Extension of modern control system theory Final report

Analysis and synthesis techniques for linear systems and methods of minimizing sensitivity of optimal control systems to large parameter variation

N+3 Small Commercial Efficient and Quiet Transportation for Year 2030-2035

This study develops a future scenario that enables convenient point-to-point commercial air travel via a large network of community airports and a new class of small airliners. A network demand and capacity study identifies current and future air travel demands and the capacity of this new network to satisfy these demands. A current technology small commercial airliner is defined to meet the needs of the new network, as a baseline for evaluating the improvement brought about by advanced technologies. Impact of this new mode of travel on the infrastructure and surrounding communities of the small airports in this new N+3 network are also evaluated. Year 2030-2035 small commercial airliner technologies are identified and a trade study conducted to evaluate and select those with the greatest potential for enhancing future air travel and the study metrics. The selected advanced air vehicle concept is assessed against the baseline aircraft, and an advanced, but conventional aircraft, and the study metrics. The key technologies of the selected advanced air vehicle are identified, their impact quantified, and risk assessments and roadmaps defined

Wasting syndrome with deep bradycardia as presenting manifestation of long-standing severe male hypogonadotropic hypogonadism : a case series

Background: Physiological functioning of the testes is important for cardiac health besides for virilisation, physical strength, behavior and reproduction; moreover, hypogonadism has been demonstrated as a significant risk marker of increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.Cases presentation: We reported two cases of long-standing hypogonadotropic hypogonadism presenting with wasting, bradycardia and heart failure. The two patients were admitted to emergency department for deep weakness, unresponsive anemia and severe bradycardia, requiring in one case the implanting of a monocameral pace-maker for treatment of heart failure. No previous cardiologic disorders were known and cardiac ischemia was ruled out in both patients. The first patient presented congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism combined with mild central hypothyroidism and growth hormone deficiency occurred in the peripubertal age, while the second one was diagnosed with isolated adult-onset severe central hypogonadism. Testosterone deficiency was the main feature in both patients as physical examination revealed clinical stigmata of hypogonadism and testosterone replacement induced a dramatic improvement of general condition. Genetic analysis of genes involved in hypogonadotropic hypogonadism failed to identify alterations.Conclusion: Long-standing hypogonadism in males can be associated with life threatening body alterations including severe bradycardia and heart failure

Analisi della variabilità genetica della razza Gentile di Puglia mediante microsatelliti

La razza Gentile di Puglia conta circa 2813 soggetti allevati in 29 aziende distribuite sui territori di Puglia, Abruzzo, Calabria e Molise (dati Asso.Na.Pa del 2006); da decenni si sta verificando una costante e preoccupante contrazione numerica degli esemplari appartenenti alla razza. La pecora Gentile presenta una produzione di latte modesta in termini quantitativi, sebbene l’elevato contenuto in grasso e proteine lo rendano particolarmente idoneo alla lavorazione casearia. In tale contesto la caratterizzazione genetica della razza Gentile di Puglia, attraverso lo studio della variabilità genetica con approccio di tipo molecolare, potrebbe rappresentare un valido strumento per la sal- vaguardia della razza e per la valorizzazione delle sue produzioni

New limits on heavy sterile neutrino mixing in 8B{^{8}\rm{B}}-decay obtained with the Borexino detector

If heavy neutrinos with mass $m_{\nu_{H}}\geq$2$m_e$ are produced in the Sun via the decay ${^8\rm{B}} \rightarrow {^8\rm{Be}} + e^+ + \nu_H$ in a side branch of pp-chain, they would undergo the observable decay into an electron, a positron and a light neutrino $\nu_{H}\rightarrow\nu_{L}+e^++e^-$. In the present work Borexino data are used to set a bound on the existence of such decays. We constrain the mixing of a heavy neutrino with mass 1.5 MeV $\leq m_{\nu_{H}} \le$ 14 MeV to be $|U_{eH}|^2\leq (10^{-3}-4\times10^{-6})$ respectively. These are tighter limits on the mixing parameters than obtained in previous experiments at nuclear reactors and accelerators.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Estudio sobre percepción del impacto del aislamiento social en psicólogos de Córdoba – Argentina

La pandemia por COVID-19 es una emergencia de salud pública mundial sin precedentes en el siglo XXI. Reconociéndose como circunstancia socio-sanitaria inusitada, se llevó a cabo la presente investigación realizada por la Comisión Cuestiones de Familia del Colegio de Psicólogos/as de la Provincia de Córdoba (Argentina) en los meses de abril-mayo del 2020, con la finalidad de producir nuevos conocimientos en el ámbito de las problemáticas psicosociales y visibilizar la importancia de la profesión en el enfrentamiento de esta pandemia. El objetivo fue estudiar la percepción del impacto del aislamiento social preventivo y obligatorio (ASPO) a nivel personal y laboral, así como también posibles recursos de afrontamiento implementados, en la comunidad de psicólogos y psicólogas de la provincia de Córdoba, Argentina. El diseño fue de tipo descriptivo. Se utilizó un cuestionario online autoadministrado para la recolección de datos. El análisis de los mismos fue de tipo cuantitativo. Se evidenció el impacto del ASPO a nivel físico y emocional con menor incidencia que en la población general y en otros profesionales de la salud; en el grupo de convivencia y en los entornos relacionales de forma colaborativa; en la implementación de nuevas formas de comunicación con el entorno; en cambios en la modalidad de trabajo; y en la implementación de recursos saludables de afrontamiento. Se desataca la importancia de incluir a los profesionales de la psicología entre los actores involucrados en la lucha contra la pandemia por COVID-19 en pos del cuidado de la salud mental de la población general y los profesionales de la salud.publishedVersionFil: Dangelo, Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Psicología. Seminario Introducción a la Psicología Perinatal. Cátedra de Psicoterapia; Argentina.Fil: Córdoba, Julia. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Aguirre, Silvina. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Roggia, Celeste. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Arsaut, Camila. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Fontao, Marianela. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Ordoñez, María Alicia. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Avedikian, Virginia. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Zacarías, Tania M. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina.Fil: Cardoso, Agustina. Colegio de Psicólogos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Comisión Cuestiones de Familia; Argentina

Momentum sharing in imbalanced Fermi systems

The atomic nucleus is composed of two different kinds of fermions, protons and neutrons. If the protons and neutrons did not interact, the Pauli exclusion principle would force the majority fermions (usually neutrons) to have a higher average momentum. Our high-energy electron scattering measurements using 12C, 27Al, 56Fe and 208Pb targets show that, even in heavy neutron-rich nuclei, short-range interactions between the fermions form correlated high-momentum neutron-proton pairs. Thus, in neutron-rich nuclei, protons have a greater probability than neutrons to have momentum greater than the Fermi momentum. This finding has implications ranging from nuclear few body systems to neutron stars and may also be observable experimentally in two-spin state, ultra-cold atomic gas systems.Comment: Published in Science. 10 pages, 3 figure

Estrogen/Estrogen Receptor Alpha Signaling in Mouse Posterofrontal Cranial Suture Fusion

BACKGROUND: While premature suture fusion, or craniosynostosis, is a relatively common condition, the cause is often unknown. Estrogens are associated with growth plate fusion of endochondral bones. In the following study, we explore the previously unknown significance of estrogen/estrogen receptor signaling in cranial suture biology. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Firstly, estrogen receptor (ER) expression was examined in physiologically fusing (posterofrontal) and patent (sagittal) mouse cranial sutures by quantitative RT-PCR. Next, the cranial suture phenotype of ER alpha and ER beta knockout (alphaERKO, betaERKO) mice was studied. Subsequently, mouse suture-derived mesenchymal cells (SMCs) were isolated; the effects of 17-beta estradiol or the estrogen antagonist Fulvestrant on gene expression, osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation were examined in vitro. Finally, in vivo experiments were performed in which Fulvestrant was administered subcutaneously to the mouse calvaria. Results showed that increased ERalpha but not ERbeta transcript abundance temporally coincided with posterofrontal suture fusion. The alphaERKO but not betaERKO mouse exhibited delayed posterofrontal suture fusion. In vitro, addition of 17-beta estradiol enhanced both osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation in suture-derived mesenchymal cells, effects reversible by Fulvestrant. Finally, in vivo application of Fulvestrant significantly diminished calvarial osteogenesis, inhibiting suture fusion. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Estrogen signaling through ERalpha but not ERbeta is associated with and necessary for normal mouse posterofrontal suture fusion. In vitro studies suggest that estrogens may play a role in osteoblast and/or chondrocyte differentiation within the cranial suture complex

Divergent Regulation of Actin Dynamics and Megakaryoblastic Leukemia-1 and -2 (Mkl1/2) by cAMP in Endothelial and Smooth Muscle Cells.

Proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) or endothelial cell (ECs) promote or inhibit, respectively, restenosis after angioplasty, vein graft intimal thickening and atherogenesis. Here we investigated the effects of cAMP-induced cytoskeletal remodelling on the serum response factor (SRF) co-factors Megakaryoblastic Leukemia-1 and -2 (MKL1 and MKL2) and their role in controlling VSMC and EC proliferation and migration. Elevation of cAMP using forskolin, dibutyryl-cAMP (db-cAMP), BAY60-6583 or Cicaprost induced rapid cytoskeleton remodelling and inhibited proliferation and migration in VSMCs but not EC. Furthermore, elevated cAMP inhibited mitogen-induced nuclear-translocation of MKL1 and MKL2 in VSMCs but not ECs. Forskolin also significantly inhibited serum response factor (SRF)-dependent reporter gene (SRE-LUC) activity and mRNA expression of pro-proliferative and pro-migratory MKL1/2 target genes in VSMCs but not in ECs. In ECs, MKL1 was constitutively nuclear and MKL2 cytoplasmic, irrespective of mitogens or cAMP. Pharmacological or siRNA inhibition of MKL1 significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of VSMC and EC. Our new data identifies and important contribution of MKL1/2 to explaining the strikingly different response of VSMCs and ECs to cAMP elevation. Elucidation of these pathways promises to identify targets for specific inhibition of VSMC migration and proliferation