Coriolano Alberini y Waldo Frank

Fil: Musso de Cavallaro, María E..Fil: Sánchez, Norma Isabel

Investigation of suitable sites for wave energy converters around Sicily (Italy)

Abstract. An analysis of wave energy along the coasts of Sicily (Italy) is presented with the aim of selecting possible sites for the implementation of wave energy converters (WECs). The analysis focuses on the selection of hotspot areas of energy concentration. A third-generation model was adopted to reconstruct the wave data along the coast over a period of 14 years. The reconstruction was performed using the wave and wind data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The analysis of wave energy allowed us to characterise the most energetic zones, which are located on the western side of Sicily and on the Strait of Sicily. Moreover, the estimate of the annual wave power on the entire computational domain identified eight interesting sites. The main features of the sites include relatively high wave energy and proximity to the coast, which makes them possible sites for the implementation of WEC farms

Mother's own milk and bronchopulmonary dysplasia : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common complication of very preterm birth and can lead to lifelong health consequences. Optimal nutrition is a cornerstone in the prevention and treatment of BPD. In very preterm infants, mother's own milk (MOM) feeding is associated with lower risks of necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy of prematurity, and sepsis. Although several studies have shown that MOM may protect against BPD, a systematic analysis of the evidence has not been performed to date. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE and EMBASE, from their inception to 1 December 2017. Longitudinal studies comparing the incidence of BPD in preterm infants fed with exclusive MOM, MOM supplemented with preterm formula (PF), and/or exclusively fed with PF were selected. A random-effects model was used to calculate the Mantel Haenszel risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria (4,984 infants, 1,416 BPD cases). Use of exclusive MOM feedings was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of BPD (RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.57-0.96, 5 studies). In contrast, meta-analysis could not demonstrate a significant effect on BPD risk when infants fed with more than 50% MOM were compared with infants fed with <50% MOM (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.77-1.23, 10 studies) or when infants fed with MOM supplemented with PF were compared with infants fed with exclusive PF (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.78-1.27, 6 studies). Meta-regression showed that differences in gestational age were a significant confounder of the effect of MOM. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis that specifically evaluates the role of MOM on BPD. Our data indicate that MOM may reduce the incidence of BPD when used as an exclusive diet, but this result needs to be interpreted with caution. We did not find the same difference in analyses with other dosages of MOM. Further studies adequately powered to detect changes in BPD rates and that adjust for confounders are needed to confirm the beneficial effects of MOM on BPD

Insight Versus Rehearsal in Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: A Crossover Study with Sixteen Phobics

Although cognitive restructuring (CR) procedures have not proven very helpful for phobics in recent studies, insight and rehearsal components of CR have often been confounded. To seek possible differences in effectiveness between insight and rehearsal, we treated 16 phobics (eight agoraphobics and eight others) with four sessions of each method, using a counterbalanced crossover design with 1-month follow-ups after each treatment component. Significantly fewer sessions were attended by the clients in the rehearsal/insight sequence, and benefit ratings made by project completers significantly favoured insight/rehearsal. Few other treatment group differences were seen, but those that emerged gave the advantage to insight. Rehearsal seemed unhelpful, particularly to non-agoraphobics. Conclusions are (1) that CR methods show some promise in application to phobias, provided that self-exposure homework forms the core of the treatment plan, and (2) that insight followed by rehearsal is the preferred sequence

Characterisation of AMS H35 HV-CMOS monolithic active pixel sensor prototypes for HEP applications

Monolithic active pixel sensors produced in High Voltage CMOS (HV-CMOS) technology are being considered for High Energy Physics applications due to the ease of production and the reduced costs. Such technology is especially appealing when large areas to be covered and material budget are concerned. This is the case of the outermost pixel layers of the future ATLAS tracking detector for the HL-LHC. For experiments at hadron colliders, radiation hardness is a key requirement which is not fulfilled by standard CMOS sensor designs that collect charge by diffusion. This issue has been addressed by depleted active pixel sensors in which electronics are embedded into a large deep implantation ensuring uniform charge collection by drift. Very first small prototypes of hybrid depleted active pixel sensors have already shown a radiation hardness compatible with the ATLAS requirements. Nevertheless, to compete with the present hybrid solutions a further reduction in costs achievable by a fully monolithic design is desirable. The H35DEMO is a large electrode full reticle demonstrator chip produced in AMS 350 nm HV-CMOS technology by the collaboration of Karlsruher Institut f\"ur Technologie (KIT), Institut de F\'isica d'Altes Energies (IFAE), University of Liverpool and University of Geneva. It includes two large monolithic pixel matrices which can be operated standalone. One of these two matrices has been characterised at beam test before and after irradiation with protons and neutrons. Results demonstrated the feasibility of producing radiation hard large area fully monolithic pixel sensors in HV-CMOS technology. H35DEMO chips with a substrate resistivity of 200$\Omega$ cm irradiated with neutrons showed a radiation hardness up to a fluence of $10^{15}$n$_{eq}$cm$^{-2}$ with a hit efficiency of about 99% and a noise occupancy lower than $10^{-6}$ hits in a LHC bunch crossing of 25ns at 150V

Study of the Fusion-Fission Process in the 35Cl+24Mg^{35}Cl+^{24}Mg Reaction

Fusion-fission and fully energy-damped binary processes of the $^{35}$Cl+$^{24}$Mg reaction were investigated using particle-particle coincidence techniques at a $^{35}$Cl bombarding energy of E$_{lab}$ $\approx$ 8 MeV/nucleon. Inclusive data were also taken in order to determine the partial wave distribution of the fusion process. The fragment-fragment correlation data show that the majority of events arises from a binary-decay process with a relatively large multiplicity of secondary light-charged particles emitted by the two primary excited fragments in the exit channel. No evidence is observed for ternary-breakup processes, as expected from the systematics recently established for incident energies below 15 MeV/nucleon and for a large number of reactions. The binary-process results are compared with predictions of statistical-model calculations. The calculations were performed using the Extended Hauser-Feshbach method, based on the available phase space at the scission point of the compound nucleus. This new method uses temperature-dependent level densities and its predictions are in good agreement with the presented experimental data, thus consistent with the fusion-fission origin of the binary fully-damped yields.Comment: 30 pages standard REVTeX file, 10 eps Figures; to be published at the European Physical Journal A - Hadrons and Nucle

3D sensors for the HL-LHC

In order to increase its discovery potential, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator will be upgraded in the next decade. The high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) period demands new sensor technologies to cope with increasing radiation fluences and particle rates. The ATLAS experiment will replace the entire inner tracking detector with a completely new silicon-only system. 3D pixel sensors are promising candidates for the innermost layers of the Pixel detector due to their excellent radiation hardness at low operation voltages and low power dissipation at moderate temperatures. Recent developments of 3D sensors for the HL-LHC are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, International Workshops on Radiation Imaging Detectors 201

Development of polymer-based nanoparticles for Zileuton delivery to the lung : PMeOx and PMeOzi surface chemistry reduces interactions with mucins

In this paper, two amphiphilic graft copolymers were synthesized by grafting polylactic acid (PLA) as hydrophobic chain and poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PMeOx) or poly(2-methyl-2-oxazine) (PMeOzi) as hydrophilic chain, respectively, to a backbone of α,β-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-D,L-aspartamide (PHEA). These original graft copolymers were used to prepare nanoparticles delivering Zileuton in inhalation therapy. Among various tested methods, direct nanoprecipitation proved to be the best technique to prepare nanoparticles with the smallest dimensions, the narrowest dimensional distribution and a spherical shape. To overcome the size limitations for administration by inhalation, the nano-into-micro strategy was applied, encapsulating the nanoparticles in water-soluble mannitol-based microparticles by spray-drying. This process has allowed to produce spherical microparticles with the proper size for optimal lung deposition, and, once in contact with fluids mimicking the lung district, able to dissolve and release non-aggregated nanoparticles, potentially able to spread through the mucus, releasing about 70% of the drug payload in 24hours.Peer reviewe