Erosion Rate of the Aliano Biancana Badlands Based on a 3D Multi-Temporal High-Resolution Survey and Implications for Wind-Driven Rain

Biancana badlands are peculiar landforms in the Basilicata region of Italy resulting from the local combination of geological, geomorphological, and climatic settings. The evolution of badlands mainly depends on slope erosion, which is controlled by the angle, exposure, and vegetation of the slope and its interactions with insolation, rain, and wind. Multi-temporal, detailed, high-resolution surveys have led researchers to assess changes in slopes to investigate the spatial distributions of erosion and deposition and the influence of wind-driven rain (WDR). A comparison between two terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) point clouds surveyed during 2006 and 2016 fieldwork showed that the study area suffers from intense erosion that is not spatially uniform on all sides of biancane. By combining slope and exposure data and the cloud of difference (CoD), derived from a 3D model, we showed that all the steepest southern sides of biancane suffered the most intense erosion. Because splash and sheet erosion triggers sediment displacement, the analysis was also focused on the intensity and direction of WDR. We performed a real field experiment analysing erosion rates over 10 years in relation to daily and hourly wind data (direction and speed), and we found that frequent winds of moderate force, combined with moderate to heavy rainfall, contributed to the observed increase in soil erosion when combined with the insolation effect. Our results show how all the considered factors interact in a complex pattern to control the spatial distribution of erosion

A Bayesian Network for Flood Detection Combining SAR Imagery and Ancillary Data

Accurate flood mapping is important for both planning activities during emergencies and as a support for the successive assessment of damaged areas. A valuable information source for such a procedure can be remote sensing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. However, flood scenarios are typical examples of complex situations in which different factors have to be considered to provide accurate and robust interpretation of the situation on the ground. For this reason, a data fusion approach of remote sensing data with ancillary information can be particularly useful. In this paper, a Bayesian network is proposed to integrate remotely sensed data, such as multitemporal SAR intensity images and interferometric-SAR coherence data, with geomorphic and other ground information. The methodology is tested on a case study regarding a flood that occurred in the Basilicata region (Italy) on December 2013, monitored using a time series of COSMO-SkyMed data. It is shown that the synergetic use of different information layers can help to detect more precisely the areas affected by the flood, reducing false alarms and missed identifications which may affect algorithms based on data from a single source. The produced flood maps are compared to data obtained independently from the analysis of optical images; the comparison indicates that the proposed methodology is able to reliably follow the temporal evolution of the phenomenon, assigning high probability to areas most likely to be flooded, in spite of their heterogeneous temporal SAR/InSAR signatures, reaching accuracies of up to 89%

Spatial evolution of the December 2013 Metaponto plain (Basilicata, Italy) flood event using multi-source and high-resolution remotely sensed data

We present a multi-layer, multi-temporal flood map of the event occurred on December 2013 in Basilicata (southern Italy), documenting the spatial evolution of the inundated areas through time, as well as some ground effects of floodwaters inferred from the imagery. The map, developed within a GIS and consisting of four, 1:20,000 scale, different layers, was prepared using image processing, visual image interpretation and field survey controls. We used two COSMO-SkyMed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, acquired during the event, and a Plèiades-1B High-Resolution optical image, acquired at the end of the event. We also used the information derived from the satellite imagery to update some local features of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) geospatial database, and then integrated it within the flood map. A classified multi-temporal dynamic map of inundation and flood effects has been produced in the form of a multi-layer pdf file (Main Map)

Fusariosis in a Patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Fusarium spp. causes infections mostly in patients with prolonged neutropenia. We describe the case of a disseminated Fusariumsolani infection in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia which never reached complete remission during its clinical course. The patient had profound neutropenia and developed skin nodules and pneumonia in spite of posaconazole prophylaxis. F. solani was isolated from blood and skin biopsy, being identified from its morphology and by molecular methods. By broth dilution method, the strain was resistant to azoles, including voriconazole and posaconazole, and to echinocandins. MIC to amphotericin B was 4 mg/L. The patient initially seemed to benefit from therapy with voriconazole and amphotericin B, but, neutropenia perduring, his clinical condition deteriorated with fatal outcome. All efforts should be made to determine the correct diagnosis as soon as possible in a neutropenic patient and to treat this infection in a timely way, assuming pathogen susceptibility while tests of antimicrobial susceptibility are pending. A review of the most recent literature on invasive fungal infections is reported

TECNICHE DI RILIEVO DIGITALE IN GROTTA. L’ESEMPIO DELLE GROTTE “GRAVE DEL PULO” E “GROTTA MARIO” DEL PULO DI ALTAMURA

Il presente lavoro illustra alcune tecniche di rilievo in grotta e di analisi dati per la proiezione di mappe 2D georeferenziate e modelli 3D delle stesse. L’analisi dei dati e l’elaborazione dei rilievi è effettuata con l’ausilio di software specifici e open source. E’ presentato il rilievo di due cavità ipogee del Pulo di Altamura: Grotta del Pulo PU 1238 (Grotta Mario) e Grave del Pulo PU 860 (Inghiottitoio). La creazione di mappe 2D e modelli 3D risulta essere un utile strumento in campo speleologico, permettendo di acquisire una visione chiara della forma, dell’andamento, delle dimensioni e delle caratteristiche della cavità naturale senza dover necessariamente ricorre a tecniche complesse di rilievo (ad es. laserscanning o fotogrammetria digitale

Near station topographic masses correction for high-accuracy gravimetric prospetting

The expanding role of gravity prospecting in mineral and hydrocarbon exploration as well as seismic and volcanic risk studies will be related to its ability to provide high-resolution anomalies. To achieve this goal it is necessary to consider the errors resulting from the topographic corrections, in particular near-station effects. Such errors are relevant not only for severe topographies but also for relatively flat surfaces involving microgravity applications and large-scale surveys. Indeed, the errors introduced by low-resolution digital elevation models can be of the same order of magnitude as the anomalies of interest. This basic fact is demonstrated by tests on synthetic models. The results of this analysis are summarized in an intuitive graph that can be used to estimate what near-station topographic resolution is necessary for a specific survey. For the Vulcano Island test site (in Southern Italy), we also compare results obtained using three different representations of the topographic surface with different horizontal resolutions and vertical precisions: one from existing photogrammetric data, the second from a digitized map and the third from a very high-resolution laser scanning system. Among the three methods, laser scanning is shown to obtain the highest resolution topographic reconstructions in the shortest time. Some weaknesses of the laser scanning methodology are discussed and we suggest ways of overcoming them