1,076 research outputs found
Use of Satellite Radar Bistatic Measurements for Crop Monitoring: A Simulation Study on Corn Fields
No full textThis paper presents a theoretical study of microwave remote sensing of vegetated surfaces. The purpose of this study is to find out if satellite bistatic radar systems can provide a performance, in terms of sensitivity to vegetation geophysical parameters, equal to or greater than the performance of monostatic systems. Up to now, no suitable bistatic data collected over land surfaces are available from satellite, so that the electromagnetic model developed at Tor Vergata University has been used to perform simulations of the scattering coefficient of corn, over a wide range of observation angles at L- and C-band. According to the electromagnetic model, the most promising configuration is the one which measures the VV or HH bistatic scattering coefficient on the plane that lies at the azimuth angle orthogonal with respect to the incidence plane. At this scattering angle, the soil contribution is minimized, and the effects of vegetation growth are highlighted
Energy management system optimization based on an LSTM deep learning model using vehicle speed prediction
No full textThe energy management of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is a global optimization problem, and its optimal solution inevitably entails knowing the entire mission profile. The exploitation of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) connectivity can pave the way for reliable short-term vehicle speed predictions. As a result, the capabilities of conventional energy management strategies can be enhanced by integrating the predicted vehicle speed into the powertrain control strategy. Therefore, in this paper, an innovative Adaptation algorithm uses the predicted speed profile for an Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (A-V2X-ECMS). Driving pattern identification is employed to adapt the equivalence factor of the ECMS when a change in the driving patterns occurs, or when the State of Charge (SoC) experiences a high deviation from the target value. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on several energetic indices to select the ones that predominate in characterizing the different driving patterns. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) deep neural networks were trained to choose the optimal value of the equivalence factor for a specific sequence of data (i.e., speed, acceleration, power, and initial SoC). The potentialities of the innovative A-V2X-ECMS were assessed, through numerical simulation, on a diesel Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) available on the European market. A virtual test rig of the investigated vehicle was built in the GT-SUITE software environment and validated against a wide database of experimental data. The simulations proved that the proposed approach achieves results much closer to optimal than the conventional energy management strategies taken as a reference
Defining a trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution of a geosynchronous SAR Mission for soil moisture monitoring
No full textThe next generation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems could foresee satellite missions based on a geosynchronous orbit (GEO SAR). These systems are able to provide radar images with an unprecedented combination of spatial (≥1 km) and temporal (≥12 h) resolutions. This paper investigates the GEO SAR potentialities for soil moisture (SM) mapping finalized to hydrological applications, and defines the best compromise, in terms of image spatio-temporal resolution, for SM monitoring. A synthetic soil moisture-data assimilation (SM-DA) experiment was thus set up to evaluate the impact of the hydrological assimilation of different GEO SAR-like SM products, characterized by diverse spatio-temporal resolutions. The experiment was also designed to understand if GEO SAR-like SM maps could provide an added value with respect to SM products retrieved from SAR images acquired from satellites flying on a quasi-polar orbit, like Sentinel-1 (POLAR SAR). Findings showed that GEO SAR systems provide a valuable contribution for hydrological applications, especially if the possibility to generate many sub-daily observations is sacrificed in favor of higher spatial resolution. In the experiment, it was found that the assimilation of two GEO SAR-like observations a day, with a spatial resolution of 100 m, maximized the performances of the hydrological predictions, for both streamflow and SM state forecasts. Such improvements of the model performances were found to be 45% higher than the ones obtained by assimilating POLAR SAR-like SM maps
Monitoring the fermentation process in honey and the evaluationof chemical, microbiological and sensory parameters
No full textIn questo lavoro, conclusione di lavori precedentieseguiti su diverse tipologie di mieli monoflora,sono stati riportati i risultati di una sperimentazionecondotta su 7 tipologie di miele. I campioni,messi nelle condizioni ideali per l’innesco dellafermentazione, monitorati per circa un anno, sonostati processati per isolare e identificare i lievitipresenti; valutare temporalmente l’andamento dellivello di etanolo presente nei campioni fermentatie confrontarlo con i risultati ottenuti da un paneldi assaggio incaricato di valutare l’inizio percettivodella fermentazione. L’esito delle ricerche ha messoin evidenza la presenza di Zygosaccharomyces melliscome tipologia di lievito presente e come la sogliapercettiva di etanolo sia da ascriversi intorno ai 100mg/kg per le tipologie di mieli utilizzate in questaricerca.SUMMARYThis work reports the research on 7 monoflora honeys:lime (Tilia spp. L.); clover (Trifolium spp. L.); thyme(Thymus capitatus Hofmgg. et Lk.); thistle (Galactitestormentosa Moench); rhododendron (Rhododendronspp.); tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima Swingle) treeheather (Erica arborea L.). Honey water was addedat 19%, and the honeys were stored at 30°C untilfermentation. All clover and rhododendron honeyhad fermentation. One of each of the lime honeys,Ailanthus and tree heather did not ferment. Only oneof the thyme and thistle honeys fermented. Ethanoldetermined by enzymatic kit, correlated with sensorialdata. Fermentation was perceived at 100 mg/kg forlight flavoured honeys and at 150 mg/kg for moreflavoured ones. For the microbiological evaluation,4 ground layers were used for yeast checking andidentified by means of PCR/RFLP. The results havehighlighted the presence of only one species of yeastin all of the fermented samples: Zygosaccharomycesmellis. In accordance with the data obtained so far,a content of 50 mg/kg of ethanol is an indicator thathoney is in the fermentation process
Observing floods from space: experience gained from COSMO-SkyMed observations
No full textThe COSMO-SkyMed mission offers a unique opportunity to obtain all weather radar images characterized by short revisit time, thus being useful for flood evolution mapping. The COSMO-SkyMed system has been activated several times in the last few years in occasion of flood events all over the world in order to provide very high resolution X-band SAR images useful for flood detection purposes. This paper discusses the major outcomes of the experience gained, within the framework of the OPERA Pilot Project funded by the Italian Space Agency, from using COSMO-SkyMed data for the purpose of near real time generation of flood maps. A review of the mechanisms which determine the imprints of the inundation on the radar images and of the fundamental simulation tools able to predict these imprints and help image interpretation is provided. The approach developed to process the data and to generate the flood maps is also summarized. Then, the paper illustrates the experience gained with COSMO-SkyMed by describing and discussing a number of significant examples. These examples demonstrate the potential of the COSMO-SkyMed system and the suitability of the approach developed for generating the final products, but they also highlight some critical aspects that require further investigations to improve the reliability of the flood maps. (C) 2012 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Dopamine partial agonist reverses amphetamine withdrawal in rats
No full textDecreased motivation to work for a natural reward is a sign of amphetamine withdrawal and is thought to be associated with hypofunction of the mesolimbic dopamine system. During withdrawal from repeated amphetamine administration, rats showed reduced responding for a sweet solution in a progressive ratio schedule. Repeated systemic treatment with terguride (0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) twice daily during the first four days of amphetamine withdrawal reversed the decrease in responding for the sweet solution. These results suggest that dopamine partial agonists, possibly due to their agonistic-like actions under these conditions, are a potential therapeutic approach for the acute withdrawal stage of the amphetamine addition cycle. © 2001 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Published by Elsevier Science Inc
Dicronychus sabatinellii Platia & Pulvirenti 2020
No full text<i>Dicronychus sabatinellii</i> Platia & Pulvirenti, 2020 <p>(Fig. 11, Map 5)</p> <p> <b>Material examined</b> (HMIM, CPG). Khuzestan province: 1 ex. (HMIM): Karkheh N. P., Shush, N32°04’36.5” E48°14’15.6”, 45 m., 1.III.–10. V.2015, leg. E. Gilasian (Malaise Trap); 3 exs. (HMIM): Karkheh N. P., S Shush, ca. 5 km W Khashan vill., Karkheh ranger station, N32°04’05.1” E48°14’18.8”, 48 m., 26. V.2018, leg. H. Nasserzadeh (L. T.); 1 ex. (HMIM): Dez N. P., ca. 15 km E Haft-Tappeh, Dez ranger station, N32°03’56.6” E48°31’57.1”, 79 m., 24.IV.2018, leg. H. Nasserzadeh & M. Mozhdehi (L. T.); 1ex. (CPG): Ahvaz, 5.IV.2018, G. Sabatinelli, at light.</p> <p> <b>Climate types.</b> Arid, with mild winters and very warm summers.</p> <p> <b>Distribution in Palaearctic Region. Asia:</b> Iran (Khuzestan province) (Platia <i>et al.</i> 2020).</p>Published as part of <i>Nasserzadeh, Hiva, Platia, Giuseppe & Serri, Sayeh, 2023, Click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) of Khuzestan province (Iran): with three new species, Craspedostethus izehensis sp. n., Dicronychus khuzestanicus sp. n. and Gurjevelater catei sp. n., pp. 101-130 in Zootaxa 5346 (2)</i> on page 124, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5346.2.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/8354558">http://zenodo.org/record/8354558</a>
Insar multitemporal data over persistent scatterers to detect floodwater in urban areas: A case study in beletweyne, Somalia
No full textA stack of Sentinel-1 InSAR data in an urban area where flood events recurrently occur, namely Beletweyne town in Somalia, has been analyzed. From this analysis, a novel method to deal with the problem of flood mapping in urban areas has been derived. The approach assumes the availability of a map of persistent scatterers (PSs) inside the urban settlement and is based on the analysis of the temporal trend of the InSAR coherence and the spatial average of the exponential of the InSAR phase in each PS. Both interferometric products are expected to have high and stable values in the PSs; therefore, anomalous decreases may indicate that floodwater is present in an urban area. The stack of Sentinel-1 data has been divided into two subsets. The first one has been used as a calibration set to identify the PSs and determine, for each PS, reference values of the coherence and the spatial average of the exponential of the interferometric phase under standard non-flooded conditions. The other subset has been used for validation purposes. Flood maps produced by UNOSAT, analyzing very-high-resolution optical images of the floods that occurred in Beletweyne in April–May 2018, October–November 2019, and April–May 2020, have been used as reference data. In particular, the map of the April–May 2018 flood has been used for training purposes together with the subset of Sentinel-1 calibration data, whilst the other two maps have been used to validate the products generated by applying the proposed method. The main product is a binary map of flooded PSs that complements the floodwater map of rural/suburban areas produced by applying a well-consolidated algorithm based on intensity data. In addition, a flood severity map that labels the different districts of Beletweyne, as not, partially, or totally flooded has been generated to consolidate the validation. The results have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method
Monitoring flood evolution in vegetated areas using COSMO-SkyMed data: the Tuscany 2009 case study
No full textSynthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems represent a powerful tool to monitor floods because of their all-weather capability, the very high spatial resolution of the new generation of instruments and the short revisit time of the present and future satellite constellations. To exploit these technological advances, an accurate interpretation of the multitemporal radar signature of the flooded areas is required. Mapping flooded vegetation is a task in which the interpretation of SAR data is not straightforward and should rely on the knowledge about the radar scattering phenomena in the volume between canopy, trunks and floodwater. This paper presents a methodology aiming at mapping flooded areas with a focus on flooded vegetation; the algorithm is based on an image segmentation technique and a fuzzy logic classifier. The tuning of the parameters of the fuzzy algorithm, based on the outputs of a theoretical backscattering model, is described in detail. Ancillary data giving accurate information on land cover are also used to set the input parameters of the model. The methodology is tested on a case study regarding a flood occurred in Tuscany (Central Italy) on December 2009 monitored using COSMO-SkyMed data. The multitemporal radar signatures observed during the event are discussed; it is shown that the simulated radar measurements produced by the selected electromagnetic model agree well with actual data and help their interpretation. Furthermore, a qualitative evaluation of the produced flood maps carried out with the aid of a couple of aerial photos indicates that the proposed methodology is reliable
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