An Application Of Artificial Immune System In A Wastewater Treatment Plant

Guaranteeing the continuity and the quality of services in network plants is a key issue in the research area of asset management. Especially when the plants are located in a wide area where machines are not continuously monitored by the operators. In particular, the pervasive adoption of smart sensors could be able to develop intelligent maintenance system through an elaboration of data coming from the machines: this data could be processed by diagnostics algorithms to warn preventively the fault status of the components or machines monitored. The algorithms’ structure is contained in a multiple system of agents that have different tasks to manage both the single machine and the information exchanged within the whole system. This paper aims to present an application of Artificial Immune System defining, for each plant section, the kind of agents employed and the related sensors that must be adopted to collect the useful data. In order to provide a practical example, the structure of an Artificial Immune System has been implemented in a wastewater treatment plant where the agents are tested with noteworthy results. © 20164928556

Sistematica compilatoria e ‘catholica lex’ in CTh. 16,11

- Il lavoro è stato pubblicato anche in Il diritto romano canonico quale diritto proprio delle comunità cristiane dell'Oriente mediterraneo. Atti IX colloq. romanist.-canon. Città del Vaticano 1993, ivi 1994, 291-315 = in Vetera Christianorum 31 (1994) 53-77

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor promotes invasive behaviour in testicular seminoma cells.

International audienceThe glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has multiple functions that promote cell survival, proliferation and migration in different cell types. The experimental over-expression of GDNF in mouse testis leads to infertility and promotes seminomatous germ cell tumours in older animals, which suggests that deregulation of the GDNF pathway may be implicated in germ cell carcinogenesis. GDNF activates downstream pathways upon binding to its specific co-receptor GDNF family receptor-a 1 (GFRA1). This complex then interacts with Ret and other co-receptors to activate several intracellular signalling cascades. To explore the involvement of the GDNF pathway in the onset and progression of testicular germ cell tumours, we analysed GFRA1 and Ret expression patterns in seminoma samples. We demonstrated, via immunohistochemistry, that GFRA1, but not Ret, is over-expressed in in situ carcinoma (CIS) and in intratubular and invasive seminoma cells compared with normal human germ cells. Functional analysis of the GDNF biological activity was performed on TCam-2 seminoma cell line. Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical analyses demonstrate that TCam-2 cells express both GFRA1 and Ret mRNA, but only GFRA1 was detected at the protein level. In TCam-2 cells, although GDNF is not mitogenic, it is able to induce migration, as demonstrated by a Boyden chamber assay, possibly through the Src and MEK pathways. Moreover, GDNF promotes invasive behaviour, an effect dependent on pericellular protease activity, possibly through the activity of matrix metalloproteinases. GFRA1 over-expression in CIS and seminoma cells, along with the functional analyses in TCam-2 cells, suggests an involvement of the GDNF pathway in the progression of testicular germ cell cancer