Bonding machine for forming a solar array strip

A machine is described for attaching solar cells to a flexable substrate on which printed circuitry has been deposited. The strip is fed through: (1) a station in which solar cells are elevated into engagement with solder pads for the printed circuitry and thereafter heated by an infrared lamp; (2) a station at which flux and solder residue is removed; (3) a station at which electrical performance of the soldered cells is determined; (4) a station at which an encapsulating resin is deposited on the cells; (5) a station at which the encapsulated solar cells are examined for electrical performance; and (6) a final station at which the resulting array is wound on a takeup drum

The RAMNI airborne lidar for cloud and aerosol research

We describe an airborne lidar for the characterization of atmospheric aerosol. The system has been set up in response to the need to monitor extended regions where the air traffic may be posed at risk by the presence of potentially harmful volcanic ash, and to study the characteristics of volcanic emissions both near the source region and when transported over large distances. The lidar provides backscatter and linear depolarization profiles at 532 nm, from which aerosol and cloud properties can be derived. The paper presents the characteristics and capabilities of the lidar system and gives examples of its airborne deployment. Observations from three flights, aimed at assessing the system capabilities in unperturbed atmospheric conditions, and at characterizing the emissions near a volcanic ash source (Mt. Etna) and transported far away from the source, are presented and discussed

Breast asymmetry analysis employing tree-structured wavelet transform

Statistically distributed developmental asymmetries appearing in paired body structures such as breasts in women are usually related to unhealthy biological conditions. In particular, there is evidence that breast cancer patients show more breast dimensional asymmetries and larger breasts than age-matched healthy women. It was also recently reported the application of Gabor nonorthogonal wavelets filtering for analyzing asymmetries of the directional structures appearing in mammograms corresponding to healthy and breast cancer patients. In this paper the Tree-Structured Wavelet Transform, which uses orthogonal wavelet bases, is applied for the first time in order to quantify texture asymmetries between left- and right- mammograms in women. In order to assess the suitability of the method, it was applied to characterize breast asymmetries of mammograms corresponding to a small population of 63 healthy women with ages ranging between 30 and 70 years. The obtained results justify further improvements of this method and its application for correlating asymmetries and the predisposition to breast cancer.Eje: Aplicaciones biomédicasRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Atividade da rubisco e das enzimas de síntese e hidrólise de sacarose, associada à produtividade de látex, em clones de seringueira [Hevea brasiliensis (Willd ex. Adr. de Juss.) Muell.-Arg] cultivados em Lavras, MG.

Estudos já realizados sobre clones de seringueira cultivados no estado de Minas Gerais têm fornecido indícios que permitem supor a existência de uma possível associação entre a variabilidade fotossintética e a produção de látex. Contudo, ainda é escasso o conhecimento acerca da assimilação de CO2 e o transporte de carbono das folhas até a casca, onde a biossíntese de látex ocorre de forma mais intensa. Em todas as etapas desses metabolismos, as reações são reguladas por algumas enzimas-chave. Este trabalho propôsse a avaliar a atividade da Rubisco e das principais enzimas de síntese e hidrólise de sacarose, em plantas de um jardim clonal de seringueira pertencentes aos clones RRIM 600, GT 1 e FX 2261, e sua relação com o desempenho produtivo de plantas adultas e em franca produção. Os resultados sugeriram uma provável associação entre a atividade da Rubisco e das invertases (ácida e neutra) e o desempenho produtivo dos clones. Não houve evidências de tal associação, em relação à sacarose-fosfato sintase (SPS) e à sacarose sintase (SuSy), cujas atividades não diferiram entre os clones avaliados. A hidrólise de sacarose na casca foi exercida predominantemente pela ação da invertase ácida. Em proporções menores e equivalentes, essa atividade foi complementada pela SuSy e pela invertase neutra

Towards the use of machine learning algorithms to enhance the effectiveness of search strings in secondary studies

Devising an appropriate Search String for a secondary study is not a trivial task and identifying suitable keywords has been reported in the literature as a difficulty faced by researchers. A poorly chosen Search String may compromise the quality of the secondary study, by missing relevant studies or leading to overwork in subsequent steps of the secondary study, in case irrelevant studies are selected. In this paper, we propose an approach for the creation and calibration of a Search String. We chose three published systematic literature reviews (SLRs) from Scopus and applied Machine Learning algorithms to create the corresponding Search Strings to be used in the SLRs. Comparison of results obtained with those published in previous SLRs, show an increase of recall of revisions by up to 12%, with no loss of recall. To motivate future studies and replications, the tool implementing the proposed approach is available in a public repository, along with the dataset used in this paper.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Clinical efficacy of minimally invasive surgical (MIS) and non-surgical (MINST) treatments of periodontal intra-bony defect. A systematic review and network meta-analysis of RCT's

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to explore the efficacy of different minimal invasive surgical (MIS) and non-surgical (MINST) approaches for the treatment of intra-bony defect in terms of clinical attachment level (CAL) gain and periodontal pocket depth (PPD) reduction. / Methods: A detailed review protocol was designed according to PRISMA guideline. Online search was conducted on PubMed, Cochrane library and Embase. Only randomized clinical trials (RCTs) testing MIS or MINST procedure, with or without the application of a regenerative tool for the treatment of intra-bony defect, were included. Cochrane checklist for risk of bias assessment was used. Network meta-Analysis (NMAs) was used to rank the treatment efficacy. / Results: Nine RCTs accounting for 244 patients and a total of 244 defects were included. Only two studies were at low risk of bias. CAL gain for included treatment ranged from 2.58 ± 1.13 mm to 4.7 ± 2.5 mm while PPD reduction ranged from 3.19 ± 0.71 mm to 5.3 ± 1.5 mm. On the basis of the ranking curve, MINST showed the lowest probability to be the best treatment option for CAL gain. Pairwise comparisons and treatment rankings suggest superiority for regenerative approaches (CAL difference 0.78 mm, (0.14–1.41); P < 0.05) and surgical treatment elevating only the buccal or palatal flap (CAL difference: 0.95 mm, (0.33–1.57); P < 0.05). / Conclusions: Minimally invasive surgical (MIS) and non-surgical (MINST) periodontal therapy show promising results in the treatment of residual pocket with intra-bony defect. / Clinical relevance: MIS procedures represent a reliable treatment for isolated intra-bony defect