Purpose
– This article aims to describe how information and communications technology (ICT) has introduced a new approach in the handling of spatial data and related services and how Regione Autonoma ...della Sardegna, one of the Italian local governments, has been involved in an interesting growth that adopts ICT to provide spatial data and related services to itself and to its territory.
Design/methodology/approach
– This article considers three aspects data and services interoperability and the implications of spatial data delivered through a multi-channel environment; the use of social web as a platform for volunteered geographical information in the public administration environment; and the application of mobile technologies.
Findings
– The article represents the summary of recent activities in the Sardinia region and may constitute a paradigmatic example for other realities.
Originality/value
– The research and activities conducted represent a point of view advanced and innovative in the field of territorial sciences and spatial planning on a regional scale.
Sexually objectified women are perceived as dehumanized. This may affect the behavioral and neural responses underlying the observer's empathic reactions for their physical pain, although this ...hypothesis still lacks empirical support. In the present study, we measured the electrophysiological activity of 30 participants (14 females and 16 males), in an empathy for physical pain paradigm in which pictures of sexualized and non-sexualized women were presented in painful and non-painful situations. The behavioral results revealed that sexualized women were evaluated as experiencing less pain than non-sexualized women. Neural evidence corroborated this finding showing that the perception of vicarious physical pain is lacking for sexualized women in both event-related potentials (ERPs) and brain oscillation domains. Specifically, the P2 component and the event-related synchronization/desynchronization (ERS/ERD) on the mu frequency band differed between painful and non-painful stimulation exclusively when women were not sexualized. Our results provide the first evidence that the neurophysiological responses to the vicarious experience of physical pain are dampened or even absent for sexualized women. These findings expand our understanding of the neurophysiological signatures of empathic processes and highlight the detrimental effect of a sexual-objectification bias in everyday contexts.
Evaluating the effects of indirect decompression obtained through lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) by clinical improvements and radiological parameters on MRI scans. Identifying predictors of ...better decompression and clinical outcome.
From 2016 to 2019, patients who underwent single- or double-level indirect decompression LLIF were consecutively reviewed. Radiological signs of indirect decompression were evaluated in preoperative and follow-up MRI studies and were subsequently correlated to clinical data, expressed as axial/radicular pain (VAS back/leg), index of disability (Oswestry Disability Index) and clinical severity of lumbar stenosis (Swiss Spinal Stenosis Questionnaire).
72 patients were enrolled. The mean follow-up was 24 months. Differences in vertebral canal area (
< 0.001), height of the foramina (
< 0.001), thickness of the yellow ligament (
= 0.001) and anterior height of the interbody space (
= 0.02) were observed. Older age (
= 0.042), presence of spondylolisthesis (
= 0.042), presence of intra-articular facet effusion (
= 0.003) and posterior height of the implanted cage (
= 0.020) positively affected the increase of the canal area. Change in root canal area (
< 0.001), height of the implanted cage (
= 0.020) and younger age (
= 0.035) were predictive factors of root pain relief, while increased vertebral canal area (
= 0.020) and height of the interbody fusion cage (
= 0.023) positively affected the severity of clinical stenosis.
LLIF indirect decompression showed both clinical and radiological improvements. Presence and degree of spondylolisthesis, presence of intra-articular facet effusion, age of the patient and height of the cage were predictive factors of major clinical improvements.
Taxa endemic to a country are key elements for setting national conservation priorities and for driving conservation strategies, since their persistence is entirely dependent on national policy. We ...applied the IUCN Red List categories to all Italian endemic vascular plants (1340 taxa) to assess their current risk of extinction and to highlight their major threats. Our results revealed that six taxa are already extinct and that 22.4% (300 taxa) are threatened with extinction, while 18.4% (247; especially belonging to apomictic groups) have been categorized as Data Deficient. Italian endemic vascular plants are primarily threatened by natural habitat modification due to agriculture, residential and tourism development. Taxa occurring in coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and habitat destruction are concentrated, display the greatest population decline and extinction. The national network of protected areas could be considered effective in protecting endemic-rich areas (ERAs) and endemic taxa, but ineffective in protecting narrow endemic-rich areas (NERAs), accordingly changes to the existing network may increase the effectiveness of protection. For the first time in the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot, we present a comprehensive extinction assessment for endemic plants under the full responsibility of a single country. This would provide an important step towards the prioritization and conservation of threatened endemic flora at Italian, European, and Mediterranean level. A successful conservation strategy of the Italian endemic vascular flora should implement the protected area system, solve some taxonomical criticism in poorly known genera, and should rely on monitoring threatened species, and on developing species-specific action plans.
•The extinction risk of 1340 vascular plants narrowly endemic to Italy is assessed.•The first national assessment of the whole endemic flora in the Mediterranean Basin.•Six taxa are extinct and 300 taxa have been assigned to a threatened risk category.•Natural system modification, tourism and agriculture are the major threats.•Improvement of knowledge, population trends and conservation actions are needed.
Italy has a rich natural heritage, which is dangerously under pressure. In recent years, there is an increased awareness of the crucial role of plants in ecosystem functioning and in providing ...ecosystem services. Consequently, an updated Red List of the Italian vascular flora was compiled in this work, at the request of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 2,430 Italian native vascular plant taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian flora. Our results revealed that 54 taxa (2.2% of the assessed taxa) are extinct or possibly extinct at regional level, while 590 taxa (24.3%) were assigned to a risk category. Moreover, 404 taxa (16.6%) were categorized as Data Deficient. The Italian vascular flora is primarily threatened by habitat modifications due to anthropic disturbance and, especially, to agriculture, tourism and residential development. Coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and ecosystem destruction are more pronounced, host the greatest number of extinct or declining taxa. Our results represent an important baseline to establish conservation priorities, legislative choices and intervention strategies on a national scale.
Invasive alien species are among the main global drivers of biodiversity loss posing major challenges to nature conservation and to managers of protected areas.
The present study applied a ...methodological framework that combined invasive Species Distribution Models, based on propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors for 14 invasive alien plants of Union concern in Italy, with the local interpretable model-agnostic explanation analysis aiming to map, evaluate and analyse the risk of plant invasions across the country, inside and outside the network of protected areas.
Using a hierarchical invasive Species Distribution Model, we explored the combined effect of propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors on shaping invasive alien plant occurrence across three biogeographic regions (Alpine, Continental, and Mediterranean) and realms (terrestrial and aquatic) in Italy. We disentangled the role of propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors on invasive alien plant distribution and projected invasion risk maps. We compared the risk posed by invasive alien plants inside and outside protected areas.
Invasive alien plant distribution varied across biogeographic regions and realms and unevenly threatens protected areas. As an alien's occurrence and risk on a national scale are linked with abiotic factors followed by propagule pressure, their local distribution in protected areas is shaped by propagule pressure and biotic filters. The proposed modelling framework for the assessment of the risk posed by invasive alien plants across spatial scales and under different protection regimes represents an attempt to fill the gap between theory and practice in conservation planning helping to identify scale, site, and species-specific priorities of management, monitoring and control actions. Based on solid theory and on free geographic information, it has great potential for application to wider networks of protected areas in the world and to any invasive alien plant, aiding improved management strategies claimed by the environmental legislation and national and global strategies.
Display omitted
•Plant invasions vary across realms, biogeographic regions and protection regimes.•On a national scale invasion is promoted by abiotic factors and propagule pressure.•On protected areas, low anthropic pressure and biotic filters, regulate invasions.•Terrestrial plants represent a higher threat to protected areas than aquatic ones.•Spatial modelling aid tailored management across spatial and administrative scales.
We analysed the invasion history of two North American macrophytes (
Elodea canadensis
and
E. nuttallii
) in Italy, through an accurate census of all available herbarium and field records, dating ...between 1850 and 2019, and a rich literature collection describing the initial introduction and naturalisation phase that supports the results obtained by the occurrence records.
Elodea canadensis
arrived in Italy before 1866 and had two invasion phases, between the 1890s and 1920s and between the 1990s and 2000s;
E. nuttallii
, probably arrived in the 1970s, started invading in 2000 and the invasion is still ongoing. Botanical gardens and fish farming played a crucial role in dispersal and naturalisation of both species. The current invasion range of both species is centred in northern Italy, with scattered occurrences of
E. canadensis
in central and southern regions. River Po represents a dispersal barrier to the Mediterranean region and a strategic monitoring site to prevent the invasion in the peninsula. The study detects differences in the niches of the two species during the introduction and naturalisation phase and a habitat switch occurred after 1980 in
E. canadensis
and after 2000 in
E. nuttallii
, during their expansion phases. For
E. canadensis
the switch corresponds to the second invasion round. Further research can clarify whether the second invasion round is due to confusion of the recently introduced
E. nuttallii
with
E. canadensis
, to a cryptic introduction of a new genotype, to post-introduction evolution, or just to an increased scientific interest in biological invasions.
The inventory of the bryophytes collected during the annual excursion of the Working Group for Bryology of the Italian Botanical Society is reported. This excursion was held in 2018 on the northern ...slope of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park, in the Administrative Region of Emilia-Romagna. The field work led to the finding of 113 taxa (24 liverworts and 89 mosses), including eight new records and seven confirmations for this Region. The occurrence of rare taxa for Italy (
Scapania uliginosa
,
Rhizomnium pseudopunctatum
,
Racomitrium fasciculare
,
Scorpidium cossonii
,
Grimmia lisae
,
Orthotrichum pulchellum
) is highlighted.
Cases of albinism and leucism in amphibians in Italy: new reports Lunghi, Enrico; Monti, Alessandro; Binda, Arturo ...
Natural history sciences : atti della Società italiana di scienze naturali e del Museo civico di storia naturale in Milano,
04/2017, Letnik:
4, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Findings of abnormally pigmented amphibian individuals provide interesting insights on intraspecific phenotypic variability as well as on variation among populations inhabiting different habitats. ...Amphibian coloration is determined by chromatophores (specific epidermal cells), and a variety of abnormalities related to them have been reported. In this study we reported cases of albinism and leucism in six species of Italian amphibians, including some endemic species. For some taxa, like Hydromantes sarrabusensis, H. flavus, H. supramontis and Bufo viridis, we describe the first observations of albinism and leucism.
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