Association between one-hour post-load plasma glucose levels and vascular stiffness in essential hypertension

Objectives: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a surrogate end-point for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A plasma glucose value $155 mg/dl for the 1-hour post-load plasma glucose during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is able to identify subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) at high-risk for type-2 diabetes (T2D) and for subclinical organ damage. Thus, we addressed the question if 1-hour post-load plasma glucose levels, affects PWV and its central hemodynamic correlates, as augmentation pressure (AP) and augmentation index (AI). Methods: We enrolled 584 newly diagnosed hypertensives. All patients underwent OGTT and measurements of PWV, AP and AI. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by Matsuda-index. Results: Among participants, 424 were NGT and 160 had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Of 424 NGT, 278 had 1-h postload plasma glucose ,155 mg/dl (NGT,155) and 146 had 1-h post-load plasma glucose$155 mg/dl (NGT$155). NGT$155 had a worse insulin sensitivity and higher hs-CRP than NGT,155, similar to IGT subjects. In addition, NGT $155 in comparison with NGT,155 had higher central systolic blood pressure (134612 vs 131610 mmHg), as well as PWV (8.463.7 vs 6.761.7 m/s), AP (12.567.1 vs 9.865.7 mmHg) and AI (29.4611.9 vs 25.1612.4 regression analysis, 1-h post-load plasma glucose resulted the major determinant of all indices of vascular stiffness. Conclusion: Hypertensive NGT$155 subjects, compared with NGT,155, have higher PWV and its hemodynamic correlates that increase their cardiovascular risk profile

Accuracy evaluation of on-wafer load-pull measurements

This paper investigates the residual calibration uncertainty effects in on-wafer load-pull measurements. After the systematic error correction (based on a traditional error-box model) has been applied, the residual uncertainty on absolute-power-level measurements can dramatically affect the accuracy of typical nonlinear parameters such as gain and power-added efficiency under different load conditions. The main residual uncertainty contributions are highlighted both by a theoretical analysis and experiments. Finally, one of the possible causes for intermodulation-distortion measurement errors is shown

Cross-Talk Effects in the Uncertainty Estimation of Multiplexed Data Acquisition Systems

This paper deals with the analysis of multi-channel data-acquisition systems with the aim of identifying and combining the main uncertainty contributions according to the GUM framework. Particular attention has been paid towards cross-talk effect, which could be an important uncertainty contribution in multiplexed data-acquisition systems. The uncertainty analysis is described for three commercial data acquisition devices highlighting that cross-talk specifications are often not suitable for a reliable uncertainty estimation in operating conditions. For this reason, an experimental set-up has been arranged to fully characterize the inter-channel effects of the investigated devices. The obtained results have highlighted that a proper characterization of a data-acquisition system is effective in estimating the actual performance at the frequency of interest and in the operating conditions for the source resistance and the input-channel configuration. Eventually, a customized procedure has been proposed that is effective in correcting the cross-talk effects also in very severe conditions of inter-channel disturbance

Long-term monitoring of photovoltaic plants

Peer Reviewe

In-field monitoring of eight photovoltaic plants: Degradation rate over seven years of continuous operation

The results of more than seven years (October 2010-December 2017) of continuous monitoring are presented in this paper that refer to eight outdoors PhotoVoltaic (PV) plants. The monitored plants are based on different technologies: mono-crystalline silicon (m-Si), poli-crystalline silicon (p-Si), string ribbon silicon, Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) thin film and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin film. Thin-film and m-Si modules are used both in fixed installation and on x-y tracking systems. The results are expressed in terms of degradation rate of the efficiency of each PV plant, which is estimated from the measurements provided by a multi-channel data-acquisition system that senses both electrical and environmental quantities. A comparison with the electrical characterization of each plant obtained by means of the transient charge of a capacitive load is also proposed. In addition, three of the monitored plants have been characterized at module level and the estimated degradation rates have been compared to the values obtained with the monitoring system. The main outcome of this work can be summarized in a higher degradation rate of thin-film based PV modules with respect to silicon-based PV modules

A new paradigm of effective communication based on voice shapes

A new relational paradigm is proposed that is based on voice shapes, which represent the speech style used to establish an effective communication. The functional voice shapes are: "rounded", which means that a colloquial and empath communication is established; "triangular", which means transmitting energy, joy and interest; "squared", which highlights competence and solidity. The dysfunctional shapes are: "flat", a monotone style that does not capture the listener attention; "spiky", which is an aggressive style that transmits anger or blame towards the listener. An attempt has been made to match the voice shapes to acoustic features of the vocal signal, starting from parameters extracted from the recordings of 12 actors that have reproduced the voice shapes. Preliminary results allowed a subset of the estimated parameters to be identified that have shown good capabilities in discriminating the voice shapes. These parameters are related to distributions of voicing and silence periods, pitch and Cepstral Peak Prominence Smoothed. A web campaign has been also launched asking untrained subjects to "give their voice to the research". Even though only two voice shapes have been identified in this data set, a comparison with the parameters extracted from the trained subjects has shown a good agreement

Long-Term Monitoring of Photovoltaic Plants

This paper deals with a data-acquisition system that has been specifically developed for a long-term monitoring of ten different photovoltaic plants. The main goals of the system consist in estimating the drift of the plant components, mainly photovoltaic modules and power inverters, and comparing the performance of the ten plants, which are based on different technologies and architectures. Owing to these goals, the traceabilityassurance of the obtained measurements is mandatory, hence the data-acquisition system has been designed to be easily calibrated and, if necessary, adjusted to compensate for measuring-chain drifts. In addition, the measurement uncertainty, which has to be suitable to distinguish the behaviour of the different PV plants, has to be stated for each of the estimated parameters. A brief description of the data-acquisition system is provided and its measurement capabilities are highlighted in terms of measured quantities and expected uncertainty. Results that refer to a period of thirty months are also reported

Associations between Objectively-measured Acoustic Parameters and Occupational Voice Use among Primary School Teachers☆

Abstract Previous studies on voice disorders among teachers have reported that this multidimensional phenomenon is associated with individual factors, external factors related with the audience and with the type of task and the occupation. This work deals with the long-term monitoring (1 to 4 days) of 31 primary school teachers and with the determination of the relationship between conversational and occupational voice parameters. Statistical analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between voice parameters and room acoustics-related factors