Milk from cows fed a diet with a high forage:concentrate ratio improves inflammatory state,oxidative stress,and mitochondrial function in rats

Excessive energy intake may evoke complex biochemical processes characterized by inflammation, oxidative stress, and impairment of mitochondrial function that represent the main factors underlying noncommunicable diseases. Because cow milk is widely used for human nutrition and in food industry processing, the nutritional quality of milk is of special interest with respect to human health. In our study, we analyzed milk produced by dairy cows fed a diet characterized by a high forage:concentrate ratio (high forage milk, HFM). In view of the low n-6:n-3 ratio and high content of conjugated linoleic acid of HFM, we studied the effects of this milk on lipid metabolism, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress in a rat model. To this end, we supplemented for 4 wk the diet of male Wistar rats with HFM and with an isocaloric amount (82 kJ, 22 mL/d) of milk obtained from cows fed a diet with low forage:concentrate ratio, and analyzed the metabolic parameters of the animals. Our results indicate that HFM may positively affect lipid metabolism, leptin:adiponectin ratio, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress, providing the first evidence of the beneficial effects of HFM on rat metabolism.     

Scheduling Algorithms for Packet-Oriented MAC Protocols in Wireless Multimedia Systems

Future generation wireless multimediacommunications will require efficient Medium AccessControl (MAC) protocols able to guarantee suitable Qualityof Service (QoS) levels for different traffic classes whileachieving a high utilization of radio resources. This paperproposes a new scheduling technique to be adopted at the MAClevel in wireless access systems, named Dynamic Scheduling-Time DivisionDuplexing (DS-TDD), that efficiently managesvideo, voice, Web and background traffics. A theoretical approachis proposed in this paper to evaluate the DS-TDD performance withvoice and Web traffics. Simulation results have permitted tohighlight the following promising characteristics of the DS-TDDscheme: (i) a high capacity of real-time traffics isattained with a QoS insensitive to Web and background trafficloads; (ii) a high throughput can be guaranteed whilepreserving the QoS levels of the different traffic classes;(iii) heavier downlink traffic loads do not modify the QoSof uplink traffics. Finally, extensive comparisons with differentscheduling schemes proposed in the literature have permitted tohighlight the better performanceof DS-TDD.     

Profiling Voids Embedded in a Slab by a Non-Linear Model

In this paper, by applying a non linear model for the electromagnetic inverse scattering, a technique for the dielectric profiling of a planarly layered medium is investigated and applied to void localization and diagnostics inside a homogeneous lossless slab (one-dimensional geometry). Data are collected under plane wave multifrequency normal incidence. Suitable finite dimensional representations for the unknown functions are introduced and their influence on the model is discussed. The resulting functional equation is solved by the method of weighted residuals and the solution algorithm amounts to minimizing a non quadratic function, where particular attention is devoted to reduce the occurrence of local minima. Finally, the inversion algorithm is validated by applications to both simulated and experimental data.     

包含热模型的大功率MOSFET新型电路模型

功率转换器的功率密度越来越高，发热问题越来越严重，这种功率转换器的设计对现代大功率半导体技术提出了新的挑战；因而，热问题的优化设计和核实变得比大功率器件的电模型更加重要，本文提出一种新的PSPICE模型，可以利用它计算MOSFET芯片在瞬变过程中的温度。其中的热阻可以从制造商提供的产品使用说明书得到。本文介绍的模型提供发热和电气参数之间的动态关系。它建立了与许可的热环境的关系，例如，栅极驱动电路、负载、以及散热器的分析与优化设计。利用这个模型可以改善散热器的设计。由于决定功率损耗的参数是分布在一定范围内，受生产制造的影响很大，因而散热器的设计往往由于无法预先知道功率损耗而无法进行。     

Global adaptive output feedback controllers with application to non‐linear friction compensation

In this paper, we consider a class of non‐linear systems in which a set of constant parameters is unknown and some state variables are not available for measurement. For such systems we provide a constructive procedure for the solution of the global adaptive tracking problem with dynamic partial state feedback. We illustrate an application of the control strategy to the adaptive non‐linear friction compensation of a DC motor servomechanism. We improve previous results in tow directions: we allow for a subset of the unmeasurable states to enter in a system non‐linearly; we consider systems which are linearly parametrized with respect to a set of unknown constant parameters. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stability analysis of an adaptive packet access scheme for mobile communication systems with high propagation delays

In this paper, we investigate a packet access scheme that is able to support mixed traffics in the presence of high propagation delays. Referring to a Time‐Code Division Multiple Access air interface, we propose a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol based on a random access scheme. A successful attempt grants the use of a slot‐code resource. This protocol is named Adaptive Time Code‐Packet Reservation Multiple Access (ATC‐PRMA), since the access parameters are changed, depending on the traffic load conditions, so as to fulfil Quality of Service requirements. Numerical examples are carried out for the Low Earth Orbit (LEO)‐Mobile Satellite System (MSS) scenario, but all these considerations could be applied to High‐Altitude Platform Stations (HAPSs) as well. In both cases, high propagation delays prevent an immediate feedback to users. An analytical approach is proposed to study the stability of our MAC scheme. Accordingly, we define a criterion for optimizing system performance. The predicted ATC‐PRMA behaviour is supported by simulation results. Finally, we show the performance improvement of ATC‐PRMA with respect to a MAC protocol not employing adaptive parameters. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two-Way Protocol with Imperfect Devices

The security of a deterministic quantum scheme for communication, namely the LM05 [1], is studied in presence of a lossy channel under the assumption of imperfect generation and detection of single photons. It is shown that the scheme allows for a rate of distillable secure bits higher than that pertaining to BB84 [2]. We report on a first implementation of LM05 with weak pulses.     

Exploiting timed automata based fuzzy controllers for designing adaptive intrusion detection systems

Network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs) are pattern recognition problems that classify network traffic patterns as either ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’. Precisely, the main aim of intrusion detection is to identify unauthorized use, misuse, and abuse of computers by detecting malicious network activities such as port scans, denial of service or other attempts to crack computer network environments. Even though the incorporation of conventional Soft Computing techniques in NIDSs has yielded to good solutions, the strong dynamism characterizing network intrusion patterns tend to invalidate the usability of existing framework. To tackle this issue, our proposal performs an adaptive supervised learning on a collection of time series that characterizes the network behavior to create a so-called timed automata-based fuzzy controller (TAFC), i.e. an evolvable fuzzy controller whose dynamic features allow to design an advanced network intrusion detection system able to directly deal with computer network dynamism and support networks’ administrators to prevent eventual damages coming from unauthorized network intrusion. As will be shown in experiments, where our approach has been compared with a conventional Mamdani fuzzy controller, the proposed system reduces the detection error and, as consequence, improves the computer network robustness.     

Design and implementation of a confidentiality and access control solution for publish/subscribe systems

The publish/subscribe model offers a loosely-coupled communication paradigm where applications interact indirectly and asynchronously. Publishers generate events that are sent to interested applications through a network of brokers. Subscribers express their interest by specifying filters that brokers can use for routing the events. Supporting confidentiality of messages being exchanged is still challenging. First of all, it is desirable that any scheme used for protecting the confidentiality of both the events and filters should not require publishers and subscribers to share secret keys. In fact, such a restriction is against the loose-coupling of the model. Moreover, such a scheme should not restrict the expressiveness of filters and should allow the broker to perform event filtering to route the events to the interested parties. Existing solutions do not fully address these issues. In this paper, we provide a novel scheme that supports (i) confidentiality for events and filters; (ii) allows publishers to express further constraints about who can access their events; (iii) filters that can express very complex constraints on events even if brokers are not able to access any information in clear on both events and filters; (iv) and, finally, it does not require publishers and subscribers to share keys. Furthermore, we show how we applied our scheme to a real-world e-health scenario, developed together with a hospital. We also describe the implementation of our solution in Java and the integration with an existing publish/subscribe system.     

Synthesis and Evaluation of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Blocking Pyrroline Derivatives Endowed with Both Antiarrhythmic and Antioxidant Activities

Under the hypothesis that cardioprotective agents might benefit from synergism between antiarrhythmic activity and antioxidant properties, a small series of mexiletine analogues were coupled with the 2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrroline moiety, known for its antioxidant effect, in order to obtain dual-acting drugs potentially useful in the protection of the heart against post-ischemic reperfusion injury. The pyrroline derivatives reported herein were found to be more potent as antiarrhythmic agents than mexiletine and displayed antioxidant activity. The most interesting tetramethylpyrroline congener, a tert-butyl-substituted analogue, was at least 100 times more active as an antiarrhythmic than mexiletine.