Managing forests in a changing world: the need for a systemic approach. A review

The paper is a scientiic commented discussion with the aim of deining a framework which allows both a comprehensive vision of forest dynamics, as well as an adaptive management approach and policy procedures more suited to a changing and inherently unpredictable world. Main results: We identify the main challenges facing forestry in relation to recent developments in forestry thinking, i.e. the paradox of aiming at sustainability in a changing environment, a shifting perception of the relationship between ecological and social systems, the recognition of forest ecosystems as complex adaptive systems, the need for integrating the social and ecological dimensions of forestry into a single framework, and the growing awareness of the importance of the ethical approach to the forest. We propose the concept of “systemic forestry” as a paradigm for better understanding forest dynamics and for guiding management and public actions at various levels. We compare the systemic approach with different silvicultural and forest management approaches which have been proposed in the last decades. Research highlights: Our analysis shows that a systemic approach to forestry has ive main consequences: 1. forestry is viewed as a part of landscape dynamics through a multi-sectoral coordination, 2. the logic of action changes from norm to process, 3. conservation is a dynamic search for resilience, 4. multi-functionality is achieved through a multi-entries approach integrating ecological, social and economic components of sustainability, 5. forestry institutions are reframed to address the issue of changing interactions among actors, 6. a change in the ethical approach to the forest is needed.Piermaria Corona was supported by the Project “ALForLab”(PON03PE 00024 1) co-funded by the Italian Operational Programme for Research and Competitiveness (PON R&C) 2007-2013, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and national resource (Revolving Fund—Cohesion Action Plan (CAP)MIUR)

Adolescents' Ethnic Hate Speech Exposure and Ethnic Bullying Perpetration: The Moderating Role of Tolerance Towards Diversity and Gender

Information and Communication Technologies have become powerful tools for adolescents, but they have enabled a huge number of online risks, such as being exposed to Online Hate Speech (OHS). High exposure to hateful content has been linked to despicable offline actions, including hate crimes. However, there is a lack of studies considering the associations with certain specific forms, such as the perpetration of bullying. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap in the literature by analysing the associations between exposure to OHS targeting ethnic minorities and ethnic bullying perpetration, and considering the potential moderating role of tolerance towards diversity and of gender. Participants were 960 high school students (53.6% females; Mage = 15 years, SD = 0.59). Data were collected in January/February 2020, before the first lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings suggest that being exposed to ethnic OHS is significantly, but weakly, associated with traditional ethnic bullying perpetration. Moreover, this association is moderated by tolerance towards diversity and by gender. In particular, for male adolescents, at low and middle levels of tolerance, higher ethnic OHS exposure is not associated with a higher tendency to perpetrate bullying toward peers with a different ethnicity. For females, instead, tolerance is not a moderator in the relationship between ethnic OHS exposure and ethnic bullying perpetration. Results are discussed in terms of their practical implications

Design of a hydraulic servo-actuation fed by a regenerative braking system

Many conventional truck and working machines are equipped with additional hydraulic tooling or manipulation systems which are usually fed through a mechanical connection with the internal combustion engine, involving a poor efficiency. In particular, this is a common situation for industrial vehicles whose mission profiles involves a relevant consumption of energy by the on board hydraulic systems, respect to the one really needed for only traction purpose. In this work it is proposed an innovative solution based on the adoption of a system aimed to recover braking energy in order to feed an efficient on board hydraulic actuation system. The proposed system is then adopted to a real application, an Isuzu truck equipped with a hydraulic tooling for garbage collection. A prototype of the system has been designed, assembled and tested showing a relevant improvement of system efficiency and the feasibility of the proposed approach. In the paper the proposed solution is presented, showing the simulation models and preliminary validation results including experimental devices assembled to perform the tests

Vibrational Raman and IR data on brown hair subjected to bleaching

Brown human hair was bleached three times (45 min × 3) and four times (45 min × 3 + 15 min) with commercial formulations containing persulfate salts and hydrogen peroxide. The hair samples were characterized by Raman and IR spectroscopy in the Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) mode to gain more insights into the possible secondary structure and Cα-Cβ-S-S-Cβ-Cα conformational changes induced by bleaching. The latter were evaluated through band-fitting procedures; the relative content of the disulfide bridges and oxidized sulfur species (cysteic acid, Bunte salt, cystine oxides) was assessed. The observed conformational changes could be significant in developing restoring agents to be used after hair decoloration. The use of two different spectroscopic techniques allowed to discriminate the information coming from the cortical region of hair (Raman) and the cuticle (ATR/IR). This article refers to “Structural investigation on damaged hair keratin treated with α,β-unsaturated Michael acceptors used as repairing agents” (Di Foggia et al., Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 167 (2021) 620–632 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.11.194)

GEOMATICS IN BRIDGE STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING, INTEGRATING TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING TECHNIQUES AND GEOTECHNICAL INSPECTIONS ON A HIGH VALUE CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract. The paper presents preliminary findings from a research study designed to assess the health status of a medieval bridge built on 1500 under the Medici dynasty over the river Sieve, close to Florence. The structure, a two span stone bridge with a main central pillar, experienced some restructuring interventions from 1555 to the present. The left span has been closed for some decades, and for many years the water has been allowed to float under it in case of severe flood only. At the beginning of year 2000 the left span has been opened to the regular flux of water. After opening, a maelstrom has been noticed as permanently present at the main pier's basis highlighting the presence of a fracture in the concrete base around the central pile of the bridge. In order to investigate structural health and to assess bridge's stability structural inspections and hydraulic surveys have been carried out. This manuscript reports Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) survey results. Surface comparisons to identify anomalies and defromations have been carried out by exploiting Two TLS campaigns that were performed within a 6 years time span.</p

PHARMACOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION: FROM DRUG REPOSITIONING FOR COVID-19 TREATMENT TO DISEASE ARREST/PREVENTION WITH MoAbs AND NOVEL ANTIVIRALS

COVID-19 disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is one of the major emergencies that have affected health care systems and society in recent decades. At the end of winter 2021-2022, the number of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and especially those suffering from severe COVID-19 is decreasing in Europe. This is due to the protective effect of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the increasing number of people who had COVID-19, thus developing a certain immunity. However, vaccines to prevent the disease did not appear until more than one year after the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, so the initial medical approaches to control the disease focused on the existing drugs that were considered suitable for controlling the pathological events caused by the virus as far as was known at the time. Unfortunately, due in part to the limited initial knowledge of the molecular details of the pathology of COVID-19, many of the proposed drugs fell short of expectations and were abandoned. Over time, the challenge of understanding the mechanisms behind COVID-19 has generated a large body of knowledge about how this beta-coronavirus gains control of the host during infection, a knowledge that has been used to redefine treatment strategies by repurposing existing drugs and to explore new drugs. Here, we draw a picture of the major strategies and groups of drugs studied and provide a critical overview of their efficacy and safety based on the available literature data. The main topics covered are repurposed drugs, anticoagulants, anti-cytokine agents, monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, and small antiviral molecules