Search

Environmental (e)DNA metabarcoding holds great promise for biomonitoring and ecotoxicological applications. However, few studies have compared the performance of eDNA versus eRNA metabarcoding in assessing organismal response to marine pollution, in experimental conditions. Here, we performed a chromium (Cr)-spiked mesocosm experimental test on benthic foraminiferal community to investigate the effects on species diversity by analysing both eDNA and eRNA metabarcoding data across different Cr concentrations in the sediment. Foraminiferal diversity in the eRNA data showed a significant negative correlation with the Cr concentration in the sediment, while a positive response was observed in the eDNA data. The foraminiferal OTUs exhibited a higher turnover rate in eRNA than in the eDNA-derived community. Furthermore, in the eRNA samples, OTUs abundance was significantly affected by the Cr gradient in the sediment (Pseudo-R2 = 0.28, p = 0.05), while no significant trend was observed in the eDNA samples. The correlation between Cr concentration and foraminiferal diversity in eRNA datasets was stronger when the less abundant OTUs (

International audience; Gypsum makes up about one fifth of giant salt deposits formed by evaporation of seawater throughout Earth’s history. Although thermodynamic calculations and precipitation experiments predict that gypsum precipitates when the salinity of evaporating seawater attains about 110 g kg-1, gypsum deposits of the Mediterranean Salt Giant often bear the geochemical signature of precipitation from less saline water masses. Addressing this geochemical riddle is important because marine gypsum deposition and continental gypsum erosion affect the global carbon cycle. We investigated gypsum deposits formed in the marginal basins of the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (about 6 million years ago). These often bear low-salinity fluid inclusions and isotopically light crystallization water, confirming previous published reports that the Mediterranean Salt Giant harbors low-salinity gypsum deposits. A geochemical model constrained by fluid inclusion salinity and isotope (87Sr/86Sr, d34SSO4, d18OH2O, dDH2O) measurements excludes that Ca2+- and SO42--enriched continental runoff alone provides the trigger for gypsum precipitation at low salinity. We propose that, concurrent with the prevalent evaporative conditions and with Ca2+- and SO42--bearing runoff, the biogeochemical sulfur cycle is capable of producing a spatially-restricted and temporally- transient increase of Ca2+ and SO42- within benthic microbial mats, creating local chemical conditions conductive to gypsum precipitation. This hypothesis is supported by the presence of dense packages of fossils of colorless sulfur bacteria within gypsum in several Mediterranean marginal basins, together with independent geochemical and petrographic evidence for an active biogeochemical sulfur cycle in the same basins. Should this scenario be confirmed, it would expand the range of environments that promote marine gypsum deposition; it would also imply that an additional, biological coupling between the calcium, sulfur and carbon cycles exists.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of the position of the SS on CI regarding the ability to perform posterior tympanotomy, round window visibility, and mastoid pneumatization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a prospective study, including 65 adult patients with CI performed at our center during 2017. We used 3 methods to assess SS position using a computed tomography (CT) scan. Lee’s line passing through the tympanic segment of the facial nerve. Park’s line passing through the facial nerve and round window membrane. Our proposed method using a parallel line from the external auditory canal and passing through the facial nerve. Relation to mastoid pneumatization on CT and to intraoperative round window visibility were assessed in relation to intraoperative position of the SS. RESULTS: The method by Park et al. was statistically significant (p

Concetas Direitos Humanos A Clínica de Políticas de Diversidade da FGV Direito SP, coordenada pelo professor Thiago Amparo, tem o propósito de engajar alunas/os e membros da sociedade civil brasileira no desenvolvimento de produtos voltados à aplicação efetiva de direitos humanos. Em 2022, o escopo da Clínica de Políticas de Diversidade voltou-se para o estudo do sistema de justiça militar brasileiro, compilando em um só documento informações cruciais para a compreensão do seu funcionamento e formação de um olhar crítico. A pesquisa resgata o contexto histórico de criação da justiça militar, como também traz uma visão prática sobre sua atual estrutura e competência, comparando com a jurisdição de outros países. Na comparação, ateve-se a algumas particularidades e gargalos que a distanciam dos parâmetros internacionais que o Brasil assumiu o compromisso de cumprir.

Invasive alien species threaten biodiversity and ecosystem structure and functioning, but incomplete assessments of their origins and temporal trends impair our ability to understand the relative importance of different factors driving invasion success. Continuous time-series are needed to assess invasion dynamics, but such data are usually difficult to obtain, especially in the case of small-sized taxa that may remain undetected for several decades. In this study, we show how micropaleontologic analysis of sedimentary cores coupled with radiometric dating can be used to date the first arrival and to reconstruct temporal trends of foraminiferal species, focusing on the alien Amphistegina lobifera and its cryptogenic congener A. lessonii in the Maltese Islands. Our results show that the two species had reached the Central Mediterranean Sea several decades earlier than reported in the literature, with considerable implications for all previous hypotheses of their spreading patterns and rates. By relating the population dynamics of the two foraminifera with trends in sea surface temperature, we document a strong relationship between sea warming and population outbreaks of both species. We conclude that the micropaleontologic approach is a reliable procedure for reconstructing the bioinvasion dynamics of taxa having mineralized remains, and can be added to the toolkit for studying invasions., peer-reviewed

In this paper, a complete three-dimensional (3D) RF model of the cyclotron coaxial resonator—including the coaxial sliding shorts, the “Liner” vacuum chamber, the coupler, the trimmer, and the high RF voltage “Dee” structures—has been developed. An eigenmode analysis was used to simulate the tuning of the resonator in the operating frequency range of 15–48 MHz obtained by two movable sliding shorts and a trimmer. A driven analysis has been performed in order to compute the |S11| parameter (or impedance matching) of the cavity excited by a movable coaxial power coupler. The numerical simulations have been performed using the different peculiarities of two commercial tools, COMSOL Multiphysics and CST microwave studio. Experimental validation of the developed model is presented. The evidence of an unwanted electric field component, orthogonal to the accelerating field, was discovered and a mitigation is also proposed. The impact of the proposed modification was evaluated by using a 3D beam dynamics code under development in the framework of the Superconducting Cyclotron upgrade ongoing at INFN-LNS.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are autonomous devices employed as data collectors in precision agriculture to support a large number of applications. These UAVs gather data from on-the-ground wireless sensor networks, especially in scenarios that lack any kind of fixed communication infrastructure or where the available infrastructure does not fit the application requirements. Sensors on the ground can store sensing data, and in scenarios that do not require a real-time observation and analysis of the data, like in smart farming, a drone can be used maybe once or two times each day to collect and report the data to a command-and-control center that use them directly, without any other infrastructure (cloud or edges). In this article, we study analytically how close the drone, that uses a LoRa radio, needs to fly over the sensors to collect data with a given quality of data collection. This can be used to properly spacing the sensors on the field at deployment time, to select among different type of drones, and to properly solve some tradeoff related to field size vs autonomy of the drones and the path used by the latter when collecting the data.

In the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the early Holocene was characterized by major climatic and oceanographic changes that led to the formation of the last sapropel (S1) between 10.8 and 6.1 kyr cal. BP. These hydrographic changes might have altered the water exchange between the eastern and western Mediterranean sub-basins through the Strait of Sicily, but the existing evidences are inconclusive. In the present study we show new evidence from sediment core NDT-6-2016 located at the western flank of the Sicily channel, a key location to monitor the surface/intermediate water exchange between the two Mediterranean sub-basins. We perform paleo-hydrographic reconstructions based on planktic foraminifera ecology for the last 15 kyr cal. BP, including the S1 deposition interval. In addition, δ18O measurements in both Globigerina bulloides and Globigerinoides ruber and also major elements analyses in bulk sediment are presented. Our results show that significant changes in surface water properties occurred in W-Sicily characterized by a strong contrast in the seasonal hydrographic conditions during the S1 interval. This study proposes that the oceanographic changes in the eastern Mediterranean associated with the surface freshening promoted by the African monsoon likely triggered a restricted water exchange through the Strait of Sicily. This situation led to limited influence of the surface Atlantic waters into the studied area that favored the development of intense summer stratification and vertical winter mixing. This situation changed at about 7 kyr cal. BP when a decrease in the summer stratification probably reflected the influence of the eastward path of the surface Atlantic Waters. This situation would suggest a reinforcement of the water exchange through the Strait of Sicily that marked the end of the extreme conditions that prevailed in the eastern Mediterranean during the S1 formation.

International audience; Unlike most Neogene basins of the Betic Cordillera where the Salinity Crisis is dated to the Messinian, a contradictory Tortonian dating was proposed for evaporites of the Lorca Basin. As a consequence, complex structural models have been proposed in the literature to explain this discrepancy in the timing of evaporites. In order to integrate the Lorca Basin into the geological context of the western Mediterranean domain during the Late Miocene, new sedimentological and stratigraphical studies coupled with new dating were performed, which allow us to propose a Messinian age for both diatomite-bearing deposits and evaporites of the Lorca Basin. These new ages challenge the idea of a Tortonian salinity crisis in the Lorca Basin. Three main events of base-level drop were evidenced during the Messinian. Each event is correlated with successive steps of basin restriction. Shallow salina evaporites were deposited after a base-level fall during the Messinian before a final base-level drop, which led to the entire exposure of the basin. This last exposure is interpreted as coeval with the deposition of first evaporites and halite in the deep Mediterranean basins. The reflooding which allowed the deposition of brackish deposits and a short-lived marine incursion occurred at the end of the Messinian. Base-level drops occurred during eustatic falls amplified by the gradual uplift of the Betic Cordillera. The exhumation of the Tercia ridge along the strike-slip Alhama de Murcia fault system during the Messinian probably favoured the gradual restriction of the basin. A discussion on correlations of main unconformities between several Neogene basins of the Betics is proposed, suggesting a similar structural evolution at the regional scale.

Radiofrequency cavity is one of the most critical and complicated components in a cyclotron. Dee voltage of radiofrequency cavity accelerates charged particles to achieve required energy. Peak voltage of Dee is the key parameter of an radiofrequency cavity. Balanced Dee voltage is very important for effective beam cantering and beam extracting. An X-ray measurement has been made to calibrate and verify the peak voltage of Dee in a low-power ( 20 kW) test. The X-ray measurement for radiofrequency cavity was designed by means of bremsstrahlung. A suitable shielding cover was chosen for radiofrequency cavity and the X-ray measurement design was demonstrated according to the theory of photon transmission. Finally, the peak voltage of Dee was obtained at the power of 10-20 kW and the balance of Dee voltage was verified.

Objective We present an extremely rare report of congenital cholesteatoma (CC) in identical twins with atypical location. Methods Two consecutive cases of CC in identical twins from diagnosis to treatment and a literature review are presented. Results The twin children presented to our otology and lateral skull base clinic with different clinical picture. Both underwent thorough audiological workup and imaging and early surgical intervention. The 6-year follow-up of these two children has been uneventful with no recurrence of disease and hearing restoration. Conclusion Multiple theories exist to explain this rare pathology. Modified Levenson’s criteria define it as white mass behind intact tympanic membrane. Atypical location of CC with recurrent otitis media is not uncommon; hence, further study is required. To our best knowledge, this is the second reported occurrence in identical twins but first report with differential presentation and atypical location in both cases.

Reimbursement by payers (policy makers and budget holders) is critical for the uptake and use of new diabetes technologies. The purpose of this article is to describe the different reimbursement pathways that exist for new diabetes technologies in five selected European countries using examples of recent reimbursement decisions. Countries can be grouped into one of three categories: “top-down” (where reimbursement decisions are usually made by policy makers, eg, France), “bottom-up” (where reimbursement decisions are usually made by budget holders, eg, Italy and Spain) and “mixed” (where reimbursement decisions can be made by both policy makers and budget holders, eg, Germany and England). Whatever category a specific country falls into will have different implications from a market access perspective.

Globorotalia truncatulinoides oscillations have been recorded from different marine sediment cores collected in the central and western Mediterranean Sea. The abundances of this species over the last 500 yrs. demonstrates its potential value as bio-indicator of particular oceanographic condition during the Maunder Minimum (MM) event of the Little Ice Age (LIA). The comparison between the G. truncatulinoides abundance patterns of the Balearic Basin, central and south Tyrrhenian Sea and central and eastern Sicily Channel allows to highlight a similar response of this species during the MM event in the central-western Mediterranean Sea. The ecological meanings of this species and its peculiar high abundance percentages in the total assemblages suggest the development of enhanced vertical mixing conditions during MM winter season with a strong advection of nutrients from the nutrient-rich deeper layers and enhances the productivity levels in the mixed layer. The intensified vertical mixing could be linked to persistence of an atmospheric blocking event recorded by several authors during the MM.

International audience; The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) is a controversial geological event that influenced the Mediterranean Basin in the late Miocene leaving behind a widespread Salt Giant. Today, more than 90% of the Messinian evaporitic deposits are located offshore, buried below the Plio-Quaternary sediments and have thus been studied mainly by marine seismic reflection imaging. Onshore-offshore records’ comparisons and correlations should be considered a key approach to progress in our understanding of the MSC.This approach has however not been widely explored so far. Indeed, because of the erosion on the Messinian continental shelves and slopes during the MSC, only few places in the Mediterranean domain offers the opportunity to compare onshore and offshore records that have been preserved from erosion. In this paper, we compare for the first time the MSC records from two basins that were lying at intermediate water depths during the MSC and in which salt layers emplaced in topographic lows: the Central Mallorca Depression (CMD) in the Balearic Promontory, and the Caltanissetta Basin (CB) in Sicily. The reduced tectonic movements in the CMD since the late Miocene (Messinian) till recent days, favored the conservation of most of the MSC records in a configuration relatively close to their original configuration, thus allowing a comparison with the reference records outcropping in Sicily. We perform seismic interpretation of a wide seismic reflection dataset in the study area with the aim of refining the mapping of the Messinian units covering the Balearic Promontory (BP) and restituting their depositional history based on a detailed comparison with the Messinian evaporitic units of the Sicilian Caltanissetta Basin. We discuss how this history matches with the existing 3-stages chrono-stratigraphic model. We show that the Messinian units of Central Mallorca Depression could be an undeformed analog of those outcropping on-land in the Sicilian Caltanissetta Basin, thus questioning the contemporaneous onset of the salt deposition on the Mediterranean scale. We show a change in seismic facies at a certain range of depth between stage 1 MSC units, and wonder if this could reflect the threshold/maximum depth of deposition of bottom growth PLG selenites passing more distally to pelagic snowfall cumulate gypsum. Moreover, we confirm that PLG could be deposited in water depths exceeding 200m.

To reduce the secondary emission yield of an RF window ceramic so as to suppress the occurrence of a multipactor, we propose coating the window with a titanium nitride (TiN) film by atomic layer deposition. We investigate two groups of samples with film thicknesses of 56 and 8 nm, respectively, to analyze the composition and optimize the coating thickness of the TiN film on the ceramic. For the first group of samples (56 nm films), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results show that the film can be divided into three mixed layers: a top layer composed of TiOxNy and TiO2; a middle layer consisting of TiN, TiOxNy, TiO2, and TiC; and a bottom layer called a diffusion layer, formed by decreasing TiN, TiOxNy, TiO2, TiC, and increasing A l 2 O 3 as the ceramic is approached. The depth of this bottom layer is ∼8 nm. Two more films (8 nm films) in the second group of samples were grown on a 96 ceramic and silicon to determine the sheet resistance, those on silicon is ∼1 kΩ/□ as measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry. According to the XPS results of the two 8 nm films, the content of TiOxNy and TiO2 increased while TiN content decreased in the film on 96 ceramic, compared to the film on silicon. Therefore, the 8 nm film is suitable for use as a coating for the RF window to weaken the multipactor effect and lower conductivity. To test the film performance, an RF ceramic window is coated with an 8 nm TiN film. Low-power measurements show that, within a frequency of 100 MHz, the 8 nm film on the RF ceramic window has a negligible effect on its transmission characteristics. 8 kW RF power tests indicate that the film coating can significantly improve the power transmission, anti-multipaction, and stability of the RF window.

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm poses a great variety of application domains where million of devices work uninterruptedly to improve some aspect of our lives. To support the continuous execution of the applications working on the devices, energy harvesting systems enable to extract the energy found naturally in the environment (for instance from the sun or from the wind) and convert it into energy able to either sustain the device’s operation and recharge its batteries which, in conjunction with an appropriate scheduling strategy, led to the device to an electrically sustainable state (i.e. an energy-neutral state). Most of the works found in literature oriented to achieve energy neutrality are however evaluated by means of simulation which means that, in spite of precisely modeling hardware features and energy productions, lack of the realism that we find in a real deployment. A minor part of the works are based on a real deployment but do not share the collected data that permit to replicate the analysis. With this purpose in mind, in this article we describe a testbed designed for outdoor monitoring purposes in the IoT context, equipped with several sensors for weather conditions monitoring and with a solar panel to provide application lifetimes potentially infinite. The testbed was deployed on the roof of a building and it executed uninterruptedly an application able to generate a dataset with the collected information over a period of more than two months. This dataset has been online published to be used for different researching purposes, as for instance, prediction models of the energy production.

To make sustainable large IoT deployments in smart cities, a promising approach is to develop a new generation of solar energy harvesting IoT devices based on the concept of energy neutrality. Key to this concept are the models for the forecast of energy production, which provide input to the energy-neutral schedulers governing the activities of the IoT devices. The development of such models however need to be validated against real-world conditions. To this purpose we propose a testbed aimed at the collection of real-world dataset about the energy parameters of energy harvesting IoT devices, and, on the base of such a dataset, we perform a comparative assessment of state of the art and novel energy production forecast models.

Cognitive dysfunctions are a common clinical feature of schizophrenia and represent important indicators of outcome among patients who are affected. Therefore, a randomized, controlled, monocentric, single-blind trial was carried out to compare two different rehabilitation strategies adopted for the restoration and recovery of cognitive functioning of residential patients with schizophrenia. A sample of 110 residential patients were selected and, during the experimental period, a group of 55 patients was treated with sets of domain-specific exercises (SRT+CRT), whereas an equal control group was treated with sets of non-domain-specific exercises (SRT+PBO) belonging to the Cogpack® software. The effects on the scores (between T0 and T1) of the variables treatment and time and of the interaction time X treatment were analyzed: for the total BACS, the main effect of the between-factors variable treatment is statistically significant (F=201.562 P=0.000), as well as the effect of the within-factors variable “time” (F=496.68 P=0.000).The interaction of these two factors is also statistically significant (F=299.594 P=0.000). The addition of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) to a standard treatment of metacognitive training (MCT) resulted in a significant improvement in global neurocognitive functioning and has reported positive effects with regard to the strengthening of verbal and working memory, selective and sustained attention at T1. A relevant result is the statistically significance of “time X treatment” for all the tests administered: we can assume that the domain-specific cognitive training amplifies the effects of SRT, as the primary and secondary goals of the present study were achieved.

Scheduling tasks appropriately in an IoT device powered by multiple energy-harvesting sources is a challenging problem. In this paper, we model this problem, and we present a scheduling algorithm that optimally sets the overall node power consumption based on the utility, and on the energy required by tasks. The algorithm schedules high-level tasks, it uses the weather forecast informations available at the beginning of each scheduling period (typically a day), and the level of the battery, to define an optimal schedule. The main goal is to find a schedule that is energy neutral on average, over a period longer than the single scheduling window, for example a week. We test our scheduler on a simulated platform with the same specs of an Arduino node, equipped with a small (portable) solar panel, and attached to a small wind turbine. We see from the simulations that the scheduler performs as expected and that the utility of the scheduling improves as the error between the expected forecast and the real harvested energy is reduced.

Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic element for living organisms and is known to bioaccumulate and biomagnify. Here, we analyze the response of benthic foraminifera communities cultured in mesocosm and exposed to different concentrations of Hg. Standard morphological analyses and environmental DNA metabarcoding show evidence that Hg pollution has detrimental effects on benthic foraminifera. The molecular analysis provides a more complete view of foraminiferal communities including the soft-walled single-chambered monothalamiids and small-sized hard-shelled rotaliids and textulariids than the morphological one. Among these taxa that are typically overlooked in morphological studies we found potential bioindicators of Hg pollution. The mesocosm approach proves to be an effective method to study benthic foraminiferal responses to various types and concentrations of pollutants over time. This study further supports foraminiferal metabarcoding as a complementary and/or alternative method to standard biomonitoring program based on the morphological identification of species communities.

At the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare – Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS) the beam commissioning of the high intensity Proton Source (PS-ESS) and the Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT) line for the European Spallation Source (ESS) has been completed. The official project schedule was satisfied and the packaging for the shipment to Lund will shortly begin. Due to the high flexibility of the magnetic system, and to the innovative approach developed for the commissioning, we were able to test a huge amount of configurations (more than 400˙000). The optimum source configuration that satisfy all requirements at the same time has been identified. The source is able to produce a stable total current between 40 and 125 mA (90 mA requested) through an 8 mm extraction aperture, with a proton fraction of up to 87% (75% requested). At the end of the LEBT the beam characteristics fully satisfy the ESS requirements: more than 70 mA of proton beam with 99% normalized beam emittance of 2.25 π.mm.mrad have been transported with intra pulse current fluctuation below ±1.5% (

Current ICT infrastructures are characterized by increasing requirements of reliability, security, performance, availability, adaptability. A relevant issue is represented by the scalability of the system with respect to the increasing number of users and applications, thus requiring a careful dimensioning of resources. Furthermore, new security issues to be faced arise from exposing applications and data to the Internet, thus requiring an attentive analysis of potential threats and the identification of stronger security mechanisms to be implemented, which may produce a negative impact on system performance and scalability properties. The paper presents a model-based evaluation of scalability and security tradeoffs of a multi-service web-based platform, by evaluating how the introduction of security mechanisms may lead to a degradation of performance properties. The evaluation focuses on the OPENNESS platform, a web-based platform providing different kind of services, to different categories of users. The evaluation aims at identifying the bottlenecks of the system, under different configurations, and assess the impact of security countermeasures which were identified by a thorough threat analysis activity previously carried out on the target system. The modeling activity has been carried out using the Stochastic Activity Networks (SANs) formalism, making full use of its characteristics of modularity and reusability. The analysis model is realized through the composition of a set of predefined template models, which facilitates the construction of the overall system model, and the evaluation of different configuration by composing them in different ways.

Sr isotope records from marginal marine basins track the mixing between seawater and local continental runoff, potentially recording the effects of sea level, tectonic, and climate forcing in marine fossils and sediments. Our 110 new Sr-87/Sr-86 analyses on oyster and foraminifera samples from six late Miocene stratigraphic sections in southern Turkey, Crete, and Sicily show that Sr-87/Sr-86 fell below global seawater values in the basins several million years before the Messinian Salinity Crisis, coinciding with tectonic uplift and basin shallowing. 87Sr/86Sr from more centrally located basins (away from the Mediterranean coast) drop below global seawater values only during the Messinian Salinity Crisis. In addition to this general trend, 55 new Sr-87/Sr-86 analyses from the astronomically tuned Lower Evaporites in the central Apennines (Italy) allow us to explore the effect of glacio-eustatic sea level and precipitation changes on Sr-87/Sr-86. Most variation in our data can be explained by changes in sea level, with greatest negative excursions from global seawater values occurring during relative sea level lowstands, which generally coincided with arid conditions in the Mediterranean realm. We suggest that this greater sensitivity to lowered sea level compared with higher runoff could relate to the inverse relationship between Sr concentration and river discharge. Variations in the residence time of groundwater within the karst terrain of the circum-Mediterranean region during arid and wet phases may help to explain the single (robust) occurrence of a negative excursion during a sea level highstand, but this explanation remains speculative without more detailed paleoclimatic data for the region.

Background Safe and effective insulin therapy for diabetes mellitus requires initial dose titration and regular adjustments based on blood glucose (BG) monitoring. Our objective was to explore the use of BG measurement in phase-III clinical studies of insulin analogs. These studies provide safety and efficacy information for regulatory authorities and are the basis for insulin analog regulatory approval. Methods A systematic review of phase-III studies of rapid-acting insulin analogs (insulin lispro, insulin aspart and insulin glulisine) and pre-mixed insulin analogs (biphasic insulin aspart and insulin lispro mix) was conducted. Studies were identified using manufacturers’ databases. Search for reports was performed in Medline and registry of clinical trials (clinicaltrials.gov). The European Medicines Agency was contacted to provide Clinical Study Reports. Results Forty-five studies were included. Regular BG measurements were reported in 100 % of the studies and were performed by either self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) alone in 84 %, laboratory alone in 7 %, and both SMBG and laboratory in 9 % of studies. In total, 93 % of the studies reported SMBG. Most studies (91 %) reported insulin therapy adjustments based on BG measurements. Conclusions The findings suggest that BG monitoring and specifically SMBG are co-dependent technologies with insulin analogs. BG measurement is used in most phase-III registration studies for establishing safe and efficacious insulin administration and is recommended in the insulin labels. The indispensable role of SMBG in treatment of insulin-dependent patients should receive attention from health care payers to assess and reimburse SMBG along with insulin to avoid adverse events from inappropriate insulin administration and associated costs.

Key-words. - Sicily Channel rift, Biostratigraphy, Astronomical calibration, Pliocene, Volcanic ash layers. Abstract. - Two volcaniclastic ash layers (AL1 and AL2) are intercalated throughout the middle Pliocene sedimentary sequences of Punta Piccola and Capo Rossello exposed along the south coast of Sicily (Italy). Astronomical calibration of the Punta Piccola section provided an age of 2.676 Ma for the deposition of the AL1 layer. The high-resolution bio-cyclostratigraphy of the Capo Rossello section, in combination with detailed correlations with previously astrono- mically calibrated coeval sequences, provided an age of 2.225 Ma for the deposition of the AL2 layer. Mineralogical, petrographical and geochemical results from the two volcaniclastic layers suggest a Na-alkaline dif- ferentiated magmatism for the volcanic source, similar to the one which formed the alkaline rocks of the island of Pantelleria (Sicily Channel). These results indicate that isolated volcanic activity and/or early differentiated magmatic events may have occurred in the area of the Sicily channel well before the well-known late Pleistocene volcanic activity. Datation astronomique de deux niveaux de cendres volcaniques alkalines d'âge pliocene dans la region de Capo Rossello (Sicile meridionale, Italie) : implications pour le debut du rifting dans le detroit de Sicile ?

Several sensor network applications based on data diffusion and data management can determine the communication transfer rate between two sensors beforehand. In this framework, we consider the problem of energy efficient communication among nodes of a wireless sensor network and propose an application-driven approach that minimizes radio activity intervals and prolongs network lifetime. On the basis of possible communication delays we estimate packet arrival intervals at any intermediate hop of a fixed-rate data path. We study a generic strategy of radio activity minimization wherein each node maintains the radio switched on just in the expected packet arrival intervals and guarantees low communication latency. We define a probabilistic model that allows the evaluation of the packet loss probability that results from the reduced radio activity. The model can be used to optimally choose the radio activity intervals that achieve a certain probability of successful packet delivery for a specific radio activity strategy. Relying on the probabilistic model we also define a cost model that estimates the energy consumption of the proposed strategies, under specific settings. We propose three specific strategies and numerically evaluate the associated costs. We finally validate our work with a simulation made with TOSSIM (the Berkeley motes' simulator). The simulation results confirm the validity of the approach and the accuracy of the analytic models.

Underwater communications through acoustic modems rise several networking challenges for the Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UASN). In particular, opportunistic routing is a novel but promising technique that can remarkably increase the reliability of the UASN, but its use in this context requires studies on the nature of mobility in UASN. Our goal is to study a real-world mobility dataset obtained from the Argo project. In particular, we observe the mobility of 51 free-drifting floats deployed on the Mediterranean Sea for approximately one year and we analyze some important properties of the underwater network we built. Specifically, we analyze the contact-time, inter- contact time as well density and network degree while varying the connectivity degree of the whole dataset. We then consider three known routing algorithms, namely Epidemic, PROPHET and Direct Delivery, with the goal of measuring their performance in real conditions for USAN. We finally discuss the opportunities arising from the adoption of opportunistic routing in UASN showing that, even in a very sparse and strongly disconnected network, it is still possible to build a limited but working networking framework.

The uptake of two heavy metals (chromium and lead) in sediments in experimental mesocosms under exposure to different metal concentrations was evaluated by monitoring their concentrations over time both in seawater and in sediment. Two separate experiments under laboratory-controlled conditions were carried out for the two metals. Sediments were collected from a protected natural area characterized by low anthropic influence and were placed in mesocosms that were housed in aquaria each with seawater at a different metal concentration. At pre-established time intervals, seawater and sediment samples were collected from each mesocosm for chemical analyses. Quantification of chromium and lead concentration in seawater and sediment samples was carried out by atomic absorption spectrometer with graphite furnace. Low doses of chromium and lead (