Monitoraggio informatico della dose di radiazioni ionizzanti in diagnostica per immagini pediatrica

The following work aims at monitoring and analyzing the quantity and quality of ionizing radiation used in medical imaging, especially when taking care of paediatric patients. This experimental research is part of a project in collaboration between the Operating Unit of Radiodiagnostic 3 of the University of Pisa and a Belgian company, Qaelum Inc., a spin-off company of the University Hospitals of Leuven. For this purpose the software Total Quality Monitoring (TQM), supplied in Italy by Fujifilm, was used to collect metadata information of every study in our sample, including but not restricted to dose data. It allows to control the doses of diagnostic modalities (RX, CT, MN/CT, and so on) used in the various Operating Units of the Hospital of the University of Pisa and to analyze the children who need this kind of diagnostic exams. The representative sample chosen for this research concerns children under 15 years of age (9283 studies), who were subject to methodologies of conventional radiography, computed tomography and nuclear medicine methodologies in the period from 21/03/2008 to 25/06/2013. In regard to this sample, it was possible to view and/or analyze the provided dose and to collect more general data of the diagnostic devices in our sample, including exposure settings, processing parameters, responsible person and the devices vendor name and model. Thanks to the collaboration with the hospital staff and the computer experts, this large amount of information was collected and then analyzed. The interfaces, diagrams and charts provided by TQM are available quicker and are more complete than the information given by the RIS/PACS. It was possible to analyze, in DAP or DLP, the daily and average quantity of dose of some of the selected diagnostic devices, and the cumulated dose of radiations of many paediatric patients. In regard to this sample, it was possible to have a clear view of the diagnostic history of each considered paediatric population, calculating even the cumulative dosimetric figures of the exams carried out with different devices and in different Operating Units, but it was impossible to get a complete analysis of the following parameters: definition of the model and trademark of the used devices and of the Operating Unit where that device is situated. This depends on the way the software TQM reads specific DICOM Headers. The classification of patients who have more than one ID in RIS/PACS is going to be fixed in TQM. The positive aspect of the use of the software TQM is the possibility, for the hospital staff, to know the amount of dose given by each device and, at the same time, the amount of dose administered to each paediatric patient in the course of their life. This is reflected in the possibility to create patient specific dose passports. In this way it could be useful to compare the dose received by every independent study with available DRLs (Diagnostic Reference Levels) and to utilize this information when defining best practices in medical imaging

THIEME Atlas of Anatomy – Internal Organs , 2nd Edition. Michael Schuenke, Erik Schulte, Udo Schumacher (Editors), Wayne A. Cass (Consulting Editor), Markus Voll, Karl Wesker (Illustrations)

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You must live your politics: publishing practices and libertarianism in MayDay Rooms Archives

Agit-Prop Notes documents the radical print culture that erupted in the 1970s, which saw political and social movement groups taking-up newly accessible and affordable small off-set litho, screen printing and duplication technologies to produce leaflets, newspapers, flyers, comics bulletin, positioning papers all in the aid of struggle. It looks at how types of collective production and design gave material form to types of organisation, experimentation, orientation and authority

Charge carrier generation in a conjugated polymer studied via ultrafast pump-push-probe experiments

Conjugated polymers find rapidly growing application in electroluminescent displays and are extensively studied for use in photovoltaics and laser diodes. For a wide range of conjugated materials ultrafast pump-probe experiments have revealed the excited state dynamics of singlet and triplet excitons as well as positively and negatively charged polarons. Charge carriers play a key role in all the above mentioned applications. However, there is yet no clear picture of the mechanisms which lead to their generation. Photocurrent excitation cross-correlation measurement on methyl-substituted ladder-type poly(para)phenyl (m-LPPP), a prototypical conjugated polymer with very appealing properties for the above mentioned applications, have suggested that charge carrier generation occurs preferentially from higher lying states during energy migration. Our approach to examining this mechanism consists of an innovative modification of the ultrafast time-resolved pump-probe technique

Publishing as a prefigurative political form: theory and practice of radical publishing

This presentation looks at editorial approaches and design choices employed by the East London group part of the political organisation Big Flame to produce a selection of their publications. I am going to consider how the group developed design and editorial processes consistently with its political vision — with the overarching aim of embodying and enacting ideals of democracy, social justice and solidarity. This entangled relationship between the political vision and the organisational and production practice of East London Big Flame is discussed through an analysis of 3 publications. And looking at different aspects of the pamphlets, I will argue that the group interpreted and developed ideals of democracy and solidarity towards experimental approaches to publishing. Considering design and layout as a manifestation of the group’s ideology, I have been interested in how visual qualities and the chosen production processes, provide a way to read and possibly nuance histories of publishing, design, and political activism

The collective production of radical politics in print: libertarian culture and publishing in the 1970s

This paper examines the relationship between political ideology and printed publications through a study of the radical press in 1970s Britain. The presentation discusses published material, social relationships and the political context surrounding the publications, in order to examine different ways in which political thought influenced the production of printed material. The narrative argues that democratic and non-hierarchical organisation and production practices, frequently adopted by groups of the libertarian Left to operate consistently with their political values, determined experimental approaches to writing, editing, and design. The research presents different ways in which ideology, group organisation and the form and content of printed publications are inextricably linked. These relationships emerge from an analysis of journals and pamphlets published by the political group Big Flame and sample issues of the radical magazine The Leveller. Internal documents produced by the groups, as well as oral interviews with former members, were also explored, and provided further insights. Crucial to the development of the radical press in the 1970s was increasing access to printing technology, thanks to the availability of small-scale offset lithography and electric typewriters, and the emergence across the Left political spectrum of a range of autonomous groups active outside political parties. Looking at two histories continuing side by side, one of publishing and one of political activism, this presentation offers an original contribution to the history of graphic design — a history characterised by participation and non-professionalism, and therefore located outside the territory of traditional graphic design histories