Modeling noise experiments performed at AKR-2 and CROCUS zero-power reactors

CORTEX is a EU H2020 project (2017-2021) devoted to the analysis of ’reactor neutron noise’ in nuclear reactors, i.e. the small fluctuations occurring around the stationary state due to external or internal disturbances in the core. One important aspect of CORTEX is the development of neutron noise simulation codes capable of modeling the spatial variations of the noise distribution in a reactor. In this paper we illustrate the validation activities concerning the comparison of the simulation results obtained by several noise simulation codes with respect to experimental data produced at the zero-power reactors AKR-2 (operated at TUD, Germany) and CROCUS (operated at EPFL, Switzerland). Both research reactors are modeled in the time and frequency domains, using transport or diffusion theory. Overall, the noise simulators managed to capture the main features of the neutron noise behavior observed in the experimental campaigns carried out in CROCUS and AKR-2, even though computational biases exist close to the region where the noise-inducing mechanical vibration was located (the so-called ”noise source”). In some of the experiments, it was possible to observe the spatial variation of the relative neutron noise, even relatively far from the noise source. This was achieved through reduced uncertainties using long measurements, the installation of numerous, robust and efficient detectors at a variety of positions in the near vicinity or inside the core, as well as new post-processing methods. For the numerical simulation tools, modeling the spatial variations of the neutron noise behavior in zero-power research reactors is an extremely challenging problem, because of the small magnitude of the noise field; and because deviations from a point-kinetics behavior are most visible in portions of the core that are especially difficult to be precisely represented by simulation codes, such as experimental channels. Nonetheless the limitations of the simulation tools reported in the paper were not an issue for the CORTEX project, as most of the computational biases are found close to the noise source

A time-resolved proteomic and prognostic map of COVID-19

COVID-19 is highly variable in its clinical presentation, ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe organ damage and death. We characterized the time-dependent progression of the disease in 139 COVID-19 inpatients by measuring 86 accredited diagnostic parameters, such as blood cell counts and enzyme activities, as well as untargeted plasma proteomes at 687 sampling points. We report an initial spike in a systemic inflammatory response, which is gradually alleviated and followed by a protein signature indicative of tissue repair, metabolic reconstitution, and immunomodulation. We identify prognostic marker signatures for devising risk-adapted treatment strategies and use machine learning to classify therapeutic needs. We show that the machine learning models based on the proteome are transferable to an independent cohort. Our study presents a map linking routinely used clinical diagnostic parameters to plasma proteomes and their dynamics in an infectious disease

Effectiveness and Safety of rhIGF-1 Therapy in Children: The European Increlex® Growth Forum Database Experience.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We report data from the EU Increlex® Growth Forum Database (IGFD) Registry, an ongoing, open-label, observational study monitoring clinical practice use of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-1 (rhIGF-1) therapy in children. METHODS: Safety and effectiveness data on rhIGF-1 treatment of 195 enrolled children with growth failure were collected from December 2008 to September 2013. RESULTS: Mean ± SD (95% CI) height velocity during first year of rhIGF-1 treatment was 6.9 ± 2.2 cm/year (6.5; 7.2) (n = 144); in prepubertal patients naïve to treatment, this was 7.3 ± 2.0 cm/year (6.8; 7.7) (n = 81). Female sex, younger age at start of rhIGF-1 therapy, and lower baseline height SDS predicted first-year change in height SDS. The most frequent targeted treatment-emergent adverse events (% patients) were hypoglycemia (17.6%, predictors: young age, diagnosis of Laron syndrome, but not rhIGF-1 dose), lipohypertrophy (10.6%), tonsillar hypertrophy (7.4%), injection site reactions (6.4%), and headache (5.9%). Sixty-one serious adverse events (37 related to rhIGF-1 therapy) were reported in 31 patients (16.5%). CONCLUSION: Safety and effectiveness data on use of rhIGF-1 in a 'real-world' setting were similar to those from controlled randomized trials. Severe growth phenotype and early start of rhIGF-1 improved height response and predicted risk of hypoglycemia

Instrumentation d'organisations multi-agents avec des artefact organisationnels

La programmation d\u2019organisations multiagents s\u2019appuie sur des langages de mod\ue9lisation ainsi que sur des infrastructures d\ue9di\ue9es pour d\ue9ployer et g\ue9rer les organisations sp\ue9cifi\ue9es. Les m\ue9canismes que proposent ces infrastructures instituent une s\ue9paration rigide entre agents de l\u2019organisation et infrastructure g\ue9rant cette organisation. Nous pr\ue9sentons dans cet article une approche visant \ue0 supprimer cette s\ue9paration en nous appuyant sur le mod\ue8le Agent et Artefact (A&A) propos\ue9 par Ricci et al. Nous proposons des artefacts organisationnels comme entit\ue9s de premi\ue8re classe dans l\u2019environnement pour supporter les activit\ue9s des agents au sein de l\u2019organisation \ue0 laquelle ils participent

Multi-agent oriented programming with JaCaMo

This paper brings together agent oriented programming, organisation oriented programming and environment oriented programming, all of which are programming paradigms that emerged out of research in the area of multi-agent systems. In putting together a programming model and concrete platform called JaCaMo which integrates important results and technologies in all those research directions, we show in this paper, with the combined paradigm, that we prefer to call \u201cmulti-agent oriented programming\u201d, the full potential of multi-agent systems as a programming paradigm. JaCaMo builds upon three existing platforms: Jason for programming autonomous agents, Moise for programming agent organisations, and CArtAgO for programming shared environments. This paper also includes a simple example that illustrates the approach and discusses some real-world applications that have been or are being developed with JaCaMo

Sammlung europ\ue4ischer Schmetterlinge / errichtet von Jacob H\ufcbner in Augsburg.

plates v.

Contemporary management of postprostatectomy incontinence.

CONTEXT: In recent years, despite improvement in the surgical technique, the prevalence of postprostatectomy incontinence has increased due to a rise in the number of radical prostatectomies performed annually. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to evaluate contemporary noninvasive and invasive treatment options for postprostatectomy incontinence. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: In August 2010, a review of the literature was performed using the Medline database. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: All articles concerning noninvasive and invasive treatment for postprostatectomy incontinence were included. CONCLUSIONS: No randomised controlled trials exist to compare currently used noninvasive and invasive treatments for postprostatectomy incontinence. Pelvic floor muscle training is recommended for the initial treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Additionally, antimuscarinic therapy should be applied for urgency or urge incontinence. For decades, the artificial urinary sphincter was the reference standard for persistent SUI. Nowadays, male slings are an alternative for men with mild to moderate postprostatectomy SUI. Copyright \ua9 2011 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The MORPHEUS Data Communication and Storage Infrastructure

The previous chapter described the most significant blocks that compose the MORPHEUS architecture, and the added value they provide to the overall computation efficiency and/or usability. The present chapter describes the way that the memory hierarchy and the communication means in MORPHEUS are organized in order to provide to the computational engines the necessary data throughput while retaining ease of programmability. Critical issues are related to the definition of a computation model capable to hide heterogeneity and hardware details while providing a consistent interface to the end user. This model should be complemented by a data storage and movimentation infrastructure that must sustain the bandwidth requirements of the computation units while retaining a sufficient level of programmability to be adapted to all the different data flows defined over the architecture in its lifetime. These two aspects are strictly correlated and their combination represents the signal processor interface toward the end-user. For this reason, in the following, a significant focus will be given to the definition of a consistent computation pattern. This pattern should enable the user to confront MORPHEUS, in its strong heterogeneity, as a single computational core. All design options in the definition of the Memory hierarchy and the interconnect strategy will be then derived as a consequence of the theoretical analysis that underlines the computational model itself. \ua9 2009 Springer Netherlands

Estrogen-related receptor gamma and hearing function: evidence of a role in humans and mice

Since estrogen is thought to protect pre-menopausal women from age-related hearing loss, we investigated whether variation in estrogen-signalling genes is linked to hearing status in the 1958 British Birth Cohort. This analysis implicated the estrogen-related receptor gamma (ESRRG) gene in determining adult hearing function and was investigated further in a total of 6134 individuals in 3 independent cohorts: (i) the 1958 British Birth Cohort; (ii) a London ARHL case-control cohort; and (iii) a cohort from isolated populations of Italy and Silk Road countries. Evidence of an association between the minor allele of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2818964 and hearing status was found in females, but not in males in 2 of these cohorts: p = 0.0058 (London ARHL) and p = 0.0065 (Carlantino, Italy). Furthermore, assessment of hearing in Esrrg knock-out mice revealed a mild 25-dB hearing loss at 5 weeks of age. At 12 weeks, average hearing thresholds in female mice((-/-)) were 15 dB worse than in males((-/-)). Together these data indicate ESRRG plays a role in maintenance of hearing in both humans and mice

A Multi-Core Signal Processor for Heterogeneous Reconfigurable Computing

Reconfigurable computing holds the promise of delivering ASIC-like performance while preserving run-time flexibility of processors. In many application domains, the use of FPGAs is limited by area, power, and timing overheads. Coarse-grained reconfigurable architectures offer higher computation density, but at the price of rather being domain specific. Programmability is also a major issue related to all of the described solutions. This paper describes a heterogeneous multi-core system-on-chip that exploits different flavours of reconfigurable computing, merged together in a high parallel on-chip and off-chip interconnect utilized for both data and configuration. The aim of this work is to deliver a single monolithic engine that capitalizes on the strong points of different reconfigurable fabrics, while providing a friendly programming interface. The user is ultimately able to manage a broad spectrum of different applications, exploiting the most efficient means of computation through utilization of each kernel, while retaining a software-oriented development environment as much as possible