Picture processing for enhancement and recognition

Recent years have been characterized by an incredible growth in computing power and storage capabilities, communication speed and bandwidth availability, either for desktop platform or mobile device. The combination of these factors have led to a new era of multimedia applications: browsing of huge image archives, consultation of online video databases, location based services and many other. Multimedia is almost everywhere and requires high quality data, easy retrieval of multimedia contents, increase in network access capacity and bandwidth per user. To meet all the mentioned requirements many efforts have to be made in various research areas, ranging from signal processing, image and video analysis, communication protocols, etc. The research activity developed during these three years concerns the field of multimedia signal processing, with particular attention to image and video analysis and processing. Two main topics have been faced: the first is relating to image and video reconstruction/restoration (using super resolution techniques) in web based application for multimedia contents' fruition; the second is relating to image analysis for location based systems in indoor scenario. The first topic is relating to image and video processing, in particular the focus has been put on the development of algorithm for super resolution reconstruction of image and video sequences in order to make easier the fruition of multimedia data over the web. On one hand, latest years have been characterized by an incredible proliferation and surprising success of user generated multimedia contents, and also distributed and collaborative multimedia database over the web. This brought to serious issues related to their management and maintenance: bandwidth limitation and service costs are important factors when dealing with mobile multimedia contents’ fruition. On the other hand, the current multimedia consumer market has been characterized by the advent of cheap but rather high-quality high definition displays. However, this trend is only partially supported by the deployment of high-resolution multimedia services, thus the resulting disparity between content and display formats have to be addressed and older productions need to be either re-mastered or postprocessed in order to be broadcasted for HD exploitation. In the presented scenario, superresolution reconstruction represents a major solution. Image or video super resolution techniques allow restoring the original spatial resolution from low-resolution compressed data. In this way, both content and service providers, not to tell the final users, are relieved from the burden of providing and supporting large multimedia data transfer. The second topic addressed during my Phd research activity is related to the implementation of an image based positioning system for an indoor navigator. As modern mobile device become faster, classical signal processing is suggested to be used for new applications, such location based service. The exponential growth of wearable devices, such as smartphone and PDA in general, equipped with embedded motion (accelerometers) and rotation (gyroscopes) sensors, Internet connection and high-resolution cameras makes it ideal for INS (Inertial Navigation System) applications aiming to support the localization/navigation of objects and/or users in an indoor environment where common localization systems, such as GPS (Global Positioning System), fail. Thus the need to use alternative positioning techniques. A series of intensive tests have been carried out, showing how modern signal processing techniques can be successfully applied in different scenarios, from image and video enhancement up to image recognition for localization purpose, providing low costs solutions and ensuring real-time performance

Helichrysum microphyllum subsp. tyrrhenicum, Its Root-Associated Microorganisms, and Wood Chips Represent an Integrated Green Technology for the Remediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soils

Phytoremediation and the use of suitable amendments are well-known technologies for the mitigation of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminations in terrestrial ecosystems. Our study is aimed at combining these two approaches to maximize their favorable effects. To this purpose, Helichrysum microphyllum subsp. tyrrhenicum, a Mediterranean shrub growing on sandy and semiarid soils, was selected. The weathered PHC-polluted matrix (3.3 ± 0.8 g kg−1 dry weight) from a disused industrial site was employed as the cultivation substrate with (WCAM) or without (UNAM) the addition and mixing of wood chips. Under the greenhouse conditions, the species showed a survival rate higher than 90% in the UNAM while the amendment administration restored the totality of the plant survival. At the end of the greenhouse test (nine months), the treatment with the wood chips significantly increased the moisture, dehydrogenase activity and abundance of the microbial populations of the PHC degraders in the substrate. Cogently, the residual amount of PHCs was significantly lower in the UNAM (3–92% of the initial quantity) than in the WCAM (3–14% of the initial quantity). Moreover, the crown diameter was significantly higher in the WCAM plants. Overall, the results establish the combined technology as a novel approach for landscaping and the bioremediation of sites chronically injured by PHC-weathered contaminations

Use of Telemedicine Healthcare Systems in Pediatric Assistance at Territorial Level: Consensus Document of the Italian Society of Telemedicine (SIT), of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS), of the Italian Society of Pediatric Primary Care (SICuPP), of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors (FIMP) and of the Syndicate of Family Pediatrician Doctors (SIMPeF)

Technological innovation can contribute to a reorganization of healthcare, particularly by supporting the shift in the focus of care from the hospital to the territory, through innovative citizen-centered models, and facilitating access to services in the territory. Health and social care delivery modalities, enabled by telemedicine, are crucial in this regard. The objective of this Consensus document, written by the main Italian Scientific Societies involved in the use of telemedicine in pediatrics, is to define a standard for its use at the territorial level in various declinations in the pediatric field; this paper also identifies priority areas for its application and the types of services that most require intervention and investment. The changes that are underway in digital transformation in all sectors are unstoppable, and for the digital transformation to take place in a productive sense, the contribution of not only all health professionals, but also of patients, is necessary. From this perspective, authors from different backgrounds were involved in the drafting of this Consensus and, in the future, other figures, primarily patients, are expected to be involved. In fact, this belongs to the vision of connected care, in which the citizen/patient actively participates in the treatment path so that they are assisted in a personalized, predictive and preventive way. The future scenario must be able to provide for the involvement of patients from the initial stages of planning any treatment path, even in the pediatric age, and increasing, where possible, the proximity of the health service to the families

Use of Telemedicine Healthcare Systems in Children and Adolescents with Chronic Disease or in Transition Stages of Life: Consensus Document of the Italian Society of Telemedicine (SIT), of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS), of the Italian Society of Pediatric Primary Care (SICuPP), of the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors (FIMP) and of the Syndicate of Family Pediatrician Doctors (SIMPeF)

Telemedicine is considered an excellent tool to support the daily and traditional practice of the health profession, especially when referring to the care and management of chronic patients. In a panorama in which chronic pathologies with childhood onset are constantly increasing and the improvement of treatments has allowed survival for them into adulthood, telemedicine and remote assistance are today considered effective and convenient solutions both for the chronic patient, who thus receives personalized and timely assistance, and for the doctors, who reduce the need for direct intervention, hospitalizations and consequent management costs. This Consensus document, written by the main Italian Scientific Societies involved in the use of telemedicine in pediatrics, has the objectives to propose an organizational model based on the relationships between the actors who participate in the provision of a telemedicine service aimed at minors with chronic pathologies, identifying specific project links between the areas of telemedicine in the developmental age from the first 1000 days of life to the age adult. The future scenario will have to be able to integrate digital innovation in order to offer the best care to patients and citizens. It will have to be able to provide the involvement of patients from the very beginning of the design of any care pathway, increasing where possible the proximity of the health service to citizens