Integrated Distributed Amplifiers for Ultra-Wideband BiCMOS Receivers Operating at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies

Millimetre-wave technology is used for applications such as telecommunications and imaging. For both applications, the bandwidth of existing systems has to be increased to support higher data rates and finer imaging resolutions. Millimetrewave circuits with very large bandwidths are developed in this thesis. The focus is put on amplifiers and the on-chip integration of the amplifiers with antennas. Circuit prototypes, fabricated in a commercially available 130nm Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) Bipolar Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (BiCMOS) process, validated the developed techniques. Cutting-edge performances have been achieved in the field of distributed and resonant-matched amplifiers, as well as in that of the antenna-amplifier co-integration. Examples are as follows: - A novel cascode gain-cell with three transistors was conceived. By means of transconductance peaking towards high frequencies, the losses of the synthetic line can be compensated up to higher frequencies. The properties were analytically derived and explained. Experimental demonstration validated the technique by a Traveling-Wave Amplifier (TWA) able to produce 10 dB of gain over a frequency band of 170GHz.# - Two Cascaded Single-Stage Distributed Amplifiers (CSSDAs) have been demonstrated. The first CSSDA, optimized for low power consumption, requires less than 20mW to provide 10 dB of gain over a frequency band of 130 GHz. The second amplifier was designed for high-frequency operation and works up to 250 GHz leading to a record bandwidth for distributed amplifiers in SiGe technology. - The first complete CSSDA circuit analysis as function of all key parameters was presented. The typical degradation of the CSSDA output matching towards high frequencies was analytically quantified. A balanced architecture was then introduced to retain the frequency-response advantages of CSSDAs and yet ensure matching over the frequency band of interested. A circuit prototype validated experimentally the technique. - The first traveling-wave power combiner and divider capable of operation from the MHz range up to 200 GHz were demonstrated. The circuits improved the state of the art of the maximum frequency of operation and the bandwidth by a factor of five. - A resonant-matched balanced amplifier was demonstrated with a centre frequency of 185 GHz, 10 dB of gain and a 55GHz wide –3 dB-bandwidth. The power consumption of the amplifier is 16.8mW, one of the lowest for this circuit class, while the bandwidth is the broadest reported in literature for resonant-matched amplifiers in SiGe technology

Experiences of LGBTIQ+ Population within Healthcare Contexts

Although research on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI+) populations is expanding rapidly, including a focus on social and health policies, research on the experiences of LGBTI+ people within healthcare contexts needs to be deepened and expanded. Indeed, social acceptance of LGBTI+ people has been improving in the last decades, but they continue to face stigma and discrimination (Gallup, 2016; Grant et al., 2011; Scandurra et al., 2017). Stigmatizing experiences, combined with a lack of access to a culturally-affirming health care, result in a disadvantaged social status and health disparities for LGBTI+ population (Fredriksen-Goldsen et al., 2014; Reisner et al., 2014). To this end, many LGBTI+ people still avoid healthcare contexts for fear of discrimination from healthcare providers or because they feel the lack of healthcare professional knowledge and negative views of LGBTI+ individuals (Krehely, 2009). For instance, approximately 30% of LGBTI+ adults do not have access healthcare services or lack a regular healthcare provider (Winter, 2012). Furthermore, LGBTI+ people are more likely to avoid healthcare contexts compared to heterosexual counterparts, delaying proper treatments and, thus, resulting in negative health outcomes (Shields et al., 2012). Despite subjective experiences of LGBTI+ people within healthcare contexts, structural barriers (e.g., binary male/female medical record identification system, financial barriers, lack of equality signs and gender-neutral language, etc.) significantly contribute to the delay or avoidance of seeking healthcare (Roberts & Fantz, 2014). Indeed, the structural/institutional stigma is embedded within some health organizations due to the existence of laws and regulations that not guarantee full equality for LGBTI+ populations. On the other hand, many healthcare providers still have little knowledge about the specific health needs of this population (Roberts & Fantz, 2014), resulting in non-affirmative and competent provision of care. Thus, a more accurate understanding of the quality of care received and perceived by LGBTI+ population represents a fundamental social issue and a central focus for reducing health inequalities. It means that it is an urgent to provide affirmative and inclusive healthcare services for LGBTI+ people. The current thematic issue of the puntOorg International Journal intended to answer this need focusing on the experiences of LGBTI+ people within healthcare contexts. To this end, we were able to collect scientific contributions from multidisciplinary viewpoints. Specifically, the contribution by Annalisa Anzani (University of Milano Bicocca) reviews recent literature on microaggressions toward transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals. The critical review offered by Annalisa Anzani is particularly focused on the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions to microaggressions, as well as on the detrimental effects that microaggressions towards TGNC people have on their health and wellbeing. The work ends with some reflections on the affirmative psychological practice with TGNC individuals. The contribution by Emanuele Maria Merlo, Fabio Frosinone, and Salvatore Settineri (University of Messina) addresses again TGNC experiences within healthcare contexts, but from a different point of view. Indeed, the authors address their psychological-clinical experiences with transgender people who have access to the gender identity clinic of the University Hospital G. Martino in Messina, paying specific attention to the “clinical contact” from a theoretical perspective which embraces both the phenomenology and the life-course framework. The paper by Andrea Pennasilico and Anna Lisa Amodeo (University of Naples Federico II), instead, reviews critically recent literature on bisexual health. In particular, authors presents a critical review on 3 main areas: (1) stigma towards bisexual population; (2) health of bisexual people and its interface with stigma; and (3) experiences of bisexual people within healthcare contexts. The article by Joshua Minh Quach (New York University) explores qualitatively the lived-experiences of 20 men who have sex with men (MSM), divided in two age-cohorts (18-49 and 50+ ages). Specifically, the author provides an interesting comparison between these cohorts concerning their patient-provider relationships and assessing differences and similarities in healthcare experiences with regard to social trauma, medical trauma, and their proximity to the 1980s AIDS crisis. Finally, the contribution by Davide Bizjak (University of Naples Federico II), from an organizational perspective, addresses inclusive organizational practices for TGNC people, proposing a model centered on the relationship between transition stages and work status. This model may be applied to healthcare contexts, if interpreted as complex organizations. The editors hope this collection of scientific papers will expand the topic on the healthcare experiences of LGBTI+ individuals, drawing the attention of both scholars and policymakers. Indeed, this thematic issue highlights the need of promoting a culturally-affirming health care for LGBTI+ people, removing both individual and structural barriers which produce health disparities and drastically increase the psycho-social risk of developing negative health outcomes

Numerical simulations of mountain winds in an alpine valley

The meteorological model WRF is used to investigate the wind circulation in Valle Camonica, Italy, an alpine valley that includes a large subalpine lake. The aim was to obtain the information necessary to evaluate the wind potential of this area and, from a methodological point of view, to suggest how numerical modeling can be used to locate the most interesting spots for wind exploitation. Two simulations are carried out in order to analyze typical scenarios occurring in the valley. In the first one, the diurnal cycle of thermally-induced winds generated by the heating-cooling of the mountain range encircling the valley is analyzed. The results show that the mountain slopes strongly affect the low-level winds during both daytime and nighttime, and that the correct setting of the lake temperature improves the quality of the meteorological fields provided by WRF significantly. The second simulation deals with an event of strong downslope winds caused by the passage of a cold front. Comparisons between simulated and measured wind speed, direction and air temperature are also shown

Genetics and Molecular Biology of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex is a multisystem disorder exhibiting a wide range of manifestations characterized by tumour-like lesions called hamartomas in the brain, skin, eyes, heart, lungs and kidneys. Tuberous Sclerosis Complex is genetically determined with an autosomal dominant inheritance and is caused by inactivating mutations in either the TSC1 or TSC2 genes. TSC1/2 genes play a fundamental role in the regulation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signalling pathway, inhibiting the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) through activation of the GTPase activity of Rheb. Mutations in TSC1/2 genes impair the inhibitory function of the hamartin/tuberin complex, leading to phosphorylation of the downstream effectors of mTOR, p70 S6 kinase (S6K), ribosomal protein S6 and the elongation factor binding protein 4E-BP1, resulting in uncontrolled cell growth and tumourigenesis

Multi-objective optimization determines when, which and how to fuse deep networks: an application to predict COVID-19 outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of cases and deaths and the AI-related scientific community, after being involved with detecting COVID-19 signs in medical images, has been now directing the efforts towards the development of methods that can predict the progression of the disease. This task is multimodal by its very nature and, recently, baseline results achieved on the publicly available AIforCOVID dataset have shown that chest X-ray scans and clinical information are useful to identify patients at risk of severe outcomes. While deep learning has shown superior performance in several medical fields, in most of the cases it considers unimodal data only. In this respect, when, which and how to fuse the different modalities is an open challenge in multimodal deep learning. To cope with these three questions here we present a novel approach optimizing the setup of a multimodal end-to-end model. It exploits Pareto multi-objective optimization working with a performance metric and the diversity score of multiple candidate unimodal neural networks to be fused. We test our method on the AIforCOVID dataset, attaining state-of-the-art results, not only outperforming the baseline performance but also being robust to external validation. Moreover, exploiting XAI algorithms we figure out a hierarchy among the modalities and we extract the features' intra-modality importance, enriching the trust on the predictions made by the model

Multimodal therapy in the management of MOH. a 3-year experience

The relationship between migraine and psychopathology has been clinically discussed in various studies. Medication-overuse headache (MOH) has been often found comorbid with emotional disturbances and disordered personality traits [1,2]

Noticias desde España vistas desde Italia

Los viajes de ida y vuelta que se han sucedido a lo largo de la historia entre la arquitectura italiana y española han dado lugar a una prolífica correspondencia, materializada en un destacado catálogo de obras y textos. Una mirada desde Italia a la segunda mitad del siglo XX de esta consolidada relación permite destacar una serie de protagonistas cuyas aportaciones han ido determinando, década a década, capítulos claves que nos ayudan a comprender el momento de intenso diálogo que hoy en día podemos apreciar en la arquitectura contemporánea de ambos países

Optical spectra of solids obtained by time-dependent density-functional theory with the jellium-with-gap model exchange-correlation kernel

Within the framework of ab initio time-dependent density-functional theory (TD-DFT), we propose a static approximation to the exchange-correlation kernel based on the jellium-with-gap model. This kernel accounts for electron-hole interactions and it is able to address both strongly bound excitons and weak excitonic effects. TD-DFT absorption spectra of several bulk materials (both semiconductor and insulators) are reproduced in very good agreement with the experiments and with a low computational cost.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl