Cultural ‘demons’ as future builders

Usually, the shape of the future is seen as the result of a cultural flow that, according to some privileged cultural variable, like technology, goes undisturbed towards its own outcome. This is a quite naive attitude that has been very rarely successful. Both conventional technology and technology of the artificial show that, within culture, ‘demons’ are always active trying to exploit or even bypass standards in order to give birth to unexpected novelties. This is true within the pure technology area and even more in its artistic extensions. Therefore, no deterministic process is going on but, rather, a permanent remixing of chances that makes any prophecy impossible.     

1923 Gleno Dam Break: Case Study and Numerical Modeling

On the morning of December 1, 1923, the Gleno Dam (located in the Central Italian Alps) suddenly collapsed a few days after the first complete reservoir filling. Nearly 4.5×106??m3 of water was released. The consequent inundation caused significant destruction along the downstream valley and a death toll of at least 356 lives. This failure is the only historical case of dam break caused by structural deficiencies that has occurred in Italy. As a result, it has deeply influenced the evolution of Italian regulations regarding dam design and hydraulic risk evaluation. However, in spite of its relevance, this event has never been characterized from a hydraulic standpoint. This paper reports the main information obtained from the analysis of a vast amount of historical documents regarding the Gleno Dam break to set up a case study useful for validating dam-break models in mountain settings. Moreover, it presents the main results of one-dimensional (1D) modeling of the dam break wave propagation accomplished with a first-order finite volume numerical scheme recently proposed in the literature for field applications. The overall effectiveness and reliability of the model are evaluated for this case characterized by very irregular topography. Finally, the practical relevance of several choices that the numerical reconstruction of this kind of event demands is tested.     

Er doped waveguide amplifiers written with femtosecond laser in germanate glasses

The authors report the fabrication and characterization of active waveguides in GeO₂–PbO–Ga₂O₃ glass samples doped with Er³⁺, written with a femtosecond laser delivering pulses of 150 fs duration at 1 kHz repetition rate. Permanent refractive index change was obtained and waveguides were formed under different laser pulse energies and scan velocities. The passive and active optical properties of the waveguides were investigated. The minimum value of propagation loss was of 4.8 dB/cm. Optical amplification at 1.5 μm under 980 nm excitation was observed showing a maximal internal gain of 2.7 dB/cm.     

FC2Q: exploiting fuzzy control in server consolidation for cloud applications with SLA constraints

Modern cloud data centers rely on server consolidation (the allocation of several virtual machines on the same physical host) to minimize their costs. Choosing the right consolidation level (how many and which virtual machines are assigned to a physical server) is a challenging problem, because contemporary multitier cloud applications must meet service level agreements in face of highly dynamic, nonstationary, and bursty workloads. In this paper, we deal with the problem of achieving the best consolidation level that can be attained without violating application service level agreements. We tackle this problem by devising fuzzy controller for consolidation and QoS (FC2Q), a resource management framework exploiting feedback fuzzy logic control, that is able to dynamically adapt the physical CPU capacity allocated to the tiers of an application in order to precisely match the needs induced by the intensity of its current workload. We implement FC2Q on a real testbed and use this implementation to demonstrate its ability of meeting the aforementioned goals by means of a thorough experimental evaluation, carried out with real‐world cloud applications and workloads. Furthermore, we compare the performance achieved by FC2Q against those attained by existing state‐of‐the‐art alternative solutions, and we show that FC2Q works better than them in all the considered experimental scenarios. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Drug-Free Nasal Spray as a Barrier against SARS-CoV-2 and Its Delta Variant: In Vitro Study of Safety and Efficacy in Human Nasal Airway Epithelia

The nasal epithelium is a key portal for infection by respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and represents an important target for prophylactic and therapeutic interventions. In the present study, we test the safety and efficacy of a newly developed nasal spray (AM-301, marketed as Bentrio) against infection by SARS-CoV-2 and its Delta variant on an in vitro 3D-model of the primary human nasal airway epithelium. Safety was assessed in assays for tight junction integrity, cytotoxicity and cilia beating frequency. Efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 infection was evaluated in pre-viral load and post-viral load application on airway epithelium. No toxic effects of AM-301 on the nasal epithelium were found. Prophylactic treatment with AM-301 significantly reduced viral titer vs. controls over 4 days, reaching a maximum reduction of 99% in case of infection from the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 variant and more than 83% in case of the Delta variant. When AM-301 administration was started 24 h after infection, viral titer was reduced by about 12-folds and 3-folds on Day 4. The results suggest that AM-301 is safe and significantly decelerates SARS-CoV-2 replication in cell culture inhibition assays of prophylaxis (pre-viral load application) and mitigation (post-viral load application). Its physical (non-pharmaceutical) mechanism of action, safety and efficacy warrant additional investigations both in vitro and in vivo for safety and efficacy against a broad spectrum of airborne viruses and allergens.     

Active/passive control of sound radiation and power flow in fluid-loaded shells

The vibration and noise radiation from fluid-loaded cylindrical shells are controlled by using multiple stiffeners and passive constrained layer damping treatment. Dynamic and fluid finite elements are developed to study the fundamental phenomena governing the coupling between the stiffened shell, with and without damping, and the fluid domain surrounding it. The models are used to predict the response of the shell and to evaluate the effect of stiffening rings and damping treatment on both the structural vibration and noise radiation in the fluid domain. The geometry of the shell and fluid domain allows the formulation of a harmonic-based model, which uncouples the fluid–structural response of modes corresponding to different numbers of circumferential nodes.In this study, it is shown that stiffening of the shell reduces the amplitude of the vibration and noise radiation, particularly for high-order lobar modes. The attenuation of the shell response and sound radiation can be increased significantly through the application of passive constrained layer damping treatments on the inner surface of the stiffening rings.     

A global approach to the physics validation of simulation codes for future nuclear systems

This paper presents a global approach to the validation of the parameters that enter into the neutronics simulation tools for advanced fast reactors with the objective to reduce the uncertainties associated to crucial design parameters. This global approach makes use of sensitivity/uncertainty methods; statistical data adjustments; integral experiment selection, analysis and “representativity” quantification with respect to a reference system; scientifically based cross-section covariance data and appropriate methods for their use in multigroup calculations. This global approach has been applied to the uncertainty reduction on the criticality of the Advanced Burner Reactor (both metal and oxide core versions) presently investigated in the frame of the GNEP initiative. The results obtained are very encouraging and allow to indicate some possible improvements of the ENDF/B-VII data file.     

Molecular Mechanisms and Physiological Changes behind Benign Tracheal and Subglottic Stenosis in Adults

Laryngotracheal stenosis (LTS) is a complex and heterogeneous disease whose pathogenesis remains unclear. LTS is considered to be the result of aberrant wound-healing process that leads to fibrotic scarring, originating from different aetiology. Although iatrogenic aetiology is the main cause of subglottic or tracheal stenosis, also autoimmune and infectious diseases may be involved in causing LTS. Furthermore, fibrotic obstruction in the anatomic region under the glottis can also be diagnosed without apparent aetiology after a comprehensive workup; in this case, the pathological process is called idiopathic subglottic stenosis (iSGS). So far, the laryngotracheal scar resulting from airway injury due to different diseases was considered as inert tissue requiring surgical removal to restore airway patency. However, this assumption has recently been revised by regarding the tracheal scarring process as a fibroinflammatory event due to immunological alteration, similar to other fibrotic diseases. Recent acquisitions suggest that different factors, such as growth factors, cytokines, altered fibroblast function and genetic susceptibility, can all interact in a complex way leading to aberrant and fibrotic wound healing after an insult that acts as a trigger. However, also physiological derangement due to LTS could play a role in promoting dysregulated response to laryngo-tracheal mucosal injury, through biomechanical stress and mechanotransduction activation. The aim of this narrative review is to present the state-of-the-art knowledge regarding molecular mechanisms, as well as mechanical and physio-pathological features behind LTS.