Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 15

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. material 1

Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 7

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions of taxa in the genera Abies, Actinidia, Alooe, Amaryllis, Anredera, Arctotheca, Bidens, Cardiospermum, Celosia, Commelina, Cotoneaster, Cyclamen, Eclipta, Euphorbia, Grevillea, Hedera, Hibiscus, Impatiens, Juglans, Kalanchoe, Koelreuteria, Lindernia, Melinis, Myriophyllum, Nandina, Nicotiana, Oenothera, Oxalis, Parthenocissus, Phoenix, Phyllanthus, Physalis, Plumbago, Pteris, Quercus, Setaria, Symphytum, Tagetes, and Washingtonia. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1

Climate and cultural heritage: The case study of “real sito di carditello”

A monitoring campaign performed on the Real Site of Carditello (found in the commune of San Tammaro, province of Caserta, Italy) was aimed to evaluate the parameters related to air quality and then to control and prevent the degradation risk. The analyses were carried out in the context of the project “Innovative methods and technologies for the conservation, valorisation and use of cultural heritage: environmental and archaeological analyses”, within the CULTURA CREA-MIBAC program, which aims to provide innovative methods for conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage through environmental and archaeometric analyses. Preliminarily, using field equipment, non-destructive investigations were carried out to identify constituent, restoration, and/or degradation materials belonging to the wall paintings on the main floor and to assess their conservation state under the current environmental conditions. Environmental monitoring was performed both outdoor (to assess the effects of atmospheric pollution and changes in the climate of the structure) and indoor the rooms of the site (to evaluate the conditions of conservation and fruition). The collected data are reported in a web platform, where one can check the real time monitoring data. The platform integrates both environmental data and information regarding the "health status" of site in order to provide a detailed analysis useful for its protection

"New Energy" for telecommunications power systems

The considerable problems deriving from the growth of energetic consumptions and from the relevant environmental "emergency" due to the emissions of greenhouse gases, push people to find out new solutions and new technologies for the production of primary energy fit for fulfilling the pressing and growing energetic demands. This is also true in the telecommunication applications, which has seen, in the last years, a remarkable increase in the number of installations present on the whole national territory - sometimes located in hardly reachable areas - and the relevant growth of energetic consumptions. The aim of this work is to optimize energetic consumptions for a radio-telecommunication apparatus, through the combination of different interventions, even more advantageous and efficient from the economical and environmental point of view. The work will explore the possibility of interventions which would use both the renewable energetic sources (e.g.: photovoltaic cells) and strategies in energetic saving and interventions for reducing emissions. This study will evaluate, from a technical and economical point of view, the feasibility of some solutions , by: Energetic auditing for a radio-telecommunication station in different functionality contexts (urban and rural areas, different periods in the year, different running charges, etc.); Verification - even through specific field measurements - of environmental emissions deriving from radio-telecommunications systems; Analyses in the interventions of efficiency and energetic saving (optimization of air conditioning consumptions, efficiency in the temperature control system, etc.); Evaluation and development of interventions and technical solutions based on the production of a part of the power energy used by radio-telecommunication apparatus, through the use of photovoltaic cells on the same infrastructures; Analyses of possible uses of further renewable sources (e.g. wind micro turbines or new alternative power based on fuel cells) generating energy usable from telecommunications power systems located in some parts of the territory not reached by the electricity net; Analyses of the social and environmental advantages in the introduction of technologies based on renewable sources for covering a part of the energetic radio-telecommunication installations' requirements. Environmental monitoring of the sites where prototypal solutions will be installed for comparing the conditions before and after the intervention. The proposing party of the project is the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Second University of Naples (DSA-SUN) in collaboration with the National Agency for the Environment Protection (APAT) and it foresees the participation of providers of mobile communications and technological partners, which, thanks to their experience in the mobile phone communications, are able to test the prototypical solutions deriving from the results of the studies carried out by the laboratories and structures of the DSA-SUN and APAT, and can also make some urban and rural sites available for testing the several proposed solutions. © 2007 IEEE

Telecommunication power systems: energy saving, renewable sources and environmental monitoring

Aim of the paper is to study the energetic consumptions for a radio-telecommunication apparatus starting from on-site measurements provided by the Italian companies of mobile communications systems (Vodafone, H3G, Telecom and Wind), which take into account different technologies (GSM, UMTS, DCS+GSM+UMTS), different typologies of apparatuses (outdoor, room, shelter), different locations (North, Center, South of Italy) and different working loads. The results presented are from the research project "Telecommunication power systems: energy saving, renewable sources and environmental monitoring", between the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Second University of Naples (DSA-SUN) and the National Agency for the Environment Protection (APAT) with the participation of providers of mobile communications and technological partners. According to the APAT database (year 2007), in Italy there are more than 60.000 radio base stations. We show that they have a huge energetic consumptions: more than 2 TWh per year, that represents 0,7% of the Italian electricity consumption. Furthermore, we have shown that the energetic consumption connected to the transmission functions to one related to air-conditioning functions represents 2/3 are 1/3 of total energy consumption, respectively. Finally, we show on site-application of renewable energy system to produce a part of the energy used by radio-telecommunication apparatus, realized in collaboration with Vodafone provider: for the first time in Italy a photovoltaic system has been planned and installed in two different Italian sites. For both sites the procedures to obtain economic incentives from Italian government ("Conto Energia") has been completed. ©2008 IEEE

Simulation analysis and test study of BTS power saving techniques

Here we present a recent study done for power saving in the telecommunication apparatuses of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs). Experimental test of a "power saving function" has been realized. Moreover a simulation "Montecarlo Algorithm" has been developed. Savings for the BTS transmission consumption has been estimated in about 20%

The Tomb of the Diver and the frescoed tombs in Paestum (southern Italy): New insights from a comparative archaeometric study

The Tomb of the Diver has been subject for many decades of fierce debate among archaeologists and classicists. Since its discovery in 1968, some scholars have considered it a unique example of the lost tradition of Greek painting, others have emphasized Etruscan or Italic parallels. More recently, a possible local production has been suggested. With the aim of trying to solve the archaeological question, an archaeometric comparison among this well-known artwork and several frescoed tombs coming from Hellenistic and Lucan necropolis was carried out. The multi-analytical study was focused on the identification of peculiar features of executive techniques and raw materials since the first period of the archaeological site. The analytical investigation has been preliminary based on a non-destructive approach, performed in-situ by portable equipment including imaging diagnostics and compositional spectroscopic techniques for identifying pigments and the conservation state of original painted surface; subsequently, a further deepening by using destructive techniques was performed in-lab for the mortar-based supports characterization. Archaeometric study suggested that technological choices slightly changed in a time span of about two centuries, highlighting important markers that allow clustering the contemporary artistic productions. Moreover, a comparison with mortars from temples decorations was provided to better understand the whole artistic context. The archaeometric data showed that the Tomb of the Diver could be traced back to a local artisanal tradition and therefore is neither Etruscan nor Greek, but the first and foremost an expression of the local elite culture of Paestum