Signals and Images in Sea Technologies Moroni, Davide; Salvetti, Ovidio
Journal of marine science and engineering,
01/2021, Letnik:
9, Številka:
1
Journal Article
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Life below water is the 14th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) envisaged by the United Nations and is aimed at conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable ...development ...
Smart cities are demanding solutions for improved traffic efficiency, in order to guarantee optimal access to mobility resources available in urban areas. Intelligent video analytics deployed ...directly on board embedded sensors offers great opportunities to gather highly informative data about traffic and transport, allowing reconstruction of a real-time neat picture of urban mobility patterns. In this paper, we present a visual sensor network in which each node embeds computer vision logics for analyzing in real time urban traffic. The nodes in the network share their perceptions and build a global and comprehensive interpretation of the analyzed scenes in a cooperative and adaptive fashion. This is possible thanks to an especially designed Internet of Things (IoT) compliant middleware which encompasses in-network event composition as well as full support of Machine-2-Machine (M2M) communication mechanism. The potential of the proposed cooperative visual sensor network is shown with two sample applications in urban mobility connected to the estimation of vehicular flows and parking management. Besides providing detailed results of each key component of the proposed solution, the validity of the approach is demonstrated by extensive field tests that proved the suitability of the system in providing a scalable, adaptable and extensible data collection layer for managing and understanding mobility in smart cities.
A machine learning method for classifying lung ultrasound is proposed here to provide a point of care tool for supporting a safe, fast, and accurate diagnosis that can also be useful during a ...pandemic such as SARS-CoV-2. Given the advantages (e.g., safety, speed, portability, cost-effectiveness) provided by the ultrasound technology over other examinations (e.g., X-ray, computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging), our method was validated on the largest public lung ultrasound dataset. Focusing on both accuracy and efficiency, our solution is based on an efficient adaptive ensembling of two EfficientNet-b0 models reaching 100% of accuracy, which, to our knowledge, outperforms the previous state-of-the-art models by at least 5%. The complexity is restrained by adopting specific design choices: ensembling with an adaptive combination layer, ensembling performed on the deep features, and minimal ensemble using two weak models only. In this way, the number of parameters has the same order of magnitude of a single EfficientNet-b0 and the computational cost (FLOPs) is reduced at least by 20%, doubled by parallelization. Moreover, a visual analysis of the saliency maps on sample images of all the classes of the dataset reveals where an inaccurate weak model focuses its attention versus an accurate one.
Background: Over the past ten years, the authors have been designing, developing, and testing pervasive technology to support children with autism (ASD). Methods: In the present study, an integrated ...system based on multimedia and augmented interaction technologies have been tested on young subjects with ASD and dyspraxia in the age range of 6–10 years, in charge for rehabilitation treatments; a team of clinical psychologists has analyzed the results of the experimentation. The ten children involved in the project underwent an initial assessment of praxis skills and motor coordination. Subsequently, the subjects were subdivided into two subgroups: five children participated in the experimentation and five were evaluated as the control group (treatment as usual). Results: The evaluation showed an increased score in the several aspects considered, and particularly those related to motor coordination. An improvement in balancing tests and in hands-movement testing was found. Conclusion: The children involved in the sessions showed greater ability to self-control the movement as well as to select specific motor areas. The methods used seem to be promising to improve emotional and social skills too in a motivating and enjoyable climate. A high level of acceptance by professionals was observed and parents’ feedback was also positive.
Sea shipping routes have become very crowded and this, coupled with an always increasing demand of oil based products, contributes to the increase in maritime traffic density, as a consequence ...pollution risks have increased. Therefore, it is important to have information systems capable of detecting and monitoring environmental endangering situations like oil spills at sea. In this paper, a Marine Information System, acting as an integrated and inter-operable monitoring tool is proposed and discussed. The discussion focuses on a system that is able to integrate different data acquired from various electronic sensors, and that is inter-operable among marine operators and ship traffic authorities. The available data on the system are all geo-referenced, and flows seamlessly through the system, where they are integrated in a consistent and usable manner. An important result of this integration is the capability to produce a collection of proactive services such as Decision Support ones, which can be used to improve the functionalities and facilities concerned in an intervention operation. Through the implementation of these services, we aim to demonstrate how an efficient environmental management system could benefit from being supported by a Marine Information System that can provide the dynamic links between different data, models and actors.
The real-time environmental surveillance of large areas requires the ability to dislocate sensor networks. Generally, the probability of the occurrence of a pollution event depends on the burden of ...possible sources operating in the areas to be monitored. This implies a challenge for devising optimal real-time dislocation of wireless sensor networks. This challenge involves both hardware solutions and algorithms optimizing the displacements of mobile sensor networks in large areas with a vast number of sources of pollutant factors based mainly on diffusion mechanisms. In this paper, we present theoretical and simulated results inherent to a Voronoi partition approach for the optimized dislocation of a set of mobile wireless sensors with circular (radial) sensing power on large areas. The optimal deployment was found to be a variation of the generalized centroidal Voronoi configuration, where the Voronoi configuration is event-driven, and the centroid set of the corresponding generalized Voronoi cells changes as a function of the pollution event. The initial localization of the pollution events is simulated with a Poisson distribution. Our results could improve the possibility of reducing the costs for real-time surveillance of large areas, and other environmental monitoring when wireless sensor networks are involved.
Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is significantly influenced by exposure to hypoxia, both hypobaric and normobaric. Alterations in cerebral blood flow can play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of acute ...mountain sickness (AMS) and its symptoms, especially headache, dizziness, and nausea. Acupuncture has been proven to be effective in treating some cerebrovascular disorders and PC6 Nei Guan stimulation seems to enhance cerebral blood flow. Therefore, we have hypothesized that PC6 Nei Guan stimulation could affect CBF in acute hypoxia and could be used to contrast AMS symptoms. We evaluated blood flow in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in normoxia, after 15 min in normobaric hypoxia (fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) 14%, corresponding to 3600 m a.s.l.) in basal conditions, and after PC6 Nei Guan stimulation, both by needle and by pressure. No comparisons with other acupuncture points and sham acupuncture were done. PC6 stimulation seemed to counteract the effects of acute normobaric hypoxia on end-diastolic velocity (EDV) in MCA, especially after acupuncture, and significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A rebalance of CBF could control some AMS symptoms, but further studies are necessary.
Life below water is the 14th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) envisaged by the United Nations and is aimed at conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable ...development. It is not difficult to argue that signals and image technologies may play an essential role in achieving the foreseen targets linked to SDG 14. Besides increasing the general knowledge of ocean health by means of data analysis, methodologies based on signal and image processing can be helpful in environmental monitoring, in protecting and restoring ecosystems, in finding new sensor technologies for green routing and eco-friendly ships, in providing tools for implementing best practices for sustainable fishing, as well as in defining frameworks and intelligent systems for enforcing sea law and making the sea a safer and more secure place. Imaging is also a key element for the exploration of the underwater world for various scopes, ranging from the predictive maintenance of sub-sea pipelines and other infrastructure projects, to the discovery, documentation, and protection of sunken cultural heritage. The scope of this Special Issue encompasses investigations into techniques and ICT approaches and, in particular, the study and application of signal- and image-based methods and, in turn, exploration of the advantages of their application in the previously mentioned areas.
Obesity is recognized as a major public health issue, as it is linked to the increased risk of severe pathological conditions. The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the relations between ...adiposity (and biophysical characteristics) and temperature profiles under thermoneutral conditions in normal and overweight females, investigating the potential role of heat production/dissipation alteration in obesity. We used Infrared Thermography (IRT) to evaluate the thermogenic response to a metabolic stimulus performed with an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Thermographic images of the right hand and of the central abdomen (regions of interests) were obtained basally and during the oral glucose tolerance test (3 h OGTT with the ingestion of 75 g of oral glucose) in normal and overweight females. Regional temperature vs BMI, % of body fat and abdominal skinfold were statistically compared between two groups. The study showed that mean abdominal temperature was significantly greater in lean than overweight participants (34.11 ± 0.70 °C compared with 32.92 ± 1.24 °C,
< 0.05). Mean hand temperature was significantly greater in overweight than lean subjects (31.87 ± 3.06 °C compared with 28.22 ± 3.11 °C,
< 0.05). We observed differences in temperature profiles during OGTT between lean and overweight subjects: The overweight individuals depict a flat response as compared to the physiological rise observed in lean individuals. This observed difference in thermal pattern suggests an energy rate imbalance towards nutrients storage of the overweight subjects.
As new as very promising technique, breath analysis allows for monitoring the biochemical processes that occur in human body in a non-invasive way. Nevertheless, the high costs for standard ...analytical instrumentation (i.e., gas chromatograph, mass spectrometer), the need for specialized personnel able to read the results and the lack of protocols to collect breath samples, set limit to the exploitation of breath analysis in clinical practice. Here, we describe the development of a device, named Wize Sniffer, which is portable and entirely based on low cost technology: it uses an array of commercial, semiconductor gas sensors and a widely employed open source controller, an Arduino Mega2560 with Ethernet module. In addition, it is very easy-to-use also for nonspecialized personnel and able to analyze in real time the composition of the breath. The Wize Sniffer is composed of three modules: signal measurement module, signal conditioning module and signal processing module. The idea was born in the framework of European SEMEiotic Oriented Technology for Individual's CardiOmetabolic risk self-assessmeNt and Self-monitoring (SEMEOTICONS) Project, in order to monitor individual's lifestyle by detecting in the breath those molecules related to the noxious habits for cardio-metabolic risk (alcohol intake, smoking, wrong diet). Nonetheless, the modular configuration of the device allows for changing the sensors according to the molecules to be detected, thus fully exploiting the potential of breath analysis.
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