INTRA-CULTIVAR DIVERSITY IN SOUTHERN ITALY OLIVE CULTIVARS DEPICTED BY MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND SSR MARKERS

In this study, SSR analysis was performed on a large number of putative clones of the main olive cultivars from two Italian regions, Sicily and Calabria, in order to study the genetic relatedness, and to detect any degree of genetic diversity, which can be used to unambiguously identify possible superior clones. These putative clones have been collected and observed in the last ten years, following an extensive investigation carried out in traditional olive growing areas, thanks to the reports of farmers, millers, technician, growers and nurseries. The set of microsatellite (SSR) markers used allowed the detection of the genetic diversity, resulting from somatic mutation, indicating the presence of polyclonal cultivars, or having gametic origin, indicating a seedling origin of many clones, which thus share sibling relationships. The presence of superior clones or superior genotypes is discussed

Seismotectonics of the active thrust front in southwestern Sicily: hints on the Belice and Selinunte seismogenic sources

We present a seismotectonic model of the active thrust front in western Sicily, which includes the area hit by the 1968 Belice earthquake sequence. The ~40 km long South-WEstern Sicilian Thrust (SWEST) is formed by two aligned albeit non-parallel fault arrays, the Granitola-Castelevetrano Thrust System (GCTS) in the west and the Partanna- Poggioreale Thrust System (PPTS) in the east. The ~NE-SW trending, NW-dipping GCTS straddles from the Pelagian coastline to Castelvetrano, is ~18 km long and composed of two segments, with the northern, ~12 km long one showing geodetic and geologic evidence of active deformation (Barreca et al., 2014). The segment is marked by a sharp gradient in Differential SAR interferometry (DinSAR and STAMPs) and GPS velocity fields. Geologic evidence include an up to 60 m high, and up to 15° steep scarp, which is the fore-limb of a broad fold involving Lower Pleistocene shore calcarenites, and cm-scale reverse displacement of an ancient road dated as early Bronze-Hellenistic age. Inversion of fault slip-lineation data from structures displacing the archaeological remains yields a ~N110°E shortening axis, consistent with the geodetic shortening direction estimated from GPS differential velocities. The ~ENE-WSW trending PPTS stretches from Partanna to the macro-seismic area of the 1968 earthquake sequence and is composed of two ~10 km long segments limited by relay ramps. Although geologic and geodetic evidence of deformation are less clear than for the GCTS, we nonetheless observe a gradient in interferometry data for the western segment, and evidence of slow deformation (creep?) in historical to recent (last ~400 yr?) man-made structures. Integration of geologic, geodetic and seismology data suggests the active folds and thrusts are the uppermost expression of steep (45°) crustal ramps (Monaco et al., 1996) which upthrust the Saccense platform at depth. Based on macroseismic and seismological evidence (Monaco et al., 1996), we contend that the PPTS was partly activated during the 1968 sequence, and that rupture stopped at the junction with the GCTS. The current geodetic strain accumulation on the GCTS, on the other hand, suggests that the fault array has been significantly loaded, and that its last important co-seismic event could have been caused the 4th–5th century A.D. destruction of Selinunte (Bottari et al., 2009)

“Rimarrà solo, attorno, un lieve odore di bruciato”: la distruzione dell’esperienza in Quaderno proibito di Alba de Céspedes

In this essay, using Agamben work on The destruction of experience as a frame, I analyse the role that the acquisition of life experience plays in one of the main works of Alba de Cespedes, Quaderno proibito. I will show how the protagonist’s point of view works as a bridge between traditional experience, which became unattainable in contemporary societies, and a modern one, and I will show how the fascination that the book still has on readers is mainly related to the description of the process of destruction of the traditional form of experience

Introduzione / Introduction

Identità Italiane In Moviment

Geodetic and geological evidence of active tectonics in south-westernSicily (Italy)

Integrated geological, geodetic and marine geophysical data provide evidence of active deformation insouth-western Sicily, in an area spatially coincident with the macroseismic zone of the destructive 1968Belice earthquake sequence. Even though the sequence represents the strongest seismic event recordedin Western Sicily in historical times, focal solutions provided by different authors are inconclusive onpossible faulting mechanism, which ranges from thrusting to transpression, and the seismogenic sourceis still undefined. Interferometric (DInSAR) observations reveal a differential ground motion on a SW–NEalignment between Campobello di Mazara and Castelvetrano (CCA), located just west of the maximummacroseismic sector. In addition, new GPS campaign-mode data acquired across the CCA alignment doc-uments NW–SE contractional strain accumulation. Morphostructural analysis allowed to associate thealignment detected through geodetic measurements with a topographic offset of Pleistocene marine sed-iments. The on-land data were complemented by new high-resolution marine geophysical surveys, whichindicate recent contraction on the offshore extension of the CCA alignment. The discovery of archaeo-logical remains displaced by a thrust fault associated with the alignment provided the first likely surfaceevidence of coseismic and/or aseismic deformation related to a seismogenic source in the area. Resultsof the integrated study supports the contention that oblique thrusting and folding in response to NW–SEoriented contraction is still active. Although we are not able to associate the CCA alignment to the 1968seismic sequence or to the historical earthquakes that destroyed the ancient Greek city of Selinunte,located on the nearby coastline, our result must be incorporated in the seismic hazard evaluation of thisdensely populated area of Sicily

The so called "triassic breccias" of the Ionian zone in Greece and Albania: Their stratigraphie position and the ensuing tectonic implications

Field observations are reported which show that: 1) at least part of the so called "Triassic breccias" of the Ionian isopic zone actually represent a local variant of the basal breccias of a Middle-Upper Miocene marine terrigenous sequence; 2) other portions of the same Miocenic basal breccias have been often mistaken in the past for some other looking-like terrane of different age (from Jurassic to Quaternary!). Since some currently accepted inferences on the time-sequence of both sedimentary and tectonic events ensuing from the above misunderstandings become questionable, new field investigation should be extended to the entire Ionian zone with due regard to the above terranes

The so called "triassic breccias" of the Ionian zone in Greece and Albania: Their stratigraphie position and the ensuing tectonic implications

Field observations are reported which show that: 1) at least part of the so called "Triassic breccias" of the Ionian isopic zone actually represent a local variant of the basal breccias of a Middle-Upper Miocene marine terrigenous sequence; 2) other portions of the same Miocenic basal breccias have been often mistaken in the past for some other looking-like terrane of different age (from Jurassic to Quaternary!). Since some currently accepted inferences on the time-sequence of both sedimentary and tectonic events ensuing from the above misunderstandings become questionable, new field investigation should be extended to the entire Ionian zone with due regard to the above terranes

Algebraic Comparison of Partial Lists in Bioinformatics

The outcome of a functional genomics pipeline is usually a partial list of genomic features, ranked by their relevance in modelling biological phenotype in terms of a classification or regression model. Due to resampling protocols or just within a meta-analysis comparison, instead of one list it is often the case that sets of alternative feature lists (possibly of different lengths) are obtained. Here we introduce a method, based on the algebraic theory of symmetric groups, for studying the variability between lists ("list stability") in the case of lists of unequal length. We provide algorithms evaluating stability for lists embedded in the full feature set or just limited to the features occurring in the partial lists. The method is demonstrated first on synthetic data in a gene filtering task and then for finding gene profiles on a recent prostate cancer dataset