1,721,043 research outputs found
Workers' self-management, ideology & labour law: from utopia to neoliberal practices
No full textMid-term safety profile evaluation of Bio-A absorbable synthetic mesh as cruroplasty reinforcement
No full textPurpose: The aim of the present paper is to report the results of a single institution series of hiatal hernia repair (HHR) with augmented mesh hiatoplasty focusing on safety and efficacy profile of Bio-A absorbable synthetic mesh. Materials and methods: A retrospective evaluation of prospectively maintained database showed 120 consecutive patients submitted to HHR reinforced with bio-absorbable synthetic mesh. The study populations included two groups: (A) 92 obese patients—reinforced hiatoplasty concurrent with bariatric procedure; (B) 28 non-obese patients—reinforced hiatoplasty concurrent with antireflux surgery. Symptoms assessment was made with GERD-HRQL and Rome III. The X-ray with barium swallow, the CT scan, in selected cases, and the endoscopy were used as recurrence evaluation and as endoscopic complications assessment. Only patients with a mean follow-up of 12 months were included in this study. A Cox hazard was made to evaluate factors affecting the recurrence. Results: No case of intra-peri and post-operative (mean follow-up of 41 months) complications mesh related were registered. The dysphagia-rate was 8.7% for Group A and 11% for Group B. 74% of Group A and 61% of Group B patients are actually PPIs free with median GERD-HRQL score of 4 (from 16) and 6 (from 23), respectively (difference pre-post-operative < 0.05). Recurrence rate was 5.4% in Group A and 7.1% in Group B. The Cox hazard analysis showed that the use of more than four stitches for cruroplasty represents a negative factor on recurrence (HR = 8; p < 0.05). Conclusions: This is, in our knowledge, the largest report (120 consecutive patients) with mid-term follow-up (41 months of mean FU) on bio-absorbable mesh on the hiatus in obese and non-obese patients. These results supports the use of absorbable mesh for HHR (safe profile—0% of complications rate), showing excellent recurrence rate results and good GERD symptoms control
A genetic approach for the maximum network lifetime problem with additional operating time slot constraints
No full textThe maximum network lifetime problem is a well-known and challenging optimization problem which has been addressed successfully with several approaches in the last years. It essentially consists in finding an optimal schedule for sensors activities in a wireless sensor network (WSN) aiming at maximizing the total amount of time during which the WSN is able to perform its monitoring task. In this paper, we consider a new scenario in which, in order to monitor some locations in a geographical area, the sensors need to be active for a fixed amount of time, defined as operating time slot. For this new scenario, we derive an upper bound on the maximum lifetime and propose a genetic algorithm for finding a near-optimal node activity schedule. The performance evaluation results obtained on numerous benchmark instances show the effectiveness of the proposed approach
Weight Loss and Eating Pattern 7 Years After Sleeve Gastrectomy. Experience of a Bariatric Center of Excellence
No full textPurpose: Report the analysis from a single center series of consecutive primary sleeve gastrectomy (SG) on the factors affecting weight loss at long term. Materials and Methods: Patients submitted to primary SG with a follow-up of 7 years were screened. Weight loss was evaluated with %excess weight loss (%EWL) and %excess BMI loss (%BMIL). Weight regain (WR) was defined as in increase of 25% of the obtained %EWL and insufficient weight loss (IWL) as loss < 50% EWL. Eating behaviors were evaluated with 7 days record (7dR). All the variables potentially affecting the weight loss were cross-matched for correlation. The study population was divided in three groups: group A (WR), group B (IWL), and group C (sustained weight loss) for comparative analysis. Results: A total of 86 patients (21 M/65 F) with a preoperative BMI of 47.08 ± 6.15 kg/m2 were evaluated. Cumulative 7 years weight loss was as follows: 61.66 ± 22.69% EWL and 32 ± 9% EBMIL. A total of 4.6% had an IWL while 27.9% a WR. The analysis showed a significant difference among the daily calories and fats consuming, number of meals, physical activity, grazing/sweet eating habits, and adherence to follow-up (p < 0.05) between groups A and C. Cox hazard demonstrated a significant risk (p < 0.05) to WR in case of adherence to follow-up shorter than 48 months, high daily calories, and fats intake (hazard ratio (HR) range 5–9). Eight patients (9.3%) had a surgical revision. Conclusion: Our data demonstrated that long-term results (7 years) of SG are strongly related to eating habits and patient’s behaviors
Maximum Network Lifetime Problem with Time Slots and coverage constraints: heuristic approaches
No full textIn wireless sensor networks applications involving a huge number of sensors, some of the sensor devices may result to be redundant. As a consequence, the simultaneous usage of all the sensors may lead to a faster depletion of the available energy and to a shorter network lifetime. In this context, one of the well-known and most important problems is Maximum Network Lifetime Problem (MLP). MLP consists in finding non-necessarily disjoint subsets of sensors (covers), which are autonomously able to surveil specific locations (targets) in an area of interest, and activating each cover, one at a time, in order to guarantee the network activity as long as possible. MLP is a challenging optimization problem and several approaches have been proposed to address it in the last years. A recently proposed variant of the MLP is the Maximum Lifetime Problem with Time Slots (MLPTS), where the sensors belonging to a cover must be operational for a fixed amount of time, called operating time slot, whenever the cover is activated. In this paper, we generalize MLPTS by taking into account the possibility, for each subset of active sensors, to neglect the coverage of a small percentage of the whole set of targets. We define such new problem as αc-MLPTS, where αc defines the percentage of targets that each cover has to monitor. For this new scenario we propose three approaches: a classical Greedy algorithm, a Carousel Greedy algorithm and a modified version of the genetic algorithm already proposed for MLPTS. The comparison of the three heuristic approaches is carried out through extensive computational experiments. The computational results show that the Carousel Greedy represents the best trade-off between the proposed approaches and confirm that the network lifetime can be considerably improved by omitting the coverage of a percentage of the targets
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
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