61 research outputs found
GIS integration of DInSAR measurements, geological investigation and historical surveys for the structural monitoring of buildings and infrastructures. An application to the Valco San Paolo urban area of Rome
Structural health monitoring is a crucial issue in areas with different hazard sources, such as Italy. Among non-invasive monitoring techniques, remote sensing provides useful information in supporting the management process and safety evaluations, reducing the impact of disturbances on the functionality of construction systems. The ground displacement time-series based on the analysis of Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) measurements, as well as the information about the geology of the area and the geometry of the construction under monitoring, provides useful data for the built environment's structural assessment. This paper focuses on the structural monitoring and damage assessment of constructions based on the GIS integration of DInSAR measurements, geological investigation, historical surveys and 3D modeling. The methodology is applied to the residential area of Valco San Paolo in the city of Rome (Italy). Once the geological interpretation has confirmed the results of the DInSAR measurements, a quick damage assessment that considers all the possible conditions of the pre-existing damage at the time zero of the monitoring is shown for a damaged manufact in the area. The presented results highlight how the strategy to correlate the DInSAR-monitored ground settlements with the damage scales allows potentially to monitor continuous construction systems
A QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF DInSAR TIME SERIES ACCURACY IN VOLCANIC AREAS: FROM THE FIRST TO SECOND GENERATION SAR SENSORS
We perform a quantitative assessment of the accuracy of Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) time series in volcanic areas, retrieved through āfirstā and āsecond generationā SAR data. In particular, we analyze the impact that the wavelengths and looking geometries may have in the DInSAR measurement retrieval depending on the radar
system. To this aim, we focus on the DInSAR algorithm referred to as Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) to generate mean deformation velocity maps and corresponding time series starting from sequences of SAR images. Moreover, we consider collections of SAR data acquired by the ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT (C-band), and COSMO-SkyMed (Xband) sensors over the volcanic area of the Campi Flegrei caldera, Southern Italy. We invert these SAR data sequences through the SBAS-DInSAR technique, thus obtaining C- and X- band deformation time series that we compare to continuous GPS measurements, the latter assumed as reference. The achieved results provide, in addition to a clear picture of the surface deformation phenomena already occurred and occurring in the selected case study, relevant indications for the analysis of the SBAS-DInSAR time series accuracies in volcanic areas passing from the first to second generation SAR sensors.PublishedMĆ¼nich1IT. Reti di monitoraggio e Osservazionirestricte
Geodetic model of the 2016 Central Italy earthquake sequence inferred from InSAR and GPS data
We investigate a large geodetic data set of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)and GPS measurements to determine the source parameters for the three main shocks of the 2016Central Italy earthquake sequence on 24 August and 26 and 30 October (Mw6.1, 5.9, and 6.5,respectively). Our preferred model is consistent with the activation of four main coseismic asperitiesbelonging to the SW dipping normal fault system associated with the Mount Gorzano-Mount Vettore-Mount Bove alignment. Additional slip, equivalent to aMw~ 6.1ā6.2 earthquake, on a secondary (1) NEdipping antithetic fault and/or (2) on a WNW dipping low-angle fault in the hanging wall of the mainsystem is required to better reproduce the complex deformation pattern associated with the greatestseismic event (theMw6.5 earthquake). The recognition of ancillary faults involved in the sequencesuggests a complex interaction in the activated crustal volume between the main normal faults and thesecondary structures and a partitioning of strain releas
Radar remote sensing from space for surface deformation analysis: present and future opportunities from the new SAR sensor generation
Soil deformation analysis through fluid-dynamic modelling and DInSAR measurements: a focus on groundwater withdrawal in the Ravenna area (Italy)
This study aims at assessing the deformation processes affecting an area NW of the
city of Ravenna (northern Italy), caused by groundwater withdrawal activities. In situ
data, geologic and structural maps, piezometric measurements, underground water
withdrawal volumes, and satellite C-band SAR data were used to jointly exploit two
different techniques: 1) fluid-dynamic and geomechanical modelling (by RSE S.p.A),
and 2) Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) analysis (by
CNR - IREA). The results of the comparative analysis presented in this work brought
new evidence about the contribution of groundwater withdrawal to the total subsidence
affecting the area during the 2000-2017 time interval. In particular, they show an
increase of the subsidence from year 2000 to 2010 and a decrease from year 2010 to
2017. These results are generally in line with groundwater withdrawal data that report
a reduction of the extracted water volumes during the considered temporal interval.
Meantime, they show a delay effect in the subsidence process, partially recovered
during the 2010-2017 thanks to a stabilisation of the extracted groundwater volumes.
The presented results shade new light on the groundwater withdrawal contribution to
the subsidence of the analysed zone, although further investigations are foreseen to
better clarify the ongoing scenario
Dunning rat prostate adenocarcinomas and alternative splicing reporters: powerful tools to study epithelial plasticity in prostate tumors in vivo
Using alternative splicing reporters we have previously observed mesenchymal epithelial transitions in Dunning AT3 rat prostate tumors. We demonstrate here that the Dunning DT and AT3 cells, which express epithelial and mesenchymal markers, respectively, represent an excellent model to study epithelial transitions since these cells recapitulate gene expression profiles observed during human prostate cancer progression. In this manuscript we also present the development of two new tools to study the epithelial transitions by imaging alternative splicing decisions: a bichromatic fluorescence reporter to evaluate epithelial transitions in culture and in vivo, and a luciferase reporter to visualize the distribution of mesenchymal epithelial transitions in vivo
Splicing Reporter Mice Revealed the Evolutionally Conserved Switching Mechanism of Tissue-Specific Alternative Exon Selection
Since alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs is essential for generating tissue-specific diversity in proteome, elucidating its regulatory mechanism is indispensable to understand developmental process or tissue-specific functions. We have been focusing on tissue-specific regulation of mutually exclusive selection of alternative exons because this implies the typical molecular mechanism of alternative splicing regulation and also can be good examples to elicit general rule of āsplice codeā. So far, mutually exclusive splicing regulation has been explained by the outcome from the balance of multiple regulators that enhance or repress either of alternative exons discretely. However, this ābalanceā model is open to questions of how to ensure the selection of only one appropriate exon out of several candidates and how to switch them. To answer these questions, we generated an original bichromatic fluorescent splicing reporter system for mammals using fibroblast growth factor-receptor 2 (FGFR2) gene as model. By using this splicing reporter, we demonstrated that FGFR2 gene is regulated by the āswitch-likeā mechanism, in which key regulators modify the ordered splice-site recognition of two mutually exclusive exons, eventually ensure single exon selection and their distinct switching. Also this finding elucidated the evolutionally conserved āsplice code,ā in which combination of tissue-specific and broadly expressed RNA binding proteins regulate alternative splicing of specific gene in a tissue-specific manner. These findings provide the significant cue to understand how a number of spliced genes are regulated in various tissue-specific manners by a limited number of regulators, eventually to understand developmental process or tissue-specific functions
Fox-1 family of RNA-binding proteins
The Fox-1 family of RNA-binding proteins are evolutionarily conserved regulators of tissue-specific alternative splicing in metazoans. The Fox-1 family specifically recognizes the (U)GCAUG stretch in regulated exons or in flanking introns, and either promotes or represses target exons. Recent unbiased bioinformatics analyses of alternatively spliced exons and comparison of various vertebrate genomes identified the (U)GCAUG stretch as a highly conserved and widely distributed element enriched in intronic regions surrounding exons with altered inclusion in muscle, heart, and brain, consistent with specific expression of Fox-1 and Fox-2 in these tissues. Global identification of Fox-2 target RNAs in living cells revealed that many of the Fox-2 target genes themselves encode splicing regulators. Further systematic elucidation of target genes of the Fox-1 family and other splicing regulators in various tissues will lead to a comprehensive understanding of splicing regulatory networks
A framework for integrated environmental health impact assessment of systemic risks
Traditional methods of risk assessment have provided good service in support of policy, mainly in relation to standard setting and regulation of hazardous chemicals or practices. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that many of the risks facing society are systemic in nature ā complex risks, set within wider social, economic and environmental contexts. Reflecting this, policy-making too has become more wide-ranging in scope, more collaborative and more precautionary in approach. In order to inform such policies, more integrated methods of assessment are needed. Based on work undertaken in two large EU-funded projects (INTARESE and HEIMTSA), this paper reviews the range of approaches to assessment now in used, proposes a framework for integrated environmental health impact assessment (both as a basis for bringing together and choosing between different methods of assessment, and extending these to more complex problems), and discusses some of the challenges involved in conducting integrated assessments to support policy
Current perspectives of the signaling pathways directing neural crest induction
The neural crest is a migratory population of embryonic cells with a tremendous potential to differentiate and contribute to nearly every organ system in the adult body. Over the past two decades, an incredible amount of research has given us a reasonable understanding of how these cells are generated. Neural crest induction involves the combinatorial input of multiple signaling pathways and transcription factors, and is thought to occur in two phases from gastrulation to neurulation. In the first phase, FGF and Wnt signaling induce NC progenitors at the border of the neural plate, activating the expression of members of the Msx, Pax, and Zic families, among others. In the second phase, BMP, Wnt, and Notch signaling maintain these progenitors and bring about the expression of definitive NC markers including Snail2, FoxD3, and Sox9/10. In recent years, additional signaling molecules and modulators of these pathways have been uncovered, creating an increasingly complex regulatory network. In this work, we provide a comprehensive review of the major signaling pathways that participate in neural crest induction, with a focus on recent developments and current perspectives. We provide a simplified model of early neural crest development and stress similarities and differences between four major model organisms: Xenopus, chick, zebrafish, and mouse
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