1,820 research outputs found
Renovation of an UNESCO heritage settlement in southern Italy: ASHP and BIPV for a “Spread Hotel” project
No full textMany small historical settlements in Mediterranean areas have a great value in terms of architectural and cultural
heritage. Therefore it happens that the socio–economic situation of many of these settlements is backward and
depressed. A succesful way to develop these important environments is to implement tourism, a profitable and
available economical resource. “Spread Hotel” or “Diffuse Hotel” or “Albergo Diffuso” is an innovative concept
which aims to renovate decayed buildings situated in historical locations. New economical inputs are needed to
revitalize these settlements and their social tissue. “Diffuse Hotel” concept is very diffused in Italy due to its rich
historical heritage. The present paper displays a renovation project of a rural historical settlement into a “Spread
Hotel”. The site under analysis is located in Palazzolo Acreide, Sicily, Italy. The settlement strongly needed to be
refurbished in order to provide habitability and to guarantee a proper level of comfort according to italian standards.
The area is also listed in the UNESCO Heritage. The “Diffuse Hotel” at a national level is considered as an affordable
and comfortable concept that enables the travellers to experiance Italy through a tipical, historical and comfortable
hotel. The historical built enviroment preservation is strategic in Italy and can strongly support economical
revitalization. European Community supports the development of “Spread Hotels” projects in order to improve
economical capacity of depressed areas by financing refurbishment programs. In this contest the authors present how
“Palazzolo Acreide” renovation project was done. In particular, the design strategy was to respect the local
characteristics, improve thermal performance and HVAC systems and exploting the on site renewable energy. In fact,
in the Mediterranean areas solar radiation is a incredible resource to provide energy to the buildings
sj-docx-1-hol-10.1177_09596836221145395 – Supplemental material for The geoarchaeological investigation on the defunctionalisation of an Assyrian canals system reveals Late-Holocene land use transitions in Northern Mesopotamia
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-hol-10.1177_09596836221145395 for The geoarchaeological investigation on the defunctionalisation of an Assyrian canals system reveals Late-Holocene land use transitions in Northern Mesopotamia by Luca Forti, Stefano Costanzo, Chiara Compostella, Giancarlo Garna, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi and Andrea Zerboni in The Holocene</p
Frost features in soil thin sections as a tool for Holocene reconstruction: a study case from the Northern Apennines
No full textGrowth forms and age estimation for treeline species
No full textThe correct evaluation of the age of small tree individuals is of great importance in ecological studies, and can be performed if growth units are identifiable even under strong environmental constraints. We aimed to
assess the reliability of age evaluation of small individuals of four species commonly occurring at the treeline in the Alps and the Apennines (N Italy), Picea abies, Pinus
cembra, Larix decidua and Fagus sylvatica. A total of 224 individuals were sampled along an altitudinal gradient up to the treeline. For each species, we assessed the growth
architecture and the appearance of annual growth units; for each individual, age and evaluation uncertainty were estimated.
To verify the estimation a core or a cross-section was obtained. The estimated age was compared with the tree-ring age through linear regression and reduced chi
square test, and the estimation accuracy was evaluated as function of tree age, dimension and environmental parameters. A good estimation was possible for all species, even when loss of vertical growth occurred. The highest error occurred for Larix, the lowest for Pinus; the error was generally correlated with tree age and dimension, and was affected by altitude and geomorphology. Good reduced chi square values were reached considering only the youngest individuals for Fagus and Picea and the smallest for Fagus and Larix; the uncertainty was generally underestimated for Pinus. Even though reliable age estimation could be
obtained, a realistic and species-specific evaluation of the estimation uncertainties is necessary to assess estimation accuracy for ecological studies
Chiara Lubich, Meditazioni: letteratura come relazione
No full textChiara Lubich (1920–2008), although the author of 32 books published in 26 countries (178 editions, 3.2 million copies), is better known for her social engagement, as reflected in numerous awards. She began to be regarded as a literary author only in the early 2000s, and primarily from a linguistic rather than literary perspective. This article focuses on her book Meditazioni (Meditations), reconstructs its genesis by tracing the writing process from the late 1950s to her death and the 2021 critical edition, and offers a literary analysis. This reveals Lubich as a forerunner of a new conception of literature: literature as relationship – not only between author and reader, but also among subject, inspiration, and the editorial process
Comparative analysis on chironomids and carabids diversity and distribution along a chronosequence of glacier retreat
No full textHierarchical models for describing space-for-time variationsin insect population size and sex-ratio along a primary succession
No full textChronosequences of glacier retreat are useful for investigating primary successions over time periods that are longer than direct observation would permit. In this context, space-for-time substitution studies have been applied to assess the effects of climate change on invertebrate assemblages. However, population dynamics of insect species following retreating glaciers has been under-investigated until now due to difficulty in applying capture-recapture methods and correctly identifying species in the field. Removal sampling methods are commonly used, but imperfect detectability is rarely accounted for in the analytical framework. In this paper we study the effects of environmental drivers of spatial, and indirectly temporal, variation in population size and sex-ratio of cold-adapted insects through a hierarchical framework for abundance. We show the importance of a metapopulation design, where samples are replicated in space and time, to model data from small and scattered populations, typically present in habitats with climate-mediated selective pressure like those along glacier forelands. This scattered distribution can influence the observation or sampling process and thus species detectability. Our results show that glacier retreat differently affects species-specific changes of population size and sex ratio along the chronosequence, even if the species are taxonomically related. Small-sized populations occur on the glacier surface, near the glacier front, and in sites deglaciated for at least 100 yrs. On the contrary, larger populations occupy sites deglaciated for more than 20 yrs, but less than 100 yrs. This pattern is described by the concave relationship of abundance with both species richness of other arthropods (proxy of habitat complexity) and soil organic matter (proxy of soil maturity). Sex-ratio showed opposite patterns in relation to time since deglaciation. Hierarchical models that estimate abundance of spatially distinct subpopulations represent useful tools for accurately assessing changes in species abundance following climate change while accounting for possible bias associated with imperfect detectability, an issue which is often neglected in space-for-time substitution studies on invertebrates and, more generally, in studies involving pitfall trapping
Complex climate-induced changes in soil development as markers for the Little Ice Age in the Northern Apennines (Italy)
No full textIn the Northern Apennines the effects of the Little Ice Age (LIA) on the mountain landscape are poorly known. A pedosedimentary sequence on the northern slope of Mt. Cusna (Tuscan-Aemilian Apennines) and its geomorphological setting were investigated in order to assess the influence of the LIA on the soils and the geomorphological processes. The upper portion of the described sequence could be interpreted as colluvial deposits burying an old paleosurface. The LIA climatic effects acted on the sequence in two distinct phases: in a first moment, partial denudation of the surfaces allowed direct daily and seasonal freeze-thaw cycles (i.e. frost action) to produce ice-related relict microscopic pedofeatures in the soil horizons constituting the paleosurface, and absent on modern surfaces. Afterwards, a slope instability phase, possibly caused by the change to wetter conditions, promoted the widespread colluvial deposits, which were later partially reworked by frost insolifluction lobes. The triggering of these events seems to be influenced by the presence of pastoral communities, too: charcoals found on the paleosurface point to the use of fire events for clearance practices and, possibly, later pasture exploitation of the surfaces. In this light, the environmental history recorded by the Mt. Cusna pedosedimentary sequence highlights how LIA was fundamental inshaping the modern landscape of the N Apennines and suggests a complex relationship between climate and human forcing on mountain environments
Are carabids and chironomids experiencing similar spatial patterns along a chronosequence of glacier retreat?
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