Financial analysis of acorns chain for food production

This study presents a decision support system for the financial analysis of an acorn chain used in food production. The application of these fruits, in fact, shows potential in human nutrition and valorization of rural and marginal areas. A multi-step production process is hypothesised with a different potential organizational structure of each phase and products to be sold. The net present value, pay-back period, safety margins, and internal rate of return are computed for the implemented scenario. The research was grounded on Italian-based data but can be easily transferred to other case studies. The results highlight potential economic suitability of the chain, although subject to a minimal value of prices and productivity. Future improvements and further integration of this study, such as the analysis of fluctuation’s risk of annual production or the need to investigate sensorial properties of acorns, are suggested and discussed

Analysis of the External Radioactive Releases for An In-Vessel Break in a Fusion Plant using the ECART Code

This work is related to the application of the ECART code on the analysis of the tritium and dusts external releases for an in-vessel break in the helium cooling loop of the first wall / blanket in the Power Plant Conceptual Study (PPCS), taken as reference for accident scenarios in future fusion plants. In particular, the influence on the releases of a Detritiation System (DS) and of a dust scrubber with constant decontamination factor, not implemented in the original PPCS design, are analysed and proposed as mitigative design solutions. Furthermore, some parametrical analysis on the influence, on the external releases, of the mass fraction of the dust resuspended inside the VV at the beginning of the sequence have been also performed, highlighting the relevance of this phenomenology on the external releases. These analyses are the follow-up of previous studies about the phenomenological behaviour of the PPCS containment (vacuum vessel walls and expansion volume walls), giving the first indications on the amount of the external radioactive releases. The activities have been carried out in the general framework of the validation phase of the ECART code, initially developed for integrated analysis of severe accidents in LWRs, for its application on incidental sequences related to future fusion plants

Bryoflora of the beech-silver fir coenosis of Mount Motola (National Park of Cilento & Vallo di Diano) - Teggiano (Salerno, S-Italy)

The Fagus sylvatica-Abies alba coenosis is relict in Southern Italy, and the site on the northern slopes of Mt. Motola represents the most important population of silver fir in Campania. Moreover, this site is included in the area of the National Park Cilento-Vallo di Diano, one of the largest in Italy. This study includes two main aspects, the first considering the ecological and silvicultural features of the area, and the latter the bryological and floristic one. In this paper we report the preliminary findings of the bryological study. Several species, some new for the whole of continental southern Italy, and some new also for central Italy have been reported. The number of species reported is 69, including 7 liverworts (among them Scapania aspera, new record for Campania). In particular, we report here three new records for continental southern Italy (Isopterygiopsis pulchella, Orthotricum pallens, Schistidium rivulare); two new records for central and southern Italy (Neckera pumila var.pilifera and Schistidium apocarpum), six new records for Campania (Barbula unguiculata, Bryum subelegans, Dicranum majus, Hypnum andoi, Hypnum resupinatum, Orthotrichum lyellii). Five species known for Campania from records before 1950 have been found also (Amblystegium serpens, Anomodon viticulosus, Plagiomnium affine, Plagiomnium cuspidatum, Zygodon forsteri). We report eventually Zygodon forsteri, a not common species, known from low altitudes (up to the hills) which we have been found for the first time at higher altitudes. Indicator Values for Mosses and Liverworts have been used to further characterize ecologically the areas studied

Primo rinvenimento di Juniperus sabina L. sul massiccio del Pollino, Italia meridionale

Viene segnalata per la prima volta la presenza di Juniperus sabina L. sul massiccio del Pollino, dove la specie è stata rinvenuta in habitat rupicolo in due stazioni ricadenti rispettivamente in territorio calabrese e lucano. Le stazioni vengono caratterizzate dal punto di vista floristico ed ecologico