The Cladistic Technique for Territorial Studies

The cladistic is an technique born in the field of biology. Starting from the physics characteristics of some elements, the cladistic method try to find the hierarchical links between them in the bases of their similarity and of the research of “evidences” of relationship. The goal of this paper is to verify the potentialities of this method in the studies of the territory, in order to find correlation among different spatial areas. Considering social, economic, environmental indicators that characterise the areas of a given territory, we analyse the links between different areas, organising these links according to a hierarchical tree. The result is then compared with ones obtained using more traditional methods as multicriterial analysis, statistics and clustering.

The Study of Perception and Project of the Territory Using Brain Storming

Brainstorming (based on conceptual mapping tools) is a method for identifying ideas, oriented to workgroups. In brief, it is the conceptual analysis of the discussion inside the group. In this way it is possible to enhance creative energies and develop new ideas. We propose two applications in the field of urban planning. The first is the development of a conceptual model of a given territory. By analysing the discussion among people involved in the elaboration of a report concerning social, economical, territorial aspects of Bergamo and Lecco (two Italian metropolitan areas), we have tried to find a link among various indicators and elements identifying the peculiar features of the territorial systems that we study. The second is, instead, the research of the best solution for opening a factory in a given territory. In this case study the discussion group is made by the actors intervening in the decision process, the administrators, the contractors, the urban planners, etc. The result will be compared with one obtained with traditional analysis.

The perception of the territory naturalness an application in the bergamo area

It is very discussed about the sustainability of urban areas. One of the requests of urban sustainability consists in the capability of the city to preserve around itself a good level of naturalness: A sustainable economy reflects an image of its territory that must represent a landscape of agreeable towns, of intact agricultural mosaics and of a large natural areas patrimony. Ours research, starting from the proposal expressed from E. Koomen, J Groen, J Borsboom and H Scholten with the work “Modelling the fragmentation of open space. A framework for assessing the impact of land use change on open space” presented at the ERSA Congress in 2002, intends to find the modality with which the naturalness influences the surrounding areas, the zones where nature and population pressure are not in antithesis and the natural areas that risks to be lost. The goal will be reached applying the concept of “field”. The base idea is that the areas with larger “naturalness” constitute a sort of positive virus that influences the surrounding zones. The GIS-oriented model presupposes the discrete division of the territory and the use of a simple field algorithm applied to an naturalness indicator opportunely studied. The application, for the validation of the model, has been implemented on the Bergamo’s province; choosing a territorial scale that allows to do observations and preliminary evaluations at the level of urban planning to locate large infrastructures.

Examination on total ozone column retrievals by Brewer spectrophotometry using different processing software

The availability of long-term records of the total ozone content (TOC) represents a valuable source of information for studies on the assessment of short-and long-term atmospheric changes and their impact on the terrestrial ecosystem. In particular, ground-based observations represent a valuable tool for validating satellite-derived products. To our knowledge, details about software packages for processing Brewer spectrophotometer measurements and for retrieving the TOC are seldom specified in studies using such datasets. The sources of the differences among retrieved TOCs from the Brewer instruments located at the Italian stations of Rome and Aosta, using three freely available codes (Brewer Processing Software, BPS; O3Brewer software; and European Brewer Network (EUBREWNET) level 1.5 products) are investigated here. Ground-based TOCs are also compared with Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) TOC retrievals used as an independent dataset since no other instruments near the Brewer sites are available. The overall agreement of the BPS and O3Brewer TOC data with EUBREWNET data is within the estimated total uncertainty in the retrieval of total ozone from a Brewer spectrophotometer (1%). However, differences can be found depending on the software in use. Such differences become larger when the instrumental sensitivity exhibits a fast and dramatic drift which can affect the ozone retrievals significantly. Moreover, if daily mean values are directly generated by the software, differences can be observed due to the configuration set by the users to process single ozone measurement and the rejection rules applied to data to calculate the daily value. This work aims to provide useful information both for scientists engaged in ozone measurements with Brewer spectrophotometers and for stakeholders of the Brewer data products available on Web-based platforms

Recital extraordinari Josep Carreras, tenor i Ronald Schneider, piano

"Per la gloria d'adorarvi" de l'òpera Griselda de G. Bononcini, "Gia il sole dal Gange" de L'honestà negli amore d'A. Scarlatti, fragments de La pietra del Paragone de G. Rossini, Vaga luna, che inargente, Dolente immagine, Capuleti ed i Montecchi de Bellini, Sole e amore, Terra e mare i Menti all'avviso de G. Puccini, Tre sonetti di F. Petrarca de F. Liszt i Malia, Non t'amo più, A vuchella i L'ultima canzone de F. P. Tosti. El programa conté anotacions de J. Maluquer i P. Nada

The Relationship between Plasticity in the Primary Visual Cortex and the Hallucinatory Persisting Perception Disorder

The Hallucinatory Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) is a distressing condition associated with the consumption of hallucinatory drugs, especially psychedelics. Its symptoms include abnormal visual perceptions, hallucinations, and depersonalization/derealisation. They can appear after repetitive use of a psychoactive substance as well as after the first experience, and can last for a short period or for the entire life. It is currently not well understood how common HPPD is, or what are the mechanisms behind it. However, much research has been conducted on the processes behind plasticity in the primary visual cortex, both during development and in adulthood, and recent studies have provided some insights into how psychedelics work on the brain. It is then possible now to try and link the different pieces of information concerning plasticity in the visual cortex, psychedelics, and HPPD. With the recent increase in interest and attention surrounding psychedelics, the number of people experimenting with these substances has increased. As a result, it is important for research on HPPD and its potential relationship with psychedelics to continue, as well as for accurate information about the potential risks and effects of using psychedelics to be widely disseminated. The first part of this article describes the mechanisms behind the critical period for vision, and the plasticity of the visual system during development and adulthood. This part, which includes the first three paragraphs, has been adapted from my master’s thesis (Scarlatti, 2021). In the second part, I show how this could be relevant for HPPD

Short-term monocular deprivation in adult humans alters functional brain connectivity measured with ultra-high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

I analysed surface- and volume-based ultra-high field 7T fMRI data collected before and after short-term (2 hr) monocular deprivation. During the acquisitions subjects were monocularly stimulated, one eye at a time. Here I asked whether monocular deprivation produces a reorganization of cortical and/or subcortical circuits of visual processing. To address this question, I extracted the variability in fMRI timeseries that was unrelated to the visual stimulation (defined as the residuals of the best-fitting general linear model, pooled across deprived and non-deprived eyes) and correlated timeseries in primary visual cortex V1 to several cortical areas and subcortical areas. The results show that, after deprivation, the functional connectivity increased between primary visual cortex (V1) and a set of cortical regions primarily distributed along the ventral stream of visual processing but also including portions of the motor and somatosensory cortices. The functional connectivity between V1 and its main thalamic input, the lateral geniculate nucleus LGN, was unaffected. In contrast, a selective increase in functional connectivity was observed for the adjacent region of the ventral pulvinar. Overall, these results suggest that the effects of short-term monocular deprivation involve a transient reorganization of cortical circuits, including both local circuits and long-range projections

System Analysis in Landscape study: Bayesian Network application on the Lombardy Landscape

International audienc

Representation of Geographical Information for Planning

International audienc

Representation of Geographical Information for Planning

International audienc