A Simplified Thermal Model to Control the Energy Fluxes and to Improve the Performance of Buildings

Abstract The article describes an accurate and suitable simplified tool aimed at evaluating, controlling and managing heat energy fluxes in buildings. The focus is the development of a Resistance-Capacitance (RC) thermal model able to represent the envelope thermal inertia on an hourly time basis. The single RC module simulates the thermal response of a single opaque or transparent element of the envelope. Each module consists of 3 Resistances and 2 Capacitances and is connected to the other modules by thermal nodes and coupled to an air internal temperature node in order to obtain a realistic exemplification of the specific boundary conditions and gains distribution in the conditioned space. The differential balance equations in each node have been solved with an explicit numerical method using Modelica simulation tool. A monitoring campaign was carried out on an outdoor test cell in order to observe the real thermal dynamic behaviour and the real hourly energy needs. The results of the model have been compared with the experimental collected data. The results are presented in terms of temperatures and heating power hourly profiles and cumulative daily energy needs. Finally the Bland-Altmann plot has been used to verify the accuracy and the shortcomings of the proposed thermal model

Biomechanical evaluation of dental implants in D1 and D4 bone by Finite Element Analysis

The aim of the present study was to analyze stress and strain distribution in dental implants with different abutment's inclination inserted in D1 and D4 bone.The biomechanical behavior of 5 mm x 16 mm dental implants with straight, 15 degrees and 25 degrees angulated abutments subjected to static loads, in contact with D1 and D4 bone, was evaluated by Finite Element Analysis (FEA).The lowest stress and strain values were found in the system composed by implants with straight abutments loaded with a 200-N vertical strength, while the highest stress and strain values were found in implants with 15 degrees angulated abutment loaded with a tilted strength (FY=200 N and FZ=140 N). Stress value increased from D1 to D4 bone, while strain value decreased due to the effect of normal elasticity mode of biological tissues.The different stress and strain distribution in D1 and D4 bone tissue surrounding dental implants with a tapered neck could favor prosthetic load and play a role in implant long-term success

IMPLANTS INSERTED IN MAXILLARY SINUS GRAFTED WITH FRESH FROZEN HOMOLOGUE ILIAC BONE: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

In the last decade, several investigators have reported that autologous and homologous fresh frozen bones (FFB) are effective materials to restore alveolar ridges previous to insert dental implants. Here we reported a comparative study between spiral implants inserted in FFB and native bone to evaluate their clinical outcome. Patients were grafted and spiral implants were inserted in the same surgical time. Several variables (patient, grafts, anatomic site, implant, prosthetic restoration) were investigated. Implant’ failure and peri-implant bone resorption were considered as predictor of clinical outcome. 51 implants were inserted in 12 patients. Implants were inserted to replace 8 incisors, 4 cuspids, 18 premolars and 21 molars. The mean follow-up was 14 months. No implant was lost. Peri-implant bone resorption (i.e. success rate) was used as predictor of clinical outcome but Kaplan Meier algorithm demonstrates that no studied variable has a statistical significant impact on clinical outcome. FFB and native bone havehigh and comparable survival and success rate. Spiral implants can be successfully inserted in native e grfted bone to performe an oral rehabilitatio

Medullary sponge kidney

After it was first described in 1939, medullary sponge kidney (MSK) received relatively little attention. This was because it was believed to have a low prevalence and because it was considered a benign condition. Studies in recent years have been changing these convictions however, hence the present review

COMPARISON BETWEEN IMPLANTS INSERTED IN FRESH FROZEN AND CRYOPRESERVED GRAFTS: AN HISTOLOGICAL STUDY

In the last decade, several investigators have reported that autologous and homologous fresh frozen (FFB) and cryopreserved homologue bones (CFFB) are effective materials to restore alveolar ridges previous to insert dental implants. Here we reported a histological comparative study on implants inserted in FFB and CFFB to detect the osteogenic potential of the two types of grafts. Patients were treated with a split mouth scheme for sinus lift with FFB and CFFB bone grafting and immediate implant insertion to evaluate the bone implant contact after 6 months. Three patients were enrolled, 2 males and 1 female, median age 52 years. They were treated at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Civil Hospital, Castelfranco Veneto, Italy in the period January 2008 – December 2008. The study was approved by the Local Ethical Commetee. Histological evaluation was performed on bone speciments containing spiral implants (Alpha Bio LTD, Petah-Tikva, Israel) after 6 months. Statistical test demonstrated that no difference exists between dental implants inserted in FFB and CFFB. However, FFB has a higher values of Vital Bone Volume Percentage suggesting it has higher potential in bone regeneration. In conclusion, iliac crest FFB and CFFB are valuable materials for alveolar ridge augmentation and implant insertion. Spiral implants can be immediately inserted in grafted bone

Modulation of blood circulating immune cells by radiofrequency tumor ablation

Tumor ablation by radiofrequency (RFA) is an appealing therapeutical strategy for the treatment of liver tumors (hepatocarcinoma and metastatic lesions) to be used as valid alternative to the surgical resection that often is appropriate and feasible in only a minority of patients. RFA induces the localised and controlled disruption of the tumor by heating the tissue causing its coagulative necrosis. Such therapy results as a pathogenic "noxa" for the body, inducing a strong inflammatory response. We wanted to ascertain whether the inflammatory response induced by RFA was similar in patients with hepatocarcinoma and in patients with liver metastasis. We considered body temperature, leucocyte counts at different time points as inflammatory parameters. We observed that RFA treatment produced the inflammatory systemic effects as expected (fever, increase of neutrophils) only in the patients with liver metastasis, while no such effect could be seen in the HCC patients. On the other hand the circulating monocytes increased after RFA in both groups of patients. These preliminary results suggest that RFA tratment can exert different effects on the immune system depending the etiopathogenesis of the treated neoplastic liver lesions

MixedEmotions: An open-source toolbox for multi-modal emotion analysis

Recently, there is an increasing tendency to embed the functionality of recognizing emotions from the user generated contents, to infer richer profile about the users or contents, that can be used for various automated systems such as call-center operations, recommendations, and assistive technologies. However, to date, adding this functionality was a tedious, costly, and time consuming effort, and one should look for different tools that suits one's needs, and should provide different interfaces to use those tools. The MixedEmotions toolbox leverages the need for such functionalities by providing tools for text, audio, video, and linked data processing within an easily integrable plug-and-play platform. These functionalities include: (i) for text processing: emotion and sentiment recognition, (ii) for audio processing: emotion, age, and gender recognition, (iii) for video processing: face detection and tracking, emotion recognition, facial landmark localization, head pose estimation, face alignment, and body pose estimation, and (iv) for linked data: knowledge graph. Moreover, the MixedEmotions Toolbox is open-source and free. In this article, we present this toolbox in the context of the existing landscape, and provide a range of detailed benchmarks on standardized test-beds showing its state-of-the-art performance. Furthermore, three real-world use-cases show its effectiveness, namely emotion-driven smart TV, call center monitoring, and brand reputation analysis.peer-reviewe

Evaluation of the dentoskeletal characteristics of an egyptian mummy with three-dimensional computer analysis

Since the introduction of Roentgen rays in medical diagnostics, mummies have been subjected to radiographic and cephalometric studies. These have, among others, the advantage of providing details that are not directly visible for inspection without the need to tamper with the relics. The acquisition of three-dimensional imaging techniques has also extended the possibility of noninvasive investigation, so that many famous mummies, such as those of Tutankhamun and Ramses II, underwent three-dimensional computed tomography (CT)