Karyological investigations on several species of genus Rebutia Sect. Digitorebutia (Cactaceae)

Abstract These are the first avaiable data about the karyology of the taxa belonging to Rebutia Sect. Digitorebutia, the section of genus Rebutia K. Schum. with more species. Eight species of Sect. Digitorebutia were investigated. Out of the species studied, seven (R. pygmaea, R. raulii, R. steinmannii, R. major, R. diersiana, R. haagei and R. gavazzii) are polyploid, with tetraploid chromosome number 2n=4x = 44, and one (R. leucanthema) is diploid, with chromosome number 2n=2x = 22; x = 11. This is the first karyotype information of all the species investigated

User indoor localisation system enhances activity recognition: A proof of concept

Older people would like to live independently in their home as long as possible. They want to reduce the risk of domestic accidents because of polypharmacy, physical weakness and other mental illnesses, which could increase the risks of domestic accidents (i.e. a fall). Changes in the behaviour of healthy older people could be correlated with cognitive disorders; consequently, early intervention could delay the deterioration of the disease. Over the last few years, activity recognition systems have been developed to support the management of senior citizensâ\u80\u99 daily life. In this context, this paper aims to go beyond the state-of-the-art presenting a proof of concept where information on body movement, vital signs and userâ\u80\u99s indoor locations are aggregated to improve the activity recognition task. The presented system has been tested in a realistic environment with three users in order to assess the feasibility of the proposed method. These results encouraged the use of this approach in activity recognition applications; indeed, the overall accuracy values, amongst others, are satisfactory increased (+2.67% DT, +7.39% SVM, +147.37% NN)

On the adoption of e-moped sharing systems

AbstractRecent years have witnessed the emerging of novel shared mobility solutions that provide diffused on-demand access to transportation. The widespread adoption of these solutions, particularly electric mopeds (e-mopeds), is expected to bring important benefits such as the reduction of noise and atmospheric pollution, and road congestion, with extensive repercussions on liveability and quality of life in urban areas. Currently, almost no effort has been devoted to exploring the adoption patterns of e-moped sharing services, therefore, optimal management and allocation of vehicles appears to be a problem for service managers. In this study, we tried to demonstrate the validity of the hypothesis that the adoption of electric mopeds depends on the built environment and demographic aspects of each neighbourhood. In detail, we singled out three features concerning the area characteristics (distance from centre, walkability, concentration of places) and one about the population (education index). The results obtained on a real world case study show the strong impact these factors have in determining the adoption of e-moped sharing services. Finally, an analysis was conducted on the possible role that the electric moped sharing can play in social equalization by studying the interactions between rich and poor neighbourhoods. The results of the analyses conducted indicate that communities within a city tend to aggregate by wealth and isolate themselves from one another (social isolation): very few interactions, in terms of trajectories, have been observed between the richest and poorest areas of the city under study

Benefits of Relocation on E-scooter Sharing - a Data-Informed Approach

E-scooter sharing lets people rent an e-scooter while the system owner manages the fleet. Relocation is fundamental to increase system utilization and revenues, but it is also an expensive task. In this paper we aim at assessing the benefits of relocation while quantifying its economic costs. For this, we rely on trace driven simulations where we build upon millions of actual rentals from two cities, Austin and Louisville. Firstly, we build prediction models to estimate which areas will present a surplus or a lack of e-scooters. We compare a simple stationary model with a state-of-art deep-learning model. Secondly, we replay the exact same traces to quantify the benefits of a relocation heuristic, comparing different system options. Our results show that relocation is fundamental to maximize the number of trips the system can satisfy. Interestingly, even a light and simple relocation policy with few relocations per hour can improve the percentage of satisfied trips by up to 42%. This can also translate in a fleet size reduction without impacting the performances. However, when projected into the economic benefits, the additional costs of relocation must be carefully considered to avoid wasting its benefits

Needle and Biopsy Robots: a Review

Purpose of the review Robotics is a rapidly advancing field, and its introduction in healthcare can have a multitude of benefits for clinical practice. Especially, applications depending on the radiologist\u2019s accuracy and precision, such as percutaneous interventions, may profit. This paper provides an overview of recent robot-assisted percutaneous solutions. Recent findings Percutaneous interventions are relatively simple and the quality of the procedure increases a lot by introducing robotics due to the improved accuracy and precision. The success of the procedure is heavily dependent on the ability to merge pre- and intraoperative images, as an accurate estimation of the current target location allows to exploit the robot\u2019s capabilities. Summary Despite much research, the application of robotics in some branches of healthcare is not commonplace yet. Recent advances in percutaneous robotic solutions and imaging are highlighted, as they will pave the way to more widespread implementation of robotics in clinical practic

Increasing the precision of the biopsy with robots: two case studies

Robotics is a rapidly advancing field and its introduction in healthcare can have a multitude of benefits for clinical practice. Especially applications depending on the radiologist’s accuracy and precision, such as percutaneous interventions, may profit. Percutaneous interventions are relatively simple and the quality of the procedure increases a lot by introducing robotics due to the improved accuracy and precision. This paper provides the description of two robotic systems for percutaneous interventions: breast biopsy and prostate biopsy. The systems presented here are complete prototypes in an advanced state ready to be tested in clinical practice.https://youtu.be/KZxfRtg0afg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB3Qa6LyHP

Resilient Drone Mission Management and Route Optimization in Drone Delivery Context

The last two decades were characterized by a rapidly increasing of innovative solutions in the microelectronic field, having therefore a significant impact on a huge set of applicative scenarios. This aspect allows the development and improvement of new solutions, giving the possibility of growth and development of new markets, such as the drones ones. Actually, in the unmanned field we have seen an exponential growth of the market, given not only from the increased computing capabilities, but also by a more efficient developed hardware, thus leading to the definition of innovative uses, service paradigms and applications. The latter span in several different areas, from agriculture monitoring to society's services including the Package Delivery which immediately plays a strategic role in the modern society. These types of applications took place mainly in an urban environment, highlighting therefore new rules, needs and management system in order to accommodate the mission's achievement guaranteeing at the same time a high degree of resilience, citizen safety and risks minimization. Furthermore, to assist these types of operations, T-DROMES, a RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems) fleet and mission management solution, was developed allowing to scale-up the use of drones in complex operations from a geographical and mission point of view, in different applicative scenarios. The paper aims therefore to presents the tools capabilities and how the developed architecture is able to manage the entire mission for any context scenario and how the developed platforms and tools can be a valid framework for developing new operative working models