Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Soil–Pipe Interaction

Cases of pipeline damage caused by landslides are common in coastal or mountainous regions, where a continuous monitoring/repair activity is planned in order to maintain their serviceability. The analysis of the soil–structure interaction phenomenon can be invoked to improve the planning and design of buried pipelines, to guide monitoring, and to reduce the risk of damage or failure. Two different approaches are considered in this paper: small scale laboratory tests and numerical simulations using the distinct element method (DEM). The experimental setup consists of a box filled with sand and water. Several experiments were performed, in which the diameter and the depth of the tube varied. The numerical simulations are divided in two separate series: in the first, the numerical model is calibrated and its reliability in reproducing the experimental tests is checked; in the second series, the direction of the relative displacement between the tube and the surrounding “numerical soil” varies over the range ±90° with respect to the horizontal. In the latter, both vertical and horizontal components of the drag force are measured and the corresponding interaction diagrams are constructed. The DEM simulations provide useful information about the shape of the failure mechanisms and the force transfer within the soil.     

Evaluating the Endophenotype Model of ADHD Neuropsychological Deficit: Results for Parents and Siblings of Children With ADHD Combined and Inattentive Subtypes.

Neurogenetic models predict neuropsychological weaknesses in the relatives of children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The authors examined executive and regulatory measures in 386 relatives (307 parents, 79 siblings) of children with ADHD combined type, ADHD inattentive type, and controls. Predicted deficits were seen on trailmaking (relatives of ADHD combined type only), stop-signal reaction times (relatives of girls only), and response variability (mothers only) but not on naming or output speed. Effects generally held, even with relatives' ADHD status controlled. A neuropsychologically impaired subgroup of children with ADHD had relatives with clear neuropsychological weaknesses. The authors conclude that a neurogenetic model of ADHD etiology is supportable only for a subset of executive functions and that neuropsychological heterogeneity warrants more examination in ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hierarchies of parallel rewriting P systems — A survey

The paper is about some families of rewriting P systems, where the application of evolution rules is extended from the classical sequential rewriting to the parallel one (as, for instance, in Lindenmayer systems). As a result, consistency problems for the communication of strings may arise. Three variants of parallel rewriting P systems (already present in the literature) are considered here, together with the strategies they use to face the communication problem, and some parallelism methods for string rewriting are defined. We give a survey of all known results about each variant and we state some relations among the three variants, thus establishing hierarchies of parallel rewriting P systems. Various open problems related to the subject are also presented. Danicla Besozzi: She is assistant professor at the University of Milano. She received her M.S. in Mathematics (2000) from the University of Como and Ph.D. in Computer Science (2004) from the University of Milano. Her research interests cover topics in Formal Language Theory, Molecular Computing, Systems Biology. She is member of EATCS (European Association for Theoretical Computer Science) and EMCC (European Molecular Computing Consortium). Giancarlo Mauri: He is full professor of Computer Science at the University of Milano-Bicocca. His research interests are mainly in the area of theoretical computer science, and include: formal languages and automata, computational complexity, computational learning theory, soft computing techniques, cellular automata, bioinformatics and molecular computing. On these subjects, he published more than 150 scientific papers in international journals, contributed volumes and conference proceedings. Claudio Zandron: He received Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Milan, Italy, in 2001. Since 2002 he is assistant professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. He is member of the EATCS (European Association for Theoretical Computer Science) and of EMCC (European Molecular Computing Consortium). His research interests are Molecular Computing (DNA and Membrane Computing) and Formal Languages.     

Implicit fault-tolerant control: application to induction motors

In this paper we propose an innovative way of dealing with the design of fault-tolerant control systems. We show how the nonlinear output regulation theory can be successfully adopted in order to design a regulator able to offset the effect of all possible faults which can occur and, in doing so, also to detect and isolate the occurred fault. The regulator is designed by embedding the (possible nonlinear) internal model of the fault. This idea is applied to the design of a fault-tolerant controller for induction motors in presence of both rotor and stator mechanical faults.     

Assessing T-Cell Immunity in Kidney Transplant Recipients with Absent Antibody Production after a 3rd Dose of the mRNA-1273 Vaccine

The vulnerable population of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are low responders to COVID-19 vaccines, so specific immune surveillance is needed. The interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release assay (IGRA) is effective in assessing T cell-mediated immunity. We assessed SARS-CoV-2-directed T cell responses in KTRs with absent antibody production after a third dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine, using two different IGRAs. A cohort of 57 KTRs, who were actively followed up, received a third dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine. After the evaluation of humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2, 14 seronegative patients were tested with two commercial IGRAs (SD Biosensor and Euroimmun). Out of 14 patients, one and three samples were positive by IGRAs with Euroimmun and SD Biosensor, respectively. The overall agreement between the two assays was 85.7% (κ = 0.444). In addition, multivariate linear regression analysis showed no statistically significant association between the IFN-γ concentration, and the independent variables analyzed (age, gender, years since transplant, total lymphocytes cells/mcl, CD3+ cells/mcl, CD3+ CD4+ cells/mcl, CD3+ CD8+ cells/mcl, CD19+ cells/mcl, CD3-CD16+CD56+ cells/mcl) (p > 0.01). In a vulnerable setting, assessing cellular immune response to complement the humoral response may be advantageous. Since the two commercial IGRAs showed a good agreement on negative samples, the three discordant samples highlight the need for further investigations.     

KDM2A and KDM3B as Potential Targets for the Rescue of F508del-CFTR

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the gene encoding of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), an anion-selective plasma membrane channel that mainly regulates chloride transport in a variety of epithelia. More than 2000 mutations, most of which presumed to be disease-relevant, have been identified in the CFTR gene. The single CFTR mutation F508del (deletion of phenylalanine in position 508) is present in about 90% of global CF patients in at least one allele. F508del is responsible for the defective folding and processing of CFTR, failing to traffic to the plasma membrane and undergoing premature degradation via the ubiquitin–proteasome system. CFTR is subjected to different post-translational modifications (PTMs), and the possibility to modulate these PTMs has been suggested as a potential therapeutic strategy for the functional recovery of the disease-associated mutants. Recently, the PTM mapping of CFTR has identified some lysine residues that may undergo methylation or ubiquitination, suggesting a competition between these two PTMs. Our work hypothesis moves from the idea that favors methylation over ubiquitination, e.g., inhibiting demethylation could be a successful strategy for preventing the premature degradation of unstable CFTR mutants. Here, by using a siRNA library against all the human demethylases, we identified the enzymes whose downregulation increases F508del-CFTR stability and channel function. Our results show that KDM2A and KDM3B downregulation increases the stability of F508del-CFTR and boosts the functional rescue of the channel induced by CFTR correctors.     

Cardioprotective Signaling Pathways in Obese Mice Submitted to Regular Exercise: Effect on Oxysterols

Exercise induces cardioprotection against myocardial infarction, despite obesity, by restoring pro-survival pathways and increasing resistance of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening at reperfusion. Among the mechanisms involved in the inactivation of these pathways, oxysterols appear interesting. Thus, we investigated the influence of regular exercise on the reperfusion injury salvage kinase (RISK) pathway, oxysterols, and mitochondria, in the absence of ischemia-reperfusion. We also studied 7β-hydroxycholesterol (7βOH) concentration (mass spectrometry) in human lean and obese subjects. Wild-type (WT) and obese (ob/ob) mice were assigned to sedentary conditions or regular treadmill exercise. Exercise significantly increased Akt phosphorylation, whereas 7βOH concentration was reduced. Moreover, exercise induced the translocation of PKCε from the cytosol to mitochondria. However, exercise did not affect the calcium concentration required to open mPTP in the mitochondria, neither in WT nor in ob/ob animals. Finally, human plasma 7βOH concentration was consistent with observations made in mice. In conclusion, regular exercise enhanced the RISK pathway by increasing kinase phosphorylation and PKCε translocation and decreasing 7βOH concentration. This activation needs the combination with stress conditions, i.e., ischemia-reperfusion, in order to inhibit mPTP opening at the onset of reperfusion. The human findings suggest 7βOH as a candidate marker for evaluating cardiovascular risk factors in obesity.     

Empirical Evaluation of CASE Tools Usage at Nokia

We presentthe results of a research work targeted to understanding thedomains and consequences of CASE tools usage in Nokia. We aimto evaluate the importance of the various CASE tools features,as rated by our developers, and how well such features are implementedin currently available CASE tools. A structured questionnairewas sent to our most experienced developers and CASE users. Fromthis survey, it emerged that CASE tools support is reputed mostuseful for the following functions: graphical drawing, automaticdocumentation generation and storage of diagrams. The resultshint to a mismatch between the features required by the developersand those offered by CASE products. Further research is neededbefore more definite conclusions can be drawn.     

The Marching Intersections algorithm for merging range images

A new algorithm for the integration of partially overlapping range images into a triangular mesh is presented. The algorithm consists of three main steps: it locates the intersections between the range surfaces and a reference grid chosen by the user, then merges all nearly coincident and redundant intersections according to a proximity criterion, and, finally, reconstructs the merged surface(s) from the filtered intersection set. Compared with previous methods, which adopt a volumetric approach, our algorithm shows lower computational costs and improves the accuracy of the surfaces produced. It takes into account the quality of the input measurements and is able to patch small holes corresponding to the parts of the 3D scanned object that were not observed by the acquisition device. The algorithm has been tested on several datasets of range maps; graphical and numeric results are reported.