Ethics, scientific research and goals of public usefulness

In the research activity, often the necessary fulfillment of administrative and bureaucratic practices can lead to neglecting the transfer of scientific results to the community, with the effect of a loss in terms of cultural growth for society itself, which has indirectly financed the products of that research and at the end risks not to have advantage by using them. In a research project, it is necessary to find the right balance between the scientific-technical work and the financial and administrative management, and to assess time needed to develop the project in all its components, including the space for the dissemination and popularization of results respectively to professionals and citizens: the former could not be able to use achieved scientific advances for their application on the territory, the latter could remain passive people in decisions regarding the environment they inhabit, without the possibility for accessing to accurate information on natural hazards from which they must and can defend themselves. The authors will show how the different modalities of financing and managing of two research projects have influenced the achievement and the usability of the results, with diverse consequences in the social contexts where these results would find their suitable application. In addition, through the two experiences, they will highlights the importance of collaboration between research and professional world for pursuing goals of public usefulness

Pavement Management System model using a LCCA- microsimulation integrated approach

The maintenance and the rehabilitation of the urban road pavements are not often based on systematic program and scheduling but rather on emergency or on other not identified reasons. Moreover the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA), the only peculiar procedure for the management pavement, finds its own application for highway and motorway, even if it is possible to search the best investment for the urban interstate and arterials. By the light of the quantity of the involved resources, it seems necessary to define an operative methodology for programming the maintenance and rehabilitation activities for the urban pavement. The paper is oriented towards the development of a multidisciplinary approach to make decision on management of urban pavement using the basic concepts of the LCCA and micro-simulation model to define a scheme of work zone that minimizes the delay on the traffic flow. The best rehabilitation strategy should be characterized by the lowest users’ cost that depends on the time period of the work zone, which is conditioned by both own scheme and the provided treatment, and on “social cost” as increased travel time for queue generation . Different scenarios for different work zone plans were developed and a micro-simulation model was used to assess increased total travel time of a traffic flow within the maintenance area. In this work an analysis by means of the above mentioned approach was carried out on real scenario in the city of Palermo in order to point out the several frames of the adopted methodolog

Applying the Values of Geoethics for Sustainable Speleotourism Development

AbstractEstablishing sustainable and responsible speleotourism development is a major challenge and involves complex activities. Adequate theoretical starting point is the application of geoethical values related to the conservation and protection of the caves to be used for touristic purposes. Positive and negative cases of human behaviors towards speleological geoheritage are discussed, in order to highlight what should be done in cave management to avoid malpractices and on what elements could be founded adequate strategies aimed at promoting sustainable speleotourism. This is important to tourism management organizations involved in the promotion of caves and in creating economic opportunities for local populations, while respecting cave ecosystems. Modern cave management must be focused on the protection of the cave ecosystems, finding ways to achieve at the same time an economic development of local communities. But this approach needs the adoption of a geoethical framework of values to be shared by all stakeholders involved so that successful cooperation can be achieved despite differences in interests and expectations. The aim of this paper is to raise the awareness about the need to apply the values of geoethics to speleotourism, stimulating new fields of discussion within the scientific and technical communities involved in studies and activities related to geotourism and geoheritage. The possibilities of developing new ways to manage caves, in order to promote a sustainable socio-economic development of local communities, have to be balanced with the protection of natural environments as much as possible. The proposed theoretical frameworks have the goal to increase the discussion on the best ways of connecting speleotourism to sustainable and responsible cave management, presenting two case studies, and pointing out potential solutions

On an Umbral point of view to the Gaussian and Gaussian like functions

In this note we review the theory of Gaussian functions by exploiting a point of view based on symbolic methods of umbral nature. We introduce quasi-Gaussian functions, which are close to Gaussian distribution but have a longer tail. Their use and their link with hypergeometric function is eventually presented

On an Umbral Point of View of the Gaussian and Gaussian-like Functions

The theory of Gaussian functions is reformulated using an umbral point of view. The symbolic method we adopt here allows an interpretation of the Gaussian in terms of a Lorentzian image function. The formalism also suggests the introduction of a new point of view of trigonometry, opening a new interpretation of the associated special functions. The Erfi ( x ) , is, for example, interpreted as the “sine” of the Gaussian trigonometry. The possibilities offered by the Umbral restyling proposed here are noticeable and offered by the formalism itself. We mention the link between higher-order Gaussian trigonometric functions, Hermite polynomials, and the possibility of introducing new forms of distributions with longer tails than the ordinary Gaussians. The possibility of framing the theoretical content of the present article within a redefinition of the hypergeometric function is eventually discussed

Utilization of big data to improve management of the emergency departments. Results of a systematic review

Background. The emphasis on using big data is growing exponentially in several sectors including biomedicine, life sciences and scientific research, mainly due to advances in information technologies and data analysis techniques. Actually, medical sciences can rely on a large amount of biomedical information and Big Data can aggregate information around multiple scales, from the DNA to the ecosystems. Given these premises, we wondered if big data could be useful to analyze complex systems such as the Emergency Departments (EDs) to improve their management and eventually patient outcomes. Methods. We performed a systematic review of the literature to identify the studies that implemented the application of big data in EDs and to describe what have already been done and what are the expectations, issues and challenges in this field. Results. Globally, eight studies met our inclusion criteria concerning three main activities: the management of ED visits, the ED process and activities and, finally, the prediction of the outcome of ED patients. Although the results of the studies show good perspectives regarding the use of big data in the management of emergency departments, there are still some issues that make their use still difficult. Most of the predictive models and algorithms have been applied only in retrospective studies, not considering the challenge and the costs of a real-time use of big data. Only few studies highlight the possible usefulness of the large volume of clinical data stored into electronic health records to generate evidence in real time. Conclusion. The proper use of big data in this field still requires a better management information flow to allow real-time application

The Cape Town Statement on Geoethics

Recently the interest by geoscientists in (geo)ethical aspects of geoscience knowledge, education, research, practice and communication has grown considerably. Today the topic of geoethics has gained a significant visibility within the scientific community. The IAPG – International Association for Promoting Geoethics (http://www.geoethics.org), founded in 2012, has worked to widen the discussion and create awareness about issues of ethics as applied to the geosciences. Thanks to continuous voluntary work, the respectful exchange, and fruitful sharing of ideas, the IAPG community has produced a conceptual substratum on which to base the future development of geoethics, by clarifying the meaning of the word “geoethics”, formalizing its definition, and better identifying a framework of reference values on which the geoscience community can base more effective codes of conduct and guidance. The members of the IAPG community have published various books and articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and organized numerous scientific sessions to bring geoethics to the most important geoscience conferences. Geoethical issues have been also included in the European project ENVRI-Plus, which is dedicated to the environmental and solid Earth research infrastructures. The tangible result of these efforts is that, now, many prestigious geoscience organizations recognize geoethics as a fundamental issue, worthy of attention. This result was confirmed by the high quality of content and the large participation of scientists in the six technical sessions and a panel session on geoethics organized by IAPG at the 35th IGC – International Geological Congress, held in 2016 in Cape Town (South Africa). Largely successful due to the cooperative work of different geoscience organizations (IUGS-TGGP – Task Group on Global Geoscience Professionalism; GSL - Geological Society of London; EFG - European Federation of Geologists; EGS - EuroGeoSurveys; AGI – American Geosciences Institute; AGU – American Geophysical Union, and AAWG – African Association of Women in Geosciences). The IAPG considers the 35th IGC as the scientific event that opened a new phase for furthering the concept of geoethics. In order to mark this milestone, the "Cape Town Statement on Geoethics" (CTSG) was tabled by the IAPG and reviewed in an international effort. It shall focus the attention of geoscientists on the development of shared values, policies, guidelines, strategies and tools, with the long-range goal of fostering the regular adoption of ethical values and practices within the geoscience community. The document summarizes the values, concepts, and contents developed by IAPG so far, providing a perspective for the future development of geoethical thinking. This paper addresses in detail the content of the “Cape Town Statement on Geoethics”, which is now supported officially by several geoscience organizations

Treebar Maps: Schematic Representation of Networks at Scale

Many data sets, crucial for today's applications, consist essentially of enormous networks, containing millions or even billions of elements. Having the possibility of visualizing such networks is of paramount importance. We propose an algorithmic framework and a visual metaphor, dubbed treebar map, to provide schematic representations of huge networks. Our goal is to convey the main features of the network's inner structure in a straightforward, two-dimensional, one-page drawing. This drawing effectively captures the essential quantitative information about the network's main components. Our experiments show that we are able to create such representations in a few hundreds of seconds. We demonstrate the metaphor's efficacy through visual examination of extensive graphs, highlighting how their diverse structures are instantly comprehensible via their representations.Comment: 27 pages, 32 figures, 1 tabl