Pape satan aleppe...

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Il-Għanja taċ-ċaqliq ta’ A. Buttigieg – Kelb xiħ tal-għassa ta’ A. Cremona – Il-fergħa tas-sagħtar ta’ George Zammit – L-infern tal-midneb! ta’ Karmenu Vassallo – Pape satan aleppe... ta’ Albert M. Cassola.N/

Prediction of severe thunderstorm events with ensemble deep learning and radar data

The problem of nowcasting extreme weather events can be addressed by applying either numerical methods for the solution of dynamic model equations or data-driven artificial intelligence algorithms. Within this latter framework, the most used techniques rely on video prediction deep learning methods which take in input time series of radar reflectivity images to predict the next future sequence of reflectivity images, from which the predicted rainfall quantities are extrapolated. Differently from the previous works, the present paper proposes a deep learning method, exploiting videos of radar reflectivity frames as input and lightning data to realize a warning machine able to sound timely alarms of possible severe thunderstorm events. The problem is recast in a classification one in which the extreme events to be predicted are characterized by a an high level of precipitation and lightning density. From a technical viewpoint, the computational core of this approach is an ensemble learning method based on the recently introduced value-weighted skill scores for both transforming the probabilistic outcomes of the neural network into binary predictions and assessing the forecasting performance. Such value-weighted skill scores are particularly suitable for binary predictions performed over time since they take into account the time evolution of events and predictions paying attention to the value of the prediction for the forecaster. The result of this study is a warning machine validated against weather radar data recorded in the Liguria region, in Italy

Air Raid

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Dwejjaq Missirijietna ta’ Rużar Briffa – Xemx ta’ Settembru ta’ Vic. Apap – God Save the King ta’ Ġużè Galea – It-8 ta’ Settembru Londra, 1942 ta’ A. V. Vassallo – Wenzu jsib lil Luċija f’Lazzarett ta’ Dun Pawl – MDLXV ta’ Albert M. Cassola – Innu lil San Duminku ta’ Gużman – Innu lill-Bambina – Il-Għanja tar-Rebħa! ta’ N. Biancardi – Air Raid ta’ E. Agius.N/

Characterisation of large changes in wind power for the day-ahead market using a fuzzy logic approach

Wind power has become one of the renewable resources with a major growth in the electricity market. However, due to its inherent variability, forecasting techniques are necessary for the optimum scheduling of the electric grid, specially during ramp events. These large changes in wind power may not be captured by wind power point forecasts even with very high resolution Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. In this paper, a fuzzy approach for wind power ramp characterisation is presented. The main benefit of this technique is that it avoids the binary definition of ramp event, allowing to identify changes in power out- put that can potentially turn into ramp events when the total percentage of change to be considered a ramp event is not met. To study the application of this technique, wind power forecasts were obtained and their corresponding error estimated using Genetic Programming (GP) and Quantile Regression Forests. The error distributions were incorporated into the characterisation process, which according to the results, improve significantly the ramp capture. Results are presented using colour maps, which provide a useful way to interpret the characteristics of the ramp events

Pape satan aleppe

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Qniepen idoqqu ta’ W. Gulia – Wara l-laqgħa ta’ Dun Abbondju mal-bravi ta’ Dun Pawl – Il-poeżija tiegħi ta’ Ġużè Chetcuti – Tfajjel sajjied ta’ Vincent Caruana – Huma kollox! ta’ Ġer. Azzopardi – Dun Mikiel Xerri ta’ Ġino Muscat-Azzopardi – Quddiem għalqa tal-bittieħ ta’ A. Buttigieg – Montecatini ta’ A. Cremona – Bluha ta’ mument ta’ Jos. Cassar Pullicino – Pape satan aleppe ta’ Albert M. Cassola.N/

The impact of liver disease: a leading cause of hospital admissions in people living vith HIV

Background: This study reviews recent trends of HIV inpatient admissions over 5 Infectious diseases Units in Liguria, in 2012. Patients and Methods: Five infectious diseases Units in Liguria, Italy, collected data on inpatient HIV admissions from January to December 2012, including patient demographic, discharge diagnosis, CD4 Tcell count, viral load (VL) and combined anti-retroviral treatment (cART). Results: Rate of patient admissions per 100 years was 6.12 (number=257), in 62.6% (n=161) of admissions a VL under 50 copies/ml was observed. Furthermore, 86.4% (n=222) of admissions were on active cART. Median age was 49 years. Mortality rate was 10.2%. Hepatitis C coinfection occurred in 64.6% of patients (n=166). The most common diagnosis was infectious diseases (29.1%), respiratory diseases (16.6%) and neoplasms (15.%). Chronic HCV infection and its complications (cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma) accounted for 31% of all discharging diagnosis. Conclusions: The majority of inpatients admitted during 2012 in our Units were on cART and virologically suppressed. The complications of hepatitis C coinfection have a major impact on mortality rates and hospitalization rates in Italy. According to these observations, the availability of new drugs for chronic hepatitis C imposes a further effort to improve the quality of life of our patients

PIN92 Quality of Life Among Hiv Patients: Results from the Ianua Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVES To understand the relationship between socio-demographic variables, clinical factors, highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) and health related quality of life (QoL) in HIV-infected individuals participants in the IANUA multicenter study. METHODS Data relating to patients with HIV infection admitted to 3 infectious disease units in Genoa (Italy) between 2012 and 2014 are collected and analyzed. Univariate and multivariate association of demographic and clinical factors with QoL (computed using EQ-5D-3L) are examined. QoL determinants are assessed using a tobit model, while a logistic model is implemented in order to investigate the relation between specific patients characteristics and the likelihood of having higher QoL. RESULTS Results of the empirical modeling suggest that being Italian and having a job are positively associate with QoL, whereas being a female, taking other drugs in addition to anti-retroviral drugs and being subsidisied are negatively related to QoL. Among clinical factors, CD4 cell count level cannot be considered as significant predictor of QoL, while higher QoL seem to be defined by single tablet regimens. CONCLUSION The study investigates the major determinants of QoL among HIV patients and the results provide some informative tools useful to improve strategies aiming at maximizing QoL. As monitoring of QoL is nowadays a priority for clinicians, further work will be based on \u201cdynamic\u201d analysis comparing QoL at the initial time and QoL at 6-months follow up