LADDER PROOF OF NONLOCALITY WITHOUT INEQUALITIES : THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

We show how a previous demonstration of nonlocality without inequalities for two spin-half particles can be improved so that a greater proportion of the pairs are shown to be subject to a contradiction with local realism. This is achieved by considering more settings of the apparatus at each end. Also, we report on an experimental realization employing a tunable source of polarization entangled photons. The experimental results violate locality (modulo, the efficiency loophole). {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society

A novel immunopeptidomic-based pipeline for the generation of personalized oncolytic cancer vaccines

Besides the isolation and identification of major histocompatibility complex I-restricted peptides from the surface of cancer cells, one of the challenges is eliciting an effective antitumor CD8+ T-cell-mediated response as part of therapeutic cancer vaccine. Therefore, the establishment of a solid pipeline for the downstream selection of clinically relevant peptides and the subsequent creation of therapeutic cancer vaccines are of utmost importance. Indeed, the use of peptides for eliciting specific antitumor adaptive immunity is hindered by two main limitations: the efficient selection of the most optimal candidate peptides and the use of a highly immunogenic platform to combine with the peptides to induce effective tumor-specific adaptive immune responses. Here, we describe for the first time a streamlined pipeline for the generation of personalized cancer vaccines starting from the isolation and selection of the most immunogenic peptide candidates expressed on the tumor cells and ending in the generation of efficient therapeutic oncolytic cancer vaccines. This immunopeptidomics-based pipeline was carefully validated in a murine colon tumor model CT26. Specifically, we used state-of-the-art immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometric methodologies to isolate > 8000 peptide targets from the CT26 tumor cell line. The selection of the target candidates was then based on two separate approaches: RNAseq analysis and HEX software. The latter is a tool previously developed by Jacopo, 2020, able to identify tumor antigens similar to pathogen antigens in order to exploit molecular mimicry and tumor pathogen cross-reactive T cells in cancer vaccine development. The generated list of candidates (26 in total) was further tested in a functional characterization assay using interferon-gamma enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot), reducing the number of candidates to six. These peptides were then tested in our previously described oncolytic cancer vaccine platform PeptiCRAd, a vaccine platform that combines an immunogenic oncolytic adenovirus (OAd) coated with tumor antigen peptides. In our work, PeptiCRAd was successfully used for the treatment of mice bearing CT26, controlling the primary malignant lesion and most importantly a secondary, nontreated, cancer lesion. These results confirmed the feasibility of applying the described pipeline for the selection of peptide candidates and generation of therapeutic oncolytic cancer vaccine, filling a gap in the field of cancer immunotherapy, and paving the way to translate our pipeline into human therapeutic approach.Peer reviewe

The Borehole Experiment: Investigation of Cortical Structures Through 3D Array Techniques

Over the last few years it is growing the need to monitor the volcanic activity with modern technology in order to mitigate volcanic hazard through the detection of any possible precursor phenomena. The use of high performance seismic stations, such as borehole instruments, may increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR), improving the capability to detect very small signals. Over the past 40 years much attention has been given to the use of seismic arrays to measure the slowness vector of coherent signals. The main advantage of seismic arrays consists in their ability to detect weak or emergent signals, and to allow for an effective noise reduction through multichannel waveform stacking. A reliable prediction of the ray-path back-propagated from the recording site to the source is strongly limited by the poor knowledge of the local shallow velocity structure. Usually in volcanic environments the propagation of seismic signals through the shallow layers is strongly affected by lateral heterogeneity, attenuation, scattering, and interaction with the free surface. Driven by these motivations, on May 2014, in collaboration with the colleagues of Osservatorio Vesuviano (INGV), we deployed a 3D seismic array in the area where the borehole seismic station called Pozzo Pitarrone is installed at a depth of about 130 meters. This will improve our knowledge about: • the structure of the top layer and its relationship with geology; • analysis of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of volcanic signals as a function of frequency; • study of seismic ray-path deformation caused by the interaction of the seismic waves with the free surface; • evaluation of the attenuation of the seismic signals correlated with the volcanic activity. The results of these analyses will improve the general knowledge of wave propagation in the shallow layers and will give a new contribution to the seismic monitoring of Etna volcano.PublishedNicolosi (Catania), Italy1T. Struttura della Terr

Surface ruptures database related to the 26 December 2018, MW 4.9 Mt. Etna earthquake, southern Italy

We provide a database of the surface ruptures produced by the 26 December 2018 Mw 4.9 earthquake that struck the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano in Sicily (southern Italy). Despite its relatively small magnitude, this shallow earthquake caused about 8 km of surface faulting, along the trace of the NNW-trending active Fiandaca Fault. Detailed field surveys have been performed in the epicentral area to map the ruptures and to characterize their kinematics. The surface ruptures show a dominant right-oblique sense of displacement with an average slip of about 0.09 m and a maximum value of 0.35 m. We have parsed and organized all observations in a concise database, with 932 homogeneous georeferenced records. The Fiandaca Fault is part of the complex active Timpe faults system affecting the eastern flank of Etna, and its seismic history indicates a prominent surface-faulting potential. Therefore, this database is essential for unravelling the seismotectonics of shallow earthquakes in volcanic areas, and contributes updating empirical scaling regressions that relate magnitude and extent of surface faulting.Publishedid 422T. Deformazione crostale attivaJCR Journa

Introducing the “analogs for Venus’ geologically recent surfaces” initiative: an opportunity for identifying and analyzing recently active volcano-tectonic areas of Venus trough a comparative study with terrestrial analogs

Several missions to Venus have been recently selected for launch [1–6], opening a new era for the exploration of the planet. One of the key questions that the future missions need to address is whether Venus is presently volcanically active [7–15]. Studying areas of active volcanism and tectonism on Venus is crucial to reveal clues about the geologic past of the planet, as well as provide information about the volatile content of its interior and the formation of its dense atmosphere. The “Analogsfor VENus’ GEologically Recent Surfaces” (AVENGERS) initiative aims to build a comprehensive database of terrestrial analog sites for the comparative study of recent and possibly on- going volcanic activity on Venus. Besides its scientific relevance, the AVENG- ERS initiative also acts as a bridge for international scientific collaboration, including the leadership and/or team members from the currently selected missions to Venus

Il terremoto di Fleri (Etna) del 26 dicembre 2018 Mw 4.9. Parte II: rilievo degli effetti di fagliazione cosismica superficiale

Il terremoto del 26 dicembre 2019, ore 02:19 UTC, che ha colpito il basso versante sud-orientale dell’Etna, ha prodotto non solo danni gravi e distruzioni nell’area epicentrale, pari al grado 8 EMS (Azzaro et al., in questo volume), ma anche vistose rotture superficiali lungo la faglia di Fiandaca, che è la struttura più meridionale del sistema tettonico delle Timpe (Fig. 1a). Gli effetti di fagliazione cosismica in area etnea sono storicamente piuttosto frequenti in occasione di terremoti superficiali (< 2-3 km), anche per valori di magnitudo relativamente modesti (M ≥ 3.5, vedi Azzaro, 1999). Con una magnitudo Mw 4.9 (Regional Centroid Moment Tensors, https://doi.org/10.13127/rcmt/italy), il terremoto in questione rappresenta l’evento più significativo, in termini di entità e complessità della fagliazione associata, verificatosi nell’area etnea negli ultimi 70 anni, con una estensione della rottura superiore rispetto a quelle storiche (< 6.5 km). Il gruppo di emergenza per il rilievo degli effetti geologici cosismici EMERGEO (http://emergeo.ingv.it) dell’INGV, si è pertanto attivato effettuando quattro campagne di misura con squadre che si sono alternate sul terreno (per un totale di 60 gg/persona), supportate da personale del proprio Centro Operativo per l’organizzazione dei dati e il popolamento del database (43 gg/persona). Il rilievo ha consentito la raccolta e catalogazione di circa 900 punti di misura relativi a posizionamento, geometria, rigetto e cinematica delle fratture cosismiche.UnpublishedRoma2T. Deformazione crostale attiv