1,724,687 research outputs found
The abbot Alberto Fortis and the elephant bones from Romagnano. The early development of the concepts of biostratinomy and taphonomy sensu lato
No full textThis contribution examines the palaeontological and geological aspects found in abbot Fortis’s letter to Cavalier Giuseppe Cobres, focusing on fossil elephant remains discovered in the Serbaro di Romagnano locality (Grezzana, Verona). While the letter addresses these specific findings, it also delves into broader discussions encompassing key topics in Earth Sciences. Abbot Fortis accurately attributes the large bones to ancient elephant skeletons, dismissing interpretations linking them to ‘mythological creatures’ or ‘ancient giants’. However, questions surrounding the presence of these fossils remain unresolved, including, for example, the discovery of remains of animals at the time considered as typical of warm climates in areas that are now very cold such as present-day Siberia. Fortis highlights the sedimentary features of Romagnano, indicating an extensive formation period spanning countless centuries, challenging Buffon’s proposed Epochs. The gradual accumulation of marine organism remains and river-carried sediments forming seabed deposits, leads Fortis to strengthen the central concept of “deep time”, which would be necessary in the following century to the birth of modern Geology. Drawing on his previous work, Fortis employs the Romagnano description to counter theoretical models and geological systems. He uses the large valleys and small river incisions to critique Bourguet’s “salienti ed entranti” theory, which attributes large incisions to ancient sea currents. Fortis also opposes diluvialist theories that explain valley systems as the withdrawal of the Deluge water. The author evaluates various theories regarding the elephant remains, refuting them albeit suggesting an even more imaginative and naive hypothesis. Despite Fortis’s extravagant interpretation, his work introduces geological arguments and principles that later become pivotal in Earth Sciences. He delves into the biology and ecology of elephants, discussing their potential presence in European territories. He also anticipates taphonomic analysis concepts, considering biostratinomic and diagenetic processes that affected bone preservation. The author acknowledges the importance of studying fossil remains in their original context for understanding taphonomy. In conclusion, abbot Fortis’s letter offers significant insights into early Earth Sciences, tackling palaeontological, geological, and taphonomic aspects. His discussions and observations foreshadowed essential concepts that would later shape the field, demonstrating the forward-thinking perspectives of eighteenth-century Italian naturalists
Different thallium-201 single-photon emission tomographic patterns in benign and aggressive meningiomas.
No full textDifferent thallium-201 single-photon emission tomographic patterns in benign and aggressive meningiomas.
Tedeschi E, Soricelli A, Brunetti A, Romano M, Bucciero A, Iaconetta G
Geological elements in the in thirteenth-century treatise “La Composizione del Mondo” (The composition of the World) by Ristoro d'Arezzo
No full textThis contribution analyses the geological elements sensu lato found in the “La composizione del mondo colle sue cascioni” (The composition of the world with its causes) written by Ristoro d'Arezzo at the end of the thirteenth century. In the treatise is possible to find numerous references to 'geological' products and processes ranging, from the shape and structure of the Earth, distribution of emerged lands and seas, geomorphology, sedimentology, to earthquakes and meteorological phenomena, formation and erosion of mountains, references to specific lithotypes and their formation. Most of these phenomena and interpretative hypotheses are essentially inherited from the Meteorologica of the master Aristotle. The Composition of the Word represents an open window on the 'scientific' naturalistic-astronomical knowledge at the end of the thirteenth century, in a crucial stage of rediscovery of Aristotelian hypotheses and of his commentators, representing the foundation ofall the knowledge and advances of the western world. Even if in the opening Book Ristoro rejects the use ofmiracles to explain nature, the author resorts to the central action of the Heaven as the main shaping agent for Earth structure, living beings, mountains, and mines. Furthermore, God is present throughout the text along with the concept of the scala naturae, with humans representing the pinnacle of perfection among living beings. However, Ristoro can be considered among the first 'disseminators' of science, presenting in vernacular Italian the theories of ancient thinkers and thus allowing access to this interpretative world to a wider audience. Furthermore, Ristoro did not limit himself to simply report the theories of past authors, but especially with regard to geological processes (mountain formation, explanation of fossils, mineralizations), he provided completely original interpretations which indicate a direct analytical observation of the natural world. The treatise by Ristoro was certainly the basis for authors of the following centuries with regard to natural phenomena in general and astronomical ones in particular, with influences certainly on contemporary and slightly later authors such as Brunetto Latini and Dante Alighieri
3D Photogrammetric model of Tapinocaninus pamelae
No full text3D photogrammetric model of Tapinocaninus pamelae. Supplementary Material of the paper:
Rubidge B., Govender R., & Romano M. The postcranial skeleton of the basal tapinocephalid dinocephalian
Tapinocaninus pamelae (Synapsida: Therapsida) from the South African Karoo Supergroup. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology
The reform of the third sector in the perspective of sustainable development
No full textWith the issuance of the Third Sector Code in our legal system, the legislator seems to have laid the foundations for the construction of a third sector law, as a sub-system compared to the group of rules that regulate both profit and non-profit private organizations. The new legislation focuses on the category of Third Sector Entities, such as private organizations that carry out institutionally an activity of general interest aimed at civic, solidarity and socially useful purposes and which are subject to transparency, information and control obligations on the activity carried out to encourage tax breaks. The reform also contains a series of innovations that highlight the cultural change regarding the leading role of the third sector in the perspective of sustainable developmen
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
Il mantenimento dei figli maggiorenni non autosufficienti economicamente nel disegno di legge Pillon
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