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Abstract On August 16th, 2018, a Mw 5.1 earthquake struck the Molise region (central Italy), inducing 84 earthquake-triggered landslides that predominantly involved soil covers of clayey materials and flysch on gently dipping slopes. To quantify the spatiotemporal landslide activity in the months immediately after the earthquake, a differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) analysis was performed for a time span from 2 years before to one year after the earthquake, recognising both first-time and reactivated landslides. The results showed a clear increase in landslide activity following the low-magnitude earthquake with respect to the activities recorded in the same months of the previous years. Several coherent landslides (earth slides and earth flows) were observed following seasonally recurrent rainfall events. Such increases were observed for both reactivated and first-time landslides, showing decreases in inactive periods and activity over longer periods. Furthermore, the spatial density distribution of the landslides was investigated in the postseismic time interval along transects perpendicular and parallel to the direction of the tectonic element responsible for the seismic event. An asymmetrical distribution was deduced parallel to the fault strike with a higher number of landslides located inside the compressional sector according to a strike-slip faulting mechanism.

An integrated approach to the geomechanical characterization of coastal sea cliffs was applied at Mt. Pucci (Gargano promontory, Southern Italy) by performing field-based geomechanical investigations and remote geostructural investigations via a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). The consistency of the integrated techniques allowed to achieve a comprehensive and affordable characterization of the main joint sets on the sea cliff slope. The observed joint sets were considered to evaluate the proneness of the slope to rock failures by attributing safety factor (SF) values to the topple- and wedge-prone rock blocks under three combined or independent triggering conditions: (a) hydrostatic water pressures within the joints, (b) seismic action, and (c) strength reduction due to weathering of the joint surfaces. The combined action of weathering and water pressures within the joints was also considered, resulting in a significant decrease in the stability. Furthermore, remote survey analyses via InfraRed Thermography (IRT) and Ground Based Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (GBInSAR) were performed to evaluate the role of the surveyed joint sets in inducing instabilities in the Mt. Pucci sea cliff. The results from the remote surveys: (i) GBInSAR monitoring revealed permanent displacements coupled to cyclic daily displacements, these last ones detected in certain sectors of the cliff wall; (ii) the thermal images allowed us to identify anomalies that correspond well to the main joints and to the slope material released due to recent collapses.

Coastal and subaqueous landslides can be very dangerous phenomena since they are characterised by the additional risk of induced tsunamis, unlike their completely-subaerial counterparts. Numerical modelling of landslides propagation is a key step in forecasting the consequences of landslides. In this paper, a novel approach named Equivalent Fluid/Equivalent Medium (EFEM) has been developed. It adapts common numerical models and software that were originally designed for subaerial landslides in order to simulate the propagation of combined subaerial-subaqueous and completely-subaqueous landslides. Drag and buoyancy forces, the loss of energy at the landslide-water impact and peculiar mechanisms like hydroplaning can be suitably simulated by this approach; furthermore, the change in properties of the landslide's mass, which is encountered at the transition from the subaerial to the submerged environment, can be taken into account. The approach has been tested by modelling two documented coastal landslides (a debris flow and a rock slide at Lake Albano) using the DAN-W code. The results, which were achieved from the back-analyses, demonstrate the efficacy of the approach to simulate the propagation of different types of coastal landslides.

This article investigates how young multilingual children's mathematics learning is connected to their language use, lived experiences, contexts, and emotions. To this end, we consider the experiences of children who used both Spanish and English to learn mathematics. We center on two instances of kindergarten children counting and use Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as our theoretical framework to reflect on how words become meaningful in multiple ways as a result of context, particularly when used in more than one language. From this perspective, we pose that children's language use is affective and made meaningful through social relationships. We consider how the understandings of multilayered meanings uncovered using an SFL lens affords a substantial path to interpret and think about the language use of multilingual children during mathematics learning. We argue that careful attention to and interpretation of children's language can help counteract pervasive ideas of neutrality in education.

This article examines the shared experiences and understandings teachers draw on to teach children with an awareness of linguistic diversity. To do so, we analyzed interviews from Turkey and the United States and drew on philosophical hermeneutics as a way to develop a disruptive understanding of teachers' views regarding the role of languages in mathematics learning. We pose that teachers' perspectives about languages and children's ability to learn are challenged when there is an "interruption," an event that fails to reflect the normative linguistic practices of hegemonic groups. We found teachers' understandings fluctuate as part of an organic sense-making process of events in their classrooms, portraying perspectives such as multilingual students' ability to learn, assumptions which limit expectations for children's learning, the ability of mathematics to be experienced as its own mode of communication, as well as a willingness to effectively teach children.

A dysfunctional stiffness of the iliotibial band can be related to pathologies of the pelvis/lumbar spine and the knee. The classic and modified Ober tests are the gold standard for assessing iliotibial band stiffness. However, to the authors' knowledge, this test lacks adequate validation, and its specificity is questionable. A more reliable test is needed to better correlate iliotibial band stiffness to pathologies and to support treatment choices. Two examiners assessed the difference in stiffness (right vs. left limb) of the iliotibial band by direct fingertip palpation in 40 subjects (without clinically evident painful symptoms), before and after a specific 20-h training session. The difference in stiffness was evaluated with both a 3-level and a 7-level graduation. The intra- and inter-examiner (intra-day) reproducibility was calculated, and a validation of the manual assessment was performed with a myotonometric measurement of frequency and stiffness. The test achieved post-training agreement consistently greater than 0.88 (weighted Cohen's K test) in intra-examiner assessment and 0.72 in inter-examiner assessment. Before training the agreement was less than 0.48 and 0.12, respectively. Manual versus instrumental agreement was fair to moderate (frequency 0.347; stiffness 0.470). The newly proposed manual test to assess ITB stiffness by direct palpation showed almost perfect intra-examiner reproducibility and good inter-examiner (intra-day) reproducibility. The specific training was fundamental. Comparison of manual vs instrumental stiffness assessment of the iliotibial band, as proposed in this study, is debatable. • Classic and modified Ober tests have limitations for evaluating ITB stiffness. • A test is needed to better correlate ITB stiffness to back and knee pathologies. • The newly proposed test based on direct palpation of the ITB is reliable. • Specific training of the examiners is fundamental to achieve acceptable reliability. • Myotonmetry evaluation of the ITB, as proposed in this study, is questionable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable amount of research has examined the link between children's peer acceptance, which refers to the degree of likability within the peer group, social functioning and emotional wellbeing, at a same age and in a long term perspective, pointing out to the contribution of peer acceptance for mental wellbeing. Our study proposes a sociometric methodology that, differently from many studies focused on individual classifications of social status, moves to the analysis of affiliative social networks within the class group. This study describes how individual factors such as socio-emotional competence, temperament, and linguistic skills are related to positive reciprocated nominations (=RNs) and examines the cliques generated by reciprocal nominations according to similarities (socio-emotional competence, temperament and linguistic skills) among cliques' members. Eighty-four preschool children (M age = 62.5 months) were recruited. The Sociometric Interview to assess RNs and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R; Dunn & Dunn, 1981) to assess receptive language were administered; the Social Competence and Behaviour Evaluation Short Form questionnaire (SCBE-30; LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996) and the Quit Temperament Scale (Axia, 2002) were filled in by the teachers. Results showed that children with higher RNs presented higher scores in social orientation, positive emotionality, motor activity, linguistic skills and social competence (trend), and exhibited lower anxiety-withdrawal. The analysis of cliques revealed that children preferred playmates with similar features: social competence, anger-aggression (trend), social orientation, positive emotionality, inhibition to novelty, attention, motor activity (trend) and linguistic skills. These findings provide insights about processes of peer affiliation, highlighting the role of socio-emotional functioning and linguistic skills.

BackgroundGlioblastoma (GB) is the most severe form of brain cancer, with a 12-15 month median survival. Surgical resection, temozolomide (TMZ) treatment, and radiotherapy remain the primary therapeutic options for GB, and no new therapies have been introduced in recent years. This therapeutic standstill is primarily due to preclinical approaches that do not fully respect the complexity of GB cell biology and fail to test efficiently anti-cancer treatments. Therefore, better treatment screening approaches are needed. In this study, we have developed a novel functional precision medicine approach to test the response to anticancer treatments in organoids derived from the resected tumors of glioblastoma patients.MethodsGB organoids were grown for a short period of time to prevent any genetic and morphological evolution and divergence from the tumor of origin. We chose metabolic imaging by NAD(P)H fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to predict early and non-invasively ex-vivo anti-cancer treatment responses of GB organoids. TMZ was used as the benchmark drug to validate the approach. Whole-transcriptome and whole-exome analyses were performed to characterize tumor cases stratification.ResultsOur functional precision medicine approach was completed within one week after surgery and two groups of TMZ Responder and Non-Responder tumors were identified. FLIM-based metabolic tumor stratification was well reflected at the molecular level, confirming the validity of our approach, highlighting also new target genes associated with TMZ treatment and identifying a new 17-gene molecular signature associated with survival. The number of MGMT gene promoter methylated tumors was higher in the responsive group, as expected, however, some non-methylated tumor cases turned out to be nevertheless responsive to TMZ, suggesting that our procedure could be synergistic with the classical MGMT methylation biomarker.ConclusionsFor the first time, FLIM-based metabolic imaging was used on live glioblastoma organoids. Unlike other approaches, ex-vivo patient-tailored drug response is performed at an early stage of tumor culturing with no animal involvement and with minimal tampering with the original tumor cytoarchitecture. This functional precision medicine approach can be exploited in a range of clinical and laboratory settings to improve the clinical management of GB patients and implemented on other cancers as well.

Through text and illustrations, I (first author) theorize language as a being that becomes and revels in its plurality, illuminating the inherent and necessary aesthetic and multimodal dimensions of any struggle toward meaning. To do so, I start by foregrounding my own experiences with the diversity that characterizes language to portray the significance of studying its ontology and plurality. I then identify philosophical hermeneutics as a practical metatheory that centrally positions language as a medium for understanding. From a hermeneutic perspective, language manifests as a network of meaning that is constituted through an ontological metaphoricity that echoes a capacity to both present and represent phenomena. This metaphoricity of language is then discussed in terms of its linguistically, speculative, and dialogic dimensions. I pose that language discloses an otherness in ourselves that is fostered in a capacity for renewed understandings and meanings that are yet becoming.

The two-step sintering (TSS) process is generally used to reduce the temperature conventionally required for the sintering of ceramics and to achieve a fine microstructure, but to date a general rule concerning the TSS parameters has not yet been identified. The TSS process was successfully applied to ZnO, Al2O3 and alumina-zirconia composites obtaining a comparable density to that achieved by the conventional process and with limited grain growth. A fine‐grained microstructure was maintained, avoiding the grain boundary migration, by the right selection of the operating conditions (essentially temperatures and holding time). A comparative study of the TSS on different advanced ceramic materials, such as SiC, ZnS and ZrO2, was also proposed, mainly based on the density, the microstructure and the grain size. Moreover, a general rule concerning the process temperatures with respect to the conventional sintering was defined to obtain the same densification preventing the grain growth.