The XII century towers, a benchmark of the Rome countryside almost cancelled. The safeguard plan by low cost uav and terrestrial DSM photogrammetry surveying and 3D Web GIS applications

“Giving a bird-fly look at the Rome countryside, throughout the Middle Age central period, it would show as if the multiple city towers has been widely spread around the territory” on a radial range of maximum thirty kilometers far from the Capitol Hill center (Carocci and Vendittelli, 2004). This is the consequence of the phenomenon identified with the “Incasalamento” neologism, described in depth in the following paper, intended as the general process of expansion of the urban society interests outside the downtown limits, started from the half of the XII and developed through all the XIII century, slowing down and ending in the following years. From the XIX century till today the architectural finds of this reality have raised the interest of many national and international scientists, which aimed to study and catalog them all to create a complete framework that, cause of its extension, didn’t allow yet attempting any element by element detailed analysis. From the described situation has started our plan of intervention, we will apply integrated survey methods and technologies of terrestrial and UAV near stereo-photogrammetry, by the use of low cost drones, more than action cameras and reflex on extensible rods, integrated and referenced with GPS and topographic survey. In the final project we intend to produce some 3D scaled and textured surface models of any artifact (almost two hundreds were firstly observed still standing), to singularly study the dimensions and structure, to analyze the building materials and details and to formulate an hypothesis about any function, based even on the position along the territory. These models, successively georeferenced, will be imported into a 2D and 3D WebGIS and organized in layers made visible on basemaps of reference, as much as on historical maps

Papillomavirus E5: the smallest oncoprotein with many functions

Papillomaviruses (PVs) are established agents of human and animal cancers. They infect cutaneous and mucous epithelia. High Risk (HR) Human PVs (HPVs) are consistently associated with cancer of the uterine cervix, but are also involved in the etiopathogenesis of other cancer types. The early oncoproteins of PVs: E5, E6 and E7 are known to contribute to tumour progression. While the oncogenic activities of E6 and E7 are well characterised, the role of E5 is still rather nebulous. The widespread causal association of PVs with cancer makes their study worthwhile not only in humans but also in animal model systems. The Bovine PV (BPV) system has been the most useful animal model in understanding the oncogenic potential of PVs due to the pivotal role of its E5 oncoprotein in cell transformation. This review will highlight the differences between HPV-16 E5 (16E5) and E5 from other PVs, primarily from BPV. It will discuss the targeting of E5 as a possible therapeutic agent

Identification-detection group testing protocols for COVID-19 at high prevalence

Group testing allows saving chemical reagents, analysis time, and costs, by testing pools of samples instead of individual samples. We introduce a class of group testing protocols with small dilution, suited to operate even at high prevalence (5–10%), and maximizing the fraction of samples classified positive/negative within the first round of tests. Precisely, if the tested group has exactly one positive sample then the protocols identify it without further individual tests. The protocols also detect the presence of two or more positives in the group, in which case a second round could be applied to identify the positive individuals. With a prevalence of 5 % and maximum dilution 6, with 100 tests we classify 242 individuals, 92 % of them in one round and 8 % requiring a second individual test. In comparison, the Dorfman’s scheme can test 229 individuals with 100 tests, with a second round for 18.5 % of the individuals

Correlation of Impedance and Effective Electrode Area of Iridium Oxide Neural Electrodes

Iridium oxide is routinely used for bionic applications owing to its high charge injection capacity. The electrode impedance at 1 kHz is typically reported to predict neural recording performance. In this article, the impedance of activated iridium oxide films (AIROFs) has been examined. The impedance of unactivated iridium electrodes was half that of platinum electrodes of similar geometry, indicating some iridium oxide was present on the electrode surface. A two time constant equivalent circuit was used to model the impedance of activated iridium. The impedance at low and intermediate frequencies decreased with increasing number of activation pulses and total activation charge. The impedance at 12 Hz correlated with the steady-state diffusion electroactive area. The impedance at 12 Hz also correlated with the charge density of the electrode. The high charge density and low impedance of AIROFs may provide improved neural stimulation and recording properties compared with typically used platinum electrodes

A survey on knowledge and perceptions regarding head lice on a sample of teachers and students in primary schools of north and south of Italy

High rates of pediculosis are found in every part of the world. The age-range most affected is between 3 and 12 years. No-nit policies are ineffective in preventing infestations. On the other hand, misdiagnosis and overuse of pediculicides, increase resistance to treatment. Lack of information leads people to consider this kind of infestation to be associated to low social classes and immigrants. This research has been implemented to find out about the information level on pediculosis on a sample of students (722) and teachers (408) of some primary schools in northern and southern Italy, and to highlight the role of personal aspects such as age, gender, cultural level, geographical position which may influence this topic and, eventually, allow the use of the correct knowledge in developing appropriate procedures within the school district. Data was obtained through a questionnaire containing 21 multiple choice questions for the teachers and 14 for the students. Standard descriptive statistics were computed. ?2 tests were applied to highlight statistical association among observed variables; test for the difference of two proportions were applied to confirm significant differences among the observed proportions. The level of information for students seems to be, approximately, the same both for northern and southern Italy. There was a slight prevalence of correct answers from southern teachers, probably because the phenomenon of pediculosis has a positive trend of growth in the south. The number of correct answers was, for all, on average about 60.0%; a negative result in itself, considering the simplicity of the questions. Knowledge about the biology of the louse was virtually absent. The area of prevention showed lack of information and need for improvement. Most of the teachers believe that there are specific products that can prevent infestation by louse. Most of the teachers have information which does not come from scientific sources. Students receive some short and incomplete information from their parents. Deficiencies in teachers? knowledge indicate that they are inadequately equipped to manage lice infestation. Educational interventions with teachers and families and, as a consequence, with students should be taught at school to allow a correct understanding of the pediculosis, increasing the teachers? competence and, consequently, as soon as the infestation should manifest, a rapid alert of the Health Service so that proper treatment could be provided