Descrizione e analisi geologica dei risultati ottenuti dall'attivita di rilevamento nel contesto dell'Elba Orientale

Questa relazione si pone come obiettivo quello di descrivere ed analizzare, dal punto di vista geologico, geomorfologico e geologico-strutturale, le varie formazioni incontrate durante il lavoro di rilevamento eseguito lungo il tratto di costa che si estende dalla spiaggia di Reale fino alla località di Capo d’Arco, nel contesto dell’Elba orientale. Il rilevamento, alla scala 1:5000, ha permesso di osservare unità geologiche appartenenti sia al complesso superiore sia a quello inferiore: in particolare, per quanto riguarda il complesso inferiore, è stato possibile distinguere in affioramento (dal basso verso l’alto strutturale) l’unità di Monte Calamita che costituisce il basamento metamorfico, il complesso di Ortano costituito in prevalenza da porfiroidi e marmi e l’unità di Acquadolce. Tra le unità appartenenti al complesso superiore, invece, sono state riconosciute (sempre dal basso verso l’alto strutturale), la formazione di Rio Marina, la formazione del Verrucano e il calcare Cavernoso. Tra questi due complessi è presente un livello serpentinitico. Tutte queste unità presentano giaciture di strato prevalentemente immergenti verso Nord-Ovest, con episodiche variazioni dovute a fenomeni strutturali localizzati. Per quanto riguarda i contatti tra tali unità essi sono soprattutto di tipo tettonico e tra questi particolare rilevanza va attribuita al thrust di Capo Norsi- Monte Arco che separa i due complessi precedentemente citati e la faglia del monte Zuccale, una faglia normale sub-orizzontale (˂ 15° di inclinazione). Di seguito verranno descritte in dettaglio le unità litologiche riconosciute cercando di capire quali sono le facies che le caratterizzano, quali sono i rapporti strutturali con le formazioni adiacenti e cercando poi di inserirle nel contesto geologico evolutivo dell’isola d’Elba

Ultra-High performance concrete (UHPC) with polypropylene (Pp) and steel Fibres: Investigation on the high temperature behaviour

Ultra-high performance concretes (UHPC) are advanced cement-based materials characterised by superior me-chanical properties with respect to normal and high-strength concretes; however, their dense and compact matrix can facilitate the onset of spalling at high temperatures. This problem is often coped up by adding polypropylene (PP) fibres to the mix design, alone or with other types of fibres; steel fibres enhance the material’s tensile ca-pacity. The paper presents a series of tests on two UHPC types (150 and 180 N/mm2) with PP fibres (0.27% of volume) and variable content of steel fibres (0% to 1.92%), aimed at investigating the residual mechanical properties of the material after high temperature exposure. The experimental results are compared to available research on small UHPC specimens exposed to high temperatures, with dosages in PP fibres from 0.03% to 2%, and in steel fibres from 0 to 3%. The results of this research demonstrate that UHPCs need hybrid fibre rein-forcement (PP +steel) to withstand high temperatures, and that the residual strength increases after 200 ◦C exposure, at all steel fibre dosages; this is in line with literature. Available research also shows that strength loss is possible in hot conditions, as found in the present research, while PP fibres alone do not always prevent the occurrence of spalling in small UHPC sample

Group Method of Data Handling Using Christiano–Fitzgerald Random Walk Filter for Insulator Fault Prediction

Disruptive failures threaten the reliability of electric supply in power branches, often indicated by the rise of leakage current in distribution insulators. This paper presents a novel, hybrid method for fault prediction based on the time series of the leakage current of contaminated insulators. In a controlled high-voltage laboratory simulation, 15 kV-class insulators from an electrical power distribution network were exposed to increasing contamination in a salt chamber. The leakage current was recorded over 28 h of effective exposure, culminating in a flashover in all considered insulators. This flashover event served as the prediction mark that this paper proposes to evaluate. The proposed method applies the Christiano–Fitzgerald random walk (CFRW) filter for trend decomposition and the group data-handling (GMDH) method for time series prediction. The CFRW filter, with its versatility, proved to be more effective than the seasonal decomposition using moving averages in reducing non-linearities. The CFRW-GMDH method, with a root-mean-squared error of 3.44×10−12, outperformed both the standard GMDH and long short-term memory models in fault prediction. This superior performance suggested that the CFRW-GMDH method is a promising tool for predicting faults in power grid insulators based on leakage current data. This approach can provide power utilities with a reliable tool for monitoring insulator health and predicting failures, thereby enhancing the reliability of the power supply

IR.IDE Itinerari 2018-2022

La mostra IR.IDE Itinerari 2018—2022 ricompone in forma visuale gli studi sviluppati nell’ambito dell’Infrastruttura di Ricerca Integral Design Environment (IR.IDE). Nata nel 2018 con il Dipartimento di eccellenza di Culture del Progetto dell’Università Iuav di Venezia, IR.IDE dal 2021 è riconosciuta come infrastruttura di ricerca di interesse regionale. L’esposizione coinvolge i lavori di oltre trenta studiosi, tra assegnisti di ricerca e dottorandi, che hanno contribuito alla crescita dell’infrastruttura insieme alla direzione, ai responsabili scientifici dei laboratori e dei centri, al comitato scientifico, ai visiting professor, al personale di segreteria e al personale tecnico amministrativo. A partire dalla struttura relazionale definita dal progetto di un database delle ricerche (d.IDE), l’esposizione ricompone geografie e narrazioni integrali, visualizzando itinerari che si avvalgono di parole chiave e immagini evocative per richiamare premesse, relazioni, processi ed esiti delle ricerche. Video, pannelli grafici e modelli tracciano un percorso in cui è possibile riconoscere prospettive integrali, tra riflessioni sul concetto di Made in Italy e nuove possibili traiettorie progettuali

Occurrence of seropositive sheep (Ovis aries) to Bovine Leukemia Virus in Brazil

Occurrence of seropositive sheep (Ovis aries) to Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) by agar-gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) using the antigen gp51 was surveyed for the period 2005-2007. Samples were collected from sheep in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, São Paulo, Pernambuco, Maranhão, Pará, Bahia, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Acre. Two of 35 (5.7%) flocks were seropositive to BLV, and the rate of seropositive animals was 0.077% (two of 2,592). The two seropositive sheep were female, one 13-month old Santa Inês breed and other of unknown age and breed, both from the state of São Paulo. Distribution of BLV in the ovine population studied proved to be a rare event in Brazil.A ocorrência de ovinos sororreagentes ao vírus da Leucemia Bovina (VLB) pelo teste de imunodifusão em gel de ágar (IDGA) utilizando o antígeno gp51 foi avaliada no período de 2005-2007, em diferentes regiões do Brasil. Amostras foram colhidas de ovinos dos Estados do Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, São Paulo, Pernambuco, Maranhão, Pará, Bahia, Mato Grosso, Rondônia e Acre. Duas em 35 cabanhas (5,7%) e dois em 2592 ovinos (0,077%) foram soropositivos. Os únicos animais com anticorpos contra o VLB eram fêmeas, uma com 13 meses de idade e da raça Santa Inês e a outra não se conhecia a idade e raça, ambas provenientes do Estado de São Paulo. A distribuição da soropositividade na população estudada demonstrou ser rara a infecção pelo VLB em ovinos no Brasil

Performance of non-invasive respiratory function indices in predicting clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia in medical and sub-intensive wards: a retrospective cohort study

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly recognized infectious disease which can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring ventilatory support and intensive care unit admission. The aim of our study is to evaluate the performance of two non-invasive respiratory function indices (the ROX index and the SatO2/FiO2 ratio), as compared to the traditional PaO2/FiO2 ratio, in predicting a clinically relevant composite outcome (death or intubation) in hospitalized patients for COVID-19 pneumonia. Four hospital centers in Northern Italy conducted an observational retrospective cohort study during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Four hundred and fifty-six patients with COVID-19 pneumonia admitted to medical or sub-intensive wards were enrolled. Clinical, laboratory, and respiratory parameters, for the calculation of different indices, were measured at hospital admission. In medical wards (Verona and Padua) the PaO2/FiO2 ratio, ROX index and SatO2/FiO2 ratio were able to predict intubation or death with good accuracy (AUROC for the PaO2/FiO2 ratio, ROX index and SatO2/FiO2 ratio of 75%, 75% and 74%, respectively). Regarding sub-intensive wards (Milan and Mantua), none of the three respiratory function indices was significantly associated with the composite outcome. In patients admitted to medical wards for COVID-19 pneumonia, the ROX index and the SatO2/FiO2 ratio demonstrated not only good performance in predicting intubation or death, but their accuracy was comparable to that of the PaO2/FiO2 ratio. In this setting, where repeated arterial blood gas tests are not always feasible, they could be considered a reliable alternative to the invasive PaO2/FiO2 ratio

Little-Italy: an Agent-Based Approach to the Estimation of Contact Patterns. Fitting Predicted Matrices to Serological Data.

Knowledge of social contact patterns still represents the most critical step for understanding the spread of directly transmitted infections. Data on social contact patterns are, however, expensive to obtain. A major issue is then whether the simulation of synthetic societies might be helpful to reliably reconstruct such data. In this paper, we compute a variety of synthetic age-specific contact matrices through simulation of a simple individual-based model (IBM). The model is informed by Italian Time Use data and routine socio-demographic data (e.g., school and workplace attendance, household structure, etc.). The model is named “Little Italy” because each artificial agent is a clone of a real person. In other words, each agent's daily diary is the one observed in a corresponding real individual sampled in the Italian Time Use Survey. We also generated contact matrices from the socio-demographic model underlying the Italian IBM for pandemic prediction. These synthetic matrices are then validated against recently collected Italian serological data for Varicella (VZV) and ParvoVirus (B19). Their performance in fitting sero-profiles are compared with other matrices available for Italy, such as the Polymod matrix. Synthetic matrices show the same qualitative features of the ones estimated from sample surveys: for example, strong assortativeness and the presence of super- and sub-diagonal stripes related to contacts between parents and children. Once validated against serological data, Little Italy matrices fit worse than the Polymod one for VZV, but better than concurrent matrices for B19. This is the first occasion where synthetic contact matrices are systematically compared with real ones, and validated against epidemiological data. The results suggest that simple, carefully designed, synthetic matrices can provide a fruitful complementary approach to questionnaire-based matrices. The paper also supports the idea that, depending on the transmissibility level of the infection, either the number of different contacts, or repeated exposure, may be the key factor for transmission

Escape distance and escape latency following simulated rapid bird attacks in an Andean lizard, Phymaturus williamsi

Predatory birds represent the greatest risk for many lizard species. However, little is known about the functional relationship between the escape distance and escape latency of lizards during a rapid bird attack. We hypothesised that escape latency and distance in the Andean lizard species Phymaturus williamsi would increase proportionally, but vary according to the means of escape. Over a three-year period we observed seven types of antipredatory behaviour in 98% P. williamsi lizards on simulated predatory bird attacks. Escape distance and latency were positively correlated. 65% of lizards emerged from their refuge within 2 min of an attack. All of these behaviours were positively correlated with escape latency and distance, although we found the former to be more precise. This study contributes to a better understanding of the general antipredatory behaviour in this species of Andean lizard, and will assist in future decisions concerning its conservation.Fil: Fava, Gustavo Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; ArgentinaFil: Acosta, Juan Carlos. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentin

Aerosol Optical Retrieval and Surface Reflectance from Airborne Remote Sensing Data over Land

Quantitative analysis of atmospheric optical properties and surface reflectance can be performed by applying radiative transfer theory in the Atmosphere-Earth coupled system, for the atmospheric correction of hyperspectral remote sensing data. This paper describes a new physically-based algorithm to retrieve the aerosol optical thickness at 550nm (τ550) and the surface reflectance (ρ) from airborne acquired data in the atmospheric window of the Visible and Near-Infrared (VNIR) range. The algorithm is realized in two modules. Module A retrieves τ550 with a minimization algorithm, then Module B retrieves the surface reflectance ρ for each pixel of the image. The method was tested on five remote sensing images acquired by an airborne sensor under different geometric conditions to evaluate the reliability of the method. The results, τ550 and ρ, retrieved from each image were validated with field data contemporaneously acquired by a sun-sky radiometer and a spectroradiometer, respectively. Good correlation index, r, and low root mean square deviations, RMSD, were obtained for the τ550 retrieved by Module A (r2 = 0.75, RMSD = 0.08) and the ρ retrieved by Module B (r2 ≤ 0.9, RMSD ≤ 0.003). Overall, the results are encouraging, indicating that the method is reliable for optical atmospheric studies and the atmospheric correction of airborne hyperspectral images. The method does not require additional at-ground measurements about at-ground reflectance of the reference pixel and aerosol optical thickness