orchestrating softwarized networks with a marketplace approach

Abstract In the last years, network softwarization is gaining increasing popularity since it allows to achieve dinamicity and flexibility in network management, stimulating a lot of interest by both academia and industry. Cloud computing paradigm together with the new networking paradigms of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are supporting this evolution, by providing network services as single Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) or chains of them. The main problem is scalability of both infrastructure and management. In fact, in order to support the SDN/NFV paradigm, the Telco Operator should deploy huge data centers, which have to be geographically distributed to guarantee low latencies to time-constrained flows, and implement complex orchestration policies. To this purpose, this paper proposes to extend the SDN/NFV framework with a marketplace where Telco Operator customers behave as third-party sellers with their hardware and software resources providing VNF as a service (VNFaaS), so helping the Telco Operator in providing network services in an efficient and scalable way

CORRELAZIONE TRA CELLULARITA' NASALE E TIPO DI ALIMENTAZIONE LATTEA NEL NEONATO E NEL BAMBINO NEL PRIMO ANNO DI VITA

CORRELAZIONE TRA CELLULARITA\u2019 NASALE E TIPO DI ALIMENTAZIONE LATTEA NEL NEONATO E NEL BAMBINO NEL PRIMO ANNO DI VITA INTRODUZIONE L\u2019allattamento al seno \ue8 noto essere un \u201csistema biologico\u201d che si associa a migliori parametri di crescita e che, con i suoi componenti bio-attivi, non solo influenza le difese immunitarie a livello gastrointestinale modulando il microbiota intestinale e favorendo la flora bifidogena, ma agisce anche con una azione tempo-dipendente a livello delle vie aeree, dove \ue8 stato perfino rilevato come il latte materno possa influenzare il microbiota della mucosa nasale e pertanto la suscettibilit\ue0 agli agenti infettivi. La citologia nasale rappresenta uno strumento diagnostico utilizzato per la valutazione di patologie nasali e costituisce un campo di studio relativamente giovane ma utile nel suo impiego in et\ue0 pediatrica, vista la scarsa invasivit\ue0 e la facile ripetizione. SCOPO DELLO STUDIO Lo studio di coorte di tipo longitudinale prospettico si pone come obiettivi quelli di descrivere il quadro basale della cellularit\ue0 nasale del neonato e del bambino a 12 mesi di vita e di correlare il quadro della cellularit\ue0 nasale rilevato alle due epoche di vita con il tipo di alimentazione lattea assunta nel primo anno di vita e con i dati ottenuti dai genitori riguardanti anamnesi gravidica, familiare e patologica. MATERIALI E METODI Lo studio \ue8 stato condotto su una popolazione di bambini nati presso l\u2019U.O. di Neonatologia dell\u2019ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Ospedale San Paolo di Milano nel periodo compreso tra Gennaio e Dicembre 2016, diviso in due fasi: - Fase I: raccolta dei dati anamnestici e del campione di mucosa nasale con successiva analisi tramite citologia nasale di neonati, sia quantitativa che qualitativa; - Fase II: raccolta dei dati anamnestici e ripetizione in benessere, del prelievo di mucosa nasale per l\u2019esecuzione della citologia nasale, con la medesima metodica, all\u2019anno di vita. Di seguito i criteri di inclusione: et\ue0 gestazionale 65 37 settimane; neonati di entrambi i sessi; entrambi i genitori di origine italiana; buon adattamento alla vita extrauterina (APGAR al 5\ub0 minuto 65 7); nati con qualsiasi tipologia di parto ed adesione allo studio attraverso firma del consenso informato da parte di entrambi i genitori; I criteri di esclusione dello studio sono invece: neonati con riscontro di malformazione della testa e/o del collo (es. labiopalatoschisi) o di altre malformazioni maggiori e neonati con un peso alla nascita non adeguato per et\ue0 gestazionale (SGA o LGA: Small o Large for Gestional Age). I dati raccolti sono stati poi inseriti in un data-base e l\u2019elaborazione statistica \ue8 stata effettuata con il sistema IBM SPSS Statistic 21 \uae (Statistical Package for Social Science, versione 21 - SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). RISULTATI La Fase I ha visto un reclutamento di 176 neonati che rispondono ai criteri di inclusione ed esclusione. Il campione in base al sesso si suddivide in maschi (92 neonati, 52,3%) e femmine (84 neonati, 47,7%). Non vi sono differenze statisticamente significative nel campione per quanto riguarda il sesso (p= 0,9). Percentuale di abbandono dello Studio alla Fase II: 12 dei neonati (6,8%). Dal confronto del rinocitogramma neonatale con i campioni raccolti a 12 mesi di vita, differenze statisticamente significative tra: - le cellule ciliate significativamente meno rappresentate nei campioni a 12 mesi di vita (p<0,05); - le cellule mucipare presenti all\u2019anno di vita con aumentata numerosit\ue0 (p<0,05); - i granulociti neutrofili significativamente meno rappresentati alla nascita (p<0,05). Per quanto concerne l\u2019allattamento al seno i dati hanno dimostrato un buon tasso di allattamento al seno (secondo la classificazione delle tipologie di alimentazione del neonato dell\u2019Organizzazione Mondiale dalla Sanit\ue0, revisionata e aggiornata al 2009): il 64% dei bambini (104 bambini) presentava ancora un allattamento al seno al 6\ub0 mese di vita e il 39% (64 bambini) al 12\ub0 mese di vita. Il confronto tra cellularit\ue0 nasale e tipologia di alimentazione lattea nel primo anno di vita ha dato come risultati: - rapporto inversamente proporzionale tra numerosit\ue0 delle cellule ciliate e durata dell\u2019allattamento al seno (p<0,05); - rapporto direttamente proporzionale tra neutrofili e durata allattamento al seno (p=0,05); - rapporto inversamente proporzionale tra batteri e durata allattamento al seno (p=0,046; p=0,038). Correlazione invece tra variazioni dei citotipi con i dati raccolti riguardanti l\u2019anamnesi: - le cellule ciliate presentano numerosit\ue0 inferiore ai 12 mesi di vita nei soggetti affetti da dermatite o flogosi delle vie aeree superiori (p=0,038; p<0,05); - le cellule mucipare, i granulociti neutrofili ed i batteri sono presenti in numerosit\ue0 maggiore all\u2019anno di vita rispetto all\u2019epoca neonatale nei soggetti con flogosi delle vie aeree superiori (p=0,05; p<0,05; p<0,05); DISCUSSIONE E CONCLUSIONI La diminuzione delle cellule ciliate nel campione dei bambini all\u2019anno di vita rispetto all\u2019epoca neonatale rispecchia il fisiologico andamento temporale atteso per questo citotipo: il succedersi di eventi infiammatori, infettivi e irritativi ne determina un danno strutturale e funzionale e l\u2019aumento collaterale della numerosit\ue0 delle cellule mucipare, dei granulociti neutrofili e dei batteri (p<0,05). I dati dello studio, oltre a confermare questo andamento, mettono in relazione come la diminuzione della numerosit\ue0 delle cellule ciliate e l\u2019aumento di mucipare e neutrofili sia in relazione ad anamnesi positiva per dermatite e flogosi delle vie aeree superiori (p<0,05). Dato peraltro concorde con la bassa numerosit\ue0 di cellule ciliate e l\u2019aumento delle cellule granulociti neutrofili nei bambini allattati al seno per pi\uf9 tempo. I batteri invece sono di contro minori in numerosit\ue0 nella fascia di bambini pi\uf9 al lungo allattati al seno: dati che mostrano l\u2019effetto anti-infiammatorio e protettivo e latte materno (p<0,05). Lo studio ha mostrato come la citologia nasale sia applicabile ed utile in et\ue0 neonatale e pediatrica: ha reso evidente il fisiologico modificarsi della cellularit\ue0 nasale ed ha mostrato come probabilmente il latte materno possa avere un\u2019azione protettiva su tale fisiologico cambiamento. Una valutazione dettagliata della componente immunologica e del microbiota della mucosa nasale, potr\ue0 porre ulteriore chiarezza sui termini dell\u2019effetto protettivo del latte materno sulla mucosa nasale del bambino. BIBLIOGRAFIA 1. LA Hanson. \u201cBreast-feeding and immune function\u201d. Proc Nutr Soc. 2007 Aug; 66(3): 384-96. 2. Newburg DS \u201cDo the binding properties of oligosaccharides in milk protect human infants from gastrointestinal bacteria?\u201d J Nutr. 1997 May;127(5 Suppl):980S-984S. 3. Munblit D, Peroni DG, Boix-Amor\uf3s A, Hsu PS, Van't Land B, Gay MCL, Kolotilina A, Skevaki C, Boyle R, Collado MC, Garssen J, Geddes DT, Nanan R, Slupsky C, Wegienka G, Kozyrskyj AL, Warner JO \u201cHuman Milk and Allergic Diseases: An Unsolved Puzzle\u201d Nutrients. 2017 Aug 17;9(8). 4. Hill DR, Newburg DS. \u201cClinical applications of bioactive milk components\u201d Nutr Rev. 2015 Jul;73(7):463-76. 5. M. Gelardi, G. Luigi Marseglia, A. Licari, M. Landi, I. Dell\u2019Albani, C. Incorvaia, F. Frati, and N. Quaranta, \u201cNasal cytology in children: recent advances\u201d, Ital J Pediatr. 2012 Sep; 25:38-51 6. Johnston M, Landers S, Noble L, Szucs K, Viehmann L. \u201cBreastfeeding and the use of human milk\u201d Pediatrics. 2012 Mar;129(3):e827-41. 7. Yun Kyung Choi, Ji-Myung Kim, Ji-Eun Lee, Mi Sook Cho, Bong Soo Kang, Hyeon Choi, Yuri Kim \u201cAssociation of Maternal Diet With Zinc, Copper, and Iron Concentrations in Transitional Human Milk Produced by Korean Mothers\u201d Clin Nutr Res. 2016 Jan;5(1):15-25 8. Patricia Palmeira, Mag da Carneiro-Sampa \u201cImmunology of breast milk\u201d Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2016 Sep;62(6):584-593. 9. Biesbroek G1, Bosch AA, Wang X, Keijser BJ, Veenhoven RH, Sanders EA, Bogaert D. \u201cThe impact of breastfeeding on Nasopharingeal Microbial Communities in Infant\u201d Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014 Aug 1;190(3):298-308RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NASAL CELLULARITY AND MILK INTAKE IN NEWBORN AND INFANT IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE INTRODUCTION Breastfeeding is known to be a "biological system" associated with the best growth parameters and, thanks to its bioactive components, able of modeling immune defenses and microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract, favoring bifidogenic flora. At the same time breastfeeding is also capable of modulate the microbiota of the nasal mucosa and hence susceptibility to infectious agents with a time-dependent action. Nasal cytology is a relatively new diagnostic tool used for the evaluation of nasal diseases, which can be very useful in pediatric age, thanks to his low invasiveness and easy repeatability. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this prospective longitudinal cohort study is to describe the nasal cellularity of newborn and children at one year of age, and to correlate the nasal cellularity detected at these two periods of life with the type of the milk taken during the first year of life and the data obtained from parents concerning pregnancy, family and medical history. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted on a population of children born at the Neonatology Ward of \u201cASST Saint Paolo and Carlo Hospital\u201d, St. Paolo Hospital of Milan, between January and December 2016. It was divided into two phases: - Phase I: collection of anamnestic data and nasal mucosa sample in newborns and subsequent quantitative and qualitative analysis of the nasal cytology; - Phase II: collection of anamnestic data and nasal mucosa sample for the execution of nasal cytology, with the same, previous method, at one-year-old. Inclusion criteria: gestational age 65 37 weeks; newborns of both sexes; both parents of italian origin; good adaptation to extrauterine life (APGAR at 5th minute 65 7); born with any type of delivery and adherence to the study obtained from both parents through the signing of informed consent. Exclusion criteria of the study comprised of: infants with malformation of the head and/or neck (eg cleft of the lip and palate) or other major malformations and newborns with birth weight not adequate for gestational age (SGA or LGA: Small or Large for Gestational Age). The data collected was organized into a database and statistical processing was done with the IBM SPSS Statistic 21 \uae system (Statistical Package for Social Science, Version 21 - SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS During phase I, 176 newborns corresponding to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were recruited. The sample comprises of 92 males (52.3%) and 84 females (47.7%). It does not show statistically significant differences between sexes (p=0.9). There percentage of abandonment of study at the phase II was 6.8% (12 children). The comparison of the neonatal rhinocytogram with the samples collected at one year of age shows statistically significant differences between: - the ciliated cells, which are significantly less represented at one-year (p <0.05); - the mucous-secreting cells, significantly more represented at one-year (p <0.05); - neutrophils granulocytes, significantly less represented at birth (p <0.05); The collected data shows a good rate of breastfeeding (according to the classification of the World Health Organization's\u201d Infant and young child feeding\u201d, updated to 2009): breastfeeding at 6 months of age in 104 children (64%) and in 64 children (39%) up to 12 months of age. The comparison between nasal cellularity and breastfeeding in the first year of life shows: - inversely proportional ratio between the number of ciliated cells and breastfeeding (p <0.05); - directly proportional ratio between neutrophils and breastfeeding (p = 0.05); - inversely proportional ratio between bacteria and breastfeeding (p = 0.046; p = 0.038). Correlation between the cell-type variations with collected data from the anamnesis shows: - ciliated cells are less represented in children with dermatitis or airway inflammation of one year of age (p = 0.038; p <0.05); - mucous-secreting cells, neutrophils granulocytes and bacteria are more represented at one year of age than in the neonatal age, in children with airways inflammation (p = 0.05; p <0.05; p <0.05). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The decrease of the ciliated cells in the sample of children at one-year-old compared to the sample of the newborns, reflects the physiological trend expected for this cell-type. The inflammation, infections and environmental agents cause structural and functional damage: increasing the number of mucous-secreting cells, neutrophils granulocytes and bacteria (p <0.05). In addition, the data of the study confirms this trend correlated to the decrease of ciliated cells and the increase of mucous-secreting cells and neutrophils cells, in infants with a positive history for dermatitis and airways inflammation (p <0.05). The study also shows the anti-inflammatory and protective effect of breastfeeding: the number of neutrophils increase in child breastfed for a longer period and vice versa bacteria are less represented in children breastfed for more time (p <0.05). The study has shown how nasal cytology is applicable and useful in neonatal and pediatric age: it shows the physiological change of nasal cellularity and protective action of the breast milk. A detailed assessment of the immunological components and microbiota could further clarify the terms of the protective effect of breast milk on the nasal mucous membrane of the child. REFERENCES 1. LA Hanson. \u201cBreast-feeding and immune function\u201d. Proc Nutr Soc. 2007 Aug; 66(3): 384-96. 2. Newburg DS \u201cDo the binding properties of oligosaccharides in milk protect human infants from gastrointestinal bacteria?\u201d J Nutr. 1997 May;127(5 Suppl):980S-984S. 3. Munblit D, Peroni DG, Boix-Amor\uf3s A, Hsu PS, Van't Land B, Gay MCL, Kolotilina A, Skevaki C, Boyle R, Collado MC, Garssen J, Geddes DT, Nanan R, Slupsky C, Wegienka G, Kozyrskyj AL, Warner JO \u201cHuman Milk and Allergic Diseases: An Unsolved Puzzle\u201d Nutrients. 2017 Aug 17;9(8). 4. Hill DR, Newburg DS. \u201cClinical applications of bioactive milk components\u201d Nutr Rev. 2015 Jul;73(7):463-76. 5. M. Gelardi, G. Luigi Marseglia, A. Licari, M. Landi, I. Dell\u2019Albani, C. Incorvaia, F. Frati, and N. Quaranta, \u201cNasal cytology in children: recent advances\u201d, Ital J Pediatr. 2012 Sep; 25:38-51 6. Johnston M, Landers S, Noble L, Szucs K, Viehmann L. \u201cBreastfeeding and the use of human milk\u201d Pediatrics. 2012 Mar;129(3):e827-41. 7. Yun Kyung Choi, Ji-Myung Kim, Ji-Eun Lee, Mi Sook Cho, Bong Soo Kang, Hyeon Choi, Yuri Kim \u201cAssociation of Maternal Diet With Zinc, Copper, and Iron Concentrations in Transitional Human Milk Produced by Korean Mothers\u201d Clin Nutr Res. 2016 Jan;5(1):15-25 8. Patricia Palmeira, Mag da Carneiro-Sampa \u201cImmunology of breast milk\u201d Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2016 Sep;62(6):584-593. 9. Biesbroek G1, Bosch AA, Wang X, Keijser BJ, Veenhoven RH, Sanders EA, Bogaert D. \u201cThe impact of breastfeeding on Nasopharingeal Microbial Communities in Infant\u201d Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014 Aug 1;190(3):298-30

Probing non-standard decoherence effects with solar and KamLAND neutrinos

It has been speculated that quantum gravity might induce a "foamy" space-time structure at small scales, randomly perturbing the propagation phases of free-streaming particles (such as kaons, neutrons, or neutrinos). Particle interferometry might then reveal non-standard decoherence effects, in addition to standard ones (due to, e.g., finite source size and detector resolution.) In this work we discuss the phenomenology of such non-standard effects in the propagation of electron neutrinos in the Sun and in the long-baseline reactor experiment KamLAND, which jointly provide us with the best available probes of decoherence at neutrino energies E ~ few MeV. In the solar neutrino case, by means of a perturbative approach, decoherence is shown to modify the standard (adiabatic) propagation in matter through a calculable damping factor. By assuming a power-law dependence of decoherence effects in the energy domain (E^n with n = 0,+/-1,+/-2), theoretical predictions for two-family neutrino mixing are compared with the data and discussed. We find that neither solar nor KamLAND data show evidence in favor of non-standard decoherence effects, whose characteristic parameter gamma_0 can thus be significantly constrained. In the "Lorentz-invariant" case n=-1, we obtain the upper limit gamma_0<0.78 x 10^-26 GeV at 95% C.L. In the specific case n=-2, the constraints can also be interpreted as bounds on possible matter density fluctuations in the Sun, which we improve by a factor of ~ 2 with respect to previous analyses.Comment: Minor changes. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Effect of students\u27 expectations

This research suggests that public disclosure of evaluations best be curtailed

MicroRNA expression in lymphocyte development and malignancy

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website. Copyright @ 2008 Macmillan Publishers Limited.No abstract available.The Leukemia Research Fund, the Julian Starmer-Smith Memorial Fund, and the Medical Research Council

A survey of cultural aspects in Human Computer Interaction Research

Considering culture in human computer interaction research is an important issue since culture has a strong impact on many cognitive and affective processes, closed related to the design and evaluation of interactive systems. Also, people with different cultural backgrounds develop alternative interpretations and strategies and do not value their environment in the same way, and this reflects in their interactions and satisfaction with interactive technologies. In this survey we summarize some concepts of the cultural aspects related to human computer interaction research. After we discuss how HCI practices could address these cultural issues. Our intention is to establish background and some basic concepts for helping researchers incorporating cultural issues in their design and evaluation processes

The Value of Intraoperative Examination of Axillary Sentinel Nodes in Carcinoma of the Breast.

Abstract Axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has become the standard of care for T1-2, N-0, M-0 carcinoma of the breast. However, the accuracy of frozen section in the intra-operative examination of sentinel nodes (SN) remains controversial. The senior author has championed the use of the intraoperative examination of SN by frozen section ex-amination from the inception of its use, and we present our experience with frozen section examination of SN, confirming that this technique is both practical and highly accurate. Materials & Methods: Between 2000 and 2007, 236 SLNB procedures were performed that were read as “fro-zen section negative.” SN were identified by 1% lymphazurin blue dye only. The identification of SN in these 236 women was 100%. Each SN specimen was prosected by the senior author; a dedicated surgical pathology technician prepared the frozen sections. Nodes were dissected from the specimen individually and cut at 2.5 to 3.0 mm. intervals. Each of these sections was then cut at three levels. The frozen sections were read by the attending pathologist assigned to frozen sections for that day, not by a dedicated breast pathologist. During the period of the study, 14 different attending pathologists read the slides, with 6 pathologists each reading more than 20 cases. Others read from 1 to14 cases. Results: In this group of 236 cases, 11 patients had positive nodes on subsequent examination of the H&E slides; thus, the false negative rate of intraoperative frozen section was 4.7%, i.e., the frozen section was read as negative but the paraffin sections were posi-tive for metastasis. Therefore, the sensitivity of the negative frozen section was \u3e95%. Nine of the 11 false positives were micrometastases, less than 2 mm diameter, one was considered a macrometastasis, with two areas in one node measuring 2.0 and 2.1 mm each, and one was a sub-micrometastasis. The following variables were compared for significance: Pathologist, nuclear grade, histologic grade, margins, lymphovascular invasion, tumor type (ductal vs lobular), ER & PR values. The only significant variables were lymphovascular invasion (p=.019) and presence of in situ ductal carcinoma (p=.001). Only one of the false negatives was a purely lobular carcinoma (1/11). Discussion: Our data confirm the high accuracy of intraoperative examination of SN, \u3e95%, even without a dedicated breast pathologist reviewing the sections. The missed metastases are likely to be micrometastases, and the likelihood of missing a macrometastasis is \u3c1%. In patients with large primary tumors, presence of in situ ductal carcinoma or if lymphovascular invasion is associated with the tumor, special care should be taken to review these cases more thoroughly since these characteristics of tumors seem to make them more likely than others to have micrometastases to the axillary nodes over-looked

Geo-neutrinos: A systematic approach to uncertainties and correlations

Geo-neutrinos emitted by heat-producing elements (U, Th and K) represent a unique probe of the Earth interior. The characterization of their fluxes is subject, however, to rather large and highly correlated uncertainties. The geochemical covariance of the U, Th and K abundances in various Earth reservoirs induces positive correlations among the associated geo-neutrino fluxes, and between these and the radiogenic heat. Mass-balance constraints in the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE) tend instead to anti-correlate the radiogenic element abundances in complementary reservoirs. Experimental geo-neutrino observables may be further (anti)correlated by instrumental effects. In this context, we propose a systematic approach to covariance matrices, based on the fact that all the relevant geo-neutrino observables and constraints can be expressed as linear functions of the U, Th and K abundances in the Earth's reservoirs (with relatively well-known coefficients). We briefly discuss here the construction of a tentative "geo-neutrino source model" (GNSM) for the U, Th, and K abundances in the main Earth reservoirs, based on selected geophysical and geochemical data and models (when available), on plausible hypotheses (when possible), and admittedly on arbitrary assumptions (when unavoidable). We use then the GNSM to make predictions about several experiments ("forward approach"), and to show how future data can constrain - a posteriori - the error matrix of the model itself ("backward approach"). The method may provide a useful statistical framework for evaluating the impact and the global consistency of prospective geo-neutrino measurements and Earth models.Comment: 17 pages, including 4 figures. To appear on "Earth, Moon, and Planets," Special Issue on "Neutrino Geophysics," Proceedings of Neutrino Science 2005 (Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 2005