108,191 research outputs found
Delayed eruption of permanent dentition and maxillary contraction in patients with cleidocranial dysplasia: review and report of a family
Introduction. Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is an inherited disease caused by mutations in the RUNX2 gene on chromosome 6p21. This pathology, autosomal dominant or caused by a spontaneous genetic mutation, is present in one in one million individuals, with complete penetrance and widely variable expressivity. Aim. To identify the incidence of these clinical findings in the report of the literature by means of PubMed interface from 2002 to 2015, with the related keywords. The report of local patients presents a clinical example, related to the therapeutic approach. Results and Discussions. The PubMed research resulted in 122 articles. All the typical signs were reported in all presented cases. The maxilla was hypoplastic in 94% of the patients. Missing of permanent teeth was found in two cases: one case presented a class II jaw relationship, instead of class III malocclusion. Similar findings were present in our cohort. Conclusion. CCD is challenging for both the dental team and the patient. The treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach. Further studies are required to better understand the cause of this disease. According to this review, a multistep approach enhances the possibilities to achieve the recovery of the most possible number of teeth, as such to obtain a good occlusion and a better aesthetic
Evaporation Channel as a Tool to Study Fission Dynamics
The dynamics of the fission process is expected to affect the evaporation
residue cross section because of the fission hindrance due to the nuclear
viscosity. Systems of intermediate fissility constitute a suitable environment
for testing such hypothesis, since they are characterized by evaporation
residue cross sections comparable or larger than the fission ones. Observables
related to emitted charged particle, due to their relatively high emission
probability, can be used to put stringent constraints on models describing the
excited nucleus decay and to recognize the effects of fission dynamics. In this
work model simulations are compared with the experimental data collected via
the ^{32}S + ^{100}Mo reaction at E_{lab}= 200 MeV. By comparing an extended
set of evaporation channel observables the limits of the statistical model and
the large improvement coming by using a dynamical model are evidenced. The
importance of using a large angular covering apparatus to extract the
observable is stressed. The opportunity to measure more sensitive observables
by a new detection device in operation at LNL are also discussed.Comment: v1: 7 pages, 6 figure
Design of a Lambda system for population transfer in superconducting nanocircuits
The implementation of a Lambda scheme in superconducting artificial atoms
could allow detec- tion of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) and
other quantum manipulations in the microwave regime. However symmetries which
on one hand protect the system against decoherence, yield selection rules which
may cancel coupling to the pump external drive. The tradeoff between efficient
coupling and decoherence due to broad-band colored Noise (BBCN), which is often
the main source of decoherence is addressed, in the class of nanodevices based
on the Cooper pair box (CPB) design. We study transfer efficiency by STIRAP,
showing that substantial efficiency is achieved for off-symmetric bias only in
the charge-phase regime. We find a number of results uniquely due to
non-Markovianity of BBCN, namely: (a) the efficiency for STIRAP depends
essentially on noise channels in the trapped subspace; (b) low-frequency
fluctuations can be analyzed and represented as fictitious correlated
fluctuations of the detunings of the external drives; (c) a simple figure of
merit for design and operating prescriptions allowing the observation of STIRAP
is proposed. The emerging physical picture also applies to other classes of
coherent nanodevices subject to BBCN.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure
Interacting social processes on interconnected networks
We propose and study a model for the interplay between two different
dynamical processes --one for opinion formation and the other for decision
making-- on two interconnected networks and . The opinion dynamics on
network corresponds to that of the M-model, where the state of each agent
can take one of four possible values (), describing its level of
agreement on a given issue. The likelihood to become an extremist ()
or a moderate () is controlled by a reinforcement parameter .
The decision making dynamics on network is akin to that of the
Abrams-Strogatz model, where agents can be either in favor () or against
() the issue. The probability that an agent changes its state is
proportional to the fraction of neighbors that hold the opposite state raised
to a power . Starting from a polarized case scenario in which all agents
of network hold positive orientations while all agents of network have
a negative orientation, we explore the conditions under which one of the
dynamics prevails over the other, imposing its initial orientation. We find
that, for a given value of , the two-network system reaches a consensus
in the positive state (initial state of network ) when the reinforcement
overcomes a crossover value , while a negative consensus happens
for . In the phase space, the system displays a
transition at a critical threshold , from a coexistence of both
orientations for to a dominance of one orientation for
. We develop an analytical mean-field approach that gives an
insight into these regimes and shows that both dynamics are equivalent along
the crossover line .Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Disinvestment in healthcare: An overview of HTA agencies and organizations activities at European level
Background: In an era of a growing economic pressure for all health systems, the interest for "disinvestment" in healthcare increased. In this context, evidence based approaches such as Health Technology Assessment (HTA) are needed both to invest and to disinvest in health technologies. In order to investigate the extent of application of HTA in this field, methodological projects/frameworks, case studies, dissemination initiatives on disinvestment released by HTA agencies and organizations located in Europe were searched. Methods: In July 2015, the websites of HTA agencies and organizations belonging to the European network for HTA (EUnetHTA) and the International Network of Agencies for HTA (INAHTA) were accessed and searched through the use of the term "disinvestment". Retrieved deliverables were considered eligible if they reported methodological projects/frameworks, case studies and dissemination initiatives focused on disinvestment in healthcare. Results: 62 HTA agencies/organizations were accessed and eight methodological projects/frameworks, one case study and one dissemination initiative were found starting from 2007. With respect to methodological projects/frameworks, two were delivered in Austria, one in Italy, two in Spain and three in U.K. As for the case study and the dissemination initiative, both came from U.K. The majority of deliverables were aimed at making an overview of existing disinvestment approaches and at identifying challenges in their introduction. Conclusions: Today, in a healthcare context characterized by resource scarcity and increasing service demand, "disinvestment" from low-value services and reinvestment in high-value ones is a key strategy that may be supported by HTA. The lack of evaluation of technologies in use, in particular at the end of their lifecycle, may be due to the scant availability of frameworks and guidelines for identification and assessment of obsolete technologies that was shown by our work. Although several projects were carried out in different countries, most remain constrained to the field of research. Disinvestment is a relatively new concept in HTA that could pose challenges also from a methodological point of view. To tackle these challenges, it is necessary to construct experiences at international level with the aim to develop new methodological approaches to produce and grow evidence on disinvestment policies and practices
Gamification techniques for raising cyber security awareness
Due to the prevalence of online services in modern society, such as internet banking and social media, it is important for users to have an understanding of basic security measures in order to keep themselves safe online. However, users often do not know how to make their online interactions secure, which demonstrates an educational need in this area. Gamification has grown in popularity in recent years and has been used to teach people about a range of subjects. This paper presents an exploratory study investigating the use of gamification techniques to educate average users about password security, with the aim of raising overall security awareness. To explore the impact of such techniques, a role-playing quiz application (RPG) was developed for the Android platform to educate users about password security. Results gained from the work highlightedthat users enjoyed learning via the use of the password application, and felt they benefitted from the inclusion of gamification techniques. Future work seeks to expand the prototype into a full solution, covering a range of security awareness issues
The Importance of Boundary Conditions in Quantum Mechanics
We discuss the role of boundary conditions in determining the physical
content of the solutions of the Schrodinger equation. We study the
standing-wave, the ``in,'' the ``out,'' and the purely outgoing boundary
conditions. As well, we rephrase Feynman's prescription as a
time-asymmetric, causal boundary condition, and discuss the connection of
Feynman's prescription with the arrow of time of Quantum
Electrodynamics. A parallel of this arrow of time with that of Classical
Electrodynamics is made. We conclude that in general, the time evolution of a
closed quantum system has indeed an arrow of time built into the propagators.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the ICTP conference "Irreversible
Quantum Dynamics," Trieste, Italy, July 200
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