Understanding the Frequency Dependence of Capacitance Measurements of Irradiated Silicon Detectors

Capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements are a widely used technique in silicon detector physics. It gives direct information about the full depletion voltage and the effective doping concentration. However, for highly irradiated sensors, the measured data differs significantly from the usual shape which makes the extraction of the afore mentioned parameters less precise to not possible. We present an explanation for the obseved frequency dependence and based on that, a method to extract the desired sensor parameters

An Expertise-driven Authoring Tool of Privacy Policies for e-Health

Data sharing on the Internet is crucial in manyaspects of nowadays life, from economy to leisure, from public administration to healthcare. However, it implies several privacy issues that have to be managed. Definition of appropriate policies helps to safeguard the data privacy. This paper describes an authoring tool for privacy policies to be applied to the healthcare scenario. The tool exhibits two different interfaces, designed according to specific expertise of the policy authors. It is part of a general framework for editing, analysis, and enforcement of privacy policies. Furthermore, this serves as a first brick for a usability study on such tools

Management of polytraumatized patient in Emilia Romagna. Data analysis of nontrauma center Hub Emergency Department

Introduction Trauma still has a great impact in term of morbidity and mortality all over the world. In Emilia Romagna, a region of the north of Italy, the Integrated System of Assistance to Trauma (SIAT) was created to ensure the best management of prehospital and early in-hospital trauma patient. Materials and Methods We reporte and discuss the results of an experimental study done in Emergency Department of Ferrara; datas refer to management of prehospital and early in-hospital trauma patient in the biennium 2015-2016. Results Datas show an increase in cases handled in the hub center instead of in the spoke ones; anyway there was an increasing in centralizing patients in the regional Hub Trauma center. Trauma Team was correctly activated, with an increasing trend. In addition, raising percentage of admission in ICU was associated with the raising percentage of patients treated in emergency medicine ward. Conclusions This article allows us to reflect and discuss about prehospital and in hospital polytraumatized patient path. Thanks to this newborn protocol of centralisation, traumatic patients were uniformly managed in the Western Emilia Romagna SIAT; trauma had a multidisciplinary approach and more appropriate admission. This resulted in optimizing the whole process from the income to the outcome of the patient. Moreover, the hospital of the study showed to be ready to cover the amount of trauma, except for those patients who needed to an hyperspecialistic approach

A methodology for assessing spatio-temporal dynamics of flood regulating services

open5sìThe effects of land use alteration, migration and urbanization are key aspects in flood management, as human activities can strongly influence the capacity of ecosystems to provide flood regulating ecosystem services and determine their demand. This study analyzes spatio-temporal dynamics of flood regulating ecosystem services to support watershed management planning. A methodology for mapping the supply and demand of flood regulation is proposed and applied to the Arno River basin, in central Italy. The spatial explicit analysis of flood regulating ecosystem services supply is carried out with SWAT - Soil and Water Assessment Tool, whose outputs are synthetized by two indicators to evaluate the retention capacity of each land use class originating from CORINE data sets. Quantification of demand for flood regulating ecosystem services is based on flood hazard classes derived from the existing local flood management plans (i.e., PAI-Piano per l'Assetto Idrogeologico and PGRA-Piano di Gestione del Rischio Alluvioni). Supply and demand data are then combined to obtain budget maps of flood regulating ecosystem services and their evolution, between 1990 and 2018. The results show how both demand and supply of ecosystem services have changed in the last decades, highlighting the main hotspots at the catchment and subcatchment scales. With the increasing urbanization, the demand values have grown in the Arno floodplains, where residential, industrial and commercial zones are located. At the same time, land use changes have altered the water regulation supply, resulting in a generalized decrease of the basin capacity to provide flood regulation services. The maps and tables obtained show the fundamental role of forest and other vegetated areas whose protection is a priority to assure future flood regulation and associated co-benefits (e.g., regulation of air quality, reduction of erosion, improvement of water quality, wood fuel). The assessment of flood regulating here proposed is a powerful tool for decision makers to improve flood regulation and provides a sound base of knowledge to identify and locate flood prevention and mitigation measureArticle Number: 107963openMori, Stefano; Pacetti, Tommaso; Brandimarte, Luigia; Santolini, Riccardo; Caporali, EnricaMori, Stefano; Pacetti, Tommaso; Brandimarte, Luigia; Santolini, Riccardo; Caporali, Enric

First record of a possibly overlooked impact by alien parrots on a bat (Nyctalus leisleri)

Although its interferences on native biodiversity are still poorly known, the rose-ringed parakeet Psittacula krameri is currently recorded as one of the 100 worst alien species. The impacts on native fauna by this parrot are mainly represented by the displacement of native birds from nesting sites, with direct lethal attacks observed only against little owls and red squirrels. To date, competition with bats for tree cavities has been hypothesized but not documented yet. We recorded a fatal attack of a parakeet towards a Leisler's bat (Nyctalus leisleri), roosting or possibly hibernating in a trunk cavity. Although this is the only report available, the fact that both parrots and many bat species use tree cavities suggests that similar cases may be relatively frequent although sporadically observed. This observation puts emphasis on the need to supporting active monitoring and management of introduced species populations to preserve threatened native fauna. © 2014 Associazione Teriologica Italiana

PAX2/Renal Coloboma Syndrome Expresses Extreme Intrafamilial Phenotypic Variability

Renal coloboma syndrome (RCS) is a disease characterized by kidney and ocular anomalies (kidney hypodysplasia and coloboma). RCS is caused, in half of the cases, by mutations in the paired box 2 (PAX2) gene, a critical organogenesis transcriptional factor. We report the case of a newborn with kidney hypodysplasia in a negative parental context where mother and father were phenotypically unaffected at the initial evaluation. The maternal family presented an important history of kidney disease with undefined diagnosis. Molecular characterization identified a PAX2 variant, classified as likely pathogenic. This variant segregates with the disease, and it was also found in the newborn, explaining his severe symptoms. It is noteworthy that the mother shows the same PAX2 variant, with an apparently negative kidney phenotype, displaying the possibility of an extreme variable expressivity of the disease. This feature suggests extreme caution in segregation analysis and family counseling of PAX2 pedigrees

Agronomic and environmental benefits of ‘re-using’ a biodegradable mulching film for two consecutive lettuce cycles

Biodegradable films are a valuable and sustainable alternative to plastic films for mulching soils since they avoid the environmental and economic problems related to plastic removal and dis posal. Nevertheless, the fast degradation of such materials could make them unsuitable for mid-to long-term use. In a field experiment, the agronomic performance of a biodegradable mulching film (MB) was compared to that of conventional low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film for two consecutive lettuce cycles (winter and spring). In the conditions of this trial, MB showed good resistance to atmospheric agents, with a reduction of its integrity and mechanical properties only after six months. The effects on soil temperature and lettuce yield did not differ from those obtained with LDPE films. The effect on harvest timing was the same as that with LDPE in the spring cycle, while in the winter cycle, the harvest was delayed by about five days compared to LDPE. Mulching films reduced nitrate accumulation in leaves mainly during the winter cycle. However, the effect needs to be further explored with experiments in different pedoclimatic conditions that consider the effects of mulching on nitrification and nitrate-reductase activity that could be affected by changes in soil temperature and moisture

Aliens Coming by Ships: Distribution and Origins of the Ocellated Skink Populations in Peninsular Italy

The ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus) is a widespread lizard, naturally distributed between the Maghreb and coastal Pakistan, with few insular populations in the Mediterranean coastal area. Some populations of this species have also been recorded in peninsular Italy, Campania and Southern Tuscany due to accidental introductions via touristic and commercial routes. In this work, we conducted genetic analyses on mitochondrial DNA COXI, cytb and 16S mtDNA genes on a sample of Italian insular and peninsular populations. Differently from what previously suggested, the nucleus in Portici (Southern Italy) may have originated from Sardinia. The intense trade and touristic traffic between Sardinia and Southern Tuscany may have been responsible for the introduction of this lizard also to Central Italy

Phenomenological Implications of Supersymmetry Breaking by the Dilaton

We investigate the low energy properties of string vacua with spontaneously broken $N=1$ supersymmetry by a dilaton $F$-term. As a consequence of the universal couplings of the dilaton, the supersymmetric mass spectrum is determined in terms of only three independent parameters and more constrained than in the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model. For a $\mu$-term induced by the \K\ potential the parameter space becomes two-dimensional; in the allowed regions of this parameter space we find that most supersymmetric particles are determined solely by the gluino mass. The Higgs is rather light and the top-quark mass always lower than 180 GeV.Comment: 14 pages, (4 figures not included, available upon request), CERN-TH.6856/93 (In the previous version of this article the gaugino masses were given incorrectly. As a consequences the quantitative analysis of the low energy spectrum changes.

No association between candidate genes for color determination and color phenotype in Hierophis viridiflavus, and characterization of a contact zone

Genetic and phenotypic differentiation in allopatric conditions can be explained either by neutral phenomena or adaptative processes driven by selection. In reptiles, coloration can affect aspects directly related to their survival, representing a classical character under selection. In this context, secondary contact areas are natural laboratory to understand evolutionary processes underlying genetic permeability, especially when populations differ in phenotypic traits such as coloration. The western whip snake Hierophis viridiflavus presents two divergent mitochondrial clades, characterized by the presence of one of two main color phenotypes, namely one with black and yellow stripes and a fully melanic one. Here, we investigated whether melanogenesis-linked genes are determinant of the chromatic differences observed across the phenotypic variation of the species. In addition, we used a multilocus dataset, including 134 original ND4 sequences, to better define the overall genetic structure and to provide a characterization of a contact zone identified in Central Italy by estimating the amount of nuclear gene exchange. While we found no evidence supporting a direct association between target genes and coloration, a non-synonymous substitution polymorphism, at high frequency, was detected in the β melanocyte-stimulating hormone whose possible function has been discussed. Concerning the genetic structure, both mtDNA and nuDNA were partly concordant indicating introgression events occurring at the contact zone. When we measured the nuclear gene flow, we found a significant amount of gene exchange, mainly guided from one clade to the other, that is, asymmetric. These results might suggest the presence of ecological and/or behavioral processes driving the observed directional gene flow