Improving the Power System safety in Hospitals by means of periodical SFRA tests on Medical Isolation Transformers

The paper has the main aim of demonstrating a possible use of the well consolidated monitoring SFRA (Sweep Frequency Response Analysis) technique for preventive maintenance procedure applied to isolation medical transformers operating in hospitals’ group 2 medical locations. In particular, a novel testing platform has been implemented that can perform the monitoring test on IT-M during normal periodical verification provided by specific standard. In the paper, some results of the practical application of such a platform to several transformers in currently in operation in various Italian hospitals have been reported

The Commons - Die Allmende

This research is in the fields of aesthetics, cartography and environmental change. A series of drone photographs, text, and a short film showing alternately on 4 separate screens around the exhibition space. Shot across continents over a year of the pandemic, this series of images, explores the contemporary notion of ‘die Allmende’, or the commons. Two vastly contrasting sites at the edge of their altitudinal and environmental extremes were chosen; the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland and the southern shores of the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan. Through the diverse media of text, cartography, (aerial) photography and film (6 minutes), an insight and context to their parallel and distinct evolution is documented and contrasted

Challenge and future trends of distributed measurement systems based on Blockchain technology in the European context

In these years, Blockchain technology is growing in importance thanks to cryptocurrencies. This technology offers many features such as the immutability of data stored in the data chain, the replicability of data in nodes, the management without a central repository, etc. These features are widely adopted also in other fields such as in distributed measurement systems. Although the Blockchain technology is widespread worldwide, there is still a legislative gap in the adoption of this technology in various states. This paper will examine the challenge and future trends on distributed measurement systems based on Blockchain technology in the European context. In particular, critical aspects of Blockchain technology will be examined under GDPR point of view and in particular in the management of data and privacy. The advantages and disadvantages of using Blockchain technology in applications such as the Internet of Things and smart contracts will be discussed and some aspects of legal metrology in Blockchain networks will be analyzed. At the end, future trends in Blockchain technology applied to distributed measurement systems will be show

Implementing the “Best Template Searching” tool into Adenosiland platform

Background: Adenosine receptors (ARs) belong to the G protein-coupled receptors (GCPRs) family. The recent release of X-ray structures of the human A2A AR (h A2A AR ) in complex with agonists and antagonists has increased the application of structure-based drug design approaches to this class of receptors. Among them, homology modeling represents the method of choice to gather structural information on the other receptor subtypes, namely A1, A2B, and A3 ARs. With the aim of helping users in the selection of either a template to build its own models or ARs homology models publicly available on our platform, we implemented our web-resource dedicated to ARs, Adenosiland, with the “Best Template Searching” facility. This tool is freely accessible at the following web address: http://mms.dsfarm.unipd.it/Adenosiland/ligand.php. Findings: The template suggestions and homology models provided by the “Best Template Searching” tool are guided by the similarity of a query structure (putative or known ARs ligand) with all ligands co-crystallized with hA2A AR subtype. The tool computes several similarity indexes and sort the outcoming results according to the index selected by the user. Conclusions: We have implemented our web-resource dedicated to ARs Adenosiland with the “Best Template Searching” facility, a tool to guide template and models selection for hARs modelling. The underlying idea of our new facility, that is the selection of a template (or models built upon a template) whose co-crystallized ligand shares the highest similarity with the query structure, can be easily extended to other GPCRs

Online SFRA for Reliability of Power Systems: Characterization of a Batch of Healthy and Damaged Induction Motors for Predictive Maintenance

Asynchronous motors represent a large percentage of motors used in the electrical industry. Suitable predictive maintenance techniques are strongly required when these motors are critical in their operations. Continuous non-invasive monitoring techniques can be investigated to avoid the disconnection of the motors under test and service interruption. This paper proposes an innovative predictive monitoring system based on the online sweep frequency response analysis (SFRA) technique. The testing system applies variable frequency sinusoidal signals to the motors and then acquires and processes the applied and response signals in the frequency domain. In the literature, SFRA has been applied to power transformers and electric motors switched off and disconnected from the main grid. The approach described in this work is innovative. Coupling circuits allow for the injection and acquisition of the signals, while grids feed the motors. A comparison between the transfer functions (TFs) of healthy motors and those with slight damage was performed with a batch of 1.5 kW, four-pole induction motors to investigate the technique’s performance. The results show that the online SFRA could be of interest for monitoring induction motors’ health conditions, especially for mission-critical and safety-critical applications. The overall cost of the whole testing system, including the coupling filters and cables, is less than EUR 400

Targeting Aquaporin Function:Potent Inhibition of Aquaglyceroporin-3 by a Gold-Based Compound

Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane channels that conduct water and small solutes such as glycerol and are involved in many physiological functions. Aquaporin-based modulator drugs are predicted to be of broad potential utility in the treatment of several diseases. Until today few AQP inhibitors have been described as suitable candidates for clinical development. Here we report on the potent inhibition of AQP3 channels by gold(III) complexes screened on human red blood cells (hRBC) and AQP3-transfected PC12 cells by a stopped-flow method. Among the various metal compounds tested, Auphen is the most active on AQP3 (IC(50) = 0.8±0.08 µM in hRBC). Interestingly, the compound poorly affects the water permeability of AQP1. The mechanism of gold inhibition is related to the ability of Au(III) to interact with sulphydryls groups of proteins such as the thiolates of cysteine residues. Additional DFT and modeling studies on possible gold compound/AQP adducts provide a tentative description of the system at a molecular level. The mapping of the periplasmic surface of an homology model of human AQP3 evidenced the thiol group of Cys40 as a likely candidate for binding to gold(III) complexes. Moreover, the investigation of non-covalent binding of Au complexes by docking approaches revealed their preferential binding to AQP3 with respect to AQP1. The high selectivity and low concentration dependent inhibitory effect of Auphen (in the nanomolar range) together with its high water solubility makes the compound a suitable drug lead for future in vivo studies. These results may present novel metal-based scaffolds for AQP drug development

Hidden GPCR structural transitions addressed by multiple walker supervised molecular dynamics (mwSuMD)

AbstractG protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the most abundant membrane proteins and the target of about 35% of approved drugs, but the structural basis of GPCR pharmacology is still a matter of intense study. Here, we present an unbiased molecular dynamics adaptive sampling algorithm, namely multiple walker supervised molecular dynamics (mwSuMD), that performs well on different hidden transitions involving GPCRs. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations aim at expanding the knowledge of GPCR dynamics by building upon the recent advances in structural biology. However, the timescale limitations of classic MD hinder its applicability to numerous structural processes happening in time scales longer than microseconds (hidden structural transitions), limiting the overall MD impact on the study of GPCRs, hence our new algorithm. By increasing the complexity of the simulated process, we report the binding and unbinding of the vasopressin peptide from its receptor V2, the inactive-to-active transition of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R), and the stimulatory (Gs) and inhibitory (Gi) G proteins binding to the adrenoreceptor β2(β2AR) and the adenosine 1 receptor (A1R), respectively. Finally, we report on the heterodimerization between the adenosine receptor A2(A2AR) and the dopamine receptor D2(D2R). We demonstrate mwSuMD usefulness for studying atomic-level GPCR transitions that are challenging to address with classic MD simulations.</jats:p

Euclid: I. Overview of the Euclid mission

The current standard model of cosmology successfully describes a variety of measurements, but the nature of its main ingredients,dark matter and dark energy, remains unknown. Euclid is a medium-class mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 programme of theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) that will provide high-resolution optical imaging, as well as near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy,over about 14 000 deg² of extragalactic sky. In addition to accurate weak lensing and clustering measurements that probe structureformation over half of the age of the Universe, its primary probes for cosmology, these exquisite data will enable a wide range ofscience. This paper provides a high-level overview of the mission, summarising the survey characteristics, the various data-processingsteps, and data products. We also highlight the main science objectives and expected performance

Modeling, Analysis and Implementation of an Urban Electric Light-Rail Train Hydrogen Powered

A novel hydrogen power configuration of a Light Hybrid Electric (LHE) rail train able to operate along sub-urban non-electrified rail lines is proposed and analysed in the paper. The electric motors of the emission-free LHE rail train are fed by a hybrid power unit consisting of hydrogen fuel cell stacks and a set of high-speed kinetic energy storage systems. A control strategy of the power-train components has been developed to manage power flows in order to reduce the fuel consumption. This advanced and environment friendly hybrid propulsion system offers the opportunity to increase the power-train efficiency so that the fuel consumption is minimised. Simulator software of the proposed HLE rail train has been implemented in order to design the power-train components and compute train performance. A rail transport service is considered and a round trip journey of the LHE rail train is simulated over an existing re-designed not electrified single track line in the sub-urban area of L’Aquila city (Italy). Furthermore, the specific fuel consumption comparative analysis between the hydrogen rail train and a diesel one running over the selected path at the same operating conditions has been performed and the results are discussed in terms of CO2 emissions too. The results show that the proposed LHE rail train is technically suitable and advantage to operate in urban environmen