Advanced Simulation in Disaster Preparedness and Relief: The Gold Standard for Soft Skills Training

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Family-Centered Care to Improve Family Consent for Organ Donation

The need for organ donation has increased over time, but the shortage of available donors is the major limiting factor in transplantation. Organ donation refusal from relatives of potential donors with brain death significantly reduces organ availability. We report a brief analysis about family conflicts in decision-making and causes for refusing donation; moreover, we describe new family-centered strategies in the intensive care unit (ICU) and our systematic communication approach between medical staff and patients’ relatives. In 2016 we conducted a single-center, non-randomized, controlled and before and after study in our ICU, an 18-bed intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital. We compared the rate of consent for organ donation before and after the introduction of the new communication approach. The application of a new communication approach between medical staff and relatives of brain-dead patients was associated with a significant increase in the rate of consent to donation. The positive results of the 3-year period 2013–2015 have been confirmed in the 2-year period 2016–2017. Our results highlight the importance of empathy and counselor support of relatives in the ICU

Aluminum Steam Oxidation in the Framework of Long‐Term Energy Storage: Experimental Analysis of the Reaction Parameters Effect on Metal Conversion Rate

Aluminum is a promising material as an alternative green energy carrier thanks to its very high volumetric energy density and full recyclability. Aluminum oxidation with steam in the temperature range of 600–900 °C is investigated as an innovative and promising methodology for aluminum conversion resulting in hydrogen and heat production. Reaction times, hydrogen production rate and yield are assessed varying operational parameters such as temperature, steam to aluminum ratio, and gas hourly space velocity within the reactor. The conversion yield of aluminum is assessed at 73.13% at 900 °C and ambient pressure, with reaction times comparable with the one reported in the literature for water oxidation in batch-pressurized reactors. Moreover, over 750 °C, alumina is produced in microparticles, allowing reactor operating times up to 1 h without incurring in the clogging effect. The obtained results are promising for the continuous operating condition of a future full-scale reactor

Forecasting COVID-19-Associated Hospitalizations under Different Levels of Social Distancing in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy: Results from an Extended SEIR Compartmental Model

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. As of 17 April 2020, more than 2 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide. Northern Italy is one of the world's centers of active coronavirus cases. In this study, we predicted the spread of COVID-19 and its burden on hospital care under different conditions of social distancing in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, the two regions of Italy most affected by the epidemic. To do this, we used a Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) deterministic model, which encompasses compartments relevant to public health interventions such as quarantine. A new compartment L was added to the model for isolated infected population, i.e., individuals tested positives that do not need hospital care. We found that in Lombardy restrictive containment measures should be prolonged at least until early July to avoid a resurgence of hospitalizations; on the other hand, in Emilia-Romagna the number of hospitalized cases could be kept under a reasonable amount with a higher contact rate. Our results suggest that territory-specific forecasts under different scenarios are crucial to enhance or take new containment measures during the epidemic

Vivere e costruire [scuole] nelle Alpi

Il tema dell'architettura scolastica, già affrontato dai due autori nell'ambito di una ricerca per la Provincia di Torino, si carica nei contesti alpini di valenze specifiche, per le peculiari condizioni climatiche, ambientali, demografiche e sociali che qui sono rintracciabili. L'analisi di interventi di nuova realizzazione e di recupero di scuole in ambito montano, mette in luce il ruolo che, in questi fondamentali "presidi di abitabilità", vanno assumendo - accanto ai temi del confronto con l'esistente, con un paesaggio e una tradizione la cui forza d'immagine non può essere elusa - le scelte tecnologiche e funzionali (che spesso portano a privilegiare, in quest'ultimo caso, opportuni mix di funzioni pubbliche). Si tratta di esperienze, come quelle attuate nel territorio dei Grigioni, che sono espressione di una attenzione verso una sostenibilità non solo energetica ma anche sociale, e verso una qualità architettonica complessivamente intesa: e che in quanto tali possono costituire un utile riferimento per lo sviluppo di analoghe esperienze sui versanti nazionali del contesto alpin

Retrofit energetico e qualità del costruito: le linee guida per l'edilizia scolastica della Provincia di Torino

La relazione tra architettura della scuola e riqualificazione dell'involucro si pone oggi come lente critica di indagine sull'approccio valoriale complesso al recupero del patrimonio diffus

Physiological stress levels in the endemic and endangered Udzungwa red colobus vary with elevation

Habitat loss and fragmentation inevitably cause biodiversity decline, a major concern for the conservation of endangered species. Primates are of particular interest, because they are highly vulnerable to forest fragmentation. In this study, we investigated faecal glucocorticoid measurements (FGCM), an indicator of physiological stress, in an endemic and IUCN-endangered monkey species inhabiting forest blocks in the Udzungwa Mountains in south-central Tanzania. The Udzungwa red colobus (Procolobus gordonorum) is threatened by hunting, and habitat degradation and loss due to agricultural expansion. They are highly folivorous, more abundant at lower elevations, but able to persist in extremely small forest blocks. We collected faecal samples in four forest blocks that differed in size, level of human impact (hunting and past logging activities) and ecological factors to examine the potential influence on stress hormone output. Across all four forests, we did not find any clear effect on FGCM levels of the variables considered, apart from elevation. Red colobus had higher FGCM levels at lower elevations, where their seemingly optimal habitat occurs, but concomitantly where greater human disturbance is found. Although our results should be interpreted with caution and confirmed with further study, we suggest that this species is not negatively influenced by a moderate level of human activity, consistent with ecological modelling data.Keywords: faecal glucocorticoid metabolites, human disturbance, primate, Procolobus gordonorum, stress hormone

Population Status and Ecology of the Steno-Endemic Fairy Shrimp Chirocephalus sibyllae Cottarelli and Mura, 1975 Inhabiting a Mountain Temporary Pond (Central Italy)

High-elevation ephemeral waters are sentinels of climate change, as they quickly respond to decreasing precipitation levels and increasing air temperatures. Fairy shrimps are among the most threatened invertebrates in ephemeral waters, as they are extremely vulnerable to habitat loss. Chirocephalus sibyllae is a fairy shrimp endemic to the Palazzo Borghese temporary pond, located within Sibillini Mountains National Park (Central Italy). The aims of the present study were to: (i) evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of C. sibyllae habitat, with special reference to climate changes over twenty years; (ii) document the life history, size, and abundance of C. sibyllae; and (iii) document the coexisting zooplankton fauna in Palazzo Borghese pond. The zooplankton community was monitored fortnightly, during the filling phases of the pond, from April 2019 to June 2021, using an 80 μm mesh net, within transects of known length. On each sampling occasion, 13 physicochemical parameters were measured, and water-level fluctuations and pond surface area were recorded. Compared to what was reported in the literature, in the last two years the wet phase of the Palazzo Borghese pond was shorter, and the pool dried up much earlier than in the past. The water quality was good and reflected the typical characteristics of high-mountain oligotrophic ponds. Orthophosphates seem to play a key role in zooplankton population abundance, increasing over time during the filling period. According to the extreme unpredictability of environmental features, the zooplankton community was composed of a very limited number of species, adapted to face drought conditions for most of the year. C. sibyllae life-history traits showed a high number of cysts in the broodpouch of ovigerous females (mean ± SD = 66.0 ± 38.9), and a higher mean total length of adults (1.72 cm for females and 1.76 cm for males), in comparison to data reported in the literature. The year 2019 was configured as the season with the most favorable conditions for the development of C. sibyllae; in 2020, the short duration of the pond did not allow the species to complete its life cycle. Climate change seems to pose the main threat to the species, considering that the progressive increase in air temperatures and the decrease in snowfall will, likely, lead to increasingly shorter filling phases of its habitat

Population Status and Ecology of the Steno-Endemic Fairy Shrimp <i>Chirocephalus sibyllae</i> Cottarelli and Mura, 1975 Inhabiting a Mountain Temporary Pond (Central Italy)

High-elevation ephemeral waters are sentinels of climate change, as they quickly respond to decreasing precipitation levels and increasing air temperatures. Fairy shrimps are among the most threatened invertebrates in ephemeral waters, as they are extremely vulnerable to habitat loss. Chirocephalus sibyllae is a fairy shrimp endemic to the Palazzo Borghese temporary pond, located within Sibillini Mountains National Park (Central Italy). The aims of the present study were to: (i) evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of C. sibyllae habitat, with special reference to climate changes over twenty years; (ii) document the life history, size, and abundance of C. sibyllae; and (iii) document the coexisting zooplankton fauna in Palazzo Borghese pond. The zooplankton community was monitored fortnightly, during the filling phases of the pond, from April 2019 to June 2021, using an 80 μm mesh net, within transects of known length. On each sampling occasion, 13 physicochemical parameters were measured, and water-level fluctuations and pond surface area were recorded. Compared to what was reported in the literature, in the last two years the wet phase of the Palazzo Borghese pond was shorter, and the pool dried up much earlier than in the past. The water quality was good and reflected the typical characteristics of high-mountain oligotrophic ponds. Orthophosphates seem to play a key role in zooplankton population abundance, increasing over time during the filling period. According to the extreme unpredictability of environmental features, the zooplankton community was composed of a very limited number of species, adapted to face drought conditions for most of the year. C. sibyllae life-history traits showed a high number of cysts in the broodpouch of ovigerous females (mean ± SD = 66.0 ± 38.9), and a higher mean total length of adults (1.72 cm for females and 1.76 cm for males), in comparison to data reported in the literature. The year 2019 was configured as the season with the most favorable conditions for the development of C. sibyllae; in 2020, the short duration of the pond did not allow the species to complete its life cycle. Climate change seems to pose the main threat to the species, considering that the progressive increase in air temperatures and the decrease in snowfall will, likely, lead to increasingly shorter filling phases of its habitat