1,721,064 research outputs found
L’educazione finanziaria come una nuova dimensione del capitale umano: evidenze empiriche da un esperimento casuale e sul nesso tra crisi economica e alfabetizzazione finanziaria
No full textThe financial and economic crisis has increased the attention of academicians and policymakers on the importance of economic and financial literacy. This paper provides a synthesis of a PhD dissertation on topics related to financial education as a specific field of the more general issue of human capital and socioeconomic wellbeing.
The first and second part of the dissertation present and discuss results from a randomized experiment on financial education run on secondary-school classes in three Italian cities. The findings obtained document the benefits of financial education, especially when the outcomes are distinguished by learning topic. Students in fact, significantly improve their knowledge on issues concerning institutional finance and macroeconomics, but not on ones concerning everyday life economics.
The third part documents that people have searched more intensively the Internet for answers to their economic and financial questions during the period of financial crisis. Hence, the financial crisis itself proved to be an occasion enhancing the interest in financial and economic issues with consequences on financial literacy, especially for the part more directly related to the crisis itself
Site effects and associated structural damage analysis in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
No full textSeveral historical earthquakes demonstrated that local amplification and soil nonlinearity are responsible for the uneven damage pattern of the structures and lifelines. On April 25th 2015 the Mw7.8 Gorkha earthquake stroke Nepal and neighboring countries, and caused extensive damages throughout Kathmandu valley. In this paper, comparative studies between equivalent-linear and nonlinear seismic site response analyses in five affected strategic locations are performed in order to relate the soil behavior with the observed structural damage. The acceleration response spectra and soil amplification are compared in both approaches and found that the nonlinear analysis better represented the observed damage scenario. Higher values of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and higher spectral acceleration have characterized the intense damage in three study sites and the lower values have also shown agreement with less to insignificant damages in the other two sites. In equivalent linear analysis PGA varies between 0.29 to 0.47 g, meanwhile in case of nonlinear analysis it ranges from 0.17 to 0.46 g. It is verified from both analyses that the PGA map provided by the USGS for the southern part of Kathmandu valley is not properly representative, in contrary of the northern part. Similarly, the peak spectral amplification in case of equivalent linear analysis is estimated to be varying between 2.3 to 3.8, however in case of nonlinear analysis, the variation is observed in between 8.9 to 18.2. Both the equivalent linear and nonlinear analysis have depicted the soil fundamental period as 0.4 and 0.5 sec for the studied locations and subsequent analysis for seismic demands are correlated
Identification of the natural background levels in the Phlaegrean fields groundwater body (Southern Italy)
No full textThe paper deals with the identification of Natural Background Levels (NBLs) in a groundwater body located in a volcanic area. NBLs were assessed through spatial analysis adopting both the probability plot and the preselection methods. They were performed on 33 sampling points, focusing on F, Fe, Mn and As ions. The approach is discussed adopting the groundwater body of Phlaegrean Fields as relevant case study. The area is an active volcanic caldera, hosting a geothermal system superimposed on the regional groundwater flow and characterized by hydrogeochemical anomalies. The results, especially referred to As, suggest a local geogenic contamination or concentrated volcano-related phenomena, as fluids upwelling along faults, in the most active portion of the caldera. The application of the probability maps generated by the indicator kriging, resulted effective to distinguish within the same groundwater body areas characterized by peculiar geochemical anomalies
Seismic permanent ground deformations: Analysis of soil liquefaction occurred after the 2012 Emilia Earthquake
No full textMicrozonation Study on the Western Area of Napoli
No full textA rational evaluation of the seismic risk of urban areas cannot neglect the variability of the ground motion due to site amplification and the induced effects, such as soil liquefaction and slope stability. In this framework, the microzonation maps certainly represent the most adequate tool to account for this element in the seismic risk and for planning mitigation strategies. This study shows the preliminary results of a multidisciplinary research, which deals with the seismic microzonation of the Western area of Napoli. The selected case study is a challenging choice, as the seismic hazard is affected by both tectonic and volcanic seismicity, which in historical time differently affected the urban setting. The latter, in turn, results highly heterogeneous, as consisting of a mixing of both masonry and concrete structures. The adopted approach followed the recommendations of both the National and International Guidelines, with reference to the multi-levels methods. The collection, homogenization and synthesis of a significant number of existing data permitted the development of reliable geological and geotechnical subsoil models, leading to Grade I and II seismic microzonation maps, characterized by different expected amplification of ground motion and instability due to the liquefaction. Such maps represent a key for a quantitative assessment of seismic performance of buildings and infrastructures, in view of the expected urban requalification of the area
Sinkhole Risk Assessment in the Metropolitan Area of Napoli, Italy
No full textThe city of Naples and its neighboring is an example of urban area affected by frequent anthropogenic sinkholes. They occur where the mining of tuff at shallow depth left a wide and complex network of cavities. The collapse is usually triggered by the soaking of the overlying pyroclastic soils forwarded by the presence of leakage from aged aqueducts and sewerages. This note reports the first results of a multidisciplinary research activity aimed at enhance the knowledge of the triggering factors of these phenomena in urban contexts. The study focused on an area characterized by the presence of cavities dug in tuff, starting from the research and collection of their location and that of past collapse events. In particular, the paper presents the results of sinkhole occurrence assessment at both local and metropolitan scale. In the first case, in order to define the most likely triggering mechanisms a case study among the recent sinkholes was investigated. A detailed field survey of the phenomena permitted to define the stratigraphical and geometrical setting of the pre-existing cavity and collect soil and rock samples for the geotechnical characterization. The attained results permitted to identify the most relevant parameters that influence the susceptibility assessment in a study area at metropolitan scale. This study represents contribute to the definition of a procedure to study anthropogenic sinkhole in intensely urbanized areas and it represents a valuable support for future planning strategies of risk mitigatio
Topographic amplification and debris remobilization as a cause for increasing rockfall hazard in seismic areas: A case study in Central Italy
No full textThe long-lasting earthquake sequence of Central Italy in 2016 triggered around 1370 landslides, most of which were observed close to ridge areas. The area of San Pellegrino di Norcia (PG) was badly affected by the 6.5 Mw Norcia earthquake that triggered 95 rock falls and slides with volumes ranging from 0.5 m3 to 380 m3 over an area of 0.6 km2. The presence of such a large number of coseismic landslides in a small area provided a suitable case study for investigating triggering mechanisms related to slope morphology and the subsequent propagation dynamics of rockfalls. To this aim, detailed field data collection and up-to-date terrain modelling based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery were carried out. They permitted to perform morphometric analyses oriented at defining: (a) the frequency of occurrence of rockfall with reference to the energy relief, (b) the relationships between extensions of source and propagation areas and (c) the change in the shape of the propagation area as a function of the different terrains crossed by rockfalls. The results of the morphometric study were compared with dynamic analyses of rock-slides onset and simulations of rockfall propagation. They highlighted that, disregarding the presence of steep rock faces, the failures were located close to ridge and slope edges, thus pointing out the role of topography on triggering of landslides.
Moreover, it was possible to observe that even small-sized rockfalls had a widening effect in the foothill characterized by longer runouts compared to rockfall simulations. This issue was due to the mobilization of the talus debris covering the limestone bedrock. This study investigates an area where a significant increase in rockfall hazard can be expected due to the coupled effect of topographic amplification and debris remobilization
GEER report on the Central Italy 2016 October events (Engineering Reconnaissance following the October 2016 Central Italy Earthquakes. Version 2)
No full textFlash floods in torrential basins: the event of October 14th-15th 2015 in the surroundings of Benevento (Southern Italy)
No full textThis paper deals with the description of the flooding event occurred in the surroundings of Benevento (Campania) between 14th and 15th October 2015. Several agricultural and industrial activities were strongly affected by the flooding of the Calore River and by the reactivation of some alluvial fans in the northern piedmont of Mt. Camposauro. The geological and geomorphological survey carried out in the post-event, supported by satellite images allowed for assessing the width, the magnitude and the damages occurred. The analysis of the rain data displayed very high values of maximum sub-hourly intensity, mainly concentrated on some sectors of Taburno-Camposauro Mts. The event resulted in no casualties, but it heavily affected the local economy, mainly based on the agriculture and the wine productio
Seismic permanent ground deformations: earthquake triggered landslides in Molise Apennines.
No full text- …
