The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discover... more The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discovery of genetic correlations in complex diseases following their transmission through family generations. However, all major algorithms proposed in the literature require high computational power and memory availability, making large data sets very hard to analyze on a single CPU. A facility for achieving a Whole-Genome Linkage Analysis
2017 E-Health and Bioengineering Conference (EHB), 2017
The TeleSCoPE project was inspired by COM (2008) 689 Action of the EC in order to address the inc... more The TeleSCoPE project was inspired by COM (2008) 689 Action of the EC in order to address the increasing widespread use of telehealth and provide a means of raising trust and acceptance among users. The implementation of a EU Code of Practice for Telehealth Services was not only the main objective of TeleSCoPE, but also represented a first milestone in a mainstreaming process by which such services could be accredited. Such accreditation would help ensure that telehealth services across the EU achieved an appropriate quality benchmark. This paper will illustrate the main steps involved in the process leading to the Code's adoption. This included, among others, these relevant factors: technology solutions, confidence from users, quality standards analysis, consultation stage, response from providers, draft code versions and update with guidelines on offered services. The Code can have a positive impact on start-up service initiatives as well as considerable benefits on involved users. In fact, telehealth services based on a common quality standard can help cost reductions, procedure and standardisation patterns, protocols and interoperability requirements.
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 2012
ABSTRACT The design of a Wolter X-ray telescope takes into account the geometrical dimensioning o... more ABSTRACT The design of a Wolter X-ray telescope takes into account the geometrical dimensioning of the shells and the choice of the coating for each of them. In this work we present a user-friendly web interface aimed to the design of multishell Wolter telescopes and to the calculation of their effective area. The application is available at http://heawww.harvard.edu/WTD/. An example is presented.
Studies in health technology and informatics, 2012
An ontology-supported e-knowledge base aimed to the evaluation of obesity and related co-morbidit... more An ontology-supported e-knowledge base aimed to the evaluation of obesity and related co-morbidities is presented. The main goal of such a clinical profiling tool is to help determine the health status of a subject, supporting the knowledge transfer between medical researchers and general practitioners.
ABSTRACT Understanding the structure, function and development of the human genome is a key facto... more ABSTRACT Understanding the structure, function and development of the human genome is a key factor to improve the quality of life. In order to achieve this goal developing and using a modern ICT infrastructure is essential, and can exploit next, generation High Performance Computing (HPC) systems beyond the Petaflop scale in a collaborative and efficient way. The genetic linkage analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers has recently become a very popular for genetic epidemiology and population studies, aiming to discover the genetic correlation in complex diseases. The high computational cost and memory requirements of the major algorithms proposed in the literature make analyses of medium/large data sets very hard on a single CPU. A Grid based facility has hence been set up upon a high-performance infrastructure, the EGEE Grid, in order to create a tool for achieving whole-genome linkage analysis.
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Management of Emergent Digital EcoSystems - MEDES '13, 2013
ABSTRACT The constant growth in health expenditure, together with the expected doubling of the EU... more ABSTRACT The constant growth in health expenditure, together with the expected doubling of the EU's old-age dependency ratio in the next 40 years (with a drop of the working-age population) represent a scenario that needs to be addressed with fast and effective responses and one of the key factors in reaching this objective is considered to be the exploitation of the ICT. This paper presents the results and the considerations related to the carrying out of three EU funded projects ("PICKFIBER", "HOST", "TeleSCoPE"), analyzing their outcomes both in terms of scientific and social impact and framing them in the perspectives given by Horizon 2020.
The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discover... more The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discovery of genetic correlations in complex diseases following their transmission through family generations. However, all major algorithms proposed in the literature require high computational power and memory availability, making large data sets very hard to analyze on a single CPU. A facility for achieving a Whole-Genome Linkage Analysis
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/CE) requires the quantification of
anthropoge... more The European Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/CE) requires the quantification of anthropogenic pressures for evaluating the risk of failing environmental objectives when setting river basin management plans and for biological data interpretation when assessing ecological status. Many studies emphasized the close relationship between biological communities (e.g., fishes and invertebrates) and land use. The need for evaluating the impact of non-natural land use at different spatial scales is often stated, and relatively small spatial scales can be particularly relevant to understand biotic community changes. Abiotic descriptors derived for the reach scale can thus be used to evaluate the success of restoration measures, and their selection and testing is urgent for river management purposes. In this context we describe a new index, which allows quantification of land use modification at the reach scale, the ‘Land Use Index - reach’ (LUIr). The LUIr was developed on the basis of data gathered in the field with the CARAVAGGIO method (river habitat survey technique). A full description of the index is presented. In addition, jointly with a series of environmental descriptors developed for the quantification of general or specific anthropogenic stressors (sensu WFD), the effectiveness of the new index (LUIr) in describing environmental gradients as perceived from benthic invertebrates has been evaluated for Mediterranean rivers in Cyprus. The multiple regression analysis performed (all subset regression and relative importance) revealed that among the set of environmental descriptors the LUIr resulted to be the factor best explaining the variation of biological metrics. Additionally, the analysis highlighted that the biological metrics more influenced by land use at the catchment level (LUIc) are those estimating the overall diversity and are consequently more influenced by factors at larger scale. The descriptor derived by physico-chemical parameters was in a few cases selected by regression analysis as the most important factor in explaining variation of biological metrics. The descriptors able to detect variation of other habitat features (i.e., habitat modification, habitat diversity and lentic–lotic character) resulted as weak predictors in the models. Our results support the conclusion that the LUIr index can be a useful and cost-effective tool to interpret invertebrate community variation. Moreover, as urgently requested by WFD, LUIr can be used to set and check effectiveness of measures for the improvement of aquatic ecosystems, particularly for Mediterranean streams where agricultural land use is one of the main anthropogenic pressures.
The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discover... more The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discovery of genetic correlations in complex diseases following their transmission through family generations. However, all major algorithms proposed in the literature require high computational power and memory availability, making large data sets very hard to analyze on a single CPU. A facility for achieving a Whole-Genome Linkage Analysis
2017 E-Health and Bioengineering Conference (EHB), 2017
The TeleSCoPE project was inspired by COM (2008) 689 Action of the EC in order to address the inc... more The TeleSCoPE project was inspired by COM (2008) 689 Action of the EC in order to address the increasing widespread use of telehealth and provide a means of raising trust and acceptance among users. The implementation of a EU Code of Practice for Telehealth Services was not only the main objective of TeleSCoPE, but also represented a first milestone in a mainstreaming process by which such services could be accredited. Such accreditation would help ensure that telehealth services across the EU achieved an appropriate quality benchmark. This paper will illustrate the main steps involved in the process leading to the Code's adoption. This included, among others, these relevant factors: technology solutions, confidence from users, quality standards analysis, consultation stage, response from providers, draft code versions and update with guidelines on offered services. The Code can have a positive impact on start-up service initiatives as well as considerable benefits on involved users. In fact, telehealth services based on a common quality standard can help cost reductions, procedure and standardisation patterns, protocols and interoperability requirements.
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 2012
ABSTRACT The design of a Wolter X-ray telescope takes into account the geometrical dimensioning o... more ABSTRACT The design of a Wolter X-ray telescope takes into account the geometrical dimensioning of the shells and the choice of the coating for each of them. In this work we present a user-friendly web interface aimed to the design of multishell Wolter telescopes and to the calculation of their effective area. The application is available at http://heawww.harvard.edu/WTD/. An example is presented.
Studies in health technology and informatics, 2012
An ontology-supported e-knowledge base aimed to the evaluation of obesity and related co-morbidit... more An ontology-supported e-knowledge base aimed to the evaluation of obesity and related co-morbidities is presented. The main goal of such a clinical profiling tool is to help determine the health status of a subject, supporting the knowledge transfer between medical researchers and general practitioners.
ABSTRACT Understanding the structure, function and development of the human genome is a key facto... more ABSTRACT Understanding the structure, function and development of the human genome is a key factor to improve the quality of life. In order to achieve this goal developing and using a modern ICT infrastructure is essential, and can exploit next, generation High Performance Computing (HPC) systems beyond the Petaflop scale in a collaborative and efficient way. The genetic linkage analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers has recently become a very popular for genetic epidemiology and population studies, aiming to discover the genetic correlation in complex diseases. The high computational cost and memory requirements of the major algorithms proposed in the literature make analyses of medium/large data sets very hard on a single CPU. A Grid based facility has hence been set up upon a high-performance infrastructure, the EGEE Grid, in order to create a tool for achieving whole-genome linkage analysis.
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Management of Emergent Digital EcoSystems - MEDES '13, 2013
ABSTRACT The constant growth in health expenditure, together with the expected doubling of the EU... more ABSTRACT The constant growth in health expenditure, together with the expected doubling of the EU's old-age dependency ratio in the next 40 years (with a drop of the working-age population) represent a scenario that needs to be addressed with fast and effective responses and one of the key factors in reaching this objective is considered to be the exploitation of the ICT. This paper presents the results and the considerations related to the carrying out of three EU funded projects ("PICKFIBER", "HOST", "TeleSCoPE"), analyzing their outcomes both in terms of scientific and social impact and framing them in the perspectives given by Horizon 2020.
The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discover... more The Genetic Linkage Analysis of SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers permits the discovery of genetic correlations in complex diseases following their transmission through family generations. However, all major algorithms proposed in the literature require high computational power and memory availability, making large data sets very hard to analyze on a single CPU. A facility for achieving a Whole-Genome Linkage Analysis
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/CE) requires the quantification of
anthropoge... more The European Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/CE) requires the quantification of anthropogenic pressures for evaluating the risk of failing environmental objectives when setting river basin management plans and for biological data interpretation when assessing ecological status. Many studies emphasized the close relationship between biological communities (e.g., fishes and invertebrates) and land use. The need for evaluating the impact of non-natural land use at different spatial scales is often stated, and relatively small spatial scales can be particularly relevant to understand biotic community changes. Abiotic descriptors derived for the reach scale can thus be used to evaluate the success of restoration measures, and their selection and testing is urgent for river management purposes. In this context we describe a new index, which allows quantification of land use modification at the reach scale, the ‘Land Use Index - reach’ (LUIr). The LUIr was developed on the basis of data gathered in the field with the CARAVAGGIO method (river habitat survey technique). A full description of the index is presented. In addition, jointly with a series of environmental descriptors developed for the quantification of general or specific anthropogenic stressors (sensu WFD), the effectiveness of the new index (LUIr) in describing environmental gradients as perceived from benthic invertebrates has been evaluated for Mediterranean rivers in Cyprus. The multiple regression analysis performed (all subset regression and relative importance) revealed that among the set of environmental descriptors the LUIr resulted to be the factor best explaining the variation of biological metrics. Additionally, the analysis highlighted that the biological metrics more influenced by land use at the catchment level (LUIc) are those estimating the overall diversity and are consequently more influenced by factors at larger scale. The descriptor derived by physico-chemical parameters was in a few cases selected by regression analysis as the most important factor in explaining variation of biological metrics. The descriptors able to detect variation of other habitat features (i.e., habitat modification, habitat diversity and lentic–lotic character) resulted as weak predictors in the models. Our results support the conclusion that the LUIr index can be a useful and cost-effective tool to interpret invertebrate community variation. Moreover, as urgently requested by WFD, LUIr can be used to set and check effectiveness of measures for the improvement of aquatic ecosystems, particularly for Mediterranean streams where agricultural land use is one of the main anthropogenic pressures.
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Papers by D. Di Pasquale
anthropogenic pressures for evaluating the risk of failing environmental objectives when setting river
basin management plans and for biological data interpretation when assessing ecological status.
Many studies emphasized the close relationship between biological communities (e.g.,
fishes and
invertebrates) and land use. The need for evaluating the impact of non-natural land use at different
spatial scales is often stated, and relatively small spatial scales can be particularly relevant to understand
biotic community changes. Abiotic descriptors derived for the reach scale can thus be used to evaluate the
success of restoration measures, and their selection and testing is urgent for river management purposes.
In this context we describe a new index, which allows quantification of land use modification at the reach
scale, the ‘Land Use Index - reach’ (LUIr). The LUIr was developed on the basis of data gathered in the
field
with the CARAVAGGIO method (river habitat survey technique). A full description of the index is
presented. In addition, jointly with a series of environmental descriptors developed for the quantification
of general or specific anthropogenic stressors (sensu WFD), the effectiveness of the new index (LUIr) in
describing environmental gradients as perceived from benthic invertebrates has been evaluated for
Mediterranean rivers in Cyprus. The multiple regression analysis performed (all subset regression and
relative importance) revealed that among the set of environmental descriptors the LUIr resulted to be the
factor best explaining the variation of biological metrics. Additionally, the analysis highlighted that the
biological metrics more influenced by land use at the catchment level (LUIc) are those estimating the
overall diversity and are consequently more influenced by factors at larger scale. The descriptor derived
by physico-chemical parameters was in a few cases selected by regression analysis as the most important
factor in explaining variation of biological metrics. The descriptors able to detect variation of other
habitat features (i.e., habitat modification, habitat diversity and lentic–lotic character) resulted as weak
predictors in the models. Our results support the conclusion that the LUIr index can be a useful and
cost-effective tool to interpret invertebrate community variation. Moreover, as urgently requested by
WFD, LUIr can be used to set and check effectiveness of measures for the improvement of aquatic
ecosystems, particularly for Mediterranean streams where agricultural land use is one of the main
anthropogenic pressures.
anthropogenic pressures for evaluating the risk of failing environmental objectives when setting river
basin management plans and for biological data interpretation when assessing ecological status.
Many studies emphasized the close relationship between biological communities (e.g.,
fishes and
invertebrates) and land use. The need for evaluating the impact of non-natural land use at different
spatial scales is often stated, and relatively small spatial scales can be particularly relevant to understand
biotic community changes. Abiotic descriptors derived for the reach scale can thus be used to evaluate the
success of restoration measures, and their selection and testing is urgent for river management purposes.
In this context we describe a new index, which allows quantification of land use modification at the reach
scale, the ‘Land Use Index - reach’ (LUIr). The LUIr was developed on the basis of data gathered in the
field
with the CARAVAGGIO method (river habitat survey technique). A full description of the index is
presented. In addition, jointly with a series of environmental descriptors developed for the quantification
of general or specific anthropogenic stressors (sensu WFD), the effectiveness of the new index (LUIr) in
describing environmental gradients as perceived from benthic invertebrates has been evaluated for
Mediterranean rivers in Cyprus. The multiple regression analysis performed (all subset regression and
relative importance) revealed that among the set of environmental descriptors the LUIr resulted to be the
factor best explaining the variation of biological metrics. Additionally, the analysis highlighted that the
biological metrics more influenced by land use at the catchment level (LUIc) are those estimating the
overall diversity and are consequently more influenced by factors at larger scale. The descriptor derived
by physico-chemical parameters was in a few cases selected by regression analysis as the most important
factor in explaining variation of biological metrics. The descriptors able to detect variation of other
habitat features (i.e., habitat modification, habitat diversity and lentic–lotic character) resulted as weak
predictors in the models. Our results support the conclusion that the LUIr index can be a useful and
cost-effective tool to interpret invertebrate community variation. Moreover, as urgently requested by
WFD, LUIr can be used to set and check effectiveness of measures for the improvement of aquatic
ecosystems, particularly for Mediterranean streams where agricultural land use is one of the main
anthropogenic pressures.