Onset of triaxial deformation in Zn66 and properties of its first excited 0+ state studied by means of Coulomb excitation

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si le hubiere, y los autores pertenecientes a la UAMThe electromagnetic structure of Zn66 at low excitation energy was investigated via low-energy Coulomb excitation at INFN Legnaro National Laboratories, using the Gamma Array of Legnaro Infn Laboratories for nuclEar spectrOscopy (GALILEO) γ-ray spectrometer coupled to the SPIDER (Silicon PIe DEtectoR). A set of reduced E2, E3, and M1 matrix elements was extracted from the collected data using the gosia code, yielding 12 reduced transition probabilities between the low-spin states and the spectroscopic quadrupole moment of the 21+ state. The B(E2) values for transitions depopulating the 02+ state have been determined for the first time, allowing for the lifetime of this state to be deduced and, consequently, the ρ2(E0;02+→01+) monopole transition strength to be extracted. In addition, the B(E3;31-→01+) value has been determined for the first time in a Coulomb excitation experiment. The obtained results resolve the existing discrepancies between literature lifetimes and demonstrate that Zn66 cannot be described by using simple collective models. Therefore, new state-of-the-art beyond-mean-field and large-scale shell-model calculations were performed in order to interpret the structure of this nucleus. Both the experimental and theoretical results suggest that the triaxial degree of freedom has an important impact on electromagnetic properties of Zn66, while the unique features of the 02+ state indicate its distinct and rather isolated structur

Real Time, Accurate, Multi-Featured Rendering of Bump Mapped Surfaces

We present a new technique to render in real time objects which have part of their high frequency geometric detail encoded in bump maps. It is based on the quantization of normal-maps, and achieves excellent result both in rendering time and rendering quality, with respect to other alternative methods. The method proposed also allows to add many interesting visual effects, even for object with large bumb maps, including non-photorealistic rendering, chrome effects, shading under multiple lights, rendering of different materials within a single object, specular reflections and others. Moreover, the implementation of the method is not complex and can be eased by software reuse

Preserving attribute values on simplified meshes by re-sampling detail textures

Many sophisticated solutions have been proposed to reduce the geometric complexity of 3D meshes. A slightly less studied problem is how to preserve attribute detail on simplified meshes (e.g., color, high-frequency shape details, scalar fields, etc.).We present a general approach that is completely independent of the simplification technique adopted to reduce the mesh size. We use resampled textures (rgb, bump, displacement or shade maps) to decouple attribute detail representation from geometry simplification. The original contribution is that preservation is performed after simplification by building a set of triangular texture patches that are then packed into a single texture map. This general solution can be applied to the output of any topology-preserving simplification code and it allows any attribute value defined on the high-resolution mesh to be recovered. Moreover, decoupling shape simplification from detail preservation (and encoding the latter with texture maps) leads to high simplification rates and highly efficient rendering. We also describe an alternative application: the conversion of 3D models with 3D procedural textures (which generally force the use of software renderers) into standard 3D models with 2D bitmap textures

Marching Intersections: An Efficient Approach to Shape-from-Silhouette

A new shape-from-silhouette algorithm for the creation of 3D digital models is presented. The algorithm is based on the use of the Marching Intersection (MI) data structure, a volumetric scheme which allows ef\ufb01cient representation of 3D polyhedra and reduces the boolean operations between them to simple boolean operations on linear intervals. MI supports the de\ufb01nition of a direct shape-from-silhouette approach: the 3D conoids built from the silhouettes extracted from the images of the object are directly intersected to form the resulting 3D digital model. Compared to existing methods, our approach allows high quality models to be obtained in an ef\ufb01cient way. Examples on synthetic objects together with quantitative and qualitative evaluations are given

Using spectral diversity and heterogeneity measures to map habitat mosaics: An example from the Classical Karst

Questions: Can we map complex habitat mosaics from remote-­sensing data? In doing this, are measures of spectral heterogeneity useful to improve image classification performance? Which measures are the most important? How can multitemporal data be integrated in a robust framework? Location: Classical Karst (NE Italy). Methods: First, a habitat map was produced from field surveys. Then, a collection of 12 monthly Sentinel-­2 images was retrieved. Vegetation and spectral heterogeneity (SH) indices were computed and aggregated in four combinations: (1) monthly layers of vegetation and SH indices; (2) seasonal layers of vegetation and SH indices; (3) yearly layers of SH indices computed across the months; and (4) yearly layers of SH indices computed across the seasons. For each combination, a Random Forest clas- sification was performed, first with the complete set of input layers and then with a subset obtained by recursive feature elimination. Training and validation points were independently extracted from field data. Results: The maximum overall accuracy (0.72) was achieved by using seasonally ag- gregated vegetation and SH indices, after the number of vegetation types was re- duced by aggregation from 26 to 11. The use of SH measures significantly increased the overall accuracy of the classification. The spectral β-­diversity was the most im- portant variable in most cases, while the spectral α-­diversity and Rao's Q had a low relative importance, possibly because some habitat patches were small compared to the window used to compute the indices. Conclusions: The results are promising and suggest that image classification frame- works could benefit from the inclusion of SH measures, rarely included before. Habitat mapping in complex landscapes can thus be improved in a cost-­and time-­effective way, suitable for monitoring applications

Use of Balloon-Tipped Catheters in the Critically Ill Child

A retrospective study of our experience in the placement of 19 consecutive balloon-tipped catheters in the pulmonary artery of 18 children disclosed that the procedure can be performed with relative ease in the intensive care unit without the aid of fluoroscopy. Insertion of the catheters was not associated with any serious complications. Catheter malfunction, however, occurred in 9 of 18 patients: balloon rupture in 6 and clot formation in 3. Comparison of pulmonary capillary pressure through a balloon-tipped catheter and venous pressure through a central venous line indicates that, in the absence of significant pulmonary disease requiring high positive end expiratory pressure, or significant left heart dysfunction, a central venous pressure line is frequently adequate for monitoring right heart pressures and as a guidance to fluid therapy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67256/2/10.1177_000992288202100302.pd

Time-lapsing biodiversity: an open source method for measuring diversity changes by remote sensing

Understanding biodiversity changes in time is crucial to promptly provide management practices against diversity loss. This is overall true when considering global scales, since human-induced global change is expected to make significant changes on the Earth's biota. Biodiversity management and planning is mainly based on field observations related to community diversity, considering different taxa. However, such methods are time and cost demanding and do not allow in most cases to get temporal replicates. In this view, remote sensing can provide a wide data coverage in a short period of time. Recently, the use of Rao's Q diversity as a measure of spectral diversity has been proposed in order to explicitly take into account differences in a neighbourhood considering abundance and relative distance among pixels. The aim of this paper was to extend such a measure over the temporal dimension and to present an innovative approach to calculate remotely sensed temporal diversity. We demonstrated that temporal beta-diversity (spectral turnover) can be calculated pixel-wise in terms of both slope and coefficient of variation and further plotted over the whole matrix / image. From an ecological and operational point of view, for prioritisation practices in biodiversity protection, temporal variability could be beneficial in order to plan more efficient conservation practices starting from spectral diversity hotspots in space and time. In this paper, we delivered a highly reproducible approach to calculate spatio-temporal diversity in a robust and straightforward manner. Since it is based on open source code, we expect that our method will be further used by several researchers and landscape managers

Mapping the recreational value of coppices’ management systems in Tuscany

In recent decades the growing interest in forested areas has led to a higher level of appreciation and consideration regarding the various benefits and services provided by forests. Despite this, when it comes to acknowledging their economic value and their capacity to produce income, the production of timber seems to be the main or even the only function that is considered. However, by adopting a sustainable forest management approach, the value related to non-market forest functions could also be considered. The present paper aims to quantify the potential income related to the recreational value of coppice forest by considering three different management systems: traditional coppice, active conversion to high forest and the natural evolution of forest. In order to do so, a contingent valuation method was used, and 248 forest users were surveyed in the region of Tuscany, Italy. The surveys included a revised price-list method, and the results obtained showed the existence of willingness to pay (WTP) for the maintenance of forests. Users showed a strong preference for conversion to high forest, while natural evolution was the least preferred management option. People’s perception on this matter was also assessed based on their specific location, by georeferencing all of the respondents’ answers: considering this, it was observed that belonging to a municipality located in or close to the mountains (i.e., mountain and natural municipalities) influenced the users’ WTP to maintain natural evolution

Double down on remote sensing for biodiversity estimation. A biological mindset

In the light of unprecedented planetary changes in biodiversity, real-time and accurate ecosystem and biodiversity assessments are becoming increasingly essential for informing policy and sustainable development. Biodiversity monitoring is a challenge, especially for large areas such as entire continents. Nowadays, spaceborne and airborne sensors provide information that incorporate wavelengths that cannot be seen nor imagined with the human eye. This is also now accomplished at unprecedented spatial resolutions, defined by the pixel size of images, achieving less than a meter for some satellite images and just millimeters for airborne imagery. Thanks to different modeling techniques, it is now possible to study functional diversity changes over different spatial and temporal scales. At the heart of this unifying framework are the “spectral species”—sets of pixels with a similar spectral signal—and their variability over space. The aim of this paper is to summarize the power of remote sensing for directly estimating plant species diversity, particularly focusing on the spectral species concept