Metamodeling Techniques Applied to the Design of Reconfigurable Control Applications

In order to realize autonomous manufacturing systems in environments characterized by high dynamics and high complexity of task, it is necessary to improve the control system modelling and performance. This requires the use of better and reusable abstractions. In this paper, we explore the metamodel techniques as a foundation to the solution of this problem. The increasing popularity of model-driven approaches and a new generation of tools to support metamodel techniques are changing software engineering landscape, boosting the adoption of new methodologies for control application development

Threatening Venice and its Lagoon: The effect of international policies on management sustainability and heritage preservation

Art cities have been under scrutiny in the last decades, presenting phenomenon of over tourism with major impacts on livability. The case of Venice is particularly complex, presenting critical environmental conditions that threaten its survival. In 2016 UNESCO started a procedure to put Venice in the list of sites in danger, questioning to a large extent urban policies, and asking for enhanced preservation measures. This started a round of discussion with the State Party, mainly at the formal level. The purpose of this research is to review the case under the lens of value tensions between stakeholders. Reports, states of conservation and decisions produced are analyzed, applying a qualitative discourse analysis. The case study of Venice depicts the contradiction between vested interests that lie behind values, and the pivotal issue of the sustainability of the site. This research focuses on conflicts inside institutional actors, raised between the technical and the political level

An Adaptive Underfloor Heating Control with External Temperature Compensation

n/

MPC-based Management of Energy Resources in Smart Microgrids

n/

A highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus type 1 (PRRSV-1) strongly modulates cellular innate and adaptive immune subsets upon experimental infection

Highly pathogenic (HP) PRRSV isolates have been discovered within both PRRSV-1 and PRRSV-2 genotypes and investigated in recent years especially for their ability to cause extremely severe disease in conventional pig herds. The exacerbation of general and respiratory clinical signs has been attributed not only to an efficient replication (virulence) but also to the ability to dysregulate viral recognition and induce mechanisms of immune evasion or immune enhancement of humoral and cellular anti-viral responses differently from non-HP PRRSV isolates in terms of intensity and temporal onset. Thus, the understanding of the immunopathogenesis of HP PRRSV is a major concern for the study of virus biology and development of efficacious vaccines. The present study aims at addressing the modulation of relevant immune cell subsets by flow cytometry in the blood of 4- week-old pigs experimentally infected with the recently discovered PR40/2014 HP PRRSV-1.1 strain phenotypically characterized in Canelli et al. (2017) compared to pigs infected with a non-HP PRRSV isolate (PR11/ 2014) and uninfected controls. PR40 infected animals showed an early and marked reduction of pro-inflammatory CD172α+ CD14+CD16+ and CD14+CD163+ monocytes and TCRγδ+CD8α+/CD8α- lymphocytes when pigs were most infected, possibly due to a recruitment sustaining an acute inflammatory response in target tissues. The prolonged increased CD3+CD16+ NKT cell levels may sustain peripheral inflammation and/ or the anti-viral response. The late reduction (potential depletion) of γ/δ T lymphocytes and CD3+CD4+CD8α- naïve Th lymphocytes paralleled with the delayed increase of CD3+CD4+CD8α+ memory and CD3+CD4- CD8α/β+cytotoxic T lymphocytes. In addition, PR40 infection showed an early depletion of activated CD4+CD25+ T lymphocytes and Tregs together with an intense and lasting depletion of CD21+ B lymphocytes. Overall, these features demonstrate that the more severe clinical signs observed upon infection with the HP PR40 strain are sustained by remarkable changes in the peripheral blood distribution of immune cells and provide further insights into the immune regulation/immunopathogenesis induced by PRRSV-1 subtype 1 European isolates

A Multivariable Self-tuning Controller for a D-type Water Tube Industrial Boiler

n/

Rare among rare: phenotypes of uncommon CMT genotypes

(1) Background: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is the most frequent form of inherited chronic motor and sensory polyneuropathy. Over 100 CMT causative genes have been identified. Previous reports found PMP22, GJB1, MPZ, and MFN2 as the most frequently involved genes. Other genes, such as BSCL2, MORC2, HINT1, LITAF, GARS, and autosomal dominant GDAP1 are responsible for only a minority of CMT cases. (2) Methods: we present here our records of CMT patients harboring a mutation in one of these rare genes (BSCL2, MORC2, HINT1, LITAF, GARS, autosomal dominant GDAP1). We studied 17 patients from 8 unrelated families. All subjects underwent neurologic evaluation and genetic testing by next-generation sequencing on an Ion Torrent PGM (Thermo Fischer) with a 44-gene custom panel. (3) Results: the following variants were found: BSCL2 c.263A > G p.Asn88Ser (eight subjects), MORC2 c.1503A > T p.Gln501His (one subject), HINT1 c.110G > C p.Arg37Pro (one subject), LITAF c.404C > G p.Pro135Arg (two subjects), GARS c.1660G > A p.Asp554Asn (three subjects), GDAP1 c.374G > A p.Arg125Gln (two subjects). (4) Expanding the spectrum of CMT phenotypes is of high relevance, especially for less common variants that have a higher risk of remaining undiagnosed. The necessity of reaching a genetic definition for most patients is great, potentially making them eligible for future experimentations

A non-invasive approach to monitor chronic lymphocytic leukemia engraftment in a xenograft mouse model using ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide-magnetic resonance imaging (USPIO-MRI).

This work was supported by: Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) [Grant 5 x mille n.9980, (to M.F., F.M. and A. N.)]; AIRC I.G. [n. 14,326 (to M.F.)], [n.10136 and 16,722 (A.N.)], [n.15426 (to F.F.)]. AIRC and Fondazione CaRiCal co-financed Multi Unit Regional Grant 2014 [n.16695 (to F.M.)]. Italian Ministry of Health 5 × 1000 funds (to F.F). A.G R. was supported by Associazione Italiana contro le Leucemie-Linfomi-Mielomi (AIL) Cosenza - Fondazione Amelia Scorza (FAS). S.M. C.M., F.V., L. E., S. B., were supported by AIRC.Peer reviewedPostprin