Cooperative control of autonomous connected vehicles from a Networked Control perspective: Theory and experimental validation

Formation control of autonomous connected vehicles is one of the typical problems addressed in the general context of networked control systems. By leveraging this paradigm, a platoon composed by multiple connected and automated vehicles is represented as one-dimensional network of dynamical agents, in which each agent only uses its neighboring information to locally control its motion, while it aims to achieve certain global coordination with all other agents. Within this theoretical framework, control algorithms are traditionally designed based on an implicit assumption of unlimited bandwidth and perfect communication environments. However, in practice, wireless communication networks, enabling the cooperative driving applications, introduce unavoidable communication impairments such as transmission delay and packet losses that strongly affect the performances of cooperative driving. Moreover, in addition to this problem, wireless communication networks can suffer different security threats. The challenge in the control field is hence to design cooperative control algorithms that are robust to communication impairments and resilient to cyber attacks. The work aim is to tackle and solve these challenges by proposing different properly designed control strategies. They are validated both in analytical, numerical and experimental ways. Obtained results confirm the effectiveness of the strategies in coping with communication impairments and security vulnerabilities

Cooperative Intersection Crossing Over 5G

IEEE Autonomous driving is a safety critical application of sensing and decision-making technologies. Communication technologies extend the awareness capabilities of vehicles, beyond what is achievable with the on-board systems only. Nonetheless, issues typically related to wireless networking must be taken into account when designing safe and reliable autonomous systems. The aim of this work is to present a control algorithm and a communication paradigm over 5G networks for negotiating traffic junctions in urban areas. The proposed control framework has been shown to converge in a finite time and the supporting communication software has been designed with the objective of minimizing communication delays. At the same time, the underlying network guarantees reliability of the communication. The proposed framework has been successfully deployed and tested, in partnership with Ericsson AB, at the AstaZero proving ground in Goteborg, Sweden. In our experiments, three heterogeneous autonomous vehicles successfully drove through a 4-way intersection of 235 square meters in an urban scenario

Constitutive and AP20187-induced Ret activation in photoreceptors does not protect from light-induced damage.

Purpose Delivery of glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), either as a recombinant protein or by retinal gene transfer results in photoreceptor (PR) neuroprotection in genetic models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The mechanism of GDNF action and its direct targets in the retina remain unknown. The goal of the present study was to test the neuroprotective effect of GDNF from light-induced damage, a commonly used stimulus of PR degeneration, and to determine whether protection occurs directly on PRs. Methods Adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV) were developed that expressed either GDNF or a constitutively (RetMen2A) or pharmacologically activated chimeric GDNF receptor (Fv2Ret). Fv2Ret homodimerization and activation are induced by the administration of the small dimerizer drug AP20187. AAV2/2 vectors and the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter were used to transduce GDNF in the retina, whereas RetMen2A and Fv2Ret were transduced by AAV2/5 vectors and their expression restricted to PRs by the rhodopsin promoter. In vivo GDNF levels were measured by ELISA, RetMen2A and Fv2Ret expression and activation in vitro and/or in vivo were assessed by Western blot and immunofluorescence analyses. ERG measurements and histologic analyses were performed to assess morphologic and functional rescue, respectively. Results GDNF gene transfer resulted in sustained protein expression in the eye. In addition, the results confirmed in vivo that PR-restricted activation of Ret signaling occurred after either AAV-mediated expression of RetMen2A or AP20187-dependent Fv2Ret activation. However, this or AAV-mediated GDNF retinal gene transfer did not result in functional or morphologic PR protection from light-induced damage. Conclusions The results suggest that the apoptotic pathways responsible for light-induced PR degeneration are not inhibited by GDNF. However, GDNF signaling was shown to be regulated in time and levels in the retina by the AP20187/Fv2Ret system which is therefore available to be tested as gene-based therapeutic strategy in models of PR degeneration responsive to GDNF

Effects of the Calix[4]arene Derivative Compound OTX008 on High Glucose-Stimulated ARPE-19 Cells: Focus on Galectin-1/TGF-β/EMT Pathway

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a neurovascular disease characterized by the reduction of retina integrity and functionality, as a consequence of retinal pigment epithelial cell fibrosis. Although galectin-1 (a glycan-binding protein) has been associated with dysregulated retinal angiogenesis, no evidence has been reported about galectin-1 roles in DR-induced fibrosis. ARPE-19 cells were cultured in normal (5 mM) or high glucose (35 mM) for 3 days, then exposed to the selective galectin-1 inhibitor OTX008 (2.5-5-10 μM) for 6 days. The determination of cell viability and ROS content along with the analysis of specific proteins (by immunocytochemistry, Western blotting, and ELISA) or mRNAs (by real time-PCR) were performed. OTX008 5 μM and 10 μM improved cell viability and markedly reduced galectin-1 protein expression in cells exposed to high glucose. This was paralleled by a down-regulation of the TGF-β/, NF-kB p65 levels, and ROS content. Moreover, epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers were reduced by OTX008 5 μM and 10 μM. The inhibition of galectin-1 by OTX008 in DR may preserve retinal pigment epithelial cell integrity and functionality by reducing their pro-fibrotic phenotype and epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenomenon induced by diabetes

Study of the beam dynamics in a linac with the code retar

The three-dimensional fully relativistic and self- consistent code RETAR has been developed to model the dynamics of high-brightness electron beams and, in particular, to assess the importance of the retarded radiative part of the emitted electromagnetic fields in all conditions where the electrons experience strong accelerations. In this analysis we evaluate the radiative energy losses in the electron emission process from the photocathode of an injector, during the successive acceleration of the electron beam in the RF cavity and the focalization due to the magnetic field of the solenoid. The analysis is specifically carried out with parameters of importance in the framework of the SPARC and PLASMONX projects

Efficacy and safety of flexible versus rigid endoscopic third ventriculostomy in pediatric and adult populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) is a well-established surgical procedure for hydrocephalus treatment, but there is sparse evidence on the optimal choice between flexible and rigid approaches. A meta-analysis was conducted to compare efficacy and safety profiles of both techniques in pediatrics and adults. A comprehensive search was conducted on PubMED, EMBASE, and Cochrane until 11/10/2019. Efficacy was evaluated comparing incidence of ETV failure, while safety was defined by the incidence of perioperative complications, intraoperative bleedings, and deaths. Random-effects models were used to pool the incidence. Out of 1365 studies, 46 case series were meta-analyzed, yielding 821 patients who underwent flexible ETV and 2918 who underwent rigid ETV, with an age range of [5 days-87 years]. Although flexible ETV had a higher incidence of failure in adults (flexible: 54%, 95%CI: 22-82% vs rigid: 20%, 95%CI: 22-82%) possibly due to confounding due to etiology in adults treated with flexible, a smaller difference was seen in pediatrics (flexible: 36%, pediatric: 32%). Safety profiles were acceptable for both techniques, with a certain degree of variability for complications (flexible 2%, rigid 18%) and death (flexible 1%, rigid 3%) in pediatrics as well as complications (rigid 9%, flexible 13%), death (flexible 4%, rigid 6%) and intra-operative bleeding events (rigid 6%, flexible 8%) in adults. No clear superiority in efficacy could be depicted between flexible and rigid ETV for hydrocephalus treatment. Safety profiles varied by age but were acceptable for both techniques. Well-designed comparative studies are needed to assess the optimal endoscopic treatment option for hydrocephalus

GeV-Class two-fold CW linac driven by an arc-compressor

We present a study of an innovative scheme to generate high repetition rate (MHz-class) GeV electron beams by adopting a two-pass two-way acceleration in a super-conducting Linac operated in Continuous Wave (CW) mode. The beam is accelerated twice in the Linac by being re-injected, after the first pass, in opposite direction of propagation. The task of recirculating the electron beam is performed by an arc compressor composed by 14 Double Bend Achromat (DBA). In this paper, we study the main issues of the two-fold acceleration scheme, the electron beam quality parameters preservation (emittance, energy spread), together with the bunch compression performance of the arc compressor, aiming to operate an X-ray Free Electron Laser. The requested power to supply the cryogenic plant and the RF sources is also significantly reduced w.r.t a conventional one-pass SC Linac for the same final energy