Advection schemes and grid design

We discuss the characteristics of the first order advection scheme in coastal areas. In particular we focus our attention on the relationship between the geometry of the coast, as represented in the computational grid, and the wave fields derived from a numerical model. Having considered an alternative scheme, we show how the results may depend substantially on the characteristics of the scheme. It follows that, when modelling in coastal areas, the grid distribution and the advection scheme should be chosen taking reciprocal account of their characteristics

The transfer of wind waves from the shelf to the coastal zone

We analyse and discuss the main processes that affect the characteristics of wind waves while these move through the coastal zone, towards the shore. The focus is on the influence of each process on the final results and on the overall accuracy. To this aim we make full use of two large data sets collected at different locations. Model and measured data are repeatedly compared, providing evidence of the relevance of the different processes

Child scribbling: a sensory motor activity and representational ability

Los niños por lo general comienzan a producir garabatos alrededor de su segundo año de vida. Como la actividad representativa ya se adquiere a esta edad, el acto gráfico puede ser correctamente considerado más que una mera actividad motora: es, sin duda, uno de los factores más relevantes que intervienen en el proceso gráfico, pero es deber del educador discernir su aspecto intencional, por lo tanto representativo. El objetivo de nuestro estudio es un examen detallado de los garabatos producidos por niños de entre dos y tres años de edad, cuyos temas dados son el niño él / ella, el niño involucrado en cualquier actividad lúdica o deportiva dada, y las figuras de la madre y el padre: cualquier posible diferencia que surja de tales caminos gráficos será investigada y analizada. Este estudio es parte de un proyecto mucho más amplio, que quiere acentuar los rasgos emotivos que se encuentran en la actividad gráfica de un niño, rasgos que podrían ser utilizados como medio de exploración del niño, de su propia interioridad, de un mundo interior en pleno desarrollo.Children usually begin producing scribbles around their second year of life. As representative activity is already acquired at this age, the graphic act can be rightly considered more than a mere motor activity: it is, without a doubt, one of the most relevant factors involved in the graphic process, but it is the educator’s duty to discern its intentional-therefore representative- aspect. Our study’s goal is a detailed examination of the scribbles produced by children between two and three years of age, whose given subjects are the child him/herself, the child engaged in any given playful or sportive activity, and the figures of the mother and the father: any possible difference emerging from such graphic paths, will be investigated and analyzed. This study is part of a much wider project, which would like to emphasize the emotive traits found in a child’s graphic activity, traits which could be used as means of exploration of the child’s own interiority, an inner world in full development.peerReviewe

07 Climatology of the Northern-Central Adriatic Sea

It is well know that the ocean processes exert a great influence on global climate as well as affect the local climate of coastal areas (Russo et al., 2002). Within the Mediterranean region (see Fig. 1a), the presence of the Adriatic Sea influences the atmospheric properties of the surrounding regions over long and short time-scales, and has obviously a relevant influence on human activities and ecosystems (Boldrin et al., 2009).https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/modern_climatology/1006/thumbnail.jp

Cryosphere-hydrosphere interactions: Numerical modeling using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) at different scales

Conveyor belt circulation controls global climate through heat and water fluxes with atmosphere and from tropicalto polar regions and vice versa. This circulation, commonly referred to as thermohaline circulation (THC), seems to have millennium time scale and nowadays—a non-glacial period—appears to be as rather stable. However, concern is raised by the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (IPCC, Third assessment report: Climate Change 2001. A contribution of working group I, II and III to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK) 2001, http://www.ipcc.ch) as these may affect the THC conveyor paths. Since it is widely recognized that dense-water formation sites act as primary sources in strengthening quasi-stable THC paths (Stommel H., Tellus, 13 (1961) 224), in order to simulate properly the consequences of such scenarios a better understanding of these oceanic processes is needed. To successfully model these processes, airsea-ice–integrated modelling approaches are often required. Here we focus on two polar regions using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In the first region investigated, the North Atlantic-Arctic, where open-ocean deep convection and open-sea ice formation and dispersion under the intense air-sea interactions are the major engines, we use a new version of the coupled hydrodynamic-ice ROMS model. The second area belongs to the Antarctica region inside the Southern Ocean, where brine rejections during ice formation inside shelf seas origin dense water that, flowing along the continental slope, overflow becoming eventually abyssal waters. Results show how nowadays integrated-modelling tasks have become more and more feasible and effective; numerical simulations dealing with large computational domains or challenging different climate scenarios can be run on multi-processors platforms and on systems like LINUX clusters, made of the same hardware as PCs, and codes have been accordingly modified. This relevant numerical help coming from the computer science can now allow scientists to devote larger attention in the efforts of understanding the deep mechanisms of such complex processes

Integrated Numerical Models in Coastal Areas: An Example of Their Application in the North Adriatic Sea

Recent decades have witnessed considerable developments in the field of integrated numerical models used for simulating dynamic processes in coastal areas, that can now provide quantitative support to decision makers for questions such as erosion and coastal vulnerability. Improvements in various theoretical formulations and an on-going increase in computing power (alongside the growing availability of long-term observations and numerical output from meteorological and sea-state models) allow the implementation of high-resolution and long-term applications.However, the efficient use of these numerical tools is a function of their capacity to describe a variety of physical processes that are ‘integrated’ amongst themselves correctly. Indeed, from the air-sea interface to the turbulent mixing of water masses and the water-sediment interaction, integrated numerical modelling has to face a series of scientific and practical challenges still open. Examples include the non-linear interaction of waves and currents, the problem of turbulence, the modelling of resuspension and sediment-transport processes, the role of longperiod waves in generating beach and dune erosion. Dealing with these using numerical models is necessary for a variety of reasons, from protecting the coast to search-and-rescue activities and support for marine construction work of all types

Examining cross-cultural validity, in a European Educational setting, of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale

El siguiente estudio propone un análisis comparativo de la labor llevada a cabo en Grecia, España e Italia en relación al proceso de adaptación y validación de la escala relación estudiante-profesor (Pianta, 2001). El cuestionario, que se originó en un contexto estadounidense, pretende evaluar la relación profesor-alumno, sobre la base de las tres dimensiones distintas, cercanía, conflictos y dependencia. Cada estudio ha sido visto teniendo en cuenta la metodología, análisis y conclusiones: aunque se han registrado diferencias en cada sección, nuestra labor ha puesto de manifiesto una fuerte uniformidad dentro de la propia estructura del instrumento de estudio. Todos los estudios han mostrado índices de consistencia similar, aunque se tuvo que hacer algunos cambios en el cuestionario con el fin de adaptarlo a cada realidad; tales cambios están en gran parte relacionadas con la magnitud de la Dependencia. No obstante, la eficiencia del propio cuestionario ha demostrado que la escala STRS ofrece válidas y confiables características psicométricas y parece ser adecuada para el estudio en profundidad de la relación entre el profesor y sus alumnos.The following study proposes a comparative analysis of the work carried out in Greece, Spain and Italy in relation to the process of adaptability and validation of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (Pianta, 2001). The questionnaire, originated within a US context, aims to evaluate the relationship teacher-pupil on the basis of the three, distinct dimensions of Closeness, Conflict and Dependency. Each study has been viewed taking into account methodology, analysis and conclusions: although differences have been registered in each section, our work has highlighted a strong uniformity within the structure itself of the instrument of study. All studies have shown similar consistency indexes, even though some changes had to be made to the questionnaire in order to adapt it to each given reality; such changes are in great part related to the scale of Dependency. Nevertheless, the efficiency of the questionnaire itself has been proved: the STRS scale offers valid and trustworthy psychometric characteristics and appears to be adequate for the in depth study of the relationship between a teacher and his/her pupils.peerReviewe