Airborne and Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data for the Assessment of Standing and Lying Deadwood: Current Situation and New Perspectives

LiDAR technology is finding uses in the forest sector, not only for surveys in producing forests but also as a tool to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of the three-dimensional component of forest environments. Developments of platforms and sensors in the last decades have highlighted the capacity of this technology to catch relevant details, even at finer scales. This drives its usage towards more ecological topics and applications for forest management. In recent years, nature protection policies have been focusing on deadwood as a key element for the health of forest ecosystems and wide-scale assessments are necessary for the planning process on a landscape scale. Initial studies showed promising results in the identification of bigger deadwood components (e.g., snags, logs, stumps), employing data not specifically collected for the purpose. Nevertheless, many efforts should still be made to transfer the available methodologies to an operational level. Newly available platforms (e.g., Mobile Laser Scanner) and sensors (e.g., Multispectral Laser Scanner) might provide new opportunities for this field of study in the near future

Spectral filtering for the reduction of the Gibbs phenomenon of polynomial approximation methods on Lissajous curves with applications in MPI

Polynomial interpolation and approximation methods on sampling points along Lissajous curves using Chebyshev series is an effective way for a fast image reconstruction in Magnetic Particle Imaging. Due to the nature of spectral methods, a Gibbs phenomenon occurs in the reconstructed image if the underlying function has discontinuities. A possible solution for this problem are spectral filtering methods acting on the coefficients of the approximating polynomial. In this work, after a description of the Gibbs phenomenon and classical filtering techniques in one and several dimensions, we present an adaptive spectral filtering process for the resolution of this phenomenon and for an improved approximation of the underlying function or image. In this adaptive filtering technique, the spectral filter depends on the distance of a spatial point to the nearest discontinuity. We show the effectiveness of this filtering approach in theory, in numerical simulations as well as in the application in Magnetic Particle Imaging

Spectral filtering for the resolution of the Gibbs phenomenon in MPI applications

open3Polynomial interpolation on the node points of Lissajous curves using Chebyshev series is an e effective way for a fast image reconstruction in Magnetic Particle Imaging. Due to the nature of spectral methods, a Gibbs phenomenon occurs in the reconstructed image if the underlying function has discontinuities. A possible solution for this problem are spectral filtering methods acting on the coefficients of the interpolating polynomial. In this work, after a description of the Gibbs phenomenon in two dimensions, we present an adaptive spectral filtering process for the resolution of this phenomenon and for an improved approximation of the underlying function or image. In this adaptive filtering technique, the spectral filter depends on the distance of a spatial point to the nearest discontinuity. We show the effectiveness of this filtering approach in theory, in numerical simulations as well as in the application in Magnetic Particle Imaging.openDe Marchi, Stefano; Erb, Wolfgang; Marchetti, Francesco.DE MARCHI, Stefano; Erb, Wolfgang; Marchetti, Francesc

On the constrained mock-Chebyshev least-squares

The algebraic polynomial interpolation on uniformly distributed nodes is affected by the Runge phenomenon, also when the function to be interpolated is analytic. Among all techniques that have been proposed to defeat this phenomenon, there is the mock-Chebyshev interpolation which is an interpolation made on a subset of the given nodes whose elements mimic as well as possible the Chebyshev-Lobatto points. In this work we use the simultaneous approximation theory to combine the previous technique with a polynomial regression in order to increase the accuracy of the approximation of a given analytic function. We give indications on how to select the degree of the simultaneous regression in order to obtain polynomial approximant good in the uniform norm and provide a sufficient condition to improve, in that norm, the accuracy of the mock-Chebyshev interpolation with a simultaneous regression. Numerical results are provided.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

Why haven't loose globular clusters collapsed yet?

We report on the discovery of a surprising observed correlation between the slope of the low-mass stellar global mass function (GMF) of globular clusters (GCs) and their central concentration parameter c=log(r_t/r_c), i.e. the logarithmic ratio of tidal and core radii. This result is based on the analysis of a sample of twenty Galactic GCs with solid GMF measurements from deep HST or VLT data. All the high-concentration clusters in the sample have a steep GMF, most likely reflecting their initial mass function. Conversely, low-concentration clusters tend to have a flatter GMF implying that they have lost many stars via evaporation or tidal stripping. No GCs are found with a flat GMF and high central concentration. This finding appears counter-intuitive, since the same two-body relaxation mechanism that causes stars to evaporate and the cluster to eventually dissolve should also lead to higher central density and possibly core-collapse. Therefore, more concentrated clusters should have lost proportionately more stars and have a shallower GMF than low concentration clusters, contrary to what is observed. It is possible that severely depleted GCs have also undergone core collapse and have already recovered a normal radial density profile. It is, however, more likely that GCs with a flat GMF have a much denser and smaller core than suggested by their surface brightness profile and may well be undergoing collapse at present. In either case, we may have so far seriously underestimated the number of post core-collapse clusters and many may be lurking in the Milky Way.Comment: Four pages, one figure, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Sentinel-2 Data Analysis and Comparison with UAV Multispectral Images for Precision Viticulture

Precision viticulture (PV) requires the use of technologies that can detect the spatial and temporal variability of vineyards and, at the same time, allow useful information to be obtained at sustainable costs. In order to develop a cheap and easy-to-handle operational monitoring scheme for PV, the aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility of using Sentinel-2 multispectral images for long-term vineyard monitoring through the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Vigour maps of two vineyards located in northeastern Italy were computed from satellite imagery and compared with those derived from UAV multispectral images; their correspondence was evaluated from qualitative and statistical points of view. To achieve this, the UAV images were roughly resampled to 10 m pixel size in order to match the spatial resolution of the satellite imagery. Preliminary results show the potential use of open source Sentinel-2 platforms for monitoring vineyards, highlighting links with the information given in the agronomic bulletins and identifying critical areas for crop production. Despite the large differences in spatial resolution, the results of the comparison between the UAV and Sentinel-2 data were promising. However, for long-term vineyard monitoring at territory scale, further studies using multispectral sensor calibration and groundtruth data are required

CLINICA E TERAPIA DEI MENINGIOMI DELLA BASE CRANICA ANTERIORE ANALISI DI UNA CASISTICA CLINICA

Tesi sperimentale sui meningiomi della base cranica anteriore. Analisi di una casistica di pazienti al fine di evidenziare la clinica di presentazione della patologia e le tecniche terapeutiche, neurochirurgiche e non, utilizzate per il trattamento