Search

Due to the increase in air traffic, additional systems with high reliability and highperformance must be adopted in order to keep the safety requirements. On the other hand, they must be compliant with the specifications in terms of light-weight, small size, and low power-consumption for the small aerial vehicles. The paper presents an advanced integrated solution for increasing the performance of the traditional Air Data System adopting an Inertial Measurement Unit based on Micro Electro-Mechanical System sensors, i.e., accelerometer and gyroscope. The aim is to identify the Air Data System failure, thus overcoming the issues of adopting additional technology that increase the size, weight, and power consumption of the systems and make. This way, the considered solution is tailored for small manned and unmanned vehicles applications. To this aim, the authors propose an

Aim: To investigate the potential association among Craniopharyngioma (CP), chronotypes and metabolic risk profile. Subjects and Methods: The study population included 28 patients (46.4% males; 42.6 ± 15.8 years) and 28 controls, age, gender and BMI matched (46.4% males; 46.5 ± 12.9 years). In this study sample, we evaluated: anthropometric measurements (waist circumference, WC; BMI), plasma glucose, lipid profile, and systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure. Morningness-Eveningness was measured with the Horne-Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), which included 19 questions about preferred sleep time and daily performance. Results: in both patients and controls grade I obesity was detected in 15 subjects (53.6%), grade II obesity in 13 subjects (46.4%). In the patient group, the mean score of chronotype was 47.8 ± 12.6. In particular, 9 patients (32.1%) exhibited the morning chronotype, 6 (21.4%) the intermediate chronotype and 13 (46.4.%) the evening chronotype. No significant difference was found in gender and age among the chronotype categories. Patients with the evening chronotype had higher blood pressure values and worse metabolic parameters than those with the morning chronotype. In the control group, the mean score of the chronotype was 57.6 ± 9.5. In particular, 16 (57.1%) subjects exhibited the morning chronotype, 10 (35.7%) the intermediate chronotype and only 2 (7.1.%) the evening chronotype. The prevalence of intermediate and evening chronotypes was higher in females than males (p = 0.021), while males have a higher prevalence of the morning chronotype. Subjects with intermediate and evening chronotypes had worse metabolic parameters than those with the morning chronotype. In patients, the chronotype score was inversely correlated to WC, BMI, SBP, DBP, plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and positively correlated with HDL cholesterol. No correlation was found between age and chronotype. In controls, the chronotype score was inversely correlated to WC, BMI, plasma glucose, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol. No correlation was found among chronotype and age, blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol. Considering the whole population of the study (patients and controls), at logistic regression the chronotype score was significantly associated with the presence of CP. Conclusions: for the first time thus far, our study puts the light on the association of the CP with chronotypes and metabolic alterations in this disease, which are the main determinants of the reduced quality of life, higher morbidity and mortality in this setting of patients. This finding suggests that alterations of chronotype might represent an adjunctive risk for CP patients and a possible target for their integrate management.

High-resolution swath bathymetry of the Gorringe Bank, located along the EuropeeAfrica obliquely convergent plate boundary offshore SW Portugal, allowed investigation of its shallow-depth morphotectonic structure as a contribution to understanding the interplay of sea-level changes and active deformation of the region. Dominant ENEeWSW to NNEeWSW, and subordinate NWeSE trending morphologic alignments were mapped on the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) built from multibeam data for both the Gettysburg and Ormonde summits of the bank. Based on appraisal of regional structural and seismological data, the dominant and subordinate sets are interpreted to reflect dip-slip to left-oblique reverse faults, and normal faults or dyke-like joints, respectively. Several terrace remnants were mapped on the DTM and were grouped into five orders at depths ranging from w40 to w120 m. Morphological features suggest that the terraces were formed in a coastal environment likely during MiddleeLate Pleistocene sea-level changes. The terraces are probably polycyclic, implying minor vertical tectonic motion. However, the whole terrace set (except the deeper and younger one, which was mainly shaped during the LGM lowstand) is consistently up to w10 m lower at Ormonde in the east relative to Gettysburg in the west, suggesting displacement across a NNEeSSW striking fault mapped in the saddle between the two seamounts. The structure assemblage is argued to represent the shallow splay system of a crustal-scale fault ramp underlying the bank. The ENEeWSW reverse faults have a southward polarity and, together with the overall northwest tilt of the bank, point to displacement toward the Horseshoe Abyssal Plain to the south at least at upper crustal levels.

Ischia island develops at the edge of the shelf area and represents the sub-aerial section of a larger, E-W trending volcanic ridge including others submerged or buried volcanic edifices. In the past decade the island’s offshore has been the object of extensive hydrographic and marine geophysical surveys that have shown the structural complexity of the undersea sections and have overall shown the importance of gravity failures in island’s evolution. In this paper we report a previously unreported deep-seated slump structure and associated surficial mass wasting phenomena which occur off Ischia south-western flank. Recently acquired hydrological and geophysical data lead to identify the morphological features and the internal organization of the failed sediments which spread along the continental slope. The extent of this deep-seated deformations and the deep structural levels involved lead to investigate on the influence played by volcanic processes and regional tectonics on slope failure. The Ischia southern slope was explored through a multibeam survey and a single-channel seismic survey. Acquisition was carried out from aboard the R/V Urania at depths between 400 and 1200 m. The bathymetric data were collected using a hull mounted Reson 8160 multibeam sonar. Resolution resulted in a 20x20 m implemented with 50x50 gridded size provided by a previously collected data. Seismic survey consisted of 6 seismic lines run along the slope spaced 1 km between them and 5 cross lines. The acoustic source used was a 1Kjoule high-energy power supply system with a multi-tips (400) sparker array, fired at 2s time interval. The collected data show that a wide submerged area of 350 km2, between 400 to 1200 m depths is undergoing slow-moving deformation and associated secondary mass wasting phenomena. Morphological features include trenches, counterscarps, bulging and both extensional and contractional features while internal deformations show typical landward dipping reflectors with strong evidence of synsedimentary faulting and asymmetric anticlines. Deformation processes operate at various scales generating folds with wavelength ranging from hundreds meters to kilometers. Extensional and rotational rupture surfaces sole out at various low-angle detachment planes located at depths from few hundreds meters to 1 kilometer in subsurface.

Si descrivono le metodologie applicate e i risultati di indagini marine profonde e di rilevamenti geologici subacquei conseguiti negli ultimi anni, sia alla scala dell'intero Golfo di Napoli sia lungo l'ambiente costiero e in particolare della Penisola Sorrentina, che stanno permettendo una nuova lettura ed interpretazione del complesso quadro geologico all'interfaccia terra-mare di questo settore della Campania. I rilevamenti nel golfo, realizzati nell'ambito di progetti scientifici nazionali ed internazionali e di cartografia geotematica, hanno evidenziato la presenza sul fondo marino di affioramenti rocciosi finora non noti, di numerosi ordini di terrazzi marini erosivi e deposizionali a profondità ricorrenti, di cavità subacquee, paleosolchi di battente e paleofalesie modellati in varie litologie e infine di elementi geoarcheologici sommersi d'epoca greco-romana. Nell'insieme, queste morfologie e testimonianze rappresentano importanti geoindicatori di paleostazionamenti quaternari del livello marino e di movimenti verticali differenziali del suolo per cause tettoniche, vulcano-tettoniche e a luoghi bradisismiche anche d'epoca storica e recente.

The island of Ischia, Gulf of Naples, Italy, like many other volcanic islands is affected by mass failures, that are mainly related to secondary volcanic processes such as slope steepening and seismic shaking. The block resurgence of its main relief, Mount Epomeo, has been recognised to contribute cyclically to mass instability and cause landslides, that occasionally may reach the sea and start tsunamis. In this work we explore the consequences of the Ischia Debris Avalanche (IDA), a flank collapse that occurred in historical times, and involved the whole Mount Epomeo edifice including its submarine portion, and that may have caused gigantic sea waves affecting all the coasts of Ischia and of the Gulf of Naples. The IDA and the generated tsunami have been taken as the worst-case scenario for the occurrence of a new tsunami in the area. They have been simulated through numerical codes developed and maintained by the University of Bologna. The simulation shows that the IDA-induced tsunami attacks severely all the coasts of the Gulf of Naples with the highest waves obtained for the island of Ischia, the island of Capri and the peninsula of Sorrento. The propagation pattern of the IDA tsunami can be used to get hints on the impact that such an event may have had on early populations habiting Gulf of Naples, but also to get clues on the area that could be most severely hit by a tsunami generated by a smaller-scale landslide that may occur in the same source zone.

L'esplorazione del Canale d'Ischia mediante indagini ecografiche e rilevamenti geomorfologici con immersioni subacquee ha permesso di ricostruire la fisiografia di quest'area campana, caratterizzata dai relitti degli edifici vulcanici sommersi della Catena, delle Formiche di Vivara e dei Ruommoli. La secca dei Ruommoli è il risultato di un'azione morfogenetica manifestatasi soprattutto in ambiente subaereo. La secca delle Formiche di Vivara è il relitto di un centro eruttivo indipendente e più antico rispetto al vulcano di Vivara. Alla base dei tufi ialoclastitici da cui è formata è stata rilevata la presenza di una breccia vulcanica costituita in massima parte da xenoliti lavici. A poche centinaia di metri a sudovest di questa secca è stata rilevata la presenza di corpi lavici isolati a forma di cupola. Sono stati osservati lembi di terrazzi d'abrasione marina tra -16 e -24 m di profondità e in particolare una superficie spianata con paleofalesia a -16/18 m che rappresenta il risultato di un episodio morfogenetico significativo e ricorrente. Tale livello si correla a quello di base delle cavità sottomarine della secca delle Formiche di Vivara, formatesi in ambiente costiero durante una stasi del livello marino precedente all'ultimo picco glaciale.

An extensive, high-resolution bathymetric survey has recently been carried out, portraying the continental shelf-slope system of the Campania Region, in southern Italy (Eastern Tyrrhenian Sea). The relative bathymetric data were acquired between 1997 and 2002, using multibeam systems with an average vertical resolution of < 0.25 % water depth and a position accuracy of < 10 m. The survey data were successively merged with a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) created from topographic maps of the onshore coastal area and islands of theNaples Bay, to produce a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) based on a homogeneous grid with cell-spacing of 20 m. The shaded-relief, colour scale map of the Naples Bay presented in this study provides new, detailed information on the morphology of the coastal Campania Region. This continental margin displays evidence of the interplay between tectonics and volcanism and their interference with sedimentary processes during the latest Neogene and Quaternary. The major morphological features revealed by the 3D digital maps are: 1) the system of marine canyons (Dohrn and Magnaghi) that cut the continental slope at a depth between 250 m and 1100 m; 2) the funnelshaped marine slope system of the Ischia volcanic structure; 3) the onshore-offshore volcanic field of the Campi Flegrei; 4) the rugged seafloor area (of a diameter of ca 2 km) off the town of Naples (Banco della Montagna), caused by active uplift of small-scale volcaniclastic diapirs (pyroclastic lumps); and 5) the debris-flow/avalanche deposits on the inner continental shelf of the Eastern Bay of Naples, that evolved from the pyroclastic products of the Vesuvius