CONTRIBUTION TO HYDRAULIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PLIO-PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS OF THRIASSION PLAIN OF ATTICA

Η γεωλογική δομή της ευρύτερης περιοχής του Θριασίου Πεδίου είναι σε γενικές γραμμές πολύπλοκη και έχει επηρεασθεί σε διάφορες περιόδους από σύνθετες τεκτονικές δράσεις και τελευταία από την νεοτεκτονική, η οποία έχει δημιουργήσει πολύ σύνθετες δομές κεράτων και βυθισμάτων. Η γεωλογική και τεκτονική δομή έχει επηρεάσει τις υδρογεωλογικές συνθήκες και την κίνηση του υπόγειου νερού. Τα υδραυλικά χαρακτηριστικά των πλειολειστοκαινικών ιζημάτων διαφέρουν από θέση νσε θέση. Σε αυτό το άρθρο παρουσιάζονται αποτελέσματα αντλητικών δοκιμασιών που πραγματοποιήθηκαν στις πλειο πλειστοκαινικές αποθέσεις και προσδιορίσθηκαν τα υδραυλικά χαρακτηριστικά τους. Οι αντλήσεις πραγματοποιήθηκαν σε 8 πηγάδια και εφαρμόσθηκαν οι μέθοδοι Cooper-Jacob, Theis, Papadopoulos-Cooper, Neuman και η μέθοδος της Επαναφοράς. Οι αντλήσεις αυτές ανέδειξαν την μέθοδο της Επαναφοράς ως την πλέον αξιόπιστη. Η μεταβιβαστικότητα T κυμαίνεται μεταξύ 18-279.1 m2/d, η αποθηκευτικότητα S μεταξύ 2.5*10-3-3*10-2 και η υδραυλική αγωγιμότητα Κ κυμαίνεται μεταξύ 16-360 m3/d/m. Η έρευνα αυτή συμβάλλει, ουσιαστικά, στην προσέγγιση των υδρογεωλογικών συνθηκών που επικρατούν στο Θριάσιο Πεδίο.The geological structure of Thriassion Plain is generally complex and has been affected at different times by many tectonic activities. The last ones are the neotectonic, which caused horsts and grabens structures. Geologic and tectonic structures have influenced the hydrogeological conditions and the groundwater flow. Hydraulic characteristics of Plio-Pleistocene deposits differ throughout their extent. In this study, pumping tests in Plio-Pleistocene deposits are represented and the hydraulic characteristics transmissivity T, storativity S and hydraulic conductivity K are assigned. Pumping tests, in 8 totally wells, were conducted in the dry period. Methods as Cooper-Jacob’s, Theis’s, Papadopoulos Cooper’s and Neuman’s and last the Recovery method, are used to assign the hydraulic characteristics. These tests highlighted the Recovery method as the most reliable. Transmissivity T: 18-279.1 m2/d, storativity S: 2.5*10-3 3*10-2and hydraulic conductivity K: 0.4-25.1 m/d. Specific capacity is also determined ranging between 16-360 m3/d/m. This study contributes, essentially, in the approach of hydrogeological conditions of Thriassion Plain

Automatic X-ray Image Segmentation and Clustering for Threat Detection

Firearms currently pose a known risk at the borders. The enormous number of X-ray images from parcels, luggage and freight coming into each country via rail, aviation and maritime presents a continual challenge to screening officers. To further improve UK capability and aid officers in their search for firearms we suggest an automated object segmentation and clustering architecture to focus officers’ attentions to high-risk threat objects. Our proposal utilizes dual-view single/ dual-energy 2D X-ray imagery and is a blend of radiology, image processing and computer vision concepts. It consists of a triple-layered processing scheme that supports segmenting the luggage contents based on the effective atomic number of each object, which is then followed by a dual-layered clustering procedure. The latter comprises of mild and a hard clustering phase. The former is based on a number of morphological operations obtained from the image-processing domain and aims at disjoining mild-connected objects and to filter noise. The hard clustering phase exploits local feature matching techniques obtained from the computer vision domain, aiming at sub-clustering the clusters obtained from the mild clustering stage. Evaluation on highly challenging single and dual-energy X-ray imagery reveals the architecture’s promising performance

SAR automatic target recognition based on convolutional neural networks

We propose a multi-modal multi-discipline strategy appropriate for Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery. Our architecture relies on a pre-trained, in the RGB domain, Convolutional Neural Network that is innovatively applied on SAR imagery, and is combined with multiclass Support Vector Machine classification. The multi-modal aspect of our architecture enforces the generalisation capabilities of our proposal, while the multi-discipline aspect bridges the modality gap. Even though our technique is trained in a single depression angle of 17°, average performance on the MSTAR database over a 10-class target classification problem in 15°, 30° and 45° depression is 97.8%. This multi-target and multi-depression ATR capability has not been reported yet in the MSTAR database literature

Holocene hydroclimatic changes in Northern Peloponnese (Greece) inferred from the multiproxy record of Lake Lousoi

This research presents the paleoenvironmental evolution of a drained lake at the Lousoi plateau (northern Peloponnese), for the last 10,000 years, through the study of a 7 m depth core. Analyses conducted on the core include grain size, TOC, TN, pH, EC, total carbonates (), magnetic susceptibility measurements, XRF analysis, and radiocarbon dating. Our paleoenvironmental reconstruction was based on geochemical proxiesrsquo; distribution in the core, combined with sediment physical and textural characteristics and later comparison between additional lacustrine archives from northern Peloponnese. From 10,900 to 7700 cal BP lacustrine, organic-rich deposits were recognized, reflecting increased lake water levels. Wet climatic conditions seem to have prevailed during this phase, interrupted by a dry pulse at 9400 cal BP. Transition to more shallow waters was marked at 8200 cal BP due to increased sediment deposition in the lake, with the environmental status shifting to a more oxygenated phase. Overall, wet conditions prevailed in this period and are in good agreement with regional records. In the Late Holocene period, the lake seems to have been highly affected by pedogenic processes, and thus, it was difficult to distinguish paleoclimatic/paleoenvironmental signals.1. Introduction 2. Study Area 2.1. Regional Setting 2.2. Geological Setting 3. Materials and Methods 3.1. Coring Fieldwork 3.2. Sedimentology 4. Results 4.1. Core Description and Stratigraphy 4.2. Radiocarbon Dating and Age–Depth Model 4.3. Distribution of Geochemical Proxies 5. Discussion 5.1. Early Holocene (11,800–8200 cal BP) 5.2. Middle Holocene (8200–4200 cal BP) 5.3. Late Holocene (4200 cal BP–Present) 6. Conclusion

Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis: A Rare Chronic Disease, Difficult to Treat, with Potential to Lung Cancer Transformation: Apropos of Two Cases and a Brief Literature Review

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), which is caused exclusively by human papilloma virus (HPV), is a rare condition characterized by recurrent growth of benign papillomata in the respiratory tract. The papillomata can occur anywhere in the aerodigestive tract but most frequently in the larynx, affecting both children and adults. The management of this entity remains still challenging since no specific definitive treatment exists. Nevertheless, novel surgical interventions as well as several adjuvant therapies have shown promising results in the long-term palliative management of this debilitating disease. Despite its mostly benign nature, RRP may cause significant morbidity and mortality because of its unpredictable clinical course and especially its tendency, albeit infrequent, for malignant transformation. In this article, we present two patients with RRP; one underwent bronchoscopic laser ablation in combination with inhaled interferon-alpha administration that led to a long-term regression of the disease while the other patient was diagnosed with transformation to squamous cell lung carcinoma with fatal outcome. We include a review of the current literature with special emphasis on RRP management and the potential role of HPV in the development of lung cancer

Decisional tools for successful commercialisation of novel vaccine technologies

With the emergence of personalised cancer vaccines and more recently with the COVID-19 pandemic, the increasing need for novel and disruptive manufacturing and supply chain strategies to deliver affordable vaccines has been highlighted. Decision-support tools are essential to accelerate and enhance decision-making during the development, commercialisation and distribution of prophylactic or therapeutic vaccines across the globe. This presentation will share our most recent insights from UCL’s Bioprocess Decisional Tools research on modelling the economics of integrated and intensified manufacturing technologies for viral vectors and mRNA vaccines. On the mRNA front, UCL collaborated with Univercells Technologies and Quantoom Biosciences to explore novel identified, integrated and automated platforms for the production of personalised cancer vaccines, and we evaluated the benefits and limitations of the technology across a range of demands and dose sizes. Furthermore, we simulated the same manufacturing technology for the production of a prophylactic mRNA vaccine against an infectious disease at a pandemic pace, focusing on the adequate and rapid supply of vaccines in developing countries. The case study used the COVID-19 pandemic as a real-world example to determine the necessary infrastructure and manufacturing capacity in Africa to support a rapid response across the continent. In the analysis, we considered two vaccine technologies; an adenoviral vector and an mRNA vaccine, aiming to determine the required facility footprint, the capital investment and the cost of goods. Moreover, for each vaccine technology we compared an integrated with a conventional manufacturing platform for a centralised and a regional manufacturing and supply chain network. These case studies have highlighted the importance of utilising decision-support tools in bioprocessing to gain an in-depth understanding of the necessary infrastructure and the associated cost to manufacture and supply affordable vaccines

H∞ LIDAR odometry for spacecraft relative navigation

Current light detection and ranging (LIDAR) based odometry solutions that are used for spacecraft relative navigation suffer from quite a few deficiencies. These include an off-line training requirement and relying on the iterative closest point (ICP) that does not guarantee a globally optimum solution. To encounter this, the authors suggest a robust architecture that overcomes the problems of current proposals by combining the concepts of 3D local feature matching with an adaptive variant of the H∞ recursive filtering process. Trials on real laser scans of an EnviSat model demonstrate that the proposed architecture affords at least one order of magnitude better accuracy compared to ICP

The Challenging Evaluation of Patients with Severe Psoriasis for Latent Tuberculosis: An Important Indication for IGRA

It is well-established that tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α-antagonist regimens are advisable for the control of moderate to severe psoriasis; however the application of these agents is associated with increased risk of TB reactivation. Screening for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is indispensable prior to treatment inception in order to diminish the risk of active TB. Although tuberculin skin test (TST) still represents a useful tool for LTBI detection, it is difficult to be performed and read in patients with extensive psoriatic lesions. In this paper, we report the case of a 65-year-old male with severe psoriasis, who was evaluated by an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) for LTBI diagnosis prior to anti-TNF-α therapy. Furthermore, the physiological aspects of interferon-gamma release assays are discussed emphasizing the value of these novel immunodiagnostic tests (IGRAs) for presumable LTBI in all patients with extensive skin disorders