Evaluation of the perceived colour difference under different lighting for museum applications

The role of lighting in museums has a fundamental importance. Light influences the perception of colours and space in the collections on display, therefore, any type of lighting must be adequately analysed to confirm the suitability and undistorted colour rendering of the illuminated objects. A two-stage perceptual test was carried out for this purpose. Initially, the participants were asked to evaluate the illuminants according to criteria such as: the brilliance of the colours, the degree of pleasantness of the lighting and the degree of overall satisfaction of the setting. Subsequently, the efficiency of different illuminants for the identification of colour differences between two objects was tested. The results obtained were then compared with the most commonly used colour rendering and colour difference indicators in order to determine their potential and limits

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO PREVENT THE EROSION OF SALT MARSHES IN THE LAGOON OF VENICE

The loss of coastal habitats is a widespread problem in Europe. To protect the intertidal salt marshes of the lagoon of Venice from the erosion due to natural and human causes which is diffusely and intensely impacting them, the European Commission has funded the demonstrative project LIFE VIMINE. LIFE VIMINE aims to protect the most interior, hard-to-access salt marshes in the northern lagoon of Venice through an integrated approach, whose core is the prevention of erosion through numerous, small but spatially-diffuse soil-bioengineering protections works, mainly placed through semi-manual labour and with low impact on the environment and the landscape. The effectiveness of protection works in the long term is ensured through routine, temporally-continuous and spatially-diffuse actions of monitoring and maintenance. This method contrasts the common approach to managing hydraulic risk and erosion in Italy which is based on large, one-off and irreversible protection actions. The sustainability of the LIFE VIMINE approach is ensured by the participatory involvement of stakeholders and the recognition that protecting salt marshes means defending the benefits they provide to society through their ecological functions, as well as protecting the jobs linked to the existence or conservation of this habitat

The role of individual social responsibility and corporate social responsibility in the tax fraud war: a comparison between the priorities of Italian and Romanian consumers

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and fiscal responsibility have become a hot topic of debate in recent years. Many studies have investigated CSR and tax avoidance; however, such studies have overlooked countries' tax cultures and fiscal responsibility from a historical perspective and have not addressed how these elements affect current tax avoidance practices. Using a questionnaire, that was administered to a sample of Italian and Romanian respondents, and inferential techniques (Mann–Whitney-test and correlation-test) the paper tries to understand the aspects that be useful in the future development and implementation of more robust fiscal ISR and CSR processes. Our results reveal similarities and differences between the relevance of certain aspects between countries, identifying tax culture as a distinctive element from a geographical point of view. Despite the considerable differences, we found a strong demand for greater transparency of the company with administrations and communities and desire for the development of initiatives to spread a responsible tax culture

Attention Capture by Direct Gaze is Robust to Context and Task Demands

The final publication is available at Springer via https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10919-011-0128-z.Eye-tracking was used to investigate whether gaze direction would influence the visual scanning of faces, when presented in the context of a full character, in different social settings, and with different task demands. Participants viewed individual computer agents against either a blank background or a bar scene setting, during both a free-viewing task and an attractiveness rating task for each character. Faces with a direct gaze were viewed longer than faces with an averted gaze regardless of body context, social settings, and task demands. Additionally, participants evaluated characters with a direct gaze as more attractive than characters with an averted gaze. These results, obtained with pictures of computer agents rather than real people, suggest that direct gaze is a powerful attention grabbing stimulus that is robust to background context or task demands.103305-1/Canadian Institutes of Health Research89822-1/Canadian Institutes of Health Research103305-1/PHS HHS/United States89822-1/PHS HHS/United State

Morphological characteristics and distribution of Colletotrichum isolates morphotypes infecting mango (Mangifera indica L.) in the north of Côte d'Ivoire

Anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum species is the most important field and postharvest disease infecting mango worldwide. A survey was conducted in the seven mango producing districts in the north of Côte d'Ivoire to identify and characterize Colletotrichum species isolates associated with mango leaves necrosis and fruit rots. A total of 70 isolates were identified based on morphological and cultural characters. Most of isolate colour were grey or grey whitish (36%), cottony (71%) with cylindrical conidia (97%) rounded on both ends (57%). Three texture types were observed in colonies of the seventy isolates. Most of the isolates were cottony (71%) followed by abundant aspect (23%) and closely appressed (6%). According to conidia shape, two species of Colletotrichum; Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (97%) and C. acutatum(3%) were identified in the seventy isolates. Conidia length and width varied respectively from 15.4to 19.7μm and 4.8 to 5.2 μm. The Average Linear Growth Rate (ALGR) 7 days after culture varied from 0.76 to 0.91 cm day-1. Multivariate analysis grouped the 70 isolates into four morphotypes containing, respectively: 5 (7%), 7 (10%), 17 (24%) and 41 (59%) isolates. Isolates of morphotype 1 were characterized by whitish obverse and reverse colour with an abundant mycelia aerial aspect. The second morphotypes were represented by isolates with obverse and reverse brownish grey colour and contained both conidia with two rounded ends, and one rounded and one sharped ends. The third morphotype consisted of isolates with obverse and reverse grey whitish colour. The fourth morphotype consisted of isolates with obverse and reverse respectively dark grey and grey or vice versa. Conidial length and width of morphotypes varied, respectively, from 14.5 to 17.2 μm and 4.6 to 5.2 μm. ALGR of morphotypes varied from 0.84 to 0.87 μm day-1. The present study highlighted that morphological variation of Colletotrichum species existed among the different isolates and the districts surveyed. However, to overcome the inadequacies of this traditional morphological identification, sequence analyses are needed to be carried out to confirm the identity of these Colletotrichum species isolates