Locational determinants of the ICT sector across Italy

Is the rapid growth of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) activities shaping new local specialization and industrial concentration? Does the analysis of local economic conditions help to explain the formation of “places” specialized in ICT? We use 2001 Census data by Local Labour Systems (LLS) to investigate the characteristics of ICT specialization in Italy. Our investigation is based on a cross-sectional regression model using data for 686 LLS in which the dependent variable is an index of ICT local employment concentration. The measure of concentration we adopted is the location quotient (LQ) index. The LLS specialized in ICT activities in Italy account for 7.3% of total LLS. They are distributed all over the country, although those with highest LQ values are mainly in North-west and Central-south Italy. Our regression analysis provides the following results. The general econometric specification, i.e. that applied to all LLS, supports a positive and significant relationship between LLS specialized in some manufacturing industries (machinery, equipment and instruments; petrochemicals, rubber and plastic products; transport equipment; and paper, publishing and printing) or business services and relatively high localization of ICT employment. Besides, the model indicates that for LLS characterized by manufacturing SMEs there is a low probability of attaining a greater-than-the-national-average ICT employment specialization. These econometric results are in line with the general opinion that product specialization of Italian industries (the so-called “Made in Italy”) and SMEs are less likely to be involved in ICT diffusion to business. Nevertheless, this pattern of results does not justify the interpretation that the industrial districts (where SMEs employment has the largest share) are at the origin of inadequate ICT diffusion to business in Italy. In fact, when the analysis is focused on industrial districts the results are slightly different. In particular, the variable SMEs does not produce a significant coefficient, while textile and clothing industries show a positive association with ICT, even though significant only at 10% level. What is the main policy implication of these empirical findings? National government’s policy makers should become aware that industrial districts are an appropriate instrument to promote the development of the ICT sector, although so far they have been neglected. "Information and Communication Technologies, Local Labour Systems, geographical concentration, local specialization

Against the flow: unexpected migration movements over the open sea by inexperienced ospreys

As part of a long-term monitoring program, more than 80 Mediterranean ospreys Pandion haliaetus (both adults and juveniles) were tagged with GPS-GSM transmitters and tracked to study their spatiotemporal behaviour. Here we document the peculiar and unexpected migration movements performed by three inexperienced (juvenile/immature) individuals, who crossed the open sea "against the flow", in the opposite direction to that foreseen for the given season. Using a combination of GPS tracking data and weather information, we found that such movements were linked to particular meteorological conditions occurring over the Mediterranean Sea during migration. Mean values of wind gust of approximately 20 km/h and moderate tailwinds seem to have mediated the onset of the movements, facilitating the flight of ospreys over water. Our findings suggest that both weather conditions (sidewinds) and the inexperience of the birds explain these long migration movements performed towards unexpected directions over the open sea. We conclude that migratory capabilities and the ability to cope with external conditions may lead inexperienced birds to perform extensive and tortuous dispersal/explotrative movements during both first autumn and spring migration

Verso una strategia condivisa per la citizen science in Italia

Over the last decade, a growing number of countries in Europe have acknowledged the potential of citizen science as an effective model to inspire the science-policy interface and its role in the context of Responsible Research and Innovation. This has led to the establishment of national networks to facilitate coordination and communication of projects´ goals, methodologies and achievements and have developed national strategies to engage citizens in science, identifying recommendations for actions on how to develop and implement citizen science at national level. Whilst recently citizen science initiatives have become increasingly common in Italy, there is the need to promote an open dialogue between the scientific community, citizen science practitioners and decision makers, ultimately to build a strong partnership at national level. This report summarises the main outcomes of the round table “Towards a shared strategy for citizen science in Italy”, which took place on 5-6th April 2018 in Grosseto and Rome (Italy). The round table was associated to a preliminary meeting of the national citizen science community and a Discovery Trip, or delegation visit: an innovative format to create knowledge transfer between citizen science experts, academics and decision makers. During the 2-days event, 43 national stakeholders exchanged knowledge on the state of the art of citizen science at national and international level, and collaborated to identify a process and initial roadmap of actions towards strengthening the existing network and developing a strategy to implement and sustain citizen science in Italy. Participants have set strategic short, medium and long-term objectives along with an action plan required to achieve them. The event was promoted by the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), Tekiu Ltd, the National Academy of Sciences called XL and the Maremma Natural History Museum, as part of the policy engagement strategy for Responsible Research and Innovation developed and implemented within the Doing It Together Science (DITOs) project, funded under the Horizon 2020 framework. The summary of the discussion here provided intends to be a starting point for future work and reference document to be disseminated to a wide range of italian stakeholders, to advocate for the potential of citizen science for society, science and policy and to ensure an open and transparent process of national development of citizen science. As such, the full report is available only in Italian

Dynamic integrated water quality modelling: A case study of the Lambro River, northern Italy

In this paper an integrated modelling approach is presented and applied to a 26km stretch of the Lambro River downstream of the Merone Wastewater Treatment Plant in northern Italy. The sub-models used (ASM1 for the treatment plant and RWQM1 for the river) have been implemented in the WEST® simulator. Hydraulics and quality processes of the Lambro River have been modelled with a ‘tanks in series’ approach. The purpose of this study is to model the effect on river water quality of an insufficient treatment capacity of the WWTP. The plant was constantly operating at its maximum hydraulic capacity, leading to a daily bypass of dry weather wastewater, which imposed a marked diurnal cycle on pollutant concentrations in the river. The assessment of the actual WWTP upgrade has confirmed its beneficial effect on the river water quality.Keywords: ASM1, integrated modelling, LAS, model interfaces, RWQM

Morphological and molecular characterization of trichuris sp. (nematoda: Trichuridae) in crested porcupines (hystrix cristata; rodentia: Hystricidae) from Italy

Adult specimens of Trichuris sp. collected from crested porcupines (Hystrix cristata) from Italy were characterized using an integrative taxonomic approach involving morphological and molecular tools. The morphological features of this Trichuris sp. were compared to data already available for Trichuris spp. from Hystrix sp., revealing diagnostic traits, such as spicule length in males or vulva shape in females, which distinguish this Trichuris sp. from the other species. Evidence from sequences analysis of the partial mitochondrial COX1 region indicated that the taxon under study is a distinct lineage. Biometrical and genetic data suggested this Trichuris sp. to be a valid and separated taxon. However, since molecular data from other Trichuris spp. infecting Hystrix, such as T. infundibulus, T. hystricis, T. javanica, T. landak and T. lenkorani, are missing in public repositories, the number and identity of distinct lineages able to infect porcupines remain only partially defined

From accidental citizen-science observations to genetic confirmation: how to spot new hidden invaders

The crested porcupine Hystrix cristata is the largest rodent in Italy, where it is strictly protected according to national and international laws. The species is almost exclusively nocturnal and quite elusive: its presence may be yet recorded through the detection of quills lost on the ground. In the last 40 years, the crested porcupine showed a remarkable range expansion in Italy. In 2013, in the framework of the www.naturaesocialmapping.it recording site, a web page devoted to H. cristata was set up. The aim of the project was to give people the opportunity to contribute to a continuous updating of the distributional map of this rodent. Lost quills were also collected by citizen-observers, as being easily available sources of DNA. This web page allowed us to detect the first evidence of the presence of another species of porcupine free-ranging in Italy (photos and quills): the Indian porcupine H. indica. Species identification was carried out through DNA barcoding analysis, since it cannot be performed only through quill morphology. We increased the international genetic database with sequences of both species, so to allow a rapid identification of samples through molecular analyses. Both species were introduced to Italy by humans. Our findings also support the relevance of citizen science contribution in the process of updating species’ distribution range and the potential of spotting new invasive species

Adiciones y Correcciones al Catálogo de Coleópteros Paleárticos, volúmenes 7 y 8 (Curculionoidea)

Peer reviewe

The rhythm of the night: patterns of activity of the European wildcat in the Italian peninsula

The European wildcat is a threatened carnivore, whose ecology is still scarcely studied, especially in Mediterranean areas. In this study, we estimated activity rhythm patterns of this felid, by means of camera-trapping at three spatial scales: (i) whole country (Italy); (ii) biogeographical areas; (iii) latitudinal zones. The activity rhythms patterns were also calculated according to temporal scales: (1) warm semester; (2) cold semester and (3) seasonal scales. Lastly, we also tested whether the effect of moon phases affected the wildcat activity. We conducted the analysis on a total of 975 independent events collected in 2009-2021, from 285 locations, in 65,800 camera days. We showed that the wildcat in Italy exhibits a > 70% nocturnal behaviour, with 20% of diurnal activity, at all spatial scales, and throughout the whole year, with peaks at 10.00 p.m. and 04.00 a.m. We observed a high overlap of wildcat activity rhythms between different biogeographical and latitudinal zones. The wildcat was mainly active on the darkest nights, reducing its activity in bright moonlight nights. Diurnal activity was greater in the warm months and decreased with the distance from shrubs and woodlands, most likely according to activity rhythms of its main prey, water presence in summer, the care of offspring and the availability of shelter sites. Conversely, the distance to paved roads seems to have no significant effects on diurnal activity, suggesting that, in presence of natural shelters, the wildcat probably may tolerate these infrastructures. We suggested limited plasticity in activity rhythm patterns of the wildcat, emphasizing the importance of dark hours for this species

Innovation in citizen science – perspectives on science-policy advances

Citizen science is growing as a field of research with contributions from diverse disciplines, promoting innovation in science, society, and policy. Inter- and transdisciplinary discussions and critical analyses are needed to use the current momentum to evaluate, demonstrate, and build on the advances that have been made in the past few years. This paper synthesizes results of discussions at the first international citizen science conference of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) in 2016 in Berlin, Germany, and distills major points of the discourse into key recommendations. To enhance innovation in science, citizen science needs to clearly demonstrate its scientific benefit, branch out across disciplines, and foster active networking and new formats of collaboration, including true co-design with participants. For fostering policy advances, it is important to embrace opportunities for policy-relevant monitoring and policy development and to work with science funders to find adequate avenues and evaluation tools to support citizen science. From a society angle it is crucial to engage with societal actors in various formats that suit participants and to evaluate two-way learning outcomes as well as to develop the transformative role of science communication. We hope that these key perspectives will promote citizen science progress at the science-society-policy interface