University of Sannio

About: University of Sannio is a education organization based out in Benevento, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Gravitational wave & LIGO. The organization has 1278 authors who have published 6125 publications receiving 167577 citations. The organization is also known as: Università degli Studi del Sannio & Universita degli Studi del Sannio.

Pathways of vitamin A delivery to the embryo: insights from a new tunable model of embryonic vitamin A deficiency.

Abstract: Circulatingretinoids(vitaminAanditsderivatives)arefound predominantly as retinol bound to retinol-binding protein (RBP), which transports retinol from liver stores to target tissues, or as retinyl ester incorporated in lipoproteins of dietary origin. The transport of retinoids from maternal to fetal circulation is poorly understood, especially under conditions of inadequate dietary vitamin A intake. Here we present RBP / mice as a tunable model of embryonic vitamin A deficiency. This model has enabled us to analyze metabolic links between maternal nutrition and retinoid delivery to the fetus. Our data show that retinol-RBP is the primary contributor to fetal development, whereas retinyl ester are largely responsible for accumulation of fetal retinoid stores. Furthermore, these studies indicate the importance of embryonic RBP in distributing vitamin A to certain developing tissues under restrictive diets. We also show differences among developing tissues in their dependency on the embryonic retinol-RBP pathway. Finally, we demonstrate that accumulation of embryonic vitamin A stores does not depend on the expression of RBP in the fetal liver. (Endocrinology 146: 4479–4490, 2005)

Search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence in LIGO and Virgo data from S5 and VSR1

Abstract: We report the results of the first search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence using data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and Virgo detectors. Five months of data were collected during the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory's S5 and Virgo's VSR1 science runs. The search focused on signals from binary mergers with a total mass between 2 and 35M(circle dot). No gravitational waves are identified. The cumulative 90%-confidence upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence are calculated for nonspinning binary neutron stars, black hole-neutron star systems, and binary black holes to be 8: 7 X 10(-3) yr(-1) L-10(-1), 2.2 X 10(-3) yr(-1) L-10(-1), and 4.4 X 10(-4) yr(-1) L-10(-1), respectively, where L-10 is 10(10) times the blue solar luminosity. These upper limits are compared with astrophysical expectations.

Bond performances of FRP rebars-reinforced concrete

Abstract: The structural performance of reinforced concrete elements is related to the interface behavior of rebars to concrete. In the last decade several research works were carried out to investigate the bond between fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) rebars and concrete, however some aspects need further studies in order to obtain reliable design indications. In this paper the analysis of bond was performed referring to different kinds of FRP rebars and some varying influential parameters (surface treatment, kinds of fibers, and kinds of test). Results obtained show the role of the investigated parameters on bond stress law; in particular the surface treatments involve different transfer mechanisms passing from simple chemical adhesion and friction, for sanded rebars, to a relevant contribution of mechanical interlocking for deformed rebars. The kind of test utilized influences the most significant parameters of the bond stress–slip law and in different ways depending on the kind of rebars. Finally the kind of fibe...

An empirical study on the developers' perception of software coupling

Abstract: Coupling is a fundamental property of software systems, and numerous coupling measures have been proposed to support various development and maintenance activities. However, little is known about how developers actually perceive coupling, what mechanisms constitute coupling, and if existing measures align with this perception. In this paper we bridge this gap, by empirically investigating how class coupling---as captured by structural, dynamic, semantic, and logical coupling measures---aligns with developers' perception of coupling. The study has been conducted on three Java open-source systems---namely ArgoUML, JHotDraw and jEdit---and involved 64 students, academics, and industrial practitioners from around the world, as well as 12 active developers of these three systems. We asked participants to assess the coupling between the given pairs of classes and provide their ratings and some rationale. The results indicate that the peculiarity of the semantic coupling measure allows it to better estimate the mental model of developers than the other coupling measures. This is because, in several cases, the interactions between classes are encapsulated in the source code vocabulary, and cannot be easily derived by only looking at structural relationships, such as method calls.

All-sky search for gravitational-wave bursts in the first joint LIGO-GEO-Virgo run

Abstract: We present results from an all-sky search for unmodeled gravitational-wave bursts in the data collected by the LIGO, GEO 600 and Virgo detectors between November 2006 and October 2007. The search is performed by three different analysis algorithms over the frequency band 50-6000 Hz. Data are analyzed for times with at least two of the four LIGO-Virgo detectors in coincident operation, with a total live time of 266 days. No events produced by the search algorithms survive the selection cuts. We set a frequentist upper limit on the rate of gravitational-wave bursts impinging on our network of detectors. When combined with the previous LIGO search of the data collected between November 2005 and November 2006, the upper limit on the rate of detectable gravitational-wave bursts in the 64-2048 Hz band is 2.0 events per year at 90% confidence. We also present event rate versus strength exclusion plots for several types of plausible burst waveforms. The sensitivity of the combined search is expressed in terms of the root-sum-squared strain amplitude for a variety of simulated waveforms and lies in the range 6×10-22 Hz-1/2 to 2×10-20 Hz-1/2. This is the first untriggered burst search to use data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors together, and the most sensitive untriggered burst search performed so far.