Remote Monitoring of Civil Infrastructure Based on TomoSAR

Structural health monitoring and damage detection tools are extremely important topics nowadays with the civil infrastructure aging and deteriorating problems observed in urban areas. These tasks can be done by visual inspection and by using traditional in situ methods, such as leveling or using traditional mechanical and electrical sensors, but these approaches are costly, labor-intensive and cannot be performed with a high temporal frequency. In recent years, remote sensing has proved to be a very promising methodology in evaluating the health of a structure by assessing its deformation and thermal dilation. The satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar Tomography (TomoSAR) technique, based on the exploitation of a stack of multi-temporal SAR images, allows to remotely sense the movement and the thermal dilation of individual structures with a centimeter-to millimeter-level accuracy, thanks to new generation high-resolution satellite-borne sensors. In this paper, the effectiveness of a recently developed TomoSAR technique in assessing both possible deformations and the thermal dilation evolution of man-made structures is shown. The results obtained using X-band SAR data in two case studies, concerning two urban structures in the city of Naples (Italy), are presented

Performance Improvement for SAR Tomography Based on Local Plane Model

Multilook approaches have been applied in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) tomography (TomoSAR), for improving the density and regularity of persistent scatterers reconstructed from multipass SAR images in both rural and urban regions. Multilook operations assume that all scatterers in a given neighborhood are similar in height, thereby providing additional data for recovering the position and reflectivity of a single scatterer, so that a higher signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved. This is equivalent to assuming that scatterers belonging to a local neighborhood of range-azimuth cells are located on horizontal planes. The present article generalizes this approach by adopting the so-called local plane (LP) model for TomoSAR imaging in urban areas, accounting for local variations in the height of scatterers that are not negligible. Furthermore, an LP-generalized likelihood ratio test (LP-GLRT) algorithm is developed to implement the previous idea. Compared with the multilook generalized likelihood ratio test algorithm, LP-GLRT shows better performance in the case of urban structures and terrains in experiments based on both simulated data and TerraSAR-X images

URBAN MONITORING BASED ON SENTINEL-1 DATA USING PERMANENT SCATTERER INTERFEROMETRY AND SAR TOMOGRAPHY

A lot of research and development has been devoted to the exploitation of satellite SAR images for deformation measurement and monitoring purposes since Differential Interferometric Synthetic Apertura Radar (InSAR) was first described in 1989. In this work, we consider two main classes of advanced DInSAR techniques: Persistent Scatterer Interferometry and Tomographic SAR. Both techniques make use of multiple SAR images acquired over the same site and advanced procedures to separate the deformation component from the other phase components, such as the residual topographic component, the atmospheric component, the thermal expansion component and the phase noise. TomoSAR offers the advantage of detecting either single scatterers presenting stable proprieties over time (Persistent Scatterers) and multiple scatterers interfering within the same range-azimuth resolution cell, a significant improvement for urban areas monitoring. This paper addresses a preliminary inter-comparison of the results of both techniques, for a test site located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain), where interferometric Sentinel-1 data were analysed

Anticancer drugs and hyperthermia enhance cytotoxicity induced by polyamine enzymatic oxidation products

A correlation between regulation of cell proliferation and polyamine metabolism is described. The latter can enter protein synthesis through the modification of eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) and the formation of the peculiar amino acid hypusine. Specific inhibitors of hypusine formation induce apoptosis that can be potentiated by the combination with cytokines such as interferon alpha (IFN alpha) that itself decreases hypusine synthesis. We have also demonstrated that the concomitant treatment of cancer cells with IFNa and the protein synthesis inhibitor fusion protein TGF alpha/Pseudomonas Aeruginosa toxin synergize in inducing cancer cell growth inhibition. Another way used by polyamines to induce apoptosis is the generation of intracellular oxidative stress through the interaction with bovine serum amine oxidase (BSAO). This enzyme used simultaneously to spermine induces apoptosis, necrosis, inhibition of cell proliferation and inhibition of DNA and protein synthesis in several cell types. The enzymatic oxidation products of polyamine, H2O2 and aldehyde(s) cause these effects. We have recently found that the cytotoxicity of anti-cancer agents, either etoposide or docetaxel, in cancer cells is potentiated in the presence of BSAO/Spermine. In conclusion, polyamine metabolites could be useful in the design of new therapeutic strategies

Molecular and preclinical models enhancing anti-tumour activity of zoledronic acid

AbstractZoledronic acid (ZOL) is an aminobisphosphonate able to inhibit the prenylation of intracellular proteins through the inhibition of farnesylpyrophosphate synthase. Prenylation is essential for the maintenance of the activation of components of signal transduction pathways regulating apoptosis and proliferation such as Ras and Ras-related proteins. ZOL has demonstrated a direct anti-tumour effect in vitro and in preclinical models, and its ability in preventing skeletal-related events is proven in patients with bone metastases from different origins. Clinical evidence on its direct anti-proliferative effects is emerging. We describe several strategies in order to improve the anti-tumour activity of ZOL. In detail, we illustrate new combinations between ZOL and cytotoxic drugs or other biological agents such as the farnesyltransferase inhibitor tipifarnib focusing on the sequence of administration of these drugs. Moreover, the efforts to find new molecular targets of ZOL through the use of technological platforms such as DNA microarrays are described

Image sensors for wave monitoring in shore protection: Characterization through a machine learning algorithm

Waves propagating on the water surface can be considered as propagating in a dispersive medium, where gravity and surface tension at the air–water interface act as restoring forces. The velocity at which energy is transported in water waves is defined by the group velocity. The paper reports the use of video‐camera observations to study the impact of water waves on an urban shore. The video‐monitoring system consists of two separate cameras equipped with progressive RGB CMOS sensors that allow 1080p HDTV video recording. The sensing system delivers video signals that are processed by a machine learning technique. The scope of the research is to identify features of water waves that cannot be normally observed. First, a conventional modelling was performed using data delivered by image sensors together with additional data such as temperature, and wind speed, measured with dedicated sensors. Stealth waves are detected, as are the inverting phenomena encompassed in waves. This latter phenomenon can be detected only through machine learning. This double approach allows us to prevent extreme events that can take place in offshore and onshore areas

Open-slope, translational submarine landslide in a tectonically active volcanic continental margin (Licosa submarine landslide, southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

The southern Tyrrhenian continental margin is the product of Pliocene-Recent back-arc extension. An area of approximately 30 km of gentle (about 1.5°) lower slope of the last glacial outer shelf sedimentary wedge in water depths of between 200 and 300 m failed between 14 and 11 ka BP. We approached the landslide by multibeam and sub-bottom profiler surveying, high-resolution multichannel seismics, and coring for stratigraphic and geotechnical purposes. With regard to a slope-stability analysis, we carried out an assessment of the stratigraphic and structural setting of the area of the Licosa landslide. This analysis revealed that the landslide detached along a marker bed that was composed of the tephra layer Y-5 (c. 39 ka). Several previously unknown geological characteristics of the area are likely to have affected the slope stability. These are the basal erosion of the slope in the Licosa Channel, a high sedimentation rate in the sedimentary wedge, earthquake shaking, the volcanic ash nature of the detachment surface, subsurface gas/fluid migration, and lateral porewater flow from the depocentre of wedge to the base of the slope along the high-permeability ash layers. A newly discovered prominent structural discontinuity is identified as the fault whose activity may have triggered the landslide

Glider data collected during the Algerian Basin Circulation Unmanned Survey

We present data collected in the framework of the Algerian BAsin Circulation Unmanned Survey (ABACUS) project. The main objective of ABACUS is the monitoring of the basin circulation and of the surface and intermediate water masses' physical and biological properties in a key region of the Mediterranean Sea circulation. Data presented here have been collected through deep glider cruises in the Western Mediterranean Sea during the autumns of 2014, 2015 and 2016; activities at sea are expected to be repeated during the coming years, so that the dataset will be extended. Glider missions were conducted in the Algerian Basin, between the island of Mallorca and the Algerian coast. Across the three glider missions, eight repeated transects were completed which enabled us to investigate the basin-scale circulation and the presence of mesoscale structures, utilising both the adaptive sampling capabilities of the gliders and the higher resolution of the data. After collection, all data passed a quality control procedure and were then made available through an unrestricted repository host by the SOCIB Data Centre at https://doi.org/10.25704/b200-3vf5. The actual dataset spans three autumn seasons, providing an important contribution to the data collection in the chronically undersampled Algerian Basin. Temperature and salinity data collected in the first 975&thinsp;m of the water column allowed us to identify the main water masses and describe their characteristics, improving the understanding of the dynamics of the region. On the timescale of the project, data show a large variability in the surface layer and reduced variability in the intermediate and deep layers. Our measurements have been successfully compared to data previously collected in the area from 1909 to 2011. Results showed similar overall distribution, ranges and variability to the historical data, with no outliers in the surface or deep layers.</p

Anticancer drugs and hyperthermia enhance cytotoxicity induced by polyamine enzymatic oxidation products Review Article

Summary. A correlation between regulation of cell proliferation and polyamine metabolism is described. The latter can enter protein synthesis through the modification of eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) and the formation of the peculiar amino acid hypusine. Specific inhibitors of hypusine formation induce apoptosis that can be potentiated by the combination with cytokines such as interferona (IFNa) that itself decreases hypusine synthesis. We have also demonstrated that the concomitant treatment of cancer cells with IFNa and the protein synthesis inhibitor fusion protein TGFa=Pseudomonas Aeruginosa toxin synergize in inducing cancer cell growth inhibition. Another way used by polyamines to induce apoptosis is the generation of intracellular oxidative stress through the interaction with bovine serum amine oxidase (BSAO). This enzyme used simultaneously to spermine induces apoptosis, necrosis, inhibition of cell proliferation and inhibition of DNA and protein synthesis in several cell types. The enzymatic oxidation products of polyamine, H 2 O 2 and aldehyde(s) cause these effects. We have recently found that the cytotoxicity of anti-cancer agents, either etoposide or docetaxel, in cancer cells is potentiated in the presence of BSAO=Spermine. In conclusion, polyamine metabolites could be useful in the design of new therapeutic strategies