Fast computation of multi-scale combustion systems

In the present work, we illustrate the process of constructing a simplified model for complex multi-scale combustion systems. To this end, reduced models of homogeneous ideal gas mixtures of methane and air are first obtained by the novel Relaxation Redistribution Method (RRM) and thereafter used for the extraction of all the missing variables in a reactive flow simulation with a global reaction mode

Re-thinking Photographic Portraiture of 21st Century Italian Migrants in the Arc Lémanique area

Contemporary history has identified three big Italian migration movements to Switzerland: the big diaspora of the end of the 19th century, the period between the First and the Second World Wars and the diaspora movement from the end of the Second World War until the 1970s. After the Schwarzenbach initiatives and the oil crisis of the 1970s, Italian migration to Switzerland has decreased. However, with the beginning of the 2007 – 2008 global economic crisis, Italy has witnessed a large new diaspora movement to the traditional countries of migration. Academic studies have found that the most diffused narrative on the brain drain phenomenon is oversimplistic and needs to be re-examined and updated; notably that this diaspora in the age of globalization has new and complex layers. The aim of this research is to re-think photographic portrayals of the cultural identity of Italian migrants of the 21st century in the area between Lausanne and Geneva in Switzerland (arc lémanique). The work reflects on issues related to the formation of cultural identity formation of the migrant as a continuing experience and to the sense of belonging to a space which becomes a known place after years of residency. How can an image capture a complex, ineffable, and unrepresentable notion of modern Italian cultural identity? Furthermore, how can an image represent the cultural identity of a group of people whose lives have been changed by the experience of physically migrating to a terra incognita? Research conducted in the archives of Swiss-French illustrated magazines (L’Illustré and L’Hebdo) and other online publications has highlighted distinctive photographic representations of Italian migrants in Switzerland from the 1960s-1970s to the period between 2006 and 2019. The analysis of pictures of Italian migrants made it possible to understand on a larger scale how the public imagination is shaped, how it impacts on the politics of the ‘other’ and how society reacts to the phenomena of migration. This process has supported and influenced the development of the photographic practice of this research in its attempt to render visible the complex notion of this new migratory identity

Exploiting an HMAC-SHA-1 optimization to speed up PBKDF2

PBKDF2 is a well-known password-based key derivation function. In order to slow attackers down, PBKDF2 introduces CPU-intensive operations based on an iterated pseudorandom function (in our case HMAC-SHA-1). If we are able to speed up a SHA-1 or an HMAC implementation, we are able to speed up PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA-1. This means that a performance improvement might be exploited by regular users and attackers. Interestingly, FIPS 198-1 suggests that it is possible to precompute first message block of a keyed hash function only once, store such a value and use it each time is needed. Therefore the computation of first message block does not contribute to slowing attackers down, thus making the computation of second message block crucial. In this paper we focus on the latter, investigating the possibility to avoid part of the HMAC-SHA-1 operations. We show that some CPU-intensive operations may be replaced with a set of equivalent, but less onerous, instructions. We identify useless XOR operations exploiting and extending Intel optimizations, and applying the Boyar-Peralta heuristic. In addition, we provide an alternative method to compute the SHA-1 message scheduling function and explain why attackers might exploit these findings to speed up a brute force attack against PBKDF2

Determination of propofol by GC/MS and fast GC/MS-TOF in two cases of poisoning

Two cases of suspected acute and lethal intoxication caused by propofol were delivered by the judicial authority to the Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother-Child Care in Palermo, Sicily. In the first case a female nurse was found in a hotel room, where she lived with her mother; four 10 mg/mL vials and two 20 mg/mL vials of propofol were found near the decedent along with syringes and needles. In the second case a male nurse was found in the operating room of a hospital, along with a used syringe. In both cases a preliminary systematic and toxicological analysis indicated the presence of propofol in the blood and urine. As a result, a method for the quantitative determination of propofol in biological fluids was optimized and validated using a liquid-liquid extraction protocol followed by GC/MS and fast GC/MS-TOF. In the first case, the concentration of propofol in blood was determined to be 8.1 \u3bcg/mL while the concentration of propofol in the second case was calculated at 1.2 \u3bcg/mL. Additionally, the tissue distribution of propofol was determined for both cases. Brain and liver concentrations of propofol were, respectively, 31.1 and 52.2 \u3bcg/g in Case 1 and 4.7 and 49.1 \u3bcg/g in Case 2. Data emerging from the autopsy findings, histopathological exams as well as the toxicological results aided in establishing that the deaths were due to poisoning, however, the manner of death in each were different: homicide in Case 1 and suicide in Case 2

DSS-Saltirsoil: un sistema de ayuda a la decisión en internet para la obtención de recomendaciones de gestión del riego y el cultivo en tierras amenazadas por salinización

En el presente trabajo se presenta un ejemplo de utilización del sistema de ayuda a la decisión DSS-SALTIRSOIL para la recomendación del riego en una plantación de caqui “Rojo Brillante” en la zona de riegos del Magro de la Ribera del Xúquer (Valencia). De acuerdo con la simulación realizada con datos de la zona representativos de su meteorología (año 2010), suelo (franco arcilloso), calidad de agua (2.3 dS/m) y manejo del riego (goteo) y el cultivo, se esperaría una pérdida del 15% de producción como consecuencia de la salinización. Un incremento de la dotación anual de riego de 140 mm, o una disminución de la salinidad hasta 2.0 dS/m reducirían dicha pérdidas a tan solo un 10% en dicho año de meteorología media. No obstante, la simulación del periodo 2000-2015 indica que una disminución de 100 mm en la precipitación anual media supone una amenaza de pérdida de producción de más del 20% en promedio. En consecuencia una solución satisfactoria a los problemas de salinidad en el cultivo del caqui en la zona pasa necesariamente por usar aguas de riego de salinidad más baja (< 2.0 dS/m), o bien por un cambio del patrón del caqui a uno más tolerante a la salinidad como es el D. virginiana.In this article an example of utilization of the decision support system DSSSALTIRSOIL is shown for the recommendation of irrigation in a persimmon "Rojo Brillante" plantation in the Magro irrigation district in the Ribera del Xúquer (Valencia). According to the simulation carried out with data from the area, which is representative of the meteorology (2010), soil (clay loam), water quality (2.3 dS / m) and irrigation (drip) and crop management, 15% yield losses would be expected as a result of salinization. An increase in the annual irrigation dose of 140 mm, or a decrease in salinity down to 2.0 dS / m would reduce such losses to only 10% in such a year of average meteorology. However, the simulation of the span 2000-2015 indicates that an average decrease of 100 mm in the annual rainfall poses a threat of yield losses over 20% on average. Consequently a satisfactory solution for the salinity problems in persimmon cropping in the area necessarily involves using irrigation water of lower salinity (<2.0 dS / m), or replacing the persimmon rootstock by a more salttolerant one such as the D. virginiana.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación 14592-C02-01Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2009-14592-C02-0

Remote digital monitoring during the retention phase of orthodontic treatment: A prospective feasibility study

Objective: To evaluate if a remote digital monitoring system added at the end of orthodontic treatment could positively influence the retention phase by reducing the occurrence of misfit of removable appliances, number of emergency appointments (EA), and orthodontic relapse. Methods: Twenty-seven patients who completed active orthodontic treatment were divided into the study and control groups. In addition to the standard chairside follow-up appointments at month 1 (T1), month 3 (T2), month 6 (T3), the study group patients were monitored using Dental Monitoring® with monthly intra-oral scans. Occurrence of misfit of removable retainers, number of EAs, and intercanine width change were recorded for both groups. Differences in EAs and retainer fit were assessed using the chi-square test. Intra-group and inter-group differences in the intercanine width were assessed with Friedman test and Mann–Whitney U test, respectively (α = 0.05). Results: The study group showed a significantly lower occurrence of misfit of removable retainers (p = 0.027) compared to the control group. No significant inter-and intra-group difference was found in the EAs and intercanine width change at each time-point. Conclusions: Integrating remote monitoring systems, such as Dental Monitoring®, to the retention phase of the orthodontic treatment may lower the occurrence of misfit of removable retainers. However, a small sample size and a short observation period limit the strength of this evidence. These preliminary results tentatively suggest that remote monitoring technologies may be beneficial, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the regularity of in-office visits might be disrupted

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Narcolepsy: A Possible Connection That Deserves to Be Investigated.

Narcolepsy in childhood-adolescence is characterized by a high occurrence of psychiatric comorbidities. The most frequent psychiatric disorders reported in these patients are attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia. However, narcolepsy can be associated also with introversion, sorrowfulness, feelings of inferiority, impaired affectivity modulation, emotional lability, irritability, aggressiveness, and poor attention, that have been pooled by some authors under a definition of "narcoleptic personality." Some aspects of this "narcoleptic personality," and in particular introversion, impaired affectivity modulation, irritability, and poor attention, partially overlap with the clinical features of the individuals with autism spectrum disorder, considering also those that are not regarded as core autism symptoms. Till now, in literature the number of cases affected by both narcolepsy and autism spectrum disorder (seven patients) has been clearly too small to demonstrate the presence of a pathogenetic link between these two conditions, but this possible connection has not yet been adequately investigated, despite the presence of several points in common. The finding of a connection between narcolepsy and autism spectrum disorder could boost the study of possible etiopathogenetic mechanisms shared between these two apparently so distant disorders. Basing on the literature data summarized in this paper, in the diagnostic work-up of a child with narcolepsy it is essential to evaluate also the social-communicative behavior using standardized tools in order to detect the real recurrence of clinical features suggesting an autism spectrum disorder. At the same time, it appears necessary to screen in the individuals with autism spectrum disorder for the possible presence of evoking symptoms of narcolepsy

A Prosthetic Limb Managed by Sensors-Based Electronic System: Experimental Results on Amputees

Taking the advantages offered by smart high-performance electronic devices, transradial prosthesis for upper-limb amputees was developed and tested. It is equipped with sensing devices and actuators allowing hand movements; myoelectric signals are detected by Myo armband with 8 ElectroMyoGraphic (EMG) electrodes, a 9-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module. All data are received through HM-11 BLE transceiver by Arduino board which processes them and drives actuators. Raspberry Pi board controls a touchscreen display, providing user a feedback related to prosthesis functioning and sends EMG and IMU data, gathered via the armband, to cloud platform thus allowing orthopedic during rehabilitation period, to monitor users’ improvements in real time. A GUI software integrating a machine learning algorithm was implemented for recognizing flexion/extension/rest gestures of user fingers. The algorithm performances were tested on 9 male subjects (8 able-bodied and 1 subject affected by upper-limb amelia), demonstrating high accuracy and fast responses

Recycling of organic fraction of municipal solid waste as an innovative precursor for the production of bio-based epoxy monomers

This paper reports the preparation of newly synthesized bio-epoxy monomers, suitable for replacing petrochemical-derived epoxy resins. An original green method able to produce epoxy monomers starting from neat carbohydrates, waste flours, and even from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), was here proposed. Hence, for the first time, the epoxidation of carbohydrates was attained only through the exposition to UV and ozone radiation, without using any organic solvent to carry out the reaction. Besides the innovation in the epoxidation method, this work explored the possibility of valorizing waste materials, by recycling carbohydrate scraps; in particular, the exposition of waste flours and municipal solid waste to UV and ozone and their consequent epoxidation allowed obtaining green precursors for the production of a bio-based epoxy resin. Applicability and suitability of the synthesized compounds for epoxy monomers were investigated by curing experiments with a selected amount of a model cycloaliphatic amine-type hardener, i.e. isophorodiamine (IPDA)