Biology, damage and control of the edible dormouse (Glis glis L.) in central Italy

The remarkable increase in the number of colonies of edible dormouse (Glis glis L.) registered in the litoranean industrial cultivations of Pinus pinea L. in northern Tuscany over the last ten years and the grave damage to the production of pine-seeds consequent on it has created the necessity of studying systems which may reduce the dormouse menace. Going on what has previously been discovered about the habits of the species in this particular habitat, three different methods of control were experimented: direct capture in their nests, which were in this case cavities in the tree trunks which woodpeckers' activities had made accessible to the dormice; capture by means of specially built artificial nests; distribution of bait composed of pine seeds poisoned with chlorophacinone. All three systems - the first two of which can be conveniently used together - are worth further investigation and experiment, considering their results, to examine their individual advantages

Perception of poverty .Individual, household and social enviromental determinants

People’s perception of their own well-being depends on, among other factors, the household level of income and wealth, the respondent’s socio-economic characteristics (sex, age, employment status, etc..) and social capital endowment of household place of residence (Sen A., 1985, The Standard of Living. The Tanner Lectures, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). However, limited attention has been dedicated to understanding to what extent people’s perception of their own well-being is influenced by social capital endowment of household place of residence. Interest in this type of problem arises from the need to highlight to what extent subjective perception of well-being depends on individual and family socio-economic conditions and to what extent it depends on the characteristics of the local context of where the family lives. Such evidence would help the central and local authorities and economic operators to choose the appropriate socio-economic measures in order to improve household living conditions. Hence, this research aims to answer the following questions: i) To what extent subjective well-being is affected by respondent's socio-economic characteristics, by household economic conditions and by social capital endowment of household place of residence? ii) Which of the social capital components (Social Behaviour, Social Relationships, Social Engagement, Civic Responsibility, Territorial Characteristics) has a higher impact on subjective well-being and can be regarded as primary risk factor of family poverty status? In order to purse this aim , the ordered probit model will be used to analyse answers to the following question taken from the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) of the Bank of Italy Considering your monthly disposable income, is your household able to make ends meet: (1) with great difficulty, (2) with difficulty, (3) with some difficulty, (4) without difficulty, (5) with ease, (6) with great ease? The explanatory variables x are grouped as following: 1. Respondent’s socio-economic characteristics; 2. Household socio-economic characteristics; 3. Social capital endowment of household place of residence. and we adopt the definition of social capital suggested by the World Bank Social Capital Initiative research group “The social capital […] includes the institutions, the relationships, the attitudes and values that govern interactions among people and contribute to economic and social development “ . ( See Grootaert, C. and van Bastelaer, T., 2002, Social capital from definition to measurement, in Grootaert, C. and van Bastelaer, T. (Eds.): Understanding and Measuring Social Capital. A Multidisciplinary Tool for Practitioners, The World Bank, Washington DC. and for measurement issues Santini I., 2008, Social capital and its impact on the production process, Int. J. Management and Decision Making, Vol. 9, n.5.) The model will be applied to the 2006 Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) of the Bank of Italy. The same model will be applied to previous Surveys on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) of the Bank of Italy in order to highlight possible changes in the determinants of subjective well-being

The habits and influence on the environment of the old world porcupine Hystrix cristata L. in the nothernmost part of its range

The crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata L.) has been shown to have considerably increased in numbers and to have occupied new territories in Tuscany, which is the northernmost part of its range. New data on its ecology and biology, and the negative effects of an excessive density of these rodents on the rural and natural environment are reported. Since this species is protected by law in Italy, because of its high value from the faunistic point of view, some possible techniques, to be improved upon, for the capture and redistribution of live specimens are discussed

Quantum cosmology and the accelerated Universe

The quantized Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) model minimally coupled to a free massless scalar field is studied and interpreted in the Bohm-de Broglie framework. We analyze the quantum bohmian trajectories corresponding to a certain class of gaussian packets, solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. We show that these bohmian trajectories undergo an accelerated expansion in the middle of its evolution due to the presence of quantum cosmological effects in this period. It is shown that the luminosity-redshift relation in the quantum cosmological model can be made close to the corresponding relation coming from the classical model suplemented by a cosmological constant, for $z<1$. In this way we have the posibility of interpreting the present observations of high redshift supernovae as the consequence of a quantum cosmological effect.Comment: Talk given at X Marcell Grossmann Meeting, Rio de Janeiro, 2003. Added references and some minor typos correction

Agriculture and forest rodent problems and control in Italy

Rodent pest problems and their control in Italy are reviewed. Two rats, Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus, and the field mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, are often important pests both in rural and forestry areas. Other species, such as voles, Microtus arvalis and Microtus (Pitymys) savii, in orchards and in horticulture, and Sciurus vulgaris and Myoxus (Glis) glis in forestry, sometimes represent serious problems. For each species the kind of damage and control is recorded, and additional considerations are supplied to the public and private organizations responsible for rodent control