I paesaggi agrari tradizionali dell’albero: il significato moderno di forme d’uso del suolo del passato

Italy represents one of the most suitable environment for fruit trees and vines and since the origin of their domestication and introduction in extremely varying environments, depending on the species adaptability and local culture, a complex mosaic of landscapes has been originated by Nature, farmers or gardeners. In the study of the landscape it must be considered that the relationship between fruit trees or vines and landscapes represents a precious aspect of the Italian culture and has been studied by History, represented in Art and Literature, analyzed by science like Architecture and Agronomy, but at first has been created by Agriculture. Owing to the evolution of the relationship land and farmers, the development of agricultural practices, the change of marked requirements and objectives, different agricultural landscapes have been created, each having an unique meaning and functions. Nonetheless, the physiognomy of tree cropping systems has changed rapidly starting from half of the past century because of the introduction of new genetic resources, the change in the meaning of the product’s quality, the industrialization of the agronomic technique. These recent developments have turned out in loss of landscape diversity, biodiversity erosion, environment resources depletion. The actual physiognomy of the Italian countryside, from the plan to the most represented mountain areas, is characterized by modern and traditional agricultural landscapes, not even distinguished, frequently overlaid. They represent the “forms” of the today’s arboriculture visible in the historic and contemporary gardens, in the remnants of the coltura promiscua, in the polycultural growing systems, as well as in the specialized orchards. The contemporary landscape of fruit trees and vines witnesses its history, characters and functions particularly in terms of biological and environmental diversity maintenance. This review is focused on the traditional fruit tree and vine’s landscapes still well rooted in the Italian agricultural landscape, but differently conserved, managed and perceived. The aim of the historical excursus is to go through their development phases and to underline the changing functions. A survey of the multifunctionality recognisable in the traditional agricultural landscape, in particular their role in the preservation of environmental resources, agro-ecosystems functionality, landscape diversity and cultural memory justifies the interest in the preservation and valorisation of these productive landscapes and of the traditional agricultural techniques, thank to which they are maintained. The preserving strategies adopted in the European countries as well as the modern study approaches based on multidisciplinary methodologies are also analysed

The importance of terracing in the traditional cultural landscapes: the case study of Sicily (Italy)

The landscapes formed by agricultural terraces are the natural result of the encounter between the characteristics of an environment and the creative force and genius of man, the slow evolution of this relationship between nature and culture, a collective project that balanced the need for producing with the resources available and the native character of the environment. These cultural processes produced a great variety of landscapes. However, they are not supported or confirmed by common inventories allowing to identify and classify the typical Main Traditional Landscape (MTL) within which very important is the role carried out by terraces and related man-made structures, both for natural and cultural aspects and functions. Terraced farming systems are considered not only the most representative cultural landscapes of the Mediterranean, but also among those at greatest risk. The crisis of traditional agricultural landscapes particularly concernes, in fact, those most affected by the costs of cultivation in regards to how small the land unit is, as well as the difficulties regarding access and mobility. Concerns about their disappearance and deterioration are due to their environmental, cultural, economic and social characteristics. The large number of terraced landscapes in Sicily are in accord with the complex nature and history of the island. Many important features of these landscapes can be recognized, such as: production, soil conservation, improvement of the microclimate, fire protection, conservation, biodiversity protection and the enhancement of the cultural, aesthetic and ethical aspects of agriculture. The study carried out in Sicily addresses the problem of protecting the landscape, not by considering the legacy of terraced cultivation systems obsolete and therefore inevitably subject to abandonment or to a reduction by mainstream culture to a "landscape museum," but, on the contrary, as an exemplary manifestation of the opportunities offered by the enhancement and preservation of traditional cultural landscapes. On the basis of these considerations, the objective of the present paper is to draw up the importance of terraced-land within the MTL of Mediterranean context, by the study-case of Sicily (S-Italy), in terms of: (i) cross-landscape distributive importance; (II) main structural characters and functions; (iii) ongoing driving-actions in land-use change. A study case that can be of great interest for such regions, as the Konso in Ethiopia, were terraced systems are of interest for reasons together productive, environmental, cultural

Landscape ecomosaics evolution and land use change in south-Sicilian coastal area

Intensive agriculture, urbanisation and neglected land-country often entail rapid landscape changes, losses of ecological capacity (Feranec, J., 2006) biodiversity and cultural landscape degradation (Farina, A., 1998). Sicily’s countryside is characterised by a rich diversity of cultural landscapes and was shaped by traditional land-uses. The case study covers the middle-south part of Sicily (Agrigento), the socalled Temple’s Valley, a literary territory passed through by many writers like Diodoro (I sec. a. C.), Goethe (1787). In last fifty years, the rural–urban fringe of Agrigento city have become the setting of the intense suburb growth and considerable land use change. One consequence of this development is the loss of traditional landscapes. The traditional landscape of Temple’s Valley is Almond- Olive dry culture (Barbera et al., 2000), with trees scattered in croplands and pastures. Unfortunately, neglect and inappropriate development threaten this irreplaceable landscape legacy. Too often the long-term environmental and cultural ramifications of short-term decisions are not understood and as a result we lose a unique portion of our cultural heritage. The traditional social structures embodied in the local history of rural areas have dissolved. During the last 30 years, different trends have dramatically changed this production driven development of our cultural landscapes. This disappearance risk is due to transport technology, the economy resulting in urbanisation and urban sprawl and tourism pressure. Landscape ecomosaics evolution analysis has undertaken by determining the meaning of objects in aerial photographs and then by landscape metrics use, highlighting a strong land-use change. This changes causes the network connectivity complete loss, that is why this paper discusses the concept of ecological connectivity and proposes to improve riparian vegetation as a priority, which will achieve the multiple benefits of improving river health while contributing to network connectivity

The role of mediterranean fruit tree orchards and vineyards in maintaining the traditional agricultural landscape

The Mediterranean area represents one of the most suitable and diversified environments for horticultural crops, being this propriety well expressed in the commonly accepted definition of “Mediterranean cultivated garden”. In Italy, fruit crops have been in the past introduced and expanded in different environments depending on the species and adaptability to the physiographic characteristics of the regions. The climate and the diversity of environmental contexts, the specificity of soils, the plasticity of the cultivated genotypes, have allowed a tight and typical relationship among land and farmers. Since the past centuries olive and fruit orchards, vineyards and Citrus plantations have represented the typicity of the Italian rural landscape. The physiognomy of tree cropping systems has been changed rapidly starting from half of the past century owing to the introduction of new genetic resources, the change in the concepts of quality, the modernization and intensification of the agronomical techniques, resulting in loss of environmental and biological diversity. Nonetheless, some historic fruit orchards and vineyards have survived. The research is focused: a) on the recognition and mapping of the traditional landscapes of fruit crops in two representative Mediterranean regions; b) on the identification of their typological traits; c) on the definition of their environmental and technical sustainability based on an interdisciplinary methodology. Through a multi-criterial analysis it was possible to recognize and measure the sustainability of these cropping models and their ecological function, turning into preservation of environmental resources, environmental quality and quality of life. The study also underlined the crucial role of the traditional agricultural landscapes in the maintenance of local identity, history and economy. By representing a cultural heritage, traditional agricultural landscapes and traditional farming might justify preservation and valorisation actions

The Italian Almond Industry: New Perspectives and Ancient Tradition

The almond industry in Italy presents a high degree of structural variability that is determined by the jeopardized coexistence of old, traditional orchards and new plantations that differ each other not only in terms of age but also mainly in terms of orchard system. Apulia and Sicily still remain the most important production areas where the 90% of the almond orchards are concentrated. In this southern part of Italy, almond and its derivatives still remain really important. In the last two decades, the Italian almond industry did not show a regular trend, neither with respect to production nor to acreage. An innovative almond industry revealed its consistency year after year since 2000: self-fertile cultivars, clonal rootstocks and new planting design ideal for mechanization were the most important technical aspects which revealed a new way to set up almond orchards. As a matter of fact, the Italian almond industry is still characterized by two strongly different structures: a traditional one, which is based upon old cultivars and orchard systems, with unsatisfactory yields indeed, and an innovative one which is really interesting and appears to be able to partially renew the sector. Technical aspects on this new way to obtain innovative almond orchards and their perspectives are here reported mostly in terms of technical choices

A Cross-Sectional Survey on Burnout Prevalence and Profile in the Sicilian Population of Ambulance Driver-Rescuers

Introduction: Burnout is present at a high rate in emergency medicine. The ambulance driver-rescuers, who furnish first aid to the victims, are the non-medical part of the Italian 118-service staff. There is a lack of research on burnout risk in Italian Emergency Medical Services and, particularly, for this category of workers. The two Italian studies, including a little group of ambulance driver-rescuers, reported inconsistent findings. Hypothesis: This survey investigated for the first time the prevalence and exact profile of burnout in a large sample of Italian driver-rescuers. As a secondary aim, the study described how the items of the Italian version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) cluster in components in this sample. Methods: This cross-sectional census survey was conducted from June 2015 through May 2016 and involved all the driver-rescuers operating in Sicily, the biggest and most southern region of Italy. The subjects received a classification according to different profiles of burnout by using the Italian version of the MBI-HSS (burnout, engagement, disengagement, over-extension, and work-inefficacy). In order to explore the existence of independent factors, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted on the survey to obtain eigenvalues >one for each component in the data. Results: The final sample comprised 2,361 responders (96.6% of the initial sample). Of them, 29.8% were in burnout (95% confidence interval [CI], 27.8% to 31.8%) and 1.7% presented a severe form (95% CI, 1.1% to 2.3%); 30.0% were engaged in their work (95% CI, 21.0% to 34.8%), 24.7% of responders were disengaged (95% CI, 22.9% to 26.5%), 1.2% presented an over-extension profile (95% CI, 0.8% to 1.7%), and 12.6% felt work-inefficacy (95% CI, 11.3% to 14.1%). The factors loaded into a five-factor solution at PCA, explaining 48.1% of the variance and partially replicating the three-factor structure. The Emotional Exhaustion (EE) component was confirmed. New dimensions from Personal Accomplishment (PA) and Depersonalization (DP) sub-scales described empathy and disengagement with patients, respectively, and were responsible for the increased risk of burnout. Conclusions: These results endorse the importance of screening and psychological interventions for this population of emergency workers, where burnout could manifest itself more insidiously. It is also possible to speculate that sub-optimal empathy skills could be related to the disengagement and work-inefficacy feelings registered

Evaluation of herbaceous crops irrigated with treated wastewater for ethanol production

The competition for freshwater between agricultural, industrial, and civil uses has greatly increased in Mediterranean basin characterized by prolonged dry seasons. The aim of this study was to evaluate biomass production and the potential ethanol production of promising “no-food” herbaceous crops irrigated with low quality water at different ETc restitutions (0%, 50 and 100%). The research was carried out, in 2011 and 2012, in an open field near the full-scale constructed wetland (CW) municipal treatment plant located in the Eastern Sicily (Italy). The CW effluent has been applied in a experimental irrigation field of Vetiveria zizanoides (L.) Nash, Miscanthus x giganteus Greef et Deu. and Arundo donax (L.). Physical, chemical and microbiological analyses were carried out on wastewater samples collected at inlet and outlet of CW and pollutant removal efficiencies were calculated for each parameter. Bio-agronomical analysis on herbaceous species were made with the goal to evaluate the main parameters such as the plant dimension, the growth response and the biomass production. Biomass dry samples were processed with a three-step chemical pretreatment, hydrolysed with a mix of commercial enzymes and next fermented to obtain the yield of ethanol production. Average TSS, COD and TN removal for CW were about 74%, 67% and 68%, respectively. Although the satisfactory Escherichia coli removal, about 3.5 log unit for both beds on average, CW didn’t achieve the restrictive Italian law limits for wastewater reuse. As expected, irrigation was beneficial and the full ET replenishment increase the biomass productivity as compared to the other two treatment. The mean productivity of Vetiveria zizanoides and Myscanthus x giganteus were about 9, 26 and 38 t ha–1 and 3, 7 and 12 t ha–1 respectively in 0%, 50% and 100% ETc restitutions. Arundo donax gave higher values of dry biomass (78 t ha–1 in 100% ETc restitution in 2011 season), and potential ethanol production (about 3,744 kg ha–1). These results suggest the interest in the use of constructed wetland effluents for the irrigation of energy crops to obtain second generation ethanol, particularly in semiarid regions such as the Mediterranean area

The Contribution of Innate Immunity in Large-Vessel Vasculitis: Detangling New Pathomechanisms beyond the Onset of Vascular Inflammation

Large-vessel vasculitis (LVV) are autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases focused on vascular inflammation. The central core of the intricate immunological and molecular network resides in the disruption of the "privileged immune state" of the arterial wall. The outbreak, initially primed by dendritic cells (DC), is then continuously powered in a feed-forward loop by the intimate cooperation between innate and adaptive immunity. If the role of adaptive immunity has been largely elucidated, knowledge of the critical function of innate immunity in LVV is still fragile. A growing body of evidence has strengthened the active role of innate immunity players and their key signaling pathways in orchestrating the complex pathomechanisms underlying LVV. Besides DC, macrophages are crucial culprits in LVV development and participate across all phases of vascular inflammation, culminating in vessel wall remodeling. In recent years, the variety of potential pathogenic actors has expanded to include neutrophils, mast cells, and soluble mediators, including the complement system. Interestingly, new insights have recently linked the inflammasome to vascular inflammation, paving the way for its potential pathogenic role in LVV. Overall, these observations encourage a new conceptual approach that includes a more in-depth study of innate immunity pathways in LVV to guide future targeted therapies

Data sonification of volcano seismograms and Sound/Timbre reconstruction of ancient musical instruments with Grid infrastructures

n/