17 research outputs found

    Sviluppo di un anemometro direzionale MEMS per l'equipaggiamento di aeromobili autonomi

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    Il seguente lavoro di tesi ha lo scopo di sviluppare un anemometro direzionale miniaturizzato e a basso consumo di potenza utile per l'equipaggiamento di aereomobili a controllo remoto (UAV). Nell'elaborato sono descritte le varie fasi di progettazione, simulazione, realizzazione e caratterizzazione dell'architettura anemometrica proposta

    Receptor-based virtual screening evaluation for the identification of estrogen receptor β ligands.

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    In this paper, a receptor-based virtual screening study for the identification of estrogen receptor β (ERβ) ligands was developed. Starting from a commercial database of 400,000 molecules, only six compounds resulted to be potential active ligands of ERβ. Interestingly, all the six molecules possess scaffolds that had already been reported in known ERβ ligands. Therefore, the results obtained herein confirm the reliability of our virtual screening procedure, thus encouraging the application of this protocol to larger commercial databases in order to identify new ERβ ligands

    Integrated thermal flow sensors with programmable power-sensitivity trade-off

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    A thermal flow sensor integrated with a programmable electronic interface into the same chip is proposed. The sensing structure is a micro-calorimeter with a double heater configuration fabricated with a simple post-processing technique applied to chip designed with a commercial CMOS process. The electronic interface is based on a low-noise, low-power instrumentation amplifier and a configurable heater current driver. The device characterization in nitrogen confirms the possibility to manage the trade-off between the sensitivity and the power delivered to the device by means of the programmable interface

    VKORC1 mutations associated with resistance to rodenticides in Mus musculus domesticus in four Italian islands

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    Human commensal rodents can be extremely harmful to small islands biocenoses. Eradication of invasive rodents is often one of the most direct methods to protect island biodiversity and most of them are carried out using anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). These compounds act by inhibiting the vitamin K 2,3-epoxide reductase (VKORC) complex of the vitamin K synthesis cycle, an essential cofactor for blood clotting. The phenomenon of resistance to ARs is among the principal reasons for their low efficiency in the management of invasive rodents. Resistance is mainly due to Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in the vkorc1 gene that confer resistance to ARs. The occurrence and the frequency of this SNPs is poorly known for the population of house mice Mus musculus domesticus on the Mediterranean islands. We analysed the three exons of the vkorc1 gene on four islands of central-southern Italy and we found resistance-related mutations on three of them. Particularly, we found the Tyr139Cys mutation on San Domino Island and Ventotene Island and the Glu155Lys on Pantelleria Island and Ventotene Island. San Nicola Island was the only one showing no resistance-related mutations. Tyr139Cys is one of the most frequent amino acid substitutions occurring in the vkorc1 gene in resistant mice and rats in Europe, and it is known to confer resistance to ARs also in heterozygous condition. Glu155Lys was only detected in Norway rats so far and this is the first record of this mutation in the house mouse. Our results preliminarily suggest a wide distribution of resistance-related mutations in insular Italy and therefore a urgent need for a safer, more conscious use of ARs

    A Self-Aligning Upper-Limb Exoskeleton Preserving Natural Shoulder Movements: Kinematic Compatibility Analysis

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    NESM- γ\gamma is an upper-limb exoskeleton to train motor functions of post-stroke patients. Based on the kinesiology of the upper limb, the NESM- γ\gamma includes a four degrees-of-freedom (DOF) active kinematic chain for the shoulder and elbow, along with a passive chain for self-aligning robotic joint axes with the glenohumeral (GH) joint’s center of rotation. The passive chain accounts for scapulohumeral rhythm and trunk rotations. To assess self-aligning performance, we analyzed the kinematic and electromyographic data of the shoulder in eight healthy subjects performing reaching tasks under three experimental conditions: moving without the exoskeleton (baseline), moving while wearing the exoskeleton with the passive DOFs properly functioning, i.e., unlocked (human-in-the-loop(HIL)-unlocked), and with the passive DOFs locked (HIL-locked). Comparison of baseline and HIL-unlocked conditions showed nearly unchanged anatomical movement patterns, with a root-mean-square error of shoulder angle lower than 5 deg and median deviations of the GH center of rotation below 20 mm. Peak muscle activations showed no significant differences. In contrast, the HIL-locked condition deviated significantly from the baseline, as observed by the trunk and GH trajectory deviations up to 50 mm, accompanied by increased peak muscle activations in the Deltoid and Upper Trapezius muscles. These findings highlight the need for kinematic solutions in shoulder exoskeletons that can accommodate the movements of the entire shoulder complex and trunk to achieve kinematic compatibility
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