New floristic data of alien vascular plants from Sicily

New records of Commelina communis, Euphorbia hypericifolia, Melia azedarach, Nicotiana tabacum, and Xanthoceras sorbifolium are reported for the Sicilian flora

RE-IMAGINING URBAN WETLANDS : Watery heritage and food policies in the Albufera de València

Urban food policies require interdisciplinary research and action. Based on a holistic vision, these policies aim to facilitate the transformation of the food systems of cities in a sustainable, equitable and resilient manner. Food availability is key to urban food policies and involves recognition of the widespread disconnect between agriculture and consumers and the central role that food-related practices can play in the transition towards sustainable and resilient cities. This article addresses this topic by investigating the strategic role of one area of urban wetlands that has fostered new positive and shared attitudes towards watery heritage. The recovery of waterscapes in the Albufera, in close proximity to one of the most rapidly expanding Spanish urban areas, València, has allowed for a remarkable improvement of both traditional fisheries and paddy fields that has facilitated the regeneration of sustainable food practices. In 2019, the Horta de València, comprising a system of fields extending over a 28 km2 area that is irrigated by the Túria River, was recognised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). The area includes the historic Huerta and a section of the Albufera National Park that still maintains elements of traditional Arab heritage. The Albufera is thereby a significant repository of watery memories related to fisher people, peasants and sailors that an increasing number of environmentalists and seaside tourists interact with, and it thereby exemplifies the nature of wetlands as knowledge resources that can inspire sustainable food practices and policies

Study of the performance of the NA62 Small-Angle Calorimeter at the DAΦ\PhiNE Linac

The measurement of $BR(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu})$ with 10% precision by the NA62 experiment requires extreme background suppression. The Small Angle Calorimeter aims to provide an efficient veto for photons flying at angles down to zero with respect to the kaon flight direction. The initial prototype was upgraded and tested at the Beam Test Facility of the DA$\Phi$NE Linac at Frascati. The energy resolution and the efficiency were measured and are presented.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Indicators for the Circular City: A Review and a Proposal

The theme of the circular city is currently much debated in the literature as a possible strategy for achieving sustainability in urban areas. However, as a recent development it still has many features in the making, one of the most important being the issue concerning monitoring and the tool through which to achieve it. In the paper, therefore, the “indicator” tool is explored in depth. Metrics represent a fundamental and complex aspect that is foundational to measuring and quantifying the progress of results achieved with respect to the goals set. Currently, most existing indicators are associated with specific aspects of the circular economy; there have been few examples of indicators designed to assess the circularity of an entire city. The paper aims to identify priority themes and describe a set of indicators to be used at the urban level. In the absence of an established reference frame, themes and indicators were identified through a methodology starting with an extensive literature search and careful analysis, including statistical analysis, of the scientific literature as well as international and European strategies on the subject. A particular result of this research is the definition ofa minimum set of indicators common to all cities, which can be applied for comparative purposes

VERBENA BONARIENSIS (VERBENACEAE) ADVENTIVE IN ITALY

Among the species of Verbena L. cultivated in Italy Traverso (1) reports: V venosa Gilles, V tenera Sprengel (= V. pulchella Sweet.) and the horticultural hybrid V I?Jbrida Hort. (=V. hortensis Hort.). No trace of V. bonariensis L., that is reported about 60 years later as naturalized in Tuscany (2). In the Herbarium Centrale !talcum (Fl) are housed specimens collected in Piedmont and Tuscany, labelled as V. venosa - taxon considered a variety of V. bonariensis. V. bonariensis, as indicated by the specific epithet, is a South American species, herbaceous, usually perennial, also cultivated as an ornamental. Several varieties and wild lforms are known of this taxon. The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) records: V bonariensis f. albiflora Moldenke, V. bonariensis var. brevibracteata Kuntze, V. bonariensis var. conglomerata Briq., V bonariensis f. gracilis (Cham.) Voss., V. bonariensis var. hispida Moldenke, V. bonariensis var. litoralis Hook., V. bonariensis var. longibradt?ata Kuntze, V. bonariensis var. rigida (Spreng.) Kuntz, V. bonariensis f. robustior Chodat, V bonariensis f. venosa (Gillies & Hook.) V oss. This species is native of S. America (Argentina, Brasile, ]Paraguay and Uruguay) (3, 4) and introduced in the USA (5), Azores, Great Britain, Canary Islands, Portugal, Madeira (6) and in Italy, as reported above, in Tuscany, in Tombolo Pisano (PI) (2, 7, 8) and in Liguria (8). Some considerations on the tendency of naturalization of the species in Sicily (9) where accidentally misinterpreted as the report of naturalization in the region (10, 11). This record was neglected in the subsequent floras and checklists (7, 8, 12, 13). Recently we verified the spontaneous occurrence of v~ bonariensis at the edges of a channel, in the southern outskirts of the city of Palermo (Sicily). This population, referred to V. bonariensis var. hispida, is made up of about 100 vigorous and perennial individuals with tendency to expand, actually, in the same area. The taxonomic identity of the Tuscan populations is different. In this region, it is known from Tombolo Pisano (2) as well as from Florence as documented by specimens collected in the square in front of the rail station of S. Maria Novella (Raimondo et Domina, 21/06/2012, PAL), in the fenced area for works of rearrangement of the square. In comparison with the population from Tombolo Pisano, referred to the nominal type, the population from Florence looks like annual and belonging to a diffe1rent variety, also in comparison with the Sicilian one. The recent discovery in Sicily as well as increasing the 11uota of adventitious exotic vascular flora of the island, confirms the tendency of the species to spread further in. the national territory

Sustainability charter for innovative cities and safe mobility. Case study: Sestri Levante

In order to make our cities more innovative and responsive, the paper reports a study aimed at defining a new sustainability tool, in the context of Agenda 2030, to be adopted in urban realities. It has to do with the 'Sustainability Charter', a city decision-making process, designed with researchers, local communities and companies. The research analyses the Sustainability Charter and develops a methodological approach aiming at the systemization of all sustainable actions related to different urban topics. In particular, indicators were identified to assess the sustainability of these topics, graphically represented by chart and defined as sustainability maps. In the paper, among the priority issues at urban level, sustainable mobility is explored. The current health emergency has highlighted all the problems related to urban mobility. This situation can represent an opportunity to improve, revise or update cities\u2019 governance tools. It is necessary to build safe soft mobility infrastructures, and to reorganize the existing ones -redesigning urban space-, by promoting a new culture of sustainable mobility. The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), should integrate the Urban Sustainability Charter and all the underlying strategies to promote sustainable mobility

New Aloes casual aliens in Sicily

Aloë arborescens, A. brachystachys and A. maculata (Asphodelaceae) are reported for the first time as casual aliens in Sicily. A. brachystachys is new also for the alien flora of Italy

Cardinal estimates involving the weak Lindelöf game

AbstractWe show that if X is a first-countable Urysohn space where player II has a winning strategy in the game $$G^{\omega _1}_1({\mathcal {O}}, {\mathcal {O}}_D)$$ G 1 ω 1 ( O , O D ) (the weak Lindelöf game of length $$\omega _1$$ ω 1 ) then X has cardinality at most continuum. This may be considered a partial answer to an old question of Bell, Ginsburg and Woods. It is also the best result of this kind since there are Hausdorff first-countable spaces of arbitrarily large cardinality where player II has a winning strategy even in the weak Lindelöf game of countable length. We also tackle the problem of finding a bound on the cardinality of a first-countable space where player II has a winning strategy in the game $$G^{\omega _1}_{fin}({\mathcal {O}}, {\mathcal {O}}_D)$$ G fin ω 1 ( O , O D ) , providing some partial answers to it. We finish by constructing an example of a compact space where player II does not have a winning strategy in the weak Lindelöf game of length $$\omega _1$$ ω 1

Signatures of impulsive localized heating in the temperature distribution of multi-stranded coronal loops

We study the signatures of different coronal heating regimes on the differential emission measure (DEM) of multi-stranded coronal loops by means of hydrodynamic simulations. We consider heating either uniformly distributed along the loops or localized close to the chromospheric footpoints, in both steady and impulsive conditions. Our simulations show that condensation at the top of the loop forms when the localized heating is impulsive with a pulse cadence time shorter than the plasma cooling time, and the pulse energy is below a certain threshold. A condensation does not produce observable signatures in the global DEM structure. Conversely, the DEM coronal peak is found sensitive to the pulse cadence time. Our simulations can also give an explanation of the warm overdense and hot underdense loops observed by TRACE, SOHO and Yohkoh. However, they are unable to reproduce both the transition region and the coronal DEM structure with a unique set of parameters, which outlines the need for a more realistic description of the transition region.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure