Waiting for 2005?s World Skiing Championship: an Experimental Assessment of Tourism Sustainability in Sondrio Province

The tourism sector is more and more regarded as a central element of territorial development in many countries. According to the sustainable development approach we have to look at tourism from two possible points of view. First tourism can be regarded as a sum of economic activities playing an important role in the production of income and wealth on a territory. Second, tourists and tourism structures and activities can produce important negative externalities on the environment and the ecosystems, reducing economic benefits because of collective costs related to the depletion of the quality of the environment and the ecosystems. Moreover, the quality and the variety of the environment and the different landscapes can be considered basic factors of production of tourism. As a result, from a long term perspective, the poorest quality of the environment and of the landscape can produce e reduction in tourism activities and, consequently, of revenues. These means that the durability of tourism itself is strictly linked to the durability (or better, improvement) of the environmental quality. The sustainability of tourism is more and more discussed at international and national level but the real challenge in choosing and starting along the path of sustainable development should be searched in the local territorial levels. This is the level at which different subjects and interests really confront and dispute. And this is the level where the choose for sustainable development of tourism becomes concrete. The goal of the work is to underline the role that sustainability indicators can play in territorial decision making processes on tourism development. A methodology and a first experimental application of tourism sustainability indicators will be proposed, taking into consideration environmental and territorial costs and benefits arising from tourism activities. The experimental area is Sondrio Province, in Lombardy Region, where in year 2005 the World Nordic Ski Championship will take place. We will first suggest a possible definition for sustainable tourism in an alpine territorial area. Then, starting from a long list of possible indicators especially developed to describe the sustainability performance of tourism in the Lombardy Region, we will propose the analysis for a selection of indicators, based on available data. The aim of this working phase is the description of the sustainability of the existing tourism model. We will finally compare these results with the potential additional impacts (but also benefits) coming from public and private action needed to improve not only winter sports facilities but also accommodation capacity, access and mobility infrastructures and additional tourism services, waiting for 2005?s World Championship.

The enhancement of knowledge, preservation and valorisation of historical settlements in the alpine area: an interdisciplinary approach

The paper aims to present the methodological approach used for the development of the Interreg IIIB Alpine Space project “Cultur ALP - Knowledge and Enhancement of Historical Centres and Cultural Landscape”. The project promoted by Lombardy Region, involves seven European regions from four different countries. The goal is to improve the knowledge of alpine historical settlements and to develop innovative operating policies to protect and enhance this distinctive cultural heritage. The paper will focus on the SWOT analysis methodology, here applied to cultural heritage and aiming to describe, understand and valorise the peculiarities and the values of historical settlements and cultural landscapes in the alpine territory. SWOT analysis indicators have been selected in order to internalise the interdisciplinary approach chosen in the project. The intervention strategy that normally characterises the government and management of historic settlements is sectoral and looks at the settlement itself as an ensemble of valuable buildings to be preserved from depletion. Here this point of view is overtaken in favour of a “systemic” analysis, where historical settlements can be viewed as cultural capital, closely integrated to all the other territorial resources. This to achieve a sustainable and durable territorial development, based on the preservation and valorisation of cultural, historical, artistic, social, economic and environmental identities, according to the peculiar spatial and socio-economic context of the Alps arch. This implies the contribution of different disciplinary approaches and tool boxes, that have to be understood and shared by different knowledge systems (approach, strategies, methodologies, tools…). The real challenge of the project is therefore the use of the interdisciplinary approach in developing integrated policies for the preservation and valorisation of historical settlements and cultural landscapes, pushing architects and historians of art as well as planners, economists, sociologists, administrative professionals and other territorial analysts to work together in a mutual learning process.

Pathogenetical mechanism and development of a new diagnostic kit for the parrot proventricular dilatation disease

PDD is a progressive disease often fatal, that occurs in several parrot species but a common susceptibility of all parrots is suspected. It also may occur in non psittacine bird like, gooses, hawks, doves tucans and flamingos. The ill birds develop gastrointestinal or central nervous system signs. These presentation can be occur like a combination of both or alone. The clinical signs are caused by histological nervous lesions, characterized by a\ud non suppurative encephalomyelitis and/or perineural lymphoplasmacytic infiltrates around peripheral nerves. The intramural neural plexa of digestive tract were constanctly involved.\ud The diagnosis is characterized by inconsistent clinical laboratory findings. A presumptive diagnosis of PDD is often based on anamnestic information, contrast radiographs,\ud fluoroscopy in PDD suspect birds. Until now the only specific and reliable method used for the diagnosis is the crop biopsy. The presence of characteristic histological perineural infiltrates are strongly suggestive of the disease and necessary for a definitive diagnosis.\ud Until now the etiology and the pathogenesis are unclear, even if, many Authors suppose the potential role of unclear virus as the causative agent of PDD.\ud The different aspects of this disease show a lot of analogies with the human Guillain Barrè syndrome, so we have focalised the our study to clarify the pathogenesis. To do this, we investigated if the PDD can be an autoimmune disease and if a possible presence of the blood antiganglioside antibodies can be the starter of this autoimmune pathological mechanism, like was observed in more than 50% of the GBS’s cases

Ah Q travels to Europe: Christoph Hein’s Die wahre Geschichte des Ah Q (1983) and Dario Fo’s La storia di Qu (2011)

An “extended palimpsest and, at the same time, a transcoding into a different set of conventions” (Hutcheon 2006, 33), adaptation is a “transgeneric practice” (Genette 1993, 395) of cultural relocation which guarantees an “afterlife” to the source text – often a classic – bringing it “into greater proximity to the cultural and temporal context of the readers or audiences” (Sanders 2015). Since its first appearance in 1921, Lu Xun’s novella "The True Story of Ah Q has been rewritten and intersemiotically translated, both in China and abroad, through a practice of “dramatisation” (Genette 1997, 278). Lu Xun himself, although admittedly skeptical about the adaptations of his work for the stage or the screen, actually paved the way for them, when claiming that “even considering it only as a source book, the spoken parts can be adpated to the local dialect, not only the language but also the setting and the name of the characters can be changed in order to make them feel more realistic for the audience” (Lu Xun 1934). According to Foster “Ah Q progeny works from the second half of the 20th century demonstrate that the re-performances […] can both embrace Lu Xun’s critique and expand it in new directions” (2006, 83). My paper focuses on the adaptations of The True Story of Ah Q by two important European playwrights, Christoph Hein (b. 1944) and Dario Fo (1926-2016), who “translated” Lu Xun’s famous character respectively into a problematic anarchist (“Die wahre Geschichte des Ah Q”, 1983) and a Chinese revolutionary Harlequin (“La storia di Qu”, 2011). These two plays appropriate the “hypotext” into a new cultural geography, which is neither Chinese nor completely German or Italian, but rather a transcultural space based on the European intellectual tradition of the “idiot savant”

“Men control our vaginas; the state controls our wombs”. Sheng Keyi’s Novel The Womb (Zigong) and the representation of the female reproductive body

In this paper I describe the work of a Chinese female writer who tackles the subject of reproductive freedom in a rather bold and unconventional way, by questioning traditional and political Chinese views on reproduction and motherhood and narrating both physical and psychological abuses perpetrated on women from a strong female perspective. In her latest trilogy The Womb (Zigong 子宫, 2019), Sheng Keyi (b. 1973) describes the life and marriage of three generations of women in contemporary China, touching upon all kinds of issues such as sexual abstinence, contraception, birth control surgery and pregnancy. Their whole existence is regulated by the use and abuse of their body and the way both family tradition and state policy on reproduction affect their lives, with different consequences and problems depending on whether they live in an urban or rural context. The Womb has been defined an “investigation novel on women’s reproduction” (Lu 2019), a novel which “reveals the physical and spiritual injuries inflicted on women by birth control surgery” (Ma 2019, 121). What is most interesting in this novel is the way the author unfolds a counter-history of female reproduction within the macro-history of the country. As I will show in my paper, Sheng Keyi’s cold and graphic descriptions reveal an uncommon sensitivity and a compelling use of literature as a tool for empowering women – in particular voiceless peasants –, fostering their agency in reproductive matters

Identification of novel Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota clusters associated with different depth layers of a forest soil

Archaea have been shown to be ubiquitous among soil microbial communities. However, our knowledge on their diversity and spatial distribution in soil ecosystems is still limited. This study was conducted to investigate archaeal community changes along a forest soil depth profile in Unterehrendingen, Switzerland. From four consecutive soil depth layers, bulk soil DNA was extracted. Archaea-specific PCR amplification of small subunit ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) was performed and combined with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with restriction endonuclease HaeIII [Bundt et al., Soil Biol. Biochem. 33 (2001) 729-738]. Significant changes of the RFLP fingerprints were reproducibly observed from the soil surface to 1 m depth. From the surface soil layer (0-9 cm) and the bottom soil layer (50-100 cm), libraries of PCR-amplified archaeal rDNA fragments were constructed. Screening of the libraries yielded various clones of different HaeIII RFLP types from the surface and the bottom soil layers, revealing shifts in major archaeal components along the soil depth profile. Clones of all RFLP types were sequenced and phylogenetically affiliated. These analyses revealed even more pronounced Archaea community shifts along the depth gradient. Several novel soil archaeal clusters were identified and some appeared predominantly associated to either the surface or the bottom soil layer. Euryarchaeal rDNA sequences, not yet reported from aerated soils, were found in the surface soil layer and were affiliated to the order Thermoplasmales and relatives. Novel crenarchaeal soil clusters were identified that included sequences only retrieved from the bottom soil layer. In this study, a this far unreported variety of archaeal groups was found in a forest soil ecosystem. The distinct depth-related community shift suggested the occurrence of different archaeal types that depend on environmental parameters that change along the soil depth profil

Squamous cell carcinoma with presence of poxvirus-like inclusions in the foot of a pink-backed pelican (Pelecanus rufescens).

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) or avian keratoacanthoma is a neoplastic skin lesion of unknown aetiology that has been well described in birds. Some studies have reported that poxviruses may contribute to the onset of SCC. Here we describe a case of SCC on the underside of a pelican's foot. Histologically, the tumour consisted of irregular cords of pleomorphic epithelial cells that invaded the adjacent tissues. Additionally, keratinized epithelial cells and moderate numbers of keratin pearls were observed. Intracytoplasmic inclusions, a characteristic of this virus, were observed in some of these cells, and viral particles were characterized by electron microscopy. Although the aetiology of the carcinoma in this case may have been secondary to chronic focal trauma, the possibility of a latent or chronic form of fowlpox should be considered in the pathogenesis of the lesion