Diachronic analysis of the urban expansion of Amazonian cities through GIS tools and remote sensing: the case of Iquitos in Peru

openAl giorno d’oggi una grande quantità di informazioni sulla superficie terrestre è disponibile grazie a sistemi di telerilevamento come i satelliti. Queste tecnologie si sono sviluppate negli ultimi decenni, consentendo il loro utilizzo in molteplici aree di ricerca. In particolare, l’installazione di sensori multispettrali nei satelliti ha permesso l’acquisizione di dati importanti per lo studio dei diversi elementi che compongono il paesaggio terrestre. In questa tesi i dati raccolti grazie a queste tecnologie saranno utilizzati con lo scopo di analizzare lo sviluppo di una città situata nella foresta amazzonica peruviana. Nel capitolo 1 saranno introdotti i sistemi di telerilevamento e GIS utilizzati e sarà svolto un inquadramento geografico dell’area presa in considerazione, ovvero dell'Amazzonia peruviana e in particolare della città di Iquitos, la quale sarà descritta soffermandosi sulle sue principali caratteristiche e la sua storia. Saranno trattate anche le diverse problematiche causate dall'espansione urbana in questo territorio e saranno discusse alcune strategie utili per contrastarle. Nello specifico, saranno approfonditi i temi trattati durante il tirocinio in alcuni incontri del programma Virtual Exchange To Tackle Wicked Problems (VAMOS, progetto KA2 Erasmus+) insieme a studenti brasiliani dell’Università Federale di Parà. Il capitolo 2 sarà dedicato alla descrizione delle metodologie usate per lo svolgimento dell’analisi diacronica dell’area di studio nell’arco temporale considerato. Nella prima parte del lavoro saranno ottenute delle immagini Landsat con le quali saranno poi eseguite delle analisi tramite il software QGIS volte ad individuare l’estensione del suolo urbanizzato nell’area considerata. I dati ricavati saranno poi elaborati per poter illustrare sia qualitativamente che quantitativamente lo sviluppo della città considerata. Il capitolo 3 sarà destinato alla presentazione, alla discussione e al confronto dei risultati ottenuti dalle diverse analisi allo scopo di poter evidenziare i processi e le dinamiche dell’espansione urbana nell’area di studio. Infine, il capitolo 4 sarà dedicato alle possibili conclusioni che possono essere tratte da questo elaborato

Degradation rate of 5-fluorouracil in metastatic colorectal cancer. A new predictive outcome biomarker?

BACKGROUND: 5-FU based chemotherapy is the most common first line regimen used for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Identification of predictive markers of response to chemotherapy is a challenging approach for drug selection. The present study analyzes the predictive role of 5-FU degradation rate (5-FUDR) and genetic polymorphisms (MTHFR, TSER, DPYD) on survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genetic polymorphisms of MTHFR, TSER and DPYD, and the 5-FUDR of homogenous patients with mCRC were retrospectively studied. Genetic markers and the 5-FUDR were correlated with clinical outcome. RESULTS: 133 patients affected by mCRC, treated with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy from 2009 to 2014, were evaluated. Patients were classified into three metabolic classes, according to normal distribution of 5-FUDR in more than 1000 patients, as previously published: poor-metabolizer (PM) with 5-FU-DR ≤ 0,85 ng/ml/106 cells/min (8 pts); normal metabolizer with 0,85 < 5-FU-DR < 2,2 ng/ml/106 cells/min (119 pts); ultra-rapid metabolizer (UM) with 5-FU-DR ≥ 2,2 ng/ml/106 cells/min (6 pts). PM and UM groups showed a longer PFS respect to normal metabolizer group (14.5 and 11 months respectively vs 8 months; p = 0.029). A higher G3-4 toxicity rate was observed in PM and UM, respect to normal metabolizer (50% in both PM and UM vs 18%; p = 0.019). No significant associations between genes polymorphisms and outcomes or toxicities were observed. CONCLUSION: 5-FUDR seems to be significantly involved in predicting survival of patients who underwent 5-FU based CHT for mCRC. Although our findings require confirmation in large prospective studies, they reinforce the concept that individual genetic variation may allow personalized selection of chemotherapy to optimize clinical outcomes

Polynomial mapped bases: theory and applications

In this paper, we collect the basic theory and the most important applications of a novel technique that has shown to be suitable for scattered data interpolation, quadrature, bio-imaging reconstruction. The method relies on polynomial mapped bases allowing, for instance, to incorporate data or function discontinuities in a suitable mapping function. The new technique substantially mitigates the Runge's and Gibbs effects

Life Cycle Based Evaluation of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Agricultural Productions in the Mediterranean Area

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied to estimate the cradle-to-grave environmental impact of agricultural products or processes. Furthermore, including in the analysis an economic evaluation, from the perspective of an integrated life cycle approach, appears nowadays as a fundamental improvement. In particular, Life Cycle Costing (LCC), is a method that could integrate financial data and cost information with metrics of life cycle approaches. In this study, LCA in conjunction with LCC methods were used, with the aim to evaluate the main cost drivers—environmental and economic—of five widely diffused and market-valued agricultural productions (organic tomato and pear, integrated wheat, apple and chicory) and to combine the results in order to understand the long-term externalities impacts of agricultural productions. Data obtained in local assessment show a wide margin of improvement of resources management at farms level in the short-term, but also allow for the investigation of future effects of environmental impacts not expressed in product price on the market. Reaching a real sustainable model for agriculture could be a value added approach firstly for farmers, but also for all the people who live in rural areas or use agricultural products

Application of data fusion techniques to direct geographical traceability indicators

A hierarchical data fusion approach has been developed proposing multivariate curve resolution (MCR) as a variable reduction tool. The case study presented concerns the characterization of soil samples of the Modena District. It was performed in order to understand, at a pilot study stage, the geographical variability of the zone prior to planning a representative soils sampling to derive geographical traceability models for Lambrusco Wines. Soils samples were collected from four producers of Lambrusco Wines, located in in-plane and hill areas. Depending on the extension of the sampled fields the number of points collected varies from three to five and, for each point, five depth levels were considered. The different data blocks consisted of X-ray powder diffraction (XRDP) spectra, metals concentrations relative to thirty-four elements and the 87Sr/86Sr isotopic abundance ratio, a very promising geographical traceability marker. A multi steps data fusion strategy has been adopted. Firstly, the metals concentrations dataset was weighted and concatenated with the values of strontium isotopic ratio and compressed. The resolved components described common patterns of variation of metals content and strontium isotopic ratio. The X-ray powder spectra profiles were resolved in three main components that can be referred to calcite, quartz and clays contributions. Then, a high-level data fusion approach was applied by combining the components arising from the previous data sets. The results show interesting links among the different components arising from XRDP, the metals pattern and to which of these 87Sr/86Sr Isotopic Ratio variation is closer. The combined information allowed capturing the variability of the analyzed soil samples

A mid level data fusion strategy for the Varietal Classification of Lambrusco PDO wines

Nowadays the necessity to reveal the hidden information from complex data sets is increasing due to the development of high-throughput instrumentation. The possibility to jointly analyze data sets arising from different sources (e.g. different analytical determinations/platforms) allows capturing the latent information that would not be extracted by the individual analysis of each block of data. Several approaches are proposed in the literature and are generally referred to as data fusion approaches. In this work a mid level data fusion is proposed for the characterization of three varieties (Salamino di Santa Croce, Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Sorbara) of Lambrusco wine, a typical PDO wine of the district of Modena (Italy). Wine samples of the three different varieties were analyzed by means of 1H-NMR spectroscopy, Emission-Excitation Fluorescence Spectroscopy and HPLC-DAD of the phenolic compounds. Since the analytical outputs are characterized by different dimensionalities (matrix and tensor), several multivariate analyses were applied (PCA, PARAFAC, MCR-ALS) in order to extract and merge, in a hierarchical way, the information present in each data set. The results showed that this approach was able to well characterize Lambrusco samples giving also the possibility to understand the correlation between the sources of information arising from the three analytical techniques

Interactions between the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Harmonia axyridis and the Parasitoid Dinocampus coccinellae

Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) has been introduced either intentionally or accidentally in different areas outside its native range, where it is often regarded as invasive. Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank) has been recorded to parasitize H. axyridis in the field, both in the native and introduced areas, Italy included. The percent of parasitism found in our field investigation was low (four percent).The effect of exposure time of H. axyridis to D. coccinellae and the impact of parasitization on host longevity, oviposition capacity and egg fertility were evaluated in the laboratory. The acceptance and suitability of H. axyridis as host for D. coccinellae were then studied, in comparison with the native coccinellid Adalia bipunctata (L.), which shares the same ecological niche. The effects of parasitization on female longevity and reproduction capacity in the exotic vs. the indigenous lady beetle were also investigated. The overall results showed that D. coccinellae negatively affected the fitness of H. axyridis, more than that of A. bipunctata. The parasitoid may thus play a marginal role in controlling the populations of the Asian lady beetle, without representing a threat to A. bipunctata

Photo-Fenton oxidation of phenol with magnetite as iron source

International audienceIn this work, magnetite-catalyzed Fenton reaction was investigated under UVA irradiation for the degradation of phenol as model compound. Four kinds of magnetite were used having different particle size, surface area and FeII content. Different kinetic behaviors were observed, thereby underscoring the strong implications of surface and chemical properties of magnetite. The size and surface area of the particles seemed to be less important, while the FeII/FeIII ratio played some role. Despite the link between magnetite reactivity and its structural FeII content, light-induced reduction of FeIII to FeII was found necessary to promote the Fenton-based reactions. As surface FeII may be oxidized or otherwise unavailable, initial photoactivation may be needed to trigger the Fenton reactivity. Two major driving forces were highlighted that account for the photoactivity of magnetite at pH 3: (i) the formation of intermediates such as hydroquinone that are able to reduce FeIII to FeII, and (ii) the accumulation of dissolved Fe due to magnetite dissolution, both in dark and under irradiation. Very interestingly, the photo-Fenton degradation of phenol was also observed under neutral conditions. In this case, for two out of four samples, the degradation rates were quite near those found at pH 3, which is usually reported as the optimum pH value of the process. The magnetite ability to promote photo-Fenton reactions even under circumneutral pH conditions, the limited iron leaching and its easy magnetic separation makes magnetite a promising catalyst in wastewater treatment applications

Religious Pilgrimage: Experiencing Places, Objects and Events

This article explores the concept of the Eventization of faith (Pfadenhauer, 2010) through application of three case studies, to identify learning that might be applied to a traditional pilgrimage destination, such as Jerusalem. This Holy City is held sacred by the three Abrahamic religions, and faith-based tourism is central both to the Holy Land and to the city of Jerusalem (Leppakari & Griffin, 2017). This paper builds on research that identifies processes and models that provide insight into the developing concept of the eventization of faith. The work examines outcomes from three different perspectives: - The impact of traditional church-led pilgrimages to places in the Holy Land, on participants and their local church communities. - The successful eventization of the Lindisfarne Gospels as part of their release to Durham University in 2013, and the impact on local historical, cultural and religious identity and heritage (Dowson, 2019). - The shared pilgrimage experience of thousands of Christian women participating in the annual Cherish Conference in Leeds, Yorkshire, held in a secular event venue (Dowson, 2016). In analysing these three case study examples, this paper aims to identify factors that might enhance our understanding of the concept of eventization of faith. Utilising face to face interviews and online survey results, the research focuses on the aspects of community, identity and authenticity. Events enable shared experiences in a faith context (Lee et al., 2015), and so this research develops a model that captures and expresses approaches that might encourage pilgrimages to traditional destinations, through the medium of events, adding insight into the development of the academic concept of Eventization of Faith

Colonização nasal por Staphylococcus aureus em indivíduos com HIV/Aids atendidos em um hospital-escola brasileiro

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the prevalence of nasal colonization with Staphylococcus aureus in individuals with HIV/AIDS under inpatient treatment in a teaching hospital in the state of São Paulo (Brazil). METHOD: a cross-sectional study undertaken in two units specialized in attending people living with HIV/AIDS, in the period August 2011 - July 2012. Socio-demographic and clinical data was collected through individual interviews and from the medical records; samples of nasal secretion were collected with Stuart swabs on the first day of inpatient treatment. Ethical aspects were respected. RESULT: of the 229 individuals with HIV/AIDS hospitalized in this period, 169 participated in the study, with Staphylococcus aureus being identified in the culture tests of 46 (27.2%) of the individuals, resistance to oxacillin being evidenced in 10 (21.8%) participants. CONCLUSION: the results of the research indicate that the prevalence of colonization with Staphylococcus aureus in individuals with HIV/AIDS in the specialized units was considered relevant, possibly contributing to future investigations and, moreover, to the implementation of measures to prevent and control this pathogen in this population.OBJETIVO: evaluar la prevalencia de la colonización nasal por Staphylococcus aureus en individuos con VIH/sida internados en un hospital escuela del Estado de São Paulo (Brasil). MÉTODO: estudio trasversal, desarrollado en dos unidades especializadas en la atención a personas que viven con VIH/ sida, en el período de agosto del 2011 a julio del 2012. Fueron recolectados datos sociodemográficos y clínicos, mediante entrevista individual y archivo; las muestras de secreción nasal fueron recolectadas mediante Swab Stuart en el primer día de internación. Los aspectos éticos fueron contemplados. RESULTADOS: de los 229 individuos con VIH/sida internados en el período, 169 participaron del estudio, siendo identificado Staphylococcus aureus en las pruebas de cultura de 46 (27,2%) de los individuos, evidenciándose resistencia a la oxacilina en 10 (21,8%) participantes. CONCLUSIÓN: los resultados de la investigación indican que la prevalencia de la colonización por Staphylococcus aureus en individuos con VIH/sida internados en las unidades especializadas fue considerada relevante y puede contribuir a otras investigaciones y, además, para implementar medidas de prevención y de control de ese patógeno en esa población.OBJETIVO: avaliar a prevalência da colonização nasal por Staphylococcus aureus em indivíduos com HIV/Aids internados em um hospital-escola do Estado de São Paulo (Brasil). MÉTODO: estudo de corte transversal, realizado em duas unidades especializadas no atendimento a pessoas que vivem com HIV/ Aids, no período de agosto 2011 a julho 2012. Foram coletados dados sociodemográficos e clínicos, por entrevista individual e prontuário; as amostras de secreção nasal foram coletadas por meio de swab Stuart no primeiro dia de internação. Os aspectos éticos foram contemplados. RESULTADOS: dos 229 indivíduos com HIV/Aids internados no período, 169 participaram do estudo, sendo identificado Staphylococcus aureus nos exames de cultura de 46 (27,2%) dos indivíduos, evidenciando-se resistência à oxacilina em 10 (21,8%) participantes. CONCLUSÃO: os resultados da pesquisa apontam que a prevalência da colonização por Staphylococcus aureus em indivíduos com HIV/Aids internados nas unidades especializadas foi considerada relevante, podendo contribuir para novas investigações e, ainda, para implementar medidas de prevenção e de controle desse patógeno nessa população