High frequency of inadequate test requests for antiphospholipid antibodies in daily clinical practice

Abstract Background: We have empirically noted that many physicians routinely request anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL) without a correct clinical indication. The aim of this study was to evaluate retrospectively whether aPL testing at our Thrombosis Centre was justified. Methods: Medical records from 520 subjects for aPL screening tests for various clinical conditions were reviewed. The aPL screening tests were: lupus anticoagulant (LA), anti-cardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and anti-β(2) glycoptotein I (aβ(2) GPI). Requests for aPL screening were divided into justified, potentially justified or not adequately justified. Results: aPL testing requests were considered justified in 358 (69%) patients, potentially justified in 66 (12.6%) and not adequately justified in 96 (18.4%). LA was positive in 65 (18%) of justified requests and in only one (1%) of the 96 potentially justified requests. None of the 66 not adequately justified for aPL testing was positive for LA. aβ(2) ..

Millimeter-wave FET modeling based on a frequency extrapolation approach

An empirical distributed model, based on electromagnetic analysis and standard S-parameter measurements up to microwave frequencies, is shown to be capable of accurate small-signal predictions up to the millimeter-wave range. The frequency-extrapolation approach takes advantage from a physically-expected, smooth behavior of suitably defined elementary active devices connected to a passive distributed network. On this basis, small-signal millimeter-wave FET modeling becomes an affordable task in any laboratory equipped with a standard microwave vector network analyzer and electromagnetic simulation capabilities. In the paper, wide experimental validation of the proposed model up to 110GHz is presented for PHEMT devices with different sizes and bias conditions

L’universalismo mistico di Simone Weil

In the last years of her short life, Simone Weil was deeply interested in non-Christian religions, especially those of ancient India. Since 1941, she began studying the Sanskrit language and reading the Upanishads, some of which she also tried to translate. In the Indian spirituality she found the path to understand some masterpieces of Christian mysticism, such as The mirror of simple souls by Marguerite Porete, which she read in London in an English version, ascribed to “an unknown French mystic”. Simone Weil recognized that all spiritual traditions, Hindu as well as Christian, agree with the essential mystical experience, the annihilation of the ego, so that the divine Light can enter the void made by man in his own soul (the so-called décreation), and so that everything can show the world’s wonderful beauty. However, she thought that Christianity was the spiritual heir to Heraclitus, of Platonism, and of stoicism, and expresses, in its mystical universalism , the best of every religious tradition

Terms of address in subtitling - A translation of "Upstairs Downstairs"

La tesi si propone di analizzare l'utilizzo dell'allocuzione nel linguaggio telefilmico e le difficoltà che la sua traduzione dall'inglese all'italiano presenta nel contesto specifico della creazione di sottotitoli. In particolare, il lavoro si concentra sull'analisi del period drama "Upstairs Downstairs" e dei sottotitoli in italiano tradotti dall'autrice, ponendo particolare attenzione alle strategie utilizzate per trasporre le varie forme di allocuzione della lingua inglese. Nella parte finale, la tesi si propone di fornire anche un breve quadro delle strategie utilizzate per trasporre gli strumenti linguistici utilizzati per esprimere la cortesia

Global modeling approach to the design of an MMIC amplifier using Ohmic Electrode-Sharing Technology

An innovative technique for high--density, high-frequency integrated circuit design is proposed.The procedure exploits the potentialities of a global modeling approach,previously applied only at device level,enabling the circuit designer to explore flexible layout solutions imed at important reduction in chip size and cost.The new circuit design technique is presented by means of an example consisting of a wide-band amplifier,implemented with the recently proposed Ohmic Electrode-Sharing Technology (OEST).The good agreement between experimental and simulated results confirms the validity of the proposed MMIC design approach

Fission induced by nucleons at intermediate energies

Monte Carlo calculations of fission of actinides and pre-actinides induced by protons and neutrons in the energy range from 100 MeV to 1 GeV are carried out by means of a recent version of the Li\`ege Intranuclear Cascade Model, INCL++, coupled with two different evaporation-fission codes, GEMINI++ and ABLA07. In order to reproduce experimental fission cross sections, model parameters are usually adjusted on available (p,f) cross sections and used to predict (n,f) cross sections for the same isotopes.Comment: 36 pages, 18 figures, to appear in Nuclear Physics

Security and activism: using participatory photography to elicit perceptions of information and authority among hispanic migrants in the u.s.

This paper presents results of a participatory photography research where we explore Information, culture and identity in the lives of disenfranchised groups such as undocumented migrants in the U.S.. Information behaviors of undocumented migrants are difficult to uncover, given their legal status. Migrants experience complex relations with authority, security and social activism, and their Information behaviors are mediated by the transience of their life experiences while at the border, the constant fear of detention and deportation in their daily lives, and their growing involvement with protests and activism for their rights as they become more established in their host country. We compare migrants’ experiences at the U.S.-Mexico border with experiences in Seattle, Washington, and we uncover four migrants’ information behavior types, corresponding to different stages of transience in their lives, while reflecting on participatory photography as a methodological framework suitable to a social group at the fringes of mainstream society

Not Alone: A Research On Successful Partnerships Between Private Companies and Citizens' Organizations in Europe

The final report analyses a research project carried out by the Active Citizenship Foundation (FONDACA) and the Active Citizenship Network (ACN) on the partnerships involving businesses and citizens' organisations in Europe. This project was conducted in eight European Union Countries (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, United Kingdom).The report includes three pages of bibliographical references and an annex consisting of a questionnaire for interviews with Key persons evaluating CSR partnerships between companies and citizens' organisations

L'Efficienza tecnica dei distretti di Corte d'Appello italiani: aspetti metodologici, <i>benchmarking</i> e arretrato smaltibile

L’efficienza tecnica dei distretti di corte di appello italiani viene misurata mediante il metodo DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). L’analisi consente di valutare l’efficienza relativa di ciascun distretto come distanza radiale dalla frontiera efficiente, definita dalle prassi migliori, e di individuare le variazioni dei fattori necessarie affinché un distretto inefficiente emuli il proprio benchmark (distretto o gruppo di distretti di riferimento collocati sulla frontiera). Viene inoltre effettuata la scomposizione dell’efficienza totale in efficienza tecnica pura ed efficienza di scala e, per ciascun distretto inefficiente, viene calcolato l’arretrato smaltibile. Infine, sulla base di un’analisi multivariata di tipo tobit, si stima l’influenza sull’indicatore di efficienza di una serie di fattori socio-economici del contesto territoriale