Lidar And Hyperspectral Data Integration For Landslide Monitoring: The Test Case Of Valoria Landslide

In the framework of the WISELAND project, funded by MIUR, we tested the integration between Lidar and hyperspectral methodologies in the Valoria landslide (Modena province, Italy), a high risk area with vulnerable elements, subjected to periodic and abrupt reactivations. Multitemporal Lidar Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) allowed the calculation of a differential surface, highlighting absolute height variations, recognizing the main landslide components and identifying depletion and accumulation zones. Hyperspectral data helped in the landslide terrain roughness characterization, performing the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and correlating the results with Flatness and Organization geomorphometric parameters derived from Lidar DTM

Gravity, Geoid, Isostasy and Moho Depth in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

In the framework of several international research projects performed in Ross Sea (Antarctica) in the last years marine gravity data, high resolution reflection seismic line sand deep seismic sounding profiles have been acquired. The gravity data set has been used to compute maps of Bouguer anomaly, isostatic anomaly, isostatic correction and local geoid undulations. Forward modelling of seismic and gravity data has been also used to compute the depths of the Crust-Mantle discontinuity

Geometric Calibration and Radiometric Correction of LiDAR Data and Their Impact on the Quality of Derived Products

LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) systems are capable of providing 3D positional and spectral information (in the utilized spectrum range) of the mapped surface. Due to systematic errors in the system parameters and measurements, LiDAR systems require geometric calibration and radiometric correction of the intensity data in order to maximize the benefit from the collected positional and spectral information. This paper presents a practical approach for the geometric calibration of LiDAR systems and radiometric correction of collected intensity data while investigating their impact on the quality of the derived products. The proposed approach includes the use of a quasi-rigorous geometric calibration and the radar equation for the radiometric correction of intensity data. The proposed quasi-rigorous calibration procedure requires time-tagged point cloud and trajectory position data, which are available to most of the data users. The paper presents a methodology for evaluating the impact of the geometric calibration on the relative and absolute accuracy of the LiDAR point cloud. Furthermore, the impact of the geometric calibration and radiometric correction on land cover classification accuracy is investigated. The feasibility of the proposed methods and their impact on the derived products are demonstrated through experimental results using real data

Economics methods in Cochrane systematic reviews of health promotion and public health related interventions.

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The influence of tennis court surfaces on player perceptions and biomechanical response.

This study aimed to examine player perceptions and biomechanical responses to tennis surfaces and to evaluate the influence of prior clay court experience. Two groups with different clay experiences (experience group, n = 5 and low-experience group, n = 5) performed a 180° turning movement. Three-dimensional ankle and knee movements (50 Hz), plantar pressure of the turning step (100 Hz) and perception data (visual analogue scale questionnaire) were collected for two tennis courts (acrylic and clay). Greater initial knee flexion (acrylic 20. 8 ± 11.2° and clay 32.5 ± 9.4°) and a more upright position were reported on the clay compared to the acrylic court (P < 0.05). This suggests adaptations to increase player stability on clay. Greater hallux pressures and lower midfoot pressures were observed on the clay court, allowing for sliding whilst providing grip at the forefoot. Players with prior clay court experience exhibited later peak knee flexion compared to those with low experience. All participants perceived the differences in surface properties between courts and thus responded appropriately to these differences. The level of previous clay court experience did not influence players' perceptions of the surfaces; however, those with greater clay court experience may reduce injury risk as a result of reduced loading through later peak knee flexion

Gag Mutations Strongly Contribute to HIV-1 Resistance to Protease Inhibitors in Highly Drug-Experienced Patients besides Compensating for Fitness Loss

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) resistance to protease inhibitors (PI) results from mutations in the viral protease (PR) that reduce PI binding but also decrease viral replicative capacity (RC). Additional mutations compensating for the RC loss subsequently accumulate within PR and in Gag substrate cleavage sites. We examined the respective contribution of mutations in PR and Gag to PI resistance and RC and their interdependence using a panel of HIV-1 molecular clones carrying different sequences from six patients who had failed multiple lines of treatment. Mutations in Gag strongly and directly contributed to PI resistance besides compensating for fitness loss. This effect was essentially carried by the C-terminal region of Gag (containing NC-SP2-p6) with little or no contribution from MA, CA, and SP1. The effect of Gag on resistance depended on the presence of cleavage site mutations A431V or I437V in NC-SP2-p6 and correlated with processing of the NC/SP2 cleavage site. By contrast, reverting the A431V or I437V mutation in these highly evolved sequences had little effect on RC. Mutations in the NC-SP2-p6 region of Gag can be dually selected as compensatory and as direct PI resistance mutations, with cleavage at the NC-SP2 site behaving as a rate-limiting step in PI resistance. Further compensatory mutations render viral RC independent of the A431V or I437V mutations while their effect on resistance persists

Ultrastructural pathology of primary ciliary dyskinesia: report about 125 cases in Germany

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare genetically induced disorder of cilia inducing mainly respiratory diseases. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of ciliary ultrastructure is classically used for diagnosis. We report our experience of TEM investigations in a large series of patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>TEM analysis performed of 742 biopsies from patients with suspected PCD was reviewed retrospectively. Ultrastructural defects were analysized further in 125 cases with changes typical for PCD.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 18.1% of patients diagnosis of PCD was made because of morphological alterations, in 68.2% secondary changes were seen. In 13.7% material was not feasible for analysis. Mostly defects of dynein arms were detected in PCD (96.8%). In particular defects of the inner arms (51.2%) and combined dynein defects (37.6%) were found. Total loss of dynein arms was dominant. Only in 3.2% deficiencies of central structures were found alone. Associated situs inversus or dextracardia was reported clinically in 21.4%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>TEM analysis is possible in most patients and a useful tool for diagnosis of PCD. Functional and genetic analysis should be done additionally. Registers should be installed to collect all available informations and push further research.</p

Comparison of the haptic and visual deviations in a parallelity task

Deviations in both haptic and visual spatial experiments are thought to be caused by a biasing influence of an egocentric reference frame. The strength of this influence is strongly participant-dependent. By using a parallelity test, it is studied whether this strength is modality-independent. In both haptic and visual conditions, large, systematic and participant-dependent deviations were found. However, although the correlation between the haptic and visual deviations was significant, the explained variance due to a common factor was only 20%. Therefore, the degree to which a participant is “egocentric” depends on modality and possibly even more generally, on experimental condition

Intramanual and intermanual transfer of the curvature aftereffect

The existence and transfer of a haptic curvature aftereffect was investigated to obtain a greater insight into neural representation of shape. The haptic curvature aftereffect is the phenomenon whereby a flat surface is judged concave if the preceding touched stimulus was convex and vice versa. Single fingers were used to touch the subsequently presented stimuli. A substantial aftereffect was found when the adaptation surface and the test surface were touched by the same finger. Furthermore, a partial, but significant transfer of the aftereffect was demonstrated between fingers of the same hand and between fingers of both the hands. These results provide evidence that curvature information is not only represented at a level that is directly connected to the mechanoreceptors of individual fingers but is also represented at a stage in the somatosensory cortex shared by the fingers of both the hands

On the Functional Significance of the P1 and N1 Effects to Illusory Figures in the Notch Mode of Presentation

The processing of Kanizsa figures have classically been studied by flashing the full “pacmen” inducers at stimulus onset. A recent study, however, has shown that it is advantageous to present illusory figures in the “notch” mode of presentation, that is by leaving the round inducers on screen at all times and by removing the inward-oriented notches delineating the illusory figure at stimulus onset. Indeed, using the notch mode of presentation, novel P1and N1 effects have been found when comparing visual potentials (VEPs) evoked by an illusory figure and the VEPs to a control figure whose onset corresponds to the removal of outward-oriented notches, which prevents their integration into one delineated form. In Experiment 1, we replicated these findings, the illusory figure was found to evoke a larger P1 and a smaller N1 than its control. In Experiment 2, real grey squares were placed over the notches so that one condition, that with inward-oriented notches, shows a large central grey square and the other condition, that with outward-oriented notches, shows four unconnected smaller grey squares. In response to these “real” figures, no P1 effect was found but a N1 effect comparable to the one obtained with illusory figures was observed. Taken together, these results suggest that the P1 effect observed with illusory figures is likely specific to the processing of the illusory features of the figures. Conversely, the fact that the N1 effect was also obtained with real figures indicates that this effect may be due to more global processes related to depth segmentation or surface/object perception