Angelo Cenedese

Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells Restore the Muscle Cell Niche in a HSA‐Cre, SmnF7/F7 Mouse Model

Mutations in the survival of motor neuron gene (SMN1) are responsible for spinal muscular atrophy, a fatal neuromuscular disorder. Mice carrying a homozygous deletion of Smn exon 7 directed to skeletal muscle (HSA‐Cre, SmnF7/F7 mice) present clinical features of human muscular dystrophies for which new therapeutic approaches are highly warranted. Herein we demonstrate that tail vein transplantation of mouse amniotic fluid stem (AFS) cells enhances the muscle strength and improves the survival rate of the affected animals. Second, after cardiotoxin injury of the Tibialis Anterior, only AFS‐transplanted mice efficiently regenerate. Most importantly, secondary transplants of satellite cells (SCs) derived from treated mice show that AFS cells integrate into the muscle stem cell compartment and have long‐term muscle regeneration capacity indistinguishable from that of wild‐type‐derived SC. This is the first study demonstrating the functional and stable integration of AFS cells into the skeletal muscle, highlighting their value as cell source for the treatment of muscular dystrophies. STEM Cells2012;30:1675–1684

Low-Density Wireless Sensor Networks for Localization and Tracking in Critical Environments

In this paper, the problem of localizing and tracking mobile nodes acting in a fixed wireless sensor network (WSN) is addressed. A strategy is proposed based on an empirical map of the received signal-strength distribution that is generated by the WSN and on a stochastic model of the mobile-node behavior. This approach results in being well suited for low-density setups and critical environments. The theoretical background and the architecture of the system are presented, together with simulations to validate the design phase. Also, the system is implemented into a real-time framework, and its performance is tested in an industrial indoor environment.

Distributed perimeter patrolling and tracking for camera networks

In this work, we propose a distributed control strategy for perimeter patrolling and target tracking in a multi-camera video surveillance system with communication, resources and speed constraints. These cameras are required to monitor a perimeter and share common portions of this perimeter to allow redundant coverage. We propose an algorithm that is able to find the global patrolling strategy only through local asynchronous communication and coordination of neighboring cameras even in presence of physical limits of each camera visibility area. The algorithm converges to an optimal solution, and its distributed implementation is obtained through an electric circuit analogy. The proposed system also includes a Kalman-based filter for each camera to track moving targets within its areas of competence, and a distributed coordination scheme for target hand-off between different cameras that guarantees target locking at all times. Numerical simulations are provided to test the proposed algorithms.

Advances in real-time plasma boundary reconstruction: from gaps to snakes

The problem of plasma boundary reconstruction in relation to shape control was discussed. The different approaches to guaranteeing accuracy and robustness of plasma boundary control were presented. Deformable models provide a new formulation of the plasma boundary as a continuous contour, which facilitates more accurate estimation of global shape parameters, able to describe the plasma evolution in a realistic way. The results and analyses performed on JET and ITER support the validity of snake reconstruction methodology.

Preservation of micro-architecture and angiogenic potential in a pulmonary acellular matrix obtained using intermittent intra-tracheal flow of detergent enzymatic treatment

Tissue engineering of autologous lung tissue aims to become a therapeutic alternative to transplantation. Efforts published so far in creating scaffolds have used harsh decellularization techniques that damage the extracellular matrix (ECM), deplete its components and take up to 5 weeks to perform. The aim of this study was to create a lung natural acellular scaffold using a method that will reduce the time of production and better preserve scaffold architecture and ECM components. Decellularization of rat lungs via the intratracheal route removed most of the nuclear material when compared to the other entry points. An intermittent inflation approach that mimics lung respiration yielded an acellular scaffold in a shorter time with an improved preservation of pulmonary micro-architecture. Electron microscopy demonstrated the maintenance of an intact alveolar network, with no evidence of collapse or tearing. Pulsatile dye injection via the vasculature indicated an intact capillary network in the scaffold. Morphometry analysis demonstrated a significant increase in alveolar fractional volume, with alveolar size analysis confirming that alveolar dimensions were maintained. Biomechanical testing of the scaffolds indicated an increase in resistance and elastance when compared to fresh lungs. Staining and quantification for ECM components showed a presence of collagen, elastin, GAG and laminin. The intratracheal intermittent decellularization methodology could be translated to sheep lungs, demonstrating a preservation of ECM components, alveolar and vascular architecture. Decellularization treatment and methodology preserves lung architecture and ECM whilst reducing the production time to 3 h. Cell seeding and in vivo experiments are necessary to proceed towards clinical translation.

The “Wireless Sensor Networks for City-Wide Ambient Intelligence (WISE-WAI)” Project

This paper gives a detailed technical overview of some of the activities carried out in the context of the “Wireless Sensor networks for city-Wide Ambient Intelligence (WISE-WAI)” project, funded by the Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo Foundation, Italy. The main aim of the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of large-scale wireless sensor network deployments, whereby tiny objects integrating one or more environmental sensors (humidity, temperature, light intensity), a microcontroller and a wireless transceiver are deployed over a large area, which in this case involves the buildings of the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Padova. We will describe how the network is organized to provide full-scale automated functions, and which services and applications it is configured to provide. These applications include long-term environmental monitoring, alarm event detection and propagation, single-sensor interrogation, localization and tracking of objects, assisted navigation, as well as fast data dissemination services to be used, e.g., to rapidly re-program all sensors over-the-air. The organization of such a large testbed requires notable efforts in terms of communication protocols and strategies, whose design must pursue scalability, energy efficiency (while sensors are connected through USB cables for logging and debugging purposes, most of them will be battery-operated), as well as the capability to support applications with diverse requirements. These efforts, the description of a subset of the results obtained so far, and of the final objectives to be met are the scope of the present paper.

JET real-time object-oriented code for plasma boundary reconstruction

XLOC, a magnetic flux reconstruction code, with more than 8 years of successful application in the JET plasma control feedback, has been rewritten as an object oriented modular code. This paper will describe the state of this code and show how it has been applied to real-time control and measurement applications.

Stochastic realization approach to the efficient simulation of phase screens.

The phase screen method is a well-established approach to take into account the effects of atmospheric turbulence in astronomical seeing. This is of key importance in designing adaptive optics for new-generation telescopes, in particular in view of applications such as exoplanet detection or long-exposure spectroscopy. We present an innovative approach to simulate turbulent phase that is based on stochastic realization theory. The method shows appealing properties in terms of both accuracy in reconstructing the structure function and compactness of the representation.

Newton-Raphson Consensus for Distributed Convex Optimization

We address the problem of distributed unconstrained convex optimization under separability assumptions, i.e., the framework where each agent of a network is endowed with a local private multidimensional convex cost, is subject to communication constraints, and wants to collaborate to compute the minimizer of the sum of the local costs. We propose a design methodology that combines average consensus algorithms and separation of time-scales ideas. This strategy is proved, under suitable hypotheses, to be globally convergent to the true minimizer. Intuitively, the procedure lets the agents distributedly compute and sequentially update an approximated Newton-Raphson direction by means of suitable average consensus ratios. We show with numerical simulations that the speed of convergence of this strategy is comparable with alternative optimization strategies such as the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers. Finally, we propose some alternative strategies which trade-off communication and computational requirements with convergence speed.

Asynchronous Newton-Raphson Consensus for Distributed Convex Optimization

We consider the distributed unconstrained minimization of separable convex cost functions, where the global cost is given by the sum of several local and private costs, each associated to a specific agent of a given communication network. We specifically address an asynchronous distributed optimization technique called Newton-Raphson Consensus. Beside having low computational complexity, low communication requirements and being interpretable as a distributed Newton-Raphson algorithm, the technique has also the beneficial properties of requiring very little coordination and naturally supporting time-varying topologies. In this work we analytically prove that under some assumptions it shows either local or global convergence properties, and corroborate this result by the means of numerical simulations.