303 research outputs found
Real time active vision for the mobile robot PARIDEProceedings of IECON'94 - 20th Annual Conference of IEEE Industrial Electronics
No full textA Hybrid Approach to Surface Engineering Based on Laser Texturing and Coating
No full textA hybrid approach based on laser texturing and surface coating for the combined modification of surface topography and chemistry has been proposed to provide a versatile approach for the development of functional surfaces. The experimental procedure comprised nanosecond pulsed laser texturing of AISI 304 stainless steel substrates followed by the deposition of thin (<1 mu m) coatings with two different technologies, sol-gel deposition and PE-CVD, with the aim of independently modifying the surface topography and chemical composition. Laser texturing with different scanning strategies achieved a variety of surface morphologies with an arithmetic mean height (S-a) in the range 0.2-6.4 mu m. Coatings were then deposited on laser-textured substrates to quantify the deposition effectiveness and the influence of the coating type and parameters on the resulting surface topography and chemistry. Sol-gel deposition was found to be more effective with a polymeric interlayer, improving adhesion between the coating and the textured surface; however, this also led to an increase in Sa of approximately 0.5 mu m. Conversely, PE-CVD was effective in modifying the surface chemistry while inducing no measurable differences in surface morphology, effectively decoupling the texturing and coating processes. Analysis of the surface chemistry showed a higher concentration of silicon for PE-CVD than sol-gel deposition and therefore a more pronounced effect on the surface chemical composition
Energy-saving motion control for an autonomous mobile robotProceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics
No full textTyphlitis during second-line chemotherapy with pemetrexed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): A case report
No full textNeutropenic enterocolitis, or typhlitis, is an unusual acute complication of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, characterized by inflammatory process involving colon and/or small bowel that may progress to necrosis, haemorrhage, perforation and septicaemia. Typhlitis is usually seen in the setting of severe chemotherapy-induced neutropenia for acute leukaemia. Nevertheless, it is increasingly recognized as a complication of therapy in solid tumors. We present a case of typhlitis in a patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received pemetrexed, as second-line chemotherapy treatment. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
T-889C IL-1α promoter polymorphism influences the response to oral cyclophosphamide in scleroderma patients with alveolitis
No full textCyclophosphamide (CYC) is the cornerstone of the treatment of systemic sclerosis (SSc)-associated fibrosing alveolitis (FAS. Despite treatment with CYC, in a not negligible proportion of SSc-FAS patients, deterioration in lung function can be observed. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) cluster gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were implicated in the pathogenesis of some interstitial lung diseases and may favor the progression of restrictive lung disease in SSc. The present retrospective case-control study was conducted on 18 SSc patients previously treated with oral CYC (2 mg/kg) and medium-dose steroids (prednisone 25 mg for 3 months and then tapered to 5 mg/day) for the presence of FAS-defined as the presence of areas of ground-glass attenuation on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and a recent deterioration in lung function. The T/C substitution at position -889 of the IL-1alpha promoter gene (T-889C) was determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction length fragment analysis. Patients carrying the T allele showed a significant decrease in forced vital capacity (FVC) values after 12 months of therapy (2.46+/-1.09 vs 2.59+/-1.17 l), while wild-type patients showed an increase in FVC values (2.73+/-0.54 vs 2.54+/-0.5 l) (p=0.005 between the two groups, analysis of variance for repeated measures. Patients with the T-889C polymorphism presented higher baseline erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR) compared to wild-type patients (50.3+/-25.4 vs 23.3+/-17.7 mm/h. Baseline ESR inversely correlated with the variation of FVC (DeltaFVC) after 12 months of therapy (r=-0.50 and p<0.05). The two groups were otherwise similar with respect to autoantibodies, age, disease duration, disease subset, radiological HRCT grade, and baseline lung physiology. The T-889C polymorphism represents a marker for worse functional responses to CYC in SSc-FAS. The mechanisms by which this SNP may negatively influence the response to CYC therapy are unknown, but might be linked to increased inflammatory responses in the lungs
Cardiac surgery 2.0
No full textMinimally invasive approach has become key in cardiac surgery over the last decade and nowadays involves all areas of expertise, as it was initially developed for mitral valve surgery and has quickly expanded also to surgery for the treatment of aortic valve disease and to myocardial revascularization. Compared to standard sternotomy, the most evident difference is minimalization of surgical incision, which reduces chest trauma with several benefits for patients. Minimally invasive cardiac surgery requires dedicated instrumentation/ devices as well as an additive learning curve. Different perfusion strategies and aortic clamping techniques are available that facilitate this approach, although their well known advantages are also accompanied by several disadvantages, including an increased rate of stroke or vascular complications, that can be minimized in high-volume centers and by adopting a tailored approach based on the patient's features
"Coelo non penicillo". Antonio Barili e la tarsia prospettica nella Siena del secondo Quattrocento, in Forme del legno. Intagli e tarsie fra Gotico e Rinascimento, atti del Convegno Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore, 30-31 ottobre 2009, a cura di G. Donati, V. Genovese, premessa di M. Ferretti, Pisa 2013, pp. 129-144
No full textEsame della produzione ad intarsio e intaglio di Antonio Barili tra le Marche e Siena, con alcune proposte attributive e confronti con la pittura contemporanea
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