Palaeobiology of Pliocene-Pleistocene shallow-water biocalcarenites (Northern Apennines, Italy) and their relationship with coeval sapropels

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Cau, S., Roveri, M., & Taviani, M. Palaeobiology of Pliocene-Pleistocene shallow-water biocalcarenites (Northern Apennines, Italy) and their relationship with coeval sapropels. Bollettino Della Societa Paleontologica Italiana, 59(1), (2020): 25-40, doi:10.4435/BSPI.2020.04.The interplay between carbonate and siliciclastic sediment production in shallow marine environments may result in the development of mixed depositional systems showing a cyclical arrangement of sedimentary facies. The palaeoenvironmental record associated with these cyclical facies changes is not always univocally correlated with eustatic oscillations, suggesting that other forcing processes have played an additional role. The Castell’Arquato Basin (CAB: Pliocene-Pleistocene, Northern Apennines, Italy) offers the opportunity to integrate the study of small and large-scale stratigraphic architectures with that of shell beds in shelf to deep-water successions. The analysis of diversity trends allows a first insight into the structure of CAB benthic communities associated with minor and major biocalcarenites. Biofacies types are identified through a multivariate analysis of a large quantitative database including shells of all molluscs, serpulids and brachiopods. The study shows that these bio-detrital deposits and their bracketing marine mudstones developed at inner-shelf settings and that taphonomic feedback played an important role in the stratigraphic distribution of biofacies. Benthic communities from shelly bottoms depend on the winnowing of fines by bottom currents, a factor that is not related to water depth in a simple manner. Heterogeneity of the seafloor is associated to high-diversity of communities of topset strata of major biocalcarenites. Communities living in siliciclastic bottoms depend on factors that are largely depth-dependant. The study confirms the correlation of major biocalcarenite cycles with coeval deep-water sapropels, supporting the hypothesis of a more effective role of high-amplitude climatic changes driven by orbital forcing. This affects the source-to-sink dynamics of the whole basin and the biological structuring processes of shelfal depositional settings and related ecosystems.Thanks to Stefano Dominici (Museo di Storia Naturale, Università di Firenze) for his review and editorial handling. Ronald Nalin (Loma Linda University, California, USA) and an anonymous reviewer are acknowledged for their constructive comments and suggestions that improved an early version of the paper. We thank Alessandro Freschi, Gianluca Raineri (Riserva Geologica del Piacenziano e dello Stirone) and Carlo Francou (Museo Geopaleontologico “G. Cortesi”, Castell’Arquato) for their assistance with sample collection. This is ISMAR CNR, Bologna, scientific contribution n. 1950

Gonad development and reproduction in the monoecious species Chlorophthalmus agassizi (Actinopterygii: Aulopiformes: Chlorophthalmidae) from the Sardinian Waters (Central-Western Mediterranean)

Background. The shortnose greeneye, Chlorophthalmus agassizi Bonaparte, 1840, is a species with a circumglobal distribution and is among the most abundant commercial fishes in some Mediterranean areas. The knowledge of the biology and ecology of this species is poor and geographically limited, then the aim of this study is to provide a contribution to the knowledge on the reproductive biology of this monoecious deep-sea fish in Sardinian waters. Materials and Methods. In this paper the morphology and the development of the gonads, the mean size at maturity, the monthly evolution in the percent frequency of the maturity stages, and of the indices related to reproduction of the shortnose greeneye were examined. Individuals were caught by trawls, between 270 and 504 m of depth in the Sardinian seas. Results. The ovarian pattern is of an asynchronous type, characterized by releasing of eggs in successive batches. Seven stages of development for the ovary and four for the testis were identified on the basis of macroscopic and histological features. The female portion is the most evident component and shows a later maturation than the male portion. The spawning period is unique and takes place from May to September. Conclusion. The identification of spawning period and the adopted reproductive strategy is essential to obtain a better understanding of its biology and a good management of its fisheries

Il padre: tra tradizione e innovazione

L’articolo intende analizzare il ruolo, l’identità e la funzione paterna attraverso la sua genesi, il suo declino provando a ricostruirne l’identità in modo inedito. Il focus dell’analisi pertanto, sarà centrato sulla ricostruzione dell’identità paterna, frutto delle nuove scoperte in ambito pedagogico. Il quadro che scaturirà sulla figura paterna, seppur non esaustivo, mira a comprendere come si sia formata la paternità cercando di fare chiarezza e mettere in luce i diversi modi di essere e fare il padre, confrontando il modello di paternità tradizionale con l’analisi dell’emergente modello della nuova paternità. Sarà formulata infine un’ipotesi di ricostruzione dell’identità dei padri, provando ad àncorare tale ruolo alla Bildung come formazione umana dell’Uomo

The Public-Private Dichotomy in Fascist Corporativism: Discursive Strategies and Models of Legitimization

The twentieth century starts with a rediscovery of the collective dimension that legal modernity had compressed. The vivid debate that came with the fascist corporatist experiment is an interesting observatory that lets us read this process against the light. According to the major part of Italian legal culture the corporatist cultural project seems to forewarn a new framework of the connections between public and private spheres, state and society, law and economics, statism and pluralism. Corporatism, which did not intend to build a non-statual model of authority, was an answer to the need to attribute legal value and legal autonomy to economic and social actors that weren’t adequately represented in the political and normative circuit. The paper is aimed at retracing some of the discursive strategies that characterized the corporatist experiment and the different legitimization models that were proposed by legal theory in order to rebuild the dichotomy between public and private spheres

Infrastructure and Agricultural Growth in Nigeria

The study considered infrastructure and agricultural growth in Nigeria using a time series data for over four decades and the Parsimonious Error Correction Model estimation technique. It was found that various performance indicators with respect to physical infrastructure used for the study have not been encouraging in Nigeria. The provision of infrastructure in Nigeria, particularly physical infrastructure is characterized by the predominance of public enterprises except for telecommunications sector in recent time. The empirical part of the study revealed different relative response rates of the different component of infrastructure used in the study to the growth of the agricultural sector in Nigeria. There was unidirectional causality between telecommunication facilities and agricultural production. The same result was found between labour and agricultural production. It was recommended that the sectoral specific effects of the various forms of infrastructure should be taken into consideration when designing policy for promoting agricultural growth in Nigeria.Key Words: Infrastructure, Growth of Agriculture and VA

Il laboratorio "Tecnologie solari a concentrazione e idrogeno da fonti energetiche rinnovabili" di Sardegna Ricerche

2009-03-26Sala anfiteatro, Via Roma 253, CagliariVerso l'idrogeno. Convegno divulgativo sulle iniziative per la diffusione delle tecnologie dell’idrogeno in Itali

IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY FOR EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Immersive virtual reality is any computer-generated environment capable of fooling the user’s senses with a feeling of presence (being there). Two different types of hardware are usually used to access immersive virtual reality: Head Mounted Displays (HMD) or Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE). Due to its ability to generate any kind of environment, either real or imaginary, immersive virtual reality can be used as a tool to deliver experiential learning, as described by Kolb (1984) in his experiential learning circle model. Such model identifies four different steps that, as part of a circle, describe the process of learning by experiencing something, these steps are: (1) concrete experience, (2) observations and reflections, (3) formulation of abstract concepts and generalization, (4) testing implications of concepts in new situations. Immersive virtual reality has been out for decades, but in spite of the big buzz around it, a large adoption of the technology has not occurred yet. One of the main barriers to adoptions is the high cost of gear needed. However, recent development in technology are pushing prices down. For instance, Google Cardboard offers a very inexpensive way to experience virtual reality through smartphones. Moreover, the price of HMD and the powerful computers needed to run virtual reality software are expected to fall as it already happened with desktop computers before. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), as introduced by Davis (1989), is an attempt to understand the factors behind the adoption of new technologies. In particular, this model introduces the two key concepts of (1) perceived usefulness and (2) perceived ease of use. Looking at these, the manuscript attempts to bring some light in the current state of the adoption. The findings of this study have both theoretical and managerial implications, useful both to schools and vendors. The main finding of this study is that more research is needed to understand how people learn in immersive virtual reality, and how to develop software capable of delivering experiential learning. A tighter collaboration between schools, students, manufacturers, software developers seems to be the most viable way to go

An inconvenient legacy: corporatism and Catholic culture from Fascism to the Republic

In the Italian Republic of the late 1940s, the corporatist experience was something of an antimodel. However, some political and legal currents in Italy reflected on the corporatist legacy and on the possibility to make it democratic. Certain Catholic exponents were especially sensitive to the new version of corporatism. Our analysis of the legacy of corporatist thinking in Catholic culture during the early Republican age will be fourfold: reflection on the Constituent Assembly as a potential development away from corporatism; analysis of the main social-economic documents of contemporary political Catholicism; the evolution of some leading Christian Democrats’ theoretical ideas; the debate on “democratic corporatism” in Italian Catholic circles spanning the late 1940s and early 1950s

No. 53: Migration-Induced HIV and AIDS in Rural Mozambique and Swaziland

South Africa’s gold mining workforce has the highest prevalence rates of tuberculosis and HIV infection of any industrial sector in the country. The contract migrant labour system, which has long outlived apartheid, is responsible for this unacceptable situation. The spread of HIV to rural communities in Southern Africa is not well understood. The accepted wisdom is that migrants leave for the mines, engage in high-risk behaviour, contract the virus and return to infect their rural partners. This model fails to deal with the phenomenon of rural-rural transmission and cases of HIV discordance (when the female migrant is infected and the male migrant not). Nor does it reveal whether all rural partners are equally at risk of infection. This study examines the vulnerability of rural partners in southern Mozambique and southern Swaziland, which are two major source areas for migrant miners. It presents the results of surveys with miners and partners in these two sending-areas and affords the opportunity to compare two different mine-sending areas. The two areas are not only geographically and culturally different, they have had contrasting experiences with the mine labour system over the last two decades. The spread of HIV in Southern Africa in the 1990s coincided with major downsizing and retrenchment in the gold mining industry which impacted differently on Mozambique and Swaziland. Swaziland has been in decline as a source of mine migrants while Mozambique remained a relatively stable source of mine migrants. The study therefore aims not only to shed light on vulnerability in mine sending areas, but also to draw out any contrasts that might exist between two mine-sending areas that were inserted into the mine migrant labour system in different ways during the expansion of the HIV epidemic. The surveys collected data on (a) the age and socio-economic profiles of miners and partners; (b) migration behaviour (particularly how often migrants returned home and for how long; (c) the knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV and AIDS among both groups; (d) sexual behaviour and protection measures against infection and (e) perceptions of vulnerability and risk. Knowledge of HIV and AIDS is reasonably good amongst residents of both areas. Many of the common myths about HIV are held by only a tiny minority. Most seem to know what puts them at risk, know that the disease is fatal, know that ART is not a remedy and do not appear to have a great deal of faith in traditional healers. One exception is the rather large proportion of Mozambican miners who believe the disease is curable. If anything, rural partners are better informed than miners. In both Mozambique and Swaziland, the main source of knowledge is not workplace programmes on the mines or in the community nor peer education nor the medical community, but radio. Perception of personal vulnerability is also high. Yet, both miners and female rural partners of migrants are at risk through their behaviour. The reasons, though, are quite different. In the case of miners, high risk behaviour is a consequence of the migrant labour system which sees them spend the greater part of the working year away from home in an all-male environment of macho masculinity with easy access to transactional sex. These miners are aware that condom use would reduce their risk of contracting HIV but actual use is sporadic to non-existent. Condom use is rejected on grounds of personal preference or attributed to forgetfulness. Miners at home are even less likely to use condoms than when they are on the mine. The risks of contracting HIV are certainly lower (since commercial sex workers on the mines exhibit much higher HIV prevalence than rural partners). But their unwillingness to use protection puts their rural partners at greatly increased risk. Rural partners perceive themselves to be at high risk precisely because their partners do not wish to use protection. Miners clearly expect their partners to be faithful and do not see themselves at risk when they go home. Any woman who insists on condom use is seen to be implicitly questioning her partner’s fidelity. Women’s lack of use of condoms has virtually nothing to do with personal preference. Partners of migrant miners wish to use condoms to protect themselves. Their inability to do so with the frequency and consistency that they would like is related to the demands of men for unprotected sex. Ultimately, therefore, it is the gendered relations of inequality that make it very difficult for women to protect themselves against the high-risk environment of the mines. One of the basic hypotheses of this study was that different migration patterns affect the risk profile of miners and rural partners. Mozambican miners return home only once a year for annual leave. Swazi miners, in contrast, visit home at least once a month or every month or two. Yet, both engage in equally risky behaviour while they are away at work. This places Swazi women at greater personal risk than their Mozambican counterparts. On the other hand, the comparison between Mozambican and Swazi women suggests that the Mozambican partners may be more prone to forming other relationships outside their primary relationship with their usually absent partner for a host of different reasons including emotional and financial support. In some cases, increased poverty from a reduced flow of remittances may force some rural women to seek support through other relationships