Smart e-Learning Systems with Big Data

Nowadays, the Internet connects people, multimedia and physical objects leading to a new-wave of services. This includes learning applications, which require to manage huge and mixed volumes of information coming from Web and social media, smart-cities and Internet of Things nodes. Unfortunately, designing smart e-learning systems able to take advantage of such a complex technological space raises different challenges. In this perspective, this paper introduces a reference architecture for the development of future and big-data-capable e-learning platforms. Also, it showcases how data can be used to enrich the learning process

Electrical and magnetic performance of the LHC short straight sections

The Short Straight Section (SSS) for the Large Hadron Collider arcs, containing in a common cryostat the lattice quadrupoles and correction magnets, have now entered series production. The foremost features of the lattice quadrupole magnets are a two-in-one structure containing two 56 mm aperture, two-layers coils wound from 15.1 mm wide NbTi cables, enclosed by the stainless steel collars and ferromagnetic yoke, and inserted into the inertia tube. Systematic cryogenic tests are performed at CERN in order to qualify these magnets with respect to their cryogenic and electrical integrity, the quench performance and the field quality in all operating conditions. This paper reports the main results obtained during tests and measurements in superfluid helium. The electrical characteristics, the insulation measurements and the quench performance are compared to the specifications and expected performances for these magnets. The field in the main quadrupole is measured using three independent systems: 10-m long twin rotating coils, an automatic scanner, and single stretched wire. A particular emphasis is given to the integrated transfer function which has a spread of around 12 units rms in the production and is a critical issue. The do-decapole harmonic component, which required trimming through a change in coil shims, is also discussed. Finally, the magnetic axis measurements at room temperature and at 1.9 K, providing the nominal vertical shift for installation are reported.peer-reviewe

Whole Lung Irradiation after High-Dose Busulfan/Melphalan in Ewing Sarcoma with Lung Metastases: An Italian Sarcoma Group and Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica Joint Study

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The lung is the most frequent site of metastasis in Ewing sarcoma, the second most common bone cancer affecting children, adolescents and young adults. The five-year overall survival of patients with isolated lung metastasis is approximately 50% after multimodal treatments including chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the feasibility and the predictors of survival in 68 Ewing sarcoma patients with lung metastases who received high-dose chemotherapy with busulfan and melphalan, followed by reduced dose whole-lung irradiation, as part of two prospective and consecutive treatment protocols. This combined treatment strategy is feasible and might contribute to the disease control in lung metastatic Ewing sarcoma with responsive disease. Furthermore, the results of this study provide support to explore the treatment stratification for lung metastatic Ewing sarcoma based on the histological response of the primary tumor. ABSTRACT: Purpose: To analyze toxicity and outcome predictors in Ewing sarcoma patients with lung metastases treated with busulfan and melphalan (BU-MEL) followed by whole-lung irradiation (WLI). Methods: This retrospective study included 68 lung metastatic Ewing Sarcoma patients who underwent WLI after BU-MEL with autologous stem cell transplantation, as part of two prospective and consecutive treatment protocols. WLI 12 Gy for <14 years old and 15 Gy for ≥14 years old patients were applied at least eight weeks after BU-MEL. Toxicity, overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS) and pulmonary relapse-free survival (PRFS) were estimated and analyzed. Results: After WLI, grade 1–2 and grade 3 clinical toxicity was reported in 16.2% and 5.9% patients, respectively. The five-year OS, EFS and PRFS with 95% confidence interval (CI) were 69.8% (57.1–79.3), 61.2% (48.4–71.7) and 70.5% (56.3–80.8), respectively. Patients with good histological necrosis of the primary tumor after neoadjuvant chemotherapy showed a significant decreased risk of pulmonary relapse or death compared to patients with poor histological necrosis. Conclusions: WLI at recommended doses and time interval after BU-MEL is feasible and might contribute to the disease control in Ewing sarcoma with lung metastases and responsive disease. Further studies are needed to explore the treatment stratification based on the histological response of the primary tumor

The Clinical Impact of Methotrexate-Induced Stroke-Like Neurotoxicity in Paediatric Departments: An Italian Multi-Centre Case-Series

IntroductionStroke-like syndrome (SLS) is a rare subacute neurological complication of intrathecal or high-dose (&gt;= 500 mg) Methotrexate (MTX) administration. Its clinical features, evoking acute cerebral ischaemia with fluctuating course symptoms and a possible spontaneous resolution, have elicited interest among the scientific community. However, many issues are still open on the underlying pathogenesis, clinical, and therapeutic management and long-term outcome. Materials and MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed clinical, radiological and laboratory records of all patients diagnosed with SLS between 2011 and 2021 at 4 National referral centers for Pediatric Onco-Hematology. Patients with a latency period that was longer than 3 weeks between the last MTX administration of MTX and SLS onset were excluded from the analysis, as were those with unclear etiologies. We assessed symptom severity using a dedicated arbitrary scoring system. Eleven patients were included in the study. ResultsThe underlying disease was acute lymphoblastic leukemia type B in 10/11 patients, while fibroblastic osteosarcoma was present in a single subject. The median age at diagnosis was 11 years (range 4-34), and 64% of the patients were women. Symptoms occurred after a mean of 9.45 days (+/- 0.75) since the last MTX administration and lasted between 1 and 96 h. Clinical features included hemiplegia and/or cranial nerves palsy, paraesthesia, movement or speech disorders, and seizure. All patients underwent neuroimaging studies (CT and/or MRI) and EEG. The scoring system revealed an average of 4.9 points (+/- 2.3), with a median of 5 points (maximum 20 points). We detected a linear correlation between the severity of the disease and age in male patients. ConclusionsSLS is a rare, well-characterized complication of MTX administration. Despite the small sample, we have been able to confirm some of the previous findings in literature. We also identified a linear correlation between age and severity of the disease, which could improve the future clinical management

A holistic model for security of learning applications in smart cities

Modern learning frameworks take advantage of the interconnection among individuals, multimedia artifacts, places, events, and physical objects. In this perspective, smart cities are primary providers of data, learning stimuli and realistic hands-on laboratories. Unfortunately, the development of smart-city-enabled learning frameworks leads to many privacy and security risks since they are built on top of IoT nodes, wireless sensors networks and cyber-physical systems. To efficiently address such issues, a suitable holistic approach is needed, especially to reveal the interdependence between different actors, e.g., cloud infrastructures, resource-constrained devices and big data sources. Therefore, this paper introduces a model to help the engineering of novel learning frameworks for smart cities by enlightening the problem space characterizing security

Design of a Software Framework for the Management and Personalization of Contents in Smart Museums

The increasing availability of sophisticated mobile appliances, also supporting cost-effective proximity communication technologies, boosts the development of smart environments. This can change the user experience, also enabling new interaction models. However, to cope with additional complexities and to enhance the set of available services, a proper software framework is needed. Specific requirements are: i) the delivery of personalized contents; ii) the easy management and adaptation of multimedia objects to precise classes of devices; iii) the support of network intensive applications, e.g., those using video streaming. In this perspective, the paper presents a prototypal software framework to bring such features in museums. The main contributions concern the methodologies for creating and delivering ad-hoc contents in a simple and scalable way, as well as the integration of standard solutions to maintain the deployment simple and competitive. Besides, owing to the core role of the network, a preliminary performance evaluation of the data delivery subsystem is presented

On Social Network Engineering for Secure Web Data and Services

Online Social Network (OSN) applications are used every day by millions of people, and have impacts on the society, economy and lifestyle. They also accelerate the development, or the adoption, of new technologies, for instance to support new mobile paradigms. Besides, OSNs are an important building block of the Web 2.0, thus offering new services, such as product placement, advertising and user profil- ing. Hence, OSNs are valuable frameworks, contributing to the technological pool of the Internet itself. Their attitude of shifting an individual life into a digital space makes OSNs interesting targets for attacks, to disclose personal details, and to force human securities through digital insecurities. In order to be effective, OSN platforms must be properly engineered, also by having privacy and security protection as strict design constraints. To this aim, it is of crucial importance investigating potential new behaviors, Web-based technologies, traffic patterns and innovative security policies. In this perspective, this chapter discusses the state-of-the-art in the engineering of OSNs infrastructures, the key issues, and the research actions needed to effectively advance in the social network engineering for secure Web data and services

A Task Allocation Middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks in a Multi-agent Environment

This paper presents the design of a task allocation middleware for the coordination of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) of embedded devices. Acquisition and distribution of new tasks are performed via a multi- agent system, while service oriented principles are used to handle data gathered from the field. Also, an ad-hoc component has been designed to reduce the impact of heterogeneous networks (e.g., long-haul satellite links). Lastly, we showcase an experimental setup to prove the effectiveness of the approach when used to enhance a forest fire prevention application

A Graph-based Approach to Model Privacy and Security Issues of Online Social Networks

With millions of users, Online Social Networks (OSNs) are a huge cultural phenomenon. Put briefly, they are characterized by: i) an intrinsic sharing of personal information, ii) a rich set of features to publish, organize and retrieve contents, especially for emphasizing their social organization, iii) the in- teraction with a heterogeneous set of devices, e.g., ranging from desktops to mobile appliances, and iv) the mix of Web-based paradigms and sophisticated methodologies for processing data. However, if not properly implemented, or without effective security policies, i) \u2013 iv) could lead to severe risks in terms both of privacy and security. In this perspective, this chapter analyzes the major peculiarities of OSN platforms, the preferred development methodologies, and usage patterns, also by taking into account how personal information can be exploited to conduct malicious actions. Then, a graph-based modeling approach is introduced to reveal possible attacks, as well as to elaborate the needed countermeasures or (automated) checking procedures