582 research outputs found
FATIGUE, SLEEP, AND NOCTURNAL COMPLAINTS IN PATIENTS WITH AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS.
Background and purpose: Fatigue is a common symptom in amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS). Although sleep disturbances are a candidate factor that may interfere
with fatigue in patients with ALS, the role of sleep-related abnormalities in determining
fatigue in ALS is unknown.
Objective: To evaluate the frequency and determinants of fatigue in a group of 91
consecutive patients with ALS, with special attention to the relationship between
fatigue and sleep problems.
Methods: Measures included the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Pittsburgh Sleep
Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), ALS Functional Rating Scale-
Revised (ALSFRS-R), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).
Results: The mean FSS score was 4.35 ± 1.1, and 48 patients with ALS (52.75%)
reported clinical significant fatigue. FSS score correlated with ALSFRS-R score,
forced vital capacity, ESS, BDI, and global PSQI score. Patients with fatigue were
significantly more disabled and more frequently reported difficulties staying asleep and
nocturnal complaints, such as nocturia and disturbing muscle cramps. After multivariate
analysis, patients disability and nocturnal complaints were significantly
associated with fatigue.
Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrated that fatigue, a troublesome and disabling
symptom in ALS, is associated with physical impairment and night-time complaints
(such as nocturia and muscle cramps), suggesting that treating sleep problems might
be useful in alleviating fatigue in these patients
An automated method for the ontological representation of security directives
Large documents written in juridical language are difficult to interpret,
with long sentences leading to intricate and intertwined relations between the
nouns. The present paper frames this problem in the context of recent European
security directives. The complexity of their language is here thwarted by
automating the extraction of the relevant information, namely of the parts of
speech from each clause, through a specific tailoring of Natural Language
Processing (NLP) techniques. These contribute, in combination with ontology
development principles, to the design of our automated method for the
representation of security directives as ontologies. The method is showcased on
a practical problem, namely to derive an ontology representing the NIS 2
directive, which is the peak of cybersecurity prescripts at the European level.
Although the NLP techniques adopted showed some limitations and had to be
complemented by manual analysis, the overall results provide valid support for
directive compliance in general and for ontology development in particular
Evaluating the Fork-Awareness of Coverage-Guided Fuzzers
Fuzz testing (or fuzzing) is an effective technique used to find security
vulnerabilities. It consists of feeding a software under test with malformed
inputs, waiting for a weird system behaviour (often a crash of the system).
Over the years, different approaches have been developed, and among the most
popular lies the coverage-based one. It relies on the instrumentation of the
system to generate inputs able to cover as much code as possible. The success
of this approach is also due to its usability as fuzzing techniques research
approaches that do not require (or only partial require) human interactions.
Despite the efforts, devising a fully-automated fuzzer still seems to be a
challenging task. Target systems may be very complex; they may integrate
cryptographic primitives, compute and verify check-sums and employ forks to
enhance the system security, achieve better performances or manage different
connections at the same time. This paper introduces the fork-awareness property
to express the fuzzer ability to manage systems using forks. This property is
leveraged to evaluate 14 of the most widely coverage-guided fuzzers and
highlight how current fuzzers are ineffective against systems using forks.Comment: Keywords: Fuzzing, Fork, Security Testing, Software Securit
Biocontrol implications of multiparasitism by Trissolcus mitsukurii and Trissolcus japonicus on the invasive brown marmorated stink bug
The egg parasitoids Trissolcus japonicus (Ashmead) and Trissolcus mitsukurii (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) are the most effective biocontrol agents of the invasive agricultural pest Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in its native range (east Asia). Trissolcus japonicus and T. mitsukurii are sympatric in the native areas. In northern Italy, where H. halys is a major pest of fruit orchards, adventive populations of both species are spreading, and T. japonicus is artificially released under a classical biocontrol program against H. halys. This laboratory study aimed to assess the outcome of competition when both species share the same resource and possible implications for the biocontrol of the invasive stink bug. Egg masses of H. halys were offered to each parasitoid after previous parasitization by the other species. Parasitoid behaviour, number of ovipositions, and successfully developed parasitoids were recorded. Additionally, contest behaviour was assessed when both species were released simultaneously on the same egg mass. Results showed that both T. japonicus and T. mitsukurii were able to parasitize an egg mass already parasitized by the other species. Competition occurred within the host eggs and each species outperformed the other when it was the first to oviposit. Importantly, the overall contribution to H. halys mortality was not affected by the interaction between parasitoids, as non-parasitized eggs were 4–6% in the absence of competition and <8% in its presence, respectively. When simultaneously released on the egg mass, T. mitsukurii was more aggressive, engaging in chase-off events in 71% of cases compared to 50% of T. japonicus
Analysis of biomass characteristics in MBR and MB-MBR systems fed with synthetic wastewater: Influence of a gradual salinity increase
The paper presents the results of a field gathering campaign carried out on two different pilot scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems, treating synthetic wastewater subject to a gradual increase of salinity. One was a conventional MBR system, while the other was a moving bed biofilm membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR), which combines suspended biomass and biofilm. Indeed, the presence of suspended carriers inside the bioreactor seems to give benefits due to the collisions between the circulating media and the membrane. The aim of the study was the comparison of two configurations in terms of biomass activity characterization and performance (pollutants removal and hydraulic behaviour). The results highlighted a significant biomass activity for both heterotrophic and autotrophic populations. Such behaviour was emphasized in MB-MBR system, likely due to the presence of biofilm attached on suspended sponge carriers, which is characterized by high retention times, thus improving through the "seeding" effect the nitrification ability of the whole syste
Effect of C/N shock variation on the performances of a moving bed membrane bioreactor
The effect of a sharp variation of C/N ratio in a moving bed membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR) pilot plant treating high strength wastewater has been investigated. The experimental campaign was divided into two periods, each characterized by a different C/N ratio (namely, 2.5 and 15, Period 1 and Period 2, respectively). The MB-MBR system was analyzed in terms of organic carbon removal, nitrification efficiency, biokinetic activity and fouling behavior. The results showed that the nitrification process was severely affected by lower C/N value and by high concentration of ammonia. It was noticed an extensive stress effect on the autotrophic bacteria. Furthermore, it was observed an increase of the resistance related to particle deposition into membrane pores, likely due to a worsening of the cake layer features, with a reduction of the "pre-filter" effect, also related to the increase of the total Extracellular Polymeric Substances production with the C/N ratio
The Ontology for Agents, Systems and Integration of Services: OASIS version 2
Semantic representation is a key enabler for several application domains, and
the multi-agent systems realm makes no exception. Among the methods for
semantically representing agents, one has been essentially achieved by taking a
behaviouristic vision, through which one can describe how they operate and
engage with their peers. The approach essentially aims at defining the
operational capabilities of agents through the mental states related with the
achievement of tasks. The OASIS ontology -- An Ontology for Agent, Systems, and
Integration of Services, presented in 2019 -- pursues the behaviouristic
approach to deliver a semantic representation system and a communication
protocol for agents and their commitments. This paper reports on the main
modeling choices concerning the representation of agents in OASIS 2, the latest
major upgrade of OASIS, and the achievement reached by the ontology since it
was first introduced, in particular in the context of ontologies for
blockchains.Comment: Already published on Intelligenza Artificiale, Vol. 17, no 1, pp.
51-62, 2023. DOI 10.3233/IA-23000
"An innovative bio-engineering retaining structure for supporting unstable soil"
The paper presents a new prefabricated bio-engineering structure for the support of unstable soil. This prefabricated structure is made of a steel frame which is completely filled with soil and a face made of tree trunks among which scions or autochthonous bushes are planted. Due to the difficulties in interpreting the complex interaction between soil and structure during the installation and lifetime, an in situ test was carried out in order to evaluate the state of stress in the steel frame and to understand the global behavior of the structure under service loads. On the basis of the obtained results, a procedure for checking the structure safety was proposed and discussed. An easy design method was developed during the research. Moreover, the use of this type of prefabricated structure shows several advantages, such as good performances in terms of stabilizing effects, and easy assembly and transport
Comparison between MBR and MB-MBR pilot plants subject to a gradual salinity increase: analysis of biokinetic and fouling behaviour
Two pilot plants were investigated for the treatment of wastewater subject to a gradual increase of salinity. In particular, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and a moving bed biofilm membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR) were studied. Carbon and ammonium removal, kinetic constants and membranes fouling rates have been assessed. Both plants showed very high efficiency in terms of carbon and ammonium removal and the gradual salinity increase led to a good acclimation of the biomass, as confirmed by the respirometric tests. Significant biofilm detachments from carriers were experienced, which contributed to increase the irreversible superficial cake deposition. However, this aspect prevented the pore fouling tendency in the membrane module of MB-MBR system. On the contrary, the MBR pilot, even showing a lower irreversible cake deposition, was characterized by a higher pore fouling tendency
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