers the best accuracy-hardware performance for MRED<4×10-2. Furthermore, remarkable results are achieved also in JPEG compression, exhibiting SSIM and PSNR metrics competitive with the state-of-the-art
Development of a methodology for MEMS accelerometer health state estimation
No full textThe spread of micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) in industrial and civil applications that has occurred in recent years is mainly due to the small physical size of these devices and their high robustness and reliability. The diffusion has also occurred in mission critical areas of use, increasing the responsibilities of decisions based on MEMS devices' measurements. This, therefore, necessitates the design and definition of health parameters that can provide Remaining Useful Life (RUL) information for prognostic purposes to increase reliability in mission-critical applications. However, given the substantial difference in aging processes compared to other apparatuses studied in the literature, such as large industrial machinery, models for studying aging and RUL of such devices based on online measurable features have never been presented. Therefore, the objective of this study is to propose a Health Index for estimating RUL based on measurements from MEMS devices, in this case, accelerometers. The results were satisfactory, showing device failure recognition more than 40 days in advance of actual failure
Pensare il male, la via italiana all'ineludibile
No full textAnalisi critica della corrente filosofica genovese e della problematizzazione della questione del male
The Technological Disruption in Banking Sector - New Efforts and Challenges in the Financial Business Models
No full textThe disruptive technologies radically transform business models and create new innovative products and services. The chapter, focused on the technological disruption in banks, considers: • the assessment of technology impact, including the spread of artificial intelligence, at the level of business models and the relevance for regulators and supervisors, interested in granting a safe and sound banking system; • the main risks associated with technology considered in banking business models;• future perspectives for new strategies and business models with a transition from linear vertically-integrated models to non-linear adaptive models. The chapter outlines the state of the art in the banking services and the organizational responses, highlighting the needs not yet solved in banks' operations, but projected towards the near future, already present. The Appendix offers a framework of the banks’ approach to technology through the answers given by the sample of European banks to questions about technology in EBA’s RAQ