Simplified seismic analysis of piping or equipment mounted on two points of a multistory structure

A simplified procedure is presented to calculate the maximum earthquake response of light mechanical or electrical equipment supported at two arbitrary points of a building structure. The procedure is derived on the basis of the application of the response spectrum method to a combined structure-equipment system, but, in an effort to avoid the complications of such an approach, it is formulated in terms of the dynamic characteristics of the two independent components. It fully takes into account the interaction between the two subsystems, and avoids the generation of floor response spectra and the need to consider two different support excitations. The formulation is attained by using Hurty's component mode synthesis technique and Rayleigh's principle. Linear systems with classical modes of vibration and small structure to equipment mass ratios are considered. The simplicity of the method is demonstrated by a numerical example, and its accuracy verified by a comparative study. In this comparative study, the suggested procedure estimates correct solutions with an average error of about 2%.     

Efficient simulation of hierarchical stochastic activity network models

Stochastic extensions to Petri nets have gained widespread acceptance as a method for describing the dynamic behavior of discrete-event systems. Both simulation and analytic methods have been proposed to solve such models. This paper describes a set of efficient procedures for simulating models that are represented as stochastic activity networks (SANs, a variant of stochastic Petri nets) and composed SAN-based reward models (SBRMs). Composed SBRMs are a hierarchical representation for SANs, in which individual SAN models can be replicated and joined together with other models, in an iterative fashion. The procedures exploit the hierarchical structure and symmetries introduced by the replicate operation in a composed SBRM to reduce the cost of future event list management. The procedures have been implemented as part of a larger performance-dependability modeling package known asUltraSAN, and have been applied to real, large-scale applications. This work was supported in part by the Digital Equipment Corporation Faculty Program: Incentives for Excellence.     

Bifurcation analysis of a dynamic duopoly model with heterogeneous costs and behavioural rules

We develop a nonlinear dynamic Cournot duopoly model in discrete time, where two bounded rational quantity-setting firms, both endowed with naïve expectations, are heterogeneous as to their cost functions and output strategies. One of the two competing firms adopts best-reply behaviour, whereas the other adjusts its production according to the gradient of its profit. Although excessive reaction of the latter firm generally results in destabilization of the ‘Cournot–Nash’ equilibrium and brings about complex dynamic scenarios, this occurs via qualitatively different bifurcation routes, depending on the ratio between firms’ marginal costs. The paper also provides a preliminary exploration of the long-run sustainability of the heterogeneous duopoly competition, by investigating numerically the impact of fixed costs on firms’ survival, along different output trajectories.     

Empirical relationships between extinction coefficient and visibility in fog

Relationships between visibility and an extinction coefficient that is due to fog in optical windows that are free from molecular absorption are derived. The extinction coefficients in the visible (0.55 microm), the near IR (1.2 microm), and the mid IR (3.7 microm) are comparable to and roughly twice as much as that in the far IR (10.6 microm) when visibility is less than a few hundred meters. The advantage of far-IR radiation compared with shorter wavelengths grows as visibility exceeds 500 m. Correspondingly, the relationship between extinction coefficient and visibility becomes more sensitive to variations in the particle-size distribution of fog.     

From Reparative Surgery to Regenerative Surgery: State of the Art of Porous Hydroxyapatite in Cranioplasty

Decompressive craniectomy is one of the most common neurosurgical procedures, usually performed after neuropathological disorders, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), but also vascular accidents (strokes), erosive tumours, infections and other congenital abnormalities. This procedure is usually followed by the reconstruction of the cranial vault, which is also known as cranioplasty (CP). The gold-standard material for the reconstruction process is the autologous bone of the patient. However, this is not always a feasible option for all patients. Several heterologous materials have been created in the last decades to overcome such limitation. One of the most prominent materials that started to be used in CP is porous hydroxyapatite. PHA is a bioceramic material from the calcium phosphate family. It is already widely used in other medical specialties and only recently in neurosurgery. In this narrative review of the literature, we summarize the evidence on the use of PHA for cranial reconstruction, highlighting the clinical properties and limitations. We also explain how this material contributed to changing the concept of cranial reconstruction from reparative to regenerative surgery.     

First Report on Genome Editing via Ribonucleoprotein (RNP) in Castanea sativa Mill.

Castanea sativa is an important tree nut species worldwide, highly appreciated for its multifunctional role, in particular for timber and nut production. Nowadays, new strategies are needed to achieve plant resilience to diseases, climate change, higher yields, and nutritional quality. Among the new plant breeding techniques (NPBTs), the CRISPR/Cas9 system represents a powerful tool to improve plant breeding in a short time and inexpensive way. In addition, the CRISPR/Cas9 construct can be delivered into the cells in the form of ribonucleoproteins (RNPs), avoiding the integration of exogenous DNA (GMO-free) through protoplast technology that represents an interesting material for gene editing thanks to the highly permeable membrane to DNA. In the present study, we developed the first protoplast isolation protocol starting from European chestnut somatic embryos. The enzyme solution optimized for cell wall digestion contained 1% cellulase Onozuka R-10 and 0.5% macerozyme R-10. After incubation for 4 h at 25 °C in dark conditions, a yield of 4,500,000 protoplasts/mL was obtained (91% viable). The transfection capacity was evaluated using the GFP marker gene, and the percentage of transfected protoplasts was 51%, 72 h after the transfection event. The direct delivery of the purified RNP was then performed targeting the phytoene desaturase gene. Results revealed the expected target modification by the CRISPR/Cas9 RNP and the efficient protoplast editing.     

Thermostable Esterase 2 from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius as Biosensor for the Detection of Organophosphate Pesticides

Pesticides are the plague of modern times, although much needed in agriculture, causing damage to the entire ecosystem, including humans. The high operative costs and the requirement of specialized personnel for pesticide detection, incentive to develop alternative solutions such as the set up of cheap, rapid, and simple to use biosensors. In this work, we evaluate the possibility to use the esterase 2 from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius as a biosensor for the detection of specific organophosphate pesticides. With the recent demonstration of the very high affinity of esterase 2 toward paraoxon, a more complete analysis on the detection methods in water as well as in purposely contaminated fruit juices was carried out. The inhibitory effects of a wide range of other pesticides on esterase 2 were investigated, showing a better selectivity with respect to nonspecific reaction of acethylcholinesterases, the main target of organophosphate pesticides. The applied methodology allowed one to detect 2.75 × 10(-3) ppm of neurotoxic agent, comparable to the efficiency of other acethylcholinesterase-based biosensors. Finally, a raw biosensor, based on EST2 immobilization on a nitrocellulose membrane, was devised and tested for paraoxon detection, showing longtime stability, reproducibility, and sensibility.     

Polycrystalline silicon films on glass grown by amorphous-liquid-crystalline transition at temperatures below 330 °C

An approach to deposit polycrystalline silicon layers on amorphous substrates is presented. It is shown that metastable amorphous silicon can be transformed into its more stable microcrystalline structure at a temperature below 330 °C via an intermediate liquid solution stage. In particular, the interaction of liquid indium nanodroplets in contact with amorphous silicon is shown to lead to the formation of circular polycrystalline domains. Crystallinity of these domains is analyzed by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The droplet size necessary for the onset of crystallization is related to the temperature of the film. Full coverage of the substrate with microcrystalline silicon has been obtained at 320 °C within less than one hour. These films might act as seeding layers for further enlargement by steady-state liquid phase epitaxy.     

Worst-case properties of the uniform distribution and randomized algorithms for robustness analysis

In this paper we study aprobabilistic approach which is an alternative to the classical worst-case algorithms for robustness analysis and design of uncertain control systems. That is, we aim to estimate the probability that a control system with uncertain parametersq restricted to a boxQ attains a given level of performance γ. Since this probability depends on the underlying distribution, we address the following question: What is a “reasonable” distribution so that the estimated probability makes sense? To answer this question, we define two worstcase criteria and prove that the uniform distribution is optimal in both cases. In the second part of the paper we turn our attention to a subsequent problem. That is, we estimate the sizes of both the so-called “good” and “bad” sets via sampling. Roughly speaking, the good set contains the parametersq∈Q with a performance level better than or equal to γ while the bad set is the set of parametersq∈Q with a performance level worse than γ. We give bounds on the minimum sample size to attain a good estimate of these sets in a certain probabilistic sense.     

The Role of Polymorphisms at the Interleukin-1, Interleukin-4, GATA-3 and Cyclooxygenase-2 Genes in Non-Surgical Periodontal Therapy

Periodontitis is a multifactorial disease. The aim of this explorative study was to investigate the role of Interleukin-(IL)-1, IL-4, GATA-3 and Cyclooxygenase-(COX)-2 polymorphisms after non-surgical periodontal therapy with adjunctive systemic antibiotics (amoxicillin/metronidazole) and subsequent maintenance in a Caucasian population. Analyses were performed using blood samples from periodontitis patients of a multi-center trial (ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00707369","term_id":"NCT00707369"}}NCT00707369=ABPARO-study). Polymorphisms were analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR. Clinical attachment levels (CAL), percentage of sites showing further attachment loss (PSAL) ≥1.3 mm, bleeding on probing (BOP) and plaque score were assessed. Exploratory statistical analysis was performed. A total of 209 samples were genotyped. Patients carrying heterozygous genotypes and single-nucleotide-polymorphisms (SNP) on the GATA-3-IVS4 +1468 gene locus showed less CAL loss than patients carrying wild type. Heterozygous genotypes and SNPs on the IL-1A-889, IL-1B +3954, IL-4-34, IL-4-590, GATA-3-IVS4 +1468 and COX-2-1195 gene loci did not influence CAL. In multivariate analysis, CAL was lower in patients carrying GATA-3 heterozygous genotypes and SNPs than those carrying wild-types. For the first time, effects of different genotypes were analyzed in periodontitis progression after periodontal therapy and during supportive treatment using systemic antibiotics demonstrating a slight association of GATA-3 gene locus with CAL. This result suggests that GATA-3 genotypes are a contributory but non-essential risk factor for periodontal disease progression.