Time indeterminacy and spatio-temporal building transformations: an approach for architectural heritage understanding

Nowadays most digital reconstructions in architecture and archeology describe buildings heritage as awhole of static and unchangeable entities. However, historical sites can have a rich and complex history, sometimes full of evolutions, sometimes only partially known by means of documentary sources. Various aspects condition the analysis and the interpretation of cultural heritage. First of all, buildings are not inexorably constant in time: creation, destruction, union, division, annexation, partial demolition and change of function are the transformations that buildings can undergo over time. Moreover, other factors sometimes contradictory can condition the knowledge about an historical site, such as historical sources and uncertainty. On one hand, historical documentation concerning past states can be heterogeneous, dubious, incomplete and even contradictory. On the other hand, uncertainty is prevalent in cultural heritage in various forms: sometimes it is impossible to define the dating period, sometimes the building original shape or yet its spatial position. This paper proposes amodeling approach of the geometrical representation of buildings, taking into account the kind of transformations and the notion of temporal indetermination

Variational Autoencoders and their use for Sound Generation

openThis thesis explores the use of Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) in the field of sound generation, with a particular focus on timbral diversity and the infinite possibilities of sound transformation. Sound generation is approached from two distinct angles: harmonic sounds and non-harmonic soundscapes. Several prior research studies have already demonstrated the ability of AutoEncoders to capture the primary features of a sound, creating a latent space that preserves these features and can subsequently generate similar sounds, characterized by a shared timbral quality or musical intent. This thesis will, therefore, scrutinize this sound generation system, conducting multiple experiments with mel-spectrograms as input. Furthermore, the latent space of the models will be extensively explored, capable of mapping the characteristics of sound into a space from which it is then possible to easily manipulate timbres and sound changes, leading to the generation of smooth sound morphing. A questionnaire was administered to some participants to assess crucial aspects of the generated sound, such as sound quality, sound classification, and the smoothness of the generated sound morphings. The results were very promising, indicating a good level of sound generation and a certain fluidity in sound transformation, both for harmonic and non-harmonic sounds. This research has natural practical applications in the field of sound design and the creation of background music generation systems. With strong prospects for sound manipulation and exploration, the approach presented is a promising blend of deep learning and musical knowledge

How loss of biodiversity compromises human and animal health

Biodiversity affects the health and well-being of humans, animals and the environment. The holistic One Health approach allows to examine these correlations under various aspects: loss of biodiversity and human health, loss of biodiversity and animal health, loss of biodiversity and social and economic repercussions, with consequences on the well-being of humans and animals. Thanks to increased awareness of biodiversity and its integration into the One Health approach, the level of biodiversity could serve as a parameter to assess health risks, prevent environmental damage and protect indigenous peoples or local communities that strongly depend on it. Furthermore, greater awareness of biodiversity could improve the community's perception of wild animals, often represented as the main source of zoonotic diseases or labelled as dangerous, and reflect on the role of viruses, bacteria and parasites in the emergence and re emergence of infectious diseases. In fact, the emergence of diseases does not exclusively concern the relationship between domestic animals or wild animals and humans, but as the Convention on Biological Diversity states, it concerns "the complexity of the system as a whole and the interactions between biotic and abiotic components". If gene and species diversity are compromised or even lost, and natural habitats are degraded, the complexity of the whole system is altered and new opportunities for disease emergence are created (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2017). In conclusion, it would be necessary to combine strategies that manage the human-wild animal conflict and those that aim to preserve biodiversity, in order to protect the ecosystem, not to lose the services it offers and to limit the spread of disease pathogens

Optical eigenmode imaging

We present an indirect imaging method that measures both amplitude and phase information from a transmissive target. Our method is based on an optical eigenmode decomposition of the light intensity and the first-order cross correlation between a target field and these eigenmodes. We demonstrate that such optical eigenmode imaging does not need any a priori knowledge of the imaging system and corresponds to a compressive full-field sampling leading to high image extraction efficiencies. Finally, we discuss the implications with respect to second-order correlation imaging

The glutaminase-dependent acid resistance system. Qualitative and quantitative assays and analysis of its distribution in enteric bacteria

Neutralophilic bacteria have developed several strategies to overcome the deleterious effects of acid stress. In particular, the amino acid-dependent systems are widespread, with their activities overlapping, covering a rather large pH range, from 6 to <2. Recent reports showed that an acid resistance (AR) system relying on the amino acid glutamine (AR2_Q), the most readily available amino acid in the free form, is operative in Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus reuteri and some Brucella species. This system requires a glutaminase active at acidic pH and the antiporter GadC to import L-glutamine and export either glutamate (the glutamine deamination product) or GABA. The latter occurs when the deamination of glutamine to glutamate, via acid-glutaminase (YbaS/GlsA), is coupled to the decarboxylation of glutamate to GABA, via glutamate decarboxylase (GadB), a structural component of the glutamate-dependent AR (AR2) system, together with GadC. Taking into account that AR2_Q could be widespread in bacteria and that until now assays based on ammonium ion detection were typically employed, this work was undertaken with the aim to develop assays that allow a straightforward identification of the acid-glutaminase activity in permeabilised bacterial cells (qualitative assay) as well as a sensitive method (quantitative assay) to monitor in the pH range 2.5-4.0 the transport of the relevant amino acids in vivo. The qualitative assay is colorimetric, rapid and reliable and provides several additional information, such as co-occurrence of AR2 and AR2_Q in the same bacterial species and assessment of the growth conditions that support maximal expression of glutaminase at acidic pH. The quantitative assay is HPLC-based and allows to concomitantly measure the uptake of glutamine and the export of glutamate and/or GABA via GadC in vivo and depending on the external pH. Finally, an extensive bioinformatic genome analysis shows that the gene encoding the glutaminase involved in AR2_Q is often nearby or in operon arrangement with the genes coding for GadC and GadB. Overall, our results indicate that AR2_Q is likely to be of prominent importance in the AR of enteric bacteria and that it modulates the enzymatic as well as antiport activities depending on the imposed acidic stress

A semantic-based platform for the digital analysis of architectural heritage

This essay focuses on the fields of architectural documentation and digital representation. We present a research paper concerning the development of an information system at the scale of architecture, taking into account the relationships that can be established between the representation of buildings (shape, dimension, state of conservation, hypothetical restitution) and heterogeneous information about various fields (such as the technical, the documentary or still the historical one). The proposed approach aims to organize multiple representations (and associated information) around a semantic description model with the goal of defining a system for the multi-field analysis of buildings

Innovative approaches for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy based on the analysis of the olfactory mucosa

Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) are neurodegenerative diseases whose diagnosis is particularly complex, especially in the early stages, because the symptoms are similar to each other and to those of other diseases, including dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). All these disorders share a similar pathological process: the change in the structure of some proteins normally present in the brain which thus lose their function, begin to aggregate and deposit in specific brain areas, causing irreparable damage. In particular, PD, MSA and DLB are called α-synucleinopathies because they present aggregates of the α-synuclein protein (αSynD), which however are localized in different brain structures. PSP and CBD are instead called tauopathies because they are characterized by the presence of aggregates of the tau protein. These protein aggregates are considered disease-specific biomarkers because their detection and distribution (which can only be determined post-mortem on the patient's brain tissue) are used to formulate a definite diagnosis. As long as the patient is alive the diagnosis is only probable and does not have absolute accuracy. Consequently, some diagnoses made in life may change after the neuropathological assessments. Several evidence suggests that misfolded proteins can also appear in peripheral tissues such as the olfactory mucosa (OM, easily and periodically collectible with a nasal swab), but in such small quantities as not to be detectable with common diagnostic techniques. The recent advances in molecular and structural biology have provided insights into the processes involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and have made it possible to recapitulate the protein misfolding process in vitro in a limited period of time through the development of innovative techniques, called seed amplification assays (SAAs), among which the real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC). This new methodology exploits the ability of misfolded proteins to transmit their abnormal conformation to normal monomers, which are used as substrate of the reaction. Abnormally folded proteins are able to interact with these substrates and induce monomers to change conformation and subsequently aggregate. Therefore, the addition of misfolded proteins (considered “seeds”) to the substrate is able to trigger an aggregation phenomenon, known as “seeding effect” that might be exploited for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In my Ph.D. project I have firstly optimized the RT-QuIC assay, with the aim of analyzing OM samples collected from patients with PD, MSA, CBD and PSP, and evaluating the efficacy of the test in detecting traces of misfolded αSynD in α-synucleinopathy derived samples. The results of our study showed that most OM samples from patients with PD and MSA induced aggregation of the recombinant substrate protein, suggesting the presence of traces of αSynD. In contrast, the PSP and CBD samples had no effect on the substrate (since they do not contain abnormal αSyn). Interestingly, the RT-QuIC reaction products acquired biochemical and biophysical characteristics useful to discriminate, with a good degree of accuracy, patients with PD from patients with MSA. Moreover, by exposing neuronal-like differentiated SH-SY5Y cells to these products, we observed the induction of different inflammatory pathways. These findings suggested the existence of a link between the morphology of the aggregates and their inflammatory properties. To deepen this aspect, we have produced three different recombinant aggregates of αSyn, in order to generate, in a controlled environment, artificial αSyn seeds resembling to some extent the αSynD strains present in OM, and test their behavior by RT-QuIC without the presence of other tissue factors. Although capable to efficiently seed the aggregation of the substrate, αSv1, αSv2, and αSv3 did not transmit their seed-specific properties to the reaction products which showed comparable biochemical properties, instead. Probably, our experimental setting was too artificial to properly recapitulate the phenomenon of the seeding effect exerted by αSynD in RT-QuIC. However, when used to stimulate SH-SY5Y cells, αSv1, αSv2, and αSv3 acted on different activators of inflammatory pathways, thus strengthening the existence of a correlation between morphological and inflammatory properties of αSyn fibrils. In the last part of my project, we decided to evaluate how much the RT-QuIC assay could be used for diagnostic purposes in the field of α-synucleinopathies, by studying its reproducibility in other laboratories. Together with an American lab we have so analyzed a group of OM samples with the same experimental protocol and we obtained a 96% concordance of results. Furthermore, we observed that the OM of MSA behaved differently according to the pathological subtype. In fact, we know that this disease can manifest itself in a cerebellar form (MSA-C) or associated with parkinsonism (MSA-P). In our test, only MSA-P samples induced a seeding effect, allowing us to discriminate between the two pathological subtypes. These preliminary studies provide evidence that RT-QuIC of OM samples represents a reliable assay for supporting the diagnosis of α-synucleinopathy and may limit the negative effects that misdiagnosis produces in terms of costs for the healthcare system and improve overall patient care, treatment, and possible enrollment in future clinical trials

Surface Lipids as Multifunctional Mediators of Skin Responses to Environmental Stimuli

Skin surface lipid (SSL) film is a mixture of sebum and keratinocyte membrane lipids, protecting skin from environment. Its composition is unique for the high percentage of long chain fatty acids, and of the polyterpenoid squalene, absent in other human tissues, and in non-human Primates sebum. Here, the still incomplete body of information on SSL as mediators of external chemical, physical, and microbial signals and stressors is revised, focusing on the central event of the continuous oxidative modification induced by the metabolic activity of residential and pathological microbial flora, natural or iatrogenic UV irradiation, exposure to chemicals and cosmetics. Once alpha-tocopherol and ubiquinol-10 antioxidant defences of SSL are overcome, oxidation of squalene and cholesterol gives rise to reactive by-products penetrating deeper into skin layers, to mediate local defensive inflammatory, photo-protective, immune reactions or, at higher concentrations, inducing local but also systemic immune depression, ultimately implicating skin cancerogenesis. Qualitative modifications of SSL represent a pathogenetic sign of diagnostic value in dermatological disorders involving altered sebum production, like pytiriasis versicolor, acne, atopic or seborrheic dermatitis, as well as photo-aging. Achievements of nutriceutical interventions aimed at restoring normal SSL composition and homeostasis are discussed, as feasible therapeutic goals and major means of photo-protection

Transitions in auditory rehabilitation with bone conductive implant (bci)

Background: The bone conductive implants (BCI) are nowadays a reliable alternative for rehabilitation of specific forms of hearing loss, i.e. conductive, mixed or single sided deafness (SSD). Aims/Objective: To analyse the various factors in play when considering an auditory rehabilitation with a bone-conductive device (BCI). Materials and Methods: The clinical charts of subjects who underwent BCI application at the same Implanting Center from 2005 to 2018 were retrieved analysing also the reason for eventual explantation and the alternative option (transition) for hearing rehabilitation. Results: Nine BAHA Compact, 4 BAHA Intenso, 21 BAHA Divino, 3 BAHA BP100, 4 Ponto, 2 Sophono, 5 Bonebridge, 5 BAHA5 Attract; 11 BAHA5 Connect were used in 12 unilateral COM; 16 bilateral COM; 3 unilateral cholesteatoma; 6 bilateral cholesteatoma; 2 unilateral otosclerosis; 5 bilateral otosclerosis; 9 congenital malformations; 6 major otoneurosurgical procedures; 5 sudden deafness. Explantation was necessary for five subjects. Conclusions: Middle ear pathology and sequels from surgery represent the most common reason for BCI implantation, both in unilateral and in bilateral cases. Transition from one implantable device to another one can be predictable, mostly when explantation is necessary. Significance: The role of BCI for rehabilitation in middle ear pathology may be extremely important

Can a fully integrated approach enclose the drainage system design and the flood risk analysis?

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