92 research outputs found
Sicilian floriculture companies and the role of transport in increasing their competitiveness
The aim of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of the Sicilian floriculture sector, which has recently become one of the most important on a regional and national scale. By analysing production, sales and logistical aspects of its production companies and specifically looking at aspects regarding transport logistics, this study highlights the sector operators. preference for road transport that offers better guarantees in terms of delivery speed with respect to other means of transport, an essential requirement for the transport of flowers and plants. However, operators are increasingly showing interest in alternative means of transport that may reduce transport time and, especially, costs. Some of the operators interviewed believe that the expected building of 7 trucking terminals in Sicily represents an important move of the Regional Government to support companies; nevertheless, others think that this type of intervention represents an erosive element in competitiveness, because of the probable increase in the presence of goods coming from the southern Mediterranean shore. However, the improvement of the regional transport system is necessary to reduce inefficiencies in the sales and distribution network of the floriculture industry and, more in general, of the whole Sicilian agri-food industry
Diffuse degassing of carbon dioxide on the NW sector of Colli Albani volcanic complex (Rome, Italy)
Systematic CO2 soil flux surveys at Cava dei Selci on the Colli Albani volcano (28 seasonal surveys since the year 2000) have shown a significant variation of diffuse CO2 release, with a marked decrease, from 25 to 4 tonnes/day, from May 2000 to August 2004, followed by a new increase. Over the same period, CO2 flux halved at S. Maria delle Mole (16.8 tonnes/day in 2000 and 8.3 tonnes/day in 2006). Also the quantity of CO2 dissolved in the deep waters of the Albano crater lake decreased by one order of magnitude in the period 1997-2006. The high CO2 flux values in 2000 could represent the âtailâ of a strong degassing episode recorded at Colli Albani in 1995 and related to local earthquakes. The following decrease of CO2 flux could reflect a permeability decrease caused by hydrothermal calcite precipitation favored by PCO2 reduction in the deep sourc
Level of carbon dioxide diffuse degassing from the ground of Vesuvio: comparison between extensive surveys and inferences on the gas source
An extensive campaign of diffuse CO2 soil flux was carried out at the
cone of Vesuvio in October 2006 with two main objectives: 1) to provide
an estimation of CO2 diffusely discharged through the soils in the summit
area and 2) to evidence those sectors of the volcano where structural and
morphological conditions could favour the gas output. The survey consisted
of 502 measurements of soil CO2 flux homogenously distributed
over an area of about 1.8 km2. Results of this survey were compared with
those obtained during a similar campaign carried out by Frondini et al.
in 2000, from which we have taken and reinterpreted a subset of data belonging
to the common investigated area. Graphical statistical analysis
showed three overlapping populations in both surveys, evidencing the contribution
of three different sources feeding the soil CO2 degassing process.
The overall CO2 emission pattern of 2006 is coherent with that observed
in 2000 and suggests that a value between 120 and 140 t/day of CO2 is
representative of the total CO2 discharged by diffuse degassing from the
summit area of Vesuvio. The preferential exhaling area lies in the inner
crater, whose contribution resulted in 45.3% of the total CO2 emission in
2006 (with 62.8 t/day) and in 57.4% (with 70.3 t/day) in 2000, although
its extension is only 13% of the investigated area. This highly emissive area
correlated closely with the structural discontinuities of Vesuvio cone, mainly
suggesting that the NW-SE trending tectonic line is actually an active fault
leaking deep gas to the bottom of the crater. The drainage action of the
fault could be enhanced by the âaspirationâ effect of the volcanic conduit
Environmental pre-exploitation monitoring of Torre Alfina geothermal system (Central Italy)
An interesting project of geothermal pilot plant, with no-gas emission in atmosphere, has been submitted for approval in the medium-enthalpy geothermal field of Torre Alfina. This prompted us to develop a geochemical and geophysical monitoring of the area with the aim of establishing a background information to reco-gnize anomalous gas emission, induced seismicity and subsidence, possibly related to the field exploitation. The exploration conducted by Enel in the years â70 - '80, including the drilling of 9 deep wells, has shown the existence of a medium-enthalpy geothermal field in the Torre Alfina zone, in central Italy. The area has been affected by a very complex geological evolution during the Neogene. It was affected by the Quaternary volcanism of the Tyrrhenian margin which, reached its climax between 0.6 and 0.3 Ma. The present stress field around Quaternary volcanoes of central Italy has a NE to ENE direction of extension, in agreement with the alignment of Quaternary volcanoes and earthquake fault plane solutions, with T axes preferentially oriented between NE and ENE.PublishedPrague, Czech Republic, June 22 to July 2, 20156T. SismicitĂ indotta e caratterizzazione sismica dei sistemi naturaliope
Simultaneous EEG-fMRI Reveals Temporal Evolution of Coupling between Supramodal Cortical Attention Networks and the Brainstem
Cortical and subcortical networks have been identified that are commonly associated with attention and task engagement, along with theories regarding their functional interaction. However, a link between these systems has not yet been demonstrated in healthy humans, primarily because of data acquisition and analysis limitations. We recorded simultaneous EEGâfMRI while subjects performed auditory and visual oddball tasks and used these data to investigate the BOLD correlates of single-trial EEG variability at latencies spanning the trial. We focused on variability along task-relevant dimensions in the EEG for identical stimuli and then combined auditory and visual data at the subject level to spatially and temporally localize brain regions involved in endogenous attentional modulations. Specifically, we found that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) correlates strongly with both early and late EEG components, whereas brainstem, right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG), and right orbitofrontal cortex (rOFC) correlate significantly only with late components. By orthogonalizing with respect to event-related activity, we found that variability in insula and temporoparietal junction is reflected in reaction time variability, rOFC and brainstem correlate with residual EEG variability, and ACC and rMFG are significantly correlated with both. To investigate interactions between these correlates of temporally specific EEG variability, we performed dynamic causal modeling (DCM) on the fMRI data. We found strong evidence for reciprocal effective connections between the brainstem and cortical regions. Our results support the adaptive gain theory of locus ceruleusânorepinephrine (LCâNE) function and the proposed functional relationship between the LCâNE system, right-hemisphere ventral attention network, and P300 EEG response
Environmental pre-exploitation monitoring of Torre Alfina geothermal system (Central Italy)
An interesting project of geothermal pilot plant, with no-gas emission in atmosphere, has been submitted for approval in the medium-enthalpy geothermal field of Torre Alfina. This prompted us to develop a geochemical and geophysical monitoring of the area with the aim of establishing a background information to reco-gnize anomalous gas emission, induced seismicity and subsidence, possibly related to the field exploitation. The exploration conducted by Enel in the years â70 - '80, including the drilling of 9 deep wells, has shown the existence of a medium-enthalpy geothermal field in the Torre Alfina zone, in central Italy. The area has been affected by a very complex geological evolution during the Neogene. It was affected by the Quaternary volcanism of the Tyrrhenian margin which, reached its climax between 0.6 and 0.3 Ma. The present stress field around Quaternary volcanoes of central Italy has a NE to ENE direction of extension, in agreement with the alignment of Quaternary volcanoes and earthquake fault plane solutions, with T axes preferentially oriented between NE and ENE
Importance of meteorological variables for aeroplankton dispersal in an urban environment
Passive wind dispersal is one of the major mechanisms through which organisms disperse and colonize new areas. The detailed comprehension of which factors affect this process may help to preserve its efficiency for years to come. This is especially important in the current context of climate change, which may seriously alter weather regimes that drive dispersal, and is crucial in urban contexts, where biodiversity is dramatically threatened by pollution and fragmentation of natural patches. Despite its interest, the analysis of factors affecting aeroplankton dispersal in urban environments is rare in literature. We sampled aeroplankton community uninterruptedly every 4 hours from 17th May to 19th September 2011 in the urban garden of Parco d'Orléans, within the campus of the University of Palermo (Sicily). Sampling was performed using a Johnson-Taylor suction trap with automatized sample storing. Weather variables were recorded at a local meteorological station. Overall, 11,739 insects were caught during the present study, about 60% of these belonged to the order Hymenoptera, with particular presence of families Agaonidae and Formicidae. The suction trap also captured specimens of very small size, and in some cases, species caught were new records for Italy. Composition and abundance of aeroplankton community was influenced by alternation day/night, as well as by daily fluctuations of climatic variables, for example fluctuating temperature . The diversity of samples was also studied and resulted higher when wind blew from the nearby green area. Our findings confirm that passive transport of arthropods strictly depends on weather conditions, and that the presence of natural areas within the urban environment significantly contribute to raise aeroplankton diversity, eventually fuelling overall biodiversity at a local scale. We discuss how climate change may affect future dispersal of these organisms
Ceci n'est pas une ontologie
The opening remarks of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus seem to outline the bases of an atomistic ontological theory. For the resolute interpreters, such
an ontology should be considered as mere part of the set of nonsensical
propositions that make up the parody of a semantic theory. However, resolute
readers share with the traditional views an essentialist reading of the
ontological section, according to which Wittgenstein's remarks are intended to
build up a real, though parodistic, atomistic ontology.
By contrast, textual evidence supports the idea that the basic notion of
Wittgensteinâs ontology, i.e. the notion of object, should be considered as an
intra-linguistic, rather than an ontological one. In this paper, we want to
show how some of the main claims of the resolute readings could be fruitfully
combined with the analyses of Tractarian objects that illustrate them as the
semantic roles of names
Guttuso scritti a cura di Marco Carapezza
Il volume raccoglie tutti gli scritti d'arte di Renato Guttuso dal 1929 al 1986 Annotati da marco Carapezza. Si tratta di scritti editi ed inediti che documentano l'importante attivitĂ critica del celebre pittore italiano che dimostra di essere stato uno dei maggiori intellettuali del Novecento
- âŠ