L’analisi spaziale della mobilità turistica attraverso strumenti di geotagging: un esperimento con la web community di Panoramio

Il presente contributo intende: 1) offrire spunti di riflessione sui possibili modi di analizzare la mobilità turistica in conseguenza delle recenti tendenze del turismo globale e del ricorso sempre più diffuso alle informazioni geolocalizzate; 2) valutare la potenzialità e l’attendibilità di dati provenienti dagli utenti della rete; 3) proporre adeguati percorsi di ricerca per l’analisi spaziale della mobilità legata all’esperienza turistica e ricreativa. La prospettiva della ricerca avviata dagli AA. e qui presentata è di verificare le potenzialità che le banche dati fotografiche prodotte dalle web community possono riservare per un’analisi spaziale che permetta di quantificare e catalogare con nuovi criteri la mobilità per motivi ricreativi a scala nazionale. Il presupposto è che la tipologia dei dati in oggetto è destinata ad ampliarsi enormemente e a vedere aumentata la propria significatività. La ricerca si basa sulle fotografie rilevate sul territorio italiano e caricate in Panoramio, piattaforma molto popolare per la condivisione ed organizzazione delle foto geolocalizzate. Il numero di foto contenute nel dataset è di 941.651, ovvero tutte quelle caricate sul sito fino all’aprile del 2009. L’alto numero di fotografie presenti sul nostro territorio nazionale stimola la ricerca di metodologie per ricavare nuove informazioni da queste enormi quantità di dati ed integrare così le classiche analisi di mercato sul comportamento spaziale dei turisti. Le fotografie diventano quindi un importante punto di partenza per lo sviluppo di analisi che possono portare nuovi risultati utili alle imprese e alla gestione del territorio nel suo complesso.This paper aims: (1) to provide insights on the possible ways to analyze tourist mobility as a result of the recent trends of global tourism and the ever increasing use of spatial information; (2) to assess the potentiality and reliability of user-generated data; (3) to propose appropriate research paths for spatial analysis of tourism and recreation-related mobility experience. The perspective of the research is to verify the potential that the databases produced by photographic web communities can have for a spatial analysis that allows to quantify and classify the mobility for recreational purposes at the national scale. The assumption is that the type of data in question is set to expand greatly and so to increase its relevance. Our study is based on the photographs taken in the Italian territory and loaded into Panoramio.com, a very popular platform for sharing and organizing geolocated photos. The number of pictures contained in the dataset is 941.651, all those uploaded to the site until April 2009. The large number of photographs on our national territory stimulates the search for methods to derive new information from these massive amounts of data and integrate the usual market analysis on the spatial behavior of tourists. The photographs then become an important starting point for the development of analysis that can bring new results aimed at enterprises and destination management as a whole

Geology, slow-moving landslides, and damages to buildings in the Verbicaro area (north-western Calabria region, southern Italy)

This paper presents a mass movement inventory map at 1:5000 scale of the Verbicaro area (about 13 km2) located in the Calabria region (southern Italy). The Main Map results from the visual interpretation of aerial photographs, multi-temporal geomorphological field surveys, and field investigations of damage suffered by buildings. Some 53% of the study area is affected by a total of 252 landslides, comprising different types, state of activity, and size. The mapped landslides, mainly complex type, involve low-grade metamorphic rocks; among these, 15% are active and slow-move on pre-existing sliding surfaces. Moreover, out of 492 surveyed buildings, 347 are located on landslide-affected areas and experienced damages covering a broad range of severity levels. The Main Map can represent a useful tool for authorities in charge of land-use planning and urban management and can be used to pursue landslide risk analyses

A land subsidence study via DInSAR technique over large urbanised areas

The paper discusses the potential of a DInSAR technique for the study of subsidence phenomena over large areas. The validation tests of low resolution DInSAR data, spanning the period 1992-2001, were carried out at a “municipal scale” in the urban area of Sarno (Italy), affected by ground surface settlements ascribed to groundwater withdrawals. The analysis was then extended to the whole Campanian Plain, with the same stratigraphic and structural settings as Sarno area, in order to use the remote sensed data as a tool for detecting, at regional scale, the most critical areas in terms of rate of the recorded settlements. At least five highly urbanised areas were identified as “unstable”, thus addressing further investigations to deepen the relationship between the causes and the effects of the detected phenomena

Structure, properties and mechanical behaviour of the highly plastic intensely fissured Bisaccia Clay Shale

The Apennines chain, in Italy, is constituted by a sequence of thrust sheets, including clay shales of marine origin, whose structural features are strictly related to the complex stress field induced by orogenesis and by subsequent geological processes. Large outcrops constituted by tectonized clay shales are characterised by an intensely fissured fabric induced by intense shearing caused by tectonism. Such a fabric governs soil properties and mechanical behaviour, sometimes obscuring the influence of index and state properties. However, these latter as well as some bonding, can play an important role, depending on concerned geotechnical problems and induced stress paths. The paper deals with a typical tectonised formation, the highly plastic Bisaccia Clay Shale, focusing the relationship among mentioned factors, which are related to both depositional and epigenetic processes, and hydraulic and mechanical properties. The remarkable role of the pore liquid on the properties of such a highly plastic material is also discussed. In particular, laboratory data give some insight on the mechanisms of softening and on its role on soil behaviou

Geology, slow-moving landslides, and damages to buildings in the Verbicaro area (north-western Calabria region, southern Italy)

<p>This paper presents a mass movement inventory map at 1:5000 scale of the Verbicaro area (about 13 km²) located in the Calabria region (southern Italy). The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2018.1425164" target="_blank">Main Map</a> results from the visual interpretation of aerial photographs, multi-temporal geomorphological field surveys, and field investigations of damage suffered by buildings. Some 53% of the study area is affected by a total of 252 landslides, comprising different types, state of activity, and size. The mapped landslides, mainly complex type, involve low-grade metamorphic rocks; among these, 15% are active and slow-move on pre-existing sliding surfaces. Moreover, out of 492 surveyed buildings, 347 are located on landslide-affected areas and experienced damages covering a broad range of severity levels. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2018.1425164" target="_blank">Main Map</a> can represent a useful tool for authorities in charge of land-use planning and urban management and can be used to pursue landslide risk analyses.</p

The transcription factor RFX protects MHC class II genes against epigenetic silencing by DNA methylation

Classical and nonclassical MHC class II (MHCII) genes are coregulated by the transcription factor RFX (regulatory factor X) and the transcriptional coactivator CIITA. RFX coordinates the assembly of a multiprotein "enhanceosome" complex on MHCII promoters. This enhanceosome serves as a docking site for the binding of CIITA. Whereas the role of the enhanceosome in recruiting CIITA is well established, little is known about its CIITA-independent functions. A novel role of the enhanceosome was revealed by the analysis of HLA-DOA expression in human MHCII-negative B cell lines lacking RFX or CIITA. HLA-DOA was found to be reactivated by complementation of CIITA-deficient but not RFX-deficient B cells. Silencing of HLA-DOA was associated with DNA methylation at its promoter, and was relieved by the demethylating agent 5-azacytidine. Surprisingly, DNA methylation was also established at the HLA-DRA and HLA-DQB loci in RFX-deficient cells. This was a direct consequence of the absence of RFX, as it could be reversed by restoring RFX function. DNA methylation at the HLA-DOA, HLA-DRA, and HLA-DQB promoters was observed in RFX-deficient B cells and fibroblasts, but not in CIITA-deficient B cells and fibroblasts, or in wild-type fibroblasts, which lack CIITA expression. These results indicate that RFX and/or enhanceosome assembly plays a key CIITA-independent role in protecting MHCII promoters against DNA methylation. This function is likely to be crucial for retaining MHCII genes in an open chromatin configuration permissive for activation in MHCII-negative cells, such as the precursors of APC and nonprofessional APC before induction with IFN-gamma