Sublinear and continuous order-preserving functions for noncomplete preorders

We characterize the existence of a nonnegative, sublinear and continuous order-preserving function for a not necessarily complete preorder on a real convex cone in an arbitrary topological real vector space. As a corollary of the main result, we present necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of such an order-preserving function for a complete preorder.Comment: 8 page

A study of German printing inks from the early 20th century

Various coulorful printing inks were developed and widely distributed during the 19th and 20h centuries. However, in comparison to artists' paints from that period, printing inks are not studied in depth. This paper provides a first insight into materials in common German printing inks used at the time to understand the artists' opportunities, predict properties such as light fastness and possible colour alterations. The study is based on literature research and the analysis of two printing ink sample books from the 1920s and 1930s. Complementary analytical techniques were employed to characterise the ink samples, namely Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Twenty modern synthetic organic pigments (SOPs) and several traditional pigments as well as metallic pigments were identified in the catalogues. Linseed oil, semi-drying oils and resins (such as Copal and Dammar) were used as binding media. The results will aid decision-making in preservation and conservation of printed works

Rotational sensitivity of the "G-Pisa" gyrolaser

G-Pisa is an experiment investigating the possibility to operate a high sensitivity laser gyroscope with area less than $1 \rm m^2$ for improving the performances of the mirrors suspensions of the gravitational wave antenna Virgo. The experimental set-up consists in a He-Ne ring laser with a 4 mirrors square cavity. The laser is pumped by an RF discharge where the RF oscillator includes the laser plasma in order to reach a better stability. The contrast of the Sagnac fringes is typically above 50% and a stable regime has been reached with the laser operating both single mode or multimode. The effect of hydrogen contamination on the laser was also checked. A low-frequency sensitivity, below $1 \rm Hz$, in the range of $10^{-8} \rm {(rad / s)/ \sqrt{Hz}}$ has been measured.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, presented at the EFTF-IFCS joint conference 200

Human alpha cell transcriptomic signatures of types 1 and 2 diabetes highlight disease-specific dysfunction pathways

Although glucagon secretion is perturbed in both T1D and T2D, the pathophysiological changes in individual pancreatic alpha cells are still obscure. Using recently curated single-cell RNASeq data from T1D or T2D donors and their controls, we identified alpha cell transcriptomic alterations consistent with both common and discrete pathways. Although alterations in alpha cell identity gene (ARX, MAFB) expression were conserved, cytokine-regulated genes and genes involved in glucagon biosynthesis and processing were up-regulated in T1D. Conversely, mitochondrial genes associated with ROS (COX7B, NQO2) were dysregulated in T2D. Additionally, T1D alpha cells displayed altered expression of autoimmune-induced ER stress genes (ERLEC1, HSP90), whilst those from T2D subjects showed modified glycolytic and citrate cycle gene (LDHA?, PDHB, PDK4) expression. Thus, despite conserved alterations related to loss of function, alpha cells display disease-specific gene signatures which may be secondary to the main pathogenic events in each disease, namely immune- or metabolism-mediated-stress, in T1D and T2D, respectively

A device to characterize optical fibres

ATLAS is a general purpose experiment approved for the LHC collider at CERN. An important component of the detector is the central hadronic calorimeter; for its construction more than 600,000 Wave Length Shifting (WLS) fibres (corresponding to a total length of 1,120 Km) have been used. We have built and put into operation a dedicated instrument for the measurement of light yield and attenuation length over groups of 20 fibres at a time. The overall accuracy achieved in the measurement of light yield (attenuation length) is 1.5% (3%). We also report the results obtained using this method in the quality control of a large sample of fibres.Comment: 17 pages 20 figeres submitted to NIM journa

Continuous representability of interval orders: The topological compatibility setting

In this paper, we go further on the problem of the continuous numerical representability of interval orders defined on topological spaces. A new condition of compatibility between the given topology and the indifference associated to the main trace of an interval order is introduced. Provided that this condition is fulfilled, a semiorder has a continuous interval order representation through a pair of continuous real-valued functions. Other necessary and sufficient conditions for the continuous representability of interval orders are also discussed, and, in particular, a characterization is achieved for the particular case of interval orders defined on a topological space of finite support

The effect of a single, early-life administration of a probiotic on piglet growth performance and faecal microbiota until weaning

The establishment and maintenance of a balanced gut microbiota in early life play a pivotal role in pigs. This study aims to evaluate the effect of the administration of a single early-life probiotic on piglet faecal microbiota and growth performance until weaning. Forty-eight hours after birth (d0), 820 piglets were allocated into 4 groups (205 piglets/16 litters/group) and orally inoculated as follows: 1) Control (CO: 4 mL of pure water); 2) Saccharomyces (SA: 4 mL containing a total of 1 × 1010 CFU of Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM-1079; 3) Enterococcus (EF: 4 mL containing a total of 1 × 1010 CFU of Enterococcus faecium lactiferm WS200); 4) a mix of the two probiotics at the same doses (SAEF). At d7 and d18, the piglets were weighed, and faeces from the piglets (18 piglets/group from 6 sows/group) and their mothers were analysed for a microbial profile by sequencing the v3-v4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Data were arranged in a 2x2 factorial design. The probiotic supplement improved piglet ADG in the periods d7-d18 (p <.0001) and d0-d18 (p <.05). From d7 to d18, the SA group tended to have lower mortality than the CO group (p =.08). The probiotic supplement significantly affected the microbial beta diversity at d7 (p <.05). The SA probiotic favoured the colonisation of Erysipelatoclostridium and Christensenella, and the EF probiotic the colonisation of Lachnospiraceae. These results highlighted that the administration of a single early-life probiotic supplement could improve piglet performance and shape the faecal microbial profile.Highlights A single dose of E. faecium or S. cerevisiae improved piglet performance in the pre-weaning period. The early administration of probiotics shaped the faecal microbial profile of the piglets and contributed to improved growth performance

An assessment of case-fatality and infection-fatality rates of first and second COVID-19 waves in italy

Background and aim: The exact COVID-19 severity is still not well defined and it is hotly debated due to a few methodological issues such as the uncertainties about the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We investigated COVID-19 case-fatality rate and infection-fatality rate in 2020 in Italy, a country severely affected by the pandemic, basing our assessment on publicly available data, and calculating such measures during the first and second waves. Results: We found that province-specific crude case-fatality rate in the first wave (February-July 2020) had a median value of 12.0%. Data about infection-fatality rate was more difficult to compute, due to large underestimation of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first wave when asymptomatic individuals were very rarely tested. However, when using reference population-based seroprev-alence data for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies collected in May-July 2020, we computed an infection-fatality rate of 2.2%. During the second wave (Sep-Dec 2020), when SARS-CoV-2 testing was greatly increased and extended to many asymptomatic individuals, we could only compute a ‘hybrid’ case/infection-fatality rate with a value of 2.2%, similar to the infection-fatality rate of the first wave. Conclusions: Overall, this study al-lowed to assess the COVID-19 case-and infection-fatality rates in Italy before of variant spread and vaccine availability, confirming their high values compared with other airborne infections like influenza. Our findings for Italy were similar to those characterizing other Western European countries

Transfer of mycotoxins from lactation feed to colostrum of sows

Studies regarding the transfer of mycotoxins from sow feed to colostrum are scarce. A sample of in-house produced lactation feed and one of colostrum were collected from two or three sows per farm (total 49) from 19 farms. The feed contents of aflatoxins (AFs), fumonisins (FUs), deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) were assessed using ELISA and confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), The values were very low (10, 12, 17 and 2 positive samples for AFs, FUs, DON and ZEA, respectively), except for two samples (one AF, one DON). Based on feed values, colostrum samples from 13 farms were tested for at least one mycotoxin (Total 35). Aflatoxins were not found in any sample. A signal for FUs was observed in 5 of 11 colostra, despite low feed values; DON was frequently present in the colostrum (10/14). On the farm where the feed exceeded the DON suggested limits, a higher colostrum content was seen, 10.9 µg/kg, approximately 1/69 of the value showing toxicity in young pigs. The absence of reference values for neonate pigs, and the risk of higher and longer ingestion of DON by sows suggested considering routine checks of sow feed; more research on DON transfer and toxicity in piglets is needed