1,720,961 research outputs found
Relict Forms of a Disappeared Mountain. The Periglacial Deposits in Asinara Island-Sardinia, Italy
No full textAsinara Island is located in northwestern Sardinia (Italy) and only recently has been divested as a maximum-security prison and returned to nature protection as a National Park with Marine Protected Area along the coastal perimeter. Geologically, the island is formed by a Paleozoic basement in transition between the metamorphic rocks and the Pre-Hercynian granitic batholith of Sardinia. New surveys carried out to reconstruct the recent evolution of the landscape have shown a lot of deposits formed by large blocks of granitoid and anphibolitic rocks representing a favorable situation to produce this material formation in terms of differential erosion in periglaciar environment. Similar morphologies are possible to observe in many places in Sardinia continental hard rocks as effect of the conditions of refreezing periods ("glacial"). These deposits are commonly known as " block streams " or " block fields " and reported for the first time in Italy in 1990 in the central area of the island of Sardinia, about 500 meters above sea level. Their presence in Sardinia is always documented in a range of altitudes not less than 350-400 meters and, in this case for the first time they have been identified in close proximity to the coastline. In addition, some of these deposits cover the thalwegs present on the granite rocks in the central portion of the island. The most interesting cases are represented by the deposits located on the northwestern side, near the lighthouse of Punta Scorno. The widespread presence of these deposits suggests significant areal erosion of the island terrain; they probably accumulated during the colder episodes that have characterized the Middle and Upper Pleistocene of the entire western Mediterranean. These testify the existence of an energy relief higher than the present one and a coastline located about 25 kilometers from the current position, however, documented by the block stream of Cala Arena, the first deposit located for the first time under the sea
Asinara National Park. An Example of Growth and Sustainability in Tourism
No full textDespite its recent foundation (1997), the Asinara National Park
(located in island not far from the northwestern coasts of Sardinia, Italy) has
recorded a growing trend in tourism demand and visitors of all types in recent
years. However, irresponsible tourism can have negative environmental
impacts often made worse by the concentration of tourists in space and time.
After analyzing the attractions, services offered, activities available, access and
transport and quantifying the flow of tourism, arrivals and stays, availability of
accommodation, water resources, etc. this paper aims to identify the actions
needed to create an appropriate model for the evaluation of the tourism
carrying capacity that the Park’s territory can sustain
Agro-biodiversity decrease and relations with landscape ecology in the Asinara National Park (Sardinia, Italy)
No full textIn the last few decades, a remarkable losses of biodiversity has occurred in Europe, in part caused
by ecological effects of changes in agricultural systems production. This changes affect the character of landscapes and the availability of genetic resources. Further loss of species could accelerate the
changes in ecosystem processes, but it is not clear how these changes, as compared to direct effects of the other forms of environmental change, influences diversity loss and alteration of the ecosystem
functions. The marginal agricultural areas are particularly affected by diffuse habitats alterations. In these
cases, Agro-ecology analysis allows to distinguish between land cover and land use, supporting the
description of the interrelations between agro-biodiversity and landscape types. Often, different levels of biodiversity match different landscape expressions.
The aim of the study is to verify the sustainability of agricultural models activities oriented to the
improvement of agro-biodiversity levels, as connected with habitat and species conservation within
protected natural areas in the study case of the Asinara National Park (Sardinia, Italy). The functional agricultural land use in protected areas must be also representative of the culture and the knowledge of
the rural traditional context
Uses and conflicts in Asinara National Park (Italy)
No full textIn Italy, two acts regulate the conservation of natural environment: Act no. 979/1982 on the sea defense and Act no. 394/1991 on protected areas. Marine Protected Areas
(MPAs) and National Parks (NP) are considered one of the most effective tools in promoting the preservation and conservation of the marine environment as well as
sustainable development, providing social and economic benefits to local communities. However, without effective management, protected areas are unlikely to achieve the
high expectations of conservation and development and have been often criticized for leading to negative social, economic, cultural and political impacts to local
communities. This represents a problematic issue because the success of a protected area depends on the local perceptions of socio-economic and ecological outcomes and
on the perceptions of the effectiveness and quality of management and governance policies, institutions, and processes. Furthermore, the designation of national park also
leads to conflicts between local communities and managers. As national parks and surrounding communities are highly dependent on each other, the task of managing
stakeholder interests and potential use conflicts should be of high priority for park managers.
The study aims to identify and analyze existing and potential conflicts between park management, use, local population and their activities
Tourism analysis at Asinara island (Italy): carrying capacity and web evaluations in two pocket beaches
No full textTourism has many environmental impacts and particularly in marine Protected Areas, which are declared to protect biological and environmental values. The long-term objective of Protected Areas can be complex con- sidering that preservation of a site should not be in conflict with the right of user's access and with the quality of visitors experiences. Consequently, solutions may be found to find a balance between preservation and re- creational uses that can be sustained by the environmental resources of the area. In this study we propose a methodology to help park manager to develop attractive sustainable tourism. The method is based on tourist perception assessment using website reviews and specifically TripAdvisor. We analyzed 637 reviews containing overall satisfaction, environmental aspects, transport means, service and management aspects. On the other hand, the calculation of carrying capacity, based on the Cifuentes method, provided insights about the inter- action of human activities with the environment, considering biophysical characteristics, social factors and management policies. Our results suggest that the tourist carrying capacity is in its lower level and that tourist experience is judged excellent. Finally, the analysis of the TripAdvisor reviews may represent a useful instrument for decision makers by identifying negative aspects and solutions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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