Livestock Wastes Sustainable Use and Management: Assessment of Raw Sheep Wool Reuse and Valorization

Worldwide, around 998 million tons of agricultural waste are generated yearly, including livestock wastes, which create several critical environmental issues if not properly treated. In this study, a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based model to locate and quantify both the yearly amount of livestock waste, i.e., sheep wool, and the territorial distribution of sheep farms, was carried out and applied within the selected study area. The aim was to identify those territorial areas most suitable for localizing new shared wool collection centers to sustainably manage the reuse of this waste as potential green building material. Data related to both sheep farms and sheep number and the related sheep shared wool (SSW) yearly production were acquired and applied in GIS. By GIS-based model results, two collection centers have been identified within the provinces of Agrigento and Enna. Then, to develop a sustainable reuse in terms of reducing environmental impact due to the SSW logistics and supply phase, a possible third collection center was localized within the territorial area belonging to the province of Ragusa (south area of the Sicily). In this research, for the first time the issue above reported was addressed, by achieving results that contribute at developing an efficient collection chain for recovering and properly reusing SSW to respond adequately to a further industrial scale production

Single-photon nonlinear optics with a quantum dot in a waveguide

Strong nonlinear interactions between photons enable logic operations for both classical and quantum-information technology. Unfortunately, nonlinear interactions are usually feeble and therefore all-optical logic gates tend to be inefficient. A quantum emitter deterministically coupled to a propagating mode fundamentally changes the situation, since each photon inevitably interacts with the emitter, and highly correlated many-photon states may be created . Here we show that a single quantum dot in a photonic-crystal waveguide can be utilized as a giant nonlinearity sensitive at the single-photon level. The nonlinear response is revealed from the intensity and quantum statistics of the scattered photons, and contains contributions from an entangled photon-photon bound state. The quantum nonlinearity will find immediate applications for deterministic Bell-state measurements and single-photon transistors and paves the way to scalable waveguide-based photonic quantum-computing architectures

Topography of the Dolomites modulates range dynamics of narrow endemic plants under climate change

open9noClimate change is expected to threaten endemic plants in the Alps. In this context, the factors that may modulate species responses are rarely investigated at a local scale. We analyzed eight alpine narrow endemics of the Dolomites (southeastern Alps) under different predicted climate change scenarios at fine spatial resolutions. We tested possible differences in elevation, topographic heterogeneity and velocity of climate change among areas of gained, lost, or stable climatic habitat. The negative impact of climate change ranged from moderate to severe, depending on scenario and species. Generally, range loss occurred at the lowest elevations, while gained and stable areas were located at highest elevations. For six of the species, climate change velocity had higher values in stable and gained areas than in lost ones. Our findings support the role of topographic heterogeneity in maintaining climatic microrefugia, however, the peculiar topography of the Dolomites, characterized by high altitude plateaus, resulted in high climate change velocity in areas of projected future climatic suitability. Our study supports the usefulness of multiple predictors of spatio-temporal range dynamics for regional climate-adapted management and eventual assisted colonization planning to not overlook or overestimate the potential impact of climate change locally.openRota F.; Casazza G.; Genova G.; Midolo G.; Prosser F.; Bertolli A.; Wilhalm T.; Nascimbene J.; Wellstein C.Rota, F.; Casazza, G.; Genova, G.; Midolo, G.; Prosser, F.; Bertolli, A.; Wilhalm, T.; Nascimbene, J.; Wellstein, C

From Parental Bonding to Problematic Gaming: The Mediating Role of Adult Attachment Styles

Background: Research has found that parental failures of care during childhood and insecure attachment styles are positively associated with problematic gaming. From a developmental framework, it is possible to hypothesize that attachment styles mediate the relationship between parental bonding and problematic gaming. Methods: This hypothesis was tested in a sample of 598 videogame players (410 males, 68.56%) aged between 18 and 61 years old (M = 26.68, SD = 7.23). Participants were recruited through an online survey. Self-report instruments were administered to assess problematic gaming, parental bonding, and adult attachment styles. Results: Positive paternal care was a direct and negative predictor of problematic gaming, whereas maternal overprotection indirectly predicted problematic gaming through preoccupied attachment. Conclusions: These findings suggest that positive paternal care represents a protective factor for problematic gaming; in contrast, maternal overprotection might foster a negative view of the self in the child, which increases the risk to excessively use videogames, perhaps as a maladaptive coping strategy to regulate negative feelings. Prevention programs might be aimed to improve the responsiveness of parents towards the child’s emotional needs, to prevent the development of problematic gaming. Also, clinical intervention with problematic gamers might foster their feelings of security toward relationships, to promote both a healthier use of videogames and a better quality of life

Health technology assessment of pathogen reduction technologies applied to plasma for clinical use

Although existing clinical evidence shows that the transfusion of blood components is becoming increasingly safe, the risk of transmission of known and unknown pathogens, new pathogens or re-emerging pathogens still persists. Pathogen reduction technologies may offer a new approach to increase blood safety. The study is the output of collaboration between the Italian National Blood Centre and the Post-Graduate School of Health Economics and Management, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. A large, multidisciplinary team was created and divided into six groups, each of which addressed one or more HTA domains.Plasma treated with amotosalen + UV light, riboflavin + UV light, methylene blue or a solvent/detergent process was compared to fresh-frozen plasma with regards to current use, technical features, effectiveness, safety, economic and organisational impact, and ethical, social and legal implications. The available evidence is not sufficient to state which of the techniques compared is superior in terms of efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness. Evidence on efficacy is only available for the solvent/detergent method, which proved to be non-inferior to untreated fresh-frozen plasma in the treatment of a wide range of congenital and acquired bleeding disorders. With regards to safety, the solvent/detergent technique apparently has the most favourable risk-benefit profile. Further research is needed to provide a comprehensive overview of the cost-effectiveness profile of the different pathogen-reduction techniques. The wide heterogeneity of results and the lack of comparative evidence are reasons why more comparative studies need to be performed

A proposal for limited criminal liability in high-accuracy endoscopic sinus surgery

Lo studio ha lo scopo di sollecitare una riforma della responsabilità penale che preveda una riduzione di responsabilità legale per la chirurgia ad alta precisione, per quella ad alto rischio, come per esempio la chirurgia endoscopica sinusale (ESS). Il contributo comprende una revisione della letteratura medica, concentrandosi sullidentificazione e sullesame dei motivi per cui la tecnica di ESS corre un rischio molto elevato di produrre gravi complicazioni dovute a manovre chirurgiche inesatte. Tale contributo, prevede anche una revisione della teoria del diritto e della giurisprudenza britannica e italiana in merito alla negligenza medica, soprattutto con riferimento alla L. italiana n. 189 del 2012 (Decreto Balduzzi). Si è constatato che gravi complicanze dovute a manovre chirurgiche non corrette di ESS possono verificarsi, indipendentemente dalla prudenza/diligenza del chirurgo. La soggettività in termini giuridici risulta essenziale per la negligenza medica, soprattutto con riferimento alla chirurgia ad alta precisione. La legge italiana 189/2012 rappresenta una buona base per la limitazione della responsabilità penale derivante da manovre imprecise in chirurgia ad alta precisione, come appunto lESS. In conclusione, si considera che i chirurghi che eseguono ESS dovrebbero essere esonerati da responsabilità penale in caso di negligenza lieve sopravvenuta nonostante il rispetto delle line guida emanate

Effectiveness of agri‐environmental management on pollinators is moderated more by ecological contrast than by landscape structure or land‐use intensity

Agri-environment management (AEM) started in the 1980s in Europe to mitigate biodiversity decline, but the effectiveness of AEM has been questioned. We hypothesize that this is caused by a lack of a large enough ecological contrast between AEM and non-treated control sites. The effectiveness of AEM may be moderated by landscape structure and land-use intensity. Here, we examined the influence of local ecological contrast, landscape structure and regional land-use intensity on AEM effectiveness in a meta-analysis of 62 European pollinator studies. We found that ecological contrast was most important in determining the effectiveness of AEM, but landscape structure and regional land-use intensity played also a role. In conclusion, the most successful way to enhance AEM effectiveness for pollinators is to implement measures that result in a large ecological improvement at a local scale, which exhibit a strong contrast to conventional practices in simple landscapes of intensive land-use regions

Spin-photon interface and spin-controlled photon switching in a nanobeam waveguide

Access to the electron spin is at the heart of many protocols for integrated and distributed quantum-information processing [1-4]. For instance, interfacing the spin-state of an electron and a photon can be utilized to perform quantum gates between photons [2,5] or to entangle remote spin states [6-9]. Ultimately, a quantum network of entangled spins constitutes a new paradigm in quantum optics [1]. Towards this goal, an integrated spin-photon interface would be a major leap forward. Here we demonstrate an efficient and optically programmable interface between the spin of an electron in a quantum dot and photons in a nanophotonic waveguide. The spin can be deterministically prepared with a fidelity of 96\%. Subsequently the system is used to implement a "single-spin photonic switch", where the spin state of the electron directs the flow of photons through the waveguide. The spin-photon interface may enable on-chip photon-photon gates [2], single-photon transistors [10], and efficient photonic cluster state generation [11]

Nano-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems

A new class of hybrid systems that couple optical, electrical and mechanical degrees of freedom in nanoscale devices is under development in laboratories worldwide. These nano-opto-electro-mechanical systems (NOEMS) offer unprecedented opportunities to dynamically control the flow of light in nanophotonic structures, at high speed and low power consumption. Drawing on conceptual and technological advances from cavity optomechanics, they also bear the potential for highly efficient, low-noise transducers between microwave and optical signals, both in the classical and quantum domains. This Progress Article discusses the fundamental physical limits of NOEMS, reviews the recent progress in their implementation, and suggests potential avenues for further developments in this field.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, 2 boxe

Wafer-scale epitaxial modulation of quantum dot density

Precise control of the properties of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) is vital for creating novel devices for quantum photonics and advanced opto-electronics. Suitable low QD-densities for single QD devices and experiments are challenging to control during epitaxy and are typically found only in limited regions of the wafer. Here, we demonstrate how conventional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) can be used to modulate the density of optically active QDs in one- and two- dimensional patterns, while still retaining excellent quality. We find that material thickness gradients during layer-by-layer growth result in surface roughness modulations across the whole wafer. Growth on such templates strongly influences the QD nucleation probability. We obtain density modulations between 1 and 10 QDs/µm2 and periods ranging from several millimeters down to at least a few hundred microns. This method is universal and expected to be applicable to a wide variety of different semiconductor material systems. We apply the method to enable growth of ultra-low noise QDs across an entire 3-inch semiconductor wafer