Genetic and morphological variation and differentiation of Raja clavata populations in the European seas: marker development and preliminary data

In this study the population structure and connectivity of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Raja clavata (L., 1758) were investigated by analyzing the genetic variation of six population samples (N = 144) at seven nuclear microsatellite loci. The genetic dataset was generated by selecting population samples available in the tissue databases of the GenoDREAM laboratory (University of Bologna) and of the Department of Life Sciences and Environment (University of Cagliari), all collected during past scientific surveys (MEDITS, GRUND) from different geographical locations in the Mediterranean basin and North-east Atlantic sea, as North Sea, Sardinian coasts, Tuscany coasts and Cyprus Island. This thesis deals with to estimate the genetic diversity and differentiation among 6 geographical samples, in particular, to assess the presence of any barrier (geographic, hydrogeological or biological) to gene flow evaluating both the genetic diversity (nucleotide diversity, observed and expected heterozygosity, Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium analysis) and population differentiation (Fst estimates, population structure analysis). In addition to molecular analysis, quantitative representation and statistical analysis of morphological individuals shape are performed using geometric morphometrics methods and statistical tests. Geometric coordinates call landmarks are fixed in 158 individuals belonging to two population samples of Raja clavata and in population samples of closely related species, Raja straeleni (cryptic sibling) and Raja asterias, to assess significant morphological differences at multiple taxonomic levels. The results obtained from the analysis of the microsatellite dataset suggested a geographic and genetic separation between populations from Central-Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins. Furthermore, the analysis also showed that there was no separation between geographic samples from North Atlantic Ocean and central-Western Mediterranean, grouping them to a panmictic population. The Landmark-based geometric morphometry method results showed significant differences of body shape able to discriminate taxa at tested levels (from species to populations).

A novel marker for heart failure: Cross sectional area assessment in a large vein by conductance catheter.

The present study investigates the feasibility of a new application able to check the heart failure status in a patient through the estimation of the venous distension. In this way it would be possible to follow up patients, avoiding invasive or expensive exams such as cardiac catheterization and echocardiography. Moreover, the devices would also be able to diagnose the decline of the disease, in order to allow a new adaptation to therapy, and vice versa to check the improvement in the patient’s conditions after the CRT device implant. This thesis is essentially divided into three parts: an analytical model was used to obtain an estimation of the error committed for the calculation of the CSA and to understand how the accuracy and sensitivity depend on the different configurations of the electrodes and the catheter position inside the vein; secondly, an in-vitro experiment was carried out in order to verify the practical feasibility for these kinds of measurements, in a very simplified model; in the end, several animal experiments were done to test the in-vivo practicability of the proposed method. The obtained results showed the feasibility of this approach. In fact, the error committed in the estimation of CSA, during the animal experiments, can be considered acceptable (CSAerror_max ≈ -14%). Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the conductance catheter allows assessing, not only the vein CSA, but also the breathing of the animal.

Studio e analisi di circuiti di energy harvesting a switch sincronizzato per trasduttori piezoelettrici

In questa tesi sono stati simulati i modelli circuitali relativi alle tecniche di estrazione SECE, Q-SECE e SSHI. Sono state graficate e analizzate le caratteristiche di trasferimento di potenza. Tramite simulazioni LTspice, è stata calcolata l'energia estratta con tecnica SECE e Q-SECE ed è stato ricavato un miglioramento delle prestazioni di energia di +30% con la tecnica Q-SECE. Un'analisi simile è stata fatta per il calcolo dell'energia in uscita anche per il modello SSHI-parallel.

Progetto e implementazione di circuiti a switch sincronizzato per la conversione di micropotenze da trasduttori piezoelettrici

Una delle principali caratteristiche dei trasduttori per energy harvesting piezoelettrici è il fatto che la loro impedenza d'uscita è principalmente capacitiva. Questo consente di elaborare schemi di conversione dell'energia basati su circuiti risonanti attivati in modo sincrono con le vibrazioni, che risultano in grado di aumentare notevolmente la potenza di uscita rispetto alle comuni interfacce passive. Questa tesi si è posta come obiettivo la progettazione e implementazione di un circuito per energy harvesting da vibrazioni basato sulla tecnica Synchronized Switch Harvesting on Inductor (SSHI) che garantisse un'elevata efficienza di conversione. Dovendo gestire potenze in ingresso tipicamente di debole entità, l'architettura proposta è stata ottimizzata per minimizzare la dissipazione di potenza interna al convertitore. Il circuito proposto è stato infine validato sperimentalmente tramite allestimento di un setup di misura dedicato.

Enhanced switchgear connection testing through augmented reality: early developments

Augmented reality is an emerging field of interactive design in which virtual material is seamlessly blended with displays of real world environments. The tremendous potential of augmented reality has begun to be explored with the emergence of personal mobile devices capable of constructing engaging augmented reality experiences. This work is part of a project aiming at using augmented reality goggles to bring advance information to the user interacting with switch-gear during automation cabling. In particular we will be focusing on the recognition and definition of the figures of the component on the AR device. In this part we are using standard camera that allows us to get real images and helps us to localize the gearbox in space through ARUCO marker and we can exploit in order to re-project the actual shape of the component that are currently interested in manipulation by exploiting the data provided by the database. The experiments are carried out using the camera to get the images of the real world switch-gear and re-project those images with the component superimposed on it. Using transforms of the database we did localization to re-project the rendered image of component exactly on the real world component, which can be further integrated in AR goggles to see the component superimposed in real-time.