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Abstract. The objectives of spatial planning should include the definition and assessment of possible mitigation strategies regarding the effects of natural hazards on the surrounding territory. Unfortunately, however, there is often a lack of adequate tools to provide necessary support to the local bodies responsible for land management. This paper deals with the conception, the development and the validation of an integrated numerical model for assessing systemic vulnerability in complex and urbanized landslide-prone areas. The proposed model considers this vulnerability not as a characteristic of a particular element at risk, but as a peculiarity of a complex territorial system, in which the elements are reciprocally linked in a functional way. It is an index of the tendency of a given territorial element to suffer damage (usually of a functional kind) due to its interconnections with other elements of the same territorial system. The innovative nature of this work also lies in the formalization of a procedure based on a network of influences for an adequate assessment of such "systemic" vulnerability. This approach can be used to obtain information which is useful, in any given situation of a territory hit by a landslide event, for the identification of the element which has suffered the most functional damage, ie the most "critical" element and the element which has the greatest repercussions on other elements of the system and thus a "decisive" role in the management of the emergency. This model was developed within a GIS system through the following phases: 1. the topological characterization of the territorial system studied and the assessment of the scenarios in terms of spatial landslide hazard. A statistical method, based on neural networks was proposed for the assessment of landslide hazard; 2. the analysis of the direct consequences of a scenario event on the system; 3. the definition of the assessment model of systemic vulnerability in landslide-prone areas. To highlight the potentialities of the proposed approach we have described a specific case study of landslide hazard in the local council area of Potenza.

Il concetto di sviluppo sostenibile si è articolato nel tempo, integrando l'idea di sviluppo socialmente accettabile e compatibile con il mantenimento degli equilibri ecologici e la economicità dei processi produttivi. La salvaguardia dell'ambiente e della salute umana, l'uso razionale delle risorse naturali e degli input tecnici, il mantenimento di elevati e stabili livelli economici di crescita ed il rispetto dei principi di equità sociale, sono i paradigmi della sostenibilità dei processi produttivi, anche in agricoltura. In un contesto di economia globalizzata, che di fatto ha creato le condizioni di estremo disagio delle economie agricole più deboli e che comunque ha reso più aleatorie le redditività dei sistemi agricoli più forti, a livello europeo e nazionale sono state avviate strategie a sostegno soprattutto delle colture e delle aree agricole marginali attraverso la valorizzazione degli aspetti qualitativi delle produzioni agricole, delineando processi produttivi basati su risorse genetiche autoctone o, anche, sulla rivisitazione di modelli e sistemi colturali tradizionali e sulla promozione di nuovi rapporti tra produzione e mercato, attraverso, ad esempio, la promozione delle filiere corte. Le politiche nel settore dell'ortofrutta, indirizzate alla salvaguardia della biodiversità, alla creazione di marchi tipici o biologici, possono essere una risposta alle sfide imposte dalla globalizzazione, aumentando la competitività delle realtà produttive agricole in generale e di quelle locali in particolare. Modelli di sviluppo sostenibili sono richiesti sia dal mercato sia dalle esigenze proprie del sistema produttivo, in un contesto in cui in Europa, alla difficile competizione sul piano del costo di produzione, si risponde aumentando il valore aggiunto del prodotto. ; The influence of flesh firmness on consumer acceptance and its relationship with total soluble solids concentration (TSSC), titratable acidity (TTA) and sensory analysis was studied to understand their interaction in determining acceptance judgments, for different organoleptic typologies of peaches and nectarines. The investigation was carried out during summer 2006 on fruit of 'September Sun' and 'Sweet September' (low acid) peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch), and 'Maria Dolce' (low acid) and 'Venus' nectarines (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, var. nucipersica). Sensory descriptors for peaches and nectarines were Flesh firmness, Sweetness, Sourness, Aroma, and Acceptability. The panel was able to discriminate different fruit ripening stages, in terms of fruit firmness, aroma and sweetness and to relate those parameters to fruit acceptability. 'Maria Dolce', 'Venus' and 'September Sun' fruit ranging from 3.2 to 5.3 kg cm–2 of flesh firmness, were accepted by the panel, while acceptability of low-acid fruit of 'Sweet September' was related to their aroma and firmness. Values of flesh firmness higher than 5.5 kg cm–2 always resulted in unacceptable fruit quality.

Abstract. The complete assessment of landslide susceptibility needs uniformly distributed detailed information on the territory. This information, which is related to the temporal occurrence of landslide phenomena and their causes, is often fragmented and heterogeneous. The present study evaluates the landslide susceptibility map of the Natural Archaeological Park of Matera (Southern Italy) (Sassi and area Rupestrian Churches sites). The assessment of the degree of "spatial hazard" or "susceptibility" was carried out by the spatial prediction regardless of the return time of the events. The evaluation model for the susceptibility presented in this paper is very focused on the use of innovative techniques of artificial intelligence such as Neural Network, Fuzzy Logic and Neuro-fuzzy Network. The method described in this paper is a novel technique based on a neuro-fuzzy system. It is able to train data like neural network and it is able to shape and control uncertain and complex systems like a fuzzy system. This methodology allows us to derive susceptibility maps of the study area. These data are obtained from thematic maps representing the parameters responsible for the instability of the slopes. The parameters used in the analysis are: plan curvature, elevation (DEM), angle and aspect of the slope, lithology, fracture density, kinematic hazard index of planar and wedge sliding and toppling. Moreover, this method is characterized by the network training which uses a training matrix, consisting of input and output training data, which determine the landslide susceptibility. The neuro-fuzzy method was integrated to a sensitivity analysis in order to overcome the uncertainty linked to the used membership functions. The method was compared to the landslide inventory map and was validated by applying three methods: a ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) analysis, a confusion matrix and a SCAI method. The developed neuro-fuzzy method showed a good performance in the determination of the landslide susceptibility map.

Abstract. This paper represents a contribution to the study of hazard caused by the interaction between landslides and river courses. The effects of such interferences are often catastrophic and could include the formation of upstream lakes, potential dam failure, river bed dynamics and morphological alterations. These scenarios could be substantially reduced if it was possible to predict the eventuality that a moving landslide would block the river. This is a complex topic because it involves composite geomorphic phenomena concerning both hillslope and river systems and their interpretation, through model approaches, is still under development and testing. In this study, a methodology developed in the framework of European Research Project IMPRINTS (FP7) was adopted and integrated in order to identify the areas of triggering and propagation of landslides and to characterize the possible scenarios of the interaction with river networks. Different deterministic and probabilistic approaches, calibrated using a case test in the middle valley of the Noce River in Basilicata (Italy), were applied and compared at basin scale.

Background: Human adenoviruses of species D (HAdV-D) can be associated with acute respiratory illness, epidemic keratoconjunctivitis, and gastroenteritis, but subclinical HAdV-D infections with prolonged shedding have also been observed, particularly in immunocompromised hosts. To expand knowledge on HAdV-D in Sub-Saharan Africa, we investigated the prevalence, epidemiology and pathogenic potential of HAdV-D in humans from rural areas of 4 Sub-Saharan countries, Côte d'Ivoire (CI), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and Uganda (UG). Methods. Stool samples were collected from 287 people living in rural regions in CI, DRC, CAR and UG. HAdV-D prevalence and diversity were determined by PCR and sequencing. A gene block, spanning the genes pV to hexon, was used for analysis of genetic distance. Correlation between adenovirus infection and disease symptoms, prevalence differences, and the effect of age and gender on infection status were analyzed with cross tables and logistic regression models. Results: The prevalence of HAdV-D in the investigated sites was estimated to be 66% in CI, 48% in DRC, 28% in CAR (adults only) and 65% in UG (adults only). Younger individuals were more frequently infected than adults; there was no difference in HAdV-D occurrence between genders. No correlation could be found between HAdV-D infection and clinical symptoms. Highly diverse HAdV-D sequences were identified, among which a number are likely to stand for novel types. Conclusions: HAdV-D was detected with a high prevalence in study populations of 4 Sub-Saharan countries. The genetic diversity of the virus was high and further investigations are needed to pinpoint pathological potential of each of the viruses. High diversity may also favor the emergence of recombinants with altered tropism and pathogenic properties.