Natural modifiers of seed longevity in the Arabidopsis mutants abscisic acid insensitive3-5 (abi3-5) and leafy cotyledon1-3 (lec1-3)

• Seed longevity is an important trait in many crops and is essential for the success of most land plant species. Current knowledge of its molecular regulation is limited. The Arabidopsis mutants abscisic acid insensitive3-5 (abi3-5) and leafy cotyledon1-3 (lec1-3) have impaired seed maturation and quickly lose seed viability. abi3-5 and lec1-3 were used as sensitized genetic backgrounds for the study of seed longevity. • We exploited the natural variation of Arabidopsis to create introgression lines from the Seis am Schlern and Shahdara accessions in, respectively, the abi3-5 and lec1-3 backgrounds. These lines carry natural modifiers of the abi3 and lec1 phenotypes. Longevity tests and a proteomic analysis were conducted to describe the seed physiology of each line. • The modifier lines showed improved seed longevity. The Shahdara modifiers can partially re-establish the seed developmental programs controlled by LEC1 and restore the accumulation of seed storage proteins that are reduced in abi3-5 and lec1-3. • The isolation and characterization of natural modifiers of the seed maturation mutants abi3-5 and lec1-3, and the analysis of their seed proteomes, advance our current understanding of seed longevit

Step-index optical waveguide produced by multistep ion implantation in LiNbO3

The refractive indexes, material attenuation and damage fractions of a multi-step ion implanted Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) waveguide were analyzed as functions of the annealing temperatures. An almost flat damage depth profile was designed to reduce the uncertainties related to the indexes profile shape, thus providing a better test-case for the characterizations. The measurements performed on the fabricated optical waveguides confirmed the predicted step-index profiles showing that the light is confined inside the damaged layer. The low measured attenuation (less than 0.8 dB/cm @632.8 nm) makes the obtained waveguide attractive for device fabrication

Monolithic fully integrated programmable micro-diffraction grating based on electro-optical materials

In the last few years Programmable Micro Diffraction Gratings (PMDG) have shown the possibility to be applied in many areas, spanning from imaging, to telecommunication, to spectroscopy. These devices were mainly based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) techniques and realized by moveable mirrors and pop-up structures. Although this approach have held a central stage in Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MOEMS), they made the realized devices delicate and not useful for some critical environments. In this work we discuss the possibility to fabricate a fully integrated electrically driven PMDG device where, to avoid the presence of moving parts, the electro-optical properties of a suitable substrate material are used. The theoretical approach and the design procedure of a miniaturized PMDG apparatus useful as a generator of synthetic spectra are illustrated and discussed in details

UAV SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT FOR THE MONITORING AND STUDY VOLCANIC AND NATURAL HAZARD EVENTS.

During a natural hazard as volcano eruption the aircraft or helicopter reconnaissance flight require human operators. This implies a high risk level which depends on the environmental conditions. The Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) allows to operate a monitoring and surveillance in safety. An experiment of a radio controlled UAV has been carried out on Stromboli volcano on 2004. From this experience a UAV system, (automated controlled), devoted to volcanoes monitoring is under development at the DIEM Department of the University of Bologna. The projected UAV will be furnished of Visible camera will also lodge an IR camera and will experiment a new micro-interferometer based on MOEMS technology, (developed by IMM Institute of CNR), suitable to perform DOAS Fourier spectroscopy, to detect atmospheric trace gases. The uses of the IR camera are relevant in monitoring, during pre-crisis, for thermal anomalies detection and, during crisis, for lava temperatures measurements. These parameters, jointly to the spectral measurements performed by MOEMS interferometer, are useful for the theoretical model improvement. We report the state of art of the system that, thanks to its modularity and restricted dimensions, may be disassembled, sent where the emergency occur, and reassembled in a very short time