178,268 research outputs found
High-Level Petri Nets as Type Theories in the Join Calculus
No full textWe study the expressiveness of the join calculus by comparison with (generalised, coloured) Petri nets and using tools from type theory. More precisely, we consider four classes of nets of increasing expressiveness, , introduce a hierarchy of type systems of decreasing strictness, , , and we prove that a join process is typeable according to if and only if it is (strictly equivalent to) a net of class . In the details, and contain, resp., usual place/transition and coloured Petri nets, while and propose two natural notions of high-level net accounting for dynamic reconfiguration and process creation and called reconfigurable and dynamic Petri nets, respectively
The Carnivorous Mission of the Celebrity Chef
No full textTh is chapter focuses on how celebrity chefs support meat consumption.
Every day in Europe and in the USA, on myriads of food shows, celebrity
chefs, TV presenters, journalists, and amateurs cook, recommend, and
eat meat. On the face of it, this seems benign in a “carnist” culture, 1 as
people are free to decide what to cook and eat in front of the camera.
However, what television hides in these frequent representations is that
for the last 20 years the scientifi c community has been considering meat
as a problem for both the external environment and the human body.
I will return to this division between the external environment and the
body at the end of this chapter. What is important to note here is that disease,
pathogens, medical costs, pollution, and animal suff ering are among
the issues linked to meat consumption
Very Prolonged Treatment with Albendazole of a Case of Disseminated Abdominal Cystic Echinococcosis
No full textCystic echinococcosis is a zoonosis caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated by Echinococcus eggs. E. granulosus is the most common causative agent of cystic echinococcosis that still has a relevant incidence in Italy, especially on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. We report the case of a 64-year-old man with disseminated abdominal cystic echinococcosis (liver, spleen, peritoneum). The patient was asymptomatic and non-eligible for surgical treatment. Treatment with albendazole 400 mg/twice daily was started in 2012 for 15 cycles (each cycle consisted of three 28-day treatments at 14-day intervals) over 10 years for a total of 1260 days of treatment. Serum anti-Echinococcus antibody titers and imaging (echography, TC) were evaluated to monitor the evolution of the disease. Imaging techniques documented the regression of all cyst lesions, but it was less evident for the peritoneal localizations that still are in follow-up. In this case, the prolonged treatment with albendazole was effective, safe and free of side effects. Until today, the patient displays a good clinical condition
Bioelectrical characteristics of type 1 and type 2 diabetic subjects with reference to body water compartments
No full textSince bioelectrical characteristics correspond well to body water compartments, this study investigated bioelectrical differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetic subjects that could reflect differences in body water compartments. We investigated cross-sectionally 612 adult subjects, classified into 10 groups according to sex and disease (control, obese normal glucose tolerant, non-obese type 2 diabetes, obese type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes). Resistance (R), reactance (Xc) and phase angle (PA) were measured (800 μA - 50 kHz alternating current). The bioelectrical vector was obtained by plotting R and Xc normalized for height (ht), it is easily identified on the basis of the length (inversely related to the total body water, likewise R) and direction, given by the PA (inversely related to the extra-/intra-cellular water - ECW/ICW -). Results show that disease and sex had a significant (ANOVA: P < 0.0001 for both F disease and F sex) and independent effect on both R/ht and Xc/ht; no difference was found between type 2 and type 1 diabetic groups. A bioelectrical vector with a lower PA characterized both type 2 and type 1 diabetic groups. An independent positive correlation between fasting plasma glucose and R/ht and a negative correlation between fasting plasma glucose and PA were observed. These findings suggest a non-different body water content and distribution between type 2 and type 1 diabetic subjects; the bioelectrical vector indicates a higher ECW/ICW in type 2 and type 1 diabetic compared to nondiabetic subjects
Ionic Self Assembly in the Design of Fluorinated Ionic Liquid Crystals (ILCs)
No full textIonic liquid crystals are a class of compounds containing anions and cations, that combine the properties of liquid crystals and ionic liquids[1].
In the conventional design of ionic liquid crystalline compounds, an ionic core is connected with mesogenic groups via chemical covalent bonding . Alternatively, in ionic compounds, strong electrostatic interactions between cation and anion can be used to build up liquid crystalline order at supramolecular level. This general approach, called ionic self-assembly (ISA), allows one to create ionic phases and mesophases with highly organized supramolecular order [2].
In this context, a new series of fluorinated ionic liquids (ILs) and ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) was obtained starting from perfluoro-alkylated carboxylic acids and 1,2,4-oxadiazolyl-pyridine units (Figure 1). Their thermotropic properties were investigated by combined differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy.
Figure 1.
[1] K.V. Axenov and S. Laschat, Materials, 4, 2011, 206; F. Lo Celso, I. Pibiri, A. Triolo, R. Triolo, A. Pace, S. Buscemi and N. Vivona, J. Mater. Chem., 17, 2007, 1201; V. Causin and G. Saielli, J. Mater. Chem., 19, 2009, 9153.
[2] C.F.J. Faul and M. Antonietti, Adv. Mater., 15, 2003, 673
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
Influences of obesity and weight loss on thyroid hormones. A 3-3.5-year follow-up study on obese subjects with surgical bilio-pancreatic by-pass
No full textThe effects of changing body size, energy intake and substrate oxidation on serum T4, FT4, T3, FT3 and TSH were investigated in ten morbidly obese subjects (4 men/6 women; age: 37 ± 6 years; BMI: 53.8 ± 6.5 kg/m2; mean ± SD) who had undergone a surgical bilio-pancreatic by-pass in order to reduce their body weight. The starting value of serum FT3 was inversely related to the BMI (r = -0.63; p < 0.05). After 1-3 months, all the subjects were losing weight and their intake of carbohydrates was almost negligible; at this time a significant reduction of T3 (-14.6%, p < 0.0001), T4 (-19.5%, p < 0.0001), and FT3 (-10.5%, p < 0.001) was observed. Nine to 16 months after surgery, all the subjects were still losing weight, although there was no carbohydrate restriction; T3, T4, and FT3 were lower than prior to surgery but were beginning to increase. Finally, after 36-42 months the body weight of all the patients had been stable for at least the previous six months (final BMI: 32.9 ± 4.1) and their body composition, as assessed by bio-impedance, was almost normal; only the concentrations of FT3 proved to be significantly lower than the basal value (-11.2%; p < 0.03). The change in FT3 proved to be independently influenced by the degree of fat malabsorption but not by changes in any of the physical characteristics considered. All values were always in the normal range; FT4 and TSH did not change significantly during the whole period of study. The final concentrations of TSH proved to be independently related to the postabsorptive protein oxidation (g/24h) (TSH = 2.37-0.18·protein oxidation). These results would suggest that nutritional factors have some influence on the blood levels of thyroid hormones, especially of FT3, while the removal of obesity does not seem to have any independent effect in the long-run
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