Navigation design and flight dynamics operations of the ArgoMoon cis-lunar CubeSat.

On November 16, 2022, the NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) has been launched for the first time in the context of Artemis-1 mission where, together with the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, a set of 10 CubeSats have been delivered into a translunar trajectory. Among the small satellites deployed during Artemis-1 there is ArgoMoon, a 6U CubeSat built by the Italian company Argotec and coordinated by Italian Space Agency (ASI). The primary goal of ArgoMoon is to capture images of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. The ArgoMoon trajectory has been designed as a highly elliptical geocentric orbit, with several encounters with the Moon. In order to successfully fly ArgoMoon along the designed cis-lunar trajectory, a ground-based navigation system has been developed exploiting the guidance techniques also used for regular deep space missions. The navigation process is subdivided into Orbit Determi- nation (OD) and a Flight Path Control (FPC), and it is designed to follow the reference trajectory, prevent impacts with the Earth and the Moon, intensively test the navigation techniques, and guarantee the spacecraft disposal at the end of the mission. The work done in this thesis has accomplished the navigation of ArgoMoon, covering all aspects of the project life, from pre-launch design and analysis to actual operations. Firstly, the designed navigation process and the pre-mission assessment of its performance will be presented. Then, the results of the ArgoMoon navigation operations performed after the launch in November 2022 will be described in detail by discussing the main encountered challenges and the adopted solutions. The results of the operations confirmed the robustness of the designed navigation which allowed to accurately estimate the trajectory of ArgoMoon despite a series of complex events.

Ions and Small Molecules as Modulators of F1FO-ATPase, Mitochondrial Bioenergetics and Cell Metabolism

The properties of the mitochondrial F1FO-ATPase activated by the natural cofactor Mg2+ or by Ca2+, were studied, mainly on heart mitochondria from swine, widely used in translational medicine. The Ca2+ driven conformational changes in the F1FO-ATPase form the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP), which triggers regulated cell death and is involved in severe pathologies. The Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase hydrolyzes ATP with kinetics slightly different from those of the Mg2+-ATPase. Known F1-ATPase inhibitors inhibit both the Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase and the mPTP formation strengthening the molecular link between them. The different Gd3+ effects on the Ca2+- and Mg2+-activated F1FO-ATPases confirm their difference as also phenylglyoxal which preferentially inhibits the Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase. The effects of phenylarsine and dibromobimane, which interact with differently distant Cys thiols, show that mPTP opening is ruled by nearby or distant dithiols. Bergamot polyphenols and melatonin inhibit the mPTP and ROS formation. H2S, a known cardiovascular protector, unaffects the F1FO-ATPase, but inhibits Ca2+ absorption and indirectly the mPTP, both in swine heart and mussel midgut gland mitochondria. New generation triazoles inhibit the Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase and the mPTP, but unaffect the Mg2+-activated F1FOATPase. In parallel, the energy metabolism was investigated in mammalian cells. In boar sperm ATP is mainly produced by mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), even if it decreases over time because of less active mitochondria. Insufficient ATP may induce sperm dysfunction. Also, canine mesenchymal stem cells rely on OXPHOS; those from umbilical cord which produce more ATP than those from adipose tissue, seem preferable for transplant studies. The intestinal porcine enterocyte cell line IPEC-J2, used for human gut research, responds to different fetal bovine serum concentrations by remodeling OXPHOS without altering the bioenergetic parameters. The IPEC-J2 bioenergetics is modulated by Vitamin K vitamers. These data shoulder cell bioenergetics as precious tool for medical research.

An ontology-based approach to define and manage B2B interoperability

Electronic business surely represents the new development perspective for world-wide trade. Together with the idea of ebusiness, and the exigency to exchange business messages between trading partners, the concept of business-to-business (B2B) integration arouse. B2B integration is becoming necessary to allow partners to communicate and exchange business documents, like catalogues, purchase orders, reports and invoices, overcoming architectural, applicative, and semantic differences, according to the business processes implemented by each enterprise. Business relationships can be very heterogeneous, and consequently there are variousways to integrate enterprises with each other. Moreover nowadays not only large enterprises, but also the small- and medium- enterprises are moving towards ebusiness: more than two-thirds of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) use the Internet as a business tool. One of the business areas which is actively facing the interoperability problem is that related with the supply chain management. In order to really allow the SMEs to improve their business and to fully exploit ICT technologies in their business transactions, there are three main players that must be considered and joined: the new emerging ICT technologies, the scenario and the requirements of the enterprises and the world of standards and standardisation bodies. This thesis presents the definition and the development of an interoperability framework (and the bounded standardisation intiatives) to provide the Textile/Clothing sectorwith a shared set of business documents and protocols for electronic transactions. Considering also some limitations, the thesis proposes a ontology-based approach to improve the functionalities of the developed framework and, exploiting the technologies of the semantic web, to improve the standardisation life-cycle, intended as the development, dissemination and adoption of B2B protocols for specific business domain. The use of ontologies allows the semantic modellisation of knowledge domains, upon which it is possible to develop a set of components for a better management of B2B protocols, and to ease their comprehension and adoption for the target users.