Modello dei dati e trattamento del dato sul GIS di scavo

The paper focuses on the problems related to archaeological excavation data management through the use of a GIS solution; it considers aspects ranging from the planning of an open and functional data model, fitting the complexity of stratigraphy, to the possibilities of data processing such as the production of thematic maps or the elaboration of interpretative and predictive models using statistical and mathematical tools. It also discusses the difficulty of 3D data recording, as well as the recent technological development of Internet mapping servers and web-based dynamic GIS systems

A Dog with Pseudo-Addison Disease Associated with Trichuris vulpis Infection

A female Rottweiler dog was presented with a history of intermittent vomiting and diarrhoea, dysorexia, weakness, and weight loss. Haemocytometry and biochemistry values were within normal ranges except for electrolyte analyses, that demonstrated hyponatremia and hyperkalemia with a decreased sodium/potassium ratio. A diagnosis of hypoadrenocorticism was suspected. Basal and post-ACTH stimulation cortisolemia were within the normal values. Electrocardiography was normal, and thoracic radiography showed no significant modifications. On abdominal ultrasonography, adrenal glands appeared normal, while the bowel was distended, and several thin linear hyperechoic objects floating in the lumen were observed. Two adult female whipworms (Trichuris vulpis) were collected following bowel irrigation. Anthelmintic treatment against the parasite was curative

Comparing virtual vs real faces expressing emotions in children with autism: An eye-tracking study

AbstractDifficulties in processing emotional facial expressions is considered a central characteristic of children with autism spectrum condition (ASC). In addition, there is a growing interest in the use of virtual avatars capable of expressing emotions as an intervention aimed at improving the social skills of these individuals. One potential use of avatars is that they could enhance facial recognition and guide attention. However, this aspect needs further investigation. The aim of our study is to assess differences in eye gaze processes in children with ASC when they see avatar faces expressing emotions compared to real faces. Eye-tracking methodology was used to compare the performance of children with ASC between avatar and real faces. A repeated-measures general linear model was adopted to understand which characteristics of the stimuli could influence the stimuli's fixation times. Survival analysis was performed to understand differences in exploration behaviour between avatar and real faces. Differences between emotion recognition accuracy and the number of fixations were evaluated through a paired t-test. Our results confirm that children with autism have higher capacities to process and recognize emotions when these are presented by avatar faces. Children with autism are more attracted to the mouth or the eyes depending on the stimulus type (avatar or real) and the emotion expressed by the stimulus. Also, they are more attracted to avatar faces expressing negative emotions (anger and sadness), and to real faces expressing surprise. Differences were not found regarding happiness. Finally, they show a higher degree of exploration of avatar faces. All these elements, such as interest in the avatar and reduced attention to the eyes, can offer important elements in planning an efficient intervention

The use of fractal dimension methods in clinical epidemiology: an application for postural assessment

Background: this study considers the analysis of postural sway by comparing the use of a fractal dimension outcome (DBOX) with the usual sway ellipse area (SEA), calculated by the least squares method. Both the response variables come from centre of pressure (COP) dynamics detected by means of a force platform. Methods: recent literature regarding postural stability assessment in subjects with muscularskeletal disorders, or neuromuscular diseases affecting their motor skills, has suggested, both for practical and theoretical reasons, the use of some fractal dimension as a good outcome measurement for overall postural status. A sample group of 24 male subjects was recruited. The postural stabilogram was recorded both with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) while standing upright. A matched-pair comparison of the sway ellipse area with the COP dynamics box counting dimension was performed. A ROC analysis of the outcome variables was performed. Then, a ROC comparison of the tests, using the area under the curve (AUC) index, was conducted. Results: the comparison of paired groups showed a statistically significant difference between EO and EC status, according to the sway ellipse area and the fractal dimension (p<0.05). The ROC analysis, describing the test performance in terms of AUC difference, was statistically significant (p<0.05). The comparison of the AUCs showed an overall superior performance of the DBOX with respect to SEA (p<0.05). Conclusions: this study showed a statistically significant better overall performance of DBOX with respect to SEA, suggesting possible improvements of clinical practice, as well as theoretical insights into the response patterns

Notational Analysis of the Volleyball Serve

none6noThe aim of the present study was to investigate the serving techniques in male top level volleyball, especially the tactical and spatial behavior of the servers and receiving opponents focusing on the pros and cons of the different serving techniques. An analysis was made of 4552 serves from 28 matches played during the 2008-2009 regular season of the Italian volleyball male Top League. Serving techniques were categorized into Jump Serve (JS), Float Jump Serve (FJS) and Float Serve (FS), and for each serve several parameters were recorded: role of the server (Setter - S, Hitter - H, and Middle Blocker - MB), kind of serve (JS, FJS, FS), number of players defending the serve (Defense), difficulty in receiving the serve (RS), evaluation of serve outcome (EV), and defensive court zone where the ball was directed (FZ). The results confirmed the largest use of the JS (69.9%), followed by the FJS (26.9%) and the FS (3.3%). There were significant relationships between the serve technique, the EV, the Defense and the FZ where the serves were directed (Chi-Square p = 0.000). The zone absolutely most hit was the posterior/central, followed by the left/posteriors. There were significant differences in the RS difficulty for the JS respect to FJS (p = 0.001) and FS (p = 0.000) and also for the defensive strategies performed: a defense strategy with 2 defenders showed significant and better score during the reception respect to that with 3 (p = 0.000). No statistical relationship was found between the role of the server and other parameters. These results are consistent with previous studies in which JS showed to be the most powerful technique in terms of increasing defensive difficulties but, at the same time, with a fairly high percentage of errors. This issue must be taken into consideration in crucial phases of the game, and the serving techniques must be used strategically. JS can be very useful for increasing the defensive “conflict zones” with the aim to score a direct ace or to make the offensive maneuver difficult after reception. FJS can be useful when there is the need to aim a specific FZ and prepare the team for the next defense action. Scouting or match analysis procedure of the serving statistics should be performed during the game to better indicate the serve strategy to choose.openAndrea CIUFFARELLA, Luca RUSSO, Francesco MASEDU, Marco VALENTI, Riccardo IZZO, Marco DE ANGELISCiuffarella, Andrea; Russo, Luca; Masedu, Francesco; Valenti, Marco; Izzo, Riccardo; DE ANGELIS, Marc

Breakthrough Cancer Pain in Patients With Abdominal Visceral Cancer Pain

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Synthesis of new tacrine analogues from 4-amino-1H-pyrrole-3-carbonitrile

An easy preparation of 4-aminopyrrole-3-carbonitrile derivatives, and their transformation into new substituted pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyridines is described, in one step, via Friedländer reaction under microwave irradiation and classical heating methods. The use of microwave irradiation led to high conversion and shorter times.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - NMR Network, REEQ/ 630/QUI/2005, SFRH/BPD/31490/2006Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER

Reviewing Traffic ClassificationData Traffic Monitoring and Analysis

Traffic classification has received increasing attention in the last years. It aims at offering the ability to automatically recognize the application that has generated a given stream of packets from the direct and passive observation of the individual packets, or stream of packets, flowing in the network. This ability is instrumental to a number of activities that are of extreme interest to carriers, Internet service providers and network administrators in general. Indeed, traffic classification is the basic block that is required to enable any traffic management operations, from differentiating traffic pricing and treatment (e.g., policing, shaping, etc.), to security operations (e.g., firewalling, filtering, anomaly detection, etc.). Up to few years ago, almost any Internet application was using well-known transport layer protocol ports that easily allowed its identification. More recently, the number of applications using random or non-standard ports has dramatically increased (e.g. Skype, BitTorrent, VPNs, etc.). Moreover, often network applications are configured to use well-known protocol ports assigned to other applications (e.g. TCP port 80 originally reserved for Web traffic) attempting to disguise their presence. For these reasons, and for the importance of correctly classifying traffic flows, novel approaches based respectively on packet inspection, statistical and machine learning techniques, and behavioral methods have been investigated and are becoming standard practice. In this chapter, we discuss the main trend in the field of traffic classification and we describe some of the main proposals of the research community. We complete this chapter by developing two examples of behavioral classifiers: both use supervised machine learning algorithms for classifications, but each is based on different features to describe the traffic. After presenting them, we compare their performance using a large dataset, showing the benefits and drawback of each approac