416 research outputs found
Study on the suitable lighting design of Beato Angelico’s artworks displayed at the National Museum of San Matteo in Pisa (Italy)
The lighting design of exhibition space has a great impact on visual and colour
perception and different lighting arrangements can create very different visual impression of
artworks and, if not carefully designed, compromise the enjoyment of the viewers. This study
involved the design of a new lighting solution for two of Beato Angelico’s artworks displayed
at the National Museum of San Matteo (Pisa, Italy). Multiple test lighting configurations were
designed using different LED luminaires and different settings of the luminaires. The test
lighting configurations were evaluated by a restricted group of observers through a survey in
order to individuate the most suitable solution, able to enhance the two artworks
simultaneously and to provide a good visual experience for museum visitors
Registro de Euplectrus sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) em lagarta de Erinnyis ello (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) no Brasil.
Multiobjective optimization model for the connection of wind power generation to distribution networks
Positive solutions to indefinite Neumann problems when the weight has positive average
We deal with positive solutions for the Neumann boundary value problem
associated with the scalar second order ODE where is positive on and is an indefinite weight. Complementary to previous
investigations in the case , we provide existence results
for a suitable class of weights having (small) positive mean, when
at infinity. Our proof relies on a shooting argument for a suitable equivalent
planar system of the type with
a continuous function defined on the whole real line.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure
High-efficiency micromorph silicon solar cells with in-situ intermediate reflector deposited on various rough LPCVD ZnO
Light management using intermediate reflector layers (IRL) and advanced front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) morphologies is needed to rise the short-circuit current density (Jsc) of micromorph tandem solar cells above 14 mA/cm2. For micromorph cells deposited on surface-textured ZnO layers grown by low-pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD), we study the interplay between the front TCO layer and the IRL and its impact on fill factor and current matching conditions. The key role of the angular distribution of the light scattered by the front LPCVD ZnO layer is highlighted. A micromorph cell with 11.1% stabilized conversion efficiency is demonstrated. By increasing the bottom cell thickness and adding an antireflection coating, a Jsc value of 13.8 mA/cm2 is achieved. This remarkably high Jsc yields 13.3% initial conversion efficiency
IoT protocols, architectures, and applications
The proliferation of embedded systems, wireless technologies, and Internet protocols have made it possible for the Internet-of-things (IoT) to bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual world and thereby enabling monitoring and control of the physical environment by data processing systems. IoT refers to the inter-networking of everyday objects that are equipped with sensing, computing, and communication capabilities. These networks can collaborate to autonomously solve a variety of tasks. Due to the very diverse set of applications and application requirements, there is no single communication technology that is able to provide cost-effective and close to optimal performance in all scenarios. In this chapter, we report on research carried out on a selected number of IoT topics: low-power wide-area networks, in particular, LoRa and narrow-band IoT (NB-IoT); IP version 6 over IEEE 802.15.4 time-slotted channel hopping (6TiSCH); vehicular antenna design, integration, and processing; security aspects for vehicular networks; energy efficiency and harvesting for IoT systems; and software-defined networking/network functions virtualization for (SDN/NFV) IoT
Gestational age acceleration is associated with epigenetic biomarkers of prenatal physiologic stress exposure
BACKGROUND: Physiological maternal stress response, such as imbalance in the glucocorticoid pathway and immune system seems to be mediated by DNA methylation (DNAm) and might translate intrauterine stress exposures into phenotypic changes in a sex-specific manner. DNAm in specific sites can also predict newborn gestational age and gestational age acceleration (GAA). GAA occurs when the predicted biological age is higher than the chronological age. In adults, poor health outcomes related to this deviance are well documented and raise questions for the interpretation and prediction in early stages of life. Boys seem to be more vulnerable to intrauterine stress exposure than girls; however, the mechanisms of adaptive sex-specific responses are still unclear. We hypothesize that intrauterine stress exposure is associated with GAA and could be different in boys and girls if inflammatory or glucocorticoid pathways exposure is considered. RESULTS: Using the Western Region Birth Cohort (ROC-Sao Paulo, Brazil) (n = 83), we calculated DNAm age and GAA from cord blood samples. Two epigenetic risk scores were calculated as an indirect proxy for low-grade inflammation (i-ePGS) and for glucocorticoid exposure (GES). Multivariate linear regression models were applied to investigate associations of GAA with prenatal exposures. The i-ePGS and GES were included in different models with the same co-variates considering sex interactions. The first multivariate model investigating inflammatory exposure (adj. R(2) = 0.31, p = < 0.001) showed that GAA was positively associated with i-ePGS (CI, 0.26-113.87, p = 0.049) and negative pregnancy-related feelings (CI, 0.04-0.48 p = 0.019). No sex interaction was observed. The second model investigating glucocorticoid exposure (adj. R(2) = 0.32, p = < 0.001) showed that the higher was the GAA was associated with a lower the lower was the GES in girls (CI, 0.04-2.55, p = 0.044). In both models, maternal self-reported mental disorder was negatively associated with GAA. CONCLUSION: Prenatal epigenetic score of exposure to low-grade inflammatory was a predictor of GAA for both sexes. Glucocorticoid epigenetic score seems to be more important to GAA in girls. This study supports the evidence of sex-specificity in stress response, suggesting the glucocorticoid as a possible pathway adopted by girls to accelerate the maturation in an adverse condition
- …