Chapter Drone remote sensing for coastal habitats protection

Growing beach tourist vocation of Lecce province has led to an increase human pressures along its coasts, often on habitats of conservation interest. Ever-increasing erosion phenomena of sandy shoreline constantly requires fast and effective monitoring activities assessing the conservation status of dunes and shoreline. Remote sensing via RPAS is proving useful to identify phenomena that act on a small scale and supporting and implementing protective measures with an adaptive management approach. This work consists of a protocol for monitoring dune cordons and nearby shorelines through RPAS

The underwater wonderland of ancient Puglia

The projects Puglia Seascapes - looking at Apulia from an underwater perspective – and UnderwaterMuse, Immersive Underwater Museum Experience for a wider inclusion, both coordinated by Puglia Region, aim to make a significant contribution to better understanding of the underwater cultural heritage; the study cases concern different sites in the Marine Protected Areas of Porto Cesareo and Torre Guaceto: a cargo of columns from Evia island and another cargo of amphoras scattered in the shallow waters of Torre Chianca (Porto Cesareo, Lecce) and the remains of a Late Antique cargo (V-VI century AD) found in the waters of Torre Guaceto (Brindisi). The interpretation of the archaeological and geoarchaological data about the sites, their formation process and the coastal landscape evolution, as well as the 3D models obtained through photogrammetry techniques based on SfM (Structure from Motion) and underwater 360° and 5K videos, allowed us to develope a methodological and technological protocol based on the use of a software (App), i.e. Puglia Seascapes VR. It provides suggestive scenarios through advanced 3D modeling and animation techniques and results in interactive videos shoot that reconstruct and above all narrate in an emotional way the last journey of the ship in the ancient seascape, deeply different from the current, and the formation of underwater context. Moreover, the application of immersive techniques accessible from a single VR application for wearable devices allows the large public to discover new environments and the scholars to face to a new approach for rewriting the history of ancient Italy

An anomalous case of S-ICD malfunctioning: A big trouble or a soap bubble?

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Anti-obesity drug therapy in clinical practice: Evidence of a poor prescriptive attitude

Obesity is a worldwide growing problem for the health care systems and its treatment is strongly recommended. Orlistat, naltrexone/bupropion, and liraglutide are approved for weight loss in Italy in patients with a Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2 or ≥ 27 kg/m2 with concomitant diseases. However, the prescription of these drugs is significantly low worldwide. General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in the early diagnosis and appropriate management of obesity. The aim of the study was to investigate the management of obesity and the prescriptive attitude of anti-obesity drugs in a general practice setting.All patients registered in lists of 8 GPs with a recorded diagnosis of obesity or BMI values ≥ 30 kg/m2 in the period 2017–2018, were recruited. A descriptive analysis of demographic and clinical characteristic was carried out. The Spearman's correlation rank test was applied to identify correlations between BMI and all the variables of interest.Among 1301 obese patients, only 66.1 % had been diagnosed and 29.4 % had no registered BMI value. Patients with recorded BMI, were overweight (7.8 %) or in the obesity class I (38.8 %), class II (14.1 %), and class III (7.1 %), respectively.The obese patients (class 1–3) were older [66 (55–76) vs 49 (32–59); p < 0.01], and had more concurrent diseases [5 (3−8) vs 4 (2–6); p < 0.01] than patients who reached a BMI < 30 Kg/m2. Moreover, most of obese were high cardiovascular risk (HCVr) patients (67.0 % vs 31.9 %; p < 0.01). The BMI was directly related to age (rs 0.14; p < 0.01), diabetes (rs 0.19; p < 0.01), hypertension (rs 0.14; p < 0.01), heart failure (rs 0.09; p < 0.01), HCVr (rs 0. 12; p < 0.01) and number of comorbidities (rs 0.08; p = 0.01). No prescriptions of orlistat or naltrexone/bupropion were found. Liraglutide was prescribed only in 7 patients because of the concomitant presence of diabetes.Our results suggest a low adherence to guide line recommendations for obesity management and confirm an under-prescription of anti-obesity drugs in Italy

Radiological Protection in Industries Involving NORM: A (Graded) Methodological Approach to Characterize the Exposure Situations

The interest in radiation protection in industrial sectors involving Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) is increasingly growing. This is due also to the recent implementation of the European Council Directive 59/2013/Euratom which in Italy and in the other European Union Member States extends the field of application to industrial sectors never involved before. This paper reports main results of a research project on radiation protection in industries involving NORM carried out in Italy aimed to provide useful tools for stakeholders to comply new legal obligations. The project activities were mainly focused on different aspects relevant to the NORM involving industries, accounting for the positive list reported in the Italian law. Firstly, the inventory of the industries currently operating in Italy in order to identify the industrial sectors with an important radiological impact on population and workers was updated. Based on this information, a general methodology was elaborated taking into account a graded approach. The first phase consists in the identification and characterization of the most critical exposure scenarios and of the radiological content of NORMs involved in the different phases of the industrial processes. In the second phase calculation methods were developed for dose estimation for workers and members of public. These tools require the use of existing and well tested calculation codes, and the development of a dedicated user-friendly software

La radioprotezione applicata alle industrie NORM: sviluppo di un sistema di strumenti metodologici, conoscitivi e formativi a sostegno degli stakeholders. Stato dell’arte del progetto di INAIL

Con il recepimento della Direttiva Europea 59/2013 EURATOM, la normativa italiana di radioprotezione ha introdotto nuovi obblighi per gli esercenti di diversi settori industriali “NORM”. Per sostenere l’assolvimento di tali obblighi che garantiscono la protezione di lavoratori e popolazione, dal 2019 è in corso un progetto di ricerca, nell’ambito del quale sono state realizzate diverse attività. Alcune di esse hanno avuto sviluppi anche in ambito internazionale, a testimonianza di quanto questa tematica sia di grande interesse. Lo scopo del presente lavoro è presentare i nuovi risultati del progetto, dall’aggiornamento del censimento dei settori NORM attualmente attivi in Italia, all’ applicazione e declinazione dell’approccio graduale per l’individuazione di situazioni di particolare interesse dal punto di vista della radioprotezione, fino allo sviluppo di metodologie operative e di calcolo applicate ad alcuni settori

Sviluppo di protocolli di campionamento e di valutazione della dose per settori industriali con presenza di NORM

Nell’ambito delle attività del progetto INAIL - BRIC ID 30 “Protocolli operativi e metodologie di calcolo per l’attuazione della nuova normativa di radioprotezione, recepimento della Direttiva 59/2013/Euratom, in settori industriali NORM di particolare impatto radiologico”, è stato sviluppato un approccio metodologico per gli adempimenti previsti dall’art. 22 del D.lgs. 101/2020. Una proposta di protocollo per la misura della concentrazione di attività delle matrici e per la valutazione della dose efficace per lavoratori e popolazione è stata elaborata per il settore della produzione di cemento e per l’industria dello zircone e zirconio

Drone remote sensing for coastal habitats protection

The growing beach touristic vocation of the Lecce Province has led to increasing human pressures along its coasts over the years, often on habitats of conservation interest. Furthermore, the ever-increasing erosion phenomena of the sandy shoreline constantly requires fast and effective monitoring activities assessing the conservation status of the dunes and shoreline. Remote sensing through the use of RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems or Drones) is proving to be very useful for identifying phenomena that act on a small scale and supporting and implementing protective measures according to an adaptive management approach and to favour the creation of a long term investigation model, through multi-year surveys on conservation interest habitats. The photographic data and their photogrammetric elaboration allow to find a specific point, thanks to georeferencing, on which evaluate the evolution of certain phenomena following the analysis by different types of experts able to extract a large amount of data from the same photogrammetric product, this thanks to the possibility of choosing analysis scales from the meter to the centimetre. In recent years this technique has proved to be extremely effective and interesting in the environmental analysis of a multitude of matrices. The present work consists of a protocol for monitoring the dune cordons and the nearby shorelines through the use of RPAS. This kind of survey allows to create a geodatabase with spatially-explicit detailed maps able to provide a useful tool for monitoring overtime the erosive phenomena and/or the anthropic abuses on nature to the detriment of the beach system

Chapter Drone remote sensing for coastal habitats protection

Growing beach tourist vocation of Lecce province has led to an increase human pressures along its coasts, often on habitats of conservation interest. Ever-increasing erosion phenomena of sandy shoreline constantly requires fast and effective monitoring activities assessing the conservation status of dunes and shoreline. Remote sensing via RPAS is proving useful to identify phenomena that act on a small scale and supporting and implementing protective measures with an adaptive management approach. This work consists of a protocol for monitoring dune cordons and nearby shorelines through RPAS