The Miocene vertebrate-bearing deposits of Scontrone (Abruzzo, Central Italy): Stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental analysis.

The Miocene carbonate deposits of Scontrone (Abruzzo, Central Italy) are well known among palaeontologists because of their fossil vertebrate content that exhibits striking similarities to those of the remarkable ‘‘Terre Rosse’’ faunal complex of the Gargano region, defining the existence of the Miocene Central Mediterranean Apulia paleobioprovince. The main goal of this paper is to establish the age and environment of the Scontrone vertebrate bonebeds. The vertebrate remains are embedded in the basal portion of the Lithothamnion Limestone, a widespread carbonate-ramp lithosome representative of the Tortonian-early Messinian transgression over the entire Apulia Platform. The bonebeds belong to marginal-marine deposits (here called ‘‘Scontrone calcarenites’’) preserved in a small area below transgressive ravinement surfaces. The rapid vertical and lateral facies variations displayed by the ‘‘Scontrone calcarenites’’, together with paleoenvironmental considerations deriving from the vertebrate association, document a complex wave-dominated river-mouth depositional setting developed over a large, flat and semi-arid carbonate ramp. The ‘‘Scontrone calcarenites’’ have been split herein into five facies associations representing the stratigraphic response to a discontinuous or punctuated transgression within an overall rise of the relative sea level. Because of the absence of age-diagnostic fossils, the age of the ‘‘Scontrone calcarenites’’ cannot be directly defined through their paleontological content. However, a regional stratigraphic correlation between the Lithothamnion Limestone of Scontrone and the Lithothamnion Limestone of northern Majella, which is biostratigraphically well constrained, allows the attribution of the ‘‘Scontrone calcarenites’’ to the Tortonian

Main recent deformation and seismotectonics in the Central Mediterranean Region.

Late Neogene-Quaternary tectonics in the Central Mediterranean region has been entirely controlled by the Africa-Adria-Europe plate interaction and by the passive subduction of the south-western margin of Adria. Presently the western, northern and eastern boundaries of Adria are outlined by first-order geological features (Apennines, Alps and Dinarides); the southern boundary, on the contrary, is still undefined and its location is controversial. The reconstruction of the Neogene-Quaternary relative motion of Adria versus Europe is well constrained by the geometrical configuration of the Insubric indenter and by the geometry of the young thrust systems in the Southern Alps, Dinarides and Hellenides. The major structural features of these areas may be simultaneously justified by a counterclockwise rotation of Adria around a pole located in the Western Mediterranean Sea not far from the Corsica coast. The slip vectors obtained by such a rotation pole satisfactorily account for the overall kinematic processes along the external margin of Adria during Neogene-Quaternary times

Global well-posedness for the non-linear Maxwell-Schr\"odinger system

In this paper we study the Cauchy problem associated to the Maxwell-Schr\"odinger system with a defocusing pure-power non-linearity. This system has many applications in physics, for instance in the description of a charged non-relativistic quantum plasma, interacting with its self-generated electromagnetic potential. One consequence of our analysis is to demonstrate that the Lorentz force associated with the electromagnetic field is well-defined for solutions slightly more regular than the finite energy class. This aspect is of fundamental importance since all the related physical models require the observability of electromagnetic effects. The well-posedness of the Lorentz force still seems to be a major open problem in the class of solutions which are only finite energy. We show the global well-posedness at high regularity for the cubic and sub-cubic case, and we provide polynomial bounds for the growth of the Sobolev norm of the solutions, for a certain range of non-linearities. An important role is played by appropriate a priori dispersive estimates, obtained by means of Koch-Tzvetkov type bounds for the non-homogeneous Schr\"odinger equation, which overcome the lack of Strichartz estimates for the magnetic Schr\"odinger flow. Because of the power-type non-linearity, the propagation of higher regularity, globally in time, cannot be achieved via a bootstrap argument as done in [44]. Our approach then exploits the analysis of a modified energy functional, combined with the a priori bounds coming from the dispersive estimates obtained previously

Struttura tettonica ed evoluzione cinematica dell'Appennino meridionale.

La struttura profonda dell'Appennino meridionale è definita, come ben noto, da un sistema duplex sepolto di carbonati mesozoico-terziari derivanti dal margine interno della Piattaforma Apula ricoperto da un sistema di falde di provenienza occidentale. Il sistema di falde comprende unità di piattaforma, scarpata e bacino la cui ricostruzione palinspastica è tuttora oggetto di discussione. Un recente riprocessamento della linea CROP-04 mostra che la superficie di scorrimento basale del cuneo tettonico raggiunge una profondità superiore ai 20 chilometri in corrispondenza della costa tirrenica. L'assetto geometrico generale della catena è complicato da numerosi sovrascorrimenti fuori sequenza e dallo sviluppo di sistemi duplex all'interno delle coltri di tetto (in particolare potenti cataste antiformi di embrici lagonegresi). La propagazione della deformazione è avvenuta in maniera non cilindrica, per cui segmenti di catena adiacenti, deformati nello stesso intervallo temporale, possono mostrare geometrie fortemente diverse risultanti dalle diverse traiettorie delle superfici di scorrimento

The ARGO Project: assessing NA-TECH risks on offshore oil platforms

Abstract Analysis of natural and anthRopoGenic risks on Offshore platforms (ARGO) is a 3-years project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. The project, coordinated by AMRA, a permanent Research Centre for the development of innovative technologies applied to environmental problems, aims at providing technical-support for the analysis of natural and anthropogenic risks on offshore oil-platforms. ARGO has developed methodologies for the probabilistic analysis of industrial accidents triggered by natural events (NA-TECH) on offshore platforms. The final analysis of the ARGO Project suggest a constant monitoring of exploitation activity, fluids re-injection and storage using high technology networks

Personalizing Cancer Pain Therapy: Insights from the Rational Use of Analgesics (RUA) Group

Introduction: A previous Delphi survey from the Rational Use of Analgesics (RUA) project involving Italian palliative care specialists revealed some discrepancies between current guidelines and clinical practice with a lack of consensus on items regarding the use of strong opioids in treating cancer pain. Those results represented the basis for a new Delphi study addressing a better approach to pain treatment in patients with cancer. Methods: The study consisted of a two-round multidisciplinary Delphi study. Specialists rated their agreement with a set of 17 statements using a 5-point Likert scale (0 = totally disagree and 4 = totally agree). Consensus on a statement was achieved if the median consensus score (MCS) (expressed as value at which at least 50% of participants agreed) was at least 4 and the interquartile range (IQR) was 3–4. Results: This survey included input from 186 palliative care specialists representing all Italian territory. Consensus was reached on seven statements. More than 70% of participants agreed with the use of low dose of strong opioids in moderate pain treatment and valued transdermal route as an effective option when the oral route is not available. There was strong consensus on the importance of knowing opioid pharmacokinetics for therapy personalization and on identifying immediate-release opioids as key for tailoring therapy to patients’ needs. Limited agreement was reached on items regarding breakthrough pain and the management of opioid-induced bowel dysfunction. Conclusion: These findings may assist clinicians in applying clinical evidence to routine care settings and call for a reappraisal of current pain treatment recommendations with the final aim of optimizing the clinical use of strong opioids in patients with cancer