SAR Ship Detection for Rough Sea Conditions

In the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) framework many detection algorithms and techniques have been published in the recent literature; however the detection of vessels whose dimensions are in the order of the image spatial resolution is still challenging in rough sea state scenarios. This issue is addressed in the paper presented here by comparing rationale and performance of two detectors developed by the same authors: the Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT) and the Intensity Dual-Polarization Ratio Anomaly Detector (iDPolRAD). Both detectors are tested on a dual-polarization VV/VH Interferometric Wide Swath Sentinel-1 image acquired over the Suruga Bay on the Pacific Coast of Japan. The theory is presented here and the two detectors are compared against the Cell Average-Constant False Alarm Algorithm (CA-CFAR) showing both better performance than CFAR in terms of false alarms rejection

Nutrire Roma: il ruolo dell’agricoltura urbana nel fenomeno urbano

Scopo di questa nota è di esaminare i caratteri e le dinamiche che connotano l’agricoltura urbana nel caso di Roma. Il contributo sintetizza in chiave evolutiva i fatti stilizzati del rapporto tra città e campagna, successivamente si indaga il contesto produttivo agricolo al fine di proporre una tassonomia dei tipi di agricoltura urbana. Il tentativo che qui si propone è una preliminare lettura dell’agricoltura urbana attraverso un sistema di criteri per la classificazione della distribuzione funzionale e relazionale del primario in aree metropolitane. Tali categorie interpretative tentano di ricostruire le relazioni causali che traducono i modelli produttivi agricoli (caratteristiche strutturali, ordinamenti, forme giuridiche, forme d’uso delle risorse naturali, collocazione), in specifiche forme spaziali e funzionali nella dimensione urbana – fisica e sociale -. Sul piano teorico tale lettura s’inserisce nel paradigma coevolutivo e guarda al paesaggio come il risultato delle interazioni tra il sistema ambientale e l’agire dell’uomo che abita e utilizza il territorio (Marino e Cavallo, 2009). Una sintesi tipologica definitiva sembra ancora un obiettivo da raggiungere, sicuramente questo è il primo passo verso la costruzione di una griglia interpretativa e di un vocabolario tipologico da mettere poi a sistema con i dati morfologici e quelli di uso del suolo.The aim of this paper is to examine the characteristics and the dynamics that characterize urban agriculture in the case of Rome. We summarize in an evolutionary approach the stylized facts of the relationship between town and country, then we investigate the context of agricultural production in order to propose a taxonomy of the types of urban agriculture. The effort proposed here is a preliminary analysis of urban agriculture through a system of criteria for the classification of the distribution of the functional and relational features of agricultural activities in metropolitan areas. These interpretative categories attempt to reconstruct the causal relationships that translate agricultural production models (farms’ data, legal forms, use of natural resources, localization), in specific forms in the spatial and functional urban dimension - physical and social - . On the theoretical level this analysis is embedded in the co-evolutionary paradigm and looks to the landscape as the result of interactions between the environmental system and the action of human who lives and uses the territory (Marino and Cavallo, 2009). This typization ultimately still seems a goal to achieve, this is the first step towards the construction of an interpretative and vocabulary typological then be systematize with the morphological data and those of land use.Peer Reviewe

A Movement-Tremors Recorder for Patients of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, motor neuron, and Chorea affect millions of people today. Their effect on the central nervous system causes the loss of brain functions as well as motor disturbances and sometimes cognitive deficits. In such a scenario, the monitoring and evaluation of early symptoms are mandatory for the improvement of the patient's quality of life. Here, the authors describe the development, the laboratory calibration, and the "in-field validation" under the medical supervision of a movement tremors recorder for subjects affected by neurodegenerative diseases. The developed device is based on an array of four accelerometers connected to an embedded development board. This system is able to monitor tremor/movement, accidental falls, and, moreover, it can track the Alzheimer subjects' geographical position. A remote supervisor can collect data from the system through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or GSM connections. A data compression algorithm was developed directly on board in order to increase the efficiency of data transmission and reduce power consumptions

Il cibo come questione territoriale. Riflessioni alla luce della pianificazione alimentare

In the recent years, agriculture has played a key role in reshaping rurality, in the view of a reconstruction of social and production structures accompanying the current re-territorialisation process, coming after a phase of de-territorialisation of the role of the agricultural sector as the focus of local balances. At the same time, the contemporary urban phenomenon is rewriting, even though not orderly, its relationship with agriculture and food, overcoming the traditional idea of city in which countryside is only extra muros. If the main experiences of the Italian food policies have concerned the great urban systems, the topic here discussed are food policies as an opportunity, offered to Italian small and medium-sized centres, to re-contextualise their own agro-food systems and their functions for the community. The ability of plans and policies to understand and orientate these processes shows, actually, growing difficulties. The breadth between civic or market practices and the regulatory, political and planning framework is territory, the place where we should build and experience new forms of governance, institutions and tools where citizenship, labour and market meet agriculture and territorial diversity. The paper focuses on the meaning and functions of food planning and discusses some possible implementation on the polycentric geography of the Italian territory

Impact of DEL22q11, trisomy 21, and other genetic syndromes on surgical outcome of conotruncal heart defects

Objective: Genetic syndromes occur in more than 20% of patients with conotruncal heart defects. We investigated the impact of genetic syndromes on the surgical outcome of conotruncal anomalies in infancy. Methods: This retrospective study reviews the outcome of 787 patients (median age 6.3 months) who underwent primary (598) or staged (189) repair of a conotruncal defect between 1992 and 2007. Results: Proven genetic syndrome was diagnosed in 211 patients (26.8%), including del22q11 (91 patients), trisomy 21 (29 patients), VACTERL (18 patients), and other syndromes (73 patients). Primary repair was accomplished in 80.9% of nonsyndromic patients and 74.4% of syndromic patients (P ¼ .18) Fifteen-year cumulative survival was 84.3% 2.3% in nonsyndromic patients and 73.2% 4.2% in syndromic patients (P<.001). Primary and staged repair allowed similar 15-year survival (81.4% 4.5% vs 79.1% 5.1%, P ¼ .8). Freedom from noncardiac cause of death was significantly lower in syndromic patients (P ¼ .0056). Fifteen- year Kaplan–Meier survival was 87.6% 3.9% for del22q11, 95.8% 4.1% for trisomy 21, 56.8% 6.3% for VACTERL, and 62.3% 12.7% for patients with other syndromes (P ¼ .022). Total intensive care unit stay was 10.8 4.9 days in syndromic patients and 5.1 1.7 days in nonsyndromic patients (P<.001). Freedom from reintervention 15 years after repair was 79.6% 4.9%in nonsyndromic patients and 62.4% 7.4%in syndromic patients (P ¼ .007). Conclusion: Del22q11 and trisomy 21 do not represent risk factors for mortality after repair of conotruncal anomalies, whereas other syndromes adversely affect the surgical outcome for predominant noncardiac attrition. Higher morbidity and lower mid-term freedom from reintervention can be predicted in syndromic patients

Chloroquine enhances human CD8+ T cell responses against soluble antigens in vivo

The presentation of exogenous protein antigens in a major histocompatibility complex class I–restricted fashion to CD8+ T cells is called cross-presentation. We demonstrate that cross-presentation of soluble viral antigens (derived from hepatitis C virus [HCV], hepatitis B virus [HBV], or human immunodeficiency virus) to specific CD8+ T cell clones is dramatically improved when antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DCs) are pulsed with the antigen in the presence of chloroquine or ammonium chloride, which reduce acidification of the endocytic system. The export of soluble antigen into the cytosol is considerably higher in chloroquine-treated than in untreated DCs, as detected by confocal microscopy of cultured cells and Western blot analysis comparing endocytic and cytosolic fractions. To pursue our findings in an in vivo setting, we boosted groups of HBV vaccine responder individuals with a further dose of hepatitis B envelope protein vaccine with or without a single dose of chloroquine. Although all individuals showed a boost in antibody titers to HBV, six of nine individuals who were administered chloroquine showed a substantial CD8+ T cell response to HBV antigen, whereas zero of eight without chloroquine lacked a CD8 response. Our results suggest that chloroquine treatment improves CD8 immunity during vaccination

Impact of DEL22q11, trisomy 21, and other genetic syndromes on surgical outcome of conotruncal heart defects

ObjectiveGenetic syndromes occur in more than 20% of patients with conotruncal heart defects. We investigated the impact of genetic syndromes on the surgical outcome of conotruncal anomalies in infancy.MethodsThis retrospective study reviews the outcome of 787 patients (median age 6.3 months) who underwent primary (598) or staged (189) repair of a conotruncal defect between 1992 and 2007.ResultsProven genetic syndrome was diagnosed in 211 patients (26.8%), including del22q11 (91 patients), trisomy 21 (29 patients), VACTERL (18 patients), and other syndromes (73 patients). Primary repair was accomplished in 80.9% of nonsyndromic patients and 74.4% of syndromic patients (P = .18) Fifteen-year cumulative survival was 84.3% ± 2.3% in nonsyndromic patients and 73.2% ± 4.2% in syndromic patients (P < .001). Primary and staged repair allowed similar 15-year survival (81.4% ± 4.5% vs 79.1% ± 5.1%, P = .8). Freedom from noncardiac cause of death was significantly lower in syndromic patients (P = .0056). Fifteen-year Kaplan–Meier survival was 87.6% ± 3.9% for del22q11, 95.8% ± 4.1% for trisomy 21, 56.8% ± 6.3% for VACTERL, and 62.3% ± 12.7% for patients with other syndromes (P = .022). Total intensive care unit stay was 10.8 ± 4.9 days in syndromic patients and 5.1 ± 1.7 days in nonsyndromic patients (P < .001). Freedom from reintervention 15 years after repair was 79.6% ± 4.9% in nonsyndromic patients and 62.4% ± 7.4% in syndromic patients (P = .007).ConclusionDel22q11 and trisomy 21 do not represent risk factors for mortality after repair of conotruncal anomalies, whereas other syndromes adversely affect the surgical outcome for predominant noncardiac attrition. Higher morbidity and lower mid-term freedom from reintervention can be predicted in syndromic patients

Semantic Segmentation Framework for Glomeruli Detection and Classification in Kidney Histological Sections

The evaluation of kidney biopsies performed by expert pathologists is a crucial process for assessing if a kidney is eligible for transplantation. In this evaluation process, an important step consists of the quantification of global glomerulosclerosis, which is the ratio between sclerotic glomeruli and the overall number of glomeruli. Since there is a shortage of organs available for transplantation, a quick and accurate assessment of global glomerulosclerosis is essential for retaining the largest number of eligible kidneys. In the present paper, the authors introduce a Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system to assess global glomerulosclerosis. The proposed tool is based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). In particular, the authors considered approaches based on Semantic Segmentation networks, such as SegNet and DeepLab v3+. The dataset has been provided by the Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantations (DETO) of Bari University Hospital, and it is composed of 26 kidney biopsies coming from 19 donors. The dataset contains 2344 non-sclerotic glomeruli and 428 sclerotic glomeruli. The proposed model consents to achieve promising results in the task of automatically detecting and classifying glomeruli, thus easing the burden of pathologists. We get high performance both at pixel-level, achieving mean F-score higher than 0.81, and Weighted Intersection over Union (IoU) higher than 0.97 for both SegNet and Deeplab v3+ approaches, and at object detection level, achieving 0.924 as best F-score for non-sclerotic glomeruli and 0.730 as best F-score for sclerotic glomeruli

Physical Vulnerability of Part of the East Coast of Ceará to the Erosion

Este estudo apresenta os níveis de vulnerabilidade física de segmentos costeiros à erosão, analisados para cinco praias do litoral do Ceará, a fim de representar o potencial de reação da costa aos processos atuantes no sistema praial e aos efeitos do uso e da ocupação, por meio de uma abordagem semiquantitativa. Os níveis de vulnerabilidade e os processos de erosão costeira foram estabelecidos por meio da integração de metodologias desenvolvidas por Souza (1997; 2001), Souza (1999), Dominguez (1999), Souza & Suguio (2003) e Souza et al. (2005). Integraram-se, ainda, as características particulares de uso e de ocupação, embasadas nas metodologias de Dal Cin & Simeoni (1994), Projeto Orla (Brasil, 2006) e Mallmann & Araújo (2010). Estudos deste cunho constituem importantes ferramentas nos processos de gerenciamento e de gestão de zonas litorâneas, possibilitando a indicação de diretrizes para um ordenamento territorial de forma sustentável. Foi possível identificar que os fatores morfológicos costeiros, os processos litorâneos, as intervenções humanas e os atributos e dinâmica naturais influenciam fortemente a vulnerabilidade de cada praia. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que áreas que apresentam grau de vulnerabilidade muito alto coincidem com as células e setores mais urbanizados, sugerindo um controle muito mais antrópico do que natural sobre a vulnerabilidade. O índice do grau de vulnerabilidade à erosão, após a aplicação das metodologias, apresentou o mesmo resultado para cada célula delimitada. Entretanto, estas áreas necessitam de estudos específicos integrados, os quais possibilitem compreender as condições e os processos atuantes sobre o capital natural, no intuito de buscar soluções para minimizar os problemas encontrados decorrentes do mau uso e da ocupação, com a finalidade de chegar a um equilíbrio ambiental. A aplicação dos resultados registrados pode subsidiar a elaboração de planos de ordenamento territorial das praias monitoradas, tendo em vista que na maior parte delas a urbanização é acelerada e desordenada.This study presents the levels of physical vulnerability of coastal erosion segments, analyzed for 5 beaches of the coast of Ceará, in order to represent the reaction potential from the coast to the processes operating in the beach system and the effects of the use and occupation through a semi-quantitative approach. The levels of vulnerability and the processes of coastal erosion were established through integration of methodologies developed by Souza (1997; 2001), Souza (1999), Dominguez (1999), Souza & Suguio (2003), e Souza et al. (2005), also considering the particular characteristics of use and occupation, based on methodologies of Dal Cin & Simeoni (1994), Mallmann & Araújo (2010) and Projeto Orla (Brasil, 2006). Studies of this nature are important tools in the management processes and administration of coastal zones, allowing the indication of guidelines for a sustainable territorial development. It was possible to identify that coastal process and morphological factors, human interventions and attributes, as well as natural dynamics strongly influence the vulnerability of each beach. The results obtained show that areas which have very high vulnerability degree match the more urbanized cells and sectors, suggesting a more anthropic (man-made) than natural control over the vulnerability. The index of the vulnerability degree to erosion, after the application of the methodologies, presented the same result for each bounded cell. However, these areas require specific and integrated studies, which would allow understanding the conditions and processes acting on the natural resources, in order to seek solutions to minimize the problems arising from the improper use and occupation, aiming to reach an environmental balance. The application of the results recorded can subsidize the elaboration of spatial planning of the beaches monitored, since in most of them the urbanization is accelerated and disordered

Overexpression of squamous cell carcinoma antigen variants in hepatocellular carcinoma

Pathogenetic mechanisms of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are stil unclear and new tools for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes are ongoing. We have assessed whether squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA), a serpin overexpressed in neoplastic cells of epithelial origin, is also expressed in liver cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma antigen was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 65 HCCs of different aetiology and in 20 normal livers. Proliferative activity was assessed using MIB-1 antibody. In 18 surgical samples, tumour and nontumour liver tissue was available for SCCA cDNA amplification and sequencing. Squamous cell carcinoma antigen was detected in 55 out of 65 (85%) tumour specimens, but in none of the 20 controls. In the majority of the cases, the positive signal was found in the cytoplasm of more than 50% of the hepatocytes. Low or undetectable SCCA (score less than or equal to1) was associated to lower MIB-1 labelling index, compared to cases with SCCA score greater than or equal to2 (mean +/-s.d.: 2%+/-2.4 vs 7.5%+/-10.3, P<0.05). Squamous cell carcinoma antigen mRNA could be directly sequenced in 14 out of 18 liver tumours but in none of the corresponding nontumour samples. From sequence alignment, a novel SCCA1 variant (G(351) to A) was identified in five cases, while SCCA1 was revealed in six cases and SCCA2 in three cases. In conclusion, SCCA variants are overexpressed in HCC, independently of tumour aetiology. A novel SCCA1 variant has been identified in one third of liver tumours