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The knowledge of natural hazards that occurred in the past is essential for implementing forecasting and prevention actions, for managing risk, and identifying proper land use. Floods do not escape this rule. This article sheds light on an unknown intense rainfall period, which affected the Campania region and the territory of the current Molise region (Southern Italy) on October–November 1961. The period culminated in floods, particularly involving the town of Benevento (Campania region), which had been affected by several inundations over centuries. The research made an extensive use of unpublished archival sources. The documents allowed us to both outline the pluviometric and hydrological picture of the period and catalogue seventeen physical and environmental effects suffered by over two hundred municipalities. Furthermore, we also disclosed the economic consequences in the wide territory involved. Special attention was paid to Benevento, for which we also drew up the scenario map related to the 19 October flood. For this town, historical data were effective for developing and testing the hydraulic model of the Sabato and Calore Rivers, which overflowed at the site. In this regard, we made some considerations on the current flood risk of the town. From a methodological point of view, we stress the importance of a historical approach in close relationship to other expertise for the knowledge of natural hazards, tracing also some future perspectives. The research complies with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goal 11 concerned with making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. The research findings will be useful for scholars and practitioners for both improving flood hazard models and arranging archival research path. Finally, local authorities in charge of risk mitigation can also benefit from the research results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Training programs on resuscitation have been developed using simulation-based learning to build skills, strengthen cognitive strategies, and improve team performance. This is especially important for residency programs where reduced working hours and high numbers of residents can reduce the educational opportunities during the residency, with lower exposure to practical procedures and prolonged length of training. Within this context, gamification has gained popularity in teaching and learning activities. This report describes the implementation of a competition format in the context of newborn resuscitation and participants' perceptions of the educational experience. Methods: Thirty-one teams of three Italian pediatric residents participated in a 3-day simulation competition on neonatal resuscitation. The event included an introductory lecture, familiarization time, and competition time in a tournament-like structure using high-fidelity simulation stations. Each match was evaluated by experts in neonatal resuscitation and followed by a debriefing. The scenarios and debriefings of simulation station #1 were live broadcasted in the central auditorium where teams not currently competing could observe. At the end of the event, participants received an online survey regarding their perceptions of the educational experience. Results: 81/93 (87%) participants completed the survey. Training before the event mostly included reviewing protocols and textbooks. Low-fidelity manikins were the most available simulation tools at the residency programs. Overall, the participants were satisfied with the event and appreciated the live broadcast of scenarios and debriefings in the auditorium. Most participants felt that the event improved their knowledge and self-confidence and stimulated them to be more involved in high-fidelity simulations. Suggested areas of improvement included more time for familiarization and improved communication between judges and participants during the debriefing. Conclusions: Participants appreciated the simulation competition. They self-perceived the educational impact of the event and felt that it improved their knowledge and self-confidence. Our findings suggest areas of improvements for further editions and may serve as an educational model for other institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of rainfall extremes at sub-hourly scales is generally hindered by a lack of rainfall data at small timescale resolutions. This study proposes a methodology for assessing mean annual maximum rainfall at the sub-hourly scale by blending historical time series of annual maxima recorded by mechanical stations (operating at hourly scales) up to the end of the past century with newer time series of annual maxima at higher time resolutions recorded by automatic stations installed over the past twenty years. A linear correlation was found at the regional scale between the shape parameter controlling the dependency of rainfall maxima with a duration longer than one hour and the shape parameter of the dependency of rainfall maxima with the durations shorter than one hour. Thanks to this correlation, data recorded at the mechanical stations could be exploited to assess sub-hourly mean annual maxima. The proposed hybrid procedure was verified and was found to provide estimates with an accuracy close to those obtained with the high-resolution data, i.e., our best estimates. Moreover, the proposed procedure outperforms what could be achieved by spatially interpolating the best estimates at those locations where only hourly data are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meconium aspiration syndrome is a clinical condition characterized by respiratory failure occurring in neonates born through meconium-stained amniotic fluid. Worldwide, the incidence has declined in developed countries thanks to improved obstetric practices and perinatal care while challenges persist in developing countries. Despite the improved survival rate over the last decades, long-term morbidity among survivors remains a major concern. Since the 1960s, relevant changes have occurred in the perinatal and postnatal management of such patients but the most appropriate approach is still a matter of debate. This review offers an updated overview of the epidemiology, etiopathogenesis, diagnosis, management and prognosis of infants with meconium aspiration syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we studied the geo-hydrological structure and behavior of a reference catchment, located in the Cilento UNESCO Global Geopark, southern Italy, representative of the hilly, terrigenous and forested headwaters of the Mediterranean eco-region. Based on detailed hydrogeological and hydro-geomorphological surveys and geomorphometric analysis, starting in 2012, a hydro-chemical monitoring activity at the catchment and sub-catchment scale started, and a hydro-chemical dataset was progressively recorded at daily and sub-hourly time steps. Based on this dataset, the authors performed an original procedure to identify different runoff components, derived by applying cascade mass balance filtering. The integration of hydrological and geomorphological approaches allowed us to obtain an interesting conceptualization of the storm flow generation using hydro-chemical signatures related to different runoff components produced during the increasing–decreasing cycle of the flood event magnitude. The hydro-system activated progressively different runoff sources (i.e., groundwater, riparian corridor, hillslope and hollow) and involved various mechanisms (i.e., groundwater ridging, saturation-excess, infiltration-excess and soil pipe exfiltration). The geo-hydrological conceptualization was validated using a hysteresis Q-EC loop analysis performed on selected events that showed how hysteretic indices could be used to characterize the events in respect to their origins, mechanisms and pathways in similar catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water use efficiency in agriculture can be improved by implementing advisory systems that support on-farm irrigation scheduling, with reliable forecasts of the actual crop water requirements, where crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is the main component. The development of such advisory systems is highly dependent upon the availability of timely updated crop canopy parameters and weather forecasts several days in advance, at low operational costs. This study presents a methodology for forecasting ETc, based on crop parameters retrieved from multispectral images, data from ground weather sensors, and air temperature forecasts. Crop multispectral images are freely provided by recent satellite missions, with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Meteorological services broadcast air temperature forecasts with lead times of several days, at no subscription costs, and with high accuracy. The performance of the proposed methodology was applied at 18 sites of the Campania region in Italy, by exploiting the data of intensive field campaigns in the years 2014–2015. ETc measurements were forecast with a median bias of 0.2 mm, and a median root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.75 mm at the first day of forecast. At the 5th day of accumulated forecast, the median bias and RMSE become 1 mm and 2.75 mm, respectively. The forecast performances were proved to be as accurate and as precise as those provided with a complete set of forecasted weather variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Observatoire Pérenne de l'Environnement (OPE) station is a rural background site located in North-Eastern France. Besides emissions from agricultural activities, the site is located far from local emissions but at an even distance from the intense emission zones of Western Germany to the north-east and the Paris area to the south-west. In the paper, we report and analyze almost six years of measurements (1 May 2012 to 31 December 2018) of the optical and physical properties of aerosol particles. Based on aerosol optical and physical measurements combined with air mass back-trajectories, we investigate the dependence of these properties on air mass type. Two distinct equivalent black carbon (EBC) sources—origins-fossil fuel (FF) and biomass burning (BB)— were identified. FF was the dominant source of EBC (>70%) but showed a very marked seasonal variation. BB fraction is found higher during the cold seasons in the order of 35% (0.1 µg m−3) against 17% (0.05 µg m−3) during the warm seasons. The highest EBC and N0.54–1.15 (particles whose diameter ranged from 0.54 to 1.15 µm) median concentrations were observed during the night time and during the cold seasons compared to the warmer seasons, indicating primary sources trapped within a thin boundary layer (BL). A different behavior is found for N10–550 (particles whose diameter ranged from 10 to 550 nm) and coarse mode particles (N1.15–4.5, i.e., particles whose diameter ranged from 1.15 to 4.5 µm) median concentrations, which were observed during the warm seasons compared to the cold seasons, indicating rather biogenic secondary sources for the smaller particles, and potentially primary biogenic sources for the coarse mode particles. The scattering and absorption coefficients and single scattering albedo (SSA) show the same seasonal variations like the ones of N0.54–1.15 concentrations, indicating that particles larger than 500 nm seemed to contribute the most to the optical properties of the aerosol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding of runoff generation mechanisms affects the ability to manage streamflow quantity and quality issues. Concerning the baseflow in particular, measurements are almost never available and hydrograph separation is generally applied to characterize its relevant patterns. As an alternative to well-known recursive digital filters and mass balance filtering methods, this paper deals with the use of regression approaches, based on electrical conductivity measurements, as a proxy for total dissolved solids, to separate baseflow from total flow. Particular focus is placed on their flexibility and ability to adapt to discontinuous electrical conductivity data measurements. To illustrate this, we analyze a hydrochemical dataset collected from the Ciciriello experimental catchment (Southern Italy). The main findings are as follows: A comparative analysis suggests that the performance of regressive approaches in the case of daily electrical conductivity measurements is better than that of calibrated recursive digital filters. Weekly monitored electrical conductivity data led to performances comparable to the daily scale monitoring, and even monthly observation leads to a nonsignificant reduction in regression hydrograph filter performance; this shows how spot geochemical data monitoring may present valid and operational alternatives for characterization of baseflow in poorly gauged catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]