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In this paper, an approach for ground-moving target classification with an FMCW radar is proposed. In particular, data are collected using a low-cost 24 GHz off-the-shelf FMCW radar, combined with an embedded Raspberry Pi device for data acquisition and processing. An FFT-based processing scheme is then applied to obtain a sequence of range-Doppler maps, which are provided in input to different convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures for classifying the targets (cars, motorcycles, or pedestrians) eventually passing in front of the radar. Specifically, two approaches have been followed and compared. In the first one, single range-Doppler maps are processed alone using a convolutional neural network, and then a voting mechanism is applied to select the target classes. In the second approach, a sequence of range-Doppler maps is processed using a time-distributed layer feeding a recurrent neural network. The CNNs are deployed on the Raspberry Pi providing the target classification on a low-cost embedded device. The obtained results show that the proposed approaches allow for effectively detecting the different types of targets running on an embedded device in less than one second.

An improved spectral coefficient method based on Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind is employed to solve the vector radiative transfer (VRT) equation under the assumption of parallel-plane atmosphere and Rayleigh scattering. The solver is extended to consider a Lambertian surface at the bottom of the atmosphere (BOA). The computational properties of the proposed algorithm are analyzed, and the validity of the implemented method is tested against a publicly available benchmark dataset.

In the above article [1], several errors were introduced during the production.

This paper re-interprets the new governance of financial markets. Indeed, in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis (2007-2010) the features of risk and uncertainty have presented a new ontological realism, so that the abstract theorisations of Knight and Keynes can be finally superseded. Therefore, a revaluation of uncertainty from a humanist perspective is suggested, taking into account risk and competition as forms of the new economy of financial systems. Treaties are traditionally considered as the  preeminent source of law in public international law, but in financial markets their role has been reduced to instances of ‘macro-regulation’ as opposed to ‘private rules’ that are embedded in self-regulation instruments. Indeed, these latter have paved the way to a specific knowledge of the financial industry. In this light, financial systems are studied as venues through which private forms of self-regulation can effectively substitute a Westphalian model of regulation or alternatively coexist with them in a mixed system of financial regulation.

Recent advances in light field technologies is fostering the research and development of novel imaging applications. Such applications perform processing of the light field information to create new visual effects such as, for example, refocusing, perspective change, colour adjustment. Light field imaging is very data intensive compared with usual digital photographic imaging, and novel compression algorithms are needed for addressing the problem of light field storage and transmission. Raw digital light field images exhibit low spatial correlation if compared to regular images and hence the performance in terms of rate-distortion of current state-of-the-art image encoders can be superseded by devising novel image compression architectures. In this paper, an architecture for lossy compression of unfocused light field images is proposed. Raw light fields are preprocessed by demosaicing, devignetting and slicing of the raw lenslet array image. The slices are then compressed with the JPEG 2000 image coding standard. The performance of the proposed method is compared against direct application of JPEG 2000 compression on the 4D light field. The experimental analysis has been conducted under a set of different compression ratios and the obtained results show that the proposed method outperforms direct application of the reference architecture.

AbstractIn this paper, we propose a design solution for implementing high-value resistance circuit, intended to bias the floating gate of PolyVinyliDene Fluorine (PVDF) based tactile sensors. The solution was proposed to design circuits based on Twin-tub and N-well processes. The formulations of mathematical equations were derived from EKV model. Our simulation results are in terms of frequency and transient responses, and they show that both the circuits were able to realize very high value of resistance suited for this sensor application in typical cases. However, in terms of process, voltage, and temperature variations, the results shown by the N-well process were better than those of the Twin-tub process at corner cases.

Australian Snubfin Orcaella heinsohni, Indo-Pacific Humpback Sousa chinensis and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins Tursiops aduncus inhabit Australia’s tropical north-western coastline, a region undergoing extensive port development associated with the massive expansion of the oil, gas and mining industries. The current lack of data on dolphin population sizes or trends precludes impact assessments of developments on these protected species. Furthermore, the Western Australian and Commonwealth Government conservation listings of tropical inshore dolphins do not reflect their international listings. From April to July, 2010, we conducted ad hoc boat-based surveys (n=55) of inshore delphinids at seven sites across north-western Australia from Coral Bay in the south (23.1°S: 113.8°E) to Cable Beach in the north (17.9°S: 122.2°E). We documented the locations of these three species from which we obtained photoidentification and biopsy data, as well as reports of Australian Snubfin Dolphin sightings from researchers and community groups. The data from this limited field effort confirm that Indo-Pacific Humpback and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins occur in the waters adjacent to each north-western Australian urban centre and show that the range of the Australian Snubfin Dolphin extends considerably further south-west than previously reported. Given the scale of coastal developments and the vulnerability of isolated cetacean populations to fragmentation or extirpation, assessments of the viability of dolphin populations are required. Our data suggest that the Australian Snubfin, Indo-Pacific Humpback and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins need to be considered as likely to be impacted by coastal developments across north-western Australia.

Mechanical offers several advantages over drug thrombolysis: in particular, the haemorrhagic risk may be not significantly increased while working out the indications got intravenous drug thrombolysis. Available tools were in our hands inefficient, stiff and dangerous. We found a retrievable stent efficient and easy to handle for this purpose. This experience is described.

Lacunar ischemic lesions are related to a pathology involving perforators, due to direct changes in the arteries or to an indirect mechanism, such as cardiac or artery to artery embolism, or to hypoperfusion in cases of cardiac failure, or proximal occlusion of large arteries. Changes involving the large intracranial arteries have progressively been taken into consideration as a cause of the disease. This latter aspect is interesting since possible endovascular treatment can be proposed in selected cases. In patients with lacunar syndrome an extended clinical and neuroradiological approach is indicated to choose the most appropriate therapy. Not all lesions recognizable on CT/MR are the expressions of ischemic lesions, this is another important aspect that should be considered in the differential diagnosis.

MR angiography represents a useful non-invasive tool to explore cerebral vessels. Two techniques of acquisition are generally used, based respectively on the “inflow effect” (time-of-flight technique) and on motion-related phase changes (phase contrast technique). The main advantage of MR angiography over conventional digital subtraction angiography is the lack of invasiveness; because of this it requires less technical training and may be easily repeated for follow-up purposes. On the other hand, the main disadvantages of this technique are limited spatial resolution, incomplete fresh blood saturation and difficulties in monitoring critical patients.In our experience, MRA is routinely used in the screening of patients at risk for cerebral aneurysms, and in the follow-up of patients submitted to endovascular treatment.

Although CT angiography is more and more widely used as diagnostic tool in SAH, DSA remains a useful technique. Indeed DSA is mandatory in patients with SAH and negative angio-CT, and in all other doubtful cases. Angiography is also necessary in order to perform an endovascular treatment. Sometimes, after a SAH a first angiogram may be normal due to spasm, haematoma or in case of a real perimesencephalic haemorrhage. The need for a second angiogram is discussed. Finally some aspects concerning the aneurysmal growth and rupture are also discussed.

Early computed tomography (CT) is very useful in detecting subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). It offers a lot of information about the origin, the extent of the haemorrhage and the early complications (hydrocephalus, haematoma).Moreover, CT scan can suggest the site of bleeding aneurysm and the risk of severe vasospasm.In some cases, CT shows a perimesencephalic SAH in which often no aneurysm can be detected.The sensitivity of CT in demonstrating SAH decreases as the time between onset of SAH and CT scanning increases.

L'ematoma sub-periostale dell'orbita è una patologia rara. Benchè la maggior parte dei casi siano conseguenza di un trauma facciale diretto o una complicanza chirurgica, sono stati descritte cause non traumatiche. Riportiamo un caso di ematoma sub-periostale orbitario spontaneo comparso durante un'immersione subacquea in una giovane donna. In questo lavoro vengono discussi i reperti di risonanza magnetica, di tomografia computerizzata e viene effettuata una revisione della letteratura.

Abstract: Cerebral venous thrombosis may be well tolerated or lead to a brain lesion; availability of collateral venous pathways may explain the great variability of the lesions. This collateral circulation involves mainly medullary and cortical veins. These are difficult to assess neuroradiologically, particularly if thrombosed. Cerebral venous thrombosis is diagnosed usually based on thrombosis of dural sinuses and of the deep venous system. We tried to correlate the site and extent of dural sinus thrombosis with the location and the size of brain lesions in 26 consecutive patients with cerebral venous thrombosis, to investigate whether a simple causal relationship exists. No significant correlation between the extent and site of thrombosis in dural sinuses and the extent and location of brain lesions was found. In some cases a clear relationship between thrombosis of cortical and medullary veins and the lesions was evident. These data suggest that sinus thrombosis alone may be well tolerated in many cases, while involvement of cortical and medullary veins leads to a worse clinical situation.

The paper addresses the problem of block-based motion estimation (BBME) for video sequence coding, and a hierarchical strategy that sharply reduces the computation is proposed.

A new interpolation algorithm for 2D data is presented that is based on the least-squares optimization of a spline-like scheme. This interpolation technique is then integrated into a two-source decomposition scheme for image-data compression. First, an optimum least-squares bilinear interpolation is implemented and applied to a uniform image sampling. Second, the problem of spatial adaptivity is addressed in order to fully exploit the compression capability of the technique. The solution lies in a nonuniform sampling strategy based on a recursive splitting algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed image-interpolation algorithm is very efficient. The major advantages of this scheme over traditional block-coding methods are the absence of the tiling effect (thanks to the continuity constraints imposed on the reconstruction process) and a more effective exploitation of interblock correlation.

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome is a rare disease, which probaly has a cell-mediated autoimmune pathogenesis, marked by ocular (anterior and/or posterior uveitis), dermatological (poliosis, canities, vitiligo) and neurological (meningo-encephalitis) disorders of variable severity in variable combinations. The clinical pattern in the case reported here showed severe neurological involvement (headache, ataxia and confusional state) followed by anteroposterior uveitis. Instrumental investigations (cerebrospinal fluid, VEPs, BAEPs, EEG, CT and MRI brainscans) confirmed the diagnosis. The response to cortisone therapy was excellent. We emphasize the importance of the neuroradiological investigations, because of their peculiarities, and review the reports of cases with marked meningo-encephalitic impairment, given the dearth of reports in the neurological journals.

Analog VLSI implementations of artificial neural networks are usually considered efficient for the small area and the low power consumption they require, but very poor in terms of programmability. In this paper, we present an approach to the design of analog VLSI neural information-processing systems with on-chip learning capabilities. We describe a set of analog circuits for implementing the neural computational primitives of a Multi-Layer Perceptron, including the ones supporting a gradient-based learning algorithm (Back Propagation). Only supervision tasks are managed off chip.

In this paper, we present a VLSI architecture for real-time image processing in quality control industrial applications: automation of the visual inspection phase of mechanical parts treated by the Fluorescent Magnetic Particle Inspection method for structural-defect detection. The VLSI architecture implements a highly constrained neural network tailored for this specific application: the multi-layer perceptron with strictly local connections. The learning of the weights is performed off line by using the adaptive simulated-annealing algorithm. The neural network has been trained on real plant data: recognition results of the training and classification tasks compare favorably with those obtained by expert human operators.

Tre pazienti affetti da calcificazioni strio-pallido-dentate, o Morbo di Fahr, di diverse eziologie sono stati sottoposti a studio radiologico mediante TC e TRM. Vengono riportati i risultati, e la sintomatologia clinica presentata dai pazienti.La discrepanza tra il reperto della TC e della TRM viene descritta, discussa e confrontata con i dati in letteratura.

Prognosis of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) changed in recent years from a life-threatening to a more benign condition. Anticoagulation therapy “freezes” the evolution of the disease, preventing progression to extensive brain lesions.Good outcomes reveal a wide range of lesions; moreover, neuroradiological investigations allow a precise evaluation of dural sinuses and deep venous system. With this background we tried to correlate the extension of the thrombosis in dural sinuses and deep venous system with the brain lesions in 24 patients with CVT and found no clear correlation.On the other hand, in particular cases a relation between thrombosis of cortical veins or deep medullary veins and brain lesions was found. The availability of alternative venous drainage probably explains the different extension of brain lesions in our patients. According to data from the literature cortical and deep medullary veins may represent “critical” locations for collateral venous circulation in CVT.

Sono stati studiati con risonanza magnetica associata a Gd-DTPA 72 pazienti con sospetta patologia tumorale spinale. In 60 casi la diagnosi di tumore è stata confermata. Pur essendo l'accentuazione Gd-DTPA non specifica, legata alla alterazione della barriera vascolare, l'utilizzo del mezzo di contrasto si è rivelato sempre utile nel meglio definire il tumore ed, in misura minore, nell'orientare circa la natura della lesione. Viene infine sottolineata la possibilità di arricchimento contrastografico in lesioni non tumorali.

La trombosi di una parte del sistema cerebrale viene riconosciuta sempre più frequentemente come causa di patologia neurologica. Il quadro d'esordio può essere subdolo e mimare, sia dal punto di vista clinico che neuroradiologico, diverse patologie (tumore, “pseudotumor”, encefalite, emorragia…); inoltre la patologia può rapidamente evolvere sia dal punto di vista clinico che dell'imaging. Il trattamento anticoagulante precoce permette un'evoluzione favorevole nella maggior parte dei casi: la diagnosi precoce diventa perciò indispensabile.Abbiamo rivalutato 20 casi di trombosi venosa cerebrale diagnostica negli ultimi 3 anni, verificandone in particolare il ritardo diagnostico. Questo è stato in media di 4 giorni dalla prima visita neurologica o esame CT-RM; la diagnosi all'ingresso è stata di tumore, emorragia o encefalite. Sulla base del quadro clinico-neuroradiologico abbiamo identificato alcune modalità tipiche di esordio e di evoluzione della malattia: il valore diagnostico delle diverse tecniche neuroradiologiche, le difficoltà e gli errori diagnostici sono, nella nostra esperienza, fortemente condizionate dalle modalità di presentazione della patologia e dalla sua evoluzione.