Multidisciplinary design and flight testing of a remote gas/particle airborne sensor system

The main objective of this paper is to describe the development of a remote sensing airborne air sampling system for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and provide the capability for the detection of particle and gas concentrations in real time over remote locations. The design of the air sampling methodology started by defining system architecture, and then by selecting and integrating each subsystem. A multifunctional air sampling instrument, with capability for simultaneous measurement of particle and gas concentrations was modified and integrated with ARCAA’s Flamingo UAS platform and communications protocols. As result of the integration process, a system capable of both real time geo-location monitoring and indexed-link sampling was obtained. Wind tunnel tests were conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the air sampling instrument in controlled nonstationary conditions at the typical operational velocities of the UAS platform. Once the remote fully operative air sampling system was obtained, the problem of mission design was analyzed through the simulation of different scenarios. Furthermore, flight tests of the complete air sampling system were then conducted to check the dynamic characteristics of the UAS with the air sampling system and to prove its capability to perform an air sampling mission following a specific flight path

Role of antiviral therapy in the natural history of hepatitis B virus-related chronic liver disease

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a dynamic state of interactions among HBV, hepatocytes, and the host immune system. Natural history studies of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection have shown an association between active viral replication and adverse clinical outcomes such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The goal of therapy for CHB is to improve quality of life and survival by preventing progression of the disease to cirrhosis, decompensation, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and death. This goal can be achieved if HBV replication is suppressed in a sustained manner. The accompanying reduction in histological activity of CHB lessens the risk of cirrhosis and of HCC, particularly in non-cirrhotic patients. However, CHB infection cannot be completely eradicated, due to the persistence of covalently closed circular DNA in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes, which may explain HBV reactivation. Moreover, the integration of the HBV genome into the host genome may favour oncogenesis, development of HCC and may also contribute to HBV reactivation

Markers of acute rejection and graft acceptance in liver transplantation.

The evaluation of the immunosuppression state in liver transplanted patients is crucial for a correct post-transplant management and a major step towards the personalisation of the immunosuppressive therapy. However, current immunological monitoring after liver transplantation relies mainly on clinical judgment and on immunosuppressive drug levels, without a proper assessment of the real suppression of the immunological system. Various markers have been studied in an attempt to identify a specific indicator of graft rejection and graft acceptance after liver transplantation. Considering acute rejection, the most studied markers are pro-inflammatory and immunoregulatory cytokines and other proteins related to inflammation. However there is considerable overlap with other conditions, and only few of them have been validated. Standard liver tests cannot be used as markers of graft rejection due to their low sensitivity and specificity and the weak correlation with the severity of histopathological findings. Several studies have been performed to identify biomarkers of tolerance in liver transplanted patients. Most of them are based on the analysis of peripheral blood samples and on the use of transcriptional profiling techniques. Amongst these, NK cell-related molecules seem to be the most valid marker of graft acceptance, whereas the role CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells has still to be properly defined

Perceived neighbourhood quality and adult health status: new statistical advices useful to answer old questions?

Interest in the quantitative effects of neighbourhood characteristics on adult health has recently increased in social epidemiology. Particularly, investigations concern the statistical influence on health of several individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and of neighbourhood characteristics as perceived by respondents. We analyze these issues within an original conceptual framework and employing statistical models unusual in this context. We use data collected in the Los Angeles Family and Neighbourhood Survey (L.A.FANS) to model the number of hospital admissions occurred to each individual as a function of some individual and neighbourhood characteristics, the latter being related to the individual perceptions about the neighbourhood he lives in. We employ generalized additive models with different distributional assumptions: Poisson, Negative Biomial and Zero Inflated Poisson (ZIP). Such models allow us to estimate (through spline functions) potential non linear effects of the covariates on the response. Moreover, non standard representations are used to overcome difficulties in interpreting the results for ZIP models. It turns out that perceived neighbourhood characteristics, and in particular the perception of social cohesion, have a significant effect after controlling for individual characteristics relevant to hospital admissions frequency. From a modeling point of view ZIP and Negative binomial models prove to be superior to standard Poisson model. We have confirmed the role of the neighbourhood where an individual lives in determining his health status. A strength of this analysis is that, due to the choice of the neighbourhood characteristics to be included in the model, the results do not depend of a particular definition of neighbourhood (which is traditionally based on administrative boundaries), since each individual refers his perceptions to his personal definition of it

Effective Conformal Descriptions of Black Hole Entropy

It is no longer considered surprising that black holes have temperatures and entropies. What remains surprising, though, is the universality of these thermodynamic properties: their exceptionally simple and general form, and the fact that they can be derived from many very different descriptions of the underlying microscopic degrees of freedom. I review the proposal that this universality arises from an approximate conformal symmetry, which permits an effective "conformal dual" description that is largely independent of the microscopic details.Comment: 27 pages; solicited review article, to appear in Entrop

Material (re)contextualization: goal establishment in means-oriented architectural design

The most common starting point for design is the definition of the design problem. This is commonly expressed as goals and objectives to be met and referred to as “goals-oriented” design. A reverse process for conceiving architecture, called “means-oriented” design uses available materials and means as a starting point for design and then establishes a process for detailing and objectives to be reached. Designers are directed by discarded materials, elements or structures, with no initial spatial objectives. Means-oriented design is therefore a novel approach in which designers and architects research the affordances of means before they establish a process. It brings the importance of materiality back to design science and encourage adaptive reuse within the process. Early consideration of materiality during the design development resituates older materials within a new context. In light of the above, the main objective of this paper is to identify how goals are built during means-oriented design and how this affects the reuse of materials, elements or structures. The paper reports on the analysis of findings from a learning environment where students were challenged to design and build panels from irregular sized decommissioned weapon parts. Their approach and outcomes for each stage were unfolded and potential influences between internal and external factors were crossed to search patterns upon the definition of proposals and the final product

Dynamic DNA-Methylation of Retrotransposons in Rue under Drought Stress

Ruta graveolens (rue) is plant native to the Mediterranean region and presents in traditional medicine of this region since ancient times. There is poor information about the genome of Ruta and repetitive sequences and active mobile genetic elements have not been identified yet. Since rue genome is still mostly unexplored, and proliferative capability and large size of transposons make them key contributors to genome size and evolution, we aimed to isolate and characterize transposon sequences with a view to better understanding rue genome. We have isolated novel types of Ty1-copia like LTR reverse transcriptase from Ruta graveolens, leading to investigation of the genomic organization and phylogenetic relationships. Since the activation of transposable elements in response to environmental changes represents a form of adaptive response to biotic stress, we investigated if drought stress could influence transposon methylation and if the extent of methylation has been related to expression level. The results can have implications for rue genome understanding and their potential impact on Ruta evolution

Three dimensional echocardiographic assessment of the extension of dysfunctional mass in patients with coronary artery disease

Two-dimensional (2D) echocardiographic estimation of infarcted mass is limited by having only a few selected nonparallel views for data analysis. Volume-rendered three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography may be able to overcome the above limitations, because it uses multiple, parallel 2D images to derive quantitative data. Previous experimental studies demonstrated that 3D echocardiography is an accurate and reproducible method to assess dysfunctional mass. To estimate the accuracy of 3D echocardiography in humans, we evaluated 10 patients who had a single myocardial infarction. All patients underwent 2D and 3D echocardiography using the transesophageal approach, and contrast (gadolinium) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), considered a reference standard for infarcted tissue detection. The mean extent of dysfunctional mass by MRI was 28 +/- 13 g and by 3D echocardiography was 30 +/- 12 g; the mean difference was 1.9 +/- 2.3 g (p = not significant). Linear regression analysis between the 2 measurements was y = 0.97x - 1.12, r = 0.98. Dysfunctional mass derived from 3D echocardiography reflects the real site and extension of damaged myocardium