W-CBS: A Scheduling Algorithm for Supporting QoS in IEEE 802.11e

This paper presents a new scheduling algorithm, the Wireless Constant Bandwidth Server (W-CBS) for the Access Points of an IEEE 802.11e wireless networks to support traffic streams with Quality of Service guarantees, in particular in the case of multimedia applications which present variable bit rate traffic. The performance of W-CBS is compared to that of the reference scheduler defined in 802.11e standard using the ns2 simulator. The results show that the W-CBS outperforms the reference scheduler with VBR traffic, in terms of resource utilization and maximum admitted flows

Risk Factors for Endometrioid, Mucinous and Serous Benign Ovarian Cysts

Parazzini F (Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Via Eritrea 62, 20157 Milan, Italy), La Vecchia C, Franceschi S, Negri E and Cecchettil G. Risk factors for endometrioid, mucinous and serous benign ovarian cysts. International Journal of Epidemiology 1989, 18: 108-112. To evaluate the risk factors for serous, mucinous and endometrioid ovarian cysts, data were collected in a case-control study conducted in the greater Milan area based on 202 women with benign cysts (114 endometrioid and 88 serous or mucinous) of the ovary and 1127 controls. Questions were asked about menstrual and reproductive characteristics, marital status, education, history of various diseases, and lifetime use of oral contraceptives and other hormonal treatments. Higher social class, earlier menarche and longer interval between age at first marriage and first birth, a likely indicator of subfertility, were associated with an increased risk of serous, mucinous and endometrioid cysts. Women with endometrioid cyst were characterized by low parity, less frequent irregular or long menses, more frequent oral contraceptive use and low body mass index, while the most relevant risk factor associated with serous and mucinous cysts was greater age at first birth. The present data point out the epidemiological differences between endometrioid and serous or mucinous cysts. Further, they suggest that analyses of risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer subdivided by various histotypes may be of interest in order to confirm possible heterogeneities in the aetiology of ovarian epithelial neoplasm

It’s not all in your car: functional and structural correlates of exceptional driving skills in professional racers

Driving is a complex behavior that requires the integration of multiple cognitive functions. While many studies have investigated brain activity related to driving simulation under distinct conditions, little is known about the brain morphological and functional architecture in professional competitive driving, which requires exceptional motor and navigational skills. Here, 11 professional racing-car drivers and 11 “naïve” volunteers underwent both structural and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Subjects were presented with short movies depicting a Formula One car racing in four different official circuits. Brain activity was assessed in terms of regional response, using an Inter-Subject Correlation (ISC) approach, and regional interactions by mean of functional connectivity. In addition, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to identify specific structural differences between the two groups and potential interactions with functional differences detected by the ISC analysis. Relative to non-experienced drivers, professional drivers showed a more consistent recruitment of motor control and spatial navigation devoted areas, including premotor/motor cortex, striatum, anterior, and posterior cingulate cortex and retrosplenial cortex, precuneus, middle temporal cortex, and parahippocampus. Moreover, some of these brain regions, including the retrosplenial cortex, also had an increased gray matter density in professional car drivers. Furthermore, the retrosplenial cortex, which has been previously associated with the storage of observer-independent spatial maps, revealed a specific correlation with the individual driver's success in official competitions. These findings indicate that the brain functional and structural organization in highly trained racing-car drivers differs from that of subjects with an ordinary driving experience, suggesting that specific anatomo-functional changes may subtend the attainment of exceptional driving performance

Does stakeholder engagement affect corruption risk management?

Major international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), and the European Union (EU) have stressed the importance of risk management as a useful mechanism to prevent corruption. Anticorruption laws or regulations have been developed around the world, both at regional and national level. These aim to support the design and implementation of proactive management of corruption risks in the public sector. This article aimed to investigate the relationship between stakeholder engagement and the extent of implementation of corruption risk management systems by public organizations. We analysed the anticorruption plans of 343 Italian administrations to explore how different categories of stakeholders (i.e. employees, governing bodies, users/citizens associations) can contribute to the corruption risk management process. We found that the involvement of external and internal stakeholders can positively affect the extent of implementation of corruption risk management systems by public organizations. We explained our results by referring to both traditional organizational theories (institutional theory and the resource-based view) and public governance theories (collaborative and inclusive governance). Institutional pressures, knowledge and values emerged as keys to understanding the results

Ultrasonic Spray Coating for the manufacturing of a selective layer for flow batteries: From the analysis of ink composition to component scale-up

Developing highly selective separators that can effectively mitigate vanadium crossover is crucial for improving Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB), which can play a key role in tackling the challenges set by future energy scenarios. This work presents the development of the barrier, a selective layer directly deposited on the membrane, using Ultrasonic Spray Coating (USC). Ultrasonic Spray Coating is characterized by excellent flexibility, allowing for easy deposition on any kind of substrate and enabling the tuning of the barrier ink composition. Moreover, as a commercial and already scaled-up technique, USC is suitable for the large-scale manufacturing of the barrier layer. Indeed, this work demonstrates the development of the barrier through USC starting from lab-scale to a size more representative of real applications. The composition of the ink and the deposition process were investigated to define the best ink composition and best combination of deposition parameters for the barrier scale-up. The barrier was directly deposited on NafionTM NR212, successfully reducing the capacity decay of the battery and the net vanadium flux by around 30 % without penalizing efficiency. Finally, the barrier layer effectively mitigated cross-over losses also at larger scale, with improved battery efficiency when deposited on a thinner membrane (NafionTM NR211)

Wireless link emulation in OneLab

This paper presents a work in progress to add emulation of IEEE 802.11 wireless links to the OneLab platform - a PlanetLab derivative. As for other emulators, our goal is to enable researchers to run repeatable experiments under controlled network conditions, and overcome limitations due to unavailable or expensive hardware. Our emulation model aims at reproducing the effects of wireless media on live traffic, but at the packet level and with a timing resolution in the order of 100μs or higher, comparable with the resolution of events visible to appli- cation processes. To this purpose, we define a simplified, packet level model of the wireless link, and extend the pop- ular dummynet emulator to support this model. In the paper we describe the overall architecture of our emulation extension, discuss the wireless model used, and illustrate the user- and system- interfaces to configure and access the emulated environment

Risk Factors for Endometrioid, Mucinous and Serous Benign Ovarian Cysts

To evaluate the risk factors for serous, mucinous and endometrioid ovarian cysts, data were collected in a case-control study conducted in the greater Milan area based on 202 women with benign cysts (114 endometrioid and 88 serous or mucinous) of the ovary and 1127 controls. Questions were asked about menstrual and reproductive characteristics, marital status, education, history of various diseases, and lifetime use of oral contraceptives and other hormonal treatments. Higher social class, earlier menarche and longer interval between age at first marriage and first birth, a likely indicator of subfertility, were associated with an increased risk of serous, mucinous and endometrioid cysts. Women with endometrioid cyst were characterized by low parity, less frequent irregular or long menses, more frequent oral contraceptive use and low body mass index, while the most relevant risk factor associated with serous and mucinous cysts was greater age at first birth. The present data point out the epidemiological differences between endometrioid and serous or mucinous cysts. Further, they suggest that analyses of risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer subdivided by various histotypes may be of interest in order to confirm possible heterogeneities in the aetiology of ovarian epithelial neoplasms

It's not all in your car: functional and structural correlates of exceptional driving skills in professional racers.

Driving is a complex behavior that requires the integration of multiple cognitive functions. While many studies have investigated brain activity related to driving simulation under distinct conditions, little is known about the brain morphological and functional architecture in professional competitive driving, which requires exceptional motor and navigational skills. Here, 11 professional racing-car drivers and 11 "naïve" volunteers underwent both structural and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Subjects were presented with short movies depicting a Formula One car racing in four different official circuits. Brain activity was assessed in terms of regional response, using an Inter-Subject Correlation (ISC) approach, and regional interactions by mean of functional connectivity. In addition, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to identify specific structural differences between the two groups and potential interactions with functional differences detected by the ISC analysis. Relative to non-experienced drivers, professional drivers showed a more consistent recruitment of motor control and spatial navigation devoted areas, including premotor/motor cortex, striatum, anterior, and posterior cingulate cortex and retrosplenial cortex, precuneus, middle temporal cortex, and parahippocampus. Moreover, some of these brain regions, including the retrosplenial cortex, also had an increased gray matter density in professional car drivers. Furthermore, the retrosplenial cortex, which has been previously associated with the storage of observer-independent spatial maps, revealed a specific correlation with the individual driver's success in official competitions. These findings indicate that the brain functional and structural organization in highly trained racing-car drivers differs from that of subjects with an ordinary driving experience, suggesting that specific anatomo-functional changes may subtend the attainment of exceptional driving performance

High-power density turbostratic carbon nano-onion functionalized carbon paper electrodes for vanadium flow batteries

The growing integration of intermittent renewable energy calls for versatile stationary energy storage solutions. Short-term storage stabilizes the electric grid, while long-term storage optimizes non-programmable energy utilization. Redox flow batteries (RFB) are well-suited for stationary storage, offering unique features like power-energy decoupling, a predicted lifespan of over 20 years, and fire safety. However, their high cost hinders widespread adoption. State-of-the-art carbon felt electrodes face high resistance and pressure drop, while thinner carbon paper electrodes reduce ohmic losses and allow higher flow rates but are limited by low active area, affecting their overall performance. This paper introduces high power density hierarchical mesoporous nanostructured electrodes (HMNE) for RFBs, targeting cost reduction: indeed, increasing the power density of the battery allows to reduce the total active area and number of cells, decreasing the quantity of material required in terms of electrodes, membrane, bipolar plates and current collectors. HMNEs incorporate turbostratic carbon nano onions (TCNO) within a mesoporous assembly on commercial carbon paper. Produced via a proprietary NanoJeD nanoparticle source and annealed at 1000 °C, the HMNE's structural attributes are linked to electrochemical performance. The optimized HMNE achieves a current density of 400 mA cm−2, 80.9 % energy efficiency, and 70 % electrolyte utilization in a VRFB test cell. With a low 0.004 % efficiency loss over 1000 cycles, this study highlights the potential of nanoscale-engineered RFB electrodes for enhanced performance and cost-effective power solutions

The Importance of Mortality Risk Assessment: Validation of the Pediatric Index of Mortality 3 Score

Objective: To evaluate the performance of the newest version of the Pediatric Index of Mortality 3 score and compare it with the Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 in a multicenter national cohort of children admitted to PICU. Design: Retrospective, prospective cohort study. Setting: Seventeen Italian PICUs. Patients: All children 0 to 15 years old admitted in PICU from January 2010 to October 2014. Interventions: None. Measurement and main results: Eleven thousand one hundred nine children were enrolled in the study. The mean Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 and 3 values of 4.9 and 3.9, respectively, differed significantly (p < 0.05). Overall mortality rate was 3.9%, and the standardized mortality ratio was 0.80 for Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 and 0.98 for Pediatric Index of Mortality 3 (p < 0.05). The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curves was similar for Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 and Pediatric Index of Mortality 3. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test was not significant for Pediatric Index of Mortality 3 (p = 0.21) but was highly significant for Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 (p < 0.001), which overestimated death mainly in high-risk categories. Conclusions: Mortality indices require validation in each country where it is used. The new Pediatric Index of Mortality 3 score performed well in an Italian population. Both calibration and discrimination were appropriate, and the score more accurately predicted the mortality risk than Pediatric Index of Mortality 2