Central Acceptance Testing for Camera Technologies for CTA

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is an international initiative to build the next generation ground based very-high energy gamma-ray observatory. It will consist of telescopes of three different sizes, employing several different technologies for the cameras that detect the Cherenkov light from the observed air showers. In order to ensure the compliance of each camera technology with CTA requirements, CTA will perform central acceptance testing of each camera technology. To assist with this, the Camera Test Facilities (CTF) work package is developing a detailed test program covering the most important performance, stability, and durability requirements, including setting up the necessary equipment. Performance testing will include a wide range of tests like signal amplitude, time resolution, dead-time determination, trigger efficiency, performance testing under temperature and humidity variations and several others. These tests can be performed on fully-integrated cameras using a portable setup at the camera construction sites. In addition, two different setups for performance tests on camera sub-units are being built, which can provide early feedback for camera development. Stability and durability tests will include the long-term functionality of movable parts, water tightness of the camera housing, temperature and humidity cycling, resistance to vibrations during transport or due to possible earthquakes, UV-resistance of materials and several others. Some durability tests will need to be contracted out because they will need dedicated equipment not currently available within CTA. The planned test procedures and the current status of the test facilities will be presented.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589

Rapid and efficient stable gene transfer to mesenchymal stromal cells using a modified foamy virus vector

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) hold great promise for regenerative medicine. Stable ex vivo gene transfer to MSCs could improve the outcome and scope of MSC therapy, but current vectors require multiple rounds of transduction, involve genotoxic viral promoters and/or the addition of cytotoxic cationic polymers in order to achieve efficient transduction. We describe a self-inactivating foamy virus vector (FVV), incorporating the simian macaque foamy virus envelope and using physiological promoters, which efficiently transduces murine MSCs (mMSCs) in a single-round. High and sustained expression of the transgene, whether GFP or the lysosomal enzyme, arylsulphatase A (ARSA), was achieved. Defining MSC characteristics (surface marker expression and differentiation potential), as well as long-term engraftment and distribution in the murine brain following intracerebroventricular delivery, are unaffected by FVV transduction. Similarly, greater than 95% of human MSCs (hMSCs) were stably transduced using the same vector, facilitating human application. This work describes the best stable gene transfer vector available for mMSCs and hMSCs

Sub-wavelength surface IR imaging of soft-condensed matter

Outlined here is a technique for sub-wavelength infrared surface imaging performed using a phase matched optical parametric oscillator laser and an atomic force microscope as the detection mechanism. The technique uses a novel surface excitation illumination approach to perform simultaneously chemical mapping and AFM topography imaging with an image resolution of 200 nm. This method was demonstrated by imaging polystyrene micro-structures

Cell therapy for autoimmune diseases

Cell therapy, pioneered for the treatment of malignancies in the form of bone marrow transplantation, has subsequently been tested and successfully employed in autoimmune diseases. Autologous haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has become a curative option for conditions with very poor prognosis such as severe forms of scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, and lupus, in which targeted therapies have little or no effect. The refinement of the conditioning regimens has virtually eliminated transplant-related mortality, thus making HSCT a relatively safe choice. Although HSCT remains a nonspecific approach, the knowledge gained in this field has led to the identification of new avenues. In fact, it has become evident that the therapeutic efficacy of HSCT cannot merely be the consequence of a high-dose immuno-suppression, but rather the result of a resetting of the abnormal immune regulation underlying autoimmune conditions. The identification of professional and nonprofessional immunosuppressive cells and their biological properties is generating a huge interest for their clinical exploitation. Regulatory T cells, found abnormal in several autoimmune diseases, have been proposed as central to achieve long-term remissions. Mesenchymal stem cells of bone marrow origin have more recently been shown not only to be able to differentiate into multiple tissues, but also to exert a potent antiproliferative effect that results in the inhibition of immune responses and prolonged survival of haemopoietic stem cells. All of these potential resources clearly need to be investigated at the preclinical level but support a great deal of enthusiasm for cell therapy of autoimmune diseases

Decentralized Federated Learning and Network Topologies: An Empirical Study on Convergence

Federated Learning is a well-known learning paradigm that allows the distributed training of machine learning models. Federated Learning keeps data in the source devices and communicates only the model's coefficients to a centralized server. This paper studies the decentralized flavor of Federated Learning. A peer-to-peer network replaces the centralized server, and nodes exchange model's coefficients directly. In particular, we look for empirical evidence on the effect of different network topologies and communication parameters on the convergence in the training of distributed models. Our observations suggest that small-world networks converge faster for small amounts of nodes, while xx are more suitable for larger setups

Energy and QoE aware Placement of Applications and Data at the Edge

Recent years are witnessing extensions of cyber-infrastructures towards distributed environments. The Edge of the network is gaining a central role in the agenda of both infrastructure and application providers. Following the actual distributed structure of such a computational environment, nowadays, many solutions face resource and application management needs in Cloud/Edge continua. One of the most challenging aspects is ensuring highly available computing and data infrastructures while optimizing the system's energy consumption. In this paper, we describe a decentralized solution that limits the energy consumption by the system without failing to match the users' expectations, defined as the services' Quality of Experience (QoE) when accessing data and leveraging applications at the Edge. Experimental evaluations through simulation conducted with PureEdgeSim demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach

Conjoined lumbosacral nerve roots: observations on three cases and review of the literature

Lumbosacral nerve root anomalies are a rare group of congenital anatomical anomalies. Various types of anomalies of the lumbosacral nerve roots have been documented in the available international literature. Generally speaking, these anomalies may consist of a bifid, conjoined structure, of a transverse course or of a characteristic anastomized appearance. Firstly described as an incidental finding during autopsies or surgical procedures performed for lumbar disk herniations and often asymptomatic, lumbosacral nerve root anomalies have been more frequently described in the last years due to the advances made in radiological diagnosis (metrizamide myelography and CT, MRI). Our study comprised three patients with conjoined lumbosacral nerve roots, representing 0.25% of a total of 1200 patients who underwent lumbosacral CT/MRI procedures in the Addolorata Hospital and in the Service of Neuroradiology of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" during the last three years (March 2001-March 2004). We report our experience with three cases of conjoined lumbosacral nerve roots and analyze the most important literature on this topic. MR imaging is a better diagnostic procedure (in comparison to CT) for the differentiation of nerve root anomalies and, in particular, coronal sections furnish a precise definition of the profile of the conjoined/enlarged rootlets. In fact, the accurate information derived from MRI of multiple planes may be priceless for the preoperative and diagnostic evaluation of lumbosacral nerve root anomalies