A centralized feedback control model for resource management in wireless networks

In a wireless environment, guaranteeing QoS is challenging because applications at multiple devices share the same limited radio bandwidth. In this paper we introduce and study a resource management model for centralized wireless networks, using feedback control theory. Before applying in practice, the proposed model is evaluated using the well-known 20-sim dynamic system simulator. The experimental results show that flexible and efficient resource allocation can be achieved for a variety of system parameters and WLAN scenarios; however, care should be taken in setting the control parameters and coefficients

Use of an animal model to evaluate anxiolytic effects of dietary supplementation with tilia tomentosa moench bud extracts

Anxiety disorders are common and complex psychiatric syndromes affecting a broad spectrum of patients. On top of that, we know that aging produces an increase in anxiety vulnerability and sedative consumption. Moreover, stress disorders frequently show a clear gender susceptibility. Currently, the approved pharmacological strategies have severe side effects such as hallucinations, addiction, suicide, insomnia, and loss of motor coordination. Dietary integration with supplements represents an intriguing strategy for improving the efficacy and the safety of synthetic anxiolytics. Accordingly, a recent article demonstrated that glyceric bud extracts from Tilia tomentosa Moench (TTBEs) exert effects that are consistent with anxiolytic activity. However, the effects of these compounds in vivo are unknown. To examine this question, we conducted behavioral analysis in mice. A total of 21 days of oral supplements (vehicle and TTBEs) were assessed by Light Dark and Hole Board tests in male and female mice (young, 3 months; old, 24 months). Interestingly, the principal component analysis revealed gender and age-specific behavioral modulations. Moreover, the diet integration with the botanicals did not modify the body weight gain and the daily intake of water. Our results support the use of TTBEs as dietary supplements for anxiolytic purposes and unveil age and gender-dependent responses

The 3Rs: reduction and refinement through a multivariate statistical analysis approach in a behavioural study to unveil anxiolytic effects of natural extracts of Tilia Tomentosa.

Proceedings of the second Centro 3R Annual Meeting - Young Scientists | June 20-21, 2019, Genoa (Italy

Sviluppo di moduli multicriteri per la valutazione ambientale in GRASS GIS

Dealing with spatial decision problems means very often to face a GIS and a multi-criteria decision analysis based problem at the same time. GIS and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis are two well defined research areas, but both can benefit one from each other. In the last twenty years several researches have paid attention to MCDA-GIS integration and to the development of Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS), but few papers presented examples of perfect integration. Also in case of perfect integration, they often integrate within GIS only one multicriteria model. Our application is a better contribution in this way. We developed four GRASS modules that permit to implement four different MCDA methods: the Regime, the FUZZY, the ELECTRE and the Dominance-based Rough Set Approach. One of the main advantages of our application over the previous ones is the possibility of a future development in an open-source context. The paper presents an application of the Regime, Electre and Fuzzy modules.Dealing with spatial decision problems means very often to face a GIS and a multi-criteria decision analysis based problem at the same time. GIS and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis are two well defined research areas, but both can benefit one from each other. In the last twenty years several researches have paid attention to MCDA-GIS integration and to the development of Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS), but few papers presented examples of perfect integration. Also in case of perfect integration, they often integrate within GIS only one multicriteria model. Our application is a better contribution in this way. We developed four GRASS modules that permit to implement four different MCDA methods: the Regime, the FUZZY, the ELECTRE and the Dominance-based Rough Set Approach. One of the main advantages of our application over the previous ones is the possibility of a future development in an open-source context. The paper presents an application of the Regime, Electre and Fuzzy modules

Assessing climate change vulnerability of coastal roads

Climate change is a global phenomenon, which affects in several ways different regions all around the world, beyond the rise in global temperature. Among the different climate change issues, the management of transport infrastructures is crucial. Particularly, their vulnerability against changes in climatic conditions should be assessed. Vulnerability indicators are based on the IPCC concept of vulnerability and can be defined as a function of Climate Exposure, Sensitivity, and Adaptive Capacity. These dimensions need to be addressed during the assessment making and can be modelled as a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) problem. This study proposes an integrated approach of several MCDA methods as a possible tool for ranking the climate change vulnerability of coastal roads in Malta. The application covers six coastal roads in the islands of Malta, classified by three different MCDA methods. The results indicate that the proposed approach can produce a consistent ranking of the climate change vulnerability of coastal roads. The study provides policy and decision-makers with a definition of a coastal road, an inventory of such roads, a list of climate change impacts, and a mathematical model incorporating climate change vulnerability indicators. The model can be used to prioritize investment and plan climate change adaptation strategies for infrastructural works on coastal roads.peer-reviewe

An EBIS for charge state breeding in the SPES project

The 'charge state breeder', BRIC (breeding ion charge) is in construction at the INFN section of Bari (Italy). It is based on EBIS scheme and it is designed to accept radioactive ion beam (RIB) with charge state +1 in a slow injection mode. This experiment can be considered as a first step towards the design and construction of a charge breeder for the SPES project. The new feature of BRIC, with respect to the classical EBIS, is given by the insertion, in the ion chamber, of a rf-quadrupole aiming at filtering the unwanted masses and then making a more efficient containment of the wanted ions. In this paper, the breeder design, the simulation results of the electron and ion beam propagation and the construction problems of the device will be reported

Looking at NB-IoT over LEO Satellite Systems: Design and Evaluation of a Service-Oriented Solution

The adoption of the NB-IoT technology in satellite communications intends to boost Internet of Things services beyond the boundaries imposed by the current terrestrial infrastructures. Apart from link-level studies in the scientific literature and preliminary 3GPP technical reports, the overall debate is still open. To provide a further step forward in this direction, the work presented herein pursues a novel service-oriented methodology to design an effective solution, meticulously stitched around application requirements and technological constraints. To this end, it conducts link-level and system-level investigations to tune physical transmissions, satellite constellation, and protocol architecture, while ensuring the expected system behavior. To offer a real smart agriculture service operating in Europe, the resulting solution exploits 24 Low Earth Orbit satellites, grouped into 8 different orbits, moving at an altitude of 500 km. The configured protocol stack supports the transmission of tens of bytes generated at the application layer, by also counteracting the issues introduced by the satellite link. Since each satellite has the whole protocol stack on-board, terminals can transmit data without the need for the feeder link. This ensures communication latencies ranging from 16 minutes to 75 minutes, depending on the served number of terminals and the physical transmission settings. Moreover, the usage of the Early Data Transmission scheme reduces communication latencies up to 40%. These results pave the way towards the deployment of an effective proof-of-concept, which drastically reduces the time-to-market imposed by the current state of the art