UAV survey method to Monitoring and analysing geological hazards: The Case study of mud volcano of Villaggio Santa Barbara, Caltanissetta (Sicily)

All active geological processes determine effects on the soil due to different deformation processes: surface uplift and subsidence, shear lineaments with differential kinematics in relation to the source and the soils involved. Among all the active geological processes on Santa Barbara mud volcano (Caltanissetta town, Italy), represents a dangerous site because it caused, on 11 August 2008, a paroxysmal event, which determined severe damages to the infrastructures at around to 2 km the paroxysmal event. The remote sensing of surface deformation now represents a key tool for the evaluation and monitoring of the hazard. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in contexts of natural danger presents three main steps for risk assessment and monitoring: pre-post event data acquisition, emergency support and monitoring. Here we present a methodology for monitoring deformation processes that may be precursors of paroxysmal events on the Santa Barbara mud volcano. Among the precursors, the lifting and development of structural features are the most important, with dimensions ranging from centimetre to decimetre. Therefore in relation to the magnitudes of the phenomena involved, the objective of this work is (going from the acquisition phase, to the SfM processing chain and the use of the M3C2-PM algorithm for the comparison between point clouds and uncertainty analysis with a statistical approach) the monitoring of deformation processes, with centimetre precision and a temporal frequency of 1–2 months, as precursor indications of hazard.

Epileptic Seizures Versus Syncope: Pathophysiology and Clinical Approach

<p>Generalised epileptic seizures and syncope are two syndromes with similar clinical manifestation and their differentiation can be quite challenging. The aim of this review is to use an evidence-based approach in differentiating these two syndromes through the comprehension of the pathophysiological mechanisms involved and their clinical signs. Both syndromes affect regions of the forebrain and consciousness level, although, different mechanisms are involved. Syncope is a paroxysmal event secondary to a short-term decrease in cerebral perfusion, oxygenation or essential nutrients delivery. Generalised epileptic seizure activity is defined as the clinical manifestation of transient paroxysmal disturbances in brain function secondary to an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. Clinical criteria, including precipitating events, clinical signs preceding, during and following the episodes and event duration, can be used to differentiate the two syndromes. Although these criteria might be useful for the practitioner, definite conclusions should be precluded due to the lack of original research articles and weak evidence on this specific field.</p><p><strong>Application:</strong> The review might be a useful tool for the general practitioner and clinical scientist as it will aid towards the differentiation of two syndromes, i.e. generalised epileptic seizures and syncope, with similar clinical presentation.</p><br /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/oa-icon.jpg" alt="Open Access" /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/pr-icon.jpg" alt="Peer Reviewed" />

Management of developmental speech and language disorders. Part 2: acquired conditions

Many children who present with these acquired impairments of communication have a clear preceding event such as an acquired brain injury from a road traffic accident. Children often respond differently in this situation to adult presentations. They may have a period of mutism when the prognosis might look poor and yet they subsequently make rapid progress and recover speech. They have greater potential for neural plasticity and language recovery, although they often have persisting difficulties in oral and written language. Alternatively, there may be a presentation with a paroxysmal event such as a seizure or a period of depressed consciousness, and the unusual behaviour that may accompany dysphasia and dysarthria may be misinterpreted in the child, whereas for the adult with the more common ‘stroke-like’ presentation, it would be immediately considered. Rarely the aphasia/dysphasia may itself be the paroxysmal event where actually recognising that the child's disrupted communication is the basis of any observed behaviours can be the greater challenge.

Volcanic SO2 by UV-TIR satellite retrievals: validation by using ground-based network at Mt. Etna

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Mt. Etna volcano in Italy is one of the most active degassing volcanoes worldwide, emitting a mean of 1.7 Mt/year of Sulphur Dioxide (SO</span><span>2</span><span>) in quiescent periods. In this work, SO</span><span>2 </span><span>measurements retrieved by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), hyper-spectral Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the second Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME-2) data are compared with the ground-based data from the FLux Automatic MEasurement monitoring network (FLAME). Among the eighteen lava fountain episodes occurring at Mt. Etna in 2011, the 10 April paroxysmal event has been selected as a case-study for the simultaneous observation of the SO</span><span>2 </span><span>cloud by satellite and ground-based sensors. For each data-set two retrieval techniques were adopted and the measurements of SO</span><span>2 </span><span>mass and flux with their respective uncertainty were obtained. With respect to the FLAME SO</span><span>2 </span><span>mass of 4.5 Gg, MODIS, IASI and GOME-2 differ by about 10%, 15% and 30%, respectively. The SO</span><span>2 </span><span>flux correlation coefficient between MODIS and FLAME is 0.84. All the retrievals within the respective errors are in agreement with the ground-based measurements supporting the validity of these space measurements. </span></p></div></div></div>