A Source Identification Problem for the Electrical Activity of Brain During Hand Movement

A field source reconstruction of the dipoles modeling the activated area of the brain, while a subject performs the task of the voluntary motion of the hand, is solved. Experimental data resulting from fMRI are used for constraining the position of the equivalent dipole

QUATERNARY BUILD-UPS AND RHODALGAL CARBONATES ALONG THE ADRIATIC AND IONIAN COASTS OF THE ITALIAN PENINSULA: A REVIEW

In the Mediterranean, build-ups (created by coralline algae, Cladocora caespitosa, deep-water corals, vermetids, polychaetes and bacteria) and rhodolith beds are important hot-spots of biodiversity. Being severely threatened by anthropogenic impact and climate change, they have been included in international directives on environmental protection. This work wants to support the ongoing research on modern bioconstructions by providing further data on the long-term effects of environmental factors on these habitats. Our results are based on the analysis of the existing literature on the outcropping Quaternary successions of the Adriatic and Ionian coasts of peninsular Italy. The existing reports of build-ups and rhodalgal carbonates have been summarized in an homogeneous data-set and then studied to highlight distribution patterns in space and time. The analyses consistently outlined the importance of sedimentation rate in controlling the general distribution of build-ups and rhodalgal carbonates. The majority of the reports is concentrated south of the Gargano, where the sediment-load of the rivers is small. The majority of the reports is related to coralline algae, suggesting that they were the main carbonate producers during the period. C. caespitosa general distribution is mainly controlled by temperature, with most of the occurrences dating back to the warm periods of the late Ionian and of the Tarantian. Large build-ups of Cladocora are restricted to embayments and gulfs well-protected against storm waves. The distribution of the outcrops of deep-water corals is biased by the geological setting. A remarkable uplift is necessary to bring these corals from their original deep-water setting to elevated areas onshore. Consequently, most of the outcrops are in Southern Calabria which is characterized by a strong Quaternary uplift. Chemosynthetic build-ups, intertidal bioconstructions (made by vermetids, polychaetes or coralline algae), as well as stromatolites, are rare in the study area

seafloor integrity of the mar piccolo basin southern italy quantifying anthropogenic impact

ABSTRACTThe Mar Piccolo Basin is a coastal brackish marine ecosystem located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Taranto (Southern Italy). Despite the ecological relevance of the area (Site of Community Importance IT9130004, Regional Reserve 'Palude La Vela' EUAP1189), the entire basin is subjected to intensive human usage. The main activities include extensive mussel farming, important industrial activities, a military harbor and densely populated shores. The goal of our study was to spatially quantify human pressure within the basin and its relationship with biocoenoses. A broad set of data was integrated including acoustic remote data (obtained using a multibeam echosounder and side scan sonar devices), direct observations obtained by SCUBA diving and from a trawled camera, an orthophoto and ESRI® Imagery Basemap. At least eight categories of anthropogenic infrastructure and marks of past and present-day human activities were identified within the Mar Piccolo Basin water column and on the seafloor...

Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolates from patients with cystic fibrosis: Genome diversity, biofilm formation, and virulence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Stenotrophomonas maltophilia </it>is emerging as one of the most frequently found bacteria in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. In the present study, phenotypic and genotypic traits of a set of 98 isolates of <it>S. maltophilia </it>obtained from clinical (CF and non-CF patients) and environmental sources were comparatively evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>S. maltophilia </it>exhibited a high level of genomic diversity in both CF and non-CF group, thus possibly allowing this bacterium to expand its pathogenic potentials. Strains sharing the same pulsotype infected different patients, thus likely indicating the occurrence of clonal spread or acquisition by a common source. CF isolates differed greatly in some phenotypic traits among each other and also when compared with non-CF isolates, demonstrating increased mean generation time and susceptibility to oxidative stress, but reduced ability in forming biofilm. Furthermore, in CF isolates flagella- and type IV pili-based motilities were critical for biofilm development, although not required for its initiation. Sequential isogenic strains isolated from the same CF patient displayed heterogeneity in biofilm and other phenotypic traits during the course of chronic infection. CF and non-CF isolates showed comparable virulence in a mouse model of lung infection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, the phenotypic differences observed between CF and non-CF isolates may imply different selective conditions and persistence (adaptation) mechanisms in a hostile and heterogeneous environment such as CF lung. Molecular elucidation of these mechanisms will be essential to better understand the selective adaptation in CF airways in order to design improved strategies useful to counteract and eradicate <it>S. maltophilia </it>infection.</p

An application of data-driven analysis in road tunnels monitoring

In order to comply with the minimum safety requirements imposed by the Directive 2004/54/EC it is of paramount mportance to correctly manage the operation and maintenance of road tunnels. This research describes how Artificial Intelligence techniques can play a supportive role both for maintenance operators in monitoring tunnels and for safety managers in operation. It is possible to extract relevant information from large volumes of data from sensor equipment in an efficient, fast, dynamic and adaptive way and make it immediately usable by those who manage machinery and servicesto aid quick decisions. Carrying out an analysis based on sensors in motorway tunnels, represents an important technological innovation, which would simplify tunnels management activities and therefore the detection of any possible deterioration, while keeping the risk within tolerance limits. The idea involves the creation of an algorithm for the detection of faults by acquiring data in real time from the sensors of tunnel sub-systems and using them to help identify the service state of the tunnel. The AI models are trained on a period of 6 months with one hour time series granularity measured on a road tunnel part of the Italian motorway systems. The verification has been done with reference to a number of recorded sensor faults

Novel MIPs-parabens based SPE stationary phases characterization and application

In this work, the synthesis, characterization, and application of novel parabens imprinted polymers as highly selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbents have been reported. The imprinted polymers were created using sol–gel molecular imprinting process. All the seven parabens were considered herein in order to check the phase selectivity. By means of a validated HPLC-photodiode array detector (PDA) method all seven parabens were resolved in a single chromatographic run of 25 min. These SPE sorbents, in-house packed in SPE empty cartridges, were first characterized in terms of extraction capability, breakthrough volume, retention volume, hold-up volume, number of theoretical plates, and retention factor. Finally, the device was applied to a real urine sample to check the method feasibility on a very complex matrix. The new paraben imprinted SPE sorbents, not yet present in the literature, potentially encourage the development of novel molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to enhance the extraction efficiency, and consequently the overall analytical performances, when the trace quantification is required

Novel MIPs-Parabens based SPE Stationary Phases Characterization and Application

In this work, the synthesis, characterization, and application of novel parabens imprinted polymers as highly selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbents have been reported. The imprinted polymers were created using sol–gel molecular imprinting process. All the seven parabens were considered herein in order to check the phase selectivity. By means of a validated HPLC-photodiode array detector (PDA) method all seven parabens were resolved in a single chromatographic run of 25 min. These SPE sorbents, in-house packed in SPE empty cartridges, were first characterized in terms of extraction capability, breakthrough volume, retention volume, hold-up volume, number of theoretical plates, and retention factor. Finally, the device was applied to a real urine sample to check the method feasibility on a very complex matrix. The new paraben imprinted SPE sorbents, not yet present in the literature, potentially encourage the development of novel molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to enhance the extraction efficiency, and consequently the overall analytical performances, when the trace quantification is required

Differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementias with the explainable MRI based machine learning algorithm MUQUBIA

Biomarker-based differential diagnosis of the most common forms of dementia is becoming increasingly important. Machine learning (ML) may be able to address this challenge. The aim of this study was to develop and interpret a ML algorithm capable of differentiating Alzheimer's dementia, frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and cognitively normal control subjects based on sociodemographic, clinical, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) variables. 506 subjects from 5 databases were included. MRI images were processed with FreeSurfer, LPA, and TRACULA to obtain brain volumes and thicknesses, white matter lesions and diffusion metrics. MRI metrics were used in conjunction with clinical and demographic data to perform differential diagnosis based on a Support Vector Machine model called MUQUBIA (Multimodal Quantification of Brain whIte matter biomArkers). Age, gender, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Dementia Staging Instrument, and 19 imaging features formed the best set of discriminative features. The predictive model performed with an overall Area Under the Curve of 98%, high overall precision (88%), recall (88%), and F1 scores (88%) in the test group, and good Label Ranking Average Precision score (0.95) in a subset of neuropathologically assessed patients. The results of MUQUBIA were explained by the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. The MUQUBIA algorithm successfully classified various dementias with good performance using cost-effective clinical and MRI information, and with independent validation, has the potential to assist physicians in their clinical diagnosis

Planck intermediate results XXIV : Constraints on variations in fundamental constants

Any variation in the fundamental physical constants, more particularly in the fine structure constant, a, or in the mass of the electron, me, affects the recombination history of the Universe and cause an imprint on the cosmic microwave background angular power spectra. We show that the Planck data allow one to improve the constraint on the time variation of the fine structure constant at redshift z - 10(3) by about a factor of 5 compared to WMAP data, as well as to break the degeneracy with the Hubble constant, H-0. In addition to a, we can set a constraint on the variation in the mass of the electron, me, and in the simultaneous variation of the two constants. We examine in detail the degeneracies between fundamental constants and the cosmological parameters, in order to compare the limits obtained from Planck and WMAP and to determine the constraining power gained by including other cosmological probes. We conclude that independent time variations of the fine structure constant and of the mass of the electron are constrained by Planck to Delta alpha/alpha = (3.6 +/- 3.7) x 10(-3) and Delta m(e)/m(e) = (4 +/- 11) x 10(-3) at the 68% confidence level. We also investigate the possibility of a spatial variation of the fine structure constant. The relative amplitude of a dipolar spatial variation in a (corresponding to a gradient across our Hubble volume) is constrained to be delta alpha/alpha = (-2.4 +/- 3.7) x 10(-2).Peer reviewe

Submillimeter Polarization Spectrum of the Carina Nebula

Linear polarization maps of the Carina Nebula were obtained at 250, 350, and 500 μm during the 2012 flight of the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol). These measurements are combined with Planck 850 μm data in order to produce a submillimeter spectrum of the polarization fraction of the dust emission, averaged over the cloud. This spectrum is flat to within ±15% (relative to the 350 μm polarization fraction). In particular, there is no evidence for a pronounced minimum of the spectrum near 350 μm, as suggested by previous ground-based measurements of other molecular clouds. This result of a flat polarization spectrum in Carina is consistent with recently published BLASTPol measurements of the Vela C molecular cloud and also agrees with a published model for an externally illuminated, dense molecular cloud by Bethell and collaborators. The shape of the spectrum in Carina does not show any dependence on the radiative environment of the dust, as quantified by the Planck-derived dust temperature or dust optical depth at 353 GHz