Geometric potential of cartosat-1 stereo imagery

Cartosat-1 satellite, launched by Department of Space (DOS), Government of India, is dedicated to stereo viewing for large scale mapping and terrain modelling applications. This stereo capability fills the limited capacity of very high resolution satellites for three-dimensional point determination and enables the generation of detailed digital elevation models (DEMs) not having gaps in mountainous regions like for example the SRTM height model.The Cartosat-1 sensor offers a resolution of 2.5m GSD in panchromatic mode. One CCD-line sensor camera is looking with a nadir angle of 26' in forward direction, the other 5' aft along the track. The Institute "Area di Geodesia e Geomatica"-Sapienza Università di Roma and the Institute of Photogrammetry and Geoinformation, Leibniz University Hannover participated at the ISPRS-ISRO Cartosat-1 Scientific Assessment Programme (CSAP), in order to investigate the generation of Digital Surface Models (DSMs) from Cartosat-1 stereo scenes. The aim of this work concerns the orientation of Cartosat-1 stereo pairs, using the given RPCs improved by control points and the definition of an innovative model based on geometric reconstruction, that is used also for the RPC extraction utilizing a terrain independent approach. These models are implemented in the scientific software (SISAR-Software per Immagini Satellitari ad Alta Risoluzione) developed at Sapienza Università di Roma. In this paper the SISAR model is applied to different stereo pairs (Castelgandolfo and Rome) and to point out the effectiveness of the new model, SISAR results are compared with the corresponding ones obtained by the software OrthoEngine 10.0 (PCI Geomatica).By the University of Hannover a similar general satellite orientation program has been developed and the good results, achieved by bias corrected sensor oriented RPCs, for the test fields Mausanne (France) and Warsaw (Poland) have been described.For some images, digital height models have been generated by automatic image matching with least squares method, analysed in relation to given reference height models. For the comparison with the reference DEMs the horizontal fit of the height models to each other has been checked by adjustment

GPS Seismology for a moderate magnitude earthquake: Lessons learned from the analysis of the 31 October 2013 ML6.4 Ruisui (Taiwan) earthquake

The 31 October 2013 ML 6.4 Ruisui earthquake was well recorded by twelve 50-Hz, four 20-Hz and thirteen 1-Hz GPS receivers, and twenty-five strong motion stations located within the epicentral distance of 90 km in eastern Taiwan. Kinematic positioning solutions estimated by four GNSS software (TRACK, RTKLIB, GIPSY, VADASE) are used to derive the seismic waveforms and the co-seismic displacements for this event; strong motion accelerometers are used to verify the capability of high rate GPS to detect seismic waves generated by this earthquake. Results show that the coordinate repeatability of the GPS displacements time series are ~6 mm and ~20 mm standard deviation in the horizontal and vertical components respectively, after applying spatial filtering. The largest co-seismic displacement derived from high-rate GPS is nearly 15 centimeter at 5 km northeast of the epicenter. S waves and surface waves are successfully detected by motions of high-rate GPS and double-integrated accelerometers within the 15 km epicentral distance. For the first time twelve 50-Hz and four 20 Hz GPS observations for seismological study were used and analyzed in Taiwan; a clear benefit was evidenced with regard to the seismic waves features detection, with respect to the 1-Hz GPS data, so that ultra-high rate (> 1-Hz) observations can compensate the sparse coverage of seismic data, provided proper monuments for the GPS permanent stations are realized. Spectra analysis between co-located GPS and strong motion data further suggests that the optimal sampling rate for high-rate GPS Seismology study is 5 Hz. The 2013 Ruisui Taiwan earthquake recorded by the high-rate GPS permanent stations network in Taiwan demonstrates the benefits of GPS Seismology for a moderate size earthquake at a local scale

Antioxidant, Nutraceutical Properties, and Fluorescence Spectral Profiles of Bee Pollen Samples from Different Botanical Origins

Bee pollen is made by honey bees (Apis Mellifera) from the pollen of plants and flowers and represents an apiary product enriched in essential amino acids, polyphenols, omega-3, and omega-6 fatty acids. This study investigated the botanical origin, micronutrient profile, and antioxidant activity of bee pollen samples (n = 10) harvested in Lucca and Massa Carrara (Tuscany, Italy) between 2016 and 2017. The palynological analysis showed that bee pollen samples were composed of nine botanical families. Front-face fluorescence spectroscopy was performed on bee pollen samples in bulk, without any treatment, and in ethanol extracts to determine the characteristic fluorescent profile and, to identify the main chemical compounds with biological activity. The main chemical compounds detected were polyphenols (mainly flavonoids and phenolic acids), hydro-soluble vitamins (B2, B3, B6, and B9), amino acids, and pigments. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity was investigated, and one of the two Viburnum pollens resulted in the highest polyphenols and flavonoids content (20.15 ± 0.15 mg GAE/g fw and 23.46 ± 0.08 mg CE/g fw, respectively). However, Prunus and Eucalyptus families showed the highest in vitro (190.27 ± 8.30 µmol Fe2+/g) and ex vivo (54.61 ± 8.51 CAA unit) antioxidant capacity, respectively. These results suggested that Tuscan bee pollen, depending on the botanical family, is rich in essential nutrients and potential nutraceutical product

Assessment and validation of miniaturized technology for the remote tracking of critically endangered Galápagos pink land iguana (Conolophus marthae)

Abstract Background: Gathering ecological data for species of conservation concern inhabiting remote regions can be daunting and, sometimes, logistically infeasible. We built a custom-made GPS tracking device that allows to remotely and accurately collect animal position, environmental, and ecological data, including animal temperature and UVB radiation. We designed the device to track the critically endangered Galápagos pink land iguana, Conolophus marthae. Here we illustrate some technical solutions adopted to respond to challenges associated with such task and present some preliminary results from controlled trial experiments and field implementation. Results: Our tests show that estimates of temperature and UVB radiation are affected by the design of our device, in particular by its casing. The introduced bias, though, is systematic and can be corrected using linear and quadratic regressions on collected values. Our data show that GPS accuracy loss, although introduced by vegetation and orientation of the devices when attached to the animals, is acceptable, leading to an average error gap of less than 15 m in more than 50% of the cases. Conclusions: We address some technical challenges related to the design, construction, and operation of a custommade GPS tracking device to collect data on animals in the wild. Systematic bias introduced by the technological implementation of the device exists. Understanding the nature of the bias is crucial to provide correction models. Although designed to track land iguanas, our device could be used in other circumstances and is particularly useful to track organisms inhabiting locations that are difficult to reach or for which classic telemetry approaches are unattainable

Functional analysis of Ectodysplasin-A mutations causing selective tooth agenesis.

Mutations of the Ectodysplasin-A (EDA) gene are generally associated with the syndrome hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (MIM 305100), but they can also manifest as selective, non-syndromic tooth agenesis (MIM300606). We have performed an in vitro functional analysis of six selective tooth agenesis-causing EDA mutations (one novel and five known) that are located in the C-terminal tumor necrosis factor homology domain of the protein. Our study reveals that expression, receptor binding or signaling capability of the mutant EDA1 proteins is only impaired in contrast to syndrome-causing mutations, which we have previously shown to abolish EDA1 expression, receptor binding or signaling. Our results support a model in which the development of the human dentition, especially of anterior teeth, requires the highest level of EDA-receptor signaling, whereas other ectodermal appendages, including posterior teeth, have less stringent requirements and form normally in response to EDA mutations with reduced activity

Antonio Ventura

Lo scopo di questo lavoro di tesi è stato di valutare l'accuratezza metrica di un nuovo satellite indiano, Cartosat-1, sia per quanto riguarda l'orientamento delle immagini, sia per quanto riguarda la generazione di modelli digitali delle superfici. Cartosat-1 è stato messo in orbita il 5 Maggio del 2005. La sua principale caratteristica è di avere a bordo due sensori di tipo pancromatico (ognuno con risoluzione spaziale di 2.5 m), capaci di osservare la stessa porzione di territorio da angoli di vista differenti. Lo scarto temporale tra le due acquisizioni della stessa zona, risulta molto ridotto (52 secondi). Questo breve intervallo di tempo facilita il processo di matching e permette la continua produzione di immagini stereo, cioè parzialmente sovrapposte ed adatte alla generazione di DSMs. Avendo a disposizione la stereocoppia acquisita sulla zona di Castelgandolfo, le immagini sono state orientate utilizzando sia il modello rigoroso, implementato nel programma commerciale PCI-Orthoengine, sia il modello generico degli RPC (Rapid Positioning Capability), implementato nei software scientifici SISAR e RAPORIO, sviluppati rispettivamente dall' Area di Geodesia e Geomatica - Sapienza Università degli studi di Roma- e dall' Institute of Photogrammetry and GeoInformation della Leibniz University di Hannover. Utilizzando entrambi i metodi è stato possibile ottenere un'accuratezza sull'orientamento dell'immagine inferiore alla dimensione del pixel, inoltre, i risultati dei diversi programmi usati sono pienamente confrontabili. Partendo dalla stereocoppia Cartosat-1 di Castelgandolfo, il DSM è stato generato usando due metodi diversi di matching: il primo è il Least Squares Matching, utilizzato dal programma scientifico DPCOR (Leibniz University, Hannover), il secondo è il metodo della cross-correlazione, utilizzato dal programma PCI-Orthoengine. Per valutare l'accuratezza del DSM generato da Cartosat-1, si è deciso di assumere come modello di confronto il DSM estratto da un blocco fotogrammetrico di 31 foto e di calcolare l’errore quadratico medio delle differenze di quota tra queste due superfici (RMSEz). I confronti tra i DSMs sono statti condotti sia su tutta l'area di sovrapposizione, sia selezionando diverse tipologie di suolo: la tipologia cittadina di suolo urbano, e quella delle zone il più possibile prive di vegetazione e fabbricati (aperte). Tutte le prove sono state condotte due volte: prima direttamente sui DSMs estratti in seguito al matching, e poi sui relativi DEMs (Modelli Digitali delle Elevazioni), ottenuti applicando una funzione di filtro per rimuovere tutti gli elementi non appartenenti al terreno vero e proprio (alberi, palazzi, etc.). Dall' analisi sulle differenze di altezze tra i DSM nelle zone aperte, è stato ottenuto un RMSEz di 3.05 m, mentre, dopo aver applicato il filtro, l'RMSEz diminuisce a 2.41 m, scendendo quindi sotto la dimensione del pixel. Nelle zone urbane l'RMSEz si attesta attorno 4.73, diminuendo fino a 3.96 m in seguito all' applicazione del filtro. I risultati ricavati dal confronto tra i DEM dipendono però dalla tecnica di filtraggio utilizzata. Come argomento di ricerca parallelo è stata valutata la capacità del programma SISAR di generare RPC per l'orientamento delle immagini e l'estrazione di modelli digitali del terreno. Utilizzando gli RPC generati dal programma, i quali sono 1/3 di quelli originali contenuti nei files di metadata, è stato possibile orientare la stereocoppia con un RMSEZ leggermente superiore al pixel. Il DSM generato a partire da questo orientamento presenta un'accuratezza pienamente confrontabile con quella del modello digitale ottenuto lavorando con gli RPC che vengono forniti insieme alle immagini originali. In conclusione del lavoro si può affermare che la modalità di acquisizione di Cartosat-1 risulta ottimale per la generazione di modelli digitali delle superfici. Il ridotto intervallo temporale fra le due acquisizioni favorisce il procedimento di matching automatico. L'orientamento delle immagini non presenta particolari problemi, ed entrambi gli approcci utilizzati portano ad ottenere un'accuratezza inferiore alla dimensione del pixel. L'algoritmo di generazione degli RPC, implementato all'interno del programma SISAR, si è dimostrato in grado di fornire coefficienti che portano a risultati analoghi a quelli che si ottengono utilizzando gli RPC originali forniti insieme alle immagini, sia in fase di orientamento, sia in fase di generazione del modello digitale

VADASE: Variometric Approach for Displacement Analysis Stand-alone Engine

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), like Global Positioning System (GPS), are nowadays very well known. Besides the mass market, GPS plays an important role in several technical and scientific activities. Ever since the early stages of development (mid 1980s), given the high level of accuracy achieved in determining the coordinates of the receiver, it became clear that the extensive deployment of GPS stations all over the world would have improved many tasks in geodesy and geodynamics. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the effective use of GPS in estimating coseismic displacement waveforms induced by an earthquake with accuracies ranging from a few millimeters to a few centimeters (so called GPS seismology). This contribution is particularly relevant as it supports the estimation of important seismic parameters (e.g. seismic moment and magnitude Mw) without the problems of saturation that commonly affect seismometers and accelerometers close to large earthquakes. These studies were developed mainly off-line, analyzing observations acquired during strong earthquakes. Then, well-known processing strategies (single Precise Point Positioning (PPP), and differential positioning) have been developed to reduce as far as possible the latency between earthquake occurrence and coseismic displacement waveforms estimation. This work describes a new approach that was originally designed to detect the 3D displacements of a single GPS receiver in real-time and that was eventually appointed as an effective strategy to contribute to GPS seismology. The main goals that guided through the development aimed to obtain the coseismic displacement waveforms in real-time and using a single receiver. In particular, it was pursued to overcome the drawbacks of the two most common strategies used so far in GPS seismology: PPP uses a single receiver, but it requires ancillary products (e.g. information regarding satellites orbits, clocks; parameters describing the Earth orientation with respect to an external inertial system) currently unavailable in real-time. On the other hand, differential kinematic positioning is based on a complex infrastructure (GPS permanent network), which has to be managed by specialized research centers to obtain high accuracies in real-time. The new approach proposed in this work, named Variometric Approach for Displacement Analysis Stand-alone Engine (VADASE), is based upon a so called variometric algorithm, which is able to use a single receiver to obtain real-time results, with accuracies ranging from few centimeters up to a couple of decimeters. In order to prove the feasibility of the variometric algorithm, a tuned software, which was appointed with the same name (i.e. VADASE), was implemented. Exploiting this software to process a large amount of both simulated and real data, the main advantages of VADASE, as well as its limitations, were investigated in details. At a first stage, VADASE effectiveness was proven on a simulated example. First, a known displacement (1 cm East and North and 2 cm Up) was synthetically introduced into carrier phase observations collected at 1 Hz rate by the M0SE permanent GPS station (Rome, Italy). Then, these data were processed using the variometric algorithm: the displacements were estimated with an accuracy of 1-2 mm in the horizontal and the vertical directions. The solutions obtained using the GPS broadcast products available in real-time and the best quality products supplied by IGS a posteriori displayed a global agreement of 1 mm for the horizontal components and 2 mm for the height. Given this fundamental proof of success, and provided that the variometric algorithm was originally conceived to contribute in the field of GPS seismology and tsunami warning systems, VADASE was applied to retrieve the coseismic displacements and the waveforms generated by real earthquakes. Here, it is worth underlining that all VADASE results were obtained using exclusively broadcast products that are available in real-time. The most significant outcomes were obtained by considering data collected at 1 Hz rate from the IGS station of BREW during the Denali Fault, Alaska earthquake (Mw 7.9, November 3, 2002), at 10 Hz rate from CADO station during the L'Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.3, April 6, 2009), and at 5 Hz rate from some stations included in the UNAVCO - PBO network during the Baja, California earthquake (Mw 7.2, April 4, 2010). In all cases, the agreement between VADASE and other solutions achieved by different research groups employing different methodologies was between few centimeters and a couple of decimeters. The real-time potentialities of the variometric approach were internationally recognized during the recent tremendous earthquake in Japan (Mw = 9.0, March 11, 2011), when the GNSS research team of University of Rome "La Sapienza" was able to provide the first waveforms results among the scientific community. The results obtained for IGS stations of MIZU, USUD and from EV-network station JA01 were compared with those stemming from the PPP approach implemented in the software developed at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). This work was made possible thanks to the precious support of Dr. Henton Joe and Dr. Dragert Herb, NRCan, who produced the PPP solutions for the aforementioned stations. The agreement between VADASE and PPP was evaluated in terms of the RMSE of the differences. In addition, it was investigated the agreement reliance with the earthquake duration. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the differences between the two solutions ranged from 0.01-0.02 m in East and North and 0.06 m in Up, after one minute, to approximately 0.05 m in East and North and (with much larger variability) 0.20 m in Up after four minutes. Further, the agreement between the two approaches evaluated in terms of peak to peak displacements appeared to be independent from the earthquake duration. In details, the differences reached approximately 0.01 m in East and North and 0.03 m in Up components. Finally, the correlation coefficient between the two solutions proved to be higher than 99% for the planimetric components (but for the East component of USUD and the North component of JA01 which showed 97% and 96% correlations, respectively). The vertical component showed slightly lower (and with larger variability) correlations: 65%, 84% and 90% for stations MIZU, USUD and JA01, respectively. At the moment of this writing, VADASE is subject of a pending patent of University of Rome “La Sapienza” ever since June 2010. In October 2010 VADASE was recognized as a simple and effective approach towards real-time coseismic displacement waveform estimation and it was awarded the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) Special Topic Prize and the First Audience Award in the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2010.Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), like Global Positioning System (GPS), are nowadays very well known. Besides the mass market, GPS plays an important role in several technical and scientific activities. Ever since the early stages of development (mid 1980s), given the high level of accuracy achieved in determining the coordinates of the receiver, it became clear that the extensive deployment of GPS stations all over the world would have improved many tasks in geodesy and geodynamics. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the effective use of GPS in estimating coseismic displacement waveforms induced by an earthquake with accuracies ranging from a few millimeters to a few centimeters (so called GPS seismology). This contribution is particularly relevant as it supports the esti- mation of important seismic parameters (e.g. seismic moment and magnitude Mw ) without the problems of saturation that commonly affect seismometers and accelerometers close to large earthquakes. These studies were developed mainly off-line, analyzing observations acquired during strong earthquakes. Then, well- known processing strategies (single Precise Point Positioning (PPP), and differ- ential positioning) have been developed to reduce as far as possible the latency between earthquake occurrence and coseismic displacement waveforms estima- tion. This work describes a new approach that was originally designed to detect the 3D displacements of a single GPS receiver in real-time and that was eventually ap- pointed as an effective strategy to contribute to GPS seismology. The main goals that guided through the development aimed to obtain the coseismic displacement waveforms in real-time and using a single receiver. In particular, it was pursued to overcome the drawbacks of the two most common strategies used so far in GPS seismology: PPP uses a single receiver, but it requires ancillary products (e.g. informations regarding satellites orbits, clocks; parameters describing the Earth orientation with respect to an external inertial system) currently unavailable in real-time. On the other hand, differential kinematic positioning is based on a complex infrastructure (GPS permanent network), which has to be managed by specialized research centers to obtain high accuracies in real-time. The new approach proposed in this work, named Variometric Approach for Displacement Analysis Stand-alone Engine (VADASE), is based upon a so called variometric algorithm, which is able to use a single receiver to obtain real-time results, with accuracies ranging from few centimeters up to a couple of decimeters. In order to prove the feasibility of the variometric algorithm, a tuned software, which was appointed with the same name (i.e. VADASE), was implemented. Ex- ploiting this software to process a large amount of both simulated and real data, the main advantages of VADASE, as well as its limitations, were investigated in details. At a first stage, VADASE effectiveness was proven on a simulated example. First, a known displacement (1 cm East and North and 2 cm Up) was synthetically introduced into carrier phase observations collected at 1 Hz rate by the M0SE permanent GPS station (Rome, Italy). Then, these data were pro- cessed using the variometric algorithm: the displacements were estimated with an accuracy of 1 ÷ 2 mm in the horizontal and the vertical directions. The solu- tions obtained using the GPS broadcast products available in real-time and the best quality products supplied by International GNSS Service (IGS) a posteriori displayed a global agreement of 1 mm for the horizontal components and 2 mm for the height. Given this fundamental proof of success, and provided that the variometric algorithm was originally conceived to contribute in the field of GPS seismology and tsunami warning systems, VADASE was applied to retrieve the coseismic dis- placements and the waveforms generated by real earthquakes. Here, it is worth underlining that all VADASE results were obtained using exclusively broadcast products that are available in real-time. The most significant outcomes were ob- tained by considering data collected at 1 Hz rate from the IGS station of BREW during the Denali Fault, Alaska earthquake (Mw 7.9, November 3, 2002), at 10 Hz rate from CADO station during the L’Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.3, April 6, 2009), and at 5 Hz rate from some stations included in the University NAVSTAR Consortium (UNAVCO)-Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) network during the Baja, California earthquake (Mw 7.2, April 4, 2010). In all cases, the agreement between VADASE and other solutions achieved by different research groups em- ploying different methodologies was between few centimeters and a couple of decimeters. The real-time potentialities of the variometric approach were internationally recognized during the recent tremendous earthquake in Japan (Mw = 9.0, March 11, 2011), when the GNSS research team of “Sapienza” University of Rome was able to provide the first waveforms results among the scientific community. The results obtained for IGS stations of MIZU, USUD and from EV-network station JA01 were compared with those stemming from the PPP approach implemented in the software developed at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) [62]1. The agreement between VADASE and PPP was evaluated in terms of the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the differences. In addition, it was investigated the agreement reliance with the earthquake duration. The RMSE of the differences between the two solutions ranged from 0.01 ÷ 0.02 m in East and North and 0.06 m in Up, after one minute, to approximately 0.05 m in East and North and (with much larger variability) 0.20 m in Up after four minutes. Further, the agreement between the two approaches evaluated in terms of peak to peak displacements appeared to be independent from the earthquake duration. In de- tails, the differences reached approximately 0.01 m in East and North and 0.03 m in Up components. Finally, the correlation coefficient between the two solutions proved to be higher than 99% for the planimetric components (but for the East component of USUD and the North component of JA01 which showed 97% and 96% correlations, respectively). The vertical component showed slightly lower (and with larger variability) correlations: 65%, 84% and 90% for stations MIZU, USUD and JA01, respectively. At the moment of this writing, VADASE is subject of a pending patent of the “Sapienza” University of Rome ever since June 2010. In October 2010 VADASE was recognized as a simple and effective approach towards real-time coseismic displacement waveform estimation and it was awarded the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) Special Topic Prize and the First Audience Award in the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2010

VADASE: Variometric Approach for Displacement Analysis Stand-alone Engine

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), like Global Positioning System (GPS), are nowadays very well known. Besides the mass market, GPS plays an important role in several technical and scientific activities. Ever since the early stages of development (mid 1980s), given the high level of accuracy achieved in determining the coordinates of the receiver, it became clear that the extensive deployment of GPS stations all over the world would have improved many tasks in geodesy and geodynamics. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the effective use of GPS in estimating coseismic displacement waveforms induced by an earthquake with accuracies ranging from a few millimeters to a few centimeters (so called GPS seismology). This contribution is particularly relevant as it supports the estimation of important seismic parameters (e.g. seismic moment and magnitude Mw) without the problems of saturation that commonly affect seismometers and accelerometers close to large earthquakes. These studies were developed mainly off-line, analyzing observations acquired during strong earthquakes. Then, well-known processing strategies (single Precise Point Positioning (PPP), and differential positioning) have been developed to reduce as far as possible the latency between earthquake occurrence and coseismic displacement waveforms estimation. This work describes a new approach that was originally designed to detect the 3D displacements of a single GPS receiver in real-time and that was eventually appointed as an effective strategy to contribute to GPS seismology. The main goals that guided through the development aimed to obtain the coseismic displacement waveforms in real-time and using a single receiver. In particular, it was pursued to overcome the drawbacks of the two most common strategies used so far in GPS seismology: PPP uses a single receiver, but it requires ancillary products (e.g. information regarding satellites orbits, clocks; parameters describing the Earth orientation with respect to an external inertial system) currently unavailable in real-time. On the other hand, differential kinematic positioning is based on a complex infrastructure (GPS permanent network), which has to be managed by specialized research centers to obtain high accuracies in real-time. The new approach proposed in this work, named Variometric Approach for Displacement Analysis Stand-alone Engine (VADASE), is based upon a so called variometric algorithm, which is able to use a single receiver to obtain real-time results, with accuracies ranging from few centimeters up to a couple of decimeters. In order to prove the feasibility of the variometric algorithm, a tuned software, which was appointed with the same name (i.e. VADASE), was implemented. Exploiting this software to process a large amount of both simulated and real data, the main advantages of VADASE, as well as its limitations, were investigated in details. At a first stage, VADASE effectiveness was proven on a simulated example. First, a known displacement (1 cm East and North and 2 cm Up) was synthetically introduced into carrier phase observations collected at 1 Hz rate by the M0SE permanent GPS station (Rome, Italy). Then, these data were processed using the variometric algorithm: the displacements were estimated with an accuracy of 1-2 mm in the horizontal and the vertical directions. The solutions obtained using the GPS broadcast products available in real-time and the best quality products supplied by IGS a posteriori displayed a global agreement of 1 mm for the horizontal components and 2 mm for the height. Given this fundamental proof of success, and provided that the variometric algorithm was originally conceived to contribute in the field of GPS seismology and tsunami warning systems, VADASE was applied to retrieve the coseismic displacements and the waveforms generated by real earthquakes. Here, it is worth underlining that all VADASE results were obtained using exclusively broadcast products that are available in real-time. The most significant outcomes were obtained by considering data collected at 1 Hz rate from the IGS station of BREW during the Denali Fault, Alaska earthquake (Mw 7.9, November 3, 2002), at 10 Hz rate from CADO station during the L'Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.3, April 6, 2009), and at 5 Hz rate from some stations included in the UNAVCO - PBO network during the Baja, California earthquake (Mw 7.2, April 4, 2010). In all cases, the agreement between VADASE and other solutions achieved by different research groups employing different methodologies was between few centimeters and a couple of decimeters. The real-time potentialities of the variometric approach were internationally recognized during the recent tremendous earthquake in Japan (Mw = 9.0, March 11, 2011), when the GNSS research team of University of Rome "La Sapienza" was able to provide the first waveforms results among the scientific community. The results obtained for IGS stations of MIZU, USUD and from EV-network station JA01 were compared with those stemming from the PPP approach implemented in the software developed at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). This work was made possible thanks to the precious support of Dr. Henton Joe and Dr. Dragert Herb, NRCan, who produced the PPP solutions for the aforementioned stations. The agreement between VADASE and PPP was evaluated in terms of the RMSE of the differences. In addition, it was investigated the agreement reliance with the earthquake duration. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the differences between the two solutions ranged from 0.01-0.02 m in East and North and 0.06 m in Up, after one minute, to approximately 0.05 m in East and North and (with much larger variability) 0.20 m in Up after four minutes. Further, the agreement between the two approaches evaluated in terms of peak to peak displacements appeared to be independent from the earthquake duration. In details, the differences reached approximately 0.01 m in East and North and 0.03 m in Up components. Finally, the correlation coefficient between the two solutions proved to be higher than 99% for the planimetric components (but for the East component of USUD and the North component of JA01 which showed 97% and 96% correlations, respectively). The vertical component showed slightly lower (and with larger variability) correlations: 65%, 84% and 90% for stations MIZU, USUD and JA01, respectively. At the moment of this writing, VADASE is subject of a pending patent of University of Rome “La Sapienza” ever since June 2010. In October 2010 VADASE was recognized as a simple and effective approach towards real-time coseismic displacement waveform estimation and it was awarded the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) Special Topic Prize and the First Audience Award in the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2010

Opticks SAR PlugIn

The Opticks' SAR PlugIn contains the main tools necessary for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery georeferencing, orthorectification and an handy tool to perform 3D stereo measurement for two SAR high resolution satellite sensors: RADARSAT-2 and TerraSAR-X. In particular the PlugIn performs a robust rigorous orientation model, based on the two classical zero-doppler radargrammetric equations, in order to exploiting the full geolocation capabilities for this kind of sensors. The tool undergoes continuous development in order to improve its capability, enrich its functionalities and include further satellite sensors

Outcome, Pain Perception, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients Submitted to Percutaneous Ethanol Injection for Simple Thyroid Cysts

Thyroid cysts are usually benign lesions that when voluminous may induce cosmetic concerns or local discomfort. Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) has been demonstrated to be effective for shrinkage of such cysts. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the efficacy, pain perception, and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients submitted to PEI for pure cystic lesions. We reviewed the data of 101 patients who underwent ≤3 PEI. In the whole group of patients, the volume reduction was 66% after the first, 74.4% after the second, and 79.4% after the third PEI treatment. 55.4% had a cystic volume ≤ 10 ml; 85.7% of cysts ≤ 10 ml were cured by just one PEI. The number of PEI was significantly higher in the >30.0 ml group; this latter group obtained the smallest percent reduction versus baseline after the first PEI when compared with smaller cysts. The sensation of pain reported during PEI was absent in 78.3% of cases, and HRQL significantly improved from pre- to the posttreatment. PEI is a safe and effective technique for pure cystic lesions. In addition, HRQL significantly improves, providing a further support for this procedure