Tunneling and other engineering works in volcanic environments: Sousaki and Thessaly

Η εργασία αυτή έχει βασιστεί στις επιπτώσεις του Ηφαιστείου Σουσακίου Κορινθίας σε μία σήραγγα, και εξετάζει πιθανές επιπτώσεις της Τεταρτογενούς ηφαιστειότητας της Θεσσαλίας σε μεγάλα κατασκευαστικά έργα. Το ηφαίστειο Σουσακίου είχε σημαντική ηφαιστειακή δράση στο παρελθόν, αλλά η πρόσφατη δράση του περιορίζεται σε γεωθερμικά φαινόμενα. Μια σήραγγα για τη νέα Σιδηροδρομική Γραμμή Υψηλών Ταχυτήτων Αθηνών-Κορίνθου διανοίχθηκε διάμεσου της σολφατάρας του ηφαιστείου, σε περιοχή με πλήθος ρήγματα και φυσικά έγκοιλα. Κατά την εκσκαφή σημειώθηκε άνοδος της θερμοκρασίας και γεωθερμικά αέρια εισχώρησαν στη σήραγγα προκαλώντας προβλήματα στην συνέχιση του έργου. Αμεσα πραγματοποιήθηκαν επιτόπου έρευνες του υπεδάφους και αποφασίστηκε η λήψη έκτακτων μέτρων για την προστασία του έργου. Η περίπτωση της σήραγγας αυτής έκανε σαφές ότι και κατά την κατασκευή μεγάλων τεχνικών έργων και σε ό2λες περιοχές μπορεί να παρουσιαστούν προβλήματα συνδεόμενα με την ηφαιστειότητα στο μέλλον. Μία τέτοια περιοχή είναι οι Μικροθήβες και το Αχίλλειο, Μαγνησίας, όπου κατασκευάζονται σήραγγες για το νέο εθνικό οδικό και σιδηροδρομικό δίκτυο. Για την αντιμετώπιση αυτών των πιθανών προβλημάτων και την ελαχιστοποίηση των ηφαιστειακών κινδύνων κρίνονται απαραίτητες η βελτιστοποίηση της χάραξης των δικτύων μεταφορών σε συνδυασμό με την υιοθέτηση ειδικών τεχνικών κατασκευής και μέτρων ασφαλείαςThis study is inspired by the impacts on a tunnel of the Sousaki volcano, in the vicinity of Corinth and examines possible impacts of the Quaternary volcanism on major engineering works in Thessaly. The Sousaki volcano, at the NW edge of the Aegean Volcanic Arc has been associated with important volcanic activity in the past, but its current activity is confined to géothermie phenomena. A tunnel for the new Athens-Corinth High Speed Rail was excavated through the solfatara of the volcano, an area characterized by numerous faults and physical cavities. High temperatures and geothermal gases released in the underground opening through the faults caused disturbance to the tunnel construction, need for supplementary investigations and adoption of special measures to maintain tunnel stability. Experience from the tunnel at Sousaki indicates that similar risks may be faced in future major engineering works in other regions of Greece. Such an example is the area of Microthives and Achillio, Magnesia, Thessaly. Tunnels for the new highway and railway networks constructed or planned through at least two volcanic domes and other main engineering works may also face volcano-associated effects. Optimization of the network routes in combination with special construction techniques and safety measures need to be followed for minimization of such volcanic risks

Jellyfish swarms and degree of exposure and vulnerabil-ity of recreational and tourist activities on beaches. Methodological approach to their assessment in the Lagos-Ferrara sector (Málaga, Spain)

An important part of the economy of the municipalities on the southern Spanish coast revolves around tourist activity, whose main attraction is the sun and beach. Events such as the arrival of swarms of jellyfish on their beaches have generated a certain amount of fear in the tourism sector. This work presents a methodological essay to evaluate the possible impact of this phenomenon on the use of the beach and the tourist economic activity linked to it. The chosen study area is the stretch of coast between the beach-es of "Lagos" and "Ferrara" (eastern coast of the province of Málaga). It is developed from a risk management perspective, addressing exposure and vulnerability factors. The sources are mainly surveys. The results show that in the short term there are no clear consequences, but there are in the long term.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Longitudinal Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Biomarkers Correlate With Treatment Outcome in Drug-Sensitive Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Population Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Analysis

BACKGROUND: This study aims to explore relationships between baseline demographic covariates, plasma antibiotic exposure, sputum bacillary load, and clinical outcome data to help improve future tuberculosis (TB) treatment response predictions. METHODS: Data were available from a longitudinal cohort study in Malawian drug-sensitive TB patients on standard therapy, including steady-state plasma antibiotic exposure (154 patients), sputum bacillary load (102 patients), final outcome (95 patients), and clinical details. Population pharmacokinetic and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic models were developed in the software package NONMEM. Outcome data were analyzed using univariate logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models in R, a free software for statistical computing. RESULTS: Higher isoniazid exposure correlated with increased bacillary killing in sputum (P < .01). Bacillary killing in sputum remained fast, with later progression to biphasic decline, in patients with higher rifampicin area under the curve (AUC)_{0-24} (P < .01). Serial sputum colony counting negativity at month 2 (P < .05), isoniazid C_{MAX} (P < .05), isoniazid C_{MAX}/minimum inhibitory concentration ([MIC] P < .01), and isoniazid AUC_{0-24}/MIC (P < .01) correlated with treatment success but not with remaining free of TB. Slower bacillary killing (P < .05) and earlier progression to biphasic bacillary decline (P < .01) both correlate with treatment failure. Posttreatment recurrence only correlated with slower bacillary killing (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of early bacillary clearance matter. Static measurements such as month 2 sputum conversion and pharmacokinetic parameters such as C_{MAX}/MIC and AUC_{0-24}/MIC were predictive of treatment failure, but modeling of quantitative longitudinal data was required to assess the risk of recurrence. Pooled individual patient data analyses from larger datasets are needed to confirm these findings

3D DOCUMENTATION AND VIRTUAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESTORATION OF MACEDONIAN TOMBS

Archaeology as a science is based on finding and displaying the remains of the past. In recent years, with the progress of technology, the science of archeology has been expanding and evolving. Three-dimensional digitization has become an integral part of the archiving, documentation and restoration effort of cultural heritage, offering important benefits in studies for reconstruction and restoration tasks of architectural creations, archaeological sites, historic monuments and objects of art in general. The three-dimensional models are now available for many applications. In this paper such 3D models of two prominent Macedonian tombs in Northern Greece were exploited for their virtual restoration. Virtual restoration of monuments is of special importance to archaeological research, as it provides the necessary tools to investigate alternative solutions to the serious issue of archaeological restoration. These solutions do not interfere with the real monument, thus respecting its value and the international conventions. Digital 3D models have begun to be more beneficial in a science such as archaeology as they offer easy access to both archaeological and geometric information to a wider audience as well as a high degree of interaction possibilities with the user

A High Polyphenol Diet Improves Psychological Well-Being: The Polyphenol Intervention Trial (PPhIT).

Mental ill health is currently one of the leading causes of disease burden worldwide. A growing body of data has emerged supporting the role of diet, especially polyphenols, which have anxiolytic and antidepressant-like properties. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of a high polyphenol diet (HPD) compared to a low polyphenol diet (LPD) on aspects of psychological well-being in the Polyphenol Intervention Trial (PPhIT). Ninety-nine mildly hypertensive participants aged 40-65 years were enrolled in a four-week LPD washout period and then randomised to either an LPD or an HPD for eight weeks. Both at baseline and the end of intervention, participants' lifestyle and psychological well-being were assessed. The participants in the HPD group reported a decrease in depressive symptoms, as assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and an improvement in physical component and mental health component scores as assessed with 36-Item Short Form Survey. No differences in anxiety, stress, self-esteem or body image perception were observed. In summary, the study findings suggest that the adoption of a polyphenol-rich diet could potentially lead to beneficial effects including a reduction in depressive symptoms and improvements in general mental health status and physical health in hypertensive participants

COVIDiSTRESS diverse dataset on psychological and behavioural outcomes one year into the COVID-19 pandemic

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVIDiSTRESS Consortium launched an open-access global survey to understand and improve individuals’ experiences related to the crisis. A year later, we extended this line of research by launching a new survey to address the dynamic landscape of the pandemic. This survey was released with the goal of addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion by working with over 150 researchers across the globe who collected data in 48 languages and dialects across 137 countries. The resulting cleaned dataset described here includes 15,740 of over 20,000 responses. The dataset allows cross-cultural study of psychological wellbeing and behaviours a year into the pandemic. It includes measures of stress, resilience, vaccine attitudes, trust in government and scientists, compliance, and information acquisition and misperceptions regarding COVID-19. Open-access raw and cleaned datasets with computed scores are available. Just as our initial COVIDiSTRESS dataset has facilitated government policy decisions regarding health crises, this dataset can be used by researchers and policy makers to inform research, decisions, and policy

TOWARDS ACCURATE INSTANCE SEGMENTATION IN LARGE-SCALE LIDAR POINT CLOUDS

Panoptic segmentation is the combination of semantic and instance segmentation: assign the points in a 3D point cloud to semantic categories and partition them into distinct object instances. It has many obvious applications for outdoor scene understanding, from city mapping to forest management. Existing methods struggle to segment nearby instances of the same semantic category, like adjacent pieces of street furniture or neighbouring trees, which limits their usability for inventory- or management-type applications that rely on object instances. This study explores the steps of the panoptic segmentation pipeline concerned with clustering points into object instances, with the goal to alleviate that bottleneck. We find that a carefully designed clustering strategy, which leverages multiple types of learned point embeddings, significantly improves instance segmentation. Experiments on the NPM3D urban mobile mapping dataset and the FOR-instance forest dataset demonstrate the effectiveness and versatility of the proposed strategy

Pooling sputum samples for Xpert® MTB/RIF and Xpert® Ultra testing for TB diagnosis

Background The use of molecular amplification as-says for TB diagnosis is limited by their costs and cartridge stocks. Pooling multiple samples to test them together is reported to have similar accuracy to individual testing and to save costs. Methods Two surveys of individuals with presumptive TB were conducted to assess the performance of pooled testing using Xpert® MTB/RIF (MTB/RIF) and Xpert® Ultra (Ultra). Results A total of 500 individuals were tested using MTB/RIF, with 72 (14.4%) being MTB-positive. The samples were tested in 125 pools, with 50 pools having 1 MTB-positive and 75 only MTB-negative samples: 46/50 (92%, 95% CI 80.8–97.8) MTB-positive pools tested MTB-positive and 71/75 (94.7%, 95% CI 86.9–98.5) MTB-negative pools tested MTB-negative in the pooled test (agreement: 93.6%, κ = 0.867). Five hundred additional samples were tested using Ultra, with 60 (12%) being MTB-positive. Samples were tested in 125 pools, with 42 having 1 MTB-positive and 83 only MTB-negative samples: 35/42 (83.6%, 95% CI 68.6–93.0) MTB-positive pools tested MTB-positive and 82/83 (98.8%, 95% CI 93.5–100.0) MTB-negative pools tested MTB-negative in the pooled test (agreement: 93.6%, κ = 0.851; P &gt; 0.1 between individual and pooled testing). Pooled testing saved 35% (MTB/RIF) and 46% (Ultra) of cartridges. Conclusions Pooled and individual testing has a high level of agreement and improves testing efficiency