A MIOCENE CERVID FROM THE TORRENTE MORRA SEQUENCE (COLLESALVETTI, PISA, ITALY)

A well preserved fossil left tibia of artiodactyl was recently found along Torrente Morra, in the surroundings of Collesalvetti (15 Kms South of Pisa). The bone is embedded in Upper Messinian deltaic sediments which outcrop patchily in the area. The specimen can be referred to a primitive cervid and shows morphological characters and proportions very close to those of the tibiae of extant roe deer, Capreolus capreolus. The find is particularly significant because continental mammals have never been reported before from the Miocene deposits of this area. A possible reference to a primitive roe deer would be consistent with Late Miocene macrofloral and palynological evidence from this area, which attest to a transition from a subtropical forested environment to a temperate Mediterranean one.&nbsp

Development of a multifunctional panel for aerospace use through SLM additive manufacturing

Lattice materials can overcome the need of light and stiff structures in the aerospace industry. The wing leading edge is one of the most critical parts for both on-board subsystem and structure features: it must withstand to the aerodynamic loads and bird-strike, integrating also the anti-ice system functions. Nowadays, this part is made by different components bonded together such as external skin, internal passageways, and feeding tubes. In the present work, a single-piece multifunctional panel made by additive manufacturing will be developed. Optimal design and manufacturing are discussed according to technological constraints, aeronautical performances and sustainability

Dorsal Prefrontal Cortex Impairment in Methoxetamine-Induced Psychosis: an 18F-FDG PET/CT Case Study

Submitted15 June 2018. Accepted 13 December 2018. Epub ahead of print 13 February 2019Novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) have currently become a major public health concern because of relatively easy accessibility to these compounds and difficulty in identifying them with routine laboratory techniques. Here, we report the 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography ( 18 F-FDG PET/CT) case study of a 23-year-old man who developed a substance-induced psychotic disorder after having intravenously injected himself with an unspecified amount of methoxetamine (MXE), a ketamine derivative hallucinogen. From a clinical perspective, a blunted affective responsiveness with diminished social drive and sense of purpose, along with a profound detachment from the environment, was observed. Psychometric and neuropsychological assessments highlighted severe dissociative symptoms and lack of motivation, along with a mild impairment of verbal fluency, working memory, and attention. Patient’s 18 F-FDG PET/CT scans displayed a significant bilateral deficit of tracer uptake within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). DLPFC activity is critical to goal-oriented cognitive functions, including working memory and sustained attention. DLPFC is also involved in both the temporal integration across multiple sensory modes and in the volitional control of actions, leading to the possibility to construct logically coherent temporal configurations of thought, speech, and behavior. This report highlights that a single acute MXE intoxication may produce severe brain impairment.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Molecular dynamics recipes for genome research

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation allows one to predict the time evolution of a system of interacting particles. It is widely used in physics, chemistry and biology to address specific questions about the structural properties and dynamical mechanisms of model systems. MD earned a great success in genome research, as it proved to be beneficial in sorting pathogenic from neutral genomic mutations. Considering their computational requirements, simulations are commonly performed on HPC computing devices, which are generally expensive and hard to administer. However, variables like the software tool used for modeling and simulation or the size of the molecule under investigation might make one hardware type or configuration more advantageous than another or even make the commodity hardware definitely suitable for MD studies. This work aims to shed lights on this aspect

a comparison between 3d printing and milling process for a spar cap fitting wing fuselage of uav aircraft

Abstract Topology optimization is playing an important role in the aircraft design. The demand of lower fuel consumption reflects on the optimization of the airframe of flying vehicles to reduce the structure weight, therefore improving the fraction of the payload. This work focuses on the replacement of an existing part (spar cap fitting) with the new topologically optimized part to be manufactured with 3D printing (Selective Laser Sintering -SLS). The manufacturing constraints (minimum dimension, growth orientation) influence on the optimal results is evaluated to compare traditional milling process' performance with the new SLS technique

Small-Coupling Dynamic Cavity: a Bayesian mean-field framework for epidemic inference

A novel generalized mean field approximation, called the Small-Coupling Dynamic Cavity (SCDC) method, for Bayesian epidemic inference and risk assessment is presented. The method is developed within a fully Bayesian framework and accounts for non-causal effects generated by the presence of observations. It is based on a graphical model representation of the epidemic stochastic process and utilizes dynamic cavity equations to derive a set of self-consistent equations for probability marginals defined on the edges of the contact graph. By performing a small-coupling expansion, a pair of time-dependent cavity messages is obtained, which capture the probability of individual infection and the conditioning power of observations. In its efficient formulation, the computational cost per iteration of the SCDC algorithm is linear in the duration of the epidemic dynamics and in the number of contacts. The SCDC method is derived for the Susceptible-Infected (SI) model and straightforwardly applicable to other Markovian epidemic processes, including recurrent ones. It exhibits high accuracy in assessing individual risk on par with Belief Propagation techniques and outperforming heuristic methods based on individual-based mean-field approximations. Although convergence issues may arise due to long-range correlations in contact graphs, the estimated marginal probabilities remain sufficiently accurate for reliable risk estimation. Future work includes extending the method to non-Markovian recurrent epidemic models and investigating the role of second-order terms in the small coupling expansion of the observation-reweighted Dynamic Cavity equations.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures (including appendices

Sandwich panel with lattice core for aircraft anti-ice system made by Selective Laser Melting

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology offers the possibility to build strong and light components with complex structures, as lattice, optimizing the strength/mass ratio. The goal of this work is the characterization of an innovative sandwich panel with trabecular core made by Selective Laser Melting (SLM), used as heat exchanger for many industrial applications, for example in aerospace field [1]. In this case study, the panel is integrated into the leading edges of aircraft wings and acts as hot air anti-icing system and, at the same time, as impact absorber (Figure 1). The system, due to its lightness and shape, leads to the optimization of the heat exchange, the improvement of the thermal efficiency, and the reduction of fuel use and gas emission. A set of experimental and numerical tests is conducted on lattice specimens through a Design of Experiment (DOE). Different design parameters were varied to understand how they affect the mechanical and thermal behavior: six different cell shapes (Figure 2), varying cell size and volume fraction, were tested. The same experimental program is carried out for two different metal alloys: AlSi10Mg and Ti6Al4V. Mechanical tests involve compression test on single core and on the whole panel, flexural and impact test. Further analisys on failure mechanism is carried out by observation with Optical Microscope. Thermal behavior of the system is also investigated by preliminary thermal simulations, whose results are validated by experimental measuraments of the temperature gradients on the external surface. [1] C. Ferro et al., Technologies, 2017, 5, 35; doi:10.3390/technologies502003

Intuitive Robot Teleoperation through Multi-Sensor Informed Mixed Reality Visual Aids

© 2021 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Mobile robotic systems have evolved to include sensors capable of truthfully describing robot status and operating environment as accurately and reliably as never before. This possibility is challenged by effective sensor data exploitation, because of the cognitive load an operator is exposed to, due to the large amount of data and time-dependency constraints. This paper addresses this challenge in remote-vehicle teleoperation by proposing an intuitive way to present sensor data to users by means of using mixed reality and visual aids within the user interface. We propose a method for organizing information presentation and a set of visual aids to facilitate visual communication of data in teleoperation control panels. The resulting sensor-information presentation appears coherent and intuitive, making it easier for an operator to catch and comprehend information meaning. This increases situational awareness and speeds up decision-making. Our method is implemented on a real mobile robotic system operating outdoor equipped with on-board internal and external sensors, GPS, and a reconstructed 3D graphical model provided by an assistant drone. Experimentation verified feasibility while intuitive and comprehensive visual communication was confirmed through a qualitative assessment, which encourages further developments.Peer reviewe