The use of Artificial Neural Networks for extending road traffic monitoring data spatially: an application to the neighbourhoods of Benevento

Abstract In this paper, the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for spatially extending road traffic monitoring data is studied. The problem consists of estimating the traffic flows on some links of an urban road network knowing the corresponding data on some other links of the network (monitored links). In a previous paper, the authors studied this problem referring to a whole city obtaining promising results. Starting from these results, here we test if to limit the number of monitored links and non-monitored links to a neighbourhood of a city improves or not the results. These results are useful in medium and large cities where other parts do not at all influence some parts of the network and each neighbourhood can be studied independently from the others. To obtain these results, we have partitioned the network of Benevento in six neighbourhoods and trained six different ANNs with simulated data. Numerical results show that to limit the area analysis improves the results significantly with respect to consider the whole network

Optimization of wavelength range and data interval in chemometric analysis of complex pharmaceutical mixtures

AbstractThe performance of different chemometric approaches was evaluated in the spectrophotometric determination of pharmaceutical mixtures characterized by having the amount of components with a very high ratio. Principal component regression (PCR), partial least squares with one dependent variable (PLS1) or multi-dependent variables (PLS2), and multivariate curve resolution (MCR) were applied to the spectral data of a ternary mixture containing paracetamol, sodium ascorbate and chlorpheniramine (150:140:1, m/m/m), and a quaternary mixture containing paracetamol, caffeine, phenylephrine and chlorpheniramine (125:6. 25:1.25:1, m/m/m/m). The UV spectra of the calibration samples in the range of 200–320nm were pre-treated by removing noise and useless data, and the wavelength regions having the most useful analytical information were selected using the regression coefficients calculated in the multivariate modeling. All the defined chemometric models were validated on external sample sets and then applied to commercial pharmaceutical formulations. Different data intervals, fixed at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0point/nm, were tested to optimize the prediction ability of the models. The best results were obtained using the PLS1calibration models and the quantification of the species of a lower amount was significantly improved by adopting 0.5 data interval, which showed accuracy between 94.24% and 107.76%

Rigid probe solutes in a smectic-A liquid crystal: An unconventional route to the latter's positional order parameters

Biphenylene and pyrene were dissolved in the nematic and smectic-A phases of the liquid crystal 4,4’-di-n-heptyl-azoxybenzene and the orientational order parameters of both solutes and solvent measured via proton and deuteron nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy. This new data set was then merged with the one previously obtained, formed by 4,4’-di-chloro-benzene and naphthalene as solutes in the same solvent, and the resulting overall data set analyzed with a statistical thermodynamic density-functional theory to provide positional-orientational distribution functions of the various solutes along with the smectic solvent’s positional order parametersM.E.D.P. is grateful to the European Commission, the European Social Fund, and the Regione Calabria for cofunding her Ph.D. scholarship. M.E.D.P., G.C., and G.D.L. thank the University of Calabria and MIUR PRIN 2009 for financial support. G.C. acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Research via a Raóon y Cajal research fellowshi

At the end of a two-year follow-up elevated TSH levels normalize or remain unchanged in most the children with subclinical hypothyroidism

Data about the natural evolution of subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) in pediatric age are very scanty. Moreover all the available reports in both aged and young patients were based on unselected study populations including also patients with either thyroid disorders or other pathological causes that are well known to be able to affect SH development and evolution. Aim of the study by Wasniewska et al was to prospectively evaluate for the first time the natural course of SH in children and adolescents with no underlying diseases and no risk factors that might interfere with the progression of SH. On the basis of the 2-year follow-up results, the Authors concluded that: a) the natural course of TSH values in a pediatric population with idiopathic SH is characterized by a progressive decrease over time; b) the majority of patients (88%) normalized or maintained unchanged their TSH; and c) TSH changes were not associated with changes of either FT4 values or clinical status or auxological parameters

Cloning, expression and purification of the complete domain of the η-carbonic anhydrase from Plasmodium falciparum.

The antimalarial drugs are of fundamental importance in the control of malaria, especially for the lack of efficient treatments and acquired resistance to the existing drugs. For this reason, there is a continuous work in identifying novel, less toxic and effective chemotherapies as well as new therapeutic targets against the causative agents of malaria. In this context, a superfamily of metalloenzymes named carbonic anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1) has aroused a great interest as druggable enzymes to limit the development of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes. CAs catalyze a common reaction in all life domains, the carbon dioxide hydration to bicarbonate and protons (CO2 + H2O HCO3- + H+). P. falciparum synthesizes pyrimidines de novo starting from HCO3-, which is generated from CO2 through the action of the ?-CA identified in the genome of the protozoan. Here, we propose a procedure for the preparation of a wider portion of the protozoan ?-CA, named PfCAdom (358 amino acid residues), with respect to the truncated form prepared by Krungkrai et al. (PfCA1, 235 amino acid residues). The results evidenced that the recombinant PfCAdom, produced as a His-tag fusion protein, was 2.7 times more active with respect the truncated form PfCA1

Hypoceruloplasminemia: an unusual biochemical finding in a girl with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and severe hypothyroidism

Clinical picture of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) may significantly vary in pediatric age, ranging from euthyroidism to subclinical hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism; only rarely HT presentation may be characterized by a severe hypothyroidism also in pediatric age. Here we describe a 3-year-old Caucasian girl who was admitted to our Clinic due to pericardial effusion, muscle weakness and weight gain. At clinical examination, she presented with bradycardia, pale and round face, pseudohypertrophy of calf muscles and no pitting edema of the limbs. Routine blood investigations showed high serum aspartate and alanine aminotransferase levels, low serum ceruloplasmin without clinical signs of Wilson's disease, dyslipidemia. Thyroid function tests revealed a picture of severe hypothyroidism associated with HT. After the replacement treatment with L-T4, thyroid-stimulating hormone serum levels gradually decreased, with concomitant resolution of pericardial effusion and normalization of ceruloplasmin levels

Correction: Conformational features of 4-(N)-squalenoyl-gemcitabine in solution: a combined NMR and molecular dynamics investigation

Correction for 'Conformational features of 4-(N)-squalenoyl-gemcitabine in solution: a combined NMR and molecular dynamics investigation' by Ceruti Maurizio et al., New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 3484–3496

On the use of a reliable low-cost set-up for characterization measurements of antennas

In this paper, a low-cost time domain-based approach to antenna characterization is presented. The goal is to prove that time domain-based antenna measurements, after appropriate processing, represent an accurate and more practicable alternative to the universally accepted (yet highly expensive) antenna measurements in anechoic chamber, and provide information just as complete. Measurements on two commercial antennas are carried out in the time domain (in a non-controlled environment) and in the frequency domain (in an anechoic chamber): experimental data obtained from the two approaches are compared in terms of Return Loss. Results show that reliable results can be extracted from time domain data, and that a good insight into the antenna characteristics can be obtained even without using highly expensive facilities