Architettura deposizionale e organizzazione sequenziale dei depositi di riempimento di una paleovalle tardo-quaternaria individuata nel sottosuolo della Pianura di Pisa, attraverso l'analisi di sondaggi a carotaggio continuo e l'utilizzo della banca dati esistente

Una "Incised Valley System" (IVS) è un sistema in cui una profonda incisione della superficie terrestre, formatasi durante una fase di stazionamento basso del livello del mare, viene in seguito riempita, durante la successiva fase di risalita del livello di base, da un insieme complesso di depositi (Van Wagoner et al., 1990; Zaitlin et al., 1994; Allen e Posamentier, 1993; Posamentier, 2001; Dalrymple, 2006; Gibling, 2006). Nel corso del presente studio è stata identificata nella pianura di Pisa, una Valle Incisa (IVS) profonda 35/40 m e ampia 5-7 km formatasi in risposta all'ultima fase di forte caduta eustatica attivatasi durante la transizione tra l'OIS3 e il 2. Tale risultato è stato possibile grazie alla perforazione di 15 nuovi sondaggi a carotaggio continuo, allo studio delle numerose stratigrafie provenienti da enti pubblici/privati, ed al confronto con i precedenti studi condotti nella pianura pisana. Da un punto di vista metodologico il primo passo è stato quello di creare un database integrato in ambiente GIS per una gestione razionale e rapida di tutta questa mole di dati. Successivamente, attraverso l'analisi sedimentologica di dettaglio, associata allo studio micropaleontologico e pollinico condotto dalla DST di Bologna, sono state identificate otto associazioni di facies (canale fluviale, ventaglio di rotta fluviale e di argine, piana inondabile, palude, laguna, bay-head delta, cordone litorale, canale distributore), esaustive di tutti i sondaggi analizzati. Grazie alla collaborazione tra i Dipartimenti di Scienze della Terra di Pisa e di Bologna e alla datazione radiometrica di alcuni campioni è stato possibile realizzare ed interpretare sei sezioni orientate e costruire due fence diagrams in cui le correlazioni tra le varie superfici individuate sono soddisfacentemente costrette un punto di vista cronostratigrafico. L'architettura deposizionale del sottosuolo, al termine dello OIS 2, evidenzia la presenza di una paleovalle profondamente incisa e successivamente riempita da un ciclo trasgressivo, depostosi tra il tardo Pleistocene (11Ka BP) ed il primo Olocene (8 Ka BP), costituito da depositi palustri, lagunari-estuarini e, solo nelle aree distali, marini. I dati acquisiti mostrano che il processo di riempimento della paleovalle non è stato continuo nel tempo ma puntato da tre parasequenze ben individuabili dall'analisi di facies. Terminata la fase di riempimento il progressivo aumento dell'apporto sedimentario ha delineato il sistema deltizio e la piana inondabile dell'Arno nella sua configurazione moderna. Questo tipo di ricostruzione ha delle implicazioni importanti nella ricostruzione della geometria degli acquiferi

Discrete Solution of Differential Equations by P Metabolic Algorithm

The relationships existing between MP graphs, metabolic P systems, and ODE systems are investigated. Formal results show that every MP system, once derived by its MP graph, results in an ODE system whose solution equals, in the limit, the solution obtained by a non-cooperative MP system that is ODE equivalent to the original one. The freedom of choice of the ODE equivalent from the original MP system resembles the same freedom which is left in the choice and optimization of a numerical scheme while computing the solution of an ODE system

Metabolic Algorithm with Time-varying Reaction Maps

A symbolic-based approach to modelling biochemical processes and cellular dynamics is likely to turn useful in computational biology, where attempts to represent the cell as a huge, complex dynamic system must trade with the linguistic nature of the DNA and the individual behavior of the organelles living within. The early version of the metabolic algorithm gave a first answer to the problem of representing oscillatory biological phenomena, so far being treated with traditional (differential) mathematical tools, in terms of rewriting systems. We are now working on a further version of this algorithm, in which the rule application is tuned by reaction maps depending on the specific phenomenon under consideration. Successful simulations of the Brusselator, the Lotka-Volterra population dynamics and the PKC activation foster potential applications of the algorithm in systems biology

Perspective Preserving Solution for Quasi-Orthoscopic Video See-Through HMDs

In non-orthoscopic video see-through (VST) head-mounted displays (HMDs), depth perception through stereopsis is adversely affected by sources of spatial perception errors. Solutions for parallax-free and orthoscopic VST HMDs were considered to ensure proper space perception but at expenses of an increased bulkiness and weight. In this work, we present a hybrid video-optical see-through HMD the geometry of which explicitly violates the rigorous conditions of orthostereoscopy. For properly recovering natural stereo fusion of the scene within the personal space in a region around a predefined distance from the observer, we partially resolve the eye-camera parallax by warping the camera images through a perspective preserving homography that accounts for the geometry of the VST HMD and refers to such distance. For validating our solution; we conducted objective and subjective tests. The goal of the tests was to assess the efficacy of our solution in recovering natural depth perception in the space around said reference distance. The results obtained showed that the quasi-orthoscopic setting of the HMD; together with the perspective preserving image warping; allow the recovering of a correct perception of the relative depths. The perceived distortion of space around the reference plane proved to be not as severe as predicted by the mathematical models

La prima storia per tipi dell’architettura universale. Il “Recueil et parallèle des édifices de tout genre, anciens et modernes” di Jean-Nicholas-Louis Durand (Parigi 1800) e la sua edizione ampliata italiana (Venezia 1833)

“Recueil et parallèle des édifices de tout genre, anciens et modernes”, published in Paris in 1799-1800 by Jean- Nicholas-Louis Durand, at the height of the positivistic climate engendered by the contemporary culture of encyclopedism, plays an important role in architectural historiography. The volume allowed architectural students and architectural enthusiasts alike the first opportunity to study a vast range of architectural design models of all periods and places organised into typological categories, illustrated in highly didactic and homogenous drawings. The immediate success of the “Recueil” was guaranteed by the simultaneous publication (in 1800) of an explanatory text to accompany the illustrative material, written by Jacques Guillaume Legrand in accordance with Durand. More than thirty years later, the Venetian editor Giuseppe Antonelli proposed a re-launch of the “Recueil” intended to meet the contemporaneous historical and critical context of modern Europe, publishing a bilingual Italian-French edition of highly commercially ambitious scope. The Venetian “Raccolta”, which appeared in 1833, united Legrand’s text with Durand’s illustrations, - and importantly included almost double the illustrations- with the addition of antique buildings, and also included modern architectural models, alongside contemporary Italian, French and German architectural design projects. This contribution intends to set Antonelli’s ambitious undertaking into the contemporaneous critical and vivacious academic cultural climate of the Venice of the 1830’s, and also includes a thorough examination of the additional illustrations that were added by the Venetian publisher to the original French canon.Il Recueil et parallèle des édifices de tout genre, anciens et modernes pubblicato a Parigi nel 1799-1800 da Jean-Nicholas-Louis Durand nel pieno clima positivistico della cultura enciclopedica ha un posto molto importante nella storiografia architettonica. Essa infatti offriva per la prima volta a studenti e amatori dell’architettura una vastissima rassegna grafica dell’architettura di tutti i tempi e di tutti i luoghi organizzata per categorie tipologiche e rappresentata con disegni molto esplicativi e omogenei. All’immediato successo del Recueil contribuì l’Essai sur l’histoire générale de l’architecture pubblicato nel 1800 come testo esplicativo da Jacques Guillaume Legrand, in accordo con lo stesso Durand. Trenta anni dopo l’editore veneziano Giuseppe Antonelli si propose di rilanciare l’opera nel nuovo contesto culturale storico-critico europeo, pubblicando una edizione bilingue italiana e francese molto ambiziosa sul piano commerciale. La Raccolta veneziana, uscita nel 1833, univa il testo di Legrand e le immagini di Durand, e soprattutto quasi raddoppiava il numero di queste ultime, con aggiunte di fabbriche antiche, e moderne, oltre a diversi progetti di architetti contemporanei italiani, francesi e tedeschi. Questo contributo intende collocare l’impresa di Antonelli nella prospettiva critica della vivace cultura accademica veneziana degli anni trenta dell’Ottocento, anche attraverso una ampia rassegna delle tavole che ne costituiscono la peculiarità

Evidence of a causal relationship between high serum adiponectin levels and increased cardiovascular mortality rate in patients with type 2 diabetes

Background: Despite its beneficial role on insulin resistance and atherosclerosis, adiponectin has been repeatedly reported as an independent positive predictor of cardiovascular mortality. Methods: A Mendelian randomization approach was used, in order to evaluate whether such counterintuitive association recognizes a cause-effect relationship. To this purpose, single nucleotide polymorphism rs822354 in the ADIPOQ locus which has been previously associated with serum adiponectin at genome-wide level, was used as an instrument variable. Our investigation was carried out in the Gargano Heart Study-prospective design, comprising 356 patients with type 2 diabetes, in whom both total and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin were measured and cardiovascular mortality was recorded (mean follow-up = 5.4 ± 2.5 years; 58 events/1922 person-year). Results: The A allele of rs822354 was associated with both total and HMW adiponectin [β (SE) = 0.10 (0.042), p = 0.014 and 0.17 (0.06), p = 0.003; respectively]. In a Poisson model comprising age, sex, smoking habits, BMI, HbA1c, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin therapy and hypertension, both rs822354 (IRR = 1.94, 95 % CI 1.23-3.07; p = 0.005), as well as the genetic equivalent of total adiponectin change (IRR = 1.07, 95 % CI 1.02-1.12; p = 0.003) were significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality. The observed genetic effect was significantly greater than that exerted by the genetic equivalent change of serum adiponectin (p for IRR heterogeneity = 0.012). In the above-mentioned adjusted model, very similar results were obtained when HMW, rather than total, adiponectin was used as the exposure variable of interest. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the paradoxical association between high serum adiponectin levels and increased cardiovascular mortality rate is based on a cause-effect relationship, thus pointing to an unexpected deleterious role of adiponectin action/metabolism on atherosclerotic processes

Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays With Short Focal Distance: Conditions for Mitigating Parallax-Related Registration Error

Optical see-through (OST) augmented reality head-mounted displays are quickly emerging as a key asset in several application fields but their ability to profitably assist high precision activities in the peripersonal space is still sub-optimal due to the calibration procedure required to properly model the user's viewpoint through the see-through display. In this work, we demonstrate the beneficial impact, on the parallax-related AR misregistration, of the use of optical see-through displays whose optical engines collimate the computer-generated image at a depth close to the fixation point of the user in the peripersonal space. To estimate the projection parameters of the OST display for a generic viewpoint position, our strategy relies on a dedicated parameterization of the virtual rendering camera based on a calibration routine that exploits photogrammetry techniques. We model the registration error due to the viewpoint shift and we validate it on an OST display with short focal distance. The results of the tests demonstrate that with our strategy the parallax-related registration error is submillimetric provided that the scene under observation stays within a suitable view volume that falls in a ±10 cm depth range around the focal plane of the display. This finding will pave the way to the development of new multi-focal models of OST HMDs specifically conceived to aid high-precision manual tasks in the peripersonal space

Analysis of Routine and Integrative Data from Clostridioides difficile Infection Diagnosis and the Consequent Observations

Abstract: Background: Clostridioides difficile Infection (CDI) is an acute disease that needs a fast proper treatment. Unfortunately, the diagnosis, and above all the understanding of the results, remain arduous. Objective: This study analyzed routine and integrative results of all fecal samples from patients over time. Our aim was to understand the dynamics of CDI infection and the meaning of \u201cdifficult to interpret\u201d results, to make physicians better understand the various tools they can use. Methods: We evaluated routine results obtained from 815 diarrheal stools with Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) that detects C. difficile Glutamate Dehydrogenase (GDH) antigen and toxin B. We also reanalyzed a part of samples using integrative tests: a Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for C. difficile toxin B gene (tcdB) and the automated immunoassay VIDAS C. difficile system for GDH and toxins A/B. Results: EIA GDH positivity increased through multiple testing over time, with a P value <0.001, depicting a sort of bacterial growth curve. Eighty-five percent of GDH positive/toxin B negative, i.e., discrepant, samples PCR were tcdB positive, 61.5% of discrepant tcdB positive samples were VIDAS toxins A/B positive, and 44.4% of GDH EIA negative stools were VIDAS GDH positive. Conclusion: The results confirmed the low sensitivity of the EIA system for C. difficile GDH and toxins, questioned the use of the latter for concluding any CDI diagnostic algorithm, and led us to indicate the algorithm beginning with tcdB molecular research, and continuing in positive cases with VIDAS CD GDH method, as the most effective for CDI

Off-Line Camera-Based Calibration for Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays

In recent years, the entry into the market of self contained optical see-through headsets with integrated multi-sensor capabilities has led the way to innovative and technology driven augmented reality applications and has encouraged the adoption of these devices also across highly challenging medical and industrial settings. Despite this, the display calibration process of consumer level systems is still sub-optimal, particularly for those applications that require high accuracy in the spatial alignment between computer generated elements and a real-world scene. State-of-the-art manual and automated calibration procedures designed to estimate all the projection parameters are too complex for real application cases outside laboratory environments. This paper describes an off-line fast calibration procedure that only requires a camera to observe a planar pattern displayed on the see-through display. The camera that replaces the user’s eye must be placed within the eye-motion-box of the see-through display. The method exploits standard camera calibration and computer vision techniques to estimate the projection parameters of the display model for a generic position of the camera. At execution time, the projection parameters can then be refined through a planar homography that encapsulates the shift and scaling effect associated with the estimated relative translation from the old camera position to the current user’s eye position. Compared to classical SPAAM techniques that still rely on the human element and to other camera based calibration procedures, the proposed technique is flexible and easy to replicate in both laboratory environments and real-world settings