Distributed averaging for accuracy prediction in networked systems

Distributed averaging is among the most relevant cooperative control problems, with applications in sensor and robotic networks, distributed signal processing, data fusion, and load balancing. Consensus and gossip algorithms have been investigated and successfully deployed in multi-agent systems to perform distributed averaging in synchronous and asynchronous settings. This study proposes a heuristic approach to estimate the convergence rate of averaging algorithms in a distributed manner, relying on the computation and propagation of local graph metrics while entailing simple data elaboration and small message passing. The protocol enables nodes to predict the time (or the number of interactions) needed to estimate the global average with the desired accuracy. Consequently, nodes can make informed decisions on their use of measured and estimated data while gaining awareness of the global structure of the network, as well as their role in it. The study presents relevant applications to outliers identification and performance evaluation in switching topologies

Systematic integration of 2D and 3D sources for the virtual reconstruction of lost heritage artefacts: the equestrian monument of Francesco III d’Este (1774–1796, Modena, Italy)

The role of 3D virtual reconstruction of lost heritage artefacts is acquiring ever-greater importance, as a support for archaeological research and art history studies, as well as a vehicle for the cultural and evocative involvement of the end-user. The main risk of virtual reconstruction is the lack of a faithful restitution but, conversely, very often the artefact conservation state does not allow a complete 3D reconstruction. Therefore, 2D sources, both textual and iconographic, represent a precious integration and completion of the existing 3D sources. This paper proposes an operating systematic workflow to integrate retrieved 2D and 3D sources and assess their compatibility for the virtual reconstruction of lost heritage artefacts using and integrating 3D survey and digital modelling. As a case study, we virtually reconstructed the lost equestrian monument of Duke Francesco III d'Este, 7 m high, built in 1774 in Modena, Italy, by the sculptor Giovanni Antonio Cybei and completely destroyed a little over 20 years later during the revolutionary uprisings. Following the proposed workflow, we integrate data coming from: a still preserved preparatory stucco model, paintings and engravings showing the missing details of the 3D model, a series of urban views returning the proportion and positioning of the monument (statue, pedestal and base), a fragment of the right foot providing the statue size and the appearance of the original white Carrara marble. The final 3D digital model shows a faithful correspondence to the 2D sources and guarantees an effective user’s fruition thanks to dedicated virtual applications. Besides the scientific and cultural goal, we highlight the evocative role of this work, which has contributed to the restitution of a monument that is unknown to most citizens and visitors

Nerf2vec: Deep Learning on Neural Radiance Fields

Virtualization of 3D world remains a challenge, as a standardized technique has yet to emerge. Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs), a recent and promising approach, have attracted a lot of excitement due to their speed and quality reconstruction capabilities. Thus, NeRFs are poised to shape the future of 3D world modeling. However, a question arises about the potential use of NeRFs as input and output data for other algorithms due to their neural network nature. Additionally, since they have been introduced recently, there is no publicly available large dataset of NeRFs suitable for training deep learning models. Hence, in the initial phase of this thesis, a new and rigorously organized dataset of NeRFs was assembled. This dataset served as the bedrock upon which the subsequent research was built. Besides, it brings considerable value to the wider research community, paving the way for future advancements in the field. The following stride involved the development of "nerf2vec", a new framework designed to learn embeddings that serve as compressed representations of input NeRFs. This endeavor highlighted the capacity of these embeddings to faithfully represent the underlying NeRFs, maintaining high reconstruction quality. Moreover, this work showcased the direct applicability of these embeddings within deep neural architectures, tackling tasks like classification, retrieval, embeddings interpolation, and adversarial generation. It achieved noteworthy results comparable to state-of-the-art methods, while optimizing resource usage and eliminating the need for costly machinery. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that introduces these approaches for NeRFs and makes a significant contribution to the adoption of NeRFs as a standard way to represent 3D scenes

Large-scale assessment of mobile crowdsensed data: a case study

Mobile crowdsensing (MCS) is a well-established paradigm that leverages mobile devices’ ubiquitous nature and processing capabilities for large-scale data collection to monitor phenomena of common interest. Crowd-powered data collection is significantly faster and more cost-effective than traditional methods. However, it poses challenges in assessing the accuracy and extracting information from large volumes of user-generated data. SmartRoadSense (SRS) is an MCS technology that utilises sensors embedded in mobile phones to monitor the quality of road surfaces by computing a crowdsensed road roughness index (referred to as PPE). The present work performs statistical modelling of PPE to analyse its distribution across the road network and elucidate how it can be efficiently analysed and interpreted. Joint statistical analysis of open datasets is then carried out to investigate the effect of both internal and external road features on PPE . Several road properties affecting PPE as predicted are identified, providing evidence that SRS can be effectively applied to assess road quality conditions. Finally, the effect of road category and the speed limit on the mean and standard deviation of PPE is evaluated, incorporating previous results on the relationship between vehicle speed and PPE . These results enable more effective and confident use of the SRS platform and its data to help inform road construction and renovation decisions, especially where a lack of resources limits the use of conventional approaches. The work also exemplifies how crowdsensing technologies can benefit from open data integration and highlights the importance of making coherent, comprehensive, and well-structured open datasets available to the public

Stratégies culturelles entre Paris et Modène au Grand Siècle: les artistes français à la cour des Este

La tesi ricostruisce l’attività degli artisti francesi alla corte estense durante il governo di Francesco I (1629-1658) e Alfonso IV (1658-1662) e la iscrive nel più ampio quadro dei legami politici e culturali tra Parigi e Modena per illustrare il contributo francese alla definizione dell’immagine del potere ducale. Lo spoglio del carteggio diplomatico dell’abate Ercole Manzieri, residente di Francesco I a Parigi a partire dal 1650, ha permesso di documentare gli intensi traffici di ritratti, gioielli e abiti che da Parigi giunsero a Modena, attestando una cospicua influenza francese sul gusto e sul costume estense. Come Manzieri, anche Girolamo Graziani, poeta e segretario di stato, fu impegnato come ambasciatore. La tesi indaga i panegirici da lui composti in lode di Luigi XIV e ne illustra la genesi, prima di focalizzarsi su Jean Boulanger, primo pittore di corte di Francesco I. Chiarita la sua formazione e i suoi primi incarichi a corte, l’attenzione è rivolta alle sue pitture nel Palazzo Ducale di Sassuolo, privilegiando la Galleria di Bacco, di cui si definiscono l’architettura, l’allestimento e la funzione. Nell’ultima sezione la tesi ricompone la committenza ‘francese’ di Alfonso IV e si concentra sull’ultimo ciclo decorativo di Boulanger nella perduta villa ducale delle Pentetorri. Nuovi documenti hanno permesso di collocare le sale dipinte dal francese nello spazio della villa e di leggere, per la prima volta nella sua organicità, l’iconografia del ciclo. Seconda monumentale impresa di Alfonso fu la commissione delle solenni esequie in onore del padre defunto, immortalate nell’Idea di un prencipe del gesuita Domenico Gamberti (1659). Quest’opera, tra le più prestigiose imprese tipografiche del Seicento, plasma l’immagine del potere ducale anche grazie a un ricco repertorio di illustrazioni che videro il coinvolgimento di diversi artisti, anche francesi, di cui si precisano i nomi e le modalità di ingaggio.The thesis deals with the work of French artists at the Este court during the reign of Francis I (1629-1658) and Alfonso IV (1658-1662) and the broader context of political and cultural links between Paris and Modena to illustrate the French contribution to the definition of the image of ducal power. From the study of the diplomatic correspondence of Abbot Ercole Manzieri, resident of Francesco I in Paris from 1650, it resulted that Modena was among the first courts to comply with the fashion and customs of France. The thesis investigates the panegyrics that Girolamo Graziani, secretary of state, poet and ambassador of the Este court, composed in praise of Louis XIV, before focusing on the artistic path of Jean Boulanger, who was the first court painter of Francesco I. The research first clarifies his initial formation to focus then on his paintings in the Palazzo Ducale in Sassuolo, especially on the Bacchus Gallery. In the very last section, the thesis deals with the 'French client' Alfonso IV and it focuses on the latest Boulanger decorative cycle in the lost Villa ducale of Pentetorri. Documents only partially known allowed to place the rooms painted by Boulanger in the space of the villa and to read for the first time the entire cycle iconography. Second monumental Alfonso enterprise during his short reign was the solemn commission funeral for his deceased father as immortalized in the Idea di un prencipe of the Jesuit Domenico Gamberti (1659). This work, one of the most prestigious of the seventeenth century, shapes the image of ducal power thanks to a rich repertoire of illustrations. If the original project is up to Jean Boulanger, for their engraving onto copper more French engravers were involved, whose names and modes of engagement are specified in this work as well

Exploring Machine Learning for Untargeted Metabolomics Using Molecular Fingerprints

Background Metabolomics, the study of substrates and products of cellular metabolism, offers valuable insights into an organism's state under specific conditions and has the potential to revolutionise preventive healthcare and pharmaceutical research. However, analysing large metabolomics datasets remains challenging, with available methods relying on limited and incompletely annotated metabolic pathways. Methods This study, inspired by well-established methods in drug discovery, employs machine learning on metabolite fingerprints to explore the relationship of their structure with responses in experimental conditions beyond known pathways, shedding light on metabolic processes. It evaluates fingerprinting effectiveness in representing metabolites, addressing challenges like class imbalance, data sparsity, high dimensionality, duplicate structural encoding, and interpretable features. Feature importance analysis is then applied to reveal key chemical configurations affecting classification, identifying related metabolite groups. Results The approach is tested on two datasets: one on Ataxia Telangiectasia and another on endothelial cells under low oxygen. Machine learning on molecular fingerprints predicts metabolite responses effectively, and feature importance analysis aligns with known metabolic pathways, unveiling new affected metabolite groups for further study. Conclusion In conclusion, the presented approach leverages the strengths of drug discovery to address critical issues in metabolomics research and aims to bridge the gap between these two disciplines. This work lays the foundation for future research in this direction, possibly exploring alternative structural encodings and machine learning models

Simultaneous Determination of Squalene, α-Tocopherol and β-Carotene in Table Olives by Solid Phase Extraction and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detection

Olives, the fruit of the Olea europaea tree, are highly appreciated in olive oil and table olives (20 % of crops) not only for their flavor but also for their nutritional properties, especially for antioxidant compounds such as squalling (SQ), α-tocopherol (TH) and β-carotene (BC). This paper presents a new analytical method for simultaneously determining SQ, TH and BC in table olives by using solid phase extraction (SPE) and high performanceliquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLCDAD), avoiding the classic saponification process. The correlation coefficients of calibration curves of the analyzed compounds ranged from 0.998 to 0.999, and the recoveries were in the range of 89.4–99.6 %. The validated method was used to analyze 30 table olive samples from Italy for their content of SQ (537–1,583 mg kg−1), TH (21–90 mg kg−1) and BC (0.4–2.6 mg kg−1). Finally, experiments with HPLC-MS were conducted to compare this novel method with the classic saponification procedure

A cadaveric case study on lung cancer pathology

INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer amongst both genders, currently accounting for about 18% of all cancer deaths. OBJECTIVES: The overall purpose of this study was to evaluate the pathology associated with the patient’s cause of death, cardiorespiratory failure and lung cancer. The secondary aims of this study were to confirm the presence of malignant neoplasms within a human cadaver, determine the type of cancer present, and take specimens for histological examination to evaluate the patient’s cause of death. METHODS: This is a case report from one of the cadavers in the Gross Anatomy laboratory at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, South Georgia campus. Samples were taken from the patient’s lungs and then sent to the Colquitt Regional Medical Center laboratory for histopathological processing. RESULTS: Histopathological analysis of the lungs demonstrated a non-small cell carcinoma of the adenocarcinoma type with acute bronchopneumonia, pulmonary edema and congestion. The pneumonia was probably due to the weakened immune system caused by the adenocarcinoma. Anthracotic pigment in dust cells was also seen histologically, suggesting the patient may have been a smoker or lived in a heavily polluted area. CONCLUSION: The histopathological evaluation of the patient provided a valuable lens into the incidence of lung cancer contributing to secondary pathologies associated with cause of death

Biogenic amines as freshness index of meat wrapped in a new active packaging system formulated with essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis

Biogenic amines (BAs) are considered as an important indicator of freshness and quality of food. In this work, a new active packaging (AP) system for meat that, incorporating essential oil of Rosmarinus officinalis at 4% (w/w), inhibits the increase of BAs and the bacteria involved into their production was developed. BAs were analyzed by a SPE-HPLC-DAD method during the storage time of meat (0–7 d, 4 C). Results showed that, in each monitored day, Biogenic Amine Index (BAI) expressed in mgkg1 is lower in meat wrapped in AP with respect to that packed in polycoupled packaging (PP) (from 19% to 62%). A strong correlation was found between the inhibition of increase of putrescine, cadaverine, histamine and their bacteria producers such as Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas spp. and Brocothrix thermospacta. By exploiting antimicrobial and antioxidant action of essential oil of R. officinalis, the new APs contribute to increase the shelf life of fresh meat and to preserve its important nutrients