Network-aware design-space exploration of a power-efficient embedded application

The paper presents the design and multi-parameter optimization of a networked embedded application for the health-care domain. Several hardware, software, and application parameters, such as clock frequency, sensor sampling rate, data packet rate, are tuned at design- and run-time according to application specifications and operating conditions to optimize hardware requirements, packet loss, power consumption. Experimental results show that further power efficiency can be achieved by considering also communication aspects during design space exploratio

Prototyping of manual wheelchair with alternative propulsion system

Aim: This paper presents the study, design and prototyping of a manual wheelchair, named handwheelchair.q, with an innovative propulsion's system. The research is based on a novel system of propulsion that is more efficient and ergonomic than the hand rim one. The main goal of the designed prototype is to facilitate the mobility and to extend the reachable areas while reducing the required time. Methods: The propulsion is realised through a rowing-inspired gesture. Results: This gesture avoids the damages caused on shoulders by the compressive force of the hand rim and lever systems. Conclusion: The prototyping allowed the analysis of the project parameters and their influence on the kinematic characteristics of the prototype and the biomechanical characteristics of the gesture. The same propulsion's system can be adopted on wheelchairs devoted to sport activities, representing the starting point for a future prototype of racing wheelchairs. In this regard, the wheelchair's braking system has been redesigned in order to improve efficiency and safety.Implication for rehabilitation The use of the Handwheelchair.q may have positive impacts in terms of the quality of life, in order to reduce the shoulder pain caused by the handrim and lever system. In addition, it can be a good tool for rehabilitation because the activity can be performed outdoor

The design of a new manual wheelchair for sport

In this paper, an innovative system of propulsion inspired by a rowing gesture for manual wheelchairs is shown. The innovative system of propulsion, named Handwheelchair.q, can be applied to wheelchairs employed in everyday life and to sports wheelchairs for speed races, such as Handbike and Wheelchair racing. The general features of the innovative system of propulsion and the functional designs of the different solutions are described in detail. In addition, the design of the mechanism for the transmission of motion, employed in a second prototype, Handwheelchair.q02, is presented and analysed. Finally, the dynamic model of the Handwheelchair.q has been developed in order to obtain important results for the executive design of Handwheelchair.q

VP66.23: Cervicovaginal localisation of non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma: ultrasound features

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The pairing Hamiltonian for one pair of identical nucleons bound in a potential well

The problem of one pair of identical nucleons sitting in ${\cal N}$ single particle levels of a potential well and interacting through the pairing force is treated introducing even Grassmann variables. The eigenvectors are analytically expressed solely in terms of these with coefficients fixed by the eigenvalues and the single particle energies. When the latter are those of an harmonic oscillator well an accurate expression is derived for both the collective eigenvalue and for those trapped in between the single particle levels, for any strength of the pairing interaction and for any number of levels. Notably the trapped solutions are labelled through an index upon which they depend parabolically.Comment: 5 pages, 1 postscript figur

Brief mindfulness training enhances cognitive control in socioemotional contexts: Behavioral and neural evidence.

In social contexts, the dynamic nature of others' emotions places unique demands on attention and emotion regulation. Mindfulness, characterized by heightened and receptive moment-to-moment attending, may be well-suited to meet these demands. In particular, mindfulness may support more effective cognitive control in social situations via efficient deployment of top-down attention. To test this, a randomized controlled study examined effects of mindfulness training (MT) on behavioral and neural (event-related potentials [ERPs]) responses during an emotional go/no-go task that tested cognitive control in the context of emotional facial expressions that tend to elicit approach or avoidance behavior. Participants (N = 66) were randomly assigned to four brief (20 min) MT sessions or to structurally equivalent book learning control sessions. Relative to the control group, MT led to improved discrimination of facial expressions, as indexed by d-prime, as well as more efficient cognitive control, as indexed by response time and accuracy, and particularly for those evidencing poorer discrimination and cognitive control at baseline. MT also produced better conflict monitoring of behavioral goal-prepotent response tendencies, as indexed by larger No-Go N200 ERP amplitudes, and particularly so for those with smaller No-Go amplitude at baseline. Overall, findings are consistent with MT's potential to enhance deployment of early top-down attention to better meet the unique cognitive and emotional demands of socioemotional contexts, particularly for those with greater opportunity for change. Findings also suggest that early top-down attention deployment could be a cognitive mechanism correspondent to the present-oriented attention commonly used to explain regulatory benefits of mindfulness more broadly

A wide difference in cancer survival between middle aged and elderly patients in Europe.

Abstract Nowadays the burden of cancer in elderly people has reached an alarming extent. The purpose of this study is comparing cumulative and conditional relative survival in elderly patients between 65 and 84 years and younger adults aged from 55 to 64. Fifty-three cancer registries of 22 European countries, participating in the EUROCARE-3 programme, collected information on the cases diagnosed over the period 1990-1994. We computed cumulative and conditional relative survival for 16 cancer sites. Middle aged patients experienced a better prognosis than the elderly for all cancer sites, in both sexes and the differences were more marked at 1 than 5 years since diagnosis. The very large differences noted in the first period after cancer detection declined in the subsequent years and, when 5-years conditional survival was considered, for several cancers the elderly and younger adults had the same probabilities of surviving. The death relative excess risks (RERs) in the elderly with respect younger individuals were really very high and markedly larger at 1 than 5 years, and in women than men. Genitourinary and gynaecological cancers showed the highest RERs, around 2.0 and between 1.5 and 2.5 respectively. This very high early mortality could be due not only to clinical aspects: the barriers to health care access and a consequent late diagnosis might represent for elderly patients the main determinant of this very large prognostic disadvantage. In conclusion, clinical management of cancer in the elderly remains a major issue to be faced with complex social and health care policies

Genotype-phenotype relations of the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor inferred from a large-scale analysis of disease mutations and interactors

Familiar cancers represent a privileged point of view for studying the complex cellular events inducing tumor transformation. Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, a familiar predisposition to develop cancer is a clear example. Here, we present our efforts to decipher the role of von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein (pVHL) in cancer insurgence. We collected high quality information about both pVHL mutations and interactors to investigate the association between patient phenotypes, mutated protein surface and impaired interactions. Our data suggest that different phenotypes correlate with localized perturbations of the pVHL structure, with specific cell functions associated to different protein surfaces. We propose five different pVHL interfaces to be selectively involved in modulating proteins regulating gene expression, protein homeostasis as well as to address extracellular matrix (ECM) and ciliogenesis associated functions. These data were used to drive molecular docking of pVHL with its interactors and guide Petri net simulations of the most promising alterations. We predict that disruption of pVHL association with certain interactors can trigger tumor transformation, inducing metabolism imbalance and ECM remodeling. Collectively taken, our findings provide novel insights into VHL-associated tumorigenesis. This highly integrated in silico approach may help elucidate novel treatment paradigms for VHL disease