66 research outputs found
La Gramatica de la Lengua Vulgar de España (Lovaina, 1559) ¿anónima?
No full textPara demostrar la autoría de la Gramatica de la Lengua Vulgar de España nos basamos en los siguientes puntos: el uso en El Concejo i Consejeros del Príncipe (Amberes, 1559) de Furio Ceriol de las normas ortográficas propuestas en la Gramatica; la denominación de la lengua castellana o española como lengua 'vulgar' de España, en la misma obra de Ceriol; las ideas lingüísticas contenidas en la Gramatica y en Bononia de Ceriol; la organización retórica de la Gramatica; y, en último lugar, la comparación entre el poema dedicatorio en la Gramatica y los de las obras de Furio Ceriol
Principles of QSAR Modeling
No full textAt the end of her academic career, the author summarizes the main aspects of QSAR modeling, giving comments and suggestions according to her 23 years’ experience in QSAR research on environmental topics. The focus is mainly on Multiple Linear Regression, particularly Ordinary Least Squares, using a Genetic Algorithm for variable selection from various theoretical molecular descriptors, but
the comments can be useful also for other QSAR methods. The need for rigorous validation, also external, and for applicability domain check to guarantee predictivity and reliability of QSAR models is particularly highlighted. The commented approach is the “predictive” one, based on chemometrics, and is usefully applied to the prioritization of environmental pollutants. All the discussed points and
the author’s ideas are implemented in the software QSARINS, as a legacy to the QSAR community
WHIM descriptors of shape
No full textWHIM descriptors are 3D structural descriptors obtained from the (x,y,z)-atomic coordinates of a molecular conformation of a chemical, and are used successfully in QSAR modelling. They are built in so as to capture relevant 3D information regarding different features of molecular structure: size, shape, symmetry and atom distribution.
Different weights are used to obtain particular information for each set of descriptors.
Recently, some doubts have been raised in the literature regarding the ability of Weighted
Holistic Invariant Molecular (WHIM) descriptors of shape (the K non-directional WHIM descriptors) to describe the difference between linear and non-linear molecules. A data set of seventy aliphatic and aromatic chemicals of different shape (linear and branched
congeners) has been studied here, and is represented by K descriptors (global nondirectional WHIM descriptors of shape) based on different weights. The K descriptors range from 0 for a spherical molecule to 1 for a perfectly linear molecule. The present
study confirms the findings, already reported by the author, that the WHIM descriptors of shape (K) are unequivocally able to differentiate linear and non-linear molecules
Cost analysis of technological vs. conventional upper limb rehabilitation for patients with neurological disorders: an Italian real-world data case study
No full textIntroduction: Most patients suffering from neurological disorders endure varying degrees of upper limb dysfunction, limiting their everyday activities, with only a limited number regaining full arm use. Robotic and technological rehabilitation has been demonstrated to be a feasible solution to guarantee an effective rehabilitation to recover upper limb performance or to prevent complications of upper limb immobility. However, there is currently a lack of studies which analyze the sustainability of robotic and technological rehabilitation by comparing its costs to conventional rehabilitation pathways.
Methods: Since technology-based and conventional rehabilitation of the upper limb have been demonstrated to have comparable efficacy when the rehabilitation dose is matched, our study concentrates on a cost minimization analysis. The aim of the study is to compare the costs of a “mixed” rehabilitation cycle, which combines conventional and technology-based treatments (the latter delivered with a single therapist supervising several patients), with a cycle of purely conventional treatments. This has been done by developing a cost model and retrospectively analyzing the costs sustained by an Italian hospital which has adopted such a mixed model. A sensitivity analysis has been done to identify the parameters of the model that have the greatest influence on cost difference and to evaluate their optimal values in terms of efficiency of mixed rehabilitation. Finally, probabilistic simulations have been applied to consider the variability of model parameters around such optimized values and evaluate the probability of achieving a given level of savings.
Results: We found a cost difference of 49.60 € per cycle in favor of mixed rehabilitation. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated that, in the situation of the hospital under investigation, the parameter having the largest influence on the cost difference is the number of robotic treatments in a mixed rehab cycle. Probabilistic simulations indicate a probability higher than 98% of an optimized mixed rehabilitation cycle being less expensive than a pure conventional one.
Conclusion: Through a retrospective cost analysis, we found that the technology-based mixed rehabilitation approach, within a specific organizational model allowing a single physiotherapist to supervise up to four patients concurrently, allowed cost savings compared to the conventional rehabilitation model
Review. Ştefan Găitănaru, Gramatica critică a limbii române, Editura Universităţii din Piteşti, Piteşti, 2018, 468 p.
No full textŞTEFAN GĂITĂNARU, Gramatica critică a limbii române, Pitești, 2018.
This is a review of a work which aims at critically analysing the grammatical codification of the Romanian language in the latest academic treatises (GALR, 2000/2006; GBLR. 2005/2010). Ștefan Găitănaru, the author of the Gramatica critică a limbii române, române (‘The Critical Grammar of the Romanian Language’), published by the University of Pitești, examines the arguments for various innovations in the interpretation of language facts, proposing counterarguments and providing his own interpretations related to them
Value-based health care in a post-acute scenario. Development of a model to support the health care provider in decision making
No full textLAUREA MAGISTRALEDa un aumento dell’aspettativa di vita e quindi delle patologie croniche, dal progresso tecnologico insieme a budget limitati e da una crescente pressione di tutti gli stakeholder, emerge il bisogno di nuove strategie rivolte al settore sanitario. La strategia VBHC (Value-Based Health Care) si candida ad essere una possibile soluzione, concentrandosi sul contenimento dei costi ed il miglioramento della salute dei pazienti. Lo scopo della tesi è quello di trasferire il focus della VBHC nella realtà clinica, per cui la Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi con sede a Milano offre un solido contesto. Si presenta un modello rivolto a supportare l’health care provider nella pianificazione dei propri servizi, avvalendosi della simulazione di differenti scenari per trovare la miglior soluzione rispetto agli obiettivi prefissati. I risultati mostrano come valutare diversi aspetti di una soluzione, rivolgendosi agli interessi degli stakeholder oltre che alla massimizzazione degli outcomes dei pazienti ed il contenimento dei costi. Si fornisce dunque all’health care provider uno strumento che rende possibile lo studio di situazioni legate a una particolare soluzione. L’output finale del modello presentato consiste nella probabilità congiunta che un set di obiettivi sia raggiunto.With the increase of life expectancy and therefore chronic diseases, with the technological improvement together with limited budgets and with increasing pressure by all stakeholders, it emerges the need for new strategies addressing the health care sector. The VBHC (Value-Based Health Care) strategy runs for being a suitable solution, focusing the effort on containing costs and improving patient health outcomes. The scope of the thesis is to translate the focus of VBHC in clinical practice, where the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation based in Milan offers a solid framework for the purpose. A model aimed at supporting the health care provider in planning health care delivery is presented, while simulating different scenarios seeking for the best solution for preset objectives. The model is then applied to the robot-assisted rehabilitation therapy, which is assumed as case study. Results show how to evaluate different aspects of a solution, targeting the interests of the stakeholders in addition to the patient health outcomes maximization and the costs containment. The health care provider is therefore provided with a tool which enables the investigation of situations related to a particular health care delivery solution. The final output of the presented model is the joint probability that a set of objectives is met
Smart transdermal microdevices for biomedical applications
No full textLa pelle è uno degli organi più estesi del corpo umano: grazie alle proprie dimensioni, la cute svolge diverse funzioni, la più importante delle quali è quella di separare e proteggere il corpo umano dall’ambiente circostante e dai suoi fattori esogeni.
Il suo strato più superficiale, chiamato strato corneo, grazie alla propria struttura organizzata, agisce come una barriera chimica, fisica e meccanica, limitando il trasporto di alcune molecole farmacologiche attraverso la cute.
Nel passato, aghi e siringhe sono stati introdotti allo scopo di superare tale barriera, migliorando il rilascio transdermico di farmaci: l’elevata invasività di questi metodi - nonostante il loro corrente utilizzo nella pratica clinica - ha tuttavia indotto la ricerca di nuove soluzioni tecnologiche meno invasive.
I microaghi rappresentano uno strumento innovativo e promettente nell’ambito del rilascio controllato di farmaci. Essi consistono in matrici di aghi micrometrici che, applicati alla cute umana, sono in grado di penetrare e interrompere lo strato corneo, creando veri e propri canali di dimensioni microscopiche: i buchi formatisi sono ordini di grandezza più elevati delle dimensioni delle molecole, così i microaghi possono potenzialmente rilasciare qualsiasi tipo di farmaco, indipendentemente dalla sua natura chimico-fisica e dal peso molecolare nei tessuti sottostanti.
Per poter essere utilizzati nella pratica clinica i microaghi devono soddisfare alcuni requisiti tecnici come la penetrazione della cute, la robustezza e la biocompatibilità.
D’altra parte, per essere usati nell’ambito del rilascio controllato di farmaci, i microaghi devono soddisfare altre specifiche funzionali, come il raggiungimento di una profondità prefissata durante l’inserimento nella cute e l'infusione, a tale profondità, di farmaci a dosaggi terapeutici.
I microaghi infine possono anche essere utilizzati per migliorare la comunicazione tra l’"in" e l’ "out" del corpo umano, come nell'ambito del monitoraggio di biopotenziali. Per questi motivi, elettrodi a secco basati su microaghi sono stati considerati in questo lavoro come applicazione biomedica secondaria.
In questo studio, alcune specifiche tecniche e funzionali relative ai microaghi sono state affrontate: prove sperimentali ex vivo e in vivo sono state realizzate e risultati incoraggianti sono stati ottenuti sia nell’ambito del rilascio di farmaci che in quello del monitoraggio di biopotenziali.
Infine, alcuni aspetti regolatori, come la sicurezza, la percezione del dolore e alcuni metodi di applicazione dei microaghi sono stati analizzatiSkin is one of the most extended organ of the human body: due to its dimensions, skin satisfies several different functions, the most important of which is to separate and protect the human body from the surrounding world and its exogenous factors. Its upper most layer, called stratum corneum, thanks to its well organised structure, acts like a chemical, physical and mechanical barrier, limiting the transport of certain drug molecules across the skin.
In the past, syringes and needles have been introduced in order to overcome this barrier, improving the transdermal drug delivery: the high invasiveness of these methods - although their current use in the clinical practice - has induced the research of new technological and less invasive solutions .
Microneedles represent innovative and promising tools in the drug delivery field. They consist of arrays of micrometer sized needles, which, applied onto skin surface, are able to penetrate and disrupt the stratum corneum, creating real and direct pathways of micron dimensions: the generated holes are order of magnitudes larger than molecular dimensions, thus microneedles potentially allow the releasing of every type of drug, independently by chemo-physical nature and molecular weight in underling tissues.
In order to be used into the clinical practice, microneedles have to satisfy technical specifications such as skin penetration, solidity and biocompatibility.
On the other hand, to be used for drug delivery purposes, microneedles have to satisfy other functional specifications, such as to reach a fixed depth during their insertion into the skin and be successful, at that depth, in infusing drugs at therapeutic rates.
Microneedles can also be used to improve the communication from the "in" to the "out" of the body, such as in the monitoring of biopotentials context. For these reasons, microneedles-based dry electrodes have been considered in this work as secondary biomedical application.
In this study some technical and functional requirements for microneedles have been addressed: ex vivo and in vivo experimental tests have been performed and encouraging results have been obtained as in the drug delivery field as in the biopotentials monitoring context.
Finally, some regulatory aspects such as safety, pain perception and methods of applications for microneedles have been investigated.DIPARTIMENTO DI BIOINGEGNERIA24REDAELLI, ALBERTO CESARE LUIGISIGNORINI, MARIA GABRIELL
Ipt. Ippocrate Pitagora turing : un sistema a misura di medico per realizzare ausili ortopedici personalizzati
No full textLAUREA MAGISTRALEQuesta tesi è nata col chiaro intento di avvicinare in maniera sistematica il mondo della fabbricazione digitale, recente e in sviluppo esplosivo, al mondo bio-medicale, secolare, consolidato e con una evoluzione più controllata.
Dopo aver indagato e lavorato in questi due ambienti ho potuto constatare che, negli ultimi dieci anni, nel sistema medicale, si è assistito a un progressivo e costante aumento nell'impiego dell'additive manufacturing e di varie tecniche di analisi dimensionale del paziente per sviluppare diagnosi con sistemi definiti di alta fascia e consolidati.
In parallelo abbiamo anche potuto osservare uno sviluppo molto intenso della stampa 3D per FDM e della scansione 3D per fotogrammetria che si stanno espandendo in molti settori e sono caratterizzate da bassi costi e soprattutto dalla semplicità d'uso, diventando molto popolari nei tempi recenti.
L'obiettivo di questa tesi è creare un punto di incontro tra il campo della stampa FDM e il campo bio-medicale/riabilitativo con la realizzazione di ortesi customizzabili per ogni paziente dal personale sanitario, senza la necessità di competenze specifiche nel campo della scansione-modellazione-stampa 3D.
L'output auspicato di questo lavoro sarà un sistema che permetterà al personale sanitario di effettuare una rilevazione precisa delle misure del paziente da impiegare in un modello parametrizzato per costruire una ortesi stampata 3D, il tutto in modo da non richiedere competenze diverse da quelle precostituite dal campo sanitario
Phonology of San Martin Quechua
No full textWhile the present work is far from being a definitive one,
it does aim at providing a fairly complete phonology of San
Martin Quechua. The author has tried to give a satisfactory account
of the descriptive problems and their possible solutions for the
dialect. The theoretical principles used to solve the problems
are explained, the notions of the theory are defined, and their
application to the data is outlined in every case, and explained
in some detail in many cases as well.
This work is unusual among works on Quechua as regards the
space it devotes to explaining and solving problems in the description.
Existing descriptions of Quechua may be characterised as
supposedly problem-less descriptions. The present work treats
Phonology, not as a subsidiary to grammar but as a universe in
its own right, with its own problems and solutions. The European
background of the work, and the 'axiomatic' approach of Mulder,
have undoubtedly contributed in, great measure to the nature of this
description, and to what some might call its 'preoccupation' with
problems. Without wishing to tag derogatory labels on Bloomfieldian
linguistics (enough writers have done so already). I have written
the present work as a possible answer to what I believe to be an
inadmissable ‘gap’ in Quechua linguistic description as it stands
the lack of a rigorous autonomous phonology, which attempts to
recognise, state and solve descriptive problems. It is to be hoped
that the present work provides a beginning for a fully-fledged
discipline of Quechua phonology. [Taken from the forward not from the abstract]
A Gramatica Annobonesa, de Natálio Barrena: Uma Gramática Missionária de uma Língua Crioula
No full textThe scope of this research consists of analyzing grammatical descriptions of fa d’Ambô in the book Gramatica Annobonesa (1957) written by Catholic missionary Natalio Barrena during the colonial period. Fa d\u27Ambô is a creole language mainly spoken on the island of Ano Bom, which is part of the territory of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea in the Gulf of Guinea. It is one of the four languages that make up the Gulf of Guinea language family, along with Santome, Angolar (São Tomé Island), and Lung’Ie (Príncipe Island). In light of linguistic historiography (SCHUCHARDT, 1979; GRANDA, 1986; BATISTA, 2005; ALTMAN, 2011; POST, 2013; FERNANDES, 2015), we will: (i) position the Gramatica Annobonesa (1957) among missionary grammatical works as one of the last publications (and perhaps the last) of this kind, marked by the transposition of the Renaissance grammatical prototype, following the paradigmatic position of the Greco-Latin model (cf. AUTHOR, 2021); (ii) pay attention to the peculiarities of the work in relation to the range of works produced by missionaries, considering that there is no single Greco-Latin model (ALTMAN, 2011); and (iii) understand how linguistic phenomena of fa d’Ambô are classified in order to provide hypotheses about the author’s perspective on the language, in other words, the implicit conception of language in the descriptions.O escopo desta pesquisa consiste na análise de descrições gramaticais do fa d’Ambô na obra Gramatica Annobonesa (1957), escrita pelo missionário católico Natalio Barrena, no período colonial. O fa d’Ambô é uma língua crioula falada maioritariamente em Ano Bom – ilha que compõe o território da República da Guiné Equatorial, no Golfo da Guiné. É uma das quatro línguas que constituem a família de línguas do Golfo da Guiné, junto às línguas santome, angolar (Ilha de São Tomé), e lung’Ie (Ilha do Príncipe). Buscaremos, à luz da historiografia linguística (SCHUCHARDT, 1979; GRANDA, 1986; BATISTA, 2005; ALTMAN, 2011; POST, 2013; FERNANDES, 2015): (i) situar a Gramatica Annobonesa (1957) entre obras de tradição gramatical missionária como uma das últimas publicações (e talvez a última) deste tipo, marcada pela transposição do protótipo gramatical renascentista, em conformidade à posição paradigmática do modelo greco-latino (cf. AUTOR 2021); (ii) atentar para as peculiaridades da obra ante a gama de trabalhos produzidos por missionário considerando que não há um modelo greco-latino único (ALTMAN, 2011); e (iii) compreender de que forma os fenômenos linguísticos do fa d’Ambô são classificados, a fim de fornecer hipóteses acerca do olhar do autor sobre a língua, ou seja, a concepção de língua implícita nas descrições
- …
