143 research outputs found
A Multidimensional Evaluation Approach for the Natural Parks Design
The design of a natural park is generated by the need to protect and organize, for conservation and/or for balanced growth, parts of the territory that are of particular interest for the quality of the natural and historical–cultural heritage. The necessary tool to support the decision-making process in the design of a natural park are the financial and economic evaluations, which intervene in three successive steps: in the definition of protection and enhancement levels of the park areas; in the choice of the interventions to be implemented for the realization of these levels of protection and enhancement; in determining and verifying the economic and financial results obtainable from the project execution. This contribution deals with aspects and issues relating to the economic and financial evaluation of natural park projects. In particular, an application of the “Complex Social Value” to a concrete case of environmental design is developed on the basis of the elements that can be deduced from a feasibility study of a natural park: the levels of protection and enhancement of the homogeneous areas of the natural park are preliminarily defined, and the choice of the design alternative to be implemented is, therefore, rationalized with multicriteria analysis
Scaling of a large-scale simulation of synchronous slow-wave and asynchronous awake-like activity of a cortical model with long-range interconnections
Cortical synapse organization supports a range of dynamic states on multiple
spatial and temporal scales, from synchronous slow wave activity (SWA),
characteristic of deep sleep or anesthesia, to fluctuating, asynchronous
activity during wakefulness (AW). Such dynamic diversity poses a challenge for
producing efficient large-scale simulations that embody realistic metaphors of
short- and long-range synaptic connectivity. In fact, during SWA and AW
different spatial extents of the cortical tissue are active in a given timespan
and at different firing rates, which implies a wide variety of loads of local
computation and communication. A balanced evaluation of simulation performance
and robustness should therefore include tests of a variety of cortical dynamic
states. Here, we demonstrate performance scaling of our proprietary Distributed
and Plastic Spiking Neural Networks (DPSNN) simulation engine in both SWA and
AW for bidimensional grids of neural populations, which reflects the modular
organization of the cortex. We explored networks up to 192x192 modules, each
composed of 1250 integrate-and-fire neurons with spike-frequency adaptation,
and exponentially decaying inter-modular synaptic connectivity with varying
spatial decay constant. For the largest networks the total number of synapses
was over 70 billion. The execution platform included up to 64 dual-socket
nodes, each socket mounting 8 Intel Xeon Haswell processor cores @ 2.40GHz
clock rates. Network initialization time, memory usage, and execution time
showed good scaling performances from 1 to 1024 processes, implemented using
the standard Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol. We achieved simulation
speeds of between 2.3x10^9 and 4.1x10^9 synaptic events per second for both
cortical states in the explored range of inter-modular interconnections.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 4 table
Interpreting Housing Prices with a MultidisciplinaryApproach Based on Nature-Inspired Algorithms and Quantum Computing
Current technology still does not allow the use of quantum computers for broader and individual uses; however, it is possible to simulate some of its potentialities through quantum computing. Quantum computing can be integrated with nature-inspired algorithms to innovatively analyze the dynamics of the real estate market or any other economic phenomenon. With this main aim, this study implements a multidisciplinary approach based on the integration of quantum computing and genetic algorithms to interpret housing prices. Starting from the principles of quantum programming, the work applies genetic algorithms for the marginal price determination of relevant real estate characteristics for a particular segment of Naples’ real estate market. These marginal prices constitute the quantum program inputs to provide, as results, the purchase probabilities corresponding to each real estate characteristic considered. The other main outcomes of this study consist of a comparison of the optimal quantities for each real estate characteristic as determined by the quantum program and the average amounts of the same characteristics but relative to the real estate data sampled, as well as the weights of the same characteristics obtained with the implementation of genetic algorithms. With respect to the current state of the art, this study is among the first regarding the application of quantum computing to interpretation of selling prices in local real estate markets
“GREEN BUILDINGS” E PREMIO DI MERCATO IMMOBILIARE NELLA CITTÀ DI REGGIO CALABRIA (ITALIA)
The construction of new buildings or interventions to improve energy performance can be considered "sustainable" if they meet the requirements which intersect with each other in the economic, social and environmental spheres. The paper has as its main topic detecting and quantifying the market premium attributable to housing properties with high energy performance characteristics. Through a semi-parametric additive model, extended to a wide real estate sample relating to the city of Reggio Calabria, it is demonstrated how the choice of sustainable interventions, oriented to "Green Building" practices, produce significant economic impacts in terms of increased market value of buildings as well as mitigating energy consumption while respecting the historical-architectural peculiarities of urban buildings
Sleep habits and pattern in 1-14 years old children and relationship with video devices use and evening and night child activities
Background: Sleep in childhood and adolescence is crucial for mental and physical health; however several researches reported an increasing trend towards a sleep deprivation in this age. Due to the lack of recent epidemiological studies in Italy, the aim of our study was to depict sleep habits and patterns in Italian children aged 1-14 years and to evaluate their relationships with video devices use (TV, tablet, smartphone, PC) and evening/night child activities. Methods: A structured interview was conducted during 2015 by 72 Family Pediatricians in 2030 healthy children aged 1-14 years by a cross-sectional survey named "Ci piace sognare". Total sleep duration was calculated, 2015 National Sleep Foundation Recommendations were used as reference. Optimal sleepers were defined children sleeping in own bed all night without awakenings. Multivariable median regression was performed to identify predictors of sleep duration and multivariable logistic regression for predictors of optimal sleep. Results: Total sleep duration and numbers of awakenings decreased with age. Only 66.9% of children had sleep duration in agreement with Recommendations (50% in 10-14 years group). Before sleeping 63.5% of children used video devices (39.6% at 1-3 years), 39.1% read, 27.5% drank and 19.5% ate. Bottle users at bedtime were 30.8% at 1-3 years, 16.6% at 3-5 years and 4.9% at 5-7 years. Overall, 23.4% of children changed sleeping place during the night, 22.4% referred sleeping problems in the first year of life. Video devices use was negative predictor of sleep duration (-0.25 h [95% CI:-0.35,-0.14], p < 0.001). Optimal sleep was inversely related with bedroom TV (OR 0.63 [0.50,0.79], p < 0.001), with sleeping disorders in the first year (OR 0.62 [0.48,0.80], p < 0.001)), with bottle use (OR 0.64 [0.44,0.94], p < 0.05) and posivively related with high mother's education level (OR 1.44 [1.11,1.88], p < 0.01). Conclusions: About one third of 1 to 14 year Italian children sleep less than recommended, one half in teenage. Modifiable risk factors for sleep abnormalities such as video devices use, bedroom TV and bottle use should be target of preventive strategies for a correct sleep. Pediatricians should give priority to the identification of sleep disorders early in life
Comparison of the clinical usefulness of different urinary tests for the initial detection of bladder cancer: a systematic review
Objectives: The standard initial approach in patients with hematuria or other symptoms suggestive of bladder cancer (BC) is a combination of cystoscopy and urine cytology (UC); however, UC has low sensitivity particularly in low-grade tumors. The aim of the present review was to critically analyze and compare results in the literature of promising molecular urinary tests for the initial diagnosis of BC. Methods: We searched in the Medline and Cochrane Library databases for literature from January 2009 to January 2019, following the PRISMAguidelines. Results: In terms of sensitivity, ImmunoCyt showed the highest mean and median value, higher than UC. All tests analyses showed higher mean and median sensitivity when compared with UC. In terms of specificity, only UroVysion and Microsatellite analyses showed mean and median values similar to those of UC, whereas for all other tests, the specificity was lower than UC. It is evident that the sensitivity of UC is particularly low in low grade BC. Urinary tests mainly had improved sensitivity when compared to UC, and ImmunoCyt and UroVysion had the highest improvement in low grade tumors. Conclusions: Most of the proposed molecular markers were able to improve the sensitivity with similar or lower specificity when compared to UC. However, variability of results among the different studies was strong. Thus, as of now, none of these markers presented evidences so as to be accepted by international guidelines for diagnosis of BC
Adding systematic biopsy to magnetic resonance ultrasound fusion targeted biopsy of the prostate in men with previous negative biopsy or enrolled in active surveillance programs
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) targeted biopsy (TBx) of the prostate demonstrated to improve detection rate (DR) of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) in biopsy-naive patients achieving strong level of evidence. Nevertheless, the csPCa yield for TBx alone versus TBx plus systematic biopsy (SBx) after accounting for overlapping of SBx cores with TBx cores, in prior-negative or active surveillance (AS) patients has not been well established.The objective of the study was to investigate benefits in terms of detection rate and pathological stratification of prostate cancer (PCa) using contextual SBx during MRI-TBx.Patients previously submitted to negative-SBx (cohort A) and those enrolled in an AS program (cohort B) who showed at least 1 suspicious area with a PIRADSv2 score ≥ 3 were prospectively and randomly assigned to only TBx strategy versus TBx plus SBx strategy. SBx locations could not encompass the TBx sites, so that the results of each type of biopsy were independent and did not overlap.A total of 312 patients were included in the 2 cohorts (cohort A: 213 cases; cohort B: 99 cases). No significant differences were found in terms of overall PCa-DR (77.6% vs 69.6% respectively; P = .36) and csPCa-DR (48.2% vs 60.9 respectively; P = .12). The MRI-TBx alone cohort showed higher csPCa/PCa ratio (87.5% vs 62.2%; P = .03). The MRI-TBx plus SBx group subanalysis showed significantly higher csPCa-DR obtained at the MRI-TBx cores when compared with the SBx cores (43.7% vs 24.1%, respectively; P = .01). Independently to age, prostatic-specific antigen and prostate imaging-reporting and data system score, either in rebiopsy (OR 0.43, 0.21-0.97) or AS (OR 0.46, 0.32-0.89) setting, SBx cores were negatively associated with the csPCa-DR when combined to TBx cores.MRI-TBx should be considered the elective method to perform prostate biopsy in patients with previous negative SBx and those considered for an AS program. Adding SBx samples to MRI-TBx did not improve detection rate of csPCa
Scaling of a large-scale simulation of synchronous slow-wave and asynchronous awake-like activity of a cortical model with long-range interconnections
Cortical synapse organization supports a range of dynamic states on multiple
spatial and temporal scales, from synchronous slow wave activity (SWA),
characteristic of deep sleep or anesthesia, to fluctuating, asynchronous
activity during wakefulness (AW). Such dynamic diversity poses a challenge for
producing efficient large-scale simulations that embody realistic metaphors of
short- and long-range synaptic connectivity. In fact, during SWA and AW
different spatial extents of the cortical tissue are active in a given timespan
and at different firing rates, which implies a wide variety of loads of local
computation and communication. A balanced evaluation of simulation performance
and robustness should therefore include tests of a variety of cortical dynamic
states. Here, we demonstrate performance scaling of our proprietary Distributed
and Plastic Spiking Neural Networks (DPSNN) simulation engine in both SWA and
AW for bidimensional grids of neural populations, which reflects the modular
organization of the cortex. We explored networks up to 192x192 modules, each
composed of 1250 integrate-and-fire neurons with spike-frequency adaptation,
and exponentially decaying inter-modular synaptic connectivity with varying
spatial decay constant. For the largest networks the total number of synapses
was over 70 billion. The execution platform included up to 64 dual-socket
nodes, each socket mounting 8 Intel Xeon Haswell processor cores @ 2.40GHz
clock rates. Network initialization time, memory usage, and execution time
showed good scaling performances from 1 to 1024 processes, implemented using
the standard Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol. We achieved simulation
speeds of between 2.3x10^9 and 4.1x10^9 synaptic events per second for both
cortical states in the explored range of inter-modular interconnections.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 4 table
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