Cranberry and Recurrent Cystitis: More than Marketing?

Epidemiologic studies indicate that millions of people suffer from recurrent cystitis, a pathology requiring antibiotic prophylaxis and entailing high social costs. Cranberry is a traditional folk remedy for cystitis and, which, in the form of a variety of products and formulations has over several decades undergone extensive evaluation for the management of urinary tract infections (UTI). The aim of this retrospective study is to summarize and review the most relevant and recent preclinical and clinical studies on cranberries for the treatment of UTIs. The scientific literature selected for this review was identified by searches of Medline via PubMed. A variety of recent experimental evidence has shed light on the mechanism underlying the anti-adhesive properties of proanthrocyanidins, their structure–activity relationships, and pharmacokinetics. Analysis of clinical studies and evaluation of the cranberry efficacy/safety ratio in the prevention of UTIs strongly support the use of cranberry in the prophylaxis of recurrent UTIs in young and middle-aged women. However, evidence of its clinical use among other patients remains controversial.     

A low power and high resolution data logger for submarine seismic monitoring

The design, implementation and characterization of a digital waveform recorder for ocean bottom seismic monitoring is here reported. The system is capable of synchronously acquiring, and logging on a flash memory bank, four high resolution signals. Thanks to a very careful design of the system architecture and by using robust digital signal processing techniques, two main conflicting issues have been addressed: a high dynamic range, better than 120 dB, usually obtained with high energy demanding converters, and a power consumption as low as 250 mW, hence allowing to easily increase the time of a continuous submarine monitoring session up to 3 months.     

From hospital to municipal cogeneration systems: an Italian case study

A mixed integer linear programming model combined with a more traditional design by scenarios is proposed to optimize facilities size and operation mode of a municipal energy system involving significant civil centres and a hospital. Moving from the need of a new heat and power station for the local hospital due to the construction of new pavilions, the opportunity of involving other centres in the neighbourhood in a distributed cogeneration system is analysed, increasing system complexity step by step. Smaller cogeneration units tailored to hospital needs are rewarding ventures with relatively low risks but, in a country whose traditional power generation systems heavily rely on fossil fuels and where energy policy and market conditions can make it profitable to sell surplus power, district heating systems foster the installation of larger cogenerators and lead thereby to higher profits and to better performance as for primary energy savings and greenhouse gases emission reduction. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Waste-to-energy based greenhouse heating: exploring viability conditions through optimisation models

An optimisation approach is proposed in order to assess the technical and economic feasibility of a renewable-energy-based greenhouse in North-Eastern Italy. A floor heating system that can exploit a low-temperature heat flow coming from the condenser of a waste-to-energy plant is chosen for the greenhouse and designed developing a non-linear optimisation model, solved by a genetic algorithm. In order to determine under what conditions the combination of a floor-heating-based greenhouse with a waste-to-energy plant can be profitable, a mixed integer optimisation model is introduced to allow selection of the minimum cost fuel solution as a function of different design variables of the greenhouse, such as indoor temperature settings and floor area. The ranges within which the renewable energy solution can lead to significant savings in comparison to traditional fossil fuel are identified both from the point of view of costs and of environmental impact. Furthermore, the sales prices for waste heat that would make investment in the renewable energy solution attractive for potential entrepreneurs are given.     

A novel blind adaptive space-time receiver for multi-code DS-CDMA

Abstract-The capacity of conventional wireless communications systems based upon Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) schemes, is mainly limited by Multiple Access Interference (MAI). Therefore, methods aimed at reducing MAI are mandatory solutions to increase the capacity of such systems. Smart Antennas are a promising technology for improving the performance of high capacity mobile communications systems, because they are expected to be able to increase the Signal to Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR) of the received signals by dynamically adapting the equivalent array beam pattern in order to track the movements of the users within the cell. In this paper we propose a novel blind adaptive beamforming algorithm tailored for the up-link of multi-code multi-rate DS-CDMA wireless communications systems. Our proposal is based upon a modified Constant Modulus (CM) criterion, whose fundamental feature is the capability to overcome the main drawback of the classic CM algorithm, which lies in its difficulty of ensuring the convergence toward the desired user. The proposed algorithm exploits user-specific information intrinsically known at the receiver, which is the code uniquely associated to each user, without requiring the knowledge of the spatiotemporal propagation channel nor any specific training sequence. Within this paper we present a broadband solution, designed to temporally re-align uncorrelated clusters of multipaths, as well as spatially recombine correlated multipaths belonging to the same cluster. Computer simulations show that our proposed technique can effectively exploit path diversity and multipath correlation, also in the presence of Doppler effect and time-variable propagation conditions.     

Evidence for Irradiation Triggered Nonuniform Defects Distribution in Multiharmonic Magnetic Susceptibility of Neutron Irradiated YBa<Subscript>2</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>7−</Subscript><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">δ</Emphasis></Subscript>

Multiharmonic ac-magnetic susceptibilityx ₁,x ₂,x ₃, of neutron irradiated Li-doped YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x has revealed a nonmonotonic dependence of all harmonics on the neutron fluence. The irradiation has a strongly depressive influence on the intergrain connection suggesting an increase of the effective thickness of the intergranular Josephson junction at a neutron fluence of 0.98 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻². Less damaged are the intragrain properties. A spectacular enhancement of the superconducting intragranular properties reflected in the characteristics of all harmonics was observed at highest fluence φ=9.98 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻². We assume that this effect results from the development of a space inhomogeneous distribution with alternating defectless and defect-rich regions.     

An assessment of plasticity theories for modeling the incrementally nonlinear behavior of granular soils

The objective of this paper is to assess the predictive capability of different classes of extended plasticity theories (bounding surface plasticity, generalized plasticity and generalized tangential plasticity) in the modeling of incremental nonlinearity, which is one of the most striking features of the mechanical behavior of granular soils, occurring as a natural consequence of the particular nature of grain interactions at the microscale. To this end, the predictions of the various constitutive models considered are compared to the results of a series of Distinct Element simulations performed ad hoc. In the comparison, extensive use is made of the concept of incremental strain-response envelope in order to assess the directional properties of the material response for a given initial state and stress history.     

Evidence for Irradiation Triggered Nonuniform Defects Distribution in Multiharmonic Magnetic Susceptibility of Neutron Irradiated YBa2Cu3O7?δ

Multiharmonic ac-magnetic susceptibility χ₁, χ₂, χ₃, of neutron irradiated Li-doped YBa₂Cu₃O_{7− x} has revealed a nonmonotonic dependence of all harmonics on the neutron fluence. The irradiation has a strongly depressive influence on the intergrain connection suggesting an increase of the effective thickness of the intergranular Josephson junction at a neutron fluence of 0.98 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻². Less damaged are the intragrain properties. A spectacular enhancement of the superconducting intragranular properties reflected in the characteristics of all harmonics was observed at highest fluence Φ = 9.98 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻². We assume that this effect results from the development of a space inhomogeneous distribution with alternating defectless and defect-rich regions.