Alessandra Coscia

Discrete approximation of a free discontinuity problem

We approximate by discrete Г-convergence a functional proposed by Mumford-Shah for a variational approach to image segmentation. Such a functional is first relaxed with a sequence of nonconvex functionals, which in turn, are dis-cretized by piecewise linear finite elements. Under a suitable relation between the relaxation parameter ∊and the meshsize h, the convergence of the discrete functionals and the compactness of any sequence of discrete minimizers are proved. The proof relies on the techniques of Г-convergence and on the properties of the Lagrange interpolation and Clement operators.

Parents' estimate of food allergy prevalence and management in Italian school-aged children

Background:  Despite the increasing prevalence of food allergy, few studies have assessed the prevalence of perceived food‐induced symptoms among school‐aged children. There is also a paucity of data on how children with food reactions are managed. We investigated the frequency and characteristics of perceived food reactions in school‐aged children.