THz Measurement Systems

The terahertz (THz) frequency region is often defined as the last unexplored area of the electromagnetic spectrum. Over the past few years, the full access has been the objective of intense research efforts. Progress in this area has played an important role in opening up the possibility of using THz electromagnetic radiation (T-waves) in science and in real-world applications. T-waves are not perceptible by the human eye, are not ionizing, and have the ability to cross many non-conducting materials such as paper, fabrics, wood, plastic, and organic tissues. Moreover, the use of THz radiation allows non-destructive analysis of the materials under investigation both by study of their “fingerprint” via spectroscopic measurements and by high-resolution spatial imaging operations, exploiting the see-through capability of T-waves. Such technology can be applied in diverse areas, spanning from biology to chemical, pharmaceutical, environmental sciences, etc. In this chapter, we will present the typical architecture of measurement systems based on the THz technology, detailing what are the parameters that define their performance, the measurement methods, and the related errors and uncertainty, and focusing at the end on the use of time-domain spectroscopy for the evaluation of different material properties in this specific frequency region

Restoration of Gait using Personalized Brain/Neural-Controlled Exoskeletons

The development of brain/neural-controlled exoskeletons allow for restoration of movements in paralysis. By translating brain activity associated with the intention to move, such systems enabled, e.g., quadriplegic patients with complete finger paralysis to eat and drink in an outside restaurant. However, noninvasive means to record brain activity often lack sufficient signal quality for reliable and safe operation, particularly in noisy, uncontrolled environments or presence of muscle artifacts due to whole body movements. Thus, hybrid control paradigms were developed that merge different biosignals to increase reliability of exoskeleton control. Here, we introduce such control paradigm for restoration of gait using a personalized exoskeleton based on electroencephalographic and electrooculographic (EEG/EOG) signals. While exoskeleton movements were initiated by event-related desynchronization (ERD) of sensorimotor rhythms (SMR) associated with the intention to walk, the exoskeleton was stopped by a specific EOG signal. Using such paradigm does not only provide intuitive control, but may also trigger neural recovery when used repeatedly over a longer period of time. Further validation of this approach in a larger clinical study on gait assistance and rehabilitation will be needed

Quasi-thermal Comptonization and gamma-ray bursts

Quasi-thermal Comptonization in internal shocks formed between relativistic shells can account for the high energy emission of gamma-ray bursts. This is in fact the dominant cooling mechanism if the typical energy of the emitting particles is achieved either through the balance between heating and cooling or as a result of electron-positron pair production. Both processes yield sub or mildly relativistic energies. In this case the synchrotron spectrum is self-absorbed, providing the seed soft photons for the Comptonization process, whose spectrum is flat [F(v) ~ const], ending either in an exponential cutoff or a Wien peak, depending on the scattering optical depth of the emitting particles. Self-consistent particle energy and optical depth are estimated and found in agreement with the observed spectra.Comment: 10 pages, ApJ Letters, accepted for publicatio

An integrated approach of immunogenomics and bioinformatics to identify new Tumor Associated Antigens (TAA) for mammary cancer immunological prevention

BACKGROUND: Neoplastic transformation is a multistep process in which distinct gene products of specific cell regulatory pathways are involved at each stage. Identification of overexpressed genes provides an unprecedented opportunity to address the immune system against antigens typical of defined stages of neoplastic transformation. HER-2/neu/ERBB2 (Her2) oncogene is a prototype of deregulated oncogenic protein kinase membrane receptors. Mice transgenic for rat Her2 (BALB-neuT mice) were studied to evaluate the stage in which vaccines can prevent the onset of Her2 driven mammary carcinomas. As Her2 is not overexpressed in all mammary carcinomas, definition of an additional set of tumor associated antigens (TAAs) expressed at defined stages by most breast carcinomas would allow a broader coverage of vaccination. To address this question, a meta-analysis was performed on two transcription profile studies [1,2] to identify a set of new TAA targets to be used instead of or in conjunction with Her2. RESULTS: The five TAAs identified (Tes, Rcn2, Rnf4, Cradd, Galnt3) are those whose expression is linearly related to the tumor mass increase in BALB-neuT mammary glands. Moreover, they have a low expression in normal tissues and are generally expressed in human breast tumors, though at a lower level than Her2. CONCLUSION: Although the number of putative TAAs identified is limited, this pilot study suggests that meta-analysis of expression profiles produces results that could assist in the designing of pre-clinical immunopreventive vaccines

Constraints on the emission mechanisms of gamma-ray bursts

If the emission of gamma-ray bursts were due to the synchrotron process in the standard internal shock scenario, then the typical observed spectrum should have a slope F(nu) \propto nu^{-1/2}, which strongly conflicts with the much harder spectra observed. This directly follows from the cooling time being much shorter than the dynamical time. Particle re-acceleration, deviations from equipartition, fastly changing magnetic fields and adiabatic losses are found to be inadequate to account for this discrepancy. We also find that in the internal shock scenario the relativistic inverse Compton scattering is always as important as the synchrotron process, and faces the same problems. This indicates that the burst emission is not produced by relativistic electrons emitting synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publications in MNRAS, pink page

A Multi-Criteria Methodology to Support Public Administration Decision Making Concerning Sustainable Energy Action Plans

For municipalities that have joined the Covenant of Mayors promoted by the European Commission, the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) represents a strategic tool for achieving the greenhouse gas reductions required by 2020. So far as the energy retrofit actions in their residential building stock are concerned, which in the small-to-medium municipalities are responsible for more than 60% of CO2 emissions, the scenarios for intervening are normally decided on the basis of an economic (cost/performance) analysis. This type of analysis, however, does not take into account important aspects for small and medium-sized communities such as social aspects, environmental impacts, local economic development and employment. A more comprehensive and effective tool to support the choices of public administrators is the multi-criteria analysis. This study proposes a methodology that integrates multi-criteria analysis in order to support Public Administration/Local Authorities in programming Sustainable Energy Action Plans with a more targeted approach to sustainability. The methodology, based on the ELECTRE III method, was applied to a medium-size municipality in the Lombardy region of Italy. The results obtained with this approach are discussed in this pape

Residual feed intake is related with metabolic and inflammatory response during the pre-weaning period in Italian Simmental calves

Residual Feed Intake (RFI) is defined as the difference between measured and predicted intake. Understanding its biological regulators could benefit farm profit margins. The most-efficient animals (M-Eff) have observed intake smaller than predicted resulting in negative RFI, whereas the least-efficient (L-Eff) animals have positive RFI. Hence, this observational study aimed at retrospectively comparing the blood immunometabolic profile in calves with divergent RFI during the preweaning period. Twenty-two Italian Simmental calves were monitored from birth through 60 d of age. Calves received 3 L of colostrum from their respective dams. From 2 to 53 d of age, calves were fed a milk replacer twice daily, whereas from 54 to 60 d (i.e., weaning) calves were stepped down to only one meal in the morning. Calves had ad libitum access to concentrate and intakes were recorded daily. The measurement of BW and blood samples were performed at 0, 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 45, 54, and 60 d of age. Calves were ranked and categorized as M-Eff or L-Eff according to the median RFI value. Median RFI was –0.06 and 0.04 kg of DMI/d for M-Eff and L-Eff, respectively. No evidence for group differences was noted for colostrum and plasma IgG concentrations. Although growth rate was not different, as expected, [0.67 kg/d (95% CI = 0.57 ‒ 0.76) for both L-Eff and M-Eff) throughout the entire pre-weaning period (0–60 d), starter intake was greater in L-Eff compared with M-Eff calves (+36%). Overall, M-Eff calves had a greater gain-to-feed ratio compared with L-Eff calves (+16%). Plasma ceruloplasmin, myeloperoxidase, and reactive oxygen metabolite concentrations were greater in L-Eff compared with M Eff calves. Compared with L-Eff, M-Eff calves had an overall greater plasma concentration of globulin, and γ-glutamyl transferase (indicating a better colostrum uptake) and Zn at 1 d. Retinol and urea were overall greater in L-Eff. The improved efficiency in nutrient utilization observed in M-Eff was paired with a lower grade of oxidative stress and systemic inflammation. L-Eff may have had greater energy expenditure to sup port the activation of the immune system. Keywords: Residual feed intake, Growth performance, Metabolic profile, Simmental calves.peer-reviewe