GIS procedure to evaluate the relationship between the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. The case of the earthquake in L’Aquila (2009)

The earthquake (Ml=5.8; Mw=6.3) that shook L’Aquila (Abruzzo region, Italy) on 6 April 2009 and caused huge widespread damage in the other 56 municipalities of the seismic crater has also provided important input to reflect proactively on the need to avoid the repetition of similar tragedies, learning from the calamities that have occurred. In fact, L’Aquila and the other municipalities hit by the earthquake represent an open-air analysis laboratory to reveal and directly see the weak points of the different buildings on the field which did not adequately resist the shocks. In order to provide important data for social utility, in this paper we illustrate the steps which constitute a GIS procedure that we have thought in order to evaluate the relationship between the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. Through sequential activities which have enabled us to also produce three-dimensional scenarios – of immediate communicative impact and able to show details for interdisciplinary analysis and strategical planning – we have portrayed the urban evolution of L’Aquila per period of construction and mapped the level of damage to the buildings. The relational analysis and quantitative data have permitted us to show that in the case of L’Aquila the major percentages of “unusable buildings”, and also these together with “condemned buildings due to external risks” concern the structures erected until 1955 and then in the 1956- 1975 period, followed by the ones constructed in the periods of 1976-1988 and 1989-1994. Similar results, in conjunction with other specific information, can offer the possibility to define and apply the consolidation measures necessary to tackle future earthquakes in an appropriate way, without a passive sense of resignation and with a deeper awareness of seismic risk

The power of GIS language

I have been working now for 50 years – since the foundation of Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), in 1969 – on building software tools that help different kinds of users do their work better. Some of this is daily management, some of it is work flows but the power of GIS is the central power, the heart of GIS is really remarkable. It’s almost magical to me. So, I’m sort of rediscovering myself and emphasising to all of GIS users all over the world to make better maps. Maps are about telling a story. Many of the maps that users make are maps that don’t tell a story. There are lines and dots and a text and graphic display but they are not leveraging the power of this communication language. So I think of maps as a kind of language and we have photographs and paintings – these are graphic expressions of reality but a map is much more powerful and we need to treat it as the power that it has

Multiphase procedure for landscape reconstruction and their evolution analysis. GIS modelling for areas exposed to high volcanic risk

This paper – focussed on the province of Naples, where many municipalities with a huge demographic and building density are subject to high volcanic risk owing to the presence of the Campi Flegrei (Phlegrean Fields) caldera and the Somma-Vesuvius complex – highlights the methodological-applicative steps leading to the setting up of a multiphase procedure for landscape reconstruction and their evolution analysis. From the operational point of view, the research led to the: (1) digitalisation, georeferencing and comparison of cartographies of different periods of time and recent satellite images; (2) elaboration and publication of a multilayer Story Map; (3) accurate vectorisation of the data of the buildings, for each period of time considered, and the use of kernel density in 2D and 3D; (4) application of the extrusion techniques to the physical aspects and anthropic structures; (5) production of 4D animations and film clips for each period of time considered. A procedure is thus tested made up of preparatory sequences, leading to a GIS modelling aimed at highlighting and quantifying significant problem areas and high exposure situations and at reconstructing the phases which in time have brought about an intense and widespread growth process of the artificial surfaces, considerably altering the features of the landscape and noticeably showing up the risk values. In a context characterised by land use conflicts and anomalous conditions of anthropic congestion, a diagnostic approach through images in 2D, 3D and 4D is used, with the aim to support the prevention and planning of emergencies, process damage scenarios and identify the main intervention orders, raise awareness and educate to risk, making an impact on the collective imagination through the enhancement of specific geotechnological functionalities of great didactic interest

Remote sensing and interdisciplinary approach for studying Dubai’s urban context and development

Outlining the different phases and features of the urban and socio-economic development of Dubai, this work is aimed at highlighting the potential of remote sensing and the interdisciplinary approach for the study of cities characterised by overwhelming growth processes. In this way Dubai represents an ideal laboratory since the processes that have been triggered in the last decades have radically modified the previous balances and layouts. Thus the image of a mirage city has been gradually diffused, a city where ambitious objectives can be achieved, targets reached that are difficult to pursue elsewhere, frenetic development processes realised, in a nevertheless increasingly delicate territorial-environmental fabric onto which such phenomena are grafted. The analysis of various remote sensed images, gathered over different periods of times, highlights a number of important aspects from the geological point of view, of the physical geography, the urban development and the direct growth in all directions, with a series of artificial islands and much publicised anthropic works

3D and 4D Simulations for Landscape Reconstruction and Damage Scenarios. GIS Pilot Applications

The project 3D and 4D Simulations for Landscape Reconstruction and Damage Scenarios: GIS Pilot Applications has been devised with the intention to deal with the demand for research, innovation and applicative methodology on the part of the international programme, requiring concrete results to increase the capacity to know, anticipate and respond to a natural disaster. This project therefore sets out to develop an experimental methodology, a wide geodatabase, a connected performant GIS platform and multifunctional scenarios able to profitably relate the added values deriving from different geotechnologies, aimed at a series of crucial steps regarding landscape reconstruction, event simulation, damage evaluation, emergency management, multi-temporal analysis. The Vesuvius area has been chosen for the pilot application owing to such an impressive number of people and buildings subject to volcanic risk that one could speak in terms of a possible national disaster. The steps of the project move around the following core elements: creation of models that reproduce the territorial and anthropic structure of the past periods, and reconstruction of the urbanized area, with temporal distinctions; three-dimensional representation of the Vesuvius area in terms of infrastructuralresidential aspects; GIS simulation of the expected event; first examination of the healthcareepidemiological consequences; educational proposals. This paper represents a proactive contribution which describes the aims of the project, the steps which constitute a set of specific procedures for the methodology which we are experimenting, and some thoughts regarding the geodatabase useful to “package” illustrative elaborations. Since the involvement of the population and adequate hazard preparedness are very important aspects, some educational and communicational considerations are presented in connection with the use of geotechnologies to promote the knowledge of risk

Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) in the immune system

Journal not available online when checked 02/04/19. DOI: 10.14800/ics.965Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Momenti di formazione applicativa e d’indirizzo professionale. “The Science of Where: Paradigma dell’Italia 5.0” (Roma, 16-17 maggio 2018)

Dopo l’affermazione del concetto di Industry 4.0, l’idea della Società 5.0 è quella di promuovere un modello di information society, dove la trasformazione digitale possa rappresentare un veicolo per promuovere la qualità della vita, attraverso la domotica, le smart city, la smart agriculture, la cybersicurezza, l’innovazione tecnologica dell’healthcare». Con tali presupposti e concentrandosi su queste parole chiave – come focus iniziale per poi abbracciare molti altri temi che vedono al centro GIS, geotecnologie e geografia – si è tenuta la Conferenza Esri Italia 2018 (16-17 maggio). Nella prestigiosa cornice dell’Ergife Palace Hotel a Roma, luogo simbolo per i concorsi pubblici, quasi come auspicio per il futuro professionale di laureandi e laureati dotati di solide basi contenutistiche e high skill, sono stati forniti spunti ad ampio raggio per la formazione applicativa e l’indirizzo professionale

Geographical Health Education for knowing and preventing risk factors

In this contribution the importance of a geographical health education perspective is underlined, and the need to promote a widespread and shared awareness of this topic has led to the introduction of a new type of feature focused to the related aspects with this number of J-READING. In particular, in the present work, first of all the potential added value of harmonious and coordinated health education actions is underlined, aimed at translating the findings of scientific research for social usefulness, also focussing the attention on the need to avoid incorrect behaviour which can put people at risk of specific diseases and disorders. Secondly, a reflection is provided about the leading causes of death and risk factors, highlighting the differences among geographical areas and countries on the basis of a number of indicators which continue to show considerable inequalities and reveal facets and problematic conditions of many contexts with development delay, above all in Sub-Saharan Africa. The imbalances in basic maternal and children health services continue to be burdensome and the system too feeble to face communicable diseases, often easily preventable and treatable, even if some encouraging achievements have been recorded in the last years. Thirdly, the attention is dedicated to the health risk factors and noncommunicable diseases in the developed countries and a focus is provided on the European countries. The use of tobacco, the abuse of alcohol, an unbalanced diet and physical inactivity (which together contribute to overweight and obesity) here are remarkable risk factors for chronic diseases, but their incidence could be easily reduced by encouraging and supporting at school and at educational level adequate programmes, “best buys” and supplementary interventions for assuming better behaviour. Some perspectives for geographical health education are finally discussed considering the potentialities of geotechnologies, WebGIS and open source GIS, specific app and services, story maps and digital storytelling

Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA3859: From Structure to Function

The aim of this work has been the structural and functional study of a putative carboxylesterase purified from P. aeruginosa, namely PA3859. The protein has been purified from the wild type and a preliminary biochemical charcterization was carried out. The PA3859 gene was then cloned and the recombinant protein was expressed in E. coli (Chapter 2). The recombinant PA3859 was successfully crystallized and its 3D crystal structure was determined (Chapter 3 and 4). Starting from the enzyme 3D structure, an approach involving in silico, in vitro and in vivo assays lead to the reliable determination of the PA3859 physiological function (Chapter 5, 6, 7)