A systematic review of a polyvagal perspective on embodied contemplative practices as promoters of cardiorespiratory coupling and traumatic stress recovery for ptsd and ocd: Research methodologies and state of the art

Baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been proposed as a transdiagnostic biomarker of stress vulnerability across psychopathologies, and a reliable association between PTSD, OCD and lower resting RSA was found. Contemplative practices have been linked to the activation of the vagus as well as to an increased RSA that, according to the polyvagal theory, reflects the activation of the ventral vagal complex (VVC) and may promote PTSD and OCD recovery. PubMed and Scopus databases were selected to conduct a search following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, and A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2) was used to appraise the methodological quality for this systematic review. Six articles met the inclusion criteria (one cross-sectional study, one study with pre-post measurements, two cohort studies and two RCT studies). Mindfulness-related interventions promoted parasympathetic activity, an increased vagal tone and improvements in PTSD and OCD symptoms. According to the polyvagal theory, mindfulness-related and compassion-related meditations would be conceptualized as neural exercises expanding the capacity of the ventral vagal complex to regulate the present state and to promote resilience. Clinical and methodological issues are discussed

CAIMAN Experiment

Non-acoustic detection systems can be used in combination with Sonar systems to determine the presence of an underwater threat, such as terrorist divers. The goal of the CAIMAN (Coastal Anti Intruders MAgnetometers Network) joint experiment (Italian Navy, NATO Undersea Research Centre and INGV Marine Geophysics) is the application of High Definition Geophysics Magnetic techniques in a port protection scenario, where conventional measurements of very low magnetic sources, like intruder swimmers, are strongly disturbed by ambient, natural and artificial, background noise and other time-variant magnetic anomalies. Two tri-axial fluxgate magnetometers were deployed on the sea bottom and connected to a shore side measurement station. A team of navy divers, wearing both COTS and EOD equipment, performed some coastal approach runs on each magnetometer alternatively. Magnetic signature data were logged and post processed using MATLAB®. Results demonstrated the effectiveness of high definition time reduction techniques using a self-referred integrated array design

“Sport and Anatomy”: Teaching, Research, and Assistance at the University of Pisa

Introduction: Over the last decades, the university system has experienced huge growth, facing several challenges. Accordingly, the University of Pisa recognizes the value and opportunities deriving from research and fully supports collaboration with the world of entrepreneurship and industry, as well as local communities. Study programs, teaching methods and technologies, learning environments, quality assurance, programmed student numbers, and research results are key features of the prestige of the scientific community. Aim: In this respect, “Sport and Anatomy”, a brand that includes an academic organization at the University of Pisa, holds two main goals: (i) to offer the top level in both educational and professional fields; and (ii) to optimize the fine-tuning among all these sections, thus becoming a reference point for sports management. Methods and results: Indispensable links between basic and specialist sciences through different Masters’ and schools were created. In addition to didactic activity, research activity, medical assistance, and rehabilitation were coordinated. Two main outcomes emerged from this experience: (i) improved stakeholder performances and (ii) optimized cooperation between university and local communities. Conclusions: “Sport and Anatomy” plays a key role in supervising and accomplishing in an innovative way all the three missions of the university (i.e., teaching, research, and dissemination of knowledge), thus strongly fulfilling the aims of modern university targets

High-intensity exercise training induces morphological and biochemical changes in skeletal muscle

Skeletal muscle shows an elevated plasticity and can adapt its metabolic and contractile properties in response to a variety of stimuli such as physical exercise. This implies a series of biochemical and morphological changes in the recruited muscle, in order to produce the more appropriate functional response dependent on the specific stimulation. To determine the effective role of physical exercise in the muscle plasticity, in the present study we investigated the effect of two different exercise protocols on fiber composition and metabolism of two specific muscles of mice: the quadriceps -a fast-twitch muscle- and the gastrocnemius -a typical slow-twitch muscle. Mice were run daily on a motorized treadmill for 8 weeks, at a velocity corresponding to 60% (low-intensity exercise) or 90% (high-intensity exercise) of the maximal running velocity previously determined by an incremental exercise test. We found that at the end of training the body weight was significantly increased in highintensity exercise mice (18.2 ± 1.4 %) compared to low-intensity exercise (8.7 ± 0.6 %) and control (12.7 ± 0.5 %) groups, and it was lesser in low-intensity exercise mice compared to controls. In contrast, the food intake of both exercise training mice was greater compared to control group. Whereas low-intensity exercise mice, despite consumed significantly more food compared to control mice, increased the weight lesser, the weight increase of high-intensity exercise mice, that consumed significantly more food compared to other experimental groups, was significantly greater. These effects were accompanied by a progressive reduction in blood lactate levels at the end of training in both the exercised mice compared with controls; in particular, blood lactate levels after highintensity exercise were significantly lower than those measured in low-intensity exercise mice. Moreover, in the present study we demonstrated that high-intensity exercise training produced a significant increase in the expression of mitochondrial complex enzymes (significant for the enzymes corresponding to the Complex IV, II and I of mitochondrial chain) both in gastrocnemius and quadriceps muscle, compared with controls. These changes were associated with an increase in the amount of slow fibers in both these muscle of high-intensity exercise mice. No changing in the expression of mitochondrial enzymes and in the percentage of slow fibers were found in low-intensity exercise mice

Component-aware Orchestration of Cloud-based Enterprise Applications, from TOSCA to Docker and Kubernetes

Enterprise IT is currently facing the challenge of coordinating the management of complex, multi-component applications across heterogeneous cloud platforms. Containers and container orchestrators provide a valuable solution to deploy multi-component applications over cloud platforms, by coupling the lifecycle of each application component to that of its hosting container. We hereby propose a solution for going beyond such a coupling, based on the OASIS standard TOSCA and on Docker. We indeed propose a novel approach for deploying multi-component applications on top of existing container orchestrators, which allows to manage each component independently from the container used to run it. We also present prototype tools implementing our approach, and we show how we effectively exploited them to carry out a concrete case study

Misure ambientali in mare aperto: sviluppo di tecnologie per l'acquisizione e l'analisi di dati meteo-mareografici misurati da una boa oceanografica in Mar Ligure

Obiettivo del presente lavoro è lo sviluppo di un metodo di analisi in grado di stimare i parametri fondamentali del moto ondoso, a partire dai dati acquisiti da tre altimetri acustici installati a bordo di una boa meteo-oceanografica operante in mare aperto. Il metodo di analisi sviluppato compie opportune operazioni di filtraggio sulle sequenze temporali delle misure effettuate dai tre altimetri, quindi, elaborando tali sequenze, fornisce le stime di alcuni parametri caratteristici del moto ondoso (tra cui l’altezza e la direzione di propagazione). I diversi tipi di filtraggio ed il metodo di stima sviluppati si basano sul calcolo di alcuni parametri statistici (tra cui media, mediana e deviazione standard) delle serie temporali di dati acquisiti, sulla conoscenza delle loro densità spettrali di potenza (calcolate mediante FFT), e sul calcolo delle funzioni di crosscorrelazione delle sequenze di dati prese a due a due. Il procedimento di stima realizzato è stato sperimentato su una notevole quantità di dati reali acquisiti in Mar Ligure tramite l’utilizzo della stazione di misura fissa su cui sono montati gli altimetri acustici, ed ha fornito risultati soddisfacenti per quanto riguarda affidabilità e precisione. Nell’ambito della valutazione delle prestazioni del sistema di acquisizione dati e del metodo di stima, i risultati ottenuti sono stati confrontati con misure provenienti da altri sensori a bordo della stazione e con stime analoghe effettuate a partire dai dati acquisiti da un’altra stazione di misura, operante anch’essa in Mar Ligure, ma dotata di strumentazione di altro tipo

A Preliminary Study on SVM based Analysis of Underwater Magnetic Signals for Port Protection

People who attend to the problem of underwater port protection usually use sonar based systems. Recently it has been shown that integrating a sonar system with an auxiliary array of magnetic sensors can improve the effectiveness of the intruder detection system. One of the major issues that arise from the integrated magnetic and acoustic system is the interpretation of the magnetic signals coming from the sensors. In this paper a machine learning approach is proposed for the detection of divers or, in general, of underwater magnetic sources. The research proposed here, by means of a windowing of the signals, uses Support Vector Machines for classification, as tool for the detection problem. Empirical results show the effectiveness of the method

Anti-intruder port protection “MAC (Magnetic ACoustic) System”: advances in the magnetic component performance

In the following, we report the advances made in the development of a magnetic component for peripheral monitoring of port environments for anti-intruder systems. The project was initiated by the Office of Research and Development, COMFORDRAG, Italian Navy, in 2004, with the aim of improving the detection performance of current acoustic-based anti-intruder systems, in the vicinity of quays or the seabed or in acoustic-shadow zones behind natural or artificial objects. In the five-year period from 2004 to 2008, the system has been subjected to detection-performance tests in experiments involving divers equipped with air tanks and rebreather kits in real port environments and, at the same time, the associated signal processing has been subjected to development, to enhance detection performance. In tests involving simulated diver attacks against a vessel moored alongside a quay in the port of La Spezia, the system has been proved particularly effective by detecting 9 divers out of 9. The processing of the magnetic signal has been enhanced by implementing an amplitude threshold, as a means of filtering the passive energy components, termed Passive Energy Cutting (PEC), that is, the elimination of components that comprise no useful information regarding diver transits. The use of PEC boosts the reliability of the system in terms of detection versus false alarm rate, as evidenced by the comparison of the ROC curves for the system with and without PEC

Clearance Operation of Teulada Site (Italy): A Novel Approach for Short Term MCM Missions in Seafloor Hard Conditions

In May 2007, following a request by Italian Navy (ITN), NURC agreed to provide the technology, developed during the port protection studies and 2006 MCM ops. in Baltic sea for Estonian Navy, to survey part of the Capo Teulada firing range (Sardinia Island, Italy), used by NATO Armed Forces. The goal of the service, fully funded by ITN, was to survey part of the firing range with acoustic, magnetic and optical instruments in order to detect and classify the ordnance laying on the seafloor. The team operated from CRV Leonardo to produce a detailed acoustic and magnetic map of the area. The positions of the targets of interest have been provided to Italian Navy for further identification and disposal. The activities have demonstrated that the NURC Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) Remus type equipped with high frequency side scan sonar can detect and classify targets of the dimensions of unexploded ordnance laying proud on the sea floor. A multiple sonar images technique has also been used to improve the classification performances. However, in some areas, targets that were completely buried or concealed in Posidonia fields wouldn’t have been detectable with AUV sonar. To overcome this limitation, INGV supported the NURC team by using a new high definition magnetometer technique to detect and classify buried metal targets. A proton Overhauser sensor was towed from Leonardo vessel and a magnetometer reference station was set ashore in an appropriate site. A subset of interesting contacts (acoustic and magnetic) have been identified optically by means of the video camera installed on the ROV (Pluto Plus type by Gaymarine) operated from Leonardo. The positioning accuracy achieved was fully compatible with the reacquisition by ROV and then by divers or mine hunters for future disposal ops. The survey has also produced an accurate map of the Posidonia fields and a detailed bathymetry of the area. More than 300 contacts have been acquired and more than 200 were classified in less than 15 days. The success of Teulada operation has convinced ITN to ask NURC for a common development programme with the aim to validate at sea a fully integrated multi-sensor approach (sonar, magnetic and optical) in MCM short term ops. using USV/AUV platforms