Studio delle forme chimiche e mineralogiche e della mobilità/biodisponibilità di metalli pesanti in suoli, piante (Pistacia lentiscus L.) e soluzioni del suolo del Bacino del Rio San Giorgio (Iglesias – Gonnesa, Sardegna sud - occidentale, Italia) finalizzato allo sviluppo di strategie di soil remediation

This study was addressed to the environmental consequences that the intense extractive activity of lead and zinc has produced in the district around the towns of Iglesias and Gonnesa (southwestern Sardinia, Italy), with particular reference to the soil and to possible actions of phytoremediation. The research project, performed in cooperation with various national and international institutions, including ENEA, CNR and NTU (Nottingham Trent University), focuses the investigation on different aspects related to environmental pollution by elements such as Zn, Pb and Hg associated with the mines of the district. The study is located in the area of the Rio San Giorgio basin, where the following representative sites were chosen: one of the ‘hazard centers’ of the district, consisting of mining flotation wastes at Campo Pisano, close to the town of Iglesias; three natural sites, not directly affected by morphological alterations due to mineral extraction, located along the ‘metalliferous ring’, that is the Cambrian limestones-dolomites that host the Pb-Zn mineralisation; the Sa Masa swamp, that is the final collector of drainage waters of the river basin, closed by the Iglesias valley to the north and the Sulcis coal district to the south. The aims of this work are: i) to quantify the total content of ‘heavy metals’ in the various abiotic sectors (soils and soil pore waters), and in the biotic sector, specifically Pistacia lentiscus L., a spontaneous vegetal species; ii) to identify the chemical and mineralogical forms of heavy metals, and to define their mobility and bioavailability in the interactive environmental system soil - plant - soil pore water; iii) to study the relationship between the different concentrations of heavy metals in the various environmental media considered, to understand the mobility mechanisms; iv) to establish how much Pistacia lentiscus L. takes up and translocates each metal from roots to leaves, through the relationship of the contents measured in each plant parts, hypogeans and epigeans; v) to provide a full description in situ of the spontaneous system of vegetal species selected, that characterizes these contaminated zones, as an example of phytostabilization and soil remediation techniques, aimed to reclamation and stabilization of the abandoned mining areas. In the sampling points, soil profiles were opened, making a distinction in pedological horizons according the standard procedures of soil investigations; samples were collected for each horizon for subsequent laboratory analysis. These included the determination of chemical and physical characteristics according to the official Italian soil study methods. In general, the soils studied in the mining wastes are not pedogenised; those on dolomitic limestones are sparsely and moderately deep, in lithic contact with the underlying rock; the soils in the marshy deposits are characterized by a sequence of different sedimentary cycles (marked by textural differences). The pH reaction is generally from neutral to weakly alkaline (from 7.1 to 8.1), with variations and exceptions attributable to different parent materials from which the studied soils originate. The mineralogical and chemical analyses point out a great abundance of calcite and dolomite, in agreement with the geological substrate of the area. The organic carbon contents are generally higher in the surface horizons, with minimum value of 11 g/Kg and maximum of 202 g/Kg, and they decrease at increasing depths. The study of thin sections allowed to refine the attribution of acronyms to the horizons, according to the international soil classification systems of the Soil Taxonomy and IUSS Working Group. On the same soil samples were carried out further mineralogical determinations (X-ray powder diffraction), loss on ignition (LOI), and chemical composition (major elements with X fluorescence; trace metals with acid digestion followed by analysis with ICP-OES). In agreement with thin sections, calcite and dolomite result abundant, as well as quartz; in some samples the presence of barite, pyrite and gypsum was detected, as well as trace 'heavy metals' minerals (hemimorphite, cerussite, hydrozincite, anglesite). Consistent with mineralogy, the chemical composition is dominated by CaO-MgO-SiO2. Among the analysed heavy metals, Zn, Pb, As, Cd, and Hg very often occur in higher concentrations than Italian law limits (D.Lgs 152/2006) for the metal contents in soils for industrial use; particularly high are the contents of Zn (1655-220946 mg/Kg), and Pb (1360-54914 mg/Kg). These values are found also in the soils developed on natural substrates, presumably not much interested by anthropic impacts, reflecting therefore a natural geochemical anomaly; however, in the sites impacted by the mining activity all values are higher, demonstrating the influence of anthropic action. The mobility of metals was estimated through two different single extraction chemical methods: with DTPA solution, followed by analysis of the extracted metals by ICP-OES, and with sodium citrate/hydroxylamine hydrochloride/TEA followed by colorimetric titration with Dithizone (DZ) solution. The data comparison showed a good correlation between these two methods (R2=0.93), with values obtained from the DZ method roughly double with respect to those from the DTPA method. The mobile fraction extracted with both methods reveals a good correlation also with the total metal contents in soils (R2=0.98 for DZ; R2=0.92 for DTPA). As mentioned previously, a particularly innovative aspect of this study was the sampling and analysis of soil pore waters. Their chemical composition is variable among the various sites, and one can identify at least two principal compositional types (Ca-SO4, Ca-Mg-HCO3): to this last type, a Na-Cl-SO4 component of possible seawater origin is locally associated. Regarding the trace elements, the metals more abundant are Ba in some sites, and Zn in others; this last is usually the more abundant trace metal, particularly if compared to Pb. The modelisation with the speciation programs PHREEQC and WHAM shows in general an approach to equilibrium of the solutions with the minerals present in soils; specifically, the concentrations of Ba, Zn and Pb appear substantially controlled by barite, hydrozincite and cerussite, respectively. As concerns the transfer of metals to the biosphere, it was carried out also the sampling of P.lentiscus, on which the contents of Zn, Pb and Hg were determined, for roots, stems and leaves separately. In general, the metal concentrations decrease according to the order roots>stems>leaves, with the partial exception of Hg, for which there is locally an enrichment in leaves (TF>1), perhaps influenced from foliar absorption of Hg volatilised from soils. The metal contents in plants are considerably lower than those in soils (BAC<<1), and nevertheless roughly proportional to them. The P.lentiscus seems in fact to behave as a tolerant species with strategies of exclusion, and with character of 'indicator'. It is confirmed therefore that this species is particularly apt to revegetation actions aimed at the phytostabilisation of soils

Preliminary Results on a "Real" Iris Recognition System under Challenging Operational Conditions

Iris recognition algorithms have recently demonstrated excellent performance in the authentication task. In this paper, we present a technology transfer project for the development and testing of a biometric recognition system under challenging operational conditions. Due to the stringent operational requirements, the design and implementation of the system included a phase of selecting technologically advanced hardware. The lack of corresponding data sets implied a novel acquisition step. The evaluation phase is preliminary as the data set is being expanded for the acquisition of new samples capable of highlighting the system’s critical issues. Current samples were acquired in very different lighting conditions and in the presence of glasses, which was not yet done in the literature. In addition to the selected hardware, such data allowed us to simulate a realistic environmental context for the project’s final prototype

Expanding the therapeutic potential of neuro(active)steroids: a promising strategy for hyperdopaminergic behavioral phenotypes

Imbalances in dopamine activity significantly contribute to the pathophysiology of several neuropsychiatric disorders, including addiction, ADHD, schizophrenia, impulse control disorders, and Parkinson's Disease. Neuro (active)steroids, comprising endogenous steroids that finely modulate neuronal activity, are considered crucial regulators of brain function and behavior, with implications in various physiological processes and pathological conditions. Specifically, subclasses of Neuro(active)steroids belonging to the 5 alpha alpha reductase pathway are prominently involved in brain disorders characterized by dopaminergic signaling imbalances. This review highlights the neuromodulatory effects of Neuro(active)steroids on the dopamine system and related aberrant behavioral phenotypes. We critically appraise the role of pregnenolone, progesterone, and allopregnanolone on dopamine signaling. Additionally, we discuss the impact of pharmacological interventions targeting 5 alpha alpha reductase activity in neuropsychiatric conditions characterized by excessive activation of the dopaminergic system, ranging from psychotic (endo)phenotypes and motor complications to decision-making problems and addiction

Texture and artifact decomposition for improving generalization in deep-learning-based deepfake detection

The harmful utilization of DeepFake technology poses a significant threat to public welfare, precipitating a crisis in public opinion. Existing detection methodologies, predominantly relying on convolutional neural networks and deep learning paradigms, focus on achieving high in-domain recognition accuracy amidst many forgery techniques. However, overseeing the intricate interplay between textures and artifacts results in compromised performance across diverse forgery scenarios. This paper introduces a groundbreaking framework, denoted as Texture and Artifact Detector (TAD), to mitigate the challenge posed by the limited generalization ability stemming from the mutual neglect of textures and artifacts. Specifically, our approach delves into the similarities among disparate forged datasets, discerning synthetic content based on the consistency of textures and the presence of artifacts. Furthermore, we use a model ensemble learning strategy to judiciously aggregate texture disparities and artifact patterns inherent in various forgery types, thereby enabling the model’s generalization ability. Our comprehensive experimental analysis, encompassing extensive intra-dataset and cross-dataset validations along with evaluations on both video sequences and individual frames, confirms the effectiveness of TAD. The results from four benchmark datasets highlight the significant impact of the synergistic consideration of texture and artifact information, leading to a marked improvement in detection capabilities

LivDet2023 - Fingerprint Liveness Detection Competition: Advancing Generalization

The International Fingerprint Liveness Detection Competition (LivDet) is a biennial event that invites academic and industry participants to prove their advancements in Fingerprint Presentation Attack Detection (PAD). This edition, LivDet2023, proposed two challenges, "Liveness Detection in Action" and "Fingerprint Representation", to evaluate the efficacy of PAD embedded in verification systems and the effectiveness and compactness of feature sets. A third, "hidden" challenge is the inclusion of two subsets in the training set whose sensor information is unknown, testing participants' ability to generalize their models. Only bona fide fingerprint samples were provided to participants, and the competition reports and assesses the performance of their algorithms suffering from this limitation in data availability

Analysis of individual mouse activity in group housed animals of different inbred strains using a novel automated home cage analysis system.

Central nervous system disorders such as autism as well as the range of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease are commonly investigated using genetically altered mouse models. The current system for characterizing these mice usually involves removing the animals from their home-cage environment and placing them into novel environments where they undergo a battery of tests measuring a range of behavioral and physical phenotypes. These tests are often only conducted for short periods of times in social isolation. However, human manifestations of such disorders are often characterized by multiple phenotypes, presented over long periods of time and leading to significant social impacts. Here, we have developed a system which will allow the automated monitoring of individual mice housed socially in the cage they are reared and housed in, within established social groups and over long periods of time. We demonstrate that the system accurately reports individual locomotor behavior within the group and that the measurements taken can provide unique insights into the effects of genetic background on individual and group behavior not previously recognized

ALMaQUEST. IV. The ALMA-MaNGA QUEnching and STar Formation (ALMaQUEST) Survey

The ALMaQUEST (ALMA-MaNGA QUEnching and STar formation) survey is a program with spatially resolved 12CO(1-0) measurements obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) for 46 galaxies selected from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) DR15 optical integral-field spectroscopic survey. The aim of the ALMaQUEST survey is to investigate the dependence of star formation activity on the cold molecular gas content at kiloparsec scales in nearby galaxies. The sample consists of galaxies spanning a wide range in specific star formation rate (sSFR), including starburst (SB), main-sequence (MS), and green valley (GV) galaxies. In this paper, we present the sample selection and characteristics of the ALMA observations and showcase some of the key results enabled by the combination of spatially matched stellar populations and gas measurements. Considering the global (aperture-matched) stellar mass, molecular gas mass, and star formation rate of the sample, we find that the sSFR depends on both the star formation efficiency (SFE) and the molecular gas fraction ( ${f}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}$ ), although the correlation with the latter is slightly weaker. Furthermore, the dependence of sSFR on the molecular gas content (SFE or ${f}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}$ ) is stronger than that on either the atomic gas fraction or the molecular-to-atomic gas fraction, albeit with the small HI sample size. On kiloparsec scales, the variations in both SFE and ${f}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}$ within individual galaxies can be as large as 1-2 dex, thereby demonstrating that the availability of spatially resolved observations is essential to understand the details of both star formation and quenching processes

Roadmap on printable electronic materials for next-generation sensors

The dissemination of sensors is key to realizing a sustainable, ‘intelligent’ world, where everyday objects and environments are equipped with sensing capabilities to advance the sustainability and quality of our lives—e.g., via smart homes, smart cities, smart healthcare, smart logistics, Industry 4.0, and precision agriculture. The realization of the full potential of these applications critically depends on the availability of easy-to-make, low-cost sensor technologies. Sensors based on printable electronic materials offer the ideal platform: they can be fabricated through simple methods (e.g., printing and coating) and are compatible with high-throughput roll-to-roll processing. Moreover, printable electronic materials often allow the fabrication of sensors on flexible/stretchable/biodegradable substrates, thereby enabling the deployment of sensors in unconventional settings. Fulfilling the promise of printable electronic materials for sensing will require materials and device innovations to enhance their ability to transduce external stimuli—light, ionizing radiation, pressure, strain, force, temperature, gas, vapours, humidity, and other chemical and biological analytes. This Roadmap brings together the viewpoints of experts in various printable sensing materials—and devices thereof—to provide insights into the status and outlook of the field. Alongside recent materials and device innovations, the roadmap discusses the key outstanding challenges pertaining to each printable sensing technology. Finally, the Roadmap points to promising directions to overcome these challenges and thus enable ubiquitous sensing for a sustainable, ‘intelligent’ world