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From Sensor Data to User Services in GiraffPlus
No full textAbstract This paper presents an ongoing effort to create added value complete services for end users on top of an AAL continuous data gathering environment. It presents the general architecture proposed by the GIRAFFPLUS project for long term monitoring of older users at home. The paper also describes the main choices concerning the middleware (UNIVERSAAL compliant), the long-term data storage, and a user-oriented component, called DVPIS, dedicated to interaction with different users of the AAL environment. The interaction services pave the way for creating a complete approach for differentiated users
Il diritto al gioco. La convenzione sui diritti del fanciullo e il protagonismo dei ragazzi
No full textThis article shows the importance of the game and autonomous mobility on cognitive, social and emotional development of the child.Questo articolo mostra l\u27importanza del gioco e della mobilit? autonoma sullo sviluppo cognitivo, sociale ed emotivo del bambino
Learning and selecting actions: a computational model of the basal-ganglia cortical dynamic interplay
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Extrastriatal binding of [123I]FP-CIT in thalamus and pons: gender and age dependencies assessed in a European multicentre database of healthy controls
Get PDFApart from binding to the dopamine transporter (DAT), [123I]FP-CITshows moderate affinity for the serotonin transporter (SERT), allowing imaging of both monoamine transporters in a single imaging session in different brain areas. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate extrastriatal binding (predominantly due to SERT) and its age and gender dependencies in a large cohort of healthy controls. Methods SPECT data from 103 healthy controls with welldefined criteria of normality acquired at 13 different imaging centres were analysed for extrastriatal binding using volumes of interest analysis for the thalamus and the pons. Data were examined for gender and age effects as well as for potential influence of striatal DAT radiotracer binding. Results Thalamic binding was significantly higher than pons binding. Partial correlations showed an influence of putaminal DAT binding on measured binding in the thalamus but not on the pons. Data showed high interindividual variation in extrastriatal binding. Significant gender effects with 31 % higher binding in women than in men were observed in the thalamus, but not in the pons. An age dependency with a decline per decade (?standard error) of 8.2?1.3 % for the thalamus and 6.8?2.9 % for the pons was shown. Conclusion The potential to evaluate extrastriatal predominant SERT binding in addition to the striatal DAT in a single imaging session was shown using a large database of [123I]FPCIT scans in healthy controls. For both the thalamus and the pons, an age-related decline in radiotracer binding was observed. Gender effects were demonstrated for binding in the thalamus only. As a potential clinical application, the data could be used as a reference to estimate SERT occupancy in addition to nigrostriatal integrity when using [123I]FP-CIT for DAT imaging in patients treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
Modular and hierarchical brain organization to understand assimilation, accommodation and their relation to autism in reaching tasks: a developmental robotics hypothesis
Get PDFBy "assimilation" the child embodies the sensorimotor experience into already built mental structures. Conversely, by "accommodation" these structures are changed according to the child\u27s new experiences. Despite the intuitive power of these concepts to trace the course of sensorimotor development, they have gradually lost ground in psychology. This likely for a lack of brain related views capturing the dynamic mechanisms underlying them. Here we propose that brain modular and hierarchical organization is crucial to understanding assimilation/accommodation. We devised an experiment where a bio-inspired modular and hierarchical mixture-of-experts model guides a simulated robot to learn by trial-and-error different reaching tasks. The model gives a novel interpretation of assimilation/accommodation based on the functional organization of the experts allocated through learning. Assimilation occurs when the model adapts a copy of the expert trained for solving a task to face another task requiring similar sensorimotor mappings. Experts storing similar sensorimotor mappings belong to the same functional module. Accommodation occurs when the model uses non-trained experts to face tasks requiring different sensorimotor mappings (generating a new functional group of experts). The model provides a new theoretical framework to investigate impairments in assimilation/accommodation the autistic syndrome
LE STAMPANTI 3D - UNA RISORSA PER LA NAUTICA
Get PDFToday with 3D printing is possible to build a real three-dimensional object by addition of material stacked in layers. In this way already today are produced small objects also in current use. But you can use this technology in Yachting?Oggi con la cosiddetta stampa 3D ? possibile riprodurre un oggetto reale tridimensionale per addizione di materiale su strati sovrapposti. In questo modo gi? oggi vengono prodotti piccoli oggetti anche di uso corrente. Ma ? possibile un utilizzo di questa tecnologia nella nautica
Water Framework Directive Intercalibration Technical Report. Lake Phytobenthos ecological assessment methods
No full textThe European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the national classifications of good ecological status to be harmonised through an intercalibration exercise. In this exercise, significant differences in status classification among Member States are harmonized by comparing and, if necessary, adjusting the good status boundaries of the national assessment methods. Intercalibration is performed for rivers, lakes, coastal and transitional waters, focusing on selected types of water bodies (intercalibration types), anthropogenic pressures and Biological Quality Elements. Intercalibration exercises were carried out in Geographical Intercalibration Groups - larger geographical units including Member States with similar water body types - and followed the procedure described in the WFD Common Implementation Strategy Guidance document on the intercalibration process (European Commission, 2011). In a first phase, the intercalibration exercise started in 2003 and extended until 2008. The results from this exercise were agreed on by Member States and then published in a Commission Decision, consequently becoming legally binding (EC, 2008). A second intercalibration phase extended from 2009 to 2012, and the results from this exercise were agreed on by Member States and laid down in a new Commission Decision (EC, 2013) repealing the previous decision. Member States should apply the results of the intercalibration exercise to their national classification systems in order to set the boundaries between high and good status and between good and moderate status for all their national types. Annex 1 to this Decision sets out the results of the intercalibration exercise for which intercalibration is successfully achieved, within the limits of what is technically feasible at this point in time. The Technical report on the Water Framework Directive intercalibration describes in detail how the intercalibration exercise has been carried out for the water categories and biological quality elements included in that Annex. The Technical report is organized in volumes according to the water category (rivers, lakes, coastal and transitional waters), Biological Quality Element and Geographical Intercalibration group. This volume addresses the intercalibration of the cross-GIG phytobenthos ecological assessment methods.One of the key actions identified by the Water Framework Directive (WFD; 2000/60/EC) is to develop ecological assessment tools and carry out a European intercalibration (IC) exercise. The aim of the Intercalibration is to ensure that the values assigned by each Member State to the good ecological class boundaries are consistent with the Directive?s generic description of these boundaries and comparable to the boundaries proposed by other MS. In total, 83 lake assessment methods were submitted for the 2nd phase of the WFD intercalibration (2008-2012) and 62 intercalibrated and included in the EC Decision on Intercalibration (EC 2013). The intercalibration was carried out in the 13 Lake Geographical Intercalibration Groups according to the ecoregion and biological quality element. In this report we describe how the intercalibration exercise has been carried out in the cross-GIG Phytobenthos group
Stato ed evoluzione temporale della composizione chimica delle deposizioni atmosferiche nelle aree forestali della rete CONECOFOR
No full textCurrent state and temporal evolution of the chemical composition of atmospheric depositions in forest areas of the CONECOFOR network. Since 1997, atmospheric deposition was sampled and analyzed in the permanent plots of the Italian network for the evaluation of forest health (CONECOFOR), under the coordination of the Italian Forest Service. This paper presents the results of the activity carried out in 2009, when the EU-funded LIFE+ "FutMon" project allowed to extend the sampling network to 22 sites. Long-term trends will also be evaluated for the sampling sites with the longest time series. The sampling of open field bulk deposition was performed in a clearance close to the CONECOFOR permanent plots, while throughfall deposition and stemflow (in beech stand, only) were sampled in the plot. Deposition samples were collected weekly and sent to the laboratories, where they were analyzed for pH, conductivity, major ions, and total carbon and nitrogen. Most measured variables showed a strong geographical gradient. For example, nitrogen deposition was relatively high in the Po plain (where the emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonia are the highest) and surrounding hills, reaching 10-20 kgN ha-1 y-1 in the open field and 13-25 kgN ha-1 y-1 in the throughfall. Sulphate deposition also showed a marked geographical gradient. Deposition of marine aerosol also had an important impact on the chemical composition of atmospheric deposition in Italy, together with the episodic deposition of Saharan dust, which showed a marked gradient, with highest values in the southernmost plots. Trend analysis was carried out on 10 sites running since the beginning of the program. A general negative trend in sulphate concentration was detected, paralleled in most plots by a positive trend in deposition pH, in good agreement with the strong reduction in the emission of sulphur dioxide recorded in the last decades. Nitrogen concentration also showed a significant decrease in some plots. The total deposition of nitrogen exceeded critical loads in seven permanent plots
A new threat to groundwater ecosystems: first occurrences of the invasive crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852) in European caves
Get PDFThe American red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, is today the alien species most widespread in European water bodies. This invasive crayfish was found for the first time in some caves of Europe, specifically in Portugal and Italy. The presence of P. clarkii in caves is noteworthy, representing a new threat for the groundwater ecosystems due to the possible negative impacts on the native communities
Seventy five years of limnology at the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia in Pallanza
Get PDFThe limnological research conducted at the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia over the last 75 years has taken an ecological and interdisciplinary approach, addressing the interdependence of chemical, physical and biological aspects of freshwaters. In this paper we have tried to reconstruct the evolution of this historic Institute\u27s activities, analyzing how theoretical and applied limnology have coexisted as the interests of researchers and funding agencies have changed. Theoretical developments of great ecological interest and effective models for the management of inland waters have emerged from this coexistence. Our aim is to trace the co-development of theoretical and applied limnology through the institute\u27s scientific output and to indicate the future direction of limnological research