A study of the role of the medical social worker in the team approach, as reflected in thirty-five social service cases at the Cushing Veterans Administration Hospital, Framingham, Massachusetts, January, 1951

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Measurement and Optimization of LTE Performance

4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile system is the fourth generation communication system adopted worldwide to provide high-speed data connections and high-quality voice calls. Given the recent deployment by mobile service providers, unlike GSM and UMTS, LTE can be still considered to be in its early stages and therefore many topics still raise great interest among the international scientific research community: network performance assessment, network optimization, selective scheduling, interference management and coexistence with other communication systems in the unlicensed band, methods to evaluate human exposure to electromagnetic radiation are, as a matter of fact, still open issues. In this work techniques adopted to increase LTE radio performances are investigated. One of the most wide-spread solutions proposed by the standard is to implement MIMO techniques and within a few years, to overcome the scarcity of spectrum, LTE network operators will offload data traffic by accessing the unlicensed 5 GHz frequency. Our Research deals with an evaluation of 3GPP standard in a real test best scenario to evaluate network behavior and performance

Chapter Per una rappresentazione multimodale del testo drammatico: ipotesi e traiettorie di un processo creativo

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences

Virtual autopsy: possible applications in cases of presumed medical malpractice.

An analysis of the international bibliography has shown the existence of several advantages associated with the use of the autoptic imaging techniques in cases of judicial interest. In this review, we examine whether the non-invasive or minimally invasive autopsy methods could replace conventional autopsy in cases of death related to suspected malpractice. We searched the main databases, including PubMed Central, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane. The search terms included the following elements: autopsy, imaging, malpractice. The last review of the research was carried out in September 2018. The use of autoptic imaging techniques such as PMCT and PMCTA, always followed by traditional autopsy, can significantly improve the diagnostic effectiveness in post-mortem investigations of presumed medical malpractice. However, their role in the analysis of mortality in the context of clinical risk management is still under investigation. Studies in the literature have been conducted on numbers that are too small to obtain scientifically relevant data for solid statistical analysis; therefore these results should be confirmed in the future on a larger sample, which could be obtained by conducting multi centric studies

Caenorhabditis elegans and probiotics interactions from a prolongevity perspective

Probiotics exert beneficial effects on host health through different mechanisms of action, such as production of antimicrobial substances, competition with pathogens, enhancement of host mucosal barrier integrity and immunomodulation. In the context of ageing, which is characterized by several physiological alterations leading to a low grade inflammatory status called inflammageing, evidences suggest a potential prolongevity role of probiotics. Unraveling the mechanisms underlying anti-ageing effects requires the use of simple model systems. To this respect, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans represents a suitable model organism for the study of both host-microbe interactions and for ageing studies, because of conserved signaling pathways and host defense mechanisms involved in the regulation of its lifespan. Therefore, this review analyses the impact of probiotics on C. elegans age-related parameters, with particular emphasis on oxidative stress, immunity, inflammation and protection from pathogen infections. The picture emerging from our analysis highlights that several probiotic strains are able to exert anti-ageing effects in nematodes by acting on common molecular pathways, such as insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IIS) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK). In this perspective, C. elegans appears to be advantageous for shedding light on key mechanisms involved in host prolongevity in response to probiotics supplementation

In vitro and in vivo selection of potentially probiotic lactobacilli from Nocellara del Belice table olives

Table olives are increasingly recognized as a vehicle as well as a source of probiotic bacteria, especially those fermented with traditional procedures based on the activity of indigenous microbial consortia, originating from local environments. In the present study, we report characterization at the species level of 49 Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) strains deriving from Nocellara del Belice table olives fermented with the Spanish or Castelvetrano methods, recently isolated in our previous work. Ribosomal 16S DNA analysis allowed identification of 4 Enterococcus gallinarum, 3 E. casseliflavus, 14 Leuconostoc mesenteroides, 19 Lactobacillus pentosus, 7 L. coryniformis, and 2 L. oligofermentans. The L. pentosus and L. coryniformis strains were subjected to further screening to evaluate their probiotic potential, using a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches. The majority of them showed high survival rates under in vitro simulated gastro-intestinal conditions, and positive antimicrobial activity against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) pathogens. Evaluation of antibiotic resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, or erythromycin was also performed for all selected strains. Three L. coryniformis strains were selected as very good performers in the initial in vitro testing screens, they were antibiotic susceptible, as well as capable of inhibiting pathogen growth in vitro. Parallel screening employing the simplified model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, fed the Lactobacillus strains as a food source, revealed that one L. pentosus and one L. coryniformis strains significantly induced prolongevity effects and protection from pathogen-mediated infection. Moreover, both strains displayed adhesion to human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells and were able to outcompete foodborne pathogens for cell adhesion. Overall, these results are suggestive of beneficial features for novel LAB strains, which renders them promising candidates as starters for the manufacturing of fermented table olives with probiotic added value

La responsabilità dell'amministratore nella s.p.a. in crisi

International financial and economic crisis has recently enhanced the debate about powers, duties, and responsibilities of company’s directors in coping with default. The topic is systematically connected not only with Company Law and Corporate Governance matters but also with Bankruptcy Law and crisis management tools. Moving from a brief overall framework about directors’ general duties, the dissertation focuses on default’s consequences on director’s role in Corporate Governance and related effects on business judgment and management. The analysis deals with different issues regarding directors’ responsibility for having caused or aggravated default, for having failed in promptly and effectively perceiving crisis’ signals, or for not having adequately overcome the collapse. Further, the study refers to some questions more closely related to directors’ liability in insolvency proceedings, pointing out different opinions in interpretation and case law, especially about requirements, burden of proof and damages. In a comparative perspective, the work also outlines the debate about UK wrongful trading, introduced in the UK Insolvency Act 1986 and quoted in EU Commission’s 2003 Action Plan, considering main peculiarities and weak points of such discipline. Finally, taking into account that Italian law does not arrange specific alert and prevention tools, the research offers a reflection on the opportunity of creating a system based on diligence and good sense that, moving from the current set of rules and respecting liability’s general regime, could set up an effective protection against default’s mismanagement.International financial and economic crisis has recently enhanced the debate about powers, duties, and responsibilities of company’s directors in coping with default. The topic is systematically connected not only with Company Law and Corporate Governance matters but also with Bankruptcy Law and crisis management tools. Moving from a brief overall framework about directors’ general duties, the dissertation focuses on default’s consequences on director’s role in Corporate Governance and related effects on business judgment and management. The analysis deals with different issues regarding directors’ responsibility for having caused or aggravated default, for having failed in promptly and effectively perceiving crisis’ signals, or for not having adequately overcome the collapse. Further, the study refers to some questions more closely related to directors’ liability in insolvency proceedings, pointing out different opinions in interpretation and case law, especially about requirements, burden of proof and damages. In a comparative perspective, the work also outlines the debate about UK wrongful trading, introduced in the UK Insolvency Act 1986 and quoted in EU Commission’s 2003 Action Plan, considering main peculiarities and weak points of such discipline. Finally, taking into account that Italian law does not arrange specific alert and prevention tools, the research offers a reflection on the opportunity of creating a system based on diligence and good sense that, moving from the current set of rules and respecting liability’s general regime, could set up an effective protection against default’s mismanagement.LUISS PhD Thesi

La responsabilit\ue0 dell'amministratore nella s.p.a. in crisi

International financial and economic crisis has recently enhanced the debate about powers, duties, and responsibilities of company\u2019s directors in coping with default. The topic is systematically connected not only with Company Law and Corporate Governance matters but also with Bankruptcy Law and crisis management tools. Moving from a brief overall framework about directors\u2019 general duties, the dissertation focuses on default\u2019s consequences on director\u2019s role in Corporate Governance and related effects on business judgment and management. The analysis deals with different issues regarding directors\u2019 responsibility for having caused or aggravated default, for having failed in promptly and effectively perceiving crisis\u2019 signals, or for not having adequately overcome the collapse. Further, the study refers to some questions more closely related to directors\u2019 liability in insolvency proceedings, pointing out different opinions in interpretation and case law, especially about requirements, burden of proof and damages. In a comparative perspective, the work also outlines the debate about UK wrongful trading, introduced in the UK Insolvency Act 1986 and quoted in EU Commission\u2019s 2003 Action Plan, considering main peculiarities and weak points of such discipline. Finally, taking into account that Italian law does not arrange specific alert and prevention tools, the research offers a reflection on the opportunity of creating a system based on diligence and good sense that, moving from the current set of rules and respecting liability\u2019s general regime, could set up an effective protection against default\u2019s mismanagement