Optical Fibers for Sensing Applications

L'utilizzo di dispositivi ottici per applicazioni sensoristiche può portare al vantaggio di avere un'alta sensibilità, alla possibilità della riduzione dei costi e della miniaturizzazione del dispositivo. A questo si deve aggiungere la possibilità di effettuare rilevazioni veloci e in modalità real-time. Tra questi dispositivi quelli fabbricati in fibra ottica possono portare ad avere una rilevazione in situ, da remoto, e in modo distribuito. Recentemente i sensori in fibra ottica sono stati utilizzati per applicazioni nel campo biochimico. La rivelazione di elementi patogeni in diversi campi di applicazione, da quello medico, alimentare, militare, e per il monitoraggio ambientale, ha fatto crescere il bisogno di sviluppare sensori affidabili in grado di poter effettuare rilevazioni in tempi rapidi, e con alta sensibilità. Per questo motivo in questo lavoro è stata studiata la possibilità di realizzare sensori in fibra ottica per molecole biologiche, in modo particolare per DNA, utilizzando diversi tipi di piattaforme.The use of optical devices for sensing applications can have the advantage of having a high sensitivity, and the possibility of reducing the costs and miniaturizing the device. They can also perform a fast and real-time detection. Among optical based sensors the ones fabricated with optical fibers can add the advantage of performing a remote, distributed, and in situ detection. Recently optical fiber based sensors have been used for biochemical applications. The detection of pathogen elements in different fields of applications, medical diagnostic, food industry, military, and environmental monitoring, created the need of developing sensors capable of a sensitive, fast, and reliable detection. For this reason in this work the possibility of realization of optical fiber sensors for biological molecules detection, in particular for DNA, has been studied, using different kinds of platforms

Time-intensity curves obtained after microbubble injection can be used to differentiate responders from nonresponders among patients with clinically active Crohn disease after 6 weeks of pharmacologic treatment

Purpose: To assess whether contrast material-enhanced ultrasonography (US) can be used to differentiate responders from nonresponders among patients with clinically active Crohn disease after\ub1weeks of pharmacologic treatment. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was approved by our ethics committee, and written informed consent was obtained from all patients. Fifty consecutive patients (26 men and 24 women; mean age, 34.76 years\ub19) with a proved diagnosis of active Crohn disease who were scheduled to begin therapy with biologics (infliximab or adalimumab) were included, with enrollment from June 1, 2013, to June 1, 2015. In each patient, the terminal ileal loop was imaged with contrast-enhanced US before the beginning and at the end of week\ub1of pharmacologic treatment. Time-intensity curves obtained in responders (those with a decrease in the Crohn disease endoscopic index of severity score of 25-44 before treatment to 10-15 after treatment, an inflammatory score ,7, and/or a decrease 6570 in the Crohn disease activity index score compared with baseline) and nonresponders were compared with Mann-Whitney test. Results: Responders (n = 31) and nonresponders (n = 19) differed (P , .05) in the percent change of peak enhancement (240.78\ub162.85 vs 53.21\ub172.5; P = .0001), wash-in (234.8\ub167.72 vs 89.44\ub1145.32; P = .001) and washout (25.64\ub1130.71 vs 166.83\ub1204.44; P = .002) rate, wash-in perfusion index (242.29\ub159.21 vs 50.96\ub171.13; P = .001), area under the time-intensity curve (AUC; 246.17\ub148.42 vs 41.78\ub187.64; P = .001), AUC during wash-in (243.93\ub154.29 vs 39.79\ub170.85; P = .001), and AUC during washout (249.36\ub147.42 vs 42.65\ub197.09; P = .001). Responders and nonresponders did not differ in the percent change of rise time (5.09\ub149.13 vs 6.24\ub148.06; P = .93) and time to peak enhancement (8.82\ub154.5 vs 10.21\ub143.25; P = .3). Conclusion: Analysis of time-intensity curves obtained after injection of microbubble contrast material\ub1weeks after beginning pharmacologic treatment can be used to differentiate responders from nonresponders among patients with clinically active Crohn disease

Stand structure and anatomical, physical and mechanical characterisation of sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl.) wood from central Italy aged coppices.

The present paper aims to implement the knowledge on sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) in Mediterranean area where, although present, for natural or anthropogenic causes, the species is rare. The focus is on two sessile oak stands in Tuscany (central Italy), classified as worthy of protection for their importance both in a local-national and European context. In addition to the environmental and stand structural characteristics, some technological properties of sessile oak wood grown there, comparing the obtained results to the bibliographic data were provided. The examined wood characteristics are anatomical parameters (growth ring thickness, earlywood and latewood thickness, fiber length, earlywood and latewood vessel diameter, amount of earlywood and latewood vessel) and the physical and mechanical parameters (density, modulus of elasticity, strength, hardness). No appreciable technological differences issued between the examined wood in the two stands and the wood from the same species, but from other Italian and French provenances, obtained from literature. Results highlighted, although managed as coppice in the past, the material is suitable for the reforestation of this endangered species in suitable areas, always taking into account that the quality of the wood is determined not only by the basic technological properties of a certain wood, but also, and mostly, by the growing conditions of the trees and particularly by the sylvicultural management of the stand

A peculiar Spanish Timber Floor, the "Revoltón": a Diagnostic Example at the "Palacio del Marqués de Benicarló"

The paper deals with the application of the Italian method for assessing on-site and diagnosing timber elements to a distinctive Spanish type of horizontal structure called "revolton" i.e. jack arch floor. As in Spain does not exist a specific regulation for the on-site diagnosis of timber elements, this analysis was performed according to the Italian standard UNI 11119. Due to the peculiar features of the jack arch floor some modifications were applied to the method. During spring 2012 the authors had the opportunity to carry out a pilot project by making a diagnostic analysis on a whole three stories building. The building, Marquees of Benicarlo's Palace, located in Spain in the town of Benicarlo, between Barcelona and Valencia, was erected during the second half of the XVIII century. It maintains the original internal distribution and structure, and it is characterized by precious ceramic decorations on walls and floors. All the horizontal structures studied inside the palace were jack arch floor except the roof structure that was also made of timber. The results of the project described in the paper clarify the specific problems of the horizontal structures and the roof surveyed during the fieldwork. These results are accompanied by several plans that represent the information recovered on-site and lead to a complete assessment of the structures. The plans include the grading based on wood defects, the local moisture content of wood, the superficial and inner decay due to insects and rot and the deformation of the joists. In this way it was possible to locate the areas of the palace where more problems were concentrated, and better understand the causes and origin of the damages.Diodato, M.; Macchioni, N.; Brunetti, M.; Pizzo, B.; Nocetti, M.; Burato, P.; Sozzi, L.... (2013). A peculiar Spanish Timber Floor, the "Revoltón": a Diagnostic Example at the "Palacio del Marqués de Benicarló". Advanced Materials Research. 778:1064-1071. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.778.1064S10641071778E. Cubero, El lujo señorial de lo sencillo (The noble luxury of simplicity), Revistart: Revista de las artes, 125 (2007) pp.8-10.C. Colón de Carvajal y Fibla, La casa-palacio de los Marqueses de Benicarló (The Marquees of Benicarló's Palace), Numen. Revista de excelencia, (2011) on-line.La casa de los Marqueses de Benicarló nos abre sus puertas (The Marquees of Benicarló's House opens its doors), MasQrural, 21 (2008) pp.85-94.M. Diodato, Variaciones constructivas y formales en forjados y cubiertas (Constructive and formal variations in floors and roofs), in: F. Vegas, C. Mileto, Valencia. Centro histórico. Ocho siglos de arquitectura residencial (Historic centre. Eight Centuries of residential architecture), Generalitat Valenciana, Valencia, (2013).N. Macchioni, Inspection techniques for ancient wooden structures, in: P. Roca, J.L. Gonzalez, E. Onate, P.B. Lourenco (Eds. ), Structural analysis of historical constructions II: possibilities of numerical and experimental techniques, CIMNE, Barcelona, 1998, pp.149-162.N. Macchioni, M. Piazza, Italian standardization activity in the field of diagnosis and restoration of ancient timber structures, in: F.M. Mazzolani (Ed. ), Protection of historical buildings - PROHITECH 09, vol. 1-2, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 2009, pp.349-353.G. Lear, B. Kasal, R. Anthony, Resistance drilling, in: B. Kasal, T. Tannert (Eds. ), In situ assessment of structural timber, State of the art report of the RILEM TC 215-AST, Springer.N. Macchioni, M. Brunetti, B. Pizzo, P. Burato, M. Nocetti, S. Palanti, The timber structures in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: Typologies and diagnosis, Journal of cultural heritage, Vol. 13 Issue 4 Supplement S (2012) pp. E42-E53

Understanding Spanish Timber Jack Arch Floors: Examples of Assessment and Conservation Issues

[EN] Jack arch floors are structures made of timber joists, with round or squared section, and segmental vaults either made of flat tiles or poured plaster conglomerate. They are especially diffused along the Mediterranean coast of Spain and can be considered as a main feature of the historical and vernacular architecture of the area. In order to assess and grade these structures several Spanish standards have been considered; however, even if the information contained is useful the Italian standard for the on-site diagnosis UNI 11119 of 2004 has been preferred. The method described in this standard leads the assessment through the grading of each and every timber element and the assignation of bearing properties that are essential for the consolidation project. This article will expose three examples of jack arch floors of the Valencian Community graded using the Italian standard and the conservation issues that arise from the results.Diodato, M.; Macchioni, N.; Brunetti, M.; Pizzo, B.; Nocetti, M.; Burato, P.; Sozzi, L.... (2015). Understanding Spanish Timber Jack Arch Floors: Examples of Assessment and Conservation Issues. International Journal of Architectural Heritage. 9(6):641-654. https://doi.org/10.1080/15583058.2015.104119364165496Diodato, M., Macchioni, N., Brunetti, M., Pizzo, B., Nocetti, M., Burato, P., … Mileto, C. (2013). A Peculiar Spanish Timber Floor, the «Revoltón»: A Diagnostic Example at the «Palacio del Marqués de Benicarló». Advanced Materials Research, 778, 1064-1071. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.778.1064Lear, G., Kasal, B., & Anthony, R. (2010). Resistance Drilling. RILEM State of the Art Reports, 51-57. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0560-9_5Macchioni, N., Brunetti, M., Pizzo, B., Burato, P., Nocetti, M., & Palanti, S. (2012). The timber structures in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: Typologies and diagnosis. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 13(4), e42-e53. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2012.10.004Riggio, M., Anthony, R. W., Augelli, F., Kasal, B., Lechner, T., Muller, W., & Tannert, T. (2013). In situ assessment of structural timber using non-destructive techniques. Materials and Structures, 47(5), 749-766. doi:10.1617/s11527-013-0093-6Tannert, T., Anthony, R. W., Kasal, B., Kloiber, M., Piazza, M., Riggio, M., … Yamaguchi, N. (2013). In situ assessment of structural timber using semi-destructive techniques. Materials and Structures, 47(5), 767-785. doi:10.1617/s11527-013-0094-5Vegas, F. (2013). Parameterisation of Gypsum Mortar for Alternative Structural Consolidation of Traditional Floors. Advances in Materials, 2(4), 48. doi:10.11648/j.am.20130204.1

A multi-port 10GbE PCIe NIC featuring UDP offload and GPUDirect capabilities

NaNet-10 is a four-ports 10GbE PCIe Network Interface Card designed for low-latency real-time operations with GPU systems. To this purpose the design includes an UDP offload module, for fast and clock-cycle deterministic handling of the transport layer protocol, plus a GPUDirect P2P/RDMA engine for low-latency communication with NVIDIA Tesla GPU devices. A dedicated module (Multi-Stream) can optionally process input UDP streams before data is delivered through PCIe DMA to their destination devices, re-organizing data from different streams guaranteeing computational optimization. NaNet-10 is going to be integrated in the NA62 CERN experiment in order to assess the suitability of GPGPU systems as real-time triggers; results and lessons learned while performing this activity will be reported herein

IL-12 Can Target Human Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells and Normal Bronchial Epithelial Cells Surrounding Tumor Lesions

BACKGROUND: Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a leading cause of cancer death. We have shown previously that IL-12rb2 KO mice develop spontaneously lung adenocarcinomas or bronchioalveolar carcinomas. Aim of the study was to investigate i) IL-12Rbeta2 expression in human primary lung adenocarcinomas and in their counterparts, i.e. normal bronchial epithelial cells (NBEC), ii) the direct anti-tumor activity of IL-12 on lung adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and vivo, and the mechanisms involved, and iii) IL-12 activity on NBEC. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Stage I lung adenocarcinomas showed significantly (P = 0.012) higher frequency of IL-12Rbeta2 expressing samples than stage II/III tumors. IL-12 treatment of IL-12R(+) neoplastic cells isolated from primary adenocarcinoma (n = 6) inhibited angiogenesis in vitro through down-regulation of different pro-angiogenic genes (e.g. IL-6, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and laminin-5), as assessed by chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay and PCR array. In order to perform in vivo studies, the Calu6 NSCLC cell line was transfected with the IL-12RB2 containing plasmid (Calu6/beta2). Similar to that observed in primary tumors, IL-12 treatment of Calu6/beta2(+) cells inhibited angiogenesis in vitro. Tumors formed by Calu6/beta2 cells in SCID/NOD mice, inoculated subcutaneously or orthotopically, were significantly smaller following IL-12 vs PBS treatment due to inhibition of angiogenesis, and of IL-6 and VEGF-C production. Explanted tumors were studied by histology, immuno-histochemistry and PCR array. NBEC cells were isolated and cultured from lung specimens of non neoplastic origin. NBEC expressed IL-12R and released constitutively tumor promoting cytokines (e.g. IL-6 and CCL2). Treatment of NBEC with IL-12 down-regulated production of these cytokines. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that IL-12 inhibits directly the growth of human lung adenocarcinoma and targets the adjacent NBEC. These novel anti-tumor activities of IL-12 add to the well known immune-modulatory properties of the cytokine and may provide a rational basis for the development of a clinical trial

Metformin Enhances Cisplatin-Induced Apoptosis and Prevents Resistance to Cisplatin in Co-mutated KRAS/LKB1 NSCLC

Abstract Introduction We hypothesized that activating KRAS mutations and inactivation of the liver kinase B1 (LKB1) oncosuppressor can cooperate to sustain NSCLC aggressiveness. We also hypothesized that the growth advantage of KRAS/LKB1 co-mutated tumors could be balanced by higher sensitivity to metabolic stress conditions, such as metformin treatment, thus revealing new strategies to target this aggressive NSCLC subtype. Methods We retrospectively determined the frequency and prognostic value of KRAS/LKB1 co-mutations in tissue specimens from NSCLC patients enrolled in the TAILOR trial. We generated stable LKB1 knockdown and LKB1-overexpressing isogenic H1299 and A549 cell variants, respectively, to test the in vitro efficacy of metformin. We also investigated the effect of metformin on cisplatin-resistant CD133+ cells in NSCLC patient-derived xenografts. Results We found a trend towards worse overall survival in patients with KRAS/LKB1 co-mutated tumors as compared to KRAS-mutated ones (hazard ratio: 2.02, 95% confidence interval: 0.94–4.35, p = 0.072). In preclinical experiments, metformin produced pro-apoptotic effects and enhanced cisplatin anticancer activity specifically in KRAS/LKB1 co-mutated patient-derived xenografts. Moreover, metformin prevented the development of acquired tumor resistance to 5 consecutive cycles of cisplatin treatment (75% response rate with metformin-cisplatin as compared to 0% response rate with cisplatin), while reducing CD133+ cells. Conclusions LKB1 mutations, especially when combined with KRAS mutations, may define a specific and more aggressive NSCLC subtype. Metformin synergizes with cisplatin against KRAS/LKB1 co-mutated tumors, and may prevent or delay the onset of resistance to cisplatin by targeting CD133+ cancer stem cells. This study lays the foundations for combining metformin with standard platinum-based chemotherapy in the treatment of KRAS/LKB1 co-mutated NSCLC

Precision tests of the Standard Model with leptonic and semileptonic kaon decays

We present a global analysis of leptonic and semileptonic kaon decays data, including all recent results by BNL-E865, KLOE, KTeV, ISTRA+, and NA48. Experimental results are critically reviewed and combined, taking into account theoretical (both analytical and numerical) constraints on the semileptonic kaon form factors. This analysis leads to a very accurate determination of Vus and allows us to perform several stringent tests of the Standard Model.We present a global analysis of leptonic and semileptonic kaon decays data, including all recent results by BNL-E865, KLOE, KTeV, ISTRA+, and NA48. Experimental results are critically reviewed and combined, taking into account theoretical (both analytical and numerical) constraints on the semileptonic kaon form factors. This analysis leads to a very accurate determination of Vus and allows us to perform several stringent tests of the Standard Model

A Probe into the Reform of Public Calligraphy Course in Chinese Colleges and Universities

中国书法是中国传统文化中的瑰宝，它既是一门艺术，又有着深厚的文化内涵。我国普通高校开设公共书法教学是与目前倡导的素质教育，培养创新型人才，提倡人的全面和谐发展的高等教育理念相一致的。加强高校公共书法教育，是全面推进素质教育的有效途径之一，也是提高当代大学生人文素质的重要手段。它对促进大学生人格完善、创造力培养以及民族文化的传承等有着不可低估的作用。本文主要针对我国普通高等院校公共书法教学现状进行分析，并由此比较借鉴日本高校中实施书法教学的成功经验提出对我国高校公共书法教学改革的具体建议和措施，设计并实践一种具备学科视野的、以学生为主体的公共书法教学的新模式。论文共分为五部分。引言扼要介绍论文写...Chinese calligraphy is a treasure of Chinese traditional culture. It not only is an art, but also has profound culture contents. Opening the public calligraphy course to the university students is in accordance with the concept that advocated by the current quality- oriented education, which aims to cultivate the students’ creative talent and comprehensive development. This paper concentrates on a...学位：文学硕士院系专业：艺术教育学院美术系_美术学学号：20042201