A high resolution wind&wave forecast model chain for the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea

DHI (Danish Hydraulic Institute) and HyMOLab (Hydrodynamics and Met-Ocean Laboratory of the Dept. of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste) have undertaken a joint applied research project with the aim to develop a state-of-art wind-wave forecast service at mid resolution for the Mediterranean Sea and at very high resolution for the Adriatic Sea. Weather routing, civil protection, coastal engineering, oil&gas and renewable energy fields, the planning of operations at sea, ... are just few among the multiple potential applications of this service. The meteorological model used in this study is WRF-ARW, one of the most widely used state-of-the-art open-source non-hydrostatic model. Global Forecast System (GFS) dataset provides the boundary and initial conditions. MIKE21-Spectral Waves is used as wave model with resolution ranging from 0.1 to 0.03 approximately. The use of a local area meteorological model guarantees higher levels of resolution and accuracy in an area such as the Mediterranean Sea where the complex orography and coastline induce short-time/small-space weather scales. The model chain runs daily (or twice a day on demand) on the High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure of HyMOLab. The validation of the entire model chain and specifically the forecast data obtained for the sea state is continuously updated according to new available data from satellites and buoys. Anyway, a major verification of the performance of the model chain against historic data (hindcast) is almost mandatory. For this aim, we performed a multi-decade test obtaining very good statistical parameters for the entire model chain performance. In this context the hindcast dataset developed by DHI and HyMOLab consists of 35 years of hourly data for the period 1979-2013, with the same model chain. The CFSR d093.0 hourly dataset with a spatial resolution of 0.5 provides the boundary and initial conditions. The atmospheric and wave models performance is checked against six satellite datasets, missions Envisat, ERS-2, Geosat FO, Jason-1, Jason-2, Topex-Poseidon, using a moving window technique procedure. Wave data close to coast are compared with available data from more than 20 buoys. The paper describes the validation procedure adopted for the hindcasted data. Furthermore the forecast service is described too, with specific emphasis to the very high resolution adopted in the Adriatic Sea

Persistent topology for natural data analysis - A survey

Natural data offer a hard challenge to data analysis. One set of tools is being developed by several teams to face this difficult task: Persistent topology. After a brief introduction to this theory, some applications to the analysis and classification of cells, lesions, music pieces, gait, oil and gas reservoirs, cyclones, galaxies, bones, brain connections, languages, handwritten and gestured letters are shown

Development of a Novel Concept of Solar Receiver/Thermal Energy Storage System Based on Compartmented Dense Gas Fluidized Beds

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Pheochromocytoma diagnosed during pregnancy: lessons learned from a series of ten patients

BACKGROUND: Pheochromocytoma (PHEO) in pregnancy is a life-threatening condition. Its management is challenging with regards to the timing and type of surgery. METHODS: A retrospective review of the management of ten patients diagnosed with pheochromocytoma during pregnancy was performed. Data were collected on the initial diagnostic workup, symptoms, treatment, and follow-up. RESULTS: PHEO was diagnosed in ten patients who were between the 10th and the 29th weeks of pregnancy. Six patients had none to mild symptoms, while four had complications of paroxysmal hypertension. Imaging investigations consisted of MRI, CT scan and ultrasounds. All had urinary metanephrines, measured as part of their workup. Three patients had MEN 2A, one VHL syndrome, one suspected SDH mutation. All patients were treated either with α/β blockers or calcium channel blockers to stabilize their clinical conditions. Seven patients underwent a laparoscopic adrenalectomy before delivery. Three out of these seven patients had a bilateral PHEO and underwent a unilateral adrenalectomy of the larger tumor during pregnancy, followed by a planned cesarean section and a subsequent contralateral adrenalectomy within a few months after delivery. Three patients had emergency surgery for maternal or fetal complications, with C-section followed by concomitant or delayed adrenalectomy. All newborns from the group of planned surgery were healthy, while two out three newborns within the emergency surgery group died shortly after delivery secondary to cardiac and pulmonary complications. CONCLUSIONS: PHEO in pregnancy is a rare condition. Maternal and fetal prognosis improved over the last decades, but still lethal consequences may be present if misdiagnosed or mistreated. A thorough multidisciplinary team approach should be tailored on an individual basis to better manage the pathology. Unilateral adrenalectomy in a pregnant patient with bilateral PHEO may be an option to avoid the risk of adrenal insufficiency after bilateral adrenalectomy

Persistence modules, shape description, and completeness

Persistence modules are algebraic constructs that can be used to describe the shape of an object starting from a geometric representation of it. As shape descriptors, persistence modules are not complete, that is they may not distinguish non-equivalent shapes. In this paper we show that one reason for this is that homomorphisms between persistence modules forget the geometric nature of the problem. Therefore we introduce geometric homomorphisms between persistence modules, and show that in some cases they perform better. A combinatorial structure, the $H_0$-tree, is shown to be an invariant for geometric isomorphism classes in the case of persistence modules obtained through the 0th persistent homology functor

Proteomic approach used in the diagnosis of Riedel's thyroiditis: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Riedel's thyroiditis, a rare thyroid disease, can be difficult to diagnose prior to surgical removal and can be confused with malignancy both clinically and cytologically.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 72-year-old Caucasian woman who presented with a goiter, which showed a rapid increase in size at ultrasound check, suggesting malignancy. Because of inconclusive cytology, a total thyroidectomy was performed. Fine-needle aspiration of the removed thyroid was processed by two-dimensional electrophoresis, and the proteome was compared with both anaplastic cancer and control samples. Significant differentially expressed protein spots were identified by Western blot analysis by using specific antibodies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The protein pattern of Riedel's fine-needle aspiration revealed a superimposition with that of the control samples. The comparison of the protein pattern of Riedel's thyroiditis fine-needle aspiration with that of anaplastic cancer showed evidence of a different expression of ferritin heavy chains, ferritin light chains, and haptoglobins, as previously reported in thyroid cancers. Therefore, we performed Western blot analysis of these proteins and validated that their expression levels were low or absent in Riedel's thyroiditis and control samples despite the high concentrations present in fine-needle aspiration anaplastic samples. The concurrent absent or low expression levels of haptoglobin, ferritin light chain, and ferritin heavy chain in Riedel's thyroiditis fine-needle aspiration samples strongly indicate the benign nature of the thyroid lesion. These results suggest the potential applicability of fine-needle aspiration proteome analysis for Riedel's thyroiditis diagnosis.</p