A Distributed Tool for Monitoring and Benchmarking a National Federated Cloud

Monitoring the health and benchmarking the performance of Cloud resources deployed at large comes with a set of interesting challenges. It calls for extensible, customisable and open-access tools, featuring control over monitoring tasks and configurations, probabilistic representation of measured performance, and declarative description of setups. In this article, we present an open-source monitoring prototype that targets all the above objectives by adopting a declarative task-oriented approach. We demonstrate how the prototype achieved TRL7, through its full integration into the production monitoring stack of the federated national Cloud powered by Consortium GARR, viz., the Italian National Research and Education Network

Antibody design using deep learning: from sequence and structure design to affinity maturation

Deep learning has achieved impressive results in various fields such as computer vision and natural language processing, making it a powerful tool in biology. Its applications now encompass cellular image classification, genomic studies and drug discovery. While drug development traditionally focused deep learning applications on small molecules, recent innovations have incorporated it in the discovery and development of biological molecules, particularly antibodies. Researchers have devised novel techniques to streamline antibody development, combining in vitro and in silico methods. In particular, computational power expedites lead candidate generation, scaling and potential antibody development against complex antigens. This survey highlights significant advancements in protein design and optimization, specifically focusing on antibodies. This includes various aspects such as design, folding, antibody-antigen interactions docking and affinity maturation

Etica e intelligenza artificiale: la sfida del secolo

L’intelligenza artificiale ci pone di fronte a nuove sfide etiche. Dai dilemmi filosofici alla regolamentazione europea, esploriamo come bilanciare innovazione e valori umani. La “ethics by design” potrebbe essere la chiave per creare sistemi AI che rispettino principi etici, mentre attendiamo – o temiamo – l’avvento di AI dotate di coscienza

Policy advice and best practices on bias and fairness in AI

The literature addressing bias and fairness in AI models (fair-AI) is growing at a fast pace, making it difficult for novel researchers and practitioners to have a bird's-eye view picture of the field. In particular, many policy initiatives, standards, and best practices in fair-AI have been proposed for setting principles, procedures, and knowledge bases to guide and operationalize the management of bias and fairness. The first objective of this paper is to concisely survey the state-of-the-art of fair-AI methods and resources, and the main policies on bias in AI, with the aim of providing such a bird's-eye guidance for both researchers and practitioners. The second objective of the paper is to contribute to the policy advice and best practices state-of-the-art by leveraging from the results of the NoBIAS research project. We present and discuss a few relevant topics organized around the NoBIAS architecture, which is made up of a Legal Layer, focusing on the European Union context, and a Bias Management Layer, focusing on understanding, mitigating, and accounting for bias

Modellazione dell’effetto della rugosità superficiale e dell’effetto scala per provini di Inconel 718 prodotti tramite tecnica L-PBF

I costanti progressi della tecnologia additiva stanno consentendo la realizzazione di componenti sempre più critici, soprattutto dal punto di vista meccanico. Come è noto, la resistenza di tali componenti dipende da numerosi fattori quali la finitura superficiale, le dimensioni o la presenza di intagli e la loro conoscenza è fondamentale dal punto di vista progettuale. Nel presente lavoro è stata investigata la resistenza a fatica monoassiale di provini di Inconel 718, realizzati tramite fusione laser a letto di polvere. Sono stati impiegati dei provini cilindrici non intagliati ispirati alle norme ASTM e dei provini miniaturizzati prismatici aventi una faccia liscia senza intaglio e la faccia opposta intagliata e dimensionati in maniera tale da ridurre al minimo il consumo di polvere. Per i provini cilindrici si sono utilizzate le macchine per fatica monoassiale, mentre i provini miniaturizzati sono stati testati con un’apposita macchina di flessione che permette di caratterizzare la resistenza a fatica monoassiale del provino. Per approfondire l’effetto della rugosità superficiale sulla resistenza a fatica, alcuni dei provini cilindrici sono stati anche sottoposti ad una lavorazione per asportazione di truciolo, che ha incrementato la finitura superficiale. La rugosità dei vari campioni è stata analizzata con un profilometro ottico 3D. La stima della resistenza è stata effettuata con l’approccio di Murakami. Tuttavia, quest’ultimo è stato contestualizzato ai fini della ricerca in esame, aggiungendo un termine per tenere conto dell’assenza di simmetria nel carico ciclico. Il termine radice di area è stato inoltre calcolato con riferimento all’espressione proposta da Murakami per includere l’effetto della rugosità sulla resistenza. Per determinare i termini della suddetta espressione, vari profili di rugosità sono stati estratti dalle scansioni 3D ottenute e sono stati modellati come somma di funzioni armoniche. Per tenere conto delle diverse dimensioni tra i provini utilizzati, è stato aggiunto al modello di Murakami un termine a due parametri per includere gli effetti dimensionali legati alla differente estensione delle superfici altamente sollecitate. I valori dei due parametri sono stati ottenuti utilizzando i valori del limite di fatica dei provini cilindrico rugoso e miniaturizzato testato dal lato liscio. Infine, Il provino cilindrico lavorato ed il provino miniaturizzato testato dal lato intagliato sono stati utilizzati come validatori, risultando in una buona accuratezza del modello proposto

Root endophytic bacterial communities are shaped by the specific microbiota associated to mycorrhizal symbionts

Background and aims Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are beneficial soil microorganisms establishing mutualistic symbioses with most crop plants and promoting plant growth and health. AMF beneficial activities are complemented by their associated microbiota, leading to synergistic interactions positively affecting plant performance. In this work we assessed whether AMF may act as drivers of root bacterial endophytes, facilitating root colonization of host plants by their associated bacteria. Methods Two AMF isolates were used, Funneliformis mosseae from Indiana (USA) and Septoglomus sp. from Tuscany (Italy) in an original experimental microcosm system, utilizing micropropagated plants of Prunus persica x Prunus amygdalus inoculated with either intact or mechanically crushed AMF spores, the former able and the latter unable to establish the symbiosis. Spore and root endophytic bacterial communities diversity were analysed by Illumina Miseq sequencing. Results This study revealed that AMF with their associated bacteria can shape the root endophytic bacterial communities, inducing differential recruitment depending on the composition of spore-associated microbiota. Such data were consistent between two AMF isolates, associated with diverse bacterial communities, as shown by PERMANOVA, Bray Curtis dissimilarity, hierarchical clustering and indicator species analyses. Moreover, specific bacterial taxa were found exclusively in mycorrhizal roots. Our findings suggested also a differential recruitment depending on the ability of AMF to establish mycorrhizal symbioses. Conclusion This work revealed that AMF represent drivers of the endophytic bacterial communities diversity and composition, facilitating root colonization of host plants by their associated bacteria, that become an integral part of the root microbiome as endophytes

Electric Mobility integrated in Renewable Energy Communities: technical/economic modelling and performance analysis

The recent European directives introduced Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) as entities that promote cooperation among users of the electric system by means of sharing energy. Italy is one of the first European countries to incorporate RECs into its regulatory framework, with a governance model and specific incentive mechanisms to promote the energy sharing among community members. This paper presents a co-simulation approach for RECs to model the integration of buildings loads and electric mobility for flexibility purposes. Members of RECs may install photovoltaic and storage system to feed their loads, as well as electric vehicles. The electric loads that correspond to heating and cooling are also accounted for using EnergyPlus, by implementing real case studies in different Italian climatic conditions. Moreover, consumptions data and charging performance of electric vehicles are implemented in the model, taking into account real measurements and data available on the market. The Julia package EnergyCommunity.jl is used to develop electric and economic/business models. Results of the proposed 10-users case study show that the introduction of electric mobility is useful for increasing the shared energy of the community, but the final social costs are higher due to the large initial investment for installing the charging stations

The production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) by cyanobacteria isolated from biocrusts in Sejzi Plain, Iran, and their contribution to UVB stress tolerance

Cyanobacterial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are secondary metabolites with high physiological importance for survival under ultraviolet radiation (UVR). This is particularly important in drylands, where cyanobacteria are the main components of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which are subjected to strong natural solar UVB (280–315 nm) irradiation. This research aims to assess the capability of cyanobacteria isolated from biocrusts from Sejzi Plain, Iran, to produce EPS under UVB treatment. Using a top-down approach, two cyanobacterial species were isolated from biocrusts, and identified as Microcoleus vaginatus and Oscillatoria sp. Both taxa were exposed to controlled UVB radiation for 24, 48 and 72 h. Chlorophyll a content, more soluble EPS fraction (loosely bound EPS, LB-EPS), and less soluble EPS fraction (tightly bound EPS, TB EPS) production were measured. M. vaginatus and Oscillatoria sp. produced equal amounts of both EPS under the UVB treatment. A significant relationship was found for decreasing LB-EPS after 24 h of exposure to UVB, while the amount of TB EPS did not decrease, and even increased significantly after 48 and 72 h. The chlorophyll a content of treated cyanobacteria and their control culture was not significantly different. Therefore, under prolonged UVB up to 72 h, these cyanobacteria produced more TB-EPS than LB-EPS. Consequently, TB-EPS might contribute to higher survival under UVB than LB-EPS