The biofilm matrix of Pseudomonas sp. OX1 grown on phenol is mainly constituted by alginate oligosaccharides

The structure of the major constituent of the biofilm matrix produced by Pseudomonas sp. OX1, when grown on phenol as the sole carbon source is described. This investigation, carried out by chemical analysis, NMR spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF MS spectrometry, showed the presence of an oligosaccharide blend with the typical alginate structure, namely (1-->4) substituted beta-D-mannuronic (ManA) and alpha-L-guluronic acid (GulA). GulA residues were non-acetylated whereas ManA was always O-acetylated at C-2 or C-3

Calcitonina elevata e gozzo nodulare: che fare?

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Cellular-V2X Communications for Platooning: Design and Evaluation

Abstract: Platooning is a cooperative driving application where autonomous/semi-autonomous vehicles move on the same lane in a train-like manner, keeping a small constant inter-vehicle distance, in order to reduce fuel consumption and gas emissions and to achieve safe and efficient transport. To this aim, they may exploit multiple on-board sensors (e.g., radars, lidars, positioning systems) and direct vehicle-to-vehicle communications to synchronize their manoeuvres. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the design choices and factors that determine the performance of a platooning application, when exploiting the emerging cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communication technology and considering the scheduled mode, specified by 3GPP for communications over the sidelink assisted by the eNodeB. Since no resource management algorithm is currently mandated by 3GPP for this new challenging context, we focus on analyzing the feasibility and performance of the dynamic scheduling approach, with platoon members asking for radio resources on a per-packet basis. We consider two ways of implementing dynamic scheduling, currently unspecified by 3GPP: the sequential mode, that is somehow reminiscent of time division multiple access solutions based on IEEE 802.11p – till now the only investigated access technology for platooning – and the simultaneous mode with spatial frequency reuse enabled by the eNodeB. The evaluation conducted through system-level simulations provides helpful insights about the proposed configurations and C-V2X parameter settings that mainly affect the reliability and latency performance of data exchange in platoons, under different load settings. Achieved results show that the proposed simultaneous mode succeeds in reducing the latency in the update cycle in each vehicle’s controller, thus enabling future high-density platooning scenarios

Placement of Social Digital Twins at the Edge for Beyond 5G IoT Networks

As the fifth-generation (5G) and beyond (5G+/6G) networks move forward, and a wide variety of new advanced Internet of Things (IoT) applications are offered, effective methodologies for discovering time-relevant information, services, and resources are being demanded. To this end, computing-, storage-, and battery-constrained IoT devices are progressively augmented via digital twins (DTs) hosted on edge servers. According to recent research results, a further feature these devices may acquire is social behavior; this latter offers enormous possibilities for fast and trustworthy service discovery, although it requires new orchestration policies of DTs at the network edge. This work addresses the dynamic placement of DTs with social capabilities [social digital twins (SDTs)] at the edge, by providing an optimal solution under IoT device mobility and by accounting for edge network deployment specifics, types of devices, and their social peculiarities. The optimization problem is formulated as a particular case of the quadratic assignment problem (QAP); also, an approximation algorithm is proposed and two relaxation techniques are applied to reduce computation complexity. Results show that the proposed placement policy ensures a latency among SDTs up to 1.4 times lower than the one obtainable with a traditional proximity-based only placement while still guaranteeing appropriate proximity between physical devices and their virtual counterparts. Moreover, the proposed heuristic closely approximates the optimal solution while guaranteeing the lowest computational time

Slicing on the road: enabling the automotive vertical through 5G network softwarization

The demanding requirements of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) applications, such as ultra-low latency, high-bandwidth, highly-reliable communication, intensive computation and near-real time data processing, raise outstanding challenges and opportunities for fifth generation (5G) systems. By allowing an operator to flexibly provide dedicated logical networks with (virtualized) functionalities over a common physical infrastructure, network slicing candidates itself as a prominent solution to support V2X over upcoming programmable and softwarized 5G systems in a business-agile manner. In this paper, a network slicing framework is proposed along with relevant building blocks and mechanisms to support V2X applications by flexibly orchestrating multi-access and edge-dominated 5G network infrastructures, especially with reference to roaming scenarios. Proof of concept experiments using the Mininet emulator showcase the viability and potential benefits of the proposed framework for cooperative driving use cases1812não temMinistério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações - MCTICThe research of Prof. Christian Esteve Rothenberg was partially supported by the H2020 4th EUBR Collaborative Call, under the grant agreement number 777067 (NECOS - Novel Enablers for Cloud Slicing), funded by the European Commission and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation, and Communication (MCTIC) through RNP and CTI

On the impact of the user terminal velocity on HSPA performance in MBMS multicast mode

Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Services (MBMS), introduced in Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), have the aim to allow transmissions from a single source entity to multiple destinations. From the radio perspective, MBMS foresees both pointto- point (PtP) and point-to-multipoint (PtM) transmission mode, supported by Dedicated, Common, and Shared channels. The High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), analyzed in this paper, can guarantee a higher data rate through the introduction of High Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH), thus improving the performance of MBMS transmissions. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the User Equipment (UE) speed on the maximum number of users that the HS-DSCH can support for MBMS applications. In particular, two different mobility profiles are taken into account (Pedestrian and Vehicular) and the obtained results are validated by considering different transmission power levels, cell coverage sizes and bit rates.Postprint (published version

On the optimization of power assignment to support multicast applications in HAP-based systems

The goal of this research work is to investigate how efficient High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) can be in supporting Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) in scenarios in which the terrestrial coverage is not available. Specifically, we propose to implement an effective Radio Resources Management (RRM) policy into the HAP Radio Network Controller (H-RNC), whose main aim is to increase the overall system capacity. The proposed technique achieves its goal by dynamically selecting the most efficient multicast transport channel in terms of power consumption, chosen amongst Dedicated Channel (DCH), Forward Access Channel (FACH), and High Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH). Advantages deriving from the joint use of channels belonging to different categories are exploited. Results achieved when using the proposed RRM are quite manifest and witnesses to the necessity of providing such a feature when deploying integrated HAP/Terrestrial platforms supporting MBMS services.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A chronic strain of the cystic fibrosis pathogen Pandoraeapulmonicola expresses a heterogenous hypo-acylated lipid A

Pandoraeasp. is an emerging Gram-negative pathogen in cystic fibrosis causing severe and persistent inflammation and damageof the lungs. The molecular mechanisms underlying the high pathogenicity ofPandoraeaspecies are still largely unknown. AsGram-negatives,Pandoraeasp. express lipopolysaccharides (LPS) whose recognition by the host immune system triggers aninflammatory response aimed at the bacterial eradication from the infected tissues. The degree of the inflammatory responsestrongly relies on the fine structure of the LPS and, in particular, of its glycolipid moiety, i.e. the lipid A. Here we report thestructure of the lipid A isolated from the LPS of a chronic strain ofP. pulmonicola(RL 8228), one of the most virulent identifiedso far among thePandoraeaspecies. Our data demonstrated that the examined chronic strain produces a smooth-type LPS with acomplex mixture of hypoacylated lipid A species displaying, among other uncommon characteristics, the 2-hydroxylation ofsome of the acyl chains and the substitution by an additional glucosamine on one or both the phosphate groups