Effect of management of topsoil structure

This paper aims to show the effectiveness of different soil management strategies for improving soil structure in degraded areas within two vine farms inTuscany(Italy). The management practices adopted were: Composted organic amendment addition (COMP), Green Manure (GM), Dry mulching (DM) and Control (CONTR). Topsoil samples were taken at the beginning of the trial (2015) and two years later, and analyzed for bulk density (BD) and aggregate stability by wet sieving. The strategies adopted to restore the functionality of degraded vineyard soils diversely affected BD and aggregates stability. In both the farms COMP proved to be the best strategy to reduce BD, while GM and DM gave the best results in terms of aggregate stability increase

Use of Azolla as a growing medium component in the nursery production of olive trees

Peat is used in olive-tree nurseries as a component in commercial growing media. Environmental and economic pressures are questioning the use of peat as a component of substrates. In order to remain competitive and to satisfy environmental concerns, it is necessary to identify and evaluate possible alternatives to peat. This study involves the use of Azolla filiculoides, as a growing media component in olive nurseries (Olea europaea L.) for containerized plants. Four treatments were established, based on the addition of increasing quantities of Azolla (0%, 25%, 50%, and 100 %). Were determined some physical and chemical properties of media, the growth, the physiological parameters and nutritional state of olive plants. The physical and chemical properties of the media were significantly affected by the Azolla content. Nursery-produced olive plants grown in substrates supplemented by 50 % Azolla displayed linear growth and the total biomass production greater than those of the control medium. The research indicated that Azolla might be suitable substrate component for olive plants grown in containers

Relevance of the Lin's and Host hydropedological models to predict grape yield and wine quality

The adoption of precision agriculture in viticulture could be greatly enhanced by the diffusion of straightforward and easy to be applied hydropedological models, able to predict the spatial variability of available soil water. The Lin's and Host hydropedological models were applied to standard soil series descriptions and hillslope position, to predict the distribution of hydrological functional units in two vineyard and their relevance for grape yield and wine quality. A three-years trial was carried out in Chianti (Central Italy) on Sangiovese. The soils of the vineyards differentiated in structure, porosity and related hydropedological characteristics, as well as in salinity. Soil spatial variability was deeply affected by earth movement carried out before vine plantation. Six plots were selected in the different hydrological functional units of the two vineyards, that is, at summit, backslope and footslope morphological positions, to monitor soil hydrology, grape production and wine quality. Plot selection was based upon a cluster analysis of local slope, topographic wetness index (TWI), and cumulative moisture up to the root limiting layer, appreciated by means of a detailed combined geophysical survey. Water content, redox processes and temperature were monitored, as well as yield, phenological phases, and chemical analysis of grapes. The isotopic ratio δ<sup>13</sup>C was measured in the wine ethanol upon harvesting to evaluate the degree of stress suffered by vines. The grapes in each plot were collected for wine making in small barrels. The wines obtained were analysed and submitted to a blind organoleptic testing. <br></br> The results demonstrated that the combined application of the two hydropedological models can be used for the prevision of the moisture status of soils cultivated with grape during summertime in Mediterranean climate. As correctly foreseen by the models, the amount of mean daily transpirable soil water (TSW) during the growing season differed considerably between the vineyards and increased significantly along the three positions on slope in both vineyards. The water accumulation along slope occurred in every year, even during the very dry 2006. The installation of indicators of reduction in soils (IRIS) tubes allowed confirmation of the occurrence of reductive processes in the most shallow soil. <br></br> Both Sangiovese grape yield and quality of wine were influenced by the interaction between TSW content and salinity, sometimes contrary to expectations. Therefore, the studied hydropedological models were not relevant to predict grape yield and wine quality in all the hydrological functional units. The diffusion of hydropedological models in precision viticulture could be boosted considering salinity along with topography and soil hydrological characteristics

“I found this law firm on Google Reviews, and I wasn’t disappointed”: A Linguistic Study of Positive Law Firm Client Reviews and Business Owner Responses in the US and the UK

This paper proposes a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of positive online reviews of US and UK law firms and the corresponding business owners’ responses. The aim is to better understand and describe their linguistic nature and their structure, and assess whether and to what extent cross-cultural variation occurs. The methodology used to carry out the analysis combined different approaches to linguistic inquiry. It started with a lexico-grammatical description of reviews and responses through corpus methods, then continued with a move structure analysis that focused on rhetorical differences between British and American reviews and responses and ended with an attentive cross-cultural analysis on the usage of positive evaluative adjectives in reviews, conducted through the lens of appraisal theory. The cross-cultural analysis indicated that US reviews and responses are more oriented towards experience-sharing, recommendation, and publicity. By contrast, the UK’s samples are characterised by a more attentive expression of politeness and conversational rituals. Moreover, the adjectives used to express positive evaluations revealed an interesting tendency: that of foregrounding communication and social skills in US reviews and technical and professional skills in UK reviews

Linguistic markers of involvement in American broadcast politics. A case study on TV political interviews

This paper investigates the phenomenon of involvement in American TV political interviews. The dataset used to carry out the study consists of a corpus of interviews with American leading politicians aired on the most popular US Sunday morning talk shows within a time span of nine years, from 2010 to 2019. Comparisons are made with another synchronic corpus of American TV interviews coming from the entertaining talk show Charlie Rose featuring personalities who discuss different issues such as technology, science, the film industry, etc. Corpus linguistics methods are exploited to describe verbal traits associated with involvement in American political interviews, as compared to entertaining-oriented talk show interviews. Therefore, this study ascertains whether, and in which ways, the usage of linguistic involvement characterizes the genre of political interviews

Linguistic markers of involvement in American broadcast politics. A case study on TV political interviews

This paper investigates the phenomenon of involvement in American TV political interviews. The dataset used to carry out the study consists of a corpus of interviews with American leading politicians aired on the most popular US Sunday morning talk shows within a time span of nine years, from 2010 to 2019. Comparisons are made with another synchronic corpus of American TV interviews coming from the entertaining talk show Charlie Rose featuring personalities who discuss different issues such as technology, science, the film industry, etc. Corpus linguistics methods are exploited to describe verbal traits associated with involvement in American political interviews, as compared to entertaining-oriented talk show interviews. Therefore, this study ascertains whether, and in which ways, the usage of linguistic involvement characterizes the genre of political interviews.

Voices from the Anglo-Saxon world: Accents and dialects across film genres

In this paper we mean to focus on the representation of sociolinguistic variation across social classes in two radically different film genres, i.e. mystery and animated comedy, by analysing Gosford Park (Altman 2001), an ensemble murder mystery which takes place during a hunting party of aristocratic people and their friends; and Gnomeo & Juliet (Asbury 2011), a 3D computer-animated film, loosely based on Shakespeare’ s tragedy, whose protagonists are garden gnomes

Klinefelter’s Syndrome and sexual offending: a literature review

Background: Klinefelter’s Syndrome is a sex chromosome abnormality affecting approximately 1 in 1000 males. There have been suggestions that it is associated with a higher than average prevalence of sexual offending but to what extent does research evidence support this assertion? Aims: To conduct a systematic review of published research to establish the prevalence of sexual offending in males with Klinefelter’s Syndrome. Method: The databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO and EMBASE were searched from inception until 31st December 2016 using a range of terms for Klinefelter’s syndrome and for sexual offending. All selected papers were examined for quality using the STROBE (Strengthening of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) checklist. Results: We identified 53 relevant papers of which ten met our inclusion criteria. All but one were prevalence studies conducted in a prison or hospital setting. The one, Danish, register based cohort study did suggest an increased risk of sex offending among Klinefelter men, probably established before the diagnosis was made and, therefore, any hormone replacement instituted. Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence to date to support concerns about exceptional risk of sex offending among men with Klinefelter’s syndrome. Rather, it is arguable that there is a research gap in understanding how the experience of and treatment for their condition may affect them

Gender Stereotypes in Film Language: A Corpus-Assisted Analysis

The present study concentrates on the representation and the reception of gender stereotypes. The analysis was first carried out on an ad hoc corpus of cult romantic comedies and dramedies of AngloAmerican pop contemporary culture and secondly with a perception test. Both the corpus-driven analysis and the test results provide useful insights into the representation, recognition and entrenchment of gender stereotypes in language and in western culture. The preliminary findings generally confirm and validate the scientific literature, although showing some notable new elements