Foreland segmentation along an active convergent margin: New constraints in southeastern Sicily (Italy) from seismic and geodetic observations

We performed an in-depth analysis of the ongoing tectonics of a large sector of southern Sicily, including the Hyblean Foreland and the front of the Maghrebian Chain, as well as the Ionian Sea offshore, through the integration of seismic and GPS observations collected in the nearly two decades. In particular, a dataset consisting of more than 1100 small-to moderate-magnitude earthquakes (1.0 <= M-L <= 4.6) has been used for local earthquake tomography in order to trace the characteristics of the faulting systems, and for focal mechanisms computation to resolve the current local stress field and to characterise the faulting regime of the investigated area. In addition, GPS measurements, carried out on both episodic and continuous stations, allowed us to infer the main features of the current crustal deformation pattern. Main results evidence that the Hyblean Plateau is subject to a general strike-slip faulting regime, with a maximum horizontal stress axis NW-SE to NNW-SSE oriented, in agreement with the Eurasia-Nubia direction of convergence. The Plateau is separated into two different tectonic crustal blocks by the left-lateral strike-slip Scicli-Ragusa Fault System. The western block moves in agreement with central Sicily while the eastern one accommodates part of the contraction arising from the main Eurasia-Nubia convergence. Furthermore, we provided evidences leading to consider the Hyblean-Maltese Escarpment Fault System as an active boundary characterised by a left-lateral strike-slip motion, separating the eastern block of the Plateau from the Ionian basin. All these evidences lend credit to a crustal segmentation of the southeastern Sicily. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Adoption of practices to mitigate harvest losses − Phase 2

Patane et al. 2019 determined that Harvesting Best Practice (HBP) is predicated by two essential objectives: 1. Defining the critical point where harvesting losses can be minimised and delivered yields improved to achieve the best economic return for the grower and harvesting operation; and 2. Balancing losses with cane quality, which is determined by sound billet quality with an acceptable level of Extraneous Matter (EM). Despite significant research into the impact of higher harvester pour rates and fan speeds on harvested cane yields, use of HBP recommendations prior to the commencement of the adoption program across the industry was relatively low. Full HBP adoption across the Australian sugarcane industry could substantially increase industry revenue without the need for horizontal expansion (increase in cane land). In 2019, continuing on from the work conducted by Patane et al. (2019), Sugar Research Australia in partnership with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries delivered further trials

Classifying the unknown: discovering novel gravitational-wave detector glitches using similarity learning

The observation of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences by LIGO and Virgo has begun a new era in astronomy. A critical challenge in making detections is determining whether loud transient features in the data are caused by gravitational waves or by instrumental or environmental sources. The citizen-science project \emph{Gravity Spy} has been demonstrated as an efficient infrastructure for classifying known types of noise transients (glitches) through a combination of data analysis performed by both citizen volunteers and machine learning. We present the next iteration of this project, using similarity indices to empower citizen scientists to create large data sets of unknown transients, which can then be used to facilitate supervised machine-learning characterization. This new evolution aims to alleviate a persistent challenge that plagues both citizen-science and instrumental detector work: the ability to build large samples of relatively rare events. Using two families of transient noise that appeared unexpectedly during LIGO's second observing run (O2), we demonstrate the impact that the similarity indices could have had on finding these new glitch types in the Gravity Spy program

Motion Sensor-based Small Cell Sleep Scheduling for 5G Networks

No abstract available

H-tailored surface conductivity in narrow band gap In(AsN)

We show that the n-type conductivity of the narrow band gap In(AsN) alloy can be increased within a thin (similar to 100 nm) channel below the surface by the controlled incorporation of H-atoms. This channel has a large electron sheet density of similar to 10(18) m(-2) and a high electron mobility (mu > 0.1 m(2)V(-1)s(-1) at low and room temperature). For a fixed dose of impinging H-atoms, its width decreases with the increase in concentration of N-atoms that act as H-traps thus forming N-H donor complexes near the surface. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Light Emission Properties of Thermally Evaporated CH3 NH3 PbBr3 Perovskite from Nano-to Macro-Scale: Role of Free and Localized Excitons

Over the past decade, interest about metal halide perovskites has rapidly increased, as they can find wide application in optoelectronic devices. Nevertheless, although thermal evaporation is crucial for the development and engineering of such devices based on multilayer structures, the optical properties of thermally deposited perovskite layers (spontaneous and amplified spontaneous emission) have been poorly investigated. This paper is a study from a nano-to micro-and macro-scale about the role of light-emitting species (namely free carriers and excitons) and trap states in the spontaneous emission of thermally evaporated thin layers of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 perovskite after wet air UV light trap passivation. The map of light emission from grains, carried out by SNOM at the nanoscale and by micro-PL techniques, clearly indicates that free and localized excitons (EXs) are the dominant light-emitting species, the localized excitons being the dominant ones in the presence of crystallites. These species also have a key role in the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) process: for higher excitation densities, the relative contribution of localized EXs basically remains constant, while a clear competition between ASE and free EXs spontaneous emission is present, which suggests that ASE is due to stimulated emission from the free EXs

Genotype-Phenotype Correlations in Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Identification of Novel and Recurrent NF1 Gene Variants and Correlations with Neurocognitive Phenotype

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is one of the most common genetic tumor predisposition syndrome, caused by mutations in the NF1. To date, few genotype-phenotype correlations have been discerned in NF1, due to a highly variable clinical presentation. We aimed to study the molecular spectrum of NF1 and genotype-phenotype correlations in a monocentric study cohort of 85 NF1 patients (20 relatives, 65 sporadic cases). Clinical data were collected at the time of the mutation analysis and reviewed for accuracy in this investigation. An internal phenotypic categorization was applied. The 94% of the patients enrolled showed a severe phenotype with at least one systemic complication and a wide range of associated malignancies. Spine deformities were the most common complications in this cohort. We also reported 66 different NF1 mutations, of which 7 are novel mutations. Correlation analysis identified a slight significant inverse correlation between age at diagnosis and delayed acquisition of psychomotor skills with residual multi-domain cognitive impairment. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval showed a higher prevalence of learning disabilities in patients carrying frameshift mutations. Overall, our results aim to offer an interesting contribution to studies on the genotype-phenotype of NF1 and in genetic management and counselling