A multi-level agent-based model to assess the forest fire management in the southern swiss alpine region

ABSTRACT Alpine fires are mainly slope-driven, spreading along the forested steep slopes. Fire ignitions are here highly clustered near anthropogenic infrastructures and this characteristic behavior also affects the definition of the wildland urban interface (WUI). This last is known as the area where houses and other human infrastructures meet or intermingle with wildland vegetation, rural zone or forest. The main objective of the present study is to create a simulation model to assess the forest fire dynamic in pilot area located in the southern Swiss alpine region. This allows to investigate, for example, the influence of the mobility of people on the fires occurrences by simulating the daily movement of each single active person; or to simulate the displacement of the firefighters over the territory in order to evaluate the efficiency of different fires fight strategies in time. In this preliminary study the core simulation model has been implemented in GAMA, an open source agent based simulation platform. A long term objective is to conduct a study at global scale, over a wider area (e.g. the entire Canton Ticino), to understand the evolution of the WUI in time, analysing the affecting factors like the population growth or of the urbanisation and land use management

A GRASS GIS application for vertical sorting of sediments analysis in River Dynamics

The extreme versatility in different research fields of GRASS GIS is well known. A tool for the vertical sorting of sediments in river dynamics analysis is illustrated in this work. In particular, a GRASS GIS python module has been written which implements a forecasting sorting model by Blom&Parker (2006) to analyze river bed composition's evolution in depth in terms of grainsize. The module takes a DEM and information relative to the bed load transport composition as input. It works in two different and consecutive phases: the first one uses the GRASS capabilities in analyzing geometrical features of the river bed along a chosen river reach, the second phase is the "numerical" one and implements the forecasting model itself, then executes statistical analyses and draws graphs, by the means of matplotlib library. Moreover, a specific procedure for the import of a laser scanner cloud of points is implemented, in case the raster DEM map is not available. At the moment, the module has been applied using flumes data from Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (Minneapolis, MN) and some first results have been obtained, but the "testing" phase on other flume's data is still in progress. Moreover the module has been written for GRASS 65 on a Ubuntu Linux machine, even if the debugging of a GRASS 64, Windowsversion, is also in progress. The final aim of this work is the application of the model on natural rivers, but there are still some drawbacks. First of all the need of a high resolution DEM in input, secondly the number and type of data in input (for example the bed load composition in volume fraction per each size considered) which is not easily obtainable, so the best solution is represented by testing the model on a well instrumented river reach to export in future the forecasting method to un-instrumented reaches

Multi-scale modelling for simulating marine activities under heterogeneous environmental constraints

International audienceThis paper describes the concepts behind the implementation of a multi-agents model aimed to explore how marine activities respond to various environmental constraints. The methodology takes advantage on a responsive agent-based structure, and treats the environment as a set of forcing variables (biophysical, socio-economic and regulatory data). A first experiment in the Iroise Sea area shows a great potential in assessing the intensity and the variability of marine activities at different scales level. The whole methodology is presented in this paper in order to completely analyze the contributions and limitations concerning the SIMARIS prototype

B7h triggering inhibits the migration of tumor cell lines

Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) and several cancer cells express B7h, which is the ligand of the ICOS T cell costimulatory molecule. We have previously shown that B7h triggering via a soluble form of ICOS (ICOS-Fc) inhibits the adhesion of polymorphonuclear and tumor cell lines to HUVECs; thus, we suggested that ICOS-Fc may act as an anti-inflammatory and antitumor agent. Because cancer cell migration and angiogenesis are crucial for metastasis dissemination, the aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of ICOS-Fc on the migration of cancer cells and ECs. ICOS-Fc specifically inhibited the migration of HUVECs, human dermal lymphatic ECs, and the HT29, HCT116, PC-3, HepG2, JR8, and M14 tumor cell lines expressing high levels of B7h, whereas it was ineffective in the RPMI7932, PCF-2, LM, and BHT-101 cell lines expressing low levels of B7h. Furthermore, ICOS-Fc downmodulated hepatocyte growth factor facilitated the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in HepG2 cells. Moreover, ICOS-Fc downmodulated the phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase and the expression of \u3b2-Pix in both HUVECs and tumor cell lines. Finally, treatment with ICOS-Fc inhibited the development of lung metastases upon injection of NOD-SCID-IL2R\u3b3null mice with CF-PAC1 cells, as well as C57BL/6 mice with B16-F10 cells. Therefore, the B7h-ICOS interaction may modulate the spread of cancer metastases, which suggests the novel use of ICOS-Fc as an immunomodulatory drug. However, in the B16-F10-metastasized lungs, ICOS-Fc also increased IL-17A/RORc and decreased IL-10/Foxp3 expression, which indicates that it also exerts positive effects on the antitumor immune response

Donor Cell Acute Myeloid Leukemia after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Chronic Granulomatous Disease: A Case Report and Literature Review

The patient reported here underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) due to chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) caused by biallelic mutations of the NCF1 gene. Two years later, he developed AML, which was unexpected and was recognized via sex-mismatched chromosomes as deriving from the donor cells; the patient was male, and the donor was his sister. Donor cell leukemia (DCL) is very rare, and it had never been reported in patients with CGD after HSCT. In the subsequent ten years, the AML relapsed three times and the patient underwent chemotherapy and three further HSCTs; donors were the same sister from the first HSCT, an unrelated donor, and his mother. The patient died during the third relapse. The DCL was characterized since onset by an acquired translocation between chromosomes 9 and 11, with a molecular rearrangement between the MLL and MLLT3 genes-a quite frequent cause of AML. In all of the relapses, the malignant clone had XX sex chromosomes and this rearrangement, thus indicating that it was always the original clone derived from the transplanted sister's cells. It exhibited the ability to remain quiescent in the BM during repeated chemotherapy courses, remission periods and HSCT. The leukemic clone then acquired different additional anomalies during the ten years of follow-up, with cytogenetic results characterized both by anomalies frequent in AML and by different, non-recurrent changes. This type of cytogenetic course is uncommon in AML

ClimateFish: A Collaborative Database to Track the Abundance of Selected Coastal Fish Species as Candidate Indicators of Climate Change in the Mediterranean Sea

Under the effects of global warming, many animals and plants are undergoing rapid distribution shifts. These changes can be particularly rapid in marine fishes, and many species have responded markedly to recent increases in sea temperature. ClimateFish is an open-access database, which collates abundance data for 7 Mediterranean indigenous and 8 non-indigenous fishes, proposed as candidate indicators of climate change. These species have been selected by a network of Mediterranean scientists based on their wide distribution, responsiveness to temperature conditions and easy identification. Data are periodically collected according to a standard visual census protocol in four different depth layers. At present, the database collates data on a total number of 101'771 observed individuals belonging to the 15 target species. Counts were realized along 3142 transects carried out in 7 Mediterranean countries between 2009 and 2021. This database, associated with climate data, offers new opportunities to investigate spatiotemporal effects of climate change and to test the effectiveness of each selected indicator. Data are available at https://doi.org/10.17882/86784.The Mediterranean ClimateFish initiative was initially conceived by the international basin wide monitoring program CIESM Tropical Signals (funded by the Albert II of Monaco Foundation) and subsequently supported by the Interreg Med Programme (Projects: MPA-ADAPT, grant number 1MED15_3.2_M2_337 and MPA Engage, grant number 5MED18_3.2_M23_007), 85% co funded by the European Regional Development Fund

UNEP-MAP Knowledge Management Platform: a case study from the Mediterranean Area

<p>This is the presentation held at the Kick off meeting of the High Level Expert Group established from <a href="https://un-spbf.org/">UN-SPBF</a> with the aim to manage enviromental big data at global level in Vienna, the 11th of September 2023. <a href="https://dataenvironmentalliance.org/expert-group-meeting.html">Here</a> the link to the event page. In this presentation the work of INFO/RAC within UNEP-MAP for data collection/harmonization and sharing through the application of FAIR data management principles has been presented as an experience of data governance in the Mediterranean basin, pointing out that the focus of the whole work is to earn accountability through the concertated definition of clear basic data management principles.</p&gt

Raccolta dati ausiliari, armonizzazione strutturale, invito all'interoperabilità

This presentation was held at the workshop on Open Science in LTER marine data, on April the 10th at CNR-ISMAR in Venice. The presentation concerns the gathering of ancillary data for LTER marine data collected in a wide range of years; it also concerns procedures for database structural harmonization in the specific case of a small dataset in the Northern Adriatic Sea and it remarks the importance of interoperability and sharing as Open Data of this and others datasets.<br

I dati ecologici marini LTER e l'Open Science

This presentation was held at the workshop on Open Science in LTER marine data, on april the 10th at CNR-ISMAR in Venice. The presentation is about the application of an Open research lifecycle on series of long term ecological marine data. It points out the strengths of such approach and evidences the importance of Open Science into the ecological scientific community.<br