Experimental investigation on a geocontainer Submerged reef

Geotextile sand containers (GSC) have been used as permanent construction elements in coastal works for more than 20 years,becoming more and more popular as an alternative to the most typical coastal structures. Aim of this work is to analyze the hydrodynamic, stability and morphodynamic response of a GSC submerged reef by means of an experimental campaign. The first investigated aspect concerned the hydrodynamics. The reflection and transmission coefficients for regular and random waves were determined: the reflection coefficient decreases with increasing of kh; the transmission coefficient decreases with the increase of the incident wave. As regards the stability of the structure, it was observed that the strongest waves were able to lift the row of GSC more exposed to the wave action. An instability curve for the GSC as a function of the hydrodynamic characteristics was then found. Flow visualization close to the reef was performed by means of ink, showing that the flow becomes asymmetric in the proximity of the structure. Concerning the morphodynamics, long-term tests were performed to calculate the scour. This reached its maximum value at the end of each test and it is present in all three cases. The scour causes serious problems of instability to the structure

Napoleone Colajanni La Grande guerra e la Rivoluzione russa

In this essay the author studies the influence of Russian revolutionary events on the democratic interventionist Napoleone Colajanni's institutional and political activity, during and after WWI. From the analysis of his written work, published in many magazines, emerges Colajanni's enthusiasm for the February Revolution and his condemnation of the October Revolution. He considered the latter anti-democratic and authoritarian, because of its application of Bolshevik ideology, and also that it had influenced Italian reformism to adopt maximalist positions. From this derived his efforts to conjugate socialism and democracy, even if before his death Colajanni showed some appreciation for the first steps of Fascism

Granular size segregation in underwater sand ripples

We report an experimental study of a binary sand bed under an oscillating water flow. The formation and evolution of ripples is observed. The appearance of a granular segregation is shown to strongly depend on the sand bed preparation. The initial wavelength of the mixture is measured. In the final steady state, a segregation in volume is observed instead of a segregation at the surface as reported before. The correlation between this phenomenon and the fluid flow is emphasised. Finally, different ``exotic'' patterns and their geophysical implications are presented.Comment: 8 page

Super-resolution provided by the arbitrarily strong superlinearity of the blackbody radiation

Blackbody radiation is a fundamental phenomenon in nature, and its explanation by Planck marks a cornerstone in the history of Physics. In this theoretical work, we show that the spectral radiance given by Planck's law is strongly superlinear with temperature, with an arbitrarily large local exponent for decreasing wavelengths. From that scaling analysis, we propose a new concept of super-resolved detection and imaging: if a focused beam of energy is scanned over an object that absorbs and linearly converts that energy into heat, a highly nonlinear thermal radiation response is generated, and its point spread function can be made arbitrarily smaller than the excitation beam focus. Based on a few practical scenarios, we propose to extend the notion of super-resolution beyond its current niche in microscopy to various kinds of excitation beams, a wide range of spatial scales, and a broader diversity of target objects

Precision measurements of Linear Scattering Density using Muon Tomography

We demonstrate that muon tomography can be used to precisely measure the properties of various materials. The materials which have been considered have been extracted from an experimental blast furnace, including carbon (coke) and iron oxides, for which measurements of the linear scattering density relative to the mass density have been performed with an absolute precision of 10%. We report the procedures that are used in order to obtain such precision, and a discussion is presented to address the expected performance of the technique when applied to heavier materials. The results we obtain do not depend on the specific type of material considered and therefore they can be extended to any application.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Performance of the galactomannan antigen detection test in the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in children with cancer or undergoing haemopoietic stem cell transplantation

AbstractSerum galactomannan (GM) antigen detection is not recommended for defining invasive aspergillosis (IA) in children undergoing aggressive chemotherapy or allogeneic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The ability of the GM test to identify IA in children was retrospectively evaluated in a cohort of children. Test performance was evaluated on samples that were collected during 195 periods at risk of IA. Proven IA was diagnosed in seven periods, all with positive GM test results (true positives, 4%), and possible IA was diagnosed in 15 periods, all with negative GM test results (false negatives, 8%). The test result was positive with negative microbiological, histological and clinical features in three periods (false positives, 1%), and in 170 periods it was negative with negative microbiological, histological and clinical features (true negatives, 87%). The sensitivity was 0.32 and the specificity was 0.98; the positive predictive value was 0.70 and the negative predictive value was 0.92. The efficiency of the test was 0.91, the positive likelihood ratio was 18.3, and the negative likelihood ratio was 1.4. The probability of missing an IA because of a negative test result was 0.03. Test performance proved to be better during at-risk periods following chemotherapy than in periods following allogeneic HSCT. The GM assay is useful for identifying periods of IA in children undergoing aggressive chemotherapy or allogeneic HSCT

Magnusiomyces clavatus infection in a child after allogeneic hematotopoetic stem cell transplantation: Diagnostic and therapeutic implications

Magnusiomyces clavatus is an ascomycetous fungus causing invasive disease in immuno-compromised patients. Neutropenia, contaminated venous catheters, previous antifungal treatment are risk factors for this infection. We report a case of Magnusiomyces clavatus fungemia with pulmonary, renal and skin localizations in a 6-year-old boy with prolonged neutropenia because of three allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantations. The infection was controlled by aggressive and strictly monitored combination therapy with voriconazole and liposomial-ampthotericine-B along with durable recover from neutropeni