Flow curvature effects on dynamic behaviour of a novel vertical axis tidal current turbine: numerical and experimental analysis

The paper deals with performances analysis of vertical axis turbine to exploit tidal marine currents. Flow curvature effects on performences of a novel vertical axis turbine have been investuigated. It has been shown that the flow curvature effect allows to design properly an accurate airfoil shape to increase turbine performances

Dynamic behavior of novel vertical axis tidal current turbine: numerical and experimental investigations

This paper presents a summary of the recent work done by the authors regarding the design, construction and test of a novel patented vertical axis and variable pitching blade hydro turbine, named KOBOLD, capable of harnessing clean and renewable energy from marine tidal currents. The KOBOLDturbine, currently moored in Messina Strait, between mainland Italy and Sicily island, is the only existing turbine of this type devoted to exploit tidal currents, and has a 25% global system efficiency. Theoretical analysis and numerical prediction performanceshave been compared and validated with experimental test results on both model and real scale turbines. Moreover, the recent activities in terms of numerical and experimental investigations on vertical axis hydro turbines are presente

experiences in developing tidal current and wave energy devices for mediterranean sea

In the last years, the interest for renewable energies has shown a continuously increasing trend, in search of a convenient and sustainable source alternative to carbon and fossil fuels, also due to government incentive systems, as can be seen for example in the objectives proposed by the EU 2020 target. In such context, marine energy sources are particularly attractive, both for the high conceptual available resource and for some specific technical characteristics, such as a more predictable behavior with respect to other sources like wind energy. The work here presented resumes the experience gained over more than twenty years of activities conducted at Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Naples "Federico II", in collaboration with research consortium Seapower scrl, in the field of ocean renewable energies. The work refers to several case reports related to different projects in which the research group has been involved. Two main energy sources have been investigated, namely tidal currents and wave energy, through the development, among others, of two different projects reported in this paper: • GEMSTAR: a submerged floating tidal current hydrokinetic turbine system (an evolution of GEM turbine) • PIVOT: a wave energy converter based on a pivoting buoy GEMSTAR is a project which is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 being the first prototype tested in real field while PIVOT is at TRL 5 since the full-scale prototype has been tested only in controlled environment. In any case both projects are still in development, evolving to more mature technology levels. The article reports the two case studies related to the above-mentioned systems at the present development stage along with the resource assessment of both energy sources in Mediterranean area

Response to Letter by Tsuda

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Robot-assisted gait training for stroke patients: current state of the art and perspectives of robotics

International audienceIn this review, we give a brief outline of robot-mediated gait training for stroke patients, as an important field emerging in rehabilitation. Technological innovations are allowing rehabilitation to move towards more integrated processes, with improved efficiency and less long-term impairments. In particular, robot-mediated neurorehabilitation is a rapidly advancing field, which uses robotic systems, often coupled with virtual reality haptic interfaces and emerging theories in neuroscience, to define new methods for treating neurological injuries such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury. The use of robots in gait training can enhance rehabilitation, following neuroscientific principles that justify the use of the robot. The field of robot-mediated neurorehabilitation brings challenges to both bioengineering and clinical practice. This paper reviews the state of art (including commercially available systems) and perspectives of robotics in post-stroke rehabilitation for walking recovery. A critical revision, including the problems at stake regarding robotic clinical use will also be presented

An explainable model of host genetic interactions linked to COVID-19 severity

We employed a multifaceted computational strategy to identify the genetic factors contributing to increased risk of severe COVID-19 infection from a Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) dataset of a cohort of 2000 Italian patients. We coupled a stratified k-fold screening, to rank variants more associated with severity, with the training of multiple supervised classifiers, to predict severity based on screened features. Feature importance analysis from tree-based models allowed us to identify 16 variants with the highest support which, together with age and gender covariates, were found to be most predictive of COVID-19 severity. When tested on a follow-up cohort, our ensemble of models predicted severity with high accuracy (ACC = 81.88%; AUCROC = 96%; MCC = 61.55%). Our model recapitulated a vast literature of emerging molecular mechanisms and genetic factors linked to COVID-19 response and extends previous landmark Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). It revealed a network of interplaying genetic signatures converging on established immune system and inflammatory processes linked to viral infection response. It also identified additional processes cross-talking with immune pathways, such as GPCR signaling, which might offer additional opportunities for therapeutic intervention and patient stratification. Publicly available PheWAS datasets revealed that several variants were significantly associated with phenotypic traits such as "Respiratory or thoracic disease", supporting their link with COVID-19 severity outcome.A multifaceted computational strategy identifies 16 genetic variants contributing to increased risk of severe COVID-19 infection from a Whole Exome Sequencing dataset of a cohort of Italian patients

The polymorphism L412F in TLR3 inhibits autophagy and is a marker of severe COVID-19 in males

The polymorphism L412F in TLR3 has been associated with several infectious diseases. However, the mechanism underlying this association is still unexplored. Here, we show that the L412F polymorphism in TLR3 is a marker of severity in COVID-19. This association increases in the sub-cohort of males. Impaired macroautophagy/autophagy and reduced TNF/TNFα production was demonstrated in HEK293 cells transfected with TLR3L412F-encoding plasmid and stimulated with specific agonist poly(I:C). A statistically significant reduced survival at 28 days was shown in L412F COVID-19 patients treated with the autophagy-inhibitor hydroxychloroquine (p = 0.038). An increased frequency of autoimmune disorders such as co-morbidity was found in L412F COVID-19 males with specific class II HLA haplotypes prone to autoantigen presentation. Our analyses indicate that L412F polymorphism makes males at risk of severe COVID-19 and provides a rationale for reinterpreting clinical trials considering autophagy pathways. Abbreviations: AP: autophagosome; AUC: area under the curve; BafA1: bafilomycin A1; COVID-19: coronavirus disease-2019; HCQ: hydroxychloroquine; RAP: rapamycin; ROC: receiver operating characteristic; SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; TLR: toll like receptor; TNF/TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types