PROTHEGO Deliverable D.07.01: Dissemination and communication strategy, Version 1.0.

PROTHEGO (PROTection of European Cultural HEritage from GeO-hazards) is a collaborative research project funded in 2015–2018 in the framework of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPI-CH) – Heritage Plus. The project aims to make an innovative contribution towards the analysis of geohazards in areas of cultural heritage, and uses novel space technology based on radar interferometry (InSAR) to retrieve information on ground stability and motion in the 400+ UNESCO's World Heritage List monuments and sites of Europe. Dissemination and communication are central to the success of PROTHEGO, and are embedded into its WP7, which runs throughout the whole lifetime of the project under the leadership of NERC. This report outlines the strategy that NERC in collaboration with ISPRA, CUT, UNIMIB and IGME designed to disseminate PROTHEGO’s objectives, methodologies and achievements and to engage stakeholders and heritage practitioners to maximise the impact of the project. Several dissemination tools are used to achieve PROTHEGO’s dissemination goals, including the development of the project branding (see sections 2.1.1 and 2.1.2), a dedicated website (see section 2.1.4), project leaflets and brochures (see section 2.1.3). A publication plan is in place with associated scenarios (see sections 2.2.1 and 2.2.2) to publicise the project and its results at both national and international level. An internal approval process and copyright responsibilities are identified in line with the Consortium Agreement (see section 2.2.3). A record of dissemination activities undertaken by Project Partners and Associate Partners (Table 6) is kept via the List of Outputs (see section 2.2.4 and Appendix A). Deliverables with public (PU) dissemination level (as defined in the Description of Work) are made freely available to stakeholders and the public via the project website. Restricted (PP) dissemination level deliverables are stored in the password-protected file sharing platform only for internal use to the Project Partners and the JPI-CH Heritage Plus Coordinator (see section 2.2.5). PROTHEGO will capture the needs and requirements of end-users and stakeholders, inform them about the project activities and outputs, and engage them from the very beginning of the project. This will be achieved through stakeholder-focussed workshops and activities: (i) Initial Consultation Workshop (see section 3.1); (ii) Public Consultation via Online Survey (see section 3.2); (iii) Stakeholder and User Workshop (see section 3.3); and (iv) Final PROTHEGO Workshop (see section 3.4). These workshops and activities will allow PROTHEGO to tailor its project outcomes and results to the stakeholders’ needs, to maximise the impact of the project and transfer its research outcomes to the heritage sector, policy makers and the general public

Trends in Maternal and Child Health Indicators in Making Connections Sites

Reviews the rates of teen births, low birth-weight babies, and first-trimester prenatal care received, as a share of total births, in Casey's Making Connections initiative neighborhoods. Compares the neighborhood data to overall trends in the county

Getting ready for the generation of a nationwide ground motion product for Great Britain using SAR dta stacks: feasibility, data volumes and perspectives

This paper discusses the feasibility of monitoring ground stability and motion across the entire British landmass using satellite InSAR techniques. The ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT archive data availability, topographic visibility and land cover constraints for multi-temporal InSAR techniques to succeed across Britain are analysed. Data volumes, hardware and software requirements for the generation of a nationwide InSAR product are discussed, with a view to both novel processing methods to extend InSAR across unfavourable land covers, and parallel and cloud computing systems to decrease InSAR processing time demands. The P-SBAS method implemented into ESA’s G-POD platform is tested for London and Newcastle using ERS-1/2 1992-2000 and ENVISAT 2002-2008 image stacks, revealing a decrease of the processing time demand from several days to only ~8 hours per image frame

On the use of the ISBAS Acronym in InSAR Aapplications. Comment on Vajedian, S.; Motagh, M.; Nilfouroushan, F. StaMPS Improvement for Deformation Analysis in Mountainous Regions: Implications for the Damavand Volcano and Mosha Fault in Alborz. Remote Sens. 2015, 7, 8323–8347

Vajedian et al. [1] present an improved method for the derivation of deformation parameters using satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data. The method is a modification of the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) method as implemented in the StaMPS (Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers) software. The modification includes many steps including the filtering of the differential interferograms, integration with GPS data and advanced phase unwrapping “to overcome a lot of short- and long-wavelength artifacts that are clearly visible in StaMPS results” (cf. [1], p. 8331). The authors refer to this new approach as the Improved SBAS, or ISBAS, method. [...

Le grotte turistiche e la protezione dell’ambiente

Il ruolo delle grotte turistiche per lo sviluppo di studi e ricerche in grotta è ormai ampiamente documentato nonostante certe posizioni minoritarie in ambito speleologico che ritengono come lo sviluppo a scopo turistico di una grotta ne comporti invece la perdita della stessa per la scienza. Tuttavia, il fatto che i gestori possano sostenere con varie modalità l’attività scientifica non assicura di per se che lo sviluppo della grotta avvenga nel rispetto dell’ambiente stesso. Per questo motivo si è sentita la necessità, già da un paio di decenni, di formulare delle linee guida che potessero fornire dei criteri per garantire nel contempo la sicurezza dei visitatori e la protezione dell’ambiente sempre nell’ambito di una gestione economicamente vantaggiosa. La stesura di queste linee guida si è così evoluta nel corso degli anni grazie al contributo di numerosi specialisti e sotto l’egida di organizzazioni internazionali quali l’ISCA, l’UIS e l’IUCN-WCPA. I risultati delle successive elaborazioni sono stati presentati a diversi congressi sia nazionali che internazionali assicurando così ulteriori contributi. Recentemente si è evidenziato un conflitto d’interesse tra taluni gestori di grotte turistiche e la necessità di garantire l’applicazione di inderogabili principi scientifici per conseguire una efficiente protezione delle grotte che, d’altra parte, assicura la buona conservazione della fonte di guadagno per la stessa gestione.Show caves and environmental protection. The role played by show caves for the development of studies and researches in caves is already widely reported notwithstanding some minor groups within the speleological domain which assume that the tourist development of a cave implies its loss for science. However, the fact that show cave managers might support the scientific research according different forms, does not imply necessarily that the development of a cave is obtained with the due respect for the environment. For this reason, already twenty years ago, it was felt the necessity to have some guidelines aiming to the safety of visitors and the protection of the environment as well as a cave management economically profitable. The preparations of such guidelines developed along many years thanks to the contribute of a number of specialists under the aegis of international organisations as ISCA, UIS and IUCN-WCPA. The results of the successive drafts were delivered in some national and internationals congresses and got additional contributions. Recently clashing interests were found between some show cave managers and the need to assure the application of unbreakable scientific principles to achieve an reliable cave protections, which, on the other hand, are a guarantee for the best conservation of the income source of the management itself

Coverage of exposed hardware after lower leg fractures with free flaps or pedicled flaps

Abstract. – OBJECTIVE: The placement of osteosynthetic materials in the leg may be complicated by hardware exposure. Successful soft tissue reconstruction often provides a critical means for limb salvage in patients with hardware exposure in the leg. Free flaps are currently considered the standard surgical procedure for soft tissue coverage of the wounds with internal hardware exposure. However, to date, no conclusive literature shows the superiority of a specific type of flap. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The current review compares data from the literature concerning outcomes and complications of free and pedicled flaps for exposed osteosynthetic material preservation in the leg. RESULTS: A total of 81 cases from twelve different articles presenting internal hardware exposure of the leg were analyzed in our study. Thirty-two patients underwent immediate reconstructive surgery with pedicled flaps, while forty-nine patients underwent free flap reconstruction. The overall survival rate for pedicled flaps was 96.77%, while for free flaps it was 97.77%. The overall implant preservation rate was 78.12% for pedicled flaps and 53.33% for free flaps. With reference to postoperative complications, the overall complication rate was 46.87% for pedicled flaps and 10.20% for free flaps. CONCLUSIONS: No significant difference was found in terms of overall flap survival. However, a significant difference was found regarding successful implant preservation (78.12% in the pedicled flap group vs. 53.33% in the free flap group). In particular, the first observation appears to be in contrast with the current trend of considering the free flaps the first choice procedure for soft tissue coverage of the wounds with internal hardware exposure. Nevertheless, a higher occurrence of postoperative complications was observed in the pedicled flap group (46.87% vs. 10.20%). The choice of the most appropriate reconstructive procedure should take into account several issues including the size of the wounds with internal hardware exposure, the possibility of soft tissue coverage with pedicled flaps, the availability of recipient vessels, general conditions of the patients (such as age, diabetes, smoking history), patients’ preference and presence of a microsurgical team. However, according to the results of this review, we believe that pedicled flap reconstruction should be reconsidered as a valid alternative procedure for skin tissue loss with hardware exposure whenever it is possible

Postoperative care in finger replantation. Our case-load and review of the literature

OBJECTIVE: Technical success of a finger replantation depends on several factors such as surgical procedure, type of injury, number of segments amputated, amputation level and individual patient factors. Among early complications that can occur in this type of surgery the onset of venous or arterial thrombosis is the most dreaded. Local irrigating solutions, oral and intravenous anticoagulants, thrombolytic agents, plasma expanders, vasodilating, and antiaggregant drugs are routinely used in patients undergoing microvascular procedures, but currently there is only a non-standardized practice based on anecdotal personal experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aim of our study is to review selected literature relating to perioperative therapy in microsurgical digital replantation. We also report our case-load of 16 patients with finger avulsion describing our particular protocol for postoperative anticoagulation and restoration of fluid and electrolyte balance. RESULTS: Following our daily pharmacological protocol, the postoperative course of the replanted fingers was uneventful. The survival rate for finger replantations performed was 100% (n = 16) with no need for surgical revisions. CONCLUSIONS: The association Dextran-40/Heparin/fluids in the proposed standardized pro-weight pharmacological protocol is an optimal postoperative prophylactic/therapeutic plan to reduce the incidence of endovascular thrombosis after replantation, so ensuring high rate of success in microvascular surgery

Geohazards affecting UNESCO WHL sites in the UK observed from geological data and satellite InSAR

Geohazards pose significant threats to cultural and natural heritage worldwide. In the UK, only 1 out of 29 UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites has been inscribed on the list of World Heritage in Danger, whilst it is widely accepted that many more could be affected by geohazards. In this paper we set out the foundations of a methodological approach to analyse geological, geohazard and remote sensing data available at the British Geological Survey to retrieve an overview of geohazards affecting the UK WHL sites. The Castles and Town Walls (constructed in the time of King Edward I) in Gwynedd in north Wales are used as test sites to showcase the methodology for geohazard assessment at the scale of individual property also to account for situations of varied geology and local topography across multiproperty WHL sites. How such baseline geohazard assessment can be combined with space-borne radar interferometry (InSAR) data is showcased for the four UNESCO WHL sites located in Greater London. Our analysis feeds into the innovative contribution that the JPI-CH project PROTHEGO ‘PROTection of European cultural HEritage from GeOhazards’ (www.prothego.eu) is making towards mapping geohazards in the 400+ WHL sites of Europe by exploiting non-invasive remote sensing methods and surveying technologies

Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) pixel density vs. geology and land use in semi-arid regions in Syria

36 ENVISAT ASAR images acquired in 2002 to 2010 along descending passes with nominal revisiting time of 35 days were processed over the whole region of Homs, western Syria, by implementing the low-pass Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) technique. More than 280,000 coherent pixels with ~100m ground resolution were obtained. We analysed pixel spatial distribution in respect of local geology and land use, to assess to what extent these factors can influence the performance of an interferometric deformation analysis in a semi-arid environment. Filtering out the amount of pixels associated with the urban fabric of Homs and surrounding villages, it is apparent that limestone and marl units are less prone to generate coherent pixels if compared with the basalt units in the north-western sector of the processed region. The latter resulted in pixel density of ~50-60 pixels/km2, which is comparable with that found over urban settlements and man-made structures