In vitro effects of particulate matter associated with a wildland fire in the north-west of Italy

Wildland fires, increasing in recent decades in the Mediterranean region due to climate change, can contribute to PM levels and composition. This study aimed to investigate biological effects of PM2.5 (Ø 10 (Ø 10 and PM2.5 were measured during the fire suggesting that near and distant sites were influenced by fire pollutants. The PM10 and PM2.5 extracts induced a significant mutagenicity in all sites and the mutagenic effect was increased with respect to historical data. All extracts induced a slight increase of the estrogenic activity but a possible antagonistic activity of PM samples collected near fire was observed. No cytotoxicity or DNA damage was detected. Results confirm that fires could be relevant for human health, since they can worsen the air quality increasing PM concentrations, mutagenic and estrogenic effects

Susceptibility analysis of rapid flowslides in Southern Italy

Qualitative and quantitative estimation of distribution of the existing landslides or that could occur inside a determined area is named landslide susceptibility. The zoning of landslide susceptibility consists of inventory of landslides occurred in the past and identification of the areas where the landsliding could occur in the future. The paper shows the results of a study of fast flowslides susceptibility performed on an area placed between Scilla and Favazzina (RC) regularly and historically interested by rainfall and in some cases by earthquake induced landslides. The trend of inclination and lithological features of the potential detachment zones has been analyzed at 1:5.000 scale. Classes of inclinations, where the most part of detachment zones are clustered, have been identified and the distribution of these classes for each lithological type has been graphed. Among all surveyed events, the inclinations and lithological features of the detachment zones similar to those of the events occurred in the 2001 and 2005 have been found. Finally, in order to evaluate the susceptibility of the area, the paths of flowslides have been evaluated by numerical simulations using the SPH model

Systemic research design and key global changes in business, politics and society

This paper represents a strategic reflection on the changing world in which we live and on the goals that the World Complexity Science Academy aims at for the coming years. The World Complexity Science Academy (WCSA) is a cultural association whose mission is purely scientific and oriented to knowledge sharing from the point of view of systems theory and complexity science