3D MODELING FOR UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTATION: METRIC VERIFICATIONS

The survey in underwater environment has always presented considerable difficulties both operative and technical and this has sometimes made it difficult to use the techniques of survey commonly used for the documentation of Cultural Heritage in dry environment. The work of study concerns the evaluation in terms of capability and accuracy of the Autodesk123DCatch software for the reconstruction of a three-dimensional model of an object in underwater context. The subjects of the study are models generated from sets of photographs and sets of frames extracted from video sequence. The study is based on comparative method, using a reference model, obtained with laser scanner technique

Vertical profiles of CO2 above eastern Amazonia suggest a net carbon flux to the atmosphere and balanced biosphere between 2000 and 2009

From 2000 until January 2010 vertical profiles were collected above eastern Amazonia to help determine regional-scale (∼105–106 km2) fluxes of carbon cycle-related greenhouse gases. Samples were collected aboard light aircraft between the surface and 4.3 km and a column integration technique was used to determine the CO2 flux. Measured CO2 profiles were differenced from the CO2 background determined from measurements in the tropical Atlantic. The observed annual flux between the coast and measurement sites was 0.40 ± 0.27 gC m−2 d−1 (90% confidence interval using a bootstrap analysis). The wet season (January–June) mean flux was 0.44 ± 0.38 gC m−2 d−1 (positive fluxes defined as a source to the atmosphere) and the dry season mean flux was 0.35 ± 0.17 gC m−2 d−1 (July–December). The observed flux variability is high, principally in the wet season. The influence of biomass burning has been removed using co-measured CO, and revealed the presence of a significant dry season sink. The annual mean vegetation flux, after the biomass burning correction, was 0.02 ± 0.27 gC m−2 d−1, and a clear sink was observed between August and November of −0.70 ± 0.21 gC m−2 d−1 where for all of the dry season it was −0.24 ± 0.17 gC m−2 d−1.Earth and Planetary Science

Effects of Aβ exposure on longterm associative memory and its neuronal mechanisms in a defined neuronal network

Amyloid beta (Aβ ) induced neuronal death has been linked to memory loss, perhaps the most devastating symptom of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although Aβ -induced impairment of synaptic or intrinsic plasticity is known to occur before any cell death, the links between these neurophysiological changes and the loss of specific types of behavioral memory are not fully understood. Here we used a behaviorally and physiologically tractable animal model to investigate Aβ -induced memory loss and electrophysiological changes in the absence of neuronal death in a defined network underlying associative memory. We found similar behavioral but different neurophysiological effects for Aβ 25-35 and Aβ 1-42 in the feeding circuitry of the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Importantly, we also established that both the behavioral and neuronal effects were dependent upon the animals having been classically conditioned prior to treatment, since Aβ application before training caused neither memory impairment nor underlying neuronal changes over a comparable period of time following treatment

DNA damage precedes apoptosis during the regression of the interdigital tissue in vertebrate embryos

DNA damage independent of caspase activation accompanies programmed cell death in different vertebrate embryonic organs. We analyzed the significance of DNA damage during the regression of the interdigital tissue, which sculpts the digits in the embryonic limb. Interdigit remodeling involves oxidative stress, massive apoptosis and cell senescence. Phosphorylation of H2AX mediated by ATM precedes caspase dependent apoptosis and cell senescence during interdigit regression. The association of ?H2AX with other downstream DNA repair factors, including MDC1, Rad50 and 53BP1 suggests a defensive response of cells against DNA damage. The relative distribution of cells ?H2AX-only positive, TUNEL-only positive, and cells double positive for both markers is consistent with a sequence of degenerative events starting by damage of the DNA. In support of this interpretation, the relative number of ?H2AX-only cells increases after caspase inhibition while the relative number of TUNELonly cells increases after inhibition of ATM. Furthermore, cultured interdigits survived and maintained intense chondrogenic potential, even at advanced stages of degeneration, discarding a previous commitment to die. Our findings support a new biological paradigm considering embryonic cell death secondary to genotoxic stimuli, challenging the idea that considers physiological cell death a cell suicide regulated by an internal death clock that pre-programmes degeneration

Functional modelling of complex multi‑disciplinary systems using the enhanced sequence diagram

YesThis paper introduces an Enhanced Sequence Diagram (ESD) as the basis for a structured framework for the functional analysis of complex multidisciplinary systems. The ESD extends the conventional sequence diagrams (SD) by introducing a rigorous functional flow-based modelling schemata to provide an enhanced basis for model-based functional requirements and architecture analysis in the early systems design stages. The proposed ESD heuristics include the representation of transactional and transformative functions required to deliver the use case sequence, and fork and join nodes to facilitate analysis of combining and bifurcating operations on flows. A case study of a personal mobility device is used to illustrate the deployment of the ESD methodology in relation to three common product development scenarios: (i) reverse engineering, (ii) the introduction of a specific technology to an existent system; and (iii) the introduction of a new feature as user-centric innovation for an existing system, at a logical design level, without reference to any solution. The case study analysis provides further insights into the effectiveness of the ESD to support function modelling and functional requirements capture, and architecture development. The significance of this paper is that it establishes a rigorous ESD-based functional analysis methodology to guide the practitioner with its deployment, facilitating its impact to both the engineering design and systems engineering communities, as well as the design practice in the industry

Functional modelling of complex multi‑disciplinary systems using the enhanced sequence diagram

YesThis paper introduces an Enhanced Sequence Diagram (ESD) as the basis for a structured framework for the functional analysis of complex multidisciplinary systems. The ESD extends the conventional sequence diagrams (SD) by introducing a rigorous functional flow-based modelling schemata to provide an enhanced basis for model-based functional requirements and architecture analysis in the early systems design stages. The proposed ESD heuristics include the representation of transactional and transformative functions required to deliver the use case sequence, and fork and join nodes to facilitate analysis of combining and bifurcating operations on flows. A case study of a personal mobility device is used to illustrate the deployment of the ESD methodology in relation to three common product development scenarios: (i) reverse engineering, (ii) the introduction of a specific technology to an existent system; and (iii) the introduction of a new feature as user-centric innovation for an existing system, at a logical design level, without reference to any solution. The case study analysis provides further insights into the effectiveness of the ESD to support function modelling and functional requirements capture, and architecture development. The significance of this paper is that it establishes a rigorous ESD-based functional analysis methodology to guide the practitioner with its deployment, facilitating its impact to both the engineering design and systems engineering communities, as well as the design practice in the industry