1,720,975 research outputs found
NEW ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR SURVEY AND ANALYSISbOF AGROFORESTRY LAND: FROM LAND COVER CHANGES TO RURAL LANDSCAPE QUALITY ASSESSMENT
Full text linkThe general objective of this Ph.D. thesis is to explore the concepts and methodologies for investigating agroforestry land and rural landscape through the integration of historical and remote sensing geodata within a FoSS (Free and Open Source Software) approach; to provide more and more accurate data sets regarding land cover and to improve some mapping and data processing techniques commonly used in this research topic. The first part of thesis describes the different types of geodata used in the course of the studies and, above all, the techniques and methodologies used for their processing are illustrated. Starting from historical cartographies, we will go through aerial surveys and geographical maps up to the new remote sensing using advanced satellite observation technologies. In the second part, more specific issues were dealt in accordance with the general objective of the work have been defined. The issues were approached through case studies within the Basilicata Region where the intensity of the abandonment of the territory and agricultural surface is leading to the loss of many historical rural landscapes and with consequent problems from an ecological point of view due to the disappearance of many agroforestry systems.L'obiettivo generale di questa tesi di dottorato è quello di esplorare i concetti e le metodologie per lo studio del territorio agroforestale e del paesaggio rurale attraverso l'integrazione di geodati storici e telerilevamento con un approccio FoSS (Free and Open Source Software); per fornire serie di dati sempre più accurate sulla copertura del suolo e migliorare alcune tecniche di mappatura ed elaborazione comunemente utilizzate in questo ambito di ricerca. La prima parte della tesi descrive i diversi tipi di geodati impiegati nel corso degli studi e, soprattutto, vengono illustrate le tecniche e le metodologie utilizzate per la loro elaborazione. Partendo dalle cartografie storiche, si passerà ai rilievi aerei ed alle cartogrofaie classifche fino al remote sensing basato su immagini satellitari. Nella seconda parte sono state trattate tematiche più specifiche in accordo con l'obiettivo generale del lavoro. Le tematiche sono state affrontate attraverso casi di studio all'interno della Regione Basilicata dove l'intensità dell'abbandono del territorio e della superficie agricola sta portando alla perdita di molti paesaggi rurali storici con conseguenti problemi dal punto di vista ecologico dovuti alla scomparsa di molti sistemi agroforestali
GIS-based Analysis of Temporal Evolution of Rural Landscape: A Case Study in Southern Italy
No full textThe apparent features of a rural landscape are the final result of the interaction among several natural and anthropic factors. The analysis of a landscape, as well as the identification of its best management strategies, can be improved when useful information about its modifications along a wide time period is available, so as to assess the effect of the transformations that have taken place there. The implementation within a geographic information system (GIS) of geographical information derived from ancient historical maps, combined with modern digital cartography and recent remote sensing images may provide a very powerful tool for a better-informed analysis and targeted decision-making strategies about the most appropriate rural landscape planning. With the purpose to detect the land use changes in a typical rural landscape in the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy), spatial analysis using free and open-source GIS tools, in which data covering a period of about two centuries, from 1829 to 2017, were implemented. This multi-temporal analysis was carried out to investigate the landscape structure transformations through the assessment of land use change and the implementation of a methodology for the identification of areas in which there has been a natural evolution of the rural landscape. Then, using landscape metrics and spatial analysis tools, some areas in which the landscape has naturally evolved without any anthropic intervention during these 188 years have been identified, and changes occurred on the rural landscape were assessed quantitatively
Multi-temporal analysis of vernacular farm buildings and rural landscape through historical cartography and 3-D GIS
Full text linkFarm buildings, designed over the centuries in order to fulfil their primary agricultural goal, now often constitute a widespread heritage of vernacular constructions, endowed with an unreplaceable architectural value. Together with the concurrent action of natural events, human interventions and changes in natural cycles, they play indeed a central role in shaping the rural landscape.
In this paper, thanks to the use of a Geographic Information System in which historical cartography, aerial photos and other ancillary dataset have been implemented, the land use of the area of “Monte Vulture and Monticchio lakes” and its environmental components have been investigated through a 3-D modelling of the relevant rural landscape and its main features. This area, located in the Basilicata Region (southern Italy), is one territory with a great scenic interest, having been recognized as a landscape heritage thanks to some specific cultural and historical elements. This rural landscape also includes – similar as many other Italian rural landscapes - some vernacular constructions having a high historical and architectural value, that have contributed to create this traditional rural landscape. The analysis has involved a multi-temporal comparison of the vernacular constructions located in the study area, so as to evaluate the built heritage evolution in the framework of its rural landscape, as well as its interactions with the surrounding territory. With this aim, the historical reconstruction of the landscape before and after the year 1900 has been conducted through implementing digital terrain models enriched by draping land cover pictures over them.
The results which have been obtained enabled an evaluation in a scenic way of the morphological and vegetation variations during time of the rural landscape, allowing a virtual “time jump” back to periods when digital aerial photography was not yet existing. Thanks to these new technologies, able to exploit information included into old cartographic supports, some suitable tools have been then developed, skilled to support the sustainable planning and management of rural built heritage, enabling an analysis of their possible valorisation for cultural tourism purposes as well
Sarcoidosis: proteomics and new perspectives for improving personalized medicine
No full textIntroduction: Through synergistic approaches integrating biomedical data from omics sciences to the clinical practice, precision medicine aims at more accurate identification of risk factors, characterization of endotypes, patient stratification, establishment of individualized therapy, and prediction of outcomes.Areas covered: This review evaluates the potential role of different omics approaches for the development and application of precision medicine to sarcoidosis patients. This systemic and heterogeneous inflammatory disease is of unknown etiology, affects people of any age, and requires genotypic and phenotypic characterization. The latter can be achieved through the integration of genomic (i.e. information about genes and their mutations potentially involved in sarcoidosis), transcriptomic (reflecting the dynamic state of a cell and measuring the transcribed genes over time), and proteomic data (i.e. proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage, lung tissues, lung cells, serum and immunity system).Expert commentary: Genomic studies have revealed numerous aspects of sarcoidosis; however, for precision medicine, it is necessary to implement genomics with other omic approaches. The improving reliability of omics data, their storage, and their bioinformatics processing represents the next step to recapitulate in silico biological systems, with the final aim to simulate potential molecular pathways involved in the pathology and useful for clinical purposes
Paesaggi boschivi e servizi ecosistemici: metodi integrati per la gestione forestale in Liguria
No full textImplementing a GIS-Based Digital Atlas of Agricultural Plastics to Reduce Their Environmental Footprint; Part I: A Deductive Approach
Full text linkThe agricultural sector has benefitted over the last century from several factors that have led to an exponential increase in its productive efficiency. The increasing use of new materials, such as plastics, has been one of the most important factors, as they have allowed for increased production in a simpler and more economical way. Various polymer types are used in different phases of the agricultural production cycle, but when their use is incorrectly managed, it can lead to different environmental impacts. In this study, an applied and simplified methodology to manage agricultural plastics monitoring and planning is proposed. The techniques used are based on quantification through the use of different datasets (orthophotos and satellite images) of the areas covered by plastics used for crop protection. The study area chosen is a part of the Ionian Coast of Southern Italy, which includes the most important municipalities of the Basilicata Region for fruit and vegetable production. The use of geographical techniques and observation methodologies, developed in an open-source GIS environment, enabled accurate location of about 2000 hectares of agricultural land covered by plastics, as well as identification of the areas most susceptible to the accumulation of plastic waste. The techniques and the model implemented, due to its simplicity of use and reliability, can be applied by different local authorities in order to realize an Atlas of agricultural plastics, which would be applied for continuous monitoring, thereby enabling the upscaling of future social and ecological impact assessments, identification of new policy impacts, market searches, etc
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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