High-Tip-Speed, Low-Loading Transonic Fan Stage. Part 1: Aerodynamic and Mechanical Design

A high-tip-speed, low-loading transonic fan stage was designed to deliver an overall pressure ratio of 1.5 with an adiabatic efficiency of 86 percent. The design flow per unit annulus area is 42.0 pounds per square foot. The fan features a hub/tip ratio of 0.46, a tip diameter of 28.74 in. and operates at a design tip speed of 1600 fps. For these design conditions, the rotor blade tip region operates with supersonic inlet and supersonic discharge relative velocities. A sophisticated quasi-three-dimensional characteristic section design procedure was used for the all-supersonic sections and the inlet of the midspan transonic sections. For regions where the relative outlet velocities are supersonic, the blade operates with weak oblique shocks only

Iodine Enhances the Nutritional Value but Not the Tolerance of Lettuce to NaCl

Positive stress or essential and nonessential elements can improve nutritive values (biofortification) of edible plants. In the present study, we evaluate (i) the effect of moderate salinity on lettuce biofortification, evaluated as nutritional bioactive compound accumulation, and (ii) the role of iodine in enhancing salt tolerance by increasing photorespiration and the content of antioxidants in lettuce. Physiological (gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence emission) and biochemical (photosynthetic pigment and bioactive compound) analyses were performed on lettuce plants grown under moderate salinity (50 mM NaCl alone or 50 mM NaCl in combination with iodine, KIO3). Our results show that NaCl + iodine treatment improves the nutritional value of lettuce in terms of bioactive compounds acting as antioxidants. More specifically, iodine enhances the accumulation of photosynthetic pigments and polyphenols, such as anthocyanins, under salt but does not improve the salt tolerance. Our findings indicate that iodine application under moderate salinity could be a valid strategy in plant biofortification by improving nutritional bioactive compound accumulation, thus exercising functional effects on human health

Photo-Protective Mechanisms and the Role of Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase Activity in a Facultative CAM Plant Exposed to Long-Term Water Deprivation

The Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) pathway helps plants to alleviate the oxidative stress under drought, but the shift to CAM-idling may expose plants to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species causing cell damages. The facultative CAM species Portulacaria afra L., was subjected to long-term water deprivation to assess the photo-protective strategies and the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) activity during water stress and plant capability to recover from the stress. Measurements of titratable acidity, chlorophyll fluorescence emission, and antioxidant activity were performed during the stress and rewatering. Under water deprivation, plants shifted from C3 to CAM metabolism, reaching the CAM-idling status at the end of the stress period. The daily variation of the titratable acidity and PARP activity increased at the beginning of stress and declined with stress progression, reaching the lowest value at the end of stress treatment. H2 O2 content, superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities increased with the severity of water stress. The photochemical processes remained high during the entire stress period indicating the presence of alternative sinks to CO2 fixation. The elevated activity of catalase under severe water stress suggests the occurrence of photorespiration in sustaining the photosynthetic electron transport under CAM-idling condition. The overall data indicate that scavenger enzymes, photorespiration and PARP activity modulation contribute to the strong resistance of P. afra to severe water stress, preserving the functioning of photosynthetic apparatus and ensuring plant recovery with rewatering

Trends of influenza B during the 2010–2016 seasons in 2 regions of north and south Italy: The impact of the vaccine mismatch on influenza immunisation strategy

Influenza A and B viruses are responsible for respiratory infections, representing globally seasonal threats to human health. The 2 viral types often co-circulate and influenza B plays an important role in the spread of infection. A 6-year retrospective surveillance study was conducted between 2010 and 2016 in 2 large administrative regions of Italy, located in the north (Liguria) and in the south (Sicily) of the country, to describe the burden and epidemiology of both B/Victoria and B/Yamagata lineages in different healthcare settings. Influenza B viruses were detected in 5 of 6 seasonal outbreaks, exceeding influenza A during the season 2012–2013. Most of influenza B infections were found in children aged ≤ 14 y and significant differences were observed in the age-groups infected by the different lineages. B/Victoria strains prevailed in younger population than B/Yamagata, but also were more frequently found in the community setting. Conversely, B/Yamagata viruses were prevalent among hospitalized cases suggesting their potential role in the development of more severe disease. The relative proportions of viral lineages varied from year to year, resulting in different lineage-level mismatch for the B component of trivalent influenza vaccine. Our findings confirmed the need for continuous virological surveillance of seasonal epidemics and bring attention to the adoption of universal influenza immunization program in the childhood. The use of tetravalent vaccine formulations may be useful to improve the prevention and control of the influenza burden in general population

Strontium Functionalization of Biomaterials for Bone Tissue Engineering Purposes: A Biological Point of View

Strontium (Sr) is a trace element taken with nutrition and found in bone in close connection to native hydroxyapatite. Sr is involved in a dual mechanism of coupling the stimulation of bone formation with the inhibition of bone resorption, as reported in the literature. Interest in studying Sr has increased in the last decades due to the development of strontium ranelate (SrRan), an orally active agent acting as an anti-osteoporosis drug. However, the use of SrRan was subjected to some limitations starting from 2014 due to its negative side effects on the cardiac safety of patients. In this scenario, an interesting perspective for the administration of Sr is the introduction of Sr ions in biomaterials for bone tissue engineering (BTE) applications. This strategy has attracted attention thanks to its positive effects on bone formation, alongside the reduction of osteoclast activity, proven by in vitro and in vivo studies. The purpose of this review is to go through the classes of biomaterials most commonly used in BTE and functionalized with Sr, i.e., calcium phosphate ceramics, bioactive glasses, metal-based materials, and polymers. The works discussed in this review were selected as representative for each type of the above-mentioned categories, and the biological evaluation in vitro and/or in vivo was the main criterion for selection. The encouraging results collected from the in vitro and in vivo biological evaluations are outlined to highlight the potential applications of materials’ functionalization with Sr as an osteopromoting dopant in BTE

Machine-learning nonstationary noise out of gravitational-wave detectors

Signal extraction out of background noise is a common challenge in high-precision physics experiments, where the measurement output is often a continuous data stream. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection, witness sensors are often used to independently measure background noises and subtract them from the main signal. If the noise coupling is linear and stationary, optimal techniques already exist and are routinely implemented in many experiments. However, when the noise coupling is nonstationary, linear techniques often fail or are suboptimal. Inspired by the properties of the background noise in gravitational wave detectors, this work develops a novel algorithm to efficiently characterize and remove nonstationary noise couplings, provided there exist witnesses of the noise source and of the modulation. In this work, the algorithm is described in its most general formulation, and its efficiency is demonstrated with examples from the data of the Advanced LIGO gravitational-wave observatory, where we could obtain an improvement of the detector gravitational-wave reach without introducing any bias on the source parameter estimation

Two seas for one great diversity: Checklist of the marine heterobranchia (Mollusca; Gastropoda) from the Salento Peninsula (South-East Italy)

The Salento peninsula is a portion of the Italian mainland separating two distinct Mediterranean basins, the Ionian and the Adriatic seas. Several authors have studied the marine Heterobranchia (Mollusca, Gastropoda) fauna composition living in the Ionian Sea, but to date further knowledge regarding this interesting group of mollusks is still needed. Recent studies have corroborated the peculiarity of the Mediterranean Sea showing high levels of endemism and cryptic diversity. On the other hand, marine sea slugs have been revealed to be important indicators of the marine ecosystem's health, due to their species-specific diet that consist of a vast variety of sessile and benthic invertebrates. A baseline study of the marine Heterobranchia diversity is therefore a necessary step to reveal the hidden diversity and to monitor the possible presence of alien species. The present study shows results from approximately 600 scientific dives carried out during a nine-year period in all of the main submarine habitats of the studied area, while accounting for the marine Heterobranchia from both the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. With this contribution, the list of marine Heterobranchia inhabiting the Salento Peninsula rises to 160. Furthermore, it also reports, for the first time, the presence of one alien species and three new records for Italian waters. Ecological notes and geographical distribution for each added species are provided together with animal iconography, consisting mainly of in situ photographs, for species identification

Paediatric laser dentistry. Part 3: Dental trauma

Dental traumas are frequent and sometimes complex events, and at times real emergencies. There are no wellcoded guidelines for laser applications in these clinical events. Laser-assisted therapy can offer new treatment possibilities, simplify dental procedures, reduce postoperative sensitivity and the need for post-operative medications because of the laser-induced biostimulating and anti-inflammatory effects