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Cross-Modal Knowledge Distillation for Path Loss Prediction in Urban mmWave UAV-assisted Networks
No full textAccurate path loss (PL) prediction is an essential step for the design and deployment of mmWave UAV-assisted communication networks, especially in urban environments. In this work, we propose a voxel-based 3D Convolutional Neural Network (3D-CNN) that directly processes high-resolution 3D models of the urban environment surrounding the ground receiver to predict PL. To further improve prediction accuracy, we introduce a Cross-Modal Knowledge Distillation (CMKD) framework that transfers structural information from a geometrical model to the 3D map–based model. The teacher–student architecture employs output-level and intermediate-layer distillation strategies. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed CMKD frameworks clearly outperform the baseline method, with the intermediate-layer distillation achieving a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of approximately 8 dBm
Submerged coastal systems along the western Sardinian shelf (Mediterranean Sea)
No full textThis paper presents the geophysical mapping of the western Sardinia continental shelf (Mediterranean Sea, Italy). The focus is to highlight the various submerged coastal systems associated with the last eustatic cycle, consisting of beach barriers, submerged depositional terraces, submerged dunes and the current infralittoral prograding wedges. The study was carried out by interpreting MBES data, SSS photomosaics, reflection seismic data and aerial orthophotos, validated by sediment sampling. All data were processed to produce a 1:100,000 scale map showing a wide sector of the western Sardinian shelf and summarising the morphological and sedimentological features. The formation and evolution of the submerged coastal systems have been related to the available models of the last sea-level rise from the LGM to the present day, denoting a pulse pattern at sea-level change mainly triggered by northern hemisphere meltwater pulses. Furthermore, the map shows the general distribution of sediments, marine phanerogam meadows and rocky outcrops
Designed to breathe: synthetic biology applications in plant hypoxia
No full textOver the past years, plant hypoxia research has produced a considerable number of new resources to monitor low oxygen responses in model species, mainly Arabidopsis thaliana. Climate change urges the development of effective genetic strategies aimed at improving plant resilience during flooding events. This need pushes forward the search for optimized tools that can reveal the actual oxygen available to plant cells, in different organs or under various conditions, and elucidate the mechanisms underlying plant hypoxic responses, complementing the existing transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolic analysis methods. Oxygen-responsive reporters, dyes, and nanoprobes are under continuous development, as well as novel synthetic strategies that make precision control of plant hypoxic responses realistic. In this review, we summarize the recent progress made in the definition of tools for oxygen response monitoring in plants, either adapted from bacterial and animal research or peculiar to plants. Moreover, we highlight how adoption of a synthetic biology perspective has enabled the design of novel genetic circuits for the control of oxygen-dependent responses in plants. Finally, we discuss the current limitations and challenges toward the implementation of synbio solutions in the plant low-oxygen biology field
Platonic gods and where to find them. Platonist exegesis in an anonymous ecloga (Stob. I 20, 28)
No full textRecognition of Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies Underlying Interstitial Lung Diseases
No full textInterstitial Lung Disease (ILD) is one of the most common causes of mortality in idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies (IIM). Despite these conditions being commonly associated with proximal weakness, skin rashes and arthritis, ILD can be the first or the sole clinical feature in up to 60% of patients, potentially leading to incorrect diagnosis. The early recognition of an underlying IIM in ILD patients can allow for prompt treatment, which could potentially stabilize or even improve the lung disease, also avoiding the development of other clinical features associated with the condition. The objective of this review is to describe the clinical, serological and radiological features associated with IIM-ILD, mainly focusing on dermatomyositis and antisynthetase syndrome
Impact of Hydrophobic Surfaces on Mass Transfer in Structured Packings
No full textThis study investigates a potential alternative to traditional film flow in structured packings operating at low liquid loads, aiming to improve mass transfer performance by increasing the gas-liquid interfacial area. The potential of small droplet flow, which theoretically offers a significantly higher interfacial area compared to film flow, was investigated. The water affinity of the structured packing surface was modified by applying self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coatings. Contact angles, droplet behavior and coalescence tendencies were investigated on smooth, corrugated and embossed metal sheets to identify the best combination of SAM system and coating process. The mass transfer performance of SAM-coated packings was compared to standard packings by stripping isobutyl acetate with air. These tests showed that the SAM coated packings tested had lower liquid holdup and therefore lower mass transfer efficiency compared to uncoated packings. However, the study provides a valuable methodology and framework for evaluating the performance of other structured packing surface treatments
Retrieving Palaeoecological Information from Historic Fossil Finds: A Taphonomic Cold Case from Orciano Pisano (Central Italy) Reveals a Distinctive Trophic Interaction in the Pliocene Mediterranean Sea
No full textEvidence of trophic interactions between sharks and cetaceans is rather widespread in the fossil record, consisting as it does of tooth marks on bones and rarer teeth or tooth fragments embedded in (or associated with) skeletal remains. Here, we reappraise a partial mysticete (baleen whale) forelimb that was collected more than a century ago from Pliocene deposits exposed at the celebrated fossil locality of Orciano Pisano (Tuscany, central Italy). This specimen, which is revealed to originate from an early juvenile individual, features shark tooth marks on both the humerus and radius. Whether these traces are due to active predation or to scavenging cannot be ascertained. During the Pliocene, the Mediterranean Basin was inhabited by a diverse elasmobranch fauna, including a number of mammal-eating forms that no longer inhabit the Mediterranean Sea (e.g., Galeocerdo and some Carcharhinus spp. as well as the extinct Parotodus). Early juvenile mysticetes were also likely more common than today in the Pliocene Mediterranean Sea, which may have contained balaenid and balaenopterid calving grounds, thus providing the Mediterranean mammal-eating sharks with vulnerable, energetically valuable potential prey items. Thus, our results evoke a kind of trophic interaction that was likely common and ecologically relevant in the Pliocene Mediterranean Sea
Wavelet Tree, Part II: Text Indexing
No full textThe Wavelet Tree data structure introduced in Grossi, Gupta, and Vitter [11] is a space-efficient technique for rank and select queries that generalizes from binary symbols to an arbitrary multisymbol alphabet. Over the last two decades, it has become a pivotal tool in modern full-text indexing and data compression because of its properties and capabilities in compressing and indexing data, with many applications to information retrieval, genome analysis, data mining, and web search. In this paper, we survey the fascinating history and impact of Wavelet Trees; no doubt many more developments are yet to come. Our survey borrows some content from the authors' earlier works. This paper is divided into two parts: The first part gives a brief history of Wavelet Trees, including its varieties and practical implementations, which appears in the Festschrift dedicated to Roberto Grossi [4]; the second part (this one) deals with Wavelet Tree-based text indexing and is included in the Festschrift dedicated to Giovanni Manzini
James Moran, Modernists and the Theatre: The Drama of W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf (Methuen Drama,2022)
No full textThe Computation of Poverty Specific Sub-national PPPs for Households by using new estimations of Absolute Poverty Thresholds produced by Istat in 2023
No full textRegional differences in price levels and cost of living have an important impact on the territorial approach to the design and implementation of policies to contrast poverty. Given the regional absolute poverty thresholds produced and published by Istat (Italian National Institute of Statistics) in October 2023, the goal being to evaluate regional differences in prices for the poor, implicit in the thresholds. The long-term goal is to estimate poverty-specific sub-national PPPs. In this paper we present the methodology and the first analysis of the results of the computation of bilateral spatial price indexes for poor households in Italian regions. Methodology and processes can be explored, improved and used in the coming years