In this paper, a consensus-based control strategy is presented to gather formation for a group of differential-wheeled robots. The formation shape and the avoidance of collisions between robots are obtained by exploiting the properties of weighted graphs. Since mobile robots are supposed to move in unknown environments, the presented approach to multi-robot coordination has been extended in order to include obstacle avoidance. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy has been demonstrated by means of analytical proofs. Moreover, results of simulations and experiments on real robots are provided for validation purposes.

Even if the foundation, rise and eventual demise of Carthage and its overseas territories in the West Mediterranean occurred in much the same space and time as the glory days of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greece and Rome, there is no doubt that the Phoenicians and their Punic successors (to use the conventional terms) have rarely been regarded as fully signed-up members of the ancient world. Reduced to walk-on cameos as skilled silversmiths, agricultural experts, shrewd traders or military strategists, Phoenician and Punic representations tend to be rather stereotypical (Prag 2010, with earlier bibliography), which perhaps should not come as a surprise, as nearly all these portraits have been sketched by outsiders; they certainly do not add up to a coherent ethnographic or political description.

BOOMERanG has recently resolved structures on the last scattering surface at redshift ˜ 1100 with high signal to noise ratio. We review the technical advances which made this possible, and we focus on the current results for maps and power spectra, with special attention to the determination of the total mass-energy density in the Universe and of other cosmological parameters.

In the 1998-99 flight, BOOMERanG has produced maps of ∼4% of the sky at high Galactic latitudes, at frequencies of 90, 150, 240 and 410 GHz, with resolution ≳ 10'. The faint structure of the Cosmic Microwave Background at horizon and sub-horizon scales is evident in these maps. These maps compare well to the maps recently obtained at lower frequencies by the WMAP experiment. Here we compare the amplitude and morphology of the structures observed in the two sets of maps. We also outline the polarization sensitive version of BOOMERanG, which was flown early this year to measure the linear polarization of the microwave sky at 150, 240 and 350 GHz.

Observations of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (S-Z) effect offer the possibility of both investigating evolution of clusters and of determining cosmological parameters when combined with X-ray observations. We describe a dedicated instrument (MITO) consisting of a 2.6-m in diameter telescope operating at 3500 m a.s.l. in the 2.1, 1.4, 1.1 and 0.8 mm channels with ˜ 10% bandwidths. Here we briefly report the results of MITO measurements towards the Coma cluster.

CASPER (Concordia Atmospheric SPectroscopy of Emitted Radiation)is a spectrometer proposed for installation at Dome C, devoted tomeasurements of atmospheric emission in the spectral regionbetween 180 μm and 3 mm (3–55 cm-1). Thisinstrument will be able to perform continuous spectral sampling atdifferent altitudes at angular scales of ~1°. From therecorded data it is possible to extract atmospheric transmittancewithin 1% in the whole wide operating band, together with watervapour content and O2 and O3 concentrations. CASPER willallow us to characterize the site for future FIR/mm telescopes.Atmospheric data recorded by CASPER will allow for correction ofastrophysical and cosmological observations without the need fortelescope-specific procedures and further loss of observation timewith more precision in the observations themselves. Calibration ofground-based telescopes on known sky sources is strongly affectedby atmospheric absorption. CASPER has this as its primary goal.The spectrometer is based on a Martin-Puplett interferometer. Twodata sampling solutions will be performed: phase modulation &fast scan strategy. Sky radiation is collected towards theinterferometer by an optical setup that allows the field of view,to explore the full 0° ÷ 90° range of elevation angles. Witha low spurious polarization instrument, monitoring of polarizedatmospheric contribution will be possible.

We show how estimates of parameters characterizing inflation-based theories of structure formation localized over the past year when large scale structure (LSS) information from galaxy and cluster surveys was combined with the rapidly developing cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, especially from the recent Boomerang and Maxima balloon experiments. All current CMB data plus a relatively weak prior probability on the Hubble constant, age and LSS points to little mean curvature (Ωtot = 1.08±0.06) and nearly scale invariant initial fluctuations (ns = 1.03±0.08), both predictions of (non-baroque) inflation theory. We emphasize the role that degeneracy among parameters in the Lpk = 212 ± 7 position of the (first acoustic) peak plays in defining the Ωtot range upon marginalization over other variables. Though the CDM density is in the expected range (Ωcdmh2 = 0.17 ± 0.02), the baryon density Ωbh2 = 0.030 ± 0.005 is somewhat above the independent 0.019 ± 0.002 nucleosynthesis estimates. CMB+LSS gives independent evidence for dark energy (ΩΛ = 0.66 ± 0.06) at the same level as from supernova (SN1) observations, with a phenomenological quintessence equation of state limited by SN1+CMB+LSS to wQ < −0.7 cf. the wQ=−1 cosmological constant case.

Pump and probe experiments have been performed on Er-doped rib-loaded waveguides containing Si nanoclusters grown by reactive magnetron sputtering. An Er3+ absorption cross-section of about 5×10−21 cm2 has been found at 1534 nm by insertion losses measurements. Transmission measurements at 1310 nm under optical pumping (488 nm) shows a decreasing of the signal because of confined carrier absorption of the Si nanoclusters. Amplification experiments at 1535 nm evidence two pump power regimes: losses due to confined carrier absorption in the Si nanoclusters at low pump powers and signal amplification at high pump powers. For strong optical pumping, signal enhancement of about 1.2 dB/cm was observed.

We study the optical and structural properties of rib-loaded waveguides working in the 600-900 nm spectral range. A Si nanocrystal-rich SiOx with Si excess nominally ranging from 10 to 20% forms the active region of the waveguide. Starting materials were fused silica wafers and 2 μm-thick SiO2 thermally grown onto Si substrate. Si nanocrystals were precipitated by annealing at 1100°C after quadruple Si ion implantation to high doses in a flat profile. The complete phase separation and formation of Si nanocrystals were monitored by means of optical tools, such as Raman, optical absorption and photoluminescence. Grain size distribution was obtained by electron microscopy. The actual Si excess content was obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The rib-loaded structure of the waveguide was fabricated by photolitographic and reactive ion etching processes, with patterned rib widths ranging from 1 to 8 μm. M-lines spectroscopy measurements provided a direct measurement of the refractive index and thickness of the active layers versus Si excess. When coupling a probe signal at 780 nm or 633 nm into the waveguide, an attenuation of at least 11 dB/cm was observed. These propagation losses have been attributed to Mie scattering, waveguide irregularities and direct absorption by the silicon nanocrystals.

Rib-loaded silica waveguides containing Si nanocrystals were grown by quadruple implantation of Si ions into a 2 μm-thick thermally-grown SiO2 layer. The thickness of the resulting flat-profile active region was about 300 nm, with a 9.5% Si excess (determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). Complete phase separation and nanocrystal formation was assured by annealing at 1100 °C, and studied by means of optical tools such as Raman and luminescence. The rib-loaded structure of the waveguides was fabricated by photolithographic and reactive ion etching processes, with patterned rib widths ranging from 1 to 8 μm. Efficient light propagation was observed when end-fire coupling a probe signal both at 633 nm and 780 nm into the waveguides, with attenuation losses as low as 11 dB/cm. Signal amplification experiments, with pulsed and continuous wave (CW) top pumping, have shown increased signal absorption when the pump power is raised. This couples with the lack of any fast component in the time decay of the amplified spontaneous emissions as measured by ns pulsed pumping Variable Stripe Length (VSL) experiments. These two phenomena are interpreted as due to the lack of stimulated emission in these nanocrystalline systems.

The study of the anisotropies of the submillimeter relict radiation (RR) can provide important arguments to select among different theoretical scenarios (Panek and Rudak 1988). However, interstellar dust (ISD) emission is present in this spectral region and its patchy distribution can heavily contaminate anisotropy measurements. For example, the most sensitive measurement of CBR anisotropies has been reported so far in a broad band around 1 mm (Melchiorri et al. 1981): the detection of anisotropy is statistically very significant, but its cosmological origin is questionable.

We analyze the anisotropies in the extragalactic infrared background and in the source counts in standard cosmology perturbed by large-scale, small-amplitude density fluctuations. The dipole anisotropy of the diffuse background is connected to the dipole of the cosmic background radiation and of the source counts, and a full consistency with a large (≃ 7%) anisotropy in the IRAS source counts is found to imply a low density (Ω0 ≃ 0.2) universe, contrary to a previous claim. We analyze also higher order harmonics. Using the IRAS Low-Resolution All-Sky Maps we obtain an upper limit of 0.17MJy/sr on the dipole of the 100 μm background and show that it is consistent with a source-count anisotropy of 7% only for a low intensity, I ≤ 1.2 M Jy/sr, of the background itself.

The 2.7 K microwave background radiation provides a sensitive probe of the universe in the interesting, but poorly understood, epoch around z ˜ 1000. At this time (age ~ 10 yr) the universe has cooled to T ~ 4000 K, the plasma combines, Thomson scattering ceases, and matter and blackbody radiation decouple. Subsequently, the radiation freely propagates to us, carrying the imprint of temperature fluctuations on the z ~ 1000 surface. The temperature fluctuations could have been caused by primordial density fluctuations, anisotropy in the expansion of the universe, or inhomogeneity in the initial temperature distribution; the z = 1000 surface we see was not causally connected at the time the radiation was released. Interpretation of the anisotropy measurements is complicated by the possibility that the matter may have been reionized (e.g. by massive stars), so the radiation may have been rescattered, possibly as late as z ~ 7.

We report preliminary results relative to a balloon-borne search for the large-scale anisotropy carried out in 1980 by means of two far infrared photometers centered at 400 and 1100 microns. While these results are consistent with those obtained in an earlier flight, the second, shorter wavelength channel included in the 1980 work provides interesting insights into the influence of galactic dust on such far infrared observations.

Quantum fluctuations of the cosmic background have been measured in the 900 to 2000 micron range (H.P.B.W.) by means of a balloon-borne correlator operating between 5 and 150 Hz. Preliminary results indicate an upper limit √<dP2> ≤ 2.1 × 10−17 watt/(cm2 srad Hz)1/2, corresponding to the noise of a blackbody at a temperature T ≤ 3.1 K at 1σ.