This study investigates the effectiveness of a robot-mediated strategy aimed at promoting balance recovery after multidirectional slippages. Six older adults were asked to manage anteroposterior and mediolateral slippages while donning an active pelvis orthosis (APO). The APO was set up either to assist volunteers during balance loss or to be transparent. The margin of stability, in sagittal and frontal planes, was the main metric to assess the effectiveness of balance recovery. Results showed that the assistive strategy is effective at promoting balance recovery in the sagittal plane, for both perturbing paradigms; however, it is not effective at controlling stability in the frontal plane.

We present the status of an ongoing project to map the detailed chemical abundances of stars across the main body of the Sagittarius dwarf Spheroidal galaxy (Sgr dSph). The Sgr dSph is the closest known dwarf galaxy, and is being tidally destroyed by its interaction with the Milky Way (MW), leaving behind a massive stellar stream. Sgr dSph is a chemically outstanding object, with peculiar abundance ratios, clear center-outskirts abundance gradients, and spanning more than 3 orders of magnitude in metallicity. We present here detailed abundances from UVES@VLT spectra for more than 50 giants across 8 fields along the major and minor axes of Sgr dSph, and 5 more outside the galaxy main body, but possibly associated to its stellar stream.

A moderate to high rate of clay sedimentation is characteristic of the Toarcian sequences in the Umbria-Marche basin. The clay mineral assemblages and geochemical characteristics indicate that the Marne di Monte Serrone Formation and the Rosso Ammonitico Umbro-Marchigiano Unit were deposited in a shallow marine environment. In this general palaeogeographic scheme, a reducing subenvironment must have exsisted in which black shale-type facies were deposited resulting in geochemical anomalies in As, Sb, Zn, Co, Cu, Pb, V, Cr, and Ba, among other elements. The high values of both the detrital index and the Ce/Ce* ratio reveal the influence of proximal emerged reliefs. It is suggested that the palaeosoils that developed on the Liassic carbonate Laziale-Abuzzese platform were the source area of these sediments, following a palaeogeographic scheme analogous to that proposed for the Betic Cordilleras (Spain) during the Middle Domerian to Middle Toarcian. The positive and negative Eu anomalies are due to the decisive influence of the weathering process in which sediments with heterogeneous Eu anomaly size were mixed. The final distribution pattern of REE is the result of the different environments to which the clay minerals were subjected and the differences in intensity of weathering.

Our current knowledge of star formation and accretion luminosity at high redshift (z > 3–4), as well as the possible connections between them, relies mostly on observations in the rest-frame ultraviolet, which are strongly affected by dust obscuration. Due to the lack of sensitivity of past and current infrared instrumentation, so far it has not been possible to get a glimpse into the early phases of the dust-obscured Universe. Among the next generation of infrared observatories, SPICA, observing in the 12–350 µm range, will be the only facility that can enable us to trace the evolution of the obscured star-formation rate and black-hole accretion rate densities over cosmic time, from the peak of their activity back to the reionisation epoch (i.e., 3 < z ≲ 6–7), where its predecessors had severe limitations. Here, we discuss the potential of photometric surveys performed with the SPICA mid-infrared instrument, enabled by the very low level of impact of dust obscuration in a band centred at 34 µm. These unique unbiased photometric surveys that SPICA will perform will fully characterise the evolution of AGNs and star-forming galaxies after reionisation.

Triazine-resistant giant foxtail was identified in 1984 near Delta, PA. In field studies conducted from 1985 to 1987, preemergence applications of atrazine with cyanazine or simazine provided poor (≤60%) season-long control of this annual grass in no-tillage corn. Best season-long preemergence control was obtained with metolachlor or microencapsulated formulations of alachlor or EPTC. Postemergence applications of cyanazine or tridiphane + atrazine + crop oil provided poor giant foxtail control. Postdirected applications of paraquat resulted in fair (≥70%) control of giant foxtail through midseason. In greenhouse studies, triazineresistant (R) giant foxtail tolerated preemergence applications of atrazine or simazine at dosages to 9.0 kg ai/ha. Triazine-sensitive (S) giant foxtail was injured by 2.2 kg/ha and higher rates of atrazine and simazine. In laboratory studies, the I50 for inhibition by atrazine of photoinduced electron transport in thylakoids isolated from S and R biotypes was determined to be 0.24 and 205 μM, respectively. The differential sensitivity was paralleled by simazine. However, the limited solubility of simazine prevented determination of an I50 value with thylakoids from the R biotype.

The morphological (using International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) descriptors) and field performance of five clones selected from the globe artichoke landrace Spinoso di Palermo were determined over two seasons, and their amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) profiles detected using seven primer combinations (PCs). The number of heads produced averaged 13·8 per plant (equivalent to a fresh weight yield of 2·1 kg/plant), but two of the clones produced 15·6 heads per plant (2·4 kg/plant). Three clones produced noticeably larger second-order heads (mean of 156 g), and so were considered to be suitable for the production of desirable heads over a prolonged harvesting period. Head yield and the number of heads per plant were associated with a moderate level of broad sense heritability (0·29–0·46), implying that these traits could be viewed as primary selection criteria. From the list of 51 UPOV descriptors, 18 varied among the five clones, but variation at just six, simply scored, descriptors was sufficient to discriminate completely between the examined clones. Full discrimination was also achieved by applying only three of the seven selected AFLP PCs. According to the AFLP profiles, two of the clones were highly similar. The similarity matrices calculated from the UPOV descriptors and the AFLP profiles were highly correlated with one another. The data are optimistic and indicate that the performance of Spinoso di Palermo could be much improved via clonal selection.

We investigate the correlation of star formation quenching with internal galaxy properties and environment by comparing observation and theoretical models. We first classify galaxies as the most massive “central” or “satellite” in each halo in order to investigate the environmental effect. For observed central galaxies, we are unable to determine whether star formation quenching is primarily connected with halo mass or stellar mass, because these two quantities are strongly correlated. For satellite galaxies, a nearly equal dependence on halo mass and stellar mass is seen. We find that theoretical models with AGN feedback reproduce the dependence on colours and specific star formation rates for central galaxies reasonably. However, the same models seriously fail to reproduce the star formation rates of satellite galaxies by over-quenching star formation via strong strangulation: satellite over-quenching problem.

Ammonia (NH3) volatilization from soil-applied manure not only causes environmental pollution but also reduces the fertilization value of the manure. Anaerobic digestion and solid/liquid separation alter the physical and chemical characteristics of slurry, which affect NH3 emissions after application. The present study measured potential laboratory NH3 losses from different manures, untreated pig slurry and the liquid fractions of each untreated and digested slurry, after their application to two different soil types. The experiment was carried out in dynamic chambers using a photoacoustic infrared gas analyser to determine the NH3 concentration in the air stream directly.

The estimated values of nitrogen (N) emitted for surface-applied, untreated pig slurry were 0·26±0·064 mg per mg of applied total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN). For the liquid fractions of pig slurry and digested pig slurry, results were 0·13±0·064 and 0·16±0·064 mg/mg, respectively. Initial NH3–N emission rates from surface-applied, untreated pig slurry were higher than those measured for either liquid fraction; in the case of the untreated pig slurry, half was emitted in the first 4·9 h of measurement. Silty-loam soil showed a higher N emission than loam soil with surface-applied slurries. This result was probably due to the higher infiltration rate of loam soil, even offsetting the effect of its high soil pH. Immediate manure incorporation into the soil was shown to reduce NH3 emissions by 82%. Results demonstrated that a method combining dynamic chambers with a photoacoustic gas analyser was as reliable as the widely used acid traps method. Moreover, direct measurement with the gas analyser permits an increasing temporal resolution that gave a high-quality description of the NH3 emission dynamic.

It has recently been suggested that the peculiar cluster Pal 1 is associated to the Canis Major dwarf galaxy, which existence is still at the center of a debate. Our first measurement of the cluster’s chemical abundance ratios allows us to examine this association and to advance further in the clarification of Pal 1 possible origin.

ω Centauri is a massive stellar system which is currently going through the Galactic Halo. Its compact aspect and spheroidal shape have for a long time led to it being classified as a Globular Cluster. However the fact that its stars cover a wide metallicity range (−0.6 < [Fe/H] < −2.1), points to this object as an external galaxy, satellite of the Milky Way. Lithium among warm metal-poor stars shows a roughly constant abundance, the “Spite Plateau”. This has been interpreted as evidence for a primordial origin of the lithium nucleus, at the time of nucleosynthesis. After the physical conditions under which nucleosynthesis occurred, have been constrained by the observations of the fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, we are facing a “cosmological lithium problem”, namely the primordial lithium was a factor of three to four higher than what observed in the Spite plateau. Several avenues may be taken to solve this conundrum, either relying on fundamental physics or on stellar physics, however the realm of possibilities may be considerably narrowed by observing stellar populations in different galaxies, which have experienced different evolutionary histories. Some of the proposed “solutions” may be clearly ruled out, depending on the observation of lithium in the metal-poor populations of external galaxies. ω Centauri is the only external galaxy amenable to such an investigation in the era of 8m telescopes. We have pushed to its limits FLAMES at the ESO 8.2m telescope to obtain high resolution spectra of the Li i doublet in 91 Turn-Off and Sub-Giant stars at V ~ 18 in ω Centauri. We present our preliminary results on this data which suggest that the Li content in ω Centauri warm stars is comparable to that observed in Galactic Halo field stars of similar metallicities and temperatures. This may effectively rule out a whole class of models which invoke a severe Li depletion through processing of material in an early generation of massive stars.

A case of intestinal anisakiasis caused by Anisakis sp. larva type I in a woman from Italy who consumed raw marinated anchovies, is reported. The diagnosis was based on the morphological features characteristic of anisakid larval stages, which were readily recognized in a large granuloma removed after emergency surgical treatment.

The closest neighbour of the Milky Way (MW) the Sagittarius dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy (Sgr dSph) is being tidally destroyed by the interaction with our Galaxy, losing its stellar content along a huge stream clearly detectable within the Halo. This makes the Sgr dSph an ideal laboratory to study at the same time the chemical evolution of dwarf galaxies and their role in building bigger structures such as the MW. Since some years we are studying the stellar populations of the Sgr main body and stream, with particular attention to their detailed chemical composition. We collected detailed abundances (up to 22 elements, O to Eu) for 27 stars in the Sgr dSph main body, 5 in the associated globular cluster Terzan 7, and 12 more in the trailing Sgr tidal arm (UVES@VLT and SARG@TNG data). We are also conducting a large FLAMES@VLT chemical and dynamical analysis aimed at obtaining metallicities, alpha-elements content and radial velocities from automated analysis of the spectra. Finally, we just completed the first large scale photometric and spectroscopic survey of the stellar populations across all the dSph main body extension with VIMOS@VLT, aimed at exploring the variations in stellar populations and at deriving radial velocity memberships for future high resolution spectroscopic analysis. The picture emerging from all these studies portraits a large and extremely complex object, with signs of a long and still unclear evolution. Metallicity varies across three orders of magnitude ([Fe/H] from −3 to 0), CMDs change surprisingly from the core to the outskirts of the galaxy, and the chemical composition of the most metal rich objects show a very characteristic signature, with underabundant alpha elements, deficient Na, underabundant Fe-peak Mn, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn, and strongly enhanced n-capture elements La and Nd. This highly peculiar signature can also be effectively used to recognized stripped populations lost by Sgr in favour of the MW system, as clearly showed by the globular Palomar 12, which shows the same chemical anomalies detected in Sgr dSph.

We report on the use of high-resolution spectra to obtain a detailed description of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal internal dynamics, its Mass and Mass to Light ratio (M/L). Our direct measure of the central velocity dispersion of SGR give $\sigma_{SGR}=8.1\pm0.4$ km/s which translates in a total mass estimate of $M_{SGR} =1.6\times10^8 M_{\odot}$ and corresponding $(M/L)_{SGR}=9.1 (M/L)_{\odot}$. We also report on a possible detection of rotation in the core of SGR.