Transport Problems and Disintegration Maps

By disintegration of transport plans it is introduced the notion of transport class. This allows to consider the Monge problem as a particular case of the Kantorovich transport problem, once a transport class is fixed. The transport problem constrained to a fixed transport class is equivalent to an abstract Monge problem over a Wasserstein space of probability measures. Concerning solvability of this kind of constrained problems, it turns out that in some sense the Monge problem corresponds to a lucky case

Where do bright ideas occur in our brain? Meta-analytic evidence from neuroimaging studies of domain-specific creativity

Many studies have assessed the neural underpinnings of creativity, failing to find a clear anatomical localization. We aimed to provide evidence for a multi-componential neural system for creativity. We applied a general activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to 45 fMRI studies. Three individual ALE analyses were performed to assess creativity in different cognitive domains (Musical, Verbal, and Visuo-spatial). The general ALE revealed that creativity relies on clusters of activations in the bilateral occipital, parietal, frontal, and temporal lobes. The individual ALE revealed different maximal activation in different domains. Musical creativity yields activations in the bilateral medial frontal gyrus, in the left cingulate gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule and in the right postcentral and fusiform gyri. Verbal creativity yields activations mainly located in the left hemisphere, in the prefrontal cortex, middle and superior temporal gyri, inferior parietal lobule, postcentral and supramarginal gyri, middle occipital gyrus, and insula. The right inferior frontal gyrus and the lingual gyrus were also activated. Visuo-spatial creativity activates the right middle and inferior frontal gyri, the bilateral thalamus and the left precentral gyrus. This evidence suggests that creativity relies on multi-componential neural networks and that different creativity domains depend on different brain regions

EMDR therapy for PTSD after motor vehicle accidents: meta-analytic evidence for specific treatment

Motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims may suffer both acute and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). With PTSD affecting social, interpersonal and occupational functioning, clinicians as well as the National Institute of Health are very interested in identifying the most effective psychological treatment to reduce PTSD. From research findings, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is considered as one of the effective treatment of PTSD. In this paper, we present the results of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies on PTSD after MVA through activation likelihood estimation. We found that PTSD following MVA is characterized by neural modifications in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a cerebral structure involved in fear-conditioning mechanisms. Basing on previous findings in both humans and animals, which demonstrate that desensitization techniques and extinction protocols act on the limbic system, the effectiveness of EMDR and of cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) may be related to the fact that during these therapies the ACC is stimulated by desensitization

Towards Benchmarking Scene Background Initialization

Given a set of images of a scene taken at different times, the availability of an initial background model that describes the scene without foreground objects is the prerequisite for a wide range of applications, ranging from video surveillance to computational photography. Even though several methods have been proposed for scene background initialization, the lack of a common groundtruthed dataset and of a common set of metrics makes it difficult to compare their performance. To move first steps towards an easy and fair comparison of these methods, we assembled a dataset of sequences frequently adopted for background initialization, selected or created ground truths for quantitative evaluation through a selected suite of metrics, and compared results obtained by some existing methods, making all the material publicly available.Comment: 6 pages, SBI dataset, SBMI2015 Worksho

Durable graphite oxide nanocoating for high performing flame retarded foams

Recent developments in the design of water-based coatings encompassing platelet-like nanoparticles have clearly demonstrated the flame retardant potential of this approach for open cell flexible foams. However, the relatively high number of deposition steps required and the limited reports on the durability of the deposited coatings to multiple compression cycles currently represent the main constraints to this approach. This paper addresses these limitations by exploiting a few steps deposition procedure to produce coatings with durable flame retardant properties. Graphite oxide, sodium alginate and sodium hexametaphosphate were combined in a continuous protective coating that extends to the complex three-dimensional structure of the foam. The flame retardant properties of the coatings were evaluated before and after 1000 compression cycles. Even after such multiple deformations, the coated foams showed no melt dripping and self-extinguishment during flammability tests, as well as a highly reduced heat release rates (-70%) and total smoke release (-70%) during cone calorimetry tests. Furthermore, the ability to withstand the penetration of an impinging flame focused on one side of the coated foam for more than 5 min was also maintained. These results clearly demonstrate the durability of the coated foams, opening to real life application fields such as transports seats where high levels of flame retardancy must be maintained for long time under frequent mechanical stress

Occurrence of heavy metals (Hg, Cd, and Pb) and polychlorinated biphenyls in salted anchovies.

The most popular brands of salted anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus) from the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean were purchased from several Italian supermarkets and grocery stores. Heavy metal (Hg, Cd, and Pb) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels were determined and assessed by comparing the concentrations in these samples with the maximum permissible limits set by the European Union (Reg EC 629/2008 and Reg EC 1881/2006 [Off. J. Eur. Union L 173:3-9 and 364:5-24, respectively]). The Hg and Cd levels were higher than those of Pb in all samples examined. For Hg and Pb, the concentrations recorded in this study were below the authorized limits, while an appreciable percentage of samples from both locations (Mediterranean Sea, 35%, and Atlantic Ocean, 25%) showed Cd levels exceeding the threshold recommended for human consumption. Concerning PCBs, the results of principal component analysis showed that samples from the two different marine areas appeared to be discriminate, with Mediterranean anchovies more contaminated than the others, in spite of their lower lipid content. However, anchovy samples from both locations had dioxinlike-PCB levels (Mediterranean Sea, 0.011 pg World Health Organization toxic equivalency [WHO-TEQ] g(-1), wet weight, and Atlantic Ocean, 0.007 pg WHO-TEQ g(-1), wet weight) that were below the WHO-TEQ maximum concentration set by European regulation. The results of this study will help in generating data needed for the assessment of heavy metal and PCB intake from this food

Platelet aggregation studies: autologous platelet-poor plasma inhibits platelet aggregation when added to platelet-rich plasma to normalize platelet count

Adjusting platelet count (PC) in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) using platelet-poor plasma (PPP) is recommended for platelet aggregation (PA) studies, but it could also affect PA independently of the decrease in PC. Analysis of aggregation tracings from healthy controls showed that PC correlated with PA in 47 diluted-PRPs, but not in 104 undiluted-PRPs. Dilution of 9 PRPs with PPP progressively decreased PA, while dilution of washed platelets with buffer hardly affected PA. Apyrase partially prevented the inhibitory effect of PPP. Therefore, the practice of diluting PRP with PPP to adjust platelet count should be avoided because it artefactually inhibits PA

From nanoscopic to macroscopic photo-driven motion in azobenzene-containing materials

AbstractThe illumination of azobenzene molecules with UV/visible light efficiently converts the molecules between trans and cis isomerization states. Isomerization is accompanied by a large photo-induced molecular motion, which is able to significantly affect the physical and chemical properties of the materials in which they are incorporated. In some material systems, the nanoscopic structural movement of the isomerizing azobenzene molecules can be even propagated at macroscopic spatial scales. Reversible large-scale superficial photo-patterning and mechanical photo-actuation are efficiently achieved in azobenzene-containing glassy materials and liquid crystalline elastomers, respectively. This review covers several aspects related to the phenomenology and the applications of the light-driven macroscopic effects observed in these two classes of azomaterials, highlighting many of the possibilities they offer in different fields of science, like photonics, biology, surface engineering and robotics