A geo-chemo-mechanical study of a highly polluted marine system (Taranto, Italy) for the enhancement of the conceptual site model

The paper presents the results of the analysis of the geo-chemo-mechanical data gathered through an innovative multidisciplinary investigation campaign in the Mar Piccolo basin, a heavily polluted marine bay aside the town of Taranto (Southern Italy). The basin is part of an area declared at high environmental risk by the Italian government. The cutting-edge approach to the environmental characterization of the site was promoted by the Special Commissioner for urgent measures of reclamation, environmental improvements and redevelopment of Taranto and involved experts from several research fields, who cooperated to gather a new insight into the origin, distribution, mobility and fate of the contaminants within the basin. The investigation campaign was designed to implement advanced research methodologies and testing strategies. Differently from traditional investigation campaigns, aimed solely at the assessment of the contamination state within sediments lying in the top layers, the new campaign provided an interpretation of the geo-chemo-mechanical properties and state of the sediments forming the deposit at the seafloor. The integrated, multidisciplinary and holistic approach, that considered geotechnical engineering, electrical and electronical engineering, geological, sedimentological, mineralogical, hydraulic engineering, hydrological, chemical, geochemical, biological fields, supported a comprehensive understanding of the influence of the contamination on the hydro-mechanical properties of the sediments, which need to be accounted for in the selection and design of the risk mitigation measures. The findings of the research represent the input ingredients of the conceptual model of the site, premise to model the evolutionary contamination scenarios within the basin, of guidance for the environmental risk management. The study testifies the importance of the cooperative approach among researchers of different fields to fulfil the interpretation of complex polluted eco-systems

Performing television history

An expanded conception of performance study can disturb current theoretical and historical assumptions about television’s medial identity. The article considers how to write histories of the dominant forms and assumptions about performance in British and American television drama, and analyses how acting is situated in relation to the multiple meaning-making components of television. A longitudinal, wide-ranging analysis is briefly sketched to show that the concept of performance, from acting to the display of television’s mediating capability, can extend to the analysis of how the television medium ‘performed’ its own identity to shape its distinctiveness in specific historical circumstances

The National Lung Matrix Trial: translating the biology of stratification in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

© The Author 2015.Background: The management of NSCLC has been transformed by stratified medicine. The National Lung Matrix Trial (NLMT) is a UK-wide study exploring the activity of rationally selected biomarker/targeted therapy combinations. Patients and methods: The Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Stratified Medicine Programme 2 is undertaking the large volume national molecular pre-screening which integrates with the NLMT. At study initiation, there are eight drugs being used to target 18 molecular cohorts. The aim is to determine whether there is sufficient signal of activity in any drug-biomarker combination to warrant further investigation. A Bayesian adaptive design that gives a more realistic approach to decision making and flexibility to make conclusions without fixing the sample size was chosen. The screening platform is an adaptable 28-gene Nextera next-generation sequencing platform designed by Illumina, covering the range of molecular abnormalities being targeted. The adaptive design allows new biomarker-drug combination cohorts to be incorporated by substantial amendment. The pre-clinical justification for each biomarker-drug combination has been rigorously assessed creating molecular exclusion rules and a trumping strategy in patients harbouring concomitant actionable genetic abnormalities. Discrete routes of pathway activation or inactivation determined by cancer genome aberrations are treated as separate cohorts. Key translational analyses include the deep genomic analysis of pre- and post-treatment biopsies, the establishment of patient-derived xenograft models and longitudinal ctDNA collection, in order to define predictive biomarkers, mechanisms of resistance and early markers of response and relapse. Conclusion: The SMP2 platform will provide large scale genetic screening to inform entry into the NLMT, a trial explicitly aimed at discovering novel actionable cohorts in NSCLC

Le interferenze del processo penale con il processo tributario: l'"essere" e il "tempo" dei due riti

In un’epoca dominata dal primato dell’io e dal pensiero computante, rimettersi in ascolto dell’essere significa rivelarne i segreti, attraverso il linguaggio, non come mero strumento del pensiero, ma quale orizzonte verso il quale si proietta la nostra esistenza. Se allora, il senso dell’essere, l’uomo, è un ente caratterizzato da temporalità e mortalità, concepiti secondo Heiddeger, come “immagini dei fatti del mondo”, nel discorso che qui si sviluppa su argomenti diversi occorre introdurre un terzo elemento che completa il dualismo “essere” e “tempo”, il “silenzio” secondo Wittgeinsten. In tal caso gli equilibri si spostano altrove, perché il silenzio esprime, sì, un diritto ma nel contempo esso è un’imposizione: ‘Su ciò di cui non si può parlare si deve tacere”. Questo complesso nodo problematico è il motore che contraddistingue i contributi del presente volume” e che invita a rimeditare la filosofia di fondo dell’insieme: il valore dell’Uomo nel sistema processuale penale e tributario. Difatti, la struttura del volume riflette le scelte metodologiche con riferimento alle prospettive di riforma che interessano, da tempo, sia il Processo penale che quello tributario, privilegiando l’osservazione di modelli continentali, che sembrano caratterizzati da una connotazione più equa e razionale, soprattutto quando danno rilevanza centrale alla giurisdizione, luogo dalla salvaguardia dei diritti dell’uomo e delle libertà fondamental

Tools based on multivariate statistical analysis for classification of soil and groundwater in Apulian agricultural sites

In this paper, the results obtained from multivariate statistical techniques such as PCA (Principal component analysis) and LDA (Linear discriminant analysis) applied to a wide soil data set are presented. The results have been compared with those obtained on a groundwater data set, whose samples were collected together with soil ones, within the project \u201cImprovement of the Regional Agro-meteorological Monitoring Network (2004\u20132007)\u201d. LDA, applied to soil data, has allowed to distinguish the geographical origin of the sample from either one of the two macroaeras: Bari and Foggia provinces vs Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto provinces, with a percentage of correct prediction in cross validation of 87%. In the case of the groundwater data set, the best classification was obtained when the samples were grouped into three macroareas: Foggia province, Bari province and Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto provinces, by reaching a percentage of correct predictions in cross validation of 84%. The obtained information can be very useful in supporting soil and water resource management, such as the reduction of water consumption and the reduction of energy and chemical (nutrients and pesticides) inputs in agriculture

Atmospheric pressure plasma treatment of polyurethane foams with He–O2 fed dielectric barrier discharges

The atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasma treatment of open-cell polyurethane foams is carried out using dielectric barrier discharges fed with helium and oxygen mixtures. During plasma processes, the discharge is ignited both outside the foam and within its porous structure to achieve the three-dimensional surface modification of the entire substrate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results reveal the uniform functionalization of both the exterior and interior surfaces of the porous material with oxygen-containing groups. In addition, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analyses confirm that surface chemical modification occurs with preservation of the foam polymeric skeleton. Scanning electron microscopy observations and water contact angle measurements show that the plasma-treated foams exhibit increased surface roughness and wettability, respectively. It is also observed that aging of the plasma-treated foams is more pronounced in water than in air, due to the inevitable dissolution of oxidized polymer fragments formed during plasma exposure. Finally, it is found that a simple post-processing step improves the capability of the plasma-treated foams to remove heavy metal ions from water, as demonstrated through Cd2+ adsorption experiments