Assessing the scientific and technological output of EU Framework Programmes: evidence from the FP6 projects in the ICT field

This paper provides a quantitative assessment of the scientific and technological productivity of FP6 projects by exploiting a new database on articles and patents resulting from EU funded projects. Starting from the FP6, the design of the European technology policy has undergone significant changes with the introduction of new funding instruments aimed at achieving a “critical mass” of resources. Our empirical results provide support to the concerns, expressed by several observers, regarding the fact that the new funding instruments may have resulted in artificially “too large” research consortia. The available empirical evidence shows that scientific productivity increases with the number of participants following a U-inverted shape, thereby indicating the existence of decreasing marginal returns to an increase in the size of research consortia. A second key result of the paper is related to the existence of significant differences of performance among funding instruments. In particular, after accounting for the larger amount of resources allocated to them, Integrated Projects perform less well in terms of scientific output than both STRePs and Networks of Excellence and they do not exhibit a superior performance than STRePs in terms of patent applications.     

Influence of laser sources with different spectral properties on the performance of vapor cell atomic clocks based on lin‖lin CPT

We evaluate the influence of 2 types of laser sources with different spectral profiles on the performance of vapor cell atomic clocks based on lin‖lin coherent population trapping (CPT) resonances. We show that a short-term stability of 1 − 2 · 10⁻¹¹τ{−1/2} may be reached in a compact system using a modulated vertical cavity surface-emitting laser. Here the stability is limited by the detection noise level and can be improved up to a factor of 4 by increasing the lock-in detection frequency to several tens of kilohertz, which is not possible in standard double resonance atomic clocks. We compare these results with CPT prepared under the same experimental conditions, using 2 phase-locked extended cavity diode lasers, with which we predict a challenging short-term stability of 1 − 3 · 10⁻¹³τ^−1/2, comparable to the state-of-the-art laser-pumped Rb-clocks.     

Composition and Physical Stability of the Colloidal Dispersion in Veiled Virgin Olive Oil

Veiled virgin olive oil (VOO) samples of nine different olive cultivars are chosen to have a wide range of physicochemical and biological properties of colloidal dispersions. The contents of proteins and phospholipids range from 40 to 190 mg kg⁻¹ and from 70 to 200 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. The effect of lab-scale centrifugation on cloudy appearance is studied measuring the decrease of turbidity grade values. The time to obtain unveiled oils (20 NTU) is modeled by a logistic equation, and a clear relationship between the initial water content and the above time is observed with a different trend between two groups of the VOO samples. Four VOO samples are selected to study the aggregation phenomena of microdroplets of water, pulp particles, and olive stone fragments via optical microscopy and dynamic light scattering during lab-scale gravity sedimentation. All VOOs are unstable with the cloudiness disappearing within the 230 days of investigation due to an overall diameter increase of cloudy components which is modeled by a power-law equation. The VOO samples, characterized by both small diameter values of dispersed components (150–250 nm) and high values of water content, show the fastest aggregation kinetics, but they have the longest time of cloudiness stability. Practical Applications: Water content and size distribution of VOO cloudy components can be key factors to control the colloidal stability. If removal of cloudy appearance is required, centrifugation can be applied to obtain a fast oil clarification which shows a power law relationship of water content with time. Instead, if physical stability of the colloidal dispersion is required, the aggregation phenomena should be slow down through VOO processing to obtain small diameters of the cloudy components. Tuning both the water content and dispersed phase diameter in the VOO can be the first step towards the control of phenomena related to the colloidal dispersion for every olive oil processing organization, above and beyond the simple removal of cloudy appearance by filtration.     

Subharmonic emissions from microbubbles: effect of the driving pulse shape

The aims of this work are to investigate the response of the ultrasonic contrast agents (UCA) insonified by different arbitrary-shaped pulses at different acoustic pressures and concentration of the contrast agent focusing on subharmonic emission. A transmission setup was developed in order to insonify the contrast agent contained in a measurement chamber. The transmitted ultrasonic signals were generated by an arbitrary wave generator connected to a linear power amplifier able to drive a single-element transducer. The transmitted ultrasonic pulses that passed through the contrast agent-filled chamber were received by a second transducer or a hydrophone aligned with the first one. The radio frequency (RF) signals were acquired by fast echographic multiparameters multi-image novel apparatus (FEMMINA), which is an echographic platform able to acquire ultrasonic signals in a real-time modality. Three sets of ultrasonic signals were devised in order to evaluate subharmonic response of the contrast agent respect with sinusoidal burst signals used as reference pulses. A decreasing up to 30 dB in subharmonic response was detected for a Gaussian-shaped pulse; differences in subharmonic emission up to 21 dB were detected for a composite pulse (two-tone burst) for different acoustic pressures and concentrations. Results from this experimentation demonstrated that the transmitted pulse shape strongly affects subharmonic emission in spite of a second harmonic one. In particular, the smoothness of the initial portion of the shaped pulses can inhibit subharmonic generation from the contrast agents respect with a reference sinusoidal burst signal. It also was shown that subharmonic generation is influenced by the amplitude and the concentration of the contrast agent for each set of the shaped pulses. Subharmonic emissions that derive from a nonlinear mechanism involving nonlinear coupling among different oscillation modes are strongly affected by the shape of the ultrasonic driving pulse.     

Induced defects in sintered lead telluride

The effect of the pressing and sintering processes on some typical properties (carrier mobility and Hall effect) is analysed. In order to do this, samples obtained from powdered and pressed materials were submitted to a slow sintering process. During and after the thermal treatment, the samples were examined using both transport measurements and a scanning electron microscope in order to evaluate the sintering process. Thus some of the defects which influence electrical property variations have been seen.     

Endogenous Enzymatic Activity in Dentin Treated with a Chitosan Primer

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of chitosan polymer on dentinal enzymatic activity by means of gelatin and in situ zymography. Human dentin was frozen and ground in a miller. Dentin powder aliquots were demineralized with phosphoric acid and treated with three different concentrations of lyophilized chitosan polymer (1, 0.5 and 0.1 wt%) dissolved in distilled water. Dentin proteins were extracted from each experimental group and electrophoresed under non-reducing conditions in 10% SDS-PAGE containing fluorescein-labeled gelatin. After 48 h in the incubation buffer at 37 °C, proteolytic activity was registered under long-wave UV light scanner and quantified by using Image J software. Furthermore, additional teeth (n = 4) were prepared for the in situ zymographic analysis in unrestored as well as restored dentin pretreated with the same chitosan primers. The registered enzymatic activity was directly proportional to the chitosan concentration and higher in the restored dentin groups (p < 0.05), except for the 0.1% chitosan primer. Chitosan 0.1% only showed faint expression of enzymatic activity compared to 1% and 0.5% concentrations. Chitosan 0.1% dissolved in water can produce significant reduction in MMPs activity and could possibly contribute to bond strength preservation over time.     

Adopting the Principles of Collagen Biomineralization for Intrafibrillar Infiltration of Yttria‐Stabilized Zirconia into Three‐Dimensional Collagen Scaffolds

In this paper, a process for generating collagen‐yttria‐stabilized amorphous zirconia hybrid scaffolds by introducing acetylacetone‐inhibited zirconia precursor nanodroplets into a poly(allylamine)‐coated collagen matrix is reported. This polyelectrolyte coating triggers intrafibrillar condensation of the precursors into amorphous zirconia, which is subsequently transformed into yttria‐stabilized zirconia after calcination. These findings represent a new paradigm in the synthesis of non‐naturally occurring collagen‐based hybrid scaffolds under alcoholic mineralizing conditions.     

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Stray Field From Transformers

We present an assessment of a numerical methodology for evaluating stray fields from transformers by direct comparison with experimental results. The methodology can help to ensure compliance with the limits imposed by national and international laws and regulations on the levels of magnetic fields. We conducted validation experiments on a 1000-kVA cast-resin transformer. All measurements were performed in an anechoic room, in short-circuit conditions, along different directions in space. We compared two different numerical methods, based on linear and nonlinear 3-D finite-element methods, respectively, with the experimental results. Agreement with the measurements was very good. Numerical tools can be considered a valid alternative to measurements for the analysis of the stray magnetic induction field and for the design of shielded devices.     

Comments on "Frequency decomposition and computing of ultrasound medical images with wavelet packets"

In this paper, errors and discrepancies in the subject paper [Cincotti et al., (2002)] are highlighted. A comment, concerning the axial resolution associated to the adopted processing procedure is also reported.