2,906 research outputs found
New floristic data of alien vascular plants from Sicily
New records of Commelina communis, Euphorbia hypericifolia, Melia azedarach, Nicotiana tabacum, and Xanthoceras sorbifolium are reported for the Sicilian flora
Study of the performance of the NA62 Small-Angle Calorimeter at the DANE Linac
The measurement of with 10% precision by the
NA62 experiment requires extreme background suppression. The Small Angle
Calorimeter aims to provide an efficient veto for photons flying at angles down
to zero with respect to the kaon flight direction. The initial prototype was
upgraded and tested at the Beam Test Facility of the DANE Linac at
Frascati. The energy resolution and the efficiency were measured and are
presented.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure
Indicators for the Circular City: A Review and a Proposal
The theme of the circular city is currently much debated in the literature as a possible
strategy for achieving sustainability in urban areas. However, as a recent development it still has
many features in the making, one of the most important being the issue concerning monitoring
and the tool through which to achieve it. In the paper, therefore, the “indicator” tool is explored
in depth. Metrics represent a fundamental and complex aspect that is foundational to measuring
and quantifying the progress of results achieved with respect to the goals set. Currently, most
existing indicators are associated with specific aspects of the circular economy; there have been few
examples of indicators designed to assess the circularity of an entire city. The paper aims to identify
priority themes and describe a set of indicators to be used at the urban level. In the absence of an
established reference frame, themes and indicators were identified through a methodology starting
with an extensive literature search and careful analysis, including statistical analysis, of the scientific
literature as well as international and European strategies on the subject. A particular result of this
research is the definition ofa minimum set of indicators common to all cities, which can be applied
for comparative purposes
VERBENA BONARIENSIS (VERBENACEAE) ADVENTIVE IN ITALY
Among the species of Verbena L. cultivated in Italy Traverso (1) reports: V venosa Gilles, V tenera Sprengel (= V.
pulchella Sweet.) and the horticultural hybrid V I?Jbrida Hort. (=V. hortensis Hort.). No trace of V. bonariensis L.,
that is reported about 60 years later as naturalized in Tuscany (2). In the Herbarium Centrale !talcum (Fl) are
housed specimens collected in Piedmont and Tuscany, labelled as V. venosa - taxon considered a variety of V.
bonariensis.
V. bonariensis, as indicated by the specific epithet, is a South American species, herbaceous, usually perennial, also
cultivated as an ornamental. Several varieties and wild lforms are known of this taxon. The International Plant
Names Index (IPNI) records: V bonariensis f. albiflora Moldenke, V. bonariensis var. brevibracteata Kuntze, V.
bonariensis var. conglomerata Briq., V bonariensis f. gracilis (Cham.) Voss., V. bonariensis var. hispida Moldenke, V.
bonariensis var. litoralis Hook., V. bonariensis var. longibradt?ata Kuntze, V. bonariensis var. rigida (Spreng.) Kuntz, V.
bonariensis f. robustior Chodat, V bonariensis f. venosa (Gillies & Hook.) V oss.
This species is native of S. America (Argentina, Brasile, ]Paraguay and Uruguay) (3, 4) and introduced in the USA
(5), Azores, Great Britain, Canary Islands, Portugal, Madeira (6) and in Italy, as reported above, in Tuscany, in
Tombolo Pisano (PI) (2, 7, 8) and in Liguria (8).
Some considerations on the tendency of naturalization of the species in Sicily (9) where accidentally
misinterpreted as the report of naturalization in the region (10, 11). This record was neglected in the subsequent
floras and checklists (7, 8, 12, 13).
Recently we verified the spontaneous occurrence of v~ bonariensis at the edges of a channel, in the southern
outskirts of the city of Palermo (Sicily). This population, referred to V. bonariensis var. hispida, is made up of
about 100 vigorous and perennial individuals with tendency to expand, actually, in the same area.
The taxonomic identity of the Tuscan populations is different. In this region, it is known from Tombolo Pisano
(2) as well as from Florence as documented by specimens collected in the square in front of the rail station of S.
Maria Novella (Raimondo et Domina, 21/06/2012, PAL), in the fenced area for works of rearrangement of the
square. In comparison with the population from Tombolo Pisano, referred to the nominal type, the population
from Florence looks like annual and belonging to a diffe1rent variety, also in comparison with the Sicilian one.
The recent discovery in Sicily as well as increasing the 11uota of adventitious exotic vascular flora of the island,
confirms the tendency of the species to spread further in. the national territory
Sustainability charter for innovative cities and safe mobility. Case study: Sestri Levante
In order to make our cities more innovative and responsive, the paper reports a study aimed at defining a new sustainability tool, in the context of Agenda 2030, to be adopted in urban realities. It has to do with the 'Sustainability Charter', a city decision-making process, designed with researchers, local communities and companies. The research analyses the Sustainability Charter and develops a methodological approach aiming at the systemization of all sustainable actions related to different urban topics. In particular, indicators were identified to assess the sustainability of these topics, graphically represented by chart and defined as sustainability maps. In the paper, among the priority issues at urban level, sustainable mobility is explored. The current health emergency has highlighted all the problems related to urban mobility. This situation can represent an opportunity to improve, revise or update cities\u2019 governance tools. It is necessary to build safe soft mobility infrastructures, and to reorganize the existing ones -redesigning urban space-, by promoting a new culture of sustainable mobility. The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), should integrate the Urban Sustainability Charter and all the underlying strategies to promote sustainable mobility
Metropolitan governance for territorial cohesion. Sustainable development policies for urban and inland areas
New Aloes casual aliens in Sicily
Aloë arborescens, A. brachystachys and A. maculata (Asphodelaceae) are reported for the first time as casual aliens in Sicily. A. brachystachys is new also for the alien flora of Italy
Cardinal estimates involving the weak Lindelöf game
AbstractWe show that if X is a first-countable Urysohn space where player II has a winning strategy in the game
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1
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(the weak Lindelöf game of length
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) then X has cardinality at most continuum. This may be considered a partial answer to an old question of Bell, Ginsburg and Woods. It is also the best result of this kind since there are Hausdorff first-countable spaces of arbitrarily large cardinality where player II has a winning strategy even in the weak Lindelöf game of countable length. We also tackle the problem of finding a bound on the cardinality of a first-countable space where player II has a winning strategy in the game
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fin
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, providing some partial answers to it. We finish by constructing an example of a compact space where player II does not have a winning strategy in the weak Lindelöf game of length
ω
1
Signatures of impulsive localized heating in the temperature distribution of multi-stranded coronal loops
We study the signatures of different coronal heating regimes on the
differential emission measure (DEM) of multi-stranded coronal loops by means of
hydrodynamic simulations. We consider heating either uniformly distributed
along the loops or localized close to the chromospheric footpoints, in both
steady and impulsive conditions. Our simulations show that condensation at the
top of the loop forms when the localized heating is impulsive with a pulse
cadence time shorter than the plasma cooling time, and the pulse energy is
below a certain threshold. A condensation does not produce observable
signatures in the global DEM structure. Conversely, the DEM coronal peak is
found sensitive to the pulse cadence time. Our simulations can also give an
explanation of the warm overdense and hot underdense loops observed by TRACE,
SOHO and Yohkoh. However, they are unable to reproduce both the transition
region and the coronal DEM structure with a unique set of parameters, which
outlines the need for a more realistic description of the transition region.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure
Taxonomic remarks and distribution of Smyrnium dimartinoi (Apiaceae)
Smyrnium L., an Eurasian genus of the family Apiaceae, includes about 20 taxa of which only 7 are accepted at specific rank; among these, 5 are native to Europe (Tutin & al. 1968; Gomez 2003). In the Italian flora, the genus is represented by 3 taxa also occurring in Sicily (Pignatti 1982; Giardina & al. 2007); these are Smyrnium olusatrum L., S. perfoliatum L. and S. rotundifolium Mill. The last one has also been treated at the rank of subspecies under S. perfoliatum [S. perfoliatum subsp. rotundifolium (Mill.) Hartvig] (Strid 1986; Conti & al. 2005), or as a variety [S. perfoliatum var. rotundifolium (Mill.)Fiori (Fiori 1925)]. In Sicily, same populations related to S. perfoliatum differ from this taxon for both morphological and ecological characteristics, especially on the Madonie Mountains and the Mountains around Palermo.
The study of the morphological characteristics \u2013 namely of the root, stem, and leaf \u2013 allowed to clearly distinguish these populations that, therefore, represented a taxonomically and perhaps even chorologically critical case, since similar plants occurring in Greece were described as S. rotundifolium var. ovatifolium Hal\ue1csy (Hal\ue1csy 1901). In Sicily the same population was finally described as a new species named Smyrnium dimartinoi (Raimondo et al., 2015) to commemorate Andrea Di Martino (1926-2009), professor of botany and director of the Botanical Garden and Herbarium Mediterraneum in the Palermo University.
The occurrence of the new taxon related to S. perfoliatum \u2013 ascertained only in Central-Western Sicily and in Crete \u2013 has also been supposed in other countries of the Mediterranean Europe; this, owing to some critical specimens observed in PAL and PAL-Gr.
In this contribution, the analytical key of S. perfoliatum group is presented. Furthermore, the geographical distribution of S. dimartinoi is specified after the study of selected exsiccata from other Italian and foreign herbaria. The results found in this research show that S. dimartinoi belongs to the Eurimediterranean element, spread in various countries of the Southern Europe, from Greece to Italy and Spain
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