1,721,024 research outputs found
Effect of Cigarette Smoking on Clinical and Molecular End-points in COPD Patients
No full text<p><span>Cigarette smoking is a primary contributor to mortality risks and is associated with various diseases. Among these, COPD represents a significant contributor to global mortality and disability. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of smoking on a selected battery of variables, with an emphasis on DNA damage. </span><span>Methods: A total of 87 elderly patients diagnosed with COPD, divided into three groups based on their smoking history (current, former, never-smokers), were evaluated using a cross-sectional approach. Clinical features including mortality, and inflammatory/oxidative parameters (Lymphocytes/Monocytes, Neutrophils/Lymphocytes, Platelets/Lymphocytes ratio), SII, MDA, 8-Oxo-dG, and IL6 (ELISA assay), as well as DNA damage (comet assay), were investigated. Virus infection, i.e., influenza A virus subtype H1N1, JC polyomavirus (JCPyV), BK polyomavirus (BKPyV), and Torquetenovirus (TTV), was also tested. </span><span>Results: Current smokers exhibit higher levels of comorbidity (CIRS; p<0.001), Platelets/Lymphocytes ratio (p<0.001), SII (p<0.05), and DNA damage (p<0.001). Former smokers showed also higher values for parameters associated to oxidative damage, and showed a much lower probability of surviving over 5 years compared to never and current-smokers (p<0.0017). </span><span>Conclusions: This study showed a clear interaction between events which are relevant to the oxidative pathway and cigarette smoking. A category of particular interest is represented by former smokers, especially for the lower survival, possibly due to the presence of more health problems. Our findings raise also the attention to other parameters which are significantly affected by smoking, useful to monitor COPD patients starting a program of pulmonary rehabilitation (DNA damage, inflammation parameters, selected viral infections)</span></p>
Towards satisfying practitioners in using Planning Support Systems
Full text linkSeveral Planning Support Systems (PSS) have been developed so far, but their uptake in planning practice remains low. The analysis of the literature shows that one major factors for the limited use of PSS is the mismatch between PSS functionality (as well as the way it is provided through the PSS user interface) and what planners expect. This motivated a deeper research with the objective to analyse the factors preventing a wider use of PSS. In particular, this paper focuses on the usability of PSS. It reports an evaluation study performed to investigate the usability of PSS for some specific tasks: planners were involved in testing the land suitability analysis module of three PSS. The study results confirmed the mismatch between what PSS provide and what planners expect, as well as indicated a poor usability of PSS. Indications for improving the design of PSS that satisfy needs and desires of practitioners are provided
CFD simulation of multiple dust explosion occurred in a flour mill
Full text linkDust explosions pose a serious hazard to both personnel and equipment in industries that handles combustible powders. Although prevention and mitigation technology of dust explosions has progressed greatly, continual accidents in the process industries demonstrate the need for improved knowledge in this area (Mercan, 2016; Russo et al., 2017). On July 16, 2007, a primary explosion followed by secondary explosions happened in the Cordero mill (Italy) and 5 persons died (Marmo et al., 2012). The accident occurred at the end of the loading operation of a tanker, when a surplus of flour was overcharged. This extra amount was then pneumatically conveyed to a silo placed in the flour-warehouses, by connecting the tanker to the pneumatic transport line through one of the tanker hoses. The flour was loaded at a low flow rate, and hence a low concentration of flour in the duct occurred. The source of ignition of the dust cloud was attributed to an electrostatic arc that took place in the pneumatic transport duct (Marmo et al., 2012). The technical enquire found signs of the explosion in the duct: internal pressure provoked evident deformation of the duct. As widely discussed in the literature (Fiorentini and Marmo 2019; Marmo et al., 2013), Computational Fluid Dynamics can be a valid aid to forensic engineering because it allows to discern the incidental sequence that is more adherent to the evidence. The aim of this work is to reproduce the conditions present in the mill at the time of the accident using the CFD-code DESC, which is being developed for simulating dust explosions in complex geometries. The results obtained from the simulations were compared to the damage observed after the accident in order to identify the more credible scenario. Simulations with different levels of flour in the silo, concentration of dust in the air mixture and position of ignition were performed. Analysis of results revealed the effect of different parameters on the severity of dust explosion, not only limited to the case study investigated, in order to adopt the appropriate prevention and protection measures
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
II.20 Tiziano Vecellio, Maddalena penitente
No full textLa scheda illustra la storia critica del dipinto di Tiziano Vecellio, "Maddalena penitente", conservato nel Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, a partire da una disamina delle fonti, dei modelli precedenti e dal confronto con la poesia di Giovanni Battista Marino
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
