PRELIMINARY CONCERNS ABOUT AGRONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF NDVI TIME SERIES FROM SENTINEL-2 DATA: PHENOLOGY AND THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF WINTER WHEAT IN PIEMONTE (NW ITALY)

Abstract. TELECER project is supported through Rural Development Programme regional action of EU CAP and is aimed at providing Precision Agriculture–devoted services for cereals monitoring in the Piemonte Region (NW-Italy) context. In this work authors explored some general and preliminary issues mainly aimed at demonstrating and formalizing those evident relationships existing between NDVI image time series and the main ordinary agronomic parameters, with special focus on phenology and thermal efficiency of crops as related to Growing Degrees Day (GDD). Winter wheat was investigated and relationships calibrated at field level, making possible to spatially characterise environmental and management effects. Two different analysis were achieved: (i) one aimed at mapping crop phenological metrics, as derivable from NDVI S2 time series; (ii) one aimed at locally modelling relationship linking GDD and NDVI to somehow test the thermal efficiency of crops in the different parts of the study area. The first analysis showed that the end of season appears to be the most constant phenological metric in the study area possibly demonstrating a time concentration of harvest operations in the area. Differently, the peak of season and the start of season metrics showed to be largely varying in the study, thus suggesting to be stronger predictors: (i) of crop development; (ii) of the effects induced by local agronomical practices. Several base temperatures were used to compute correspondent GDD. These were tested against NDVI and modelled by a parabolic model at field level. Model coefficients distribution were analysed and mapped the correspondent agronomic interpretation suggested

The Conformal Willmore Functional: a Perturbative Approach

The conformal Willmore functional (which is conformal invariant in general Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$) is studied with a perturbative method: the Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction. Existence of critical points is shown in ambient manifolds $(\mathbb{R}^3, g_\epsilon)$ -where $g_\epsilon$ is a metric close and asymptotic to the euclidean one. With the same technique a non existence result is proved in general Riemannian manifolds $(M,g)$ of dimension three.Comment: 34 pages; Journal of Geometric Analysis, on line first 23 September 201

Multiple hazards and risk perceptions over time: the availability heuristic in Italy and Sweden under COVID-19

The severe impact of global crises, such as COVID-19 and climate change, is plausibly reshaping the way in which people perceive risks. In this paper, we examine and compare how global crises and local disasters influence public perceptions of multiple hazards in Italy and Sweden. To this end, we integrate information about the occurrence of hazardous events with the results of two nationwide surveys. These included more than 4000 participants and were conducted in two different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic corresponding to low (August 2020) and high (November 2020) levels of infection rates. We found that, in both countries, people are more worried about risks related to experienced events. This is in line with the cognitive process known as the availability heuristic: individuals assess the risk associated with a given hazard based on how easily it comes to their mind. Epidemics, for example, are perceived as less likely and more impactful in Italy compared to Sweden. This outcome can be explained by cross-country differences in the impact of, as well as governmental responses to, COVID-19. Notwithstanding the ongoing pandemic, people in both Italy and Sweden are highly concerned about climate change, and they rank it as the most likely threat

Estrogens in the feces of the new-born calf

Em 10 bezerros recém-nascidos (4 machos e 6 fêmeas), foi examinado o conteúdo estrogênico das fezes dentro dos primeiros 11 dias de vida, com o auxílio de um teste biológico (teste de aumento de peso em útero de camundongo). Os valores médios situam-se até o terceiro dia de vida pós-parto como altamente significantes (P < 0,001), baixando sua significância para P < 0,05 no quarto dia quando os valores dos primeiros dias são comparados aos dos dias seguintes. Em 30% dos animais examinados já não se identificou qualquer traço de substância com ação estrogênica no terceiro dia de vida, aumentando a percentagem para 70% no quarto dia. No quinto dia não se identificou qualquer traço desta ação estrogênica em nenhum dos animais examinados. Com base nos exames feitos, concluiu-se que os estrógenos de origem materna são eliminados dentro dos primeiros dias de vida. Uma transmissão de estrógenos através do leite materno parece impossível.The estrogenic content of the feces of four male and six female calves, during the first 11 days of life, was measured by using the bioassay technique for uterine weight increase in immature mice. The estrogenic content of the feces of the calves was significantly higher (P < 0,001) until three days of age and higher (P < 0,05) on the fourth day than at subsequent ages. The presence of estrogenic substances in the feces was not detected in three of the ten calves (30%) at the three days of age. This percentage increased to 70% on the fourth day. By the fifth day, estrogenic activity was not detected in the feces of any of the calves examined. These results indicate that estrogens of maternal origin are eliminated within the first days of life. Thus, it does appear reasonable that estrogens are not provided by the colostrum or milk