Corporal and Discourse Fuzzy Boundaries. The Partaking of Experience in Simone de Beauvoir’s Monologue

The paper sets out to analyze the multiple mirroring taking place between various aspects of the narrative reality in Simone de Beauvoir’s Monologue and suggested in terms of broken imagery. We seek to prove the unity and harmony existing in this disheveled text, which one may find difficult to make sense of upon a first reading. The aim is to reveal the way in which, in fact, the smallest details symphonically converge towards the main idea(s), in a finely-tuned and thought-over masterwork that the short story at hand obscures itself from being upon a superficial glance. Starting from corporal references, which abound in the text, we analyze the way in which these intertwine with and reflect the main themes – femininity and feminism, aggression and trauma, sexuality, motherhood, the obsession of contrasts, material and metaphorical obstructions and flows, patriarchy and truthfulness – and are reunited towards a bitter (and, as the protagonist claims, a more honest) interpretation of reality. The approach also proposes the acceptance of paradox, present in the notion of unity in difference, of fuzzy concepts, pointing to deconstructive construction and to the creation of broken identity. The demonstration ultimately resorts, for explanatory reasons, to the image of the partaking, as a metaphor for the process of using bits and pieces to the purpose of attaining communion, pieces which both aren’t and at the same time are the Whole

VoyageWithUs : a recommender platform that enhances group travel planning

Group travel planning poses unique challenges such as choosing hotels, restaurants and venues while catering to everyone’s wants and needs, or sharing trip itineraries and artifacts among trip participants. State of the art travel planning applications such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, while integrating with social networks and making recommendations, don’t offer recommendations for specific groups of travelers. On the other hand, while TripCase offers trip planning capabilities and email sharing, it doesn’t offer a full interactive travel planner that allows groups to contribute to the travel planning process. This report proposes an approach to making personalized group travel recommendations based on hybrid recommendation techniques that aggregates individual recommendations to find common ground between trip participants. This is achieved by designing a recommender system that uses data from a location based social network(LBSN) and makes recommendations based on the trip location, then refines them by applying incremental filters which are responsible for incorporating user preferences, similarity to other users and user context. Finally, it takes the generated recommendations for each trip participant and ranks them such that the items most highly ranked are the ones most likely to fit everyone’s preferences. The rationale for choosing a hybrid recommender system is to address common issues such as the cold start problem, where the quality of the recommendations is affected by either too few reviewers for a certain point of interest(POI) or too few reviews generated by trip participants. These issues, along with a coverage of related work is detailed in the first part of this report. In order to make the applicability of the recommender more tangible, I integrated it into a proof of concept mobile application that also allows travelers to collaborate and share travel planning artifacts, and generates itineraries based on the recommendations made. The recommender accuracy was measured against recommendations made by state of the art applications, while individual filters were evaluated using commonly used metrics. The recommender was tested in a series of relevant scenarios proving the effectiveness of the approach in making group travel recommendations, versus individual recommendations generated by other applications.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Congenital Abnormalities of the Fetal Heart

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most frequent congenital malformations, the costliest hospital admissions for structural defects and the leading cause of infant general and malformations related mortality. Fetal echocardiography represents a skilled ultrasound examination, because of the complexity, physiological and structural particularities of the fetal heart. The efficiency of the cardiac scan is reported with great variation, depending on the scanning protocol, examiner experience and equipment quality but CHDs remains among the most frequently missed congenital abnormalities

Rationale, component description and pilot evaluation of a physical health promotion measure for people with mental disorders across Europe

Introduction: The HELPS project aimed at developing a toolkit for the promotion of physical health in people with mental disorders to reduce the substantial excess morbidity and mortality in the target group. Methods: The HELPS toolkit was developed by means of national and international literature reviews, Delphi rounds with mental health experts and focus groups with mental health experts and patients/ residents in 14 European countries. The toolkit was translated into the languages of all participating countries, and usability of toolkit modules was tested. Results: The toolkit consists of several modules addressing diverse somatic health problems, lifestyle, environment issues, patient goals and motivation for health-promotion measures. It aims at empowering people with mental illness and staff to identify physical health risks in their specific contexts and to select the most appropriate modules from a range of health promotion tools. Discussion: The HELPS project used an integrative approach to the development of simple tools for the target population and is available online in 14 European languages. Preliminary evidence suggests that the toolkit can be used in routine care settings and should be put to test in controlled trials to reveal its potential impact

Endovascular treatment options for carotid-cavernous fistulae

A carotid-cavernous fistula is a pathological shunt between the internal or external carotid arteries and the cavernous sinus (CS). The arteriovenous shunt can be direct, between the internal carotid artery and the CS, or indirect, between meningeal branches from the carotid arteries and the dural coverings of the CS. Direct fistulas occur most commonly after craniofacial trauma, while indirect shunts result from various chronic diseases. Signs and symptoms depend on the venous drainage routes. Exophthalmos, chemosis, and diplopia are caused by venous drainage through the superior and inferior ophthalmic veins. If venous egress is mainly through the inferior petrosal sinus, patients complain of pulsatile tinnitus. Cortical venous drainage is the most dangerous route because it can lead to focal neurological deficits and intracerebral haemorrhage. Treatment of carotid-cavernous fistulae can be achieved through different endovascular techniques, using detachable balloons, coils, liquid embolic agents, covered stents, and flow-diverters. This paper aims to report three cases with carotid-cavernous fistulae, which were successfully cured using different transarterial and transvenous modalities

Endovascular treatment options for carotid-cavernous fistulae

A carotid-cavernous fistula is a pathological shunt between the internal or external carotid arteries and the cavernous sinus (CS). The arteriovenous shunt can be direct, between the internal carotid artery and the CS, or indirect, between meningeal branches from the carotid arteries and the dural coverings of the CS. Direct fistulas occur most commonly after craniofacial trauma, while indirect shunts result from various chronic diseases. Signs and symptoms depend on the venous drainage routes. Exophthalmos, chemosis, and diplopia are caused by venous drainage through the superior and inferior ophthalmic veins. If venous egress is mainly through the inferior petrosal sinus, patients complain of pulsatile tinnitus. Cortical venous drainage is the most dangerous route because it can lead to focal neurological deficits and intracerebral haemorrhage. Treatment of carotid-cavernous fistulae can be achieved through different endovascular techniques, using detachable balloons, coils, liquid embolic agents, covered stents, and flow-diverters. This paper aims to report three cases with carotid-cavernous fistulae, which were successfully cured using different transarterial and transvenous modalities

HEPATOBLASTOMA REQUIRING LIVER TRANSPLANTATION. A CASE REPORT

Hepatoblastoma is a rare pathology in pediatric patients, occurring in 5-10/one million children. A two year old patient was admitted to our clinic for intense abdominal pain. On examination he presented a large mass in the right hypochondrium. Abdominal ultrasound and computer tomography (CT) revealed a large, solid hepatic tumor with thrombosis of the right portal vein. Serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP) level and thrombocyte number were increased. Liver biopsy was performed and the histopathological aspect was specific for an epithelial hepatoblastoma. Chemotherapy was initiated, followed by surgery in two steps: right portal branch ligation and subsequent tumor resection. Six months after surgery a relapse was suspected, confirmed by CT and elevated AFP levels. A „rescue” liver transplantation was performed and the patient is disease-free for three years. Elevated AFP and thrombocyte levels point to the diagnosis of hepatoblastoma. Liver transplantation is the final option for extensive, inoperable or relapsing tumors

Influence of the Fusing Process on the Wear and Corrosion Properties of NiCrBSi-Coatings

In this study the NiCrBSi feedstock powder was deposited by flame spraying on to C45 steel substrate. After spraying the coated material was differently fused at 1000°C. The microstructure evolution respectively the phase composition was evaluated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by X-ray diffractometry. The corrosion resistance of the differently fused coatings was assessed by potentiodynamic corrosion tests carried out in 3,5 % NaCl solution at room temperature, using a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as reference. In addition, the variation of the friction coefficients in time for the two tested coatings was determined using the pin-on-disk method. The investigations showed that the characteristics of the inductive remelted coating are better in comparison with the flame fused one

European network for promoting the physical health of residents in psychiatric and social care facilities (HELPS): background, aims and methods

Background: People with mental disorders have a higher prevalence of physical illnesses and reduced life expectancy as compared with the general population. However, there is a lack of knowledge across Europe concerning interventions that aim at reducing somatic morbidity and excess mortality by promoting behaviour-based and/or environment-based interventions. Methods and design: HELPS is an interdisciplinary European network that aims at (i) gathering relevant knowledge on physical illness in people with mental illness, (ii) identifying health promotion initiatives in European countries that meet country-specific needs, and (iii) at identifying best practice across Europe. Criteria for best practice will include evidence on the efficacy of physical health interventions and of their effectiveness in routine care, cost implications and feasibility for adaptation and implementation of interventions across different settings in Europe. HELPS will develop and implement a "physical health promotion toolkit". The toolkit will provide information to empower residents and staff to identify the most relevant risk factors in their specific context and to select the most appropriate action out of a range of defined health promoting interventions. The key methods are (a) stakeholder analysis, (b) international literature reviews, (c) Delphi rounds with experts from participating centres, and (d) focus groups with staff and residents of mental health care facilities. Meanwhile a multi-disciplinary network consisting of 15 European countries has been established and took up the work. As one main result of the project they expect that a widespread use of the HELPS toolkit could have a significant positive effect on the physical health status of residents of mental health and social care facilities, as well as to hold resonance for community dwelling people with mental health problems. Discussion: A general strategy on health promotion for people with mental disorders must take into account behavioural, environmental and iatrogenic health risks. A European health promotion toolkit needs to consider heterogeneity of mental disorders, the multitude of physical health problems, health-relevant behaviour, health-related attitudes, health-relevant living conditions, and resource levels in mental health and social care facilities