Upward Point-Set Embeddability

We study the problem of Upward Point-Set Embeddability, that is the problem of deciding whether a given upward planar digraph $D$ has an upward planar embedding into a point set $S$. We show that any switch tree admits an upward planar straight-line embedding into any convex point set. For the class of $k$-switch trees, that is a generalization of switch trees (according to this definition a switch tree is a $1$-switch tree), we show that not every $k$-switch tree admits an upward planar straight-line embedding into any convex point set, for any $k \geq 2$. Finally we show that the problem of Upward Point-Set Embeddability is NP-complete

Are the school prevention programmes - aimed at de-normalizing smoking among youths - beneficial in the long term? An example from the Smoke Free Class Competition in Italy

Tobacco smoking by young people is of great concern because it usually leads to regular smoking, nicotine addiction and quitting difficulties. Young people "hooked" by tobacco maintain the profits of the tobacco industry by replacing smokers who quit or die. If new generations could be tobacco-free, as supported by tobacco endgame strategies, the tobacco epidemic could end within decades. Smoking prevention programmes for teens are offered by schools with the aim to prevent or delay smoking onset. Among these, the Smoke Free Class Competition (SFC) was widely implemented in Europe. Its effectiveness yielded conflicting results, but it was only evaluated at short/medium term (6 - 18 months). The aim of this study is to evaluate its effectiveness after a longer follow-up (3 to 5 years) in order to allow enough time for the maturing of the students and the internalization of the experience and its contents. Fifteen classes were randomly sampled from two Italian high schools of Bologna province that regularly offered the SFC to first year students; 382 students (174 participating in the SFC and 208 controls) were retrospectively followed-up and provided their "smoking histories". At the end of their last year of school (after 5 years from the SFC), the percentage of students who stated that they were regular smokers was lower among the SFC students than in controls: 13.5% vs 32.9% (p=0.03). From the students' "smoking histories", statistically significant protective ORs were observed for SFC students at the end of 1st and 5th year: 0.42 (95% CI 0.19-0.93) and 0.32 (95% CI 0.11-0.91) respectively. Absence of smokers in the family was also a strongly statistically significant factor associated with being a non-smoker student. These results suggest that SFC may have a positive impact on lowering the prevalence of smoking in the long term (5 years)

Flight Tests, Performances and Flight Certification of a Twin-Engine Light Aircraft

This paper deals with flight test activities performed on P2006T, a twin-engine light aircraft recently designed and produced by Tecnam. Research activities and flight tests have been conducted during the flight certification of P2006T for the normal category under CS-23. All the acquired data and flight results presented have been focused on both aircraft certification and on aircraft performances, stability and flight qualities measurement. The data have been acquired through a light, accurate and reliable flight instrumentation available at DIAS (Department of Aerospace Engineering). Some flight data about aircraft leveled speed, stall speed, climb characteristics and ground performances (take-off and landing) will be presented. After preliminary flight tests, winglets have been designed and added to the final configuration in order to obtain good climb performances also in OEI (One Engine Inoperative) conditions. Accurate stall tests have been performed in all configurations and influence of both entry-rate and load factor on stall speed have been highlighted. Excellent ground performances have been measured with short take-off and landing distances compared with similar airplanes. All measured flight performances can be considered very good for this aircraft category and have been used to demonstrate aircraft safety and to obtain CS23 certification

Harmful effects of mechanical ventilation on neurocognitive functions

Whether mechanical ventilation (MV) induces neurotoxicity that can trigger or accelerate chronic cognitive disorders is controversial [1, 2]. The relationship between MV and neurocognitive impairment—that persisted at hospital discharge and at 1-year follow up—was first reported in 1999 in MV-treated ARDS patients [3]. Since then, several preclinical and clinical studies have investigated the mechanisms, localization, and timing of brain damage induced by MVand possible preventive/therapeutic strategies

Critical Temperature tuning of Ti/TiN multilayer films suitable for low temperature detectors

We present our current progress on the design and test of Ti/TiN Multilayer for use in Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs). Sensors based on sub-stoichiometric TiN film are commonly used in several applications. However, it is difficult to control the targeted critical temperature $T_C$, to maintain precise control of the nitrogen incorporation process and to obtain a production uniformity. To avoid these problems we investigated multilayer Ti/TiN films that show a high uniformity coupled with high quality factor, kinetic inductance and inertness of TiN. These features are ideal to realize superconductive microresonator detectors for astronomical instruments application but also for the field of neutrino physics. Using pure Ti and stoichiometric TiN, we developed and tested different multilayer configuration, in term of number of Ti/TiN layers and in term of different interlayer thicknesses. The target was to reach a critical temperature $T_C$ around $(1\div 1.5)$ K in order to have a low energy gap and slower recombination time (i.e. low generation-recombination noise). The results prove that the superconductive transition can be tuned in the $(0.5\div 4.6)$ K temperature range properly choosing the Ti thickness in the $(0\div 15)$ nm range, and the TiN thickness in the $(5\div 100)$ nm rang

The benefit of permanent monitoring for seismic emergency management

In this paper, a framework based on Value of Information (VoI) theory from pre-posterior Bayesian decision analysis is applied to the case of post-earthquake emergency management of traffic restrictions for a bridge. The decision context is the following: the operator of a bridge is concerned about the use of the structure in post-earthquake scenarios and wishes to know if it is worth to install a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system which gives information about the state of the bridge. The possible choices about traffic restrictions after the seismic event are Open or Close the bridge. The benefit of SHM is computed based on VoI and the influence of significant variables involved in the decisional framework is investigated

Vertex results for the robust analysis of uncertain biochemical systems

We consider the problem of assessing the sensitivity of uncertain biochemical systems in the presence of input perturbations (either constant or periodic) around a stable steady state. In particular, we propose approaches for the robust sensitivity analysis of systems with uncertain parameters assumed to take values in a hyper-rectangle. We highlight vertex results, which allow us to check whether a property is satisfied for all parameter choices in the hyper-rectangle by simply checking whether it is satisfied for all parameter choices at the vertices of the hyper-rectangle. We show that, for a vast class of systems, including (bio)chemical reaction networks with mass-action kinetics, the system Jacobian has a totally multiaffine structure (namely, all minors of the Jacobian matrix are multiaffine functions of the uncertain parameters), which can be exploited to obtain several vertex results. We consider different problems: robust non-singularity; robust stability of the steady-state; robust steady-state sensitivity analysis, in the case of constant perturbations; robust frequency-response sensitivity analysis, in the presence of periodic perturbations; and robust adaptation analysis. The developed theory is then applied to gain insight into some examples of uncertain biochemical systems, including the incoherent feed-forward loop, the coherent feed-forward loop, the Brusselator oscillator and the Goldbeter oscillator

Sivers and Boer-Mulders functions in Light-Cone Quark Models

Results for the naive-time-reversal-odd quark distributions in a light-cone quark model are presented. The final-state interaction effects are generated via single-gluon exchange mechanism. The formalism of light-cone wave functions is used to derive general expressions in terms of overlap of wave-function amplitudes describing the different orbital angular momentum components of the nucleon. In particular, the model predictions show a dominant contribution from S- and P-wave interference in the Sivers function and a significant contribution also from the interference of P and D waves in the Boer-Mulders function. The favourable comparison with existing phenomenological parametrizations motivates further applications to describe azimuthal asymmetries in hadronic reactions.Comment: references and explanations added; version to appear in Phys. Rev.