A Statistical Approach for Improving the Performance of a Testing Methodology for Measurement Software

This paper describes the significant enhancements brought to an original methodology designed for testing measurement software. In a previous paper, the authors proposed a blackbox seven-step procedure that allows the functional verification of complex instrument software to be performed. The main features of the procedure are concerned with the following: 1) the ability of reproducing actual correlations among the software inputs and 2) the need for a limited number of test cases.Making use of innovative statistical techniques, themethodology performance and reliability have been enhanced. Two further steps have been added with the aim of improving the correlation coefficient assessments and providing the estimations with a confidence level. Finally, a new strategy has been studied to optimize the number of test cases. The effects of the new solutions on the performance of the methodology are evaluated by applying the procedure to a complex softwaremodule employed in an automotive system. A comparison with the previous methodology version is also reported

Statistical techniques applied to the automatic diagnosis of dermoscopic images

An image based system implementing a well‐known diagnostic method is disclosed for the automatic detection of melanomas as support to clinicians. The software procedure is able to recognize automatically the skin lesion within the digital image, measure morphological and chromatic parameters, carry out a suitable classification for the detection of structural dermoscopic criteria provided by the 7‐Point Check. Original contribution is referred to advanced statistical techniques, which are introduced at different stages of the image processing, including the border detection, the extraction of low‐level features and scoring of high order features (namely dermoscopic criteria). The proposed approach is experimentally tested with reference to a large image set of pigmented lesions

Intermediate care units in progressive patient care model: a systematic literature review

Background: Progressive patient care (PPC) has been defined as a systematic classification and segregation of patients based on their medical and nursing needs. Aim of the present research was to perform a systematic literature review about existing medical intermediate care unit organizational models and their performance strengths and weaknesses with a specific focus on Italian implementation, respect to US model. Methods: Databases PubMed, Cinahl, Google and Google Scholar were searched until September 2017. The search was limited to Italian and English studies. All study design are included in the review. Results: Ten studies were included in the review. The American studies showed, after the PPC reorganization, an increase in level of satisfaction and nursing care, a reduction in average length of stay, costs and tensions between nurses and an improvement in nurse-physician communication. An Italian study reported the results of a project carried out in three case studies (Forlì, Foligno and Pontedera hospital), redesigning hospital patient flow logistics around the concept of intensity of care: in all three cases, after the reorganization, an increase in bed occupancy rate (before: 71%,81%,65%; after: 78%,84%,82%, respectively) and in hospital case-mix complexity (average DRG weight - before: 0.99,1.07,1.12; after: 1.19,1.09,1.61, respectively) and a reduction in turn-over ratio (before: 2.5,1.4,2.8; after: 1.5,1.2,1.7, respectively) was recorded. Considering Italian healthcare professionals’ point of view, majority of internists supported a hospital remodeling according to PPC model. Conclusions: The PPC model, theorized in US, has found several applications in Italian regional realities. Improvements in quality of care, appropriateness and productivity in healthcare facilities, that adopted the PPC program, were observed

Récentes fouilles archéologiques dans des villes romaines d'Italie centrale.

Sommella Paolo. Récentes fouilles archéologiques dans des villes romaines d'Italie centrale.. In: Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France, 1991, 1993. pp. 197-211

Italia antica. L'urbanistica romana

In confronto con gli studi sulla città greca, le ricerche sull'urbanistica romana sono modeste, specie per il settore italiano, e nonostante la vasta gamma di esempi urbani che permettono di intravvedere la forma della città originaria sotto una stratificata continuità di funzionamento. Le strutture urbane, la viabilità, la funzionalità di cui usufruiamo, sono spesso il retaggio della pianificazione antica dei centri che dal confronto con le fonti scritte rivelano, oltre al momento della fondazione, le fasi storiche di maggior significato. Per questo il volume porta un contributo notevole alla storia della città romana in Italia, anche per la duplicità dell'impostazione: da un lato la storia socio-politica forma il tessuto connettivo dell'urbanizzazione; dall'altro le schede sulle città-modello pongono in risalto, con cartografie appositamente rielaborate, gli elementi dell'urbanistica e le loro interrelazioni nei diversi momenti storici