A typology of marine and estuarine hazards and risks as vectors of change : a review for vulnerable coasts and their management

This paper illustrates a typology of 14 natural and anthropogenic hazards, the evidence for their causes and consequences for society and their role as vectors of change in estuaries, vulnerable coasts and marine areas. It uses hazard as the potential that there will be damage to the natural or human system and so is the product of an event which could occur and the probability of it occurring whereas the degree of risk then relates to the amount of assets, natural or societal, which may be affected. We give long- and short-term and large- and small-scale perspectives showing that the hazards leading to disasters for society will include flooding, erosion and tsunamis. Global examples include the effects of wetland loss and the exacerbation of problems by building on vulnerable coasts. Hence we emphasise the importance of considering hazard and risk on such coasts and consider the tools for assessing and managing the impacts of risk and hazard. These allow policy-makers to determine the consequences for natural and human systems. We separate locally-derived problems from large-scale effects (e.g. climate change, sea-level rise and isostatic rebound); we emphasise that the latter unmanaged exogenic pressures require a response to the consequences rather than the causes whereas within a management area there are endogenic managed pressures in which we address both to causes and consequences. The problems are put into context by assessing hazards and the conflicts between different uses and users and hence the management responses needed. We emphasise that integrated and sustainable management of the hazards and risk requires 10-tenets to be fulfilled

Religious Rites and Ceremonies as the Expression of Local Identity and an Opportunity for Local Development: the case of the “Fòcara” di Sant’Antonio Abate” in Novoli (the bonfire of St Anthony Abbot) in a small town in the Salento Peninsula in Southern Italy

Religious ceremonies play an important role when understood as an opportunity for improving the image of a city, improving the socio-economic situation and promoting regional development. These are the objectives of the local administration in Novoli, a small town in the Salento peninsula in Puglia, south-eastern Italy. The most important religious, social and tourist event of the year in Novoli is the feast of Saint Anthony Abbot, which falls on the 17th of January. The festivities continue for many days and include religious rites, street lights, exhibitions, food stands, popular music and brass band concerts, markets and conferences. There are numerous attractions not only for pilgrims and those devoted to the saint, but also for lovers of folklore and the simply curious. There is a wine fair, a market and the museum of contemporary art, as well as conferences and meetings of various kinds. The event that sees the greatest involvement of the local community is the building of the monumental bonfire known as the fòcara, made up mainly of vine branches, which is set alight the evening before the day of the saint. In the afternoon before the lighting of the fire, after mass, the statue of the saint is carried in procession through the streets of the town. In the evening the pyre is lit by setting off batteries of fireworks that run up the sides of the bonfire to the top, with spectacular effects. The other key location during the festivities is the sanctuary of the saint, which sees a constant flow of worshippers and pilgrims. This study seeks to analyse the event of the Fòcara of Sant’Antonio in Novoli, the biggest bonfire in the Mediterranean, attracting more than 150,000 spectators a year. Making extensive use of mass media, the event involves a substantial commitment in terms of finance and human resources. Although this is clearly necessary for the promotion of local identity, in terms of the hoped-for increase in tourism and the development of a marginal rural area in the Italian Mezzogiorno, the results have been poor

Cultural Tourism and Historical Routes.The Way of St Peter from Jerusalem to Rome. Turismo cultural y rutas históricas. El Camino de San Pedro de Jerusalén a Roma

This paper focuses on cultural itineraries as a new category of heritage, a specific product for the promotion of cultural tourism in inland regions and a tool for defending small settlements from depopulation. The study describes the main characteristics of cultural itineraries, considering the factors that influence their creation and the strategies to adopt in order for them to realistically have a future and generate sustainable tourism in the regions through which the routes pass. In order for a cultural itinerary to be successful it is clearly indispensable to highlight the meaning of the ancient road but it is also necessary to identify the importance that it has today and can have in the future. Following the path taken by St Peter the Apostle towards Rome, this paper reconstructs stretches of that ancient itinerary, which has been historically and geographically documented. It proposes to highlight the value of a journey that undoubtedly appeals to those who are full of intellectual enthusiasm but appears to have little relevance for the faithful. Indeed, the latter have always been primarily interested in the journey’s final destination, i.e. the great devotional route inside the Eternal City. Conferring importance on the Way of St Peter from Jerusalem to Rome would certainly help promote the inland areas of southern Italy that conserve traces of the saint’s presence. However, it would also perhaps succeed in restoring pride and confidence in this important ancient cultural presence to the Mare Nostrum and in recognising the Way’s key role in initiating intercultural dialogue and cooperation between Europe and the Mediterranean countries

Dynamics of perinatal bovine leukemia virus infection

BACKGROUND: Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is highly endemic in many countries, including Argentina. As prevention of the spread from infected animals is of primary importance in breaking the cycle of BLV transmission, it is important to know the pathophysiology of BLV infection in young animals, as they are the main source of animal movement. In this work, we determined the proviral load and antibody titers of infected newborn calves from birth to first parturition (36 months). RESULTS: All calves under study were born to infected dams with high proviral load (PVL) in blood and high antibody titers and detectable provirus in the colostrum. The PVL for five out of seven calves was low at birth. All animals reached PVLs of more than 1% infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), three at 3 months, one at 6 months, and one at 12 months. High PVLs persisted until the end of the study, and, in two animals, exceeded one BLV copy per cell. Two other calves maintained a high PVL from birth until the end of the study. Antibody titers were 32 or higher in the first sample from six out of seven calves. These decayed at 3–6 months to 16 or lower, and then increased again after this point. CONCLUSIONS: Calves infected during the first week of life could play an active role in early propagation of BLV to susceptible animals, since their PVL raised up during the first 12 months and persist as high for years. Early elimination could help to prevent transmission to young susceptible animals and to their own offspring. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the kinetics of BLV proviral load and antibody titers in newborn infected calves.Fil: Gutiérrez, Gerónimo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Irene. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Merlini, Ramiro. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; ArgentinaFil: Rondelli, Flavia. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Trono, Karina Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Analyse des enjeux et des impacts macroéconomiques du label "swiss-made" dans le cadre du projet législatif "swissness"

Qui aurait pensé lors de sa création en 1291 que ce petit pays, n’ayant ni accès à la mer ni aux matières premières, puisse un jour avoir un rôle important à jouer dans les échanges commerciaux internationaux ? À vrai dire pas grand monde. C’est peut-être ce qui en fait sa force aujourd’hui. Avoir su avancer avec les contraintes qui étaient les siennes, avoir su se rendre indispensable dans des domaines dans lesquels ses voisins européens n’y arrivaient pas… La Suisse, un pays sans matière première certes, mais plein de ressources. Aujourd’hui, la Suisse possède des domaines d’activités dans lesquels elle excelle et de ce fait, a une place importante dans les échanges commerciaux aussi bien européens que mondiaux. Avec la qualité de sa main d’oeuvre, sa précision, son savoir-faire et sa réelle philosophie du travail, la Suisse véhicule un certain nombre de valeurs qui en font sa force à travers notamment le très convoité label «Swiss-made». Le «Swiss-made» a fait l’objet d’une révision législative appelée « Projet législatif Swissness », afin de protéger le label des utilisations abusives en rendant les critères d’utilisations plus strictes. Quels sont ces nouveaux critères ? Quels seront les enjeux et les impacts de cette décision sur nos industries d’exportations ? Cette révision estelle cohérente face aux attentes du marché ? Qui sont les nouveaux défenseurs du «Swiss-made» ? Ces preneurs de décisions partagent-ils les mêmes objectifs que ceux des entrepreneurs suisses ? Voilà les principales questions auxquelles je vais tenter de répondre tout au long de mon Travail de Bachelor. Si j’ai choisi de traiter le sujet du «Swiss-made», c’est que je voulais avant tout travailler sur un sujet d’actualité. De plus, ayant suivi avec attention l’avancée du projet législatif Swissness, il m’a paru évident de traiter les enjeux et les impacts du «Swiss-made» sur les trois principaux pôles des exportations suisses. J’ai donc décidé de me focaliser sur l’industrie chimique et pharmaceutique, sur celle des machines, des appareils et de l’électronique ainsi que sur celle des instruments de précision, d’horlogerie et de bijouterie

The efficacy of ELISA commercial kits for the screening of equineinfectious anemia virus infection

El mejor indicador de la infección por el virus de la anemia infecciosa equina (Equine infectious anemia virus, EIAV) es la detección de anticuerpos específicos en el suero del caballo. En el presente trabajo se evaluó la capacidad de detección de anticuerpos contra EIAV de dos equipos de ELISA comerciales utilizando 302 muestras de suero equino, así como las ventajas potenciales de su uso como herramientas de screening. Ambos ensayos de ELISA presentaron 100 % de sensibilidad diagnóstica y una especificidad diagnóstica del orden de 92,3 a 94,3 %. Las muestras discordantes fueron analizadas por inmunoblot. Los resultados mostraron que las dos pruebas ELISA son muy eficientes para detectar animales infectados por EIAV, al permitir identificar un mayor número de animales positivos que la prueba de inmunodifusión en gel de agar, oficialmente aprobada en la República Argentina para la certificación de los animales. Las pruebas de ELISA constituyen herramientas muy útiles en los programas de control y de erradicación de la infección por EIAV.The most used and reliable indicator of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) infec-tion is the detection of its specific antibodies in horse serum. In the present study, theperformance of two commercial ELISA tests for the detection of EIAV antibodies as well asthe potential advantages of their use as an EIAV infection screening tool were evaluated in 302horse serum samples. Both ELISA assays showed 100% diagnostic sensitivity, and 92.3-94.3%diagnostic specificity. Discordant results were analyzed by immunoblot. The results showedthat both ELISA tests are very efficient at detecting EIAV infected animals, allowing to identifya higher number of positive horse cases. Thus, ELISA assays can be useful tools in EIA controland eradication.Fil: Alvarez, Irene. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Cipolini Galarza, Fabiana. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Wigdorovitz, Andrés. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; ArgentinaFil: Trono, Karina Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; ArgentinaFil: Barrandeguy, María Edith. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Universidad del Salvador. Escuela de Veterinaria; Argentin

The Pilgrimage to The San Nicola Shrine in Bari and its Impact

Pilgrimage is defined as a journey to the Holy but more specifically as an inner journey to one’s deepest religious feelings. This type of journey has assumed new forms and types that bring it closer to modern tourism in general, though it maintains its distinctive characteristics, which will be the object of this paper. These changes in the nature of pilgrimage, which in part reflect the parallel socio-cultural transformation of the average visitor, have brought about a major reorganisation of the places involved and have had a significant socio-economic impact on the territories involved. The concentration of visitors and in some cases the presence of various categories of visit have led to structural changes in holy places and their surroundings. These changes, which arise from the need to meet the requirements of travellers as consumers, in turn have social and environmental impacts on the surrounding area that are similar to those caused by mass tourism. The most evident types of impact are structural, resulting from the creation or expansion of hotel and catering infrastructure and the start-up of new businesses such as travel agencies, specialised tour operators, shops selling religious souvenirs and establishments providing entertainment. All this alters the physiognomy and the layout of the towns where the religious sites are located, in some cases completely transforming the economy of the location and the use of land. The aim of this research is to study pilgrimage flows associated with the cult of Saint Nicholas (San Nicola) in Bari, specifically concerning the pilgrimage\u27s main characteristics and the most significant impacts on the district. The study follows a mixed approach that includes participant observation, use of archival documents and empirical evaluation of the material landscape and observed practices.[1