The impact of influenza virus B in Italy: myth or reality?

We describe the burden of influenza B infections in Italy during a 12-year study period. Influenza A and B viruses cocirculated throughout the period, with numbers of influenza B cases approaching or exceeding those of influenza A during three influenza seasons. Influenza B virus infections led to fewer admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU) and a lower mortality rate than influenza A from 2010 to 2015. However, a 16% of those admitted to ICU with influenza B had not been immunised. This highlights the need for consistent influenza vaccination for identified risk groups. Our study demonstrates that influenza B virus infections are associated with substantial morbidity and that influenza surveillance and interventions including vaccination and treatment are still suboptimal. Our findings have important public health implications. Incorporating virus and epidemiological data will help obtain more accurate estimates of influenza disease burden and result in a better selection of influenza prevention and control strategies

Fast training of self organizing maps for the visual exploration of molecular compounds

Visual exploration of scientific data in life science area is a growing research field due to the large amount of available data. The Kohonen’s Self Organizing Map (SOM) is a widely used tool for visualization of multidimensional data. In this paper we present a fast learning algorithm for SOMs that uses a simulated annealing method to adapt the learning parameters. The algorithm has been adopted in a data analysis framework for the generation of similarity maps. Such maps provide an effective tool for the visual exploration of large and multi-dimensional input spaces. The approach has been applied to data generated during the High Throughput Screening of molecular compounds; the generated maps allow a visual exploration of molecules with similar topological properties. The experimental analysis on real world data from the National Cancer Institute shows the speed up of the proposed SOM training process in comparison to a traditional approach. The resulting visual landscape groups molecules with similar chemical properties in densely connected regions

Elastoplastic Damaging Model for Adhesive Anchor Systems. I: Theoretical Formulation and Numerical Implementation

In this and in the companion paper, the mechanical response of adhesive anchor systems is theoretically and numerically predicted and experimentally observed. The theoretical prediction is on the basis of an elastoplastic damaging model formulated to predict the structural response associated with the development of a fracture in adhesive anchor systems. This part describes the analytical model developed in the framework of a thermodynamically consistent theory, which assumes adhesion where the structure is sound, and friction in correspondence with the fracture. Isotropic damage is considered. The model can predict the structural behavior at the interface between two surfaces of ductile, brittle, or quasi-brittle materials. The Helmholtz free energy is written to model the materials' hardening or softening. Isotropic damage is considered, and the possible effects of dilatancy are taken into account, including nonassociative flow rules. The formulation is implemented into the finite-element code FEAP. In the companion paper, the new model is adopted to predict the mechanical response to the pullout force of postinstalled rebar chemically bonded in concrete. The analytical model and the numerical implementation are experimentally validated by several pullout tests, which are monitored by using an acoustic-emission technique

Microphones’ Directivity for the Localization of Sound Sources

In a recent paper [P. Rizzo, G. Bordoni, A. Marzani, and J. Vipperman, “Localization of Sound Sources by Means of Unidirectional Microphones, Meas. Sci. Tech., 20, 055202 (12pp), 2009] the proof-of-concept of an approach for the localization of acoustic sources was presented. The method relies on the use of unidirectional microphones and amplitude-based signals’ features to extract information about the direction of the incoming sound. By intersecting the directions identified by a pair of microphones, the position of the emitting source can be identified. In this paper we expand the work presented previously by assessing the effectiveness of the approach for the localization of an acoustic source in an indoor setting. As the method relies on the accurate knowledge of the microphones directivity, analytical expression of the acoustic sensors polar pattern were derived by testing them in an anechoic chamber. Then an experiment was conducted in an empty laboratory by using an array of three unidirectional microphones. The ability to locate the position of a commercial speaker placed at different positions in the room is discussed. The objective of this study is to propose a valid alternative to the common application of spaced arrays and therefore to introduce a new generation of reduced size sound detectors and localizers. The ability of the proposed methodology to locate the position of a commercial speaker placed at different positions in the room was evaluated and compared to the accuracy provided by a conventional time delay estimate algorithm

Shape Localization and Recognition using a Magnetorheological-fluid Haptic Display

Smart materials such as magnetorheological fluids (MRF) offer an interesting technology for use in haptic displays as changes in the magnetic field are rapid, reversible, and controllable. These interfaces have been evaluated in a number of medical and surgical simulators where they can provide cues regarding the viscoelastic properties of tissues. The objective of the present set of experiments was first to determine whether a shape embedded in the MRF could be precisely localized and second whether 10 shapes rendered in a MRF haptic display could be accurately identified. It was also of interest to determine how the information transfer associated with this type of haptic display compares to that achieved using other haptic channels of communication. The overall performance of participants at identifying the shapes rendered in the MRF was good with a mean score of 73 percent correct and an Information Transfer (IT) of 2.2 bits. Participants could also localize a rigid object in the display accurately. These findings indicate that this technology has potential for use in training manual palpation skills and in exploring haptic shape perception in dynamic environments

Context-aware visual exploration of molecular databases

Facilitating the visual exploration of scientific data has received increasing attention in the past decade or so. Especially in life science related application areas the amount of available data has grown at a breath taking pace. In this paper we describe an approach that allows for visual inspection of large collections of molecular compounds. In contrast to classical visualizations of such spaces we incorporate a specific focus of analysis, for example the outcome of a biological experiment such as high throughout screening results. The presented method uses this experimental data to select molecular fragments of the underlying molecules that have interesting properties and uses the resulting space to generate a two dimensional map based on a singular value decomposition algorithm and a self organizing map. Experiments on real datasets show that the resulting visual landscape groups molecules of similar chemical properties in densely connected regions

Friendly investing and information sharing in the asset management industry

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.Do asset managers engage in friendly investing to obtain privileged investment information? We test this hypothesis in the context of mutual fund connections to financial groups. Using brokers as the source of connections, we find that funds overweight the stock of connected financial groups and side with management in contested votes. We also find that fund performance improves with the extent of friendly investing. The improvement stems from trading the stock of companies that borrow from connected financial groups. Brokerage commissions do not drive the results. Our findings suggest that funds can obtain valuable information by acting as friendly shareholders.inpres

Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Chemically Bonded Anchors

This paper presents a study on the use of acoustic emission (AE) to assess the structural soundness of concrete reinforced with chemically bonded anchors. The results of an experimental work based on six pullout tests monitored using an AE instrumentation suite are reported below. In every test one rebar was embedded in the hardened concrete by means of polyester resin. The AE was adopted to moni- tor the onset and progression of any structural damage. The parametric analysis, the intensity analysis and the moment tensor analysis of AE data were used to discriminate among different sources of damage. The technique shows promise for field application and may contribute to fully understand the structural mechanism in the rebar/adhesive/concrete sys- tems

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss: is there a relationship between routine haematological parameters and audiogram shapes?

Objective: To investigate the relationship between haematological routine parameters and audiogram shapes in patients affected by sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Design: A retrospective study. All patients were divided into four groups according to the audiometric curve and mean values of haematological parameters (haemoglobin, white blood cell, neutrophils and lymphocytes relative count, platelet count, haematocrit, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen and neutrophil-to-lymphocite ratio) of each group were statistically compared. The prognostic role of blood profile and coagulation test was also examined. Study sample: A cohort of 183 SSNHL patients without comorbidities. Results: With a 48.78% of complete hearing recovery, individuals affected by upsloping hearing loss presented a better prognosis instead of flat (18.36%), downsloping (19.23%) and anacusis (2.45%) groups (p = 0.0001). The multivariate analysis of complete blood count values revealed lower mean percentage of lymphocytes (p = 0.041) and higher platelet levels (p = 0.015) in case of downsloping hearing loss; with the exception of fibrinogen (p = 0.041), none of the main haematological parameters studied resulted associated with poorer prognosis. Conclusions: Our work suggested a lack of association between haematological parameters and a defined audiometric picture in SSNHL patients; furthermore, only fibrinogen seems to influence the prognosis of this disease

A semi-anaytical model for the analysis of a Permanent Magnet Tubular Linear Generator

In this paper the authors introduce a semi-analytical model for the analysis and the design of a Permanent Magnet (PM) tubular linear generator intended for electrical energy generation from sea waves. The translator of the analyzed machine is constituted by axially magnetized ferrite PMs with alternating polarity and soft-magnetic pole-pieces in between; a two poles, double layer three-phase winding is located in the slots of the stator. The presented model, based on use of the Carter coefficient and of the Fourier transform in the direction of the motion, is able to take into account the end effects due to the finite length of the stator. The presence of slots and teeth is subsequently considered by some post processing calculation carried on the results of the semi-analytical model. Comparison with a Finite Element analysis and with measurements taken on a prototype has been performed to validate the presented model. The model can be easily extended to other translator typologies, e.g. to air core translator with Halbach array of NdFeB PMs