Carving from Ray-Tracing Constraints: IRT-Carving

We present a new algorithm for improving an available (conservative) estimate of the shape of an object using constraints from ray-tracing. In particular, we exploit incoherences between the lit portions of the object - detected on a set of acquired images - and the shadows that the current estimate casts on itself. Whenever a contradiction is found the current estimate is modified in order to remove the inconsistency. Sufficient conditions for the correctness of the algorithm and a discussion of their validity are provided. Finally, we describe a simple implementation of the method and present some preliminary experimental results from computer simulations

High-amplitude water-level fluctuations at the end of the Mediterranean Messinian Salinity Crisis: Implications for gypsum formation, connectivity and global climate

The formation and dissolution of salt giants impacts ocean chemistry on thousand-million year timescales. Gypsum precipitation and weathering changes the oceanic calcium concentration with implications for the carbon cycle and global temperatures. However, the connectivity of salt giants with the global ocean is necessarily restricted, making the timing of Ca2+ extraction and return more uncertain. Here we reconstruct the final phase of gypsum precipitation of the Late Miocene Mediterranean Salt Giant using micropaleontology, sedimentology and 87Sr/86Sr analyses on the most complete record preserved at Eraclea Minoa on Sicily and explore its implications for global climate. Precessional gypsum-marl couplets (Upper Gypsum) characterize the last 200 kyrs (Stage 3) of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC; 5.97–5.332 Ma) in both intermediate (500–1000 m) and deep (>1000 m) Mediterranean basins. The interbedded selenitic gypsum layers contain well-preserved calcareous nannofossil assemblages dominated by Reticulofenestra minuta, a marine species which tolerates stressful conditions. Marine water is also required to explain the gypsum 87Sr/86Sr data, which describe a small range of ratios (0.708704–0.708813) lower than coeval ocean water. Mass-balance calculations indicate that during gypsum precipitation, the Atlantic made up ≤20% of a Mediterranean (“Lago-Mare”) water mass dominated by low salinity discharge from large river systems and Eastern Paratethys. This suggests episodic extraction of calcium and sulfate ions from the ocean throughout MSC Stage 3. The marls commonly contain shallow (30–100 m) brackish-water ostracods of Paratethyan (Black Sea) origin. Marls with Paratethyan ostracods are also found in both marginal (<500 m) and deep Mediterranean settings. This indicates that marl-deposition was not synchronous across the basin, but that it occurred in intermediate and deep basins during base-level lowstands at insolation minima and on the shallow Mediterranean margins during insolation maxima-driven highstands. These high-amplitude base-level fluctuations exposed the evaporites to weathering, but ponded the products in the Mediterranean basin until reconnection occurred at the beginning of the Pliocene

Potential Fossilized Sulfide-Oxidizing Bacteria in the Upper Miocene Sulfur-Bearing Limestones From the Lorca Basin (SE Spain): Paleoenvironmental Implications

The sulfur-bearing limestones interbedded in the upper Miocene diatomaceous sediments (Tripoli Formation) of the Lorca Basin (SE Spain) are typified, as other Mediterranean coeval carbonate and gypsum deposits, by filamentous, circular and rod-shaped microstructures of controversial origin. These features have been interpreted both as fecal pellets of brine shrimps and/or of copepods, remains of algae or cyanobacteria and fossilized sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. To shed light on their origin, a multidisciplinary study including optical, UV and scanning electron microscopy, Raman microspectroscopy, and geochemical (carbon and oxygen stable isotopes) analyses has been carried out on three carbonate beds exposed along the La Serrata ridge. The different composition of the filamentous and circular objects with respect to the rod-shaped microstructures suggest that the former represent remains of bacteria, while the latter fecal pellets of deposit- or suspension-feeder organisms. Size and shape of the filamentous and circular microfossils are consistent with their assignment to colorless sulfide-oxidizing bacteria like Beggiatoa (or Thioploca) and Thiomargarita, which is further supported by the presence, only within the microfossil body, of tiny pyrite grains. These grains possibly result from early diagenetic transformation of original sulfur globules stored by the bacteria, which are a diagnostic feature of this group of prokaryotes. The development of microbial communities dominated by putative sulfide-oxidizing bacteria at Lorca was favored by hydrogen sulfide flows generated through degradation of organic matter by sulfate-reducing bacteria thriving in underlying organic-rich sediments

Interaction between Amyloid Beta Peptide and an Aggregation Blocker Peptide Mimicking Islet Amyloid Polypeptide

Assembly of amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) into cytotoxic oligomeric and fibrillar aggregates is believed to be a major pathologic event in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and interfering with Aβ aggregation is an important strategy in the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Prior studies have shown that the double N-methylated analogue of islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) IAPP-GI, which is a conformationally constrained IAPP analogue mimicking a non-amyloidogenic IAPP conformation, is capable of blocking cytotoxic self-assembly of Aβ. Here we investigate the interaction of IAPP-GI with Aβ40 and Aβ42 using NMR spectroscopy. The most pronounced NMR chemical shift changes were observed for residues 13–20, while residues 7–9, 15–16 as well as the C-terminal half of Aβ - that is both regions of the Aβ sequence that are converted into β-strands in amyloid fibrils - were less accessible to solvent in the presence of IAPP-GI. At the same time, interaction of IAPP-GI with Aβ resulted in a concentration-dependent co-aggregation of Aβ and IAPP-GI that was enhanced for the more aggregation prone Aβ42 peptide. On the basis of the reduced toxicity of the Aβ peptide in the presence of IAPP-GI, our data are consistent with the suggestion that IAPP-GI redirects Aβ into nontoxic “off-pathway” aggregates

Imaging of the Inner Zone of Blast Furnaces Using MuonRadiography: The BLEMAB Project

The aim of the BLEMAB project (BLast furnace stack density Estimation through online Muons ABsorption measurements) is the application of muon radiography techniques, to image a blast furnace’s inner zone. In particular, the goal of the study is to characterize the geometry and size of the so-called “cohesive zone”, i.e., the spatial region where the slowly downward-moving material begins to soften and melt, which plays such an important role in the performance of the blast furnace itself. Thanks to the high penetration power of natural cosmic-ray muon radiation, muon transmission radiography could be an appropriate non invasive methodology for the imaging of large high-density structures such as a blast furnace, whose linear dimensions can be up to a few tens of meters. A state-of-the-art muon tracking system is currently in development and will be installed at a blast furnace on the ArcelorMittal site in Bremen (Germany), where it will collect data for a period of various months. In this paper, the status of the project and the expectations based on preliminary simulations are presented and briefly discussed

The BLEMAB European project: Muon radiography as an imaging tool in the industrial field

The European project called BLEMAB (BLast furnace stack density Estimation through on-line Muons ABsorption measurements), provides for the application of the muon radiography technique in the industrial environment. The project represents a non-invasive way of monitoring a blast furnace and in particular aims to study the geometric and density development of the so-called “cohesive zone”, which is important for the performance of the blast furnace itself. The installation of the detectors is expected in 2022 at the ArcelorMittal site in Bremen (Germany). This paper describes the status of the project, the experimental setup and the first results obtained with preliminary simulations. © 2022 Societa Italiana di Fisica. All rights reserved

West-Life: A Virtual Research Environment for structural biology

The West-Life project (https://about.west-life.eu/)is a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission to provide data processing and data management services for the international community of structural biologists, and in particular to support integrative experimental approaches within the field of structural biology. It has developed enhancements to existing web services for structure solution and analysis, created new pipelines to link these services into more complex higher-level workflows, and added new data management facilities. Through this work it has striven to make the benefits of European e-Infrastructures more accessible to life-science researchers in general and structural biologists in particular