A Temporal Analysis of the Euphausiid Assemblage in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, with Notes on Seasonal Reproduction

This thesis presents the results of the first multi-year study on the euphausiid assemblage in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWHOS), covering depths down to 1000 m. There are no data on the euphausiid assemblage from this region prior to the oil spill; therefore, the data in this study were analyzed with respect to year (samples collected in 2011 vs. those collected between 2015 – 2016), and season (May vs. August) to determine if any trends were present. These results presented here show a statistically significant decrease in both abundance and biomass between 2011 and 2015 – 2016, indicating that the assemblage has been declining since 2011, along with a continued decline from May 2016 to May 2017. Seasonal effects were also present, as abundance and biomass were statistically higher in May than in August in both 2011 and 2016. In addition, the percentage of gravid females of the grouped species, Nematoscelis atlantica/microps, was also higher in May for both years, but only statistically significant in 2016. This seasonal variability may possibly be linked to food availability as a result of seasonal phytoplankton blooms. The information presented here will act as a reference point for future studies in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), to aid in understanding how the euphausiid assemblage responds to anthropogenic events

Non \ue8 pi\uf9 quella di una volta. La mafia e le attivit\ue0 estorsive in Sicilia

Il volume presenta i risultati di una ricerca volta alla descrizione dei fenomeni estorsivi e della loro intensit\ue0 in Sicilia, raccontando, sulla base di appositi parametri oggettivi e di valutazioni soggettive degli esponenti del mondo delle associazioni e delle forze dell\u2019ordine, le aree pi\uf9 esposte, quelle meno esposte, quelle dove i fenomeni hanno una rilevanza residuale, in una fase in cui i sodalizi mafiosi sono sempre pi\uf9 pressati dall\u2019azione di contrasto. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo ci si \ue8 avvalsi di strumenti qualitativi e dati quantitativi, approfondendo l\u2019analisi delle trasformazioni delle condotte estorsive durante la crisi, concentrandosi in modo specifico su casi emersi nell\u2019ambito di recenti inchieste giudiziarie. Il libro ricostruisce anche la prospettiva e le difficolt\ue0 di alcuni imprenditori siciliani che, dopo aver pagato il pizzo, hanno scelto di denunciare i propri estorsori e di collaborare con le istituzioni

Le scienze sociali e la Terza missione delle università

Alcune riflessioni sull'impatto delle scienze sociali sulla Terza Missione delle Universit

A weakly compressible hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin formulation for fluid-structure interaction problems

A scheme for the solution of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems with weakly compressible flows is proposed in this work. A novel hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method is derived for the discretization of the fluid equations, while the standard continuous Galerkin (CG) approach is adopted for the structural problem. The chosen HDG solver combines robustness of discontinuous Galerkin (DG) approaches in advection-dominated flows with higher order accuracy and efficient implementations. Two coupling strategies are examined in this contribution, namely a partitioned Dirichlet-Neumann scheme in the context of hybrid HDG-CG discretizations and a monolithic approach based on Nitsche's method, exploiting the definition of the numerical flux and the trace of the solution to impose the coupling conditions. Numerical experiments show optimal convergence of the HDG and CG primal and mixed variables and superconvergence of the postprocessed fluid velocity. The robustness and the efficiency of the proposed weakly compressible formulation, in comparison to a fully incompressible one, are also highlighted on a selection of two and three dimensional FSI benchmark problems.Comment: 49 pages, 20 figures, 2 table

The role of syn-eruptive vesiculation on explosive basaltic activity at Mt. Etna, Italy

We investigated the dynamics of explosive activity at Mt. Etna between 31 August and 15 December 2006 by combining vesicle studies in the erupted products with measurements of the gas composition at the active, summit crater. The analysed scoria clasts present large, connected vesicles with complex shapes and smaller, isolated, spherical vesicles, the content of which increases in scoriae from the most explosive events. Gas geochemistry reports CO2/SO2 and SO2/HCl ratios supporting a deep-derived gas phase for fire-fountain activity. By integrating results from scoria vesiculation and gas analysis we find that the highest energy episodes of Mt. Etna activity in 2006 were driven by a previously accumulated CO2-rich gas phase but we highlight the lesser role of syn-eruptive vesicle nucleation driven by water exsolution during ascent. We conclude that syn-eruptive vesiculation is a common process in Etnean magmas that may promote a deeper conduit magma fragmentation and increase ash formation

New insights into volcanic processes at Stromboli from Cerberus, a remote-controlled open-path FTIR scanner system

The ordinary, low intensity, activity of Stromboli volcano is sporadically interrupted by more energetic events termed, depending on their intensity, “major explosions” and “paroxysms”. These short-lived energetic episodes represent a potential risk to visitors to the highly accessible summit of Stromboli. Observations made at Stromboli over the last decade have shown that the composition of gas emitted from the summit craters may change prior to such explosions, allowing the possibility that such changes may be used to forecast these potentially dangerous events. In 2008 we installed a novel, remote-controlled, open-path FTIR scanning system called Cerberus at the summit of Stromboli, with the objective of measuring gas compositions from individual vents within the summit crater terrace of the volcano with high temporal resolution and for extended periods. In this work we report the first results from the Cerberus system, collected in August-September 2009, November 2009 and May-June 2010. We find significant, fairly consistent, intra-crater variability for CO2/SO2 and H2O/CO2 ratios, and relatively homogeneous SO2/HCl ratios. In general, the southwest crater is richest in CO2, and the northeast crater poorest, while the central crater is richest in H2O. It thus appears that during the measurement period the southwest crater had a somewhat more direct connection to a primary, deep degassing system; whilst the central and northeast craters reflect a slightly more secondary degassing nature, with a supplementary, shallow H2O source for the central crater, probably related to puffing activity. Such water-rich emissions from the central crater can account for the lower crystal content of its eruption products, and emphasise the role of continual magma supply to the shallowest levels of Stromboli's plumbing system. Our observations of heterogeneous crater gas emissions and high H2O/CO2 ratios do not agree with models of CO2-flushing, and we show that simple depressurisation during magma ascent to the surface is a more likely model for H2O loss at Stromboli. We highlight that alternative explanations other than CO2 flushing are required to explain distributions of H2O and CO2 amounts dissolved in melt inclusions. We detected fairly systematic increases in CO2/SO2 ratio some weeks prior to major explosions, and some evidence of a decrease in this ratio in the days immediately preceding the explosions, with periods of low, stable CO2/SO2 ratios between explosions otherwise. Our measurements, therefore, confirm the medium term (~ weeks) precursory increases previously observed with MultiGas instruments, and, in addition, reveal new, short-term precursory decreases in CO2/SO2 ratios. immediately prior to the major explosions. Such patterns, if shown to be systematic, may be of great utility for hazard management at Stromboli's summit. Our results suggest that intra-crater CO2/SO2 variability may produce short-term peaks and troughs in CO2/SO2 time series measured with in-situ MultiGas instruments, due simply to variations in wind direction

The role of syn-eruptive vesiculation on explosive basaltic activity at Mt. Etna, Italy

We investigated the dynamics of explosive activity at Mt. Etna between 31 August and 14 December 2006 by combining vesicle studies in the erupted products with measurements of the gas composition at the active, summit crater. The analysed scoria clasts present large, connected vesicles with complex shapes and smaller, isolated, spherical vesicles, the content of which increases in scoriae from the most explosive events. Gas geochemistry reports CO2/SO2 and SO2/HCl ratios supporting a deep-derived gas phase for fire-fountain activity. By integrating results from scoria vesiculation and gas analysis we find that the highest energy episodes of Mt. Etna activity in 2006 were driven by a previously accumulated CO2-rich gas phase but we highlight the lesser role of syn-eruptive vesicle nucleation driven by water exsolution during ascent. We conclude that syn-eruptive vesiculation is a common process in Etnean magmas that may promote a deeper conduit magma fragmentation and increase ash formatio

Plasma Concentrations of Risperidone and Olanzapine during Coadministration with Oxcarbazepine

Purpose: Oxcarbazepine (OZC) is a secondgeneration antiepileptic drug (AED) that also may be used as a mood stabilizer. Unlike carbamazepine (CBZ), which is an inducer of the cytochrome P-450 isoforms and may accelerate the elimination of several therapeutic agents, OXC seems to have only a modest inducing action. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of a treatment with OXC on plasma concentrations of the new antipsychotics risperidone and olanzapine. Methods: OXC, at a dosage of 900–1,200 mg/day, was administered for 5 consecutive weeks to 25 outpatients, 10 men and 15 women, aged 25 to 64 years, with bipolar or schizoaffective disorder. Twelve patients were stabilized on risperidone therapy (2–6 mg/day) and 13 on olanzapine (5–20 mg/day). Steady-state plasma concentrations of risperidone and its active metabolite 9-hydroxyrisperidone (9-OH-risperidone) and olanzapine were measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) before addition of OXC and after 5 weeks from the start of adjunctive treatment. Results:OXC caused only minimal and no significant changes in the mean plasma levels of risperidone (from 5.6±3.6 ng/ml at baseline to 4.8 ± 2.6 ng/ml at week 5), 9-OH-risperidone (from 23.6±7.5 to 24.7±7.4 ng/ml), and olanzapine (from 26.5±5.7 ng/ml at baseline to 27.8 ± 5.1 ng/ml). OXC coadministration with either risperidone or olanzapine was well tolerated. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that OXC does not affect the elimination of risperidone and olanzapine, thus confirming its weak inducing effect on hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes

Toxicological Findings of Self-Poisoning Suicidal Deaths: A Systematic Review by Countries

The use of illicit and non-illicit substances is widespread in suicides. The toxicological data may help in understanding the mechanism of death. This systematic review aimed to analyze autopsies related to suicides by consuming poison, focusing on the correlation between substance use and the country of origin to create an alarm bell to indicate that suicide maybe attempted and prevent it. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines, with the primary objective of identifying autopsies conducted in cases of suicide by consuming poison in specific geographic areas. Significant differences in substances were observed between low-income and Western countries that confirm previous literature data. In rural areas and Asian countries, most suicides by consuming poison involve the use of pesticides, such as organophosphates and carbamates. In Western countries, illicit drugs and medically prescribed drugs are the leading cause of suicide by self-poisoning. Future research should shed light on the correlation between social, medical, and demographic characteristics and the autopsy findings in suicides by self-poisoning to highlight the risk factors and implement tailored prevention programs worldwide. Performing a complete autopsy on a suspected suicide by self-poisoning could be essential in supporting worldwide public health measures and policy makers. Therefore, complete autopsies in such cases must be vigorously promoted