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The aim of this study was to assess, by a digital photogrammetric technique, the relative dimensional changes before and after rapid maxillary expansion (RME). The transverse diameters and volumetric variations of the palate were measured by photogrammetry on study casts taken at three different phases of therapy: at the beginning of treatment (T1), on removal of the rapid expander, after expansion and retention for three months (T2), and six months after appliance removal (T3). The sample consisted of 30 children, (age range 7-8 years), all with a crossbite; 15 were angle Class I, six Class II and nine Class III. They were treated with an acrylic splint expander with two turns per day until the maxillary molar palatal cusps were in contact with the mandibular molar buccal cusps. The RME device was used as a passive retainer for three months, after which it was removed. During the following six months, no retention was used and no orthodontic treatment was undertaken. The findings demonstrated a significant relapse (P < 0.001) in the dental transverse diameter in all patients six months after appliance removal, although the palatal volume remained stable.

Land subsidence due to underground resources exploitation is a well-known problem that affects many cities in the world, especially the ones located along the coastal areas where the combined effect of subsidence and sea level rise increases the flooding risk. In this study, 25 years of land subsidence affecting the Municipality of Ravenna (Italy) are monitored using Advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar\ud (A-DInSAR) techniques. In particular, the exploitation of the new Sentinel-1A SAR data allowed us to extend the monitoring period till 2016, giving a better understanding of the temporal evolution of the phenomenon in the area. Two statistical approaches are applied to fully exploit the informative potential of the A-DInSAR results in a fast and systematic way. Thanks to the applied analyses, we described the behavior of the subsidence during the monitored period along with the relationship between the occurrence of the displacement and its main driving factors

Deck inclination and vertical displacements are among the most important technical parameters to evaluate the health status of a bridge and to verify its bearing capacity. Several methods, both conventional and innovative, are used for structural rotations and displacement monitoring; however, none of these allow, at the same time, precision, automation, static and dynamic monitoring without using high cost instrumentation. The proposed system uses a common laser pointer and image processing. The elastic line inclination is measured by analyzing the single frames of an HD video of the laser beam imprint projected on a flat target. For the image processing, a code was developed in Matlab® that provides instantaneous rotation and displacement of a bridge, charged by a mobile load. An important feature is the synchronization of the load positioning, obtained by a GNSS receiver or by a video. After the calibration procedures, a test was carried out during the movements of a heavy truck maneuvering on a bridge. Data acquisition synchronization allowed us to relate the position of the truck on the deck to inclination and displacements. The inclination of the elastic line at the support was obtained with a precision of 0.01 mrad. The results demonstrate the suitability of the method for dynamic load tests, and the control and monitoring of bridges.

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This work describes the three-dimensional survey of "Ex Stazione Frigorifera Specializzata": initially used for agricultural storage, during the years it was allocated to different uses until the complete neglect. The historical relevance and the architectural heritage that this building represents has brought the start of a recent renovation project and functional restoration. In this regard it was necessary a global 3-D survey that was based on the application and integration of different geomatic methodologies (mainly terrestrial laser scanner, classical topography, and GNSS). The acquisitions of point clouds was performed using different laser scanners: with time of flight (TOF) and phase shift technologies for the distance measurements. The topographic reference network, needed for scans alignment in the same system, was measured with a total station. For the complete survey of the building, 122 scans were acquired and 346 targets were measured from 79 vertices of the reference network. Moreover, 3 vertices were measured with GNSS methodology in order to georeference the network. For the detail survey of machine room were executed 14 scans with 23 targets. The 3-D global model of the building have less than one centimeter of error in the alignment (for the machine room the error in alignment is not greater than 6 mm) and was used to extract products such as longitudinal and transversal sections, plans, architectural perspectives, virtual scans A complete spatial knowledge of the building is obtained from the processed data, providing basic information for restoration project, structural analysis, industrial and architectural heritage valorization.

Subsidence in a deformation area can be measured in various ways, examples being conventional high-precision leveling, differential InSAR and multi-temporal GPS surveys. Integration of methods can improve results, and is crucial to extract high-precision data. In particular, orthometric and ellipsoid elevations, surveyed at different moments in time, can be compared to yield information on vertical movements when geoid anomalies are known. However, a data checking procedure must be applied if archival orthometric elevations are used, because long-term measurements for many historical benchmarks may have been lost and/or replaced with other points, but at different elevations. This type of checking can be carried out over an area without gravimetric anomalies by modeling geoid undulations and vertical displacements in the time-span used for analysis, excluding points with anomalous values. This procedure was tested and applied in the Po Delta area (northern Italy), historically subject to high subsidence rates: the leveling benchmarks of 1983 were measured with the GPS technique in 2008. After checking of archival data and transformation from ellipsoid to orthometric elevations, comparisons of the same points and interpolations on the study area provided a subsidence map for the 1983-2008 period.

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