Nanofriction behavior of cluster-assembled carbon films

We have characterized the frictional properties of nanostructured (ns) carbon films grown by Supersonic Cluster Beam Deposition (SCBD) via an Atomic Force-Friction Force Microscope (AFM-FFM). The experimental data are discussed on the basis of a modified Amonton's law for friction, stating a linear dependence of friction on load plus an adhesive offset accounting for a finite friction force in the limit of null total applied load. Molecular Dynamics simulations of the interaction of the AFM tip with the nanostructured carbon confirm the validity of the friction model used for this system. Experimental results show that the friction coefficient is not influenced by the nanostructure of the films nor by the relative humidity. On the other hand the adhesion coefficient depends on these parameters.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, RevTex

A fixed combination of probiotics and herbal extracts attenuates intestinal barrier dysfunction from inflammatory stress in an in vitro model using Caco-2 cells.

Background: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), are considered a growing global disease, with about ten million people being affected worldwide. Maintenance of intestinal barrier integrity is crucial for preventing IBD onset and exacerbations. Some recent patents regarding oily formulations containing probiotics (WO2010122107A1 and WO2010103374A9) and the use of probiotics for gastrointestinal complaints (US20110110905A1 and US9057112B2) exist, or are pending application. Objective: In this work, we studied the effect of a fixed combination of registered Lactobacillus reuteri and Lactobacillus acidophilus strains and herbal extracts in an in vitro inflammation experimental model. Methods: Caco-2 cell monolayer was exposed to INF-\u3b3+TNF-\u3b1 or to LPS; Trans Epithelial Electrical Resistance (TEER) and paracellular permeability were investigated. ZO-1 and occludin Tight Junctions (TJs) were also investigated by mean of immunofluorescence. Results: Pre-treatment with the fixed combination of probiotics and herbal extracts prevented the inflammation-induced TEER decrease, paracellular permeability increase and TJs translocation. Conclusions: In summary, the fixed combination of probiotics and herbal extracts investigated in this research was found to be an interesting candidate for targeting the re-establishment of intestinal barrier function in IBD conditions

Characteristics of some Phytophthora species isolated from oak forest soils in central and northern Italy.

Four Phytophthora species, P. citricola, P. megasperma, P. quercina and P. syringae, were isolated during a systematic survey of oak forests (Quercus cerris and Q. robur) in Tuscany (central Italy), and in the Po Valley and the Venetian Plain (northern Italy) from 22 out of 54 soil samples. The main morphological characteristics of the isolates and their growth rates on different substrates and at different temperatures are reported

Multi-language transfer learning for low-resource legal case summarization

Analyzing and evaluating legal case reports are labor-intensive tasks for judges and lawyers, who usually base their decisions on report abstracts, legal principles, and commonsense reasoning. Thus, summarizing legal documents is time-consuming and requires excellent human expertise. Moreover, public legal corpora of specific languages are almost unavailable. This paper proposes a transfer learning approach with extractive and abstractive techniques to cope with the lack of labeled legal summarization datasets, namely a low-resource scenario. In particular, we conducted extensive multi- and cross-language experiments. The proposed work outperforms the state-of-the-art results of extractive summarization on the Australian Legal Case Reports dataset and sets a new baseline for abstractive summarization. Finally, syntactic and semantic metrics assessments have been carried out to evaluate the accuracy and the factual consistency of the machine-generated legal summaries

Type IV Thoraco-Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (TAAA IV) with Occlusion of Celiac and Superior Mesenteric Arteries in a High Risk Patient: Successful Treatment with a Hybrid Traditional Vascular and Endovascular Procedure

Abstract We describe a novel hybrid open and endovascular repair for a dumbbell shaped lower thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in a high risk patient, with celiac trunk and superior mesenteric artery occlusions. We used a two-staged approach consisting of an open infrarenal AAA repair with a by-pass to superior mesenteric artery and reimplantation of inferior mesenteric artery. This was followed by an antegrade insertion of a thoracic endograft via a PFTE graft on the thoracic aorta to allow precise deployment of the stent graft above the renal arteries

Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations with a High-Density Detector

We propose an experiment to test the hypothesis that the reported anomaly on atmospheric neutrino fluxes is due to nu_mu nu_x oscillations. It will rely both on a disappearance technique, exploiting the method of the dependence of the event rate on L/E, which was recently shown to be effective for detection of neutrino oscillation and measurement of the oscillation parameters, and on an appearance technique, looking for an excess of muon-less events at high energy produced by upward-going tau neutrinos. The detector will consist of iron planes interleaved by limited streamer tubes. The total mass will be about 30 kt. The possibility of recuperating most of the instrumentation from existing detectors allows to avoid R&D phases and to reduce construction time. In four years of data taking, this experiment will be sensitive to oscillations nu_mu nu_x with Delta m^2 > 10^-4 eV^2 and a mixing near to maximal, and answer the question whether nu_x is a sterile or a tau neutrino

Innovative Biogas Multi-Stage Biogas Plant and Novel Analytical System

AbstractThe here presented applied research and development project is targeted to the development and application of new and improved techniques in plant design, performance analysis and process control. Hereto following the required steps are illustrated and the goals are outlined. The project covers the development of a previously patented anaerobic digestion process, adaption of flow cytometry as an analytical instrument and investigation of innovative ways of disposal of solid fermentation wastes. The preliminary experiences with a newly built research plant employing a novel anaerobic biogas digestion technique are discussed. In this paper the first outcomes concerning the construction and operation are discussed. A novel method of disposal of the fermentation wastes is also discussed and first results are shown

H-Content Is Not Predictive of Perfluorocarbon Ocular Endotamponade Cytotoxicity in Vitro

In recent years, cases of retinal toxicity occurred in some European, Middle Eastern, and South American countries following the use of perfluorocarbon liquids (PFCLs) on vitreoretinal surgeries owing to impurities in the product. Moreover, Spanish ophthalmologists reported several toxic cases on the use of perfluoro-n-octane Ala Octa (Alamedics, Dornstadt, Germany), raising the necessity of reviewing the current validated methods used for assessing the safety of PFCLs. We proved that in samples of PFCLs contaminated on purpose with impurities previously detected in Ala Octa devices, the determination of the so-called H-content using a 1H NMR quantitative assay implemented with the electronic reference to access in vivo concentrations 2 technology failed to demonstrate a correlation between the H-content and in vitro cytotoxicity test in ARPE-19 and BALB 3T3 cell lines. Therefore, direct information on the safety of PFCLs was provided only by the cytotoxicity test in vitro validated according to ISO 10993-5, and the H-content was not predictive of perfluorocarbon ocular endotamponade cytotoxicity in vitr