LANDSLIDE EVOLUTION PATTERN REVEALED BY MULTI-TEMPORAL DSMS OBTAINED FROM HISTORICAL AERIAL IMAGES

Abstract. Landslides are a widespread natural hazard that cause damages to people and to the built up environment. Accurate knowledge of landslide distribution is crucial to develop planning strategies, prevention and resilient communities worldwide. One of the most diffuse way of reporting landslides distribution in a territory is by preparing landslide inventory maps. Such a task is mostly accomplished by expert photo-interpretation of historical aerial photographs, which are an invaluable source of information because they portray the landscape when the anthropic pressure was lower than the present day, providing an observation of the landscape closer to the natural conditions. Despite such a common use of aerial photographs, they are poorly exploited to obtain quantitative measures to support landslide mapping activities. In this paper we present a comparison of two photogrammetric approaches to measure elevation changes in a 50-years period for an area densely affected by landslides in Southern Italy. The obtained results allowed to revisit the original expert mapping proving that such a method is a useful tool to support geomorphological mapping and to improve the overall accuracy of landslide inventories

Determinación de las condiciones de germinación y el efecto de pretratamientos en semillas de Cuphea glutinosa (Lythraceae)

: Determination of germination conditions and the effect of pretreatments in Cuphea glutinosa seeds (Lythraceae). Cuphea glutinosa shows a high agronomic and agroindustrial potential. Germination conditions for this species are unknown. The objective of the work is to determine germination conditions, their impairments and the treatments to overcome them. There were utilized healthy seeds, complete and quite filled, gathered from a population of Sierra de los Padres, Buenos Aires province, Argentina. There were applied the following treatments, in six repetitions of 50 seeds, in a completely randomized design: blank, scarified, gibberellic acid, darkness, potassium nitrate, stratification and temperature alternation. The germination conditions after the pre-treatments were 24 °C (+/-1) under light, 100 µE.m-2.sec-1. The counts of emerged rootlets were performed at 6 and 12 days, except for the treatment with darkness, in which they were performed at 12 and 18 days. The effect of the treatments was evaluated by ANOVA and Tuckey tests (p = 0,05). The population showed 50 % of germination; positive response to light, to stratification, and to potassium nitrate. There was no effect with scarification neither with temperature alternation. The gibberellic acid showed a negative effect in the percentage of germination, and affected the carbon partition during the growing of seedlingsCuphea glutinosa presenta alto potencial agroindustrial y agronómico. Se desconocen las condiciones de germinación para la especie. El objetivo del trabajo es contribuir a determinar condiciones de germinación, impedimentos para la misma y tratamientos para superarlos. Se utilizaron semillas sanas, enteras y llenas, recolectadas de una población de Sierra de los Padres, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Se aplicaron los siguientes tratamientos en 6 repeticiones de 50 semillas, bajo un diseño completamente aleatorizado: testigo, escarificado, ácido giberélico, oscuridad, nitrato de potasio, estratificación y alternancia de temperaturas. Las condiciones de germinación después de los pre tratamientos fueron a 24 °C (+/-1) con luz, 100 µE.m-2.seg-1.Los recuentos de radículas emergidas fueron a los 6 y a los 12 días, excepto en el tratamiento oscuridad en el que fueron a los 12 y a los 18 días. El efecto de los tratamientos se evaluó mediante ANOVA y Tuckey (p = 0,05). La población mostró 50% de germinación; respuesta positiva a la luz, a la estratificación y al nitrato de potasio. No tuvieron efecto el escarificado ni las temperaturas alternas. El ácido giberélico tuvo un efecto negativo en el porcentaje de germinación y afectó la partición de carbono durante el crecimiento de las plántulas

Vegetated ditches for the mitigation of pesticides runoff in the po valley

In intensive agricultural systems runoff is one of the major potential diffuse pollution path- ways for pesticides and poses a risk to surface water. Ditches are common in the Po Valley and can potentially provide runoff mitigation for the protection of watercourses. The effec- tiveness depends on ditch characteristics, so there is an urgent need for site-specific field trials. The use of a fugacity model (multimedia model) can allows recognition of the mitiga- tion main processes. A field experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the mitigation capacity of a typical vegetated ditch, and results were compared with predictions by a fugacity model. To evaluate herbicide mitigation after an extreme runoff, the ditch was flooded with water containing mesotrione, S-metolachlor and terbuthylazine. Two other sub- sequent floods with uncontaminated water were applied 27 and 82 days later to evaluate herbicides release. Results show that the ditch can immediately reduce runoff concentration of herbicides by at least 50% even in extreme flooding conditions. The half-distances were about 250 m. As a general rule, a runoff of 1 mm from 5 ha is mitigated by 99% in 100 m of vegetated ditch. Herbicides retention in the vegetated ditch was reversible, and the second flood mobilized 0.03-0.2% of the previous one, with a concentration below the drinking water limit of 0.1 \u3bcg L-1. No herbicide was detected in the third flood, because the residual amount in the ditch was too low. Fugacity model results show that specific physical-chemi- cal parameters may be used and a specific soil-sediment-plant compartment included for modelling herbicides behaviour in a vegetated ditch, and confirm that accumulation is low or negligible for herbicides with a half-life of 40 days or less. Shallow vegetated ditches can thus be included in a general agri-environment scheme for the mitigation of pesticides runoff together with wetlands and linear buffer strips. These structures are present in the land- scape, and their environmental role can be exploited by proper management

In vitro effects of tyre debris organic extract on the kinetic and morphologic traits of rabbit spermatozoa

[EN] The present study aims at evaluating the effects of the organic extract of tyre debris (TDOE) from tyre wear on the kinetic and morphologic features of rabbit spermatozoa. Rabbit sperm were incubated for 4 h with 0, 5, 10, 50 and 75 ¿g/mL of TDOE. Sperm motility was evaluated by computer-assisted semen analysis. Phosphatidilcholine (PS) externalization (apoptosis) and plasma membrane breakage (necrosis) were assessed using the annexinV/propidium iodide assay. The sperm ultrastructure was observed by scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A relevant decrease in the motility rate, PS externalization, and in plasma membrane breakage of spermatozoa were observed after incubation with TDOE at concentrations higher than 50 ¿g/mL. The most frequent ultrastructural anomalies detected in the analysed specimens were: plasma and/or acrosomal membrane breakage, swollen and disorganized mitochondria, and altered axonemal patterns. Taken together, these results suggest that the organic extract of tyre debris can be toxic to rabbit spermatozoa ¿ affecting their movement and structural integrity ¿ when present in seminal plasma at a concentrations higher than 50 ¿g/mL. Although rabbit sperm has been proven to be a suitable model for testing the in vitro effects of many chemical compounds, including TDOE, the obtained results must be considered preliminary and cannot be extrapolated yet to the in vivo outcomes because of scanty data. The results encourage, however, further research in this field.Supported by the PROLIFE Flagship project, city of Milan, ItalyMoretti, E.; Dal Bosco, A.; Mourvaki, E.; Cardinali, R.; Collodel, G.; Geminiani, M.; Cetta, F.... (2009). In vitro effects of tyre debris organic extract on the kinetic and morphologic traits of rabbit spermatozoa. World Rabbit Science. 17(4):213-220. doi:10.4995/wrs.2009.64621322017

Thermal Transient Measurements of an Ultra-Low-Power MOX Sensor

This paper describes a system for the simultaneous dynamic control and thermal characterization of the heating of an Ultra Low Power (ULP) micromachined sensor. A Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) powering system has been realized using a microcontroller to characterize the thermal behavior of a device. Objectives of the research were to analyze the relation between the time period and duty cycle of the PWM signal and the operating temperature of such ULP micromachined systems, to observe the thermal time constants of the device during the heating phase and to measure the total thermal conductance. Constant target heater resistance experiments highlighted that an approximately constant heater temperature at regime can only be obtained if the time period of the heating signal is smaller than 50 s. Constant power experiments show quantitatively a thermal time constant that decreases during heating in a range from 2.3 ms to 2 ms as a function of an increasing temperature rise between the ambient and the operating temperature. Moreover, we calculated the total thermal conductance. Finally, repeatability of experimental results was assessed by guaranteeing the standard deviation of the controlled temperature which was within C in worst case conditions

Efeito fertilizante de agrominerais submetidos a processos de compostagem com inoculação de microrganismos solubilizadores.

Fertbio 2012