31 research outputs found
Extended performance analysis of deep-learning algorithms for mice vocalization segmentation
No full textTracheobronchial obstruction: Follow-up study of 100 children treated with airway stenting
No full textOBJECTIVE: We described a cohort of 100 children with a wide variety of airway obstruction who underwent stent positioning in the last 7 years. The study examined the outcomes of this treatment in the largest series of paediatric patients reported in the literature with special concern over safety and clinical effectiveness. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 100 consecutive paediatric patients who underwent stent insertions between January 2005 and May 2012. Statistical analysis was performed and exact likelihood was used. RESULTS: A total of 235 stents were placed for severe airway obstruction. One hundred and twelve silicone stents (cylinder, hourglass or Y-shaped), 120 metallic stents (covered Nitinol stents, expandable coronary and vascular stents) and 3 biodegradable polydioxanone (PDS) stents were used. Eighty patients presented clinical improvement after stent insertion, 17 were weaned off mechanical ventilation and 3 showed no significant clinical improvement [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.1-8.0%]. Complications were different according to stent type. In our cohort, no fatal stent-related complications have been observed. At follow-up (median 41.4 months, range 1.1-145.4) complete resolution was registered for 60 patients (66%; 95% CI 55-76%), 17 are still under treatment, 9 were lost to follow-up, 8 underwent surgery and 6 died of causes not stent related. CONCLUSION: Airway stenting represents a conservative treatment before more invasive surgical procedures and can be very effective when performed in selected children and in specialized centres by physicians experienced in rigid and flexible bronchoscopy. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved
Saudi Arabia energy transition by recovering evolving structural projects
No full textLAUREA MAGISTRALELa trasformazione economica in corso in Arabia Saudita, guidata dall’ambiziosa Vision 2030, mira a ridurre la dipendenza del Regno dagli idrocarburi promuovendo diversificazione e sostenibilità a lungo termine. L’Arabia Saudita è uno dei maggiori produttori di petrolio al mondo e la sua generazione elettrica si basa ancora in larga parte sulla combustione di greggio. Tuttavia, questo uso interno comporta notevoli costi-opportunità, poiché il petrolio potrebbe essere più proficuamente reindirizzato verso applicazioni downstream a maggior valore aggiunto, come la produzione petrolchimica.
Questa tesi offre un’analisi critica e multilivello della transizione energetica saudita. Inizia con un esame approfondito della struttura economica del Paese, del suo assetto istituzionale e della direzione strategica intrapresa. Segue una panoramica tecnica ed economica del settore energetico nazionale, che mette in luce inefficienze nella generazione e nella trasmissione di elettricità, oltre alla limitata diffusione delle fonti rinnovabili, nonostante il loro rilevante potenziale. In particolare, l’energia solare ed eolica emergono come risorse ancora largamente sottoutilizzate, pur in presenza di politiche di supporto e abbondanti risorse naturali.
Nella parte finale, la tesi propone una reinterpretazione radicale del megaprogetto The Line nell’area di NEOM, non più come città lineare intelligente, ma come polo energetico decentralizzato. Il progetto ripensato prevede l’installazione di un parco fotovoltaico e di un sistema di pompaggio idroelettrico, sfruttando la topografia del sito per creare un’infrastruttura su larga scala di generazione e accumulo da fonti rinnovabili.
Combinando analisi strategica e visione progettuale trasformativa, lo studio intende contribuire alla transizione energetica saudita e offrire un modello replicabile per ripensare i megaprogetti secondo una logica sostenibile e funzionale.Saudi Arabia’s ongoing economic transformation, driven by the ambitious Vision 2030 agenda, aims to reduce the Kingdom’s reliance on hydrocarbons by fostering diversification and long-term sustainability. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producers, and its electricity generation remains heavily based on oil combustion. However, this domestic usage entails considerable opportunity costs, as crude could be more profitably redirected toward higher-value downstream applications such as petrochemical production.
This thesis provides a critical, multi-level analysis of Saudi Arabia’s energy transition. It begins with a comprehensive examination of the country’s economic structure, institutional setting, and strategic direction. A technical and economic overview of the national energy sector follows, highlighting inefficiencies in electricity generation and transmission, as well as the limited penetration of renewable sources despite their substantial potential. Solar and wind power, in particular, emerge as underexploited assets, despite supportive policy frameworks and abundant natural resources.
In its final part, the thesis proposes a reinterpretation of The Line megaproject within the NEOM region, not as a linear smart city, but as a decentralized energy hub. The reimagined design includes the integration of a photovoltaic solar park and a pumped hydroelectric storage system, exploiting the site’s unique topography to create a large-scale renewable energy generation and storage facility.
By bridging strategic analysis with a transformative design vision, the study aims to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s energy transition and offer a replicable model for rethinking megaprojects through a sustainable and functional lens
Diagnostics of myasthenic syndromes: detection of anti-AChR and anti-MuSK antibodies
No full textThis paper presents the Italian guidelines for autoantibody testing in myasthenia gravis that have been developed following a consensus process built on questionnaire-based surveys, internet contacts and discussions during dedicated workshops of the sponsoring Italian Association of Neuroimmunology (AINI). Essential clinical information on myasthenic syndromes, indications and limits of antibody testing, instructions for result interpretation and an agreed laboratory protocol (Appendix) are reported for the communicative community of neurologists and clinical pathologists
Automatic classification of mice vocalizations using Machine Learning techniques and Convolutional Neural Networks.
No full textUltrasonic vocalizations (USVs) analysis is a well-recognized tool to investigate animal communication. It can be used for behavioral phenotyping of murine models of different disorders. The USVs are usually recorded with a microphone sensitive to ultrasound frequencies and they are analyzed by specific software. Different calls typologies exist, and each ultrasonic call can be manually classified, but the qualitative analysis is highly time-consuming. Considering this framework, in this work we proposed and evaluated a set of supervised learning methods for automatic USVs classification. This could represent a sustainable procedure to deeply analyze the ultrasonic communication, other than a standardized analysis. We used manually built datasets obtained by segmenting the USVs audio tracks analyzed with the Avisoft software, and then by labelling each of them into 10 representative classes. For the automatic classification task, we designed a Convolutional Neural Network that was trained receiving as input the spectrogram images associated to the segmented audio files. In addition, we also tested some other supervised learning algorithms, such as Support Vector Machine, Random Forest and Multilayer Perceptrons, exploiting informative numerical features extracted from the spectrograms. The performance showed how considering the whole time/frequency information of the spectrogram leads to significantly higher performance than considering a subset of numerical features. In the authors' opinion, the experimental results may represent a valuable benchmark for future work in this research field
Prevalence and impact of COVID-19 sequelae on treatment pathways and survival of patients with cancer who recovered from SARS-Cov-2 infection: results from the OnCovid registry.
No full textretrospective, registry study David J Pinato, Josep Tabernero, Mark Bower, Lorenza Scotti, Meera Patel, Emeline Colomba, Saoirse Dolly, Angela Loizidou, John Chester, Uma Mukherjee, Alberto Zambelli, Alessia Dalla Pria, Juan Aguilar-Company, Diego Ottaviani, Amani Chowdhury, Eve Merry, Ramon Salazar, Alexia Bertuzzi, Joan Brunet, Matteo Lambertini, Marco Tagliamento, Anna Pous, Ailsa Sita-Lumsden, Krishnie Srikandarajah, Johann Colomba, Fanny Pommeret, Elia Segui, Daniele Generali, Salvatore Grisanti, Paolo Pedrazzoli, Gianpiero Rizzo, Michela Libertini, Charlotte Moss, Joanne S Evans, Beth Russell, Nadia Harbeck, Bruno Vincenzi, Federica Biello, Rossella Bertulli, Raquel Lilian, Sabrina Rossi, Maria Carmen Carmona-Garcia, Carlo Tondini, Laura Fox, Alice Baggi, Vittoria Fotia, Alessandro Parisi, Giampero Porzio, Maristella Saponara, Claudia Andrea Cruz, David Garcia-Illescas, Eudald Felip, Ariadna Roque Lloveras, Rachel Sharkey, Elisa Roldan, Roxana Reyes, Irina Earnshaw, Daniela Ferrante, Javier Marco-Hernandez, Isabel Ruiz-Camps, Gianluca Gaidano, Andrea Patriarca, Riccardo Bruna, Anna Sureda, Clara Martinez-Vila, Ana Sanchez de Torre, Luca Cantini, Marco Filetti, Lorenza Rimassa, Lorenzo Chiudinelli, Michela Franchi, Marco Krengli, Armando Santoro, Aleix Prat, Mieke Van Hemelrijck, Nikolaos Diamantis, Thomas Newsom-Davis, Alessandra Gennari, Alessio Cortellini, on behalf of the OnCovid study group
Enhanced self-assembly of the 7–12 sequence of amyloid-β peptide by tyrosine bromination
No full textAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a serious neuropathology related to the misfolded assembly state of amyloid-beta (Aβ40 and Aβ42) peptides. It has been demonstrated that protein post-translation modifications (PPTMs) of the more hydrophilic N-term moiety of the Aβ peptide affect its aggregation kinetics and interaction with the environment. Considering that chlorination and bromination are non-canonical PPTMs found in various metabolic pathways and often correlated to inflammatory responses, halogenation of the Y10 of the Aβ N-term could be a putative in vivo modification with implications in the Aβ peptide aggregation propensity. In this framework, we chose as a model system, a short peptide sequence, DSGYEV (i.e. residues 7–12 of the Aβ N-term) and studied its self-assembly behaviour in comparison to its chlorinated and brominated derivatives. Our results show that Y10 halogenation works as a molecular trigger of the peptide self-assembly in solution, promoting the formation of more structured aggregates
Corrigendum: “Real world data of cemiplimab in locally advanced and metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma” (European Journal of Cancer (2021) 157 (250–258), (S0959804921005360), (10.1016/j.ejca.2021.08.018))
No full textThe authors regret that some Author information was incorrectly given in the published article. Author Manuel Zamparini was missed in the Author list, and the listed affiliation for Paola Queirolo was incorrect. The full and correct details for the Authors are: Paola Queirolo Division of Melanoma, Sarcomas and Rare Tumors, IEO, European Institute of Oncology, IRCCS, Milan, Italy Manuel Zamparini University of Brescia, Department of Medical-Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, Medical Oncology, ASST-Spedali Civili, Brescia, Lombardia, ItalyThe Authors also note that values in the first column of Table 4 were mistakenly reversed for ‘Antibiotic intake (within 1 month before therapy)’ and ‘Haemoglobin’. The correct table in full is given here
O PROCESSO DE INTELIGÊNCIA COMPETITIVA EM UMA FACULDADE ISOLADA: UM ESTUDO DAS PRINCIPAIS CONTRIBUIÇÕES
No full textO artigo em tela prevê um estudo das principais convergências entre a inteligência competitiva e a avaliação institucional da educação superior. As contribuições teóricas versam sobre as perspectivas para a educação superior e a inteligência competitiva, orientando a compreensão da temática aplicada a um contexto específico. Foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa acadêmica, exploratória, descritiva, considerando as bases do estudo de caso e a utilização do método Delphi na coleta de informações. Os resultados permitem concluir que a inteligência competitiva como processo guarda relações intrínsecas com o SINAES e permite a consolidação de ações estratégicas orientada ao desenvolvimento da instituição
PENGARUH AGENCY COST TERHADAP KEBIJAKAN DEVIDEN PADA PERUSAHAAN YANG TERDAFTAR DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA TAHUN 2008-2010 EFFECT OF AGENCY COST ON DEVIDEND POLICY AGAINST COMPANIES REGISTERED IN INDONESIA STOCK EXCHANGE YEARS 2008-2010
No full textProses pembiayaan adalah sebuah kegiatan dalam siklus bisnis perusahaan.
Pembiayaan baggi perusahaan terbagi atas dua yaitu pembiayaan ekstern dan
internal perusahaan. Pembiayaan eksernal dapat berupa pinjaman modal dari
instansi lain dan penjualan saham melalui bursa efek atau pasar modal. Dari
proses pembiayaan eksternal timbulah kebijakan deviden perusahaan yang
dipengaruhi adanya konflik keagenan, dikarenakan adanya konflik kepentingan
antara pemegang saham dan pihak pengelola perusahaan dari permasalahan inilah
penulis mengambil judul pengaruh agensy cost terhadapa kebijakan deviden pada
perusahaan yang terdaftar di BEI tahuin 2008-2010.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh dan hubungan antara
free cash flow, collaterizable assets, dan tingkat pertumbuhan yang diproxikan
sebagai variabel agency cost pada perusahaan yang terdaftar di BEI tahun 2008-
2010. Metode analisis yang dipakai yaitu metode analisis regresi linier berganda.
Populasi yang digunakan adalah 15 perusahaan yang memenuhi kriteria
penelitian. Hasil pengujian hipotesis bahwa secara simultan ketiga variabel
independen mempunyai hubungan yang positif dan berpengaruh signifikan dalam
kebijakan deviden dengan nilai Adjust R Square yang didapat sebesar 59,5. Secara
partial Collaterizabel Asset , Free Cash Flow dan Tingkat Pertumbuhan
mempunyai hubungan positif dan berpengaruh signifikan dalam kebujakan
deviden.
Financing process is an activity in the company's business cycle. The financing is
divided into two, namely the company's external and internal financing company.
Eksernal financing can be a capital loan from other agencies and the sale of
shares through a stock exchange or stock market. Of the external financing of
corporate dividend policy timbulah influenced the agency conflict, due to a
conflict of interest between shareholders and the manager of the company's
problems is the author took the title of the influence of agency cost terhadapa
dividend policy on company listed on the Stock Exchange tahuin 2008-2010.
This study aims to determine the effect and the relationship between free cash
flow, collaterizable assets, and growth rate as a variable diproxikan agency cost
on companies listed on the Stock Exchange in 2008-2010. The method of analysis
used the method of multiple linear regression analysis. Population used is the 15
companies that met the study criteria. The results of testing the hypothesis that
simultaneous three independent variables have a positive and significant effect in
dividend policy to the value obtained Adjust R Square of 59.5. Partial
Collaterizabel Assets, Free Cash Flow and Growth Rate has a positive and
significant effect in dividends policy
