Immersive Appian Way health infrastructure: human centric Digital Twin (The PAAA Archeological Park of the Appian Way 12km State-Own Section, Unesco Candidature)

From Rome to Benevento, the Appian Way (Via Appia Antica) was born as a military road, 'Regina Viarum'. In 312 b.C., consul Appio Claudio extended the infrastructure for 132 miles to Capua. Many transformations and integration occurred across the centuries, resulting in a unique multi-stratified world heritage (landscape, architecture, archaeological remains and tombs along the military way). In the 19th century, Luigi Canina conceived the Appian Way as an outdoor museum, realizing a first state-own section along the 12km here surveyed and described. This year, the Ministry of Culture (MIC) has launched the UNESCO nomination for the road. The article discusses aspects of the mass digitization undertaken by the Parco Archeologico dell'Appia Antica (PAAA, the Archaeological Park of the Appian Way). The aim is to build a Digital Twin of the infrastructure supporting knowledge enhancement, preservation, design, communication and fruition. A virtual space where digital technologies and eXtended Reality are the digital arms of the contemporary Vitruvian humanistic mission and vision of the PAAA Appian Way as a source of wealth and healthiness for all the users and visitors

Northern JHK Standard Stars for Array Detectors

We report J, H and K photometry of 86 stars in 40 fields in the northern hemisphere. The fields are smaller than or comparable to a 4x4 arcmin field-of-view, and are roughly uniformly distributed over the sky, making them suitable for a homogeneous broadband calibration network for near-infrared panoramic detectors. K magnitudes range from 8.5 to 14, and J-K colors from -0.1 to 1.2. The photometry is derived from a total of 3899 reduced images; each star has been measured, on average, 26.0 times per filter on 5.5 nights. Typical errors on the photometry are about 0.012.Comment: 10 pages including 3 figures, one separate figure on four pages. The finding chart of the AS-30 field and a few coordinates have been corrected. GIF finding charts can also be found at http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~hunt/std.htm

GECO: a prototype broadband triaxial seismic sensor with on board digital electronics

The prototype of a broadband triaxial seismic sensor (GECO) developed at the Department of Astronomy and Space Science of the University of Florence (Italy) is presented. The three sensor axes, based on an inverted pendulum, are placed in a corner cube configuration. A “C” shaped leaf spring is used in order to compensate gravity and the output signal of a capacitive position sensor is force balanced by a feedback system. The sensor integrates on-board digital electronics with 24 bits resolution, flash memory for data storage capability, and a GPS interface. The sensor has been tested against a commercial broadband sensor: amplitude and spectral analyses of seismic ambient noise and local, regional and teleseismic earthquakes have been performed in order to compare the response of the prototype with the used reference. The prototype was found to be compatible with the reference seismometer both in amplitude and frequency showing its capability to resolve lowfrequency and low-amplitude signals

Morphology of the 12-micron Seyfert Galaxies: II. Optical and Near-Infrared Image Atlas

We present 263 optical and near-infrared (NIR) images for 42 Seyfert 1s and 48 Seyfert 2s, selected from the Extended 12-micron Galaxy Sample. Elliptically-averaged profiles are derived from the images, and isophotal radii and magnitudes are calculated from these. We also report virtual aperture photometry, that judging from comparison with previous work, is accurate to roughly 0.05mag in the optical, and 0.07mag in the NIR. Our B-band isophotal magnitude and radii, obtained from ellipse fitting, are in good agreement with those of RC3. When compared with the B band, V, I, J, and K isophotal diameters show that the colors in the outer regions of Seyferts are consistent with the colors of normal spirals. Differences in the integrated isophotal colors and comparison with a simple model show that the active nucleus+bulge is stronger and redder in the NIR than in the optical. Finally, roughly estimated Seyfert disk surface brightnesses are significantly brighter in B and K than those in normal spirals of similar morphological type.Comment: 17 pgs including figures; Table 2 is a separate file. Complete Figure 1 is available by contacting the authors. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Inertial control of the mirror suspensions of the VIRGO interferometer for gravitational wave detection

In order to achieve full detection sensitivity at low frequencies, the mirrors of interferometric gravitational wave detectors must be isolated from seismic noise. The VIRGO vibration isolator, called 'superattenuator', is fully effective at frequencies above 4 Hz. Nevertheless, the residual motion of the mirror at the mechanical resonant frequencies of the system are too large for the interferometer locking system and must be damped. A multidimensional feedback system, using inertial sensors and digital processing, has been designed for this purpose. An experimental procedure for determining the feedback control of the system has been defined. In this paper a full description of the system is given and experimental results are presented.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication on Review of Scientific Instrument

On line power spectra identification and whitening for the noise in interferometric gravitational wave detectors

In this paper we address both to the problem of identifying the noise Power Spectral Density of interferometric detectors by parametric techniques and to the problem of the whitening procedure of the sequence of data. We will concentrate the study on a Power Spectral Density like the one of the Italian-French detector VIRGO and we show that with a reasonable finite number of parameters we succeed in modeling a spectrum like the theoretical one of VIRGO, reproducing all its features. We propose also the use of adaptive techniques to identify and to whiten on line the data of interferometric detectors. We analyze the behavior of the adaptive techniques in the field of stochastic gradient and in the Least Squares ones.Comment: 28 pages, 21 figures, uses iopart.cls accepted for pubblication on Classical and Quantum Gravit

ESPEN guideline on nutritional support for polymorbid medical inpatients.

BACKGROUND Disease-related malnutrition in polymorbid medical inpatients is a highly prevalent syndrome associated with significantly increased morbidity, disability, short- and long-term mortality, impaired recovery from illness, and cost of care. AIM As there are uncertainties in applying disease-specific guidelines to patients with multiple conditions, our aim was to provide evidence-based recommendations on nutritional support for the polymorbid patient population hospitalized in medical wards. METHODS This update adheres to the standard operating procedures for ESPEN guidelines. We did a systematic literature search for 15 clinical questions in three different databases (Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library), as well as in secondary sources (e.g. published guidelines), until July 12th. Retrieved abstracts were screened to identify relevant studies that were used to develop recommendations (incl. SIGN grading), which was followed by submission to Delphi voting. RESULTS From a total of 3527 retrieved abstracts, 60 new relevant studies were analyzed and used to generate a guideline draft that proposed 32 recommendations (7x A, 11x B, 10x O and 4x GPP), which encompass different aspects of nutritional support including indication, route of feeding, energy and protein requirements, micronutrient requirements, disease-specific nutrients, timing, monitoring and procedure of intervention. The results of the first online voting showed a strong consensus (agreement of >90%) on 100% of the recommendations. Therefore, no final consensus conference was needed. CONCLUSIONS Recent high-quality trials have provided increasing evidence that nutritional support can reduce morbidity and other complications associated with malnutrition in polymorbid patients. The timely screening of patients for risk of malnutrition at hospital admission followed by individualized nutritional support interventions for at-risk patients should be part of routine clinical care and multimodal treatment in hospitals worldwide. Use of this updated guideline offers an evidence-based nutritional approach to the polymorbid medical inpatients and may improve their outcomes

Vagus nerve stimulation for depression: efficacy and safety in a European study

Background Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy is associated with a decrease in seizure frequency in partial-onset seizure patients. Initial trials suggest that it may be an effective treatment, with few side-effects, for intractable depression. Method An open, uncontrolled European multi-centre study (D03) of VNS therapy was conducted, in addition to stable pharmacotherapy, in 74 patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Treatment remained unchanged for the first 3 months; in the subsequent 9 months, medications and VNS dosing parameters were altered as indicated clinically. Results The baseline 28-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-28) score averaged 34. After 3 months of VNS, response rates (50% reduction in baseline scores) reached 37% and remission rates (HAMD-28 score <10) 17%. Response rates increased to 53% after 1 year of VNS, and remission rates reached 33%. Response was defined as sustained if no relapse occurred during the first year of VNS after response onset; 44% of patients met these criteria. Median time to response was 9 months. Most frequent side-effects were voice alteration (63% at 3 months of stimulation) and coughing (23%). Conclusions VNS therapy was effective in reducing severity of depression; efficacy increased over time. Efficacy ratings were in the same range as those previously reported from a USA study using a similar protocol; at 12 months, reduction of symptom severity was significantly higher in the European sample. This might be explained by a small but significant difference in the baseline HAMD-28 score and the lower number of treatments in the current episode in the European stud