Genome Network Project: An Integrated Genomic Platform

With the objective of elucidating the structure of gene interactions in the human genome, the Genome Network Project has generated a vast quantity of experimental data, mainly focusing on transcriptional control and transcription-factor related protein-protein interactions (PPI). This data has been collected and organized into the Genome Network Platform ("http://genomenetwork.nig.ac.jp/":http://genomenetwork.nig.ac.jp/) at the National Institute of Genetics. Expression data was obtained through CAGE (Cap Analysis Gene Expression), qRT-PCR, tiling array, microarray and short RNA analysis, while PPI information was gathered through yeast two hybrid (Y2H), mammalian two hybrid (M2H) and _in vitro_ virus (IVV) methods. The Genome Network Platform Viewer provides an integrated user interface to the complete database, including services of gene search, whole genome browsing, PPI network viewer, and expression profile analysis. Our platform represents an extremely useful resource for researchers in the field of genomics, and provides access to high quality data through the combination of intuitive browsing and visualization capabilities

Energy and technological refurbishment of the School of Architecture Valle Giulia, Rome

Modern architecture built in historical urban contexts represents a demanding issue when its energy efficiency should be improved. Indeed, the strongest efforts have to be made to maintain the architectural identity and its harmony with the surrounding cultural heritage. This study deals with the main building of the School of Architecture Valle Giulia in Rome, designed by Enrico Del Debbio in the 30’s. Further constraints are related to several interventions of airspace expansion starting from 1958 which involved the building starting from 1958. So, preservation would mean highlighting its historic change but, adapting the built environment to the contemporary users’ needs. As above-mentioned, the building belongs to the Valle delle Accademie, within the historic park of Villa Borghese, so that to acquire landscaping values. Those latter ones call for ulterior requirements when any new design process is conceived. The study provides a global renewal of the building accounting for the current low Indoor Environmental Quality in both summer and winter seasons and the lack of suitability to the contemporary University student’s needs. The interaction between building performance and HVAC systems was studied by collecting data and architectural surveys conducted by all the architects who modified the building. This procedure was chosen since thermo-physical investigations are considered destructive due to required perforations to identify the actual wall layers. Moreover, thermographic surveys were carried out to validate the modelled building response. The result of the study is the identification of viable interventions to improve the accessibility and fruition of the building as well as its energy performance. A specific cost-benefit analysis was done to prioritize the design options along with considering the measures needed to preserve all the architectural features and values

Micro-doppler-based in-home aided and unaided walking recognition with multiple radar and sonar systems

Published in IET Radar, Sonar and Navigation. Online first 21/06/2016.The potential for using micro-Doppler signatures as a basis for distinguishing between aided and unaided gaits is considered in this study for the purpose of characterising normal elderly gait and assessment of patient recovery. In particular, five different classes of mobility are considered: normal unaided walking, walking with a limp, walking using a cane or tripod, walking with a walker, and using a wheelchair. This presents a challenging classification problem as the differences in micro-Doppler for these activities can be quite slight. Within this context, the performance of four different radar and sonar systems – a 40 kHz sonar, a 5.8 GHz wireless pulsed Doppler radar mote, a 10 GHz X-band continuous wave (CW) radar, and a 24 GHz CW radar – is evaluated using a broad range of features. Performance improvements using feature selection is addressed as well as the impact on performance of sensor placement and potential occlusion due to household objects. Results show that nearly 80% correct classification can be achieved with 10 s observations from the 24 GHz CW radar, whereas 86% performance can be achieved with 5 s observations of sonar

Intestinal Microbial Ecology of Broilers Vaccinated and Challenged With Mixed Eimeria Species, and Supplemented with Essential Oil Blends

Intestinal microbiota is an important component in the development of defense mechanisms in the gut mucosa. This project determined the dynamics of intestinal microbial communities (MC) of broilers vaccinated at first day of age with live oocysts of Eimeria species and fed diets supplemented with 2 specific essential oil (EO) blends, Crina Poultry (CP) and Crina Alternate (CA). Five treatments were analyzed: 1) unmedicated-uninfected (UU) control; 2) unmedicated-infected (UI) control; 3) vaccinated with Advent cocci-vaccine and without feed additive (COV) supplements; 4) vaccinated with Advent and supplemented with CP; and 5) vaccinated with Advent and supplemented with CA. The EO blends were added at 100 ppm to the same basal diets. Chicks were gavage-infected at 19 d of age with Eimeria acervulina, Eimeria maxima, and Eimeria tenella. Duodenal, ileal, and cecal samples were taken from 12 birds per treatment just before the infection and 7 d after the challenge, pooled in 6 samples, and frozen. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to examine PCR-amplified fragments of the bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA variable region. Results are presented as percentages of similarity coefficients (SC). Dendrograms of amplicon patterns indicated MC differences due to intestinal location, feed additives, and cocci infection. The EO blends CP and CA did affect MC in all gut sections. The cocci-infection caused drastic MC population shifts in duodenal, ileal, and cecal sections (36.7, 55.4, and 36.2% SC, respectively). The CP-supplemented birds had higher SC between pre- and postchallenge MC in duodenal and ileal (73.3, 81.8%) than COV (66.4, 66.5%). However, COV broilers had the smallest changes in cecal MC after infection (79.5% SC). We concluded that cocci-vaccination causes small changes in intestinal MC, but challenge causes drastic shifts. The EO blend supplementation modulates MC in cocci-vaccinated broilers, avoiding drastic shifts after a mixed coccidia infection. Correlations between MC dynamics and host responses are discussed

Unitized regenerative polymeric fuel cell modeling

The research's objective is to have a single machine to function as fuel cell and electrolyser based and needs, that is to say, unitized regenerative fuel cell (when fed to the machine with electric power and water flows will be obtained and H2 and O2 and conversely when the machine is fuelled with H2 and O2 will get water, heat and electricity) The study focuses on polymeric fuel cells and polymeric electrolysers. The development of this machine will make a very significant cost reduction (currently to use hydrogen as an energy store needed the electrolyser and fuel cell) as a single machine may replace the fuel cell and electrolyser. The achievement of the objective mentioned above, have been going by completing a series of stages. The stages addressed in this work are: ¿ A first stage, which will be studied in detail the polymeric fuel cells and polymeric electrolysers, in order to see the similarities between the machines and to design the unitized regenerative fuel cell. ¿ A second stage of simulation, which will develop models to show the behaviour of the unitized regenerative fuel cell and compare results with those obtained from the theoretical. ¿ A third stage of model verification generated polymer fuel cells and electrolyzers polymer on the market

Classical Tensors and Quantum Entanglement I: Pure States

The geometrical description of a Hilbert space asociated with a quantum system considers a Hermitian tensor to describe the scalar inner product of vectors which are now described by vector fields. The real part of this tensor represents a flat Riemannian metric tensor while the imaginary part represents a symplectic two-form. The immersion of classical manifolds in the complex projective space associated with the Hilbert space allows to pull-back tensor fields related to previous ones, via the immersion map. This makes available, on these selected manifolds of states, methods of usual Riemannian and symplectic geometry. Here we consider these pulled-back tensor fields when the immersed submanifold contains separable states or entangled states. Geometrical tensors are shown to encode some properties of these states. These results are not unrelated with criteria already available in the literature. We explicitly deal with some of these relations.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Int. J. Geom. Meth. Mod. Phy

Foot pressure distributions during walking in African elephants (Loxodonta africana)

Elephants, the largest living land mammals, have evolved a specialized foot morphology to help reduce locomotor pressures while supporting their large body mass. Peak pressures that could cause tissue damage are mitigated passively by the anatomy of elephants' feet, yet this mechanism does not seem to work well for some captive animals. This study tests how foot pressures vary among African and Asian elephants from habitats where natural substrates predominate but where foot care protocols differ. Variations in pressure patterns might be related to differences in husbandry, including but not limited to trimming and the substrates that elephants typically stand and move on. Both species' samples exhibited the highest concentration of peak pressures on the lateral digits of their feet (which tend to develop more disease in elephants) and lower pressures around the heel. The trajectories of the foot's centre of pressure were also similar, confirming that when walking at similar speeds, both species load their feet laterally at impact and then shift their weight medially throughout the step until toe-off. Overall, we found evidence of variations in foot pressure patterns that might be attributable to husbandry and other causes, deserving further examination using broader, more comparable samples