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Sample records for largest italian subalpine

  1. Evaluation of several priority pollutants in zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the largest Italian subalpine lakes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riva, Consuelo; Binelli, Andrea; Provini, Alfredo

    2008-01-01

    Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has been used for the biomonitoring of several POPs (PCBs, DDTs, HCB and HCHs) in the largest Italian subalpine great lakes (Lake Maggiore, Garda, Como, Iseo and Lugano). Samplings were carried out in April 2003 at 15 locations selected according to industrial and anthropic levels of lakes. Results have pointed out high DDT levels in D. polymorpha specimens from Lake Maggiore (700-1400 ng/g lipids, 5-9 times higher than those measured in mussels of other Italian lakes), due to a contamination from a chemical plant located on one of the main lake inlet that occurred in 1996. On the contrary, PCB levels (400-2509 ng/g lipids) highlighted an overall pollution, with some sporadic peaks of contamination. Data showed a moderate increase trend compared to those found in a previous monitoring campaign carried out in 1996. Future monitoring is needed in order to confirm this tendency. - Significant levels of DDTs and PCBs are still present in the Italian subalpine great lakes

  2. Evaluation of several priority pollutants in zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the largest Italian subalpine lakes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Riva, Consuelo [Department of Biology, Ecology Section, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan (Italy)], E-mail: consuelo.riva@unimi.it; Binelli, Andrea; Provini, Alfredo [Department of Biology, Ecology Section, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan (Italy)

    2008-02-15

    Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has been used for the biomonitoring of several POPs (PCBs, DDTs, HCB and HCHs) in the largest Italian subalpine great lakes (Lake Maggiore, Garda, Como, Iseo and Lugano). Samplings were carried out in April 2003 at 15 locations selected according to industrial and anthropic levels of lakes. Results have pointed out high DDT levels in D. polymorpha specimens from Lake Maggiore (700-1400 ng/g lipids, 5-9 times higher than those measured in mussels of other Italian lakes), due to a contamination from a chemical plant located on one of the main lake inlet that occurred in 1996. On the contrary, PCB levels (400-2509 ng/g lipids) highlighted an overall pollution, with some sporadic peaks of contamination. Data showed a moderate increase trend compared to those found in a previous monitoring campaign carried out in 1996. Future monitoring is needed in order to confirm this tendency. - Significant levels of DDTs and PCBs are still present in the Italian subalpine great lakes.

  3. Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of Italian Subalpine Lakes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sighicelli, Maria; Pietrelli, Loris; Lecce, Francesca; Iannilli, Valentina; Falconieri, Mauro; Coscia, Lucia; Di Vito, Stefania; Nuglio, Simone; Zampetti, Giorgio

    2018-05-01

    Plastic debris incidence in marine environment was already highlighted in the early 1970s. Over the last decade, microplastic pollution in the environment has received increasing attention and is now an emerging research area. Many studies have focused on quantifying microplastic abundance in the marine environment, while there are relatively few data on microplastic occurrence in freshwater environment. Recent studies have reported high concentrations of microplastics in lakes and rivers, although the understanding of several factors influencing source, transport and fate is still limited. This study compares different lakes and the common factors, which could influence the occurrence and distribution of microplastics. The three subalpine lakes monitored include Lake Maggiore, Iseo and Garda. The selected sampling transects reflect the hydrologic conditions, the morphometric characteristics of these lakes, and other factors influencing the release of plastics debris in lakes. Particles of microplastics (plastic particles. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Moisture availability limits subalpine tree establishment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrus, Robert A; Harvey, Brian J; Rodman, Kyle C; Hart, Sarah J; Veblen, Thomas T

    2018-03-01

    In the absence of broad-scale disturbance, many temperate coniferous forests experience successful seedling establishment only when abundant seed production coincides with favorable climate. Identifying the frequency of past establishment events and the climate conditions favorable for seedling establishment is essential to understanding how climate warming could affect the frequency of future tree establishment events and therefore future forest composition or even persistence of a forest cover. In the southern Rocky Mountains, USA, research on the sensitivity of establishment of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)-two widely distributed, co-occurring conifers in North America-to climate variability has focused on the alpine treeline ecotone, leaving uncertainty about the sensitivity of these species across much of their elevation distribution. We compared annual germination dates for >450 Engelmann spruce and >500 subalpine fir seedlings collected across a complex topographic-moisture gradient to climate variability in the Colorado Front Range. We found that Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir established episodically with strong synchrony in establishment events across the study area. Broad-scale establishment events occurred in years of high soil moisture availability, which were characterized by above-average snowpack and/or cool and wet summer climatic conditions. In the recent half of the study period (1975-2010), a decrease in the number of fir and spruce establishment events across their distribution coincided with declining snowpack and a multi-decadal trend of rising summer temperature and increasing moisture deficits. Counter to expected and observed increases in tree establishment with climate warming in maritime subalpine forests, our results show that recruitment declines will likely occur across the core of moisture-limited subalpine tree ranges as warming drives increased moisture deficits. © 2018 by the

  5. Susceptible conditions for debarking by deer in subalpine coniferous forests in central Japan

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    Hayato Iijima

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Recently, deer have expanded their distribution to higher altitude ranges including subalpine forests. However, culling deer and construction of deer fence in subalpine forests are difficult because of steep slopes and complex topography. Thus it is necessary to clarify the factors which are associated with debarking by deer for the effective protection of subalpine forests. In this study, we examined which factors are associated with debarking by sika deer (Cervus nippon in subalpine coniferous forests. Methods: We conducted our survey in Minami-Alps National Park, central Japan. We established 24 10 m× 40 m plots and surveyed the occurrence of debarking on saplings >30 cm in height and 3 cm in DBH, as well as sapling density within each plot. Minimum distances to nearest grassland of plots were calculated (tentatively assuming grassland would attract deer and would cause high debarking pressure in the surrounding subalpine forests. Results: The mean percentage of debarked live saplings was higher than that of live trees. The mean percentage of debarked saplings which had already died was 81.6 %. Debarking of saplings increased with lower elevation, taller sapling size, and marginally increased near grassland. Sapling density was lower in plots with low basal area of conspecific trees near grassland and differed among species. Sapling density marginally decreased with decreasing elevation and increasing stand tree density. Debarking of trees was positively related to small DBH and low elevation, and marginally increased near grassland and differed among species. Conclusions: Our results suggest that tall saplings in subalpine forests of low elevation or near subalpine grassland were susceptible to debarking by deer and monitoring of these areas may permit the early detection of the impacts of deer in subalpine coniferous forests. Keywords: Abies, Cervus nippon, Debarking, Grassland, Picea, Sapling density, Subalpine region

  6. Visit of the Italian President

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    "CERN stands as the demonstration of the great results that science can achieve [...] when it succeeds in getting all the main players in international scientific cooperation involved," stated the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, in front of an overcrowded and enthusiastic Main Auditorium. The President visited CERN on 2nd December, and met the CERN directorate as well as the Italians at CERN. With about 1500 Italians working at CERN, which is one sixth of the total personnel, they are the second largest nationality at CERN. The Italian President visited the CMS assembly hall and the LHC superconducting magnet test hall before meeting the CERN community, in particular Italian personnel, in the main auditorium. There he emphasised the role of CERN as a transnational model for research which not only achieved great results in science but is also a powerful vehicle for progress in other fields. President Ciampi visits the LHC superconducting test hall together with Luciano Maiani and Lu...

  7. Response of Subalpine Saplings to Different Drought Stress

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    Adriana V. Ivanova

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The expectations for increasing periods of drought are becoming larger according to numerous authors. The susceptibility of subalpine tree species to drought provoke our interest to try to understand what will be their reaction to this natural climate change. For this purpose it is set experiment to determine the reaction of drought to 4 subalpine species – Norway spruce (Picea abies L., Mountain pine (Pinus mugo Turra, Macedonian pine (Pinus peuce Grisebach and Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii H . Christ. Different requirements are observed to imitate field conditions as close as possible. The saplings are taken from terrain with no disturbed soil substrate. The plants were placed in a 15 l container and at the beginning of the vegetation were situated in a specially built greenhouse. Precipitation regime is controlled by the irrigation system. The indicators for precipitation levels (for a drought from June to July and August scheme were taken from the two previous real years, who had a significant influence on the species. Precipitation norm for control is taken from subalpine zone of the Rila Mountain. To determine the reaction of all the groups of saplings subjected to various circuits, at the end of the year is recorded the survivors.

  8. Evaluation of storage and filtration protocols for alpine/subalpine lake water quality samples

    Science.gov (United States)

    John L. Korfmacher; Robert C. Musselman

    2007-01-01

    Many government agencies and other organizations sample natural alpine and subalpine surface waters using varying protocols for sample storage and filtration. Simplification of protocols would be beneficial if it could be shown that sample quality is unaffected. In this study, samples collected from low ionic strength waters in alpine and subalpine lake inlets...

  9. Decay of subalpine fir in Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas E. Hinds; Frank G. Hawksworth; Ross W. Davidson

    1960-01-01

    Spruce-fir is one of the major forest types in the central Rocky Mountains. Engelmann spruce, Picea engelmanni Parry, is usually the predominant species with subalpine fir, Abies lasiocarpa (Hook. ) Nutt., making up one-fourth or less of the total volume. Lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud., is frequently present at the lower elevations of the spruce-fir...

  10. Assessing heat fluxes and water quality trends in subalpine lakes from EO

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cazzaniga, Ilaria; Giardino, Claudia; Bresciani, Mariano; Elli, Chiara; Valerio, Giulia; Pilotti, Marco

    2017-04-01

    Lakes play a fundamental role in providing ecosystem services such as water supplying, hydrological regulation, climate change mitigation, touristic recreation (Schallenberg et al., 2013). Preserving and improving of quality of lakes waters, which is a function of either both natural and human influences, is therefore an important action to be considered. Remote Sensing techniques are spreading as useful instrument for lakes, by integrating classical in situ limnological measurements to frequent and synoptic monitoring capabilities. Within this study, Earth Observation data are exploited for understanding the temporal changes of water quality parameters over a decade, as well as for measuring the surface energy fluxes in recent years in deep clear lakes in the European subalpine ecoregion. According to Pareth et al. (2016), subalpine lakes are showing a clear response to climate change with an increase of 0.017 °C /year of lake surface temperature, whilst the human activities contribute to produce a large impact (agriculture, recreation, industry, fishing and drinking) on these lakes. The investigation is focused on Lake Iseo, which has shown a significant deterioration of water quality conditions since the seventies, and on Lake Garda, the largest Italian lake where EO data have been widely used for many purposes and applications (Giardino et al., 2014). Available ENVISAT-MERIS (2002-2012) and Landsat-8-OLI (2013-on going) imagery has been exploited to produce chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentration maps, while Landsat-8-TIRS imagery has been used for estimating lake surface temperatures. MERIS images were processed through a neural network (namely the C2R processor, Doerffer et al., 2007), to correct the atmospheric effects and to retrieve water constituents concentration in optically complex deep waters. With regard to L8's images, some atmospheric correctors (e.g. ACOLITE and 6SV) were tested and validated to indentify, for each of the two lakes, the more accurate

  11. Ecological transition in Arizona's subalpine and montane grasslands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael R. White

    2000-01-01

    Important components of Southwest forest ecosystem are subalpine and montane grassland communities, Grassland communities provide habitat diversity for wildlife, forage for domestic livestock and wildlife, and contribute to the visual quality of an area. The objectives of this research were to determine if: 1) vegetation attributes and soil-surface cover variables of...

  12. Comparative seed germination traits in alpine and subalpine grasslands: higher elevations are associated with warmer germination temperatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández-Pascual, E; Jiménez-Alfaro, B; Bueno, Á

    2017-01-01

    Seed germination traits in alpine grasslands are poorly understood, despite the sensitivity of these communities to climate change. We hypothesise that germination traits predict species occurrence along the alpine-subalpine elevation gradient. Phylogenetic comparative analyses were performed using fresh seeds of 22 species from alpine and subalpine grasslands (1600-2400 m) of the Cantabrian Mountains, Spain (43° N, 5° W). Laboratory experiments were conducted to characterise germinability, optimum germination temperature and effect of cold and warm stratification on dormancy breaking. Variability in these traits was reduced by phylogenetic principal component analysis (phyl.PCA). Phylogenetic generalised least squares regression (PGLS) was used to fit a model in which species average elevation was predicted from their position on the PCA axes. Most subalpine species germinated in snow-like conditions, whereas most alpine species needed accumulation of warm temperatures. Phylogenetic signal was low. PCA1 ordered species according to overall germinability, whilst PCA2 ordered them according to preference for warm or cold germination. PCA2 significantly predicted species occurrence in the alpine-subalpine gradient, as higher elevation species tended to have warmer germination preferences. Our results show that germination traits in high-mountain grasslands are closely linked to the alpine-subalpine gradient. Alpine species, especially those from stripped and wind-edge communities, prefer warmer germination niches, suggesting that summer emergence prevents frost damage during seedling establishment. In contrast, alpine snowfield and subalpine grassland plants have cold germination niches, indicating that winter emergence may occur under snow to avoid drought stress. © 2016 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

  13. Electricity : Italian style

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murray, L.

    2007-01-01

    Italy's electricity system was described. Italy relies on outside sources for between 10 and 15 per cent of its electricity supply. Most Italians use gas, wood stoves and fossil fuels, and are conservative about lighting. Electricity costs more in Italy than in any other European country. Italy made the decision to decommission its nuclear power stations after Chernobyl. In 2005, Italy's largest utility group signed a memorandum of understanding ensuring that they would contract energy from France's nuclear reactors. Italy is now financing and managing projects in Russia and eastern Europe, and has strengthened its ties in Spain and the Netherlands. Although Italy is intent on producing its own power, the perceptions of health hazards from electricity towers cause citizens to strongly protest new installations. It was concluded that rising energy prices may force Italians to reconsider the use of alternative energy sources. 3 figs

  14. Provenance variability in nursery growth of subalpine fir

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charlie Cartwright; Cheng Ying

    2011-01-01

    Subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa [Hook] Nutt.) is a wide-ranging, high-elevation species in the interior of British Columbia. It is commonly harvested for lumber, but replanting of it is limited. Some reticence is based upon wood quality and rate of growth, but there are also seed and nursery culturing difficulties. This study investigated seedling growth traits of 111...

  15. Soil seed banks along elevational gradients in tropical, subtropical and subalpine forests in Yunnan Province, southwest China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Xiaqin Luo; Min Cao; Min Zhang; Xiaoyang Song; Jieqiong Li; Akihiro Nakamura; Roger Kitching

    2017-01-01

    Soil seed banks are a vital part of ecosystems and influence community dynamics and regeneration.Although soil seed banks in different habitats have been reported,how soil seed banks vary with elerational gradients in different climatic zones is still unknown.This paper investigates seed density,species composition and nonconstituent species of forest soil seed banks in Yunnan Province,southwest China.Similarity between the soil seed bank and standing vegetation was also examined.We collected soil samples from sites spanning 12 elevations in tropical rain forests,subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests and subalpine coniferous forests,and transported them to a glasshouse for germination trials for species identification.The soil seed banks of tropical and subtropical forests had much higher seed densities and species richness than those of subalpine forests.Seeds of woody species dominated the soil seed banks of tropical and subtropical forests,while herbs dominated those of subalpine forests.The nonconstituent species in the soil seed banks were all herbs and were most abundant in tropical forests,followed by subtropical forests but were completely absent from subalpine forests.

  16. Soil seed banks along elevational gradients in tropical, subtropical and subalpine forests in Yunnan Province, southwest China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaqin Luo

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Soil seed banks are a vital part of ecosystems and influence community dynamics and regeneration. Although soil seed banks in different habitats have been reported, how soil seed banks vary with elevational gradients in different climatic zones is still unknown. This paper investigates seed density, species composition and nonconstituent species of forest soil seed banks in Yunnan Province, southwest China. Similarity between the soil seed bank and standing vegetation was also examined. We collected soil samples from sites spanning 12 elevations in tropical rain forests, subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests and subalpine coniferous forests, and transported them to a glasshouse for germination trials for species identification. The soil seed banks of tropical and subtropical forests had much higher seed densities and species richness than those of subalpine forests. Seeds of woody species dominated the soil seed banks of tropical and subtropical forests, while herbs dominated those of subalpine forests. The nonconstituent species in the soil seed banks were all herbs and were most abundant in tropical forests, followed by subtropical forests but were completely absent from subalpine forests.

  17. Forecasting the evolution in the mixing regime of a deep subalpine lake under climate change scenarios through numerical modelling (Lake Maggiore, Northern Italy/Southern Switzerland)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenocchi, Andrea; Rogora, Michela; Sibilla, Stefano; Ciampittiello, Marzia; Dresti, Claudia

    2018-01-01

    The impact of air temperature rise is eminent for the large deep lakes in the Italian subalpine district, climate change being caused there by both natural phenomena and anthropogenic greenhouse-gases (GHG) emissions. These oligomictic lakes are experiencing a decrease in the frequency of winter full turnover and an intensification of stability. As a result, hypolimnetic oxygen concentrations are decreasing and nutrients are accumulating in bottom water, with effects on the whole ecosystem functioning. Forecasting the future evolution of the mixing pattern is relevant to assess if a reduction in GHG releases would be able to revert such processes. The study focuses on Lake Maggiore, for which the thermal structure evolution under climate change in the 2016-2085 period was assessed through numerical simulations, performed with the General Lake Model (GLM). Different prospects of regional air temperature rise were considered, given by the Swiss Climate Change Scenarios CH2011. Multiple realisations were performed for each scenario to obtain robust statistical predictions, adopting random series of meteorological data produced with the Vector-Autoregressive Weather Generator (VG). Results show that a reversion in the increasing thermal stability would be possible only if global GHG emissions started to be reduced by 2020, allowing an equilibrium mixing regime to be restored by the end of the twenty-first century. Otherwise, persistent lack of complete-mixing, severe water warming and extensive effects on water quality are to be expected for the centuries to come. These projections can be extended to the other lakes in the subalpine district.

  18. Fire, fuel composition and resilience threshold in subalpine ecosystem.

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    Olivier Blarquez

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Forecasting the effects of global changes on high altitude ecosystems requires an understanding of the long-term relationships between biota and forcing factors to identify resilience thresholds. Fire is a crucial forcing factor: both fuel build-up from land-abandonment in European mountains, and more droughts linked to global warming are likely to increase fire risks. METHODS: To assess the vegetation response to fire on a millennium time-scale, we analyzed evidence of stand-to-local vegetation dynamics derived from sedimentary plant macroremains from two subalpine lakes. Paleobotanical reconstructions at high temporal resolution, together with a fire frequency reconstruction inferred from sedimentary charcoal, were analyzed by Superposed Epoch Analysis to model plant behavior before, during and after fire events. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We show that fuel build-up from arolla pine (Pinus cembra always precedes fires, which is immediately followed by a rapid increase of birch (Betula sp., then by ericaceous species after 25-75 years, and by herbs after 50-100 years. European larch (Larix decidua, which is the natural co-dominant species of subalpine forests with Pinus cembra, is not sensitive to fire, while the abundance of Pinus cembra is altered within a 150-year period after fires. A long-term trend in vegetation dynamics is apparent, wherein species that abound later in succession are the functional drivers, loading the environment with fuel for fires. This system can only be functional if fires are mainly driven by external factors (e.g. climate, with the mean interval between fires being longer than the minimum time required to reach the late successional stage, here 150 years. CONCLUSION: Current global warming conditions which increase drought occurrences, combined with the abandonment of land in European mountain areas, creates ideal ecological conditions for the ignition and the spread of fire. A fire return interval of less

  19. Inter-annual climate variability and zooplankton: applying teleconnection indices to two deep subalpine lakes in Italy

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    Marina Manca

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Investigating relation between meteo-climatic indices and between-year variation in Daphnia population density and phenology is crucial for e.g. predicting impact of climate change on lake ecosystem structure and functioning. We tested whether and how two teleconnection indices calculated for the winter period, namely the East Atlantic pattern (EADJF and the Eastern Mediterranean Pattern (EMPDJF were correlated with Daphnia population growth in two Italian subalpine lakes, Garda and Maggiore. We investigated between-lake temporal coherence in: i water temperature within the water layer in which Daphnia is distributed; ii timing of Daphnia initial and spring maximum population density peak and iii the level of Daphnia spring maximum population density peak over an eleven-year period (1998-2008 of unchanged predation pressure by fish and invertebrates, and of common oligotrophy. Between-lake temporal coherence was high for an earlier start, an earlier, and lower, Daphnia population spring density peak after milder winters. Peak density level was coherently, positively correlated with soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP concentration. We hypothesized that Daphnia peak densities were related to atmospheric modes of variability in winter and to the degree of late winter mixing promoting replenishment of algal nutrients into upper water layers and phytoplankton growth, enhancing food availability and Daphnia fecundity, promoting Daphnia peak. 

  20. Distribution patterns and environmental correlates of Thaumarchaeota abundance in six deep subalpine lakes.

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Callieri, C.; Hernandez-Aviles, S.; Salcher, Michaela M.; Fontaneto, D.; Bertoni, R.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 78, č. 2 (2016), s. 215-225 ISSN 1015-1621 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : subalpine lakes * Thaumarchaeota vertical profile * CARD FISH * hypolimnion Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology Impact factor: 2.821, year: 2016

  1. Aquatic insect assemblages associated with subalpine stream segment types in relict glaciated headwaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubo, Joshua S.; Torgersen, Christian E.; Bolton, Susan M.; Weekes, Anne A.; Gara, Robert I.

    2013-01-01

    1. Aquatic habitats and biotic assemblages in subalpine headwaters are sensitive to climate and human impacts. Understanding biotic responses to such perturbations and the contribution of high-elevation headwaters to riverine biodiversity requires the assessment of assemblage composition among habitat types. We compared aquatic insect assemblages among headwater stream segment types in relict glaciated subalpine basins in Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington, USA. 2. Aquatic insects were collected during summer and autumn in three headwater basins. In each basin, three different stream segment types were sampled: colluvial groundwater sources, alluvial lake inlets, and cascade-bedrock lake outlets. Ward's hierarchical cluster analysis revealed high β diversity in aquatic insect assemblages, and non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated that spatial and temporal patterns in assemblage composition differed among headwater stream segment types. Aquatic insect assemblages showed more fidelity to stream segment types than to individual basins, and the principal environmental variables associated with assemblage structure were temperature and substrate. 3. Indicator species analyses identified specific aquatic insects associated with each stream segment type. Several rare and potentially endemic aquatic insect taxa were present, including the recently described species, Lednia borealis (Baumann and Kondratieff). 4. Our results indicate that aquatic insect assemblages in relict glaciated subalpine headwaters were strongly differentiated among stream segment types. These results illustrate the contribution of headwaters to riverine biodiversity and emphasise the importance of these habitats for monitoring biotic responses to climate change. Monitoring biotic assemblages in high-elevation headwaters is needed to prevent the potential loss of unique and sensitive biota.

  2. Fatty acid composition of freshwater wild fish in subalpine lakes: a comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasconi, Mauro; Caprino, Fabio; Bellagamba, Federica; Busetto, Maria Letizia; Bernardi, Cristian; Puzzi, Cesare; Moretti, Vittorio Maria

    2015-03-01

    In this study, the proximate and fatty acid compositions of the muscle tissue of 186 samples of fish belonging to fifteen species of freshwater fish harvested in subalpine lakes (bleak, shad, crucian carp, whitefish, common carp, pike, black bullhead, burbot, perch, Italian roach, roach, rudd, wels catfish, chub and tench) were investigated. Most of the fish demonstrated a lipid content in the fillet lower than 2.0 g 100 g(-1) wet weight (range 0.6-9.7). A strong relationship between feeding behavior and fatty acid composition of the muscle lipids was observed. Planktivorous fish showed the lowest amounts of n-3 fatty acids (p fish showed the highest amounts of saturated fatty acids and n-3 fatty acids (p fish showed substantial proportions of n-3 fatty acids and the highest contents of n-6 fatty acids. Principal component analysis showed a distinct separation between fish species according to their feeding habits and demonstrated that the most contributing trophic markers were 18:1n-9, 18:3n-3, 22:6n-3 and 20:4n-6. The quantitative amounts n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid in muscle tissues varied depending on the fish species, the lipid content and the feeding habits. Some species were very lean, and therefore would be poor choices for human consumption to meet dietary n-3 fatty acid requirements. Nevertheless, the more frequently consumed and appreciated fish, shad and whitefish, had EPA and DHA contents in the range 900-1,000 mg 100 g(-1) fresh fillet.

  3. Five-a-Day, Fruit and Vegetables Portions, and the Food Environment: The Italian Case

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bonanno, A.; Bimbo, F.; Castellari, E.; Skokai, Paolo

    2017-01-01

    Italy has one of the largest per-capita consumption rates of fruits and vegetables (FV) among European Union countries. However, the number of adult Italians consuming the recommended daily amounts of FV is declining, especially in regions where the food retail industry’s expansion is lagging. In

  4. The Effect of Re-Planting Trees on Soil Microbial Communities in a Wildfire-Induced Subalpine Grassland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ed-Haun Chang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Wildfire often causes tremendous changes in ecosystems, particularly in subalpine and alpine areas, which are vulnerable due to severe climate conditions such as cold temperature and strong wind. This study aimed to clarify the effect of tree re-planting on ecosystem services such as the soil microbial community after several decades. We compared the re-planted forest and grassland with the mature forest as a reference in terms of soil microbial biomass C and N (Cmic and Nmic, enzyme activities, phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA composition, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE. The Cmic and Nmic did not differ among the grassland, re-planted forest and mature forest soil; however, ratios of Cmic/Corg and Nmic/Ntot decreased from the grassland to re-planted forest and mature forest soil. The total PLFAs and those attributed to bacteria and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria did not differ between the re-planted forest and grassland soil. Principle component analysis of the PLFA content separated the grassland from re-planted forest and mature forest soil. Similarly, DGGE analysis revealed changes in both bacterial and fungal community structures with changes in vegetation. Our results suggest that the microbial community structure changes with the re-planting of trees after a fire event in this subalpine area. Recovery of the soil microbial community to the original state in a fire-damaged site in a subalpine area may require decades, even under a re-planted forest.

  5. Leap frog in slow motion: Divergent responses of tree species and life stages to climatic warming in Great Basin subalpine forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smithers, Brian V; North, Malcolm P; Millar, Constance I; Latimer, Andrew M

    2018-02-01

    In response to climate warming, subalpine treelines are expected to move up in elevation since treelines are generally controlled by growing season temperature. Where treeline is advancing, dispersal differences and early life stage environmental tolerances are likely to affect how species expand their ranges. Species with an establishment advantage will colonize newly available habitat first, potentially excluding species that have slower establishment rates. Using a network of plots across five mountain ranges, we described patterns of upslope elevational range shift for the two dominant Great Basin subalpine species, limber pine and Great Basin bristlecone pine. We found that the Great Basin treeline for these species is expanding upslope with a mean vertical elevation shift of 19.1 m since 1950, which is lower than what we might expect based on temperature increases alone. The largest advances were on limber pine-dominated granitic soils, on west aspects, and at lower latitudes. Bristlecone pine juveniles establishing above treeline share some environmental associations with bristlecone adults. Limber pine above-treeline juveniles, in contrast, are prevalent across environmental conditions and share few environmental associations with limber pine adults. Strikingly, limber pine is establishing above treeline throughout the region without regard to site characteristic such as soil type, slope, aspect, or soil texture. Although limber pine is often rare at treeline where it coexists with bristlecone pine, limber pine juveniles dominate above treeline even on calcareous soils that are core bristlecone pine habitat. Limber pine is successfully "leap-frogging" over bristlecone pine, probably because of its strong dispersal advantage and broader tolerances for establishment. This early-stage dominance indicates the potential for the species composition of treeline to change in response to climate change. More broadly, it shows how species differences in dispersal

  6. Diet Deterioration and Food Retail Structure: Why Are Italians Eating Less Fruits and Vegetables

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bonanno, A.; Castellari, E.; Sckokay, P.; Bimbo, F.

    2015-01-01

    In spite of Italy presenting one of the largest consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) among EU Countries, the number of adult Italians consuming the recommended daily amounts of FV is declining, especially in the South of the country, were the expansion of the food retail industry has been

  7. Structural and economic dynamics in diversified Italian farms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Salvioni

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective of this work is to investigate the structural change and economic dynamics of farms pursuing diversification and differentiation strategies in Italy. The analysis was performed on a panel of data built on the basis of information collected by the Italian FADN between 2003-2009. For the purpose of the analysis, we divided the population of commercial Italian farms into a five-fold farm typology based on size and the extent of diversification and differentiation strategies adopted by the farms. In detail, farms are defined as differentiated when they make use of a system of quality certification, while they are defined as diversified when they take up non farming activities (agritourism, social farms etc.. The findings show that conventional farms remain by far the largest category within the population of Italian commercial farms, while only 13% of the total commercial farms are classified as differentiated and/or diversified. Farms adopting product differentiation strategies are found to have an income growth path similar to that of conventional farms. Yet the category of diversified farms is the only one showing an upward trend with regard to income per worker in the observed years, while farms relying entirely on agricultural products appear to perform poorly in terms of labour productivity.

  8. Climate Risk Modelling of Balsam Woolly Adelgid Damage Severity in Subalpine Fir Stands of Western North America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hrinkevich, Kathryn H; Progar, Robert A; Shaw, David C

    2016-01-01

    The balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae (Ratzeburg) (Homoptera: Adelgidae)) (BWA) is a nonnative, invasive insect that threatens Abies species throughout North America. It is well established in the Pacific Northwest, but continues to move eastward through Idaho and into Montana and potentially threatens subalpine fir to the south in the central and southern Rocky Mountains. We developed a climatic risk model and map that predicts BWA impacts to subalpine fir using a two-step process. Using 30-year monthly climate normals from sites with quantitatively derived BWA damage severity index values, we built a regression model that significantly explained insect damage. The sites were grouped into two distinct damage categories (high damage and mortality versus little or no mortality and low damage) and the model estimates for each group were used to designate distinct value ranges for four climatic risk categories: minimal, low, moderate, and high. We then calculated model estimates for each cell of a 4-kilometer resolution climate raster and mapped the risk categories over the entire range of subalpine fir in the western United States. The spatial variation of risk classes indicates a gradient of climatic susceptibility generally decreasing from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington moving eastward, with the exception of some high risk areas in northern Idaho and western Montana. There is also a pattern of decreasing climatic susceptibility from north to south in the Rocky Mountains. Our study provides an initial step for modeling the relationship between climate and BWA damage severity across the range of subalpine fir. We showed that September minimum temperature and a metric calculated as the maximum May temperature divided by total May precipitation were the best climatic predictors of BWA severity. Although winter cold temperatures and summer heat have been shown to influence BWA impacts in other locations, these

  9. Italian and Italian American Identity: A Visual Approach | Krase ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This essay is a brief exploration of the related concepts of Italian Ethnicity and Italian Ethnic Identity via a Visual Sociological study of two geographically different venues — Italian American neighbourhoods in the United States and neighbourhoods in Rome, Italy. By studying the Vernacular Landscape (Jackson, 1984) via ...

  10. Net primary productivity of subalpine meadows in Yosemite National Park in relation to climate variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peggy E. Moore; Jan W. van Wagtendonk; Julie L. Yee; Mitchel P. McClaran; David N. Cole; Neil K. McDougald; Matthew L. Brooks

    2013-01-01

    Subalpine meadows are some of the most ecologically important components of mountain landscapes, and primary productivity is important to the maintenance of meadow functions. Understanding how changes in primary productivity are associated with variability in moisture and temperature will become increasingly important with current and anticipated changes in climate....

  11. Lithosequence of soils and associated vegetation on subalpine range of the Wasatch Plateau, Utah.

    Science.gov (United States)

    James O. Klemmedson; Arthur R. Tiedemann

    1998-01-01

    On degraded subalpine range in Utah, the authors examined the role of soil and parent material nutrients and organic carbon (Corg) in the development of soil and plants on a transect across six strata that formed visible concentric alternating bands of high and low productivity. Relations for soil and parent material phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S) were of particular...

  12. The Italian programme in photovoltaic solar energy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farinelli, U.

    Italian programs and goals for developing a photovoltaic (PV) industry and market are outlined. It is suggested that only a few megawatts of PVs will be produced for domestic consumption in the next few years, while the largest market is for developing nations where costly diesel-fueled generators are used. The installation of PV systems in developing areas will permit testing and scaling up of production capacities from several MW to several hundred MW and then to GW annual production. Approximately 55,000,000 was devoted to government research in PV in 1982 and a PV research laboratory is being built near Naples.

  13. Italian trade and direct investment in North Africa

    OpenAIRE

    Riccardo Settimo

    2014-01-01

    More than three years since the events of the Arab Spring, the five North African countries � Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are still going through a difficult transition. This study provides an overview of Italian trade and direct investment in the region. The main stylized facts are the following: (1) among the countries of the European Union, Italy is the region�s largest trading partner; (2) the region is a crucial source of energy, supplying 31 per cent of the oil and 44...

  14. Lab and Field Warming Similarly Advance Germination Date and Limit Germination Rate for High and Low Elevation Provenances of Two Widespread Subalpine Conifers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lara M. Kueppers

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Accurately predicting upslope shifts in subalpine tree ranges with warming requires understanding how future forest populations will be affected by climate change, as these are the seed sources for new tree line and alpine populations. Early life history stages are particularly sensitive to climate and are also influenced by genetic variation among populations. We tested the climate sensitivity of germination and initial development for two widely distributed subalpine conifers, using controlled-environment growth chambers with one temperature regime from subalpine forest in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and one 5 °C warmer, and two soil moisture levels. We tracked germination rate and timing, rate of seedling development, and seedling morphology for two seed provenances separated by ~300 m elevation. Warming advanced germination timing and initial seedling development by a total of ~2 weeks, advances comparable to mean differences between provenances. Advances were similar for both provenances and species; however, warming reduced the overall germination rate, as did low soil moisture, only for Picea engelmannii. A three-year field warming and watering experiment planted with the same species and provenances yielded responses qualitatively consistent with the lab trials. Together these experiments indicate that in a warmer, drier climate, P. engelmannii germination, and thus regeneration, could decline, which could lead to declining subalpine forest populations, while Pinus flexilis forest populations could remain robust as a seed source for upslope range shifts.

  15. Water use patterns of three species in subalpine forest, Southwest China: the deuterium isotope approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qing Xu; Harbin Li; Jiquan Chen; Jiquan Cheng; Xiaoli Cheng; Shirong Liu; Shuqing An

    2011-01-01

    Determination of water sources of plant species in a community is critical for understanding the hydrological processes and their importance in ecosystem functions. Such partitioning of plant xylem water into specific sources (i.e. precipitation, groundwater) can be achieved by analyzing deuterium isotopic composition (δD) values for source waters. A subalpine dark...

  16. Long-term reactive nitrogen loading alters soil carbon and microbial community properties in a subalpine forest ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boot, Claudia M.; Hall, Ed K.; Denef, Karolien; Baron, Jill S.

    2016-01-01

    Elevated nitrogen (N) deposition due to increased fossil fuel combustion and agricultural practices has altered global carbon (C) cycling. Additions of reactive N to N-limited environments are typically accompanied by increases in plant biomass. Soil C dynamics, however, have shown a range of different responses to the addition of reactive N that seem to be ecosystem dependent. We evaluated the effect of N amendments on biogeochemical characteristics and microbial responses of subalpine forest organic soils in order to develop a mechanistic understanding of how soils are affected by N amendments in subalpine ecosystems. We measured a suite of responses across three years (2011–2013) during two seasons (spring and fall). Following 17 years of N amendments, fertilized soils were more acidic (control mean 5.09, fertilized mean 4.68), and had lower %C (control mean 33.7% C, fertilized mean 29.8% C) and microbial biomass C by 22% relative to control plots. Shifts in biogeochemical properties in fertilized plots were associated with an altered microbial community driven by reduced arbuscular mycorrhizal (control mean 3.2 mol%, fertilized mean 2.5 mol%) and saprotrophic fungal groups (control mean 17.0 mol%, fertilized mean 15.2 mol%), as well as a decrease in N degrading microbial enzyme activity. Our results suggest that decreases in soil C in subalpine forests were in part driven by increased microbial degradation of soil organic matter and reduced inputs to soil organic matter in the form of microbial biomass.

  17. Italian information geographies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Paradiso

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Introduction A range of papers focusing on Italian cases of ICTs use and changes in society are presented here in this NETCOM issue. A national research group on Geography of Information Society was founded in 2007 and hosted by the Italian Geographical Society later evolved in a specialty group within AgeI, the Association of Italian Geographers. This issue brings together papers from members of the Italian specialty group along the general theme of Internet mediation in everyday life. A pre...

  18. Exploring American and Italian consumer preferences for Californian and Italian red wines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torri, Luisa; Noble, Ann Curtis; Heymann, Hildegarde

    2013-06-01

    To increase the market share of Californian wines in other countries, wine preferences need to be explored in potential markets. This work studied the preferences of American and Italian consumers for red wines produced in California and Italy, focusing on wines made from the same varieties in each location. Descriptive analysis and consumer preference tests were performed. Americans scored each of the Californian wines significantly higher in preference than the Italian wines. In contrast, the Italian consumer preference scores for many Italian and Californian wines overlapped. By external preference mapping of the American consumer segments, the ideal flavour of one cluster was closest to the Californian Zinfandel, Merlot and Syrah, which had the 'most balanced' flavour profiles. Another cluster of Italians also preferred the Californian wines. In addition, one Italian cluster was driven by a dislike of the leather, band-aid and medicinal aromas of the Italian Merlot and Refosco. The results provided information that can contribute to wine marketing research necessary for successfully exporting Californian red wines to Italy and vice versa. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

  19. Biogeochemical impacts of wildfires over four millennia in a Rocky Mountain subalpine watershed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunnette, Paul V; Higuera, Philip E; McLauchlan, Kendra K; Derr, Kelly M; Briles, Christy E; Keefe, Margaret H

    2014-08-01

    Wildfires can significantly alter forest carbon (C) storage and nitrogen (N) availability, but the long-term biogeochemical legacy of wildfires is poorly understood. We obtained a lake-sediment record of fire and biogeochemistry from a subalpine forest in Colorado, USA, to examine the nature, magnitude, and duration of decadal-scale, fire-induced ecosystem change over the past c. 4250 yr. The high-resolution record contained 34 fires, including 13 high-severity events within the watershed. High-severity fires were followed by increased sedimentary N stable isotope ratios (δ15N) and bulk density, and decreased C and N concentrations--reflecting forest floor destruction, terrestrial C and N losses, and erosion. Sustained low sediment C : N c. 20-50 yr post-fire indicates reduced terrestrial organic matter subsidies to the lake. Low sedimentary δ15N c. 50-70 yr post-fire, coincident with C and N recovery, suggests diminishing terrestrial N availability during stand development. The magnitude of post-fire changes generally scaled directly with inferred fire severity. Our results support modern studies of forest successional C and N accumulation and indicate pronounced, long-lasting biogeochemical impacts of wildfires in subalpine forests. However, even repeated high-severity fires over millennia probably did not deplete C or N stocks, because centuries between high-severity fires allowed for sufficient biomass recovery. © 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

  20. Modeling a two-layer flow system at the subarctic, subalpine tree line during snowmelt

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leenders, Erica E.; Woo, Ming-Ko

    2002-10-01

    In the subarctic it is common to encounter a two-layer flow system consisting of a porous organic cover overlying frozen or unfrozen mineral soils with much lower hydraulic conductivities. The "simple lumped reservoir parametric," or "semidistributed land-use-based runoff processes" (SLURP), model was adapted to simulate runoff generated by such a flow system from an upland shrub land to an open woodland downslope. A subalpine site in Wolf Creek, Yukon, Canada, was subdivided into two aggregated simulation areas (ASA), each being a unit characterized by a set of parameters. The model computes the vertical water balance and flow generation from several storages, and then routes the water out of the ASA. When applied to the 1999 snowmelt season, the model simulated the very low lateral flow and a large increase in storage in the mineral soil, as was observed in the field. The model was used to assess the sensitivity of the two-layer flow system under a range of temperature, snow cover, and frost conditions. Results show that within the range of possible climatic conditions, the hydrologic system is unlikely to yield significant runoff across the subalpine tree line, but if ground ice is abundant in the soil pores, percolation will be limited and fast flow from the surface layer is enhanced.

  1. Dead wood biomass and turnover time, measured by radiocarbon, along a subalpine elevation gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kueppers, Lara M; Southon, John; Baer, Paul; Harte, John

    2004-12-01

    Dead wood biomass can be a substantial fraction of stored carbon in forest ecosystems, and coarse woody debris (CWD) decay rates may be sensitive to climate warming. We used an elevation gradient in Colorado Rocky Mountain subalpine forest to examine climate and species effects on dead wood biomass, and on CWD decay rate. Using a new radiocarbon approach, we determined that the turnover time of lodgepole pine CWD (340+/-130 years) was roughly half as long in a site with 2.5-3 degrees C warmer air temperature, as that of pine (630+/-400 years) or Engelmann spruce CWD (800+/-960 and 650+/-410 years) in cooler sites. Across all sites and both species, CWD age ranged from 2 to 600 years, and turnover time was 580+/-180 years. Total standing and fallen dead wood biomass ranged from 4.7+/-0.2 to 54+/-1 Mg ha(-1), and from 2.8 to 60% of aboveground live tree biomass. Dead wood biomass increased 75 kg ha(-1) per meter gain in elevation and decreased 13 Mg ha(-1) for every degree C increase in mean air temperature. Differences in biomass and decay rates along the elevation gradient suggest that climate warming will lead to a loss of dead wood carbon from subalpine forest.

  2. Warming and provenance limit tree recruitment across and beyond the elevation range of subalpine forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kueppers, Lara M; Conlisk, Erin; Castanha, Cristina; Moyes, Andrew B; Germino, Matthew J; de Valpine, Perry; Torn, Margaret S; Mitton, Jeffry B

    2017-06-01

    Climate niche models project that subalpine forest ranges will extend upslope with climate warming. These projections assume that the climate suitable for adult trees will be adequate for forest regeneration, ignoring climate requirements for seedling recruitment, a potential demographic bottleneck. Moreover, local genetic adaptation is expected to facilitate range expansion, with tree populations at the upper forest edge providing the seed best adapted to the alpine. Here, we test these expectations using a novel combination of common gardens, seeded with two widely distributed subalpine conifers, and climate manipulations replicated at three elevations. Infrared heaters raised temperatures in heated plots, but raised temperatures more in the forest than at or above treeline because strong winds at high elevation reduced heating efficiency. Watering increased season-average soil moisture similarly across sites. Contrary to expectations, warming reduced Engelmann spruce recruitment at and above treeline, as well as in the forest. Warming reduced limber pine first-year recruitment in the forest, but had no net effect on fourth-year recruitment at any site. Watering during the snow-free season alleviated some negative effects of warming, indicating that warming exacerbated water limitations. Contrary to expectations of local adaptation, low-elevation seeds of both species initially recruited more strongly than high-elevation seeds across the elevation gradient, although the low-provenance advantage diminished by the fourth year for Engelmann spruce, likely due to small sample sizes. High- and low-elevation provenances responded similarly to warming across sites for Engelmann spruce, but differently for limber pine. In the context of increasing tree mortality, lower recruitment at all elevations with warming, combined with lower quality, high-provenance seed being most available for colonizing the alpine, portends range contraction for Engelmann spruce. The lower

  3. Climate and landscape drive the pace and pattern of conifer encroachment into subalpine meadows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lubetkin, Kaitlin C; Westerling, Anthony LeRoy; Kueppers, Lara M

    2017-09-01

    Mountain meadows have high biodiversity and help regulate stream water release following the snowmelt pulse. However, many meadows are experiencing woody plant encroachment, threatening these ecosystem services. While there have been field surveys of individual meadows and remote sensing-based landscape-scale studies of encroachment, what is missing is a broad-scale, ground-based study to understand common regional drivers, especially at high elevations, where land management has often played a less direct role. With this study, we ask: What are the climate and landscape conditions conducive to woody plant encroachment at the landscape scale, and how has historical climate variation affected tree recruitment in subalpine meadows over time? We measured density of encroaching trees across 340 subalpine meadows in the central Sierra Nevada, California, USA, and used generalized additive models (GAMs) to determine the relationship between landscape-scale patterns of encroachment and meadow environmental properties. We determined ages of trees in 30 survey meadows, used observed climate and GAMs to model the relationship between timing of recruitment and climate since the early 1900s, and extrapolated recruitment patterns into the future using downscaled climate scenarios. Encroachment was high among meadows with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon var. murrayana (Balf.) Engelm.) in the immediate vicinity, at lower elevations, with physical conditions favoring strong soil drying, and with maximum temperatures above or below average. Climatic conditions during the year of germination were unimportant, with tree recruitment instead depending on a 3-yr seed production period prior to germination and a 6-yr seedling establishment period following germination. Recruitment was high when the seed production period had high snowpack, and when the seedling establishment period had warm summer maximum temperatures, high summer precipitation, and high snowpack

  4. Environmental Feedbacks of the Subalpine Ecotone Species in the Langtang National Park, Central Nepal Himalaya

    OpenAIRE

    Bhatta, K. P.; Rokaya, M. (Maan Bahadur); Münzbergová, Z. (Zuzana)

    2015-01-01

    Herbaceous species of the subalpine ecotone are mostly influenced by canopy cover and soil organic carbon. Species such as Gentiana argentea, Geranium donianum, Kobresia sp., Potentilla griffithii, Rubia wallichiana, Rubus nepalensis, Thalictrum chelidonii and Thalictrum cultratum are supposed to be critically sensitive to local environmental conditions due to having narrow amplitude to both the analyzed environmental variables. Although we have single-time data set from the sole existing hor...

  5. Subalpine bumble bee foraging distances and densities in relation to flower availability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliott, Susan E

    2009-06-01

    Bees feed almost exclusively on nectar and pollen from flowers. However, little is known about how food availability limits bee populations, especially in high elevation areas. Foraging distances and relationships between forager densities and resource availability can provide insights into the potential for food limitation in mobile consumer populations. For example, if floral resources are limited, bee consumers should fly farther to forage, and they should be more abundant in areas with more flowers. I estimated subalpine bumble bee foraging distances by calculating forager recapture probabilities at increasing distances from eight marking locations. I measured forager and flower densities over the flowering season in six half-hectare plots. Because subalpine bumble bees have little time to build their colonies, they may forage over short distances and forager density may not be constrained by flower density. However, late in the season, when floral resources dwindle, foraging distances may increase, and there may be stronger relationships between forager and flower densities. Throughout the flowering season, marked bees were primarily found within 100 m (and never >1,000 m) from their original marking location, suggesting that they typically did not fly far to forage. Although the density of early season foraging queens increased with early-season flower density, the density of mid- and late-season workers and males did not vary with flower density. Short foraging distances and no relationships between mid- and late-season forager and flower densities suggest that high elevation bumble bees may have ample floral resources for colony growth reproduction.

  6. Italian: Area Background Information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    This booklet has been assembled in order to provide students of Italian with a compact source of cultural information on their target area. Chapters include discussion of: (1) introduction to Italian; (2) origins of the Italian population; (3) geography; (4) history including the Roman Era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the "Risorgimento," and…

  7. Spatial pattern of a subalpine forest-alpine pasture ecotone (Las Cutas, Ordesa, Central Pyrenees)

    OpenAIRE

    Camarero, J. J.; Gutierrez, E.

    1999-01-01

    We describe the spatial pattern of a subalpine forest-alpine pasture ecotone in the Central Pyrenees, that includes altitudinal timberline and treeline, and it is dominated by Pinus uncinata Ram. A rectangular (30 x 140 m) plot was located crossing the ecotone with its longest side parallel to the slope. We measured for each P. uncinata individual inside the plot: location (coordinates x, y), and structure (e. g. height) and growth form variables (number and type —living or dead, vertical or ...

  8. Photosynthetic, morphological, and reproductive variations in Cypripedium tibeticum in relation to different light regimes in a subalpine forest.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bao-Qiang Zheng

    Full Text Available Cypripedium tibeticum, a subalpine orchid species, inhabits various habitats of subalpine forests, mainly including the forest edge (FE, forest gap (FG, and understory (UST, which have significantly different light intensities (FE > FG > UST. However, the ecological and physiological influences caused by different light regimes in this species are still poorly understood. In the present study, photosynthetic, morphological, and reproductive characteristics were comprehensively studied in plants of C. tibeticum grown in three types of habitats. The photosynthetic capacities, such as the net photosynthetic rate, light-saturated photosynthesis (Pmax, and dry mass per unit leaf area (LMA, were higher in FE and FG than in UST according to light availability. Compared with FG, the populations in FE and UST suffer from excessively strong and inadequate radiation, respectively, which was further corroborated by the low Fv/Fm in FE and high apparent quantum yield (AQY in FG. The leaves of the orchids had various proportions of constituents, such as the leaf area, thickness and (or epidermal hair, to reduce damage from high radiation (including ultraviolet-b radiation in FE and capture more light in FG and UST. Although the flower rate (FR was positively correlated to both Pmax and the daily mean PAR, fruit-set only occurred in the populations in FG. The failures in FE and UST might be ascribed to changes in the floral functional structure and low biomass accumulation, respectively. Moreover, analysis of the demographic statistics showed that FG was an advantageous habitat for the orchid. Thus, C. tibeticum reacted to photosynthetic and morphological changes to adapt to different subalpine forest habitats, and neither full (under FE nor low (UST illumination was favorable for population expansion. These findings could serve as a guide for the protection and reintroduction of C. tibeticum and emphasize the importance of specific habitats for Cypripedium

  9. Photosynthetic, morphological, and reproductive variations in Cypripedium tibeticum in relation to different light regimes in a subalpine forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Bao-Qiang; Zou, Long-Hai; Li, Kui; Wan, Xiao; Wang, Yan

    2017-01-01

    Cypripedium tibeticum, a subalpine orchid species, inhabits various habitats of subalpine forests, mainly including the forest edge (FE), forest gap (FG), and understory (UST), which have significantly different light intensities (FE > FG > UST). However, the ecological and physiological influences caused by different light regimes in this species are still poorly understood. In the present study, photosynthetic, morphological, and reproductive characteristics were comprehensively studied in plants of C. tibeticum grown in three types of habitats. The photosynthetic capacities, such as the net photosynthetic rate, light-saturated photosynthesis (Pmax), and dry mass per unit leaf area (LMA), were higher in FE and FG than in UST according to light availability. Compared with FG, the populations in FE and UST suffer from excessively strong and inadequate radiation, respectively, which was further corroborated by the low Fv/Fm in FE and high apparent quantum yield (AQY) in FG. The leaves of the orchids had various proportions of constituents, such as the leaf area, thickness and (or) epidermal hair, to reduce damage from high radiation (including ultraviolet-b radiation) in FE and capture more light in FG and UST. Although the flower rate (FR) was positively correlated to both Pmax and the daily mean PAR, fruit-set only occurred in the populations in FG. The failures in FE and UST might be ascribed to changes in the floral functional structure and low biomass accumulation, respectively. Moreover, analysis of the demographic statistics showed that FG was an advantageous habitat for the orchid. Thus, C. tibeticum reacted to photosynthetic and morphological changes to adapt to different subalpine forest habitats, and neither full (under FE) nor low (UST) illumination was favorable for population expansion. These findings could serve as a guide for the protection and reintroduction of C. tibeticum and emphasize the importance of specific habitats for Cypripedium spp.

  10. Management of hemodynamically unstable pelvic trauma: results of the first Italian consensus conference (cooperative guidelines of the Italian Society of Surgery, the Italian Association of Hospital Surgeons, the Multi-specialist Italian Society of Young Surgeons, the Italian Society of Emergency Surgery and Trauma, the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine, the Italian Society of Medical Radiology -Section of Vascular and Interventional Radiology- and the World Society of Emergency Surgery)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Hemodynamically Unstable Pelvic Trauma is a major problem in blunt traumatic injury. No cosensus has been reached in literature on the optimal treatment of this condition. We present the results of the First Italian Consensus Conference on Pelvic Trauma which took place in Bergamo on April 13 2013. An extensive review of the literature has been undertaken by the Organizing Committee (OC) and forwarded to the Scientific Committee (SC) and the Panel (JP). Members of them were appointed by surgery, critical care, radiology, emergency medicine and orthopedics Italian and International societies: the Italian Society of Surgery, the Italian Association of Hospital Surgeons, the Multi-specialist Italian Society of Young Surgeons, the Italian Society of Emergency Surgery and Trauma, the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care, the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine, the Italian Society of Medical Radiology, Section of Vascular and Interventional Radiology and the World Society of Emergency Surgery. From November 2012 to January 2013 the SC undertook the critical revision and prepared the presentation to the audience and the Panel on the day of the Conference. Then 3 recommendations were presented according to the 3 submitted questions. The Panel voted the recommendations after discussion and amendments with the audience. Later on a email debate took place until December 2013 to reach a unanimous consent. We present results on the 3 following questions: which hemodynamically unstable patient needs an extraperitoneal pelvic packing? Which hemodynamically unstable patient needs an external fixation? Which hemodynamically unstable patient needs emergent angiography? No longer angiography is considered the first therapeutic maneuver in such a patient. Preperitoneal pelvic packing and external fixation, preceded by pelvic binder have a pivotal role in the management of these patients

  11. The puzzle of Italian rice origin and evolution: determining genetic divergence and affinity of rice germplasm from Italy and Asia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xingxing Cai

    Full Text Available The characterization of genetic divergence and relationships of a set of germplasm is essential for its efficient applications in crop breeding and understanding of the origin/evolution of crop varieties from a given geographical region. As the largest rice producing country in Europe, Italy holds rice germplasm with abundant genetic diversity. Although Italian rice varieties and the traditional ones in particular have played important roles in rice production and breeding, knowledge concerning the origin and evolution of Italian traditional varieties is still limited. To solve the puzzle of Italian rice origin, we characterized genetic divergence and relationships of 348 rice varieties from Italy and Asia based on the polymorphisms of microsatellite fingerprints. We also included common wild rice O. rufipogon as a reference in the characterization. Results indicated relatively rich genetic diversity (H(e = 0.63-0.65 in Italian rice varieties. Further analyses revealed a close genetic relationship of the Italian traditional varieties with those from northern China, which provides strong genetic evidence for tracing the possible origin of early established rice varieties in Italy. These findings have significant implications for the rice breeding programs, in which appropriate germplasm can be selected from a given region and utilized for transferring unique genetic traits based on its genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships.

  12. Apologizing in Italian and English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lipson, Maxine

    1994-01-01

    Compared apology exchanges in Italy and the United States by having 10 Italian university students view American situation comedy television programs and rewrite particular conflict and apology exchanges in an Italian context. The status and role of the programs' participants affected the Italian students' choice of apology strategies more so than…

  13. Italian in the Modern World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adorno, Elvira, Ed.

    This booklet of 15 reprinted letters sent in response to a query concerning the actual use of Italian in the United States designates various areas of professional application. Some reference to current Italian publications is included. It is hoped that these letters will help promote the study of Italian in American schools. (RL)

  14. The new Inventory of Italian Glaciers: Present knowledge, applied methods and preliminary results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smiraglia, Claudio; Diolaiuti, Guglielmina; D'Agata, Carlo; Maragno, Davide; Baroni, Carlo; Mortara, Gianni; Perotti, Luigi; Bondesan, Aldino; Salvatore, Cristina; Vagliasindi, Marco; Vuillermoz, Elisa

    2013-04-01

    A new Glacier Inventory is an indispensable requirement in Italy due to the importance of evaluating the present glacier coverage and the recent changes driven by climate. Furthermore Alpine glaciers represent a not negligible water and touristic resource then to manage and promote them is needed to know their distribution, size and features. The first Italian Glacier Inventory dates back to 1959-1962. It was compiled by the Italian Glaciological Committee (CGI) in cooperation with the National Research Council (CNR); this first inventory was mainly based on field data coupled with photographs (acquired on the field) and high resolution maps. The Italian glaciation resulted to be spread into 754 ice bodies which altogether were covering 525 km2. Moreover in the Eighties a new inventory was compiled to insert Italian data into the World Glacier Inventory (WGI); aerial photos taken at the end of the Seventies (and in some cases affected by a high and not negligible snow coverage) were used as the main source of data. No other national inventory were compiled after that period. Nevertheless during the last decade the largest part of the Italian Alpine regions have produced regional and local glacier inventories which in several cases are also available and queried through web sites and web GIS application. The actual need is now to obtain a complete, homogeneous and contemporary picture of the Italian Glaciation which encompasses the already available regional and local data and all the new updated information coming from new sources of data (e.g.: orthophotos, satellite imagines, etc..). The challenge was accepted by the University of Milan, the EvK2CNR Committee and the Italian Glaciological Committee who, with the sponsorship of Levissima Spa, are presently working to compile the new updated Italian Glacier Inventory. The first project step is to produce a unique homogeneous glacier database including glacier boundary and surface area and the main fundamental

  15. Ensuring an Italian Renaissance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallock, Ann H.

    1978-01-01

    Factors contributing to the renaissance of Italian and the goals of students who study the language are discussed. Alternatives to rote learning in the classroom and ways to generate interest in Italian in the community are suggested. (SW)

  16. Declines in low-elevation subalpine tree populations outpace growth in high-elevation populations with warming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conlisk, Erin; Castanha, Cristina; Germino, Matthew J.; Veblen, Thomas T; Smith, Jeremy M.; Kueppers, Lara M.

    2017-01-01

    Species distribution shifts in response to climate change require that recruitment increase beyond current range boundaries. For trees with long life spans, the importance of climate-sensitive seedling establishment to the pace of range shifts has not been demonstrated quantitatively.Using spatially explicit, stochastic population models combined with data from long-term forest surveys, we explored whether the climate-sensitivity of recruitment observed in climate manipulation experiments was sufficient to alter populations and elevation ranges of two widely distributed, high-elevation North American conifers.Empirically observed, warming-driven declines in recruitment led to rapid modelled population declines at the low-elevation, ‘warm edge’ of subalpine forest and slow emergence of populations beyond the high-elevation, ‘cool edge’. Because population declines in the forest occurred much faster than population emergence in the alpine, we observed range contraction for both species. For Engelmann spruce, this contraction was permanent over the modelled time horizon, even in the presence of increased moisture. For limber pine, lower sensitivity to warming may facilitate persistence at low elevations – especially in the presence of increased moisture – and rapid establishment above tree line, and, ultimately, expansion into the alpine.Synthesis. Assuming 21st century warming and no additional moisture, population dynamics in high-elevation forests led to transient range contractions for limber pine and potentially permanent range contractions for Engelmann spruce. Thus, limitations to seedling recruitment with warming can constrain the pace of subalpine tree range shifts.

  17. Comparison of remote sensing and plant trait-based modelling to predict ecosystem services in subalpine grasslands

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Homolová, Lucie; Schaepman, M. E.; Lamarque, L.; Clevers, J.G.P.W.; de Bello, Francesco; Thuiller, W.; Lavorel, S.

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 5, č. 8 (2014), č. článku 100. ISSN 2150-8925 Institutional support: RVO:67179843 ; RVO:67985939 Keywords : land-use change * leaf chlorophyll content * imaging spectroscopy * water-content * aviris data * spectral reflectance * hyperspectral data * species richness * area index * vegetation * aisa * biomass * ecosystem properties * ecosystem services * linear regression * remote sensing * spatial heterogeneity * subalpine grasslands Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour; EF - Botanics (BU-J) OBOR OECD: Remote sensing; Plant sciences, botany (BU-J) Impact factor: 2.255, year: 2014

  18. MULTIMETRIC INDICES BASED ON VEGETATION DATA FOR ASSESSING ECOLOGICAL AND HYDROMORPHOLOGICAL QUALITY OF A MAN-REGULATED LAKE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Bolpagni

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available A functional characterization of the littoral and shore vegetation was performed in the Lake Idro to assess its ecological quality and hydromorphological alteration. A detailed survey of hydro-hygrophilous vegetation was carried out in 2010-2012. Three multimetric indices were calculated: the MacroIMMI (the Italian macrophytic index for mid-size subalpine lakes with a maximum depth < 125 m, the SFI (Shorezone Functional Index, and the LHS (Lake Habitat Survey. The MacroIMMI (0.76 classified the lake in a good ecological status, although the dominant aquatic species were exotic (Elodea nuttallii and Lagarosiphon major. The SFI pointed out that the 50% of total shorelines displayed a very good or excellent conservation status; conversely, the LHS revealed high levels of morphological alteration coupled with rather good levels of habitat diversity, likely due to the high colonization rates of macrophytes along the lake shore. The lacustrine multimetric indices seem suitable for assessing the conservation status of mid-size lakes. However, for the present case-study, the metrics used require further implementation to suit the peculiarities of Italian subalpine lakes.

  19. Leap frog in slow motion: Divergent responses of tree species and life stages to climatic warming in Great Basin subalpine forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brian V. Smithers; Malcolm P. North; Constance I. Millar; Andrew M. Latimer

    2017-01-01

    In response to climate warming, subalpine treelines are expected to move up in elevation since treelines are generally controlled by growing season temperature. Where treeline is advancing, dispersal differences and early life stage environmental tolerances are likely to affect how species expand their ranges. Species with an establishment advantage will...

  20. The Italian energy sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1997-01-01

    The energy sector in Italy, as in Europe and in many other areas of the world, is undergoing rapid and profound changes. The 1986 ratification of the European Single Act was intended to create a European internal market, where circulation of people, capital, goods, and services would reach the highest possible liberalization. In 1988, in the document The Energy Internal Market, the European Union (EU) commission stressed the need for creation of an internal energy market--free of obstacles--to increase security of supply, to reduce costs, and to strengthen the competitiveness of the European economic system. In 1990, the Community Council adopted directives to implement the EU energy sector. This article describes Italy's role as part of the EU energy sector. It covers the following topics: the Italian energy sector; electricity vs gas transportation; project finance; recent developments advance Italian power industry; specifying powerplant components -- Italian stype; buyers' guide to Italian equipment, services

  1. The Italian gas market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrari, A.

    2004-01-01

    The first meeting of the French gas association (AFG) of the year 2004 was devoted to the Italian gas market. Two experts of this market were invited: A. Ferrari, general director of the Italian gas and electricity regulation authority, and D. Dispenza, vice-general director of Eni Division Gas and Power. This conference was the occasion to compare the French and Italian gas industries. France and Italy have a border in common and also a series of common structural characteristics: the dependence with respect to foreign supplies, the position of the public company, the sensitiveness with respect to the security of supplies, to the role of storage and to the public utility. The French and Italian decisions are inter-dependent. The liberalization taking place with an unpredictable rate, it is necessary for the gas industry to anticipate its effects. When the political, legal and regulatory decisions are enforced, the initiative comes back to the hands of the industry. In this context, the trend of the transfrontier industries becomes particularly important for the regulatory authority. (J.S.)

  2. Foraging trade-offs along a predator-permanence gradient in subalpine wetlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wissinger, S.A.; Whiteman, H.H.; Sparks, G.B.; Rouse, G.L.; Brown, W.S.

    1999-01-01

    We conducted a series of field and laboratory experiments to determine the direct and indirect effects of a top predator, the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum), on larvae of two species of limnephilid caddisflies (Limnephilus externus and Asynarchus nigriculus) in subalpine wetlands in central Colorado. Asynarchus larvae predominate in temporary wetlands and are aggressive intraguild predators on Limnephilus larvae, which only predominate in permanent basins with salamanders. We first conducted a field experiment in mesocosms (cattle tanks) to quantify the predatory effects of different life stages of salamanders on the two caddisfly species. Two life stages of the salamanders (larvae and paedomorphs) preferentially preyed on Asynarchus relative to Limnephilus. Subsequent laboratory experiments revealed that high Asynarchus activity rates and relatively ineffective antipredatory behaviors led to higher salamander detection and attack rates compared to Limnephilus. In a second field experiment (full factorial for presence and absence of each of the three species), we found that salamander predation on Asynarchus had an indirect positive effect on Limnephilus: survival was higher in the presence of salamanders + Asynarchus than with just Asynarchus. In the laboratory we compared the predatory effects of salamanders with and without their mouths sewn shut and found the observed indirect positive effect on Limnephilus survival to be mainly the result of reduced numbers of Asynarchus rather than salamander-induced changes in Asynarchus behavior. We argue that indirect effects of predator-predator interactions on shared prey will be mainly density-mediated and not trait-mediated when one of the predators (in this case, Asynarchus) is under strong selection for rapid growth and therefore does not modify foraging behaviors in response to the other predator. The reciprocal dominance of Limnephilus and Asynarchus in habitats with and without salamanders

  3. Carex sempervirens tussocks induce spatial heterogeneity in litter decomposition, but not in soil properties, in a subalpine grassland in the Central Alps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fei-Hai Yu; Martin Schutz; Deborah S. Page-Dumroese; Bertil O. Krusi; Jakob Schneller; Otto Wildi; Anita C. Risch

    2011-01-01

    Tussocks of graminoids can induce spatial heterogeneity in soil properties in dry areas with discontinuous vegetation cover, but little is known about the situation in areas with continuous vegetation and no study has tested whether tussocks can induce spatial heterogeneity in litter decomposition. In a subalpine grassland in the Central Alps where vegetation cover is...

  4. Similarity of nutrient uptake and root dimensions of Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir at two contrasting sites in Colorado

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yanai, R; McFarlane, K; Lucash, M; Kulpa, S; Wood, D

    2009-10-09

    Nutrient uptake capacity is an important parameter in modeling nutrient uptake by plants. Researchers commonly assume that uptake capacity measured for a species can be used across sites. We tested this assumption by measuring the nutrient uptake capacity of intact roots of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmanni Parry) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) at Loch Vale Watershed and Fraser Experimental Forest in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. Roots still attached to the tree were exposed to one of three concentrations of nutrient solutions for time periods ranging from 1 to 96 hours, and solutions were analyzed for ammonium, nitrate, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Surprisingly, the two species were indistinguishable in nutrient uptake within site for all nutrients (P > 0.25), but uptake rates differed by site. In general, nutrient uptake was higher at Fraser (P = 0.01, 0.15, 0.03, 0.18 for NH{sub 4}{sup +}, NO{sub 3}{sup -}, Ca{sup 2+}, and K{sup +}, respectively), which is west of the Continental Divide and has lower atmospheric deposition of N than Loch Vale. Mean uptake rates by site for ambient solution concentrations were 0.12 {micro}mol NH{sub 4}{sup +} g{sub fwt}{sup -1} h{sup -1}, 0.02 {micro}mol NO{sub 3}{sup -} g{sub fwt}{sup -1}, 0.21 {micro}mol Ca{sup 2+} g{sub fwt}{sup -1} h{sup -1}, and 0.01 {micro}mol Mg{sup 2+} g{sub fwt}{sup -1} h{sup -1} at Loch Vale, and 0.21 {micro}mol NH{sub 4}{sup +} f{sub fwt}{sup -1}h{sup -1}, 0.04 {micro}mol NO{sub 3}{sup -} g{sub fwt}{sup -1} h{sup -1}, 0.51 {micro}mol Ca{sup 2+}g{sub fwt}{sup -1}h{sup -1}, and 0.07 {micro}mol Mg{sup 2+} f{sub fwt}{sup -1}h{sup -1} at Fraser. The importance of site conditions in determining uptake capacity should not be overlooked when parameterizing nutrient uptake models. We also characterized the root morphology of these two species and compared them to other tree species we have measured at various sites in the northeastern USA. Engelman spruce and subalpine fir

  5. Targeted grazing for the restoration of sub-alpine shrub-encroached grasslands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Massimiliano Probo

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The decline of agro-pastoral activities has led to a widespread tree and shrub-encroachment of former semi-natural meso-eutrophic grasslands in many European mountain regions. Temporary night camp areas (TNCA and mineral mix supplements for targeted cattle were arranged over shrub-encroached areas to restore grassland vegetation within the Val Troncea Natural Park (Italy. From 2011 to 2015, their effects on vegetation structure and pastoral value of forage were assessed along permanent transects. Four years after treatments, both practices were effective in reducing the shrub cover and increasing the cover and average height of the herbaceous layer, but changes were more remarkable within TNCA. Moreover, the arrangement of TNCA decreased the cover of nanophanerophytes and increased the cover of graminoids and high quality species, as well as the overall forage pastoral value. In conclusion, TNCA were the most effective pastoral practice to contrast shrub-encroachment and increase herbage mass and forage quality of sub-alpine grasslands.

  6. Application of minimally invasive pancreatic surgery: an Italian survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capretti, Giovanni; Boggi, Ugo; Salvia, Roberto; Belli, Giulio; Coppola, Roberto; Falconi, Massimo; Valeri, Andrea; Zerbi, Alessandro

    2018-05-16

    The value of minimally invasive pancreatic surgery (MIPS) is still debated. To assess the diffusion of MIPS in Italy and identify the barriers preventing wider implementation, a questionnaire was developed under the auspices of three Scientific Societies (AISP, It-IHPBA, SICE) and was sent to the largest possible number of Italian surgeons also using the mailing list of the two main Italian Surgical Societies (SIC and ACOI). The questionnaire consisted of 25 questions assessing: centre characteristics, facilities and technologies, type of MIPS performed, surgical techniques employed and opinions on the present and future value of MIPS. Only one reply per unit was considered. Fifty-five units answered the questionnaire. While 54 units (98.2%) declared to perform MIPS, the majority of responders were not dedicated to pancreatic surgery. Twenty-five units (45.5%) performed MIPS per year. Forty-nine units (89.1%) performed at least one minimally invasive (MI) distal pancreatectomy (DP), and 10 (18.2%) at least one MI pancreatoduodenectomy (PD). Robotic assistance was used in 18 units (31.7%) (14 DP, 7 PD). The major constraints limiting the diffusion of MIPS were the intrinsic difficulty of the technique and the lack of specific training. The overall value of MIPS was highly rated. Our survey illustrates the current diffusion of MIPS in Italy and underlines the great interest for this approach. Further diffusion of MIPS requires the implementation of standardized protocols of training. Creation of a prospective National Registry should also be considered.

  7. Language Policy and Planning: The Case of Italian Sign Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geraci, Carlo

    2012-01-01

    Italian Sign Language (LIS) is the name of the language used by the Italian Deaf community. The acronym LIS derives from Lingua italiana dei segni ("Italian language of signs"), although nowadays Italians refers to LIS as Lingua dei segni italiana, reflecting the more appropriate phrasing "Italian sign language." Historically,…

  8. Italian Mediterranean Index and risk of colorectal cancer in the Italian section of the EPIC cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agnoli, Claudia; Grioni, Sara; Sieri, Sabina; Palli, Domenico; Masala, Giovanna; Sacerdote, Carlotta; Vineis, Paolo; Tumino, Rosario; Giurdanella, Maria Concetta; Pala, Valeria; Berrino, Franco; Mattiello, Amalia; Panico, Salvatore; Krogh, Vittorio

    2013-03-15

    Colorectal cancer is among the commonest cancers worldwide. Dietary factors have been linked to colorectal cancer risk, however, few studies have evaluated the relationship between a priori dietary patterns and colorectal cancer risk. We evaluated the effect of adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern, as measured by the Italian Mediterranean Index, on the risk of colorectal cancer in the 45,275 participants of the Italian section of the EPIC study who completed a dietary questionnaire. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for colorectal cancer in relation to categories of Italian Mediterranean Index score were estimated by multivariate Cox models adjusted for known risk factors, on the whole cohort, on men and women and according to cancer subsite. During a mean follow-up of 11.28 years, 435 colorectal cancer cases were identified. The Italian Mediterranean Index was inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk (HR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.35-0.71 for the highest category compared to the lowest, P-trend: 0.043). Results did not differ by sex. Highest Italian Mediterranean Index score was also significantly associated with reduced risks of any colon cancer (HR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.36-0.81), distal colon cancer (HR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.26-0.75) and rectal cancer (HR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.20-0.81), but not of proximal colon cancer. These findings suggest that adherence to a Mediterranean diet (as measured by the Italian Mediterranean Index) protects against colorectal cancer in general but not against cancer developing in the proximal colon. Copyright © 2012 UICC.

  9. Effects of vegetation type on microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen in subalpine mountain forest soils.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravindran, Anita; Yang, Shang-Shyng

    2015-08-01

    Microbial biomass plays an important role in nutrient transformation and conservation of forest and grassland ecosystems. The objective of this study was to determine the microbial biomass among three vegetation types in subalpine mountain forest soils of Taiwan. Tatachia is a typical high-altitude subalpine temperate forest ecosystem in Taiwan with an elevation of 1800-3952 m and consists of three vegetation types: spruce, hemlock, and grassland. Three plots were selected in each vegetation type. Soil samples were collected from the organic layer, topsoil, and subsoil. Microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) was determined by the chloroform fumigation-extraction method, and microbial biomass nitrogen (Nmic) was determined from the total nitrogen (Ntot) released during fumigation-extraction. Bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, cellulolytic microbes, phosphate-solubilizing microbes, and nitrogen-fixing microbes were also counted. The Cmic and Nmic were highest in the surface soil and declined with the soil depth. These were also highest in spruce soils, followed by in hemlock soils, and were lowest in grassland soils. Cmic and Nmic had the highest values in the spring season and the lowest values in the winter season. Cmic and Nmic had significantly positive correlations with total organic carbon (Corg) and Ntot. Contributions of Cmic and Nmic, respectively, to Corg and Ntot indicated that the microbial biomass was immobilized more in spruce and hemlock soils than in grassland soils. Microbial populations of the tested vegetation types decreased with increasing soil depth. Cmic and Nmic were high in the organic layer and decreased with the depth of layers. These values were higher for spruce and hemlock soils than for grassland soils. Positive correlations were observed between Cmic and Nmic and between Corg and Ntot. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. Modeled subalpine plant community response to climate change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonnell, T.C.; Belyazid, S.; Sullivan, T.J.; Sverdrup, H.; Bowman, W.D.; Porter, E.M.

    2014-01-01

    To evaluate potential long-term effects of climate change and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on subalpine ecosystems, the coupled biogeochemical and vegetation community competition model ForSAFE-Veg was applied to a site at the Loch Vale watershed of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Changes in climate and N deposition since 1900 resulted in pronounced changes in simulated plant species cover as compared with ambient and estimated future community composition. The estimated critical load (CL) of N deposition to protect against an average future (2010–2100) change in biodiversity of 10% was between 1.9 and 3.5 kg N ha −1  yr −1 . Results suggest that the CL has been exceeded and vegetation at the study site has already undergone a change of more than 10% as a result of N deposition. Future increases in air temperature are forecast to cause further changes in plant community composition, exacerbating changes in response to N deposition alone. - Highlights: • A novel calibration step was introduced for modeling biodiversity with ForSAFE-Veg. • Modeled increases in tree cover are consistent with empirical studies. • Reductions in N deposition decreased future graminoid percent cover. • Critical loads of N to protect biodiversity should consider climate change effects. - Subalpine plant biodiversity in Rocky Mountain National Park has already been impacted by N deposition and climate change and is expected to experience significant future effects

  11. Italian singer Annalisa at CERN for a week of filming

    CERN Multimedia

    Stefania Pandolfi

    2015-01-01

    CERN welcomed Italian singer-songwriter Annalisa for a week-long visit to the Laboratory to shoot an Italian television production about the Laboratory.   Annalisa in the CERN Control Centre.   The Italian artist has a degree in physics from the University of Turin, Italy. She is a singer and songwriter, famous for her successful participation in the Italian talent show, Amici di Maria De Filippi. She has recorded four albums as solo artist and has participated twice in the Sanremo Music Festival, the most important Italian song contest. She has also received numerous Italian music awards, and has earned international recognition. Thanks to her knowledge of physics and her great influence with the Italian youth, Annalisa was selected to host an Italian television production about CERN aimed at young people. 

  12. Authentic Italian food as Mamma used to make it!

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Jan Halberg; d'Ambrosio, Luigi

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this investigation is to explore how Italian restaurants define authentic Italian culinary experiences and how these experiences are designed and rendered to the restaurants’ guests.......The purpose of this investigation is to explore how Italian restaurants define authentic Italian culinary experiences and how these experiences are designed and rendered to the restaurants’ guests....

  13. The Italian LPG market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1998-01-01

    As happened in other European countries, the Italian LPG consumption market narrowed in 1997 for climatic reasons. Still, with some 3,5 million tones it is the first LPG market in Europe thanks to automotive LPG which represents some 1,2 million tones, for 1,4 million tones for the bulk and 760, 000 tonnes for bottled products. Another characteristic of the Italian market: demand is slightly lowering in the North while increasing in the South and in the large islands. (author)

  14. Funding fears spark Italian protests

    CERN Multimedia

    Abbott, A

    2001-01-01

    150 Italian scientists took part in a symbolic funeral in Milan for Italian research. Scientists are worried that the new government will reduce support for basic research. Rumours that budgets will be cut are being confirmed and last week the government rejected the 3-year plan of the National Research Council, which had proposed an expansion of staff (1/2 page).

  15. A re-evaluation of the Italian historical geomagnetic catalogue: implications for paleomagnetic dating at active Italian volcanoes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. D'Ajello Caracciolo

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Paleomagnetism is proving to represent one of the most powerful dating tools of volcanics emplaced in Italy during the last few centuries/millennia. This method requires that valuable proxies of the local geomagnetic field (paleosecular variation ((PSV are available. To this end, we re-evaluate the whole Italian geomagnetic directional dataset, consisting of 833 and 696 declination and inclination measurements, respectively, carried out since 1640 AD at several localities. All directions were relocated via the virtual geomagnetic pole method to Stromboli (38.8° N, 15.2° E, the rough centre of the active Italian volcanoes. For declination-only measurements, missing inclinations were derived (always by pole method by French data (for period 1670–1789, and by nearby Italian sites/years (for periods 1640–1657 and 1790–1962. Using post-1825 declination values, we obtain a 0.46 ± 0.19° yr−1 westward drift of the geomagnetic field for Italy. The original observation years were modified, considering such drift value, to derive at a drift-corrected relocated dataset. Both datasets were found to be in substantial agreement with directions derived from the field models by Jackson et al. (2000 and Pavon-Carrasco et al. (2009. However, the drift-corrected dataset minimizes the differences between the Italian data and both field models, and eliminates a persistent 1.6° shift of 1933–1962 declination values from Castellaccio with respect to other nearly coeval Italian data. The relocated datasets were used to calculate two post-1640 Italian SV curves, with mean directions calculated every 30 and 10 years before and after 1790, respectively. The curve comparison suggests that both available field models yield the best available SV curve to perform paleomagnetic dating of 1600–1800 AD Italian volcanics, while the Italian drift-corrected curve is probably preferable for the 19th century. For the 20th century, the global model by

  16. Foliar responses of understorey Abies lasiocarpa to different degrees of release cutting of Betula papyrifera and conifer mixed species stand

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, J.R.; Letchford, T. [Ministry of Forests, Prince George, BC (Canada). Red Rock Research Station; Comeau, P.G. [BC Ministry of Forests, Victoria, BC (Canada); Coopersmith, D. [BC Ministry of Forests, Prince George, BC (Canada)

    2000-07-01

    Foliar responses of subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) to thinning were studied in a 35-yr-old mixed stand of paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) and conifers. The stand regenerated naturally after a wildfire with a canopy dominated by paper birch (average height 9.8 m) and an understorey dominated by subalpine fir (average height 1.6 m). The stand was thinned to four densities of birch: 0, 600 and 1200 stems ha{sup -1} and control (Unthinned at 2300-6400 stems ha{sup -1}) in the autumn of 1995. The understorey conifers, mainly subalpine fir, were thinned to 1200 stems ha{sup -1}. The study used a completely randomized split-plot design. Three sample trees were systematically selected from each treatment replicate and each tree stratum (upper, intermediate and lower understorey). One-year-old and older age class needles were collected from one south-facing branch within the fifth whorl from the tree top. Thinning of paper birch significantly (p<0.001) increased leaf area and dry weight per 100 needles for intermediate and short trees except in the 0 birch treatment. Understorey subalpine fir trees in 600 stems ha{sup -1} birch (T3) had the largest leaf area and leaf dry weight per 100 1-yr-old needles. Specific leaf area (SLA) decreased from unthinned (T1) to 0 birch (T4). Lower understorey trees had the largest SLA. One-year-old needles had significantly higher N, P and K concentrations in all the thinning treatments. These responses are consistent with the shade tolerance of subalpine fir. The results suggest that when managing a paper birch-conifers mixed wood forest it may be of benefit to understorey conifers to leave a birch canopy as a nursing crop.

  17. The history of Italian psychiatry during Fascism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piazzi, Andrea; Testa, Luana; Del Missier, Giovanni; Dario, Mariopaolo; Stocco, Ester

    2011-09-01

    Specific features characterized Italian psychiatry during Fascism (1922-45), distinguishing it from Nazi psychiatry and giving rise to different operational outcomes, so we have investigated the state of Italian psychiatry during this period. We review the historical situation that preceded it and describe the social and health policies that Fascism introduced following new legislative and regulatory acts. We examine the preventive and therapeutic role played by psychiatry (the electric shock was an Italian invention) and, thanks to the Enciclopedia Italiano published during those years, we are able to highlight psychiatry's relationship to psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy and religion. The shortcomings of Italian psychiatric research and practice are also seen in terms of what the State failed to do rather than what it did.

  18. Effects of tourism and topography on vegetation diversity in the subalpine meadows of the Dongling Mountains of Beijing, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jin-Tun; Xiang, ChunLing; Li, Min

    2012-02-01

    Subalpine meadows in the Dongling Mountains (located at E115º26'-115º40', N40º00'-40º05') of Beijing, China are important for tourism and the provision of ecosystem services. However, because of poor management serious degradation has occurred on these subalpine meadows. The aim of this paper is to present a quantitative analysis of effects of tourism disturbance and topography on the status and diversity of montane meadow communities and to provide direction for improved management. Sixty quadrats of 2 × 2 m(2) along 10 transects were set up to collect data on site characteristics and vegetation status. The relationships between community composition and structure, species diversity, and tourism disturbance and topographic variables were analyzed by multivariate methods (TWINSPAN and CCA). The results showed that eight meadow communities were identified by TWINSPAN. Most of them were seriously degraded. The first CCA axis identified an elevation and tourism disturbance intensity gradient, which illustrated that tourism disturbance and elevation were most important factors influencing meadow types, composition and structure. Some resistant species and response species to tourism disturbance were identified and can be used as indicator species of tourism disturbance. Species richness, heterogeneity and evenness were closely related to tourism disturbance and elevation. It is concluded that tourism disturbance must be controlled to enable grassland rehabilitation to occur in the meadows. Measures of effective management of the meadows were discussed.

  19. Italian Modernities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomassen, Bjørn; Forlenza, Rosario

    assumptions that have substituted for thought and that have perpetuated prejudices both within and outside Italy’s borders. Grounded in meticulous historical and ethnological research, Italian Modernities deserves as wide an audience as its scholarship is deep.” (Michael Herzfeld, Ernest E. Monrad Professor...

  20. CCOs’ Strategic Role in Large Italian Companies / El papel del Dircom en las grandes organizaciones italianas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emanuele Invernizzi

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the extant state of art of Public Relations and Corporate Communication as profession in Italy. More specifically it aims to evaluate to what extent large organizations in Italy attribute strategic value to the function of communication, with a particular focus on the degree of its institutionalization and the strategic contribution provided by Italian CCOs to organizational competitiveness and success. To this end, an inquiry was conducted via a quantitative survey that addressed and outlined Communication department features and CCOs’ profile in 300 largest organizations operating in Italy. According to our findings, PR function has established itself within organizational structure, and Italian CCOs have become increasingly involved in strategic organizational decision processes. In their role CCOs serve as strategic advisors to CEOs and other Chief Officers. Additionally, within the most innovative organizations, communication seems to play an extremely pivotal role and is exemplified by CCOs’ high level of involvement in decision-making process. Our study allows us to outline a precise description of current trends within large organizations in Italy in terms of communication function and its role. Thereby the study underlines weaknesses and strengths of Italian CCOs’ role as well as it pinpoints areas that need improvement. Furthermore this study enriches the stream of research concerning institutionalization of PR and strategic communication as well as it provides practitioners and scholars with precise insights into the strategic role of communication and its link with innovation.

  1. ITALIAN AND ITALIAN AMERICAN IDENTITY: A VISUAL APPROACH

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    It is flexible without overall plan and contains spaces .... of Symbolic Capital, defined by Bourdieu as “The collection of luxury goods attesting to the taste and distinction of the owner” (1977: 188), ... Since “the most successful ideological effects are those which have no words ..... a market dominated by non-Italian proprietors.

  2. Italian and Russian Verse: Two Cultures and Two Mentalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefano Garzonio

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Italian and Russian Verse: Two Cultures and Two Mentalities The present text was given as a talk at Stanford University in 2003. Here the author presents a comparative analysis of Russian and Italian versification and pays attention to the cultural contacts between these two poetical traditions in an effort to define the role played by Italian patterns in Russian verse. In this perspective the author offers a history of Russian poetical translation of Italian texts pointing out the different opinions of Russian poets about the “musicality” of Italian verse. The combined influence of language and culture in modelling different Russian poetical forms in a chronological perspective is underlined.

  3. Energy efficiency: The Italian situation and opportunities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clerici, Alessandro; Beccarello, Massimo; Gallanti, Massimo

    2010-09-15

    The paper reports the results of a study led by Confindustria (Italian Federation of Industrial Associations) on the Italian situation with respect to energy efficiency policies and their effective implementations. The study is being continuously updated with the contributions of ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and ERSE (previously CESI Ricerca) and highlights the obtainable savings through efficient technologies now already available for applications in the final uses of energy for both the industrial, commercial and domestic sectors.

  4. European energy policy and Italian industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cardinale, A.; Verdelli, A.

    2008-01-01

    The competitiveness of the Italian industry is very sensitive to the rising costs of energy. The European energy policy, if intended as an additional constraint, could deteriorate the situation. It could be, however, a good opportunity for the Italian industry to become more independent from fossil fuels, through an innovatory project at country level [it

  5. 1861-1981: Statistics teaching in Italian universities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donata Marasini

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to outline the development of Statistics from 1861 to 1981 with respect to its contents. The paper pays particular attention to some statistical topics which have been covered by basic introductory courses in the Italian Universities since the beginning of the Italian unification. The review takes as its starting point the well-known book “Filosofia della Statistica” of Melchiorre Gioja. This volume was published 35 years before Italian unification but it already contains the fundamental topics of exploratory and inductive Statistics. These topics give the opportunity to mention Italian statisticians who are considered the pioneers of this discipline. In particular, the attention is focused on four statisticians: Corrado Gini, well-known for its modern insights; Marcello Boldrini, high cultured man also in the epistemological field; Bruno de Finetti, founder of subjective school and Bayesian reasoning; Giuseppe Pompilj, precursor of random variables and sampling theory. The paper browses the indexes of three well-known Italian handbooks that, although published after the period 1861-1981, deal with topics covered in some basic teachings of exploratory statistics, statistical inference and sampling theory from finite population.

  6. Online Italian fandoms of American TV shows

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleonora Benecchi

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The Internet has changed media fandom in two main ways: it helps fans connect with each other despite physical distance, leading to the formation of international fan communities; and it helps fans connect with the creators of the TV show, deepening the relationship between TV producers and international fandoms. To assess whether Italian fan communities active online are indeed part of transnational online communities and whether the Internet has actually altered their relationship with the creators of the original text they are devoted to, qualitative analysis and narrative interviews of 26 Italian fans of American TV shows were conducted to explore the fan-producer relationship. Results indicated that the online Italian fans surveyed preferred to stay local, rather than using geography-leveling online tools. Further, the sampled Italian fans' relationships with the show runners were mediated or even absent.

  7. Semen quality of Italian local pig breeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Gandini

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available From 1996 to 1999 a conservation programme was carried out within the framework of EC contract “European gene banking project for the pig genetic resources” (Ollivier et al., 2001 in the Italian local pig breeds. The aims of the program included the primary characterization of the breeds, i.e. information on the organization in charge of the breed, breeding population numbers, breed description and qualifications, and field trials on productive and reproductive performances. In this context the “Semen Bank of Italian local pig breeds” was built. A total of 30,835 straws of four Italian local pig breeds (Cinta Senese, Casertana, Mora Romagnola and Nero Siciliano, collected from 42 sires, have been stored. In this work semen quality traits, lipid composition and freezability of the four Italian local pig breeds are reported.

  8. Tuning Nursing Educational in an Italian academic context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchetti, Anna; Venturini, Giulia; Virgolesi, Michele; Gobbi, Mary; Rocco, Gennaro; Pulimeno, Ausilia Maria Lucia; Stievano, Alessandro; Piredda, Michela; De Marinis, Maria Grazia

    2015-09-01

    The European Union Bologna Process has laid the foundation for a common European competence-based educational framework. In many countries, nursing education is in transition from vocational to higher education, with many diverse systems. The competence-based approach provided by the project Tuning Educational Structures offers a common and coherent framework able to facilitate the implementation of the principles underpinning the Bologna Process reform. This study aimed to ascertain the relevance that Italian nursing university lecturers attributed to the 40 competences of the Italian version of the nursing Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. These competences were developed through adoption of the Tuning Methodology in the nursing context. The study was conducted in the 4 universities of one region of Italy which offer nursing Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. A total of 164 Italian university nursing lecturers. Using a four point scale, a cross sectional survey was conducted from March 2011 to April 2012. Participants evaluated each competence according to its relevance for Bachelor's or Master's Education. Frequency analysis was conducted. The significance for each competence of Tuning was rated very high by Italian lecturers and appeared to overlap partially with the original European study. In Italy, the most relevant competences for Bachelor's Degree were the skills associated with the use of appropriate interventions, activities and skills in nursing and the skills associated with nursing practice and clinical decision-making. For Master's Degree, leadership, management and team competences were the most important. The Tuning Nursing Project was accepted by the Italian lecturers. The competence-based approach was considered by Italian lectures as a support enabling to reflect on the current Italian nursing education cycles of study and to ensure shared visions and common approaches between Italian and European lecturers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All

  9. [Italian Thesaurus of Bioethics, TIB].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarini, Claudia; Poltronieri, Elisabetta

    2004-01-01

    The article aims at illustrating the characteristics and functions of a monolingual thesaurus, focusing on the Italian Thesaurus of Bioethics (Thesaurus Italiano di Bioetica, TIB) the controlled vocabulary used to index and retrieve documents within SIBIL (Italian Online Bioethics Information System). TIB includes controlled terms (descriptors) translated from the Bioethics Thesaurus adopted by the Kennedy Institute of Ethics of the Georgetown University of Washington and revised according to the Italian context of study and scientific debate in the field of bioethics. The overall amount of TIB terms consists in over 1600 headings. Methods to link thesaurus terms hierarchically, by association and by showing synonyms as recommended in ISO standards are applied with reference to descriptors drawn from TIB. Future plans to make the English version of TIB available online within European networks are also illustrated, aiming at spreading information relating to bioethics at an international level.

  10. Italian research on Antarctic atmosphere: 1st workshop. Ricerche italiane sull'atmosfera antartica: 1o workshop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Colacino, M. (ed.); Giovannelli, G. (ed.); Stefanutti, L. (ed.)

    1989-01-01

    The papers and reports, presented at this 1st workshop on 'Italian research on antarctic atmosphere', deal with several main topics: meteorology and climatology, aerosol and tropospheric clouds, planetary boundary layer, chemical-physic stratospheric property, aeronomy. They define the stage of development of Italian research in this area after 3 years of activity in Antarctica.

  11. [Diversity of soil nematode communities in the subalpine and alpine forests of western Sichuan, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ya; Yang, Wan Qin; Wu, Fu Zhong; Yang, Fan; Lan, Li Ying; Liu, Yu Wei; Guo, Cai Hong; Tan, Bo

    2017-10-01

    In order to understand the diversity of soil nematodes in the subalpine/alpine forests of the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, soil nematodes in the primary forest, mixed forest and secondary forest of Abies faxoniana were extracted by elutriation and sugar-centrifugation method in July 2015, and the composition and structure characteristics of soil nematode communities were studied in the three forests at different altitudes. A total of 37950 soil nematodes were collected, which belonged to 20 families and 27 genera, and the mean density was 4217 ind·100 g -1 dry soil. Filenchus was the dominant genus in the primary forest, and Filenchus and Pararotylenchus in the mixed forest and secondary forest, respectively. The individual number of each dominant genus was significantly affected by forest type. All nematode individuals were classified into the four trophic groups of bacterivores, fungivores, plant-parasites and omnivore-predators. The fungivores were dominant in the primary and secondary forest and the bacterivores in the mixed forest. The number of soil nematode c-p (colonizer-persister) groups of c-p 1, c-p 2, c-p 3 and c-p 4 accounted for 6.1%, 51.1%, 30.0% and 12.7% of the total nematode abundance, respectively. The maturity index (MI), the total maturity index (∑MI) and the plant parasitic index (PPI) of soil nematodes decreased gradually with the increase of altitude. The nematode channel ratio in the mixed forest was higher than 0.5, but that in the primary forest and secondary forest was below 0.5. The forest type significantly affected the soil nematode maturity index and channel ratio, but the forest type, soil layer and their interaction had no significant effect on the diversity index. There were obvious diffe-rences in the composition, nutrient structure and energy flow channel of soil nematodes in the subalpine/alpine forests of western Sichuan, providing an important reference for understanding the function of soil nematodes in soil processes

  12. Genotype-Phenotype Characterization of Novel Variants in Six Italian Patients with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iarossi, Giancarlo; Bertelli, Matteo; Maltese, Paolo Enrico; Gusson, Elena; Marchini, Giorgio; Bruson, Alice; Benedetti, Sabrina; Volpetti, Sabrina; Catena, Gino; Buzzonetti, Luca; Ziccardi, Lucia

    2017-01-01

    Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR) is a complex disorder characterized by incomplete development of the retinal vasculature. Here, we report the results obtained on the spectrum of genetic variations and correlated phenotypes found in a cohort of Italian FEVR patients. Eight probands (age range 7-19 years) were assessed by genetic analysis and comprehensive age-appropriate ophthalmic examination. Genetic testing investigated the genes most widely associated in literature with FEVR: FZD4 , LRP5 , TSPAN12 , and NDP . Clinical and genetic evaluations were extended to relatives of probands positive to genetic testing. Six out of eight probands (75%) showed a genetic variation probably related to the phenotype. We identified four novel genetic variants, one variant already described in association with Norrie disease and one previously described linked to autosomal dominant FEVR. Pedigree analysis of patients led to the classification of four autosomal dominant cases of FEVR (caused by FZD4 and TSPAN12 variants) and two X-linked FEVR probands ( NDP variants). None of the patients showed variants in the LRP5 gene. This study represents the largest cohort study in Italian FEVR patients. Our findings are in agreement with the previous literature confirming that FEVR is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous retinal disorder, even when it manifests in the same family.

  13. Genotype-Phenotype Characterization of Novel Variants in Six Italian Patients with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giancarlo Iarossi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR is a complex disorder characterized by incomplete development of the retinal vasculature. Here, we report the results obtained on the spectrum of genetic variations and correlated phenotypes found in a cohort of Italian FEVR patients. Eight probands (age range 7–19 years were assessed by genetic analysis and comprehensive age-appropriate ophthalmic examination. Genetic testing investigated the genes most widely associated in literature with FEVR: FZD4, LRP5, TSPAN12, and NDP. Clinical and genetic evaluations were extended to relatives of probands positive to genetic testing. Six out of eight probands (75% showed a genetic variation probably related to the phenotype. We identified four novel genetic variants, one variant already described in association with Norrie disease and one previously described linked to autosomal dominant FEVR. Pedigree analysis of patients led to the classification of four autosomal dominant cases of FEVR (caused by FZD4 and TSPAN12 variants and two X-linked FEVR probands (NDP variants. None of the patients showed variants in the LRP5 gene. This study represents the largest cohort study in Italian FEVR patients. Our findings are in agreement with the previous literature confirming that FEVR is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous retinal disorder, even when it manifests in the same family.

  14. ’The Italian Color’: Race, Crime Iconography and Dubbing Conventions in the Italian-language Versions of Scarface (1932

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carla Mereu Keating

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In the early 1930s the crime film Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932, USA, dir. Howard Hawks stirred censorship controversies in the United States because of its gritty portrayal of criminality and violence. Debates over crime, race and immigration proliferated in the North-American press and finally led to Italian-American pressure groups to call out for the film’s boycott because it ‘offended the Italian nation and people’ and vilified immigrant communities. Archival historical research in AVT has revealed how film versions have frequently been cut and dialogues ideologically manipulated to suit political agendas, commercial interests and dominant sexual and religious moralities. Indeed the translation of films has often served too many masters, suffering direct or indirect censorship intervention whenever a film defied existing societal taboos. My contribution aims to offer a diachronic perspective on the reception of Scarface lo sfregiato in Italy. It will look at the film’s Italian-language translation and re-translations for cinema, television and DVD, prepared by different hands and re-voiced by different actors during a span of fifty years (1940-90s. From the textual and contextual analysis of the film’s different Italian editions, it will be possible to trace significant ideological shifts in the reception of Italian-American crime iconography and in the language used to communicate it.

  15. Production in Italian industry: Electric power demand indicators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ajello, V.

    1993-01-01

    The effects of the recession in Italy were first evidenced during the period spanning 1990-1992 with a sharp drop in the international competitiveness of Italian products. This phase was then followed by a significant drop in internal demand, the devaluation of the Italian Lira and subsequent market uncertainty. This paper presents graphs of national and regional electric power production and consumption figures which reflect the downturn in the viability of the Italian economy, especially in the industrial sector

  16. Italianization Accomplished. Forms and Structures of Albanian Television’s Dependency on Italian Media and Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Carelli

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist regimes in 1989, national media systems of the Eastern European countries belonging to the Soviet bloc began a process of transformation along the way of liberalization and commercialization. In Albania, this process occurred in different phases, but with a common trend, that is the Italian television as a structural, economic and cultural model to inspire. In this article, I try to outline the deep influences and legacies between Italian and Albanian television systems (dating back to the last years of the regime showing how, despite a progressive sliding towards americanization, they remain a typical landmark of Albanian media. From the formats of the first programmes after the regime to the recent appearances of Italian Tv presenters (in particular, from Berlusconi's channels on Albanian private channels, we can observe a subtle but rooted and continuous dependency from the country on the other side of the Adriatic Sea.  

  17. Physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of Italian salami ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the inclusion of different levels of pequi (Caryocar Brasiliense, Cambess) pulp in the processing of Italian salami made of lamb for the evaluation of their physicochemical and microbiological characteristics. Six formulations of Italian salamis were processed: no pequi ...

  18. Migrations, families, generations: Language transmission among several Italian communities in England

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margherita Di Salvo

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper researches the ethnic language shift in two Italian communities in the UK, those in Bedford and Cambridge. It focuses mainly on Italians of first and second generation. The present study questions whether the loss of the ethnic language (Italian or an Italian dialect, can be very costly to the migrants and their families and what happens in family in which adults do not understand children and children do not understand adults and how, in these dynamics, Italian identity remains.

  19. Spelling acquisition in English and Italian: A cross-linguistic study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiara Valeria eMarinelli

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available We examined the spelling acquisition in children up to late primary school of a consistent orthography (Italian and an inconsistent orthography (English. The effects of frequency, lexicality, length and regularity in modulating spelling performance of the two groups were examined. English and Italian children were matched for both chronological age and number of years of schooling. Two-hundred and seven Italian children and 79 English children took part in the study. We found greater accuracy in spelling in Italian than English children: Italian children were very accurate after only two years of schooling, while in English children the spelling performance was still poor after five years of schooling. Cross-linguistic differences in spelling accuracy proved to be more persistent than the corresponding ones in reading accuracy. Orthographic consistency produced not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences, with larger frequency and regularity effects in English than in Italian children.

  20. Spelling Acquisition in English and Italian: A Cross-Linguistic Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marinelli, Chiara V; Romani, Cristina; Burani, Cristina; Zoccolotti, Pierluigi

    2015-01-01

    We examined the spelling acquisition in children up to late primary school of a consistent orthography (Italian) and an inconsistent orthography (English). The effects of frequency, lexicality, length, and regularity in modulating spelling performance of the two groups were examined. English and Italian children were matched for both chronological age and number of years of schooling. Two-hundred and seven Italian children and 79 English children took part in the study. We found greater accuracy in spelling in Italian than English children: Italian children were very accurate after only 2 years of schooling, while in English children the spelling performance was still poor after 5 years of schooling. Cross-linguistic differences in spelling accuracy proved to be more persistent than the corresponding ones in reading accuracy. Orthographic consistency produced not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences, with larger frequency and regularity effects in English than in Italian children.

  1. Loy Yang A - Australia's largest privatisation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yenckin, C.

    1997-01-01

    The recent A$4,746 million privatisation of the 2000MW Loy Yang A power station and the Loy Yang coal mine by the Victorian Government is Australia's largest privatisation and one of 1997's largest project financing deals. (author)

  2. Italian R and D in field of environmental biotechnologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robertiello, A.; Levi, G.

    1995-01-01

    The analysis carried out on the Italian R and D allows to draw the following conclusions: 1) There are about 1,000 'inside workers' totalling an outlay of 2,700 billion Italian Liras per year. 2) In the five years from 1987 to 1992, state financing to R and D on environmental biotechnologies was around 80 billion Italian Liras, averaging 16 billion Italian Liras a year. 3) Although these are rough estimates, it can be seen that, given the gap between resources made available and actual expense, there must be other incentive mechanism justifying the commitment of Italian R and D and the quality of the work so far carried out in this specific field. 4) These mechanisms could possibly be of two kinds; the realization that a large part of the market is dissatisfied; the pervasiveness of biotechnologies, especially in the field of environmental conservation

  3. Rapid warming forces contrasting growth trends of subalpine fir ( Abies fabri ) at higher- and lower-elevations in the eastern Tibetan Plateau

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Wenzhi; Jia, Min; Wang, Genxu; Zhu, Wanze; McDowell, Nate G.

    2017-10-01

    Tree radial growth is expected to increase at higher elevations under climate warming, while lower elevation tree growth is expected to decline. However, numerous studies have found tree radial growth responds consistently to climate along elevational gradients. Here, we sampled five plots across the subalpine Abies fabri forest belt on Gongga Mountain in the eastern Tibetan Plateau to determine tree radial growth trends and responses to climate. Three commonly used detrending methods all consistently showed that tree radial growth at high elevation (> 3100 m) increased, while tree growth declined at the lower elevations (2700 m–2900 m) over the last three decades. Increasing late-growing season temperature positively (p < 0.05) correlated to tree radial growth at higher elevations, but the sign of this relationship reversed to become negative at lower elevations. Moving-window correlation analyses indicated the difference between high and low elevations response to temperature variation increased strongly with warming. Placing our result into the global context, 62% of 39 published studies found that trees along elevation gradients respond divergently to warming, and that these are located in warmer and wetter regions of the Earth. Notably, 28% of studies found non-significant responses to temperature at both high and low elevations. Our findings in the subalpine mountain forest in the eastern Tibetan Plateau were consistent with the majority of published datasets, and imply increasing temperature benefit for tree populations at higher elevation, while warming dampens growth at lower elevations.

  4. [Contribution of soil fauna to the mass loss of Betula albosinensis leaf litter at early decomposition stage of subalpine forest litter in western Sichuan].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Lei; Wu, Fu-Zhong; Yang, Wan-Qin; Tan, Bo

    2012-02-01

    In order to quantify the contribution of soil fauna to the decomposition of birch (Betula albosinensis) leaf litter in subalpine forests in western Sichuan of Southwest China during freeze-thaw season, a field experiment with different mesh sizes (0.02, 0.125, 1 and 3 mm) of litterbags was conducted in a representative birch-fir (Abies faxoniana) forest to investigate the mass loss rate of the birch leaf litter from 26 October, 2010 to 18 April, 2011, and the contributions of micro-, meso- and macro-fauna to the decomposition of the leaf litter. Over the freeze-thaw season, 11.8%, 13.2%, 15.4% and 19.5% of the mass loss were detected in the litterbags with 0.02, 0. 125, 1 and 3 mm mesh sizes, respectively. The total contribution of soil fauna to the litter decomposition accounted for 39.5% of the mass loss, and the taxa and individual relative density of the soil fauna in the litterbags had the similar variation trend with that of the mass loss rate. The contribution rate of soil fauna to the leaf litter mass loss showed the order of micro- soil fauna played an important role in the litter decomposition in subalpine forests of western Sichuan during freeze-thaw season.

  5. Catholic Modernity and the Italian Constitution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomassen, Bjørn; Forlenza, Rosario

    2016-01-01

    and give direction to the very idea of political modernity, bridging a positive encounter between Catholicism, democracy, and freedom. The specific argument is embedded within a larger aim to recognize attempts within Catholic philosophy and political thought to articulate a trajectory that moved away from......This article analyzes the Catholic contribution to the Italian republican and democratic Constitution of 1948. The focus is on the specific way in which the Italian citizen became symbolically coded as a ‘person’ and not as an ‘individual’, inspired by Catholic social philosophy. The Catholic...... project for the new Constitution had a considerable impact on modern Italian culture and politics and on the building of a modern mass democracy and welfare state. During the crucial historical juncture that followed the collapse of Fascism, Catholic politicians and intellectuals sought to interpret...

  6. Italian Studies, Italian Theory and the politics of trans-lation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Minca, C.

    2016-01-01

    Italian Theory has emerged as the result of the search for new conceptual frameworks in the face of a series of international political events concerning not only the proliferation of states of exception but also of new forms of politicization of life related to biomedical science and the

  7. Provenance variation in subalpine fir grown as an exotic tree species in Denmark and Iceland

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skúlason, Brynjar

    Neonectria neomacrospora in Denmark. In Iceland the corkbark fir showed superior results, especially for survival rate and Christmas tree quality. The White River provenance from British Columbia is recommended for use in Denmark. The Mount Taylor provenance from the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico...... fir (A. lasiocarpa var. lasiocarpa) and corkbark fir (A. lasiocarpa var. arizonica (Merriam) Lemmon) was established at three sites in Denmark and at one site in Iceland in 1999. Adaptability, Christmas tree quality, growth rhythm and susceptibility to pests and pathogens were measured and assessed...... and the most spring frost damage on buds. The westernmost subalpine fir provenances from Washington state and British Columbia showed the overall best results in Denmark, with the highest survival (after 15 years), fastest height growth and highest Christmas tree quality and profitability, as well as both good...

  8. Wind power: Italian auto-production legislation (ISES convention)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mari, G.

    1991-01-01

    With reference to what was discussed at the Bologna (Italy) June 1991 ISES (International Solar Energy Society) convention on wind energy, this paper summarizes the Italian legislative framework relative to on-site power generation and outlines the National Energy Plan objectives regarding the promotion of the use, by industry, of renewable energy sources. Brief notes are also provided on wind energy promotional activities being carried out by ENEL (the Italian National Energy Board), ENEA (Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment), and EWEA (the European Wind Energy Association)

  9. 75 FR 64611 - Italian American Heritage and Culture Month, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-19

    .... As we honor the long history and vast contributions of Italian Americans, let us recommit to... society and steer the course of our history. During Italian American Heritage and Culture Month, we... Culture Month. I call upon all Americans to learn more about the history of Italian Americans, and to...

  10. L'insegnamento dell'economia industriale nelle università italiane

    OpenAIRE

    Alzona Gianluigi; Frigero Piercarlo; Ninni Augusto

    2003-01-01

    The study analyses the importance and characteristics of Industrial Economics/Organisation and related courses (e.g. Firm Economics, Innovation Economics, Applied Economics) in Italian Universities. Attention is concentrated on first level (3-year) degree courses, set up by Italian Faculties according to the New Organisation of Studies. The research points out that the IE-IO teaching cluster plays a major role in Italian Universities, counting on about 170 courses and 160 professors. Most of ...

  11. Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d'Italianistica nell'Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The journal aims at providing a forum for academic discussion on all aspects of Italian culture. It features articles on Italian language and literature and, since it is one of the primary aims of the journal to foster multi- and inter-disciplinary study and communication, contributions are invited from all writers interested in Italian ...

  12. Integrated use of biomarkers and bioaccumulation data in Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) for site-specific quality assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Binelli, A; Ricciardi, F; Riva, C; Provini, A

    2006-01-01

    One of the useful biological tools for environmental management is the measurement of biomarkers whose changes are related to the exposure to chemicals or environmental stress. Since these responses might vary with different contaminants or depending on the pollutant concentration reached in the organism, the support of bioaccumulation data is needed to prevent false conclusions. In this study, several persistent organic pollutants -- 23 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners, 11 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), six dichlorodiphenyltricholroethane (DDT) relatives, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), chlorpyrifos and its oxidized metabolite -- and some herbicides (lindane and the isomers alpha, beta, delta; terbutilazine; alachlor; metolachlor) were measured in the soft tissues of the freshwater mollusc Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) from 25 sampling sites in the Italian portions of the sub-alpine great lakes along with the measure of ethoxyresorufin dealkylation (EROD) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. The linkage between bioaccumulation and biomarker data allowed us to create site-specific environmental quality indexes towards man-made chemicals. This classification highlighted three different degrees of xenobiotic contamination of the Italian sub-alpine great lakes: a high water quality in Lake Lugano with negligible pollutant levels and no effects on enzyme activities, an homogeneous poor quality for Lakes Garda, Iseo and Como, and the presence of some xenobiotic point-sources in Lake Maggiore, whose ecological status could be jeopardized, also due to the heavy DDT contamination revealed since 1996.

  13. Representation of the serial killer on the Italian Internet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villano, P; Bastianoni, P; Melotti, G

    2001-10-01

    The representation of serial killers was examined from the analysis of 317 Web pages in the Italian language to study how the psychological profiles of serial killers are described on the Italian Internet. The correspondence analysis of the content of these Web pages shows that in Italy the serial killer is associated with words such as "monster" and "horror," which suggest and imply psychological perversion and aberrant acts. These traits are peculiar for the Italian scenario.

  14. Italian validation of the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buonanno, Pasquale; Laiola, Anna; Palumbo, Chiara; Spinelli, Gianmario; Terminiello, Virginia; Servillo, Giuseppe

    2017-07-01

    Preoperative anxiety is usually experienced by patients awaiting surgical procedures and it can negatively impact patient's outcome. The Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) is a questionnaire created to identify anxious patients and their need for information: it has been translated and validated in many languages because of its reliability and ease of completion. To date, no Italian version of the APAIS has been produced; our aim was to translate and validate the APAIS in Italian. We produced an Italian version of the APAIS and we administered it to 110 patients undergoing elective surgery; we explored its structure by factor analysis and its reliability by Cronbach's alpha. We analyzed its external validity by confronting it to the Spielberg's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the Italian version of the APAIS were determined. The Italian version of the APAIS confirmed the original structure of the questionnaire and its internal consistency; it well correlated with the STAI-Y1, the subscale of the STAI which explore the anxiety "state." An APAIS score of 14 was found as best cutoff to distinguish anxious and non-anxious patients. The Italian translation of the APAIS showed psychometric properties similar to the original version. Its reliability and its efficiency make it a powerful tool even in Italian population to detect anxiety and need for information.

  15. LA LINGUA ITALIANA E LE SCUOLE ITALIANE NEL TERRITORIO ISTRIANO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiara De Battisti

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available L’articolo ricostruisce brevemente, dal punto di vista storico, le vicende della comunità italiana in Istria per contestualizzarne i mutamenti di carattere linguistico e socioculturale che essa ha vissuto, in particolare dal secondo dopoguerra ad oggi. Sulla base di studi e indagini  recenti, vengono prese in esame le lingue e i dialetti parlati dalla comunità italiana, la realtà multilingue e multiculturale dell’Istria attuale,  le istituzioni italiane presenti nel territorio istriano e la loro attività finalizzata alla permanenza della lingua e cultura italiana nella regione. In particolare si ricostruisce la storia della scuola di lingua italiana, le sue origini, il suo declino dopo la cessione dell’Istria alla Yugolaslavia e durante i difficili e drammatici anni dell’esodo di molti italiano dalla regione, la sua rinascita ed evoluzione dal 1980 ad oggi. Delle scuole di lingua italiana, che attualmente operano sia nel territorio istriano che fa parte della Slovenia sia in quello che fa parte della Croazia, si analizza la loro distribuzione nella regione, la loro organizzazione, il ruolo della lingua italiana come materia, come lingua di scolarizzazione e come lingua straniera, i problemi, ancora aperti, della formazione degli insegnanti e dei libri di testo, e si valuta la loro possibilità di evoluzione e di sviluppo.     Italian language and Italian schools in the territory if Istria   This article briefly discusses, from the historical point of view, the Italian community in Istria to contextualize the linguistic and socio cultural changes that have taken place in the region, especially after WWII. Based on recent surveys and studies, languages and dialects spoken in the Italian community, the multilungual and multicultural reality of Istria are examined, as well as the Italian institutions in the Istrian territory and their efforts to conserve Italian language and culture in the area.  In particular, the history of

  16. Italian Validation of Homophobia Scale (HS)

    OpenAIRE

    Ciocca, Giacomo; Capuano, Nicolina; Tuziak, Bogdan; Mollaioli, Daniele; Limoncin, Erika; Valsecchi, Diana; Carosa, Eleonora; Gravina, Giovanni L.; Gianfrilli, Daniele; Lenzi, Andrea; Jannini, Emmanuele A.

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: The Homophobia Scale (HS) is a valid tool to assess homophobia. This test is self‐reporting, composed of 25 items, which assesses a total score and three factors linked to homophobia: behavior/negative affect, affect/behavioral aggression, and negative cognition. Aim: The aim of this study was to validate the HS in the Italian context. Methods: An Italian translation of the HS was carried out by two bilingual people, after which an English native translated the test back i...

  17. Ethnobotany of medicinal plants among the communities of Alpine and Sub-alpine regions of Pakistan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kayani, Sadaf; Ahmad, Mushtaq; Sultana, Shazia; Khan Shinwari, Zabta; Zafar, Muhammed; Yaseen, Ghulam; Hussain, Manzoor; Bibi, Tahira

    2015-04-22

    To best of our knowledge it is first quantitative ethno-botanical study from Alpine and Sub-alpine, Western Himalaya of Pakistan. The study aims to report, compare the uses and highlight the ethno-botanical significance of medicinal plants for treatment of various diseases. A total of 290 (278 males and 12 females) informants including 14 Local Traditional Healers (LTHs) were interviewed. Information was collected using semi-structured interviews, analyzed and compared by quantitative ethno-botanical indices such as Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Relative frequency of citation (RFC), use value (UV), Fidelity Level (FL) and Jaccard index (JI). A total of 125 plant species (Gymnosperms 7 species, Monocotyledons 2 and 116 Di-cotyledons) belonging to 41 families are collected, identified and ethno-botanically assessed. The most dominant family is Ranunculaceae (20 species) followed by Rosaceae (14 species). In diseases treated, gastrointestinal tract (GIT) diseases have highest proportion (27.5%) followed by respiratory diseases (20%) in the mountain communities. The most dominant life form of plants used is herbs (78%) followed by shrubs (19%) while the most commonly used plant parts are leaves (44 reports) followed by underground part, the roots (37 reports). The highest ICF (0.68) is found for ear, nose and eye disease category followed by respiratory disorders (0.46). There are 15 medicinal plants having 100% FL. Use value (UV) and Relative frequency of citation (RFC) range from 0.03 to 0.53 and 0.04 to 0.23 respectively. In comparison, maximum similarity index is found in the studies with JI 19.52 followed by 17.39. Similarity percentage of plant uses range from 1.69% to 19.52% while dissimilarity percentage varies from 0% to 20%. The Alpine and Sub-alpine regions of Pakistan are rich in medicinal plants and still need more research exploration. On the other hand, ethno-botanical knowledge in study areas is decreasing day by day due to high emigration rates

  18. PHRASEOLOGY IN PARČIĆ'S CROATIAN – ITALIAN DICTIONARY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helena Pavletić

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyzes and classifies the types of phraseological groups in Parčić's Croatian – Italian Dictionary comparing them with Italian equivalents and the contemporary Croatian phraseology.

  19. Italian Entrepreneurship: Conjectures and Evidence from a Historical Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Pier Angelo Toninelli; Michelangelo Vasta

    2009-01-01

    This paper is the first product of an ongoing research on the determinants and the role of entrepreneurship in Italian economic development. Its primary aim is the creation of a data-set of Italian entrepreneurs for the period encompassed between the Unification of the Kingdom (1861) and the end of the XXth century. The main source of the research is a collection of 390 entrepreneurial biographies, prepared for an ongoing Dictionary of Italian Entrepreneurs. The first part of the paper presen...

  20. Attitudes toward Suicide: Italian and United States Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domino, George; Perrone, Luisa

    1993-01-01

    Administered Suicide Opinion Questionnaire to 100 Italian and 100 U.S. physicians, comparable in age, gender, and medical field. Found significant difference on seven of eight scales, with Italian physicians showing greater agreement on mental illness, right to die, religion, impulsivity, normality, aggression, and moral evil scales. Found gender…

  1. Analysis Regarding the Growing Presence of Italian Firms in Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefano Valdemarin

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available At the end of 2014, the number of firms with an Italian presence in Romania was 39,556, representing 19.33% out of total registered firms and this number is still growing. This article focuses on answering the following question: what kind of Italian firms are investing in Romania and why? Starting from the empirical observation that the number of Italian firms in Romania grew by 6.82% last year, we have used a PESTEL analysis to find the key points characterizing the country, paying attention also to the concept of country brand. From the point of view of Italian firms, we have also analyzed the shifting paradigm of internationalization from a Vertical Foreign Direct Investment model to a Horizontal Foreign Direct Investment model. This paper can be useful for managers and entrepreneurs who are oriented towards investing in Romania following the path of Italian firms.

  2. Italian energy policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-01-01

    This document discusses problems associated with Italian energy policy; economic and industrial development as it relates to that policy is covered. Specific areas covered are: (1) the basis of Italy's new energy policy; (2) energy demand; (3) five objectives; (4) the electrical power system; (5) proposed action; and (6) energy resources

  3. Italian Validation of Homophobia Scale (HS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giacomo Ciocca, PsyD, PhD

    2015-09-01

    Conclusions: The Italian validation of the HS revealed the use of this self‐report test to have good psychometric properties. This study offers a new tool to assess homophobia. In this regard, the HS can be introduced into the clinical praxis and into programs for the prevention of homophobic behavior. Ciocca G, Capuano N, Tuziak B, Mollaioli D, Limoncin E, Valsecchi D, Carosa E, Gravina GL, Gianfrilli D, Lenzi A, and Jannini EA. Italian validation of Homophobia Scale (HS. Sex Med 2015;3:213–218.

  4. Strategic Management Accounting in Universities: The Italian Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agasisti, Tommaso; Arnaboldi, Michela; Azzone, Giovanni

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents an investigation of management accounting in four major Italian universities, which have been struggling to build their strategy in a context of significant change. Following many OECD countries the Italian government has been changing its higher education system by giving more autonomy to universities. These changes pose a…

  5. exiles/nomads: journeys through language and gender in italian ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    how Italian women's (and men's) pulp fiction is written through gender specific ... by Santacroce's heroines to travel beyond the Italian boundaries, is not limited to the ..... The character's perception of his physical environment as silent and.

  6. ’The Italian Color’: Race, Crime Iconography and Dubbing Conventions in the Italian-language Versions of Scarface (1932)

    OpenAIRE

    Mereu Keating, Carla

    2016-01-01

    In the early 1930s the crime film Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932, USA, dir. Howard Hawks) stirred censorship controversies in the United States because of its gritty portrayal of criminality and violence. Debates over crime, race and immigration proliferated in the North-American press and finally led to Italian-American pressure groups to call out for the film’s boycott because it ‘offended the Italian nation and people’ and vilified immigrant communities. Archival historical ...

  7. A review of the Italian fast reactor programme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pierantoni, F.; Tavoni, R.

    1984-01-01

    This review sums up the Italian situation in the field of the fast reactors on the eve of the fifth five year plan (1985-1989), in which the country undertakes to implement an important activity of research and development in the context of a greater European collaboration. Italian participation in the development of European nuclear power stations together with the completion of the PEC plant which will be used to develop a fuel element with the necessary economic and safety characteristics, remain the two principal goals of the Italian fast reactor programme. In 1983 the sum assigned by ENEA for fast reactors was about 220 billion lire of which 145 billion was for the PEC reactor

  8. Healthy migrants but unhealthy offspring? A retrospective cohort study among Italians in Switzerland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarnutzer, Silvan; Bopp, Matthias

    2012-12-22

    In many countries, migrants from Italy form a substantial, well-defined group with distinct lifestyle and dietary habits. There is, however, hardly any information about all-cause mortality patterns among Italian migrants and their offspring. In this paper, we compare Italian migrants, their offspring and Swiss nationals. We compared age-specific and age-standardized mortality rates and hazard ratios (adjusted for education, marital status, language region and period) for Swiss and Italian nationals registered in the Swiss National Cohort (SNC), living in the German- or French-speaking part of Switzerland and falling into the age range 40-89 during the observation period 1990-2008. Overall, 3,175,288 native Swiss (48% male) and 224,372 individuals with an Italian migration background (57% male) accumulated 698,779 deaths and 44,836,189 person-years. Individuals with Italian background were categorized by nationality, country of birth and language. First-generation Italians had lower mortality risks than native Swiss (reference group), but second-generation Italians demonstrated higher mortality risks. Among first-generation Italians, predominantly Italian-speaking men and women had hazard ratios (HRs) of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.88-0.91) and 0.90 (0.87-0.92), respectively, while men and women having adopted the regional language had HRs of 0.93 (0.88-0.98) and 0.96 (0.88-1.04), respectively. Among second-generation Italians, the respective HRs were 1.16 (1.03-1.31), 1.06 (0.89-1.26), 1.10 (1.05-1.16) and 0.97 (0.89-1.05). The mortality advantage of first-generation Italians decreased with age. The mortality risks of first- and second-generation Italians vary substantially. The healthy migrant effect and health disadvantage among second-generation Italians show characteristic age/sex patterns. Future investigation of health behavior and cause-specific mortality is needed to better understand different mortality risks. Such insights will facilitate adequate prevention and

  9. Healthy migrants but unhealthy offspring? A retrospective cohort study among Italians in Switzerland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tarnutzer Silvan

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In many countries, migrants from Italy form a substantial, well-defined group with distinct lifestyle and dietary habits. There is, however, hardly any information about all-cause mortality patterns among Italian migrants and their offspring. In this paper, we compare Italian migrants, their offspring and Swiss nationals. Methods We compared age-specific and age-standardized mortality rates and hazard ratios (adjusted for education, marital status, language region and period for Swiss and Italian nationals registered in the Swiss National Cohort (SNC, living in the German- or French-speaking part of Switzerland and falling into the age range 40–89 during the observation period 1990–2008. Overall, 3,175,288 native Swiss (48% male and 224,372 individuals with an Italian migration background (57% male accumulated 698,779 deaths and 44,836,189 person-years. Individuals with Italian background were categorized by nationality, country of birth and language. Results First-generation Italians had lower mortality risks than native Swiss (reference group, but second-generation Italians demonstrated higher mortality risks. Among first-generation Italians, predominantly Italian-speaking men and women had hazard ratios (HRs of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.88-0.91 and 0.90 (0.87-0.92, respectively, while men and women having adopted the regional language had HRs of 0.93 (0.88-0.98 and 0.96 (0.88-1.04, respectively. Among second-generation Italians, the respective HRs were 1.16 (1.03-1.31, 1.06 (0.89-1.26, 1.10 (1.05-1.16 and 0.97 (0.89-1.05. The mortality advantage of first-generation Italians decreased with age. Conclusions The mortality risks of first- and second-generation Italians vary substantially. The healthy migrant effect and health disadvantage among second-generation Italians show characteristic age/sex patterns. Future investigation of health behavior and cause-specific mortality is needed to better understand different mortality risks

  10. Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 4

    OpenAIRE

    Galasso,Gabriele; Domina,Gianniantonio; Bonari,Gianmaria; Buono,Sergio; Chianese,Giuseppina; Cortesi,Gloria; Cortesi,Gloria; Iamonico,Duilio; Olivieri,Nicola; Peruzzi,Lorenzo; Pierini,Brunello; Roma-Marzio,Francesco; Scoppola,Anna; Soldano,Adriano; Stinca,Adriano

    2017-01-01

    In this contribution, new data concerning the Italian distribution of alien vascular flora are presented. It includes new records and exclusions for Italy or for Italian administrative regions of taxa in the genera Cedrus, Cenchrus, Citrus, Cyrtomium, Diospyros, Elaeagnus, Erigeron, Iris, Oenothera, Pavonia, Phytolacca, Styphnolobium, and Verbena. Furthermore, a new combination in the genus Amaranthus is proposed.

  11. Residential construction cost: An Italian survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canesi, Rubina; Marella, Giuliano

    2017-04-01

    This paper reports data describing development projects for new buildings according to construction costs in North-East Italy. A survey was carried out on local companies undertaking new residential development projects in two Italian regions (Veneto and Lombardy). The aim of this survey was to record new real estate construction projects, collecting both technical and socio-economic cost features. It is extremely difficult to collect such data for the Italian real estate construction sector, due to its lack of transparency, so that the novelty for the Italian scenario is the dataset itself. Another interest perspective of this survey is that socio-economic characteristics were also recorded; they are often studied in urban economics, but are usually related to property purchase prices and values, not to construction costs. The data come from an analysis of Canesi and Marella regarding the relationship between the trend of construction costs and the socio-economic conditions of the reference setting, such as the mean years of schooling of the workforce, housing market trends, and average per capita income.

  12. Residential construction cost: An Italian survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rubina Canesi

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports data describing development projects for new buildings according to construction costs in North-East Italy. A survey was carried out on local companies undertaking new residential development projects in two Italian regions (Veneto and Lombardy. The aim of this survey was to record new real estate construction projects, collecting both technical and socio-economic cost features. It is extremely difficult to collect such data for the Italian real estate construction sector, due to its lack of transparency, so that the novelty for the Italian scenario is the dataset itself. Another interest perspective of this survey is that socio-economic characteristics were also recorded; they are often studied in urban economics, but are usually related to property purchase prices and values, not to construction costs. The data come from an analysis of Canesi and Marella regarding the relationship between the trend of construction costs and the socio-economic conditions of the reference setting, such as the mean years of schooling of the workforce, housing market trends, and average per capita income.

  13. Italian decommissioning in the post-referendum era

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrazzano, Vincenzo; Scarabotti, Serena

    2012-01-01

    The accident at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant materially reverberated, with its emotional impact, on the preparation of a new nuclear policy in Italy. Italians, wishing to decide directly on the electric power source for their country, applied for a referendum procedure aimed at abrogating the newly enacted legal framework which would have paved the way for an Italian nuclear renaissance. The referendum on the repeal of nuclear power passed on 12-13 June 2011. In addition to the recent termination of the nuclear programme in Italy, effective by law for five years as a result of this referendum, this aborted renaissance of nuclear energy in Italy requires leaders to make many important decisions including how to set up decommissioning programmes and activities and how to establish a national repository for nuclear waste as envisaged by general European policy on the management of such waste. Leaders must also reach consensus regarding the future of the Italian nuclear safety authority. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Italian Parliament has reacted to this recent referendum on the future of nuclear energy in Italy by strengthening its focus on the safe management of nuclear waste as part of the decommissioning process. More significantly, this paper will analyse the newly enacted Law No. 27 of 24 March 2012 concerning urgent measures for infrastructure development to enhance the competitiveness of the country. This law derives from a political measure taken by Prime Minister Mario Monti in the context of an economic stimulus programme aimed at improving market competition. Article 24 of this so-called 'Liberalisation Decree' focuses on the need for accelerating the deactivation and decommissioning process of Italian nuclear power plants and research reactors. In light of the newly enacted legal provisions, this paper sets forth a general comment on the legal provisions included in Article 24 of Law No. 27/2012 by indicating their

  14. Glycemic index and glycemic load of commercial Italian foods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scazzina, F; Dall'Asta, M; Casiraghi, M C; Sieri, S; Del Rio, D; Pellegrini, N; Brighenti, F

    2016-05-01

    The glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) are useful parameters in the nutritional classification of carbohydrate foods. Diets characterized by a low GI and/or a low GL have been repeatedly and independently associated with decreased risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases. The aim of this study is to report the GI and GL value of carbohydrate-rich foods available on the Italian market and mostly consumed in Italy. GI values were determined according to FAO/WHO (1997) and ISO (2010). Overall, the 141 commercial foods that were analyzed represent food categories that are the source of >80% carbohydrate intake in Italy. The food items chosen were based mainly on the market share of the brand within each food category and grouped into 13 food categories: 1) beverages: fermented milk drink, juice, smoothie, soft drink; 2) biscuits; 3) breads; 4) bread substitutes; 5) breakfast cereals; 6) cakes and snacks; 7) candy and confectionery; 8) cereals; 9) desserts and ice-creams; 10) marmalade and jam; 11) pasta; 12) pizza; 13) sugar and sweetener. This database of commercial Italian foods partly overcomes the lack of information on GI and GL of local foods, contributing to a better understanding of the association between GI/GL and health and providing a more informed choice to Italian consumers and health practitioners. Copyright © 2016 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Dealing with the vulnerability of the Italian banking system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisabetta Montanaro

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The major vulnerabilities of the Italian banking system are the overhang of NPLs and low profitability. Differently from the attention given to excesses of NPLs, the profitability problem is normally considered to be a matter to be left to bank management and not an area of explicit direct regulatory action. Although focusing on capital requirements, regulators and supervisors seldom pose the question of where capital comes from. Using a large sample of 410 Italian domestic banking groups and individual banks, we propose an NPL stress test and a viability test that show: that the system’s vulnerability is a widespread phenomenon; that a further recapitalisation of around ten billion euro is necessary; and that, more importantly, limiting interventions to the overhang problem does not put the majority of Italian banks into a viability path due to the inefficiencies coming from their current business models. The analysis of the Italian case strengthens the critique of current regulation and supervision because, not focusing on bank profitability, they do not avoid threats on solvency coming from the accumulation of NPLs. We thus argue that the structural changes necessary to put the Italian banking system into a viable path require new regulatory and supervisory approaches.

  16. A multi-proxy record of hydroclimate, vegetation, fire, and post-settlement impacts for a subalpine plateau, Central Rocky Mountains U.S.A

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Lesleigh; Brunelle, Andrea; Thompson, Robert S.

    2015-01-01

    Apparent changes in vegetation distribution, fire, and other disturbance regimes throughout western North America have prompted investigations of the relative importance of human activities and climate change as potential causal mechanisms. Assessing the effects of Euro-American settlement is difficult because climate changes occur on multi-decadal to centennial time scales and require longer time perspectives than historic observations can provide. Here, we report vegetation and environmental changes over the past ~13,000 years as recorded in a sediment record from Bison Lake, a subalpine lake on a high plateau in northwestern Colorado. Results are based on multiple independent proxies, which include pollen, charcoal, and elemental geochemistry, and are compared with previously reported interpretations of hydroclimatic changes from oxygen isotope ratios. The pollen data indicate a slowly changing vegetation sequence from sagebrush steppe during the late glacial to coniferous forest through the late Holocene. The most dramatic vegetation changes of the Holocene occurred during the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’ (MCA) and ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) with rapid replacement of conifer forest by grassland followed by an equally rapid return to conifer forest. Late Holocene vegetation responses are mirrored by changes in fire, lake biological productivity, and watershed erosion. These combined records indicate that subsequent disturbance related to Euro-American settlement, although perhaps significant, had acted upon a landscape that was already responding to MCA-LIA hydroclimatic change. Results document both rapid and long-term subalpine grassland ecosystem dynamics driven by agents of change that can be anticipated in the future and simulated by ecosystem models.

  17. Social media marketing in Italian luxury fashion

    OpenAIRE

    Ananda, Artha Sejati; Hernández García, Ángel; Lamberti, Lucio

    2015-01-01

    Industries nowadays have been comfortable with the incorporation of social media to their marketing strategy. Italy has been known as a major center of the European fashion industry, a sector that is also following the social media marketing trends. This paper provides empirical findings on Italian luxury fashion brands? social media marketing activities. We present and analyze two case studies of Italian luxury fashion brands: Gucci and The Bridge (Il Ponte Pelletteria). Gucci is one of worl...

  18. European energy policy and Italian national rights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gentile, G.G.

    1991-01-01

    In light of energy market upheavals expected as a result of the up-coming European free trade market, impacts on existing Italian energy legislation, currently hinging on the monopolistic activities of ENEL, (Italian National Electricity Board) are examined. The various aspects dealt with include: legal implications of the integration, under monopolistic and deregulated national energy market scenarios, of new legislation, on the production and distribution of renewable energy sources, with existing energy legislation; the combined effects of strong competition in a new international energy market and energy supply vulnerability due strong dependence on OPEC supplied petroleum; Italian regional economic unbalance due to the possible introduction, in a deregulated European electric power market, of a common carrier system of electric power distribution, that due to Italy's particular geography is expected to be controlled by a firm locatednear the northern border; power pooling legislation and rate structure transparency in a deregulated energy market

  19. Italian electricity supply contracts optimization: ECO computer code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Napoli, G.; Savelli, D.

    1993-01-01

    The ECO (Electrical Contract Optimization) code written in the Microsoft WINDOWS 3.1 language can be handled with a 286 PC and a minimum of RAM. It consists of four modules, one for the calculation of ENEL (Italian National Electricity Board) tariffs, one for contractual time-of-use tariffs optimization, a table of tariff coefficients, and a module for monthly power consumption calculations based on annual load diagrams. The optimization code was developed by ENEA (Italian Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment) to help Italian industrial firms comply with new and complex national electricity supply contractual regulations and tariffs. In addition to helping industrial firms determine optimum contractual arrangements, the code also assists them in optimizing their choice of equipment and production cycles

  20. Collective Training & Thinking in JAMD : The Italian JPOWX Experience

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jacobs, L.R.M.A.; Schavemaker-Piva, O.; Meijer, Y.G.S.; Nuvoloni, P.; Cioli, C.; Manca, R.; Argiolas, G.

    2009-01-01

    Mission Training through Distributed Simulation (MTDS) has established itself as a powerful tool for collective training in the military domain. This potential has been recognized by the Italian Joint Forces Command and has led to the Italian participation in the 10th edition of Exercise Joint

  1. Effects of eradication and restoration treatments on Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus)

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGinnis, Thomas; Keeley, Jon

    2011-01-01

    Low elevation grasslands in California long have been dominated by Mediterranean grasses, but many areas still have large native forb populations. Alien forbs invade these grasslands, displacing both native and other alien species. Italian thistle is a noxious alien herb that has recently invaded these grasslands, including ungrazed blue oak (Quercus douglassii) and interior live oak (Quercus wislizenii) stands in Sequoia National Park. Here, Italian thistle tends to dominate under oaks and has the potential to substantially alter the foothill ecosystem by displacing native plants and acting as a ladder fuel that can carry fires into the oak canopy. We tested the effects of selectively reducing Italian thistle populations alone and in combination with restoration of native species. Two thistle eradication techniques (clipping and the application of clopyralid herbicide) and two restoration techniques (addition of native forb seeds or planting native grass plugs) were used. After two consecutive years of treatment we found: a) clipping was not effective at reducing Italian thistle populations (clipping reduced Italian thistle density in some areas, but not vegetative cover), b) herbicide reduced both Italian thistle density and vegetative cover for the first two growing seasons after application, but cover rebounded in the third growing season, c) native forb cover and species richness were not significantly affected by clipping or spot-treating with herbicide, d) the grass and forb addition treatments by themselves were not effective at reducing Italian thistle during the course of this study and e) sowing annual forb seeds after clipping resulted in greater forb cover and moderately reduced Italian thistle vegetative cover in the short term.

  2. Thyroid swellings in the art of the Italian Renaissance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sterpetti, Antonio V; De Toma, Giorgio; De Cesare, Alessandro

    2015-09-01

    Thyroid swellings in the art of the Italian Renaissance are sporadically reported in the medical literature. Six hundred paintings and sculptures from the Italian Renaissance, randomly selected, were analyzed to determine the prevalence of personages with thyroid swellings and its meaning. The prevalence of personages with thyroid swellings in the art of Italian Renaissance is much higher than previously thought. This phenomenon was probably secondary to iodine deficiency. The presence of personages with thyroid swelling was related to specific meanings the artists wanted to show in their works. Even if the function and the role of the thyroid were discovered only after thyroidectomy was started to be performed, at the beginning of the 19th century, artists of the Italian Renaissance had the intuition that thyroid swellings were related to specific psychological conditions. Artistic intuition and sensibility often comes before scientific demonstration, and it should be a guide for science development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Uncovering the Italian Muscle Jew: from Zionist Gymnastics to Fascist Boxing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon Levis Sullam

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In this article I examine the presence and influence among Italian Jews of Max Nordau’s image of the “muscle Jew” and more broadly of a virile imaginary, intertwined with Zionist and Italian nationalist ideas. I first document the relevance of an early phase of Italian muscular Judaism at the beginning of the twentieth century, at the time of the rise of Zionism in Italy. I then study the development, in the 1920s and 1930s, of a virile imagery among the two trends of Italian revisionist Zionism and of what we may call Italian Jewish Fascism. I end by asking whether there were not inherent contradictions, or at least relevant tensions, in the ideal of the muscle Jew, between radical nationalism and Jewish forms of virility, as developed after the First world war and in connection with the rise and stabilization of Fascism.

  4. Contemporary Seicento: On the Dark Background of the Italian Historical Novel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davide Messina

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available While the historical novel is a product of European Romanticism, the first Italian historical novel expresses the critical awareness of its origin against the dark background of the Seicento. For the historical and political imagination of the Italian Romanticism, the Seicento represents the Middle Age of modernity, namely the obscurity of the contemporary. From the dark background of the Seicento the Italian historical novel draws stories that reflect on the obscurity of its own time. In particular, my essay examines a selection of contemporary texts that show the continued and critical presence of the Seicento in the Italian historical novel.

  5. [Effects of snow pack on soil nitrogen transformation enzyme activities in a subalpine Abies faxioniana forest of western Sichuan, China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Li; Xu, Zhen-Feng; Wu, Fu-Zhong; Yang, Wan-Qin; Yin, Rui; Li, Zhi-Ping; Gou, Xiao-Lin; Tang, Shi-Shan

    2014-05-01

    This study characterized the dynamics of the activities of urease, nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase in both soil organic layer and mineral soil layer under three depths of snow pack (deep snowpack, moderate snowpack and shallow snowpack) over the three critical periods (snow formed period, snow stable period, and snow melt period) in the subalpine Abies faxoniana forest of western Sichuan in the winter of 2012 and 2013. Throughout the winter, soil temperature under deep snowpack increased by 46.2% and 26.2%, respectively in comparison with moderate snowpack and shallow snowpack. In general, the three nitrogen-related soil enzyme activities under shallow snowpack were 0.8 to 3.9 times of those under deep snowpack during the winter. In the beginning and thawing periods of seasonal snow pack, shallow snowpack significantly increased the activities of urease, nitrate and nitrite reductase enzyme in both soil organic layer and mineral soil layer. Although the activities of the studied enzymes in soil organic layer and mineral soil layer were observed to be higher than those under deep- and moderate snowpacks in deep winter, no significant difference was found under the three snow packs. Meanwhile, the effects of snowpack on the activities of the measured enzymes were related with season, soil layer and enzyme type. Significant variations of the activities of nitrogen-related enzymes were found in three critical periods over the winter, and the three measured soil enzymes were significantly higher in organic layer than in mineral layer. In addition, the activities of the three measured soil enzymes were closely related with temperature and moisture in soils. In conclusion, the decrease of snow pack induced by winter warming might increase the activities of soil enzymes related with nitrogen transformation and further stimulate the process of wintertime nitrogen transformation in soils of the subalpine forest.

  6. Total belowground carbon flux in subalpine forests is related to leaf area index, soil nitrogen, and tree height

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berryman, Erin Michele; Ryan, Michael G.; Bradford, John B.; Hawbaker, Todd J.; Birdsey, R.

    2016-01-01

    In forests, total belowground carbon (C) flux (TBCF) is a large component of the C budget and represents a critical pathway for delivery of plant C to soil. Reducing uncertainty around regional estimates of forest C cycling may be aided by incorporating knowledge of controls over soil respiration and TBCF. Photosynthesis, and presumably TBCF, declines with advancing tree size and age, and photosynthesis increases yet C partitioning to TBCF decreases in response to high soil fertility. We hypothesized that these causal relationships would result in predictable patterns of TBCF, and partitioning of C to TBCF, with natural variability in leaf area index (LAI), soil nitrogen (N), and tree height in subalpine forests in the Rocky Mountains, USA. Using three consecutive years of soil respiration data collected from 22 0.38-ha locations across three 1-km2 subalpine forested landscapes, we tested three hypotheses: (1) annual soil respiration and TBCF will show a hump-shaped relationship with LAI; (2) variability in TBCF unexplained by LAI will be related to soil nitrogen (N); and (3) partitioning of C to TBCF (relative to woody growth) will decline with increasing soil N and tree height. We found partial support for Hypothesis 1 and full support for Hypotheses 2 and 3. TBCF, but not soil respiration, was explained by LAI and soil N patterns (r2 = 0.49), and the ratio of annual TBCF to TBCF plus aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) was related to soil N and tree height (r2 = 0.72). Thus, forest C partitioning to TBCF can vary even within the same forest type and region, and approaches that assume a constant fraction of TBCF relative to ANPP may be missing some of this variability. These relationships can aid with estimates of forest soil respiration and TBCF across landscapes, using spatially explicit forest data such as national inventories or remotely sensed data products.

  7. Bayesian Analysis of Demand Elasticity in the Italian Electricity Market

    OpenAIRE

    D'Errico, Maria; Bollino, Carlo

    2015-01-01

    The liberalization of the Italian electricity market is a decade old. Within these last ten years, the supply side has been extensively analyzed, but not the demand side. The aim of this paper is to provide a new method for estimation of the demand elasticity, based on Bayesian methods applied to the Italian electricity market. We used individual demand bids data in the day-ahead market in the Italian Power Exchange (IPEX), for 2011, in order to construct an aggregate demand function at the h...

  8. Renewable resource power production: Italian decree CIP No. 34

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Macco, C.

    1991-01-01

    As part of an overall energy conservation campaign, a concrete step, in the form of a more favourable electricity rate structure for auto-producers, is being taken by the Italian Government to encourage medium sized industries to adopt cogeneration systems to meet their heat and power requirements. Within this context, this paper gives a look at the incentives for renewable energy source use which are incorporated in the CIP (Italian Inter-ministerial Commission on Prices) Provision No. 34/90, regulating industrial plant cogeneration systems, and which governs ENEL's (Italian National Electricity Board) rate structure in the case of independent on-site producers ceding power to the national utility's grid

  9. L’insegnamento della lingua e letteratura italiane a Cuba.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mayerìn Bello Valdés

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Normal 0 14 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabella normale"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Nel suo articolo l’autrice ricostruisce la storia dell’insegnamento delle lingua e della letteratura italiane a Cuba dal Novecento ai giorni nostri, e fornisce una ricca documentazione sui corsi di italiano, sugli studi e  sulle opere più importanti pubblicate a Cuba sulla nostra letteratura e sulle manifestazioni realizzate per la diffusione della cultura italiana nel paese. In particolare riferisce dell’importante ruolo svolto dalla rivista “Cuadernos de italianística cubana” – e dalle istituzioni accademiche e culturali che ad essa fanno riferimento – nel campo della ricerca linguistica, della glottodidattica, dello studio della cultura italiana nelle sue diverse manifestazioni, tra cui la musica e l’opera lirica, e nella diffusione dell’italiano attraverso specifici programmi televisivi.  Normal 0 14 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabella normale"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} In her article the author reconstructs the history of Italian language and literature teaching in Cuba from the Nineteen Hundreds up to the present and provides a wealth of documentation on the Italian courses, studies and the most important works published in Cuba on our literature, as well as on events organized to spread Italian culture throughout the country.  In particular

  10. Sophistication and Performance of Italian Agri‐food Exports

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Carbone

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Nonprice competition is increasingly important in world food markets. Recently, the expression ‘export sophistication’ has been introduced in the economic literature to refer to a wide set of attributes that increase product value. An index has been proposed to measure sophistication in an indirect way through the per capita GDP of exporting countries (Lall et al., 2006; Haussmann et al., 2007.The paper applies the sophistication measure to the Italian food export sector, moving from an analysis of trends and performance of Italian food exports. An original way to disentangle different components in the temporal variation of the sophistication index is also proposed.Results show that the sophistication index offers original insights on recent trends in world food exports and with respect to Italian core food exports.

  11. Accountability, Italian style: how to reply to government pressure?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mauro M

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Marianna Mauro, Giovanna TalaricoDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Magna Græcia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, ItalyAbstract: The current paper addresses the complex issue of accountability by focusing on Italian public hospitals and teaching hospitals; it aims to analyze Italian health care organizations' strategies for responding to the pressure generated by regulations. In particular, in the last few years, Italian hospitals and teaching hospitals have been obliged to implement or improve their accountability instruments in response to a new regulation (known as the Brunetta reform, Legislative Decree number 150/2009. The Legislative Decree aims to measure and assess the results of each public administration unit in terms of efficiency of the human resources, satisfaction level of the final users, and transparency of its action. Despite the initial consensus on the necessity to make the decision process in health care visible and transparent, health care organizations find it difficult to demonstrate accountability. The present paper summarizes the evidence on the degree of compliance to the reform requirements and will allow an in-depth understanding of Italian health organizations' attitudes toward accountability. This study will help policymakers understand the degree of acceptance and application of the new reforms and assess whether the law/regulations may be effective drivers for disseminating a culture of transparency and accountability.Keywords: transparency, Italian health care, law/regulations, compliance

  12. Ecology of some mire and bog plant communities in the Western Italian Alps

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giorgio BUFFA

    2003-02-01

    Full Text Available During a mire vegetation study, conducted mainly in the subalpine-alpine sector of the Western Italian Alps, the ecology of several plant communities and numerous moss species of this kind of vegetation was evaluated. The study area covered the Piedmontese sector of the Graian Alps, the eastern sector of the Aosta Valley as well as certain localities of the Pennine Alps, the Canavese district and the Maritime Alps. They have a rocky substratum representative of the various regional lithologies and include the main sectors characterised by the highest precipitation. Three hundred and twenty two relevées were made using the phytosociological method and the pH and the conductivity of the water table and its depth were measured directly. Cluster Analysis allowed a classification of the samples and the identification of various groups of plant communities. Ordination performed by DCA and CCA allowed us to identify the ecological features of the various plant communities by using the values of the main environmental parameters, measured directly in the field, and certain climatic parameters (altitude and mean annual precipitation available. The use of climatic parameters is an important result for identifying communities which show greater oceanicity, something that is underlined also by the presence of indicator species such as Sphagnum papillosum and S. subnitens. Furthermore the communities are arranged in a "poor-rich" gradient, and are also profoundly influenced by depth to water table which is inversely correlated to the pH. Therefore we find certain kinds of communities all with a very low water table and which are little affected by its chemistry. Other groups share the fact that the water table is outcropping or near the surface and are distinguishable for their pH values and conductivity. We discuss the different response of the bryophytes and vascular plants of these communities to the environmental parameters considered, in light of their

  13. The new Italian IVF legislation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benagiano, Giuseppe; Gianaroli, Luca

    2004-08-01

    Last February, the Italian Parliament gave final approval to a new Law regulating assisted reproduction technology. The new legislation fell short of the expectations of infertile couples and of all specialists in the field. There are three problems with the new Italian law; they involve social issues, human rights and the application of technology. The present paper focuses on the fact that the new rules infringe upon basic human rights and the proper application of IVF technology, because they mandate procedures that are against the best interest of the woman seeking pregnancy. The main point of controversy is the combination of a mandatory limit of three embryos for transfer, and an obligation to reimplant all produced embryos; cryopreservation of excess embryos is prohibited. Obviously, this decreases the chances of most women to achieve pregnancy, while at the same time it increases the number and complexity of procedures they need to undergo and may expose some to an unacceptable increase in the risk of multiple pregnancy. The new law is inspired by the desire to protect every newly produced embryo; this is a commendable aim, although it is in total opposition to a law passed over 25 years ago that liberalized voluntary termination of first trimester pregnancies. This means that today Italy has a law that protects every early, pre-implantation embryo, and another that allows the 'suppression' of every post-implantation one. From a technical point of view, given the low level of human fecundity, the only way to prevent the 'loss' of even one preimplantation embryo is to simply ban IVF altogether, an option that Italian legislators obviously did not have the courage to opt for. The tragedy is that Italian infertile couples are now confronted with new rules that not only severely limit the ability of physicians to correctly apply IVF technology, but are so confused that, depending on the interpretation, anyone may try to nullify the main ideological premise upon

  14. Unpublished texts - Poesie | Cro | Italian Studies in Southern Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Tra i suoi ultimi titoli The Noble Savage. Allegory of Freedom, Pirandello and the Baroque, The American Foundations of the Hispanic Utopia. I suoi testi poetici sono apparsi su VIA (Voices in Italian Americana), Gradiva e Canadian Journal of ItalianStudies. Ha pubblicato diversi articoli di critica teatrale e cinematografica su ...

  15. A healthy lesson, Italian-style?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walter Ricciardi

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available According to the conclusions of the World Health Organisation’s 2000 report Italy had the second best health system in the world [1] with Italians having one of the highest rates of life expectancy... However, since 2001 the 19 Italian Regions and 2 Autonomous Provinces have exercised their autonomy very differently, with Northern regions being more successful in establishing effective structures of health care delivery, management and monitoring, as compared to regions in the South. This regional variation in health care reflects (and exacerbates differences of contextual, political, economic and cultural, factors as well as differences between regional health systems. A recent survey [2] showed that in 14 of the 21 Regions and Autonomous Provinces, the system is performing fairly well and is well perceived by citizens.

  16. Environmental life cycle assessment of Italian mozzarella cheese: Hotspots and improvement opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalla Riva, A; Burek, J; Kim, D; Thoma, G; Cassandro, M; De Marchi, M

    2017-10-01

    The present study investigated a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment to estimate the environmental impacts associated with Italian mozzarella cheese consumption. The differences between mozzarella produced from raw milk and mozzarella produced from curd were studied, and differences in manufacturing processes have been emphasized in order to provide guidance for targeted improvements at this phase. Specifically, the third-largest Italian mozzarella producer was surveyed to collect site-specific manufacturing data. The Ecoinvent v3.2 database was used for secondary data, whereas SimaPro 8.1 was the modeling software. The inventory included inputs from farm activities to end of life disposal of wasted mozzarella and packaging. Additionally, plant-specific information was used to assign major inputs, such as electricity, natural gas, packaging, and chemicals to specific products; however, where disaggregated information was not provided, milk solids allocation was applied. Notably, loss of milk solids was accounted during the manufacture, moreover mozzarella waste and transport were considered during distribution, retail, and consumption phases. Feed production and animal emissions were the main drivers of raw milk production. Electricity and natural gas usage, packaging (cardboard and plastic), transport, wastewater treatment, and refrigerant loss affected the emissions from a farm gate-to-dairy plant gate perspective. Post-dairy plant gate effects were mainly determined by electricity usage for storage of mozzarella, transport of mozzarella, and waste treatment. The average emissions were 6.66 kg of CO 2 equivalents and 45.1 MJ of cumulative energy demand/kg of consumed mozzarella produced directly from raw milk, whereas mozzarella from purchased curd had larger emissions than mozzarella from raw milk due to added transport of curd from specialty manufacturing plants, as well as electricity usage from additional processes at the mozzarella plant that are required

  17. Community structure, biodiversity, and ecosystem services in treeline whitebark pine communities: Potential impacts from a non-native pathogen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diana F. Tomback; Lynn M. Resler; Robert E. Keane; Elizabeth R. Pansing; Andrew J. Andrade; Aaron C. Wagner

    2016-01-01

    Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) has the largest and most northerly distribution of any white pine (Subgenus Strobus) in North America, encompassing 18° latitude and 21° longitude in western mountains. Within this broad range, however, whitebark pine occurs within a narrow elevational zone, including upper subalpine and treeline forests, and functions...

  18. Largest College Endowments, 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chronicle of Higher Education, 2012

    2012-01-01

    Of all endowments valued at more than $250-million, the UCLA Foundation had the highest rate of growth over the previous year, at 49 percent. This article presents a table of the largest college endowments in 2011. The table covers the "rank," "institution," "market value as of June 30, 2011," and "1-year change" of institutions participating in…

  19. Modern Italian libraries – between tradition and modernity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kinga Adamiak

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available For centuries, lands currently belonging to the Republic of Italy boasted the greatest and the most illustrious libraries in Europe. From the Middle Ages to Renaissance, they developed extensively and were dominant in the Old World. The present article, however, concentrates on modern Italian libraries and provides an extensive review of their functioning today. The following issues are covered in the discussion: types of libraries and their cooperation, legal circumstances, the activity of national libraries, library associations and their initiatives and projects aimed at utilization of state-of-the-art IT infrastructures in librarianship. The article also emphasizes strong and weak points of Italian librarianship and ponders on the following: What is the role of Italian libraries today when they are evidently past their prime times? Can the libraries in question meet the requirements of modern times?

  20. Occupational Gender Stereotypes and Problem-Solving in Italian Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginevra, Maria Cristina; Nota, Laura

    2017-01-01

    The first purpose of the study was to establish how Italian adolescents perceive jobs in the newly emerging economy sectors as well as more traditional jobs from gender-stereotyped and gender-segregated perspectives. The second purpose was to verify the role of problem-solving and gender in gender-role stereotyping. A total of 217 Italian high…

  1. Subalpine Conifer Seedling Demographics: Species Responses to Climate Manipulations Across an Elevational Gradient at Niwot Ridge, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castanha, C.; Germino, M. J.; Torn, M. S.; Ferrenberg, S.; Harte, J.; Kueppers, L. M.

    2010-12-01

    The effect of climate change on future ranges of treeline species is poorly understood. For example, it is not known whether trees will recruit into the alpine, above the current treeline, and whether population-level differences in trees will mediate range shifts. At Niwot Ridge, Colorado, we used common gardens and climate manipulations to test predictions that warming will lead to greater recruitment at and beyond the cold edge of these species ranges, and will reduce recruitment at the warm edge. Seed from local populations of limber pine and Englemann spruce was harvested and reciprocally planted in 3 experimental sites spanning an elevation gradient from lower subalpine forest (10,000’), to the upper subalpine treeline ecotone (11,000’), to the alpine tundra (11,300’). In Fall 2009 seeds were sown into 20 plots at each site. Overhead infrared heaters targeted increases in growing season surface soil temperature of 4-5°C. The heating treatment, which began in October 2009, was crossed with manual watering, which was initiated following snowmelt in 2010. Over the 2010 growing season, we surveyed seedling germination and mortality weekly. Germination began in early May at the forest site, in early June at the krummholz site, and in early July at the alpine site. Depending on the site and plot, heating accelerated germination by 1 to 4 weeks. Seed source elevation, species, and site all affected germination, with effects for the two species also depending on site. At all sites, lower elevation, warm-edge populations had higher germination rates than high-elevation, cool-edge populations, indicating a potential bottleneck for germination of the high elevation seed sources in the adjacent alpine tundra. At all sites, survival was generally higher for pine than for spruce. Watering tended to enhance pine germinant survival while heating tended to depress spruce germinant survival. Our results indicate that the alpine tundra, generally considered an

  2. The Italian contribution to the CSES satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conti, Livio

    2016-04-01

    We present the Italian contribution to the CSES (China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite) mission. The CSES satellite aims at investigating electromagnetic field, plasma and particles in the near-Earth environment in order to study in particular seismic precursors, particles fluxes (from Van Allen belts, cosmic rays, solar wind, etc.), anthropogenic electromagnetic pollution and more in general the atmosphere-ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling mechanisms that can affect the climate changes. The launch of CSES - the first of a series of several satellite missions - is scheduled by the end of 2016. The CSES satellite has been financed by the CNSA (China National Space Agency) and developed by CEA (China Earthquake Administration) together with several Chinese research institutes and private companies such as the DFH (that has developed the CAST2000 satellite platform). Italy participates to the CSES satellite mission with the LIMADOU project funded by ASI (Italian Space Agency) in collaboration with the Universities of Roma Tor Vergata, Uninettuno, Trento, Bologna and Perugia, as well as the INFN (Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics), INGV (Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) and INAF-IAPS (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics and Planetology). Many analyses have shown that satellite observations of electromagnetic fields, plasma parameters and particle fluxes in low Earth orbit may be useful in order to study the existence of electromagnetic emissions associated with the occurrence of earthquakes of medium and high magnitude. Although the earthquakes forecasting is not possible today, it is certainly a major challenge - and perhaps even a duty - for science in the near future. The claims that the reported anomalies (of electromagnetic, plasma and particle parameters) are seismic precursors are still intensely debated and analyses for confirming claimed correlations are still lacking. In fact, ionospheric currents, plasma

  3. Recent evolution of italian households’ equity portfolio choices: an empirical investigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Attilio Gardini

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available We study Italian households’ portfolio choices, with a special focus on equity investments, by analysing jointly time series and cross-sectional portfolio data. We investigate the temporal evolution of the actual composition of Italian households’ investments in order to explain their portfolio choices and to detect possible determinants of the observed disequilibria phenomena. Moreover, we model the stock market participation choice by using probit regression techniques and we test for parameter stability over time. Instability of participation parameters and a peculiar evolution of Italian households’ portfolios pointed out by our concurrent analysis of cross-sectional and time series data seem to confirm the distance of Italian households’ financial decisions from the rational choice predicted by the Markowitz model. In particular, we find that the housing market bubbles interact strongly with the stock market and financial institutions seem to be unable to advise investors suggesting optimal portfolio choices. The deep reason behind these facts may be the bounded education of investors, in particular the low financial literacy of Italian households.

  4. Scenario e ruoli sociali delle Associazioni teatrali non professionistiche italiane

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinzia Toscano

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the present scenario of the non-professional theater associations in Italy so as to understand their current form of organization. The study focuses on the changes that have characterized in time the non-professional associations (due also to the improvement of the legislation regulating the no profit sector and the social role in contemporary local communities. The survey was conducted within the two most relevant Italian associations of non-professional theater: the Italian Federation of non-professional Theatre (Federazione Italiana Teatro Amatori and the Italian Union of Free Theatre (Unione Italiana Libero Teatro.

  5. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): linguistic validation of the Italian version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filocamo, Maria Teresa; Serati, Maurizio; Li Marzi, Vincenzo; Costantini, Elisabetta; Milanesi, Martina; Pietropaolo, Amelia; Polledro, Patrizio; Gentile, Barbara; Maruccia, Serena; Fornia, Samanta; Lauri, Irene; Alei, Rosanna; Arcangeli, Paola; Sighinolfi, Maria Chiara; Manassero, Francesca; Andretta, Elena; Palazzetti, Anna; Bertelli, Elena; Del Popolo, Giulio; Villari, Donata

    2014-02-01

    Although several new measurements for female sexual dysfunction (FSD) have recently been developed, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) remains the gold standard for screening and one of the most widely used questionnaires. The Italian translation of the FSFI has been used in several studies conducted in Italy, but a linguistic validation of the Italian version does not exist. The aim of this study was to perform a linguistic validation of the Italian version of the FSFI. A multicenter cross-sectional study conducted in 14 urological and gynecological clinics, uniformly distributed over Italian territory. We performed all steps necessary to determine the reliability and the test-retest reliability of the Italian version of the FSFI. The study population was a convenience sample of 409 Italian women. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, which was considered weak, moderate, or high if its value was found less than 0.6, between 0.6 and 0.8, or equal to or greater than 0.8, respectively. The test-retest reliability was assessed for all women in the sample by calculating Pearson's concordance correlation coefficient for each domain and for the total score, both at baseline and after 15 days (r range between -1.00 to +1.00, where +1.00 indicates the strongest positive association). Cronbach's alpha coefficients for total and domain score were sufficiently high, ranging from 0.92 to 0.97 for the total sample. The test-retest procedure revealed that the concordance correlation coefficient was very high both for FSFI-I total score (Pearson's P = 0.93) and for each domain (Pearson's P always >0.92). For the first time in the literature, our study has produced a validated and reliable Italian version of the FSFI questionnaire. Consequently, the Italian FSFI can be used as a reliable tool for preliminary screening for female sexual dysfunction for Italian women. © 2013 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

  6. Mid-sized manufacturing companies the new driver of Italian competitiveness

    CERN Document Server

    Resciniti, Riccardo; Tunisini, Annalisa; Varaldo, Riccardo

    2013-01-01

    The structure of Italian industry is characterized by a predominance of small sized companies and the presence of very few large companies. For a long time a conviction was shared among scholars and practitioners that the strength and safety of Italian industry were based on its industrial districts, that is, the system of interdependent and co-localized small companies which derive their competitive force from an effective and efficient division of labour. This book stresses the idea that a new, vital and promising phenomenon for the competitiveness of Italian industry is focused on mid-sized companies, and the systems of interconnected firms that form a constituent part of their business model. These companies, which originate largely from districts and other local production systems, are a strong entrepreneurial force complementing the districts that have characterized Italy and made Italian industry famous worldwide. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of these firms is provided in this book. Business...

  7. The Journal “Geopolitica” and Formation of the Italian Geopolitical School

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maximilian Al’bertovich Shepelev

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article reveals the origins, methodological features and the process of institutionalization of Italian geopolitical school, place and role of the journal “Geopolitica” in this process. The article analyzes the characteristics of Italian geopolitical perception of the world and its geostrategic priorities, formulated by the representatives of the Italian geopolitical schools in the period of its formation in 20-40-ies of the XX century (the Mediterranean - Mare nostrum, Euroafrica. The source of the formation of the Italian geopolitical school was the intellectual influence of irredentism un the age of the Risorgimento. The process of its formation was correlated with the formation of the modern national school of geographical science, in which was dominated the perception of geography as “utilitarian science” and developed the direction of “dynamic political geography”. Its specifical features was the “antideterminism” and “geographic humanism”, the recognition that the environment does not have absolute power over society, but political will is a determining factor in anthropogeographical area. The institutionalization of Italian political school promoted the creation of several research centres in the 20-30-ies and publishing from January 1939 to December 1942 magazine “Geopolitica”. The draft edition of this magazine received support from the minister of national education Giuseppe Bottai, it was headed by Professor Giorgio Roletto and his disciple, Ernesto Massi. Italian geopolitics maintained close ties with their German colleagues, but they were theoretically justified differences between “Latin” and “German” geopolitical worldviews. Unlike the German geopolitics, the concept of “living space” was used primarily in the economic sense, but it was not used in a racial-demographic sense. Italian geopolitics acted against the world order enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles, because it was protected

  8. [Soil hydrolase characteristics in late soil-thawing period in subalpine/alpine forests of west Sichuan].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Bo; Wu, Fu-Zhong; Yang, Wan-Qin; Yu, Sheng; Yang, Yu-Lian; Wang, Ao

    2011-05-01

    Late soil-thawing period is a critical stage connecting winter and growth season. The significant temperature fluctuation at this stage might have strong effects on soil ecological processes. In order to understand the soil biochemical processes at this stage in the subalpine/alpine forests of west Sichuan, soil samples were collected from the representative forests including primary fir forest, fir and birch mixed forest, and secondary fir forest in March 5-April 25, 2009, with the activities of soil invertase, urease, and phosphatase (neutral, acid and alkaline phosphatases) measured. In soil frozen period, the activities of the three enzymes in test forests still kept relatively higher. With the increase of soil temperature, the activities of hydrolases at the early stage of soil-thawing decreased rapidly after a sharp increase, except for neutral phosphatease. Thereafter, there was an increase in the activities of urease and phosphatase. Relative to soil mineral layer, soil organic layer had higher hydrolase activity in late soil-thawing period, and showed more obvious responses to the variation of soil temperature.

  9. Respect of standard air quality in major italian towns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valerio, F.

    1995-01-01

    In 1983 air quality standards, related to SO 2 , NO 2 , CO, airborne particulate, lead, O 3 were introduced in italian legislation. Now, SO 2 and lead concentrations are rapidly decreasing everywhere thanks to drastic reductions of sulphur and lead in fuels. The situation is still critic in many urban areas as far as NO 2 and CO are concerned. The increasing number of automobiles circulating in italian urban areas (+43% from 1980 to 1988) is probably reducing the positive effects expected from more efficient and less polluting engines. Electric public transport, aiming at low interference with private traffic, and a different urban organization, aiming at reducing compulsory mobility, could be the proper choices to offer italians both higher standards of urban life and air quality

  10. Yugoslav-Italian Economic relations (1918‒1929: Main aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Latinović Goran

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The article looks at some aspects of Yugoslav-Italian economic relations from the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Great Depression. Those relations were not always driven by pure economic interests, but they also had political and strategic aims. Although Yugoslav-Italian political and diplomatic relations were well served in both Serbian/Yugoslav and Italian historiography, little has been written about economic relations between the two countries. Therefore, the article is mainly based on the documents from the Central State Archives (Archivio centrale dello Stato and Historical-Diplomatic Archives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Archivio storico-diplomatico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri in Rome, as well as from the Archives of Yugoslavia (Arhiv Jugoslavije in Belgrade.

  11. Thoughts on the Italian National University Council (CUN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Borghetti M

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The Italian National University Council (CUN is an elected body that represents the Italian academic system and formulates proposal and gives advice to the Minister of University. The opinion is expressed that the professors who are appointed to CUN should go on sabbatical leave from their universities over the period they are part of CUN, as an important condition for carrying out better their institutional job and preventing any potential conflict of interest.

  12. The Italian decommissioning industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adinolfi, R.

    2005-01-01

    Full text: Italy's step out from nuclear activities in 1987 deeply affected an industry that, in the previous years, had managed to grow up in quality and technology levels to meet the nuclear standards. Only a few companies were able to partially retain their skills through activities abroad. The decommissioning program represents a new challenge for the Italian industry at large and will require a consistent effort to properly qualify the potential suppliers. On the other side, a program with such implications in terms of investments and so depending from social aspects cannot be effectively implemented without a significant involvement of the local industry. Essential conditions for the success are a reliable program, as well as a careful supply management scheme, which must facilitate aggregation of skills spread among different subjects. 'Human Resources: Maintaining a Nuclear Culture in Italy' Bruno Panella Politecnico di Torino, Giuseppe Forasassi, Universita di Pisa, Inter-University Consortium for the Nuclear Technological Research (CIRTEN). After a brief history of the nuclear engineering education in Italy within the international and national nuclear energy scenario, the present situation, with reference to the Italian universities, is shown. In order to maintain a nuclear culture in Italy the solution, exploited with different peculiarities in each University, is to carry out high quality research activities in reciprocal collaboration (mostly within the CIRTEN inter university Consortium) as well as with the Industry and research Organisations and to collaborate actively in establishing a stable network and a synergy of teaching activities in Europe in the field of Nuclear Engineering Education. The aim is to maintain at a high level and as updated as possible the Italian educational offer in nuclear engineering and also to attract the best students for the enrolment. (author)

  13. Italians and Foreign Immigration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Corrado Bonifazi

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Opinion surveys on attitudes towards immigration are becoming more and more important, owing to the increasing role of political debate on migration issues in Western European countries. CNR has conducted four surveys on this topic, collecting data on the evolution of Italians attitudes towards migration issues. In fact, the ? rst survey was conducted in the second half of the eighties, when foreign immigration was in its early stages. The last survey took place in 2002, when immigration was already well established in Italy. The article focuses on three main issues: the global impact of immigration on Italian society, the immigrants role in the labour market, and immigration policy. In general, the results of the last survey con? rm a trend that appeared already in 1997, of more balanced and realistic opinion that were less of a response to circumstances perceived as special emergencies. Highly educated people, teachers and students continue to be the most open and receptive groups, whereas the less favourably inclined and more worried continue to be old people, those with less education, the unemployed, housewives, and retirees.

  14. Cost Efficiency and Returns to Scope in Italian Investment Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Marcello Basili; Fulvio Fontini

    2005-01-01

    This paper estimates cost efficiency and returns to scope of Italian investment firms during the period 1998-2002, following the stochastic frontier function approach. Results indicate a large inefficiency for Italian investment firms (with a high standard deviation across sample) and the absence of significant returns to scope

  15. Largest particle detector nearing completion

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    "Construction of another part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the worl's largest particle accelerator at CERN in Switzerland, is nearing completion. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is oner of the LHC project's four large particle detectors. (1/2 page)

  16. Intake of vitamin A and carotenoids from the Italian population--results of an Italian total diet study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucarini, Massimo; Lanzi, Sabina; D'Evoli, Laura; Aguzzi, Altero; Lombardi-Boccia, Ginevra

    2006-05-01

    The present study focused on vitamin A and carotenoids (alpha-and beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene) daily intake from the Italian total diet. The input of some food groups (cereals, vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy, meat and meat products, fish) most responsible for major and minor contributions to the daily intake of these molecules was evaluated. Furthermore the contribution to the dietary intake of beta-carotene and lutein of the most consumed vegetables in the market basket of the Italian total diet (beets, brassica vegetables, carrots, chicory, courgette (zucchini), green beans, lettuce, peas, pepper, spinach, tomatoes) was also investigated. Vitamin A daily intake was 855 mg/person/day. The vegetables food group made the greatest contribution (37%), followed by the meat and meat products food group (23%). The Italian total diet provided 14.3 mg/person/day of carotenoids; lycopene was the highest (7.4 mg/day), followed by lutein + zeaxanthin (4 mg/day), beta-carotene (2.6 mg/day), alpha-carotene (0.15 mg/day), and beta-cryptoxanthin (0.17 mg/day). Carrots and tomatoes were the main sources of beta-carotene in the diet, otherwise the daily consumption of leafy vegetables (spinach, beets, lettuce) made the main contribution to lutein + zeaxanthin daily intake.

  17. Design of short Italian sentences to assess near vision performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calossi, Antonio; Boccardo, Laura; Fossetti, Alessandro; Radner, Wolfgang

    2014-01-01

    To develop and validate 28 short Italian sentences for the construction of the Italian version of the Radner Reading Chart to simultaneously measure near visual acuity and reading speed. 41 sentences were constructed in Italian language, following the procedure defined by Radner, to obtain "sentence optotypes" with comparable structure and with the same lexical and grammatical difficulty. Sentences were statistically selected and used in 211 normal, non-presbyopic, native Italian-speaking persons. The most equally matched sentences in terms of reading speed and number of reading errors were selected. To assess the validity of the reading speed results obtained with the 28 selected short sentences, we compared the reading speed and reading errors with the average obtained by reading two long 4th-grade paragraphs (97 and 90 words) under the same conditions. The overall mean reading speed of the tested persons was 189±26wpm. The 28 sentences more similar in terms of reading times were selected, achieving a coefficient of variation (the relative SD) of 2.2%. The reliability analyses yielded an overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.98. The correlation between the short sentences and the long paragraph was high (r=0.85, P<0.0001). The 28 short single Italian sentences optotypes were highly comparable in syntactical structure, number, position, and length of words, lexical difficulty, and reading length. The resulting Italian Radner Reading Chart is precise (high consistency) and practical (short sentences) and therefore useful for research and clinical practice to simultaneously measure near reading acuity and reading speed. Copyright © 2013 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  18. The Italian Code of Medical Deontology: characterizing features of its 2014 edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conti, Andrea Alberto

    2015-09-14

    The latest edition of the Italian Code of Medical Deontology has been released by the Italian Federation of the Registers of Physicians and Dentists in May 2014 (1). The previous edition of the Italian Code dated back to 2006 (2), and it has been integrated and updated by a multi-professional and inter-disciplinary panel involving, besides physicians, representatives of scientific societies and trade unions, jurisconsults and experts in bioethics....

  19. Students with a foreign background in Italian Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET and the access to Italian as Second Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luisa Daniele

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper is based on the results of a 2014–2015 quantitative survey on a sample of 1,840 foreign students and 1,835 Italian students, of which, 41% of the Italians and 35% of those of foreign origins interviewed were female. The overall age was between 14 and 24, and these students attended courses in the Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET system in six Italian Regions: Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy, Sicily, Tuscany, and Veneto. Language is the central issue in the survey, both in relation to the construction of multicultural and transcultural identity, and as a bridge to combine localisms with the global dynamics of migration, in its "dialect" edition. Some conclusive reflections on the enhancement of multilingualism in the Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET system are proposed for the development of national strategies in order to strengthen intercultural teaching and curricula.

  20. Titulus Scuola: the new file classification schema for Italian schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gianni Penzo Doria

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This article presents the new file classification schema national for Italian schools, produced by the Italian Directorate General of Archives of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, within the project Titulus Scuola. This classification schema represents the starting point for a standard documental system, aimed at the digital administration.

  1. [The decoration of Italian Renaissance drug jars after engravings].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drey, R E

    1994-01-01

    Although Italian drug jar painters generally devised original compositions for the ornamentation of their products, on occasion they derived their subjects from printed sources. Printed sources used by drug jar artists of the Renaissance include wood-engraved Italian tarot cards and wood-engraved illustrations by Hans Sebald Beham and Bernard Salomon in miniature bibles published in the sixteenth century in Frankfurt and in Lyons respectively.

  2. The Role of the Senses in the Early Modern Italian Garden

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Karin Esmann

    According to the Italian humanists gardens can be regarded as a third nature (John Dixon Hunt: Greater Perfections 2000, Claudia Lazzaro: The Italian Renaissance Garden 1990). Different from the first nature, wilderness, and the second nature, the cultural landscape (Cicero) gardens are a special...... combination of nature and culture, more sophisticated, more deliberate, more complex in the mixture of culture and nature. In the Italian renaissance garden this third nature reached an artificial and aesthetic level as a pleasure garden which made use of all the senses, and in doing so it played an important...... role in constructing new conceptions of the connection between man and nature. This presentation will examine how the gardens around Italian Renaissance villas in Tuscany and in the surroundings of Rome, with their use of geometrical lay-out, water, sounds, views, plants and buildings not only...

  3. Team performance in the Italian NHS: the role of reflexivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urbini, Flavio; Callea, Antonino; Chirumbolo, Antonio; Talamo, Alessandra; Ingusci, Emanuela; Ciavolino, Enrico

    2018-04-09

    Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the goodness of the input-process-output (IPO) model in order to evaluate work team performance within the Italian National Health Care System (NHS); and second, to test the mediating role of reflexivity as an overarching process factor between input and output. Design/methodology/approach The Italian version of the Aston Team Performance Inventory was administered to 351 employees working in teams in the Italian NHS. Mediation analyses with latent variables were performed via structural equation modeling (SEM); the significance of total, direct, and indirect effect was tested via bootstrapping. Findings Underpinned by the IPO framework, the results of SEM supported mediational hypotheses. First, the application of the IPO model in the Italian NHS showed adequate fit indices, showing that the process mediates the relationship between input and output factors. Second, reflexivity mediated the relationship between input and output, influencing some aspects of team performance. Practical implications The results provide useful information for HRM policies improving process dimensions of the IPO model via the mediating role of reflexivity as a key role in team performance. Originality/value This study is one of a limited number of studies that applied the IPO model in the Italian NHS. Moreover, no study has yet examined the role of reflexivity as a mediator between input and output factors in the IPO model.

  4. Calcium induces long-term legacy effects in a subalpine ecosystem.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urs Schaffner

    Full Text Available Human activities have transformed a significant proportion of the world's land surface, with profound effects on ecosystem processes. Soil applications of macronutrients such as nitrate, phosphorus, potassium or calcium are routinely used in the management of croplands, grasslands and forests to improve plant health or increase productivity. However, while the effects of continuous fertilization and liming on terrestrial ecosystems are well documented, remarkably little is known about the legacy effect of historical fertilization and liming events in terrestrial ecosystems and of the mechanisms involved. Here, we show that more than 70 years after the last application of lime on a subalpine grassland, all major soil and plant calcium pools were still significantly larger in limed than in unlimed plots, and that the resulting shift in the soil calcium/aluminium ratio continues to affect ecosystem services such as primary production. The difference in the calcium content of the vegetation and the topmost 10 cm of the soil in limed vs. unlimed plots amounts to approximately 19.5 g m(-2, equivalent to 16.3% of the amount that was added to the plots some 70 years ago. In contrast, plots that were treated with nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer in the 1930s did not differ from unfertilized plots in any of the soil and vegetation characteristics measured. Our findings suggest that the long-term legacy effect of historical liming is due to long-term storage of added calcium in stable soil pools, rather than a general increase in nutrient availability. Our results demonstrate that single applications of calcium in its carbonated form can profoundly and persistently alter ecosystem processes and services in mountain ecosystems.

  5. Authentic Italian food as Mamma used to make it

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    d'Ambrosio, Luigi; Madsen, Jan Halberg

    2014-01-01

    Research description and purpose: The purpose of this investigation is to explore how Italian restaurants define authentic Italian culinary experiences and how these experiences are designed and rendered to the restaurants’ guests. Design/Methodology: The purpose of this research is exploratory...... are unique to this case and cannot be expected replicated, nor generalized. Originality/value: This article investigates how the authentic Italian culinary experience is defined and designed by restaurant owners or managers in the specific context of the city of Aalborg, Denmark. The originality...... of this research resides in the contribution to a better understanding of how authentic experiences are defined and designed at the supply side in the restaurant industry. Moreover, this article takes on a critical perspective on Gilmore and Pine’s genres of authenticity. Keywords: Genres of authenticity, culinary...

  6. Italian Literature in Russia. Some Recent Important Contributions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Lasorsa Siedina

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents an updated review of translations of contemporary Italian literature published in two issues of the popular Russian literary magazine “Inostrannaja literatura”. The first issue (2008, 10, entitled Italian Literature in Search of a Form, published translations by poets, prose writers, especially authors of stories, specimens of classic authors of the twentieth century: futurists, expressionists, surrealists, and writers of critical essays. Translation of some precious octaves of Ariosto’s poem Orlando furioso were also included. The second ‘special’ issue (2011, 8, entitled Italy: Seasons, is devoted to contemporary women writers of fiction. Particularly valuable is the Literature heritage section, which contains translations of Vivaldi’s sonnets by M. Amelin and of G.G. Belli’s Roman sonnets by E. Solonovič, both representatives of the excellence of the Russian school of translation. The two issues include a complete index of Italian authors translated into Russian between 1994 and 2011.

  7. Practicing Reflexivity in the Study of Italian Migrants in London

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seganti, Francesca Romana

    2010-01-01

    This article discusses the centrality of reflexivity in qualitative research through examples from my study on the role new media play in the lives of Italians in London. My hypothesis was that Italians were "in transit" in London and they were using new media to build "temporary" communities. I conducted in-depth interviews…

  8. A review of the Italian fast reactor programme - April 1985

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pierantoni, F.; Tavoni, R.

    1986-01-01

    On February 28th 1985 the government committee for economic planning recommended the budget for the next 1985-1989 plan of ENEA for a total amount of 5,340 billion lire. At a cabinet meeting this allocation was subsequently approved (3rd April 1985). During the same period the personnel in ENEA is expected to increase from about 5,000 people in 1985 up to 5,700 people in 1989. The largest effort is devoted to the development of the FBRs, with a total of 1,760 billion lire. This figure includes: 1,050 billion for the completion of the PEC reactor; 220 billion to be used for industrial promotion activities; this figure also covers the ENEA effort in supporting Italian industry in the design and construction of the power plant to be built in Europe after SPX-1; 250 billion will be spent on the R and D to be carried out in the ENEA centres, laboratories and facilities, mainly oriented towards verifying safety and reliability aspects of subsystems and components, including the fuel element; the balance should cover current costs and investments for services, especially in the Brasimone Centre, where the PEC reactor is under construction. As far as European cooperation is concerned, a first significant result has been achieved in the negotiation of the R and D agreement foreseen by the ''Memorandum of Understanding'' of March 2nd 1984. The delegations of different countries have completed an agreed text, whose signing is expected in the coming months. The Italian attitude is to aim to achieve a coherent framework of agreements between utilities, industries and research bodies so as to ensure that the construction of the power station following SPX-1 can actually be the first step towards a European '' Common model'' fast breeder reactor plant. In 1984 the sum assigned by ENEA for fast reactors was about 380 billion lire of which 287 billion was for the PEC reactor

  9. Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for Diamond Blackfan anaemia: a report from the Italian Association of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Registry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagioli, Franca; Quarello, Paola; Zecca, Marco; Lanino, Edoardo; Corti, Paola; Favre, Claudio; Ripaldi, Mimmo; Ramenghi, Ugo; Locatelli, Franco; Prete, Arcangelo

    2014-06-01

    Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the only curative option for patients with Diamond Blackfan anaemia (DBA). We report the transplantation outcome of 30 Italian DBA patients referred to the Italian Association of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Registry between 1990 and 2012. This is one of the largest national registry cohorts of transplanted DBA patients. Most patients (83%) were allografted after 2000. A matched sibling donor was employed in 16 patients (53%), the remaining 14 patients (47%) were transplanted from matched unrelated donors. Twenty-eight of the 30 patients engrafted. One patient died at day +6 due to veno-occlusive disease without achieving neutrophil recovery and another patient remained transfusion-dependent despite the presence of a full donor chimerism. The 5-year overall survival and transplant-related mortality was 74·4% and 25·6%, respectively. Patients younger than 10 years as well as those transplanted after 2000 showed a significantly higher overall survival and a significantly lower risk of transplant-related mortality. No difference between donor type was observed. Our data suggest that allogeneic HSCT from a related or unrelated donor was a reasonable alternative to transfusion therapy in young and well chelated DBA patients. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. [The Italian version of Nordic Musculoskeletal Standardized Questionnaire].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghersi, R; Martinelli, S; Richeldi, A; Clerici, P; Grazioli, P; Gobba, F M

    2007-01-01

    We translated into Italian the Nordic musculoskelethal questionnaire, as completed by Canadian IRSST with Authors' agreement in 2001, according to OMS recommendations. This translation involved the following items: aches and troubles of neck, dorsal region, low back, shoulders, elbows, hands and wrists, hips and thighs, ankles and feet in the last 12 months. The questionnaire was then submitted to reliability and stability tests. The Italian version of the questionnaire, already used in different languages, proved to be suitable and reliable also for self administration.

  11. Mercury levels in defined Italian population groups

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ingrao, G.; Belloni, P.

    1991-01-01

    Our group conducts its research activity in the Department AMB-BIO (Biological and Sanitary Effect of Toxic Agents) of ENEA (National Committee for Research and Development of Nuclear and Alternative Energy) at the research centre of Casaccia. The food chain is the main pathway leading to humans for most of the trace elements. The research, therefore, has been directed mainly towards the study of the variability of the trace element content in the Italian diet. This programme aims at assessing the adequacy of the essential trace elements ingestion, and to verify that the ingestion of toxic trace elements is below the recommended values. Part of this research was conducted in the frame of the IAEA CRP on ''Human daily Intakes of Nutritionally Important Trace Elements as Measured by Nuclear and Other Techniques''. Studies carried out by the National Institute of Nutrition and FAO have shown that there are some population groups having a fish consumption significantly higher than the average value for the Italian population. These groups are usually found in coastal towns were fishing is one of the main occupation and generally includes fishermen, fish dealers, restaurant workers and their families. A pilot study was conducted in one of these towns, Bagnara Calabra in the South of Italy, where the average fish consumption is 27.1 kg per year, which is more than twice the national average. The results have shown that the mercury concentration in the diet is significantly higher than in other Italian locations, the mercury levels in blood and hair sample in these subjects are also significantly higher than the values reported for subjects of the general Italian population. 6 refs

  12. Seasonal dynamics of the plant community and soil seed bank along a successional gradient in a subalpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miaojun Ma

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Knowledge about how change the importance of soil seed bank and relationship between seed mass and abundance during vegetation succession is crucial for understanding vegetation dynamics. Many studies have been conducted, but their ecological mechanisms of community assembly are not fully understood. METHODOLOGY: We examined the seasonal dynamics of the vegetation and soil seed bank as well as seed size distribution along a successional gradient. We also explored the potential role of the soil seed bank in plant community regeneration, the relationship between seed mass and species abundance, and the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes along a successional gradient. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Species richness of seed bank increased (shallow layer and the total and seed density decreased (each layer and the total significantly with succession. Species richness and seed density differed significantly between different seasons and among soil depths. Seed mass showed a significant negative relationship with relative abundance in the earliest successional stage, but the relationships were not significant in later stages. Seed mass showed no relationship with relative abundance in the whole successional series in seed bank. Results were similar for both July 2005 and April 2006. CONCLUSIONS: The seed mass and abundance relationship was determined by a complex interaction between small and larger seeded species and environmental factors. Both stochastic processes and deterministic processes were important determinants of the structure of the earliest stage. The importance of seed bank decreased with succession. The restoration of abandoned farmed and grazed meadows to the species-rich subalpine meadow in Tibetan Plateau can be successfully achieved from the soil seed bank. However, at least 20 years are required to fully restore an abandoned agricultural meadow to a natural mature subalpine meadow.

  13. Emotion socialization practices in Italian and Hong Kong-Chinese mothers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiorilli, Caterina; De Stasio, Simona; Di Chicchio, Carlo; Chan, Siu Mui

    2015-01-01

    Parents' emotion socialization practices are their ways of handling their children's emotional experiences in light of cultural expectations surrounding emotions. Such practices are thought to significantly affect children's social adjustment. We compared the parenting practices of Italian and Hong Kong Chinese samples in an ethnological validation study of the maternal responses to children's emotion scale (MRCES). Participants were 71 Italian mothers (M = 39.45) and 71 Hong Kong-Chinese mothers (M = 37.75) with children aged 6-9 years. The results confirmed the two-factor structure identified by the scale's authors, namely coaching/emotion-encouraging and emotion dismissing approaches, respectively. Each of the two factors displayed satisfactory internal consistency. The Chinese mothers obtained higher scores than the Italian mothers on both subscales. Our findings suggested that parents' emotion socialization practices for coping with children's emotions received different degrees of emphasis and were underpinned by different meaning in the Hong Kong and Italian cultural groups. These cultural differences are discussed in relation to their effect on children's socio-emotional development.

  14. Analysis of association between a microsatellite at intron 1 of the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1 gene and fat deposition, meat production and quality traits in Italian Large White and Italian Duroc pigs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Fontanesi

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available A few studies have shown that a microsatellite at intron 1 of the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1 gene is associated with several production traits in a few pig populations. In the current work we evaluated associations between this microsatellite and production traits in Italian Large White and Italian Duroc pigs. Association studies were carried out on a total of 1120 animals using two experimental designs: i a selective genotyping approach based on extreme and divergent Italian Large White pigs for back fat thickness (BFT estimated breeding value (EBV or on extreme and divergent Italian Duroc pigs for visible intermuscular fat (VIF EBV; and ii analysis of unselected pigs (random groups coming from populations of the two breeds. Allele distributions between Italian Large White and Italian Duroc pigs were different (P<0.05 with longer alleles being more frequent in Italian Large White. Results of the association analyses from two different random groups showed that this marker affects average daily gain EBV, lean cut EBV and BFT EBV in Italian Large White and BFT EBV in Italian Duroc (P<0.05. Association analysis carried out with random residuals confirmed, to some extent (P=0.096, the effects on BFT in the same animals. However, this result was not confirmed in the two extreme and divergent Italian Large White groups used in the selective genotyping experiment. These inconsistent results may indicate that the effect of the IGF1 microsatellite is doubtful in the investigated finishing pigs.

  15. Italian Society of Physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1987-01-01

    The abstracts of most of the papers read at the 53 National Congress of the Italian Society of Physics are presented. The Congress developed in ten sessions: high energy and elementary particle physics, physics of nuclei, condensed matter, quantum electronics, cosmic physics, geophysics, general physics, electronics and applied physics, health physics and hystory of physics. An author index is also included

  16. [Research on antiemetics: an Italian model of success].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roila, F

    1998-01-01

    At the beginning of the 80's the Italian Group for Clinical Research (G.O.I.R.C.) identified chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting as one of the most distressing adverse events, and decided to plan and execute clinical trials on antiemetics in order to reduce this negative impact on patients. Therefore, some consecutive double-blind randomized trials were conducted on cisplatin-treated patients. The first was a dose-finding study on four different high-doses of domperidone, followed by a study comparing two different high-doses of metoclopramide, and a study comparing the addition of a corticosteroid to high-dose metoclopramide with respect to metoclopramide alone. Finally, a study demonstrating that a combination of a higher dose of metoclopramide (3 mg/kg x 2) plus dexamethasone and diphenhydramine was significantly superior with respect to a lower dose of metoclopramide (1 mg/kg x 4) combined with methylprednisolone was carried out. With the introduction of the 5-HT3 receptor antagonists the interest for antiemetic therapy increased and other Italian gynecological and medical oncology centres became involved in the antiemetic research. The Italian Group for Antiemetic Research was formed in 90's and its first study demonstrated the superiority of a combination of a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist plus dexamethasone with respect to the standard three drug combination of high doses of metoclopramide in the prevention of cisplatin-induced acute emesis. In the following years, the Group contributed to the identification of the best antiemetic prophylaxis for acute emesis induced by moderately emetogenic chemotherapy, and for delayed emesis induced by cisplatin. Also a drug utilization review on antiemetics in clinical practice has recently been carried out. Today, the interest of the Group is concentrated in studying the optimal antiemetic prophylaxis for delayed emesis induced by moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. The rules always followed by the Italian Group for

  17. Italian network for human biomonitoring of metals: preliminary results from two regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatrice Bocca

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The Italian program for human biomonitoring (HBM of chemical elements, PROgram for Biomonitoring of the Exposure (PROBE, started in 2008 with the aim to provide the knowledge about risk assessment of the Italian population following the environmental exposure to metals. The project is implemented through a HBM campaign for the production of data on 19 metals in the blood and serum of subjects living in different Italian Regions. The metals studied are: antimony, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, iridium, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhodium, thallium, tin, tungsten, uranium and vanadium. The first phase of the project has included the development and validation of laboratory protocols for the collection of fluids and quantification of metals. The second phase provides the HBM data expressed as the reference values (RVs for the Italian population, i.e., as the level of metals in the general population not occupationally exposed. In this paper, the experimental protocols used for the maintenance of high standards of analysis and the RVs for metals in serum of inhabitants of two Italian Regions (Calabria and Umbria are described.

  18. The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire: reliability and validity of the Italian version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calugi, Simona; Milanese, Chiara; Sartirana, Massimiliano; El Ghoch, Marwan; Sartori, Federica; Geccherle, Eleonora; Coppini, Andrea; Franchini, Cecilia; Dalle Grave, Riccardo

    2017-09-01

    To examine the validity and reliability of a new Italian language version of the latest edition of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0). The sixth edition of the EDE-Q was translated into Italian and administered to 264 Italian-speaking inpatient and outpatient (257 females in their mid-20s) with eating disorder (75.4% anorexia nervosa) and 216 controls (205 females). Internal consistency was high for both the global EDE-Q and all subscale scores. Test-retest reliability was good to excellent (0.66-0.83) for global and subscale scores, and for items assessing key behavioral features of eating disorders (0.55-0.91). Patients with an eating disorder displayed significantly higher EDE-Q scores than controls, demonstrating the good criterion validity of the tool. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good fit for a modified seven-item three-factor structure. The study showed the good psychometric properties of the new Italian version of the EDE-Q 6.0, and validated its use in Italian eating disorder patients, particularly in young females with anorexia nervosa.

  19. An Unusual Partnership: Brazilian-Italian Forms of Cooperation in the Nuclear Field (1951-1986)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patti, Carlo

    2017-01-01

    This chapter discusses the Brazilian-Italian cooperation in the nuclear field between the early 1950s and 1986. Since the late 1930s, Italian or Italian-Brazilian scientists promoted the development of studies in nuclear physics. Immediately after World War II, the Brazilian-Italian collaboration continued. Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Brazilian nuclear scientists studied in Italian institutions. Relying on primary sources from Brazilian archives and oral history interviews with protagonists of the Brazilian nuclear program, this chapter explore the relations between Italy and Brazil from 1951, the year of the establishment of the Brazilian nuclear program, until the 1980s. This study focuses on the bidirectional transfer of knowledge on sensitive technologies, and on the formal and informal cooperation between the two countries.

  20. Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L. are more efficient at removing worker brood artificially infested with the parasitic mite Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans than are Italian bees or Italian/Africanized hybrids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guerra Jr. José Carlos Vieira

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available Africanized honey bees are more tolerant of infestations with the mite Varroa jacobsoni than are honey bees of European origin. The capacity of these bees to detect and react to brood infested with this mite could be one of the factors determining this tolerance. We tested colonies of Africanized bees headed by queens from swarms collected in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State. The Italian colonies had queens imported directly from the USA, or from the Brazilian Island of Fernando de Noronha, where varroa-infested Italian colonies have been maintained, untreated, since 1984. Recently sealed worker brood cells were artificially infested by opening the cell capping, inserting live adult female mites and resealing the cells. Control cells were treated in the same way, but without introducing mites. The ability of the Africanized honey bees to recognize and remove this artificially infested brood was compared with that of first generation Italian/Africanized hybrid bees, and with the two groups of "pure" Italian bees, in three separate experiments. Africanized colonies removed a mean of 51% of the infested brood, while Italian/Africanized hybrid colonies removed 25%. Africanized colonies also removed a significantly greater proportion of infested brood than did Italian colonies, headed by queens from the USA (59 vs. 31%, respectively. Similarly, when Africanized colonies were compared with colonies of Italian bees from Fernando de Noronha, the former were found to be significantly more efficient at removing infested brood (61 vs. 35%, respectively, even though the population of Italian bees on this island has been exposed to and survived varroa infestations (without treatment for more than 12 years. Only the Africanized honey bees removed a significant proportion of varroa-infested brood, when the data was corrected for brood removal from control cells.

  1. Emotional Geographies of the Uncanny: Reinterpreting Italian Transnational Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maurizio Marinelli

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The 'Emotional Geographies of the Uncanny' section of Cultural Studies Review aims to read transnational spaces constructed and inhabited by Italian migrants and settlers to Australasia as emotional spaces of uncanny perceptions, memories, narratives and identities. Drawing inspiration from the Freudian suggestions about the uncanny (das unheimliche, and later interpretations by Heiddeger, Derrida, Kristeva, Bhabha, Žižek, and Ahmed, we refer to the uncanny as the emotional reaction to something that is, at the same time, familiar and unfamiliar, homely and unhomely. The uncanny then becomes an aesthetic frame through which experiences of migration and colonialism can be read and interpreted. How have Italians experienced the strange un/familiarity of the places to which they have migrated or that they have colonised in Australasia? And, in the process of familiarising the unfamiliar, how have they perceived the strange familiarity of the newly emerged 'Italian' spaces that they have first constructed and then inhabited, outside the boundaries of the Italian Nation, and often within the space of other essentialist Nations? Furthermore, how have they related to the places they have left in Italy: the places to which they have progressively become strangers yet have continued to constitute a central element of their subjectivity?

  2. The Italian Dementia National Plan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teresa Di Fiandra

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The Italian Dementia National Plan was formulated in October 2014 by the Italian Ministry of Health in close cooperation with the regions, the National Institute of Health and the three major national associations of patients and carers. The main purpose of this strategy was to provide directive indications for promoting and improving interventions in the dementia field, not limiting to specialist and therapeutic actions, but particularly focusing on the support of patients and families throughout the pathways of care. Four main objectives are indicated: 1 promote health- and social-care interventions and policies; 2 create/strengthen the integrated network of services for dementia based on an integrated approach; 3 implement strategies for promoting appropriateness and quality of care; and 4 improve the quality of life of persons with dementia and their families by supporting empowerment and stigma reduction. These objectives and the pertaining actions are described in the present paper.

  3. The Italian Tau/charm project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Biagini Maria Enrica

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available A τ/charm Factory, an e + e- collider with very high luminosity at the 2–4.6 GeV center of mass energy, to be built on the Rome University at Tor Vergata campus, was studied by the Consortium Nicola Cabibbo Laboratory and the INFN Frascati Laboratories. This project is the natural evolution of the flagship Italian project SuperB Factory, funded by the Italian Government in 2010 with a budget that turned out to be insufficient to cover the total costs of the project. The study of rare events at the τ/charm energy was already planned as a Phase-II of SuperB [1]. This design keeps all the unique features of SuperB, including the polarization of the electron beam, with the possibility to take data in a larger energy range, with reduced accelerator dimensions and construction and operation costs. A Report on the accelerator design has been published in September 2013 [2].

  4. Teaching Standard Italian to Dialect Speakers: A Pedagogical Perspective of Linguistic Systems in Contact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danesi, Marcel

    1974-01-01

    The teaching of standard Italian to speakers of Italian dialects both in Italy and in North America is discussed, specifically through a specialized pedagogical program within the framework of a sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic perspective, and based on a structural analysis of linguistic systems in contact. Italian programs in Toronto are…

  5. Gut Microbiome and Putative Resistome of Inca and Italian Nobility Mummies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santiago-Rodriguez, Tasha M; Fornaciari, Gino; Luciani, Stefania; Toranzos, Gary A; Marota, Isolina; Giuffra, Valentina; Cano, Raul J

    2017-11-07

    Little is still known about the microbiome resulting from the process of mummification of the human gut. In the present study, the gut microbiota, genes associated with metabolism, and putative resistome of Inca and Italian nobility mummies were characterized by using high-throughput sequencing. The Italian nobility mummies exhibited a higher bacterial diversity as compared to the Inca mummies when using 16S ribosomal (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing, but both groups showed bacterial and fungal taxa when using shotgun metagenomic sequencing that may resemble both the thanatomicrobiome and extant human gut microbiomes. Identification of sequences associated with plants, animals, and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) may provide further insights into the dietary habits of Inca and Italian nobility mummies. Putative antibiotic-resistance genes in the Inca and Italian nobility mummies support a human gut resistome prior to the antibiotic therapy era. The higher proportion of putative antibiotic-resistance genes in the Inca compared to Italian nobility mummies may support the hypotheses that a greater exposure to the environment may result in a greater acquisition of antibiotic-resistance genes. The present study adds knowledge of the microbiome resulting from the process of mummification of the human gut, insights of ancient dietary habits, and the preserved putative human gut resistome prior the antibiotic therapy era.

  6. Quantification of Groundwater Discharge in a Subalpine Stream Using Radon-222

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Avery

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available During the dry months of the water year in Mediterranean climates, groundwater influx is essential to perennial streams for sustaining ecosystem health and regulating water temperature. Predicted earlier peak flow due to climate change may result in decreased baseflow and the transformation of perennial streams to intermittent streams. In this study, naturally occurring radon-222 (222Rn was used as a tracer of groundwater influx to Martis Creek, a subalpine stream near Lake Tahoe, CA. Groundwater 222Rn is estimated based on measurements of 222Rn activity in nearby deep wells and springs. To determine the degassing constant (needed for quantification of water and gas flux, an extrinsic tracer, xenon (Xe, was introduced to the stream and monitored at eight downstream locations. The degassing constant for 222Rn is based on the degassing constant for Xe, and was determined to be 1.9–9.0 m/day. Applying a simple model in which stream 222Rn activity is a balance between the main 222Rn source (groundwater and sink (volatilization, the influx in reaches of the upstream portion of Martis Creek was calculated to be <1 to 15 m3/day/m, which cumulatively constitutes a significant portion of the stream discharge. Experiments constraining 222Rn emanation from hyporheic zone sediments suggest that this should be considered a maximum rate of influx. Groundwater influx is typically difficult to identify and quantify, and the method employed here is useful for identifying locations for focused stream flow measurements, for formulating a water budget, and for quantifying streamwater–groundwater interaction.

  7. Italian high technology shows its wares at CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Maximilien Brice

    2005-01-01

    Italian industry held an exhibition at CERN on 14-17 November with 26 firms displaying innovative technological developments. In particular it featured categories such as mechanics, high-vacuum technologies, electronics for detectors, and electric and civil engineering. The exhibition was inaugurated in the presence of Guido Possa, vice-minister for education, universities and research. The event was organized by Sandro Centro, INFN researcher and Industrial Liaison Officer at CERN, along with Federico Ferrini, scientific officer for International Organizations of Geneva and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland

  8. The Transition to Work for Italian University Graduates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pozzoli, Dario

    This study investigates the hazard of first job for Italian graduates. The analysis is in particular focused on the transition from university to work, taking into account the graduates' characteristics and the effects relating to degree subject. It is used a large data set from a survey on job...... opportunities for the 1998 Italian graduates. The paper employs a non parametric discrete-time single risk models to study employment hazard. Alternative mixing distributions have also been used to account for unobserved heterogeneity. The results obtained indicate that there is evidence of positive duration...

  9. Phenology and carbon dioxide source/sink strength of a subalpine grassland in response to an exceptionally short snow season

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galvagno, M; Cremonese, E; Filippa, G; Morra di Cella, U; Wohlfahrt, G; Rossini, M; Colombo, R; Julitta, T; Manca, G; Siniscalco, C; Migliavacca, M

    2013-01-01

    Changes in snow cover depth and duration predicted by climate change scenarios are expected to strongly affect high-altitude ecosystem processes. This study investigates the effect of an exceptionally short snow season on the phenology and carbon dioxide source/sink strength of a subalpine grassland. An earlier snowmelt of more than one month caused a considerable advancement (40 days) of the beginning of the carbon uptake period (CUP) and, together with a delayed establishment of the snow season in autumn, contributed to a two-month longer CUP. The combined effect of the shorter snow season and the extended CUP led to an increase of about 100% in annual carbon net uptake. Nevertheless, the unusual environmental conditions imposed by the early snowmelt led to changes in canopy structure and functioning, with a reduction of the carbon sequestration rate during the snow-free period. (letter)

  10. Fire-climate interactions in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurt F. Kipfmueller; Thomas W. Swetnam

    2000-01-01

    Tree-ring reconstructed summer drought was examined in relation to the occurrence of 15 fires in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area (SBW). The ten largest fire years between 1880 and 1995 were selected from historical fire atlas data; five additional fire years were selected from a fire history completed in a subalpine forest within the SBW. Results of the analysis...

  11. Radiocesium in brown trout (Salmo trutta) from a subalpine lake ecosystem after the Chernobyl reactor accident

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brittain, J.E.; Storruste, Anders; Larsen, Elena

    1991-01-01

    After Chernobyl in April 1986, radioactive cesium has been measured in Oevre Heimdalsvatn, a Norwegian subalpine lake, situated in an area of high fallout. The lake is an important reference site and has been the subject of extensive ecosystem studies since the 1950s. Emphasis has been given to measuring long-term trends in the activity content of radioactive cesium in the brown trout (Salmo trutta) population. After ice-break in June 1986, the average total cesium activity content rose to 7000 Bq/kg wet weight. The activity content fell during 1987 and at ice-break in 1988 was 4000 Bq/kg. However, there was no further reduction during the summers of 1988 and 1989, possibly due to increased inputs from the catchment. There is considerable variation in the radiocesium activity content measured in individual fish. On the basis of the changes in cesium activity content in trout since 1986, an observed half-life for 137 Cs and 134 Cs in trout of 3.0 and 1.3 years, respectively, has been estimated. (author)

  12. Gesture and Identity in the Teaching and Learning of Italian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peltier, Ilaria Nardotto; McCafferty, Steven G.

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated the use of mimetic gestures of identity by foreign language teachers of Italian and their students in college classes as a form of meaning-making. All four of the teachers were found to use a variety of Italian gestures as a regular aspect of their teaching and presentation of self. Students and teachers also were found to…

  13. A molecular investigation of soil organic carbon composition across a subalpine catchment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Hsiao-Tieh; Lawrence, Corey R.; Winnick, Matthew J.; Bargar, John R.; Maher, Katharine

    2018-01-01

    The dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and turnover are a critical component of the global carbon cycle. Mechanistic models seeking to represent these complex dynamics require detailed SOC compositions, which are currently difficult to characterize quantitatively. Here, we address this challenge by using a novel approach that combines Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and bulk carbon X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to determine the abundance of SOC functional groups, using elemental analysis (EA) to constrain the total amount of SOC. We used this SOC functional group abundance (SOC-fga) method to compare variability in SOC compositions as a function of depth across a subalpine watershed (East River, Colorado, USA) and found a large degree of variability in SOC functional group abundances between sites at different elevations. Soils at a lower elevation are predominantly composed of polysaccharides, while soils at a higher elevation have more substantial portions of carbonyl, phenolic, or aromatic carbon. We discuss the potential drivers of differences in SOC composition between these sites, including vegetation inputs, internal processing and losses, and elevation-driven environmental factors. Although numerical models would facilitate the understanding and evaluation of the observed SOC distributions, quantitative and meaningful measurements of SOC molecular compositions are required to guide such models. Comparison among commonly used characterization techniques on shared reference materials is a critical next step for advancing our understanding of the complex processes controlling SOC compositions.

  14. An Italian multicentre validation study of the coma recovery scale-revised.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estraneo, A; Moretta, P; De Tanti, A; Gatta, G; Giacino, J T; Trojano, L

    2015-10-01

    Rate of misdiagnosis of disorders of consciousness (DoC) can be reduced by employing validated clinical diagnostic tools, such as the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). An Italian version of the CRS-R has been recently developed, but its applicability across different clinical settings, and its concurrent validity and diagnostic sensitivity have not been estimated yet. To perform a multicentre validation study of the Italian version of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). Analysis of inter-rater reliability, concurrent validity and diagnostic sensitivity of the scale. One Intensive Care Unit, 8 Post-acute rehabilitation centres and 2 Long-term facilities Twenty-seven professionals (physicians, N.=11; psychologists, N.=5; physiotherapists, N.=3; speech therapists, N.=6; nurses, N.=2) from 11 Italian Centres. CRS-R and Disability Rating Scale (DRS) applied to 122 patients with clinical diagnosis of Vegetative State (VS) or Minimally Conscious State (MCS). CRS-R has good-to-excellent inter-rater reliability for all subscales, particularly for the communication subscale. The Italian version of the CRS-R showed a high sensitivity and specificity in detecting MCS with reference to clinical consensus diagnosis. The CRS-R showed good concurrent validity with the Disability Rating Scale, which had very low specificity with reference to clinical consensus diagnosis. The Italian version of the CRS-R is a valid scale for use from the sub-acute to chronic stages of DoC. It can be administered reliably by all members of the rehabilitation team with different specialties, levels of experience and settings. The present study promote use of the Italian version of the CRS-R to improve diagnosis of DoC patients, and plan tailored rehabilitation treatment.

  15. The sustainability of the Italian public finances: an overview

    OpenAIRE

    Salustri, Andrea

    2013-01-01

    The Italian international reputation in mainly related to the high level of its public debt. During the Great Recession, this fact, associated to the stagnation of productivity, raised serious doubts on its economic and financial sustainability. The doubts are legitimated also by the fact that Italy is a net borrower of capitals from abroad, as its Net International Investment Position (NIIP) is negative. The statistical analysis of the Italian public finances suggests how the deep causes of ...

  16. 22nd Italian Workshop on Neural Nets

    CERN Document Server

    Bassis, Simone; Esposito, Anna; Morabito, Francesco

    2013-01-01

    This volume collects a selection of contributions which has been presented at the 22nd Italian Workshop on Neural Networks, the yearly meeting of the Italian Society for Neural Networks (SIREN). The conference was held in Italy, Vietri sul Mare (Salerno), during May 17-19, 2012. The annual meeting of SIREN is sponsored by International Neural Network Society (INNS), European Neural Network Society (ENNS) and IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS). The book – as well as the workshop-  is organized in three main components, two special sessions and a group of regular sessions featuring different aspects and point of views of artificial neural networks and natural intelligence, also including applications of present compelling interest.

  17. Stop and Fricative Devoicing in European Portuguese, Italian and German.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pape, Daniel; Jesus, Luis M T

    2015-06-01

    This paper describes a cross-linguistic production study of devoicing for European Portuguese (EP), Italian, and German. We recorded all stops and fricatives in four vowel contexts and two word positions. We computed the devoicing of the time-varying patterns throughout the stop and fricative duration. Our results show that regarding devoicing behaviour, EP is more similar to German than Italian. While Italian shows almost no devoicing of all phonologically voiced consonants, both EP and German show strong and consistent devoicing through the entire consonant. Differences in consonant position showed no effect for EP and Italian, but were significantly different for German. The height of the vowel context had an effect for German and EP. For EP, we showed that a more posterior place of articulation and low vowel context lead to significantly more devoicing. However, in contrast to German, we could not find an influence of consonant position on devoicing. The high devoicing for all phonologically voiced stops and fricatives and the vowel context influence are a surprising new result. With respect to voicing maintenance, EP is more like German than other Romance languages.

  18. TV Goes Social: Italian Broadcasting Strategies and the Challenges of Convergence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Barra

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, the Italian television scenario has become fully convergent, and social TV is an activity – and a hip buzzword – indicating both a rich set of possibilities for the audience to engage with TV shows, and an important asset developed by television industry to provide such engagement, with promotional and economic goals. Mainly adopting the perspective of the production cultures of Italian broadcasters, the essay will explore the “Italian way to social television”, highlighting the strategies adopted by networks and production companies to encourage online television discourse and to exploit it as a content, a marketing device or a source of supplementary income.

  19. The Italian contributions to the history of salicylates

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    Giampiero Pasero

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available It is well-known that the modern history of salicylates began in 1899 when the compound acetylsalicylic acid was registered and introduced commercially as “aspirin” by the Bayer Company of Germany. As a matter of fact, however, remedies made from willow bark had been used to treat fever and rheumatic complaints at least since 1763, when Edward Stone described their efficacy against malarian fever. A number of Italian scientists made significant contributions during the long period of research leading up to the synthesis of acetylsalicylic acid and its widespread use in rheumatic diseases. In this paper we will review the contributions of some of these researchers, beginning with Bartolomeo Rigatelli, who in 1824 used a willow bark extract as a therapeutic agent, denominating it “salino amarissimo antifebbrile” (very bitter antipyretic salt. In the same year, Francesco Fontana described this natural compound, giving it the name “salicina” (salicin. Two other Italian chemists added considerably to current knowledge of the salicylates: Raffaele Piria in 1838, while working as a research fellow in Paris, extracted the chemical compound salicylic acid, and Cesare Bertagnini in 1855 published a detailed description of the classic adverse event associated with salicylate overdoses – tinnitus – which he studied by deliberately ingesting excessive doses himself. Bertagnini and above all Piria also played conspicuous roles in the history of Italy during the period of the Italian Risorgimento, participating as volunteers in the crucial battle of Curtatone and Montanara during the first Italian War of Independence.

  20. Ramsey prices in the Italian electricity market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bigerna, Simona; Bollino, Carlo Andrea

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we derive optimal zonal prices in the Italian day-ahead electricity market using estimation of a complete system of hourly demand in 2010–2011. In Italy, the hourly equilibrium price for all buyers is computed as a uniform average of supply zonal prices, resulting from market splitting due to line congestion. We model ex-ante individual bids expressed by heterogeneous consumers, which are distinguished by geographical zones. Using empirical estimations, we compute demand elasticity values and new zonal prices, according to a Ramsey optimal scheme. This is a new approach in the wholesale electricity market literature, as previous studies have discussed the relative merit of zonal prices, considering only the issue of line congestion. Our results show that the optimal pricing scheme can improve welfare in the day-ahead Italian electricity market, with respect to both the existing uniform price scheme and the proposal to charge the existing supply zonal prices to the demand side. - Highlights: • We model and estimate the demand of heterogeneous buyers in the electricity market. • Transmission line congestion creates welfare distortions in the market. • We derive optimal Ramsey prices in the Italian day-ahead electricity market. • We compare optimal prices with historical ones showing how to improve welfare.

  1. Undergraduate courses in nuclear engineering in Italian universities: Cultural and practical aspects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guerrini, B.; Lombardi, C.; Naviglio, A.; Oliveri, E.; Panella, B.; Sobrero, E.

    1992-01-01

    The contents of the undergraduate courses given in Italian nuclear engineering faculties are analyzed, showing the validity of this professional profile also with reference to non-nuclear applications including relevant safety issues and the management of complex projects. The role of Italian universities is stressed, in the defense of knowledge and capability in the nuclear sector, also with reference to the years of the nuclear 'moratoria' decided at the political level after public consultation. The prospects of Italian nuclear engineers are examined, with reference to the European labour market

  2. Periphyton changes over 20 years of chemical recovery of Lake Orta, Italy: differential response to perturbation of littoral and pelagic communities

    OpenAIRE

    Giuseppe MORABITO; Gabriele TARTARI; Rosario MOSELLO; Michèle DE SÈVE; Antonella CATTANEO

    2011-01-01

    Lake Orta, a large Italian subalpine lake, has a long history of industrial pollution by acid, ammonia, and metals. A whole-lake liming treatment in 1989-1990 led to a gradual increase in pH (from 4.4 to 7) and a concomitant decline in ammonia (from 2.5 to 0.05 mg L-1) and metal concentrations (e.g., copper: from 35 to 3 μg L-1). In this study, we examine the response of the littoral zone, in terms of chemistry and periphyton assemblages, to contamination and recovery of Lake Orta. We co...

  3. Gut Microbiome and Putative Resistome of Inca and Italian Nobility Mummies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tasha M. Santiago-Rodriguez

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Little is still known about the microbiome resulting from the process of mummification of the human gut. In the present study, the gut microbiota, genes associated with metabolism, and putative resistome of Inca and Italian nobility mummies were characterized by using high-throughput sequencing. The Italian nobility mummies exhibited a higher bacterial diversity as compared to the Inca mummies when using 16S ribosomal (rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, but both groups showed bacterial and fungal taxa when using shotgun metagenomic sequencing that may resemble both the thanatomicrobiome and extant human gut microbiomes. Identification of sequences associated with plants, animals, and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes may provide further insights into the dietary habits of Inca and Italian nobility mummies. Putative antibiotic-resistance genes in the Inca and Italian nobility mummies support a human gut resistome prior to the antibiotic therapy era. The higher proportion of putative antibiotic-resistance genes in the Inca compared to Italian nobility mummies may support the hypotheses that a greater exposure to the environment may result in a greater acquisition of antibiotic-resistance genes. The present study adds knowledge of the microbiome resulting from the process of mummification of the human gut, insights of ancient dietary habits, and the preserved putative human gut resistome prior the antibiotic therapy era.

  4. Italian Society for Rheumatology recommendations for the management of hand osteoarthritis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Manara

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Hand osteoarthritis (OA is a common and potentially disabling disease, with different features from hip and knee OA so that a specific therapeutic approach is required. Evidence based recommendations for the management of hand OA were developed by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR in 2006. The Italian Society for Rheumatology (SIR aimed to update, adapt to national contest and disseminate the EULAR recommendations for the management of hand OA. The multidisciplinary group of experts included specialists involved in the management of patients with hand OA. In order to maintain consistency with EULAR recommendations, a similar methodology was utilized by the Italian group. The original propositions were reformulated in terms of a search query and for every recommendation a systematic search was conducted updating EULAR recommendations’ review. The propositions were translated in Italian and reformulated basing on collected evidences and expert opinion. The strength of recommendation was measured for each proposition with the EULAR ordinal and visual analogue scales. The original 11 propositions of EULAR recommendations were translated and adapted to Italian context. Further evidences were collected about non-pharmacological therapies, local treatments, intra-articular injection with SYSADOA and corticosteroids, and surgery. The SIR has developed updated recommendations for the management of hand OA adapted to the Italian healthcare system. Their implementation in clinical practice is expected to improve the management of patients with hand OA.

  5. Education and Italian Regional Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Liberto, Adriana

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, we study the connection between growth and human capital in a convergence regression for the panel of Italian regions. We include measures of average primary, secondary and tertiary education. We find that increased education seems to contribute to growth only in the South. Decomposing total schooling into its three constituent…

  6. Lymphogranuloma venereum: the Italian experience

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cusini, M.; Boneschi, V.; Arancio, L.; Ramoni, S.; Venegoni, L.; Gaiani, F.; de Vries, H.J.C.

    2009-01-01

    An epidemic of lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) has been described in men who have sex with men (MSM) in the western world, particularly in western Europe. The first Italian case was reported by the authors in 2006, and up to March 2008 there have been 13 symptomatic cases, all in MSM. Ten cases had

  7. Les Gorges de Trévans dans le front subalpin – Un site exceptionnel des Alpes de Haute-Provence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean Nicod

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Les canyons de Trévans sont incisés dans des unités calcaires jurassiques, dans la zone frontale subalpine, proche du piémont de Valensole. Ces reliefs sont en rapport avec les phases néotectoniques. Ce secteur fait principalement partie de la forêt domaniale du Montdenier, avec des écosystèmes montagnards et supra-méditerranéens, bois de hêtres et de chênes pubescents, large extension des brousses et d'importants reboisements en pins noirs. Les hautes surfaces conservent des traces d'un ancien aplanissement et des sols résiduels paléokarstiques. Sur les pentes, sous des escarpements démembrés, les éboulis et convois de blocs témoignent des processus périglaciaires hérités et, localement, des évènements séismiques. De nombreux processus dynamiques s'observent dans les canyons : éboulements provenant des parois affectées des effets de détente, coups de gouge et marmites de géant dans leur fond excavé par les écoulements turbulents dans les cascades… et le Pont de Tuf.The canyon system of Trevans has cut the blocks of the jurassic limestones, in subalpine over thrust front, near the Valensole piedmont. These landforms are in relationship with the neotectonic movements. This area belongs to the State Forest of Montdenier, woodland of various mountain and supra-mediterranean ecosystems, with beeches and white oaks Quercus pubescens, large extent of bush and important reforestation in black pines (Pinus nigra. The high surfaces preserve some relics of the old planation and paleokarstic forms and residual soils. On the slopes, under the break-up escarpments, the screes and landslides give the part of the periglacial processes and, locally, of the seismic events. Numerous dynamic processes occur in the canyons: rock-slides, in relationship with open fractures, scallops and pot-holes in the bottom excavated by the turbulent flows in the waterfalls of the creeks and, only case, a travertine bridge.

  8. [Italian Cystic Fibrosis Registry. Report 2011-2014].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giordani, Barbara; Amato, Annalisa; Majo, Fabio; Ferrari, Gianluca; Quattrucci, Serena; Minicucci, Laura; Padoan, Rita; Floridia, Giovanna; Puppo Fornaro, Gianna; Taruscio, Domenica; Salvatore, Marco

    2018-01-01

    The Italian Cystic Fibrosis Registry (ICFR) is based on a new agreement about the data flow towards the Registry signed on October, 4th 2016 by the Centre for Rare Diseases of the Italian National Institute of Health (NIH), the clinicians of the Italian National Referral and Support Centres for Cystic Fibrosis, the Paediatric Hospital "Bambino Gesù" (Rome), the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Society, and the Italian League for Cystic Fibrosis. The aim of the present Report is to improve the knowledge on cystic fibrosis (CF) through the epidemiological description of Italian patients. The members of the Scientific and Technical Committee have to write a report on data collected by ICFR, in order to contribute to achieve the aims of ICFR itself, i.e., to improve the care of CF patients. In particular, the Report should contribute to the following objectives: - to analyze the medium and long-term clinical and epidemiological trends of the disease; - to identify the main healthcare needs at regional and national level in order to contribute to the healthcare programmes and to the distribution of resources; - to compare Italian data with the international ones. Analyses and results described in the present Report are referred to patients in charge to the Italian National Referral and Support Centres for Cystic Fibrosis in the period 2011-2014. Data were sent by Centres by means of a specific software (Camilla, Ibis Informatica) and has undergone a double quality control (QC): the first by NIH and the second at a European level (before the inclusion of the Italian data within the European Cystic Fibrosis Registry). These QCs assure the completeness and accuracy of data as well as their consistency with European core data. A total of 29 different CF centres (referral, support, and Paediatric Hospital "Bambino Gesù") sent their data to ICFR; data referred to the period 2011-2014. Data regarding Sardinia Region (Southern Italy) are missing; data from Molise (Southern Italy) CF

  9. Calculation of CO2 emissions from the italian energy system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Contaldi, M.; La Motta, S.

    2001-01-01

    The calculation of CO2 emissions from the Italian energy system is the object of this work. The inventory method used is the Reference Approach from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC, 1996 revised Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories) and the energy consumption data are taken from the Italian Energy Balance edited by the Ministry of Industry. The years analysed are those from 1990 to 2000 [it

  10. Running Joke: Criticism of Italian American Culture through Comedy in The Sopranos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fred Gardaphe

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Often read as tragic realism, The Sopranos has rarely been seen in the light of the comedy created in every episode.   While a number of television critics and commentators have compared the series to the tragedies of Shakespeare (Bushby, Macintyre, Varble, none have focused on the comic elements, which, as I will show, are descendants of Italian Commedia dell Arte and Shakespearean comedies.  The best way of seeing this is to focus on the character Paulie Walnuts, whom I see as an Italian American version of the zanni of the Commedia or the fool/clown of Shakespeare.  In this article, I present David Chase’s serial narrative as a comedy that serves not only to create laughter but also to criticize U.S. and especially Italian American culture through the character Paulie Walnuts.  Before I launch into this reading I want to present a few words on just how we might read the seriality of Chase’s narrative.  Through Paulie Walnuts, the writers of the show are able insert a running joke throughout the entire series that enables them to poke fun at traditional notions of Italian immigrant culture, and at the same time, show that those notions also serve as viable criticisms of U.S. capitalist culture.  Paulie, who is certainly more reactionary than revolutionary, reflects the many Italian Americans who assimilated quickly into American culture, in spite of holding on to traditions and superstitions of Italian folk culture.

  11. Genetic variability of Italian Heavy Draught Horse

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Maretto

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to analyze the genetic variability of the Italian Heavy Draught Horse (IHDH breed using a panel of 23 microsatellite markers. We also compared the population structure of the IHDH to other two unrelated breeds (Italian Haflinger, IH and Quarter Horse, QH. The IHDH showed a genetic variability comparable with other European heavy draught horse breeds and with the IH and QH breeds analyzed. Clustering analyses using a posterior Bayesian approach clearly differentiated the three breeds; it also showed a fragmentation of the IHDH in three subpopulations that need to be further investigated. These findings are an indicator of the present situation of the IHDH and will contribute to the conservation and implementation of the selection programme for this breed.

  12. ENEL and application of Italian November 14, 1990 Decree CIP 34/3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vazio, A.

    1991-01-01

    As part of an overall energy conservation campaign, a concrete step, in the form of a more favourable electricity rate structure for auto-producers, is being taken by the Italian Government to encourage medium sized industries to adopt cogeneration systems to meet their heat and power requirements. Within this context, this paper gives an idea of how ENEL, the Italian National Electricity Board, administers contracts involving the ceding of on-site generated power to the national utility's grid. Reference is made to the specific provisions incorporated in the CIP (Italian Inter-ministerial Commission on Prices) Provision No. 34, dated November 14, 1990

  13. Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in

    Science.gov (United States)

    North Carolina America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North Carolina to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North Carolina on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North

  14. Conscientious Objection to Animal Experimentation in Italian Universities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldelli, Ilaria; Massaro, Alma; Penco, Susanna; Bassi, Anna Maria; Patuzzo, Sara; Ciliberti, Rosagemma

    2017-03-13

    In Italy, Law 413/1993 states that public and private Italian Institutions, including academic faculties, are obliged to fully inform workers and students about their right to conscientious objection to scientific or educational activities involving animals, hereafter written as "animal CO". However, little monitoring on the faculties' compliance with this law has been performed either by the government or other institutional bodies. Based on this premise, the authors have critically reviewed the existing data and compared them with those emerging from their own investigation to discuss limitations and inconsistencies. The results of this investigation revealed that less than half of Italian academic faculties comply with their duty to inform on animal CO. Non-compliance may substantially affect the right of students to make ethical choices in the field of animal ethics and undermines the fundamental right to express their own freedom of thought. The Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, ethics committees and animal welfare bodies should cooperate to make faculties respect this law. Further research is needed to better understand the reasons for the current trend, as well as to promote the enforcement of Law 413/1993 with particular regard to information on animal CO.

  15. Italian translation and cross-cultural comparison with the Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simonelli, A; Sacchi, C; Cantoni, L; Brown, M; Frewen, P

    2017-01-01

    Background : The Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS) is a computer-administered survey designed to assess retrospectively the socio-ecological context in which instances of child abuse may have occurred. To date, studies supporting the validity of the CARTS have only been undertaken in English-speaking North American populations. Validation projects in other countries and cross-cultural comparisons are therefore warranted. Objective : Develop and preliminarily evaluate the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the CARTS on college students and compare such observations to data acquired from Canadian students. Method : Seventy-nine undergraduate students from the University of Padua (Italy) completed an Italian translation of the CARTS as well as measures of childhood experiences, mental health and attachment, responses to which were compared to those obtained in 288 Canadian students who completed the CARTS in English. Results : Internal consistency and convergent validity with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and Parental Bonding Instrument were found to be acceptable for the Italian translation. Within the Italian sample, correlation analyses suggested that CARTS Mother ratings referring to attachment and abuse were associated with romantic attachment, whereas CARTS Father ratings were significantly correlated to PTSD symptoms and other symptoms of psychopathology-distress. Significant differences between Italian and Canadian students across the relationship types for the CARTS abuse and attachment scales were found, indicating that Italian students rated their mothers and fathers as simultaneously less abusive, but also less as a source of secure attachment. Conclusions : The results of this preliminary study seem to suggest convergent validity of the Italian CARTS and the association between childhood attachment-related experiences and romantic attachment. Cultural variations were identified between Canadian and Italian

  16. Immigration policy and birth weight: Positive externalities in Italian law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salmasi, Luca; Pieroni, Luca

    2015-09-01

    A decade ago, the political party of the Italian center-right voted a law restricting immigration. The law became effective in early 2005, when the Italian parliament approved the decree for its application, but one of its articles, granting amnesty for illegal immigrant workers, became immediately effective in July 2002. As a result, 650,000 immigrants were granted the status of foreign nationals in Italy. In this paper, we examine whether the increase in the prevalence of "regular immigrants" has led to an improvement in health outcomes of babies born to migrant women, measured in terms of birth weight. Two hitherto unexploited birth sample surveys published by Italian Institute of Statistics were used for this study. Our estimates show that regularized immigration reduced the probability of low birth weight. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Daily Family Routines of Italian and Ecuadorian Immigrant Mothers in Everyday Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadia Rania

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This study compares Italian mothers’ and Ecuadorian immigrant mothers’ daily family routines. Thirty mothers took part in this investigation: 15 Italians (M = 37.5 years, with ages ranging from 30 to 42 years and 15 Ecuadorians (M = 36.1 years, with ages ranging from 18 to 46 years and having lived in Italy for an average of 15 years, with children ranging in age from 4 to 8 years. The objective is to highlight the differences and similarities between the daily routines and family relations that characterize the lives of each of the two groups of participants. The instruments employed in service of these aims were in-depth interviews and diaries. The results showed similarities regarding the routines of Italian and Ecuadorian families. However, a relevant difference emerged regarding their perceptions of social support. Specifically, Italians receive more social support from their parents than do Ecuadorians, who are supported more by other relatives or by friends.

  18. Italian consensus on Eular 2003 recommendations for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Patrignani

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The recommendations for the management of osteoarthritis (OA of the knee firstly proposed by the EULAR in 2000, have been updated in 2003. One of the most important objectives of the expert charged to provide these recommendations was their dissemination. Thus, the information generated may be used by each individual country to produce their own set of management guidelines and algorithms for treatment in primary care. The Italian Society of Rheumatology (SIR and the Italian League against Rheumatism (LIMAR have organised a Consensus on the EULAR recommendations 2003 with the aim to analyse their acceptability and the applicability according to our own experience and local situations in the Italy. The results of this Consensus have demonstrated that a large majority of the EULAR recommendations are endorsed by the Italian experts. Furthermore, the final document of the Italian Consensus clearly indicated the need that the specialists involved in the management of knee OA strongly encourage the dissemination of the EULAR 2003 recommendations also in Italy.

  19. Emotion socialization practices in Italian and Hong Kong-Chinese mothers

    OpenAIRE

    Fiorilli, Caterina; De Stasio, Simona; Di Chicchio, Carlo; Chan, Siu Mui

    2015-01-01

    Background Parents? emotion socialization practices are their ways of handling their children?s emotional experiences in light of cultural expectations surrounding emotions. Such practices are thought to significantly affect children?s social adjustment. We compared the parenting practices of Italian and Hong Kong Chinese samples in an ethnological validation study of the maternal responses to children?s emotion scale (MRCES). Participants were 71 Italian mothers (M?=?39.45) and 71 Hong Kong-...

  20. The Italian productivity slowdown in a Real Business Cycle perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Francesca Marino

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates the structural relation between the italian weak macroeco- nomic performances and the productivity decline experienced over the last Öfteen years, estimating a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model. Modifying Ire- land and SchuhiÌ s (2008) two-sector RBC model in order to account for cointegration between consumption and investment, we interpret the unsatisfactory italian economic dynamics in light of a permanent negative shock to the component of produ...

  1. Identifying the node spreading influence with largest k-core values

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Jian-Hong; Guo, Qiang; Dong, Wen-Zhao; Tang, Li-Ying; Liu, Jian-Guo

    2014-01-01

    Identifying the nodes with largest spreading influence of complex networks is one of the most promising domains. By taking into account the neighbors' k-core values, we present an improved neighbors' k-core (INK) method which is the sum of the neighbors' k-core values with a tunable parameter α to evaluate the node spreading influence with largest k-core values. Comparing with the Susceptible–Infected–Recovered (SIR) results for four real networks, the INK method could identify the node spreading influence with largest k-core values more accurately than the ones generated by the degree k, closeness C, betweenness B and coreness centrality method. - Highlights: • We present an improved neighbors' k-core (INK) method to evaluate the node spreading influence with largest k-core values. • The INK method could identify the node spreading influence with largest k-core values more accurately. • Kendall's tau τ of INK method with α=1 are highly identical to rank the node influence

  2. Is Morphological Awareness a Relevant Predictor of Reading Fluency and Comprehension? New Evidence From Italian Monolingual and Arabic-Italian Bilingual Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirta Vernice

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we examined the contribution of morphological awareness to reading competence in a group of Italian L1 and Arabic-Italian early L2 children, i.e., exposed to Italian before 3 years of age. Children from first to fifth grade (age range: 6–11 years old were tested on a range of morphological awareness and lexical tasks. Reading ability was tested through standardized tests of reading fluency and comprehension. Results showed that L1 children outperformed L2 on every measure of morphological awareness, as well as on reading tests. Regression analyses revealed that morphological awareness contributed to a different extent to reading ability across groups. Accuracy in the morphological awareness tasks was a significant predictor of word (and non-word reading fluency in L1 and L2 first and second graders, while only in L1 third to fifth graders, response times and accuracy to a morphological awareness task explained a unique amount of variance in reading comprehension. Our results highlight the critical role of morphological processing in reading efficiency and suggest that a training inspired by morphological awareness may improve reading skills also in bilingual students.

  3. Seasonal Changes in the Character and Nitrogen Content of Dissolved Organic Matter in an Alpine/Subalpine Headwater Catchment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eran W. Hood

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available We are studying the chemical quality of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON in a high-elevation watershed in the Colorado Front Range. Samples were collected over the 2000 snowmelt runoff season at two sites across an alpine/subalpine ecotone to understand how the transition between the lightly vegetated alpine and forested reaches of the catchment influences the chemical character of DON. Samples were analyzed approximately weekly for dissolved organic material (DOM content and chemical character. A subset of samples was analyzed for the elemental content of fulvic and hydrophilic acids. Concentrations of DON at both sites were highest in the spring at the initiation of snowmelt, decreased during snowmelt, and increased again during the late summer and fall. In contrast, concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC peaked on the ascending limb of the hydrograph and declined to seasonal minima on the descending limb of the hydrograph. The ratio of DOC:DON showed a seasonal shift at both sites with high values (40 to 55 during peak runoff in early summer and lower values (15 to 25 during low flows late in the runoff season. These results indicate that there was a seasonal change in the relative N content of DOM at both sites. Chemical fractionation of DOC showed that there were temporal and longitudinal changes in the chemical character of DOC. At the alpine site, the fulvic acid content of DOC decreased from 57% in June to 35% in September. The change in fulvic acid was less pronounced at the forested site, from 66% in June to 54% in September. Elemental analysis of fulvic and hydrophilic acids indicated that hydrophilic acids were N rich compared to fulvic acids. Additionally, fulvic and hydrophilic acids isolated at the alpine site had a lower C:N ratio than those isolated at the forested site. Similarly, the C:N ratio of organic acids at both sites was lower in September than in June during peak runoff. These differences appear to be a result

  4. Attivita del Centro di Linguistica Applicata nel campo della lingua e della cultura italiana all'estero (Activities of the Italian Center for Applied Linguistics concerning Italian Language and Culture Abroad).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boriosi Katerinov, Maria Clotilde

    1979-01-01

    Outlines the activities of a recently created section of the Italian Center for Applied Linguistics (CILA), dealing with "Teaching Italian Abroad." Describes these activities as encompassing four areas: research, teaching methodology, consultation, teachers' training and bibliographical information. Lists statistical surveys, research papers, and…

  5. La plate-forme jurassienne et sa bordure subalpine au Berriasien-Valanginien ( Chartreuse-Vercors). Analyse et corrélations avec les séries de bassin. Sédimentologie, stratigraphie, micropaléontologie, magnétostratigraphie.

    OpenAIRE

    Boisseau , Thierry

    1987-01-01

    The study of the Berriasian-Valanginian carbonate platform of the Chartreuse massif (the subalpine chain, France) was detailed and the major stages of progradation and submersion were defined and dated. Micropaleontology: 65 benthic foraminifera species are identified. A detailed statistic analysis is given to the genus Trocholina, Neotrocholina, Gaudryina and Dorothia. Sedimentology: Five different order sequences are described. They mainly correspond to eustatic variations of sea leve!, mod...

  6. Great landslide events in Italian artificial reservoirs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Panizzo

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The empirical formulations to forecast landslide generated water waves, recently defined in the framework of a research program funded by the Italian National Dam Office RID (Registro Italiano Dighe, are here used to study three real cases of subaerial landslides which fell down italian artificial reservoirs. It is well known that impulse water waves generated by landslides constitute a very dangerous menace for human communities living in the shoreline of the artificial basin or downstream the dam. In 1963, the menace became tragedy, when a 270 millions m3 landslide fell down the Vajont reservoir (Italy, generated an impulse wave which destroyed the city of Longarone, and killed 2000 people. The paper is aimed at presenting the very satisfactorily reproduction of the events at hand by using forecasting formulations.  

  7. Great landslide events in Italian artificial reservoirs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panizzo, A.; de Girolamo, P.; di Risio, M.; Maistri, A.; Petaccia, A.

    2005-09-01

    The empirical formulations to forecast landslide generated water waves, recently defined in the framework of a research program funded by the Italian National Dam Office RID (Registro Italiano Dighe), are here used to study three real cases of subaerial landslides which fell down italian artificial reservoirs. It is well known that impulse water waves generated by landslides constitute a very dangerous menace for human communities living in the shoreline of the artificial basin or downstream the dam. In 1963, the menace became tragedy, when a 270 millions m3 landslide fell down the Vajont reservoir (Italy), generated an impulse wave which destroyed the city of Longarone, and killed 2000 people. The paper is aimed at presenting the very satisfactorily reproduction of the events at hand by using forecasting formulations.

  8. Italian students win a trip to CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    The six winners of the Progetto Lauree Scientifiche came to CERN to discover the LHC experiments. Six Italian high-school students visited CERN last week as part of a biennial project sponsored by the Italian Research ministry, the University of Ferrara and INFN. A total of 160 enthusiastic students took part in the project, which aims to introduce and foster interest in higher levels of science and technology. The Progetto Lauree Scientifiche prize was awarded to these students for their excellent grades in an examination covering various areas of physics, including laser, solid and particle physics. The winners spent six days at CERN touring the Laboratory and seeing first-hand the various aspects of research in one of the leading European centres, as well as the excitement of the particle physics adventure.

  9. Energy and competition in italian industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zanetti, G.

    2000-01-01

    The analysis of competition of the Italian production is based on the analysis of the prices. The most important period is between the first petroliferol crisis and these days. The production is concentrated on sector of old tradition and executed from an enterprise of small dimension [it

  10. CERN tests largest superconducting solenoid magnet

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    "CERN's Compacts Muon Solenoid (CMS) - the world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet - has reached full field in testing. The instrument is part of the proton-proton Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project, located in a giant subterranean chamber at Cessy on the Franco-Swiss border." (1 page)

  11. Adherence to anti-Parkinson drug therapy in the "REASON" sample of Italian patients with Parkinson's disease: the linguistic validation of the Italian version of the "Morisky Medical Adherence Scale-8 items".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fabbrini, G; Abbruzzese, G; Barone, P; Antonini, A; Tinazzi, M; Castegnaro, G; Rizzoli, S; Morisky, D E; Lessi, P; Ceravolo, R

    2013-11-01

    Information about patients' adherence to therapy represents a primary issue in Parkinson's disease (PD) management. To perform the linguistic validation of the Italian version of the self-rated 8-Item Morisky Medical Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and to describe in a sample of Italian patients affected by PD the adherence to anti-Parkinson drug therapy and the association between adherence and some socio-demographic and clinical features. MMAS-8 was translated into Italian language by two independent Italian mother-tongue translators. The consensus version was then back-translated by an English mother-tongue translator. This translation process was followed by a consensus meeting between the authors of translation and investigators and then by two comprehension tests. The translated version of the MMAS-8 scale was then administered at the baseline visit of the "REASON" study (Italian Study on the Therapy Management in Parkinson's disease: Motor, Non-Motor, Adherence and Quality Of Life Factors) in a large sample of PD patients. The final version of the MMAS-8 was easily understood. Mean ± SD MMAS-8 score was 6.1 ± 1.2. There were no differences in adherence to therapy in relationship to disease severity, gender, educational level or decision to change therapy. The Italian version of MMAS-8, the key tool of the REASON study to assess the adherence to therapy, has shown to be understandable to patients with PD. Patients enrolled in the REASON study showed medium therapy adherence.

  12. Images of Italian Mathematics in France from Risorgimento to Fascism

    CERN Document Server

    Jouve, Guillaume; Mazliak, Laurent; Tazzioli, Rossana

    2016-01-01

    The contributions in this proceedings volume offer a new perspective on the mathematical ties between France and Italy, and reveal how mathematical developments in these two countries affected one another. The focus is above all on the Peninsula’s influence on French mathematicians, counterbalancing the historically predominant perception that French mathematics was a model for Italian mathematicians. In the process, the book details a subtle network of relations between the two countries, where mathematical exchanges fit into the changing and evolving framework of Italian political and academic structures. It reconsiders the issue of nationalities in all of its complexity, an aspect often neglected in research on the history of mathematics. The works in this volume are selected contributions from a conference held in Lille and Lens (France) in November 2013 on Images of Italian Mathematics in France from Risorgimento to Fascism. The authors include respected historians of mathematics, philosophers of scien...

  13. Italian bioclimatic architecture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    D' Errico, E

    1987-04-01

    This paper deals with the results of solar space heating research developed within the Finalized Energy Project of the National Research Council of Italy. Energy and cost/benefit parameters were compared for a certain number of Italian buildings incorporating solar architecture. The technical and economic analysis was performed on 31 buildings, of which 24 are residential, and 7 are schools, with different solar devices (direct gain, Trombe walls, sunspaces, hybrid systems). The buildings were constructed between 1976 and 1982. The results emphasize that simple technologies with lower costs and good design usually have a higher performance/cost ratio.

  14. Neoliberty & co. The Architectural Review against 1950s Italian historicism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel López Segura

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available AbstractBuilding upon the Neoliberty polemics (second half of the 1950s, this article offers a revision of the debate on the historicity of architecture that opposed distinguished Italian and British intellectual circles. While the Italian contribution has been extensively analyzed, the existing literature has not dwelt on the reasons why the British refused any operative recovery of history; a gap this article intends to fi ll. From a methodological point of view, given the media nature of the debate, our analysis has been mainly textual, and has focused on the two journals that channelled the exchanges: the Milanese Casabella and the London based Architectural Review. The article is equally of interest as it explores an early episode which already announced two of the paths the architecture of the following decades would follow: postmodern historicism and high-tech.The reasons for the misunderstanding were of diverse nature. First, the different urban cultures present in one country and the other would explain the diverging esteem for the paradoxically Cosmopolitan provincialism of Milan and Turin, admirer of XIXth century bourgeois urbanity. Moreover, Reyner Banham from the English magazine was determined to promote contemporary architecture that would follow the postulates of his beloved Futurism: rejection of tradition and technological assimilation. However, a calm reading of his writings reveals that his antihistoricist stance was not as extreme as is usually believed.The role played by J. M. Richards, editor of Architectural Review, is more problematic. Though he shared many concerns with his Italian counterparts, he did not appease the virulence of the campaign his journal headed. Finally, Nikolaus Pevsner's historiographical project differed from the one the Italians fostered, regarding interpretative keys and methods. The Italian research followed the steps of Benedetto Croce, a position hardly attuned to the Anglo-German historian

  15. Validation of an Italian version of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ-I).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarzi-Puttini, P; Atzeni, F; Fiorini, T; Panni, B; Randisi, G; Turiel, M; Carrabba, M

    2003-01-01

    To validate a translated Italian version of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). The Italian version of the FIQ was administered to 50 patients affected by fibromyalgia (FM) (48 patients filled out the questionnaire again 10 days later) together with the Italian version of the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-36 (SF-36), and a tender point count (TPC) obtained by summing the score (0-3) of each tender point tested by thumb palpation. All patients were asked about the severity of pain today (10 cm visual analog scale) and the duration of symptoms. Test-retest reliability was assessed using Spearman correlations. Internal consistency was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha of reliability. Construct validity of the FIQ was evaluated by correlations between the HAQ and subscales of the SF-36 as well as the TPC. The mean duration of symptoms was 6.5 years and the mean age of the participants was 57.4 years. Test-retest reliability was between 0.74 and 0.95 for physical functioning as well as for the total FIQ and other components. Internal consistency was 0.90 for the overall FIQ. Significant correlations were obtained between the FIQ items, the HAQ and the SF-36. The Italian FIQ is a reliable and valid instrument for detecting and measuring functional disability and health status in Italian patients with FM.

  16. Mitochondrial D-loop sequence variation among Italian horse breeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zanotti Marta

    2004-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The genetic variability of the mitochondrial D-loop DNA sequence in seven horse breeds bred in Italy (Giara, Haflinger, Italian trotter, Lipizzan, Maremmano, Thoroughbred and Sarcidano was analysed. Five unrelated horses were chosen in each breed and twenty-two haplotypes were identified. The sequences obtained were aligned and compared with a reference sequence and with 27 mtDNA D-loop sequences selected in the GenBank database, representing Spanish, Portuguese, North African, wild horses and an Equus asinus sequence as the outgroup. Kimura two-parameter distances were calculated and a cluster analysis using the Neighbour-joining method was performed to obtain phylogenetic trees among breeds bred in Italy and among Italian and foreign breeds. The cluster analysis indicates that all the breeds but Giara are divided in the two trees, and no clear relationships were revealed between Italian populations and the other breeds. These results could be interpreted as showing the mixed origin of breeds bred in Italy and probably indicate the presence of many ancient maternal lineages with high diversity in mtDNA sequences.

  17. Patient migration among the Italian regions in 2003

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriele Messina

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available

    Background: In the Italian National Health Service hospital planning was influenced by two aspects: the patients’ freedom to choose their health care provider and the equal distribution of centers spread throughout Italy. While every Italian Region should be able to meet the health needs of its own inhabitants, consistent migration among regions exists. Retrospective studies of cross boundaries patient flows can be useful for health planning purposes, providing precious information about citizens’ preferences, and helping health managers to think about inequality and adjust the offer of care. The aim of this study is to describe cross boundary flows which occurred across all the Italian Regions in 2003.

    Methods: The hospital discharges for 2003 were obtained from the General Directorate for Health Planning of the Italian Ministry of Health. We analyzed regional cross boundary flows using the Gandy Nomogram. This tool, which assesses patient mobility, can be used to describe regions’ ability to satisfy their internal health demand and their own capability in attracting foreign patients.

    Results: All of the regions, for the most part, were able to satisfy internal health care demands, and are placed in the upper right corner of the Gandy Nomogram. Umbria, Emilia Romagna, P. A. di Bolzano, Tuscany, Lombardy, Friuli V. Giulia, Lazio, Abruzzo were the regions that appeared to perform best. The Lombardy region attracts the most patients.

    Conclusions: This study briefly provides an evaluation of hospital supply of services giving indications about patients’ perception of the quality and organization of services. A deeper analysis of patient migration may be undertaken by looking at specific diseases. This kind of research could be useful for planning and maximising supplies when making decisions about healthcare.

  18. [The demographic and occupational characteristics of Italian migrants to Argentina, 1880-1930].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cacopardo, M C; Moreno, J L

    1984-09-01

    "This essay studies...the demographic and socio-professional characteristics of the Italian emigrants in Argentina during the period 1880-1930. Besides a reconstruction of the demographic variables (age, sex, mortality, and fertility) in the historical series, the essay also depicts the professional profile of the Italians in Argentina...." (summary in ENG, FRE) excerpt

  19. Patch-Scale Effects of Equine Disturbance on Arthropod Assemblages and Vegetation Structure in Subalpine Wetlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmquist, Jeffrey G.; Schmidt-Gengenbach, Jutta; Ballenger, Elizabeth A.

    2014-06-01

    Assessments of vertebrate disturbance to plant and animal assemblages often contrast grazed versus ungrazed meadows or other larger areas of usage, and this approach can be powerful. Random sampling of such habitats carries the potential, however, for smaller, more intensely affected patches to be missed and for other responses that are only revealed at smaller scales to also escape detection. We instead sampled arthropod assemblages and vegetation structure at the patch scale (400-900 m2 patches) within subalpine wet meadows of Yosemite National Park (USA), with the goal of determining if there were fine-scale differences in magnitude and directionality of response at three levels of grazing intensity. Effects were both stronger and more nuanced than effects evidenced by previous random sampling of paired grazed and ungrazed meadows: (a) greater negative effects on vegetation structure and fauna in heavily used patches, but (b) some positive effects on fauna in lightly grazed patches, suggested by trends for mean richness and total and population abundances. Although assessment of disturbance at either patch or landscape scales should be appropriate, depending on the management question at hand, our patch-scale work demonstrated that there can be strong local effects on the ecology of these wetlands that may not be detected by comparing larger scale habitats.

  20. Role of grass-legume communities in revegetation of a subalpine mine site in British Columbia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yamanaka, K

    1982-01-01

    This study describes an investigation of the potential for pioneer grass-legume communities to stabilize and ameliorate geologically-fresh soil leading to the establishment of a self-sustaining, progressive plant succession on a surface-mined subalpine site. The study area is located 2000 m above sea level in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Field studies revealed chronological trends in grass-legume communities at four sites revegetated during 1974-1978 including: species composition, legumes (Trifolium repens L., T. hybridum L. and Medicago sativa L.) performing increasingly poorly on the older sites; biomass changes, a shoot to root ratio (S/R) decreasing from 2.3 to 0.2 as the communities aged; and litter accumulation which continued even on the oldest site. Fertilizer (13-16-10) operationally applied at 150-391 kg/ha enhanced the growth of Dactylis gomerata L. and litter degradation, and acidified the soil. Nitrogen fertilization was also associated with two clear inverse relationships identified between D. glomerata and Festuca rubra L. biomass, and between soil pH and phosphorus levels. In greenhouse tests grasses were revealed to be more efficient soil nitrogen consumers than were legumes and nitrogen fixation decreased significantly (P < 0.01) and linearly with increasing grass seeding rates.

  1. Linguistic, geographic and genetic isolation: a collaborative study of Italian populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capocasa, Marco; Anagnostou, Paolo; Bachis, Valeria; Battaggia, Cinzia; Bertoncini, Stefania; Biondi, Gianfranco; Boattini, Alessio; Boschi, Ilaria; Brisighelli, Francesca; Caló, Carla Maria; Carta, Marilisa; Coia, Valentina; Corrias, Laura; Crivellaro, Federica; De Fanti, Sara; Dominici, Valentina; Ferri, Gianmarco; Francalacci, Paolo; Franceschi, Zelda Alice; Luiselli, Donata; Morelli, Laura; Paoli, Giorgio; Rickards, Olga; Robledo, Renato; Sanna, Daria; Sanna, Emanuele; Sarno, Stefania; Sineo, Luca; Taglioli, Luca; Tagarelli, Giuseppe; Tofanelli, Sergio; Vona, Giuseppe; Pettener, Davide; Destro Bisol, Giovanni

    2014-01-01

    The animal and plant biodiversity of the Italian territory is known to be one of the richest in the Mediterranean basin and Europe as a whole, but does the genetic diversity of extant human populations show a comparable pattern? According to a number of studies, the genetic structure of Italian populations retains the signatures of complex peopling processes which took place from the Paleolithic to modern era. Although the observed patterns highlight a remarkable degree of genetic heterogeneity, they do not, however, take into account an important source of variation. In fact, Italy is home to numerous ethnolinguistic minorities which have yet to be studied systematically. Due to their difference in geographical origin and demographic history, such groups not only signal the cultural and social diversity of our country, but they are also potential contributors to its bio-anthropological heterogeneity. To fill this gap, research groups from four Italian Universities (Bologna, Cagliari, Pisa and Roma Sapienza) started a collaborative study in 2007, which was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research and received partial support by the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia. In this paper, we present an account of the results obtained in the course of this initiative. Four case-studies relative to linguistic minorities from the Eastern Alps, Sardinia, Apennines and Southern Italy are first described and discussed, focusing on their micro-evolutionary and anthropological implications. Thereafter, we present the results of a systematic analysis of the relations between linguistic, geographic and genetic isolation. Integrating the data obtained in the course of the long-term study with literature and unpublished results on Italian populations, we show that a combination of linguistic and geographic factors is probably responsible for the presence of the most robust signatures of genetic isolation. Finally, we evaluate the magnitude of the diversity

  2. Italian Validation of Homophobia Scale (HS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciocca, Giacomo; Capuano, Nicolina; Tuziak, Bogdan; Mollaioli, Daniele; Limoncin, Erika; Valsecchi, Diana; Carosa, Eleonora; Gravina, Giovanni L; Gianfrilli, Daniele; Lenzi, Andrea; Jannini, Emmanuele A

    2015-09-01

    The Homophobia Scale (HS) is a valid tool to assess homophobia. This test is self-reporting, composed of 25 items, which assesses a total score and three factors linked to homophobia: behavior/negative affect, affect/behavioral aggression, and negative cognition. The aim of this study was to validate the HS in the Italian context. An Italian translation of the HS was carried out by two bilingual people, after which an English native translated the test back into the English language. A psychologist and sexologist checked the translated items from a clinical point of view. We recruited 100 subjects aged18-65 for the Italian validation of the HS. The Pearson coefficient and Cronbach's α coefficient were performed to test the test-retest reliability and internal consistency. A sociodemographic questionnaire including the main information as age, geographic distribution, partnership status, education, religious orientation, and sex orientation was administrated together with the translated version of HS. The analysis of the internal consistency showed an overall Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.92. In the four domains, the Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.90 in behavior/negative affect, 0.94 in affect/behavioral aggression, and 0.92 in negative cognition, whereas in the total score was 0.86. The test-retest reliability showed the following results: the HS total score was r = 0.93 (P cognition was r = 0.75 (P validation of the HS revealed the use of this self-report test to have good psychometric properties. This study offers a new tool to assess homophobia. In this regard, the HS can be introduced into the clinical praxis and into programs for the prevention of homophobic behavior.

  3. Italian experience in gasification plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rinaldi, N.U.

    1991-01-01

    After tracing the historical highlights representing the development of the Fauser (Montecatini) technology based gasification processes for the production of ammonia and methanol, this paper outlines the key design, operation and performance characteristics of the Montecatini (Italy) process plant for heavy liquid hydrocarbons gasification by means of partial auto-thermal combustion with oxygen. The outline makes evident the technical-economical validity of the Montecatini design solutions which include energy recovery (even the heat dispersed through the gasifier walls is recovered and utilized to produce low pressure steam to preheat the fuel oil); reduced oxygen consumption by the high temperature preheating of all reagents; the ecologically compatible elimination of gas black; as well as, desulfurization with materials recovery. The plant process descriptions come complete with flowsheets. While demonstrating that the Italian developed technology is historically well rooted, the Author stresses that the current design versions of Montecatini gasification plants are up to date with innovative solutions, especially, with regard to pollution abatement, and cites the need for a more concerted marketing effort on the part of local industry to help improve the competitiveness of the Italian made product

  4. Effects of the performance level and the FIFA "11" injury prevention program on the injury rate in Italian male amateur soccer players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gatterer, H; Ruedl, G; Faulhaber, M; Regele, M; Burtscher, M

    2012-02-01

    Soccer is characterized by high injury rates that necessitate interventions for its reduction. The "11" is a multi-modal preventive program that was developed to reduce injury rate. However, outcomes on the effectiveness of the program are not unambiguous and data for the largest group at risk (i.e., male adult amateur players) are missing. The study aims to assess the injury rate in male adult amateur soccer players of different levels and to evaluate the effectiveness of the prevention program the "11". Three amateur soccer teams participated in the study during the first round of a competition season. Two teams played at a regional level (6th Italian league) and one team at a provincial level (7th Italian league). The regional league is of a higher skill level compared to the provincial league. Duration and frequency of training and match sessions and the occurrence of time-loss injuries were recorded. One team of the 6th league performed an injury prevention program. The total injury rate for the intervention and the control team in the 6th league was 3.3 (CI 0.7-5.9) and 4.3 (CI 1.3-7.3) injuries/1000 h, respectively (P=0.841). The 6th league control team tended to have a lesser injury rate compared to the 7th league team (P=0.081). The relative risk was 2 fold higher in the 7th compared to the 6th league team (P=0.0285 one tailed). Present results show that injury rate in amateur soccer depended rather on the skill level than the prevention program. In this study the prevention program the "11" was not shown to be highly effective in soccer player of intermediate level (i.e., 6th Italian league).

  5. Evolution of Italian environmental normative on cogeneration and application of Law 10/91

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piancastelli, E.

    1992-01-01

    From the Proceedings of the FIRE (Italian Federation for the Rational use of Energy), December 12 - 13, 1991, meeting, separate abstracts were prepared for 2 papers. The main topics were: the planning criteria that went into the formulation of the incentives made possible through Italian legislation on cogeneration plants for on-site power generation and the response obtained from small, medium and large industrial firms; the evaluation of cogeneration plants for on-site power generation to allow prospective cogeneration plant owners to build energy/cost efficient plants and to be able to make a proper assessment of eligible financial assistance which may be obtained through the provisions of energy conservation/environmental protection normatives and laws set up by the Italian National Energy Plan; and the determination of optimal contracts with ENEL (the Italian National Electricity Board), especially for the case of excess power to be ceded to the national grid

  6. Streaming Italian horror cinema in the United Kingdom: Lovefilm Instant

    OpenAIRE

    Baschiera, Stefano

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates the distribution of Italian horror cinema in the age of video streaming, analyzing its presence and categorization on the platform Lovefilm Instant UK, in order to investigate the importance of ‘niche’ in what is known as the long tail of online distribution and the online availability of exploitation films. I argue that looking at the streaming presence of Italian horror and comparing it to its prior distribution on home video formats (in particular VHS and DVD) we ...

  7. Legionella contamination in hot water of Italian hotels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borella, Paola; Montagna, Maria Teresa; Stampi, Serena; Stancanelli, Giovanna; Romano-Spica, Vincenzo; Triassi, Maria; Marchesi, Isabella; Bargellini, Annalisa; Tatò, Daniela; Napoli, Christian; Zanetti, Franca; Leoni, Erica; Moro, Matteo; Scaltriti, Stefania; Ribera D'Alcalà, Gabriella; Santarpia, Rosalba; Boccia, Stefania

    2005-10-01

    A cross-sectional multicenter survey of Italian hotels was conducted to investigate Legionella spp. contamination of hot water. Chemical parameters (hardness, free chlorine concentration, and trace element concentrations), water systems, and building characteristics were evaluated to study risk factors for colonization. The hot water systems of Italian hotels were strongly colonized by Legionella; 75% of the buildings examined and 60% of the water samples were contaminated, mainly at levels of > or =10(3) CFU liter(-1), and Legionella pneumophila was the most frequently isolated species (87%). L. pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from 45.8% of the contaminated sites and from 32.5% of the hotels examined. When a multivariate logistic model was used, only hotel age was associated with contamination, but the risk factors differed depending on the contaminating species and serogroup. Soft water with higher chlorine levels and higher temperatures were associated with L. pneumophila serogroup 1 colonization, whereas the opposite was observed for serogroups 2 to 14. In conclusion, Italian hotels, particularly those located in old buildings, represent a major source of risk for Legionnaires' disease due to the high frequency of Legionella contamination, high germ concentration, and major L. pneumophila serogroup 1 colonization. The possible role of chlorine in favoring the survival of Legionella species is discussed.

  8. Conscientious Objection to Animal Experimentation in Italian Universities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilaria Baldelli

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available In Italy, Law 413/1993 states that public and private Italian Institutions, including academic faculties, are obliged to fully inform workers and students about their right to conscientious objection to scientific or educational activities involving animals, hereafter written as “animal CO”. However, little monitoring on the faculties’ compliance with this law has been performed either by the government or other institutional bodies. Based on this premise, the authors have critically reviewed the existing data and compared them with those emerging from their own investigation to discuss limitations and inconsistencies. The results of this investigation revealed that less than half of Italian academic faculties comply with their duty to inform on animal CO. Non-compliance may substantially affect the right of students to make ethical choices in the field of animal ethics and undermines the fundamental right to express their own freedom of thought. The Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, ethics committees and animal welfare bodies should cooperate to make faculties respect this law. Further research is needed to better understand the reasons for the current trend, as well as to promote the enforcement of Law 413/1993 with particular regard to information on animal CO.

  9. USSR in Reports of Italian Diplomats (1924-1941

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    Olga V. Dubrovina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article the reports of Italian diplomatic officials who worked in the USSR between the two World Wars will be analyzed. On the basis of the unpublished sources, an attempt to explain Mussolini's decision to enter the war against the USSR in 1941 will be carried out. As a historical source, the diplomatic reports present, on one hand, rich material about different aspects of soviet life as seen by foreigners and presented by them with thorough details. On the other hand, the subjective character of the diplomatic information foresees a critical approach towards the judgements and opinions of Italian diplomats. However, despite the limitation of their sources from where the Italian diplomats obtained the information, we have to underline the importance of the diplomatic reports and to consider the diplomatic channel as one of the multiple factors in the determining process of the international fascist policy. The attention is focused on two aspects of soviet reality: public sentiment and the national mentality of Russian people. The goal of the article is to examine the mechanism that led to the diplomats' conclusions about the soviet power instability and about its imminent collapse in the case of foreign invasion.

  10. [A survey on diet manuals in Italian hospitals].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donini, L M; Riti, M; Castellaneta, E; Ceccarelli, P; Civale, C; Passaretti, S; del Balzo, V; Cannella, C

    2009-01-01

    Hospital catering is very important to counteract the onset of malnutrition due to either undernutrition or overnutrition and for dietetic treatment. The aim of the study was to evaluate nutritional quality of the hospital dietetic manual used in some Italian hospitals and to analyze the role of the institutional Catering Service and of the Department of Clinical Nutrition. A survey has been carried out, in some Italian hospitals, using a questionnaire to point out the characteristics of hospitals, the typology of catering service, of the diets and of the staff of the Department of Clinical Nutrition. Only 22% of the hospitals has answered; three Italian regions (Umbria, Molise, Basilicata) are completely missing; -each hospital has a specific dietetic manual in most cases completely different from structure and nutritional quality point of view; the staff acting in this field is absolutely insufficient in term of numerousness and of professional typologies. Hospital in-patients are not homogeneous as for age, dietary needs and diseases, so it's necessary to treat them with an ad hoc nutritional intervention not established in advance in a dietetic manual; if from an organisation point of view it is necessary to have such a dietetic manual, it has to be based on nutritional guidelines and recommended dietary allowances.

  11. The Difficult Transition of the Italian University System: Growth, Underfunding and Reforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turri, Matteo

    2016-01-01

    The evolution of Italian universities in terms of growth, economic sustainability and reforms can be interpreted in the light of the élite, mass and universal access categories defined by Martin Trow. The findings from this analysis show that although the number of enrolled students and funding problems propel the Italian university system towards…

  12. Analysis of Human Standing Balance by Largest Lyapunov Exponent

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kun Liu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between nonlinear dynamic character and individuals’ standing balance by the largest Lyapunov exponent, which is regarded as a metric for assessing standing balance. According to previous study, the largest Lyapunov exponent from centre of pressure time series could not well quantify the human balance ability. In this research, two improvements were made. Firstly, an external stimulus was applied to feet in the form of continuous horizontal sinusoidal motion by a moving platform. Secondly, a multiaccelerometer subsystem was adopted. Twenty healthy volunteers participated in this experiment. A new metric, coordinated largest Lyapunov exponent was proposed, which reflected the relationship of body segments by integrating multidimensional largest Lyapunov exponent values. By using this metric in actual standing performance under sinusoidal stimulus, an obvious relationship between the new metric and the actual balance ability was found in the majority of the subjects. These results show that the sinusoidal stimulus can make human balance characteristics more obvious, which is beneficial to assess balance, and balance is determined by the ability of coordinating all body segments.

  13. Misery is the True Script for Comedy: A Study of Italian Film Comedy in the 1950s

    OpenAIRE

    White, Christopher Burton

    2014-01-01

    This dissertation fills a lacuna in the history of Italian cinema, formally analyzes a selection of significant film comedies from the 1950s, and challenges many of the assumptions that have been made about postwar Italian cinema. The conservative atmosphere of the fifties, the detrimental effects of censorship on Italian cinema, and the return of popular genres after the end of the widely-acclaimed neorealist period have led to assumptions about a limited engagement with contemporary Italian...

  14. Commercialization of innovative clean technologies : manufacturing know-how in Italian industry; Generazione e diffusione di tecnologie pulite: le esperienze delle imprese italiane

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Malaman, S [Istituto per la Ricerca, Milan (Italy); [Fondazione ENI, Enrico Mattei, Milan (Italy); Cima, S [Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale, Milan (Italy)

    1995-06-01

    Last years show an increasing effort of the Italian industry toward the reduction of the environmental impact of both production processes, products utilization and their final disposal. On account of this trend, the target of our research is to understand its general characters. For this reason a database has been implemented on innovative grounds. It provides data on the main innovative clean technologies developed by the Italian industry to cut down external effects (192 clean technologies within 168 companies) and offers a new approach to the issue by turning attention from the company case studies to the technological ones. Thanks to this methodology it is possible to study the companies` strategy according to the legal and industrial environment. Actually this work tries to explain the behaviour of Italian companies related to their perception of the environmental policy, competitors strategy and consumers choice focusing on sectorial, dimensional and geographical distribution of clean technologies. It is also concerned with the analysis of company costs and benefits resulting from the introduction of clean technologies, processes and products together with the capacity of combining environmental with economic targets.

  15. Mapping Plant Functional Groups in Subalpine Grassland of the Greater Caucasus

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    Anja Magiera

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Plant functional groups—in our case grass, herbs, and legumes—and their spatial distribution can provide information on key ecosystem functions such as species richness, nitrogen fixation, and erosion control. Knowledge about the spatial distribution of plant functional groups provides valuable information for grassland management. This study described and mapped the distribution of grass, herb, and legume coverage of the subalpine grassland in the high-mountain Kazbegi region, Greater Caucasus, Georgia. To test the applicability of new sensors, we compared the predictive power of simulated hyperspectral canopy reflectance, simulated multispectral reflectance, simulated vegetation indices, and topographic variables for modeling plant functional groups. The tested grassland showed characteristic differences in species richness; in grass, herb, and legume coverage; and in connected structural properties such as yield. Grass (Hordeum brevisubulatum was dominant in biomass-rich hay meadows. Herb-rich grassland featured the highest species richness and evenness, whereas legume-rich grassland was accompanied by a high coverage of open soil and showed dominance of a single species, Astragalus captiosus. The best model fits were achieved with a combination of reflectance, vegetation indices, and topographic variables as predictors. Random forest models for grass, herb, and legume coverage explained 36%, 25%, and 37% of the respective variance, and their root mean square errors varied between 12–15%. Hyperspectral and multispectral reflectance as predictors resulted in similar models. Because multispectral data are more easily available and often have a higher spatial resolution, we suggest using multispectral parameters enhanced by vegetation indices and topographic parameters for modeling grass, herb, and legume coverage. However, overall model fits were merely moderate, and further testing, including stronger gradients and the addition of

  16. Italian energy scenarios comparative evaluations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Contaldi, Mario

    2005-01-01

    This paper reviews some representative scenarios of the evolution of the Italian primary energy consumption, updated recently. After an overview of the main macroeconomics assumptions the scenario results are cross checked at sectorial level, with a brief discussion of the underlining data and energy intensity trends. The emissions of CO 2 , SO 2 and NO x resulting from the considered scenarios are also reported and discussed [it

  17. The Recruitment Organization of the Business Schools in Italian Universities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sitnitskiy Maksim V.

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at studying the practice of Italian universities in the sphere of organizing recruitment at business schools. The article considers specifics of Italian business schools, which consist of their wide division by specialization and of flexible approaches to attracting students. The basic criteria for admission and training in Italian business schools have been generalized. Recommendations for Ukraine have been elaborated in view of the following needs: involving in the teaching process the practitioners, known in the world for their efficiency in the business sphere; balancing the price for providing educational services, developing flexible payment schedules, and setting up a discount system as well as scholarship programs for students with high learning results; revising curricula in line with the requirements of modern business environment; providing employment and career statistics for business school graduates; systematically improving the quality of education and concentrating on the efficiency indicators of a program for students, etc.

  18. The sequestering of Italian Baroque: Botelho and Padre Spada hidden translation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuri Brunello

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Música do Parnasso is a lyrical collection published in 1705 by Manuel Botelho de Oliveira. Speaking of modern Italy, Botelho characterized it – in his dedicatory – as a renewed Greece. The Italian poet Marino emerges within Botelho preferences: Marino is quoted several times directly and indirectly by the Brazilian literate. However, this knowledge was mediated by a little-known manual of an Italian ecclesiastic, Padre Giambattista Spada.

  19. A Lover to Be Ashamed of: Romania in the Eyes of the Italian Political Elites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefano Braghiroli

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Two criminal events committed in 2007 by Romanian nationals in Italy triggered tensioned relationships between the two countries. The contemporary use of populist rhetoric in the Italian political debate contrasts sharply with the pre-2007 supportive discourses towards the Romanian accession to the EU. Such positive attitudes of the elite were driven by political reasons, mutual economic benefits, and cultural ties. This article argues that elite discourses adapted to the negative attitudes continuously displayed by the Italian public. By combining process-tracing and descriptive statistics, our study illustrates how the Italian public was highly reluctant about the EU membership of Romanians before 2007. As a result, the shift of attitudes at elite level seems driven by opportunistic reasons. While still praising Romania’s membership as an economic asset and an opportunity for the Italian business, when it comes to immigration, most Italian politicians follow and actively fuel people’s fears rather than contrasting and publicly condemning discrimination and xenophobia.

  20. Assessing the competitive conditions in the Italian banking system: some empirical evidence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. COCCORESE

    1998-06-01

    Full Text Available The European banking industry is currently facing the effects arising from the increasing integration of national financial markets. In adapting to this new scenario, the Italian banking system has undergone a considerable transformation. The degree of competition in the Italian banking system is evaluated using a sample of banks during the period 1988-96.

  1. The Effect of Training on Italian Firms' Productivity: Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerrazzi, Marco

    2016-01-01

    In this article, I explore the effect of training on the productivity of a sample of Italian firms and the impact of training on EU economic growth. Specifically, retrieving data from a survey performed by the Italian Institute for the Development of Vocational Training in 2009, I find that employer-sponsored training displays a positive and…

  2. Italian National Forest Inventory: methods, state of the project, and future developments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giovanni Tabacchi; Flora De Natale; Antonio Floris; Caterina Gagliano; Patrizia Gasparini; Gianfranco Scrinzi; Vittorio Tosi

    2007-01-01

    A primary objective of the Italian National Forest Inventory (NFI) is to provide information required by the Kyoto Protocol and the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe in relation to sustainable forest management practices. For this reason, the second Italian NFI was aimed at providing data in a way that is consistent with the international...

  3. Cross-cultural validation of health literacy measurement tools in Italian oncology patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zotti, Paola; Cocchi, Simone; Polesel, Jerry; Cipolat Mis, Chiara; Bragatto, Donato; Cavuto, Silvio; Conficconi, Alice; Costanzo, Carla; De Giorgi, Melissa; Drace, Christina A; Fiorini, Federica; Gangeri, Laura; Lisi, Andrea; Martino, Rosalba; Mosconi, Paola; Paradiso, Angelo; Ravaioli, Valentina; Truccolo, Ivana; De Paoli, Paolo

    2017-06-19

    The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric characteristics of four Health Literacy (HL) measurement tools, viz. Newest Vital Sign (NVS), Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA), Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS) and Single question on Self-rated Reading Ability (SrRA) among Italian oncology patients. The original version of the tools were translated from the English language into Italian using a standard forward-backward procedure and according to internationally recognized good practices. Their internal consistency (reliability) and validity (construct, convergent and discriminative) were tested in a sample of 245 consecutive cancer patients recruited from seven Italian health care centers. The internal consistency of the STOFHLA-I was Chronbach's α=0.96 and that of NVS-I was α=0.74. The STOFHLA-I, NVS-I, SILS-I and SrRA-I scores were in a good relative correlation and in all tools the discriminative known-group validity was confirmed. The reliability and validity values were similar to those obtained from other cultural context studies. The psychometric characteristics of the Italian version of NVS, STHOFLA, SILS and SrRA were found to be good, with satisfactory reliability and validity. This indicates that they could be used as a screening tool in Italian patients. Moreover, the use of the same cross-cultural tools, validated in different languages, is essential for implementing multicenter studies to measure and compare the functional HL levels across countries.

  4. Quality management standards for facility services in the Italian health care sector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cesarotti, Vittorio; Di Silvio, Bruna

    2006-01-01

    Health care, one of the most dynamic sectors in Italy, is studied with a particular focus on outsourcing non-core activities such as facility management (FM) services. The project's goals are to define national standards to balance and control facility service evolution, and to drive FM services towards organisational excellence. The authors, in cooperation with a pool of facility service providers and hospitals managers, studied cleaning services--one of the most critical areas. This article describes the research steps and findings following definition and publication of the Italian standard and its application to an international benchmarking process. The method chosen for developing the Italian standard was to merge technical, strategic and organisational aspects with the goal of standardising the contracting system, giving service providers the chance to improve efficiency and quality, while helping healthcare organisations gain from a better, more reliable and less expensive service. The Italian standard not only improved services but also provided adequate control systems for outsourcing organisations. In this win-win context, it is hoped to continually drive FM services towards organisational excellence. This study is specific to the Italian national healthcare system. However, the strategic dynamics described are common to many other contexts. A systematic method for improving hospital FM services is presented. The authors believe that lessons learned from their Italian case study can be used to better understand and drive similar services in other countries or in other FM service outsourcing sectors.

  5. An annotated checklist of the Italian butterflies and skippers (Papilionoidea, Hesperiioidea).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balletto, Emilio; Cassulo, Luigi A; Bonelli, Simona

    2014-08-20

    We present here an updated checklist of the Italian butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea) organised in the following sections (tables):1. Introduction, providing a broad outline of the paper.2. Checklist proper, summarised in a table, listing, in separate columns:a. Indications of endemicity (sub-endemic, Italian endemic).b. The relevant Annex in the Habitats Directive (legally protected species).c. Threat levels (in Europe: for threatened species only).d. A serial number (whose format is uniform across all Italian animal groups). This number runs throughout all the following tables (see 3, 4).e. Name, author, date of publication.f. Schematic overall indication of each specie's Italian range (N[orth], S[outh], Si[icily], Sa[rdinia]).3. Nomenclature, containing basic nomenclatural details for all listed genera, species and some of the generally or historically recognised subspecies and synonyms.4. Notes, where a variety of other information is provided, on a name by name (family, subfamily, genus, species, subspecies) basis. All remaining doubts as concerns each individual case are clearly stated.                The number of nominal species listed in the previous edition of this checklist, published almost 20 years ago, was 275, whereas it has raised to 290 in the current list. The status of about a dozen of these remains controversial, as discussed in the text. The present checklist is meant to provide an update of the Italian butterfly fauna, taking into account all relevant publications, and tries to explain all nomenclatural changes that had to be introduced, in the appropriate section. Many detailed comments are offered, when necessary or useful, in the notes.

  6. Self-Employment among Italian Female Graduates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosti, Luisa; Chelli, Francesco

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender impact of tertiary education on the probability of entering and remaining in self-employment. Design/methodology/approach: A data set on labour market flows produced by the Italian National Statistical Office is exploited by interviewing about 62,000 graduate and non-graduate…

  7. Relationships Between Agritourism and Certified Quality Food in Italian Rural Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    NICOLA GALLUZZO

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Since the early 1960, farms are one of the alternatively forms of hospitality in few Italian regions located predominately in the north and in the centre of peninsula. In 1985, Italian government promulgated a law in order to regulate this non-conventional form of tourism, by delegating to the regions the direct management of administrative procedures and inspections in farms. Nowadays, Italian agritourist farms represent a good chance to give value in favour of farm by the diversification of agrarian activities and also by holistically promoting local food in a direct connection to local gastronomy, rural heritage and tradition, with positive effects on the endogenous development in rural areas. The aim of the paper was to assess the role of agritourism in raising the socio-economic development of rural space by the diffusion of certified quality food using a quantitative approach and to assess if agritourist and certified quality food were tools able to implement the living conditions in the countryside. The findings have disclosed that tourists from abroad have increased the level of farmer income giving value towards high quality food and farm holidays farms. Instead, the impact of Italian agritourists has been relatively poor because of the economic crisis.

  8. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Italian Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bucci, Rosaria; Rongo, Roberto; Zito, Eugenio; Galeotti, Angela; Valletta, Rosa; D'Antò, Vincenzo

    2015-03-01

    To validate and cross-culturally adapt the Italian version of the Psychological Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) among Italian young adults. After translation, back translation, and cross-cultural adaptation of the English PIDAQ, a first version of the Italian questionnaire was pretested. The final Italian PIDAQ was administered to 598 subjects aged 18-30 years, along with two other instruments: the aesthetic component of the index of orthodontic treatment need (IOTN-AC) and the perception of occlusion scale (POS), which identified the self-reporting grade of malocclusion. Structural validity was assessed by means of factorial analysis, internal consistency was measured with Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α), convergent validity was assessed by means of Spearman correlation, and test-retest reliability was calculated with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard measurement error. Criterion validity was evaluated by multivariate and univariate analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc tests. The α of the Italian PIDAQ domains ranged between 0.79 and 0.92. The ICC was between 0.81 and 0.90. The mean scores of each PIDAQ domain showed a statistically significant difference when analysed according to the IOTN-AC and POS scores. The satisfactory psychometric properties make PIDAQ a usable tool for future studies on oral health-related quality of life among Italian young adults.

  9. Validation of the Italian version of the Movement Disorder Society--Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonini, Angelo; Abbruzzese, Giovanni; Ferini-Strambi, Luigi; Tilley, Barbara; Huang, Jing; Stebbins, Glenn T; Goetz, Christopher G; Barone, Paolo; Bandettini di Poggio, Monica; Fabbrini, Giovanni; Di Stasio, Flavio; Tinazzi, Michele; Bovi, Tommaso; Ramat, Silvia; Meoni, Sara; Pezzoli, Gianni; Canesi, Margherita; Martinelli, Paolo; Maria Scaglione, Cesa Lorella; Rossi, Aroldo; Tambasco, Nicola; Santangelo, Gabriella; Picillo, Marina; Morgante, Letterio; Morgante, Francesca; Quatrale, Rocco; Sensi, MariaChiara; Pilleri, Manuela; Biundo, Roberta; Nordera, Giampietro; Caria, Antonella; Pacchetti, Claudio; Zangaglia, Roberta; Lopiano, Leonardo; Zibetti, Maurizio; Zappia, Mario; Nicoletti, Alessandra; Quattrone, Aldo; Salsone, Maria; Cossu, Gianni; Murgia, Daniela; Albanese, Alberto; Del Sorbo, Francesca

    2013-05-01

    The Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) has been available in English since 2008. As part of this process, the MDS-UPDRS organizing team developed guidelines for development of official non-English translations. We present here the formal process for completing officially approved non-English versions of the MDS-UPDRS and specifically focus on the first of these versions in Italian. The MDS-UPDRS was translated into Italian and tested in 377 native-Italian speaking PD patients. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses determined whether the factor structure for the English-language MDS-UPDRS could be confirmed in data collected using the Italian translation. To be designated an 'Official MDS translation,' the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) had to be ≥0.90 relative to the English-language version. For all four parts of the Italian MDS-UPDRS, the CFI, in comparison with the English-language data, was ≥0.94. Exploratory factor analyses revealed some differences between the two datasets, however these differences were considered to be within an acceptable range. The Italian version of the MDS-UPDRS reaches the criterion to be designated as an Official Translation and is now available for use. This protocol will serve as outline for further validation of this in multiple languages.

  10. Händel- Italian Cantatas

    OpenAIRE

    Larjamo, Suvi

    2010-01-01

    Työni tarkoituksena oli esitellä kaksi Händelin hyvin erilaista ja harvoin esitettyä kantaatti hänen Italian-ajaltaan, sekä tulkita erilaisia affekteja, joita kantaateista löytyi. Valitsemani kantaatit olivat: Tra le fiamme, sekä Dietro l’ormi fugaci (Armida abbandonata). Tutkimuksessa selvitin säveltäjän elämää kantaattien sävellysvuosina ja perehdyin asioihin, jotka mielestäni ovat vaikuttaneet teosten syntyyn, sekä asioihin, jotka auttoivat minua tulkitsemaan hänen musiikkiaan paremmin. ...

  11. An assessment of the Italian smart gas metering program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Castelnuovo, Matteo; Fumagalli, Elena

    2013-01-01

    The introduction of smart metering is one of the core elements in recent European policies targeting environmental sustainability and competitiveness of energy markets. Following the roll-out of smart electricity meters, in 2008 the Italian regulator designed an ambitious deployment program also for smart gas meters, that was recently modified in both scope and timing. This paper assesses Italy's original and current deployment plans, with a specific focus on the results of its cost–benefit analysis. In light of the evidence derived from the literature, we observe that the case for the roll-out of smart gas meters in Italy was not supported by a strong emphasis on energy savings but rather focused on increasing efficiency of the Italian gas market; in this respect, we argue that options other than smart gas metering should also be considered. Moreover the Italian cost–benefit analysis, which mostly dealt with the potential cost savings for distributors and suppliers, led to ambiguous results in terms of net present values; thus, we believe that an updated assessment would be extremely useful. Finally, in terms of technological choices, our analysis positively evaluates the regulator's recent proposal to consider a dual-fuel solution for the mass market deployment. - Highlights: • This paper assesses Italy's original and current deployment plans for smart gas meters. • The plan was not supported by a strong emphasis on energy savings. • A focus on increasing efficiency of the Italian gas market appears only partly justifiable. • The business case for adopting smart gas meters should be updated. • Our analysis positively evaluates the a dual-fuel solution for the mass market

  12. Lomi And Totò : An Ethiopian-Italian Colonial or Postcolonial “Love Story”?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanna Trento

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Lomi and Totò. An Ethiopian-Italian Colonial or Postcolonial “Love Story”? introduces various and still open questions related to the current necessity of a deeper study of the Italian colonial presence in the African Horn. The source of this article is the relationship between Lomi and Totò, an Ethiopian woman and an Italian man who are not alive anymore, as it is seen and told by their five children (with some additional illuminating interviews. This story started during the Italian colonial fascist period, continued in the Fifties and Sixties in postcolonial East Africa, ended up in Italy in the Eighties, and is still alive in the memory of Lomi and Totò descendents. This “love story” has different shades and can be read from several points of view: personal, sentimental, familiar, social, anthropological, and historical. For some aspects it is unique, but for others it is exemplary of its time and allows us to look into important dynamics during wide and complex periods. Giovanna Trento in this article, thanks to the observation of this “private history”, highlights a certain controversial and unstable degree of fluidity between colonial and postcolonial periods, also questioning the degree of freedom individuals might have within a given social framework, thus suggesting some crucial and sometimes ambiguous issues related to: the use of racial laws in the fascist period; notions of concubinage, marriage and citizenship; gender and power relations; subaltern conditions and marginality within Italian colonialism; discrepancies between portraying African women and relating to them; new African-Italian identities; building collective memory and family storytelling; reproducing, suffering, or overcoming the “colony” today.

  13. [Italy of miracles. Does the renaissaince of Italian science pass by the Vatican?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naldi, Luigi

    2016-03-01

    In a commentary published in The Lancet on January 2016, Giuseppe Remuzzi and Richard Horton, analyse the origin of the decline of the Italian primacy in biomedical science. Among the others, the existence of Italian political groups «which oppose science simply to please the Church and to achieve political gain» was considered as detrimental for advancing research in such areas as assisted reproduction or embryonic stem cell research. Some hope for a change is raised, in the opinion of Remuzzi and Horton, by the more open attitude toward science of pope Francis. Hence, the two authors conclude that the time has come to promote a dialogue between Italian scientists and the Vatican and, by that, to see «if conditions are ripe to create a renaissance in Italian intellectual life». I humbly challange the analyses and conclusions of Remuzzi and Horton on the Italian scientific decline and the possible way forward. The rooth of the Italian decline in science are deep-seated into the chronic lack of resources, into the under-development of academic institutions, and into the lack of motivations for young researchers. As for bioethical paradigms, they are the end result of a co-production between social norms and scientific development, and their definition would ideally involve the participation of large sectors of the society. One example of such a process is offered by the "Les Etats généraux de la bioéthique" in France in 2009. The ethical discussion concerning biotech innovations is not limited to theological issues, but involves social aspects such as public health priorities, equity, and information strategies to avoid creating unrealistic expectations.

  14. Effects of elevated CO{sub 2} and temperature on photosynthesis and leaf traits of an understory dwarf bamboo in subalpine forest zone, China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yongping Li; Yuanbin Zhang; Xiaolu Zhang; Chunyang Li [Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu (China); Korpelainenc, H. [Univ. of Helsinki. Dept. of Agricultural Sciences, Helsinki (Finland); Berningerd, F. [Univ. of Helsinki. Dept. of Forest Sciences, Helsinki (Finland)

    2013-06-01

    The dwarf bamboo (Fargesia rufa Yi), growing understory in subalpine dark coniferous forest, is one of the main foods for giant panda, and it influences the regeneration of subalpine coniferous forests in southwestern China. To investigate the effects of elevated CO{sub 2}, temperature and their combination, the dwarf bamboo plantlets were exposed to two CO{sub 2} regimes (ambient and double ambient CO{sub 2} concentration) and two temperatures (ambient and +2.2 deg. C) in growth chambers. Gas exchange, leaf traits and carbohydrates concentration were measured after the 150-day experiment. Elevated CO{sub 2} significantly increased the net photosynthetic rate (A{sub net}), intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUE{sub i}) and carbon isotope composition ({delta}{sup 13}C) and decreased stomatal conductance (g{sub s}) and total chlorophyll concentration based on mass (Chl{sub m}) and area (Chl{sub a}). On the other hand, elevated CO{sub 2} decreased specific leaf area (SLA), which was increased by elevated temperature. Elevated CO{sub 2} also increased foliar carbon concentration based on mass (C{sub m}) and area (C{sub a}), nitrogen concentration based on area (N{sub a}), carbohydrates concentration (i.e. sucrose, sugar, starch and non-structural carbohydrates) and the slope of the A{sub net}-N{sub a} relationship. However, elevated temperature decreased C{sub m}, C{sub a} and N{sub a}. The combination of elevated CO{sub 2} and temperature hardly affected SLA, C{sub m}, C{sub a}, N{sub m}, N{sub a}, Chl{sub m} and Chl{sub a}. Variables A{sub net} and N{sub a} had positive linear relationships in all treatments. Our results showed that photosynthetic acclimation did not occur in dwarf bamboo at elevated CO{sub 2} and it could adjust physiology and morphology to enable the capture of more light, to increase WUE and improve nutritional conditions. (Author)

  15. Nurses' Job satisfaction: an Italian study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sansoni, J; De Caro, W; Marucci, A R; Sorrentino, M; Mayner, L; Lancia, L

    2016-01-01

    The aim of the work presented was to assess job satisfaction of a number of nurses from different departments working in public hospitals in Italy. The assessment was carried out through the combined use of questionnaires, which measured different aspects of job satisfaction, such as coping abilities, stress level and optimism/pessimism. The literature supports the fact that nurses' job dissatisfaction is closely connected with high levels of stress, burnout and physical and mental exhaustion, together with high workload levels and the complexity of care. The growing interest in measuring the levels of nurses' job satisfaction is attributable to a number of problems that have been raised worldwide, two of which are becoming ever so important: turnover and shortage of nurses. The research question is: Which are the main motivating factors of Italian nurses' job satisfaction/dissatisfaction? The study used a convenience (non probability) sample of 1,304 nurses from 15 different wards working in Italian public hospitals from a number of cities in northern, central and southern Italy. The survey instrument was a questionnaire consisting of 205 items which included 5 different questionnaires combined together. The results show a low level of job satisfaction (IWS= 11.5, JSS=126.4). However, the participants were overall happy about their job and considered autonomy and salary important factors for job satisfaction. Research has shown that the nurses' level of satisfaction in Italian hospitals is low. The results revealed dissatisfaction with task requirements, organizational policies and advance in career. Nurses interviewed did not feel stressed and showed to be optimistic overall. New research on the subject should be conducted by focusing on ward differences, North and South of Italy and on gender differences.

  16. Patriotic pilgrimages during the Italian liberal period: sites and terminology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davide Bagnaresi

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available The article aims to analyze the phenomenon of "laic pilgrimage": the trips that during the first fifty years of Italian unity, saw the places of memory as the protagonists of the Risorgimento. Specifically will be analyzed the trips to ossuaries, battlefields, monuments and tombs of the fathers of the Nation. The text try to create a map - on a national scale - of the places of pilgrimage divided according to the "users". To different destinations, in fact, correspond different types of pilgrimage, mirrors of Italian political situation of this period.

  17. Made in Italy for hernia: the Italian history of groin hernia repair.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negro, Paolo; Gossetti, Francesco; Ceci, Francesca; D'Amore, Linda

    2016-01-01

    The history of groin hernia surgery is as long as the history of surgery. For many centuries doctors, anatomists and surgeons have been devoted to this pathology, afflicting the mankind throughout its evolution. Since ancient times the Italian contribution has been very important with many representative personalities. Authors, investigators and pioneers are really well represented. Every period (the classic period, the Middle Age, the Renaissance and the post-Renaissance) opened new perspectives for a better understanding. During the 18th century, more information about groin anatomy, mainly due to Antonio Scarpa, prepared the Bassini revolution. Edoardo Bassini developed the first modern anatomically based hernia repair. This procedure spread worldwide becoming the most performed surgical technique. After World War II synthetic meshes were introduced and a new era has begun for hernia repair, once again with the support of Italian surgeons, first of all Ermanno Trabucco. But Italian contribution extends also to educational, with the first national school for abdominal wall surgery starting in Rome, and to Italian participation and support in international scientific societies. Authors hereby wish to resume this long history highlighting the "made in Italy" for groin hernia surgery. Bassini, Groin hernia, History, Prosthetic repair.

  18. [Comparison of hand surgery in the German and Italian DRG systems].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lotter, O; Dolderer, J; Stahl, S; Atzei, A; Haerle, M; Schaller, H E

    2011-12-01

    Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) are a patient classification system grouping related types of patients treated to the resources they consumed. In this analysis we compared the Italian and the German DRG systems regarding hand surgery with an emphasis on reimbursement of clinical cases. The 15 most common hand surgical diagnoses and their corresponding operative treatment in our clinic in 2009 were processed using a DRG grouper. The underlying data were transferred to the Italian system. Thus, the length of stay and the reimbursement of both countries could be obtained and compared. The latter was adjusted and corrected by the purchasing power of each country. The mean of the upper threshold of length of stay was 10 days in the German as well as the Italian system whereas the median was 2 times higher in Italy (6 vs. 12 days). Fifteen out of 19 cases showed higher reimbursement in Germany. The case mix index (CMI) of 0.917 in Germany represents a mean payment of 2,676 € per case. In Italy the hypothetical CMI of 0.635 resulted in a mean reimbursement of 1,853 € per case. The biggest difference in remuneration could be found for replantation of multiple fingers. For this service the German health-care system pays 12,320 € more than the Italian. Total proceeds of the top 15 diagnoses applying the number of cases treated in our clinic revealed 1.7 million € in the German and 1.2 million € in the Italian DRG system. Considering the purchasing power utilizing consumer prize parities, the difference of reimbursement between the countries decreased to 300,000 €. There is no mean length of stay per DRG in Italy, only the upper threshold of length of stay is determined. In most cases the latter is higher in Italy compared to Germany. The consumption of resources for finger replantation is not adequately represented in the Italian DRG system compared to finger amputation. Reimbursement of inpatient care is influenced by multiple factors not being subject

  19. Brave New Worlds. Shakespearean Tempests in Italian Prisons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariacristina Cavecchi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Shakespeare is a pivotal and much staged playwright by theatre companies of prisoners in Italy, even though the practice of theatre in prison in Italy has a much shorter tradition than in the Anglo-Saxon world. Among the many Shakespearean plays, "The Tempest" is a favourite, being obviously able to shine a new light on the themes of revenge, freedom and forgiveness that are central issues in a prison context. Undeniably, in Italy, productions of "The Tempest" in prison have deeply instilled new life into the staging of the Elizabethan playwright. The list includes different kinds of experiences ranging from drama therapy, where the process towards rehabilitation and reintegration is more important than the finished aesthetic product, to productions by theatre directors who are primarily concerned with the artistic medium of the theatre and its aesthetic qualities. A survey of Shakespeare theatrical practice in Italian prisons can help investigate and understand not only the aesthetic but also the political, social and economic consequences of the function of prison nowadays, and provides the first step towards an analysis of Shakespeare practice in Italian prisons in a broader context. By comparison with other European countries, we may also discover that some Italian experiences, such as Fabio Cavalli's work in Rome at the Rebibbia prison, or Armando Punzo's with the "Fortress Company" in Volterra are unique and they deserve more attention.

  20. Ionizing radiations in Italian health care structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fizzano, M.R.; Frusteri, L.

    2006-01-01

    The Council of the European Union has completely renewed the framework regarding radiation protection by adopting some directives: Directive 97/43 EURATOM lays down the general principles of the radiation protection of individuals undergoing exposure to ionising radiations related to medical exposures, as a supplement of Directive 96/29 EURATOM laying down the basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiations.The incorporation into Italian legislation of the European Community directives on the improvement of health and safety at work has promoted a vast effort in order to revise the surveillance approach in many facilities, including hospitals. In Italy, safety law is referred to every workplace; anyway the use of ionising radiations is ruled by specific laws. So in the health care structures it is necessary integrating both the laws and this process is often difficult to carry on. The Italian Legislative Decree 230/95, one the main laws that aim to protect workers against ionising radiations, introduced Directive 96/29/EURATOM. This Decree asks that a doctor and a technical expert analyse the workplace and classify area and workers in according to dose of ionising radiation established by law. The Italian Legislative Decree 626/94 asks that risk analysis in general is made by doctor and specialist in risk. So, in case of risk from ionising radiation, all these figures have to cooperate in order to make an evaluation risk document. (N.C.)

  1. Ionizing radiations in Italian health care structures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fizzano, M.R.; Frusteri, L. [Technical Advisory Dept. for Risk Assessment and Prevention, Italian Workers Compensation Authority, Rome (Italy)

    2006-07-01

    The Council of the European Union has completely renewed the framework regarding radiation protection by adopting some directives: Directive 97/43 EURATOM lays down the general principles of the radiation protection of individuals undergoing exposure to ionising radiations related to medical exposures, as a supplement of Directive 96/29 EURATOM laying down the basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiations.The incorporation into Italian legislation of the European Community directives on the improvement of health and safety at work has promoted a vast effort in order to revise the surveillance approach in many facilities, including hospitals. In Italy, safety law is referred to every workplace; anyway the use of ionising radiations is ruled by specific laws. So in the health care structures it is necessary integrating both the laws and this process is often difficult to carry on. The Italian Legislative Decree 230/95, one the main laws that aim to protect workers against ionising radiations, introduced Directive 96/29/EURATOM. This Decree asks that a doctor and a technical expert analyse the workplace and classify area and workers in according to dose of ionising radiation established by law. The Italian Legislative Decree 626/94 asks that risk analysis in general is made by doctor and specialist in risk. So, in case of risk from ionising radiation, all these figures have to cooperate in order to make an evaluation risk document. (N.C.)

  2. Italian Antarctic Research Program: environmental radioactivity survey around the Italian base (1987-1991) Terra Nova Bay - Ross Sea region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tubertini, O.; Bettoli, M.G.; Cantelli, L. [Bologna Univ. (Italy)] [and others

    1995-12-31

    Investigations have been carried out by the Italian Antartic Research Program to determine the natural and artificial radioactivity levels of both the marine and terrestrial environments. Also, natural and anthropogenic fluxes of aerosol particles onto the Antartic surface have been examined. (Author).

  3. Italian Antarctic Research Program: environmental radioactivity survey around the Italian base (1987-1991) Terra Nova Bay - Ross Sea region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tubertini, O.; Bettoli, M.G.; Cantelli, L.

    1995-01-01

    Investigations have been carried out by the Italian Antartic Research Program to determine the natural and artificial radioactivity levels of both the marine and terrestrial environments. Also, natural and anthropogenic fluxes of aerosol particles onto the Antartic surface have been examined. (Author)

  4. Using functional traits to assess the resistance of subalpine grassland to trampling by mountain biking and hiking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickering, Catherine Marina; Barros, Agustina

    2015-12-01

    Functional traits reflect plant responses to disturbance, including from visitor impacts. The impacts of mountain biking and hiking on functional composition were compared using a common experimental protocol in a subalpine grassland in the Australian Alps. The overlapping cover of all species was recorded two weeks after different intensities of hiking (200 and 500 passes) and mountain biking (none, 25, 75, 200 and 500 passes). Species' functional trait data were combined with their relative cover to calculate community trait weighted means for plant height, leaf area, percentage leaf dry matter content and Specific Leaf Area (SLA). Species such as Poa fawcettiae with larger leaves and SLA but lower dry weight content of leaves were more resistant to use, with differences between bikers and hikers only apparent at the highest levels of use tested. This differs from some vegetation communities in Europe where plants with smaller leaves were more resistant to hiking. More research using functional traits may account for differences in species responses to trampling. Managers of conservation areas used for hiking and biking need to minimise off trail use by both user groups. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Epilepsy and vaccinations: Italian guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pruna, Dario; Balestri, Paolo; Zamponi, Nelia; Grosso, Salvatore; Gobbi, Giuseppe; Romeo, Antonino; Franzoni, Emilio; Osti, Maria; Capovilla, Giuseppe; Longhi, Riccardo; Verrotti, Alberto

    2013-10-01

    Reports of childhood epilepsies in temporal association with vaccination have had a great impact on the acceptance of vaccination programs by health care providers, but little is known about this possible temporal association and about the types of seizures following vaccinations. For these reasons the Italian League Against Epilepsy (LICE), in collaboration with other Italian scientific societies, has decided to generate Guidelines on Vaccinations and Epilepsy. The aim of Guidelines on Vaccinations and Epilepsy is to present recent unequivocal evidence from published reports on the possible relationship between vaccines and epilepsy in order to provide information about contraindications and risks of vaccinations in patients with epilepsy. The following main issues have been addressed: (1) whether contraindications to vaccinations exist in patients with febrile convulsions, epilepsy, and/or epileptic encephalopathies; and (2) whether any vaccinations can cause febrile seizures, epilepsy, and/or epileptic encephalopathies. Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccination and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination (MMR) increase significantly the risk of febrile seizures. Recent observations and data about the relationships between vaccination and epileptic encephalopathy show that some cases of apparent vaccine-induced encephalopathy could in fact be caused by an inherent genetic defect with no causal relationship with vaccination. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2013 International League Against Epilepsy.

  6. The slow pace of institutional change in the Italian food system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferretti, Maria Paola; Magaudda, Paolo

    2006-09-01

    Recent surveys show that Italians have little trust in the food they eat. This seems at odds with the world-wide popularity of Italian food, and the very prominent role that the agro-food sector has in the national economy and culture. This paper aims to explain this apparent contradiction by examining recent political and economic changes in the food sector. From the analysis it emerges that, facing institutional crises and food scandals, Italian politicians have left the task of reassuring consumers to the market. However, the market actors' strategy has been to prioritise the discourse of food quality, but give little weight to some other important preoccupation of consumers, such as safety. To address these concerns a more proactive role of the State would be required. An actual concern of public institutions with consumer needs, institutional efficiency, transparency and accountability emerges as a crucial factor in restoring and maintaining trust.

  7. Stress Assignment in Reading Italian Polysyllabic Pseudowords

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sulpizio, Simone; Arduino, Lisa S.; Paizi, Despina; Burani, Cristina

    2013-01-01

    In 4 naming experiments we investigated how Italian readers assign stress to pseudowords. We assessed whether participants assign stress following distributional information such as stress neighborhood (the proportion and number of existent words sharing orthographic ending and stress pattern) and whether such distributional information affects…

  8. Bayesian Analysis of Demand Elasticity in the Italian Electricity Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Chiara D'Errico

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The liberalization of the Italian electricity market is a decade old. Within these last ten years, the supply side has been extensively analyzed, but not the demand side. The aim of this paper is to provide a new method for estimation of the demand elasticity, based on Bayesian methods applied to the Italian electricity market. We used individual demand bids data in the day-ahead market in the Italian Power Exchange (IPEX, for 2011, in order to construct an aggregate demand function at the hourly level. We took into account the existence of both elastic and inelastic bidders on the demand side. The empirical results show that elasticity varies significantly during the day and across periods of the year. In addition, the elasticity hourly distribution is clearly skewed and more so in the daily hours. The Bayesian method is a useful tool for policy-making, insofar as the regulator can start with a priori historical information on market behavior and estimate actual market outcomes in response to new policy actions.

  9. The doping effect of Italian feed-in tariffs on the PV market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Antonelli, Marco; Desideri, Umberto

    2014-01-01

    In less than six years, Italy has become one of the leading markets for PV power plants and one of the countries in the world with the largest number of installations and installed peak power. Such a quick and large growth is due to a series of feed-in tariff schemes that have been uncapped until 2012. As a matter of fact, any size or any number of PV power plants could be installed during a period of three years. Since the feed-in tariffs are not paid by national taxes but are charged on the electricity bills, Italian energy users are now due to pay each year a surcharge of 9 billion euros on their energy bills. This paper aims at discussing this development by highlighting the benefits but also some significant drawbacks that the application of uncontrolled feed-in tariffs has produced. - Highlights: • Italy has had a booming PV development due to uncapped FIT schemes for 4 years. • The RES development has disrupted the utilization of all programmable power plants. • The financial burden will exceed 7 billion euros for the next 20 years. • The market prices were driven by the incentives and not viceversa. • The installation was not based on available solar radiation

  10. Plutonium contamination in italian population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cave-Bondi, G.; Merli, S.; Rogo, M.; Sgarbazzini, M.; Clemente, G.F.; Mancini, L.; Santori, G.; Tardella, Q.

    1983-01-01

    The literature data concerning the biological and the chemical physical characteristics of plutonium are summarized in the first part of the paper. The experimental results of the plutonium concentration in complete diets, single food items and some human autopsy tissues, regarding the Italian situation, are then presented and discussed. Our experimental data are in good agreement with similar data reported in several studies carried out in some countries of the north emisphere

  11. broken magnet highlights largest collider's engineering challenges

    CERN Multimedia

    Inman, Mason

    2007-01-01

    "Even at the world's soon-to-be largest particle accelerator - a device that promises to push the boundaries of physics - scientists need to be mindful of one of the most fundamental laws in the universe: Murphy's Law. (2 pages)

  12. Clinical features of type 1 autoimmune hepatitis in elderly Italian patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granito, A; Muratori, L; Pappas, G; Muratori, P; Ferri, S; Cassani, F; Lenzi, M; Bianchi, F B

    2005-05-15

    The usual onset of type 1 autoimmune hepatitis occurs at puberty or around menopause, whereas disease presentation in the advanced age is less often reported. To assess the clinical, immunological and histological features of Type 1 autoimmune hepatitis in elderly Italian patients. We assessed, at diagnosis, the clinical and immunological features of 76 consecutive Italian patients with type 1 autoimmune hepatitis, focusing particularly on a subgroup of 20 patients presenting at > or = 65 years (females 95%, median age 72 years, range 65-82). In comparison with the younger group, at the time of autoimmune hepatitis diagnosis, elderly Italian patients are more often asymptomatic (25% vs. 7%; P = 0.04), are more frequently positive for antinuclear autoantibodies (95% vs. 52%; P = 0.0004) and HLA-DR4 (45% vs. 18%; P = 0.03); among the extra-hepatic manifestations, autoimmune thyroid disorders are prevalent in the elderly group (25% vs. 5%; P = 0.02). However, no difference was observed in the histological/biochemical expression of the liver disease and response to immunosuppression. In elderly Italian patients, autoimmune hepatitis has typical serological and genetic characteristics, is more frequently asymptomatic, although prognosis and response to therapy is similar to that of younger patients. As a concomitant autoimmune thyroid disorder is common, autoimmune hepatitis should be suspected and investigated in elderly patients with autoimmune thyroid disorder and abnormal liver function tests.

  13. “Prisoners of Hope” or “Amnesia”? The Italian Holocaust Survivors and Their Aliyah to Israel.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arturo Marzano

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Out of the 38.000 Italian Jews residents in Italy in 1938, more than 4,148 were deported. Of these, only 312 survivors returned. This paper deals with the Italian Holocaust survivors’ migration to Israel, and investigates the reason why only a very small percentage of those who returned from the Nazi camps migrated to Israel, compared to a much higher percentage of Italian Jews who were not deported and made aliyah. Were they “prisoners of hope”? Did they decide to reintegrate into the Italian political, social, and economic context hoping that their relationship with Italy could be the same as if nothing had happened? Or was it a question of “amnesia”? Was the lack of memory of the Fascist persecution a price they had to pay in order to succeed in their request of a full reintegration or was it due to the attitude of forgetting the past that Jews shared with the entire Italian society?

  14. No grammatical gender effect on affective ratings: evidence from Italian and German languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montefinese, Maria; Ambrosini, Ettore; Roivainen, Eka

    2018-06-06

    In this study, we tested the linguistic relativity hypothesis by studying the effect of grammatical gender (feminine vs. masculine) on affective judgments of conceptual representation in Italian and German. In particular, we examined the within- and cross-language grammatical gender effect and its interaction with participants' demographic characteristics (such as, the raters' age and sex) on semantic differential scales (affective ratings of valence, arousal and dominance) in Italian and German speakers. We selected the stimuli and the relative affective measures from Italian and German adaptations of the ANEW (Affective Norms for English Words). Bayesian and frequentist analyses yielded evidence for the absence of within- and cross-languages effects of grammatical gender and sex- and age-dependent interactions. These results suggest that grammatical gender does not affect judgments of affective features of semantic representation in Italian and German speakers, since an overt coding of word grammar is not required. Although further research is recommended to refine the impact of the grammatical gender on properties of semantic representation, these results have implications for any strong view of the linguistic relativity hypothesis.

  15. An operative measure of workplace bullying: the negative acts questionnaire across Italian companies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giorgi, Gabriele; Arenas, Alicia; Leon-Perez, Jose M

    2011-01-01

    Workplace bullying has been a topic of increasing interest since the 90s. Several studies have contributed to a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of being exposed to negative acts at work during a prolonged period of time. However, there is a lack of validated instruments in Italian to map workplace bullying. Consequently, the goal of the present study is twofold. First, the authors aim to validate the Italian version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R: Einarsen and Hoel, 2001; Einarsen, et al., 2009). Second, the authors aim to establish the prevalence of workplace bullying. Results from 3,112 employees nested within 25 Italian organizations revealed that a reduced version of 17 items with a two-factor structure provided the best fit. Moreover, the prevalence of bullying was 15.2 per cent according to the criteria proposed by Mikkelsen and Einarsen (2001). Furthermore, significant correlations between bullying dimensions and organizational climate were found, which provided additional support for using the NAQ-Italian reduced version. Implications to prevent bullying and improve employees' well-being using this method are discussed.

  16. Stand structure and vegetation dynamics of a subalpine treed fen in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Johnson, J.B. [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Biology

    1997-06-01

    The tree population size structure and relationship between tree diameter and age were examined in a subalpine fen and surrounding Picea-Abies forest in northern Colorado. The fen grades from a sedge fen, through an ecotone, to a treed fen (i.e. fen colonized by trees). Tree growth rate varies across the vegetational gradient, with the sedge fen having the slowest growth, and the upland forest having the fastest growth. Differences in growth rate are related to the average size of peat hummocks, with areas containing tall hummocks exhibiting the highest tree growth rates. Size structures display the characteristic reverse-J distribution generally indicative of stable populations, but forest vegetation is expanding into the open regions of the fen, and within the treed fen an increase in Abies lasiocarpa is occurring. These changes are primarily attributed to a positive feedback situation wherein the fen`s surface is built up by peat accumulation. Distinct hummocks form first on the open fen but then coalesce to form raised peat islands in the treed fen. This new substrate provides habitat with a comparatively low water table and allows the growth of mesophytic forest vegetation. A pathway for this vegetational development is proposed. 40 refs., 2 figs.

  17. Le emissioni delle banche italiane sull’euromercato (The Eurobond Issues of Italian Banks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Emilio Mistrulli

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available After the launch of the single European currency banks of the main euro-area countries have increasingly issued bonds on the Euromarket. In this paper, I investigate the determinants of Italian banks' recourse to international capital markets. I find that, other things being equal, domestic market conditions affect the choice whether to issue Eurobonds. In particular, the econometric analysis highlights that those banks, which are more prone to issue bonds on the Euromarket, are more exposed to liquidity risks and are less specialized in raising deposits on specific domestic submarkets.

  18. Langerian mindfulness, quality of life and psychological symptoms in a sample of Italian students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagnini, Francesco; Bercovitz, Katherine E; Phillips, Deborah

    2018-02-06

    Noticing new things, accepting the continuously changing nature of circumstances, and flexibly shifting perspectives in concert with changing contexts constitute the essential features of Langerian mindfulness. This contrasts with a "mindless" approach in which one remains fixed in a singular mindset and is closed off to new possibilities. Despite potentially important clinical applications for this construct, few studies have explored them. The instrument developed to measure Langerian mindfulness is the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS), although this tool has been limited primarily to English-speaking populations. The study aimed to test LMS validity in the Italian language and to analyze the relationships between Langerian mindfulness and well-being. We translated the LMS into Italian, analyzed its factor structure, and investigated the correlation between mindfulness and quality of life and psychological well-being in a sample of 248 Italian students (88.7% females, mean age 20.05). A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the tri-dimensional structure of the English LMS in the Italian version. The primary analysis found a significant negative correlation between mindfulness and psychological symptoms including obsessive-compulsive tendencies, depression, anxiety, and paranoid ideation. There was also a positive correlation between mindfulness and reports of quality of life. The Italian LMS appears reliable and it shows relevant correlations with well-being.

  19. Optimization of Italian CMS computing centers via MIUR funded research projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boccali, T; Mazzoni, E; Donvito, G; Pompili, A; Ricca, G Della; Talamo, I; Argiro, S; Grandi, C; Bonacorsi, D; Lista, L; Fabozzi, F; Barone, L M; Santocchia, A; Riahi, H; Tricomi, A; Sgaravatto, M; Maron, G

    2014-01-01

    In 2012, 14 Italian Institutions participating LHC Experiments (10 in CMS) have won a grant from the Italian Ministry of Research (MIUR), to optimize Analysis activities and in general the Tier2/Tier3 infrastructure. A large range of activities is actively carried on: they cover data distribution over WAN, dynamic provisioning for both scheduled and interactive processing, design and development of tools for distributed data analysis, and tests on the porting of CMS software stack to new highly performing / low power architectures.

  20. The first Italian doctorate (PhD Course) in Physics Education Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michelini, Marisa; Santi, Lorenzo

    2008-05-01

    The first PhD Italian course in Physics Education Research in Udine aims to qualify young researchers and teachers coming from all the Italian groups of research in the field. It becomes a context for developing research projects carried out following parallel research lines on: Teaching/Learning paths for didactic innovation, cognitive research, ICT for strategies to overcome conceptual knots in physics; E-learning for personalization; d) Computer on-line experiments and modelling; e) Teacher formation and training; f) Informal learning in science.

  1. Solid organ transplantation: the Italian experience in the international context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nanni Costa, A; De Cillia, C; Di Ciaccio, P; Rizzato, L; Venettoni, S

    2011-01-01

    The Italian experience in the organization of transplantation procedures could represent a relevant example of an internal development at a national level, combined with a strengthening of international collaborations. These results can be attributed first to the creation of the Italian National Transplant Centre (Centro Nazionale Trapianti [CNT]), and then to an ongoing European process that is leading to a greater awareness of the importance of closer collaboration between the organizations already existing and operating in the field of transplantation. This article summarizes the role and the most significant achievements of the CNT. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  2. Diagnosis and management of moderate to severe adult atopic dermatitis: a Consensus by the Italian Society of Dermatology and Venereology (SIDeMaST), the Italian Association of Hospital Dermatologists (ADOI), the Italian Society of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (SIAAIC), and the Italian Society of Allergological, Environmental and Occupational Dermatology (SIDAPA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calzavara Pinton, Piergiacomo; Cristaudo, Antonio; Foti, Caterina; Canonica, Giorgio W; Balato, Nicola; Costanzo, Antonio; DE Pità, Ornella; DE Simone, Clara; Patruno, Cataldo; Pellacani, Giovanni; Peris, Ketty; Girolomoni, Giampiero

    2018-04-01

    Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease, currently recognized as a systemic disease possibly burdened by various comorbidities, including, but not limited to, other allergic conditions. Management guidelines issued by American and European dermatology and allergy scientific societies are available. However, some discrepancies exist in these guidelines, and some aspects of the management process, including diagnosis and severity assessment, as well as therapy duration and switch criteria, are not fully clarified by existing guidelines. Moreover, biologics such as dupilumab have now entered the therapeutic scenario of moderate-to-severe AD, offering a great opportunity to treat effectively and safely in need AD patients. For all these reasons, four Italian dermatology and allergy scientific societies joined to provide practical guidance for the management of moderate-to-severe adult AD suitable for the Italian clinical practice. Through a modified Delphi procedure, consensus was reached by 63 Italian dermatologists and allergists experienced in the management of adult AD on 14 statements covering five AD areas of interest, i.e. diagnosis, severity definition, current systemic therapies, eligibility criteria to biologic treatments, and comorbidities, with the aim to define treatment goals and improve adult AD management. The potential usefulness of a multidisciplinary approach is also underlined, given the complexity of AD and its comorbidities.

  3. A review of the Italian fast reactor programme, March 1979

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pierantoni, F

    1979-07-01

    Year 1978 in Italy was marked by a standstill in the nuclear energy field. The decisions previously made for the installation of eight 1000 MWe LWR-type reactors could not be acted upon because of the opposition of local authorities and lack of Government power. The construction site at Montalto di Castro (two BWR reactors) was ope ned with difficulty, whereas the decision to install a plant in Mo use equipped with two PWR reactor was postponed. The new presidents of ENEL and CNEN were appointed in January this year and the appointments of the new Boards of Directors are underway. With regard to CNEN, many political bodies are in agreement on an institutional change which would widen field of activity to include new energy sources, solar energy in particular. This will open a big problem: if CNEN will be no more a 'nuclear body, it could be necessary to transfer all the activities connected to the Regulatory Commission to another separate body to be instituted. In this context, the fast reactor programme has continued to develop under the directives of CIPE, and has concentrated its effort on the following three objectives: the PEC-Reactor, the Creys-Malville Power Plant and research and development, and industrial promotion. These objectives are being pursued with the participation of CNEN, ENEL and Italian industry. CNEN has the role of committing and operating the PEC reactor; it is also charged to perform part of the R and D Italian-French programme and to promote industrial development. ENEL participates in the NERSA Company, owner of the Creys-Malville Plant. Italian industry, with its activities of architect-engineering, designing and manufacturing will participate in the construction of the PEC and of the Italian part (33%) of the Creys-Malville Plant. During the last months of 1978 a consortium (COREY) was set up by CNEN and NIRA which has the purpose of integrating and ensuring the smooth running of Italian efforts in the field of long-term research and

  4. A review of the Italian fast reactor programme, March 1979

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pierantoni, F.

    1979-01-01

    Year 1978 in Italy was marked by a standstill in the nuclear energy field. The decisions previously made for the installation of eight 1000 MWe LWR-type reactors could not be acted upon because of the opposition of local authorities and lack of Government power. The construction site at Montalto di Castro (two BWR reactors) was ope ned with difficulty, whereas the decision to install a plant in Mo use equipped with two PWR reactor was postponed. The new presidents of ENEL and CNEN were appointed in January this year and the appointments of the new Boards of Directors are underway. With regard to CNEN, many political bodies are in agreement on an institutional change which would widen field of activity to include new energy sources, solar energy in particular. This will open a big problem: if CNEN will be no more a 'nuclear body, it could be necessary to transfer all the activities connected to the Regulatory Commission to another separate body to be instituted. In this context, the fast reactor programme has continued to develop under the directives of CIPE, and has concentrated its effort on the following three objectives: the PEC-Reactor, the Creys-Malville Power Plant and research and development, and industrial promotion. These objectives are being pursued with the participation of CNEN, ENEL and Italian industry. CNEN has the role of committing and operating the PEC reactor; it is also charged to perform part of the R and D Italian-French programme and to promote industrial development. ENEL participates in the NERSA Company, owner of the Creys-Malville Plant. Italian industry, with its activities of architect-engineering, designing and manufacturing will participate in the construction of the PEC and of the Italian part (33%) of the Creys-Malville Plant. During the last months of 1978 a consortium (COREY) was set up by CNEN and NIRA which has the purpose of integrating and ensuring the smooth running of Italian efforts in the field of long-term research and

  5. Linguistic interference occurring in students of Italian philology as a challenge for a lecturer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Małgorzata Karczewska

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Polish students of Italian philology in Poznań study two Romance languages: Italian and French, which on one hand facilitates the process of learning, as many rules of grammar and words are similar in both languages. On the other hand, though, the closeness of two linguistic systems is the source of the interference phenomenon even if none of the languages is a mother tongue. As students of philology are expected to speak perfectly the foreign language studied, all mistakes need to be eliminated. In the present paper we concentrate on mistakes made in Italian due to the interference of French. After a short theoretical introduction on interference we give some examples of errors to illustrate the phenomenon and to show the areas in which errors are particularly numerous. In the third part of the paper we suggest some solutions which are based on observations and conclusions resulting from the professional experience as a lecturer in Italian.

  6. Prevention of food and airway allergy: consensus of the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Paediatrics, the Italian Society of Paediatric Allergy and Immunology, and Italian Society of Pediatrics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    di Mauro, Giuseppe; Bernardini, Roberto; Barberi, Salvatore; Capuano, Annalisa; Correra, Antonio; De' Angelis, Gian Luigi; Iacono, Iride Dello; de Martino, Maurizio; Ghiglioni, Daniele; Di Mauro, Dora; Giovannini, Marcello; Landi, Massimo; Marseglia, Gian Luigi; Martelli, Alberto; Miniello, Vito Leonardo; Peroni, Diego; Sullo, Lucilla Ricottini Maria Giuseppa; Terracciano, Luigi; Vascone, Cristina; Verduci, Elvira; Verga, Maria Carmen; Chiappini, Elena

    2016-01-01

    Allergic sensitization in children and allergic diseases arising therefrom are increasing for decades. Several interventions, functional foods, pro- and prebiotics, vitamins are proposed for the prevention of allergies and they can't be uncritically adopted. This Consensus document was developed by the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Paediatrics and the Italian Society of Paediatric Allergy and Immunology. The aim is to provide updated recommendations regarding allergy prevention in children. The document has been issued by a multidisciplinary expert panel and it is intended to be mainly directed to primary care paediatricians. It includes 19 questions which have been preliminarily considered relevant by the panel. Relatively to each question, a literature search has been performed, according to the Italian National Guideline Program. Methodology, and a brief summary of the available literature data, has been provided. Many topics have been analyzed including the role of mother's diet restriction, use of breast/formula/hydrolyzed milk; timing of introduction of complementary foods, role (if any) of probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins, exposure to dust mites, animals and to tobacco smoke. Some preventive interventions have a strong level of recommendation. (e.g., the dehumidifier to reduce exposure to mite allergens). With regard to other types of intervention, such as the use of partially and extensively hydrolyzed formulas, the document underlines the lack of evidence of effectiveness. No preventive effect of dietary supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins or minerals has been demonstrated. There is no preventive effect of probiotics on asthma, rhinitis and allergic diseases. It has demonstrated a modest effect, but steady, in the prevention of atopic dermatitis. The recommendations of the Consensus are based on a careful analysis of the evidence available. The lack of evidence of efficacy does not necessarily imply that some interventions

  7. 27 October 2014 - L. Pistelli Vice Minister at Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italian Republic

    CERN Multimedia

    Guillaume, Jeanneret

    2014-01-01

    Mr Lapo Pistelli Vice Minister at Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Member of the Italian Parliament (Chamber of Deputies), Italian Republic, signing the Guest Book with CERN Director-General R. Heuer ; Physics Department Head L. Mapelli also present

  8. Ex post damage assessment: an Italian experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molinari, D.; Menoni, S.; Aronica, G. T.; Ballio, F.; Berni, N.; Pandolfo, C.; Stelluti, M.; Minucci, G.

    2014-04-01

    In recent years, awareness of a need for more effective disaster data collection, storage, and sharing of analyses has developed in many parts of the world. In line with this advance, Italian local authorities have expressed the need for enhanced methods and procedures for post-event damage assessment in order to obtain data that can serve numerous purposes: to create a reliable and consistent database on the basis of which damage models can be defined or validated; and to supply a comprehensive scenario of flooding impacts according to which priorities can be identified during the emergency and recovery phase, and the compensation due to citizens from insurers or local authorities can be established. This paper studies this context, and describes ongoing activities in the Umbria and Sicily regions of Italy intended to identifying new tools and procedures for flood damage data surveys and storage in the aftermath of floods. In the first part of the paper, the current procedures for data gathering in Italy are analysed. The analysis shows that the available knowledge does not enable the definition or validation of damage curves, as information is poor, fragmented, and inconsistent. A new procedure for data collection and storage is therefore proposed. The entire analysis was carried out at a local level for the residential and commercial sectors only. The objective of the next steps for the research in the short term will be (i) to extend the procedure to other types of damage, and (ii) to make the procedure operational with the Italian Civil Protection system. The long-term aim is to develop specific depth-damage curves for Italian contexts.

  9. Italian musicians in Greece during the nineteenth century

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romanou Ekaterini

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available In Greece, the monophonic chant of the Orthodox church and its neumatic notation have been transmitted as a popular tradition up to the first decades of the 20th century. The transformation of Greek musical tradition to a Western type of urban culture and the introduction of harmony, staff notation and western instruments and performance practices in the country began in the 19th century. Italian musicians played a central role in that process. A large number of them lived and worked on the Ionian Islands. Those Italian musicians have left a considerable number of transcriptions and original compositions. Quite a different cultural background existed in Athens. Education was in most cases connected to the church - the institution that during the four centuries of Turkish occupation kept Greeks united and nationally conscious. The neumatic notation was used for all music sung by the people, music of both western and eastern origin. The assimilation of staff notation and harmony was accelerated in the last quarter of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century in Athens a violent cultural clash was provoked by the reformers of music education all of them belonging to German culture. The clash ended with the displacement of the Italian and Greek musicians from the Ionian Islands working at the time in Athens, and the defamation of their fundamental work in music education.

  10. Communication of Slovenian Tourism Workers with Italian guests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silva Gomzi Praprotnik

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available For an Italian guest, getting to know Slovenia as a tourist destination is inevitably connected with getting to know the Slovenian cuisine. Italians are a nation eagerly developing the culture of food, and therefore the gastronomic offer in a certain environment and at a certain time is for them often the basis for a comprehensive perception of the said destination. A good offer, a suitable marketing and an attractive presentation of typical Slovenian dishes play an important role in getting to know natural and cultural heritage as they can widen the knowledge about people and places, eliminate prejudice and strengthen intercultural cooperation. Kind and professional staff, knowledge of the language, civilisation, cultural habits, and differences may be the factors contributing to the assertion of local products and services, and to educating the users of restaurant and tourism services.

  11. New Product Development in the Fashion Industry: An Empirical Investigation of Italian Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Bandinelli, Romeo; Rinaldi, Rinaldo; Rossi, Monica; Terzi, Sergio

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates how companies in the fashion industry organize, plan and perform their New Product Development process (NPD). The results have been achieved through an empirical study carried out by the authors with the support of the GeCo Observatory, an Italian research initiative launched in 2012. This paper shows the details of eight selected case studies from the Italian fashion industry.

  12. Linguistic measures of the referential process in psychodynamic treatment: the English and Italian versions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mariani, Rachele; Maskit, Bernard; Bucci, Wilma; De Coro, Alessandra

    2013-01-01

    The referential process is defined in the context of Bucci's multiple code theory as the process by which nonverbal experience is connected to language. The English computerized measures of the referential process, which have been applied in psychotherapy research, include the Weighted Referential Activity Dictionary (WRAD), and measures of Reflection, Affect and Disfluency. This paper presents the development of the Italian version of the IWRAD by modeling Italian texts scored by judges, and shows the application of the IWRAD and other Italian measures in three psychodynamic treatments evaluated for personality change using the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200). Clinical predictions based on applications of the English measures were supported.

  13. Joint Asymptotic Distributions of Smallest and Largest Insurance Claims

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hansjörg Albrecher

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Assume that claims in a portfolio of insurance contracts are described by independent and identically distributed random variables with regularly varying tails and occur according to a near mixed Poisson process. We provide a collection of results pertaining to the joint asymptotic Laplace transforms of the normalised sums of the smallest and largest claims, when the length of the considered time interval tends to infinity. The results crucially depend on the value of the tail index of the claim distribution, as well as on the number of largest claims under consideration.

  14. LITERARY THEMES IN ITALIAN PERIODICALS IN RIJEKA FROM 1900 TO 1919

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dolores Miškulin

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite the abundance of periodicals in Italian language in Rijeka in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, their comprehensive and systematic research together with their modern and objective evaluation is still insufficient. With the aim of contributing to the elucidation and analysis of under-studied Italian publications in Rijeka, we have tried to consider from the contemporary point of view the context in which the subject of our interest appears, to study the available written documents, and to evaluate the facts of literary phenomena within a given corpus. We have tried to substantiate by examples the thesis that literary themes in our local newspapers and magazines of Italian language expression, besides further exploring the Italian literary heritage, have contributed to our overall cultural events through the opening of aesthetic horizons of readers and a number of authors, and have largely contributed to the intertwining of the two cultures. Through testing, systematization and classification of literary topics, we concluded that newspapers and magazines in Rijeka, as the most important medium of the historical period that we examined, have had a significant and dynamic part in the process that led to the gradual change of mindset, views on society and art, and an overall way of thinking and action. In our opinion, through our contribution we have tried to reconstruct from oblivion a valuable segment of Rijeka's cultural heritage.

  15. Lack of competition in Italian natural gas market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bozzetto, Fabrizio

    2007-01-01

    This article analyses the reasons for an evident lack of competition in the Italian natural gas market, after the 2003 full liberalisation of the market. In particular, analysis focuses on dynamics which probably marks mass market and small office segments [it

  16. Appropriateness of upper-GI endoscopy: an Italian survey on behalf of the Italian Society of Digestive Endoscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassan, Cesare; Bersani, Gianluca; Buri, Luigi; Zullo, Angelo; Anti, Marcello; Bianco, Maria Antonia; Di Giulio, Emilio; Ficano, Leonardo; Morini, Sergio; Di Matteo, Giovanni; Loriga, Piero; Pietropaolo, Vincenzo; Cipolletta, Livio; Costamagna, Guido

    2007-05-01

    Open-access endoscopy allows physicians to directly schedule endoscopic procedures for their patients without prior consultation. An evaluation of both appropriateness and diagnostic yield of endoscopic procedures is critical when assessing the costs and benefits of endoscopy in an open-access setting. The aim of this Italian multicenter study was to assess the appropriate use of upper endoscopy (EGD) in an open-access system and to establish the yield of diagnostic information relevant to patient care. Cross-sectional, prospective, multicenter study. A total of 6270 patients referred to 44 Italian centers for open-access EGD during 1 month were prospectively enrolled. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) guidelines were used to assess the relation between the appropriate use of EGD and the presence of relevant endoscopic findings. The rate for "generally not indicated" EGDs was 22.9%: 29.4% for primary care physicians and 12.9% for specialists (P 20, 99% CI 3 to >100; P < .01). Open-access EGD is an useful procedure for clinical practice. Because most of the relevant findings were detected during examinations performed for appropriate indications, the use of ASGE guidelines emerges as crucial to the cost-effectiveness of an open-access system.

  17. Do Negative Acts in Italian Academia Have a Quadratic Relationship with Determinants of Health?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fadda, Salvatore; Giorgi, Gabriele; Benitez Muñoz, Juan Luis; Justicia Justicia, Fernando; Solinas, Giuliana

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prevalence of workplace bullying in an Italian university. Design/methodology/approach: More than 200 workers have completed the Italian version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire. Findings: The results show a spread of low to medium negative actions in…

  18. Villa Kratochvíle as an Example of an Italian Garden in the Czech Lands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zora Kulhánková

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with an example of the Italian garden applied as a type in the Czech lands. Villa Kratochvíle is one of the very few cases of an independently created Renaissance villa in the territory of the Czech Republic. Its author was an Italian builder coming from the area around Como Lake – Baldassare Maggi and he was commissioned by a significant Czech nobleman, William of Rosenberg. Villa Kratochvíle together with the surrounding landscape is compared with the landscape of lakes around Mantua and Palazzo Te, which is typologically similar. Especially the use of large water bodies is what these two places and their surrounding landscape have in common. Italian arts came to the Czech lands directly with Italian artists – one of them was the garden design. However, it was transformed there by the cultural tradition as well as the geographical location.

  19. Italian Troops on USSR occupied Territories in 1941−1945

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Игорь Игоревич Баринов

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The article studies the activities of Italian allied troops of Nazi Germany in the occupied during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 of the USSR Soviet territories. The material contained in the article allows to compare the Italian occupation administration policy and its features as well as its involvement in war crimes on Soviet territory. This article also gives a possibility to trace the organizing role of Germany in terms of organization of the occupation regime on the Soviet territory and its relations with its allies and satellites on the Eastern Front. The work is based primarily on unexplored archival documents.

  20. ATLAS computing activities and developments in the Italian Grid cloud

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rinaldi, L; Ciocca, C; K, M; Annovi, A; Antonelli, M; Martini, A; Barberis, D; Brunengo, A; Corosu, M; Barberis, S; Carminati, L; Campana, S; Di, A; Capone, V; Carlino, G; Doria, A; Esposito, R; Merola, L; De, A; Luminari, L

    2012-01-01

    The large amount of data produced by the ATLAS experiment needs new computing paradigms for data processing and analysis, which involve many computing centres spread around the world. The computing workload is managed by regional federations, called “clouds”. The Italian cloud consists of a main (Tier-1) center, located in Bologna, four secondary (Tier-2) centers, and a few smaller (Tier-3) sites. In this contribution we describe the Italian cloud facilities and the activities of data processing, analysis, simulation and software development performed within the cloud, and we discuss the tests of the new computing technologies contributing to evolution of the ATLAS Computing Model.

  1. Introduzione / Introduction | Guzzetta | Italian Studies in Southern ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Username, Password, Remember me, or Register. Introduzione / Introduction. G Guzzetta. Abstract. Identità Italiane In Movimento. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/issa.v21i1-2.43947 · AJOL African Journals Online.

  2. Food group consumption in an Italian population using the updated food classification system FoodEx2: Results from the Italian Nutrition & HEalth Survey (INHES) study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pounis, G; Bonanni, A; Ruggiero, E; Di Castelnuovo, A; Costanzo, S; Persichillo, M; Bonaccio, M; Cerletti, C; Riccardi, G; Donati, M B; de Gaetano, G; Iacoviello, L

    2017-04-01

    Dietary habits evolve over time, being influenced by many factors and complex interactions. This work aimed at evaluating the updated information on food group consumption in Italy. A total of 8944 (4768 women and 4176 men) participants aged >18 years from all over Italy recruited in 2010-13 (Italian Nutrition & HEalth Survey, INHES) was analyzed. The recruitment was performed using computer-assisted-telephone-interviewing and one-day 24-h dietary recall retrieved from all participants. The updated, second version, of FoodEx2 food classification system was applied to extract data on food group consumption. The participation rate was 53%; 6.2% of the participants declared to follow a special diet, the most prevalent being hypo-caloric diets (55.7% of special diets). Men compared to women presented significantly higher intakes of "grains and grain-based products", "meat and meat products", "animal and vegetable fats and oils and primary derivatives" and "alcoholic beverages" (P for alldiets, food imitates and food supplements" (P for all<0.001). Differences in food group intake among age groups, geographical regions and educational level groups were also identified (P for all<0.05). Data on the consumption of more than 70 food groups and sub-groups were illustrated in different strata. The present analysis could be considered as an updated source of information for future nutrition research in Italy and in the EU. Copyright © 2017 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. 22 Cases of BIA-ALCL: Awareness and Outcome Tracking from the Italian Ministry of Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonella, Campanale; Rosaria, Boldrini; Marcella, Marletta

    2017-09-13

    To date, 359 cases of anaplastic large cell lymphoma in women with breast implants (BIA-ALCL) worldwide have been reported out of more than 10 million implanted patients but Health Care Authorities suspect this is a possible underestimation and the limited number of cases makes it difficult to clarify its etiology. The General Directorate of Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical Services of the Italian Ministry of Health (IMoH) has examined and studied the Italian BIA-ALCL cases, and the aim of this study is to report on the knowledge and experience gained on this new emerging disease. An official document has been diffused by the IMoH to all the Italian medical associations, aiming at encouraging all physicians to notify each BIA-ALCL case through the compilation of a specific on-line form. A retrospective study has been performed on the notified BIA-ALCL cases collected in the IMoH's database named DISPOVIGILANCE. Research on DISPOVIGILANCE gives back a list of 22 Italian BIA-ALCL cases. The patients' mean age was 49.6 years (range 30 -71). The average time to the onset of the symptoms was 6.8 years (range 1-22). The average time to the diagnosis was 7.8 years (range 4 -22). The estimated incidence of the Italian BIA-ALCL cases related to 2015 is 2.8 per 100.000 patients. The BIA-ALCL pathogenesis remains unknown. The Italian Ministry of Health, together with scientific associations and other Competent Authorities worldwide, is working on the BIA-ALCL issue to increase awareness and knowledge of this disease by healthcare professionals.

  4. IGI (the Italian Grid initiative) and its impact on the Astrophysics community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasian, F.; Vuerli, C.; Taffoni, G.

    IGI - the Association for the Italian Grid Infrastructure - has been established as a consortium of 14 different national institutions to provide long term sustainability to the Italian Grid. Its formal predecessor, the Grid.it project, has come to a close in 2006; to extend the benefits of this project, IGI has taken over and acts as the national coordinator for the different sectors of the Italian e-Infrastructure present in EGEE. IGI plans to support activities in a vast range of scientificdisciplines - e.g. Physics, Astrophysics, Biology, Health, Chemistry, Geophysics, Economy, Finance - and any possible extensions to other sectors such as Civil Protection, e-Learning, dissemination in Universities and secondary schools. Among these, the Astrophysics community is active as a user, by porting applications of various kinds, but also as a resource provider in terms of computing power and storage, and as middleware developer.

  5. Concussion occurrence and knowledge in italian football (soccer).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broglio, Steven P; Vagnozzi, Roberto; Sabin, Matthew; Signoretti, Stefano; Tavazzi, Barbara; Lazzarino, Giuseppe

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to investigate concussion history, knowledge, injury identification, and management strategies among athletes, coaches, and medical staff in Italian club level football (soccer) clubs. Surveys (N=727) were distributed among Italian football clubs. Athletes' surveys were designed to evaluate athlete knowledge of concussive signs and symptoms and injury reporting. Coaches' surveys explored the understanding of concussive signs and symptoms and management practices. Medical staff surveys explored the standard of care regarding concussions. A total of 342 surveys were returned, for a 47% response rate. Descriptive analyses indicated 10% of athletes sustaining a concussion in the past year and 62% of these injuries were not reported, primarily due to the athletes not thinking the injury was serious enough. Coaches consistently identified non-concussion related symptoms (98.7%), but were unable to identify symptoms associated with concussion (38.9%). Most understood that loss of consciousness is not the sole indicator of injury (82.6%). Medical staff reported a heavy reliance on the clinical exam (92%) and athlete symptom reports (92%) to make the concussion diagnosis and return to play decision, with little use of neurocognitive (16.7%) or balance (0.0%) testing. Italian football athletes appear to report concussions at a rate similar to American football players, with a slightly higher rate of unreported injuries. Most of these athletes were aware they were concussed, but did not feel the injury was serious enough to report. Although coaches served as the primary person to whom concussions were reported, the majority of coaches were unable to accurately identify concussion related symptoms. With little use for neurocognitive and postural control assessments, the medical personnel may be missing injuries or returning athletes to play too soon. Collectively, these findings suggest that athletes, coaches, and medical personnel would benefit

  6. The energy costs of crisis for Italian economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tomasini, S.

    2008-01-01

    The dramatic fluctuations recorded by oil price over the last two years have refreshes the debate on the costs for economies, as the Italian one, that are net oil importer. With some econometric models such costs are estimated. Future perspectives are discussed. [it

  7. The Italian pilot external quality assessment program for cystic fibrosis sweat test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvatore, Marco; Floridia, Giovanna; Amato, Annalisa; Censi, Federica; Carta, Claudio; de Stefano, Maria Chiara; Ferrari, Gianluca; Tosto, Fabrizio; Capoluongo, Ettore; Caruso, Ubaldo; Castaldo, Giuseppe; Cirilli, Natalia; Corbetta, Carlo; Padoan, Rita; Raia, Valeria; Taruscio, Domenica

    2016-05-01

    Sweat chloride test is the gold standard test for cystic fibrosis (CF) diagnosis. In 2014 the Istituto Superiore di Sanità established the Italian pilot external quality assessment program for CF sweat test (IEQA-ST). Ten laboratories, included among the 33 Italian CF Referral Centers, were selected and enrolled on the basis of their attitude to perform sweat test (ST) analysis by using methods recommended by the Italian Guidelines. They received three different sweat-like samples (normal, borderline and pathologic chloride concentration), with mock clinical indications, for analysis according to routine procedures. Assessment, performed by a panel of experts, covered analytical performance, interpretation and reporting of results; categories of "poor" and "satisfactory" performance were not defined. All data were managed through a web utility. The program identified important areas of interest and, in some case, of concern. It is important to underline that results are referred to a small proportion, i.e. about 30%, of Italian laboratories performing CF ST in the context of the Referral Centers. Data collected highlight the importance of participation in EQA programs as it may improve laboratory/clinical performance; our study represents a model for the setting up of a large-scale EQA scheme for ST. Copyright © 2016 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Italian retail gasoline activities: inadequate distribution network

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verde, Stefano

    2005-01-01

    It is common belief that competition in the Italian retail gasoline activities is hindered by oil companies' collusive behaviour. However, when developing a broader analysis of the sector, low efficiency and scarce competition could results as the consequences coming from an inadequate distribution network and from the recognition of international markets and focal point [it

  9. Descriptive characteristics of the large Italian dams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dello Vicario, E.; Petaccia, A.; Savanella, V.

    1999-01-01

    In the present note the characteristics of the Italian dams are examined, underlining, in a statistical view, story, geographical location, types and use of the most important works. Such a review can be useful for a more detailed analysis, both for the dams characterization and for further studies relevant to water resources utilization [it

  10. CDP++.Italian: modelling sublexical and supralexical inconsistency in a shallow orthography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Conrad; Ziegler, Johannes C; Zorzi, Marco

    2014-01-01

    Most models of reading aloud have been constructed to explain data in relatively complex orthographies like English and French. Here, we created an Italian version of the Connectionist Dual Process Model of Reading Aloud (CDP++) to examine the extent to which the model could predict data in a language which has relatively simple orthography-phonology relationships but is relatively complex at a suprasegmental (word stress) level. We show that the model exhibits good quantitative performance and accounts for key phenomena observed in naming studies, including some apparently contradictory findings. These effects include stress regularity and stress consistency, both of which have been especially important in studies of word recognition and reading aloud in Italian. Overall, the results of the model compare favourably to an alternative connectionist model that can learn non-linear spelling-to-sound mappings. This suggests that CDP++ is currently the leading computational model of reading aloud in Italian, and that its simple linear learning mechanism adequately captures the statistical regularities of the spelling-to-sound mapping both at the segmental and supra-segmental levels.

  11. CDP++.Italian: modelling sublexical and supralexical inconsistency in a shallow orthography.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Conrad Perry

    Full Text Available Most models of reading aloud have been constructed to explain data in relatively complex orthographies like English and French. Here, we created an Italian version of the Connectionist Dual Process Model of Reading Aloud (CDP++ to examine the extent to which the model could predict data in a language which has relatively simple orthography-phonology relationships but is relatively complex at a suprasegmental (word stress level. We show that the model exhibits good quantitative performance and accounts for key phenomena observed in naming studies, including some apparently contradictory findings. These effects include stress regularity and stress consistency, both of which have been especially important in studies of word recognition and reading aloud in Italian. Overall, the results of the model compare favourably to an alternative connectionist model that can learn non-linear spelling-to-sound mappings. This suggests that CDP++ is currently the leading computational model of reading aloud in Italian, and that its simple linear learning mechanism adequately captures the statistical regularities of the spelling-to-sound mapping both at the segmental and supra-segmental levels.

  12. Ultrasonographic evaluation of the shoulder in elite Italian beach volleyball players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monteleone, G; Tramontana, A; Mc Donald, K; Sorge, R; Tiloca, A; Foti, C

    2015-10-01

    Beach volleyball is an overhead sport that subjects the hitting shoulder to intense functional loads. The purpose of this study is to identify ultrasonographically the prevalence of myotendinous alterations in professional Italian beach volleyball players at the Italian championship and to look for associations between ultrasound findings and the other data collected. Fifty-three beach volleyball players (31 women, 22 men) were recruited during the second stage of the Italian championship held in July 2012 in Rome, Italy. Clinical history was obtained from all subjects, followed by physical exam. Each athlete completed a questionnaire regarding sports activities. Bilateral ultrasonographic evaluation of the shoulders was then performed. Calcific tendinopathy of the rotator cuff of the hitting shoulder was identified ultrasonographically in 30% of the athletes. The mean age of the athletes with calcific tendinopathy was older than subjects with other abnormalities on ultrasonographic examination (33.1 years vs. 25.8 years, t-test; Pvolleyball players has a prevalence of 30% ultrasonographically, greater than that reported in the general population. In these athletes, the presence of calcific tendinopathy correlates positively with age.

  13. Computerized Italian criticality guide, description and validation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carotenuto, M.; Landeyro, P.A.

    1988-10-01

    Our group is developing an 'expert system' for collecting engineering know-how on back-end nuclear plant design. An expert system is the most suitable software tool for our problem. During the analysis, the design process was divided into different branches. At each branch of the design process the Expert System relates a computerized design procedure. Any design procedure is composed of a set of design methods, together with their condition of application and reliability limits. In the framework of this expert system, the nuclear criticality safety analysis procedure was developed, in the form of a computerized criticality guide, attempting to reproduce the designer's normal 'reasoning' process. The criticality guide is composed of two parts: A computerized text, including theory, a description of the accidents occurred in the past and a description of the italian design experience; An interactive computer aided calculation module, containing a graphical facility for critical parameter curves. In the present report are presented the criticality guide (computerized Italian Criticality Guide) and its validation test. (author)

  14. Computerized Italian criticality guide, description and validation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carotenuto, M; Landeyro, P A [ENEA - Dipartimento Ciclo del Combustibile, Centro Ricerche Energia, Casaccia (Italy)

    1988-10-15

    Our group is developing an 'expert system' for collecting engineering know-how on back-end nuclear plant design. An expert system is the most suitable software tool for our problem. During the analysis, the design process was divided into different branches. At each branch of the design process the Expert System relates a computerized design procedure. Any design procedure is composed of a set of design methods, together with their condition of application and reliability limits. In the framework of this expert system, the nuclear criticality safety analysis procedure was developed, in the form of a computerized criticality guide, attempting to reproduce the designer's normal 'reasoning' process. The criticality guide is composed of two parts: A computerized text, including theory, a description of the accidents occurred in the past and a description of the italian design experience; An interactive computer aided calculation module, containing a graphical facility for critical parameter curves. In the present report are presented the criticality guide (computerized Italian Criticality Guide) and its validation test. (author)

  15. Assessing the impacts of mountain biking and hiking on subalpine grassland in Australia using an experimental protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickering, Catherine Marina; Rossi, Sebastian; Barros, Agustina

    2011-12-01

    Mountain biking is an increasingly popular, but sometimes controversial, activity in protected areas. Limited research on its impacts, including studies comparing biking with hiking, contributes to the challenges for mangers in assessing its appropriateness. The impacts of mountain bike riding off trail were compared to those of hiking on subalpine grassland in Australia using a modification of a common trampling experimental methodology. Vegetation and soil parameters were measured immediately and two weeks after different intensities of mountain biking (none, 25, 75, 200 and 500 passes across slope, 200 pass up and down slope) and hiking (200 and 500 passes across slope). There were reductions in vegetation height, cover and species richness, as well as changes in species composition and increases in litter and soil compaction with riding. Riding up and down a moderate slope had a greater impact than riding across the slope. Hiking also affected vegetation height, cover and composition. Mountain biking caused more damage than hiking but only at high use (500 passes). Further research including other ecosystems, topography, styles of riding, and weather conditions are required, but under the conditions tested here, hiking and mountain biking appear to be similar in their environmental impacts. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. [Health impact of ozone in 13 Italian cities].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitis, Francesco; Iavarone, Ivano; Martuzzi, Marco

    2007-01-01

    to estimate the health impact of ozone in 13 Italian cities over 200,000 inhabitants and to produce basic elements to permit the reproducibility of the study in other urban locations. the following data have been used: population data (2001), health data (2001 or from scientific literature), environmental data (2002-2004), from urban background monitoring station and concentration/response risk coefficients derived from recent metanalyses. The indicators SOMO35 and SOMO0 have been used as a proxi of the average exposure to calcolate attributable deaths (and years of life lost) and several causes of morbility for ozone concentrations over 70 microg/m3. acute mortality for all causes and for cardiovascular mortality, respiratory-related hospital admissions in elderly, asthma exacerbation in children and adults, minor restricted activity days, lower respiratory symptoms in children. over 500 (1900) deaths, the 0.6% (2.1%) of total mortality, equivalent to about 6000 (22,000) years of life lost are attributable to ozone levels over 70 microg/m3 in the 13 Italian cities under study. Larger figures, in the order of thousands, are attributable to less severe morbidity outcomes. The health impact of ozone in Italian towns is relevant in terms of acute mortality and morbidity, although less severe than PM10 impact. Background ozone levels are increasing. Abatement strategies for ozone concentrations should consider the whole summer and not only "peak" days and look at policies limiting the concentration of precursors produced by traffic sources. Relevant health benefits can be obtained also under levels proposed as guidelines in the present environmental regulations.

  17. Secular painting in the Ionian islands and Italian art: Aspects of a multi-faceted relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aphrodite Kouria

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The contribution of Italian art, especially Venetian, was decisive to the secularisation of art in the Ionian Islands and the shaping of the so-called Ionian School, in the context of a broader Western influence affecting all aspects of life and culture, especially on the islands of Zakynthos and Corfu. Italian influences, mainly of Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque art, can be identified both on the iconographic and the stylistic level of artworks, with theoretical support. This article explores facets of the dialogue of secular painting in the Ionian with Italian art in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, focussing on works and artists that highlight significant aspects of this multilayered phenomenon and also through secondary channels that expand the horizon of analysis. Procession paintings, with their various connotations, and portraiture, which flourished in secular Ionian art, offer the most interesting material as regards the selection, reception and management of Italian models and points of reference.

  18. Guaranteeing uptime at worl's largest particle physics lab

    CERN Multimedia

    Brodkin, Jon

    2007-01-01

    "As the European agency CERN was gearing up to build the world's largest particle accelerator, officials there knew they could not afford to have problems in their technical infrastructure cause any downtime." (1 page)

  19. Lung cancer risk of airborne particles for Italian population

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buonanno, G., E-mail: buonanno@unicas.it [Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via Di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino, FR (Italy); International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street 2, 4001 Brisbane, Qld. (Australia); Giovinco, G., E-mail: giovinco@unicas.it [Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via Di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino, FR (Italy); Morawska, L., E-mail: morawska@qut.edu.au [International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street 2, 4001 Brisbane, Qld. (Australia); Stabile, L., E-mail: stabile@unicas.it [Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via Di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino, FR (Italy)

    2015-10-15

    Airborne particles, including both ultrafine and supermicrometric particles, contain various carcinogens. Exposure and risk-assessment studies regularly use particle mass concentration as dosimetry parameter, therefore neglecting the potential impact of ultrafine particles due to their negligible mass compared to supermicrometric particles. The main purpose of this study was the characterization of lung cancer risk due to exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and some heavy metals associated with particle inhalation by Italian non-smoking people. A risk-assessment scheme, modified from an existing risk model, was applied to estimate the cancer risk contribution from both ultrafine and supermicrometric particles. Exposure assessment was carried out on the basis of particle number distributions measured in 25 smoke-free microenvironments in Italy. The predicted lung cancer risk was then compared to the cancer incidence rate in Italy to assess the number of lung cancer cases attributed to airborne particle inhalation, which represents one of the main causes of lung cancer, apart from smoking. Ultrafine particles are associated with a much higher risk than supermicrometric particles, and the modified risk-assessment scheme provided a more accurate estimate than the conventional scheme. Great attention has to be paid to indoor microenvironments and, in particular, to cooking and eating times, which represent the major contributors to lung cancer incidence in the Italian population. The modified risk assessment scheme can serve as a tool for assessing environmental quality, as well as setting up exposure standards for particulate matter. - Highlights: • Lung cancer risk for non-smoking Italian population due to particle inhalation. • The average lung cancer risk for Italian population is equal to 1.90×10{sup −2}. • Ultrafine particle is the aerosol metric mostly contributing to lung cancer risk. • B(a)P is the main (particle-bounded) compound

  20. Lung cancer risk of airborne particles for Italian population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buonanno, G.; Giovinco, G.; Morawska, L.; Stabile, L.

    2015-01-01

    Airborne particles, including both ultrafine and supermicrometric particles, contain various carcinogens. Exposure and risk-assessment studies regularly use particle mass concentration as dosimetry parameter, therefore neglecting the potential impact of ultrafine particles due to their negligible mass compared to supermicrometric particles. The main purpose of this study was the characterization of lung cancer risk due to exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and some heavy metals associated with particle inhalation by Italian non-smoking people. A risk-assessment scheme, modified from an existing risk model, was applied to estimate the cancer risk contribution from both ultrafine and supermicrometric particles. Exposure assessment was carried out on the basis of particle number distributions measured in 25 smoke-free microenvironments in Italy. The predicted lung cancer risk was then compared to the cancer incidence rate in Italy to assess the number of lung cancer cases attributed to airborne particle inhalation, which represents one of the main causes of lung cancer, apart from smoking. Ultrafine particles are associated with a much higher risk than supermicrometric particles, and the modified risk-assessment scheme provided a more accurate estimate than the conventional scheme. Great attention has to be paid to indoor microenvironments and, in particular, to cooking and eating times, which represent the major contributors to lung cancer incidence in the Italian population. The modified risk assessment scheme can serve as a tool for assessing environmental quality, as well as setting up exposure standards for particulate matter. - Highlights: • Lung cancer risk for non-smoking Italian population due to particle inhalation. • The average lung cancer risk for Italian population is equal to 1.90×10 −2 . • Ultrafine particle is the aerosol metric mostly contributing to lung cancer risk. • B(a)P is the main (particle-bounded) compound contributing

  1. Effects of adding an Italian theme to a restaurant on the perceived ethnicity, acceptability, and selection of foods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, R; Meiselman, H L; Pierson, B J; Reeve, W G

    1994-02-01

    We investigated whether a change in the perceived ethnicity of a food can be produced without manipulating the food item itself, and if that change in ethnic perception is accompanied by a change in acceptability and food selection behavior. Italian and British foods were offered in a British restaurant for four days. Foods were offered for 2 days under control conditions, when the restaurant was decorated as usual. The identical foods then were offered in the restaurant for 2 more days under experimental conditions, when ethnic names were used on the menu to describe foods, and the restaurant was decorated with an Italian theme. Perceived ethnicity and acceptability of items were rated by customers each day, and item selection was tracked. The Italian theme increased selection of pasta and dessert items, and decreased the selection of fish. The Italian theme also increased the perceived Italian ethnicity of British pasta items, fish and veal, and increased the perceived Italian ethnicity of the meal overall. These findings show that changes in perceived ethnicity and food selection can be accomplished without altering food items, but merely by manipulating the environment, and may imply a unique strategy for increasing perceived menu variety.

  2. Bisogni linguistici dei discenti di italiano alla scuola di lingua e cultura italiana per stranieri di Siena (Linguistic Needs of Students of Italian at the School of Italian Language and Culture for Foreigners of Siena).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maggini, Massimo; Parigi, Valerio

    1986-01-01

    Presents the results of a questionnaire administered to students of Italian at the School for Foreigners of Siena to determine the following: (1) student characteristics; (2) student motivations for studying Italian; (3) student interests; (4) student linguistic needs; and (5) student evaluation of the program. (CFM)

  3. Urban Smartness Vs Urban Competitiveness: A Comparison of Italian Cities Rankings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rocco Papa

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a part of the research carried out by the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (DICEA of the University of Naples “Federico II”, within the Project Smart Energy Master for the energy management of territory, financed by PON 04a2_E R&C Axis II, from 2012 to 2015. Today that the idea of smart city draws the attention of urban planners and policy makers and, at the same time, global competitiveness is considered essential for the success of a city, the paper aims to investigate the relationship between the concept of smart city and that of competitive city, identifying common characteristics and differences and answer the question: is “smartness” a new concept for urban studies? The analysis has been conducted in the Italian context, comparing the competitive structure of Italian provinces with their performance as smart cities. To rank Italian provinces because of their level of competitiveness, a previous ranking, carried out in 1995, has been updated with the most recent data available and the new hierarchy, thus obtained, has been compared with that of Italian smartest cities proposed by Forum PA.  The benchmarking shows that smartness and competitiveness are strictly connected: today, a city needs to improve its smart quotient in order to be more attractive and so more competitive, in fact, the efficiency and livability of cities, sought by potential citizens, can be improved by using ICTs, as supported by the advocates of smart cities, and represent a strategic factor for gaining a competitive advantage.

  4. Growth of Gypsophila paniculata According to the Pruning Time and Ridge Position in Sub-alpine Area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheong, D.C.; Lim, H.C.; Song, Y.J.; Park, H.B.

    2008-01-01

    This study was carried out to investigate the growth of Gypsophila paniculata affected by pruning time (July 10, July 18, and July 25) and ridge position (middle or window side) under south-north oriented plastic house in sub-alpine area. The average night temperature was similar between the two ridges, but the average day temperature and soil temperature were higher at the middle ridge; particularly, there was distinct difference after late October. Also the accumulative solar radiation was higher at the middle ridge than the window side ridge owing to the shading by neighboring plastic house and the structure of plastic house. The root activity, photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate of plants surveyed in late October were inclined to be more increased at the middle than the window side ridge. The flowering traits at the pruning time of July 10 and July 18 were similar between the two ridges, but the flower malformation rate was higher at the middle ridge. On the other hand, in case of the pruning time of July 25, the blooming was advanced by 13 days, and the flowering traits such as flower stalk length and branch number were better; also, the flower malformation and rosette formation rate decreased at the middle ridge, because of its higher air and soil temperature and the accumulative solar radiation

  5. Italian refiners' environmental spending to soar in 1990s

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1993-01-01

    Industry estimates are that Italian refiners' capital outlays will total almost 12 trillion lire ($7.2 billion), in 1990 currencies, in the 1990's. Most spending will be earmarked to develop cleaner fuels and plant-specific environmental mitigation measures related to new European Community regulations. Italian refiners generally have lagged some of their counterparts in Europe and North America on environmental spending. That's because they have faced a continuing margin squeeze as a result of product prices remaining under tight government controls. Last year, the government began to implement price deregulation in line with EC directives. At the same time, the government is enforcing stiffer emissions rules to improve air quality in urban areas. The paper describes spending plans; demand for oxygenates; demand for low sulfur fuel oil for power plants; and price regulations

  6. Feyerabend, truth, and relativisms: Footnotes to the Italian debate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gattei, Stefano

    2016-06-01

    There is a substantial literature on Feyerabend's relativism-including a few papers in this collection-but fewer specific studies of the ways that his writings and ideas have been taken up among the non-academic public. This is odd, given his obvious interest in the lives and concerns of persons who were not 'intellectuals'-a term that, for him, had a pejorative ring to it. It is also odd, given the abundance of evidence of how Feyerabend's relativism played a role in a specific national and cultural context-namely, contemporary Italian debates about relativism. This paper offers a study of how Feyerabend's ideas have been deployed by Italian intellectuals and cultural commentators-including the current Pope-and critically assesses them. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. How “European” is the Italian Regional State now? A study on the Europeanization of the Italian Regional System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giuseppe Martinico

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available To what extent do Italian courts adapt the national legal instruments (principles,rules, techniques, legal concepts regarding state structure to therequirements of EU law? This paper aims to give an answer to this questionby providing an overview of the most emblematic cases of “re-adaptations”operated by the Italian courts in order to ensure the respect of the structuralprinciples of EU law. This contribution is structured as follows: first, Iwill explain the reasons why research like this is “difficult”, while secondlyI will move to the analysis of the of some legal instruments (principle ofcompetence, substitutive power, “cedevolezza”. Some final remarks willbe presented at the end of the paper. Generally speaking, my main idea isthat EU law has had a certain impact on the relationship between Stateand Regions in Italy, especially looking at the seasons of the principle ofcompetence, that has been conceived more and more as referring to theidea of “legislative preference” rather than as to the existence of a “legislativereserved domain”.

  8. The Italian Footwear Industry: an Empirical Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Pirolo, Luca; Giustiniano, Luca; Nenni, Maria Elena

    2013-01-01

    This paper aims to provide readers with a deep empirical analysis on the Italian footwear industry in order to investigate the evolution of its structure (trends in sales and production, number of firms and employees, main markets, etc.), together with the identification of the main drivers of competitiveness in order to explain the strategies implemented by local actors.

  9. Family allocentrism and its relation to adjustment among Chinese and Italian adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jian-Bin; Delvecchio, Elisa; Lis, Adriana; Mazzeschi, Claudia

    2018-03-21

    Family allocentrism is a domain-specific collectivistic attribute referring to the family. This research tested the one-factor structure of the Family Allocentrism Scale (FAS), examined the association between family allocentrism and adjustment outcomes, and compared the factor means and the correlations with adjustment between Chinese and Italian adolescents. To this end, 484 Chinese and 480 Italian adolescents participated in the study by answering a battery of self-report measures. The results confirmed the one-factor structure of the FAS. Family allocentrism was related to a number of adjustment outcomes. More importantly, Chinese adolescents reported more family allocentrism than their Italian counterparts did, but the relations between family allocentrism and adjustment outcomes were equivalent in magnitude between the two samples. Collectively, these findings provide crucial evidence for the psychometric properties of the FAS and shed light on the importance of family allocentrism in promoting positive youth development from a cross-cultural perspective. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Dialects and standard language: the language education of the italians living in Italy, and contexts of immigration (1861-2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula Garcia de Freitas

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to present the relationship existent between the standard Italian language, and the dialects used both in the language education of Italians living in Italy, and of Italians living in Brazil, to where they emigrated in search of better opportunities from the middle of the century XIX. This relationship is analyzed under the prism of different political and educational measures sanctioned by both countries, which somehow represent a subjective position on the language concept. Initially, the analysis was focused on how unstable such a relationship has been in Italy, varying from phases of great antagonism to phases of cooperation, since the dialects were used as a complementary tool in the teaching/learning process of the standard Italian language. Secondly, the analysis was focused on how this same relationship happened in the immigration context, particularly with regards to Brazil, where the Italian language and its dialects were mixed with Portuguese. Our conclusion offers an overview on the current stage, and the perspectives for the teaching of the Italian language both in Italy and in Brazil.

  11. Italian Common Bean Landraces: History, Genetic Diversity and Seed Quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angela R. Piergiovanni

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available The long tradition of common bean cultivation in Italy has allowed the evolution of many landraces adapted to restricted areas. Nowadays, in response to market demands, old landraces are gradually being replaced by improved cultivars. However, landraces still survive in marginal areas of several Italian regions. Most of them appear severely endangered with risk of extinction due to the advanced age of the farmers and the socio-cultural context where they are cultivated. The present contribution is an overview of the state of the art about the knowledge of Italian common bean germplasm, describing the most important and recent progresses made in its characterization, including genetic diversity and nutritional aspects.

  12. THE ETHNIC AND LINGUISTIC IDENTITY OF THE ITALIAN-BRAZILIAN: ITS CONSTITUTION AND RECONSTRUCTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vitalina Maria FROSI

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This text approaches the constitution and reconstruction of the ethnic and linguistic identity of the Italian-Brazilian of the northeast region of Rio Grande do Sul. The analysis is qualitative and is based on three Italian dialect phrases, representative of auto-categorization of the Italian descendent, produced by him and used alternately according to the different phases of the social and linguistics processes. The main goal is to understand identity expressions. It describes thoroughly the primordial vision of identity and approaches theoretical principles of scholars who consider identity a constant process of construction and reconstruction which involves individuals during their lifetime and that is reconstructed through generations.The understanding of his identity constitutes a complex matter but it is given through the analysis of the socio-cultural and linguistic changes that took place in the community studied. The identity of an individual is closely connected to his languages and the feeling of belonging to a specific human group. This way, we see the possibility of the subject having more then one identity. Brazilianity and Italianity are both aspects of the same phenomenon. Identity, after all, does not exist beforehand, it is formed and defined historically and it is plural.

  13. A Psychometric Properties Evaluation of the Italian Version of the Geriatric Depression Scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanni Galeoto

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS is an evaluation tool to diagnose older adult’s depression. This questionnaire was defined by Yesavage and Brink in 1982; it was designed expressly for the older person and defines his/her degree of satisfaction, quality of life, and feelings. The objective of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-IT. Methods. The Italian version of the Geriatric Depression Scale was administered to 119 people (79 people with a depression diagnosis and 40 healthy ones. We examined the following psychometric characteristics: internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity (factor structure. Results. Cronbach’s Alpha for the GDS-IT administered to the depressed sample was 0.84. Test-retest reliability was 0.91 and the concurrent validity was 0.83. The factorial analysis showed a structure of 5 factors, and the scale cut-off is between 10 and 11. Conclusion. The GDS-IT proved to be a reliable and valid questionnaire for the evaluation of depression in an Italian population. In the present study, the GDS-IT showed good psychometric properties. Health professionals now have an assessment tool for the evaluation of depression symptoms in the Italian population.

  14. The world's largest LNG producer's next market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuller, R.; Isworo Suharno; Simandjuntak, W.M.P.

    1996-01-01

    The development of the domestic gas market in Indonesia, the world's largest liquefied natural gas producing country, is described as part of the overall impact of the country's oil and gas production. The first large scale use of natural gas in Indonesia was established in 1968 when a fertiliser plant using gas as the feedstock was built. Ultimately, through increased yields, this has enabled Indonesia to be self-sufficient in rice and an exporter of fertiliser. Problems which stand in the way of further developments include: capital, though Pertamina and PGN are perceived as attractive for foreign investment; the lack of a regulatory framework for gas; geographical constraints, among them the fact that the gas deposits are remote from the largest population concentrations; lack of infrastructure. There are nevertheless plans for expansion and the provision of an integrated gas pipeline system. Pertamina, which has responsibility for all oil and gas developments, and PGN, whose primary role has been as a manufacturer and distributor of gas, are now working together in the coordination of all gas activities. (10 figures). (UK)

  15. Unpublished Texts: Poesie | Meda | Italian Studies in Southern ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Her research interests concentrate – within the broader area of Italian literature – on the re-interpretation and re-invention of myth by modern and contemporary writers from a Jungian archetypal perspective which privileges an interdisciplinary approach involving literature, anthropology and depth psychology. She is the ...

  16. Italian renewable energy sources improvement; Decollo su larga scala delle fonti rinnovabili

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silvestrini, G. [Ministero dell' Ambiente, Rome (Italy)

    1999-08-01

    The paper reports Italian and international guidelines for renewable energy sources improvement. [Italian] Si assiste ad una ripresa di attenzione a livello internazionale ed italiano nei confronti delle energie rinnovabili, il cui panoramam e' oggi cambiato. In Italia sono pero' inadeguate le realta' produttive in questo settore ed anche i grandi attori energetici hanno finora affrontato la tematica con eccessiva timidezza. Il Ministero dell'Ambiente sollecita un maggiore impegno da parte delle societa' energetiche nei confronti delle energie rinnovabili.

  17. Western Italian Alps Monthly Snowfall and Snow Cover Duration

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set consists of snow observations for 18 stations in the western Italian Alps. Two types of data are included: monthly snowfall amounts and monthly snow...

  18. Food and Wine Tourism: an Analysis of Italian Typical Products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesco Maria Olivieri

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this work is to focus the specific role of local food productions in spite of its relationship with tourism sector to valorization and promotion of the territorial cultural heritage. The modern agriculture has been and, in the recent years, several specific features are emerging referring to different territorials areas. Tourist would like to have a complete experience consumption of a destination, specifically to natural and cultural heritage and genuine food. This contribute addresses the topics connected to the relationship between typical productions system and tourism sector to underline the competitive advantages to local development. The typical productions are Designation of Protected Origin (Italian DOP, within wine certifications DOCG and DOC and Typical Geographical Indication (IGP and wine’s IGT. The aim is an analysis of the specialization of these kinds of production at Italian regional scale. The implication of the work has connected with defining a necessary and appropriate value strategies based on marketing principles in order to translate the benefit of typical productions to additional value for the local system. Thus, the final part of the paper describes the potential dynamics with the suitable accommodation typology of agriturismo and the typical production system of Italian Administrative Regions.

  19. The Italian contribution to battery science and technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scrosati, Bruno

    The activities in the battery field currently in progress in Italian academic and industrial laboratories will be briefly reviewed. After reporting the key achievements obtained in lead-acid batteries, the presentation will be focused on systems of more recent development with particular attention to the lithium batteries. Interestingly, there is in Italy quite an intense research and development activity on these new-concept batteries which are now the power sources of choice for popular electronic devices, e.g. cellular phones, and in prospect valid systems for powering electric vehicles. Basic research is carried out in various university and government centers with the aim of characterizing new lithium ion electrode and electrolyte materials. This intense research is backed by substantial development activity since few Italian industries are presently engaged in the production of lithium batteries of different size and characteristics. Italy is then well established in battery R&D, confirming the country's historical involvement in the field since Volta's pile invention in 1800.

  20. Nuclear engineering education in italian universities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dulla, S.; Panella, B.; Ravetto, P.

    2011-01-01

    The paper illustrates the evolution and the present situation of the university-level nuclear engineering education in Italy. The problems connected with the need of qualified faculty in view of a dramatic increase of students is pointed out. A short description of the programs at present available at Italian universities is also presented, together with some statistics referred to Politecnico di Torino. The mathematical and computation content of each programs is also analyzed. (author)

  1. Worlds Largest Wave Energy Project 2007 in Wales

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Lars; Friis-Madsen, Erik; Kofoed, Jens Peter

    2006-01-01

    This paper introduces world largest wave energy project being developed in Wales and based on one of the leading wave energy technologies. The background for the development of wave energy, the total resource ands its distribution around the world is described. In contrast to wind energy turbines...... Dragon has to be scaled in accordance with the wave climate at the deployment site, which makes the Welch demonstrator device the worlds largest WEC so far with a total width of 300 meters. The project budget, the construction methods and the deployment site are also given....... a large number of fundamentally different technologies are utilised to harvest wave energy. The Wave Dragon belongs to the wave overtopping class of converters and the paper describes the fundamentals and the technical solutions used in this wave energy converter. An offshore floating WEC like the Wave...

  2. First Experience from the World Largest fully commercial Solar Heating Plant

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heller, Alfred; Furbo, Simon

    1997-01-01

    The first experience from the largest solar heating plant in the world is given. The plant is situated in Marstal and is has a total area of 8000 square m.......The first experience from the largest solar heating plant in the world is given. The plant is situated in Marstal and is has a total area of 8000 square m....

  3. Transition of gastroenterological patients from paediatric to adult care: A position statement by the Italian Societies of Gastroenterology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elli, Luca; Maieron, Roberto; Martelossi, Stefano; Guariso, Graziella; Buscarini, Elisabetta; Conte, Dario; di Giulio, Emilio; Staiano, Annamaria; Barp, Jacopo; Bassotti, Gabrio; Bianco, Maria Antonia; Buri, Luigi; Carrara, Maurizio; Ghidini, Benedetta; Giannini, Olivia; Knafelz, Daniela; Miele, Erasmo; Peralta, Sergio; Riccio, Elisabetta; Tomba, Carolina; Zilli, Maurizio; Guadagnini, Tiziana

    2015-09-01

    In 2013, four Italian Gastroenterological Societies (the Italian Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, the Italian Society of Hospital Gastroenterologists and Endoscopists, the Italian Society of Endoscopy, and the Italian Society of Gastroenterology) formed a joint panel of experts with the aim of preparing an official statement on transition medicine in Gastroenterology. The transition of adolescents from paediatric to adult care is a crucial moment in managing chronic diseases such as celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, liver disease and liver transplantation. Improved medical treatment and availability of new drugs and surgical techniques have improved the prognosis of many paediatric disorders, prolonging survival, thus making the transition to adulthood possible and necessary. An inappropriate transition or the incomplete transmission of data from the paediatrician to the adult Gastroenterologist can dramatically decrease compliance to treatment and prognosis of a young patient, particularly in the case of severe disorders. For these reasons, the Italian gastroenterological societies decided to develop an official shared transition protocol. The resulting document discusses the factors influencing the transition process and highlights the main points to accomplish to optimize compliance and prognosis of gastroenterological patients during the difficult transition from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. Copyright © 2015 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Renaissance and Italian Literature in World Literature Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paolucci, Anne

    1977-01-01

    Shows how the giants of the Renaissance, from Dante to Shakespeare and Cervantes, can be taught so that they illustrate the dialectic of the cultural experience that produced them, and how the masterpieces of Italian literature can be used to suggest both national and universal qualities. (Editor/RK)

  5. Bioethics and the Italian National Bioethics Committee: historical highlights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conti, A A

    2016-01-01

    Though the term "bioethics" was coined in 1970-1, it was immediately after World War II that there emerged the idea that the voluntary consent of human beings was absolutely mandatory for medical interventions to be ethically acceptable. The 1964 Declaration of Helsinki asserted that only an explicit consent could morally and ethically justify research on human beings. In the 1978 "Encyclopedia of Bioethics", the US author Warren T. Reich defined bioethics as the systematic study of human behaviour in the fields of health care and life sciences, and carefully differentiated the epistemological profile of bioethics from that of traditional medical ethics deriving from the Hippocratic Oath. An institutional milestone in the Italian evolution of bioethical knowledge and competence was the foundation of the Italian National Bioethics Committee (NBC), established in 1990. The NBC, which answers to the Council of Ministers, provides methodological support to the Italian Government in the field of bioethical issues, elaborating legislative acts and also furnishing information and consultation for other bodies and associations and for the general public. The activity of the NBC is clearly discernible in its free and user-friendly website. Today, the Internet is often the first repository where individuals and patients look for bioethical information. Given that the quality of this information is extremely variable and not infrequently unreliable, initiatives such as that of the above mentioned NBC website are particularly useful and precious both for health care operators and the entire community.

  6. Italian Adaptation of the "Autonomy and Relatedness Coding System"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Ingoglia

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The study examined the applicability of the observational technique developed by Allen and colleagues (Allen, Hauser, Bell, & O’Connor, 1994; Allen, Hauser, et al., 2003 to investigate the issues of autonomy and relatedness in parent-adolescent relationship in the Italian context. Thirty-five mother-adolescent dyads participated to a task in which they discussed a family issue about which they disagree. Adolescents were also administered a self-report measure assessing their relationship with mothers. Mothers reported significantly higher levels of promoting and inhibiting autonomy, and promoting relatedness behaviors than their children. Results also suggested a partial behavioral reciprocity within the dyads, regarding promoting and inhibiting relatedness, and inhibiting autonomy. Finally, mothers’ inhibiting autonomy behaviors positively correlated to teens’ perception of their relationship as conflicting; adolescents’ inhibiting and promoting autonomy and inhibiting relatedness behaviors positively correlated to open confrontation, rejection and coolness, while promoting relatedness behaviors negatively correlated to open confrontation, rejection and coolness. The results suggest that, for Italian mothers, behaviors linked to autonomy seem to be associated with being involved in a more negative relationship with their children, even if not characterized by open hostility, while for Italian adolescents, behaviors linked to autonomy seem to be associated with threatening the closeness of the relationship. Globally, the findings suggest that the application of this observational procedure may help our understanding of youth autonomy and relatedness development in Italy, but they leave unanswered questions regarding its appropriate adaptation and the role played by cultural differences.

  7. Italian version of Dyspnoea-12: cultural-linguistic validation, quantitative and qualitative content validity study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caruso, Rosario; Arrigoni, Cristina; Groppelli, Katia; Magon, Arianna; Dellafiore, Federica; Pittella, Francesco; Grugnetti, Anna Maria; Chessa, Massimo; Yorke, Janelle

    2018-01-16

    Dyspnoea-12 is a valid and reliable scale to assess dyspneic symptom, considering its severity, physical and emotional components. However, it is not available in Italian version due to it was not yet translated and validated. For this reason, the aim of this study was to develop an Italian version Dyspnoea-12, providing a cultural and linguistic validation, supported by the quantitative and qualitative content validity. This was a methodological study, divided into two phases: phase one is related to the cultural and linguistic validation, phase two is related to test the quantitative and qualitative content validity. Linguistic validation followed a standardized translation process. Quantitative content validity was assessed computing content validity ratio (CVR) and index (I-CVIs and S-CVI) from expert panellists response. Qualitative content validity was assessed by the narrative analysis on the answers of three open-ended questions to the expert panellists, aimed to investigate the clarity and the pertinence of the Italian items. The translation process found a good agreement in considering clear the items in both the six involved bilingual expert translators and among the ten voluntary involved patients. CVR, I-CVIs and S-CVI were satisfactory for all the translated items. This study has represented a pivotal step to use Dyspnoea-12 amongst Italian patients. Future researches are needed to deeply investigate the Italian version of  Dyspnoea-12 construct validity and its reliability, and to describe how dyspnoea components (i.e. physical and emotional) impact the life of patients with cardiorespiratory diseases.

  8. Vascular plant species richness along environmental gradients in a cool temperate to sub-alpine mountainous zone in central Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsujino, Riyou; Yumoto, Takakazu

    2013-03-01

    In order to clarify how vegetation types change along the environmental gradients in a cool temperate to sub-alpine mountainous zone and the determinant factors that define plant species richness, we established 360 plots (each 4 × 10 m) within which the vegetation type, species richness, elevation, topographic position index (TPI), slope inclination, and ground light index (GLI) of the natural vegetation were surveyed. Mean elevation, TPI, slope inclination, and GLI differed across vegetation types. Tree species richness was negatively correlated with elevation, whereas fern and herb species richness were positively correlated. Tree species richness was greater in the upper slope area than the lower slope area, whereas fern and herb species richness were greater in the lower slope area. Ferns and trees species richness were smaller in the open canopy, whereas herb species richness was greater in the open canopy. Vegetation types were determined firstly by elevation and secondary by topographic configurations, such as topographic position, and slope inclination. Elevation and topography were the most important factors affecting plant richness, but the most influential variables differed among plant life-form groups. Moreover, the species richness responses to these environmental gradients greatly differed among ferns, herbs, and trees.

  9. Causes and effects of the migratory Italian waves in the 19th – 20th centuries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. L. BULIGA

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The phenomenon of the Italian migration proved to be intense and diverse as regards the territorial origins, but also social diversity. Migration is the process involving people of different social status and economic, cultural, religious changes in the society accepting it. The abandonment of the original area by people in order to settle in other areas depended on political, economic or natural factors. The Italian migratory process became a great migration to America, Australia and mainly in Europe. Searching for a safer or better future, Italians came to Romania as well, establishing steady communities.

  10. New trends of managerial roles in performing arts: empirical evidence from the Italian context

    OpenAIRE

    B. Slavich; F. Montanari

    2009-01-01

    Since the 1990s the Italian performing arts sector has been characterized by juridical, social and economic changes, due, for instance, to new technologies, increasing environmental competition and contamination among different artistic realities. These new trends have increased the industry’s complexity and forced organizations to undertake processes of internal reorganization. In particular, Italian organizations have faced such challenges through the recruitment and training...

  11. How Italian dialect poets translate themselves and how they translate other poets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edoardo Zuccato

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Part one of this essay discusses the way most contemporary Italian dialect poets translate themselves into Italian. Part two of the essay examines examples of poetry translation into dialect made by some of the same contemporary authors. A comparison between the style of the self-translations, which is mainly lyrical, and the variety of styles of the translations from other poets, shows that each choice is an intentional strategy rather than a missed opportunity for a more creative self-translation, as some scholars have argued.

  12. Challenges with the largest commercial hydrogen station in the world

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Charbonneau, Thomas; Gauthier, Pierre [Air Liquide Canada (Canada)

    2010-07-01

    This abstract's objective is to share with the participants the story of the largest hydrogen fueling station made to this date and to kick-start the story, we will cover the challenges; first the technical ones; the operational ones; the distribution ones and; the financial ones. We will then move on to review the logistic (geographic) issues raised by the project and conclude our presentation by sharing the output values of the largest fueling station built so far in the world. (orig.)

  13. Apariția statului modern italian și problema „întârzierii istorice” (The establishing of the Italian Modern State and the problem of ”the historical delay”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioana CRISTEA DRĂGULIN

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The Italian State is an early creation. With a history of millennia, the people living in the Italian peninsula have managed to establish a modern state in mid-nineteenth century, compared with other European states (the French state, the English state etc.. This historical process have been known as „Risorgimento”. During this brief study I will present the problems which the state's founding fathers have experienced in the administrative centralization process in relation with the "ideal modern state pattern".

  14. Anglophonic Influence in the Use of Sound Symbolism in Italian Disney Comics: A Corpus-based Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pischedda Pier Simone

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article will explore the linguistic implications of employing and creating sound symbolism (ideophones, onomatopoeia and interjections in Italian Disney comics. It will endeavour to investigate the way sound symbolic forms in both imported Disney US comics and original Italian stories have profoundly influenced the development of Italian sound symbolism in the last century. The diachronic analysis is carried out thanks to the creation of a corpus of ideophones and interjections from 210 Disney stories published between 1932 and 2013. The corpus will allow the author to investigate how these forms have changed diachronically throughout the eighty years under investigation with the final aim of highlighting changes and patterns in both original and translated Italian stories. The unique status of ideophones, confirmed by language, sociological and neurological studies, has led to interesting experimentations but also to complicated dynamics. Certain linguistic settings seem to foster a better affinity towards the device- particularly if compared to Romance languages, such as Italian and Spanish, that often have to rely on Anglophone renditions. Anglicisation has indeed overshadowed previous original attempts. Nevertheless, recent creations, particularly from cartoonists, bear witness to a willingness to stretch language again in order to enhance language iconicity.

  15. Development of the Italian version of the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale: It-NIHSS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pezzella, Francesca Romana; Picconi, Orietta; De Luca, Assunta; Lyden, Patrick D; Fiorelli, Marco

    2009-07-01

    The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) is a basic component of the assessment of patients with acute stroke. To foster and standardize the use of the NIHSS among Italian health professionals, we translated the scale, dubbed into Italian the training and test videotapes devised by the National Institutes of Health researchers, and conducted a series of certification courses using the translated videos. Translation, text adaptation, video dubbing, and editing of the Italian NIHSS videotapes relied on a team of bilingual stroke neurologists. Three waves of training courses were organized for mixed classes of medical and nonmedical health professionals. The certification test was based on the usual set of 5 videotaped patients. Scoring rules were those provided by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Reliability of the Italian NIHSS was assessed using kappa statistics and compared with that of the original NIHSS. During 3 years, 850 nurses, 460 nonneurologist physicians, and 246 neurologists were trained. Pass rates were respectively 44%, 75%, and 87%, respectively. Overall, 80% of scale items showed moderate to excellent reliability. Independent significant predictors of test failure at multivariate logistic regression were nurse profession (OR, 5.41; 95% CI, 4.07 to 7.20), older age (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.05), and first edition of the course (OR, 3.13; 95% CI, 2.43 to 4.05). The agreement across all items between NIHSS and the Italian NIHSS was 80% (kappa=0.70+/-0.18, z<0.001). The Italian translation, supervised by experienced vascular neurologists, did not influence the clinimetric characteristics of the NIHSS. Our findings support the implementation of NIHSS video training in languages other than English.

  16. Difficulties and practices regarding information provision among Korean and Italian nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ingravallo, F; Kim, K H; Han, Y H; Volta, A; Chiari, P; Taddia, P; Kim, J S

    2017-12-01

    To investigate nurses' opinions and practices of providing information in a global context through cultural comparison. Providing sufficient information to patients about nursing interventions and plans is essential for patient-centred care. While many countries have specific legislation making information delivery to patients a legal duty of nurses, no such legislation exists in both the Republic of Korea and Italy; nurses' only guidance is the deontological code. This was a cross-sectional survey study involving a convenience sample of 174 Korean nurses and 121 Italian nurses working in internal medicine and surgery at university hospitals. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire between February and November 2014. The questionnaire assessed demographic and professional characteristics, and difficulties and practices regarding information provision. Korean and Italian nurses significantly differed in all demographic and professional characteristics. More Korean than Italian participants reported that their role in providing information was well explained within their teams, but both groups reported the same level and type of difficulties in delivering information. Nurses in both countries regularly informed patients about medications and nursing procedures, but provided information about nursing care plans less frequently. Few nurses frequently provided information to relatives instead of patients. Despite cultural, demographic and professional differences between Korean and Italian nurses, their difficulties and practices in information delivery to patient were similar. Hospital managers and policymakers should be aware that nurse-patient communication can be impaired by organizational factors, patient characteristics or the interaction among providers. Educational interventions and strategies are needed to increase information provision to patients about nursing care plans. © 2017 International Council of Nurses.

  17. The msi and the role of fascism in Italian political culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ferran GALLEGO

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the role of the italian social movement in Italy (MSI in the twentieth century. The key to understand its influence would lie in the peculiarities of the political regime emerged from the ruins of fascism. With the proclamation of the republic many fascists enrolled in the ranks of the christian Democrats and other parties of the right, leaving the MSI as sole heir of fascism. That did not stop working with the christian Democrats through the strategy of «inserimento». When the christian Democrats began their approach to the italian socialist Party, the MSI was clearly excluded and located in a relatively marginal position. Its later resurgence may be explained considering the radical changes in italian politics in the sixties and seventies; circumstances which favoured the arrival of Giorgio Almirante as leader of MSI in 1969. In that period, the MSI presented itself as the political party of restored order and ready to fight subversion (communist itself. During the 80s, the MSI moved between the ‘strategy-Party Protest’ leaded by Almirante and the idea of a ‘civil society Party’ defended by Rauti. In the end, the MSI, after the change of leadership of Almirante by Gianfranco Fini, began a new path which stated loyalty to the values of fascism, strengthened by the crisis of communism. This MSI new discourse eased its growth in circumstances in which the traditional parties and the Italian Republican system as a whole were practically about to collapse. Subsequently, the post-fascist Alianza Nacional emerged; a political formation which later on merged into Forza Italia, leaded by Silvio Berlusconi.

  18. A comparison of submicrometer particle dose between Australian and Italian people

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buonanno, G.; Morawska, L.; Stabile, L.; Wang, L.; Giovinco, G.

    2012-01-01

    Alveolar and tracheobronchial-deposited submicrometer particle number and surface area data received by different age groups in Australia are shown. Activity patterns were combined with microenvironmental data through a Monte Carlo method. Particle number distributions for the most significant microenvironments were obtained from our measurement survey data and people activity pattern data from the Australian Human Activity Pattern Survey were used. Daily alveolar particle number (surface area) dose received by all age groups was equal to 3.0 × 10 10 particles (4.5 × 10 2 mm 2 ), varying slightly between males and females. In contrast to gender, the lifestyle was found to significantly affect the daily dose, with highest depositions characterizing adults. The main contribution was due to indoor microenvironments. Finally a comparison between Italian and Australian people in terms of received particle dose was reported; it shows that different cooking styles can affect dose levels: higher doses were received by Italians, mainly due to their particular cooking activity. - Highlights: ► Particle number and surface area deposition in alveolar and tracheobronchial areas. ► Activity pattern and microenvironment data combination by Monte Carlo simulation. ► Deposition increases as a function of age group: maximum value for 19–40 years old. ► Major contributions arise from cooking, eating and transportation activities. ► Italian people statistically experience a dose higher than Australian one. - Alveolar and tracheobronchial-deposited submicrometer particle doses, in terms of number and surface area, were evaluated through a Monte Carlo method for different age groups population in Brisbane, Australia and compared to previously published Italian data.

  19. Psychometric validation of the Italian Rehabilitation Complexity Scale-Extended version 13

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agosti, Maurizio; Merlo, Andrea; Maini, Maurizio; Lombardi, Francesco; Tedeschi, Claudio; Benedetti, Maria Grazia; Basaglia, Nino; Contini, Mara; Nicolotti, Domenico; Brianti, Rodolfo

    2017-01-01

    In Italy, at present, a well-known problem is inhomogeneous provision of rehabilitative services, as stressed by MoH, requiring appropriate criteria and parameters to plan rehabilitation actions. According to the Italian National Rehabilitation Plan, Comorbidity, Disability and Clinical Complexity should be assessed to define the patient’s real needs. However, to date, clinical complexity is still difficult to measure with shared and validated tools. The study aims to psychometrically validate the Italian Rehabilitation Complexity Scale-Extended v13 (RCS-E v13), in order to meet the guidelines requirements. An observational multicentre prospective cohort study, involving 8 intensive rehabilitation facilities of the Emilia-Romagna Region and 1712 in-patients, [823 male (48%) and 889 female (52%), mean age 68.34 years (95% CI 67.69–69.00 years)] showing neurological, orthopaedic and cardiological problems, was carried out. The construct and concurrent validity of the RCS-E v13 was confirmed through its correlation to Barthel Index (disability) and Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (comorbidity) and appropriate admission criteria (not yet published), respectively. Furthermore, the factor analysis indicated two different components (“Basic Care or Risk—Equipment” and “Medical—Nursing Needs and Therapy Disciplines”) of the RCS-E v13. In conclusion, the Italian RCS-E v13 appears to be a useful tool to assess clinical complexity in the Italian rehab scenario case-mix and its psychometric validation may have an important clinical rehabilitation impact allowing the assessment of the rehabilitation needs considering all three dimensions (disability, comorbidity and clinical complexity) as required by the Guidelines and the inhomogeneity could be reduced. PMID:29045409

  20. Modeling of a Point Absorber for Energy Conversion in Italian Seas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renata Archetti

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available In the present paper, we investigate the feasibility of wave electricity production in Italian seas by the deployment of the Seabased wave energy converter (WEC. A numerical model of the coupled buoy-generator system is presented, which simulates the behavior of the wave energy converter under regular waves of different wave heights and periods. The hydrodynamic forces, including excitation force, radiation impedance and hydrostatic force, are calculated by linear potential wave theory, and an analytical model is used for the linear generator. Two buoys of different radii are considered to explore the effect of buoy dimension on energy conversion and device efficiency. The power output is maximized by adding a submerged object to the floating buoy, in order to bring the system into resonance with the typical wave frequencies of the sites. The simulation results show a very good agreement with the published data on the Seabased WEC. The model is used to estimate energy production at eight Italian offshore locations. The results indicate that the degree of utilization of the device is higher than 20% at the two most energetic Italian sites (Alghero and Mazara del Vallo and that it can be considerably increased if the floating body is connected to a submerged object, thanks to the resonant behavior of the WEC. In this case, the degree of utilization of the device would be higher than 40% at most of the study sites, with the highest value at Mazara del Vallo. The work enlarges the perspective, to be confirmed by experimental tests and more accurate numerical modeling, on clean electric power production from ocean waves in the Italian seas.

  1. Different Forms of Bullying and Their Association to Smoking and Drinking Behavior in Italian Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieno, Alessio; Gini, Gianluca; Santinello, Massimo

    2011-01-01

    Background: Using data from the 2006 Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, the prevalence of 6 forms of bullying (physical, verbal, relational, sexual, cyber, and racist), and the role of smoking and drinking in bullying was examined among Italian adolescents for this study. Methods: The sample was composed of 2667 Italian middle…

  2. The Teaching of Italian in Institutions of Higher Learning in the United States and Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Istituto Italiano di Cultura, New York, NY.

    This booklet contains a list of institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada which teach Italian. Italian is taught, according to the booklet, in 383 colleges and universities in the United States (including 28 community or junior colleges), and in 15 colleges and universities in Canada. Other information includes the number of…

  3. An Xrootd Italian Federation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boccali, T; Mazzoni, E; Donvito, G; Diacono, D; Marzulli, G; Pompili, A; Ricca, G Della; Argiro, S; Gregori, D; Grandi, C; Bonacorsi, D; Lista, L; Fabozzi, F; Barone, L M; Santocchia, A; Riahi, H; Tricomi, A; Sgaravatto, M; Maron, G

    2014-01-01

    The Italian community in CMS has built a geographically distributed network in which all the data stored in the Italian region are available to all the users for their everyday work. This activity involves at different level all the CMS centers: the Tier1 at CNAF, all the four Tier2s (Bari, Rome, Legnaro and Pisa), and few Tier3s (Trieste, Perugia, Torino, Catania, Napoli, ...). The federation uses the new network connections as provided by GARR, our NREN (National Research and Education Network), which provides a minimum of 10 Gbit/s to all the sites via the GARR-X[2] project. The federation is currently based on Xrootd[1] technology, and on a Redirector aimed to seamlessly connect all the sites, giving the logical view of a single entity. A special configuration has been put in place for the Tier1, CNAF, where ad-hoc Xrootd changes have been implemented in order to protect the tape system from excessive stress, by not allowing WAN connections to access tape only files, on a file-by-file basis. In order to improve the overall performance while reading files, both in terms of bandwidth and latency, a hierarchy of xrootd redirectors has been implemented. The solution implemented provides a dedicated Redirector where all the INFN sites are registered, without considering their status (T1, T2, or T3 sites). An interesting use case were able to cover via the federation are disk-less Tier3s. The caching solution allows to operate a local storage with minimal human intervention: transfers are automatically done on a single file basis, and the cache is maintained operational by automatic removal of old files.

  4. An Xrootd Italian Federation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boccali, T.; Donvito, G.; Diacono, D.; Marzulli, G.; Pompili, A.; Della Ricca, G.; Mazzoni, E.; Argiro, S.; Gregori, D.; Grandi, C.; Bonacorsi, D.; Lista, L.; Fabozzi, F.; Barone, L. M.; Santocchia, A.; Riahi, H.; Tricomi, A.; Sgaravatto, M.; Maron, G.

    2014-06-01

    The Italian community in CMS has built a geographically distributed network in which all the data stored in the Italian region are available to all the users for their everyday work. This activity involves at different level all the CMS centers: the Tier1 at CNAF, all the four Tier2s (Bari, Rome, Legnaro and Pisa), and few Tier3s (Trieste, Perugia, Torino, Catania, Napoli, ...). The federation uses the new network connections as provided by GARR, our NREN (National Research and Education Network), which provides a minimum of 10 Gbit/s to all the sites via the GARR-X[2] project. The federation is currently based on Xrootd[1] technology, and on a Redirector aimed to seamlessly connect all the sites, giving the logical view of a single entity. A special configuration has been put in place for the Tier1, CNAF, where ad-hoc Xrootd changes have been implemented in order to protect the tape system from excessive stress, by not allowing WAN connections to access tape only files, on a file-by-file basis. In order to improve the overall performance while reading files, both in terms of bandwidth and latency, a hierarchy of xrootd redirectors has been implemented. The solution implemented provides a dedicated Redirector where all the INFN sites are registered, without considering their status (T1, T2, or T3 sites). An interesting use case were able to cover via the federation are disk-less Tier3s. The caching solution allows to operate a local storage with minimal human intervention: transfers are automatically done on a single file basis, and the cache is maintained operational by automatic removal of old files.

  5. Conifer density within lake catchments predicts fish mercury concentrations in remote subalpine lakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eagles-Smith, Collin A.; Herring, Garth; Johnson, Branden L.; Graw, Rick

    2016-01-01

    Remote high-elevation lakes represent unique environments for evaluating the bioaccumulation of atmospherically deposited mercury through freshwater food webs, as well as for evaluating the relative importance of mercury loading versus landscape influences on mercury bioaccumulation. The increase in mercury deposition to these systems over the past century, coupled with their limited exposure to direct anthropogenic disturbance make them useful indicators for estimating how changes in mercury emissions may propagate to changes in Hg bioaccumulation and ecological risk. We evaluated mercury concentrations in resident fish from 28 high-elevation, sub-alpine lakes in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Fish total mercury (THg) concentrations ranged from 4 to 438 ng/g wet weight, with a geometric mean concentration (±standard error) of 43 ± 2 ng/g ww. Fish THg concentrations were negatively correlated with relative condition factor, indicating that faster growing fish that are in better condition have lower THg concentrations. Across the 28 study lakes, mean THg concentrations of resident salmonid fishes varied as much as 18-fold among lakes. We used a hierarchal statistical approach to evaluate the relative importance of physiological, limnological, and catchment drivers of fish Hg concentrations. Our top statistical model explained 87% of the variability in fish THg concentrations among lakes with four key landscape and limnological variables: catchment conifer density (basal area of conifers within a lake's catchment), lake surface area, aqueous dissolved sulfate, and dissolved organic carbon. Conifer density within a lake's catchment was the most important variable explaining fish THg concentrations across lakes, with THg concentrations differing by more than 400 percent across the forest density spectrum. These results illustrate the importance of landscape characteristics in controlling mercury bioaccumulation in fish.

  6. The Semantics of White and Black in Italian and Spanish Phraseology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daša Stanič

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This article considers the semantic values of "white" and "black" in Italian and Spanish phraseology. These two colors are among all those that form the greatest number of phraseological units. Consulting Italian and Spanish dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, phraseological dictionaries and chosen corpora of the two languages, 232 phraseological units with "white" and "black" were found. The most common type are collocations of the type adjective plus noun. In this paper, the phraseological units are classified according to their semantic values. It has been discovered that while the semantic values of "white" can in both languages be positive (in the majority and negative, the values of "black" are almost all negative. Variants of phraseological units that can be formed with both colours as well as examples of phraseological units containing both colours were highlighted. In most of these examples the "white" and "black" represent the opposite. Only a few phraseological units with "white" and "black" directly linked to the Italian and Spanish culture were found. They refer to mafia, football, fascism and bullfighting.

  7. Extreme Energy Events Project: Construction of the detectors and installation in Italian High Schools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abbrescia, M.; An, S.; Antolini, R.; Badala, A.; Baldini Ferroli, R.; Bencivenni, G.; Blanco, F.; Bressan, E.; Chiavassa, A.; Chiri, C.; Cifarelli, L.; Cindolo, F.; Coccia, E.; De Pasquale, S.; Di Giovanni, A.; D'Incecco, M.; Fabbri, F.L.; Frolov, V.; Garbini, M.; Gustavino, C.

    2008-01-01

    The EEE Project, conceived by its leader Antonino Zichichi, aims to detect Extreme Energy Events of cosmic rays with an array of muon telescopes distributed over the Italian territory. The Project involves Italian High Schools in order to introduce young people to Physics, also countervailing the recent crisis of university scientific classes inscriptions. The detectors for the EEE telescopes are Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) and have been constructed by teams of High School students who went in shift at the CERN laboratories. The mechanics and the electronics were developed by groups of researchers from CERN, the Italian Centro Fermi and INFN. The first group of schools of the EEE Project has inaugurated their telescopes recently. A status report of the Project and the preliminary results are presented

  8. Extreme Energy Events Project: Construction of the detectors and installation in Italian High Schools

    CERN Document Server

    Abbrescia, M; An, S; Antolini, R; Badalà, A; Baldini Ferroli, R; Bencivenni, G; Blanco, F; Bressan, E; Chiavassa, A; Chiri, C; Cifarelli, L; Cindolo, F; Coccia, E; De Pasquale, S; Di Giovanni, A; D’Incecco, M; Fabbri, F L; Frolov, V; Garbini, M; Gustavino, C; Hatzifotiadou, D; Imponente, G; Kim, J; La Rocca, P; Librizzi, F; Maggiora, A; Menghetti, H; Miozzi, S; Moro, R; Panareo, M; Pappalardo, G S; Piragino, G; Riggi, F; Romano, F; Sartorelli, G; Sbarra, C; Selvi, M; Serci, S; Williams, C; Zuyeuski, R

    2008-01-01

    The EEE Project, conceived by its leader Antonino Zichichi, aims to detect Extreme Energy Events of cosmic rays with an array of muon telescopes distributed over the Italian territory. The Project involves Italian High Schools in order to introduce young people to Physics, also countervailing the recent crisis of university scientific classes inscriptions. The detectors for the EEE telescopes are Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) and have been constructed by teams of High School students who went in shift at the CERN laboratories. The mechanics and the electronics were developed by groups of researchers from CERN, the Italian Centro Fermi and INFN. The first group of schools of the EEE Project has inaugurated their telescopes recently. A status report of the Project and the preliminary results are presented.

  9. The correlation between management power and risk in the Italian companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raffaella Scarabino

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The shareholders can not directly manage the business but they have powers of pulse and control by voting right that is essential for the correct functioning of the company. In 1942 the Italian legislature, although with some exceptions, adopted One share – One vote rule. The legal framework changed significantly after the enactment of corporate law reform in 2003. The objective of this research is to examine the status of the principle of correlation between management power and risk in the context of the regulatory framework of Italian public companies, as it emerged after the enactment of above mentioned corporate law reform in 2003.

  10. Education in Soil Science: the Italian approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benedetti, Anna; Canfora, Loredana; Dazzi, Carmelo; Lo Papa, Giuseppe

    2017-04-01

    The Italian Society of Soil Science (SISS) was founded in Florence on February 18th, 1952. It is an association legally acknowledged by Decree of the President of the Italian Republic in February 1957. The Society is member of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) of the European Confederation of Soil Science Societies (ECSSS) and collaborates with several companies, institutions and organizations having similar objectives or policy aspects. SISS promotes progress, coordination and dissemination of soil science and its applications encouraging relationships and collaborations among soil lovers. Within the SISS there are Working Groups and Technical Committees for specific issues of interest. In particular: • the Working Group on Pedotechniques; • the Working Group on Hydromorphic and Subaqueous Soils and • the Technical Committee for Soil Education and Public Awareness. In this communication we wish to stress the activities developed since its foundation by SISS to spread soil awareness and education in Italy through this last Technical Committee, focusing also the aspect concerning grants for young graduates and PhD graduates to stimulate the involvement of young people in the field of soil science. Keywords: SISS, soil education and awareness.

  11. Bible translations into Italian (XV–XIX century

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ryszard Wróbel

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The author discusses, in chronological order, all the major translations of the Bible which were published in Italian from the beginning of the fifteenth to the late nineteenth century. By definition he did not consider translations done for partial or specialized studies (e.g. only the Gospels, only the Psalms, the Bibles for children, etc.. The list includes eight items. In a presentation of each of them the author uses a very homogeneous pattern to help the reader to see similarities and differences between releases. The information includes data such as: name or title of work, author’s name, place and date, publisher’s name, names of translators, editors, source of translation, editing characteristics, and other observations. The whole presentation is provided with a short introduction which allows to place the Bible editions in the proper context and with the conclusion in which we become acquainted with the specificity and exceptionality of the Italian Bible way in the discussed period.

  12. Avian Metapneumovirus circulation in Italian broiler farms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucciarone, Claudia Maria; Franzo, Giovanni; Lupini, Caterina; Alejo, Carolina Torres; Listorti, Valeria; Mescolini, Giulia; Brandão, Paulo Eduardo; Martini, Marco; Catelli, Elena; Cecchinato, Mattia

    2018-02-01

    With increasing frequency, avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) is reported to induce respiratory signs in chickens. An adequate knowledge of current aMPV prevalence among Italian broilers is lacking, with little information available on its economical and health impact on the poultry industry. In order to collect preliminary data on the epidemiological context of aMPV in broiler flocks, a survey was performed in areas of Northern Italy with high poultry density from 2014 to 2016. Upper respiratory tract swabs were collected and processed by A and B subtype-specific multiplex real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). Samples were also screened for infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) by generic RT-PCR and sequencing. Productive data and respiratory signs were detailed where possible. The high prevalence of aMPV was confirmed in broilers older than 26 d and also attested in IBV-negative farms. All aMPV detections belonged to subtype B. Italian strain genetic variability was evaluated by the partial attachment (G) gene sequencing of selected strains and compared with contemporary turkey strains and previously published aMPV references, revealing no host specificity and the progressive evolution of this virus in Italy. © 2017 Poultry Science Association Inc.

  13. Measuring Dispositional Flow: Validity and reliability of the Dispositional Flow State Scale 2, Italian version.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riva, Eleonora F M; Riva, Giuseppe; Talò, Cosimo; Boffi, Marco; Rainisio, Nicola; Pola, Linda; Diana, Barbara; Villani, Daniela; Argenton, Luca; Inghilleri, Paolo

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-2), for use with Italian adults, young adults and adolescents. In accordance with the guidelines for test adaptation, the scale has been translated with the method of back translation. The understanding of the item has been checked according to the latest standards on the culturally sensitive translation. The scale thus produced was administered to 843 individuals (of which 60.69% female), between the ages of 15 and 74. The sample is balanced between workers and students. The main activities defined by the subjects allow the sample to be divided into three categories: students, workers, athletes (professionals and semi-professionals). The confirmatory factor analysis, conducted using the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLM), showed acceptable fit indexes. Reliability and validity have been verified, and structural invariance has been verified on 6 categories of Flow experience and for 3 subsamples with different with different fields of action. Correlational analysis shows significant high values between the nine dimensions. Our data confirmed the validity and reliability of the Italian DFS-2 in measuring Flow experiences. The scale is reliable for use with Italian adults, young adults and adolescents. The Italian version of the scale is suitable for the evaluation of the subjective tendency to experience Flow trait characteristic in different contest, as sport, study and work.

  14. Measurements of indoor radon concentration in italian red cross workplaces: preliminary results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fontana, C.; Musumeci, R.G.; Valeriani, F.; Tonnarini, S.; Trevisi, R.

    2002-01-01

    In August 2000 in Italy the D.Lgs.241/00 law was passed to implement the 96/29 Euratom Directive (BSS Directive, EC 1996). D.Lgs.241/00 states that workers cannot be exposed to decay products of radon, thoron and gamma radiation at a level higher than action level. The law became effective January 1, 2001. Italian action level of 500 Bq/m3 is the annual average indoor radon concentration. Work activities in zones with greater probability of high indoor radon concentration have to be identified. According to the law, a Commission must establish criteria for clarifying areas at risk. The actual work of classification is then done by the regions. A three year time period was given to define areas at risk. As the normative still must be completed, the Italian Red Cross and the Italian National Institute for Occupational Prevention and Safety initiated this study both because the Red Cross has always been sensitive to health problems and also to offer the Commission further experimental data regarding radon in Italy

  15. Italian industrial districts: A model of success or a weak productive system?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniele Schilirò

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The present contribution focuses on two issues. The first one concerns the characteristics of industrial districts and the increasing weight of these districts in the Italian system of production. The second issue is about the competitiveness of the Italian industrial districts, if they represent a model of success or rather a weak system of production. Thus, the transformation of the industrial districts is examined and the strengths and weaknesses are highlighted. One argument that comes out of this investigation is that industrial districts are strongly influenced by institutions, territory, and also by the social and cultural environment. The second argument regards the competitiveness of this Italian industrial development model, based on SMEs, which is founded on the specialization of productions, on innovation and internationalization. The paper argues that this model, which represents the ``Made in Italy'', is still a strong and dynamic system which has shown good performances and it represents a paradigm of lasting competitiveness, even if it is restrained by many external chronic constraints.

  16. 'Self body-management and thinness in youth: survey study on Italian girls'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Giacomo, Dina; De Liso, Giulia; Ranieri, Jessica

    2018-06-08

    Adherence to the thinness model, self-acceptance such as self-esteem is psychological dynamics influencing the young age and emerging adulthood of women life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the girls and young women' ability to deal with the adherence to thinness model according to their self-body management thought daily self-perception of ownhabits and aptitude. We analysed their emotional patterns and body management to elucidate the Italian phenomenon. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2287 Italian female distribute in range age 15-25 years old and distributed in girl and young women groups. We conducted a Survey study by snowball sampling technique. Our results showed that girls had higher emotional pattern scores when their weight and shape fit the thinness model: skinny girls felt positively about their body even if when they did not take adequate care of it. Italian girls consider the underweight body mass index an adherence model. Findings suggest the urgent need to plan prevention programme to model healthy behaviours about their daily good practice overcoming social and cultural models based on appearance.

  17. Assessment of the Threats to the Biodiversity and Habitats in "Stara Reka" Reserve (Bulgaria and Its Adjacent Subalpine and Alpine Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svetlana V. Yocheva

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The assessment of the threats in the “Stara Reka” reserve and its adjacent subalpine and alpine areas is important since it makes it possible the appropriate conservation measures to be taken in order to prevent or reduce the negative effects on the biodiversity and habitats. The assessment was based on systematic studies and visits in the “Stara Reka” Reserve, located within National Park “Central Balkan” (Bulgaria, during spring, summer and autumn seasons of 2010-2011. A number of threats were recorded, where those by anthropogenic origin were predominating. Tourists have negatively influenced the wild plants such as Allium ursinum, Inula helenium and Primula frondosa by picking them up. Damages were registered on the information system and signs. Waste disposal, fires, poaching and illegal fishing were also some of the recorded threats. Many natural succession changes quite dynamically vary the habitats in the reserve, but the most dangerous for the biodiversity and degradation of habitats remain fires, erosion and introduction of alien species.

  18. Application of Regulation for recycling metals arising from Decommissioning of an Italian Nuclear Facility - Application of national regulations for metallic materials' recycling from the decommissioning of an Italian nuclear facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varasano, Giovanni; Baldassarre, Leonardo; Petagna, Edoardo

    2014-01-01

    The start of the decommissioning of nuclear Italian sites requires proper management of clearance for large volumes of metallic materials. This paper describes the current legal framework relating to the Italian regulatory system of reference for the verification of the conditions of unconditional release of materials from nuclear installations, with particular reference to the recycling of metals. The definition of clearance levels, whether general or specific, ensures the clearance of materials arising from nuclear sites without further examinations. The Italian legislation on radiation protection requires that the removal of materials from authorized practices be subject to special requirements included in the authorization provisions. These requirements provide clearance levels that take account of the recommendations and technical guidelines supplied by the European Commission. The regulatory framework requires compliance with current technical and managerial requirements, issued by the National Regulatory Authority and annexed to the Ministerial Authorization, in which are shown the levels of surface activity and specific activity established for the unconditional release of metals from nuclear sites. The real challenge for the nuclear operator is the management of large amounts of waste materials arising from decommissioning activities. For the Italian operator SOGIN SpA is of extreme importance the correct application of national regulatory framework, in order to allow the most effective reduction of the amount of radioactive waste during decommissioning activities. (authors)

  19. Strange culinary encounters::stranger fetichism in "Jamie's Italian escape" and "Gordon's great escape"

    OpenAIRE

    Leer, Jonatan; Kjær, Katrine Meldgaard

    2015-01-01

    In this article, we examine the ways in which the encountering of 'other' food cultures is played out in the two travelogue cooking shows Gordon's Great Escape and Jamie's Italian Escape. We investigate how the two protagonist chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay imagine, meet and evaluate the ‘other’ food cultures in these programs, paying special attention to how the encounter with the local Indian and Italian is imagined to be a gateway to an authentic and/or primitive experience. Our main...

  20. Multi-isotopic signatures of organic and conventional Italian pasta along the production chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bontempo, L.; Camin, F.; Paolini, M.

    2016-01-01

    The variability of stable isotope ratios (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N, δ18O and δ34S) along the production chain of pasta (durum wheat, flour and pasta) produced by using both conventional and organic farming systems in four Italian regions in 2 years was investigated. The aim was to evaluate if and how...... control procedures that can be used to check the geographical origin of Italian organic and conventional pasta and its raw materials....

  1. Saranno Rispettati Come Per il Passato. Italian Colonial Policy towards Libyan Religious Endowments

    OpenAIRE

    GAZZINI, Claudia

    2010-01-01

    This paper offers a survey of Italian colonial policy towards Muslim religious endowments (waqf, pl. awqaf) in Libya from 1911 to 1943. Through an analysis of 41 lawsuits presented to the colonial Court of Appeals and a detailed survey of the laws promulgated to reform the administration of the awqaf in Libya, this study reveals the legal mechanisms adopted by Italian jurists to regulate awqaf matters in their only North African colony. It demonstrates that, unlike other colonial powers in th...

  2. Cross-cultural adaptation and patients' judgments of a Question Prompt List for Italian-speaking cancer patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annunziata Maria

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Question Prompt Lists (QPLs have proven very effective in encouraging cancer patients to ask questions, allowing them to take up a more active role during visits with the oncologist. As no such tool has yet been validated for Italian-speaking users, we carried out the cross-cultural adaptation and evaluation of an existing Australian Question Prompt List. Methods Cross-cultural adaptation was performed in accordance with the five steps described by Guillemin and Beaton. Forward and back translations of the original tool were carried out, and the products discussed by an Expert Committee who agreed on a prefinal version of the Italian QPL, which was submitted to 30 volunteer patients for evaluation. They rated each question's adequacy of content, clarity of wording, usefulness, and generated anxiety, on a 3-point Likert scale. Based on the analysis of patient ratings, the final version of the Italian QPL was produced. Results Few discrepancies between the two back translations and the original version of the instrument were noted, indicating that the Italian translation (synthesis of the 2 forward translations was substantially accurate. Most volunteer patients felt that the questionnaire was adequate, easy to understand and useful. Only a few minor criticisms were expressed. Certain questions on diagnosis and prognosis generated the highest level of anxiety. Patient comments and ratings on clarity highlighted the need to clarify common health care terms which are not widely used by the public (i.e. guideline, multidisciplinary team and clinical trial Conclusions This cross-cultural adaptation has produced an Italian Question Prompt List that is now available for multi-center international studies and can be safely used with Italian-speaking cancer patients.

  3. Italian money tested for forgery by moessbauer spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ortalli, I.; Pedrazzi, G.; Jiang Keyu; Zhang Xiufang

    1993-01-01

    Italian money has been investigated by Moessbauer spectroscopy. The results indicated that the spectrum of a 10000 lire bank-note consisted of three magnetic sextets and two quadrupole doublets, the spectrum of a 5000 lire note consisted of two Zeeman sextets, but in the 'false' money there are two quadrupole doublets only

  4. Pathological Gambling among Italian Nursing Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cicolini, Giancarlo; Della Pelle, Carlo; Simonetti, Valentina; Comparcini, Dania; Sepede, Gianna; Cipollone, Francesco

    2018-04-01

    To investigate the role of psychiatric dimensions, behavioral or substance addictions and demographical variables as determinants of pathological gambling among nursing students. Multicenter cross-sectional study. From June to October 2015 a survey was carried out among Italian Nursing students. Data were collected using a six-section tool. Nursing students who completed the survey numbered 1083, 902 (83.3%) had some problems with gambling and 29 (2.7%) showed pathological gambling. Percentage of pathological gambling was significantly associate with illicit drug/alcohol use (65.5%; p=0.001) and with male gender (58.6%) comparing to student nurse with non-pathological gambling (20%) and those with some problem (24.2%). Significant main effect was observed for IAT score (Beta=0.119, t=3.28, p=0.001): higher IAT scores were associated with higher SOGS scores. Italian nursing students have some problems with gambling and pathological gambling problem, and males are those who have more problems. Results might be useful for faculties of health professionals to identify students at risk in an early stage, to direct prevention tailored interventions. Nursing faculties should be aware of the prevalence of Gambling among students. Prevention interventions should be planned to minimize the risk of gambling behavior in the future nurses' health care workers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Social networking addiction, attachment style, and validation of the Italian version of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monacis, Lucia; de Palo, Valeria; Griffiths, Mark D; Sinatra, Maria

    2017-06-01

    Aim Research into social networking addiction has greatly increased over the last decade. However, the number of validated instruments assessing addiction to social networking sites (SNSs) remains few, and none have been validated in the Italian language. Consequently, this study tested the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), as well as providing empirical data concerning the relationship between attachment styles and SNS addiction. Methods A total of 769 participants were recruited to this study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multigroup analyses were applied to assess construct validity of the Italian version of the BSMAS. Reliability analyses comprised the average variance extracted, the standard error of measurement, and the factor determinacy coefficient. Results Indices obtained from the CFA showed the Italian version of the BSMAS to have an excellent fit of the model to the data, thus confirming the single-factor structure of the instrument. Measurement invariance was established at configural, metric, and strict invariances across age groups, and at configural and metric levels across gender groups. Internal consistency was supported by several indicators. In addition, the theoretical associations between SNS addiction and attachment styles were generally supported. Conclusion This study provides evidence that the Italian version of the BSMAS is a psychometrically robust tool that can be used in future Italian research into social networking addiction.

  6. Intraguild predation and cannibalism among larvae of detritivorous caddisflies in subalpine wetlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wissinger, S.A.; Sparks, G.B.; Rouse, G.L.; Brown, W.S.; Steltzer, Heidi

    1996-01-01

    Comparative data from subalpine wetlands in Colorado indicate that larvae of the limnephilid caddisflies, Asynarchus nigriculus and Limnephilus externus, are reciprocally abundant among habitats - Limnephilus larvae dominate in permanent waters, whereas Asynarchus larvae dominate in temporary basins. The purpose of this paper is to report on field and laboratory experiments that link this pattern of abundance to biotic interactions among larvae. In the first field experiment, growth and survival were compared in single and mixed species treatments in littoral enclosures. Larvae, which eat mainly vascular plant detritus, grew at similar rates among treatments in both temporary and permanent habitats suggesting that exploitative competition is not important under natural food levels and caddisfly densities. However, the survival of Limnephilus larvae was reduced in the presence of Asynarchus larvae. Subsequent behavioral studies in laboratory arenas revealed that Asynarchus larvae are extremely aggressive predators on Limnephilus larvae. In a second field experiment we manipulated the relative sizes of larvae and found that Limnephilus larvae were preyed on only when Asynarchus larvae had the same size advantage observed in natural populations. Our data suggest that the dominance of Asynarchus larvae in temporary habitats is due to asymmetric intraguild predation (IGP) facilitated by a phenological head start in development. These data do not explain the dominance of Limnephilus larvae in permanent basins, which we show elsewhere to be an indirect effect of salamander predation. Behavioral observations also revealed that Asynarchus larvae are cannibalistic. In contrast to the IGP on Limnephilus larvae, Asynarchus cannibalism occurs among same-sized larvae and often involves the mobbing of one victim by several conspecifics. In a third field experiment, we found that Asynarchus cannibalism was not density-dependent and occurred even at low larval densities. We

  7. Italian Present-day Stress Indicators: IPSI Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mariucci, M. T.; Montone, P.

    2017-12-01

    In Italy, since the 90s of the last century, researches concerning the contemporary stress field have been developing at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) with local and regional scale studies. Throughout the years many data have been analysed and collected: now they are organized and available for an easy end-use online. IPSI (Italian Present-day Stress Indicators) database, is the first geo-referenced repository of information on the crustal present-day stress field maintained at INGV through a web application database and website development by Gabriele Tarabusi. Data consist of horizontal stress orientations analysed and compiled in a standardized format and quality-ranked for reliability and comparability on a global scale with other database. Our first database release includes 855 data records updated to December 2015. Here we present an updated version that will be released in 2018, after new earthquake data entry up to December 2017. The IPSI web site (http://ipsi.rm.ingv.it/) allows accessing data on a standard map viewer and choose which data (category and/or quality) to plot easily. The main information of each single element (type, quality, orientation) can be viewed simply going over the related symbol, all the information appear by clicking the element. At the same time, simple basic information on the different data type, tectonic regime assignment, quality ranking method are available with pop-up windows. Data records can be downloaded in some common formats, moreover it is possible to download a file directly usable with SHINE, a web based application to interpolate stress orientations (http://shine.rm.ingv.it). IPSI is mainly conceived for those interested in studying the characters of Italian peninsula and surroundings although Italian data are part of the World Stress Map (http://www.world-stress-map.org/) as evidenced by many links that redirect to this database for more details on standard practices in this field.

  8. The Science Training Program for Young Italian Physicists and Engineers at Fermilab

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barzi, Emanuela [Fermilab; Bellettini, Giorgio [INFN, Pisa; Donati, Simone [INFN, Pisa

    2015-03-12

    Since 1984 Fermilab has been hosting a two-month summer training program for selected undergraduate and graduate Italian students in physics and engineering. Building on the traditional close collaboration between the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and Fermilab, the program is supported by INFN, by the DOE and by the Scuola Superiore di Sant`Anna of Pisa (SSSA), and is run by the Cultural Association of Italians at Fermilab (CAIF). This year the University of Pisa has qualified it as a “University of Pisa Summer School”, and will grant successful students with European Supplementary Credits. Physics students join the Fermilab HEP research groups, while engineers join the Particle Physics, Accelerator, Technical, and Computing Divisions. Some students have also been sent to other U.S. laboratories and universities for special trainings. The programs cover topics of great interest for science and for social applications in general, like advanced computing, distributed data analysis, nanoelectronics, particle detectors for earth and space experiments, high precision mechanics, applied superconductivity. In the years, over 350 students have been trained and are now employed in the most diverse fields in Italy, Europe, and the U.S. In addition, the existing Laurea Program in Fermilab Technical Division was extended to the whole laboratory, with presently two students in Master’s thesis programs on neutrino physics and detectors in the Neutrino Division. And finally, a joint venture with the Italian Scientists and Scholars North-America Foundation (ISSNAF) provided this year 4 professional engineers free of charge for Fermilab. More details on all of the above can be found below.

  9. Physical Attributes and NFL Combine Performance Tests Between Italian National League and American Football Players: A Comparative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vitale, Jacopo A; Caumo, Andrea; Roveda, Eliana; Montaruli, Angela; La Torre, Antonio; Battaglini, Claudio L; Carandente, Franca

    2016-10-01

    Vitale, JA, Caumo, A, Roveda, E, Montaruli, A, La Torre, A, Battaglini, CL, and Carandente, F. Physical attributes and NFL Combine performance tests between Italian National League and American football players: a comparative study. J Strength Cond Res 30(10): 2802-2808, 2016-The purpose of this study was to examine anthropometric measurements and the results of a battery of performance tests administered during the National Football League (NFL) Combine between American football players who were declared eligible to participate in the NFL Combine and football players of a top Italian team (Rhinos Milan). Participants (N = 50) were categorized by position into 1 of 3 groups based on playing position: skill players (SP) included wide receivers, cornerbacks, free safeties, strong safeties, and running backs; big skill players (BSP) consisted of fullbacks, linebackers, tight ends, and defensive ends; lineman (LM) included centers, offensive guards, offensive tackles, and defensive tackles. A 1-way analysis of variance followed by the Tukey-Kramer post hoc test was used for comparisons between Italian players by playing position. Ninety-five percent CIs were used for comparisons between American and Italian football for the NFL Combine performance tests. Significant differences for all the variables between the 3 playing categories were observed among the Italian players; LM had higher anthropometric and body composition values than SP (p football players presented significantly higher anthropometric values and test performance scores when compared with Italian players. Administrators of professional football teams in Italy need to improve the player's physical attributes, so the gap that currently exists between American and Italian players can be reduced, which could significantly improve the quality of American football in Italy.

  10. Association of FTO Polymorphisms with Early Age of Obesity in Obese Italian Subjects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Federica Sentinelli

    2012-01-01

    Aims of our study are to investigate: (1 the association of FTO gene SNPs rs9939609 and rs9930506 with body mass index (BMI and obesity-related parameters in a large cohort (n=752 of Italian obese subjects; (2 the association between the two FTO SNPs and age of onset of obesity. Our results demonstrate a strong association between FTO SNPs rs9939609 (P<0.043 and rs9930506 (P<0.029 with BMI in the Italian population. FTO rs9930506 was significantly associated with higher BMI in a G allele dose-dependent manner (BMI+1.4 kg/m2 per G allele. We also observed that the association with BMI of the two FTO variants varied with age, with the carriers of the risk alleles developing an increase in body weight earlier in life. In conclusion, our study further demonstrates a role of the genetic variability in FTO on BMI in a large Italian population.

  11. Status report on Italian activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tavoni, R.

    1999-01-01

    The main features of the Italian energy supply situation is shown. Primary energy demand increased by 2.7% while the total final consumption was mainly attributed to industry, transport, household and services. Nuclear activities of ENEL were related mostly to nuclear fuel cycle, i.e. processing and disposal of nuclear waste from phased out nuclear power plants. The following nine research programs were foreseen: proton source; low and medium energy accelerator section; high energy accelerator section; neutron production for material characterization; general safety criteria and classification; neutronics and transmutation efficiency; thermal-hydraulic analysis; beam window technology; materials technology

  12. Phonological competence development in Italian as second/foreign language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anja Zorman

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In language courses and teaching materials for Italian as a second or foreign language little attention is generally paid to the development of phonological competence and of speaking ability. The present study involved 140 pupils of elementary schools with Slovene as the language of instruction in the bilingual area of the Slovene Coastal area where Italian is taught as a second language. The research investigated the impact of phonology teaching and the development of phonological awareness on auditory perception abilities. The findings show that programs for the development of discriminatory listening and phonological segmentation of linguistic input critically influence the pupils’ ability of auditory perception, provided such programs are long-term, systematic, intensive, and carried out through direct interaction between the pupils and speakers of the target language. Consequently, such programs also enhance enhance the development of listening comprehension and communicative competence in the target language.

  13. Building Earth's Largest Library: Driving into the Future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coffman, Steve

    1999-01-01

    Examines the Amazon.com online bookstore as a blueprint for designing the world's largest library. Topics include selection; accessibility and convenience; quality of Web sites and search tools; personalized service; library collection development, including interlibrary loan; library catalogs and catalog records; a circulation system; costs;…

  14. Toward sustainable harvesting of Africa's largest medicinal plant ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Global demand for treating prostate disorders with Prunus africana bark extract has made P. africana Africa's largest medicinal plant export. Unsustainable harvesting practices can lead to local extirpations of this multipurpose tree. Survey research targeting P. africana harvesters in a Tanzania forest reserve revealed that ...

  15. “The Biennale of Dissent 1977” and Italian Architecture during the 1970s

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Guido

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available In 1977, “The Biennale of Dissent” was a significant event in the history of the anti-Soviet dissidence. In Italy during the 1970s intellectuals, artists and architects had many connections with Marxist theories and the Soviet Union, but their role, referred to in this event, appears complex and, on occasions, contradictory. The Italian cultural world mirrored a political situation, in which it became a duty to take up a position which opposed Italy’s Fascist past. Artistic and political opinions coincided. For this reason, in Italy the culture of dissidence led to a heated debate. One generation of architects was born in this context and few were able to think outside the box. The interpretation proposed for Italian architecture and the masters of the time should prompt a consideration of the current absence of Italian critics and architects in international debates.   Article received: December 16, 2016; Article accepted: January 13, 2017; Published online: April 20, 2017 Original scholarly paper How to cite this article: Guido, Luca. "'The Biennale of Dissent 1977' and Italian Architecture during the 1970s." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 12 (2017: 17-28. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i12.164

  16. Charcoal and Total Carbon in Soils from Foothills Shrublands to Subalpine Forests in the Colorado Front Range

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Sanford

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Temperate conifer forests in the Colorado Front Range are fire-adapted ecosystems where wildland fires leave a legacy in the form of char and charcoal. Long-term soil charcoal C (CC pools result from the combined effects of wildland fires, aboveground biomass characteristics and soil transfer mechanisms. We measured CC pools in surface soils (0–10 cm at mid-slope positions on east facing aspects in five continuous foothills shrubland and conifer forest types. We found a significant statistical effect of vegetation type on CC pools along this ecological gradient, but not a linear pattern increasing with elevation gain. There is a weak bimodal pattern of CC gain with elevation between foothills shrublands (1.2 mg CC ha−1 and the lower montane, ponderosa pine (1.5 mg CC ha−1 and Douglas-fir (1.5 mg CC ha−1 forest types prior to a mid-elevation decline in upper montane lodgepole pine forests (1.2 mg CC ha−1 before increasing again in the spruce/subalpine fir forests (1.5 mg CC ha−1. We propose that CC forms and accumulates via unique ecological conditions such as fire regime. The range of soil CC amounts and ratios of CC to total SOC are comparable to but lower than other regional estimates.

  17. Italian Microhistory, anthropology and judicial archives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eulalia Hernández Ciro

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available From the interceptions between the Italian microhistory and anthropology, this article aims to provide a central debate of contemporary historiography account of popular culture and subaltern classes from the intensive and exhaustive judicial proceedings. To do this, some of the impacts of anthropology will be addressed in the historical work, as the appearance and questioning notion of popular culture, the ethnographic value of court files and finally, some possibilities in the case of Judicial Historical Archive of Medellin.

  18. Phonetic and phonological imitation of intonation in two varieties of Italian

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariapaola eD'Imperio

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to test whether both phonetic and phonological representations of intonation can be rapidly modified when imitating utterances belonging to a different regional variety of the same language. Our main hypothesis was that tonal alignment, just as other phonetic features of speech, would be rapidly modified by Italian speakers when imitating pitch accents of a different (Southern variety of Italian. In particular, we tested whether Bari Italian speakers would produce later peaks for their native rising L+H* (question pitch accent in the process of imitating Neapolitan Italian rising L*+H accents. Also, we tested whether BI speakers are able to modify other phonetic properties (pitch level as well as phonological characteristics (changes in tonal composition of the same contour. In a follow-up study, we tested if the reverse was also true, i.e. whether NI speakers would produce earlier peaks within the L*+H accent in the process of imitating the L+H* of BI questions, despite the presence of a contrast between two rising accents in this variety. Our results show that phonetic detail of tonal alignment can be successfully modified by both BI and NI speakers when imitating a model speaker of the other variety. The hypothesis of a selective imitation process preventing alignment modifications in NI was hence not supported. Moreover the effect was significantly stronger for low frequency words. Participants were also able to imitate other phonetic cues, in that they modified global utterance pitch level. Concerning phonological convergence, speakers modified the tonal specification of the edge tones in order to resemble that of the other variety by either suppressing or increasing the presence of a final H%. Hence, our data show that intonation imitation leads to fast modification of both phonetic and phonological intonation representations including detail of tonal alignment and pitch scaling.

  19. Development of the Italian Version of the Near-Death Experience Scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesca Pistoia

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Near-death experiences (NDEs have been defined as any conscious perceptual experience occurring in individuals pronounced clinically dead or who came very close to physical death. They are frequently reported by patients surviving a critical injury and, intriguingly, they show common features across different populations. The tool traditionally used to assess NDEs is the NDE Scale, which is available in the original English version. The aim of this study was to develop the Italian version of the NDE Scale and to assess its reliability in a specific clinical setting. A process of translation of the original scale was performed in different stages in order to obtain a fully comprehensible and accurate Italian translation. Later, the scale was administered to a convenience sample of patients who had experienced a condition of coma and were, at the time of assessment, fully conscious and able to provide information as requested by the scale. Inter-rater and test–retest reliability, assessed by the weighted Cohen’s kappa (Kw, were estimated. A convenience sample of 20 subjects [mean age ± standard deviation (SD 51.6 ± 17.1, median time from injury 3.5 months, interquartile range (IQR 2–10] was included in the study. Inter-rater [Kw 0.77 (95% CI 0.67–0.87] and test–retest reliability [Kw 0.96 (95% CI 0.91–1.00] showed good to excellent values for the total scores of the Italian NDE Scale and for subanalyses of each single cluster of the scale. An Italian Version of the NDE Scale is now available to investigate the frequency of NDE, the causes for NDE heterogeneity across different life-threatening conditions, and the possible neural mechanisms underlying NDE phenomenology.

  20. Italian chemists' contributions to named reactions in organic synthesis: an historical perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papeo, Gianluca; Pulici, Maurizio

    2013-09-04

    From the second half of the 19th century up to modern times, the tremendous contribution of Italian chemists to the development of science resulted in the discovery of a number of innovative chemical transformations. These reactions were subsequently christened according to their inventors' name and so entered into the organic chemistry portfolio of "named organic reactions". As these discoveries were being conceived, massive social, political and geographical changes in these chemists' homeland were also occurring. In this review, a brief survey of known (and some lesser known) named organic reactions discovered by Italian chemists, along with their historical contextualization, is presented.

  1. Italian cogeneration legislation (Laws 9 ampersand 10): ENEL's (Italy) point of view

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pello', P.M.

    1991-01-01

    Referring to recently legislated Italian normatives governing on-site electric power generation by private industry, in particular, to the clauses which regard rate structure in the case of auto-producers ceding power to the national grid controlled by ENEL (the Italian National Electricity Board), this paper determines auto-production economic feasibility limits, based on cogeneration plant annual power production, ceded power quality, type of fuel, and overall operating costs. Some consideration is then given to the long term implications that this legislation, encouraging on-site production on a wide scale, has on ENEL's strategic planning and natural gas marketing in Italy

  2. [The assimilation of Italians and their descendants in Argentine society (1880-1925)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nascimbene, M C

    1996-09-01

    "The impact of massive immigration in the post-1870 period produced major changes in... Argentine society. Integration of immigrant groups (Italians, Spaniards, the French and others) was nevertheless fiercely opposed by local elites. The essay is firstly concerned with size and development of immigration flows; secondly it deals with the characteristics of local reaction against the immigrants; thirdly it reveals how, in spite of the latter, the Italians' integration did take place in the Argentine middle classes. Finally, a particular case-study is presented, in connection with integration of immigrants and their descendants in the national army." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND FRE) excerpt

  3. Site- and Species-Specific Influences on Sub-Alpine Conifer Growth in Mt. Rainier National Park, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Myesa Legendre-Fixx

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Identifying the factors that influence the climate sensitivity of treeline species is critical to understanding carbon sequestration, forest dynamics, and conservation in high elevation forest/meadow ecotones. Using tree cores from four sub-alpine conifer species collected from three sides of Mt. Rainier, WA, USA, we investigated the influences of species identity and sites with different local climates on radial growth–climate relationships. We created chronologies for each species at each site, determined influential plant-relevant annual and seasonal climatic variables influencing growth, and investigated how the strength of climate sensitivity varied across species and location. Overall, similar climate variables constrained growth on all three sides of the mountain for each of the four study species. Summer warmth positively influenced radial growth, whereas snow, spring warmth, previous summer warmth, and spring humidity negatively influenced growth. We discovered only a few subtle differences in the climate sensitivity of co-occurring species at the same site and between the same species at different sites in pairwise comparisons. A model including species by climate interactions provided the best balance between parsimony and fit, but did not lead to substantially greater predictive power relative to a model without site or species interactions. Our results imply that at treeline in moist temperate regions like Mt. Rainier, the same climatic variables drive annual variation in growth across species and locations, despite species differences in physiology and site differences in mean climates.

  4. Italian Education beyond Hierarchy: Governance, Evaluation and Headship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimaldi, Emiliano; Serpieri, Roberto

    2014-01-01

    This article deals with the changes introduced in the Italian education system after the 1997 School Autonomy reform. Looking at the complex interplay between global influences and processes of local inflection, the work explores the degree to which we are witnessing a significant shift towards a new mode of governance and the interplay between…

  5. 23rd Workshop of the Italian Neural Networks Society (SIREN)

    CERN Document Server

    Esposito, Anna; Morabito, Francesco

    2014-01-01

    This volume collects a selection of contributions which has been presented at the 23rd Italian Workshop on Neural Networks, the yearly meeting of the Italian Society for Neural Networks (SIREN). The conference was held in Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, Italy during May 23-24, 2013. The annual meeting of SIREN is sponsored by International Neural Network Society (INNS), European Neural Network Society (ENNS) and IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS). The book – as well as the workshop-  is organized in two main components, a special session and a group of regular sessions featuring different aspects and point of views of artificial neural networks, artificial and natural intelligence, as well as psychological and cognitive theories for modeling human behaviors and human machine interactions, including Information Communication applications of compelling interest.  .

  6. Adaptation and psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire for Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cova, I; Di Battista, M E; Vanacore, N; Papi, C P; Alampi, G; Rubino, A; Valente, M; Meco, G; Contri, P; Di Pucchio, A; Lacorte, E; Priori, A; Mariani, C; Pomati, S

    2017-04-01

    Although non-motor symptoms (NMS) of Parkinson's disease (PD) are very common also in early stages of the disease, they are still under-recognized. Screening tools for non-motor symptoms, such as non-motor symptoms questionnaire (NMSQuest), help clinicians to recognize NMS and to evaluate if patients could require further assessment or specific treatments. To validate an adapted Italian version of NMSQuest and study its psychometric properties, Italian PD patients self-completed Italian NMSQuest, and then underwent a standard clinical evaluation including motor assessment (by Hoehn and Yahr staging, unified Parkinson's disease rating scale part III) and non-motor assessment (by Montreal cognitive assessment, Beck depression inventory, neuropsychiatric inventory, Epworth sleepiness scale, scale for outcomes in Parkinson's disease-Autonomic and movement disorder society-sponsored revision of the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale part I). Somatic comorbidities were quantified using the modified cumulative illness rating scale (CIRS). Seventy-one subjects were assessed (mean age years 69.8 ± 9.6 SD; 31% women; mean duration of disease 6.3 ± 4.6 years; H&Y median 2). Italian NMSQuest showed adequate satisfactory clinimetrics in terms of data quality, precision, acceptability, internal consistency and reliability. A significant correlation was found between NMSQuest and most of non-motor assessment scales, while no significant correlation appeared with motor severity as well as with age of patients, disease duration, levodopa equivalent daily dose, L-DOPA/dopamine agonists assumption and CIRS total score. The Italian version of the NMSQuest resulted as a reliable instrument for screening NMS in Italian PD patients.

  7. An historical and geographic data set on the distribution of macroinvertebrates in Italian mountain lakes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angela Boggero

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Macroinvertebrates play a key role in freshwater food webs, acting as major links between organic matter resources, primary consumers (such as bacteria, and secondary consumers (e.g.fish, amphibians, birds, and reptiles. In this paper we present a data set encompassing all geographic and historical data available on macroinvertebrates of the Italian mountain lakes from 1902 to 2016. The data set, divided per Italian mountain range (Alps and Apennines and administrative region, covers more than a century of studies of many foreign and Italian scientists. The data set includes 2372 records and shows macroinvertebrate occurrence data in 176 Alpine and in 13 Apennine lakes, of which 178 of natural origin, 5 reservoirs, and 6 artificially extended. The data set lists 605 taxa, updated on the basis of their current taxonomic position. Only 353 taxa are identified at species level, highlighting the still poorly investigated biodiversity of Italian mountain lake macroinvertebrates. Since they function as key elements to characterize lake ecological status, our data set emphasizes the huge taxonomic effort that still has to be undertaken to fully characterize these ecosystems. The data set is available in csv (comma-separated values format.

  8. Kabob report. Pt. 3. Chevron plant largest in Canada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1971-01-18

    Canada's largest fully integrated primary natural- gas processing and sulfur recovery plant is heading for physical completion by mid-summer of 1971. The Ralph M. Parsons Construction Co. of Canada Ltd., contractor for the S. Kaybob Beaverhill Lake Unit No. 3 gas-processing plant, to be operated by Chevron Standard Ltd., estimates completion by June 30. After that the $80 million complex will have tests and running in time. With any reasonable luck, it should be fully on stream by late summer. Preliminary construction on the 200-acre site started in Jan. 1969 with clearing and contouring of the main plant and sulfur storage sites. Initial rough grading started in the early summer, after spring breakup was over. Delivery of most of the big items was made by rail because the local secondary roads were inadequate for them. Concrete has been a large item. The contractor has its own batch plant on the site for the estimated 28,000 cu yd which will be needed for the whole job. Dominating the construction site from the start has been the high sulfur plant stack, first of the major items to be finished. It will serve to dispose of effluent from the largest sulfur recovery unit in Canada. It is 465 ft high, one of the largest in Alberta, and a significant contribution to pollution control and environmental protection.

  9. The 2016 Lifetime Immunization Schedule, approved by the Italian scientific societies: A new paradigm to promote vaccination at all ages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonanni, Paolo; Chiamenti, Giampietro; Conforti, Giorgio; Maio, Tommasa; Odone, Anna; Russo, Rocco; Scotti, Silvestro; Signorelli, Carlo; Villani, Alberto

    2017-11-02

    Medical scientific societies have the core mission of producing, pooling and disseminating solid and updated scientific information. We report the successful experience of the partnership of four national Medical Scientific Societies active in Italy in producing scientific advice on vaccines and vaccination. In particular, i) the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health; SitI, ii) the Italian Society of Paediatrics; SIP, iii) the "Italian Federation of General Practitioners"; FIMP, and iv) the Italian Federation of General Medicine FIMMG) have worked together since 2012 to produce shared evidence-based recommendations on vaccination schedules, namely the "Lifetime Immunization Schedule" which introduced for the first time in Italy a life-course approach to vaccination. The 2014 edition of the "Lifetime Immunization Schedule" was used as a basis to develop the 2017-2019 Italian National Prevention Plan, approved by The Italian Ministry of Health in February 2017. In this report, we present the structure, content and supporting evidence of the new 2016 "Lifetime Immunization Schedule" and we expand on the influential role of medical scientific societies in researching and advocating for effective and safe vaccination programmes' implementation at the national level.

  10. 'I have a picture of the Monster!': Il mostro di Frankenstein and the search for Italian horror cinema

    OpenAIRE

    Hunter, Russ

    2017-01-01

    Typically accounts of Italian horror cinema have highlighted the production and release of Riccardo Freda's 'I vampiri' (Lust of the Vampire) in the late 1950s as marking the beginning of Italian engagement with the horror genre. The logic that follows is often that the nature of fascist censorship impeded any explorations of the genre in the 1920s and 1930s and that in the post war period it was only the commercial success of Hammer Horror that tempted Italian producers to venture into horro...

  11. Linguistic and Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism with Regional Minority Languages: A Study of Sardinian–Italian Adult Speakers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garraffa, Maria; Obregon, Mateo; Sorace, Antonella

    2017-01-01

    This study explores the effects of bilingualism in Sardinian as a regional minority language on the linguistic competence in Italian as the dominant language and on non-linguistic cognitive abilities. Sardinian/Italian adult speakers and monolingual Italian speakers living in the same geographical area of Sardinia were compared in two kinds of tasks: (a) verbal and non-verbal cognitive tasks targeting working memory and attentional control and (b) tasks of linguistic abilities in Italian focused on the comprehension of sentences differing in grammatical complexity. Although no difference was found between bilinguals and monolinguals in the cognitive control of attention, bilinguals performed better on working memory tasks. Bilinguals with lower formal education were found to be faster at comprehension of one type of complex sentence (center embedded object relative clauses). In contrast, bilinguals and monolinguals with higher education showed comparable slower processing of complex sentences. These results show that the effects of bilingualism are modulated by type of language experience and education background: positive effects of active bilingualism on the dominant language are visible in bilinguals with lower education, whereas the effects of higher literacy in Italian obliterate those of active bilingualism in bilinguals and monolinguals with higher education. PMID:29163288

  12. Validation study of the Italian Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised in a young-old and old-old population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pigliautile, M; Ricci, M; Mioshi, E; Ercolani, S; Mangialasche, F; Monastero, R; Croce, M F; Federici, S; Mecocci, P

    2011-01-01

    The main aims of the study were the translation and the subsequent validation in Italian of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R), and the evaluation of its usefulness in discriminating cognitively normal subjects from patients with mild dementia in an elderly population. The ACE-R was translated and adapted into Italian. The Italian ACE-R was administered to a group of 179 elderly subjects (72 cognitively healthy and 107 subjects with mild dementia, mean age 75.4±6.4 years). The group was stratified into two subsamples according to age, i.e. a young-old (<75 years) and an old-old (≥75 years) group, in order to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the test in detecting dementia in different age strata of elderly subjects. The reliability of the Italian ACE-R was extremely good (α-coefficient=0.85). Two different cutoffs were identified for young-old (cutoff 79; sensitivity 90% and specificity 80%) and old-old subjects (cutoff 60; sensitivity 82% and specificity 100%). The Italian ACE-R is a valid screening tool to detect dementia, especially in the old-old population, which represents not only the fastest growing age group but also the group at the highest risk of dementia in Western countries. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  13. Internet use among inflammatory bowel disease patients: an Italian multicenter survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angelucci, Erika; Orlando, Ambrogio; Ardizzone, Sandro; Guidi, Luisa; Sorrentino, Dario; Fries, Walter; Astegiano, Marco; Sociale, Orsola; Cesarini, Monica; Renna, Sara; Cassinotti, Andrea; Marzo, Manuela; Quaglia, Anna; Sergi, Maria Donata; Simondi, Daniele; Vernia, Piero; Malesci, Alberto; Danese, Silvio

    2009-09-01

    The internet has been increasingly used as a resource for accessing health-related information. A recent US survey found that approximately half of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients in an IBD clinic use the internet to gather IBD-specific information. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of the internet among Italian IBD patients. The study was performed in seven Italian IBD referral centers by using a 28-item anonymous questionnaire. In all, 495 questionnaires were returned for analysis, in which 305 of 495 patients (61.6%) indicated that they are able to access the internet. A large proportion used the internet to gather health-related information (180 of 305, 59.1%) and IBD-related information (226 of 305, 74.2%). The use of the internet increased significantly with level of education (Pinternet to gather IBD-related information increased significantly with the increase of disease activity and severity. Approximately half of the patients in Italian IBD referral centers used the internet to gather IBD-related information. This use positively correlated with disease activity and severity. The great majority of patients indicated that it was very important for IBD referral centers to have their own IBD-dedicated website.

  14. [Emergency room services utilization in the province of Reggio Emilia: a comparison between immigrants and Italians].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonvicini, Laura; Broccoli, Serena; D'Angelo, Stefania; Candela, Silvia

    2011-01-01

    The aim of the study is to compare Italian and immigrant accesses to Emergency Room (ER) Services in the province of Reggio Emilia, with particular attention to time differences and to potentially inappropriate accesses. the database of ER accesses in the province of Reggio Emilia was analyzed for the years 2007- 2010. In the analysis of the resident population all autochthonous citizens and all immigrants from Developed Countries were considered Italians, while citizens from Developing Countries were Immigrants. Temporary Immigrants were those immigrants with residence and citizenship in a Developing Country. A descriptive analysis was conducted using demographic variables related to patients (age, gender, citizenship and residence) and variables related to access (admission emergency codes, cause of admission, hour, day of the week, month and discharge modality). Standardized access Ratios (SRs) were calculated for the resident population, together with 95%Confidence Intervals (95% CI). The SRs were calculated separately for children and for adults. In the years 2007-2010, 562,658 accesses to ER were recorded for Italians, 95,300 accesses for Immigrants and 6,800 for the Temporary Immigrants. Access rates for resident Immigrants were higher than Italian ones. In 2010, the SR for men was 1.24 (95%CI 1.22-1.27) while for women it was 1.18 (95%CI 1.15-1.27). Considering only non-urgent accesses, the SRs were even higher (SR men=1.65, 95% CI 1.58-1.72, women=1.43, 95% CI 1.36-1.50). Similar findings were observed in children. Immigrants access the ER services more than Italians do.They also show more non-urgent accesses in comparison with Italians. This finding is consistent with results of studies conducted in other European countries and it underlines the necessity to reorganize primary care in order to better meet immigrants' needs.

  15. [Impact of the Italian smoking ban and comparison with the evaluation of the Scottish ban].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorini, Giuseppe

    2011-01-01

    The Italian smoking ban entered into force on January 10th, 2005, and banned smoking from enclosed workplaces and hospitality premises (HPs), even though provided separated smoking areas. Actually, only 1-2%of HPs built these areas, while no figures are available on the prevalence of smoking rooms in workplaces other than HPs. Italians were more in favour of the law after the ban. In 2008 Italians were the Europeans most in favour of a national smoking ban (88%). Measurements of environmental nicotine and particulate matter with a diameter hospitality sector against the ban in 2004, no studies on impact of the ban on hospitality industry businesses were conducted in Italy. We used the conceptual model for the evaluation of the impact of smoke-free policies, proposed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), to compare Italian and Scottish evaluations of the bans. The Scottish evaluation was planned some years before the implementation, and was based on a network of researchers of different disciplines. The quantification of decrease in second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure in the general population and in hospitality workers was one of the main objectives of the Scottish evaluation. The Italian evaluation devoted more attention to distal (reduction of hospital admissions) and incidental effects of the law (trend in smoking prevalence, cigarette consumption). Qualitative studies in bars, homes, and communities recording changes in attitudes on tobacco smoking after the introduction of the ban, were conducted only in Scotland. In Italy the main problem was to develop and fund a network of researchers involved on a shared evaluation plan.

  16. [The evolution of the Italian Code of Medical Deontology: a historical-epistemological perspective].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conti, A A

    The Italian Code of Medical Deontology is a set of self-discipline rules prefixed by the medical profession, that are mandatory for the members of the medical registers, who must conform to these rules. The history of the Italian Code of Medical Deontology dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1903 it appeared in the form of a "Code of Ethics and Deontology" and was prepared by the Board of the Medical Register of Sassari (Sardinia). This Board inserted the principles inspiring the correct practice of the medical profession in an articulated and self-normative system, also foreseeing disciplinary measures. About ten years later, in 1912, the Medical Register of Turin (Piedmont) elaborated a Code which constituted the basis for a subsequent elaboration leading to a Unified Code of Medical Ethics (1924). After World War II the idea prevailed in Italy that the codes of medical deontology should undergo periodical review, updating and dissemination, and the new 1947 text (Turin) was for the first time amply diffused among Italian physicians. The next national code dates back to 1958, and twenty years later a revision was published. In the 1989 Code new topics appeared, including organ transplantation, artificial in vitro insemination and the role of police doctors; these and other issues were later developed in the 1995, 1998 and 2006 versions of the Code. The last available edition of the Italian Code of Medical Deontology is that of May 2014.

  17. Energy/environment 112/98 italian law. From model to feasibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amorosino, S.; Mennella, M.

    1998-01-01

    In this paper reported some considerations related to the organization and management in matter of energy and environment in regional and local government. Administrative procedures, organizational models and feasibility in the italian regions are reported [it

  18. Bridging the divide between theory and guidance in strategic environmental assessment: A path for Italian regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baresi, Umberto; Vella, Karen J.; Sipe, Neil G.

    2017-01-01

    Clear and effective legislation is a requisite to bring sustainable development from theory into practice. This paper develops a methodology to investigate how Italian regional legislation disciplines the use of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), the procedure used in the European Union (EU) to pursue sustainable development of policies, plans, and programs (PPPs). Our case study is the Italian regional level, examined to identify eventual flaws and areas for improvement for each regional legislative framework. For this purpose, this study refers to a selection of analytical criteria recurring in the international debate on sustainability assessments. Statistical multi-dimensional analysis is used to identify Italian regions with similar SEA legislation. We recognize four taxonomies, depending on the way regional legislation provides information about i) legislation and guidelines, ii) integration between SEA and PPPs, iii) sustainability goals, iv) technical organization, v) participatory organization, and vi) monitoring. The results suggest that Italian administrators should cooperate to improve legislation at the regional level. Acknowledging the institution-centred nature of SEA, this methodology could drive the EU to better support SEA development in countries with diversified traditions.

  19. Bridging the divide between theory and guidance in strategic environmental assessment: A path for Italian regions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baresi, Umberto, E-mail: u.baresi@uq.edu.au [School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Level 5, Building 35, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072 (Australia); Vella, Karen J., E-mail: karen.vella@qut.edu.au [School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology, Level 8, Block S, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000 (Australia); Sipe, Neil G., E-mail: n.sipe@uq.edu.au [School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, The University of Queensland, Level 5, Building 35, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072 (Australia)

    2017-01-15

    Clear and effective legislation is a requisite to bring sustainable development from theory into practice. This paper develops a methodology to investigate how Italian regional legislation disciplines the use of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), the procedure used in the European Union (EU) to pursue sustainable development of policies, plans, and programs (PPPs). Our case study is the Italian regional level, examined to identify eventual flaws and areas for improvement for each regional legislative framework. For this purpose, this study refers to a selection of analytical criteria recurring in the international debate on sustainability assessments. Statistical multi-dimensional analysis is used to identify Italian regions with similar SEA legislation. We recognize four taxonomies, depending on the way regional legislation provides information about i) legislation and guidelines, ii) integration between SEA and PPPs, iii) sustainability goals, iv) technical organization, v) participatory organization, and vi) monitoring. The results suggest that Italian administrators should cooperate to improve legislation at the regional level. Acknowledging the institution-centred nature of SEA, this methodology could drive the EU to better support SEA development in countries with diversified traditions.

  20. The sources of 14th century Italian texts of Abacus: the echoes of an ongoing debate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva Caianiello

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The most common opinion among historians of mathematics is that Fibonacci’s Liber Abaci – or at least the first eleven chapters – was the precursor of the Italian textual tradition of the Abacus and, with respect to the origin of Abacus algebra in Italian, the Libro di ragioni from Paolo Gerardi (1328 was the oldest text on algebra so far known. These ideas have been challenged by many works of J. Høyrup. He maintains that Fibonacci was not a precursor, but only an important exponent of pre-existing Abacus tradition and that the first algebra text in Italian was the Tractatus Algorismi by Jacopo da Firenze. In particular, he articulated all his positions in his book, Jacopo da Firenze’s Tractatus Algorismi Abbacus and Early Italian Culture, which has been the subject of a debate. The author of this article tries to summarize the central theses of Høyrup and explain the different positions taken by the participants in the debate. She will also explain her position in a few cases and her final point of view.

  1. Radiological contrast media in the breastfeeding woman: a position paper of the Italian Society of Radiology (SIRM), the Italian Society of Paediatrics (SIP), the Italian Society of Neonatology (SIN) and the Task Force on Breastfeeding, Ministry of Health, Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cova, Maria Assunta; Stacul, Fulvio; Quaranta, Roberto; Guastalla, Pierpaolo; Salvatori, Guglielmo; Banderali, Giuseppe; Fonda, Claudio; David, Vincenzo; Gregori, Massimo; Zuppa, Antonio Alberto; Davanzo, Riccardo

    2014-08-01

    Breastfeeding is a well-recognised investment in the health of the mother-infant dyad. Nevertheless, many professionals still advise breastfeeding mothers to temporarily discontinue breastfeeding after contrast media imaging. Therefore, we performed this review to provide health professionals with basic knowledge and skills for appropriate use of contrast media. A joint working group of the Italian Society of Radiology (SIRM), Italian Society of Paediatrics (SIP), Italian Society of Neonatology (SIN) and Task Force on Breastfeeding, Ministry of Health, Italy prepared a review of the relevant medical literature on the safety profile of contrast media for the nursing infant/child. Breastfeeding is safe for the nursing infant of any post-conceptional age after administration of the majority of radiological contrast media to the mother; only gadolinium-based agents considered at high risk of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (gadopentetate dimeglumine, gadodiamide, gadoversetamide) should be avoided in the breastfeeding woman as a precaution; there is no need to temporarily discontinue breastfeeding or to express and discard breast milk following the administration of contrast media assessed as compatible with breastfeeding. Breastfeeding women should receive unambiguous professional advice and clear encouragement to continue breastfeeding after imaging with the compatible contrast media. • Breastfeeding is a well-known investment in the health of the mother-infant dyad. • Breastfeeding is safe after administration of contrast media to the mother. • There is no need to temporarily discontinue breastfeeding following administration of contrast media.

  2. Italian Translation of the Questionnaire for Professional Training Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fregonese, Chiara; Caputo, Andrea; Langher, Viviana

    2018-01-01

    This work illustrates the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Questionnaire for Professional Training Evaluation, designed and validated by Grohmann and Kauffeld. This 12-item questionnaire provides for the evaluation of different training outcomes, is time-efficient, applicable to several professional contexts and shows sound…

  3. Dating, sexual activity, and well-being in Italian adolescents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ciairano, S; Bonino, S; Kliewer, W; Miceli, R; Jackson, S

    Associations among dating, sexual activity, gender and adjustment were investigated in 2,2 73 Italian adolescents (54% female, ages 14 to 19 years) attending public high schools. After controlling for age and type of school attended, both being in a dating relationship and being male were associated

  4. Drinking Motives and Alcoholic Beverage Preferences among Italian Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graziano, Federica; Bina, Manuela; Giannotta, Fabrizia; Ciairano, Silvia

    2012-01-01

    Although drinking motives have been largely studied, research taking into account the Mediterranean drinking culture and focusing on motives specifically associated to adolescents' developmental tasks is lacking. For these reasons the study investigates drinking motives in a group of Italian adolescents and their relationships with drunkenness and…

  5. Using Information and Communication Technology in Italian Language Learning and Teaching: from Teacher Education to Classroom Activities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matteo Viale

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the in-service teacher education activities carried out by the research unit from the University of Bologna involved in the European project E-LENGUA. This project focuses on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs in teaching Italian in the multilingual classroom. The paper opens with a description of the Italian educational context, characterised by an increasing presence of non-native speakers of Italian. Taking into consideration the linguistic needs of students with different sociolinguistic backgrounds is a significant challenge for teachers. ICTs may be helpful for teachers facing such challenges, even though there are contrasting opinions about their usage in the classroom. The paper presents some case studies on the use of ICTs in the classroom, developed within in-service teacher education activities and implemented in the classroom. These studies aim to examine the use of ICTs as a teaching resource in order to elaborate generalizable guidelines for best practices in the Italian school system.

  6. Recent dynamics (1995-1999 of the phytoplankton assemblages in Lago Maggiore as a basic tool for defining association patterns in the Italian deep lakes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierisa PANZANI

    2002-02-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of the study presented here is to identify a repeatable pattern in the seasonal succession of phytoplankton assemblages in Lago Maggiore. In order to fulfil this objective we analysed the phytoplaktonic succession during a five years period (1995-1999, through the calculation of the Bray-Curtis similarity index applied to biovolume data. A cluster analysis has been then applied to the distance matrix, allowing the identification of sample clusters possessing a similar species composition. The comparison, through the whole period considered, of the phytoplankton assemblages characterising each cluster allowed to recognise six seasonal periods (Winter, Early Spring, Late Spring, Early Summer, Late Summer, Autumn, each of them characterised by a peculiar and repeatable species assemblage. Among the most interesting findings we would mention the existence of a Late Spring/Early Summer association, dominated by Planktothrix rubescens and Fragilaria crotonensis, probably peculiar of the deep subalpine lakes, where these species can better take advantage of the physical and chemical environment of the metalimnetic niche. The identification of a pool of dominant and sub-dominant species common to other southern subalpine lakes and the existence of a similar time periodicity in the development and decline of most of them across this lake district seem to be promising in order to give our results a wider application.

  7. Determinants of health disparities between Italian regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giannoni Margherita

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Among European countries, Italy is one of the countries where regional health disparities contribute substantially to socioeconomic health disparities. In this paper, we report on regional differences in self-reported poor health and explore possible determinants at the individual and regional levels in Italy. Methods We use data from the "Indagine Multiscopo sulle Famiglie", a survey of aspects of everyday life in the Italian population, to estimate multilevel logistic regressions that model poor self-reported health as a function of individual and regional socioeconomic factors. Next we use the causal step approach to test if living conditions, healthcare characteristics, social isolation, and health behaviors at the regional level mediate the relationship between regional socioeconomic factors and self-rated health. Results We find that residents living in regions with more poverty, more unemployment, and more income inequality are more likely to report poor health and that poor living conditions and private share of healthcare expenditures at the regional level mediate socioeconomic disparities in self-rated health among Italian regions. Conclusion The implications are that regional contexts matter and that regional policies in Italy have the potential to reduce health disparities by implementing interventions aimed at improving living conditions and access to quality healthcare.

  8. Upgrade and modernization of the six largest HPPs in Macedonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hadzievska, M.

    2002-01-01

    In 1998, Electric Power Company of Macedonia and the International Bank for Development and Reconstruction, started the Power System Improvement Project a part of which is the Project for rehabilitation of the six largest Hydro Power Plants (HPPs) in the Republic of Macedonia. The six largest Hydro Power Plants (HPP Vrutok, HPP Raven, HPP Globocica, HPP Tikves and HPP Spilje and HPP Vrben) represent 91% of the country's hydropower capacity. The rehabilitation program is divided in five parts (contracts) and covers the refurbishment of: turbine runners, turbine and generator bearings, governors, inlet valves; butterfly valves, including accessories and control systems; generators, excitation system and voltage regulation; control system, protection and LV auxiliaries; switch gears and control gears in 220 kV, 110 kV and 35 kV substations. At the moment, only the implementation of switch gears has started, the first phase is already finished, and 50 % of the rehabilitation works for HPP Vrutok, the largest HPP, has been finished. With the realization of this project, greater hydropower production is expected. It also expected that HPPs will become a more vital part of the Macedonian power system

  9. Assessing the competitive conditions in the Italian banking system: some empirical evidence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Coccorese

    1998-06-01

    Full Text Available In the wake of European financial market integration, resulting from the elimination of controls on capital movements and the free access given to banks to other domestic markets within the EU, the Italian financial system has undergone a considerable transformation. In the aftermath of these new changes, however, has there been an increase in competition resulting in significant gains for consumers? Or rather, is unification alone, due to imperfections in financial markets, not enough to bring about stronger competition? Utilizing the Rosse-Panzar test, the author analyzes a sample of Italian banks from 1988-96 to evaluate the degree of competition in the industry. The findings suggest that the Italian banking industry operates under conditions of monopolistic competition and that European integration has yet to have a significant impact on industry conduct. However, the Author notes that due to the relative novelty of liberalization its long-term effect can not yet be known. Although the banking industry was far from equilibrium in the years examined, after the initiation of European integration there was a move towards it, however, it has yet to be attained.

  10. Soloist evaluations of six Old Italian and six new violins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritz, Claudia; Curtin, Joseph; Poitevineau, Jacques; Borsarello, Hugues; Wollman, Indiana; Tao, Fan-Chia; Ghasarossian, Thierry

    2014-01-01

    Many researchers have sought explanations for the purported tonal superiority of Old Italian violins by investigating varnish and wood properties, plate tuning systems, and the spectral balance of the radiated sound. Nevertheless, the fundamental premise of tonal superiority has been investigated scientifically only once very recently, and results showed a general preference for new violins and that players were unable to reliably distinguish new violins from old. The study was, however, relatively small in terms of the number of violins tested (six), the time allotted to each player (an hour), and the size of the test space (a hotel room). In this study, 10 renowned soloists each blind-tested six Old Italian violins (including five by Stradivari) and six new during two 75-min sessions—the first in a rehearsal room, the second in a 300-seat concert hall. When asked to choose a violin to replace their own for a hypothetical concert tour, 6 of the 10 soloists chose a new instrument. A single new violin was easily the most-preferred of the 12. On average, soloists rated their favorite new violins more highly than their favorite old for playability, articulation, and projection, and at least equal to old in terms of timbre. Soloists failed to distinguish new from old at better than chance levels. These results confirm and extend those of the earlier study and present a striking challenge to near-canonical beliefs about Old Italian violins. PMID:24711376

  11. Soloist evaluations of six Old Italian and six new violins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritz, Claudia; Curtin, Joseph; Poitevineau, Jacques; Borsarello, Hugues; Wollman, Indiana; Tao, Fan-Chia; Ghasarossian, Thierry

    2014-05-20

    Many researchers have sought explanations for the purported tonal superiority of Old Italian violins by investigating varnish and wood properties, plate tuning systems, and the spectral balance of the radiated sound. Nevertheless, the fundamental premise of tonal superiority has been investigated scientifically only once very recently, and results showed a general preference for new violins and that players were unable to reliably distinguish new violins from old. The study was, however, relatively small in terms of the number of violins tested (six), the time allotted to each player (an hour), and the size of the test space (a hotel room). In this study, 10 renowned soloists each blind-tested six Old Italian violins (including five by Stradivari) and six new during two 75-min sessions--the first in a rehearsal room, the second in a 300-seat concert hall. When asked to choose a violin to replace their own for a hypothetical concert tour, 6 of the 10 soloists chose a new instrument. A single new violin was easily the most-preferred of the 12. On average, soloists rated their favorite new violins more highly than their favorite old for playability, articulation, and projection, and at least equal to old in terms of timbre. Soloists failed to distinguish new from old at better than chance levels. These results confirm and extend those of the earlier study and present a striking challenge to near-canonical beliefs about Old Italian violins.

  12. What foods are identified as animal friendly by Italian consumers?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorgelina Di Pasquale

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available In the Italian market, voluntary certifications implying higher levels of animal welfare generally fall into wider production schemes. Despite of the results of EU surveys indicating that about 50% of Italian consumers can easily identify and find animal-friendly products, they still are distributed scarcely or discontinuously in the main retail chains. To assess the apparent contradiction between the intricate information consumers receive from labels and their declared awareness about animal welfare, a survey was conducted in Emilia Romagna region on 355 Italian consumers (face-to-face interviews based on a structured, semi-close-ended questionnaire. Overall, consumers showed a low degree of knowledge about animal welfare attributes, animal farming conditions and animal protection policies (about 30% of correct answers, and a low level of awareness of the effects of their purchasing choices on the welfare of farmed animals (22%. The respondents also showed difficulties in identifying animal-friendly products and often confused them with other certified foods, having sometimes a weak connection (or none at all to animal welfare (e.g., Protected Designation of Origin products. However, most consumers declared to be ready to pay a premium price in name of animal welfare. In conclusion, a labelling system for the welfare content of animal-derived foods is confirmed to be an effective strategy to compensate the efforts of farmers in improving animal welfare, provided that the information given is clear and able to fill the substantial lack of consumer knowledge.

  13. Attitudes towards honey among Italian consumers: A choice experiment approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cosmina, Marta; Gallenti, Gianluigi; Marangon, Francesco; Troiano, Stefania

    2016-04-01

    Honey is becoming increasingly popular with consumers for its nutritional benefits as well as many other functions. The objective of this article is to determine which factors influence consumers' purchase intentions and to assess the importance of certain honey characteristics to enable identification of the constituents of an ideal honey profile. This information will lead to satisfaction of consumers' preferences and formulation of marketing strategies that support honey makers. We applied a choice experiment to the Italian honey market to define the preferences and the willingness to pay for key characteristics of the product. A face-to-face questionnaire survey was conducted in 2014 (January-July) among Italian consumers; it was completed by 427 respondents. A latent class model was estimated and four classes were identified, with different preferences, illustrating that respondents seem to be heterogeneous honey consumers. Results suggest the "organic" attribute was more important than others factors, such as the place where the honey was produced (landscape), but less important than the country of origin; local Italian honey was preferred to foreign honey. Respondents showed a higher willingness to pay (WTP) for honey from their country of origin versus the production method used. Our results suggest that while organic beekeeping might be an important strategy for diversification, if suitable communication is not taken into consideration, the added value of the production method might not be perceived by consumers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. White paper of Italian Gastroenterology: delivery of services for digestive diseases in Italy: weaknesses and strengths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buscarini, Elisabetta; Conte, Dario; Cannizzaro, Renato; Bazzoli, Franco; De Boni, Michele; Delle Fave, Gianfranco; Farinati, Fabio; Ravelli, Paolo; Testoni, Pier Alberto; Lisiero, Manola; Spolaore, Paolo

    2014-07-01

    In 2011 the three major Italian gastroenterological scientific societies (AIGO, the Italian Society of Hospital Gastroenterologists and Endoscopists; SIED, the Italian Society of Endoscopy; SIGE, the Italian Society of Gastroenterology) prepared their official document aimed at analysing medical care for digestive diseases in Italy, on the basis of national and regional data (Health Ministry and Lombardia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna databases) and to make proposals for planning of care. Digestive diseases were the first or second cause of hospitalizations in Italy in 1999-2009, with more than 1,500,000 admissions/year; however only 5-9% of these admissions was in specialized Gastroenterology units. Reported data show a better outcome in Gastroenterology Units than in non-specialized units: shorter average length of stay, in particular for admissions with ICD-9-CM codes proxying for emergency conditions (6.7 days versus 8.4 days); better case mix (higher average diagnosis-related groups weight in Gastroenterology Units: 1 vs 0.97 in Internal Medicine units and 0.76 in Surgery units); lower inappropriateness of admissions (16-25% versus 29-87%); lower in-hospital mortality in urgent admissions (2.2% versus 5.1%); for patients with urgent admissions due to gastrointestinnal haemorrhage, in-hospital mortality was 2.3% in Gastroenterology units versus 4.0% in others. The present document summarizes the scientific societies' official report, which constitutes the "White paper of Italian Gastroenterology". Copyright © 2014 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Alpine detector fails to confirm Italian sighting of dark matter

    CERN Multimedia

    Abbott, A

    2002-01-01

    French researchers working on the Edelweiss detector under the Alps, have been unable to detect a single particle of dark matter with the characteristics claimed to have been found by an Italian team two years ago (1 page).

  16. Italian Chemists’ Contributions to Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis: An Historical Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gianluca Papeo

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available From the second half of the 19th century up to modern times, the tremendous contribution of Italian chemists to the development of science resulted in the discovery of a number of innovative chemical transformations. These reactions were subsequently christened according to their inventors’ name and so entered into the organic chemistry portfolio of “named organic reactions”. As these discoveries were being conceived, massive social, political and geographical changes in these chemists’ homeland were also occurring. In this review, a brief survey of known (and some lesser known named organic reactions discovered by Italian chemists, along with their historical contextualization, is presented.

  17. Italian energy scenarios comparative evaluations; Scenari energetici italiani a confronto

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Contaldi, Mario [Agenzia per la Protezione dell' Ambiente e per i Servizi Tecnici-APAT, Roma (Italy)

    2005-09-15

    This paper reviews some representative scenarios of the evolution of the Italian primary energy consumption, updated recently. After an overview of the main macroeconomics assumptions the scenario results are cross checked at sectorial level, with a brief discussion of the underlining data and energy intensity trends. The emissions of CO{sub 2}, SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} resulting from the considered scenarios are also reported and discussed. [Italian] Questo articolo riporta alcuni dei piu rappresentativi ed aggiornati scenari di evoluzione dei consumi energetici primari italiani. Dopo un esame delle principali variabili macroeconomiche i risultati degli scenari sono esaminati a livello di settore, con una breve discussione delle principali variabili utilizzate. Infine sono state anche esaminate le emissioni di CO{sub 2}, SO{sub 2} e NO{sub x} risultanti dai diversi scenari e le possibili conseguenze sul piano normativo.

  18. Discourse Strategies of Italian and English Sales Promotion Letters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vergaro, Carla

    2004-01-01

    This article describes a contrastive study on rhetorical differences between Italian and English sales promotion letters. It is assumed that cultural differences affect discourse genres traditionally considered as standardized, ritual or even formulaic, written business communication being a case in point. It was our goal to investigate how…

  19. Competition Advocacy: the Italian Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salvatore Rebecchini

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Competition advocacy is considered, together with enforcement, the core business of an antitrust authority. Broadly speaking there are at least three main tasks regularly performed by most, if not all, antitrust agencies that are amenable to the advocacy function: addressing laws and regulations in order to remove unnecessary impediments to competition; engaging in sector enquiries to understand markets behavior and identify critical issues; explaining the benefits of open competitive markets to the public opinion. This article examines these three main tasks and outlines the challenges for competition agencies, with references to the experience of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA and the initiatives undertaken at international level.

  20. An attributional life cycle assessment for an Italian residential multifamily building.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vitale, Pierluca; Arena, Umberto

    2017-09-06

    The study describes an attributional life cycle assessment carried out according to the ISO standards and focused on an Italian multifamily residential building. The aim was developing an exhaustive and reliable inventory of high-quality primary data, comparing the environmental impacts along the three stages of the building life cycle. The pre-use phase takes into account the production of all the construction materials, transportation, and on-site assembling. The use phase quantifies the resource consumptions for 50 years of the building utilization and ordinary maintenance. The end-of-life phase includes the building demolition and the management of generated wastes. The results quantify how the design criteria affect the environmental performances of the residential building along its life cycle. The role of the pre-use phase appears remarkable for global warming potential (GWP), due to the huge impacts of steel and concrete production processes. The use phase gives the largest contributions, which reach 77% and 84% of the total, for the categories of global warming and non-renewable energy. The end-of-life phase provides limited avoided impacts. A comparative analysis quantifies the improvements achievable with an alternative type of partitions and external walls. Acronyms: AC: air conditioning; C&DW: construction and demolition waste; CFL: compact fluorescent lamp; DHW: domestic hot water; EC: European Commission; EU: European Union; GDP: gross domestic product; GHG: greenhouse gases; GWP: global warming potential; LCA: life cycle assessment; LCI: life cycle inventory; LCIA: life cycle impact assessment; MFA: material flow analysis; NREP: non-renewable energy potential; RINP: respiratory inorganics potential; WFD: Waste Framework Directive.

  1. [Spanish-Italian medical relations during the Renaissance].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olagüe de Ros, G

    1993-01-01

    This paper offers a general review about the Spanish-Italian medical relations during the Renaissance. Spanish physicians travelled very often to Italy during this time, in order to get a better knowledge of the news advances in medicine. Many of them later occupied academic positions in Spanish universities and wide-spread the new ideas learned in Italy. The role played by printed books and manuscripts in their mutual relationships is here reported.

  2. Italian asset management companies: products and governance

    OpenAIRE

    Arcuri, Maria Cristina

    2013-01-01

    The importance of the asset management sector has prompted many studies to highlight the need to promote its growth and development. This is even more so following the recent financial crisis, considered by many authors the most severe recession after World War II. Contributions existing in literature have emphasized the importance of investigating the corporate governance system of the Asset Management Companies (AMCs), considering that the Italian financial system is characterized by a "...

  3. Virtual disjunct eddy covariance measurements of organic compound fluxes from a subalpine forest using proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. G. Karl

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available A `virtual' disjunct eddy covariance (vDEC device was tested with field measurements of biogenic VOC fluxes at a subalpine forest site in the Rocky Mountains of the USA. A PTR-MS instrument was used as the VOC sensor. Daily peak emission fluxes of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO, methanol, acetone and acetaldehyde were around 1.5, 1, 0.8 and 0.4 mg m-2 h-1, respectively. High pass filtering due to long sampling lines was investigated in laboratory experiments, and suggested that VOC losses in PTFA lines are generally governed by diffusion laws. Memory effects and surface reactions did not seem to play a dominant role. Model estimates of MBO fluxes compared well with measured fluxes. The results also suggest that latent heat and sensible heat fluxes are reasonably well correlated with VOC fluxes and could be used to predict variations in VOC emissions. The release of MBO, methanol, acetone and acetaldehyde resulted in significant change of tropospheric oxidant levels and a 10--40% increase in ozone levels, as inferred from a photochemical box model. We conclude that vDEC with a PTR-MS instrument is a versatile tool for simultaneous field analysis of multiple VOC fluxes.

  4. The Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest US-NR1 AmeriFlux site - Part 1: Data acquisition and site record-keeping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, Sean P.; Maclean, Gordon D.; Blanken, Peter D.; Oncley, Steven P.; Semmer, Steven R.; Monson, Russell K.

    2016-09-01

    The Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest AmeriFlux site (US-NR1) has been measuring eddy-covariance ecosystem fluxes of carbon dioxide, heat, and water vapor since 1 November 1998. Throughout this 17-year period there have been changes to the instrumentation and improvements to the data acquisition system. Here, in Part 1 of this three-part series of papers, we describe the hardware and software used for data-collection and metadata documentation. We made changes to the data acquisition system that aimed to reduce the system complexity, increase redundancy, and be as independent as possible from any network outages. Changes to facilitate these improvements were (1) switching to a PC/104-based computer running the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) In-Situ Data Acquisition Software (NIDAS) that saves the high-frequency data locally and over the network, and (2) time-tagging individual 10 Hz serial data samples using network time protocol (NTP) coupled to a GPS-based clock, providing a network-independent, accurate time base. Since making these improvements almost 2 years ago, the successful capture of high-rate data has been better than 99.98 %. We also provide philosophical concepts that shaped our design of the data system and are applicable to many different types of environmental data collection.

  5. Plant communities with Pinus mugo (alliance Pinion mugo in the subalpine belt of the Western Carpathians - a numerical approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jozef Šibík

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available A syntaxonomical revision of plant communities with dominant Pinus mugo in the Western Carpathians is presented. The data set of 341 relevés was examined and analysed using the detrended correspondence analysis and the cluster analysis. Major gradients and clusters were interpreted using Ellenberg’s indicator values. The major gradient in species composition was associated with available nutrients and moisture. The authors suggest distinguishing the dwarf pine stands of the supramontanous and subalpine belts of the Western Carpathians referred to the alliance Pinion mugo Pawłowski in Pawłowski et al. 1928 of the order Junipero-Pinetalia mugo Boşcaiu 1971 and the class Roso pendulinae-Pinetea mugo Theurillat in Theurillat et al. 1995, into three separate associations: the Cetrario-Pinetum mugo Hadač 1956, the Homogyno alpinae-Pinetum mugo (Sillinger 1933 nom. nov., and the Adenostylo alliariae-Pinetum mugo (Sillinger 1933 Šoltésová 1974. The authors also elucidated the unauthorized name of the association Vaccinio myrtilli-Pinetum mugo Hadač 1956, which is a younger homonym of the valid name of the association Vaccinio myrtilli-Pinetum montanae Morton 1927 that characterises the acidophilous dwarf pine stands on calcareous bedrocks in the Alps.

  6. The welfare effects and the distributive impact of carbon taxation on Italian households

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tiezzi, S.

    2005-01-01

    In this work the welfare effects and the distributive impact on Italian households of the Italian Carbon tax are calculated. The Carbon tax has been introduced in Italy at the beginning of 1999 asking for smooth increases, over a number of years, in the prices of most fossil fuels. Its welfare effects have been calculated using True Cost of Living index numbers and the Compensating Variation. The parameters have been obtained through estimation of a complete Almost Ideal demand system, using household's data from 1985 to 1996. The welfare loss turns out to be quite substantial and affects Italian households in a non-negligible way, but the distribution of welfare losses across different levels of total monthly expenditures does not allow sustaining the regressivity of Carbon taxation, as the effect becomes bigger as we move up the income distribution. This evidence might encourage the use of Carbon taxes, at least in the transport sector, as cost-effective instruments of environmental policy, especially after the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. (author)

  7. The welfare effects and the distributive impact of carbon taxation on Italian households

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tiezzi, Silvia

    2005-01-01

    In this work the welfare effects and the distributive impact on Italian households of the Italian Carbon tax are calculated. The Carbon tax has been introduced in Italy at the beginning of 1999 asking for smooth increases, over a number of years, in the prices of most fossil fuels. Its welfare effects have been calculated using True Cost of Living index numbers and the Compensating Variation. The parameters have been obtained through estimation of a complete Almost Ideal demand system, using households data from 1985 to 1996. The welfare loss turns out to be quite substantial and affects Italian households in a non-negligible way, but the distribution of welfare losses across different levels of total monthly expenditures does not allow sustaining the regressivity of Carbon taxation, as the effect becomes bigger as we move up the income distribution. This evidence might encourage the use of Carbon taxes, at least in the transport sector, as cost-effective instruments of environmental policy, especially after the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

  8. World's third-largest producer of nuclear power. Japan in need of energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2008-01-01

    Japan is the third largest oil consumer in the world behind the United States and China, and the second largest net importer of oil. Japan boasts one of the largest economies in the world. The country continues to experience a moderate economic recovery that began in 2003, following a decade of economic stagnation. Japan's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.5% in 2005 and 2.3% in 2004. The modest upturn over the last few years reflects higher business confidence in Japan, a surge in export demand led by exports to China, and robust consumer spending. Unemployment in Japan fell to 4.4% in 2005, down from an early 2003 peak of 5.5%. Japan has virtually no domestic oil or natural gas reserves, and in 2005 was the second largest net importer of crude oil in the world. Despite the country's dearth of hydrocarbon resources, Japanese companies have actively pursued upstream oil and natural gas projects overseas. Japan remains one of the major exporters of energy-sector capital equipment, and Japanese companies provide engineering, construction, and project management services for energy projects. (orig.)

  9. Comparative phytosociological investigation of subalpine alder thickets in southwestern Alaska and the North Pacific

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talbot, Stephen S.; Talbot, Sandra L.; Daniëls, F. J. A.

    2005-01-01

    We present the first vegetation analysis of subalpine alder (Alnus viridis) thickets in southwestern Alaska. The data are primarily from mesic, hilly and mountainous sites ranging from the westernmost tip of the Alaska Peninsula to the northern Kenai Peninsula, spanning 1,000 km on an E–W gradient and 700 km on a N–S gradient. 127 relevés from 18 sites represent the range of structural and compositional variation in the matrix of vegetation and landform diversity. Data were analyzed by multivariate and traditional Braun-Blanquet methods. One association is distinguished, Sambuco racemosi-Alnetum viridis ass. nov. with three new subassociations, oplopanacetosum horridi, typicum, and rubetosum spectabilis with the latter subdivided into four variants. These phytocoena are well-differentiated, although they form a syntaxonomical continuum. The composition and structure of these communities are described and interpreted in relation to complex environmental factors; these are analyzed using Jancey's ranking on F-values. Community composition is primarily related to elevation, longitude, soil moisture, and latitude. Phytogeographic comparison of southwestern Alaska alder communities with those elsewhere in the North Pacific suggests a close floristic relationship to those of southcentral, southeastern Alaska and coastal British Columbia, Canada. All these communities belong to the same association, while those of the eastern and southern parts of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia belong to a different association. Syntaxonomy of the 4 major communities is discussed. Within the Northern Hemisphere, vascular plant species of southwestern Alaska alder thickets primarily occur in East Asia and North America, 36 %; while 26 % are circumpolar, and 22 % are restricted to North America. From a latitudinal perspective, the distribution of vascular plant species within these alder thickets peaks in the high-subarctic, low-subarctic, and temperate latitudinal zones, with low

  10. Identifying ozone-sensitive communities of (semi-)natural vegetation suitable for mapping exceedance of critical levels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mills, G.; Hayes, F.; Jones, M.L.M.; Cinderby, S.

    2007-01-01

    Using published data on the responses of individual species to ozone, 54 EUNIS (European Nature Information System) level 4 communities with six or more ozone-sensitive species (%OS) and c. 20% or more species tested for ozone sensitivity, were identified as potentially ozone-sensitive. The largest number of these communities (23) was associated with Grasslands, with Heathland, scrub and tundra, and Mires, bogs and fens having the next highest representation at 11 and 8 level 4 communities each respectively. Within the grasslands classification, E4 (Alpine and sub-alpine grasslands), E5 (Woodland fringes and clearings) and E1 (Dry grasslands) were the most sensitive with 68.1, 51.6 and 48.6%OS respectively. It is feasible to map the land-cover for these and other communities at level 2, but it may not be currently possible to map the land-cover for all communities identified to be ozone-sensitive at levels 3 and 4. - Grassland communities such as alpine and sub-alpine grasslands have the highest potential sensitivity ozone, based on the responses of their component species

  11. LHC brochure (Italian version)

    CERN Multimedia

    Lefevre, Christiane

    2011-01-01

    A presentation of the largest and the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which started up in 2008. Its role, characteristics, technologies, etc. are explained for the general public.

  12. Is the perception of dysphonia severity language-dependent? A comparison of French and Italian voice assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghio, Alain; Cantarella, Giovanna; Weisz, Frédérique; Robert, Danièle; Woisard, Virginie; Fussi, Franco; Giovanni, Antoine; Baracca, Giovanna

    2015-04-01

    In this cross-language study, six Italian and six French voice experts evaluated perceptually the speech of 27 Italian and 40 French patients with dysphonia to determine if there were differences based on native language. French and Italian voice specialists agreed substantially in their evaluations of the overall grade of dysphonia and moderately concerning roughness and breathiness. No statistically significant effects were found related to the language of the speakers with the exception of breathiness, a finding that was interpreted as being due to different voice pathologies in the patient groups. It was concluded that the perception of the overall grade of dysphonia and breathiness is not language-dependent, whereas the significant difference in the perception of roughness may be related to a perception/adaption process.

  13. Book Reviews | Gendre | Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Biblioteca di 'Lettere Italiane'. Studi e Testi». LXXV), 2014. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians ...

  14. Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d'Italianistica nell'Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d'Italianistica nell'Africa Australe - Vol 9, No 1 (1996) ... Politics and power in Giovanni Comisso's Giorni Di Guerra and Pier Vittorio Tondelli's Pao Pao ... Anna Meda, Gerhard van der Linde, 80-81 ...

  15. Cities at risk: status of Italian planning system in reducing seismic and hydrogeological risks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grazia Di Giovanni

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Italy and its urban systems are under high seismic and hydrogeological risks. The awareness about the role of human activities in the genesis of disasters is achieved in the scientific debate, as well as the role of urban and regional planning in reducing risks. The paper reviews the state of Italian major cities referred to hydrogeological and seismic risk by: 1 extrapolating data and maps about seismic hazard and landslide risk concerning cities with more than 50.000 inhabitants and metropolitan contexts, and 2 outlining how risk reduction is framed in Italian planning system (at national and regional levels. The analyses of available data and the review of the normative framework highlight the existing gaps in addressing risk reduction: nevertheless a wide knowledge about natural risks afflicting Italian territory and an articulated regulatory framework, the available data about risks are not exhaustive, and risk reduction policies and multidisciplinary pro-active approaches are only partially fostered and applied.

  16. Analysis of the Italian generic medicines retail market: recommendations to enhance long-term sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dylst, Pieter; Vulto, Arnold; Simoens, Steven

    2015-02-01

    Italy is among the European countries with the lowest uptake of generic medicines. This paper provides a perspective on the Italian generic medicines retail market. Fast market entrance of generic medicines in Italy is hindered by several factors: the existence of Complementary Protection Certificates in the past, the large market for copies and multiple cases of patent linkage. Prices of generic medicines in Italy are low compared to other European countries. To contain pharmaceutical expenditure, pharmaceutical companies are currently forced to pay back in case of overspending, which disproportionally penalizes small and fast growing companies, to which most generic companies belong to. Current demand-side policies do not successfully stimulate the use of generic medicines. The current market environment surrounding the Italian generic medicines retail market (i.e., low prices, low volumes) threatens its long-term sustainability. Recommendations to enhance the long-term sustainability of the Italian generic medicines retail market round off this perspective paper.

  17. NAFTA: The World's Largest Trading Zone Turns 20

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrarini, Tawni Hunt; Day, Stephen

    2014-01-01

    Everyone under the age of 20 who has grown up in North America has lived in the common market created by NAFTA--the North American Free Trade Agreement. In a zone linking the United States, Canada, and Mexico, most goods and investments flow freely across borders to users, consumers, and investors. In 1994, NAFTA created the largest relatively…

  18. Entrepreneurship Education in Italian Universities: Trend, Situation and Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iacobucci, Donato; Micozzi, Alessandra

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the present situation and recent evolution of entrepreneurship education in Italian universities and to discuss whether these courses and curricula match the demand for entrepreneurial competences. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical analysis is based on a census of…

  19. Are 6-8 year old Italian children moving away from the Mediterranean diet?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zani, C; Ceretti, E; Grioni, S; Viola, G C V; Donato, F; Feretti, D; Festa, A; Bonizzoni, S; Bonetti, A; Monarca, S; Villarini, M; Levorato, S; Carducci, A; Verani, M; Casini, B; De Donno, A; Grassi, T; Bagordo, F; Carraro, E; Bonetta, Si; Bonetta, Sa; Gelatti, U

    2016-01-01

    The Mediterranean diet (MD) is considered one of the healthiest dietary models, as it decreases the risk of chronic diseases and may modulate the organism's early response to environmental pollution. In recent decades, Mediterranean countries have been replacing their traditional diet with other less healthy eating habits, especially among children and teenagers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the MD and the level of adherence to it in 6-8 year old Italian children, in relation to residence, lifestyle, and social and family contexts. A questionnaire was administered to the children's parents in two seasons in 5 Italian towns. The diet section contained 116 questions investigating the frequency of consumption of different types of food. The Italian Mediterranean Index (IMI) was calculated according to the intake of 6 typical Mediterranean and 4 non-Mediterranean foods. On the basis of IMI score, MD adherence was classified as low (≤ 3 IMI score), medium (4-5) and high (≥ 6). Total energy load and diet composition in micro- and macronutrients were calculated from consumption frequency. Diet analysis was computed on 1164 subjects with two complete questionnaires. Body mass index, calculated for each subject, showed that 28.9% of the children were overweight, the figure varying slightly with area of residence. Our findings showed that 59.0% of the children had a low score for MD adherence. The results of this study showed that most Italian children did not follow the MD and socio-economic characteristics appeared not to be associated with type of diet.

  20. The Italian Way to Carsharing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Laurino

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Carsharing (CS is increasing its role worldwide as an alternative transport mode, often more sustainable than private transport with self-owned vehicles. We first focus on the main characteristics of those services and on the impacts they generated, starting from the analysis of  the literature on this topic. CS initiatives are growing everywhere, however numbers are still minor and impacts are still far from a level that can deliver significant aggregate benefits. This paper studies the existing Italian carsharing experiences, trying to understand its strengths, that have allowed its development, but also possible limits and weaknesses. The presence of a national coordination structure (Iniziativa Carsharing - ICS, unique in Europe and created to boost local initiatives providing standardisation and interoperability, surely helped the development of the system. Some initiatives have been successful in terms of membership (in particular Milan, Venice and Turin, but others have been discontinued. Italian users’ characteristics are similar to the ones of users abroad: the majority of users are well educated male, living in small households having one or no cars and using public transport every day. At present, Italian drivers generally still show a scarce propensity to share their cars, considered more as “goods” than as “services”. A case study in Milan, the first and most successful initiative in Italy, shows a significant increase in CS membership after the implementation of a city charging scheme (“Ecopass” at first, then “Area C”. Moving shared cars from garages to “on the street parking” has proved successful too. The usage of the service has changed in time: users have increased (+151% more than runs (+137% – 2006 to 2009, while average length and duration of each run have decreased (-30% and -43% respectively, 2006 to 2010. Milan’s initiative also put s into practice many incentives for users that likely