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Feasibility of a single-phase portal venous CT protocol using bolus tracking technique and lean body weight-based contrast media dose
No full textPurpose: To evaluate the impact of the use of lean body weight (LBW)-based contrast material (CM) dose and bolus tracking technique on portal venous phase abdominal CT image quality. Materials and methods: IRB-approved prospective study; informed consent was acquired. In the period July-November 2023, we randomly selected 105 oncologic patients scheduled for a portal venous phase abdominal CT to undergo our experimental protocol (i.e., 0.7 gI/Kg of LBW CM administration and bolus tracking on the liver). Included patients had performed a "standard" portal venous phase abdominal CT (i.e., 0.6 gI/Kg of total body weight (TBW) contrast material administration and 70 s fixed delay) on the same scanner within the previous 12 months. One reader evaluated CT images measuring liver, portal vein, kidney cortex, and spleen attenuation; values were normalized to paraspinal muscles. Results: Median administered contrast dose (350 mgI/mL CM) was 99 mL (IQR: 81-115 mL) using the experimental protocol and 110 mL (IQR: 100-120 mL) using the standard one (p < 0.0001). Median acquisition delay using the experimental protocol was 65" (IQR 59-73"). Median normalized hepatic enhancement was significantly higher using the experimental protocol (1.97, IQR: 1.83-2.47 vs. 1.86, IQR: 1.58-2.11; p < 0.0001). Median normalized portal vein enhancement was significantly higher using the experimental protocol (3.43, IQR: 2.73-4.04 vs. 2.91, IQR: 2.58-3.41; p < 0.0001). No statistically significant differences were found in the kidneys' cortex and aorta normalized enhancement (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The combination of LBW-based CM dose administration and bolus tracking allows a significant CM dose reduction and a significant liver and portal vein enhancement increase. Clinical relevance statement: Lean body weight-based contrast material (CM) dose administration and bolus tracking technique in portal venous phase CT scans overcome differences in body composition and hemodynamics, improving reproducibility. It allows a significant CM dose reduction with increased liver and portal vein enhancement. Key points: Lean body weight (LBW)-based contrast material (CM) dosing could be superior to total body weight dosing. Portal venous phase CT with a liver bolus tracking technique improved liver and spleen enhancement with a reduced contrast dose. The combination of LBW-based CM dosing and liver bolus tracking technique enables more "customized" CT examinations
Towards an intuitive industrial teaching interface for collaborative robots: gamepad teleoperation vs. kinesthetic teaching
No full textIn modern industrial automation, collaborative robots are crucial for automating complex tasks, enabling effective and flexible robotic cells while ensuring safe human interaction. However, the increasing number of robots presents challenges, particularly in providing fast and effective programming tools. Traditional methods, like teach pendants, are inadequate as they require specialized operators to use non-intuitive interfaces not always available in modern collaborative robots. Thus, intuitive and rapid programming methods are needed for personnel with limited robotics knowledge. This work proposes using a gamepad input device from the video game industry for teleoperated programming of collaborative robots. The gamepad offers several advantages, including ergonomics, intuitiveness, the availability of many analog and digital commands, and familiarity for many users. We compare this approach with kinesthetic teaching, a widely used intuitive method for programming collaborative robots. Our experimental evaluation, based on a user study of 20 participants with varying physical characteristics and habits, aims to identify the most user-friendly and intuitive method for programming assembly tasks, including interaction with the environment. Results show that the gamepad-based approach yields higher quality demonstrations than the kinesthetic method, with shorter trajectories, fewer waypoints, and reduced interaction forces. Although it requires longer programming times, the proposed approach minimizes the influence of subjects’ physical characteristics, making it a more inclusive and efficient programming solution
Influence of warming, redox dynamics and the application of exogenous organic matter on iron plaque mineralogy
No full textPaddy soils are critical agroecosystems with significant roles in global carbon (C) cycling and food security. However, warming and altered water management pose challenges to their productivity and soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization. This study investigates how a moderate warming (+2°C), flooding regime variations, and exogenous organic matter (digestate) amendment affect iron (Fe) plaque formation and mineralogy on rice (Oryza sativa L.) roots, key drivers in SOC stabilization.
Root Fe plaques form under anaerobic conditions as oxygen leaks from roots, oxidizing soluble Fe(II) to precipitate Fe (oxyhydr)oxides. These plaques exert a “double-edged sword” effect on SOC: they can stabilize organic C by forming Fe-SOC complexes but also mediate soil organic matter (SOM) mineralization through Fe redox cycling. Understanding how climate warming and soil amendments
affect Fe plaque formation and function is essential to predict the fate of SOC and associated greenhouse gas emissions in paddy environments.
The experimental setup employed open-top chambers (OTCs) to simulate a +2°C increase in temperature, with rice plants grown under two flooding regimes, normal flooding (NF) and reduced flooding (RF), and with or without digestate amendment (DS). Root samples were analyzed for Fe content, and grain yields were recorded at maturity. Root Fe concentrations varied widely across treatments (7.5 to 24 mg Fe/g dry weight), evidencing strong environmental and management controls on plaque formation.
Key results show that warming caused a significant increase in root Fe plaque formation under unamended and normal flooding conditions, with root Fe content rising from 7.46 to 19.94 mg/g, confirming the hypothesis that elevated temperatures amplify plaque formation. Conversely, under digestate-amended conditions, warming had a muted effect on root Fe content, indicating that organic amendments mitigate warming-induced Fe plaque formation. Reduced flooding generally increased root Fe content under ambient temperature but interacted complexly with warming and amendments. Taken together, these outcomes support the central hypotheses posed: (i) warming intensifies root Fe plaque formation, potentially accelerating SOC mineralization, (ii) digestate amendments buffer this effect, stabilizing Fe plaque levels, and (iii) flooding regime modulates plaque dynamics and crop performance in nuanced ways
L'omissione di pronuncia nel processo civile
No full textIndagare il tema dell’omissione di pronuncia in cui sia incorso il giudice civile all’esito del processo di cognizione rappresenta un’operazione affatto immediata, come già può evincersi dall’assenza, nel codice di rito, di una norma ad essa specificamente dedicata: l’omessa pronuncia, infatti, viene tradizionalmente ricostruita quale vicenda patologica inficiante la corretta attuazione del principio di corrispondenza tra chiesto e pronunciato di cui all’art. 112 c.p.c. La straordinaria mole di opere sviluppatasi attorno a tale norma, tuttavia, si è per lo più concentrata sugli altri principi ivi considerati, privando il tema in esame – salve alcune eccezioni – di trattazioni sistematiche, nonostante l’indubbia rilevanza, teorica e pratica, dallo stesso rivestita. Il volume si propone di offrire una ricostruzione organica di tale esito patologico del giudizio, estendendo l’indagine anche alle fasi impugnatorie del processo di cognizione
L’architettura stratigrafica di Libero Cecchini e il restauro della Torre e del Palazzo abbaziale
No full textIl capitolo analizza l'intervento di restauro e ampliamento della Torre e del Palazzo abbaziale del complesso di San Zeno a Verona da parte del restauratore e progettista Libero Cecchini, nell'ambito di una più ampia valutazione della sua produzione e del suo metodo progettuale, sullo sfondo del dibattito museografico in Italia nel secondo dopoguerra
Vorwort
No full textL'introduzione presente lo stato della ricerca sulla letteratura austriaca prima del 1938, gli obiettivi perseguiti dal volume e riassume i contenuti dei saggi contenuti nella miscellanea.
dei sagg
DALLA S3 ALLE NUOVE POLICY COMUNITARIE: VISION E SINERGIE
No full textUna rappresentazione delle opportunità per la Regione del Veneto nell’ambito delle iniziative previste dai recenti aggiornamenti delle policies comunitarie (New European Innovation Agenda, obiettivi STEP...
Upper Comonotonicity and Risk Aggregation Under Dependence Uncertainty
No full textIn this paper, we study dependence uncertainty and the resulting effects on tail risk measures, which play a fundamental rolein modern risk management. We introduce the notion of a regular dependence measure, defined on multimarginal couplings,as a generalization of well-known correlation statistics such as the Pearson correlation. The first main result states that evenan arbitrarily small positive dependence between losses can result in perfectly correlated tails beyond a certain threshold andseemingly complete independence before this threshold. In a second step, we focus on the aggregation of individual risks withknown marginal distributions by means of arbitrary nondecreasing left-continuous aggregation functions. In this context, we show that under an arbitrarily small positive dependence, the tail risk of the aggregate loss might coincide with the one of perfectly correlated losses. A similar result is derived for expectiles under mild conditions. In a last step, we discuss our results in the context of credit risk, analyzing the potential effects on the value at risk for weighted sums of Bernoulli distributed losses
Impact of disparity between imaging and pathological tumor size on cancer-specific prognosis among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
No full textBackground: The association between preoperative imaging and postoperative pathological tumor size disparity, and cancer-specific survival (CSS) among patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. We sought to evaluate this association and identify predictors of size disparity. Method: Patients undergoing curative-intent hepatectomy for HCC (2000-2023) were identified from an international, multi-institutional database. Size ratio was defined as the ratio of pathological to imaging tumor size. Patients with a size ratio of 0.5-1.5 were classified as "without size disparity," while patients outside this range were considered "with size disparity." Multivariable Cox regression was used to identify predictors of CSS, while logistic regression was utilized to determine factors associated with size disparity. For variables identified as significant in multivariable analyses, further evaluation including cutoff determination, were performed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: Among 833 patients, median size ratio was 1.02, with a strong correlation between imaging and pathological tumor sizes (r=0.87). Size disparity was present in 106 patients (12.7%); in general, patients had smaller median imaging sizes (2.85vs4.80 cm ;p<0.001) while size on pathology was noted to be larger(both 4.50cm;p=0.370). Patients with size disparity had worse 5-year CSS (60.1%vs79.0%; p<0.001). Multivariable Cox regression identified higher ALBI score (HR:2.56 [1.50-4.37]; p<0.001), larger pathological tumor size (HR:1.09 [1.03-1.15]; p=0.001), and size disparity (HR:2.53 [1.37-4.66]; p=0.002) as independent predictors of CSS. Logistic regression demonstrated cirrhosis (OR: 2.68 [1.43-5.02]; p=0.002) and log alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (OR:1.11 [1.01-1.22]; p=0.030) to be associated with an increased likelihood of size disparity. Cirrhosis and log AFP could be used to stratify patients relative to probability of a size disparity (low-risk:9.9%, medium-risk:12.2%, high-risk:17.7%). The optimal AFP cutoff value was 3,928 ng/mL for non-cirrhotic (AUC:0.90) versus 28.9 ng/mL for cirrhotic (AUC:0.74) patients. Conclusion: Tumor size disparity was associated with worse CSS among patients with HCC undergoing hepatectomy. Size disparity could be predicted preoperatively using cirrhosis status and AFP level, which may help identify high-risk patients who may benefit from more detailed imaging assessments
Multidimensional Approaches to Lexical Innovation: Insights from the ENEOLI Network
No full textThe paper describes ENEOLI’s innovative methodological framework,
which integrates traditional lexicographic practices with corpus linguistics, computational tools, and multilingual analyse