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The urgent need to increase the sustainability of crop production has pushed the agricultural sector towards the use of biostimulants based on natural products. The current work aimed to determine whether the preharvest application of two commercial formulations, based on a Fabaceae enzymatic hydrolysate or a blend of nitrogen sources including fulvic acids, and two lab-made aqueous extracts from

Objective: To assess the effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of erenumab in a real-life migraine population, while trying to identify responsiveness predictors. Background: Erenumab is a fully human Ig-2 monoclonal antibody blocking the calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor, indicated for migraine prophylaxis. Phase II and III trials demonstrated that erenumab is effective, safe, and well tolerated in the prevention of episodic and chronic migraine (CM), showing an early onset of action. Methods: This is a multicenter, prospective, cohort, and real-life study. We considered for enrolment all consecutive patients aged 18–65 affected by high-frequency episodic migraine (HFEM) or CM, with or without medication overuse, visited at nine Italian Headache Centers from December 20, 2018 to September 30, 2019. Each patient was treated with erenumab 70mg, administered subcutaneously every 4weeks. Treatment duration was planned to last from 6 to 12months, depending on the patient's response. The primary endpoint was the change in monthly migraine days (MMDs) at weeks 9–12 compared to baseline. Secondary endpoints included changes in monthly analgesics intake, ≥50%, ≥75%, and 100% responder rates and any variation in the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Headache Impact Test scores (HIT). Results: In total, 372 migraine patients were treated with at least one dose of erenumab 70mg. At weeks 9–12, erenumab decreased MMDs by 4.5±4.1days (mean±SD) in patients with HFEM and by 9.3±9.1 (mean±SD) days in those with CM compared to baseline. At weeks 9–12 VAS score was reduced by 1.9±1.9 (mean±SD), HIT score by 10.7±8.8 (mean±SD), and median monthly analgesics intake passed from 12.0 (interquartile range [IQR] 10.0–14.0) to 5.0 (IQR 3.0–7.0) in HFEM. In CM patients, VAS was reduced by 1.7±2.0 (mean±SD), HIT by 9.7±10.4 (mean±SD), and median monthly analgesics intake passed from 20.0 (IQR 15.0–30.0) to 8.0 (IQR 5.0–15.0). At week 12, ≥50% responders were 60/101 (59.4%) for HFEM and 146/263 (55.5%) for CM, ≥75% responders were 17/101 (16.8%) and 59/263 (22.4%) and 100% responders 1/101 (1.0%) and 3/263 (1.1%), respectively. Erenumab responsiveness in HFEM was positively associated with unilateral pain localization (OR: 3.03, 95% CI: 1.24–7.40; p=0.015), whereas in CM responsiveness was positively associated with and baseline migraine frequency (OR: 1.06, 95% CI:1.02–1.11; p=0.031), dopaminergic symptoms (OR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.14–3.52; p=0.015), and negatively associated with psychiatric comorbidities (OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.20–0.93; p=0.003). Conclusions: Erenumab 70mg is effective, safe, and well tolerated in real life. Easily obtainable clinical features might be of help in predicting patient's responsiveness.

Cold Spray is an innovative technology to create coatings through the impact of metallic particles on substrates. Its application to composites’ surfaces is recently attracting the attention of the scientific community thanks to the possibility to functionalize and improve their thermal and wear properties. Within this context, the generation of the first metal-to-composite layer is fundamental. This work presented an experimental investigation of a composite panel, reinforced with glass fibers and coated with aluminum particles. The coating investigation was carried out through active pulsed thermography, analyzing the thermal response of single and double hatches. The thermal outputs were compared with a standard microscopic analysis, with a critical discussion supporting the identification of factors that influence the thermal response to the pulse: (1) layer’s thickness, (2) cold spray coverage, (3) layer compactness, (4) particle-substrate adhesion, (5) particle’s oxidation, and (6) surface roughness.

Studio pluridiscplinare (archeologico, storico, linguistico) sul manufatto e sul testo dell'epigrafe funeraria in distici elegiaci dedicata ad Arniperga, figlia di Marino prefetto di Amalfi e moglie del conte Pandone di Capua (+ 863). Dell'epigrafe si delineano una descrizione e un'interpretazione innovative.

Background and aims: Erenumab proved to be safe and well tolerated in a 5-year continuation of a 1-year double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Aim: to assess >48-week erenumab tolerability and safety in a real-world setting. Methods: In this long term (>48-week), multicenter (n = 15), longitudinal cohort real life study, we monitored all the adverse events emerged in consecutive adult patients with high-frequency episodic migraine (HFEM) or chronic migraine (CM) treated with monthly erenumab 70 mg or 140 mg from 20 December 2018 to 15 December 2020. Results: 442 patients (HFEM: 115;CM: 327) were treated with erenumab for >48 weeks: 209 (47.3%) patients were treated for 49–60 weeks, 132 (29.9%) for 61–72 weeks;73 (16.5%) for 73–84 weeks;21 (4.7%) for 85–100 weeks. Overall, >1 treatment emergent adverse event (TEAE) was reported by 136 (30.8%) [HFEM: 43 (37.4%);CM: 93 (28.4%)]. Most common TEAE were constipation (n = 66;14.9%), injection site erythema (n = 15;3.4%), and influenza (n = 7;1.6%). Serious adverse events (SAE) were reported by 8 patients (1.8%) and led to treatment discontinuation: severe constipation (n = 3), abdominal pain (n = 1), NSTEMI (n = 3), Covid-19 infection (n = 1). Only severe constipation was considered treatment-related SAE (0.45%). Conclusions: Conclusion: Erenumab is safe and well tolerated also in long-term treatment (>48 weeks) in real life.

The present study aims at detecting and identifying the service insignia possibly present under the camouflage paint of Second World War German helmets, using infrared pulse thermography, a nondestructive IR technique based on the application of a short heat pulse, obtained by a flash lamp. While in most cases, IR thermography allowed to detect the insignia under the paint, in other cases sand, sawdust or woodchip added to the camouflage paint, in order to give it a rough and less reflecting texture, showed to be capable of preventing their detection. In 28.57% of the cases, the one or more layers of camouflage paint showed to be semi-transparent in the infrared waveband 3–5 μm, thus allowing to see not only the decal shape, but also the drawing inside the decal contour.

In next generation Logic devices, overlay control requirements shrink to sub 2.5nm level on-product overlay. Historically on-product overlay has been defined by the overlay capability of after-develop in-scribe targets. However, due to design and dimension, the after development metrology targets are not completely representative for the final overlay of the device. In addition, they are confined to the scribe-lane area, which limits the sampling possibilities. To address these two issues, metrology on structures matching the device structure and which can be sampled with high density across the device is required. Conventional after-etch CDSEM techniques on logic devices present difficulties in discerning the layers of interest, potential destructive charging effects and finally, they are limited by the long measurement times[1] [2] [3] . All together, limit the sampling densities and making CDSEM less attractive for control applications. Optical metrology can overcome most of these limitations. Such measurement, however, does require repetitive structures. This requirement is not fulfilled by logic devices, as the features vary in pitch and CD over the exposure field. The solution is to use small targets, with a maximum pad size of 5x5um2 , which can easily be placed in the logic cell area. These targets share the process and architecture of the device features of interest, but with a modified design that replicates as close as possible the device layout, allowing for in-device metrology for both CD and Overlay. This solution enables measuring closer to the actual product feature location and, not being limited to scribe-lanes, it opens the possibility of higher-density sampling schemes across the field. In summary, these targets become the facilitator of in-device metrology (IDM), that is, enabling the measurements both in-device Overlay and the CD parameters of interest and can deliver accurate, high-throughput, dense and after-etch measurements for Logic. Overlay improvements derived from a high-densely sampled Overlay map measured with 5x5 um2 In Device Metrology (IDM) targets were investigated on a customer Logic application. In this work we present both the main design aspects of the 5x5 um2 IDM targets, as well as the results on the improved Overlay performance.

Introduction The clinical benefit of thrombolytic treatment over heparin in patients with pulmonary embolism without hemodynamic compromise remains controversial. In these patients bolus tenecteplase has the potential to provide an effective and safe thrombolysis. Methods We evaluated the effect of tenecteplase on right ventricle dysfunction (RVD) assessed by echocardiography in hemodynamically stable patients with PE in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. RVD was defined as right/left ventricle end-diastolic dimension ratio > 1 in the apical 4-chamber view. Patients were randomized to receive weight-adjusted single-bolus tenecteplase or placebo. All patients received unfractionated heparin. Reduction of RVD at 24 hours was the primary efficacy end-point and was evaluated by an independent committee unaware of treatment allocation. Results Overall, 58 patients were randomized. Echocardiograms were adequate for efficacy analysis in 51 patients, 23 randomized to tenecteplase and 28 to placebo. The reduction of right to left ventricle end-diastolic dimension ratio at 24 hours was 0.31 ± 0.08 in patients randomized to tenecteplase as compared to 0.10 ± 0.07 in patients randomized to placebo (p = 0.04). One patient randomized to tenecteplase suffered a clinical event (recurrent pulmonary embolism) in comparison to three patients randomized to placebo (1 recurrent pulmonary embolism; 1 clinical deterioration and 1 non pulmonary embolism-related death). Two non fatal major bleedings occurred with tenecteplase (1 intracranial) and one with placebo. Conclusion In hemodynamically stable patients with PE, treatment with single bolus tenecteplase is feasible at the same dosages used for acute myocardial infarction and is associated with reduction of RVD at 24 hours. Whether this benefit is associated with an improved clinical outcome without excessive bleeding is currently explored in a large clinical trial.

Background— D-dimer has been reported to be elevated in acute aortic dissection. Potential use as a “rule-out” marker has been suggested, but concerns remain given that it is elevated in other acute chest diseases, including pulmonary embolism and ischemic heart disease. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of D-dimer testing in a study population of patients with suspected aortic dissection. Methods and Results— In this prospective multicenter study, 220 patients with initial suspicion of having acute aortic dissection were enrolled, of whom 87 were diagnosed with acute aortic dissection and 133 with other final diagnoses, including myocardial infarction, angina, pulmonary embolism, and other uncertain diagnoses. D-dimer was markedly elevated in patients with acute aortic dissection. Analysis according to control disease, type of dissection, and time course showed that the widely used cutoff level of 500 ng/mL for ruling out pulmonary embolism also can reliably rule out aortic dissection, with a negative likelihood ratio of 0.07 throughout the first 24 hours. Conclusion— D-dimer levels may be useful in risk stratifying patients with suspected aortic dissection to rule out aortic dissection if used within the first 24 hours after symptom onset.

Aims This multicentre prospective randomised trial was undertaken to evaluate the usefulness of an electrophysiological study (EPS)eguided/implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) strategy in patients at high risk of sudden death (SD)

Endothelial dysfunction versus early atherosclerosis: A study with high resolution imaging☆☆☆ Olivia Manfrini , Edina Cenko , Edoardo Verna , Jorge A. Salerno Uriarte , Raffaele Bugiardini a,⁎ a University of Bologna, Dipartimento di Medicina Specialistica, Diagnostica e Sperimentale, Bologna, Italy b University of Insubria, Hospital of Circolo and Foundation Macchi, Department of Cardiology, Varese, Italy c University of Insubria, Department of Clinical Medicine, Varese, Italy

Aims Radiofrequency catheter ablation is effective at terminating ventricular tachycardia, but the overall clinical role of the technique in patients with a prior myocardial infarction is still debated, due to the uncertainties of the long-term reliability of the procedure. The purpose of this study was to prospectively investigate the relationship between acute results obtained by catheter ablation and long-term outcome in a homogeneous population of patients with post-myocardial infarction ventricular tachycardia. Methods and Results One hundred and twenty-four consecutive patients with recurrent, drug-refractory, haemodynamically tolerated ventricular tachycardia were included in the study. This population accounted for 30% of the patients with post-myocardial infarction ventricular tachycardia admitted between April 1992 and September 1997 to the investigating centres. The ablation was successful in eliminating sustained ventricular tachycardia in 91 of them (73%); a partial result was obtained in 21 (17%) and failure in 12 (10%). Low dose amiodarone and/or beta-blockers were maintained in 86% of the patients. Over a median follow-up of 41·5 months (interquartile range 30·5–59·5 months), there were 15 deaths (12%), three of which were sudden (2·4%); the 12 remaining patients died of heart failure. Event-free survival analysis showed a significally lower ventricular tachycardia recurrence rate in patients with a successful procedure as compared to those with failure or a partial result (19% vs 53% at one year and 27% vs 60% at 3 years, P =0·003). A repeat procedure was performed in 15 patients with early recurrences and was followed in all by long-term success. Of those who submitted to a second procedure, 93/124 patients (75%) are free of ventricular tachycardia recurrences. An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), following procedure failure, was implanted in 13 patients (11%) of the study population. Conclusions Radiofrequency catheter ablation is effective in a wide population of patients with recurrent tolerated ventricular tachycardia, with very low sudden death and cardiac mortality rates over the long-term. Persistent ventricular tachycardia inducibility after catheter ablation requires an ICD implant and/or repeat ablation.

this disease. Our earlier study showed a prevalence of 25%,1 and the described study was 40%.2 Because our conditions were limited to tertiary centers that see and treat aortic dissection routinely and thus likely have increased awareness to this disease, we noted that these figures are most likely higher than those that will be seen in the community setting. Thus, we described likelihood ratios rather than predictive values because the latter is affected by prevalence. Dr Hugli’s second issue concerns clinical spectrum. Our study and its findings were based on patients with suspected acute aortic dissection and not chest pain in general; thus, caution is needed in the generalization of our findings beyond the tested parameters of patients with acute aortic dissection presenting to mainly tertiary centers. Furthermore, on the topic of selection and verification bias, results of D-dimer measurements were not made available to the treating physician; therefore, this bias was not applicable to the present study. We disagree with the reasoning that examination of consecutive cases may have caused selection bias but rather assert that this allowed a more unbiased selection process. Although our present findings are limited to the described conditions, we believe that D-dimer is useful at present and that our findings, as an initial step, will help make possible the actual clinical use of D-dimer for acute aortic dissection and provide a diagnostic algorithm to optimize the use of imaging tests in these settings. We expect our findings to serve as a “working hypothesis” to be tested in more general settings such as in patients presenting with chest pain in general and in extension to the community setting (eg, nontertiary centers, healthcare systems) and further in studies that address usefulness of diagnostic strategies that incorporate both biochemical and imaging tests. We envision that a clinical algorithm will be developed that assigns patients to clinical risk groups that will help distinguish between high-risk patients who go directly to imaging and moderate-risk groups and identify lower-risk groups in which D-dimer may emerge as a rule-out screening measure.

Aims: The early diagnosis of acute aortic dissection (AD) remains challenging. We sought to determine the utility of the troponin-like protein of smooth muscle, calponin, as a diagnostic biomarker of acute AD. Methods and results: Immunoassays against calponin (acidic, basic, and neutral isoforms) were developed and the levels were compared in a convenience sample of 59 patients with radiographically proven AD [34 males, age 59 ± 15 (SD) years] vs. 158 patients suspected of having AD at presentation (116 males, age 63 ± 15 years) but whose final diagnosis was not AD. Basic calponin, which is the most specific and abundant in smooth muscle, and acidic calponin, respectively, showed greater than two-fold and three-fold elevations in patients with acute AD. Diagnostic performance as determined by receiver-operating characteristics curve analysis showed that both acidic and basic calponin have the potential to detect AD in the first 24 h [respective areas under the curve (AUCs) 0.63 and 0.58], with superior performance of basic calponin (when compared with acidic) in the initial 6 h (respective AUCs 0.63 and 0.67). Conclusion: Circulating calponin levels were elevated in acute AD compared with controls. These biomarkers have the potential for use as an early diagnostic biomarker for acute AD.

Double patterning is the best technique which allows 193nm immersion lithography to anticipate the 32 nm node, before EUV lithography. The final device pattern is formed by two independent patterning steps where the dense pitch is doubled. This allows printing each patterning step with higher k1 imaging factor. In this paper we present the overlay and CD budget applied to a double patterning (DP) technique for the definition of a 32nm technology node device, using an immersion scanner tool. A balance among different factors which affects the final CD of the device is necessary to optimize the imaging and the alignment performances of the exposure tool. A preliminary activity is also necessary to choose the most suitable mask splitting strategy. Adopting a single mask, which is exposed twice with the appropriate shift - the final pitch - , makes the overlay between the two exposures less critical than splitting the complementary layouts on two different masks. Finally, the CD uniformity of the pooled distributions from the two exposures is evaluated in order to define the requested tool performances in terms of overlay, CD control and metrology.

Availability of a telematic system of electrocardiogram (ECG) transmission may improve the management of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), by reducing time to treatment. The aim of this study was to show the effectiveness of telephone transmission of ECG in improving quality of care for patients with acute STEMI.Since January 1, 2003, we activated a management program of STEMI in healthcare district of Varese, located in the North-West of Lombardy (Italy), comprising one fourth-level hospital, equipped with a cath lab on call 24/24 h for primary angioplasty since 1993 and cardiac surgery, and 2 community hospitals, placed in a mountain area approximately 30 km far from Varese. The emergency medical system (EMS) transport was activated 24/24 h and has 15 basic life support (BLS) ambulances with trained nurse staff and 2 mobile units with medical staff, all of them equipped with semiautomatic defibrillator Lifepack 12, enabling a GSM telephone transmission of a 12-lead ECG, coupled with 3-lead continuous rhythm recording and clinical data, if necessary. The ECGs were transmitted to a core unit placed in the coronary care unit (CCU) of the Hospital di Circolo of Varese, directly connected with the EMS core unit.From January 2003 to August 2005, a total of 2063 ECGs were transmitted, 538 of them (26%) recorded by EMS ambulances. Of 144 ECGs (7%) showing a persistent ST-elevation suggesting an acute STEMI (group A), 112 subjects underwent reperfusion: 73 were treated with angioplasty and 39 by lysis alone. By comparing data of group A with a group of 256 patients (180 reperfused) with acute STEMI, admitted to our hospital in the same period without ECG teletransmission (group B), we observed no statistical difference in mortality and reperfusion rates but a significative reduction in the pre-hospital and in-hospital times in group A patients treated by primary angioplasty and thrombolysis.Our study confirms previous results in that an early availability of a 12-lead ECG, transmitted from peripheral community hospitals and BLS ambulances, is able to reduce time to management of patients with an acute STEMI, thus improving quality of decision-making and treatment.

Introduction: Phrenic nerve injury (PNI) is a complication that can occur with catheter ablation. Methods: Data from 17 patients with PNI following different catheter ablation techniques were reviewed. PNI was defined as decreased motility (transient) or paralysis (persistent) of the hemi-diaphragm on fluoroscopy or chest X-ray. Patient's recovery was monitored. Normalization of chest images and sniff test would be considered as complete clinical recovery. Results: Out of the 17 PNI patients (16 right, 1 left), 13 (11 persistent, 2 transient) occurred after pulmonary veins isolation with or without superior vena cava ablation. Three patients had persistent PNI after sinus node modification and one other patient experienced PNI after epicardial ventricular tachycardia ablation. Ablation was performed with different energy source including radiofrequency (n = 13), cryothermal (n = 1), ultrasound (n = 2) and laser (n = 1). Patient's symptoms varied broadly from asymptomatic to dyspnea, and even to respiratory insufficiency that required temporary mechanical ventilation support. Two patients with transient PNI resolved immediately after the procedure and the other 15 persistent PNI patients resolved within a mean time of 8.3 ± 6.6 months. Conclusions: PNI caused by catheter ablation appears to functionally recover over time regardless of the energy sources used for the procedure.

Simultaneous Dual Fast and Slow Pathway Conduction. Introduction: Simultaneous dual atrioventricular nodal conduction (SDNC) through slow (SP) and fast pathway (FP) is a rare phenomenon observed upon the induction of atrioventricular nodal reciprocating tachycardia (AVNRT). The aim of this study is to report the electrophysiological features of patients showing typical AVNRT induced through SDNC. Methods and Results: Among 461 consecutive patients with typical AVNRT submitted to radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA), seven patients (1.5%) with SDNC at tachycardia onset (group I: 6 female; age 60-72 years, mean 65.2 ′ 3.8 years) and 118 age-matched controls (group II: 60 female; age 60-88 years, mean 68.4 ′ 6.8 years) were considered. Controls were further subdivided into two subgroups according to age: subgroup A (94 patients, age 60-75 years) and subgroup B (24 patients, age >75 years). The value of the following parameters was significantly higher in group I than in group II and in subgroup A: A-H interval [113 ′ 26 vs. 89 ′ 27 (P < 0.01) vs. 84 ′ 19 (P < 0.001)], ventriculoatrial conduction effective refractory period [355 ′ 85 vs. 293 ′ 87 (P < 0.05) vs. 281 ′ 82 (P < 0.05)], SP conduction time upon AVNRT induction [444 ′ 104 vs. 350 ′ 72 (P < 0.01); vs. 345 ′ 67 (P < 0.001)], AVNRT cycle length [484 ′ 103 vs. 396 ′ 71 ms (P < 0.05); vs. 384 ′ 69 (P < 0.05)], and rate of AVNRT induction from ventricle [71% vs. 10% (P = 0.001); vs. 6% (P = 0.001)]. Differences were mostly not significant between group I and subgroup B. SP location and RFCA success rate were similar in all groups. Conclusion: In a population of AVNRT patients, SDNC at AVNRT induction is infrequent and it prevails beyond the fifth decade of life and in females. SDNC is associated with peculiar AVN conduction features, which resemble the age-related modifications of AVN conduction.

The aerospace industry makes large use of aluminum components, which must undergo severe fatigue tests simulating the real loads at which they will be subjected. The problem is that the high thermal diffusivity and the low frequency at which fatigue tests on real components can normally be performed often prevent the achievement of adiabatic conditions, and the attainment of quantitative results. Starting on the study of models involving different kinds of mono-dimensional stress distributions, the temperature attenuation can be evaluated and linked to the phase shift. The result is independent from the load applied and from the material. A computer program has been elaborated to correct non adiabatic TSA results on the base of the relation phase shift - attenuation.

Myocardial infarction after wasp sting is a rare event and this complication has been described in only a few previous occasions. We report the case of a 77-year-old patient admitted to our hospital because of an anaphylactic shock after he was stung by a wasp on the fifth finger of the left hand. Within about half an hour he sustained an acute myocardial infarction. Possible pathogenetic mechanisms include severe hypotension due to hypovolemic shock and coronary spasm with subsequent thrombosis of coronary vessels developed after the release of vasoactive, inflammatory and thrombogenic substances contained in the hymenoptera venom.

Cooling Down Thermography (CDT) represents a novel approach to thermal nondestructive testing: the sample is previously heated in an oven in order to obtain a uniform temperature, then it is exposed to a lower ambient temperature.An infrared camera monitors the surface temperature decay in order to reveal internal defects.While this approach presents clear disadvantages in terms of versatility, it allows for a faster and deeper penetration in thesample, and it has therefore mainly been used in order to reveal deep defects in insulating materials.Keywords: thermography, nondestructive evaluation, infrared. 1. INTRODUCTION Quality assurance is assuming a growing importance in the industrial production both for economic and safety reasons.While destructive testing methods need to destroy some samples of the production in order to statistically assure quality,nondestructive evaluation techniques allow for a quality test on every single specimen leaving the production ime. This isimportant in cases where statistical methods can not be easily applied or where the cost of the specimen is too high fordestructive testing.

Particle boards are very common products in the wood industry. However, increasing use of this product with its derivatives, imposes new challenges in terms of inspection techniques. Lockin thermography is an attractive tool for such a task. In this paper, fundamentals of lockin thermography are presented followed by several representative examples of particle board inspection.

The advantages of phase sensitive modulation thermography (also called lockin thermography) are here illustrated together with some applications of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) on advanced materials and large structures. Lockin thermography has shown to be a versatile tool for rapid inspection of large surfaces and detection of defects in materials where other NDE techniques are not able to give good results. Besides this, the phase angle image eliminates many undesired effects like inhomogeneous distribution of surface heating that make images obtained with pulse thermography difficult to interpret.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Infrared thermography is a powerful, fast and non contact method for non destructive testing of materials, based on heat conduction. While techniques like pulse or lockin thermography are based on external heat sources, other thermographic techniques, like vibro-lockin thermography, use internal sources of heat, where loss angle effect is involved. One advantage of these latter techniques is that some material features are selectively heated, so that the interpretation of the image can be straightforward. Another advantage is that the heat is generated directly on the defect, allowing to reach greater depths. Some interesting examples of thermographic inspection using ultrasonic heating source are here illustrated.

The method described in this article performs thermal diffusivity measurements on bulk materials using a modulated spot heating of the sample surface and measuring the surface temperature on the spot with an infrared detector at different modulation frequencies. Since the method is single sided and it can be performed on a bulk, it does not require the preparation of a sample. Furthermore it does not require a precise alignment nor a movement of the heating source nor of the infrared detector. The diffusivity measurement on a sample of unknown thermal diffusivity requires the knowledge of the shape of the heating and of the sensitivity profile of the infrared detector on the sample surface. This information, difficult to obtain, is not necessary in case a first measurement is performed on a reference sample of known thermal diffusivity and subsequent measurements on samples of unknown thermal diffusivity are performed by positioning them with their surface precisely in the same location as the reference one.