Managing service level agreements in Premium IP networks: a business-oriented approach

This paper presents a market-enabling framework where users, content providers and network operators can interact in the seamless, transparent sale and delivery of a wide range of services. The framework allows for dynamic creation, configuration and delivery of services with quality assurance, via automated management of Service Level Agreements (SLAs). We propose an approach relying on a systemic treatment of business, service and network layer issues, which translates into a layered architecture where components belonging to different levels interact on the basis of a mediation paradigm. We use mediation as a generic term for a combination of negotiation, brokerage and state notification, jointly concurring to the realization of the entire life-cycle of a service.     

Quantum transport including nonparabolicity and phonon scattering: application to silicon nanowires

In this work, the particular and combined influence of nonparabolicity and phonon scattering on the device characteristics of a triple-gate silicon nanowire is investigated. In addition, different approximations of the retarded self-energy for electron-phonon scattering are analyzed in terms of the electrostatics, current and computational cost.     

Identification of Reference Genes for RT-qPCR Data Normalization in Cannabis sativa Stem Tissues

Gene expression profiling via quantitative real-time PCR is a robust technique widely used in the life sciences to compare gene expression patterns in, e.g., different tissues, growth conditions, or after specific treatments. In the field of plant science, real-time PCR is the gold standard to study the dynamics of gene expression and is used to validate the results generated with high throughput techniques, e.g., RNA-Seq. An accurate relative quantification of gene expression relies on the identification of appropriate reference genes, that need to be determined for each experimental set-up used and plant tissue studied. Here, we identify suitable reference genes for expression profiling in stems of textile hemp (Cannabis sativa L.), whose tissues (isolated bast fibres and core) are characterized by remarkable differences in cell wall composition. We additionally validate the reference genes by analysing the expression of putative candidates involved in the non-oxidative phase of the pentose phosphate pathway and in the first step of the shikimate pathway. The goal is to describe the possible regulation pattern of some genes involved in the provision of the precursors needed for lignin biosynthesis in the different hemp stem tissues. The results here shown are useful to design future studies focused on gene expression analyses in hemp.     

Identification of Human Adenovirus in Respiratory Samples with Luminex Respiratory Virus Panel Fast V2 Assay and Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

In order to compare the last version of the Respiratory Virus Panel (RVP) Fast assay for human Adenovirus (hAdv) detection with a specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), which is considered the gold standard for hAdv detection, nasopharyngeal samples collected from 309 children (age range, four months to eight years) with respiratory tract infection were tested using the RVP Fast v2 assay (Luminex Molecular Diagnostics, Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada) and a specific TaqMan qPCR to identify hAdv DNA. The RVP Fast v2 assay detected 30/61 (49.2%) hAdv infections that had been identified by real-time qPCR, demonstrating a significantly lower detection rate (p < 0.001). The sensitivity of the RVP Fast v2 assay in comparison to qPCR was lower in younger children (42.9% vs. 57.7%; Cohen’s kappa coefficient, 0.53); in samples with co-infections (40.0% vs. 56.7%; Cohen’s kappa coefficient, 0.52); and in samples with hAdv type C (45.9% vs. 57.1%; Cohen’s kappa coefficient, 0.60). Samples with lower viral loads were associated with a significantly lower sensitivity of the RVP Fast v2 assay (35.1% vs. 68.2%, p = 0.01; Cohen’s kappa coefficients, 0.49). The RVP Fast v2 assay has important limitations for the detection of hAdv and cannot be used to evaluate whether hAdvs are the main etiologic agent responsible for an outbreak or when epidemiological studies are performed.     

Answering constraint-based mining queries on itemsets using previous materialized results

In recent years, researchers have begun to study inductive databases, a new generation of databases for leveraging decision support applications. In this context, the user interacts with the DBMS using advanced, constraint-based languages for data mining where constraints have been specifically introduced to increase the relevance of the results and, at the same time, to reduce its volume. In this paper we study the problem of mining frequent itemsets using an inductive database. We propose a technique for query answering which consists in rewriting the query in terms of union and intersection of the result sets of other queries, previously executed and materialized. Unfortunately, the exploitation of past queries is not always applicable. We then present sufficient conditions for the optimization to apply and show that these conditions are strictly connected with the presence of functional dependencies between the attributes involved in the queries. We show some experiments on an initial prototype of an optimizer which demonstrates that this approach to query answering is viable and in many practical cases it drastically reduces the query execution time.     

An acoustic-emission characterization of the failure modes in polymer-composite materials

A new methodology for the analysis of failure modes in composite materials by means of acoustic emission techniques has been developed. A single-carbon-fiber composite based on a polyester matrix, has been used as a simple model. The occurrence of fiber-breakage during tensile loading tests has been observed by a polarized light microscope and concurrently detected by a resonant acoustic probe. The resonant probe has been used as a trigger for the reading of fiber failure events. Single acoustic emission events from a wide-band probe has been recorded for FFT Analysis. The single-fiber specimen, having a unique failure mode, has advantages for the standardization of AE techniques for the quantitative analysis of failures in polymer-composite materials.

The same procedure can be exploited to investigate other failure modes namely, fiber matrix solidus debonding and matrix cracking.     

Tuberculosis cutis miliaris disseminata due to multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in AIDS patients

Two patients with AIDS and disseminated tuberculosis characterized by cutaneous involvement are reported. They developed a maculopapular skin eruption, from which a multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain was isolated. In both cases the clinical course was rapidly fatal. Tuberculosis cutis miliaris disseminata should be differentiated from the skin lesions frequently seen in HIV-infected patients, especially from folliculitis. In patients with tuberculosis, the appearance of cutaneous lesions may be due to the haematogenous dissemination of mycobacteria. Therefore, early identification of the causative organism by use of optimal microbiological methods is fundamental.