197,953 research outputs found
Finite-Element Analysis of 3-D Viscous Flow and Mixed-Convection Problems by the Projection Method
No full textThe Effect of Infill Pattern and Density on the Response of 3-D-Printed Sensors Based on FBG Technology
No full textFiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are known for their uses in applications ranging from civil engineering to medicine. A bare FBG is small and light; hence, it can be easily embedded into hosting materials. However, conventional fabrication methods are generally time-consuming with reproducibility issues. A more recent strategy has been proposed to develop novel FBG-based systems by encapsulating the grating within 3-D-printed structures. This process, known as 3-D printing, is characterized by several advantages like rapid prototyping, printing precision, and high customization. The possibility of quickly personalizing the 3-D-printed sensors by customizing the infill settings makes this technique very appealing for medical purposes, especially for developing smart systems. However, the influence of printing settings on the sensor response has not been yet systematically addressed. This work aimed at combining FBG with the most popular 3-D printing technique (the fused deposition modeling [FDM]) to develop four 3-D-printed sensors with different printing profiles. We chose two patterns (triangle and gyroid) and two infill densities (30% and 60%) to investigate their influence on the sensors' response to strain, temperature, and relative humidity (RH), and on the hysteresis behavior. Then, we preliminary assess the sensor performance in a potential application scenario for FBG-based 3-D printing technology: the cardiorespiratory monitoring. The promising results confirm that our analysis can be considered the first effort to improve the knowledge about the influence of printing profiles on sensor performance and, consequently, pave the way to develop highly performant 3-D-printed sensors customized for specific applications
Geotechnical engineering practice and the implementation of Eurocode approach in Italy
No full textSince 2003 several efforts have been done in Italy by the Italian Government to modify Technical Standards, abandoning the conventional allowable stress approach and introducing the limit state approach, according to Eurocodes. More specifically in the paper the following aspects are discussed: a) the intrinsic incompatibility between the Eurocode approach and the Italian Legislation as far as the responsibilities of practising engineers are concerned; b) resistance of practising engineers and geologists to abandon conventional design methods together with a generalized reluctance in Italy towards continuous education programs; c) intrinsic incompatibility between EC7 (2004) and "structural" Eurocodes (more specifically EC8 (2004)). Eventually the difficulties of introducing the limit state approach in conventional education programs are discussed. © 2008 Taylor & Francis Group, London
A visual framework to create photorealistic retinal vessels for diagnosis purposes
No full textThe methods developed in recent years for synthesising an ocular fundus can be been divided into two main categories. The first category of methods involves the development of an anatomical model of the eye, where artificial images are generated using appropriate parameters for modelling the vascular networks and fundus. The second type of method has been made possible by the development of deep learning techniques and improvements in the performance of hardware (especially graphics cards equipped with a large number of cores). The methodology proposed here to produce high-resolution synthetic fundus images is intended to be an alternative to the increasingly widespread use of generative adversarial networks to overcome the problems that arise in producing slightly modified versions of the same real images. This will allow the simulation of pathologies and the prediction of eye-related diseases. The proposed approach is based on the principle of least action and correctly places the vessels on the simulated eye fundus without using real morphometric information. An a posteriori analysis of the average characteristics such as the size, length, bifurcations, and endpoint positioning confirmed the substantial accuracy of the proposed approach compared to real data. A graphical user interface allows the user to make any changes in real time by controlling the positions of control points
Palermo 1860. Stereoscopie di Eugène Sevaistre
No full textLo studio analizza la figura del fotografo francese, attivo in sicilia, nella metà del XIX secolo
Retinal image synthesis through the least action principle
No full textEye fundus image analysis is a fundamental approach in medical diagnosis and follow-up ophthalmic diagnostics. Manual annotation by experts needs hard work, thus only a small set of annotated vessel structures is available. Examples such as DRIVE and STARE include small sets for training images of fundus image benchmarks. Moreover, there is no vessel structure annotation for a number of fundus image datasets. Synthetic images have been generated by using appropriate parameters for the modeling of vascular networks or by methods developing deep learning techniques and supported by performance hardware. Our methodology aims to produce high-resolution synthetic fundus images alternative to the increasing use of generative adversarial networks, to overcome the problems that arise in producing slightly modified versions of the same real images, to simulate pathologies and for the prediction of eye-related diseases. Our approach is based on the principle of the least action to place vessels on the simulated eye fundus
Vitamin C against cancer.
Full text linkAbstract: The selective anticancer properties of vitamin C are known since at least four decades.
However, only recently in vitro studies have shown that vitamin C, in high enough concentrations,
can efficiently and selectively kill a number of different human tumor cell
lines, and these data have been confirmed in experimental animal tumor models. The
first human clinical trials revealed that high doses of vitamin C administered by intravenous
injection are not only very well tolerated but also substantially improve the quality
of life of patients with clinically advanced cancer. However, the clinical evidence of the
effectiveness of vitamin C in fighting off cancer is still controversial. The present chapter
outlines the importance of vitamin C for a number of physiological functions, within the
human body, and shows that there is a solid rationale for its use in the routine treatment
of cancer, either alone or in combination with conventional treatment
International and Interdisciplinary Conference IMMAGINI? Image and Imagination between Representation, Communication, Education and Psychology
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