The two-machine one-buffer continuous time model with restart policy

This paper deals with the performance evaluation of production lines in which well defined machine start/stop control policies are applied. A modeling approach has been developed in order to reduce the complexity of a two-machine one-buffer line where a specific control policy, called “restart policy”, is adopted. The restart policy exercises control over the start/stop condition of the first machine: when the buffer gets full and, as a consequence, the first machine is forced to stop production (i.e., it is blocked), the control policy keeps the first machine in an idle state until the buffer becomes empty again. The rationale behind this policy is to reduce the blocking frequency of the first machine, i.e. the probability that a blockage occurs on the first machine due to the buffer filling up. Such a control policy is adopted in practice when outage costs (e.g., waste production) are related to each restart of the machine. The two-machine one-buffer line with restart policy (RP line) is here modeled as a continuous time Markov process so as to consider machines having different capacities and working in an asynchronous manner. The mathematical RP model is described along with its analytical solution. Then, the most critical line performance measures are derived and, finally, some numerical examples are reported to show the effects of such a policy on the blocking frequency of the first machine

Behavior and Bio-Interactions of Anthropogenic Particles in Marine Environment for a More Realistic Ecological Risk Assessment

Owing to production, usage, and disposal of nano-enabled products as well as fragmentation of bulk materials, anthropogenic nanoscale particles (NPs) can enter the natural environment and through different compartments (air, soil, and water) end up into the sea. With the continuous increase in production and associated emissions and discharges, they can reach concentrations able to exceed toxicity thresholds for living species inhabiting marine coastal areas. Behavior and fate of NPs in marine waters are driven by transformation processes occurring as a function of NP intrinsic and extrinsic properties in the receiving seawaters. All those aspects have been overlooked in ecological risk assessment. This review critically reports ecotoxicity studies in which size distribution, surface charges and bio−nano interactions have been considered for a more realistic risk assessment of NPs in marine environment. Two emerging and relevant NPs, the metal-based titanium dioxide (TiO2), and polystyrene (PS), a proxy for nanoplastics, are reviewed, and their impact on marine biota (from planktonic species to invertebrates and fish) is discussed as a function of particle size and surface charges (negative vs. positive), which affect their behavior and interaction with the biological material. Uptake of NPs is related to their nanoscale size; however, in vivo studies clearly demonstrated that transformation (agglomerates/aggregates) occurring in both artificial and natural seawater drive to different exposure routes and biological responses at cellular and organism level. Adsorption of single particles or agglomerates onto the body surface or their internalization in feces can impair motility and affect sinking or floating behavior with consequences on populations and ecological function. Particle complex dynamics in natural seawater is almost unknown, although it determines the effective exposure scenarios. Based on the latest predicted environmental concentrations for TiO2 and PS NPs in the marine environment, current knowledge gaps and future research challenges encompass the comprehensive study of bio−nano interactions. As such, the analysis of NP biomolecular coronas can enable a better assessment of particle uptake and related cellular pathways leading to toxic effects. Moreover, the formation of an environmentally derived corona (i.e., eco-corona) in seawater accounts for NP physical–chemical alterations, rebounding on interaction with living organisms and toxicity

Contribution of anthropogenic consolidation processes to subsidence phenomena from multi-temporal DInSAR: a GIS-based approach

The paper introduces an approach based on the combination of multi-temporal Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and geographical information systems analysis to investigate and separate several contributions to subsidence phenomena over the municipality of Ravenna (Emilia Romagna, Italy). In particular, the relationship between displacements detected over built environment and consolidation processes after construction was assessed and filtered out from the subsidence map to quantify the local overestimation of subsidence phenomena due to the mentioned processes. It requires descriptive attributes related to the age of construction and intended uses. The outcomes of the present study highlight ground consolidation processes that seem to be active over areas settled in the last 30 years with a component contributing to vertical rates up to 3 mm/yr. Such contribution represents the 20% of the cumulative displacements reported for coastal villages where different sources of subsidence increase the vulnerability to coastal erosion. We discuss the contribution of consolidation processes over a couple of recently settled areas to separate among contributions and avoid the misinterpretation of effects due to other anthropogenic sources of subsidence

Roar: detecting alternative polyadenylation with standard mRNA sequencing libraries

BACKGROUND: Post-transcriptional regulation is a complex mechanism that plays a central role in defining multiple cellular identities starting from a common genome. Modifications in the length of 3’UTRs have been found to play an important role in this context, since alternative 3’ UTRs could lead to differences for example in regulation by microRNAs and cellular localization of the transcripts thus altering their fate. RESULTS: We propose a strategy to identify the genes undergoing regulation of 3’ UTR length using RNA sequencing data obtained from standard libraries, thus widely applicable to data originally obtained to perform classical differential expression analyses. We decided to exploit previously annotated APA sites from public databases, in contrast with other approaches recently proposed in which the location of the APA site is inferred from the data together with the relative abundance of the isoforms. We demonstrate the reliability of our method by comparing it to the results of other microarray based or specific RNA-seq libraries methods and show that using APA sites databases results in higher sensitivity compared to de novo site prediction approach. CONCLUSIONS: We implemented the algorithm in a Bioconductor package to facilitate its broad usage in the scientific community. The ability of this approach to detect shortening from libraries with a number of reads comparable to that needed for differential expression analyses makes it useful for investigating if alternative polyadenylation is relevant in a certain biological process without requiring specific experimental assays. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-016-1254-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder Comorbidity: Clinical Assessment and Therapeutic Implications

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder affecting approximately 1–3% of the population. OCD is probably an etiologically heterogeneous condition. Individuals with OCD frequently have additional psychiatric disorders concomitantly or at some time during their lifetime. Recently, some authors proposed an OCD sub-classification based on comorbidity. An important issue in assessing comorbidity is the fact that the non-response to treatment often involves the presence of comorbid conditions. Non-responsive patients are more likely to meet criteria for comorbid axis I or axis II disorders and the presence of a specific comorbid condition could be a distinguishing feature in OCD, with influence on the treatment adequacy and outcome

Social cognition and Theory of Mind: controversies and promises for understanding major psychiatric disorders

The term social cognition generally refers to the mental operations that underlie social interactions including the perception and interpretation of the intentions, dispositions, and behaviors of others and the generation of a response to these behaviors. Social cognition has been considered a valuable and promising field that strives to understand the nature and outcome of major mental disorders. This article discusses the concept of social cognition and its relationship to Theory of Mind (ToM). Theory of Mind in autistic spectrum disorders has been studied since the 1980s, and cognitive impairments in these disorders may be restricted to ToM deficits because other cognitive domains and nonsocial intelligence are preserved. This article addresses the issues of human ontogeny, reviews the main findings from research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and summarizes the tools commonly used in the assessment of these illnesses.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do SulUNIFESPSciEL

Childhood maltreatment and coping in bipolar disorder

A personal history of childhood maltreatment has been associated with unfavorable outcomes in bipolar disorder (BD). The impact of early life stressors on the course of BD may be influenced by individual differences in coping skills. The coping construct relies on neurocognitive mechanisms that are usually influenced by childhood maltreatment. The objective of the present study was to verify the association between childhood maltreatment and coping skills in individuals with BD Type 1. Thirty female euthymic outpatients with BD Type 1 were evaluated using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and two additional instruments to measure their coping preferences: Ways of Coping Questionnaire (coping strategies) and Brief COPE (coping styles). Reports of physical abuse (B = .64, p < .01) and emotional abuse (B = .44, p = .01) were associated with the use of maladaptive strategies that focused on emotional control. Adaptive strategies and styles of coping, such as focusing on the problem, were chosen less frequently by women who had experienced emotional neglect (B = .53, p < .01) and physical abuse (B = -.48, p < .01) in childhood. The small sample size in the present study prevented subgroup analyses. The sample did not include male BD participants. Our results indicate that early traumatic events may have a long-lasting deleterious influence on coping abilities in female BD patients. Future prospective studies may investigate whether the negative impact of childhood maltreatment over the course of BD is mediated by individual differences in coping abilities.Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do SulUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL

Single-cell DNA Sequencing Data: a Pipeline for Multi-Sample Analysis

In order to help cancer researchers in understanding tumor heterogeneity and its evolutionary dynamics, we propose a software pipeline to explore intra-tumor heterogeneity by means of scDNA sequencing data