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Plasma diagnostics is a topic of great interest in the physics and engineering community because the monitoring of plasma parameters plays a fundamental role in the development and optimization of plasma reactors. Towards this aim, microwave diagnostics, such as reflectometric, interferometric, and polarimetric techniques, can represent effective means. Besides the above, microwave imaging profilometry (MIP) may allow the obtaining of tomographic, i.e., volumetric, information of plasma that could overcome some intrinsic limitations of the standard non-invasive diagnostic approaches. However, pursuing MIP is not an easy task due to plasma’s electromagnetic features, which strongly depend on the working frequency, angle of incidence, polarization, etc., as well as on the need for making diagnostics in both large (meter-sized) and small (centimeter-sized) reactors. Furthermore, these latter represent extremely harsh environments, wherein different systems and equipment need to coexist to guarantee their functionality. Specifically, MIP entails solution of an inverse scattering problem, which is non-linear and ill-posed, and, in addition, in the one-dimensional case, is also severely limited in terms of achievable reconstruction accuracy and resolution. In this contribution, we address microwave inverse profiling of plasma assuming a high-frequency probing regime when magnetically confined plasma can be approximated as both an isotropic and weak penetrable medium. To this aim, we adopt a finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) formulation which allows dealing with non-homogeneous backgrounds introduced by unavoidable presence of plasma reactors.

The problem of the synthesis of optimal continuous aperture sources to optimally realize the satellite multibeam coverage of Earth is stated and solved. The design approach relies on a far-field representation which exploits at best the degrees of freedom arising from the geometrical structure of the well-known four-colors coverage map. The overall synthesis is stated as a Convex Programming problem wherein the fast achievement of the (unique) globally optimal solution is guaranteed. The introduced tools allow stating the ultimate theoretical radiation performances achievable by any circular-aperture antenna of fixed size and, at the same time, can be exploited as a reference in the synthesis of isophoric direct-radiating arrays. Numerical examples concerning a mission scenario recently proposed by the European Space Agency are provided.

In a large number of applications, including communications from satellites, an optimal exploitation of the available power is of the outmost importance. As a consequence, isophoric array architectures, i.e., arrays using the same power in all the different entry points and achieving the amplifiers' maximum efficiency, are of great interest. At the same time, the easy reconfigurability of the power patterns results fundamental in order to get a full exploitation of the payload. In this paper, an innovative and deterministic approach is proposed for the optimal synthesis of linear phase-only reconfigurable isophoric sparse arrays able to commute their pattern amongst an arbitrary number of radiation modalities. The introduced perspective leads to an effective solution procedure for the fast design of antennas with high performance, and does not recur to computationally expensive global-optimization techniques. Numerical results concerning applications of actual interest and employing realistic element patterns are provided in support of the given theory.

INTRODUCTION The BIN1 coding variant rs138047593 (K358R) is linked to Late‐Onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD) via targeted exome sequencing. METHODS To elucidate the functional consequences of this rare coding variant on brain amyloidosis and neuroinflammation, we generated BIN1K358R knock‐in mice using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. These mice were subsequently bred with 5xFAD transgenic mice, which serve as a model for Alzheimer's pathology. RESULTS The presence of the BIN1K358R variant leads to increased cerebral amyloid deposition, with a dampened response of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, but not microglia, at both the cellular and transcriptional levels. This correlates with decreased neurofilament light chain in both plasma and brain tissue. Synaptic densities are significantly increased in both wild‐type and 5xFAD backgrounds homozygous for the BIN1K358R variant. DISCUSSION The BIN1 K358R variant modulates amyloid pathology in 5xFAD mice, attenuates the astrocytic and oligodendrocytic responses to amyloid plaques, decreases damage markers, and elevates synaptic densities. Highlights BIN1 rs138047593 (K358R) coding variant is associated with increased risk of LOAD. BIN1 K358R variant increases amyloid plaque load in 12‐month‐old 5xFAD mice. BIN1 K358R variant dampens astrocytic and oligodendrocytic response to plaques. BIN1 K358R variant decreases neuronal damage in 5xFAD mice. BIN1 K358R upregulates synaptic densities and modulates synaptic transmission.

This paper presents a simple and innovative deterministic approach to the synthesis of uniformly excited thinned arrays able to fulfill constraints concerning both the sidelobe level and the value of the radiated far field (and/or of the directivity) in a set of given directions. Starting from a reference regular (periodic or even aperiodic) lattice and from an optimal continuous reference source fulfilling at best the required specifications, the proposed approach finds out both the number and the location of the isophoric (i.e., equi-amplitude) radiating elements to withdraw in a fast and effective fashion. In fact, it is based on a deterministic best-fitting procedure which takes inspiration from existing density taper techniques. Examples are provided with reference to the synthesis of large circular arrays and confirm the interest of the proposed procedure.

For the first time a comprehensive investigation has been carried out to quantify the possible effects of dredging a navigable canal on the hydrogeological system underlying a coastal lagoon. The study is focused on the Venice Lagoon, Italy, where the port authority is planning to open a new 10 m deep and 3 km long canal to connect the city passenger terminal to the central lagoon inlet, thus avoiding the passage of large cruise ships through the historic center of Venice. A modeling study has been developed to evaluate the short (minutes), medium (months), and long (decades) term processes of water and pollutant exchange between the shallow aquifer system and the lagoon, possibly enhanced by the canal excavation, and ship wakes. An in-depth characterization of the lagoon subsurface along the channel has supported the numerical modeling. Piezometer and sea level records, geophysical acquisitions, laboratory analyses of groundwater and sediment samples (chemical analyses and ecotoxicity testing), and the outcome of 3-D hydrodynamic and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models have been used to set up and calibrate the subsurface multi-model approach. The numerical outcomes allow us to quantify the groundwater volume and estimate the mass of anthropogenic contaminants (As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Hg, Pb, Se) likely leaked from the nearby industrial area over the past decades, and released into the lagoon from the canal bed by the action of depression waves generated by ships. Moreover, the model outcomes help to understand the effect of the hydrogeological layering on the propagation of the tidal fluctuation and salt concentration into the shallow brackish aquifers underlying the lagoon bottom.

The BIN1 coding variant rs138047593 (K358R) is linked to Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD) via targeted exome sequencing. To elucidate the functional consequences of this rare coding variant on brain amyloidosis and neuroinflammation, we generated BIN1 knock-in mice using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. These mice were subsequently bred with 5xFAD transgenic mice, which serve as a model for Alzheimer's pathology. The presence of the BIN1 variant leads to increased cerebral amyloid deposition, with a dampened response of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, but not microglia, at both the cellular and transcriptional levels. This correlates with decreased neurofilament light chain in both plasma and brain tissue. Synaptic densities are significantly increased in both wild-type and 5xFAD backgrounds homozygous for the BIN1 variant. The BIN1 K358R variant modulates amyloid pathology in 5xFAD mice, attenuates the astrocytic and oligodendrocytic responses to amyloid plaques, decreases damage markers, and elevates synaptic densities. BIN1 rs138047593 (K358R) coding variant is associated with increased risk of LOAD. BIN1 K358R variant increases amyloid plaque load in 12-month-old 5xFAD mice. BIN1 K358R variant dampens astrocytic and oligodendrocytic response to plaques. BIN1 K358R variant decreases neuronal damage in 5xFAD mice. BIN1 K358R upregulates synaptic densities and modulates synaptic transmission.

The value of orthotopic liver transplantation in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma has often been debated. Although liver replacement could be curative for patients with tumors confined to the liver, the long-term results of liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have been disappointing, with an overall five-year survival rate ranging from 30 to 40 percent. 1-9 In recent years, revisions of the tumor–node–metastasis (TNM) classification system 9 and other systems for determining the stage of hepatocellular carcinoma 10 have made possible a more detailed, retrospective analysis of treatment in these patients. In several studies, tumor stage before transplantation was directly related to . . .

Microwave tomography deserves attention in biomedical imaging, owing to its potential capability of providing a morphological and functional assessment of the inspected tissues. However, such a goal requires the not trivial task of solving a non linear inverse scattering problem. In this paper, the factors affecting the complexity of the inverse problem are exploited to trace guidelines aimed at setting the matching fluid, the frequency range and the number of probes in such a way that the dielectric parameters of female breast tissues can be reliably retrieved. Examples, concerning 2D realistic numerical phantoms obtained by NMR images, are given to asses a osteriori the effectiveness of the proposed guidelines.

Microwave hyperthermia is a non-invasive treatment for cancer which exploits a selective heating of tissues induced through focused electromagnetic fields. In order to improve the treatment's efficiency, while minimizing side effects, it is necessary to achieve a constrained focusing of the field radiated by the sources. To address this issue, in this paper we present an innovative and computationally effective approach to the field focusing for hyperthermia. The proposed method, after establishing the number of sources to be used, determines the excitations of the given set of sources such to produce a maximum field in a given region of space subject to a completely arbitrary mask for the field amplitude in all other regions. As the approach relies on a formulation of the problem in terms of convex programming, it is able to achieve the globally optimal solution without the adoption of computationally intensive global optimization procedures. A preliminary assessment of the feasibility is given on hyperthermia therapy of breast cancer by means of numerical examples run on realistic 2D phantoms of female breast.