Reproducibility and speed of landmarking process in cephalometric analysis using two input devices: mouse-driven cursor versus pen

To define if the new portable appliances, like smartphone, iPad, small laptop and tablet can be used in cephalometric tracing without dropping out the validity of any measurement. METHODS:We investigated and compared the reproducibility and the speed of landmarks identification process on lateral X-rays in two input devices: a mouse-driven cursor and a pen used as input means in mobile devices. One expert located 22 landmarks on 15 lateral X-rays in a repeated measure design two times, at time T1 and T2, after at least one month. The Intraclass Correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the reproducibility for each landmark tracing and the agreement between the value derived from both input devices. Also, the mean errors in measurements, the standard deviation and the Friedman Test significans (P < 0.05) between both input were statistically evaluated. RESULTS:All landmarks had a high agreement and the Friedman Test indicated statistically significant differences (P<0.05) for the identification of Na, Po, Pt, PNS, Ba, Pg, Gn, UIE, UIA, APOcc and PPOcc landmarks. CONCLUSIONS:Even if the mouse input give higher agreement for landmark tracing the differences are really minimal and they can be ignored in private practice. We suggest the adequacy of pen input in clinical setting

Linked education: interlinking educational resources and the web of data

Research on interoperability of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) repositories throughout the last decade has led to a fragmented landscape of competing approaches, such as metadata schemas and interface mechanisms. However, so far Web-scale integration of resources is not facilitated, mainly due to the lack of take-up of shared principles, datasets and schemas. On the other hand, the Linked Data approach has emerged as the de-facto standard for sharing data on the Web and offers a large potential to solve interoperability issues in the field of TEL. In this paper, we describe a general approach to exploit the wealth of already existing TEL data on the Web by allowing its exposure as Linked Data and by taking into account automated enrichment and interlinking techniques to provide rich and well-interlinked data for the educational domain. This approach has been implemented in the context of the mEducator project where data from a number of open TEL data repositories has been integrated, exposed and enriched by following Linked Data principles

Progetto locale ecocompatibile di filiera di prodotto:pannelli isolanti innovativi in lana di pecora. A sustainable building product: advanced insulation panels obtained by recycling regional sheep's wool

The article deal with an ongoing research aimed at developing an advanced self-bearing panel, fitted for thermal and acoustic insulation of buildings, derived from the reuse and recycling of local sheep wool. The development of a supply chain of environmentally friendly products (a self bearing panel made of 100% wool) encourages, on the one hand, the use of a material so far classified in Italy as special waste and, on the one other, provides new opportunities for a sheep farming that it is now going through an economic recession, with positive effects on the mountain and the hill landscap