A 5G-Enabled Smart Waste Management System for University Campus.

Future university campuses will be characterized by a series of novel services enabled by the vision of Internet of Things, such as smart parking and smart libraries. In this paper, we propose a complete solution for a smart waste management system with the purpose of increasing the recycling rate in the campus and provide better management of the entire waste cycle. The system is based on a prototype of a smart waste bin, able to accurately classify pieces of trash typically produced in the campus premises with a hybrid sensor/image classification algorithm, as well as automatically segregate the different waste materials. We discuss the entire design of the system prototype, from the analysis of requirements to the implementation details and we evaluate its performance in different scenarios. Finally, we discuss advanced application functionalities built around the smart waste bin, such as optimized maintenance scheduling.

Wearable Robots: An Original Mechatronic Design of a Hand Exoskeleton for Assistive and Rehabilitative Purposes.

Robotic devices are being employed in more and more sectors to enhance, streamline, and augment the outcomes of a wide variety of human activities. Wearable robots arise indeed as of-vital-importance tools for telerehabilitation or home assistance targeting people affected by motor disabilities. In particular, the field of "Robotics for Medicine and Healthcare" is attracting growing interest. The development of such devices is a primarily addressed topic since the increasing number of people in need of rehabilitation or assistive therapies (due to population aging) growingly weighs on the healthcare systems of the nation. Besides, the necessity to move to clinics represents an additional logistic burden for patients and their families. Among the various body parts, the hand is specially investigated since it most ensures the independence of an individual, and thus, the restoration of its dexterity is considered a high priority. In this study, the authors present the development of a fully wearable, portable, and tailor-made hand exoskeleton designed for both home assistance and telerehabilitation. Its purpose is either to assist patients during activities of daily living by running a real-time intention detection algorithm or to be used for remotely supervised or unsupervised rehabilitation sessions by performing exercises preset by therapists. Throughout the mechatronic design process, special attention has been paid to the complete wearability and comfort of the system to produce a user-friendly device capable of assisting people in their daily life or enabling recorded home rehabilitation sessions allowing the therapist to monitor the state evolution of the patient. Such a hand exoskeleton system has been designed, manufactured, and preliminarily tested on a subject affected by spinal muscular atrophy, and some results are reported at the end of the article.

Emission of submicron aerosol particles in cement kilns: Total concentration and size distribution.

Cement plants are responsible for particle and gaseous emissions into the atmosphere. With respect to particle emission, the greater part of is in the range from 0.05 to 5.0 µm in diameter. In the last years attention was paid to submicron particles, but there is a lack of available data on the emission from stationary sources. In this paper, concentration and size distribution of particles emitted from four cement kilns, in relationship to operational conditions (especially the use of alternative fuel to coal) of the clinker process are reported. Experimental campaigns were carried out by measuring particles concentration and size distribution at the stack of four cement plants through condensation particle counter (CPC) and scanning mobility particle sizer spectrometer (SMPS). Average total particle number concentrations were between 2000 and 4000 particles/cm³, about 8-10 times lower that those found in the corresponding surrounding areas. As for size distribution, for all the investigated plants it is stable with a unimodal distribution (120-150 nm), independent from the fuel used.

Safety and immunogenicity of two Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccines.

OBJECTIVES: Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection remains a major public health problem in the developing world. We evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of a new PRP-CRM197 conjugate Hib vaccine (Vaxem Hib, Chiron Vaccines), compared with the HibTITER vaccine (Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines), following the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s accelerated schedule which allows 4-week intervals between doses. STUDY DESIGN: A phase II, observer-blind, multicentre, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority study. METHODS: In total, 331 babies were immunised with either Vaxem Hib (N = 167) or HibTITER (N = 164) vaccine at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age, in parallel with oral polio, diphtheriatetanus-pertussis and hepatitis B vaccines. Post-immunisation reactions were recorded after each immunisation and at follow-up visits. Anti-polyribosylribitol phosphate (PRP) antibodies were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) before and 1 month after the third immunisation. RESULTS: Overall, there was no significant difference in the anti-PRP levels between the two groups. One month after the third immunisation, 76% of vaccinees in the Vaxem Hib group and 70% in the HibTITER group had anti-PRP antibody titres > or = 1.0 microgram/ml, while 96% of the Vaxem Hib group and 90% of the HibTITER group demonstrated anti-PRP antibody titres > or = 0.15 microgram/ml. The geometric mean titre at day 90 was 3.77 micrograms/ml for the Vaxem Hib and 3.0 micrograms/ml for the HibTITER groups. Although the Vaxem Hib vaccine produced more redness (6% versus 1%; p = 0.006) and swelling (5% versus 1%, p = 0.037), overall it was well tolerated compared with the HibTITER vaccine. There was no significant difference in vaccine-related elevated temperature (> or = 38 degrees C) between the two groups (p = 0.11). CONCLUSION: Both vaccines showed comparable safety and immunogenicity profiles when administered to South African babies at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age.

A phase IV open label study to assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of a Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) CRM197 conjugated vaccine administered to healthy infants at 2, 4, and 6 months of age.

The objective of this prospective clinical study was to evaluate the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of Chiron Hib vaccine (Vaxem Hib) in Thai infants. This trial was conducted at Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand from June to November 1999. Three intramuscular injections of the vaccine were given to 119 infants at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. Reactions and adverse events after the vaccination were recorded. Blood samples for anti-PRP antibody were collected before the first immunization, and after the second and third immunizations. After the second dose, 91% and 58% of the subjects had anti-PRP antibody titers of > or =0.15 microg/ml and > or =1.0 microg/ml, respectively. After the third dose, 99% and 90% of the subjects had anti-PRP antibody titer > or =0.15 mcirog/ ml and > or =1.0 microg/ml, respectively. Local and systemic reactions were mild and transient. The study indicates that Vaxem Hib vaccine is safe and well tolerated. Three doses of the vaccine are necessary to achieve adequate protection in infants.

Microorganic pollutants in the outskirts of Rome.

A short field campaign was performed in the outskirts of Rome at four sites located pretty along the four rose wind directions to city centre. Both chlorinated (PCB and PCDD/F) and non-chlorinated (n-alkanes, PAH, nitrated-PAH, n-alkanoic acids) organic micropollutants were investigated for their contents in the atmosphere. Concentrations reached by these pollutants in the outskirts were compared to those found in downtown Rome, both inside and outside of its largest city garden. Although concentrations of organic pollutants found in the outskirts were quite low, however they seemed enough high to induce some health risk in humans. Rural sites were less affected than industrial and waste disposal/treatment areas.