Participatory Research As A Key Factor For The Transition Of Farming In Organic Rice

"Italy is the largest producer of rice in Europe (with 1,466 kt in 2015 against 2,946.45 kt in the EU; FAOSTAT). Production is mainly located in the agricultural area of the Lombardy Po Valley, which is among the most productive agricultural areas in Italy. In these areas, agriculture is mainly based on monoculture and intensive systems, involving a heavy use of chemical inputs. In this agri-environmental context, Organic Rice Cultivation Systems (ORCS) described in this paper represent a novelty. Their establishment was kick-started by a bottom-up, farmer-driven innovation process, later supported by a more structured participatory breeding initiative. This paper analyses such initiative, which involves a multi-actor network and strives to support farmers’ innovation through co-developing sustainable agronomic practices while on-farm testing and selecting of appropriate rice varieties. The process aims at facilitating the consolidation of ORCS to enable them to become a founding element of the transition to more sustainable solutions for cereal agriculture in the target area as well as others. The results described here highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this methodological approach.

A linguagem das relações

A linguagem das relações

Por uma paisagem italiana

Por uma paisagem italiana

Scanning Nanocalorimetry at High Cooling Rate of Isotactic Polypropylene

A wide set of cooling scans and subsequent melting behavior of isotactic polypropylene (i-PP) were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and nanocalorimetry at very high cooling rate. The latter technique offers, indeed, the distinctive possibility to perform heat capacity measurements at rates of more than 1000 K/s, both in cooling and in heating, to characterize the crystallization. When the i-PP sample was solidified with cooling rate larger than 160 K/s, a novel enthalpic process was observed that was related to the mesomorphic phase formation. Furthermore, at cooling rates higher than 1000 K/s, the i-PP sample did not crystallize neither in the α nor in the mesomorphic form. The subsequent heating scan starting from −15 °C showed an exothermic event, between 0 and 30 °C, ascribed to the mesophase cold crystallization

Ainda sobre Verga e o cinema italiano

inda sobre Verga e o cinema italiano

Verdade e poesia: Verga e o cinema italiano

Verdade e poesia: Verga e o cinema italiano

The New Transverse-Facial Artery Musculomucosal Flap for Intraoral Reconstructions

With the bilateral progression of the 2 pedicled flaps, we were able to successfully restore both form and function of the soft palate, with a single-stage straightforward procedure, preserving at the same time the natural course of the facial arteries. Both flaps healed uneventfully. Six days after operation, the patient was placed on a liquid diet with no velopharyngeal insufficiency. This is to our knowledge the first extensive palatal reconstruction carried out with intraoral flaps onl

Integrated approach of RUSLE, GIS and ESA Sentinel-2 satellite data for post-fire soil erosion assessment in Basilicata region (Southern Italy)

Fire effects consist not only in direct damage to the vegetation but also in the modification of both chemical and physical soil properties. Fire can affect the alteration of soil properties in different ways depending on fire severity and soil type. The most important consequences concern changes in soil responsiveness to the water action and the subsequent increase in sediment transport and erosion. Post fire soil loss can increase in the first year by several orders of magnitude compared to pre-fire erosion. In this study a distributed model based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is used to estimate potential post-fire soil loss for four different fire events occurred in Basilicata region in 2017. Geographic Information System techniques and remote sensing data have been adopted to build a prediction model of post-fire soil erosion risk. Results show that this model is not only able to quantify post-fire soil loss but also to identify the complexity of the relationships between fire severity and all the factors that influence soil susceptibility to erosion

A Cross-Sectional Survey on Burnout Prevalence and Profile in the Sicilian Population of Ambulance Driver-Rescuers

Introduction: Burnout is present at a high rate in emergency medicine. The ambulance driver-rescuers, who furnish first aid to the victims, are the non-medical part of the Italian 118-service staff. There is a lack of research on burnout risk in Italian Emergency Medical Services and, particularly, for this category of workers. The two Italian studies, including a little group of ambulance driver-rescuers, reported inconsistent findings. Hypothesis: This survey investigated for the first time the prevalence and exact profile of burnout in a large sample of Italian driver-rescuers. As a secondary aim, the study described how the items of the Italian version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) cluster in components in this sample. Methods: This cross-sectional census survey was conducted from June 2015 through May 2016 and involved all the driver-rescuers operating in Sicily, the biggest and most southern region of Italy. The subjects received a classification according to different profiles of burnout by using the Italian version of the MBI-HSS (burnout, engagement, disengagement, over-extension, and work-inefficacy). In order to explore the existence of independent factors, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted on the survey to obtain eigenvalues >one for each component in the data. Results: The final sample comprised 2,361 responders (96.6% of the initial sample). Of them, 29.8% were in burnout (95% confidence interval [CI], 27.8% to 31.8%) and 1.7% presented a severe form (95% CI, 1.1% to 2.3%); 30.0% were engaged in their work (95% CI, 21.0% to 34.8%), 24.7% of responders were disengaged (95% CI, 22.9% to 26.5%), 1.2% presented an over-extension profile (95% CI, 0.8% to 1.7%), and 12.6% felt work-inefficacy (95% CI, 11.3% to 14.1%). The factors loaded into a five-factor solution at PCA, explaining 48.1% of the variance and partially replicating the three-factor structure. The Emotional Exhaustion (EE) component was confirmed. New dimensions from Personal Accomplishment (PA) and Depersonalization (DP) sub-scales described empathy and disengagement with patients, respectively, and were responsible for the increased risk of burnout. Conclusions: These results endorse the importance of screening and psychological interventions for this population of emergency workers, where burnout could manifest itself more insidiously. It is also possible to speculate that sub-optimal empathy skills could be related to the disengagement and work-inefficacy feelings registered