Performance assessment of the multibeam radar sensor birales for space surveillance and tracking

Near-Earth space has become progressively more crowded in active satellites, inactive spacecraft and debris. Consequently, an international effort is currently being devoted to improving the performance of the network of optical and radar sensors for space objects monitoring. Within this framework, the use of the novel bistatic radar sensor BIRALES is investigated in this work, which makes use of a multibeam receiver. The tailored orbit determination algorithm is described, which receives as input the data processed by the acquisition system, that digitally assembles measured radar echoes. The performances of the orbit determination process are assessed on a set of numerical simulations carried out on the NORAD catalogue, using a dedicated simulator of the sensor.peer-reviewe

Orbit Determination of Resident Space Objects with the Multibeam Radar Sensor BIRALES

Near-Earth space has become progressively more crowded in active satellites, inactive spacecraft and debris. Consequently, an international effort is currently being devoted to improving the performance of the network of optical and radar sensors for space objects monitoring. Within this framework, the use of the novel bistatic radar sensor BIRALES is investigated in this work, which makes use of a multibeam receiver. The tailored orbit determination algorithm is described, which receives as input the data processed by the acquisition system, that digitally assembles measured radar echoes. The performance of the orbit determination process is assessed on a set of numerical simulations carried out on the NORAD catalogue, using a dedicated simulator of the sensor and considering both cases of known and unknown objects, with single or repeated passages on the receiver sensor

Dynamic Testing and Characterization of Advanced Materials in a New Experiment at CERN HiRadMat Facility

An innovative and comprehensive experiment (named "Multimat") was successfully carried out at CERN HiRadMat facility on 18 different materials relevant for Collimators and Beam Intercepting Devices. Material samples, tested under high intensity proton pulses of 440 GeV/c, exceeding the energy density expected in HL-LHC, ranged from very light carbon foams to tungsten heavy alloys, including novel composites as graphite/carbides and metal/diamond without and with thin-film coatings. Experimental data were acquired relying on extensive integrated instrumentation (strain gauges, temperature sensors, radiation-hard camera) and on laser Doppler vibrometer. This allows investigating relatively unexplored and fundamental phenomena as dynamic strength, internal energy dispersion, nonlinearities due to inelasticity and inhomogeneity, strength and delamination of coatings and surfaces. By benchmarking sophisticated numerical simulations against these results, it is possible to establish or update material constitutive models, which are of paramount importance for the design of devices exposed to interaction with particle beams in high-energy accelerators such as the HL-LHC or FCC-hh

Therapeutic strategies for severe COVID-19: a position paper from the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (SIMIT)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has become pandemic, reaching almost one million death worldwide. At present, standard treatment for COVID-19 is not well defined, since the evidences either from randomized or observational studies, somehow with conflicting results, lead to rapid changes in guidelines. Our aim is to narratively summarize the available literature on the management of COVID-19 in order to combine current evidence and interpretation of the data by experts who are treating patients in the frontline

Italian guidelines for antiretroviral therapy in children with human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 infection.

Human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) infection and its treatment are peculiar in children. Adherence and compliance must be carefully taken into account before initiating or changing therapy and in the choice of drugs. Even in the absence of paediatric-specific trial results and notwithstanding drug-labelling notations, all antiretroviral drugs should be used when indicated. A combined therapy is compulsory. Therapy is highly recommended in category C or category 3 and recommended in category B children. Indications in categories N1, N2, A1 or A2 are limited. A triple association is recommended in category C or category 3 children or in those with a high viral load, when compliance is guaranteed. A step-down strategy is not advisable. Infants' treatment should be inserted into controlled studies. Therapy should be changed when serious side effects or poor tolerance (choose drugs with a different toxicity and greater tolerance), poor compliance (individualize the motives) or treatment failure (evaluate progression and adherence) occurs

Practice guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C: recommendations from an AISF/SIMIT/SIMAST Expert Opinion Meeting.

It is increasingly clear that a tailored therapeutic approach to patients with hepatitis C virus infection is needed. Success rates in difficult to treat and low-responsive hepatitis C virus patients are not completely satisfactory, and there is the need to optimise treatment duration and intensity in patients with the highest likelihood of response. In addition, the management of special patient categories originally excluded from phase III registration trials needs to be critically re-evaluated. This article reports the recommendations for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection on an individual basis, drafted by experts of three scientific societies