MULTISCALE DOCUMENTATION AND MONITORING OF L'AQUILA HISTORICALCENTRE USING UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY

Nowadays geomatic techniques can guarantee not only a precise and accurate survey for the documentation of our historical heritage but also a solution to monitor its behaviour over time after, for example, a catastrophic event (earthquakes, landslides, ecc). Europe is trying to move towards harmonized actions to store information on cultural heritage (MIBAC with the ICCS forms, English heritage with the MIDAS scheme, etc) but it would be important to provide standardized methods in order to perform measuring operations to collect certified metric data. The final result could be a database to support the entire management of the cultural heritage and also a checklist of "what to do" and "when to do it". The wide range of geomatic techniques provides many solutions to acquire, to organize and to manage data at a multiscale level: high resolution satellite images can provide information in a short time during the "early emergency" while UAV photogrammetry and laser scanning can provide digital high resolution 3D models of buildings, ortophotos of roofs and facades and so on. This paper presents some multiscale survey case studies using UAV photogrammetry: from a minor historical village (Aielli) to the centre of L'Aquila (Santa Maria di Collemaggio Church) from the post-emergency to now. This choice has been taken not only to present how geomatics is an effective science for modelling but also to present a complete and reliable way to perform conservation and/or restoration through precise monitoring techniques, as shown in the third case study

Endoscopic radiofrequency facet joint treatment in patients with low back pain: technique and long-term results. A prospective cohort study

Aims: The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic rhizotomy (ER) for denervation of lumbar facet joints in patients with chronic low back pain (LBP) due to facet joint syndrome (FJS). Methods: A total of 50 consecutive patients suffering from chronic LBP due to facet joints were screened to be treated with ER. The patients participating in the study had a 2-year follow up. Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were assessed in the preoperative and postoperative period. To evaluate secondary endpoints, patients were divided into groups. One group included the patients previously treated with percutaneous radiofrequency (RF). The other group comprised patients at their first interventional treatment. We also compared patients dividing them by age and by number of joints treated, trying to elucidate if these parameters could be predictive of effectiveness of the procedure. Results: All patients had a reduction in NRS and an improvement in ODI. NRS was reduced significantly after 1 month and remained the same until the end of the study. ODI was significantly improved from T1 (1 month after surgery) up to T7 (end of the study). The improvements did not differ whether already treated with percutaneous rhizotomy or not. Patients less than 60 years or with 1–2 joints treated had better improvement compared with the others. Conclusion: The results obtained demonstrate that ER for denervation of the facet joint is an effective treatment in patients with chronic LBP, with consistent and stable results at 2-year follow up. The technique has a rapid learning curve and no major complications occurred. Moreover, the previous percutaneous RF treatment had no influence on the results obtained with endoscopic technique. There is evidence that best results are obtained in younger patients and/or in patients with 1–2 joints treated. Lay summary: Low-back pain has facet joints inflammation or degeneration as pain generator in 20–40% of cases. Nervous lesion of the dorsal ramus innervating the facet joints has been shown as an efficacious treatment to obtain good analgesia. Percutaneous techniques have provided short term results for several reasons. This research aimed to see whether endoscopic denervation, which guarantees a more precise approach to anatomical structure, would result in more durable results. The study conducted on 40 patients has made it clear that this approach gives significant analgesia for at least 2 years, which was the time of patient follow up

L’olio d’oliva: tra aspetti oggettivi e valutazioni soggettive

L'olio di oliva rappresenta per tradizione alimentare e legame al territorio uno dei prodotti fondamentali dell'agricoltura mediterranea, di indiscusso valore nutrizionale per la composizione chimica e le caratteristiche organolettiche esaltate dal suo impiego nella dieta alimentare. L'olio di oliva è un alimento completo ed indispensabile per mantenere il corpo in piena forma ed efficienza, a qualsiasi età. Le sue proprietà benefiche derivano fondamentalmente dalla composizione dei trigliceridi e dei polifenoli in esso contenuti. Infatti, esso contiene la più elevata quantità di monoinsaturi rispetto a qualunque altro grasso animale o vegetale. Anche se, naturalmente, non bisogna esagerare. Nell’ambito del contesto competitivo dell’olio di oliva, caratterizzato da una elevata competizione nazionale ed internazionale, obiettivo del lavoro è quello di determinare quali sono i fattori che “guidano” il comportamento di acquisto dei consumatori. Ovvero se questo è il riflesso di “sensazioni/percezioni” oppure di una adeguata conoscenza delle specifiche caratteristiche dell’olio di oliva. Il lavoro è scaturito dalla volontà innanzitutto di indagare il livello di conoscenza circa il valore nutrizionale, i benefici per la salute, le qualità organolettiche dell'olio d'oliva, e in secondo luogo, di analizzare, se esistono, differenze significative tra prodotti simili, al fine di identificare le caratteristiche fisico-chimiche e percettive che determinano l'accettabilità del prodotto

Il benessere finanziario: il quadro teorico di riferimento e le prime analisi empiriche

Il lavoro si propone di: illustrare il concetto di benessere finanziario, fornire un’analisi dei principali riferimenti in letteratura, identificare le possibili evoluzioni nella sua misurazione

”Sustainable Tourism” Indicators: a Mapping of the Italian Destinations

In the last 50 years, tourism has been transformed from a leisure activity to a major business sector worldwide. In addition, while it was concentrated in a few world cities and sites, tourism is becoming increasingly global incorporating new destinations and reaching far distant places. Today, tourism is a key ingredient in the economic development strategy of many nations. The attractiveness of tourism as a generator of income, employment, tax collections, and foreign exchange earnings has led many countries to enter the competition of attracting international travelers to their destinations. The spectacular growth of tourism has brought to the attention of policy-makers its potential as an engine for economic growth, but also the problems it can create if left uncontrolled (EC, 2003). Tourism as a complex economic activity has multiple linkages to a wide range of other economic sectors and activities, thus having positive multiplier effects and a potential to act as a catalyst for economic development (Vellas, 2002). Particularly, at a local/regional level it offers opportunities for employment and income, spurring regional and local economic developments, which are often unique chances for many small and distant places with limited other options for development. However, although tourism has economic benefits, it has significantly contributed to environmental degradation, negative social and cultural impacts and habitat fragmentation. Tourism’s unplanned growth has damaged the natural and socio-cultural environments of many destinations. As tourism grows in a destination, major economic, social-cultural and environmental changes occur and as a consequence tourism has become a priority field in policy making at local, regional, national, supranational and international level. As a result, the notion of sustainable tourism emerges in order to conserve and preserve the natural resources, human well-being and long term economic viability of communities. Three are the dimensions of sustainable tourism: economic, socio-cultural and ecological dimensions. First, there is no doubt that sustainable tourism must be economically feasible, because tourism is an economic activity. Economic sustainability, in this regard, implies optimizing the development growth rate at a manageable level with full consideration of the limits of the destination environment. Moreover, the economic benefits from tourism should be fairly well distributed throughout the community. Second, socio-cultural sustainability implies respect for social identity and social capital, for community culture and its assets, and for a strengthening of social cohesiveness and pride that will allow community residents to control their own lives. Third, environmental sustainability recognizes that natural resources of the individual community and the world should be no longer viewed as abundant and are, in fact, constantly being depleted. The natural environment must be protected for its own intrinsic value and as a resource for present and future generations. This paper reviews the nature and scope of research into the environmental impact of tourism, the role such research may play in tourist development and conservation and the constraints which may be encountered. Research in this field is characterized by a wide spectrum of generally complex interrelationships and impacts. In recent years there has been a growing call from policy-makers for environmental guidelines, indicators and other research but as yet few immediate solutions to their problems and answers to their requests are to hand. The complexity of the issues involved and other difficulties have also limited the extent to which research has been fed into the decision-making process. So, there is a challenging need to identify the relationships between environmental quality and tourism. This paper has two objectives. The first is to identify indicators in order to measure sustainability in tourism areas and to allow the extension of the concept of sustainable tourism to touristic destination. Secondly, the study explores and illustrates the usefulness of the relationships between tourism and environment. It may be especially important to be able to isolate key variables which can be consolidated into few indices of environmental conditions as they are related to tourism. Such indices might be used to identifying associations among groups of variables, such as specific geographic area