571 research outputs found
Integration of upward GPR and water content reflectometry to monitor snow properties
No full textWe adopt upward ground-penetrating radar (up-GPR) and water content reflectometry sensors to monitor the seasonal behaviour of snow density. Upward ground-penetrating radar permitted to observe at a single fixed station the time-lapse response of the electromagnetic signal at the main frequency of 1500 MHz, with the antenna radiating upward from the soil toward the snow surface. Measurements have been performed in a test site on Italian Alps (at an elevation of about 2100 m above sea level) during the 2014–2015 winter season at an interval of 30 minutes. The data processing of radar data involved the travel-time picking and the conversion into snow depth and density. Water content reflectometry measurements have been useful in order to calibrate the radar response and retrieve information on the presence of liquid water content. The integration of upward ground-penetrating radar and water content reflectometry technology allows us to infer snow high and layering, snow density changes during the winter season, and a preliminary estimate of the liquid water content. For snow in dry condition, we are able to estimate density values through mixing rules or polynomial formula. Snow density varies during the season in a range between 250 kg/m3 and 450 kg/m3; the results are in good agreement with the results of the ground truth. For snow in wet condition, the residuals of the electrical permittivity, after a trend removal on the original water content reflectometry data, permitted to estimate liquid water content in the range between 3% and 5%, during some periods of the winter season, according to warmer climate condition. Snow layering and densification processes are monitored by the response of upward groundpenetrating radar: fast phenomena such as wetting front infiltration can be also pointed out even if they appear challenging if other observations are not available (e.g., monitoring with water content reflectometry)
Correction to: Size‐Dependent Enforcement, Tax Evasion and Dimensional Trap
No full textThe article “Size‐Dependent Enforcement, Tax Evasion and Dimensional Trap”, written by Raffaella Coppier, Elisabetta Michetti and Luisa Scaccia, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal on 05 July 2023 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on 24 February 2024 to © The Author(s) 2024 and the article is forthwith distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made
A new experimental snow avalanche test site at Seehore peak in Aosta Valley (NW Italian Alps) - Part II: Engineering aspects
No full textThe estimate of the effects produced by the impact of a snow avalanche against an obstacle is of the utmost importance in designing safe mountain constructions. For this purpose, an ad-hoc instrumented obstacle was designed and built in order to measure impact forces of small and medium snow avalanches at Seehore peak (NW Italian Alps). The structural design had to consider several specific and unusual demands dictated by the difficult environment. In this article, the new test facility is described from the engineering point of view, discussing the most important aspects of the analyzed problems which were solved before and after the construction. The performance of the instrumented obstacle in the first two operating seasons, and some proposals for future upgrading are eventually illustrate
Estimation of soil redistribution rates due to snow cover related processes in a mountainous area (Valle d'Aosta, NW Italy)
No full textMountain areas are widely affected by soil erosion, which is generally linked to runoff processes occurring in the growing season and snowmelt period. Also processes like snow gliding and full-depth snow avalanches may be important factors that can enhance soil erosion, however the role and importance of snow movements as agents of soil redistribution are not well understood yet. The aim of this study was to provide information on the relative importance of snow related processes in comparison to runoff processes. In the study area, which is an avalanche path characterized by intense snow movements, soil redistribution rates were quantified with two methods: (i) by field measurements of sediment yield in an avalanche deposition area during 2009 and 2010 winter seasons; (ii) by caesium-137 method, which supplies the cumulative net soil loss/gain since 1986, including all the soil erosion processes. The snow related soil accumulation estimated with data from the deposit area (27.5 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> event<sup>−1</sup> and 161.0 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> event<sup>−1</sup>) was not only higher than the yearly sediment amounts, reported in literature, due to runoff processes, but it was even more intense than the yearly total deposition rate assessed with <sup>137</sup>Cs (12.6 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup>). The snow related soil erosion rates estimated from the sediment yield at the avalanche deposit area (3.7 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> and 20.8 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup>) were greater than the erosion rates reported in literature and related to runoff processes; they were comparable to the yearly total erosion rates assessed with the <sup>137</sup>Cs method (13.4 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup> and 8.8 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup>). The <sup>137</sup>Cs method also showed that, where the ground avalanche does not release, the erosion and deposition of soil particles from the upper part of the basin was considerable and likely related to snow gliding. Even though the comparison of both the approaches is linked to high methodological uncertainties, mainly due to the different spatial and temporal scales considered, we still can deduce, from the similarity of the erosion rates, that soil redistribution in this catchment is driven by snow movement, with a greater impact in comparison to the runoff processes occurring in the snow-free season. Nonetheless, the study highlights that soil erosion processes due to the snow movements should be considered in the assessment of soil vulnerability in mountain areas, as they significantly determine the pattern of soil redistribution
Elisabetta I come Cinzia: Una regina e il suo oceano
No full textThe defeat of the Spanish Armada in the Channel in 1588 turned ‘a weak and feeble woman’ into one of the most relevant characters of late 16th-century European history: Elizabeth I, the Tudor Queen, was considered a semi-divine creature whom the myth, by comparing her to Moon goddesses like Diana and Cinthia, had made known as Semper Eadem.
The identification of the queen with Cinthia became more and more evident after the events occurred in 1588, when she was hailed as the moon goddess par excellence in a series of texts written by her contemporaries. It was in that period, the last decades of the 16th century, that Sir Walter Ralegh, courtier, poet and seaman, wrote The Poems to Cynthia: a collection of short poems where Elizabeth I, the lady of the seas, is addressed as his beloved. The role of Elizabeth as Cinthia is evident above all in Ralegh’s Last Book of the Ocean to Cynthia, an unfinished poem where the author, desperate for being in disgrace, appeals to her clemency and addresses her as the empress of the ocean.La sconfitta della flotta spagnola nelle acque della Manica nel 1588 trasformò una donna sola e fragile in una delle figure più rilevanti della storia europea di fine XVI secolo: Elisabetta I Tudor divenne per i suoi sudditi una creatura semidivina che il mito, accostandola alle divinità lunari Diana e Cinzia, avrebbe consegnato alla Storia come Semper Eadem.
Pur essendo evidente già nei primi tempi del suo regno, l’identificazione della sovrana con Cinzia, la dea che governa i mari e i corsi d’acqua, si fa ancora più evidente dopo il 1588, quando si assiste ad una fioritura di testi che esaltano Elisabetta I come la dea lunare per eccellenza.
Sempre in quegli anni di fine XVI secolo, Sir Walter Ralegh compone The Poems to Cynthia: letterato, cortigiano e uomo di mare, Ralegh dedicherà il suo amore ad Elisabetta come Cinzia, signora dei mari. Il legame tra Elisabetta e l’oceano è soprattutto evidente in Last Book of the Ocean to Cynthia, un poemetto incompiuto in cui il poeta, caduto in disgrazia, riunisce sotto il nome di Cinzia, la donna e la regina, l’amante e la dea, trasformando così Elisabetta in dea e imperatrice dei mari
Elisabetta I come Cinzia. Una regina e il suo oceano.
No full textLa sconfitta della flotta spagnola nelle acque della Manica nel 1588 trasformò una donna sola e fragile in una delle figure più rilevanti della storia europea di fine XVI secolo: Elisabetta I Tudor divenne per i suoi sudditi una creatura semidivina che il mito, accostandola alle divinità lunari Diana e Cinzia, avrebbe consegnato alla Storia come Semper Eadem. Pur essendo evidente già nei primi tempi del suo regno, l’identificazione della sovrana con Cinzia, la dea che governa i mari e i corsi d’acqua, si fa ancora più evidente dopo il 1588, quando si assiste ad una fioritura di testi che esaltano Elisabetta I come la dea lunare per eccellenza. Sempre in quegli anni di fine XVI secolo, Sir Walter Raleigh compone ‘The Poems to Cynthia’: letterato, cortigiano e uomo di mare, Raleigh dedicherà il suo amore ad Elisabetta come Cinzia, signora dei mari. Il legame tra Elisabetta e l’oceano è soprattutto evidente in ‘Last Book of the Ocean to Cynthia’, un poemetto incompiuto in cui il poeta, caduto in disgrazia, riunisce sotto il nome di Cinzia, la donna e la regina, l’amante e la dea, trasformando così Elisabetta in dea e imperatrice dei mari.The defeat of the Spanish Armada in the Channel in 1588 turned ‘a weak and feeble woman’ into one of the most relevant characters of late 16th-century European history: Elizabeth I, the Tudor Queen, was considered a semi-divine creature whom the myth, by comparing her to Moon goddesses like Diana and Cinthia, had made known as Semper Eadem. The identification of the queen with Cinthia became more and more evident after the events occurred in 1588, when she was hailed as the moon goddess par excellence in a series of texts written by her contemporaries. It was in that period, the last decades of the 16th century, that Sir Walter Raleigh, courtier, poet and seaman, wrote ‘The Poems to Cynthia’: a collection of short poems where Elizabeth I, the lady of the seas, is addressed as his beloved. The role of Elizabeth as Cinthia is evident above all in Raleigh’s ‘Last Book of the Ocean to Cynthia’, an unfinished poem where the author, desperate for being in disgrace, appeals to her clemency and addresses her as the empress of the ocean
Praxiphanes of Mytilene (called 'of Rhodes'). The Sources, Text and Translation
No full textNuova edizione dei frammenti di Prassifane di MItilene, detto di Rodi, con traduzione e note. Prassifane era uno dei filosofi di età ellenistica implicato in ruoli anche pubblici in merito ai quali abbiamo segnali di onori ricevuti (cittadinanza e prossenia). I frammenti superstiti permettono di ricostruire la personalità di un filosofo peripatetico, allievo di Teofrasto, che pur avendo acquisito fama come 'primo grammatico' ed essersi occupato di critica letteraria, di poeti, di poetica e di 'storia', non lasciò da parte interessi di etica e probabilmente di fisica. Importante la sua attività a Rodi, nel pieno III sec. a.C., in un periodo nel quale l'isola rivestì un ruolo particolarmente rilevante dal punto di vista politico, economico e culturale per il mondo ellenico.New Critical Edition of the sources related to Praxiphanes of Mytilene, called of Rhodes' (3rd BC), a Peripatetic philosopher, pupil of Theophrastus, whose entire works are lost. The new collection of fragments shows that he was a philosopher involved in public life, called 'first grammarian' and author of works on literary critics, on poetics, on poets, on history, on ethics and physics. He lived and worked in Rhodes in a special period when this island was an important economic, political and cultural centre of the Hellenic world
Embodied Environmental and Social Impacts: A Regionalised Sectoral Method for Low-Carbon Construction Materials in Italy
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Open AccessArticle
Embodied Environmental and Social Impacts: A Regionalised Sectoral Method for Low-Carbon Construction Materials in Italy
by Elisabetta Palumbo 1,* andFrancesco Pomponi 2ORCID
1
Department of Engineering and Applied Science (DISA), University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy
2
York School of Architecture, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9797; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219797
Submission received: 25 September 2025 / Revised: 26 October 2025 / Accepted: 28 October 2025 / Published: 3 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Topic Construction Project Management and Infrastructure Sustainability)
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Abstract
The decarbonisation of the built environment has increased reliance on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA) to evaluate the impacts of construction materials. However, social aspects—particularly those affecting workers—remain underexplored. This study presents a regionalised approach to support socially and environmentally informed decision-making in the Italian construction sector. For this purpose, we have integrated worker health and safety indicators into the E-LCA of two representative building products assessed across key life cycle stages. These indicators are incorporated into the evaluation of Global Warming Potential (GWP), thus serving as a decision-support tool during the design phase. From a design perspective, the aim is to promote a broader understanding of sustainability—encompassing both environmental and social dimensions—within building projects. Methodologically, the contribution is twofold. First, it addresses the current gap in context-specific data on the critical indicator of worker health and safety in the construction sector, an essential requirement for robust and scientifically recognised S-LCA studies. To this end, the study develops a regionalised scoring system based on publicly available occupational health and safety data from the Italian National Accident Database (INAIL), disaggregated by sector and region. Second, we propose a framework to combine these social indicators with LCA-based environmental impact metrics, which remain central to building-scale E-LCA. It is clear that no single region performs best, while a critical need for multi-criteria decision-making in sustainable design is evident
The Eastern Coast of the Adriatic in the Journals of Elisabetta Caminer
No full textThis paper covers articles dealing with the eastern coast of the Adriatic, i. e. Venetian
Dalmatia and the Dubrovnik Republic, published in L’Europa Letteraria, Giornale
Enciclopedico, Nuovo Giornale Enciclopedico and Nuovo Giornale Enciclopedico d’Italia,
journals which in the second half of the 18th century were edited by the Venetian writer,
journalist and translator Elisabetta Caminer Turra. Her most important contributor for
writings on this region was Alberto Fortis, author of the famous Viaggio in Dalmazia
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