2,005 research outputs found
Acclimation trials of juvenile Italian sturgeon to different salinities: morpho-physiological descriptors
ATLAS RPC Quality Assurance results at INFN Lecce
The main results of the quality assurance tests performed on the Resistive
Plate Chamber used by the ATLAS experiment at LHC as muon trigger chambers are
reported and discussed.
Since July 2004, about 270 RPC units has been certified at INFN Lecce site
and delivered to CERN, for being integrated in the final muon station of the
ATLAS barrel region.
We show the key RPC characteristics which qualify the performance of this
detector technology as muon trigger chamber in the harsh LHC enviroments.
These are dark current, chamber efficiency, noise rate, gas volume
tomography, and gas leakage.Comment: Comments: 6 pages, 1 table, 9 figures Proceedings of XXV Physics in
Collision-Prague, Czech Republic, 6-9 July 200
6D physical interaction with a fully actuated aerial robot
This paper presents the design, control, and experimental validation of a novel fully-actuated aerial robot for physically interactive tasks, named Tilt-Hex. We show how the Tilt-Hex, a tilted-propeller hexarotor is able to control the full pose (position and orientation independently) using a geometric control, and to exert a full-wrench (force and torque independently) with a rigidly attached end-effector using an admittance control paradigm. An outer loop control governs the desired admittance behavior and an inner loop based on geometric control ensures pose tracking. The interaction forces are estimated by a momentum based observer. Control and observation are made possible by a precise control and measurement of the speed of each propeller. An extensive experimental campaign shows that the Tilt-Hex is able to outperform the classical underactuated multi-rotors in terms of stability, accuracy and dexterity and represent one of the best choice at date for tasks requiring aerial physical interaction
ATLAS RPC Cosmic Ray Teststand at INFN Lecce
We describe the design and functionality of the cosmic ray teststand built at
INFN Lecce for ATLAS RPC quality control assurance.Comment: XXIV Physics in Collisions Conference (PIC04), Boston, USA, June
2004, 3 pages, LaTex, 2 eps figures. MONP0
Serum deprivation alters lipid profile in HN9.10e embryonic hippocampal cells
The understanding of the mechanism of apoptosis is important to improve the use of stem cells for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. Sphingolipids are bioactive molecules involved in the regulation of cell fate. In HN9.10e embryonic hippocampal cells, serum deprivation induces apoptosis preceded by sphingomyelinase activation and raise of ceramide levels. Increasing evidence indicates that individual ceramide species regulated by specific pathways in distinct subcellular compartments might carry out distinct cellular functions, but the ceramides species involved in embryonic hippocampal cell death induced by growth factor deprivation are unknown. In the present paper, by using the UFLC-MS/MS methodology, we have investigated the effect of serum deprivation on the lipid profile in HN9.10e cells. At 48h of serum deprivation, we detected a decrease in cholesterol and increase in sphingosine-1-phoshate 18:1, phosphatidylcholine 18:1 18:0, sphingomyelin 18:1 16:0 and in ceramides 18:1 16:0; we also found an increase in saturated/unsaturated fatty acid ratio in sphingomyelin. We hypothesize that the rearrangement of sphingo- and glycerolipids with increase of saturated fatty acids in serum-deprivated, neural cells might represent a cellular response aimed at holding cholesterol inside the cells
Spaceflight Induced Disorders: Potential Nutritional Countermeasures
Space travel is an extreme experience even for the astronaut who has received extensive basic training in various fields, from aeronautics to engineering, from medicine to physics and biology. Microgravity puts a strain on members of space crews, both physically and mentally: short-term or long-term travel in orbit the International Space Station may have serious repercussions on the human body, which may undergo physiological changes affecting almost all organs and systems, particularly at the muscular, cardiovascular and bone compartments. This review aims to highlight recent studies describing damages of human body induced by the space environment for microgravity, and radiation. All novel conditions, to ally unknown to the Darwinian selection strategies on Earth, to which we should add the psychological stress that astronauts suffer due to the inevitable forced cohabitation in claustrophobic environments, the deprivation from their affections and the need to adapt to a new lifestyle with molecular changes due to the confinement. In this context, significant nutritional deficiencies with consequent molecular mechanism changes in the cells that induce to the onset of physiological and cognitive impairment have been considered
The behaviour of nuclear domains in the course of apoptosis.
none9Programmed cell death is activated, by different
stimuli and in many cell types, to regulate cell population
balance during tissue proliferation and embryogenesis.
Its initial event seems to be, in most cases, the
activation of a Ca2+-dependent endonuclease, causing
DNA cleavage into nucleosomic fragments. Its morphological
expression is characterized by deep nuclear
changes, consisting of typical cap-shaped chromatin
marginations, followed by nuclear fragmentation and final
formation of numerous micronuclei. Cytoplasmic
damage appears in a very late stage of the process and
the greatest part of the phenomenon appears to take
place despite good preservation of the plasma membrane
and organellar component. In the present study we analyzed
apoptosis in camptothecin-treated HL60 leukaemia
cells, and in freshly isolated mouse thymocytes treated
with dexamethasone. The process was first quantified and time monitored by flow cytometry. Subsequently the
specimens were processed for morphological examination
in order to investigate the behaviour of the different
nuclear domains. To follow DNA and RNA localization,
we utilized osmium ammine and DNase-colloidal gold
cytochemical reactions. The concentration of most DNA
in the cap-shaped structures was demonstrated by these
reactions. Confocal microscopy of cells processed by in
situ nick-translation suggested that DNA was firstly
cleaved and subsequently condensed in cup-shaped
structures. Despite the strong nuclear modifications, nucleoli
could be clearly recognized until the late apoptotic
stages.openFALCIERI E; ZAMAI L; SANTI S; CINTI C; GOBBI P.; BOSCO D; CATALDI A; BETTS C; VITALE MFalcieri, Elisabetta; Zamai, Loris; Santi, S; Cinti, C; Gobbi, Pietro; Bosco, D; Cataldi, A; Betts, C; Vitale, M
Multi-technique characterization of pictorial organic binders on XV century polychrome sculptures by combining microand non-invasive sampling approaches
A stony sculptural composition of the Nativity Scene is preserved in Altamura’s Cathedral (Apulia, Italy). This commonly called Apulian “presepe”, attributed to an unknown stonemason, is composed of polychrome carbonate white stone sculptures. While earlier stratigraphic tests have unveiled a complex superimposition of painting layers—meaning that several editions of the sculptures succeeded from the 16th to 20th century—a chemical investigation intended to identify the organic binding media used in painting layers was undertaken. Drawing on current literature, two strategies were exploited: a non-invasive in situ digestion analysis and an approach based on microremoval of painting film followed by the Bligh and Dyer extraction protocol. Both peptide and lipid mixtures were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDIMS) and reversed-phase liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry by electrospray ionization (RPLC-ESI-MS). Attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) examinations were also performed on micro-samples of painting films before lipids and proteins extraction. While human keratins were found to be common contaminants of the artwork’s surfaces, traces of animal collagen, siccative oils, and egg white proteins were evidenced in different sampling zones of the sculptures, thus suggesting the use of non-homogeneous painting techniques in the colored layers
The control of cellular shape and motility. Mg2+ and tropomyosin regulate the formation and the dissociation of microfilament bundles
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