Demography of the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Mammalia: Delphinidae) in the Eastern Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean): quantification of female reproductive parameters

AbstractThe reproductive histories of 41 adult bottlenose dolphin females were analysed using photo-identification data collected between 2006 and 2014 in four sub-areas of the eastern Ligurian Sea (northwest Mediterranean). The Rapallo sub-area revealed the highest (highly significant) frequency of encounters (per unit effort) of reproductive females in association with young individuals, therefore emerging as a candidate nursery area in the region. The estimated fertility rate of adult females ranged between 290 and 407 births per 1000 individuals per year, higher than that of other known bottlenose dolphin populations, with a calving interval between 2.45 and 3.5 years. These results will be useful for projecting future trends of this (sub)population

Technology-Based Behavioral Interventions for Daily Activities and Supported Ambulation in People With Alzheimer's Disease:

Objectives:These 2 studies evaluated technology-based behavioral interventions for promoting daily activities and supported ambulation in people with mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease, respectively.Methods:Study 1 included 8 participants who were taught to start and carry out daily activities on their own using a tablet or smartphone device, which provided activity reminders, step instructions, and praise. Study 2 included 9 participants who were taught to engage in brief periods of ambulation using a walker combined with a tilt microswitch and a notebook computer, which monitored step responses and provided stimulation and prompts.Results:The participants of study 1 succeeded in starting the activities independently and carrying them out accurately. The participants of study 2 largely increased their ambulation levels and also showed signs of positive involvement (eg, smiles and verbalizations).Conclusion:The aforementioned technology-based interventions may represent practical means for supporting people with Alzheimer's disease

Immune and hemorheological changes in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a multifactorial disorder that affects various physiological systems including immune and neurological systems. The immune system has been substantially examined in CFS with equivocal results, however, little is known about the role of neutrophils and natural killer (NK) phenotypes in the pathomechanism of this disorder. Additionally the role of erythrocyte rheological characteristics in CFS has not been fully expounded. The objective of this present study was to determine deficiencies in lymphocyte function and erythrocyte rheology in CFS patients. METHODS: Flow cytometric measurements were performed for neutrophil function, lymphocyte numbers, NK phenotypes (CD56(dim)CD16(+ )and CD56(bright)CD16(-)) and NK cytotoxic activity. Erythrocyte aggregation, deformability and fibrinogen levels were also assessed. RESULTS: CFS patients (n = 10) had significant decreases in neutrophil respiratory burst, NK cytotoxic activity and CD56(bright)CD16(- )NK phenotypes in comparison to healthy controls (n = 10). However, hemorheological characteristic, aggregation, deformability, fibrinogen, lymphocyte numbers and CD56(dim)CD16(+ )NK cells were similar between the two groups. CONCLUSION: These results indicate immune dysfunction as potential contributors to the mechanism of CFS, as indicated by decreases in neutrophil respiratory burst, NK cell activity and NK phenotypes. Thus, immune cell function and phenotypes may be important diagnostic markers for CFS. The absence of rheological changes may indicate no abnormalities in erythrocytes of CFS patients

A reconfigurable aircraft control scheme based on an hybrid Command Governor supervisory approach

In this paper, we adopt the hybrid supervisory control architecture developed in [1] for constrained control systems. The strategy is based on Command Governor (CG) ideas and is tailored to jointly take into account time-varying set-points/constraints and unpredictable anomalies in the nominal dynamical plant behaviour. The main contribution is to develop a low-computational demanding predictive scheme known in literature as the command governor (CG) for the supervision of non- linear dynamical systems subject to sudden switchings amongst operating conditions and time-varying constraints by preserving its basic properties. In order to show the effectiveness of proposed approach, we show significant simulations on the P92 commercial aircraft used for general aviation purposes. © 2014 American Automatic Control Council

Robotic sensor networks for security

The development of intelligent surveillance systems is an active research area. In this context, mobile and multifunctional robots have been recently adopted as successful means to reduce fixed installations and the number of devices needed to cover a given area. On the other hand, modern techniques for data fusion and decision making can significantly increase the information content extracted from sensors both mounted on the robots and on the infrastructure. The use of many heterogeneous sensors, the number and complexity of operational tasks required for monitoring and surveillance with autonomous components like robots makes the overall system design very challenging. In this paper we present some ideas and investigations ongoing in SELEX Sistemi Integrati to assess the capability of such a kind of robots-sensors systems to improve the monitoring of large and densely populated indoor areas. In particular a discussion on some of the problems arising in robot guidance and navigation, oriented to the reduction of missed and false alarms is firstly carried out. Some numerical simulations are reported to support the proposed investigations. Follows the description of a possible decision fusion algorithm to identify and track risky targets in a dynamic environment with the aid of robots. © 2011 IEEE