Hydraulic zonation of the lagoons of Marano and Grado, Italy. A modelling approach

The hydraulic regime-based zonation scheme of the Lagoons of Marano and Grado (Italy) has been derived by means of numerical models. A finite element modelling system has been used to describe the water circulation taking in account different forces such as tide, wind and rivers. The model has been validated by comparing the simulation results against measured water levels, salinity and water temperature data collected in several stations inside the lagoons. The analysis of water circulation, salinity and spatial distribution of passive tracers released at the inlets, led to a physically-based division of the lagoons system into six subbasins. The derived classification scheme is of crucial value for understanding the renewal capacity and pollutants distribution patterns in the lagoon

Analysis of snow-cover patterns in a high alpine catchment

LAUREA MAGISTRALELa distribuzione spaziotemporale della copertura nevosa ha un impatto su molti processi a diverse scale, dal bilancio energetico della Terra, al ciclo idrologico, alle funzioni degli ecosistemi; il suo studio è quindi fondamentale per comprendere le implicazioni che ha su molti aspetti della vita umana. Sebbene sia noto che i pattern di copertura nevosa siano principalmente influenzati dalla topografia e dal vento, sono ancora complessi da descrivere. Inoltre, è difficile ottenere misure sistematiche delle loro caratteristiche direttamente sul campo, poiché molte regioni caratterizzate dalla neve stagionale sono di difficile accesso. Tuttavia, le tecniche di telerilevamento consentono di studiare i pattern di copertura nevosa anche su terreni complessi. In questo studio, valutiamo l'efficacia di diversi indici morfologici nel descrivere quantitativamente le mappe di copertura nevosa derivate da Sentinel-2 nel bacino idrografico di alta montagna Zugspitze. Gli indici utilizzati in questo studio sono i tre numeri di Minkowsky, che rappresentano l'area, il perimetro e la caratteristica di Eulero, e il valore medio della chord length distribution, dei pattern di copertura nevosa. A conoscenza degli autori, queste misure non sono mai state applicate prima nel campo del monitoraggio della neve. L'obiettivo di questo studio è valutare se possono fornire informazioni utili per una migliore comprensione dei processi che controllano la distribuzione del manto nevoso, con lo scopo di aiutare in una fase successiva a migliorarne la modellizzazione. In questo contesto, indaghiamo come questi indici siano influenzati da caratteristiche topografiche (es. esposizione, pendenza) e variabili meteorologiche, e come siano correlati a variabili legate alla neve (es. Snow Water Equivalent, spessore del manto nevoso). Le caratteristiche topografiche e le variabili meteorologiche, che maggiormente influenzano la deposizione, la ridistribuzione e lo scioglimento della neve, saranno mostrate attraverso l'analisi degli indici di correlazione e, come previsto, la correlazione tra le caratteristiche dei pattern di neve e lo Snow Water Equivalent e l'altezza della neve è elevata. In generale, questo studio dimostra che gli indici di Minkowsky e il valore medio della chord length distribution forniscono informazioni utili sulla dinamica dei pattern di copertura nevosa, sebbene siano necessarie ulteriori indagini per valutare se tali descrittori possono essere potenzialmente utilizzati per migliorare l'accuratezza della comprensione e la modellazione dei processi legati alla neve.The spatiotemporal distribution and occurrence of snow cover has a large impact on many processes at different scales, from the energy balance of the Earth, to the hydrological cycle of water bodies, to the ecosystems’ functions; its study is therefore fundamental to understand the implications that it has on many aspects of the human life. Although it is known that the occurrence of snow cover patterns is mainly driven by topography and wind, they are still complex to describe. Moreover, it is difficult to obtain systematic measures of their features directly in the field, as many regions influenced by seasonal snow are difficult to access. However, remote sensing techniques allows studying snow cover patterns also in complex terrain and testing new approaches to describe such patterns. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of different morphological indexes in quantitatively describing Sentinel-2 derived snow cover maps of the high-alpine catchment Zugspitze. The indexes used in this study are the three Minkowsky measures, representing area, perimeter and Euler characteristic, and the average value of the chord length distribution, of snow cover patterns. To the authors knowledge, these measures have never been applied in the field of snow monitoring before. The goal of this study is to evaluate if they can provide useful information to a better understanding of processes which control snow cover distribution, which could help in a later step to improve modelling. In this context, we investigate how these indexes are affected by topographic features (e.g., aspect, slope) and meteorological variables, and how they are correlated to snow-related variables (e.g. Snow Water Equivalent, snow depth). The topographic features and the meteorological variables, which most affect snow deposition, redistribution and melting, will be shown through the analysis of correlation indexes, and, as expected, the correlation between snow pattern features and Snow Water Equivalent and snow depth was high. In general, this study demonstrates that Minkowsky indexes and the average chord length retrieve useful information on the dynamic of snow cover pattern occurrence, although further investigations are needed to evaluate if such pattern descriptors can potentially be used to improve the accuracy of the understanding and the modelling of snow-related processes

Advancing NSCLC treatment with a machine learning-enabled EDC platform: design and implementation

LAUREA MAGISTRALEIl Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) è una malattia estremamente eterogenea, con variabilità inter-paziente che rende difficile la selezione di un trattamento adatto ad ogni paziente. L’immunoterapia costituisce una nuova opzione terapeutica per i pazienti con NSCLC, ma la risposta ai farmaci immunoterapici varia in modo significativo. Di con- seguenza, la ricerca di biomarcatori predittivi per l’immunoterapia è diventata una pri- orità assoluta per migliorare l’efficacia del trattamento. Il progetto I3LUNG, finanziato dall’Unione europea, cerca nuovi biomarker basati su tecniche di machine learning per prevedere l’efficacia dell’immunoterapia nei pazienti con NSCLC. Questa tesi si focalizza sulla progettazione e l’implementazione di una piattaforma di rac- colta dati elettronica (EDC) per la raccolta di dati clinici da sei diversi centri oncologici coinvolti nel progetto. La piattaforma è stata progettata per essere user-friendly, sicura e scalabile al fine di supportare la raccolta di grandi volumi di dati clinici. Inoltre, la pi- attaforma è stata progettata per consentire l’aggiunta di più strumenti, come una pipeline di machine learning e altri strumenti che supporteranno medici, ricercatori e pazienti. La piattaforma EDC è stata implementata con successo, consentendo la raccolta di dati clinici da sei diversi centri oncologici. I dati raccolti verranno utilizzati per addestrare algoritmi di machine learning al fine di identificare nuovi biomarker per l’immunoterapia nel NSCLC. In sintesi, questa tesi descrive la progettazione e l’implementazione di una piattaforma EDC per la raccolta di dati clinici per il progetto I3LUNG. Le informazioni raccolte verranno utilizzate per comprendere meglio il NSCLC e per guidare lo sviluppo di nuovi biomarker per l’immunoterapia, con l’obiettivo di migliorare l’efficacia del trattamento per i pazienti affetti da NSCLC.Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is an extremely heterogeneous disease, with inter- patient variability that makes the selection of a proper treatment difficult for physicians. Immunotherapy has emerged as a new treatment option for patients with NSCLC, but the patient response to immunotherapy drugs varies significantly. As a result, the search for predictive biomarkers for immunotherapy has become a top priority to improve treatment efficacy. The European Union-funded I3LUNG project searches for new machine learning- based biomarkers to predict the efficacy of immunotherapy in patients with NSCLC. This thesis focuses on designing and implementing an electronic data capture platform (EDC) for collecting clinical data from six cancer centers involved in the project. The platform was designed to be user-friendly, secure, and scalable to support the collection of large volumes of clinical data. Additionally, the platform was designed to allow the addition of more tools, such as a machine learning pipeline and other instruments that will support clinicians, researchers, and patients. The EDC platform was successfully implemented, enabling the collection of clinical data from six different cancer centers. The collected data will be used to train machine learning algorithms to identify new biomarkers for immunotherapy in NSCLC. In summary, this thesis describes the design and implementation of a platform for clinical data collection and processing for the I3LUNG project. The information gathered will be used to better understand NSCLC and to guide the development of new biomarkers for immunotherapy, with the aim of improving treatment efficacy for patients with NSCLC

Reason in Kant and Hegel

In this paper I want to compare and contrast Kant and Hegel on reason. While both emphasize the close connection between reason and its ends, motivations and needs, and denounce a futile understanding of reason as a formal, instrumental, or simply logical reasoning, they diverge on how to interpret reason’s restlessness, teleology and life. After a section illustrating some uncritical assumptions widespread among readings of Kant, I move to a treatment of their respective views on reason’s self-realization (the relation between thought and the I, concepts and intuitions, faith and history), and conclude by showing the main differences in their respective understandings of method, dialectic, limit and ideas

Reply to Serena Feloj on The Powers of pure Reason

reply to a critic's commentary on my book on Kan

Hegel and Husserl on the Emergence of the I out of Subjectivity

Modern philosophy tends to conflate subjectivity and ego (I-think, cogito, and alike). One lesson we can draw from Hegel is that the I emerges out of a natural and habitual state in the form of a return to itself through an opposition between self and world. In turn, Husserl has an interesting take on the anonymity of an ego-less subjectivity submerged in an affective and initially passive life out of which an ego-pole first constitutes itself. In both, a latent, functioning subjectivity which forms an unconscious ground is to be kept distinct from the several activities of a wakeful and self-conscious mind. I wish to compare and contrast Hegel and Husserl on this theme. The primary texts for my examination will be Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit and the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit in the Encyclopaedia, and Husserl’s Ideas I, Ideas II, Cartesian Meditations and Experience and Judgment

Ego-Splitting and the Transcendental Subject. Kant’s Original Insight and Husserl’s Reappraisal

In this paper, I contend that there are at least two essential traits that commonly define being an I: self-identity and self-consciousness. I argue that they bear quite an odd relation to each other in the sense that self-consciousness seems to jeopardize self-identity. My main concern is to elucidate this issue within the range of the transcendental philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Edmund Husserl. In the first section, I shall briefly consider Kant’s own rendition of the problem of the Egosplitting. My reading of the Kantian texts reveals that Kant himself was aware of this phenomenon but eventually deems it an unexplainable fact. The second part of the paper tackles the same problematic from the standpoint of Husserlian phenomenology. What Husserl’s extensive analyses on this topic bring to light is that the phenomenon of the Ego-splitting constitutes the bedrock not only of his thought but also of every philosophy that works within the framework of transcendental thinking

Gait analysis of fixed bearing and mobile bearing total knee prostheses during walking: Do mobile bearings offer functional advantages?

Background - Limited previous findings have detailed biomechanical advantages following implantation with mobile bearing (MB) prostheses after total knee replacement (TKR) surgery during walking. The aim of this study was to compare three dimensional spatiotemporal, kinematic, and kinetic parameters during walking to examine whether MBs offer functional advantages over fixed bearing (FB) designs. Methods - Sixteen patients undergoing primary unilateral TKR surgery were randomised to receive either a FB (n = 8) or MB (n = 8) total knee prosthesis. Eight age and gender matched controls underwent the same protocol on one occasion. A 12 camera Vicon system integrated with four force plates was used. Patients were tested pre-surgery and nine months post-surgery. Results - No significant differences between FB and MB groups were found at any time point in the spatiotemporal parameters. The MB group was found to have a significantly reduced frontal plane knee range of motion (ROM) at pre-surgery than the FB group (FB = 14.92 ± 4.02°; MB = 8.87 ± 4.82°), with the difference not observed post-surgery. No further significant kinematic or kinetic differences were observed between FB and MB groups. Fixed bearing and MB groups both displayed spatiotemporal, kinematic, and kinetic differences when compared to controls. Fixed bearing and MB groups differed from controls in six and five parameters at nine months post-surgery, respectively. Conclusions - No functional advantages were found in knees implanted with MB prostheses during walking, with both groups indicative of similar differences when compared to normal knee biomechanics following prosthesis implantation

A pilot study of myoelectrically controlled FES of upper extremity

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) of upper limbs can be used for the recovery of some hand functions on patients with CNS lesions. This study deals with the control of FES by means of myoelectrical activity detected from voluntarily activated paretic muscles. The specific aim of this paper is to evaluate the accuracy of myoelectrical control in terms of produced force and movement. For this purpose, a specific device called myoelectrical controlled functional electrical stimulator (MeCFES) has been developed and applied to six tetraplegic patients with a spinal cord lesion and one stroke hemiplegic patient. Residual myoelectric signals from the paretic wrist extensor (m. extensor carpi radialis, ECR) have been used to control stimulation of either the wrist extension (i.e., the same muscle) or thumb flexion. A tracking test based on a visual feedback of the produced force or movement compared to a reference target trajectory was used to quantify control accuracy. A comparison was made between the tracking performances of each subject with and without the MeCFES and the learning process for two of the subjects were observed during consecutive sessions. Results showed that the wrist extension was improved in three out of five C5 SCI patients and the thumb flexion was largely increased in one incomplete C3 SCI patient. The hemiplegic patient showed limited thumb control with the MeCFES but indicated the possibility of a carry over effect. It was found that a low residual natural force resulted in a less accurate movement but also with a large increase (up to ten times) of the muscle output. On the contrary, persons with a medium residual force obtained a smaller amplification of muscle force with a higher tracking accurac