MATISSE: an ArcGIS tool for monitoring and nowcasting meteorological hazards

Abstract. Adverse meteorological conditions are one of the major causes of accidents in aviation, resulting in substantial human and economic losses. For this reason it is crucial to monitor and early forecast high impact weather events. In this context, CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Center) has implemented MATISSE (Meteorological AviaTIon Supporting SystEm), an ArcGIS Desktop Plug-in able to detect and forecast meteorological aviation hazards over European airports, using different sources of meteorological data (synoptic information, satellite data, numerical weather prediction models data). MATISSE presents a graphical interface allowing the user to select and visualize such meteorological conditions over an area or an airport of interest. The system also implements different tools for nowcasting of meteorological hazards and for the statistical characterization of typical adverse weather conditions for the airport selected

Development of a site conditions map for the Campania-Lucania region (southern Apennines, Italy)

Having a reliable site conditions estimate is an important step to analyze and predict earthquake ground motions. To provide this information for the Campania-Lucania region (southern Apennines, Italy), in the framework of a collaboration with regional civil protection agency, geologic units shown on 1:250,000 scale geologic map, have been sorted together into four categories based on age and geological similarities. According to the site classification defined in engineering building codes, we have assigned to each site classes, a value or range of values of the average shear-wave velocity to 30 m (Vs30) and of the site dominant period. Thus, we have digitized the category boundaries from the map tracing only the geologic contacts that separate units of different site classes. The accuracy of the site-conditions map is only limited by the number of Vs profiles, used to compute the Vs30, and geologic data available so far. Analyses with new data will allow updates and modifications of this map. Anyhow, the resulting site classification map may be an helpful tool to better characterizing the sites effects for those applications where amplification values at large scale are need, such as ground-shaking maps or seismic hazard maps

Mechanical Systems: Symmetry and Reduction

Reduction theory is concerned with mechanical systems with symmetries. It constructs a lower dimensional reduced space in which associated conservation laws are taken out and symmetries are \factored out" and studies the relation between the dynamics of the given system with the dynamics on the reduced space. This subject is important in many areas, such as stability of relative equilibria, geometric phases and integrable systems

New tools for scientific learning in the EduSeis project: the e-learning experiment

The Educational Seismological Project (EduSeis) is a scientific and educational project, the main aim of which is the development and implementation of new teaching methodologies in Earth Sciences, using seismology as a vehicle for scientific learning and awareness of earthquake risk. Within this framework, we have recently been experimenting with new learning and information approaches that are mainly aimed at a high school audience. In particular, we have designed, implemented and tested a model of an e-learning environment in a high school located in the surroundings of the Mt. Vesuvius volcano. The proposed e-learning model is built on the EduSeis concepts and educational materials (web-oriented), and is based on computer-supported collaborative learning. Ten teachers from different disciplines and fifty students at the ITIS «Majorana» technical high school (Naples) have been taking part in a cooperative e-learning experiment in which the students have been working in small groups (communities). The learning process is assisted and supervised by the teachers. The evaluation of the results from this cooperative e-learning experiment has provided useful insights into the content and didactic value of the EduSeis modules and activities. The use of network utilities and the «Learning Community» approach promoted the exchange of ideas and expertises between students and teachers and allowed a new approach to the seismology teaching through a multidisciplinary study

Design, Implementation and Testing of a Network-Based Earthquake Early Warning System in Greece

In this study we implemented and tested the Earthquake Early Warning system PRESTo (PRobabilistic and Evolutionary early warning System, Satriano et al., 2011) on the Greek Ionian islands of Lefkada, Zakynthos and Kefalonia. PRESTo is a free and open source platform for regional Earthquake Early Warning developed at the University of Naples Federico II, which is currently under experimentation in Southern Italy, in the area covered by the Irpinia Seismic Network. The three Ionian islands selected for this study are located on the North-Western part of the Hellenic trench. Here the seismicity rate and the seismic hazard, coupled with the vulnerability of existing critical infrastructures, make this region among the highest seismic risk areas in Europe, where the application of Earthquake Early Warning systems may become a useful strategy to mitigate the potential damage caused by earthquakes. Here we studied the feasibility of implementing an Earthquake Early Warning system on an existing seismic network, which was not specifically made for earthquake early warning purposes, and evaluated the performance of the system, using a data set of real-earthquake recordings. We first describe the technical details of the implementation of PRESTo in the area of interest, including the preliminary parameter configuration and the empirical scaling relationship calibration. Then we evaluated the performance of the system through the off-line analysis of a database of real earthquake records belonging to the most recent M > 4.0 earthquakes occurred in the area. We evaluated the performance in terms of source parameter estimation (location, magnitude), accuracy of ground shaking prediction and lead-time analysis. Finally, we show the preliminary results of the real-time application of PRESTo, performed during the period 01–31 July 2019

Invasive intraneural interfaces: foreign body reaction issues

Intraneural interfaces are stimulation/registration devices designed to couple the peripheral nervous system (PNS) with the environment. Over the last years, their use has increased in a wide range of applications, such as the control of a new generation of neural-interfaced prostheses. At present, the success of this technology is limited by an electrical impedance increase, due to an inflammatory response called foreign body reaction (FBR), which leads to the formation of a fibrotic tissue around the interface, eventually causing an inefficient transduction of the electrical signal. Based on recent developments in biomaterials and inflammatory/fibrotic pathologies, we explore and select the biological solutions that might be adopted in the neural interfaces FBR context: modifications of the interface surface, such as organic and synthetic coatings; the use of specific drugs or molecular biology tools to target the microenvironment around the interface; the development of bio-engineered-scaffold to reduce immune response and promote interface-tissue integration. By linking what we believe are the major crucial steps of the FBR process with related solutions, we point out the main issues that future research has to focus on: biocompatibility without losing signal conduction properties, good reproducible in vitro/in vivo models, drugs exhaustion and undesired side effects. The underlined pros and cons of proposed solutions show clearly the importance of a better understanding of all the molecular and cellular pathways involved and the need of a multi-target action based on a bio-engineered combination approach

Water driven adsorption of amino acids on the (101) anatase TiO2 surface: an ab initio study

Arg, Lys and Asp amino acids are known to play a critical role in the adhesion of the RKLPDA engineered peptide on the (101) surface of the titania anatase phase. To understand their contribution to peptide adhesion, we have considered the relevant charge states due to protonation (Arg and Lys) or deprotonation (Asp) occurring in neutral water solution, and studied their adsorption on the (101) anatase TiO2 surface by ab initio total energy calculations based on density functional theory. The adsorption configurations on the hydrated surface are compared to those on the dry surface considering also the presence of the hydration shell around amino acid side-chains. This study explains how water molecules mediate the adsorption of charged amino acids showing that protonated amino acids are chemically adsorbed much more strongly than de-protonated Asp. Moreover it is shown that the polar screening of the hydration shell reduces the adsorption energy of the protonated amino acids to a small extent, thus evidencing that both Arg and Lys strongly adhere on the (101) anatase TiO2 surface in neutral water solution and that they play a major role in the adhesion of the RKLPDA peptide

soft robotic manipulation of onions and artichokes in the food industry

This paper presents the development of a robotic solution for a problem of fast manipulation and handling of onions or artichokes in the food industry. The complete solution consists of a parallel robotic manipulatior, a specially designed end-effector based on a customized vacuum suction cup, and a computer vision software developed for pick and place operations. First, the selection and design process of the proposed robotic solution to fit with the initial requeriments is presented, including the customized vacuum suction cup. Then, the kinematic analysis of the parallel manipulator needed to develop the robot control system is reviewed. Moreover, computer vision application is presented inthe paper. Hardware details of the implementation of the building prototype are also shown. Finally, conclusions and future work show the current status of the project

A series of new conjugated oligothiophenes for organic electronics

Thiophene oligomers and polymers can be found in a huge number of materials with applications in the field of Organic Electronics. Chemical and electrochemical syntheses along with electrochemical studies and complete characterization of a series of new conjugated oligothiophene derivatives are reported. Two different molecular architectures, D-A (donor-acceptor) and A-D-A (acceptor-donor-acceptor), were taken into account. The results from voltammetric experiments and optical studies confirm the close relationship between the structure of these compounds and their electrochemical behaviour. This series of oligothiophenes shows low bandgaps, a mandatory requirement for their use in Organic Electronics, and, clearly, they are promising candidates for future synthetic studies in order to modify their optical and electrochemical properties to achieve better performances as organic semiconductors