Personalized modeling for real-time pressure ulcer prevention in sitting posture

, Ischial pressure ulcer is an important risk for every paraplegic person and a major public health issue. Pressure ulcers appear following excessive compression of buttock's soft tissues by bony structures, and particularly in ischial and sacral bones. Current prevention techniques are mainly based on daily skin inspection to spot red patches or injuries. Nevertheless, most pressure ulcers occur internally and are difficult to detect early. Estimating internal strains within soft tissues could help to evaluate the risk of pressure ulcer. A subject-specific biomechanical model could be used to assess internal strains from measured skin surface pressures. However, a realistic 3D non-linear Finite Element buttock model, with different layers of tissue materials for skin, fat and muscles, requires somewhere between minutes and hours to compute, therefore forbidding its use in a real-time daily prevention context. In this article, we propose to optimize these computations by using a reduced order modeling technique (ROM) based on proper orthogonal decompositions of the pressure and strain fields coupled with a machine learning method. ROM allows strains to be evaluated inside the model interactively (i.e. in less than a second) for any pressure field measured below the buttocks. In our case, with only 19 modes of variation of pressure patterns, an error divergence of one percent is observed compared to the full scale simulation for evaluating the strain field. This reduced model could therefore be the first step towards interactive pressure ulcer prevention in a daily setup. Highlights-Buttocks biomechanical modelling,-Reduced order model,-Daily pressure ulcer prevention

O fideicomisso como instrumento de proteção do concepturo : oportunidade e adequação atual de um instituto milenar como demonstração da convergência do direito civil e do direito constitucional

O fideicomisso existe há mais de dois milênios. Durante a sua existência, o fideicomisso teve diferentes utilizações, desde a mais remota entrega de patrimônio post mortem para pessoas impedidas pela lei de recebê-lo, passando pela perpetuação do patrimônio numa mesma família, e chegando aos tempos atuais como forma de transmitir patrimônio para o concepturo. Esta atual finalidade do fideicomisso, de proteger uma pessoa que ainda não foi concebida, mostra-se muito oportuna e adequada ao novo formato do Direito Civil pelo seu viés constitucional. Os valores protegidos pelo fideicomisso, como modalidade de direito privado, encontram amparo pleno no rol de tutelas constitucionais, dando ao instituto o seu caráter de direito civil constitucional. Desta forma, o fideicomisso não é apenas um instituto milenar que permanece em vigor, mas é instrumento para demonstrar a mais atual virtude do direito civil que é estar em convergência com o direito constitucional.The fideicomisso has existed for over two thousand years. First: In ancient times as a way to distribute assets post mortem to persons restricted by law to inherit these assets. Second: to assure the protection and perpetuation of assets in the same family. Thirdly, in present times as a way to transmit assets to yet unborn persons - the concepturo. This current role and purpose of the fideicomisso, to protect a person who has not yet been conceived, presents itself under a new format of constitutional civil law. Old values protected by the fideicomisso, as a form of private law, are now protecting by the constitutionals principles, thus giving the history institute of a fideicomisso a new character. Consequently, the fideicomisso is not only an ancient institution which remains in use, but has become an instrument whit reflects the current view of civil law as impregnated and strongly influenced by norms of order to give additional protection by force of these constitutional principles.Il fedecommesso esiste da oltre due millenni. Nel corso della sua esistenza, il fedecommesso ha avuto diversi finalità: nel tempo più remoto serviva per la consegna patrimoniale post mortem alle persone limitate dalla legge a ricevere. Doppo, fu uttile per la perpetuazione del patrimonio in una stessa famiglia. In tempi presenti atua come un modo di passare il patrimonio al concepturo. Questo nuovo scopo del fedecommesso, di proteggere una persona che non è stato ancora concepita, sembra molto opportuna ed adeguata al nuovo formato del diritto civile per la sua perpettiva costituzionale. I valori protetti dal fedecommesso, come una forma di diritto privato, sono ampati in sede costituzionale. Questo fornisce all'istituto il carattere costituzionale del diritto civile. Così, il fedecommesso non è solo un antico istituto che rimane in vigore, ma è uno strumento per mostrare la prspetiva troppo attuale del diritto civile, che deve essere in convergenza con legalità costituzionale

FMEA and consideration of real work situations for safer design of production systems

Production equipment designers must ensure the health and safety of future users; in this regard, they augment requirements for standardising and controlling operator work. This contrasts with the ergonomic view of the activity, which recommends leaving operators leeway (margins for manoeuvre) in performing their task, while safeguarding their health. Following a brief analysis of design practices in the car industry, we detail how the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) approach is implemented in this sector. We then suggest an adaptation that enables designers to consider real work situations. This new protocol, namely work situation FMEA, allows experience feedback to be used to defend the health standpoint during designer project reviews, which usually only address quality and performance issues. We subsequently illustrate the advantage of this approach using two examples of work situations at car parts manufacturers: the first from the literature and the second from an in-company industrial project we followed

Trois conditions pour une clinique de l’activité en psychologie du travail : le cas d’une intervention dans une entreprise de logistique automobile

L’objectif de cet article est de proposer, à partir d’une intervention chez un logisticien automobile, l’analyse de conditions favorisant le développement de l’activité, du métier et de la santé au travail. Le cadre de l’intervention en clinique de l’activité et sa méthodologie, déployés auprès d’opérateurs de montage de pare-chocs, nous amènent à tenter une formalisation de l’action du clinicien de l’activité qui cherche à transformer les obstacles organisationnels en nouvelles ressources pour le développement du métier d’opérateurs. Nous insistons sur la nécessité d’un travail clinique tant avec les opérateurs, par le biais d’une co-analyse du travail, qu’avec les concepteurs et décideurs de l’entreprise en comité de pilotage. Cette double visée de la recherche-intervention permet ainsi de maximiser les possibilités de développement de l’activité des opérateurs et de transformations de l’organisation du travail, malgré l’incertitude que laissent toujours nos actions face à la complexité de l’activité humaine et des organisations du travail. En partant du travail en intervention et des effets produits, nous proposons trois conditions cliniques qui ont semblé fondamentales pour permettre des développements de l’activité et un retentissement plus large au sein de l’organisation. Ces trois conditions renvoient à : l’authenticité du dialogue sur le travail, l’engagement dans la controverse, le transfert des étonnements et affects. Cette proposition de formalisation, au-delà de la méthode, permet d’alimenter le débat autour du modèle de la transformation lié à une approche clinique de l’activité.The aim of this article is to use an intervention relating to clinical activity in an automobile logistics company to study the conditions which encourage the development of activity and health at work. The clinical activity intervention framework and its methodology among bumper assembly operators shows how the activity clinician’s action attempts to overcome organizational obstacles and to transform them into new resources for operator work development. We emphasize the necessity for clinical work both with the operators, in the form of occupational co-analysis, and with designers and managers of the firm in the steering committee. It is necessary to maximize opportunities for the development of operator activity and for the transformation of the organizational work, despite the uncertainty of our actions in relation to the complexities of human activity and work organization. On the basis of this analysis, we propose three conditions which seem fundamental to sustaining development activity and to spreading this analysis throughout the organization. These three conditions are: work dialogue authenticity, commitment in controversy, transfers of surprise and affects. This proposal will help fuel the debate on the transformation model relating to a clinical approach to the activity

Prediction of the 3D shape of the L1 vertebral body from adjacent vertebrae

The aim of treatments of vertebral fractures is the anatomical reduction to restore the physiological biomechanics of the spine and the stabilization of the fracture to allow bone healing. However, the three-dimensional shape of the fractured vertebral body before the fracture is unknown in the clinical setting. Information about the pre-fracture vertebral body shape could help surgeons to select the optimal treatment. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a method based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to predict the shape of the vertebral body of L1 from the shapes of T12 and L2. The geometry of the vertebral bodies of T12, L1 and L2 vertebrae of 40 patients were extracted from CT scans available from the VerSe2020 open-access dataset. Surface triangular meshes of each vertebra were morphed onto a template mesh. The set of vectors with the node coordinates of the morphed T12, L1 and L2 were compressed with SVD and used to build a system of linear equations. This system was used to solve a minimization problem and to reconstruct the shape of L1. A leave-one-out cross-validation was performed. Moreover, the approach was tested against an independent dataset with large osteophytes. The results of the study show a good prediction of the shape of the vertebral body of L1 from the shapes of the two adjacent vertebrae (mean error equal to 0.51 ± 0.11 mm on average, Hausdorff distance equal to 2.11 ± 0.56 mm on average), compared to current CT resolution typically used in the operating room. The error was slightly higher for patients presenting large osteophytes or severe bone degeneration (mean error equal to 0.65 ± 0.10 mm, Hausdorff distance equal to 3.54 ± 1.03 mm). The accuracy of the prediction was significantly better than approximating the shape of the vertebral body of L1 by the shape of T12 or L2. This approach could be used in the future to improve the pre-planning of spine surgeries to treat vertebral fractures

Planification stratégique socio-économique, raconter l'imaginaire pour le rendre réel

Dans cet article nous explorons comment l'approche socio-économique de management offre des outils pour incorporer efficacement la narration dans les différentes phases du processus stratégique dans les organisations, afin d'incorporer les voix des employés dans le raffinement de la stratégie écrite (élaboration de la stratégie) et de stimuler l'identification des actions qui engagent les employés dans la mise en œuvre efficace de la stratégie. Nous utilisons une approche d'étude de cas utilisant la méthodologie de recherche-intervention socio-économique. Nous avons sélectionné trois entreprises de différents secteurs (arts, architecture et activités vétérinaires), de deux pays (France et Espagne) et opérant sur des marchés différents : régional, national et international. Nos conclusions montrent comment les récits du management socio-économique facilitent les ajustements nécessaires, l'assemblage des histoires et l'établissement de liens entre elles. Ce principe, appliqué aux ambitions stratégiques, constitue un avantage concurrentiel à forte valeur ajoutée, synonyme d'adaptation stratégiqueUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Biochemical Composition of Cumin Seeds, and Biorefining Study

A new biorefinery approach has been developed in the present study, and applied on cumin (Cuminum cyminum) seeds as a potential source of phytochemicals of interest. Cumin is a popular spice used widely for its distinctive aroma. It is a rich reserve of both vegetable and essential oils. The biorefinery approach here focused on the evaluation of the influence of four different geographical origins (i.e., Lebanon, France, Algeria and Syria) on oil yield and quality in cumin seed, and on the valorization of remaining by-products by investigating their nutritional content and biological activity for the first time. Vegetable and essential oils were extracted, and their compositions were determined. Nutritional traits were also assessed. The delipidated and hydrodistillated cakes just as aromatic water were characterized for their fiber, sugar, protein, phenol and flavonoid contents. Antibacterial and antioxidant activities were also determined. Cumin seeds showed high contents in both vegetable and essential oils, proteins and sugars regardless their origin. Moreover, this Apiaceae species exhibited high levels of petroselinic fatty acid (an isomer of oleic acid) and sterols. Cakes and aromatic water also presented high levels of proteins, fibers, sugars and phenols. These residues revealed interesting antioxidant and antibacterial activities. These results emphasized the potential use of cumin in a biorefinery concept, with a multi-purpose industrial process. In addition, large differences were observed between the four geographical origins for phytochemical contents and compositions. These findings highlight the perspectives for developing selection programs for nutritional traits and industrial interests. All obtained results validate the health promoting effect of cumin composition as well as its industrial importance along with the residues