Towards the development of a problem solver for the monitoring and control of instrumentation in a grid environment

This paper considers the issues involved in developing a generic problem solver to be used within a grid environment for the monitoring and control of instrumentation. The specific feature of such an environment is that the type of data to be processed, as well as the problem, is not always known in advance. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a problem solver architecture that addresses this issue. We propose to analyze the performance of the problem solving algorithms available within the WEKA toolkit and determine a decision tree of the best performing algorithm for a given type of data. For this purpose the algorithms have been tested using 51 datasets either drawn from publicly available repositories or generated in a grid-enabled environmen

A promising new ELISA diagnostic test for cattle babesiosis based on Babesia bigemina Apical Membrane Antigen-1.

Babesiosis due to Babesia bigemina is a relevant tick‑borne disease, affecting cattle worldwide. Many surface proteins of the pathogen including the Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA‑1) ‑ have been analysed for vaccine and diagnostic purposes. This study focused on B. bigemina AMA‑1 and on its use for the assessment of diagnostic tests. After bioinformatic analyses, AMA‑1 codifying region was amplified and cloned into an expression vector used to induce protein synthesis in Escherichia coli cells. AMA‑1 was purified by affinity chromatography and used to set up the best condition for an ELISA protocol. Bovine field sera positive to B. bigemina were used to evaluate the presence of anti‑AMA‑1 antibodies. In order to verify the assay specificity, sera positive to Babesia bovis or to the piroplasm Theileria annulata were also included. Significant differences were obtained between sera negative to both B. bigemina and B. bovis and samples positive to B. bigemina, to B. bovis or to both pathogens. No significant reaction was observed with T. annulata positive sera. The results showed that AMA‑1 protein is suitable to be used as antigen in diagnostic assays for babesiosis diagnosis in cattle, as it does not show any cross reaction with anti-T. annulata antibodies

A Poroelastic Mixture Model of Mechanobiological Processes in Biomass Growth: Theory and Application to Tissue Engineering

In this article we propose a novel mathematical description of biomass growth that combines poroelastic theory of mixtures and cellular population models. The formulation, potentially applicable to general mechanobiological processes, is here used to study the engineered cultivation in bioreactors of articular chondrocytes, a process of Regenerative Medicine characterized by a complex interaction among spatial scales (from nanometers to centimeters), temporal scales (from seconds to weeks) and biophysical phenomena (fluid-controlled nutrient transport, delivery and consumption; mechanical deformation of a multiphase porous medium). The principal contribution of this research is the inclusion of the concept of cellular \u201cforce isotropy\u201d as one of the main factors influencing cellular activity. In this description, the induced cytoskeletal tensional states trigger signalling transduction cascades regulating functional cell behavior. This mechanims is modeled by a parameter which estimates the influence of local force isotropy by the norm of the deviatoric part of the total stress tensor. According to the value of the estimator, isotropic mechanical conditions are assumed to be the promoting factor of extracellular matrix production whereas anisotropic conditions are assumed to promote cell proliferation. The resulting mathematical formulation is a coupled system of nonlinear partial differential equations comprising: conservation laws for mass and linear momentum of the growing biomass; advection\u2013diffusion\u2013reaction laws for nutrient (oxygen) transport, delivery and consumption; and kinetic laws for cellular population dynamics. To develop a reliable computational tool for the simulation of the engineered tissue growth process the nonlinear differential problem is numerically solved by: (1) temporal semidiscretization; (2) linearization via a fixed-point map; and (3) finite element spatial approximation. The biophysical accuracy of the mechanobiological model is assessed in the analysis of a simplified 1D geometrical setting. Simulation results show that: (1) isotropic/anisotropic conditions are strongly influenced by both maximum cell specific growth rate and mechanical boundary conditions enforced at the interface between the biomass construct and the interstitial fluid; (2) experimentally measured features of cultivated articular chondrocytes, such as the early proliferation phase and the delayed extracellular matrix production, are well described by the computed spatial and temporal evolutions of cellular populations

Grid computing technologies for renewable electricity generator monitoring and control

In this paper we discuss the use of real-time Grid computing for the monitoring, control and simulation of renewable electricity generators and their associated electrical networks. We discuss briefly the architectural design of GRIDCC and how we have integrated a number of real (solar, CHP) and simulated conventional power generators into the GRIDCC environment. A local weather station has also been attached to an Instrument Manager to alert experts appropriately when the Solar Array is not generating. The customised remote control and monitoring environment (a virtual control room), distributed using a standard web server, is discussed

Overcoming Language Dichotomies: Toward Effective Program Comprehension for Mobile App Development

Mobile devices and platforms have become an established target for modern software developers due to performant hardware and a large and growing user base numbering in the billions. Despite their popularity, the software development process for mobile apps comes with a set of unique, domain-specific challenges rooted in program comprehension. Many of these challenges stem from developer difficulties in reasoning about different representations of a program, a phenomenon we define as a "language dichotomy". In this paper, we reflect upon the various language dichotomies that contribute to open problems in program comprehension and development for mobile apps. Furthermore, to help guide the research community towards effective solutions for these problems, we provide a roadmap of directions for future work.Comment: Invited Keynote Paper for the 26th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC'18

Exploring patterns of beta-diversity to test the consistency of biogeographical boundaries: A case study across forest plant communities of Italy

Aim: To date, despite their great potential biogeographical regionalization models have been mostly developed on descriptive and empirical bases. This paper aims at applying the beta-diversity framework on a statistically representative data set to analytically test the consistency of the biogeographical regionalization of Italian forests. Location: Italy. Taxon: Vascular plants. Methods: Forest plant communities were surveyed in 804 plots made in a statistically representative sample of forest communities made by 201 sites of Italian forests across the three biogeographical regions of the country: Alpine, Continental, and Mediterranean. We conducted an ordination analysis and an analysis of beta-diversity, decomposing it into its turnover and nestedness components. Results: Our results provide only partial support to the consistency of the biogeographical regionalization of Italy. While the differences in forest plant communities support the distinction between the Alpine and the other two regions, differences between Continental and Mediterranean regions had lower statistical support. Pairwise beta-diversity and its turnover component are higher between- than within-biogeographical regions. This suggests that different regional species pools contribute to assembly of local communities and that spatial distance between-regions has a stronger effect than that within-regions. Main conclusions: Our findings confirm a biogeographical structure of the species pools that is captured by the biogeographical regionalization. However, nonsignificant differences between the Mediterranean and Continental biogeographical regions suggest that this biogeographical regionalization is not consistent for forest plant communities. Our results demonstrate that an analytical evaluation of species composition differences among regions using beta-diversity analysis is a promising approach for testing the consistency of biogeographical regionalization models. This approach is recommended to provide support to the biogeographical regionalization used in some environmental conservation polices adopted by EU

Diffuse Soil Co2 Flux To Assess The Reliability Of Co2 Storage In The Mazarrón-Gañuelas Tertiary Basin (Spain)

Geological storage of CO2 is nowadays internationally considered as the most effective method for greenhouse gas emission mitigation, in order to minimize its effects on the global climatology. One of the main options is to store the CO2 in deep saline aquifers at more than 800 m depth, because it achieves its supercritical state. Among the most important aspects concerning the performance assessment of a deep CO2 geological repository is the evaluation of the CO2 leakage rate from the chosen storage geological formation. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to increase the knowledge on the interaction among CO2, storage and sealing formations, as well as on the flow paths for CO2 and the physico-mechanical resistance of the sealing formation. Furthermore, the quantification of the CO2 leakage rate is essential to evaluate its effects on the environment. One way to achieve this objective is to study of CO2 leakage on natural analogue systems, because they can provide useful information about the natural performance of the CO2, which can be applied to an artificial CO2 geological storage. This work is focused on the retention capacity of the cap-rock by measuring the diffuse soil CO2 flux in a site selected based on: i) the presence of a natural and deep CO2 accumulation; ii) its structural geological characteristics; and iii) the nature of the cap-rocks. This site is located in the so-called Mazarrón-Gañuelas Tertiary Basin, in the Guadalentin Valley, province of Murcia (Spain) Therefore the main objective of this investigation has been to detect the possible leakages of CO2 from a deep saline aquifer to the surface in order to understand the capability of this area as a natural analogue for Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). The results obtained allow to conclude that the geological sealing formation of the basin seems to be appropriate to avoid CO2 leakages from the storage formation

Host range of mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 widening to alpine chamois

Mammalian orthoreoviruses (MRV) type 3 have been recently identified in human and several animal hosts, highlighting the apparent lack of species barriers. Here we report the identification and genetic characterization of MRVs strains in alpine chamois, one of the most abundant wild ungulate in the Alps. Serological survey was also performed by MRV neutralization test in chamois population during five consecutive years (2008-2012). Three novel MRVs were isolated on cell culture from chamois lung tissues. No respiratory or other clinical symptoms neither lung macroscopic lesions were observed in the chamois population. MRV strains were classified as MRV-3 within the lineage III, based on S1 phylogeny, and were closely related to Italian strains identified in dog, bat and diarrheic pig. The full genome sequence was obtained by next-generation sequencing and phylogenetic analyses showed that other segments were more similar to MRVs of different geographic locations, serotypes and hosts, including human, highlighting genome reassortment and lack of host specific barriers. By using serum neutralization test, a high prevalence of MRV-3 antibodies was observed in chamois population throughout the monitored period, showing an endemic level of infection and suggesting a self-maintenance of MRV and/or a continuous spill-over of infection from other animal species

Inertial control of the mirror suspensions of the VIRGO interferometer for gravitational wave detection

In order to achieve full detection sensitivity at low frequencies, the mirrors of interferometric gravitational wave detectors must be isolated from seismic noise. The VIRGO vibration isolator, called 'superattenuator', is fully effective at frequencies above 4 Hz. Nevertheless, the residual motion of the mirror at the mechanical resonant frequencies of the system are too large for the interferometer locking system and must be damped. A multidimensional feedback system, using inertial sensors and digital processing, has been designed for this purpose. An experimental procedure for determining the feedback control of the system has been defined. In this paper a full description of the system is given and experimental results are presented.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication on Review of Scientific Instrument