A digital twin decision support system for the urban facility management process

The ever increasing pace of IoT deployment is opening the door to concrete implementa-tions of smart city applications, enabling the large-scale sensing and modeling of (near-)real-time digital replicas of physical processes and environments. This digital replica could serve as the basis of a decision support system, providing insights into possible optimizations of resources in a smart city scenario. In this article, we discuss an extension of a prior work, presenting a detailed proof-of-concept implementation of a Digital Twin solution for the Urban Facility Management (UFM) process. The Interactive Planning Platform for City District Adaptive Maintenance Operations (IPPODAMO) is a distributed geographical system, fed with and ingesting heterogeneous data sources originating from different urban data providers. The data are subject to continuous refinements and algorithmic processes, used to quantify and build synthetic indexes measuring the activity level inside an area of interest. IPPODAMO takes into account potential interference from other stakeholders in the urban environment, enabling the informed scheduling of operations, aimed at minimizing interference and the costs of operations

Effect of valsartan on angiotensin II-induced plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 biosynthesis in arterial smooth muscle cells

Previous studies have shown that angiotensin II stimulates the synthesis of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 in cultured vascular cells, which suggests that activation of the renin-angiotensin system may impair fibrinolysis. We have investigated the effects of angiotensin II and of valsartan, a recently developed angiotensin II antagonist that is highly specific and selective for the angiotensin II subtype 1 receptor, on plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 secretion by smooth muscle cells isolated from rat and human vessels. Angiotensin II induced a time- and concentration-dependent increase of plasminogen activator inhibitor activity in supernatants of rat aortic cells, which reached a plateau after 6 hours of incubation with 100 nmol/L angiotensin II (2.4+/-0.6-fold over control value; P:<0.001). The angiotensin II-induced plasminogen activator inhibitor activity was inhibited, in a concentration-dependent manner, by valsartan with an IC(50) value of 21 nmol/L. Valsartan fully prevented the angiotensin II-induced increase in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 protein and mRNA. Furthermore, angiotensin II doubled the secretion of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 by smooth muscle cells obtained from human umbilical and internal mammary arteries, and valsartan fully prevented it. Angiotensin II did not affect the secretion of tissue plasminogen activator antigen by any of the cell systems tested. Thus, valsartan effectively inhibits angiotensin II-induced plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 secretion without affecting that of tissue plasminogen activator in arterial rat and human smooth muscle cells

Acute-phase proteins before cerebral ischemia in stroke-prone rats : identification by proteomic

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A high degree of proteinuria has been reported in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP). We studied the effect of salt loading on the detailed protein pattern of serum and urine in 3 rat strains: Wistar-Kyoto, spontaneously hypertensive rats, and SHRSP, an inbred animal model for a complex form of cerebrovascular disorder resembling the human disease. METHODS: Rats were given a permissive diet and received 1% NaCl in drinking water. The protein pattern in body fluids was assessed over time by 2-dimensional electrophoretic analysis. Brain alterations were monitored by MRI and histology. RESULTS: Several proteins were excreted in urine after weeks of treatment and in advance of stroke: transferrin, hemopexin, albumin, alpha(2)-HS-glycoprotein, kallikrein-binding protein, alpha(1)-antitrypsin, Gc-globulin, and transthyretin. Markers of an inflammatory response, including very high levels of thiostatin, were detected in the serum of SHRSP at least 4 weeks before a stroke occurred. CONCLUSIONS: In SHRSP subjected to salt loading, an atypical inflammatory condition and widespread alterations of vascular permeability developed before the appearance of anomalous features in the brain detected by MRI. Urinary concentrations of each of the excreted serum proteins correlated positively with time before stroke occurred

80Se(n,?) cross-section measurement at CERN n TOF

Radiative neutron capture cross section measurements are of fundamental importance for the study of the slow neutron capture (s-) process of nucleosynthesis. This mechanism is responsible for the formation of most elements heavier than iron in the Universe. Particularly relevant are branching nuclei along the s-process path, which are sensitive to the physical conditions of the stellar environment. One such example is the branching at $^{79}$Se (3.27 × 10$^{5}$ y), which shows a thermally dependent β-decay rate. However, an astrophysically consistent interpretation requires also the knowledge of the closest neighbour isotopes involved. In particular, the $^{80}$Se(n,γ) cross section directly affects the stellar yield of the "cold" branch leading to the formation of the s-only $^{82}$Kr. Experimentally, there exists only one previous measurement on $^{80}$Se using the time of flight (TOF) technique. However, the latter suffers from some limitations that are described in this presentation. These drawbacks have been significantly improved in a recent measurement at CERN n TOF. This contribution presents a summary of the latter measurement and the status of the data analysis

Neutron capture measurement at the n TOF facility of the 204Tl and 205Tl s-process branching points

Neutron capture cross sections are one of the fundamental nuclear data in the study of the s (slow) process of nucleosynthesis. More interestingly, the competition between the capture and the decay rates in some unstable nuclei determines the local isotopic abundance pattern. Since decay rates are often sensible to temperature and electron density, the study of the nuclear properties of these nuclei can provide valuable constraints to the physical magnitudes of the nucleosynthesis stellar environment. Here we report on the capture cross section measurement of two thallium isotopes, $^{204}$Tl and $^{205}$Tl performed by the time-of-flight technique at the n TOF facility at CERN. At some particular stellar s-process environments, the decay of both nuclei is strongly enhanced, and determines decisively the abundance of two s-only isotopes of lead, $^{204}$Pb and $^{205}$Pb. The latter, as a long-lived radioactive nucleus, has potential use as a chronometer of the last s-process events that contributed to final solar isotopic abundances

Life satisfaction of women of working age shortly after breast cancer surgery

PURPOSE: To explore, among women of working age, satisfaction with life as a whole and with different life domains, and its associations with social and health variables, shortly after breast cancer surgery. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 605 women, aged 20–63 years, who had had breast cancer surgery with no distant metastasis, pre-surgical chemotherapy, or previous breast cancer. Associations between LiSat-11 and demographic and social factors as well as health- and treatment-related variables were analysed by multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Compared with Swedish reference levels, the women were, after breast cancer surgery, less satisfied with life, particularly sexual life. Women working shortly after breast cancer surgery were more often satisfied with life in provision domains compared with the reference population. Although most included variables showed associations with satisfaction, after adjustment for all significantly associated variables, only six variables—having children, being in work, having emotional and informational social support, and having good physical and emotional functioning—were positively associated with satisfaction with life as a whole. The odds ratios for satisfaction were higher in most life domains if the woman had social support and good emotional and cognitive functioning. CONCLUSIONS: One month after breast cancer surgery, satisfaction with different life domains was associated primarily with social support and health-related functioning. However, this soon after surgery, treatment-related variables showed no significant associations with life satisfaction. These results are useful for planning interventions to enhance e.g. social support and emotional as well as cognitive functioning