Vibration as a method for muscular stimulation

Human reactions to vibration have been extensively investigated in the past. Vibration, as well as whole-body vibration (WBV), has been commonly considered as an occupational hazard for its detrimental effects on human condition and comfort. Although long term exposure to vibrations may produce undesirable side-effects, a great part of the literature is dedicated to the positive effects of WBV when used as method for muscular stimulation and as an exercise intervention. Whole body vibration training (WBVT) aims to mechanically activate muscles by eliciting neuromuscular activity (muscle reflexes) via the use of vibrations delivered to the whole body. The most mentioned mechanism to explain the neuromuscular outcomes of vibration is the elicited neuromuscular activation. Local tendon vibrations induce activity of the muscle spindle Ia fibers, mediated by monosynaptic and polysynaptic pathways: a reflex muscle contraction known as the Tonic Vibration Reflex (TVR) arises in response to such vibratory stimulus. In WBVT mechanical vibrations, in a range from 10 to 80 Hz and peak to peak displacements from 1 to 10 mm, are usually transmitted to the patient body by the use of oscillating platforms. Vibrations are then transferred from the platform to a specific muscle group through the subject body. To customize WBV treatments, surface electromyography (SEMG) signals are often used to reveal the best stimulation frequency for each subject. Use of SEMG concise parameters, such as root mean square values of the recordings, is also a common practice; frequently a preliminary session can take place in order to discover the more appropriate stimulation frequency. Soft tissues act as wobbling masses vibrating in a damped manner in response to mechanical excitation; Muscle Tuning hypothesis suggest that neuromuscular system works to damp the soft tissue oscillation that occurs in response to vibrations; muscles alters their activity to dampen the vibrations, preventing any resonance phenomenon. Muscle response to vibration is however a complex phenomenon as it depends on different parameters, like muscle-tension, muscle or segment-stiffness, amplitude and frequency of the mechanical vibration. Additionally, while in the TVR study the applied vibratory stimulus and the muscle conditions are completely characterised (a known vibration source is applied directly to a stretched/shortened muscle or tendon), in WBV study only the stimulus applied to a distal part of the body is known. Moreover, mechanical response changes in relation to the posture. The transmissibility of vibratory stimulus along the body segment strongly depends on the position held by the subject. The aim of this work was the investigation on the effects that the use of vibrations, in particular the effects of whole body vibrations, may have on muscular activity. A new approach to discover the more appropriate stimulus frequency, by the use of accelerometers, was also explored. Different subjects, not affected by any known neurological or musculoskeletal disorders, were voluntarily involved in the study and gave their informed, written consent to participate. The device used to deliver vibration to the subjects was a vibrating platform. Vibrations impressed by the platform were exclusively vertical; platform displacement was sinusoidal with an intensity (peak-to-peak displacement) set to 1.2 mm and with a frequency ranging from 10 to 80 Hz. All the subjects familiarized with the device and the proper positioning. Two different posture were explored in this study: position 1 - hack squat; position 2 - subject standing on toes with heels raised. SEMG signals from the Rectus Femoris (RF), Vastus Lateralis (VL) and Vastus medialis (VM) were recorded. SEMG signals were amplified using a multi-channel, isolated biomedical signal amplifier The gain was set to 1000 V/V and a band pass filter (-3dB frequency 10 - 500 Hz) was applied; no notch filters were used to suppress line interference. Tiny and lightweight (less than 10 g) three-axial MEMS accelerometers (Freescale semiconductors) were used to measure accelerations of onto patient’s skin, at EMG electrodes level. Accelerations signals provided information related to individuals’ RF, Biceps Femoris (BF) and Gastrocnemius Lateralis (GL) muscle belly oscillation; they were pre-processed in order to exclude influence of gravity. As demonstrated by our results, vibrations generate peculiar, not negligible motion artifact on skin electrodes. Artifact amplitude is generally unpredictable; it appeared in all the quadriceps muscles analysed, but in different amounts. Artifact harmonics extend throughout the EMG spectrum, making classic high-pass filters ineffective; however, their contribution was easy to filter out from the raw EMG signal with a series of sharp notch filters centred at the vibration frequency and its superior harmonics (1.5 Hz wide). However, use of these simple filters prevents the revelation of EMG power potential variation in the mentioned filtered bands. Moreover our experience suggests that the possibility of reducing motion artefact, by using particular electrodes and by accurately preparing the subject’s skin, is not easily viable; even though some small improvements were obtained, it was not possible to substantially decrease the artifact. Anyway, getting rid of those artifacts lead to some true EMG signal loss. Nevertheless, our preliminary results suggest that the use of notch filters at vibration frequency and its harmonics is suitable for motion artifacts filtering. In RF SEMG recordings during vibratory stimulation only a little EMG power increment should be contained in the mentioned filtered bands due to synchronous electromyographic activity of the muscle. Moreover, it is better to remove the artifact that, in our experience, was found to be more than 40% of the total signal power. In summary, many variables have to be taken into account: in addition to amplitude, frequency and duration of vibration treatment, other fundamental variables were found to be subject anatomy, individual physiological condition and subject’s positioning on the platform. Studies on WBV treatments that include surface EMG analysis to asses muscular activity during vibratory stimulation should take into account the presence of motion artifacts. Appropriate filtering of artifacts, to reveal the actual effect on muscle contraction elicited by vibration stimulus, is mandatory. However as a result of our preliminary study, a simple multi-band notch filtering may help to reduce randomness of the results. Muscle tuning hypothesis seemed to be confirmed. Our results suggested that the effects of WBV are linked to the actual muscle motion (displacement). The greater was the muscle belly displacement the higher was found the muscle activity. The maximum muscle activity has been found in correspondence with the local mechanical resonance, suggesting a more effective stimulation at the specific system resonance frequency. Holding the hypothesis that muscle activation is proportional to muscle displacement, treatment optimization could be obtained by simply monitoring local acceleration (resonance). However, our study revealed some short term effects of vibratory stimulus; prolonged studies should be assembled in order to consider the long term effectiveness of these results. Since local stimulus depends on the kinematic chain involved, WBV muscle stimulation has to take into account the transmissibility of the stimulus along the body segment in order to ensure that vibratory stimulation effectively reaches the target muscle. Combination of local resonance and muscle response should also be further investigated to prevent hazards to individuals undergoing WBV treatments.

Light energy management in peach: utilization, photoprotection , photodamage and recovery. Maximizing light absorption in orchard is not always the best solution

The relation between the intercepted light and orchard productivity was considered linear, although this dependence seems to be more subordinate to planting system rather than light intensity. At whole plant level not always the increase of irradiance determines productivity improvement. One of the reasons can be the plant intrinsic un-efficiency in using energy. Generally in full light only the 5 – 10% of the total incoming energy is allocated to net photosynthesis. Therefore preserving or improving this efficiency becomes pivotal for scientist and fruit growers. Even tough a conspicuous energy amount is reflected or transmitted, plants can not avoid to absorb photons in excess. The chlorophyll over-excitation promotes the reactive species production increasing the photoinhibition risks. The dangerous consequences of photoinhibition forced plants to evolve a complex and multilevel machine able to dissipate the energy excess quenching heat (Non Photochemical Quenching), moving electrons (water-water cycle , cyclic transport around PSI, glutathione-ascorbate cycle and photorespiration) and scavenging the generated reactive species. The price plants must pay for this equipment is the use of CO2 and reducing power with a consequent decrease of the photosynthetic efficiency, both because some photons are not used for carboxylation and an effective CO2 and reducing power loss occurs. Net photosynthesis increases with light until the saturation point, additional PPFD doesn’t improve carboxylation but it rises the efficiency of the alternative pathways in energy dissipation but also ROS production and photoinhibition risks. The wide photo-protective apparatus, although is not able to cope with the excessive incoming energy, therefore photodamage occurs. Each event increasing the photon pressure and/or decreasing the efficiency of the described photo-protective mechanisms (i.e. thermal stress, water and nutritional deficiency) can emphasize the photoinhibition. Likely in nature a small amount of not damaged photosystems is found because of the effective, efficient and energy consuming recovery system. Since the damaged PSII is quickly repaired with energy expense, it would be interesting to investigate how much PSII recovery costs to plant productivity. This PhD. dissertation purposes to improve the knowledge about the several strategies accomplished for managing the incoming energy and the light excess implication on photo-damage in peach. The thesis is organized in three scientific units. In the first section a new rapid, non-intrusive, whole tissue and universal technique for functional PSII determination was implemented and validated on different kinds of plants as C3 and C4 species, woody and herbaceous plants, wild type and Chlorophyll b-less mutant and monocot and dicot plants. In the second unit, using a “singular” experimental orchard named “Asymmetric orchard”, the relation between light environment and photosynthetic performance, water use and photoinhibition was investigated in peach at whole plant level, furthermore the effect of photon pressure variation on energy management was considered on single leaf. In the third section the quenching analysis method suggested by Kornyeyev and Hendrickson (2007) was validate on peach. Afterwards it was applied in the field where the influence of moderate light and water reduction on peach photosynthetic performances, water requirements, energy management and photoinhibition was studied. Using solar energy as fuel for life plant is intrinsically suicidal since the high constant photodamage risk. This dissertation would try to highlight the complex relation existing between plant, in particular peach, and light analysing the principal strategies plants developed to manage the incoming light for deriving the maximal benefits as possible minimizing the risks. In the first instance the new method proposed for functional PSII determination based on P700 redox kinetics seems to be a valid, non intrusive, universal and field-applicable technique, even because it is able to measure in deep the whole leaf tissue rather than the first leaf layers as fluorescence. Fluorescence Fv/Fm parameter gives a good estimate of functional PSII but only when data obtained by ad-axial and ab-axial leaf surface are averaged. In addition to this method the energy quenching analysis proposed by Kornyeyev and Hendrickson (2007), combined with the photosynthesis model proposed by von Caemmerer (2000) is a forceful tool to analyse and study, even in the field, the relation between plant and environmental factors such as water, temperature but first of all light. “Asymmetric” training system is a good way to study light energy, photosynthetic performance and water use relations in the field. At whole plant level net carboxylation increases with PPFD reaching a saturating point. Light excess rather than improve photosynthesis may emphasize water and thermal stress leading to stomatal limitation. Furthermore too much light does not promote net carboxylation improvement but PSII damage, in fact in the most light exposed plants about 50-60% of the total PSII is inactivated. At single leaf level, net carboxylation increases till saturation point (1000 – 1200 μmolm-2s-1) and light excess is dissipated by non photochemical quenching and non net carboxylative transports. The latter follows a quite similar pattern of Pn/PPFD curve reaching the saturation point at almost the same photon flux density. At middle-low irradiance NPQ seems to be lumen pH limited because the incoming photon pressure is not enough to generate the optimum lumen pH for violaxanthin de-epoxidase (VDE) full activation. Peach leaves try to cope with the light excess increasing the non net carboxylative transports. While PPFD rises the xanthophyll cycle is more and more activated and the rate of non net carboxylative transports is reduced. Some of these alternative transports, such as the water-water cycle, the cyclic transport around the PSI and the glutathione-ascorbate cycle are able to generate additional H+ in lumen in order to support the VDE activation when light can be limiting. Moreover the alternative transports seems to be involved as an important dissipative way when high temperature and sub-optimal conductance emphasize the photoinhibition risks. In peach, a moderate water and light reduction does not determine net carboxylation decrease but, diminishing the incoming light and the environmental evapo-transpiration request, stomatal conductance decreases, improving water use efficiency. Therefore lowering light intensity till not limiting levels, water could be saved not compromising net photosynthesis. The quenching analysis is able to partition absorbed energy in the several utilization, photoprotection and photo-oxidation pathways. When recovery is permitted only few PSII remained un-repaired, although more net PSII damage is recorded in plants placed in full light. Even in this experiment, in over saturating light the main dissipation pathway is the non photochemical quenching; at middle-low irradiance it seems to be pH limited and other transports, such as photorespiration and alternative transports, are used to support photoprotection and to contribute for creating the optimal trans-thylakoidal ΔpH for violaxanthin de-epoxidase. These alternative pathways become the main quenching mechanisms at very low light environment. Another aspect pointed out by this study is the role of NPQ as dissipative pathway when conductance becomes severely limiting. The evidence that in nature a small amount of damaged PSII is seen indicates the presence of an effective and efficient recovery mechanism that masks the real photodamage occurring during the day. At single leaf level, when repair is not allowed leaves in full light are two fold more photoinhibited than the shaded ones. Therefore light in excess of the photosynthetic optima does not promote net carboxylation but increases water loss and PSII damage. The more is photoinhibition the more must be the photosystems to be repaired and consequently the energy and dry matter to allocate in this essential activity. Since above the saturation point net photosynthesis is constant while photoinhibition increases it would be interesting to investigate how photodamage costs in terms of tree productivity. An other aspect of pivotal importance to be further widened is the combined influence of light and other environmental parameters, like water status, temperature and nutrition on peach light, water and phtosyntate management.

Il conflitto tra ragione e passioni nel pensiero morale, economico e politico di Bernard Mandeville

Effects of the conflict between reason and passion in Bernard Mandeville’s moral, economic and political thought My PhD dissertation focuses on Bernard Mandeville (1670-1732), a Dutch philosopher who moved to London in his late twenties. The aspect of Mandeville’s thought I take into account in my research is the conflicting relation between reason and passions, and the consequences that Mandeville’s view of this conflict has in the development of his theory of human nature which, I argue, is what grounds his moral, economic and, above all, political theory. According to Mandeville, reason is fundamentally weak. Passions influence with more strength human actions, and, eventually, are the ones which motivate them. The role of reason is merely instrumental, restricted to finding appropriate means in order to reach the desired ends, which are capricious and inconstant, since they all come from unstable passions. Reason cannot take decisions meant to act in the long term, pursuing an object which has not a selfish and temporary nature. There is no possibility, thus, that men’s actions aim just to achieve a good and just society, without their interests being directly involved. The basically selfish root of every desire leads Mandeville to claim that there is neither benevolence nor altruism which guides human behaviour. Hence he expresses a judgement on the moral character of human beings, always busy with their self-satisfaction, and hardly ever considering what would be good on a wider perspective, including other people’s sake. The anthropological features ascribed to men by Mandeville, are those which lead him to prefer a political system where governors are not supposed to have particular abilities, either from an intellectual or from a moral point of view, and peace and order are preserved by the bureaucratic machine, which is meant to work with the least effort on the part of the politicians, and no big harm can be done even by corrupted or wicked governors. This system is adopted with an eye at remedying human deficiencies: Mandeville takes into primary account, when he thinks of how to build a peaceful and functioning society, that everyone is concerned with his selfish interest, and that the rationality of a single politician, or of a group of them belonging to a same generation, cannot find a good “solution” to govern men able to last over the long period, and to work in different ages. This implies a refusal of the Hobbesian theory of the pactum subjectionis, which has the character of a rational and definitive choice, and leads Mandeville to consider the order which arises spontaneously, without any plan or rational intervention.

Politiche di sviluppo e questione etnica. La cooperazione italiana IN Bosnia Erzegovina

The globalization process of the last twenty years has changed the world through international flows of people, policies and practices. International cooperation to development is a part of that process and brought International Organizations (IOs) and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from the West to the rest of the world. In my thesis I analyze the Italian NGOs that worked in Bosnia Herzegovina (BH) to understand which development projects they realized and how they faced the ethnic issue that characterized BH. I consider the relation shaped between Italian NGOs and Bosnian civil society as an object of ethnic interests. In BH, once part of former Yugoslavia, the transition from the communist regime to a democratic country has not been completed. BH’s social conditions are characterized by strong ethnic divisions. The legacy of the early 1990s crisis was a phenomenon of ethnic identities created before the war and that still endure today. The Dayton Peace Agreement signed in 1995 granted the peace and reinforced the inter-ethnic hate between the newly recognized three principal ethnicities: Serbs, Croats and Bosniak. Through the new constitution, the institutions were characterized by division at every level, from the top to the bottom of society. Besides it was the first constitution ever written and signed outside the own country; that was the root of the state of exception that characterized BH. Thus ethnic identities culture survived through the international political involvement. At the same time ethnic groups that dominated the political debate clashed with the international organization’s democratic purpose to build a multicultural and democratic state. Ethnic and also religious differences were the instruments for a national statement that might cause the transition and development projects failure. Fifteen years later social fragmentation was still present and it established an atmosphere of daily cultural violence. Civil society suffered this condition and attended to recreate the ethnic fragmentation in every day life. Some cities became physically divided and other cities don’t tolerated the minority presence. In rural areas, the division was more explicit, from village to village, without integration. In my speech, the anthropology for development – the derivative study from applied anthropology – constitutes the point of view that I used to understand how ethnic identities still influenced the development process in BH. I done ethnographic research about the Italian cooperation for development projects that were working there in 2007. The target of research were the Italian NGOs that created a relation with Bosnian civil society; they were almost twenty divided in four main field of competences: institutional building, education, agriculture and democratization. I assumed that NGOs work needed a deep study because the bottom of society is the place where people could really change their representation and behavior. Italian NGOs operated in BH with the aim of creating sustainable development. They found cultural barricade that both institutions and civil society erected when development projects have been applied. Ethnic and religious differences were stressed to maintain boundaries and fragmented power. Thus NGOs tried to negotiate development projects by social integration. I found that NGOs worked among ethnic groups by pursuing a new integration. They often gained success among people; civil society was ready to accept development projects and overcome differences. On the other hand NGOs have been limited by political level that sustained the ethnic talk and by their representation of Bosnian issue. Thus development policies have been impeded by ethnic issue and by cooperation practices established on a top down perspective. Paradoxically, since international community has approved the political ethnic division within DPA, then the willing of development followed by funding NGOs cooperation projects was not completely successful.

Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of micro-CHP Energy Systems

In the framework of the micro-CHP (Combined Heat and Power) energy systems and the Distributed Generation (GD) concept, an Integrated Energy System (IES) able to meet the energy and thermal requirements of specific users, using different types of fuel to feed several micro-CHP energy sources, with the integration of electric generators of renewable energy sources (RES), electrical and thermal storage systems and the control system was conceived and built. A 5 kWel Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) has been studied. Using experimental data obtained from various measurement campaign, the electrical and CHP PEMFC system performance have been determinate. The analysis of the effect of the water management of the anodic exhaust at variable FC loads has been carried out, and the purge process programming logic was optimized, leading also to the determination of the optimal flooding times by varying the AC FC power delivered by the cell. Furthermore, the degradation mechanisms of the PEMFC system, in particular due to the flooding of the anodic side, have been assessed using an algorithm that considers the FC like a black box, and it is able to determine the amount of not-reacted H2 and, therefore, the causes which produce that. Using experimental data that cover a two-year time span, the ageing suffered by the FC system has been tested and analyzed.

The vulnerable carotid plaque. Identification of endothelial markers predictive of plaque weakness, rupture predisposition and neoangiogenesis

Background. Neoangiogenesis is crucial in plaque progression and instability. Previous data from our group demonstrated that intra-plaque neovessels show both a Nestin+/WT+ and a Nestin+/WT1- phenotype, the latter being correlated with complications and plaque instability. Aims. The aims of the present thesis are: (i) to confirm our previous results on Nestin/WT1 phenotype in a larger series of carotid atheromatous plaques, (ii) to evaluate the relationship between the Nestin+/WT1- neoangiogenesis phenotype and plaque morphology, (iii) to evaluate the relationship between the immunohistochemical and histopathological characteristics and the clinical instability of the plaques. Materials and Methods. Seventy-three patients (53 males, 20 females, mean age 71 years) were consecutively enrolled. Symptoms, brain CT scan, 14 histological variables, including intraplaque hemorrhage and diffuse calcifications, were collected. Immunohistochemistry for CD34, Nestin and WT1 was performed. RT-PCR was performed to evaluate Nestin and WT1 mRNA (including 5 healthy arteries as controls). Results. Diffusely calcified plaques (13 out of 73) were found predominantly in females (P=0.017), with a significantly lower incidence of symptoms (TIA/stroke) and brain focal lesions (P=0.019 and P=0.013 respectively) than not-calcified plaques, but with the same incidence of intraplaque complications (P=0.156). Accordingly, both calcified and not calcified plaques showed similar mean densities of positivity for CD34, Nestin and WT1. The density of Nestin and WT1 correlated with the occurrence of intra-plaque hemorrhage in all cases, while the density of CD34 correlated only in not-calcified plaques. Conclusions. We confirmed that the Nestin+/WT1- phenotype characterizes the neovessels of instable plaques, regardless the real amount of CD34-positive neoangiogenesis. The calcified plaques show the same incidence of histological complications, albeit they do not influence symptomatology and plaque vulnerability. Female patients show a much higher incidence of not-complicated or calcified plaques, receiving de facto a sort of protection compared to male patients.

Analysis of the main phenomena affecting solid rocket motors internal ballistics

In solid rocket motors, the absence of combustion controllability and the large amount of financial resources involved in full-scale firing tests, increase the importance of numerical simulations in order to asses stringent mission thrust requirements and evaluate the influence of thrust chamber phenomena affecting the grain combustion. Among those phenomena, grain local defects (propellant casting inclusions and debondings), combustion heat accumulation involving pressure peaks (Friedman Curl effect), and case-insulating thermal protection material ablation affect thrust prediction in terms of not negligible deviations with respect to the nominal expected trace. Most of the recent models have proposed a simplified treatment to the problem using empirical corrective functions, with the disadvantages of not fully understanding the physical dynamics and thus of not obtaining predictive results for different configurations of solid rocket motors in a boundary conditions-varied scenario. This work is aimed to introduce different mathematical approaches to model, analyze, and predict the abovementioned phenomena, presenting a detailed physical interpretation based on existing SRMs configurations. Internal ballistics predictions are obtained with an in-house simulation software, where the adoption of a dynamic three-dimensional triangular mesh together with advanced computer graphics methods, allows the previous target to be reached. Numerical procedures are explained in detail. Simulation results are carried out and discussed based on experimental data.

Development and characterisation of a neurogenic model of brain cancer

Primary glioblastoma (GB), the most common and aggressive adult brain tumour, is refractory to conventional therapies and characterised by poor prognosis. GB displays striking cellular heterogeneity, with a sub-population, called Glioblastoma Stem Cells (GSCs), intrinsically resistant to therapy, hence the high rate of recurrence. Alterations of the tumour suppressor gene PTEN are prevalent in primary GBM, resulting in the inhibition of the polarity protein Lgl1 due to aPKC hyperactivation. Dysregulation of this molecular axis is one of the mechanisms involved in GSC maintenance. After demonstrating that the PTEN/aPKC/Lgl axis is conserved in Drosophila, I deregulated it in different cells populations of the nervous system in order to individuate the cells at the root of neurogenic brain cancers. This analysis identified the type II neuroblasts (NBs) as the most sensitive to alterations of this molecular axis. Type II NBs are a sub-population of Drosophila stem cells displaying a lineage similar to that of the mammalian neural stem cells. Following aPKC activation in these stem cells, I obtained an adult brain cancer model in Drosophila that summarises many phenotypic traits of human brain tumours. Fly tumours are indeed characterised by accumulation of highly proliferative immature cells and keep growing in the adult leading the affected animals to premature death. With the aim to understand the role of cell polarity disruption in this tumorigenic process I carried out a molecular characterisation and transcriptome analysis of brain cancers from our fly model. In summary, the model I built and partially characterised in this thesis work may help deepen our knowledge on human brain cancers by investigating many different aspects of this complicate disease.

Addressing challenges in heterogeneous embedded systems programming: security and performance

Embedded systems are increasingly integral to daily life, improving and facilitating the efficiency of modern Cyber-Physical Systems which provide access to sensor data, and actuators. As modern architectures become increasingly complex and heterogeneous, their optimization becomes a challenging task. Additionally, ensuring platform security is important to avoid harm to individuals and assets. This study primarily addresses challenges in contemporary Embedded Systems, focusing on platform optimization and security enforcement. The initial section of this study delves into the application of machine learning methods to efficiently determine the optimal number of cores for a parallel RISC-V cluster to minimize energy consumption using static source code analysis. Results demonstrate that automated platform configuration is not only viable but also that there is a moderate performance trade-off when relying solely on static features. The second part focuses on addressing the problem of heterogeneous device mapping, which involves assigning tasks to the most suitable computational device in a heterogeneous platform for optimal runtime. The contribution of this section lies in the introduction of novel pre-processing techniques, along with a training framework called Siamese Networks, that enhances the classification performance of DeepLLVM, an advanced approach for task mapping. Importantly, these proposed approaches are independent from the specific deep-learning model used. Finally, this research work focuses on addressing issues concerning the binary exploitation of software running in modern Embedded Systems. It proposes an architecture to implement Control-Flow Integrity in embedded platforms with a Root-of-Trust, aiming to enhance security guarantees with limited hardware modifications. The approach involves enhancing the architecture of a modern RISC-V platform for autonomous vehicles by implementing a side-channel communication mechanism that relays control-flow changes executed by the process running on the host core to the Root-of-Trust. This approach has limited impact on performance and it is effective in enhancing the security of embedded platforms.