87 research outputs found
Some experiments in compressing angiocardiographic images according to the Peano-Hilbert scan path
No full textWe defined and implemented three new irreversible compression techniques for digital angiocardiographic static images: brightness error limitation (BEL), pseudo-gradient adaptive brightness error limitation (PABEL), pseudo-gradient adaptive brightness and contrast error limitation (PABCEL). To scan digital images we implemented an algorithm based on the Peano-Hilbert plane filling curve. We applied our compression techniques to 168 static images selected from angiocardiographic 35-mm films. We achieved best compression results applying the PABCEL method, obtaining a mean compression ratio of about 8:1. Consulted cardiologists did not find significant diagnostic differences between original images and reconstructed ones
High altitude exposure reduce bronchial responsiveness to hypo-osmolar aerosol in lowland asthmatics
No full textIt is well-known that many patients with asthma undergo clinical improvement during a stay at high altitude. At high altitude, the atmospheric and climatic conditions (such as hypoxia, cold and dry air inhalation) could modify the bronchial responsiveness in asthmatics. Our study was designed to assess the difference in bronchial responsiveness to hypotonic aerosol between sea level and high altitudes in nonresident asthmatic subjects. The results were obtained during two mountaineering expeditions above 4,000 m i.e. at 4,559 m on Mt Rosa, Italy; and at 5,050 m near the Mt Everest base camp in Nepal. Eleven mild asthmatics performed standard bronchial challenges with ultrasonically nebulized distilled water (5 min inhalation, delivery 2 mL · min-1) at sea level and after staying at least 72 h at the above mentioned altitudes. The decrease in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) from baseline was used as index of bronchial response. There was no significant difference in pre-challenge FEV1 between sea level and high altitude in either study. However, the bronchoconstriction response to ultrasonically nebulized distilled water was significantly reduced at high altitude in both studies. At sea level the mean FEV1 decrease was 22.2% (range 15-35%), whereas at the maximal altitude it was 6.7% (range 2-11%). Our results indicate that there is a reduction in bronchial responsiveness to hypoosmolar aerosol at high altitude. This suggests that atmospheric and climatic conditions, or physiological adaptations, via mediators such as atrial natriuretic peptide, are beneficial to patients with asthma at high altitude
Esaurire e/è creare. Il possibile in questione a partire da G. Deleuze e F. Zourabichvili
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Contribution of multisegment 3D foot kinematics, kinetics and EMG data to the assessment of diabetes subjects’ lower limb impairments
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Tinkering with executive term limits: partisan imbalances and institutional legacies in Latin America
No full textWhy are some democratically elected presidents more likely than others to extend or remove their current term limits? This paper argues that the frequency and type of reforms relaxing executive term limits depend on the relative partisan power of presidents and on inherited institutional constraints. These reforms are more likely when short-term shifts in the distribution of partisan resources significantly favour an incumbent executive vis-à-vis the opposition. Yet partisan imbalances do not fully account for the observed variation in outcomes across presidential democracies. Long-standing institutional legacies also affect whether presidents are willing and able to ease existing term limits. Specifically, the maintenance of effective executive constraints over time reduces the probability that incumbents facing restrictions on consecutive re-election will obtain a one-term extension and makes it extremely unlikely that they will abolish term limits altogether. A statistical analysis of reforms allowing consecutive executive re-election in Latin America between 1978 and 2015 and a comparison between Ecuador and Colombia support these arguments.The author acknowledges that the Chilean Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID)
funded the research for this article through the grant FONDECYT Regular No. 120006
The role of integrated kinematics, kinetics, plantar pressure and Emg analysis during gait in diabetic foot prevention
No full text¿Qué es el decisionismo?: Reflexiones en torno a la doctrina política de Carl Schmitt
No full textThis essay is a critique of the so called “decisionist” theory by Carl Schmitt, first expounded on his main political works during the Weimar period. The author explains that Schmitt's idea of “decisionism” is not, as it has often been pondered a simple variant of ethical voluntarism associated with both existentialist and positivist moral philosophies. “Decisionism” is a particular political doctrine based on the claim that the state is the absolute source of legal and moral decisions in political life. From this perspective, the author demonstrates that Schmitt’s “decisionism" is a purely negative doctrine, based on the symmetrical negation of all the political values of liberalism.Este ensayo presenta una revisión crítica de la llamada teoría “decisionista” de Carl Schmitt tal como fuera expuesta en sus principales trabajos políticos durante el periodo de Weimar. El autor argumenta que el decisionismo de Schmitt no es, como frecuentemente se ha afirmado, una simple variante del voluntarismo ético asociado a filosofías morales existencialistas y positivistas. Decisionismo es en cambio una particular doctrina política que sostiene que el Estado es la fuente absoluta de toda decisión legal y moral en la vida política. Desde esta perspectiva, el autor demuestra que el decisionismo de Schmitt es una doctrina puramente negativa, fundada en la negación simétrica de todos y cada uno de los valores políticos del liberalismo
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