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New techniques are needed to speed-up the identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of bacteria associated with bloodstream infections. Alfred 60/AST (Alifax®, Polverara, Italy) performs AST by light scattering directly from positive blood cultures., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Software-defined radios (SDRs) with substantial cognitive (computing) and networking capabilities provide an opportunity for observing radio communications in an area and potentially identifying malicious rogue agents. Assuming a prevalence of encryption methods, a cognitive network of such SDRs can be used as a low-cost and flexible scanner/sensor array for distributed detection of anomalous communications by focusing on their statistical characteristics. Identifying rogue agents based on their wireless communications patterns is not a trivial task, especially when they deliberately try to mask their activities. We address this problem using a novel framework that utilizes adversarial learning, non-linear data transformations to minimize the rogue agent's attempts at masking their activities, and game theory to predict the behavior of rogue agents and take the necessary countermeasures.

A rapid and sensitive method was developed for the simultaneous determination of fluoxetine and its primary metabolite, norfluoxetine, in plasma. It was based on a column-switching approach with a precolumn packed with large size particles coupled with a liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS). After a simple centrifugation, plasma samples were directly injected onto the precolumn. The endogenous material was excluded thanks to a high flow rate while analytes were retained by hydrophobic interactions. Afterwards, the target compounds were eluted in back flush mode to an octadecyl analytical column and detected by ESI-MS. The overall analysis time per sample, from plasma sample preparation to data acquisition, was achieved in less than 4min. Method performances were evaluated. The method showed good linearity in the range of 25-1000ngmL−1 with a determination coefficient higher than 0.99. Limits of quantification were estimated at 25ngmL−1 for fluoxetine and norfluoxetine. Moreover, method precision was better than 6% in the studied concentration range. These results demonstrated that the method could be used to quantify target compounds. Finally, the developed assay proved to be suitable for the simultaneous analysis of fluoxetine and its metabolite in real plasma samples

Most sensor network applications require quality of service guarantees on a network-wide basis, suggesting the need for global network cost optimization. The dynamic and nonuniform local states of individual nodes in sensor networks complicate global cost optimization. Here, we present an approach for optimizing global cost in sensor networks through greedy local decisions at each node, and we explore the benefits of this approach in reducing the idle listening at individual nodes in order to reduce the global network energy cost. We consider two representations for the local sensor node state: (1) number of descendants in the routing tree; and (2) number of descendants and duty cycle. For both state representations, we show through experiments on a testbed of 14 mica2 sensor nodes running ALPL that enabling nodes to set their listening mode according to their local state reduces global energy cost by 35% and provides more balanced energy consumption over the case of BMAC.

Une nouvelle tentative d'obtention de plantes haploïdes vertes par culture d'anthères du blé dur a été entreprise en utilisant un milieu liquide et plusieurs génotypes marocains dont certains encore non testés. Neufcultivars de Triticum turgidum var. durum sont étudiés: 'Sebou', 'Cocorit', 'Marzak', 'Karim', 'Sarif, 'Oum Rabia', 'Massa', 'Isly' et 'Tensift'. Les milieux liquides testés sont BPTG, ci 7 et BAC 1; ce dernier contenait du glucose en plus du saccharose et une concentration plus élevée en 2,4-D que les autres milieux. La régénération de plantes s'est produite pour cinq cultivars à des taux variant de 29,7 % ('Sebou') à 5,3 % ('Karim') mais des régénérations vertes n'ont été observées que pour des génotypes 'Sebou' et 'Massa'. Le milieu BPTG a donné un pourcentage de formation d'embryons supérieur à ceux du C17 et du BAC 1. Les taux de régénération étaient faibles pour les milieux BPTG (6,9 %) et C 17 (7,9 %) et seule une régénération verte a été observée', le reste étant albinos. La régénération a atteint 30,3 % dans le cas du milieu BAC 1 et six plantes (18,2 %) étaient vertes. Cinq plantes haploïdes doublées vertes ont atteint la maturité et produit des graines.

Une nouvelle tentative d'obtention de plantes haploïdes vertes par culture d'anthères du blé dur a été entreprise en utilisant un milieu liquide et plusieurs génotypes marocains dont certains encore non testés. Neufcultivars de Triticum turgidum var. durum sont étudiés: 'Sebou', 'Cocorit', 'Marzak', 'Karim', 'Sarif, 'Oum Rabia', 'Massa', 'Isly' et 'Tensift'. Les milieux liquides testés sont BPTG, ci 7 et BAC 1; ce dernier contenait du glucose en plus du saccharose et une concentration plus élevée en 2,4-D que les autres milieux. La régénération de plantes s'est produite pour cinq cultivars à des taux variant de 29,7 % ('Sebou') à 5,3 % ('Karim') mais des régénérations vertes n'ont été observées que pour des génotypes 'Sebou' et 'Massa'. Le milieu BPTG a donné un pourcentage de formation d'embryons supérieur à ceux du C17 et du BAC 1. Les taux de régénération étaient faibles pour les milieux BPTG (6,9 %) et C 17 (7,9 %) et seule une régénération verte a été observée', le reste étant albinos. La régénération a atteint 30,3 % dans le cas du milieu BAC 1 et six plantes (18,2 %) étaient vertes. Cinq plantes haploïdes doublées vertes ont atteint la maturité et produit des graines.

A rapid and sensitive method was developed for the simultaneous determination of fluoxetine and its primary metabolite, norfluoxetine, in plasma. It was based on a column-switching approach with a precolumn packed with large size particles coupled with a liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS). After a simple centrifugation, plasma samples were directly injected onto the precolumn. The endogenous material was excluded thanks to a high flow rate while analytes were retained by hydrophobic interactions. Afterwards, the target compounds were eluted in back flush mode to an octadecyl analytical column and detected by ESI-MS. The overall analysis time per sample, from plasma sample preparation to data acquisition, was achieved in less than 4min. Method performances were evaluated. The method showed good linearity in the range of 25-1000ngmL−1 with a determination coefficient higher than 0.99. Limits of quantification were estimated at 25ngmL−1 for fluoxetine and norfluoxetine. Moreover, method precision was better than 6% in the studied concentration range. These results demonstrated that the method could be used to quantify target compounds. Finally, the developed assay proved to be suitable for the simultaneous analysis of fluoxetine and its metabolite in real plasma samples