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Discursive transgressions of values widely shared by society or by a certain group of which the declarant is a part are a clearly identifiable and increasingly relevant social phenomenon, also in the academic field. This article has two main objectives. First, it aims to gain new insights into high-complexity public conversations on controversial issues. Second, it seeks to identify the challenges faced by academic institutions in a world where disinformation is perceived as the most significant risk in the near term. This article presents the case of Nobel laureate Sir Tim Hunt and his ‘trouble with girls’ as a public discourse scandal that triggered both a large critical social response followed by Hunt’s expulsion from institutional positions in science, and a subsequent controversy that led to a deterioration of the credibility of the science system in the eyes of society at large. The case has been called ‘one of the most extraordinary academic tales of recent years’. Additionally, the article examines a contrasting case: the response of John Finnis and the University of Oxford to calls for the professor’s expulsion for allegedly promoting discrimination. For this analysis, the mechanism of sustainable public discourse that manifests a sustainable public positioning in high-complexity contexts will be given special attention since Elizalde’s theory of dissent. Analysis and conclusions are discussed.

Lake Lugano is increasingly experiencing new processes and dynamics due to the combined effects of climate change and human activities. In recent years, abnormal phenomena of algal proliferation, known as Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), have appeared on the lake. Particularly in 2023, after several critical events, public awareness of this issue has risen, as it can potentially impact socio-economic aspects related to the use of this locally important water resource. In this study, we aim to share the development process of a monitoring system designed to promptly inform about the increase in concentration levels, thereby initiating a protocol to support decision-makers. This system, based on open-source and cost-effective devices, is designed to gather information on these blooms, which pose potential toxicity risks to humans and animals. The system uses a Raspberry Pi connected to a Trilux fluorimeter, measuring algal pigments and transmitting data via NB-IoT. The data is processed using istSOS software, stored locally, and transmitted to a data warehouse. Alerts are set up based on phycocyanin (PC) levels, indicating cyanobacterial biomass and potential microcystin toxicity. The open-source nature of the system allows for easy replication and expansion, aiding decision-makers and researchers, and increasing citizen awareness.

Objetivo: Describir y evaluar los resultados de la angioplastia con stent ductal en un único centro de alta complejidad durante el periodo 2016-2022. Método: Estudio descriptivo retrospectivo de corte transversal en el que se incluyeron pacientes menores de 3 meses a quienes se implantó un stent en el conducto arterioso como tratamiento paliativo inicial. Se recolectaron datos demográficos, clínicos y anatómicos previos a la intervención. Se registraron la mortalidad, las complicaciones intra- y posprocedimiento, la necesidad de reintervención, los requerimientos de cuidados intensivos y la estadía hospitalaria. Se describen las características al momento de la cirugía definitiva. Las variables discretas son presentadas con porcentajes, y las variables continuas con sus medianas y sus respectivos intervalos intercuartílicos. Resultados: Se revisaron 20 pacientes que habían recibido este tratamiento y se evidenció una tasa de éxito del 80%. Las complicaciones por disfunción del stent requirieron resolución quirúrgica. Egresaron de la institución el 95% de los pacientes luego del procedimiento y lograron arribar a un segundo estadio quirúrgico definitivo 17 pacientes. Fallecieron tres pacientes luego del procedimiento, pero sin relación directa con este. Conclusiones: Las indicaciones de angioplastia del conducto con stent como tratamiento alternativo a la realización de una anastomosis sistémico-pulmonar por cirugía todavía no están completamente definidas; la estrategia constituye una alternativa válida en pacientes adecuadamente seleccionados. La experiencia presentada muestra resultados similares a los de otros centros de referencia internacional.

Abstract Extreme atmospheric-marine events, known as medicanes (short for “Mediterranean hurricanes”), have affected the Mediterranean basin in recent years, resulting in extensive coastal flooding and storm surges, and have occasionally been responsible for several casualties. Considering that the development mechanism of these events is similar to tropical cyclones, it is plausible that these phenomena are strongly affected by sea surface temperatures (SSTs) during their development period (winter and autumn seasons). In this study, we compared satellite data and the numerical reanalysis of SSTs from 1969 to 2023 with in situ data from dataloggers installed at different depths off the coast of southeastern Sicily as well as from data available on Argo floats on the Mediterranean basin. A spectral analysis was performed using a continuous wavelet transform (CWT) for each SST time series to highlight the changes in SSTs prior to the occurrence of Mediterranean Hurricanes as well as the energy content of the various frequencies of the SST signal. The results revealed that decreases in SST occurred prior to the formation of each Mediterranean hurricane, and that this thermal drop phenomenon was not observed in intense extra-tropical systems. The spectral analyses revealed that high CWT coefficients representing high SST energy contents were observed before the occurrence of a Mediterranean hurricane. This information may provide a useful fingerprint for distinguishing Mediterranean hurricanes from common seasonal storms at the onset of these events.

Abstract The interaction between volcanic activity and flank instability during the Christmas Eve eruption at Mount Etna in 2018 is explored, using a mechanically consistent inverse model fitting high spatial resolution SAR data. Inversions search for fractures that may be curved and can accommodate co‐eval pressure and shear stress changes. Displacements associated with the eruption result from the interaction between two intrusion sources: a buried dyke and a curved sheared intrusion that fed the eruption. Moreover, we identify that the sheared magmatic intrusion induced the observed eastward slip on the Pernicana fault, while the Fiandaca fault was undergoing stress accumulation, which was suddenly released during a M5.0 seismic event. The Fiandaca fault is determined to be listric, rooting beneath the mobile eastern flank of the volcano. This study highlights the role of curved fractures, acting as sheared intrusions or as faults, in volcanoes exhibiting flank instabilities.

The approach of managing one habitat for one species has been criticized for its neglect of overall conservation of avian species richness. Nevertheless, a single vegetation type--young even-aged jack pine (Pinus banksiand)--has been planted extensively in northern Michigan, USA, to restore populations of a single species, the Kirtland's Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii). Kirtland's Warblers arc also known to use red pine (P. resinosa) as breeding habitat, leading us to consider how the conversion of jack pine to red pine might affect avian species other than the Kirtland's Warbler. We hypothesized that there would be no differences in avian species richness or diversity in jack pine and red pine communities of similar age, density, and canopy closure characteristics, all of which arc important components of overall physical vegetation structure. We modeled avian communities in selected jack pine and red pine stands using nonmctric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Overall avian species richness and diversity in jack pine and red pine stands were similar, but community ordination identified distinct compositions in each stand type. Of 23 resident species, 17 (77%) were more abundant in red pine, but the Kirtland's Warbler and Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), two species of conservation concern, resided only in jack pine. The similarity of bird communities in stand types with different tree species but with similar tree densities and ground cover suggested that overall vegetation density and structure may be more important determinants of habitat choice than individual plant species. Increasing the number of red pine stands with age and density distributions similar to jack pine stands used by Kirtland's Warblers might create avian communities distinct from those in jack pine, but managers should consider the effects of such changes for both rarer species and overall avian species richness. Received 29 June 2022. Accepted 11 August 2023. Key words: bird conservation, community ordination, habitat conservation, Kirtland's Warbler, Pinus banksiana, Pinus resinosa, Setophaga kirtlandii. El enfoque de manejo de un habitat para proteger a una sola especie ha sido criticado por su negligencia en la conservacion general de la riqueza de especies de aves. Sin embargo, se hicieron plantaciones de un solo tipo de vegetacion--plantulas de pino de Banks (Pinus banksiana) de la misma edad--han sido sembradas de manera extensiva en el norte de Michigan, Estados Unidos, para restaurar poblaciones de una sola especie, la reinita Setophaga kirtlandii. Se sabe que la reinita Setophaga kirtlandii tambien utiliza el pino rojo americano (P resinosa) como habitat reproductivo, lo que nos hace considerar como el cambio de pino de Banks a pino rojo puede afectar a otras especies de aves ademas de la reinita Setophaga kirtlandii. Planteamos la hipotesis de que no habria diferencias en riqueza o diversidad de especies entre comunidades de pino de Banks y de pino rojo de edades similares, densidad y caracteristicas de apertura de dosel, siendo todos ellos componentes de la estuctura fisica de la vegetacion. Modelamos comunidades de aves en bosques de pino de Banks y de pino rojo seleccionados usando escalamiento miltidimensional no metrico (NMDS). En general la riqueza y la diversidad de especies de aves de bosques de pino de Banks y de pino rojo fueron similares, pero la ordenacion de comunidades identifico composiciones diferenciadas para cada tipo de bosque. De las 23 especies residentes, 17 (77%) eran mas abundantes en bosque de pino rojo, pero la reinita Setophaga kirtlandii y el correlimo Bartramia longicauda, dos especies que podrian tener preocupacion de conservacion, residian solamente en pino de Banks. La similitud de las comunidades de aves en bosques con diferentes especies de arboles pero con densidad de arboles y cobertura vegetal similares sugiere que la densidad de vegetacion y la estructura general pueden ser determinantes mas importantes en la seleccion de habitat que las especies de plantas individuales. Aumentar la cobertura de pino rojo de distribuciones de edad y densidad similares a las de los pinos de Banks usados por la reinita Seiophaga kirtlandii podria crear comunidades de aves distintas de las de pino de Banks, pero los gestores deben considerar el efecto en esos cambios tanto en especies raras como en la riqueza de especies de aves en general. Palabras clave: conservacion de aves, conservacion de habitat, ordenacion de comunidades, Pinus banksiana, Pinus resinosa, reinita Setophaga kirtlandii, Setophaga kirtlandii., A single conservation strategy can meet only a limited number of management goals (Lindenmayer and Hobbs 2007). Single-strategy approaches often arise in situations associated with single-species management, especially in species [...]

Microwave Tomography (MWT) is emerging as a potential imaging technique for monitoring bone health due to its ability to determine the dielectric properties of tissues under investigation. Studies have demonstrated a significant dielectric contrast between healthy and diseased human trabecular bones, which suggests that MWT has the potential to detect changes associated with bone disorders. The goal of this study was to assess the numerical reconstruction of an anthropomorphic two-layer (cortical and trabecular bone) calcaneus-shaped phantom, considering both healthy and diseased scenarios. Data were obtained using two different antenna configurations: a 16-antenna circular array and a 24-antenna calcaneus-shaped array. The electromagnetic (EM) inverse problem was solved by employing the Distorted Born Iterative Method (DBIM) in conjunction with the Iterative Method with Adaptive Thresholding for Compressed Sensing (IMATCS). An $L_{2}$ -based regularization method was applied along with the IMATCS. The results demonstrated that accurate reconstruction of various phantom properties at 1 GHz is feasible even under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. The achieved results suggest that the present approach can provide a good numerical reconstruction of the proposed phantoms both in the circular array and the calcaneus-shaped array scenarios, proving its robustness in distinguishing the overall reference and reconstructed dielectric properties with an average percentage difference of 10.43%. This work revealed the possibility of applying the suggested approach in a new scenario with a realistic phantom in two different antenna-array geometric configurations. In the future, this could be tested in an experimental context to assess the medical conditions of the human bones.

AbstractConversations regarding moral values are increasingly becoming a pivotal dimension of public discourse. This paper presents a new approach to unacceptable discourse. Drawing on René Girard’s cultural anthropology and Luciano Elizalde’s dissent management theory, this work develops a scale of situations of dissent, such as controversy, polemic and public discourse scandal. It offers a detailed study of the polemic raised by the book Marry Him and Be Submissive, a process of dissent which was generated in Spain in November 2013 on the occasion of the publication of this Italian bestseller and lasted until January 2014. The book was written by the Italian journalist Costanza Miriano and translated and edited by the Archdiocese of Granada. The case study uses a triangular approach to discourse analysis, which aims to comprehend the enunciator’s legitimacy and social positioning, the communication context in which the debate takes place, and the characteristics of the public discourse. A central element regards how reactions are organized around the signifier 'submissive’ and the different frames of interpretation assigned to this word, in what will be called 'feminist’ and 'post-feminist’ paradigms. Mechanisms of dissent and consensus are explained, and takeaways and actors’ strategies are discussed.

In this work, we study a Mediterranean cyclone, Helios, which took place during 9–11 February 2023 in the southeastern part of Sicily and Malta, by a multiparametric approach combining microseism results with sea state and meteorological data provided by wavemeter buoy, HF radar, hindcast maps and satellite SEVIRI images. The sub-tropical system Helios caused heavy rainfall, strong wind gusts and violent storm surges with significant wave heights greater than 5 m. We deal with the relationships between such a system and the features of microseism (the most continuous and ubiquitous seismic signal on Earth) in terms of spectral content, space–time variation of the amplitude and source locations tracked by means of two methods (amplitude-based grid search and array techniques). By comparing the location of the microseism sources and the area affected by significant storm surges derived from sea state data, we note that the microseism location results are in agreement with the real position of the storm surges. In addition, we are able to obtain the seismic signature of Helios using a method that exploits the coherence of continuous seismic noise. Hence, we show how an innovative monitoring system of the Mediterranean cyclones can be designed by integrating microseism information with other techniques routinely used to study meteorological phenomena.

Background: Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is specific for acute cholecystitis (AC), but surgeons request radiology imaging (RI) prior to admitting patients with POCUS-diagnosed AC. Objectives: We sought to determine the test characteristics of POCUS for AC when performed and billed by credentialed emergency physicians (EPs), the accuracy rate of RI when performed after POCUS, and the time added when RI is requested after POCUS demonstrates AC. Methods: We performed a dual-site retrospective cohort study of admitted adult ED patients who had received biliary POCUS from November 1, 2020 to April 30, 2022. Patients with previously diagnosed AC, liver failure, ascites, hepatobiliary cancer, or cholecystectomy were excluded. Descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals for point estimates were calculated. Medians were compared using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Test characteristics of POCUS for AC were calculated using inpatient intervention for AC as the reference standard. Results: Of 473 screened patients, 143 were included for analysis: 80 (56%) had AC according to our reference standard. POCUS was positive for AC in 46 patients: 44 true positives and two false positives, yielding a positive likelihood ratio of 17.3 (95%CI 4.4-69.0) for AC. The accuracy rate of RI after positive POCUS for AC was 39.0%. Median time from ED arrival to POCUS and ED arrival to RI were 115 (IQR 64, 207) and 313.5 (IQR 224, 541) minutes, respectively; p < 0.01. Conclusion: RI after positive POCUS performed by credentialed EPs takes additional time and may increase diagnostic uncertainty.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with higher fracture risk, despite normal or high bone mineral density. We reported that bone formation genes (SOST and RUNX2) and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) were impaired in T2D. We investigated Wnt signaling regulation and its association with AGEs accumulation and bone strength in T2D from bone tissue of 15 T2D and 21 non-diabetic postmenopausal women undergoing hip arthroplasty. Bone histomorphometry revealed a trend of low mineralized volume in T2D (T2D 0.249% [0.156–0.366]) vs non-diabetic subjects 0.352% [0.269–0.454]; p=0.053, as well as reduced bone strength (T2D 21.60 MPa [13.46–30.10] vs non-diabetic subjects 76.24 MPa [26.81–132.9]; p=0.002). We also showed that gene expression of Wnt agonists LEF-1 (p=0.0136) and WNT10B (p=0.0302) were lower in T2D. Conversely, gene expression of WNT5A (p=0.0232), SOST (p