Soil quality of a degraded urban area

Human activities cause modifications of the soil characteristics, leading to a significant reduction of the soil fertil- ity and quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between microbial activity or biomass and chemical char- acteristics (i.e. heavy metal and organic matter contents) of a degraded urban soil. The study area is located in an urban park (about 10 ha, called Quarantena) near to the Fusaro Lake of Campi Fle- grei (Southern Italy); the Park was established in 1953 to shelter animals coming from any place of the Planet and execute veterinary checks before their delivery to different European zoos. In 1997, the park was abandoned and nowadays in it a large amount of urban wastes accumulates. Surface soils (0-10 cm) were sampled at three points: two of them covered by Holm Oak specimens (P1 and P2) and one covered by herbaceous species, particularly legumes (P3). P1 was localized at the border of the park and next to a busy road; P2 at the centre of the Quarantena Park; P3 at a gap area near the Fusaro Lake. The results showed that the soil sampled at P1 showed the highest Cr and Ni concentrations; the soil sampled at P3 had high levels of Cu and Pb, exceeding the threshold values of 100 μg g-1 d.w. fixed by the Italian law for urban soils, probably due to boat traffic, fishing practice and agricultural activities; the soil sampled at P2 had interme- diate values of metal concentrations but the highest amount of organic matter (more than 20% d.w.). Despite of metal contamination, P1 and P3 showed higher soil microbial biomass and activity as compared to P2. Therefore, at this site, the organic matter accumulation could be due to the scarce litter degradation. In conclusion, although the studied area was not too large, a wide heterogeneity of soil quality (in terms of the investigated chemical and biological characteristics) was detected, depending on the local human impact

Studi demografici e genetici su specie vegetali di interesse per la conservazione in Sardegna

Il Bacino del Mediterraneo è uno degli hotspots di biodiversità a livello globale (Myers et al., 2000), infatti risulta terzo al mondo per l’abbondante presenza di piante endemiche (circa 13.000 specie esclusive che corrispondono al 4,3% di tutte le piante del mondo). All’interno dell’area mediterranea sono state individuate 10 aree cruciali per la conservazione e gestione della biodiversità (Médail, Quézel, 1999), hotspots che rappresentano il 22% (circa 515.000 Km2) della superficie totale dell’area mediterranea, includono circa 5.500 entità endemiche e presentano una ricchezza floristica superiore a 2.000 specie/15.000 Km2 (Médail, Quézel, 1999). In questo ambito il Dipartimento di Botanica ed Ecologia vegetale dell’Università degli Studi di Sassari ha intrapreso studi di tipo demografico e genetico sulla dinamica e vitalità delle popolazioni di entità incluse nell’All. II della Direttiva Habitat o che identificano habitat comunitari ai sensi dell’All. I della stessa Direttiva, finalizzati alla loro conservazione. In questa sede si riportano dati preliminari su Centaurea horrida Badarò (Pisanu, Filigheddu, 2005; Mameli et al., 2006), Anchusa crispa Viv. ed entità congeneriche (Farris et al., 2006) e Taxus baccata L. (Farris, Filigheddu, 2005)

The Archaeo-Term Project: Multilingual Terminology in Archaeology

In this paper, we present the Archaeo-Term Project, along with one of its first efforts in enhancing multilingual access to Archaeological data, making available a resource of Archaeological terms within the framework of YourTerm CULT project. In order to enhance and promote the use of a terminological common ground across different languages the Archaeo-Term multilingual Glossary is intended both for scholars, experts in the field, translators and the general public. Its first release contains terms in Italian, English, German, Spanish and Dutch together with PoS, definitions and other linguistic information. This paper presents the data and the methodology adopted to create the glossary as well as the evaluation of the first results

From Linguistic Resources to Ontology-Aware Terminologies: Minding the Representation Gap

Terminological resources have proven crucial in many applications ranging from Computer-Aided Translation tools to authoring software and multilingual and cross-lingual information retrieval systems. Nonetheless, with the exception of a few felicitous examples, such as the IATE (Interactive Terminology for Europe) Termbank, many terminological resources are not available in standard formats, such as Term Base eXchange (TBX), thus preventing their sharing and reuse. Yet, these terminologies could be improved associating the correspondent ontology-based information. The research described in the present contribution demonstrates the process and the methodologies adopted in the automatic conversion into TBX of such type of resources, together with their semantic enrichment based on the formalization of ontological information into terminologies. We present a proof-of-concept using the Italian Linguistic Resource for the Archaeological domain (developed according to Thesauri and Guidelines of the Italian Central Institute for the Catalogue and Documentation). Further, we introduce the conversion tool developed to support the process of creating ontology-aware terminologies for improving interoperability and sharing of existing language technologies and data set

DIAGNOSING CLEFT LIP PATHOLOGY IN 3D ULTRASOUND: A LANDMARKING-BASED APPROACH

The aim of this work is to automatically diagnose and formalize prenatal cleft lip with representative key points and identify the type of defect (unilateral, bilateral, right, or left) in three-dimensional ultrasonography (3D US). Geometry has been used as a framework for describing facial shapes and curvatures. Then, descriptors coming from this field are employed for identifying the typical key points of the defect and its dimensions. The descriptive accuracy of these descriptors has allowed us to automatically extract reference points, quantitative distances, labial profiles, and to provide information about facial asymmetry. Eighteen foetal faces, ten of healthy foetuses and eight with different types of cleft lips, have been obtained through a Voluson system and used for testing the algorithm. Cleft lip has been diagnosed and correctly characterized in all cases. Transverse and cranio-caudal length of the cleft have been computed and upper lip profile has been automatically extract to have a visual quantification of the overall labial defect. The asymmetry information obtained is consistent with the defect. This algorithm has been designed to support practitioners in identifying and classifying cleft lips. The gained results have shown that geometry might be a proper tool for describing faces and for diagnosis

Soil Biological Responses under Different Vegetation Types in Mediterranean Area

The knowledge of the effects of fire on soil properties is of particular concern in Mediterranean areas, where the effects of vegetation type are still scarce also. This research aimed: to assess the properties of burnt soils under different vegetation types; to highlight the soil abiotic properties driving the soil microbial biomass and activity under each vegetation type; to compare the biological response in unburnt and burnt soils under the same vegetation type, and between unburnt and burnt soils under different vegetation types. The soils were collected at a Mediterranean area where a large wildfire caused a 50% loss of the previous vegetation types (holm oak: HO, pine: P, black locust: BL, and herbs: H), and were characterized by abiotic (pH, water, and organic matter contents; N concentrations; and C/N ratios) and biotic (microbial and fungal biomasses, microbial respiration, soil metabolic quotient, and hydrolase and dehydrogenase activities) properties. The biological response was evaluated by the Integrative Biological Responses (IBR) index. Before the fire, organic matter and N contents were significantly higher in P than H soils. After the fire, significant increases of pH, organic matter, C/N ratio, microbial biomass and respiration, and hydrolase and dehydrogenase activities were observed in all the soils, especially under HO. In conclusion, the post-fire soil conditions were less favorable for microorganisms, as the IBR index decreased when compared to the pre-fire conditions

Effects of different vegetation types on burnt soil properties and microbial communities

The intensive wildfires recurring in the Mediterranean area modify soil physico-chemical properties, in turn inducing changes in soil microbial abundance and activity. Soils were sampled from burnt and adjacent unburnt sites within Vesuvius National Park 1 year after a large wildfire occurred in summer 2017. The aims of the present study were to evaluate the effects of fires on soil characteristics and to investigate whether different plant types contribute to mitigating or enhancing these effects. The results showed lower organic matter and water content and a higher C/N ratio in burnt than in unburnt soils. In particular, this trend was the same for all the plant types investigated, with the exception of soils covered by black locust tree and holm oak, which showed a higher C/N ratio in unburnt than in burnt soils. In soils covered by holm oaks, a shift in the bacterial and fungal fractions occurred between burnt and unburnt soils, whereas the amount of ammonia oxidisers was notably higher in burnt than in unburnt soils covered by black locusts; the highest N concentration was also measured in burnt soils covered by black locusts. The burnt soils showed a lower metabolic quotient and a higher rate of organic carbon mineralisation compared with unburnt soils, and this trend was particularly evident in soils under herbaceous plants. The findings suggest that soils covered by herbaceous species are more sensitive to fire effects and less able to restore their functionality compared with soils covered by trees