SHIP MOTION SHORT TERM TIME DOMAIN SIMULATOR AND ITS APPLICATION TO COSTA CONCORDIA EMERGENCY MANOEUVRES JUST BEFORE THE JANUARY 2012 ACCIDENT

In this paper we will present a simple but reliable methodology for short term prediction of a cruise ship behaviour during manoeuvres. The methodology is quite general and could be applied to any kind of ship, because it does not require the prior knowledge of any structural or mechanical parameter of the ship. It is based only on the results of manoeuvrability data contained in the Manoeuvring Booklet, which in turn is filled out after sea trials of the ship performed before his delivery to the owner. We developed this method to support the investigations around the Costa Concordia shipwreck, which happened near the shores of Italy in January 2012. It was then validated against the data recorded in the “black box” of the ship, from which we have been able to extract an entire week of voyage data before the shipwreck. The aim was investigating the possibility of avoiding the impact by performing an evasive manoeuvre (as ordered by the Captain some seconds before the impact, but allegedly misunderstood by the helmsman). The preliminary validation step showed a good matching between simulated and real values (course and heading of the ship) for a time interval of a few minutes. The fact that the method requires only the results registered in the VDR (Voyage Data Recorder) during sea trial tests, makes it very useful for several applications. Among them, we can cite forensic investigation, the development of components for autopilots, the prediction of the effects of a given manoeuvre in shallow water, the “a posteriori” verification of the correctness of a given manoeuvre and the use in training simulators for ship pilots and masters

Real-time Chern-Simons term for hypermagnetic fields

If non-vanishing chemical potentials are assigned to chiral fermions, then a Chern-Simons term is induced for the corresponding gauge fields. In thermal equilibrium anomalous processes adjust the chemical potentials such that the coefficient of the Chern-Simons term vanishes, but it has been argued that there are non-equilibrium epochs in cosmology where this is not the case and that, consequently, certain fermionic number densities and large-scale (hypermagnetic) field strengths get coupled to each other. We generalise the Chern-Simons term to a real-time situation relevant for dynamical considerations, by deriving the anomalous Hard Thermal Loop effective action for the hypermagnetic fields, write down the corresponding equations of motion, and discuss some exponentially growing solutions thereof.Comment: 13 page

Improving Rigid 3-D Calibration for Robotic Surgery

Autonomy is the next frontier of research in robotic surgery and its aim is to improve the quality of surgical procedures in the next future. One fundamental requirement for autonomy is advanced perception capability through vision sensors. In this article, we propose a novel calibration technique for a surgical scenario with a da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) robot. Camera and robotic arms calibration are necessary to precise position and emulate expert surgeon. The novel calibration technique is tailored for RGB-D cameras. Different tests performed on relevant use cases prove that we significantly improve precision and accuracy with respect to state of the art solutions for similar devices on a surgical-size setups. Moreover, our calibration method can be easily extended to standard surgical endoscope used in real surgical scenario

The effects of Non-Gaussian initial conditions on the structure and substructure of Cold Dark Matter halos

We study the structure and substructure of halos obtained in N-body simulations for a Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) cosmology with non-Gaussian initial conditions (NGICs). The initial statistics are lognormal in the gravitational potential field with positive (LNp) and negative (LNn) skewness; the sign of the skewness is conserved by the density field, and the power spectrum is the same for all the simulations. Our aim is not to test a given non-Gaussian statistics, but to explore the generic effect of positive- and negative-skew statistics on halo properties. From our low-resolution simulations, we find that LNp (LNn) halos are systematically more (less) concentrated than their Gaussian counterparts. This result is confirmed by our Milky Way- and cluster-sized halos resimulated with high-resolution. In addition, they show inner density profiles that depend on the statistics: the innermost slopes of LNp (LNn) halos are steeper (shallower) than those obtained from the corresponding Gaussian halos. A subhalo population embedded in LNp halos is more susceptible to destruction than its counterpart inside Gaussian halos. On the other hand, subhalos in LNn halos tend to survive longer than subhalos in Gaussian halos. The spin parameter probability distribution of LNp (LNn) halos is skewed to smaller (larger) values with respect to the Gaussian case. Our results show how the statistics of the primordial density field can influence some halo properties, opening this the possibility to constrain, although indirectly, the primordial statistics at small scale.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Slight corrections after referee report. To appear in ApJ, v598, November 20, 200

Baryogenesis and CP-Violating Domain Walls in the Background of a Magnetic Field

Within the domain wall-mediated electroweak baryogenesis, we study fermion scattering off a CP-violating wall in the background of an uniform magnetic field. In particular, we calculate the asymmetry between the reflection coefficients for right-handed and left-handed chiral fermions, \Delta R = R_{R \to L} - R_{L \to R}, which is of relevance to non local baryogenesis mechanisms.Comment: replaced with revised conclusion version, to be published in JCA

Nosocomial outbreak of the pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 in critical hematologic patients during seasonal influenza 2010-2011: detection of oseltamivir resistant variant viruses

BACKGROUND: The pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 (H1N1pdm09) virus infection caused illness and death among people worldwide, particularly in hematologic/oncologic patients because influenza infected individuals can shed virus for prolonged periods, thus increasing the chances for the development of drug-resistant strains such as oseltamivir-resistant (OST-r) variant. METHODS: The aim of our study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical importance of OST-r variant in circulating strains of the pandemic H1N1pdm09 virus. By means of RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing we analysed the presence of OST-r variant in 76 H1N1pdm09 laboratory-confirmed cases, hospitalized at the hematologic/oncologic ward at Spedali Civili of Brescia –Italy. RESULTS: Out of 76 hospitalized hematologic/oncologic patients, 23 patients (30.2%) were infected by H1N1pdm09 virus. Further investigation revealed that 3 patients were positive for the OST-r variant carrying the H275Y mutation. All the 23 infected patients were immuno-compromised, and were under treatment or had been treated previously with oseltamivir. Three patients died (13%) after admission to intensive care unit and only one of them developed H275Y mutation. CONCLUSIONS: Our retrospective observational study shows that pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus can cause significant morbidity and even mortality in hematologic/oncologic patients and confirms the high rate of nosocomial transmission of pandemic H1N1pdm09 virus in these critical subjects. Indeed, the reduction in host defences in these hospitalized patients favoured the prolonged use of antiviral therapy and permitted the development of OST-r strain. Strategies as diagnostic vigilance, early isolation of patients and seasonal influenza A(H1N1) vaccination may prevent transmission of influenza in high risk individuals

Effect of the Heteroaromatic Antenna on the Binding of Chiral Eu(III) Complexes to Bovine Serum Albumin

The cationic enantiopure R) and luminescent Eu(III) complex [Eu(bisoQcd)(H2O)(2)] OTf (with bisoQcd = N,N'-bis(2-isaquinolinmethyl)-trarts-1,2diaminocyclohexane N/N1 -diacetate and OTf = triflate) was synthesized and characterized. At physiological pH, the 1:1 [Eu(bisoQcd)(H2O)(2)](+) species, possessing two water molecules in the inner coordination sphere, is largely dominant. The interaction with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was studied by means of several experimental techniques, such as luminescence spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimeti-y (ITC), molecular docking (MD), and molecular dynamics simulations M11.-.)S). In this direction, a ligand competition study was also performed by using three clinically established drugs (i.e., ibuprofen, warfarin, and digito)cin). The nature of this interaction is strongly affected by the type of the involved heteroaromatic antenna in the complexes. In fact, the presence of isoqiiinolirie rings drives the corresponding complex toward the protein superficial area containing the tryptophan residue 134 (Trp134). As the main consequence, the metal center undergoes the loss of one water molecule upon interaction with the side chain of a glutamic acid residue. On the other hand, the similar complex containing pyridine rings f[Eti(bpcd)(H2O)(2)]Cl with bpcd = N,N'-bis(2-pytidylmethyl)-trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane N,N'-diacetate)interacts more weakly with the protein in a different superficial cavity, without losing the coordinated water molecules

Spontaneous self-assembly of an unsymmetric trinuclear triangular copper(II) pyrazolate complex, [Cu3(μ3-OH)(μ-pz) 3(MeCOO)2(Hpz)] (Hpz = pyrazole). Synthesis, experimental and theoretical characterization, reactivity, and catalytic activity

The almost quantitative formation of the triangular trinuclear copper derivative [Cu3(μ3-OH)(μ-pz)3(MeCOO) 2(Hpz)] (1) (Hpz = pyrazole), has been simply achieved by adding Hpz to an ethanol solution of Cu(MeCOO)2·H2O. An X-ray molecular structure determination shows that 1 is completely unsymmetric and that trinuclear units result assembled in an extended bidimensional network formed through acetate bridges and hydrogen bonds. EPR and magnetic measurements are consistent with the presence of a single unpaired electron. Theoretical density functional calculations carried out for S = 1/2 provide a thorough description of the electronic structure of 1, allowing a detailed assignment of its UV-vis absorption spectrum. Compound 1 reacts with MeONa, yielding [Cu 3(μ3-OH)(μ-pz)3(MeCOO)(MeO)(Hpz)] (2) and [Cu3(μ3-OH)(μ-pz)3(MeO) 2(Hpz)] (3) through the substitution of one and two acetate ions, respectively, with MeO- ion(sS). The spontaneous self-assembly of the triangular trinuclear Cu3 moiety seems to occur only with pyrazole as can be inferred by the results obtained in the reactions of copper(II) acetate with some substituted pyrazoles leading to the formation of mononuclear [Cu(MeCOO)2(L)2] (4-8) and dinuclear [Cu(MeCOO) 2(L)]2 (9-11) (L = substituted pyrazole) compounds. Also the presence of acetate ions seems to play a leading role in determining the formation of the trinuclear triangular arrangement, as indicated by the formation of a mononuclear derivative, [Cu(CF3COO) 2(Hpz)]2 (compound 12), in the reaction of copper(II) trifluoroacetate with pyrazole. Compounds 1-3, as well as some other mono- and dinuclear copper(II)-substituted pyrazole complexes, have been tested as catalyst precursors in cyclopropanation reaction, observing the formation of products in a syn:anti ratio opposite that normally reported

Fermion scattering off electroweak phase transition kink walls with hypermagnetic fields

We study the scattering of fermions off a finite width kink wall during the electroweak phase transition in the presence of a background hypermagnetic field. We derive and solve the Dirac equation for such fermions and compute the reflection and transmission coefficients for the case when the fermions move from the symmetric to the broken symmetry phase. We show that the chiral nature of the fermion coupling with the background field in the symmetric phase generates an axial asymmetry in the scattering processes. We discuss possible implications of such axial charge segregation for baryon number generation.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Postscript figures, uses RevTeX4. Expanded discussion, published versio