1,721,562 research outputs found
Simulations and test beam studies of the iMPACT calorimeter
Full text linkThis contribution describes the first results obtained within the iMPACT project, which aims to build a novel proton computed tomography (pCT) scanner for protons of energy up to 230 MeV, as used in hadron therapy. We will
first describe the design of the iMPACT scanner, which is composed by a tracker and a range calorimeter. Results of test-beams, focused on the characterization of the building elements of the prototype of the calorimeter, will be presented and compared with simulations
Radiopacity and fatigue characterization of a novel acrylic bone cement with sodium fluoride
No full textAcrylic bone cement must provide good radiographic visibility and good long-term mechanical resistance in joint replacements. A new formulation of cement with 6% barium sulfate and 6% sodium fluoride was developed (Fluoride Bone Cement). Barium sulfate is a necessary addition to allow radiographic visibility although it reduces the mechanical strength of the material. Sodium fluoride promotes bone formation. However, its effect on the mechanical behavior is currently unknown while its influence on radiopacity can only be roughly estimated. The aim of this investigation was to establish if the new formulation would be suitable for clinical trials. In this respect, a mechanical (fatigue test) and radiographic (optical density measurements on x-ray films) characterization was performed on a typical commercially available cement with barium sulfate added and on the Fluoride Bone Cement. It was demonstrated that the fluoride cement has a (marginally) superior fatigue strength and comparable radiopacity to commercial radiopaque cements
Volume to density relation in adult human bone tissue.
No full textUniformity of tissue mineralisation is a strongly debated issue, due to its relation with bone mechanical behaviour. Bone mineral density (BMD) is measured in the clinical practice and is applied in computational application to derive material proprieties of bone tissue. However, BMD cannot identify if the variation in bone density is related to a modification of tissue mineral density (TMD), a change in bone volume or a combination of the two. This study was aimed to investigate whether TMD can be assumed as a constant in adult human bone (trabecular and cortical).
A total number of 115 cylindrical bone specimens were collected. An inter-site analysis (96 specimens, 2 donors) was performed on cortical and trabecular specimens extracted from different anatomical sites. An intra-site study (19 specimens, 19 donors) was performed on specimens extracted from femoral heads. Bone volume fraction (BV/TV) was computed by means of a micro-computed tomography. Furthermore, ash density (ρash) was measured. TMD was computed as the ratio between ρash and BV/TV.
It was found that the TMD of trabecular (1.24±0.16g/cm3) and cortical (1.19±0.06g/cm3) bone were not statistically different (p=0.31). Furthermore, the linear regression between ρash and BV/TV was statistically significant (r2=0.99, p<0.001). Intra- and inter-site analyses demonstrated that the mineral distribution was independent of the extraction site.
The present study suggests that TMD can be assumed reasonably constant in non-pathological adult bone tissue. Consequently, it is suggested that TMD can be managed as a constant in computational models, varying only BV in relation to clinical densitometric analysis
Anisotropy and inhomogeneity of the trabecular structure can describe the mechanical strength of osteoarthritic cancellous bone
No full textOsteoarthritic cancellous bone was studied to investigate the development of this pathology, and the functional changes it induces in the bone. In order to predict how the morphological alterations of the tissue induced by the pathology can change the mechanical properties of the structure, two different strategies have been used in the literature: (1) emphasising the influence of structural anisotropy; (2) stressing the highly inhomogeneous characteristics of cancellous bone. The aim of the present study was to verify the theory that mechanical strength of osteoarthritic cancellous bone depends both on tissue anisotropy and inhomogeneity. Twenty-five specimens were extracted from osteoarthritic femoral heads, along selected directions, and analysed by means of a microtomograph. The same specimens were mechanically tested in compression to determine the mechanical strength. The most representative structural parameters, confirmed by a stepwise analysis, were used to define four models to describe the measured mechanical strength. The models were applied neglecting (global analysis) or considering (local analysis) tissue inhomogeneities to verify whether the correlation with ultimate stress could be improved. The coefficient of determination increased from 0.53, considering only bone volume fraction, up to 0.88, combining it with off-axis angle and normalised eigenvalue. A further improvement was found performing a local analysis (R(2)=0.90), which corresponded to a decrease of 17% in the residual error. The proposed approach of considering both tissue anisotropy and inhomogeneity improved the accuracy in predicting the mechanical behaviour of cancellous bone tissue and should be suitable for more general loading conditions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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