1,720,985 research outputs found
Metropoliz. De la Torre de Babel a la Pidgin City: Nuevos imaginarios multiculturales, vistos desde la etnografía en la ciudad informal
No full textA method to control the spread of allergenic pollen in archaeological and highly frequented areas
No full textMonuments and archaeological areas are often colonized by infesting plants, many of which produce allergenic pollen that can cause allergic symptoms in sensitive subjects. Pollen monitoring was carried out by a portable volumetric spore trap in some Roman archaeological areas and in two small cities in Latium (Central Italy), before and after a chemical treatment to eradicate infesting plants of Parietaria spp. to control the quality of the air. Results indicate that the herbicide treatment reduced the presence of Parietaria plants and their pollen concentration in the air in the sites which were the subject of this study
Identificazione e localizzazione di allergeni in polline di leccio (Quercus ilex L.)
Full text linkAnna Mazzitelli Abstract Tesi di Dottorato
Identificazione e localizzazione di allergeni in polline di leccio (Quercus ilex L.)
Presso l’Università di Roma “Tor Vergata” è attivo da anni un Centro di monitoraggio pollinico. Attraverso registrazioni giornaliere, nel corso degli anni (dal 1996 al 2004) è emerso che uno dei principali pollini aerodiffusi nella città di Roma viene prodotto da piante appartenenti alla famiglia delle Fagaceae, e in particolare al genere Quercus. Il leccio (Quercus ilex L.) è una delle piante arboree più diffuse nella città di Roma, sebbene nella letteratura non siano riportate informazioni riguardo all’allergenicità del suo polline. Da un’indagine epidemiologica sulla diffusione delle allergie e delle pollinosi tra il personale afferente all’Università di “Tor Vergata”, seguita da indagini cliniche, è emerso che circa il 20% dei soggetti allergici sono sensibili al polline di Fagaceae. Il siero di cinque di questi soggetti è stato raccolto e utilizzato per evidenziare la sua reattività nei confronti dell’estratto proteico del polline di leccio, mediante western blotting e saggi ELISA. I sieri riconoscevano nell’estratto proteico molte bande, tra le quali in particolare due erano riconosciute da tutti i sieri utilizzati. Tali bande avevano peso molecolare di 28 e 36 kDa. Le stesse bande non venivano riconosciute facendo reagire i sieri con l’estratto proteico delle foglie del leccio, indicando che l’espressione delle proteine allergeniche era esclusiva del polline e non degli altri tessuti della pianta. I saggi ELISA hanno confermato la reattività dei sieri nei confronti delle proteine del polline di leccio, e hanno dato indicazioni sull’esistenza di cross-reattività tra polline di leccio e quello di altre piante appartenenti alla famiglia delle Fagaceae (farnia, castagno, faggio). Inoltre saggi ELISA condotti con l’aggiunta di sodio-metaperiodato hanno indicato che le molecole allergeniche del polline di leccio contengono epitopi di legame alle IgE di natura proteica. Esperimenti di immuno-oro marcatura e osservazione al TEM hanno permesso di localizzare le molecole allergeniche del polline di leccio sull’intina e in granuli citoplasmatici elettron trasparenti; esperimenti analoghi condotti sul polline di farnia hanno evidenziato che le molecole allergeniche del polline di questa specie sono localizzate esclusivamente sulla superficie esinica dei granuli.
Parole chiave
Allergia, pollinosi, polline, leccio, Fagaceae, immunoblotting, ELISA, immuno-oro marcatura, microscopia elettronica.
Identification and Localization of Holm Oak (Quercus ilex L.) Pollen Allergens
Recognition that holm oak pollen is a widespread pollen in the area of Rome “Tor Vergata” University prompted an investigation on its allergenic properties, about which no information is available in the literature. 20% of the allergic subjects in the Campus resulted to be sensitive to a mix of Fagaceae pollen. Sera of five of these subjects showed reactivity with the proteic extract of holm oak pollen by immunoblotting and ELISA tests. The sera immunoprecipitate with many proteins, of which at least two (at about 28 and 36 kDa) are recognized by all the examined sera. These same proteins are not recognized by the sera in holm oak leaves proteic extract, confirming that the allergens were expressed only in holm oak pollen. ELISA test with metaperiodate gave us indications on the proteic nature of the allergen IgE binding epitopes. Further ELISA tests showed cross-reactivity between different Fagaceae pollen: holm oak, european oak, chestnut and beech.
Immunogold labelling experiments at TEM were carried out both on holm and european oak pollen. These showed that holm oak pollen allergens are localized in the intine and in cytoplasmatic electron-transparent vescicles, whereas the pollen allergens of european oak are localized only on the exine
Evaluating climate between working excellence and organizational innovation: What comes first?
Full text linkThis research introduces a new concept of organizational climate, seen as a "mediator", namely a factor liable to produce positive eects on both individual performances and on work processes and relations, thereby creating a favorable relationship between work excellence and organizational innovation. Health systems have been called to promote sustainability, as actors who work for the health and well-being of their patients. Starting from these considerations, this work shows the main results of a longitudinal study conducted in the pediatric department of a large hospital in southern Italy, for a period of three years (May 2014-May 2017). The reference survey was very broad because in the first step of the research a general questionnaire was adopted which included various aspects. Subsequently, the analysis of the influence of the "climate" factor was carried out according to a 3-dimensional scheme: structural, interpersonal/relational and individual. The focus was therefore set - especially in the second survey - on those indicators responding to the objective of the research and that were consistent with the epistemological choice made. The main scope was to verify the conditions according to which the organizational climate can emerge as a novel factor capable of siding with and orienting innovative patient-centered policies of human resources management
Digital platforms and big data-driven sustainable innovation in smart healthcare investments
No full textLatest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) figures show that health spending grew by less than 2% in 2017 with provisional estimates pointing to around 2.5% growth in 2018. OECD spending on health as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remained at around 8.8% on average in 2017, according to OECD Health Statistics 2019, updated in November 2019. This is due to factors like ageing population and faces public budget constraints that force countries to find out innovative solutions. Sustainable technological advances are so essential to make infrastructural healthcare investments “smart”. Healthcare is a core pillar of the socio-economic ecosystem, and it can strongly benefit from digital investments. Digital healthcare solutions, such as software or internet-connected devices created for detection or treatment of medical indications, are creating a digital disruption in healthcare. New research indicates that digital health solutions will save the American healthcare system more than $100 billion over the next four years. Technological innovation can strongly benefit from the alliance between public and private partners: while the former provides (in most developed countries) universal healthcare coverage, the latter are an indispensable partner for their skills and expertise. Remuneration of private engagement may conveniently follow pay-for-performance patterns and investments are increasingly patient centric. Digitalization is a key factor, since it can transform, for many chronical diseases, in-patients into out-patients and eventually home-patients, with strong economic savings and meaningful life quality improvements.
Digitalization is a main driver of m-health or e-health strategies. M-health is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and PDAs, and wearable devices such as smart watches, for health services, information, and data collection. Public authorities can choose between several options when they want to build new hospitals, ranging from Traditional Procurement to Public-Private Partnerships typically backed by Project Finance schemes. Within this evolutionary framework, this paper examines with an interdisciplinary approach which is the possible impact of digitalization on healthcare infrastructural investment. A primary input factor is represented by big data (often ignited by Internet of Things wearables) that can be collected in real-time, stored in cloud, and eventually processed with artificial intelligence (machine learning) paradigms, fueling interoperable databases and easing the safe exchange of sensitive information with blockchain applications. In this synergistic process, digitalization works as a catalyzer that eases cooperation among different stakeholders. To the extent that the primary stakeholders (the public player, private investors with their sponsoring banks, patients, etc.) cooperate using digital platforms as an exchanging interface, they can co-create additional value that can soften the aforementioned public budget constraints. Additional value for money is a by-product of this virtuous cycle and it can be conveniently apportioned among the stakeholders. Check-and-balance factors can prevent excessive private rents, for instance through increased competition. A win-win strategic model may so be designed around a patient-centric and public vision. This comprehensive evolutionary vision has seldom been treated in the current literature. In particular, healthcare supply chain bottlenecks have hardly been considered with a technological approach that takes into account also the socio-economic implications. This paper proposes some feasible solutions for overcoming some of these criticalities, fostering resilience and long-term sustainability. A case study, generalized from a real sample of healthcare infrastructural investments, will show how a typical Project Finance business model (for the construction and management of a new hospital) can react to the introduction of digitalization and big data. A sensitivity analysis will show which are the potential economic and financial gains, in terms of improved marginality. A further analysis will concern evolutionary trends that may be considered with stochastic modeling that incorporate real-time big data to re-engineer the business plan. The study will also consider the interaction between supply and value chain when the healthcare model “goes digital”. The paper will analyze in its discussion section some trendy research streams that can ignite future investigation, concerning, for instance, digital B2B/B2C interactions among the players that share a common 24/7 marketplace. Further research avenues will be synthetically recalled in the discussion, concerning, for instance, cyber-security challenges. To the authors’ best knowledge, there are no comprehensive studies that analyze the research question of this paper. The research is innovative, and it might shed some light both on the traditional stakeholder relationships, re-engineered around digital platforms, and on the specific healthcare sector, looking for patient-centered satisfaction and sustainability
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
Smart working as an organisational process or as a social change? An Italian pandemic experience
Full text linkPurpose: Along the coronavirus pandemic, huge business challenges are facing as a result of collapsing customer demand and organisational significant changes supported by digital development, while the increasing social and environmental needs involve business and individuals. The authors argue that this trend is modifying organisational and market logic, replacing them with values and practices linked to community-based models. The present work aims to study the impact that smart working (SW) has on the worker, seen both as a member of the organisation and the social community. Design/methodology/approach: The study data were collected from a computer-assisted web interview administered in 2020 to public employees working for health agencies across the Campania region, in South Italy. To test the conceptual model, partial least squares-structural equation modelling is used. Considering the abductive soul of the research, the study represents a pilot survey that will deliver stochastic results to be subsequently replicated in all Italian health agencies. Findings: The results of the research highlighted how the evolutionary dynamics of SW employees tend towards a reconceptualisation of workspaces, a redefinition of time and emotions and a better balance between work and personal life, thus creating a greater space for social and community aspects and determining a greater involvement in their working life. Originality/value: This research introduces a new win-win logic in the labour market, one capable of generating advantages for people, organisations and the entire social system by allowing workers to better reconcile working times with their personal needs and with flexibility demands coming from companies
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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