322,857 research outputs found
High C stocks in Umbrisols in Valgrande National Park (NW Italy)
No full textValgrande National Park is characterized by a particularly high mean precipitation amount (up to 2500-3000 mm per year), and this factor contributes to the widespread presence of Umbrisols. In order to understand their distribution and pedogenesis, we opened and analyzed 19 soil profiles and observed many non-analyzed minipits under different land uses.
The results show that Umbrisols are indeed the most common soil types under most land uses. Cambisols can be observed only in highly disturbed positions, while Umbric Podzols can be found under heath. Commonly, Umbrisols also have a black Sombric Bh horizon below 30 cm of depth.
As expected on sialic parent materials under a very wet climate, the soils are extremely acidic and dominated by exchangeable Al.
The C stocks are high, with values commonly above 18-20 kg/m2, mainly located in the mineral horizons. There are no differences with land uses: the lowest C stocks were measured in disturbed soil profiles, where erosion or recent deposition made the soil less thick. 1-3 C kg/m2 are stored in organic layers, with the highest values measured in Umbric Podzols under heath. 40-60% of the total C stored in mineral horizons is located under 30 cm of depth, thus measuring its content only in the top 30 cm would lead to a huge underestimation of C stocks
The electronic questionnaire in ISTAT’s new CAPI/CATI Labour Force Survey
No full textWith the aim of complying to EUROSTAT standards, two years ago ISTAT began to design a new labour force survey. After an experimental phase, the survey is now being run in
parallel with the current one and will substitute it completely during 2004. Innovations in the new survey concerned both contents and technical aspects. In particular, concerning the survey technique, we passed from a PAPI technique handled by interviewers of the municipalities which entered the sample, to a mixed technique: CAPI for the first family interviews and CATI for the confirmation interviews following the first.
The questionnaire for the new survey is particularly complex and consists in a general opening part which collects information on the family’s demographic characteristics
and 12 sections of which 10 are repeated for each family member. The use of an electronic questionnaire has allowed for automatic branching, the activation of online help upon request of the interviewer, the interactive coding of open items using a search engine for certain key variables (such as economic activity and profession), the introduction of soft and hard control mechanisms of range and coherence (with the
possibility of conciliating on the spot), managing confirmation items for waves following the first. All of this has helped simplify the interview and therefore significantly improve data quality. To evaluate such improvement, we have compared
the off-line check programme of the old survey with the on-line check programme of the new survey, analysing the number of partial non-responses, the number of edit
activations, the number of conciliations in the new survey and the number of soft controls purposefully not corrected (which shouldn’t therefore be imputed automatically). The significantly better results for the new survey have confirmed the correctness of the choice of an electronic questionnaire as data collection instrument.
Comparisons between the qualitative standards of the two surveys will be developed in order to analyse longitudinal aspects of the sample, examining in detail the effects of a
confirmation questionnaire in the waves following the first and the use of a CATI technique
Frequency of urinary tract infection in children with antenatal diagnosis of urinary tract dilatation
No full textBackground: Neonates with congenital urinary tract dilatation (UTD) may have an increased risk of urinary tract infections (UTI). At present, the management of these patients is controversial and the utility of continuous antibiotic prophylaxis (CAP) remains uncertain as the literature presents contradicting evidence. The aim of this observational study was to assess UTI occurrence in children with prenatal diagnosis of urinary collecting system dilatation without antibiotic prophylaxis. Methods: Between June 2012 and August 2016, we evaluated the incidence of UTI and the clinical and ultrasonography evolution in 407 children with a prenatally diagnosed UTD. All subjects underwent two prenatal ultrasounds scans (USs) at 20 weeks and 30 weeks of gestation and within 1 month of birth. Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of UTD underwent US follow-up at 6, 12 and 24 months of life. According to the UTD classification system stratify risk, after birth UTD were classified into three groups: UTD-P1 (low risk group), UTD-P2 (intermediate risk group), and UTD-P3 (high risk group). Voiding cystourethrogram was performed in all patients who presented a UTI and in those with UTD-P3. No patient underwent CAP. Results: Postnatal US confirmed UTD in 278 out of 428 patients with the following rates: UTD-P1 (126), UTD-P2 (95) and UTD-P3 (57). During postnatal follow-up, 6.83% patients presented a UTI (19 out of 278). Eleven out of 19 had vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), and other four were diagnosed with obstructive uropathy and underwent surgical correction. Five patients presented a UTI reinfection. Conclusion: The occurrence of UTI in patients with urinary collecting system dilatation was low. The recent literature reports an increased selection of multirestistant germs in patients with VUR exposed to CAP. This study constitutes a strong hint that routine continuous antibiotic prophylaxis could be avoided in patients with UTD
Humus forms affect soil susceptibility to water erosion in the Western Italian Alps
No full textSoil erosion depends mainly on its intrinsic vulnerability (soil erodibility), which is represented by the K factor of the RUSLE equation. Soil erodibility is strictly related to soil structure, which depends mostly on soil particle-size distribution and organic and inorganic binding agents. Soil erodibility can be estimated through soil aggregate stability measurements. However, the effects of different humus forms on soil erodibility and aggregate stability
are poorly understood. In this study, we evaluate the influence of different humus forms on these parameters, and consequently on soil susceptibility to erosion. In the Western Italian Alps, 67 sites were selected on different substrata under common forest vegetation types. In all sites, soil profiles and humus forms were described and classified. Soil samples from the upper mineral horizons (A or E) were analysed (SOM content, water aggregate
stability that measures aggregates loss) and soil erodibility K factor was calculated. The results showed that surface mineral horizons in soils with Mor humus were the most susceptible to erosion because they had the greatest values of K and aggregates loss, and their surface mineral horizons were characterized by the lowest SOM content. Conversely, surface mineral horizons in soils with Amphi, which had the greatest SOM content, were the least susceptible to erosion, as demonstrated by the lowest K values and limited aggregates loss. Mull and Moder forms showed intermediate behaviours. Despite a similar SOM content as Mulls, Moders showed a slightly greater aggregates loss. At low SOM content, the aggregates loss increased but it varied significantly among the humus forms. In Moders, SOM variations induced large changes in aggregates losses while Amphi forms were the least influenced by SOM. These results show that the intrinsic characteristics of humus forms, derived from the biological factors to which they are associated, influence soil erodibility and aggregate stability and consequently soil susceptibility to water erosion
Diffusive author(s), cohesive author: Analysis of S/N (1994)
No full textThis study indicates the ways in which various aspects of the author(s) are brought forth in Dumb type’s performance art, the S/N production. Previous research has suggested a non-hierarchical organization of Dumb type and the absence of a “privileged author” in Dumb type’s collaborative work, S/N. However, the results that I have investigated from member’s interviews on the creative process of S/N along with my analysis of the recorded images of S/N, indicate a different aspect of the author(s). First, S/N was created through, so to speak, the collective ideas of the members of Dumb type. Further, S/N has at least nine quotations from previous performances, installations, and printed writings, besides the work-in-progress technique. Explicating one of the “author functions” as given by Michel Foucault, each text has plural subjects of the author. However, it has been revealed from members’ interviews that Teiji Furuhashi had a decision-making role in selecting the members’ ideas within the performance. Since then, S/N has had plural subjects of creation; however, Furuhashi is one of the subjects of creation along with the “privileged author.” S/N has plural authors (diffusive authors) yet at the same time, it has a “privileged author,” Teiji Furuhashi (cohesive author)
Soil function assessment in high-mountain environments : Testing the SEPP tool in a ski resort in the Italian Alps
No full textSoil function assessment (SFA) plays an important role in evaluating the impact of management practices, land- use changes and construction work. The Soil Evaluation for Planning Procedures (SEPP) tool is one of the few existing SFA tools that allow automated SFA. It was originally developed to address land- use planning issues, which traditionally play a minor role in high- mountain areas. Hence, the SEPP tool has not yet been applied to such environments. In this study, we tested the SEPP performance on high- mountain soils previously altered by construction work and land- use changes. Specifically, we evaluated soil data from 16 ski runs and 16 paired control sites in the Italian Alps, aiming to reflect land- use- driven differences in soil properties in the SFA results. The study re-vealed options to adapt SEPP assessment methods if high- mountain soils with special characteristics (e.g. shallowness or high coarse fragment content) are in-vestigated. The main adaptation options are the consideration of further soil pa-rameters and the adjustment of thresholds of function fulfilment levels. However, the assessment results of the current SEPP version already reflect the most rel-evant impacts of ski run construction on the soils in the study area: fulfilment of some of the soil functions was impaired and that of others improved, while most remained at a comparable level. We conclude that SFA with the SEPP tool pro-vides valuable support for the evaluation of construction projects and land- use change in high- mountain environments. However, the significance of SFA can be improved by considering the intrinsic properties of high- mountain soils
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
“Il trattamento del paziente con peritonite” (V. Violi). Consensus Conference: Il ruolo della chirurgia nel trattamento della malattia diverticolare (Coordinatori: F. Tonelli, C Sartori). 107° Congr. SIC, Cagliari, 2005
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Mountain soils
No full textDuring the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science, as it was proven to be one of the most crucial components of the earth’s climate system, which has a great potential to be managed by humans. Soils as a carbon pool are one of the key factors in several Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 15, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” with the SOC stock being explicitly cited in Indicator 15.3.1.
This technical manual is the first attempt to gather, in a standardized format, the existing data on the impacts of the main soil management practices on SOC content in a wide array of environments, including the advantages, drawbacks, and constraints. This manual presents different sustainable soil management (SSM) practices at different scales and in different contexts, supported by case studies that have been shown with quantitative data to have a positive effect on SOC stocks and successful experiences of SOC sequestration in practical field applications.
Volume 2 includes a description of hot spots of SOC stocks. This manual defines hot spots of SOC as areas that represent a proportionally little of the global land surface but on which SOC storage is highly effective; bright spots as large land areas with low SOC stocks per km2 that represent a potential for further carbon sequestration
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