A simplex method for the calibration of a MEG device

MagnetoEncephaloGraphy (MEG) devices are helmet-shaped arrays of sensors that measure the tiny magnetic fields produced by neural currents. As they operate at low temperature, they are typically immersed in liquid helium. However, during the cooling process the sensor position and shape can change, with respect to nominal values, due to thermal stress. This implies that an accurate sensor calibration is required before a MEG device is utilized in either neuroscientific research or clinical workflow. Here we describe a calibration scheme developed for the optimal use of a MEG system recently realized at the "Istituto di Cibernetica e Biofisica" of the Italian CNR. To achieve the calibration goal a dedicated magnetic source is used (calibration device) and the geometric parameters of the sensors are determined through an optimisation procedure, based on the Nelder-Mead algorithm, which maximises the correlation coefficient between the predicted and the recorded magnetic field. Then the sensitivity of the sensors is analytically estimated. The developed calibration procedure is validated with synthetic data mimicking a real scenario

<b><i>Topoisomerase 1</i></b> Promoter Variants and Benefit from Irinotecan in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients

Objective: Topoisomerase 1 (topo-1) is an important target for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation between topo-1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and clinical outcome in metastatic CRC (mCRC) patients. Methods: With the use of specific software (PROMO 3.0), we performed an in silico analysis of topo-1 promoter SNPs; the rs6072249 and rs34282819 SNPs were included in the study. DNA was extracted from 105 mCRC patients treated with FOLFIRI ± bevacizumab in the first line. SNP genotyping was performed by real-time PCR. Genotypes were correlated with clinical parameters (objective response rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival). Results: No single genotype was significantly associated with clinical variables. The G allelic variant of rs6072249 topo-1 SNP is responsible for GC factor and X-box-binding protein transcription factor binding. The same allelic variant showed a nonsignificant trend toward a shorter progression-free survival (GG, 7.5 months; other genotypes, 9.3 months; HR 1.823, 95% CI 0.8904-3.734; p = 0.1). Conclusion: Further analyses are needed to confirm that the topo-1 SNP rs6072249 and transcription factor interaction could be a part of tools to predict clinical outcome in mCRC patients treated with irinotecan-based regimens

Observations on soil-atmosphere interactions after long-term monitoring at two sample sites subjected to shallow landslides

Soil-atmosphere interaction has implications in different scientific research contexts and is increasingly investigated through field measurements. This paper reports a detailed description of interaction between shallow soil and atmosphere at two test sites in Oltrepò Pavese area (Northern Italy). The two test sites are in the same climatic area but are characterised by different geological features. In fact, the first objective is to compare the behaviour of two different soils, namely a clayey-sandy silt (CL) and a silty clay (CH), under similar meteorological events. Soil-atmosphere interaction is studied on the basis of long-term (about 87 and 42&nbsp;months for the two test sites, respectively) monitoring data of both volumetric water content and soil water potential, recorded at different depths along two vertical soil profiles in the first two metres from ground level. Field measurements, together with meteorological data such as precipitation and air temperature, allow for clear identification of the seasonal fluctuations of unsaturated soil hydraulic properties. To infer detailed information, the recorded data were processed and relationships between soil water potential and water content were investigated. Different time spans, from several months to a few days, even including single rainy events, are considered to show the hydraulic soil behaviour. The hysteretic cycles of water content with respect to soil water potential and non-equilibrium flow are highlighted. In particular, the measured soil water potential is in the range of 0–800&nbsp;kPa and of 0–1500&nbsp;kPa for the CL and CH soil, respectively. At both sites, the observed hysteretic cycles are more frequent in the hot season (summer) than in the cold season (winter) and tend to reduce with depth. The experimental results are compared with the soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) to assess whether and to what extent the SWCCs are reliable in modelling the hydraulic behaviour of partially saturated soils, under atmospheric forcing, at least in the considered climatic contexts

Ergodicity criteria for non-expanding transformations of 2-adic spheres

In the paper, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for ergodicity (with respect to the normalized Haar measure) of discrete dynamical systems $$ on 2-adic spheres $\mathbf S_{2^{-r}}(a)$ of radius $2^{-r}$, $r\ge 1$, centered at some point $a$ from the ultrametric space of 2-adic integers $\mathbb Z_2$. The map $f\colon\mathbb Z_2\to\mathbb Z_2$ is assumed to be non-expanding and measure-preserving; that is, $f$ satisfies a Lipschitz condition with a constant 1 with respect to the 2-adic metric, and $f$ preserves a natural probability measure on $\mathbb Z_2$, the Haar measure $\mu_2$ on $\mathbb Z_2$ which is normalized so that $\mu_2(\mathbb Z_2)=1$

A data-driven method for the temporal estimation of soil water potential and its application for shallow landslides prediction

Soil water potential is a key factor to study water dynamics in soil and for estimating the occurrence of natural hazards, as landslides. This parameter can be measured in field or estimated through physically-based models, limited by the availability of effective input soil properties and pre-liminary calibrations. Data-driven models, based on machine learning techniques, could overcome these gaps. The aim of this paper is then to develop an innovative machine learning methodology to assess soil water potential trends and to implement them in models to predict shallow landslides. Monitoring data since 2012 from test-sites slopes in Oltrepò Pavese (northern Italy) were used to build the models. Within the tested techniques, Random Forest models allowed an outstanding recon-struction of measured soil water potential temporal trends. Each model is sensitive to meteorological and hydrological characteristics according to soil depths and features. Reliability of the proposed models was confirmed by correct estimation of days when shallow landslides were triggered in the study areas in December 2020, after implementing the modeled trends on a slope stability model, and by the correct choice of physically-based rainfall thresholds. These results confirm the potential application of the developed methodology to estimate hydrological scenarios that could be used for decision-making purposes

Routing scheme for macro mobility handover in hierarchical mobile IPv6 network

Significant problems in basic mobile IPv6 occur due to its inability to support micro-mobility because of long delay and high packet loss during handover. Hierarchical mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) as an extension of basic Mobile IPv6 solves the problem by separating the handover management to macromobility and micro-mobility. HMIPv6 introduced a new protocol element called Mobility Anchor Point (MAP) to manage the mobility. HMIPv6 can reduce the delay and the amount of signaling during handover. However the protocol still cannot meet the requirement for traffic that is delay sensitive such as voice especially in macro mobility management. Duplicate address detection and the transmission time for the handover operation could cause high handover delay

Lecciana, a new low-vigour olive cultivar suitable for super high density orchards and for nutraceutical evoo production

Cultivar is the key factor for sustainability of the olive super high density planting system (SHD). ‘Lecciana’ is a new olive cultivar for oil production obtained in 1998 by a controlled cross between cv. Arbosana (♀) and cv. Leccino (♂) in a breeding program as part of an international research agreement between Agromillora Iberia S.L.U. and University of Bari. ‘Lecciana’ is the first olive cultivar of Italian descent suitable for SHD, featuring all the vegetative and productive traits required for efficient, sustainable olive growing intensification. Thanks to low vigor, early bearing (3rd year after planting), high yield efficiency (about 0.5 kg of fruits cm−2 of trunk section area) and good fruit size (3.5 g), ‘Lecciana’ could be planted with tree densities over 1,200 trees per hectare for an efficient continuous mechanical harvesting. High frost resistance, very low pistil abortion (3%), high fruit set (3%), oil content (over 19% fw) and, above all, good unsaturated fatty acids profile, polyphenols content (over 450 mg kg−1 ) and fruitiness median are the main distinctive characters of this new cultivar. The oils of ‘Lecciana’ fall into the category ‘nutraceutical EVOOs’ which can benefit from the specific functional health claim

Quantum Computing of Poincare Recurrences and Periodic Orbits

Quantum algorithms are built enabling to find Poincar\'e recurrence times and periodic orbits of classical dynamical systems. It is shown that exponential gain compared to classical algorithms can be reached for a restricted class of systems. Quadratic gain can be achieved for a larger set of dynamical systems. The simplest cases can be implemented with small number of qubits.Comment: revtex, 5 pages, research at Quantware MIPS Center (see http://www.quantware.ups-tlse.fr); minor changes and references adde

Alterações microbianas e químicas de um gleissolo sob macaubeiras nativas em função da variação sazonal e espacial.

RESUMO: A macaúba (Acrocomia aculeata) é uma alternativa para a produção de biodiesel e, consorciada com pastagem, pode auxiliar na recuperação de áreas degradadas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar as alterações nos atributos microbiológicos, na matéria orgânica e no N total do solo, em função da variação sazonal e espacial em um Gleissolo sob maciço de macaubeiras nativas, no Cerrado. O estudo observacional foi realizado na região de Planaltina de Goiás, na Fazenda Agropecuária Santa Fé. Foram selecionadas dez árvores em uma mata com macaubeiras nativas no bioma cerrado. A coleta de solo foi realizada na camada de 0 a 10 centímetros de profundidade, sob uma linha horizontal, imaginária, traçada a partir da base do caule das macaubeiras. As amostras de solo foram coletadas a 50, 150 e 250 centímetros de distância do caule da palmeira, durante o verão chuvoso (março de 2010) e inverno seco (julho 2010). Para a avaliação estatística das variáveis observadas, utilizou-se um modelo misto. As médias das variáveis observadas foram submetidas a testes para verificar se seguiam a distribuição normal, e a homogeneidade de variâncias. Em seguida, os dados foram submetidos ao teste F e as médias foram comparadas pelo teste t. Os atributos carbono microbiano (Cmic), respiração basal (RB), quociente metabólico (qCO2), a matéria orgânica do solo (MOS) e a relação C/N do solo são sensíveis à variação sazonal e espacial em mata de macaubeiras no Cerrado. O nitrogênio total (NT) foi sensível à variação espacial. A microbiota presente no solo sob macaubal se manteve mais equilibrada durante o período seco, apresentando maiores teores de carbono microbiano e quociente microbiano e menor quociente metabólico e relação C/N do solo

Morphometric analysis of a fresh simple crater on the Moon

In this research we are proposing an innovative method to determine and quantify the morphology of a simple fresh impact crater. Linné is a well preserved impact crater of 2.2 km in diameter, located at 27.7oN 11.8oE, near the western edge of Mare Serenitatis on the Moon. The crater was photographed by the Lunar Orbiter and the Apollo space missions. Its particular morphology may place Linné as the most striking example of small fresh simple crater. Morphometric analysis, conducted on recent high resolution DTM from LROC (NASA), quantitatively confirmed the pristine morphology of the crater, revealing a clear inner layering which highlight a sequence of lava emplacement events