The aim of this study is to implement the clinical use of the three-dimensional (3D) design and printing technology in pediatric pathologies requiring immobilization. We describe the manufacturing process of the 3D device in place of the plaster cast usually applied to a child 48/72 h after the access to the Trauma Center Traumatology Hub. This procedure had already been performed at Level II, Trauma Center, Campania Region, Orthopaedic Division of Santobono Children’s Hospital, Naples, Italy. The operative phase was performed by two 3D printers and a scanner in the bioengineering laboratory of the hospital’s outpatient area. The phase of software elaboration requires close cooperation among physicians and engineers. We decided to use a model with a double-shell design and holes varying in width to ensure complete ventilation and lightness of the device. We chose to treat nondisplaced metaphyseal distal fractures of the radius in 18 patients enrolled from January 2017 to November 2017. The flow chart includes clinical and radiological examinations of every enrolled child, collecting information required by the program and its elaboration by bioengineers, and then transfer of the results to 3D printers. The child, immobilized by a temporary splint, wore his 3D device after 12/24 h. Then, he underwent serial check-ups in which the effectiveness and appropriateness of the treatment were clinically monitored and evaluated using subjective scales: visual analogue scale and patient-rated wrist evaluation. All the fractures consolidated both radiologically and clinically after the treatment, with no complications reported. Only one partial breakage of the device happened because of an accidental fall. The statistical analysis of the visual analogue scale and patient-rated wrist evaluation data shows that children’s activities of everyday life improved during the immobilization thanks to this treatment. This first study shows that using a 3D device instead of a traditional plaster cast can be an effective alternative approach in the treatment of pediatric nondisplaced metaphyseal distal radius fractures, with high overall patient satisfaction. We believe that 3D technology could be extended to the treatment of more complex fractures; this will be the subject of our second study.
In this paper, it is shown how a large mode-stirred reverberating chamber can be used to physically generate a set of non-line-of-sight propagation channels, which are naturally and objectively classified by means of the bit error rate (BER) norm. The experiments are accomplished at the mode-stirred reverberating chamber of the Universita di Napoli Parthenope (formerly Istituto Universitario Navale), and the electromagnetic input signal is a global system for mobile communications, one at 1.8 GHz. It is shown that it is possible to change the BER by means of the stirring process and/or the chamber loading. The proposed technique calls for fast measurements, and therefore, it is amenable to industrial use. The methodology is general and suitable to any digital electromagnetic signal, provided no distortion of modulation occurs
The reverberating chamber (RC) is employed to physically emulate line-of-sight (LOS) propagation channels and to test the quality of a digital transmission. Use of different absorber configurations is able to generate various LOS propagation channels. The LOS channels are objectively characterized by the Rician K factor and results show that K is not generally dependent only on the number of absorbers but also on their configuration. Experiments are accomplished at the electrically large mode-stirred RC of the Universita di Napoli Parthenope, formerly Istituto Universitario Navale (IUN) and a global system for mobile communications (GSM) digital signal is used
In this communication, a new methodology on the control of the mode-stirred reverberating chamber (RC) coherence time is accom- plished. This communication shows how it is possible to evaluate the RC coherence time values with the method of the normalized autocorrelation function (ACF). The coherence time values obtained from measured data via the ACF have been used in a channel simulator and then the computed constellation has been compared with measurements for a global system for mobile communication (GSM) signal. A visual inspection of the con- stellation as well as the comparison of measured and computed modula- tion error rate (MER) and bit error rate (BER) values have been done. The methodology is general and actually applicable to a large class of electro- magnetic digital input signals, once that no error of modulation occurs and the channel does not cause distortion in the received signal
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