The paper presents a novel denoising method for ultrasound medical images, whose quality is degraded by the peculiar phenomenon of speckle noise. The method is constructed step-by-step on the basis of recent research on the topic, and consists in Gaussian filtering of proper wavelet coefficients of the image, corresponding to vertical and diagonal details. A comparison with other filtering techniques for ultrasound imaging, i.e. Wiener and median filter, is presented. The obtained results, combined with those reported in independent research, demonstrate that the proposed denoising scheme has very good performance and is very promising for actual medical application.

In this paper we analyze how static errors of Analog-to-Digital converters (ADCs) can influence the measurement of magnetic accommodation in soft ferrite core. In a first analysis, the discussion is carried out through a series of simulated ADC INLs applied to simulated signals and experimental data. Possible impacts of the integral nonlinearity (INL) on the reconstruction of the B H trajectory are shown. In a second phase, a real ADC INL is considered to better quantify the impact of real ADC errors on the measurements. An easy to implement procedure based on physical symmetry property of the material is presented and adopted to reduce the INL effect on magnetic accommodation measurements. Finally, a comparison between the proposed approach and a mid-point linearization compensation technique of INL is reported showing the validity of the presented procedure.

The paper presents ideas and observations about the use of the frequentist and the Bayesian approach to estimation and uncertainty. The merits and the pitfalls of the Bayesian approach, compared with the frequentist one, are illustrated using a simple example, which gives rise to an instructive paradox. The impact of the paradox on the GUM approach to uncertainty prescribed in Supplement 1 is highlighted and discussed.

The paper discusses the problem of designing attribute sampling plans by means of closed-form approximate formulae. A methodology is developed to fully characterize the formulae, in terms of design error, i.e. difference between "estimated" and "true" parameters of the sampling plan for given requirements. The focus is on the quality control of isolated lots, but the proposed methodology is applicable to any attribute single sampling plan. The cases in which the design formulae are "exact", and the cases in which they are not, are identified.

There are two well-known and different approaches to statistical inference and hypothesis testing, i.e. the frequentist (or orthodox) and the Bayesian one. Consequently, there are also (if one stays in the framework of probability theory) two rival approaches to uncertainty. The present work is partly a tutorial, aimed at explaining the basic aspects of the two approaches, and their relationship with the GUM; and partly a demonstration that the implementation of the Bayesian approach in the GUM Supplement 1 is too rigid. In particular, objective Bayesianism is incompatible with the propagation of distributions prescribed in Supplement 1.

In questo articolo viene descritto un innovativo sistema ricerca-perdite per un’accurata, efficace e non-invasiva individuazione di fuoriuscite di acqua lungo condotte interrate. Questo sistema, che si basa sui principi diagnostici della “riflettometria a microonde”, consente una più efficace rivelazione oltre che una notevole riduzione dei tempi d’ispezione richiesti dalle tecniche tradizionali. Il metodo e l’apparato di rivelazione, per la cui validazione si è eseguita una vasta sperimentazione sul campo, è oggetto di un brevetto internazionale.

The paper discuss the computation of the worst case uncertainty (WCU) in common measurement problems. The usefulness of computing the WCU besides the standard uncertainty is illustrated. A set of equations to compute the WCU in almost all practical situations is presented. The application of the equations to real-world cases is shown.

An innovative system, based on time-domain reflectometry (TDR), for leak detection in underground water and wastewater pipes has been developed and validated. The system, called S.I.M.P.Le. (acronym of “System for Identifying and Monitoring Pipe Leaks”) is currently being implemented in water pipe networks. This article focuses on the practical and operative aspects of the implementation of S.I.M.P.Le.