The growing availability of data coming from ship reporting systems, such as Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT), is originating an unprecedented ...set of opportunities to enforce maritime surveillance, ensure the security of the traffic at sea, and manage maritime operations. In this paper, a data-driven methodology is proposed to estimate the vessel times of arrival in port areas. The developed approach exploits both AIS and LRIT historical maritime traffic data collected over a desired area of interest and is based on an optimized data-driven path-finding algorithm. The methodology is applied and validated to real scenarios with real data sets, showing how a list of times of arrival can be automatically computed for predefined ports and progressively refined. Such information is expected to increase port operational efficiency and safety.
The improvement in Maritime Situational Awareness, the capability of understanding events, circumstances, and activities within and impacting the maritime environment, is nowadays of paramount ...importance for safety and security. The integration of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and automatic identification system (AIS) information has the appealing potential to provide a better picture of what is happening at sea by detecting vessels that are not reporting their positioning data or, on the other side, by validating ships detected in satellite imagery. In this letter, we propose a novel architecture that is able to increase the quality of SAR/AIS fusion by exploiting knowledge of historical vessel positioning information. Experimental results are presented, testing the algorithm in the specific area of Dover Strait using real SAR and AIS data.
•An anomaly detection algorithm to identify AIS on-off switching is proposed.•The algorithm exploits the AIS message Received Signal Strength Indicator.•Machine Learning algorithms are used to build ...normality models.•AIS reception is characterized by using real word data.•The methodology is scalable from one station to a network of receivers.
The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a ship reporting system based on messages broadcast by vessels carrying an AIS transponder. The recent increase of terrestrial networks and satellite constellations of receivers is making AIS one of the main sources of information for Maritime Situational Awareness activities. Nevertheless, AIS is subject to reliability and manipulation issues; indeed, the received reports can be unintentionally incorrect, jammed or deliberately spoofed. Moreover, the system can be switched off to cover illicit operations, causing the interruption of AIS reception. This paper addresses the problem of detecting whether a shortage of AIS messages represents an alerting situation or not, by exploiting the Received Signal Strength Indicator available at the AIS Base Stations (BS). In designing such an anomaly detector, the electromagnetic propagation conditions that characterize the channel between ship AIS transponders and BS have to be taken into consideration. The first part of this work is thus focused on the experimental investigation and characterisation of coverage patterns extracted from the real historical AIS data. In addition, the paper proposes an anomaly detection algorithm to identify intentional AIS on-off switching. The presented methodology is then illustrated and assessed on a real-world dataset.
Information and understanding of fishing activities at sea are fundamental components of marine knowledge and maritime situational awareness. Such information is important to fisheries science, ...public authorities and policy-makers. In this paper we introduce a first map at European scale of EU fishing activities extracted using Automatic Identification System ship tracking data. The resulting map is a density of points that identify fishing activities. A measure of the reliability of such information is also presented as a map of coverage reception capabilities.
Consider a standard statistical hypothesis test, leading to a binary decision made by exploiting a certain dataset. Suppose that, later, part of the data is lost, and we want to refine the test by ...exploiting both the surviving data and the previous decision. What is the best one can do? Such a question, here referred to as the unlucky broker problem, can be addressed by very standard tools from detection theory, but the solution gives intriguing insights and is by no means obvious. We provide the general form of the optimal detectors and discuss in depth their modus operandi , ranging from simple likelihood ratio tests to more complex behaviors. Limiting cases, where either the surviving data or the initial decision is almost useless, are also discussed.
Information and understanding of fishing activities at sea are fundamental components of marine knowledge and maritime situational awareness. Such information is important to fisheries science, ...public authorities and policy makers. In this paper we introduce a first map at European scale of EU fishing activities extracted using Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship tracking data. The resulting map is a density of points that identify fishing activities. A measure of the reliability of such information is also presented as a map of coverage reception capabilities.
The elderly may represent a specific cluster of high-risk patients for developing COVID-19 with rapidly progressive clinical deterioration. Indeed, in older individuals, immunosenescence and comorbid ...disorders are more likely to promote viral-induced cytokine storm resulting in life-threatening respiratory failure and multisystemic involvement. Early diagnosis and individualized therapeutic management should be developed for elderly subjects based on personal medical history and polypharmacotherapy. Our review examines the pathogenesis and clinical implications of ageing in COVID-19 patients; finally, we discuss the evidence and controversies in the management in the long-stay residential care homes and aspects of end-of-life care for elderly patients with COVID-19.
•Oncogenic drivers and mechanisms of adaptive immunity are changing the landscape of lung cancer treatment.•Cancers can disrupt cancer cell immune recognition by interfering with immune-check-point ...pathways.•Immune check point molecules PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 are relevant targets for cancer therapy.•Based on clinical trials , anti PD-1 and anti PD-L1 agents have been approved for advanced NSCL.
Cancers have the ability to disrupt immune response by interfering with adaptive immunity. Blocking checkpoint pathways has become a target for pharmacological research in lung cancer with particular focus on peptides PD-1 and CTLA-4.
A number of immune check-point inhibitors (ICIs) targeting both PD-1 and CTLA-4 pathways are under investigation within clinical trials, of which Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab and Atezolizumab have already been approved for lung cancer treatment by both FDA and EMA.
Employed as single-agents in current practice for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) ICIs have exhibited advantages in terms of overall survival and response rate with some responses being durable.
Evaluating combinations of different inhibitors, dosing and sequencing within a multimodal therapy approach, together with better management of toxicity represents a new challenge for future research of therapy targeting immune check-points.
Little is known of the involvement of endocannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors in skeletal muscle cell differentiation. We report that, due to changes in the expression of genes involved in its ...metabolism, the levels of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) are decreased both during myotube formation in vitro from murine C ₂C ₁₂ myoblasts and during mouse muscle growth in vivo. The endocannabinoid, as well as the CB1 agonist arachidonoyl-2-chloroethylamide, prevent myotube formation in a manner antagonized by CB1 knockdown and by CB1 antagonists, which, per se, instead stimulate differentiation. Importantly, 2-AG also inhibits differentiation of primary human satellite cells. Muscle fascicles from CB1 knockout embryos contain more muscle fibers, and postnatal mice show muscle fibers of an increased diameter relative to wild-type littermates. Inhibition of K ᵥ7.4 channel activity, which plays a permissive role in myogenesis and depends on phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), underlies the effects of 2-AG. We find that CB1 stimulation reduces both total and K ᵥ7.4-bound PIP2 levels in C ₂C ₁₂ cells and inhibits K ᵥ7.4 currents in transfected CHO cells. We suggest that 2-AG is an endogenous repressor of myoblast differentiation via CB1-mediated inhibition of K ᵥ7.4 channels.
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