Analysis and Classification of Volcanic Eruptions

Among natural disasters, volcanic eruptions are some of the most dangerous. The severity level of the most extreme volcanic eruption for which data is available can be categorized as Catastrophe Type II according to the scale introduced by Wirasinghe, Caldera, Durage, and Ruwanpura, (2013). However, an unusually large eruption of a “super volcano” can even cause a partial or full extinction. Aftermaths of a major eruption, such as climate effects, tsunami, and famine, severely impacts populations. Potential severity levels of volcanic eruptions are studied. A multidimensional scale for volcanic eruptions is investigated. Intensity, fatalities, affected population, impacted region, cost of damage, and GDP per capita, are some factors that can be considered to determine the severity level. Relationships among the factors are also considered. An analysis is conducted to identify the specific factors to be considered in the multidimensional scale. The extreme values of known historical eruptions of each volcano are studied in terms of fatalities. However, the study does not consider any secondary effect caused by the volcanic eruptions. The extreme values of fatalities from eruptions of 136 volcanoes are shown to be distributed as a 3 parameter Weibull (α = 0.33925, μ = 1, σ = 109.04) distribution

NDM-528: AN APPROACH TO CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL DISASTERS BY SEVERITY

Existing scales for natural disasters describe severity in terms of intensity. Intensity scales are not highly correlated with impact factors such as fatalities, injuries, homelessness, affected population, and cost of damage. The descriptive words for disasters are also not sufficient to clearly comprehend the real magnitude of severity as there is no consistent method to distinguish one terminology from another. Further, data collection standards vary among countries and, therefore, comparisons across space and time are difficult to make. Several discrepancies between various sources of information complicate the interpretation of trends in disaster data. Furthermore, comparing different events and obtaining a sense of scale are problematic due to the deficiencies that reduce the quality of the data set, and disaster managers may face inconsistencies in identifying the magnitude of a disaster, responding to the event properly, and allocating resources for mitigation measures. There is no scale currently that is supported with data that can rate the severity of any natural disaster. This ongoing study attempts to develop a multidimensional scale. It also proposes a unified way of describing disasters by focusing on clear definitions, analyzing extreme events, and developing a set of criteria to make comparisons and rank natural disasters based on their impact, to help governments and relief agencies respond when disaster strikes. An initial severity scale based on fatalities is used to compare and rate disasters such as earthquake, tsunami, volcano and tornado. This concept can be applied to any type of disaster including windstorms, snowstorms, and wildfires

Contribución al conocimiento de la flora de la Sierra de Mijas (Málaga, España)

Se ha realizado un catálogo florístico de la Sierra de Mijas (Málaga, España), en el que se citan 555 táxones de plantas vasculares.A check list of the Sierra de Mijas (Málaga, Spain) is presented. A total of 555 vascular plants have seen indentificated

Techno-economic comparison of buildings acting as Single-Self Consumers or as energy community through multiple economic scenarios

The European Union has set ambitious targets to move towards a society with high penetration of renewable energy sources. In the forthcoming energy transition, Energy Communities (EC), i.e., legal entities where different actors, including citizens, cooperate in energy generation, storage and management, will play a crucial role. The present work simulates the energy flows and assesses the potential economic benefits of a cluster of buildings acting collectively as an energy community – a specific case study is set in northern Italy by comparing the EC performance with a configuration where customers act as Single Self-Consumers (SSCs). Pending the transposition of EU Directives to binding national laws, due by 2021, different supporting tariffs (economic scenarios) have been simulated in order to determine which scheme will support more effectively the integration of Energy Communities in the national energy market. Results show that ECs (i.e., customers acting collectively as energy prosumers) are able to accelerate the diffusion of building-integrated renewable energy sources (RES), resulting in higher overall self-consumption rates than SSCs. Self-consumed electricity generates savings on the energy bill of EC, and we calculated positive economic performance indicators for all the analysed economic scenarios. The sensitivity analysis carried out on system and transport charges of the electricity bill shows their remarkable impact on the economics making the EC less attractive for investors and citizens without proper supporting schemes

EFFECTS OF ORCHIECTOMY ON EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOUR OF RATS

This study was designed to assess whether the testes influence theexploratory behaviour of rats. The results show that orchiectomyparameters of exploratory behaviour, namely the number of head dips,locomotory significantly impaired three activity and number of rears,when evaluated using the hole-board technique. The fourth parametertested, the time spent head dipping however remained unaltered.These findings suggest that some factor/s secreted by testes influenceexploratory behaviour.Key words: orchiectomy, exploratory behaviour, rat, hole-board technique

On the interactions of melatonin/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex: A novel approach combining efficient semiempirical extended tight-binding (xtb) results with ab initio methods

Melatonin (MT) is a molecule of paramount importance in all living organisms, due to its presence in many biological activities, such as circadian (sleep–wake cycle) and seasonal rhythms (reproduction, fattening, molting, etc.). Unfortunately, it suffers from poor solubility and, to be used as a drug, an appropriate transport vehicle has to be developed, in order to optimize its release in the human tissues. As a possible drug-delivery system, β-cyclodextrin (βCD) represents a promising scaffold which can encapsulate the melatonin, releasing when needed. In this work, we present a computational study supported by experimental IR spectra on inclusion MT/βCD complexes. The aim is to provide a robust, accurate and, at the same time, low-cost methodology to investigate these inclusion complexes both with static and dynamic simulations, in order to study the main actors that drive the interactions of melatonin with β-cyclodextrin and, therefore, to understand its release mechanism

On the interactions of melatonin/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex: A novel approach combining efficient semiempirical extended tight-binding (xtb) results with ab initio methods

Melatonin (MT) is a molecule of paramount importance in all living organisms, due to its presence in many biological activities, such as circadian (sleep–wake cycle) and seasonal rhythms (reproduction, fattening, molting, etc.). Unfortunately, it suffers from poor solubility and, to be used as a drug, an appropriate transport vehicle has to be developed, in order to optimize its release in the human tissues. As a possible drug-delivery system, β-cyclodextrin (βCD) represents a promising scaffold which can encapsulate the melatonin, releasing when needed. In this work, we present a computational study supported by experimental IR spectra on inclusion MT/βCD complexes. The aim is to provide a robust, accurate and, at the same time, low-cost methodology to investigate these inclusion complexes both with static and dynamic simulations, in order to study the main actors that drive the interactions of melatonin with β-cyclodextrin and, therefore, to understand its release mechanism

On the growth of perturbations in interacting dark energy and dark matter fluids

The covariant generalizations of the background dark sector coupling suggested in G. Mangano, G. Miele and V. Pettorino, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 18, 831 (2003) are considered. The evolution of perturbations is studied with detailed attention to interaction rate that is proportional to the product of dark matter and dark energy densities. It is shown that some classes of models with coupling of this type do not suffer from early time instabilities in strong coupling regime.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. v3: minor changes, typos fixe