AI4Boundaries: an open AI-ready dataset to map field boundaries with Sentinel-2 and aerial photography

Field boundaries are at the core of many agricultural applications and are a key enabler for the operational monitoring of agricultural production to support food security. Recent scientific progress in deep learning methods has highlighted the capacity to extract field boundaries from satellite and aerial images with a clear improvement from object-based image analysis (e.g. multiresolution segmentation) or conventional filters (e.g. Sobel filters). However, these methods need labels to be trained on. So far, no standard data set exists to easily and robustly benchmark models and progress the state of the art. The absence of such benchmark data further impedes proper comparison against existing methods. Besides, there is no consensus on which evaluation metrics should be reported (both at the pixel and field levels). As a result, it is currently impossible to compare and benchmark new and existing methods. To fill these gaps, we introduce AI4Boundaries, a data set of images and labels readily usable to train and compare models on field boundary detection. AI4Boundaries includes two specific data sets: (i) a 10 m Sentinel-2 monthly composites for large-scale analyses in retrospect and (ii) a 1 m orthophoto data set for regional-scale analyses, such as the automatic extraction of Geospatial Aid Application (GSAA). All labels have been sourced from GSAA data that have been made openly available (Austria, Catalonia, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden) for 2019, representing 14.8 M parcels covering 376 K km2. Data were selected following a stratified random sampling drawn based on two landscape fragmentation metrics, the perimeter/area ratio and the area covered by parcels, thus considering the diversity of the agricultural landscapes. The resulting “AI4Boundaries” dataset consists of 7831 samples of 256 by 256 pixels for the 10 m Sentinel-2 dataset and of 512 by 512 pixels for the 1 m aerial orthophoto. Both datasets are provided with the corresponding vector ground-truth parcel delineation (2.5 M parcels covering 47 105 km2), and with a raster version already pre-processed and ready to use. Besides providing this open dataset to foster computer vision developments of parcel delineation methods, we discuss the perspectives and limitations of the dataset for various types of applications in the agriculture domain and consider possible further improvements. The data are available on the JRC Open Data Catalogue: http://data.europa.eu/89h/0e79ce5d-e4c8-4721-8773-59a4acf2c9c9 (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2022).</p

GloFAS – global ensemble streamflow forecasting and flood early warning

Anticipation and preparedness for large-scale flood events have a key role in mitigating their impact and optimizing the strategic planning of water resources. Although several developed countries have well-established systems for river monitoring and flood early warning, figures of population affected every year by floods in developing countries are unsettling. This paper presents the Global Flood Awareness System, which has been set up to provide an overview on upcoming floods in large world river basins. The Global Flood Awareness System is based on distributed hydrological simulation of numerical ensemble weather predictions with global coverage. Streamflow forecasts are compared statistically to climatological simulations to detect probabilistic exceedance of warning thresholds. In this article, the system setup is described, together with an evaluation of its performance over a two-year test period and a qualitative analysis of a case study for the Pakistan flood, in summer 2010. It is shown that hazardous events in large river basins can be skilfully detected with a forecast horizon of up to 1 month. In addition, results suggest that an accurate simulation of initial model conditions and an improved parameterization of the hydrological model are key components to reproduce accurately the streamflow variability in the many different runoff regimes of the Earth.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Developing a global operational seasonal hydro-meteorological forecasting system: GloFAS-Seasonal v1.0

Global overviews of upcoming flood and drought events are key for many applications, including disaster risk reduction initiatives. Seasonal forecasts are designed to provide early indications of such events weeks, or even months, in advance, but seasonal forecasts for hydrological variables at large or global scales are few and far between. Here, we present the first operational global scale seasonal hydro-meteorological forecasting system: GloFAS-Seasonal. Developed as an extension of the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS), GloFAS-Seasonal couples seasonal meteorological forecasts from ECMWF with a hydrological model, to provide openly available probabilistic forecasts of river flow out to 4 months ahead for the global river network. This system has potential benefits not only for disaster risk reduction through early awareness of floods and droughts, but also for water-related sectors such as agriculture and water resources management, in particular for regions where no other forecasting system exists. We describe the key hydro-meteorological components and computational framework of GloFAS-Seasonal, alongside the forecast products available, before discussing initial evaluation results and next steps

Monitoring of hadrontherapy treatments by means of charged particle detection

The interaction of the incoming beam radiation with the patient body in hadrontherapy treatments produces secondary charged and neutral particles, whose detection can be used for monitoring purposes and to perform an on-line check of beam particle range. In the context of ion-therapy with active scanning, charged particles are potentially attractive since they can be easily tracked with a high efficiency, in presence of a relatively low background contamination. In order to verify the possibility of exploiting this approach for in-beam monitoring in ion-therapy, and to guide the design of specific detectors, both simulations and experimental tests are being performed with ion beams impinging on simple homogeneous tissue-like targets (PMMA). From these studies, a resolution of the order of few millimeters on the single track has been proven to be sufficient to exploit charged particle tracking for monitoring purposes, preserving the precision achievable on longitudinal shape. The results obtained so far show that the measurement of charged particles can be successfully implemented in a technology capable of monitoring both the dose profile and the position of the Bragg peak inside the target and finally lead to the design of a novel profile detector. Crucial aspects to be considered are the detector positioning, to be optimized in order to maximize the available statistics, and the capability of accounting for the multiple scattering interactions undergone by the charged fragments along their exit path from the patient body. The experimental results collected up to now are also valuable for the validation of Monte Carlo simulation software tools and their implementation in Treatment Planning Software packages

Vestibular anomalies and dysfunctions in children with inner ear malformations: A narrative review

About 20% of children with congenital hearing loss present malformations of the inner ear. In the past few years much has been understood about the morphology and function of the anterior part of the labyrinth, since hearing loss may have a dramatic effect on the overall development of a child. Nowadays, for most of them, a chance for hearing rehabilitation is available, making hearing loss a treatable condition. The anomalies range from the lack of development of the whole inner ear to specific anomalies of isolated structures. Despite the frequent concomitant involvement of the posterior part of the labyrinth, this part of the inner ear is frequently neglected while discussing its morphology and dysfunction. Even though vestibular and balance function/dysfunction may have a significant impact on the global development of children, very little is known about these specific disorders in patients with inner ear malformations. The aim of this review is to summarize the available literature about vestibular anomalies and dysfunctions in children with inner ear malformations, discussing what is currently known about the topic

Mineral content and biomechanical properties of fibrolamellar bone

editorial reviewe

Stability and expression levels of HLA-C on the cell membrane modulate HIV-1 infectivity

HLA-C expression is associated with a differential ability to control HIV-1 infection. Higher HLA-C levels may lead to a better control of HIV-1 infection through both a higher efficiency of antigen presentation to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), as well as the triggering of activating Killer Immunoglobulin like receptors (KIR) on NK-cells, whereas lower levels may provide a poor HIV-1 control and a rapid progression toward AIDS.We characterized the relative amount of HLA-C heterotrimers (heavy chain/\u3b22m/peptide) and HLA-C free heavy chains on PBMC from healthy blood donors harboring both alleles with stable or unstable binding to \u3b22m/peptide. We analyzed the stability of HLA-C heterotrimers of different allotypes and the infectivity of HIV-1 virions produced by PBMC with various allotypes.We observed significant differences in HLA-C heterotrimers stability and in expression levels. We found that R5 HIV-1 virions produced by PBMC harboring unstable HLA-C alleles were more infectious than those produced by PBMC carrying the stable variants.We propose that HIV-1 infectivity might depend both on the amounts of HLA-C molecules and on their stability as trimeric complex. According to this model, individuals with low expressed HLA-C alleles and unstable binding to \u3b22m/peptide might have a worse control of HIV-1 infection and an intrinsically higher capacity to support viral replication.IMPORTANCE Following HIV-1 infection, some people advance rapidly toward AIDS while others have a slow disease progression. HLA-C, a molecule involved in immunity, is a key determinant of HIV-1 control.Here we reveal how HLA-C variants contribute to modulate viral infectivity. HLA-C is present on the cell surface in two different conformations: the immunologically active conformation is part of a complex that includes \u3b22-microglobulin/peptide; the other conformation is not bound to \u3b22-microglobulin/peptide and can associate with HIV-1, increasing its infectivity. Individuals with HLA-C variants with a predominance of immunologically active conformations would display a stronger immunity against HIV-1, a reduced viral infectivity and an effective control of HIV-1 infection, while subjects with HLA-C variants that easily dissociate from \u3b22-microglobulin/peptide would have a reduced immunological response to HIV-1 and produce more infectious virions.This study provides new information that could be useful to design novel vaccine strategies and therapeutic approaches against HIV-1

HIV-1-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders: Is HLA-C Binding Stability to β2-Microglobulin a Missing Piece of the Pathogenetic Puzzle?

AIDS dementia complex (ADC) and HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are complications of HIV-1 infection. Viral infections are risk factors for the development of neurodegenerative disorders. Aging is associated with low-grade inflammation in the brain, i.e., the inflammaging. The molecular mechanisms linking immunosenescence, inflammaging and the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease, are largely unknown. ADC and HAND share some pathological features with AD and may offer some hints on the relationship between viral infections, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration. β2-microglobulin (β2m) is an important pro-aging factor that interferes with neurogenesis and worsens cognitive functions. Several studies published in the 80–90s reported high levels of β2m in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with ADC. High levels of β2m have also been detected in AD. Inflammatory diseases in elderly people are associated with polymorphisms of the MHC-I locus encoding HLA molecules that, by associating with β2m, contribute to cellular immunity. We recently reported that HLA-C, no longer associated with β2m, is incorporated into HIV-1 virions, determining an increase in viral infectivity. We also documented the presence of HLA-C variants more or less stably linked to β2m. These observations led us to hypothesize that some variants of HLA-C, in the presence of viral infections, could determine a greater release and accumulation of β2m, which in turn, may be involved in triggering and/or sustaining neuroinflammation. ADC is the most severe form of HAND. To explore the role of HLA-C in ADC pathogenesis, we analyzed the frequency of HLA-C variants with unstable binding to β2m in a group of patients with ADC. We found a higher frequency of unstable HLA-C alleles in ADC patients, and none of them was harboring stable HLA-C alleles in homozygosis. Our data suggest that the role of HLA-C variants in ADC/HAND pathogenesis deserves further studies. If confirmed in a larger number of samples, this finding may have practical implication for a personalized medicine approach and for developing new therapies to prevent HAND. The exploration of HLA-C variants as risk factors for AD and other neurodegenerative disorders may be a promising field of study