Marine Heat Waves Hazard 3D Maps and the Risk for Low Motility Organisms in a Warming Mediterranean Sea

Frequency and severity of heat waves is expected to increase as a consequence of climate change with important impacts on human and ecosystems health. However, while many studies explored the projected occurrence of hot extremes on terrestrial systems, few studies dealt with marine systems, so that both the expected change in marine heat waves occurrence and the effects on marine organisms and ecosystems remain less understood and surprisingly poorly quantified. Here we: (i) assess how much more frequent, severe, and depth-penetrating marine heat waves will be in the Mediterranean area in the next decades by post-processing the output of an ocean general circulation model; and (ii) show that heat waves increase will impact on many species that live in shallow waters and have reduced motility, and related economic activities. This information is made available also as a dataset of temperature threshold exceedance indexes that can be used in combination with biological information to produce risk assessment maps for target species or biomes across the whole Mediterranean Sea. As case studies we compared projected heat waves occurrence with thermotolerance thresholds of low motility organisms. Results suggest a deepening of the survival horizon for red coral (Corallium rubrum, a commercially exploited benthic species already subjected to heat-related mass mortality events) and coralligenous reefs as well as a reduction of suitable farming sites for the mussel Mythilus galloprovincialis. In recent years Mediterranean circalittoral ecosystems (coralligenous) have been severely and repeatedly impacted by marine heat waves. Our results support that equally deleterious events are expected in the near future also for other ecologically important habitats (e.g., seagrass meadows) and aquaculture activities (bivalvae), and point at the need for mitigation strategies

The importance of a diagnostic pathway in the diagnosis of haemoptysis.

The role of interventional pulmonology in both the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of haemopthysis is far to be completely defined. Even if we have to differentiate massive from mild and moderate bleeding it seems to be reasonable to asses that a bronchoscopy (fiberoptic or rigid) can be safely proposed in skilled centers with a wide range of immediate therapeutical interventional options, whether pneumological, either radiological or surgica

The importance of a diagnostic pathway in the diagnosis of haemoptysis

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CONVERGENCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND INFORMATION GROWTH IN NEWPAPERS: A CASE STUDY

At the state of the art, both in information systems and (media) management studies, there is still few researches which investigate how newspaper companies organize their activities in order to manage the critical developments challenging their organisations through the digitalization of news distribution). In order to explore these issue, in this paper we first consider how the adaptation to convergence and information growth can be managed in newspaper companies undergoing reorganization to embrace technological innovation and alignment to the environment. Besides the adaptive cycle, indeed, we also consider how organizations align the adopted strategy to operations and in particular to the current information technology infrastructure and how it enhance (internalexternal) user innovation In particular, we discuss these issues in a pilot case study carried out at Corriere della sera, one of the main Italian newspaper. The aim of the research at Corriere della Sera is to understand how a major national newspaper organization manages the integration between activities related to the print newspaper and at the same time opportunities enabled by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as well as by networks, social media and mobiles technology. Besides how the aim of the research is also to provide evidence of why the strategy is linked to organizational structure as well as information management configurations

Emerging trends in US antitrust and EU competition law ENTraNCE annual conference

The first ENTraNCE Annual Conference was held on 14-15 October 2016, with the aim of discussing the most recent developments, both in the US and in the EU, while estimating the degree of convergence between the two main antitrust jurisdictions. The event was divided into four panels, which dealt, respectively, with (i) recent developments in relation to the assessment of horizontal and vertical agreements in online markets; (ii) merger trends in innovation markets on the two sides of the Atlantic; (iii) antitrust enforcement in innovation industries: Google and the SEP cases, on both sides of the Atlantic; (iv) private enforcement in the EU and the US in the aftermath of the EU Damages Directive. The Annual Conference gathered different stakeholders together, including representatives from National Competition Authorities (NCAs), international organisations, academia, industry, and law and consulting firms. The diversity of views ensured a lively debate. While participants agreed on various issues, the discussion revealed the need for further research on those issues that have not yet been sufficiently explored. This policy brief summarises the main points raised during the discussion, and it seeks to stimulate further debate.ENTraNCE Training of National Judges – Call for Proposals 2014. Financial support of DG Competition of the European Commission. Grant agreement HT.4430/SI2.701599ENTraNCE Training of National Judges – Call for Proposals 2014. Financial support of DG Competition of the European Commission. Grant agreement HT.4430/SI2.70159

ATP Supply May Contribute to Light-Enhanced Calcification in Corals More Than Abiotic Mechanisms

Zooxanthellate corals are known to increase calcification rates when exposed to light, a phenomenon called light-enhanced calcification that is believed to be mediated by symbionts' photosynthetic activity. There is controversy over the mechanism behind this phenomenon, with hypotheses coarsely divided between abiotic and biologically-mediated mechanisms. At the same time, accumulating evidence shows that calcification in corals relies on active ion transport to deliver the skeleton building blocks into the calcifying medium, making it is an energetically costly activity. Here we build on generally accepted conceptual models of the coral calcification machinery and conceptual models of the energetics of coral-zooxanthellae symbiosis to develop a model that can be used to isolate the biologically-mediated and abiotic effects of photosynthesis, respiration, temperature, and seawater chemistry on coral calcification rates and related metabolic costs. We tested this model on data from the Mediterranean scleractinian Cladocora caespitosa, an acidification resistant species. We concluded that most of the variation in calcification rates due to photosynthesis, respiration and temperature can be attributed to biologically-mediated mechanisms, in particular to the ATP supplied to the active ion transports. Abiotic effects are also present but are of smaller magnitude. Instead, the decrease in calcification rates caused by acidification, albeit small, is sustained by both abiotic and biologically-mediated mechanisms. However, there is a substantial extra cost of calcification under acidified conditions. Based on these findings and on a literature review we suggest that the energy aspect of coral calcification might have been so far underappreciated

spatiotemporal variability of alkalinity in the mediterranean sea

Abstract. The paper provides a basin-scale assessment of the spatiotemporal distribution of alkalinity in the Mediterranean Sea. The assessment is made by integrating the available observations into a 3-D transport–biogeochemical model. The results indicate the presence of complex spatial patterns: a marked west-to-east surface gradient of alkalinity is coupled to secondary negative gradients: (1) from marginal seas (Adriatic and Aegean Sea) to the eastern Mediterranean Sea and (2) from north to south in the western region. The west–east gradient is related to the mixing of Atlantic water entering from the Strait of Gibraltar with the high-alkaline water of the eastern sub-basins, which is correlated to the positive surface flux of evaporation minus precipitation. The north-to-south gradients are related to the terrestrial input and to the input of the Black Sea water through the Dardanelles. In the surface layers, alkalinity has a relevant seasonal cycle (up to 40 μmol kg−1) that is driven by physical processes (seasonal cycle of evaporation and vertical mixing) and, to a minor extent, by biological processes. A comparison of alkalinity vs. salinity indicates that different regions present different relationships: in regions of freshwater influence, the two quantities are negatively correlated due to riverine alkalinity input, whereas they are positively correlated in open sea areas of the Mediterranean Sea