Chapter Genoa: Colonizing and Colonized City? The Port City as a Pole of Attraction for Foreign Merchants (16th-18th centuries)

As Michel Balard pointed out with reference to the late Middle Ages and to the relations between Genoa and overseas cities, “Genoa, a colonizer in the East, is colonized by the Orientals”. The aim of this work is to verify whether and to what extent this concept is applicable also to the modern age and whether it involved a wider geographic area than the one examined by this French historian. In particular we outline the features of the presence of foreign merchants in Genoa between the 16th and 18th centuries as a phenomenon complementary to the better known “diaspora” of Genoese businessmen

Identificación y caracterización de Cassava common mosaic virus en cultivos de mandioca en Argentina

En un estudio previo, informamos por primera vez, la presencia del Cassava common mosaic virus (CsCMV) en cultivos de mandioca de Argentina, confirmada serológica, biológicamente y mediante microscopía electrónica. En este trabajo se estableció que, además de Nicotiana benthamiana y Chenopodium quinoa, el rango de hospedantes está integrado por N. occidentalis, que se infectó sistémicamente como la primera y por C. amaranticolor, C. murale y Gomphrena globosa, las cuales exhibieron lesiones locales cloróticas y luego necróticas al inocularlas mecánicamente. En N. glutinosa, N. rustica, N. tabacum cv Samsun, y Gossypium hirsutum no hubo transmisión de virus. El patógeno, anteriormente diagnosticado en mandioca y en las hospedantes infectadas mediante PTA-ELISA con el empleo de un suero específico anti-CsCMV proveniente de Brasil, en este trabajo fue detectado a través de DAS-ELISA, que incluyó reactivos provenientes del CIAT, Colombia. Empleando oligonucleótidos específicos, se implementaron técnicas moleculares (RT-PCR, clonado y secuenciación), que permitieron confirmar el diagnóstico serológico en plantas de mandioca del NE argentino. Fueron obtenidas secuencias de 650 pb que exhibieron 89% y 94,9% de identidad a nivel de nucleótidos y aminoácidos, respectivamente, con el aislamiento brasilero presente en la base de datos del GenBank (U23414.1). De esta manera, se completa la caracterización de CsCMV, primer virus de mandioca hallado en Argentina.Fil: Zanini, Andrea Alejandra. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Di Feo, Liliana del Valle. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Zanini, Andrea Alejandra. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Fisiología y Recursos Genéticos Vegetales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez-Pardina, Patricia Elsa. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentin

Contaminant source identification in groundwater by means of artificial neural network

In a desired environmental protection system, groundwater may not be excluded. In addition to the problem of over-exploitation, in total disagreement with the concept of sustainable development, another not negligible issue concerns the groundwater contamination. Mainly, this aspect is due to intensive agricultural activities or industrialized areas. In literature, several papers have dealt with transport problem, especially for inverse problems in which the release history or the source location are identified. The innovative aim of the paper is to develop a data-driven model that is able to analyze multiple scenarios, even strongly non-linear, in order to solve forward and inverse transport problems, preserving the reliability of the results and reducing the uncertainty. Furthermore, this tool has the characteristic of providing extremely fast responses, essential to identify remediation strategies immediately. The advantages produced by the model were compared with literature studies. In this regard, a feedforward artificial neural network, which has been trained to handle different cases, represents the data-driven model. Firstly, to identify the concentration of the pollutant at specific observation points in the study area (forward problem); secondly, to deal with inverse problems identifying the release history at known source location; then, in case of one contaminant source, identifying the release history and, at the same time, the location of the source in a specific sub-domain of the investigated area. At last, the observation error is investigated and estimated. The results are satisfactorily achieved, highlighting the capability of the ANN to deal with multiple scenarios by approximating nonlinear functions without the physical point of view that describes the phenomenon, providing reliable results, with very low computational burden and uncertainty.Comment: Published on Journal of Hydrolog

Il turismo automobilistico in Italia nel periodo fra le due guerre mondiali

This paper outlines the evolution of automobile tourism in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s, that is, before the so-called mass tourism. The small number of vehicles per inhabitant seems to indicate that this phenomenon had limited importance; however, the situation changes relevantly when considering international tourist flows. During this period, in fact, the number of foreigners travelling to Italy by car grew progressively, leading to an improvement of roads and facilities for motor tourists. Furthermore, to sustain this trend, during the 1930s the government adopted new measures to encourage foreigners to visit Italy by car, also seeking to raise the country’s competitiveness in the international tourist market

«Di pie fondazioni abbonda lo stato». L’assistenza nel dominio genovese a metà Settecento

Although historians have paid attention to the genesis and evolution of charitable organisations operating in the city of Genoa, little is known as concerns poor relief organisation outside the urban area. Thanks to a report prepared during the year 1743-44 by the Genoese government, we are now able to outline the structure and the organisation of poor relief system in the so-called "Dominio di Terraferma" (the mainland territory of the Republic of Genoa). These data allow us to demonstrate that while charitable organisations operating in the city capital were normally considered “modern” and “efficient”, the situation was profoundly different in the other part of the State, were financial means, and assistance activities was often inadequate to the needs of the population

«Di pie fondazioni abbonda lo stato». L’assistenza nel dominio genovese a metà Settecento

Although historians have paid attention to the genesis and evolution of charitable organisations operating in the city of Genoa, little is known as concerns poor relief organisation outside the urban area. Thanks to a report prepared during the year 1743-44 by the Genoese government, we are now able to outline the structure and the organisation of poor relief system in the so-called "Dominio di Terraferma" (the mainland territory of the Republic of Genoa). These data allow us to demonstrate that while charitable organisations operating in the city capital were normally considered “modern” and “efficient”, the situation was profoundly different in the other part of the State, were financial means, and assistance activities was often inadequate to the needs of the population

Fonti fiscali e stime patrimoniali. Gli ebrei di Genova nella prima metà del Settecento

This paper examines the problem of quantifying the wealth of the Jews of Genoa during the first half of the eighteenth-century, starting from unpublished sources compiled for tax purposes. Although the values recorded do not reflect the real consistency of wealth, but represent a rough estimate of the fiscal capacity, they offer a new picture of the social stratification of the Jewish community of the time, and allow us to identify its prominent members

La promozione turistica durante la Belle Époque: il caso della Riviera ligure

During the second half of the 19th century Liguria, the well-known Italian Riviera, emerged as a leading tourist region in Europe. Although its initial success depended on natural resources (a mild winter climate and a beautiful landscape), the progressive growth of international competition forced Liguria’s leading resorts to improve tourist facilities and to invest in advertising and communication. This paper analyses the strategies adopted and the role played by the different actors involved (hoteliers, nonprofit associations, municipalities, etc.) in building and disseminating a fascinating image in order to succeed in the international tourist market

Filantropia o controllo sociale? Le opere assistenziali di un feudatario del Settecento

This article examines the reasons which moved local landlords to provide charity to their subjects, and focuses on the case of Borgo Fornari, an imperial fief in the Scrivia Valley, not far from Genoa, where in 1736 the marquis Carlo Spinola decided to build a hospital for the sick. Thanks to several unpublished sources preserved in the Spinola’s family archive, it has been possible to examine the most important aspects concerning organisation and functioning of the hospital and to demonstrate that it was managed paying attention to combine the efficacy of treatments with cost-effectiveness criteria

Pratica degli affari e prescrizioni morali: interesse e sconto nei manuali di aritmetica mercantile (secoli XVI-XVIII)

Catholic Church’s usury restrictions and their effects on business life have long attracted scholars’ attention. Several essays reconstruct the evolution of usury doctrine and its relations with the diffusion of new contracts and financial techniques to enable the payment of interest. This paper aims to investigate the real influence of the Church’s precepts on financial transactions starting from a different observation point. The most important source used in this work is commercial arithmetic textbooks printed in Italy from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century and specifically devoted to businessmen. Although quite limited from a theoretical point of view, these books reflect coeval business practice. In particular, they contain several examples illustrating calculation techniques, including problems concerning interest and discount. Many authors try to give suggestions to their readers, as well as some ethical and moral advice, showing whether, in their opinion, a specific financial practice was licit or not. Therefore, these textbooks represent a useful source to shed light upon the influence of the Church’s usury precepts on the business world in the early modern age