Mass-Market Receiver for Static Positioning: Tests and Statistical Analyses

Nowadays, there are several low cost GPS receivers able to provide both pseudorange and carrier phase measurements in the L1band, that allow to have good realtime performances in outdoor condition. The present paper describes a set of dedicated tests in order to evaluate the positioning accuracy in static conditions. The quality of the pseudorange and the carrier phase measurements let hope for interesting results. The use of such kind of receiver could be extended to a large number of professional applications, like engineering fields: survey, georeferencing, monitoring, cadastral mapping and cadastral road. In this work, the receivers performance is verified considering a single frequency solution trying to fix the phase ambiguity, when possible. Different solutions are defined: code, float and fix solutions. In order to solve the phase ambiguities different methods are considered. Each test performed is statistically analyzed, highlighting the effects of different factors on precision and accurac

Spatial population dynamics of recolonizing wolves in the Western Alps

The wolf recolonized part of its former habitat in the South-Western Alps through dispersal from the Apennines beginning in the late 1990s. Prioritization of conservation actions and effective management of this species relies on estimates of wolf population trend, survival rates, occupancy parameters, and on the development of a spatially explicit population model. These estimates were lacking in Italy and Western Europe, and accurate and cost effective methods to assess these parameters have not been implemented. I used genetic capture-mark-recapture techniques with long-term fecal genotyping data and applied open-population models to estimate survival rates and assess trend in abundance of wolves in the Western Alps. The wolf population in the study area increased from 21 ± 10 wolves in 1999 to 47 ± 11 wolves in late winter 2005. Young wolves (\u3c 1 year old) had lower apparent annual survival rates (0.24 ± 0.06) than adult wolves (0.82 ± 0.04). I applied an unconditional multi-season occupancy model to estimate wolf occupancy dynamics. Human disturbance (β = -5.553, SE = 2.186) and rock-area cover (β = -4.129, SE = 1.392) had negative effects on occupancy, while the presence of red deer (β = 0.694, SE = 0.306) and forested-area cover (β = 0.596, SE = 0.458) had positive effects. The wolf recolonization process was characterized by a Markovian change in occupancy and the sites were not in an equilibrium state. This is typical of an expanding population. The habitat suitability map produced from the occupancy analyses was fundamental for the development of a spatially explicit, individual-based model which allowed a full analysis of this complex spatial and temporal wolf recolonization of the Italian Alps. I predicted wolf pack numbers, along with pack locations and wolf population size, over the Italian Alps in 2013, 2018, and 2023. I predicted 25 packs (95%CI -- 19, 32) in 2013, 36 (95%CI -- 23, 47) in 2018, and 49 (95%CI -- 29, 68) in 2023. The South-Western Alps were the main source for wolves repopulating the Alps from 1999-2008. This main source area will likely be shifted to the Cozie Alps after 2008. In the next 15 years, the primary source for wolves repopulating the Alps will likely move to the north which could allow the full recolonization of the Eastern part of the Alps

89Y NMR Probe of Zn Induced Local Magnetism in YBa2(Cu(1-y)Zn(y))3O(6+x)

We present detailed data and analysis of the effects of Zn substitution on the planar Cu site in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ (YBCO$_{6+x}$) as evidenced from our $^{89}$Y NMR measurements on oriented powders. For $x<<1$ we find additional NMR lines which are associated with the Zn substitution. From our data on the intensities and temperature dependence of the shift, width, and spin-lattice relaxation rate of these resonances, we conclude that the spinless Zn 3$d$$^{10}$ state induces local moments on the near-neighbour ($$) Cu atoms. Additionally, we conjecture that the local moments actually extend to the farther Cu atoms with the magnetization alternating in sign at subsequent $nn$ sites. We show that this analysis is compatible with ESR data taken on dilute Gd doped (on the Y site) and on neutron scattering data reported recently on Zn substituted YBCO$_{6 + x}$. For optimally doped compounds $^{89}$Y $nn$ resonances are not detected, but a large $T$% -dependent contribution to the $^{89}$Y NMR linewidth is evidenced and is also attributed to the occurence of a weak induced local moment near the Zn. These results are compatible with macroscopic magnetic measurements performed on YBCO$_{6 + x}$ samples prepared specifically in order to minimize the content of impurity phases. We find significant differences between the present results on the underdoped YBCO$_{6 + x}$ samples and $$Al NMR data taken on Al$^{3+}$ substituted on the Cu site in optimally doped La$_2$CuO$_4$. Further experimental work is needed to clarify the detailed evolution of the impurity induced magnetism with hole content in the cuprates.Comment: To be published in EPJB 15 pages of text and figures in eps forma

Life before the passport : People with a refugee background navigating everyday life, temporalities and subjectivities between refugeehood and citizenship

Tutkin väitöskirjassani sitä, miten Turussa, Suomessa asuvat pakolaistaustaiset ihmiset määrittelevät ja elävät arkielämänsä ajallisuuksia pakolaisuuden ja kansalaisuuden välillä. Viittaamalla “pakolaistaustaisiin ihmisiin” tarkoitan ihmisiä, jotka tuntevat ja kokevat pakolaisuutta. Väitöskirjallani on kaksi tavoitetta: tutkin sitä, miten pakolaistaustaiset ihmiset käyttävät toimijuuttaan jopa ennen heidän oikeudellisen statuksensa virallistamista sekä asetan pakolaistaustaisten ihmisten elämän oleskelulupien, passien ja oikeudellisen kategorisoinnin sortavien käytänteiden edelle. Maahanmuuttoa ja kansalaisuutta koskevat järjestelmät aiheuttavat ajallisia epäoikeudenmukaisuuksia pakolaistaustaisten ihmisten elämään. Empiirisen tutkimuksen ja autoetnografisten pohdintojen avulla vastaan seuraaviin tutkimuskysymyksiin: Mitkä ovat eri pakolaistaustaisten ihmisten yleiset tavoitteet ja heitä koskevat ajallisuudet? Mitä nämä ajallisuudet merkitsevät heidän kotoutumiseensa ja subjektiivisuuksiinsa Suomessa? Mitä metodologisia merkityksiä väitöskirjallani on? Teoretisoin pakolaisuutta ja kansalaisuutta keskenään muodostuvina käsitteinä, aika-tilallisen jatkumon puolina. Ihmiset kulkevat tällä jatkumolla eri suuntiin elämänsä eri ulottovuuksissa (oikeudellinen status, työllistyminen, perhe-elämä, rodullistaminen). Metodologiassani tukeudun keskusteluihin etiikasta pakkomuuton tutkimuksessa sekä feministisessä ja kriittisessä maantieteessä. Tuon tutkijoiden inhimillisyyden akateemisen työn ytimeen. Väitöskirjani tulokset osoittavat, että pakolaistaustaiset ihmiset toteuttavat poliittista toimijuuttaan riippumatta heidän oikeudellisista statuksistaan. Tutkimukseni haastaa kotoutumisen lineaariset ajallisuudet ja valaisee sitä, miten valtio pyrkii erottamaan pakolaistaustaisten ihmisten subjektiivisuudet toisistaan, vaikuttaen heidän arkipäiväänsa Suomessa ja muuallakin. Lopuksi, väitöskirjani osoittaa, miten jotkut tutkijat eriyttävät akateemisen tutkimustyönsä inhimillisyydestä ja aktivismista. Tutkimustulokseni perusteella kutsun tutkijoita pohtimaan omaa sijaintiaan ja subjektiivisuuksiaan vastustamaan metodologista nationalismia ja epäoikeudenmukaista maahanmuuton hallintaa.In this PhD dissertation thesis, I explore how people with a refugee background living in Turku, Finland, define, live and perform their everyday temporalities between refugeehood and citizenship. I focus on people who identify as experiencing or having experienced refugeehood. The thesis has two aims: to study how people with a refugee background practise their agency even before officialising their legal status, and to re-centre these people’s lives vis à vis the tyranny of “papers” and legal categorisations. Migration and citizenship regimes perpetrate temporal injustices in the lives of people with a refugee background. Through empirical studies and autoethnographical reflections, I examine three research questions: What are the common priorities and temporalities of people with a refugee background? What do these temporalities imply for migrants’ integration and subjectivities in Finland? What are the methodological implications of this thesis? I theorise refugeehood and citizenship as the two mutually constitutive sides of a spatio-temporal continuum along which people move through various dimensions of their lives (legal status, employment, family life, racialisation). I build on discussions on ethics in forcedmigration research and from feminist and critical geographies to re–centre researchers’ humanity in academic work. The results show that people with a refugee background practise political agency regardless of their legal status. My research challenges the linear temporalities of integration, revealing how the state segregates the subjectivities of people with a refugee background, affecting their daily lives in Finland and beyond. Lastly, my work suggests that some researchers segregate their academic work from their humanity and activism: I invite researchers to reflect on their situatedness and subjectivities to resist methodological nationalism and unjust immigration regimes

Advances in developing a new test method to assess spray drift potential from air blast sprayers

Drift is one of the most important issues to consider for realising sustainable pesticide sprays. This study proposes and tests an alternative methodology for quantifying the drift potential (DP) of air blast sprayers, trying to avoid the difficulties faced in conducting field trials according to the standard protocol (ISO 22866:2005). For this purpose, an ad hoc test bench designed for DP comparative measurements was used. The proposed methodology was evaluated in terms of robustness, repetitiveness and coherence by arranging a series of trials at two laboratories. Representative orchard and vineyard air blast sprayers in eight configurations (combination of two forward speeds, two air fan flow rates, and two nozzle types) were tested. The test bench was placed perpendicular to the spray track to collect the fraction of spray liquid remaining in the air after the spray process and potentially susceptible to drift out of the treated area. Downwind spray deposition curves were obtained and a new approach was proposed to calculate an index value of the DP estimation that could allow the differences among the tested configurations to be described. Results indicated that forward speed of 1.67 m/s allows better discrimination among configurations tested. Highest DP reduction, over 87.5%, was achieved using the TVI nozzles in combination with low air fan flow rate in both laboratories; conversely, the highest DP value was obtained with the ATR nozzles in combination with high air fan flow rate. Although the proposed method shows a promising potential to evaluate drift potential of different sprayer types and nozzles types used for bush and tree crops further research and tests are necessary to improve and validate this method.Postprint (published version

Pesticide application horticultural and floricultural farms of Liguria Region: Current situation and results of one year of sprayer inspections

contribution to session 2 Member States may apply different timetables and inspection intervals with exceptions following a risk assessment and exempt handheld pesticide application equipment or knapsack sprayers (according article 8/3