Mend Magazine: Creating Awareness. Shifting Habits of Consumption.

Generation Y, or more commonly known as Millennials (born from 1981-1996) seamlessly blend the digital realm with the physical world, as a result of adolescence in a time when technology was adopted early on (Dimock, 2019 & Fromm et al, 2013). Research shows that millennials want constant participation and interactivity to be personally engaged and that millennials are a largely influential, specifically with family members (Fromm et al, 2013 and Lu et al, 2013). Combining the Millennial generation\u27s leverage with the topic of climate crisis there is opportunity for current and future generations to establish better habits early on. By creating a richer augmented reality experience along with an online magazine, future generations will become more knowledgeable and can build a positive impact linked to rethinking daily actions of consumption in relation to climate change. The scope of this thesis will investigate carbon emissions and how consumer choices are interrelated. Research included how to market to the Millennial generation, an investigation into why and how climate change is occurring, and what consumers can do to change their habits. Through visual design, I will explore augmented reality technology incorporated with an online magazine, callout graphics, and overlaying motion graphic animations. This solution will inform the audience to rethink daily actions and as a result, mend their consumption habits

The hidden world of artificial cavities in the northern Campania Plain: architectural variability and cataloging challenge

In Campania (southern Italy), sinkholes phenomena induced by the widespread presence of anthropogenic cavities in the Neapolitan and Caserta provinces are frequent and well-known. Nevertheless in many urban centers of this area, cavities have been reported in specific geological investigations although their real extent is almost unknown. In these towns the underground mining activities were performed to extract volcanic tuffs for buildings. The urban development have sealed every signal of the presence of cavities, which thus represent a geological hazard and contribute to subsoil instability of many places. The need to carry out a survey of underground quarrings in urban centers has two reasons: a) The anthropic hypogea represent an absolute documentary value, still unduly neglected and little used for the purposes of a correct and sustainable management of the territory, natural resources and historical and artistic heritage. The enhancement and sustainable reuse of hypogea contributes to enhancing the cultural and tourist promotion of a territory. b) In a correct urban management, the knowledge of the city subsoil is a priority, as the presence of cavities may easily trigger the collapse of the shallow or deeper soils. The difficulty of drawing up a univocal cataloging system lies in the definition of database framework that includes all the possible architectural, geological and geotechnical elements of the cavities. In fact, the type of extraction is not the same throughout the territory even over short distances as it was strongly conditioned by the lithological characteristics of the volcanoclastic material in the subsoil, as well as by the purpose of extraction. The construction of a cavity system initially involved an excavation carried out as a “bottle” or a “bell” from the ground level up to the tuff unit, developing at depth according to its thickness. During excavation, access points were realized through the poorly lithified or loose deposits, with a square or pseudo-circular cross-section; sometimes they were supported by containment walls made of tuff bricks resting on the lower tuff bank. A single vertical excavation is sometimes added at certain distance, so as to determine in depth the coalescence of several chambers, also through the construction of narrow tunnels or wide passages, long connecting tunnels, multiple level chambers. Access shafts were often realized with a system of stairs with one or more ramps, with steps directly carved into the tuff. This contribution will show the main cavity typologies recognized across an area north of Naples, although the study is still far from exhaustive. Data were managed into a GIS environment such as to provide a first proposal of a geological underground database framework

Metastatic melanoma: An unusual presentation

In this report we describe a case of a malignant cutaneous melanoma metastasizing to the pleural surface and peritoneal cavity 5 years after surgical resection of the primary lesion. Malignant cutaneous melanoma is a very aggressive cancer able to metastasize anywhere in the body. Pleural secondary lesions represent a rare event described only in a small number of patients and the association with peritoneal localizations may suggest an uncommon pattern of spread that we discuss. Free full text available at www.tumorionline.it

Complete response to capecitabine in a frail, elderly patient with metastatic colorectal cancer: A case report

The clinical management of frail, elderly patients affected by colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a subject of debate. The present study reports the case of an elderly man with metastatic CRC (mCRC) who was successfully treated with capecitabine. The patient survived for 29 months, thus highlighting its potential activity in terms of obtaining a complete response and high efficacy. A 77-year-old man presented with adenocarcinoma of the rectum with multiple and synchronous liver metastases, in addition to several comorbidities. The patient received single‑agent capecitabine chemotherapy (825 mg/mq twice a day) on days 1-14 of a 21-day cycle. Following 12 cycles of well-tolerated therapy, a computed tomography scan revealed a complete response with no evidence of liver metastases. An overall survival of 29 months was documented, and the patient eventually succumbed to a diabetes-related complication. In compromised patients with mCRC, reduced-dose capecitabine is an excellent therapeutic option due to its positive safety profile, activity and efficacy

Correlation between ion composition of oligomineral water and calcium oxalate crystal formation

The ion content of drinking water might be associated with urinary stone formation, representing a keystone of conservative nephrolithiasis management. However, the effects of specific ions on calcium oxalate crystal formation and their mechanism of action are still highly controversial. We report an investigation of the effects of oligomineral waters with similar total salt amount but different ion composition on calcium oxalate (CaOx) precipitation in vitro, combining gravimetric and microscopic assays. The results suggest that the “collective” physicochemical properties of the aqueous medium, deriving from the ion combination rather than from a single ionic species, are of importance. Particularly, the ability of ions to strengthen/weaken the aqueous medium structure determines an increase/decrease in the interfacial energy, modulating the formation and growth of CaOx crystals

Moody's Correlated Binomial Default Distributions for Inhomogeneous Portfolios

This paper generalizes Moody's correlated binomial default distribution for homogeneous (exchangeable) credit portfolio, which is introduced by Witt, to the case of inhomogeneous portfolios. As inhomogeneous portfolios, we consider two cases. In the first case, we treat a portfolio whose assets have uniform default correlation and non-uniform default probabilities. We obtain the default probability distribution and study the effect of the inhomogeneity on it. The second case corresponds to a portfolio with inhomogeneous default correlation. Assets are categorized in several different sectors and the inter-sector and intra-sector correlations are not the same. We construct the joint default probabilities and obtain the default probability distribution. We show that as the number of assets in each sector decreases, inter-sector correlation becomes more important than intra-sector correlation. We study the maximum values of the inter-sector default correlation. Our generalization method can be applied to any correlated binomial default distribution model which has explicit relations to the conditional default probabilities or conditional default correlations, e.g. Credit Risk${}^{+}$, implied default distributions. We also compare some popular CDO pricing models from the viewpoint of the range of the implied tranche correlation.Comment: 29 pages, 17 figures and 1 tabl

Predictability dynamics of emerging sovereign CDS markets

We compare the time-varying weak-form efficiency of Credit Default Swap (CDS) markets of 15 emerging countries by using permutation entropy approach. We find that CDS markets have different degrees of time-varying efficiency. Using several robustness test, we find that Thailand, China, South Korea and Malaysia have the most efficient CDS markets while South Africa, Colombia and Turkey are the least efficient. Our results show that CDS markets can be efficient even in the crisis episodes. Our findings also suggest a strong negative relation between sovereign risk and CDS market efficiency. © 2017 Elsevier B.V

Gas Analysis and Monitoring Systems for the RPC Detector of CMS at LHC

The Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) detector of the CMS experiment at the LHC proton collider (CERN, Switzerland) will employ an online gas analysis and monitoring system of the freon-based gas mixture used. We give an overview of the CMS RPC gas system, describe the project parameters and first results on gas-chromatograph analysis. Finally, we report on preliminary results for a set of monitor RPC.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Presented by Stefano Bianco (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell'INFN) at the IEEE NSS, San Diego (USA), October 200

NAB-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC): From clinical trials to clinical practice

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is an aggressive disease with poor prognosis. In a randomized phase III trial, combination of Nab-paclitaxel (Nab-P) plus gemcitabine showed superior activity and efficacy in first-line treatment compared with gemcitabine alone. METHODS: Nab-P is not dispensed in Italy; however, we obtained this drug from our Ethics Committee for compassionate use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety profile of this Nab-P and gemcitabine combination in a cohort of patients treated outside clinical trials. From January 2012 to May 2014, we included 41 patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma receiving combination of 125 mg/m(2) Nab-P and 1 g/m(2) gemcitabine on days 1, 8 and 15 of a 28-day cycle, as first-line treatment. Median age of patients was 67 (range 41-77) years, and 11 patients were aged ≥70 years. RESULTS: Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group performance status was 0 or 1 in 32 patients (78 %) and 2 in nine patients (22 %). Primary tumor was located in the pancreatic head or body/tail in 24 (58.5 %) and 17 (41.5 %) patients, respectively, and nine patients had received biliary stent implantation before starting chemotherapy. Median carbohydrate antigen 19-9 level was 469 U/l (range 17.4-61546 U/l) and 29 patients (70.7 %) had referred pain at the time of diagnosis. Patients received a median six cycles (range 1-14) of treatment. Overall response rate was 36.6 %; median progression-free survival was 6.7 months [(95 % confidence interval (CI) 5.966-8.034), and median overall survival was 10 months (95 % CI 7.864-12.136). Treatment was well tolerated. No grade 4 toxicity was reported. Grade 3 toxicity included neutropenia in 10 patients (24.3 %), thrombocytopenia in five (12 %), anemia in three (7.3 %), diarrhea in four (9.7 %), nausea and vomiting in two (4.9 %), and fatigue in six (14.6 %). Finally, pain control was achieved in 24 of 29 patients (82.3 %) with a performance status improvement of 10 % according to the Karnofsky scale. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that combination of gemcitabine plus Nab-P is effective both in terms of overall response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival, with a good safety profile.Background: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is an aggressive disease with poor prognosis. In a randomized phase III trial, combination of Nab-paclitaxel (Nab-P) plus gemcitabine showed superior activity and efficacy in first-line treatment compared with gemcitabine alone. Methods: Nab-P is not dispensed in Italy; however, we obtained this drug from our Ethics Committee for compassionate use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety profile of this Nab-P and gemcitabine combination in a cohort of patients treated outside clinical trials. From January 2012 to May 2014, we included 41 patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma receiving combination of 125 mg/m2 Nab-P and 1 g/m2 gemcitabine on days 1, 8 and 15 of a 28-day cycle, as first-line treatment. Median age of patients was 67 (range 41-77) years, and 11 patients were aged ≥70 years. Results: Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group performance status was 0 or 1 in 32 patients (78 %) and 2 in nine patients (22 %). Primary tumor was located in the pancreatic head or body/tail in 24 (58.5 %) and 17 (41.5 %) patients, respectively, and nine patients had received biliary stent implantation before starting chemotherapy. Median carbohydrate antigen 19-9 level was 469 U/l (range 17.4-61546 U/l) and 29 patients (70.7 %) had referred pain at the time of diagnosis. Patients received a median six cycles (range 1-14) of treatment. Overall response rate was 36.6 %; median progression-free survival was 6.7 months [(95 % confidence interval (CI) 5.966-8.034), and median overall survival was 10 months (95 % CI 7.864-12.136). Treatment was well tolerated. No grade 4 toxicity was reported. Grade 3 toxicity included neutropenia in 10 patients (24.3 %), thrombocytopenia in five (12 %), anemia in three (7.3 %), diarrhea in four (9.7 %), nausea and vomiting in two (4.9 %), and fatigue in six (14.6 %). Finally, pain control was achieved in 24 of 29 patients (82.3 %) with a performance status improvement of 10 % according to the Karnofsky scale. Conclusions: Our results confirm that combination of gemcitabine plus Nab-P is effective both in terms of overall response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival, with a good safety profile