Monte Carlo method applied to the mechanical dating of the Turin Shroud

Alternative dating methods to radiocarbon have been recently developed to study the Turin Shroud (TS), the linen sheet that according to the tradition enveloped the dead body of Jesus Christ; among them, a mechanical one is based on the study of five mechanical parameters in reference to the breaking strength, the Young modulus and the loss factor. This method tests single TS linen fibers using a machine, built in for the purpose, capable to measure the stress-stain parameters during loading cycles. These parameters have been already shown to be dependent on the age of the linen under test, and a preliminary result has been obtained: the TS date is 400 A.D. \ub1400 years at 95% confidence level. A companion paper has combined this mechanical result with two chemical ones, coming from Raman and FT-IR spectra, and the combined result is 90 AD \ub1200 years at 95% confidence level, thus confirming the compatibility of the age of the TS with the period in which Jesus Crist lived in Palestine. As the evaluation of the uncertainty propagation is not simple in the case of the mechanical parameters, this paper tries to furnish a more reliable result applying the Monte Carlo method to the mechanical parameters directly measured. The obtained mechanical age of the TS of 279 A.D. \ub1216 years at 95% confidence level is compatible with the previous results, but with an uncertainty almost halved

Introductory Paper: Scientific Results on the Turin Shroud Coming from a Paduan University Research Project

Turin Shroud (TS) is a linen cloth 4.4 m long and 1.1 m wide which shows two, front and back images of a man scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified, who died on a cross and was stabbed in the side with a lance after his death. The Catholic Christian tradition identifies this Man as Jesus Christ resurrected after dead, but not all are unanimous in this identification, partly because science has not been able to give definitive answers. To try to improve a bit the inconclusive answers to which the Science is arrived, a Research Project entitled: "Multidisciplinary analysis applied to the Turin Shroud: study of the body image, of possible ambient pollution and of micro-particles capable to characterize the linen fabric." has been assigned by the University of Padua (Italy) to the Author, who performed various studies on this theme in collaboration with other experts, also of other Italian Universities. In reference to the body image, that is not explainable by Science nor reproducible up to now, experimental tests based on Corona Discharge, produced by intense electric fields, have shown that it is possible to reproduce many of these very peculiar image features. Regarding the TS dating, after the demonstration that the 1988 radiocarbon result is not statistically reliable, probably because of environmental pollution, alternative dating methods based on chemical and mechanical tests showed that its age is compatible with the period in which Jesus Christ lived in Palestine

Rigor Mortis and News obtained by the Body\u2019s Scientific Reconstruction of the Turin Shroud Man

After various tentative to artistically build a tridimensional form of the Turin Shroud (TS) Man, the authors faced the problem of the scientific construction of a 3D model of this Man with an accuracy of the order of 1 cm. It is well known that the TS wrapped a human body heavily tortured, but it is not easy to build a 3D model starting only from the 2D information shown on two body images visible on a linen sheet and on the hypothesis that these images really corresponds to a real man wrapped in it. The study showed that, while the two TS body images (frontal and dorsal) seem to appear not coherent with the image of a human body because distorted in many parts, these two images are perfectly coherent with the distortions provoked by a man wrapped in this linen sheet. This model confirmed the evident rigor mortis of the human body and evidenced the particular posture corresponding to the position on the cross that also showed a rotation never detected previously of the human body around his spine. The study of this 3D model partially confirmed previous results but also evidenced interesting news, like the position of the exit hole of the nail posed on the palm of the hand. The Gospels place the Resurrection in the early hours of Sunday, at least 36 hours after death. The effect of the preservation of rigidity up to this moment may be not consistent with the thanato-chronological alterations expected in a man in the same pre-mortal clinical condition, but this problem has been solved by the \u201cmixture of aloe and myrrh\u201d that allowed the preservation of the corpse, thus prolonging the rigor mortis for tens of hours. In fact, this body seems not to have undergone any significant putrefactive phenomenon

Studio di un sistema di visione per la mappatura colorimetrica della Sindone di Torino

Internet: http://www.shroud.com/fanti4it.pd

Mechanical ond opto-chemical dating of the Turin Shroud

Abstract. The TS (Turin Shroud) is a linen cloth which enveloped the dead body of a tortured and crucified man that is believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. The linen fabric has been radiocarbon dated in 1988 to the Middle Age but a recent robust statistical analysis shows that the resulting age appears flawed by a systematic effect. The present paper discusses the results obtained using innovative dating methods based on the analysis of mechanical parameters (breaking strength, Young modulus and loss factor) and of opto- chemical ones (FT-IR and Raman). To obtain mechanical results it was necessary to build a particular cycling-loads machine able to measure the mechanical parameters of single flax fibers 1-3 mm long. A least squares multi linear regression (MLR) has been applied to the measured mechanical data estimating a TS age equal to 260 AD. Furthermore, two opto- chemical methods have been applied to test the linen fabric, obtaining a date of 250 BC by a FT-IR ATR analysis and a date of 30 AD by a Raman analysis. These two dates combined with the mechanical result, weighted through their estimated square uncertainty inverses, give a final date of the Turin Shroud of 90 AD \ub1200 years at 95% confidence level. While this date is both compatible with the time in which Jesus Christ lived in Palestine and with very recent results based on numismatic dating, it is not compatible with the 1988 radiocarbon measurements that should be repeated after the necessary clarifications relative to the possible environmental factors that could have biased the results

Development of piezoelectric harvesters with integrated trimming devices

Piezoelectric cantilever harvesters have a large power output at their natural frequency, but in some applications the frequency of ambient vibrations is different fromthe harvester\u2019s frequency and/or ambient vibrations are periodicwith some harmonic components. To copewith these operating conditions harvesters with integrated trimming devices (ITDs) are proposed. Some prototypes are developed with the aid of an analytical model and tested with an impulsive method. Results show that a small trimming device can lower the main resonance frequency of a piezoelectric harvester of the same extent as a larger tip mass and, moreover, it generates at high frequency a second resonance peak. A multi-physics numerical finite element (FE) model is developed for predicting the generated power and for performing a stress-strain analysis of harvesters with ITDs. The numerical model is validated on the basis of the experimental results. Several configurations of ITDs are conceived and studied. Numerical results show that the harvesters with ITDs are able to generate relevant power at two frequencies, owing to the particular shape of the modes of vibration. The stress in the harvesters with ITDs is smaller than the stress in the harvester with a tip mass trimmed to the same frequency

A Comparison between the Face of the Veil of Manoppello and the Face of the Shroud of Turin

Recently we have studied the unusual optical properties of the Veil of Manoppello, a canvas representing the face of Jesus Christ, and restored digitally the face, by eliminating the distortions of the anatomic details due the yielding of the very fine structure of the fabric. The aim of the present paper is to compare the restored face of the Veil with that visible on the Turin Shroud. In particular, the paper focuses on assessing whether the two images can be superimposed, i.e., whether they are different images of the same face. Indeed, some scholars have suggested that the Veil of Manoppello and the Turin Shroud show different images of the same face. We demonstrate that the face of the Turin Shroud, after a logarithmic transformation of the intensity and the correction of the background noise, shows cheeks’ profiles, not visible before the digital processing, which overlap very well with those of the restored face of the Veil of Manoppello. These correlations between the two images of the face of Jesus raise the question of their historical relationship

Diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of a case of Wolman disease with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

: Wolman Disease (WD) is a severe multi-system metabolic disease due to lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) deficiency. We report on a WD infant who developed an unusual hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) phenotype related to WD treated with sebelipase alfa. A male baby came to our attention at six months of life for respiratory insufficiency and sepsis, abdominal distension, severe hepatosplenomegaly, diarrhea, and severe growth retardation. HLH was diagnosed and treated with intravenous immunoglobulin, steroids, cyclosporine, broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy, and finally with the anti-IL-6 drug tocilizumab. WD was suspected for the presence of adrenal calcifications and it was confirmed by LAL enzyme activity and by molecular analysis of LIPA. Plasma oxysterols cholestan-3β,5α,6β-triol (C-triol), and 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) were markedly increased. Sebelipase alfa was started with progressive amelioration of biochemical and clinical features. The child died from sepsis, 2 months after sebelipase discontinuation requested by parents. Our case shows the importance of an early diagnosis of WD and confirms the difficulty to reach a diagnosis in the HLH phenotype. Sebelipase alpha is an effective treatment for LAL deficiency, also in children affected by WD. Further data are necessary to confirm the utility of measuring plasma c-triol as a biochemical marker of the disease

Paediatric recurrent pericarditis: Appropriateness of the standard of care and response to IL1-blockade

Objective: To analyse, in a cohort of paediatric patients with recurrent pericarditis (RP) undergoing anti-IL-1 treatment: the agent and dosing used as first line treatment, the long-term efficacy of IL1-blockers, the percentage of patients achieving a drug-free remission, the presence of variables associated with drug-free remission. Study design: Data were collected from patients' charts. Annualized relapse rate (ARR) was used for evaluation of treatment efficacy, bivariate logistic regression analysis for variables associated with drug-free remisison. Results: 58 patients, treated between 2008 and 2018, were included in the study (mean follow-up 2.6 years). 14/56 patients non-responsive to first line drugs were under-dosed. 57 patients were treated with anakinra: the ARR before and during daily treatment was 3.05 and 0.28, respectively (p<0.0001); an increase to 0.83 was observed after the reduction/withdrawal of treatment (p<.0001). The switch from anakinra to canakinumab (5 patients) was associated to an increase of the ARR (0.49 vs 1.46), but without statistical significance (p=0.215). At last follow-up only 9/58 patients had withdrawn all treatments. With the limits of a retrospective study and the heterogeneity between the patients enrolled in the study, a shorter duration of treatment with anakinra was the only variable associated with drug-free remission. Conclusion: This study shows that most of the pediatric patients with RP needing IL-1 blockade received an inadequate treatment with first line agents. The effectiveness of anakinra is supported by this study, but few patients achieved drug free-remission. The different rate of response to anakinra and canakinumab may suggest a possible role of IL1α in the pathogenesis of RP

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements