1,915 research outputs found
Step-to-step reproducibility and asymmetry to study gait auto-optimization in healthy and cerebral palsied subjects
AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of our study was to compare plantar pressure asymmetry and step-to-step reproducibility in both able-bodied persons and two groups of hemiplegics. The relevance of the research was to determine the efficiency of asymmetry and reproducibility as indexes for diagnosis and rehabilitation processes.Material and methodThis study comprised 31 healthy young subjects and 20 young subjects suffering from cerebral palsy hemiplegia assigned to two groups of 10 subjects according to the severity of their musculoskeletal disorders. The peaks of plantar pressure and the time to peak pressure were recorded with an in-shoe measurement system. The intra-individual coefficient of variability was calculated to indicate the consistency of plantar pressure during walking and to define gait stability. The effect size was computed to quantify the asymmetry and measurements were conducted at eight footprint locations.ResultsResults indicated few differences in step-to-step reproducibility between the healthy group and the less spastic group while the most affected group showed a more asymmetrical and unstable gait.ConclusionFrom the concept of self-optimisation and depending on the neuromotor disorders the organism could make priorities based on pain, mobility, stability or energy expenditure to develop the best gait auto-optimisation
Thermal shape fluctuation effects in the description of hot nuclei
The behavior of several nuclear properties with temperature is analyzed
within the framework of the Finite Temperature Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (FTHFB)
theory with the Gogny force and large configuration spaces. Thermal shape
fluctuations in the quadrupole degree of freedom, around the mean field
solution, are taken into account with the Landau prescription. As
representative examples the nuclei Er, Dy and Hg are
studied. Numerical results for the superfluid to normal and deformed to
spherical shape transitions are presented. We found a substantial effect of the
fluctuations on the average value of several observables. In particular, we get
a decrease in the critical temperature () for the shape transition as
compared with the plain FTHFB prediction as well as a washing out of the shape
transition signatures. The new values of are closer to the ones found in
Strutinsky calculations and with the Pairing Plus Quadrupole model Hamiltonian.Comment: 17 pages, 8 Figure
Health effects of living near an incinerator: A systematic review of epidemiological studies, with focus on last generation plants
Huge reductions in incinerators' emissions occurred over time, and results of older studies cannot be directly generalized to modern plants. We conducted a systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence of the health
effects of incinerators, classifying plants in three generations, according to emission limits. A systematic search identified 63 epidemiologic studies, published in English, investigating health effects of incinerators on humans. We focused on cancer, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) and respiratory diseases, pregnancy outcomes and congenital anomalies. Only six studies in the general population were on third generation incinerators providing data on pregnancy outcomes and congenital anomalies. Given the heterogeneity of methods, the abundance of ecological/semi-ecological studies and the lack of reliable quantitative measures of
exposure in several studies we did not perform any meta-analysis. No excesses emerged concerning all cancers and lung cancer. An excess of non-Hodgkin lymphoma was reported in some earlier studies, but not for second generation plants. Possible excesses of soft tissue sarcomas were confined to earlier incinerators and the areas closer to the plants. No clear association emerged for CVD and diseases of the respiratory system. Several different pregnancy outcomes were considered, and no consistent association emerged, in spite of a few positive results. Studies were negative for congenital anomalies as a whole. Sporadic excesses were reported in a few studies for specific types of anomalies, but no consistent pattern emerged. Evaluation of the evidence was hindered by heterogeneity in reporting and classification of outcomes across studies.
Direct evidence from third generation plants is scarce. Methodological issues in study design (mainly related to exposure assessment, confounding and ecological design) and analysis make interpretation of results complex. In spite of this, the overall evidence suggests that, if there were any excesses at all for older incinerators, they were modest at most. Additional monitoring of third generation plants needs to overcome methodological weakness
A statistical interpretation of the correlation between intermediate mass fragment multiplicity and transverse energy
Multifragment emission following Xe+Au collisions at 30, 40, 50 and 60 AMeV
has been studied with multidetector systems covering nearly 4-pi in solid
angle. The correlations of both the intermediate mass fragment and light
charged particle multiplicities with the transverse energy are explored. A
comparison is made with results from a similar system, Xe+Bi at 28 AMeV. The
experimental trends are compared to statistical model predictions.Comment: 7 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Critical Temperature for the Nuclear Liquid-Gas Phase Transition
The charge distribution of the intermediate mass fragments produced in p (8.1
GeV) + Au collisions is analyzed in the framework of the statistical
multifragmentation model with the critical temperature for the nuclear
liquid-gas phase transition as a free parameter. It is found that
MeV (90% CL).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, published in Phys. Rev.
Ion-exchange voltammetry at polymer film-coated nanoelectrode ensembles.
Ensembles of nanoscopic disk-shaped electrodes have
been shown to offer enhancements in electroanalytical
detection limits relative to electrodes of macroscopic
dimensions (e.g., disk electrodes with diameters of 1
mm). Enhancements in electroanalytical detection limits
have also been observed at macroscopic electrodes that
have been coated with films of ion-exchange polymers. In
this paper we combine these two concepts. We demonstrate
that a nanoelectrode ensemble (NEE) that has been
coated with a thin film of the Kodak ion-exchange polymer
AQ 55 shows enhanced electroanalytical detection limits
relative to the uncoated NEE and to the coated macroscopic
electrode. To our knowledge, this is the first
investigation of the electrochemistry, and the electroanalytical
advantages, of polymer film-coated NEEs
Measurement of the complete nuclide production and kinetic energies of the system 136Xe + hydrogen at 1 GeV per nucleon
We present an extensive overview of production cross sections and kinetic
energies for the complete set of nuclides formed in the spallation of 136Xe by
protons at the incident energy of 1 GeV per nucleon. The measurement was
performed in inverse kinematics at the FRagment Separator (GSI, Darmstadt).
Slightly below the Businaro-Gallone point, 136Xe is the stable nuclide with the
largest neutron excess. The kinematic data and cross sections collected in this
work for the full nuclide production are a general benchmark for modelling the
spallation process in a neutron-rich nuclear system, where fission is
characterised by predominantly mass-asymmetric splits.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figure
Primary tumor sidedness and benefit from FOLFOXIRI plus bevacizumab as initial therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer. Retrospective analysis of the TRIBE trial by GONO
Right-sided metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients have poor prognosis and achieve limited benefit from first-line doublets plus a targeted agent. In this unplanned analysis of the TRIBE study, we investigated the prognostic and predictive impact of primary tumor sidedness in mCRC patients and the differential impact of the intensification of the chemotherapy in subgroups defined according to both primary tumor sidedness and RAS and BRAF mutational status
The liquid to vapor phase transition in excited nuclei
For many years it has been speculated that excited nuclei would undergo a
liquid to vapor phase transition. For even longer, it has been known that
clusterization in a vapor carries direct information on the liquid- vapor
equilibrium according to Fisher's droplet model. Now the thermal component of
the 8 GeV/c pion + 197Au multifragmentation data of the ISiS Collaboration is
shown to follow the scaling predicted by Fisher's model, thus providing the
strongest evidence yet of the liquid to vapor phase transition.Comment: four pages, four figures, first two in color (corrected typo in Ref.
[26], corrected error in Fig. 4
Temperature dependent BCS equations with continuum coupling
The temperature dependent BCS equations are modified in order to include the
contribution of the continuum single particle states. The influence of the
continuum upon the critical temperature corresponding to the phase transition
from a superfluid to a normal state and upon the behaviour of the excitation
energy and of the entropy is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
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