Search

This paper presents the current results for the FP7 GINSEC project. Its goal is to build a pre-commercial prototype of a low-cost, accurate and reliable system for the professional UAV market. Low-cost, in this context, stands for the use of sensors in the most affordable segment of the market, especially MEMS IMUs and GNSS receivers. Reliability applies to the ability of the autopilot to cope with situations where unfavourable GNSS reception conditions or strong electromagnetic fields make the computation of the position and / or attitude of the UAV difficult. Professional and accurate mean that, at least using post-processing techniques as PPP, it will be possible to reach cm-level precisions that open the door to a range of applications demanding high levels of quality in positioning, as precision agriculture or mapping. To achieve such goal, a rigorous sensor error modelling approach, the use of redundant IMUs and a dual-GNSS receiver setup, together with close-coupling techniques and an extended Kalman filter with self-analysis capabilities have been used. Although the project is not yet complete, the results obtained up to now prove the feasibility of the aforementioned goal, especially in those aspects related to position determination. Research work is still undergoing to estimate the heading using a dual-GNNS receiver setup; preliminary results prove the validity of this approach for relatively long baselines, although positive results are expected when these are shorter than 1 m - which is a necessary requisite for small-sized UAVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicellular organisms rely upon diverse and complex intercellular communications networks for a myriad of physiological processes. Disruption of these processes is implicated in the onset and propagation of disease and disorder, including the mechanisms of senescence at both cellular and organismal levels. In recent years, secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been identified as a particularly novel vector by which cell-to-cell communications are enacted. EVs actively and specifically traffic bioactive proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolites between cells at local and systemic levels, modulating cellular responses in a bidirectional manner under both homeostatic and pathological conditions. EVs are being implicated not only in the generic aging process, but also as vehicles of pathology in a number of age-related diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative and disease. Thus, circulating EVs-or specific EV cargoes-are being utilised as putative biomarkers of disease. On the other hand, EVs, as targeted intercellular shuttles of multipotent bioactive payloads, have demonstrated promising therapeutic properties, which can potentially be modulated and enhanced through cellular engineering. Furthermore, there is considerable interest in employing nanomedicinal approaches to mimic the putative therapeutic properties of EVs by employing synthetic analogues for targeted drug delivery. Herein we describe what is known about the origin and nature of EVs and subsequently review their putative roles in biology and medicine (including the use of synthetic EV analogues), with a particular focus on their role in aging and age-related brain diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present preliminary results for our study of mutual phenomena of the Galilean satellites performed at radio wavelengths with the Medicina and Noto antennas of the Istituto di Radioastronomia - INAF, and with the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope of the Max-Planck-Institute for Radioastronomy, Bonn. Measurements of the radio flux density variation during the mutual occultations of Io by Europa and Ganymede were carried out during the PHEMU09 campaign at 22 GHz and 43 GHz. Flux density variations observed at radio wavelengths are consistent with the typical optical patterns measured when partial occultations occur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]