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Time variations of the air quality in reference sites of an urban and industrial environment (province of Trieste)
No full textThe air quality in Province of Trieste has been considered in terms of minor pollutant species as nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide: these species are correlated to motor vehicle traffic and to heating system activities, and their distribution can provide information on both urban and industrial factors affecting the air quality. Air pollutant concentration trends make it possible to distinguish three types of areas: (i) the town-centre' areas display nitrogen oxide contents higher than sulphur dioxide; (ii) the industrial' areas have instead sulphur dioxide contents similar or higher than nitrogen oxides; (iii) the peripheral ones, less affected by urban traffic and industrial sources, display the lowest pollutant contents. Pollutant distribution is affected by winds. Industrial source-points of sulphur dioxide were detected. In town centre, sulphur dioxide has its minimum in summer, when home heating systems stop: this decrease is not observed in sites nearby industrial areas
PM10 CONCENTRATIONS IN RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANTS IN AN URBAN-INDUSTRIAL AREA (PROVINCE OF TRIESTE, NE-ITALY)
No full textReasoning on and measuring small scale spatial gradients close to coke oven batteries; outdoor and indoor BTEX concentrations and PAHs depositions
No full text1. Introduction
Anomalies in concentration of outdoor benzene were detected during 2010 and 2011 by the Friuli
Venezia Giulia regional environmental agency [1,2] in the framework of a monitoring programme
of fugitive emissions from coke oven batteries of a steel plant in Trieste.
2. Material and Methods
We report about an observational study on the presence of benzene and toluene in samples from
outdoor and indoor air collected in proximity of houses far up to one km from the coke oven. The
air sampling is performed with cheap and accurate [3] radial symmetry diffusive samplers, that
were analyzed by thermal desorption and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry [4].
Six dwellings are considered for sampling outdoor air, each being at different distances from the
coking plant, a potentially relevant source of benzene emissions; five of these houses belonged to
non-smokers citizens are considered for indoor sampling. The samples were collected weekly for
one year starting from May 2012, and each sampler was exposed to air for 4-6 days, with duration
and temperature accurately recorded. A rural background site is also considered for sake of
comparison.
3. Results and discussions
Summer samples showed a clear gradient of benzene concentrations decreasing from houses close
to the industrial plant laying by the sea, towards inland; during winter the gradient was less evident,
due to (a) the lack of sea breezes bringing emissions towards the residential area, (b) the presence of
another diffuse less intense source of benzene, biomass burning; (c) reduction of the industrial
activities due to the crysis. Seasonal relationships between outdoor and indoor benzene are
presented.
Further spatial heterogeneity is shown for wet and dry depositions where PAHs are also measured.
Morover the regional environmental agency recently highlighted compatible gradients for outdoor
air PAHs, by means of interpolation of data collected at three sites where PM10 is sampled.
4.Conclusions
The study shows the relevance of using available analytical information, identifying proper
monitoring stations and the need to assess exposure of most critical sub-populations: in some
pollution studies knowing the “average” condition may be poorly informative.
Bibliography
[1] Dip. Provinciale di Trieste, CRMA-ARPA FVG “Qualitá dell’aria della cittá di Trieste anno
2010 - redatta sulla base dei riscontri analitici forniti dalla rete di monitoraggio” Trieste 21/10/2011
[2] Dip. Provinciale di Trieste, CRMA-ARPA FVG “Qualitá dell’aria della cittá di Trieste anno
2011 - redatta sulla base dei riscontri analitici forniti dalla rete di monitoraggio” Trieste 21/10/2011
[3] P. Bruno, M. Caputi, M. Caselli, G. de Gennaro, M. de Rienzo “Reliability of a BTEX radial
diffusive sampler for thermal desorption: field measurements” Atmospheric Environment Volume
39, Issue 7, March 2005, Pages 1347–1355
[4] EN 14662-4:2005 Ambient Air Quality –Standard method for the measurement of benzene
concentrations – Part 4: Diffusive sampling followed by thermal desorption and gas
chromatograph
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
Trasferimento di microinquinanti nel biota e nel sedimento in Golfo di Trieste
No full text2009/2010E’ stato esaminato il fenomeno dell’emissione di microinquinanti organici e composti organici persistenti (POP) nella Zona Industriale di Trieste, in rapporto alla contaminazione che essi causano nei Molluschi in Baia diMuggia.
L’attività di ricerca condotta è coerente con i seguenti scopi:
1. descrivere gli elementi caratteristici dell'alterazione che viene generata, a partire dalle attività che la causano;
2. individuare gli elementi caratteristici dei fenomeni di alterazione ambientale, con particolare riferimento agli ecosistemi marini in Baia di Muggia;
3. elaborare un Modello Concettuale descrivente i fenomeni di alterazione presenti nell’area di studio, utile a valutare il rischio da essi derivante;
4. studiare la diffusione degli inquinanti nei molluschi presenti in Baia di Muggia, estrapolando le informazioni utili per la validazione del metodo di indagine.
L’analisi dei dati ambientali si basa sullo schema “DPSIR” (Determinanti-Pressioni-Stato-Impatti-Risposte) elaborato da OCSE-EEA, secondo cui le attività civili, industriali, il traffico terrestre e navale, i siti inquinati (D) generano emissioni di inquinanti organici e metalli (P) che alterano le condizioni (S) dei vari comparti ambientali e del biota, causando impatti (I), si valutano le politiche di controllo e risanamento in termini di “Risposte” (R).
Viene costruito un “dataset” delle sorgenti di POP e del loro contenuto in ciascun comparto ambientale, e quindi uno schema di esposizione utile a descrivere i meccanismi di alterazione e schematizzare gli Impatti. Con l’Analisi Multivariata sono esaminate le relazioni causa-effetto tra sorgenti e recettori. Coerentemente con lo schema di esposizione, sono campionati in varie stazioni costiere di Muggia molluschi marini appartenenti a tre specie: Patella caerulaea, Mytilus galloprovincialis e Pinna nobilis. Sono tutte rappresentative di popolazioni presenti in Golfo di Trieste e di diversi percorsi di esposizione agli inquinanti, avendo diverse abitudini alimentari e collocazione verticale. I campioni sono sottoposti a misurazioni biometriche e ad analisi chimica del contenuto di Idrocarburi Policiclici Aromatici.
Dall’esame statistico delle relazioni di impatto e dai risultati analitici, le emissioni industriali risultano associabili alla contaminazione del biota, ed in particolare le sorgenti più impattanti sono le ricadute atmosferiche. I profili di contaminazione da POP nell’aria, nei sedimenti, nel biota, sono ben correlabili alle emissioni in atmosfera ed agli scarichi idrici.
Sono osservabili effetti di migrazione preferenziale dei congeneri a basso peso molecolare, che risultano molto mobili, e che vengono selettivamente assorbiti in concentrazioni maggiori dagli organismi-bersaglio. Il loro contenuto nei molluschi aumenta sensibilmente dopo episodi di maltempo che movimentano i sedimenti, e si notano anche effetti di aumento delle concentrazioni in relazione all’evoluzione stagionale del ciclo biologico dei molluschi, con valori più alti nella stagione estiva, pre-riproduttiva.
L’uso combinato di tecniche di esame dei processi industriali, di indagine chimica, di studio della biologia dell’organismo-bersaglio, di indagine statistica, hanno dato prova di costituire un potente strumento per l’indagime dell’alterazione nel biota e la previsione del rischio.XXII Ciclo196
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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