3,549 research outputs found

    De toepassing van de vereisten van causaliteit, relativiteit en toerekening bij de onrechtmatige overheidsdaad

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    Dit proefschrift onderzoekt de toepassing van de vereisten van aansprakelijkheid bij deonrechtmatige overheidsdaad met de toepassing daarvan in het geval van private partijenTrias Europea: de verhoudingen tussen de overheidsmachten in de EU en de lidstaten in een bewegend constitutioneel landscha

    Impact of mediterranean diet on chronic non-communicable diseases and longevity

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    The average life expectancy of the world population has increased remarkably in the past 150 years and it is still increasing. A long life is a dream of humans since the beginning of time but also a dream is to live it in good physical and mental condition. Nutrition research has focused on recent decades more on food combination patterns than on individual foods/nutrients due to the possible synergistic/antagonistic effects of the components in a dietary model. Various dietary patterns have been associated with health benefits, but the largest body of evidence in the literature is attributable to the traditional dietary habits and lifestyle followed by populations from the Mediterranean region. After the Seven Countries Study, many prospective observational studies and trials in diverse populations reinforced the beneficial effects associated with a higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet in reference to the prevention/management of age-associated non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, depression, respiratory diseases, and fragility fractures. In addition, the Mediterranean diet is ecologically sustainable. Therefore, this immaterial world heritage constitutes a healthy way of eating and living respecting the environment

    Assessment of a Hydrogen-Fueled Heavy-Duty Yard Truck for Roll-On and Roll-Off Port Operations

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    The port-logistic industry has a significant impact on the urban environment nearby ports and on the surrounding coastal areas. This is due to the use of large auxiliary power systems on ships operating during port stays, as well as to the employment of a number of fossil fuel powered road vehicles required for port operations. The environmental impact related to the use of these vehicles is twofold: on one hand, they contribute directly to port emissions by fuel consumption; on the other hand, they require some of the ship auxiliary systems to operate intensively, such as the ventilation system, which must operate to remove the pollutants produced by the vehicle engines inside the ship. The pathway to achieve decarbonization and mitigation of energy use in ports involves therefore the adoption of alternative and cleaner technology solutions for the propulsion systems of such port vehicles. This paper presents the performance analysis of a hydrogen powered cargo-handling vehicle for roll-on and roll-off port operations in a real case scenario. The fuel cell/battery hybrid powertrain of the vehicle has been previously designed by the authors. On the base of real data acquired during an on-field measurement campaign, and by means of a validated numerical model of the vehicle dynamics, different mission profiles are defined, in terms of driving and duty cycles, in order to represent typical port operations. A rule-based energy management strategy is then used to estimate the energy and hydrogen consumptions required by the vehicle and to assess its suitability to accomplish the defined target port operations. Outputs from this study show the potential of the proposed solution to take the place, in a foreseeable future, of conventional Diesel-engine vehicles, today commonly used in port logistics, towards a zero-emission scenario

    Assessment of ageing effect on the mechanical behaviour of steel/aluminium self-piercing riveted joint

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    Self-piercing riveting (SPR) is a new performing technology able to joint several kinds of metal and non-metal supports together. The combined effect of joint configuration and environmental conditions could have detrimental effect on the ageing effect on mechanical behaviour of dissimilar metal SPR joints. The joining of dissimilar materials, such as steel and aluminium, realized by self-piercing riveting (SPR) technique was studied to evaluate the ageing effects on its mechanical behaviour in critical environmental conditions. The investigation was carried out on symmetrical or unsymmetrical joints at varying total thicknesses (i.e. 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 mm). The joint resistance was determined by single-lap shear tests. A design of experiment (DoE) has been performed by using Minitab® followed by the statistical analysis (ANOVA) of the experimental data. Long-term ageing tests in salt spray environment were performed to evaluate the durability of the mechanical joint. The experimental results evidenced that the corrosion degradation phenomena influenced significantly both the performance and failure mechanisms of the joints; also, the joint configuration is a significant factor for the corrosion effect. In the salt spray, the aluminium sheet undergoes a noticeable degradation due to galvanic Al/Fe corrosion. The set characterized by thinner aluminium sheet evidenced a gradual reduction of the mechanical strength with increasing ageing time due to the prevalence of thinning induced by aluminium corrosion. Instead, for S10-A15 samples (characterized by a thicker thickness of aluminium sheet) during the first 7 weeks, stable mechanical performances were observed. The experimental results evidenced that the corrosion degradation phenomena influence significantly both performances and failure mechanisms of SPR joints. Furthermore, the durability of the SPR joint is strongly affected by the joint configuration, and the best results were observed in the unsymmetrical joint with thicker aluminium sheet

    Frequent use of emergency departments: an application to the paediatric context.

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    Frequent users of Emergency Departments (EDs) represent a particularly interesting category of users since they account to a small percentage of patients but they affect considerably accesses, overcrowding and the overall costs of ED activities. The literature on the topic is vast and it allows to delineate a profile of frequent users identifying socio-demographic (age, gender, nationality) and clinical (chronic diseases, drugs and alcohol abuse; psychic illnesses) risk factors. However, most of the studies on the topic limit the analysis to one-year period or to a single study site and there is no consensus on the definition of frequent use. Frequent users are generally defined as those patients reporting a number of accesses per year beyond a certain threshold. The selection of the threshold is often based on previous literature or on percentiles but the definitions vary considerably and the choice tends to be subjective. In this study, the focus will be placed on paediatric patients, with reference to which the contributions in the literature are still very limited. The objective is to identify the most important drivers of ED frequent use in the 19 EDs of Liguria region (Italy) during a three-year period (2013-2015). The dataset contains 287,242 accesses referred to 144,895 under 14 patients and it includes information on patients\u2019 characteristics and on their clinical pathway. To overcome the limitations connected to previous definitions of frequent use, we exploit the availability of data on three years; this allows to define, not only frequent use, but also its duration (i.e. One-shot / Multiple shot frequent use) and intensity (Normal, High, Very high). By the use of logit and multinomial logit regressions we identify a set of risk factors associated to frequent use and to the different forms of frequent use. Results show that even if frequent users represent a small share of patients (9%) they contribute to roughly 25% of accesses. Chronic conditions are the most relevant determinants of frequent use (particularly mental disorders, diseases of the respiratory system) but also foreign nationality turns out to be an important predictor. Differences emerge in the impact of regressors on the different forms of frequent use defined according to its duration and intensity. The study represents an important tool to support policy-making and to discriminate between the potentially preventable frequent use (i.e. inapFrequent users of Emergency Departments (EDs) represent a particularly interesting category of users since they account to a small percentage of patients but they affect considerably accesses, overcrowding and the overall costs of ED activities. The literature on the topic is vast and it allows to delineate a profile of frequent users identifying socio-demographic (age, gender, nationality) and clinical (chronic diseases, drugs and alcohol abuse; psychic illnesses) risk factors. However, most of the studies on the topic limit the analysis to one-year period or to a single study site and there is no consensus on the definition of frequent use. Frequent users are generally defined as those patients reporting a number of accesses per year beyond a certain threshold. The selection of the threshold is often based on previous literature or on percentiles but the definitions vary considerably and the choice tends to be subjective. In this study, the focus will be placed on paediatric patients, with reference to which the contributions in the literature are still very limited. The objective is to identify the most important drivers of ED frequent use in the 19 EDs of Liguria region (Italy) during a three-year period (2013-2015). The dataset contains 287,242 accesses referred to 144,895 under 14 patients and it includes information on patients\u2019 characteristics and on their clinical pathway. To overcome the limitations connected to previous definitions of frequent use, we exploit the availability of data on three years; this allows to define, not only frequent use, but also its duration (i.e. One-shot / Multiple shot frequent use) and intensity (Normal, High, Very high). By the use of logit and multinomial logit regressions we identify a set of risk factors associated to frequent use and to the different forms of frequent use. Results show that even if frequent users represent a small share of patients (9%) they contribute to roughly 25% of accesses. Chronic conditions are the most relevant determinants of frequent use (particularly mental disorders, diseases of the respiratory system) but also foreign nationality turns out to be an important predictor. Differences emerge in the impact of regressors on the different forms of frequent use defined according to its duration and intensity. 150 05 March 2018, IISES Annual Conference, Sevilla ISBN ISBN 978-80-87927-45-8, IISES The study represents an important tool to support policy-making and to discriminate between the potentially preventable frequent use (i.e. inapFrequent users of Emergency Departments (EDs) represent a particularly interesting category of users since they account to a small percentage of patients but they affect considerably accesses, overcrowding and the overall costs of ED activities. The literature on the topic is vast and it allows to delineate a profile of frequent users identifying socio-demographic (age, gender, nationality) and clinical (chronic diseases, drugs and alcohol abuse; psychic illnesses) risk factors. However, most of the studies on the topic limit the analysis to one-year period or to a single study site and there is no consensus on the definition of frequent use. Frequent users are generally defined as those patients reporting a number of accesses per year beyond a certain threshold. The selection of the threshold is often based on previous literature or on percentiles but the definitions vary considerably and the choice tends to be subjective. In this study, the focus will be placed on paediatric patients, with reference to which the contributions in the literature are still very limited. The objective is to identify the most important drivers of ED frequent use in the 19 EDs of Liguria region (Italy) during a three-year period (2013-2015). The dataset contains 287,242 accesses referred to 144,895 under 14 patients and it includes information on patients\u2019 characteristics and on their clinical pathway. To overcome the limitations connected to previous definitions of frequent use, we exploit the availability of data on three years; this allows to define, not only frequent use, but also its duration (i.e. One-shot / Multiple shot frequent use) and intensity (Normal, High, Very high). By the use of logit and multinomial logit regressions we identify a set of risk factors associated to frequent use and to the different forms of frequent use. Results show that even if frequent users represent a small share of patients (9%) they contribute to roughly 25% of accesses. Chronic conditions are the most relevant determinants of frequent use (particularly mental disorders, diseases of the respiratory system) but also foreign nationality turns out to be an important predictor. Differences emerge in the impact of regressors on the different forms of frequent use defined according to its duration and intensity. 150 05 March 2018, IISES Annual Conference, Sevilla ISBN ISBN 978-80-87927-45-8, IISES The study represents an important tool to support policy-making and to discriminate between the potentially preventable frequent use (i.e. inapappropriate use) and that associated to complex medical conditions, such as chronic conditions

    Canine Mesenchymal Stem Cells from visceral and subcutaneuous adipose tissue for cell-based therapy

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    This study compared some characteristics of canine Adipose tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (cAD-MSCs) from subcutaneous and visceral fat. These findings were directed to obtain high quantity and quality cAD-MSCs for clinical cell-based therapy
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