1,720,971 research outputs found
The assessment of aesthetic and perceptual aspects within environmental impact assessment of renewable energy projects in Italy
No full textThemain aimof this paper is to explore howperceptual and aesthetic impact analyses are considered in Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA), with specific reference to Italian renewable energy projects. To investigate this
topic, the paper starts by establishingwhich factors are linkedwith perceptual and aesthetic impacts andwhy it is
important to analyze these aspects,which are also related to legislative provisions and procedures in Europe and
in Italy. In particular the paper refers to renewable energy projects because environmental policies are encouraging
more and more investment in this kind of primary resource. The growing interest in this type of energy is
leading to the realization of projects which change the governance of territories, with inevitable effects on the
landscape fromthe aesthetic and perceptual points of view. Legislative references to EIA, including the latest directive
regarding this topic show the importance of integrating the assessment of environmental and perceptual
impacts, thus there is a need to improve EIA methodological approaches to this purpose. This paper proposes a
profile of aesthetic and perceptual impact analysis in EIA for renewable energy projects in Italy, and concludes
with recommendations as to how this kind of analysis could be improved
Monitoring Mediterranean Oak Decline in a Peri-Urban Protected Area Using the NDVI and Sentinel-2 Images: The Case Study of Castelporziano State Natural Reserve
No full textClimate change and human activities in particular are important causes of the possible
variations in Mediterranean basin forest health conditions. Over the last decades, deciduous
oak-forest mortality has been a recurrent problem in central and southern Italy. Despite the
perception of increasingly visible damage in oak forests in drought sites, the role of various
environmental factors in their decline is not completely clear. Among the modern methods of
monitoring terrestrial ecosystems, remote sensing is of prime importance thanks to its ability to
provide synoptic information on large areas with a high frequency of acquisition. This paper reports
the preliminary results regarding a replicable and low cost monitoring tool planned to quantify forest
health conditions based on the application of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI),
using the diachronic images provided by the Sentinel-2 satellite. The study area is represented by a
peri-urban forest of natural Mediterranean deciduous oaks, characterized by a high variability in the
composition of the species and in the silvicultural structures. In order to monitor the health conditions
of a specific forest canopy cover with remote sensing data, it is necessary to classify the forest canopy
cover in advance to separate it from other species and from the Mediterranean scrub. This is due to
the spatial distribution of vegetation and the high rate of biodiversity in the Mediterranean natural
environment. To achieve this, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, forest management data
and field sampling data were analyzed. The main results of this research show a widespread decline
in oak health conditions over the observed period (2015–2017). Specifically, for the studied area,
thanks to the specific localization of the oak canopy cover, we detected a high potential concerning
the Sentinel-2 data application in monitoring forest health conditions by NDVI application
Land Use, Phosphorus Pollution and Risk Assessment for the Bolsena Lake (Italy). An Estimation Using Remote Sensing and Multi Criteria Analysis
No full textThis study aims to assess the sustainability of the Land Use (LU) in the water basin of Bolsena Lake (Italy), by measurement of eutrophication status. The total annual phosphorus (P) load was quantified using the simulation model Groundwater Leaching Effects of Agricultural Management Systems (GLEAMS). The Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), conducted in accordance to the fuzzy logic, has allowed us to define the Risk Map that shows areas of environmental vulnerability with regards to eutrophication processes. Finally, areas were identified through meta-planning to introduce BMPs (Best Management Practices), that represent a useful tool to reduce nutrients loads, that reach the water body causing eutrophication. The main results obtained show that the total (P) produced in the water basin is 92 tons/year, while four Risk classes were defined according to their vulnerability of the territory to release nutrients. A detailed phytodepuration plan were proposed, that could reduce from 30% to 60% the phosphorus load per year. Both the GLEAMS model and the MCA are found to be essential tools to quantify the factors causing the eutrophication and to identify the most critical areas
Solar plants, environmental degradation and local socioeconomic contexts: A case study in a Mediterranean country
No full textPhotovoltaic plants developed on rural land are becoming a common infrastructure in theMediterranean region andmay contribute, at least indirectly, to various forms of environmental degradation including landscape deterioration, land take, soil degradation and loss in traditional cropland and biodiversity. Our study illustrates a procedure estimating the extension of ground-mounted photovoltaic fields at themunicipal scale in Italy and inferring the socioeconomic profile of the Italianmunicipalities experiencing different expansion rates of groundmounted photovoltaic fields over the last years (2007-2014). The procedure was based on diachronic information derived from official data sources integrated into a geographical decision support system. Our results indicate that the surface area of ground-mounted photovoltaic fields into rural land grew continuously in Italy between 2007 and 2014 with positive and increasing growth rates observed during 2007-2011 and positive but slightly decreasing growth rates over 2012-2014, as a result of market saturation and policies containing the diffusion of solar plants on greenfields. We found important differences in the density of ground-mounted
solar plants between northern and southern Italian municipalities. We identified accessible rural municipalities in southern Italy with intermediate population density and large availability of non-urban land as the most exposed to the diffusion of solar plants on greenfields in the last decade. Our approach is a promising tool to estimate changes in the use of land driven by the expansion of photovoltaic fields into rural land
ESTIMATING VULNERABILITY OF WATER BODY USING SENTINEL-2 IMAGES AND PREDICTIVE EUTROPHICATION MODELS: the STUDY CASE OF BRACCIANO LAKE (Italy)
Full text linkDue to the concomitance of several factors related to progressive climate changes and to increased water management for anthropogenic usage, drastic fall in level of Bracciano Lake was reported in the summer of 2017. By November 2017, the water level decreased 0,198 meters below the hydrometric zero established at 163.04 meters s.l.m. Such alarming rate has not been detected in the last seventeen years. The consistent change in water level causes modifications in its environment, on the edge of the coasts and specifically, brings about an increase in the rate of eutrophication (trophic enrichment phenomenon). The determination of the volume of water contained in the lake basin was estimated with GIS tools modeling, by analysing the bathymetry of the water body and applying the supervised classification of Sentinel-2 images; this allowed to identify the reservoir and consequently to reconstruct the course of the coastline. Once defined the hydrometric reduction in the water body for the observed period, the Vollenweider model, that calculates the trophic state of a lake, was used to quantify nutrients concentration and relative increase of eutrophication status as a consequence of the anthropic activities practiced in the belonging basin. The quantification of the water level changes of Bracciano Lake, before and after the hydrometric crisis, occurred in 2017, related to the estimate of the level of eutrophication, allows us to define the degree of vulnerability of the lake ecosystem. The proposed methodology represents an efficient monitoring tool for assessing the vulnerability of water bodies influenced by eutrophication
An innovative environmental risk assessment approach to a Mediterranean coastal forest: the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano (Rome) case study
Full text linkThanks to their ability to generate ecosystem services, forest ecosystems have a significant social, economic and environmental impact on the development of many regions in the world, especially those located in urban and peri-urban areas.Today, increased forest vulnerability is reflected in an increased number of episodes of severe decline associated mainly with drought. In this context, the Mediterranean area shows high forest vulnerability and a subsequent decline in its natural renewal rate.In this scenario, the aim of this research is to assess the sustainability of a protected pristine deciduous oak forest near Rome via the development of a forest health condition monitoring tool based on the application of multispectral satellite data and the identification of silvicultural models suitable to promoting natural forest renewal. Data and results from research in the case study area, the Natural State Reserve of Castelporziano (Rome), have potential as an important decision making tool in sustainable forest management
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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