Mediterranean Area

ABSTRACT The modern Great Basin of the interior western United States is characterized by surface winds with considerable spatial and temporal variabilities. Wind records from the second half of the 20th century for 12 Great Basin localities, analyzed with standard aeolian-sediment transport methods developed elsewhere in the world, reflect this complexity. The drift potential (DP) for aeolian deposits is generally moderate (DP 200– 400) in the western Great Basin and weak (DP b 200) in the central Great Basin where winds are
predominantly west-southwesterly. DP is relatively high (DP N 300) at the eastern edge of the Great Basin where the dominant prevailing wind direction is south-southwesterly. Both DP and resultant drift direction (RDD) are consistent with synoptic meteorological observations of the evolution of cold fronts in the Great Basin. Meteorological observations show that effective winds to produce dunes are most commonly the result of late winter–early spring cyclogenesis. There has been considerable temporal variability of DP in the latter half of the 20th century. Most of the Great Basin has experienced decreasing wind strength since 1973, consistent with recent studies of wind strength in North America and elsewhere. Dune morphology matches both localized RDD and temporal variations in DP reasonably well in the Great Basin. The results demonstrate that local topography can have an important influence on wind directionality, thus providing a cautionary note on the interpretation of dune morphology in the paleoclimatic and stratigraphic record.

In this paper, the design of a low cost two-axis solar tracker is introduced. The aim is to obtain a high precision positioning of the cell. The control-board is able to support different control strategy such as classical techniques as PID algorithm or more advanced strategy such as fuzzy logic control (FLC). Using the error signal, the tracking capacities of the proposed approaches can be tested experimentally on the experimental prototype built in our laboratory.

The article analyses the solutions and the settlement
characteristics developed in the Mediterranean area, with
reference to the hypogean and rupestrian-dwellings, and
investigates the reasons that have led man to prefer
forms of subtractive architecture. The critical re-reading
of the phenomenon of troglodyteism has brought out features
of rock living so far still little investigated; this is
due to the lack of studies able to translate the energetic
behavior of these constructive solutions to the different
climatic and environmental stresses in measurable data.
AGATHÓN 02 | 2017-International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design | 61-66

La formella in faïence qui esaminata ( ) fu rinvenuta nel 1913 durante gli scavi di George A. Reisner nel sito di Kerma, poco a sud della terza cataratta del Nilo. La formella è di piccole dimensioni, essendo alta 7,5 cm e profonda 2,3 cm. Nel 1920 fu donata al Museo di Boston, dove attualmente è conservata 1 . Fu in seguito ipotizzato che la formella raffigurasse il volto di un nemico vinto e legato insieme ad altri prigionieri 2 .

Objective: Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is a common Mendelian disorder of iron metabolism. Eighty percent of northern Europeans descendant HH patients carry the same mutation (p.C282Y) in the HFE gene. Simultaneously, due to a founder effect, its frequency varies considerably between different populations. In Central-Southern Italy the prevalence of p.C282Y mutation is low and in several patients the disease has different causes. Four additional rarer forms have been described. Type 3 HH has been reported in about 50 families and no more than 30 TFR2 pathogenic mutations have been globally identified. The aim of this study is to assess the TFR2 role in non-HFE HH pathogenesis. Study design and setting: TFR2 sequence analysis was performed on 45 Italian patients without HFE mutations. Results: This study revealed TFR2 biallelic pathogenic mutations in 7/45 (15.6%) individuals. Moreover monoallelic TFR2 deleterious defects (18%) or polymorphisms with unclear meaning (36%) were identified. Besides, we recognized 10 novel variants and 9 described changes. Conclusion: We believe this to be the largest series of type 3 HH patients described so far. Present findings support the hypothesis of a main role of the TFR2 gene in HH pathogenesis in those regions, such as Central-Southern Italy, where the p.C282Y frequency is low.

The aims of the study are twofold: firstly, to investigate the role of the export of humid tropical air in the formation of cool season heavy precipitating events (HPEs) in the Mediterranean region (MR); and secondly, to examine the possible linkage between the export of humid tropical air and the multiyear trend in extreme precipitation in the region. For this purpose, we analyze the spatial distributions of a number of key atmospheric variables with a reanalysis data for more than 50 intense HPEs for the MR. The results of this evaluation for both individual and composite events suggest that the HPEs are associated with atmospheric rivers (ARs). The MR HPEs are being characterized by the poleward export of humid air of tropical origin into the midlatitude MR from the Atlantic Ocean and Arabian Sea. These export events appear to be associated with the effects of hurricanes or intense cyclones in the North Atlantic. It was also found that the linear trend (for 1979-2013) of the frequency of humid days (days with precipitable water greater than 20 kg m −2) is consistent with recent changes in the character of precipitation over the MR and southern Europe.

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Rosmarinus officinalis subsp. valentinus (Lamiaceae) is described as a new subspecies in the flora of the Iberian Peninsula. The diagnostic characters for the subsp. valentinus include several morphological differences, mainly based on a distinctly prostrate habit, a reduced leaf size, smaller calyx and corolla, and white flower. A comparative table with diagnostic morphological features to distinguish among the three subspecies of the R. officinalis is provided. Habitat, ecology, greenhouse cultivation and phenolic profile are also considered.

Deep-sea wood-falls are important biodiversity hot spots for insights on chemosynthesis-based communities. The study of deep-sea wood-fall-related palaeocommunities from the Neogene of north Italy shed light on interesting associations from the Miocene of Torrente Cinghio (Tortonian) and of Moncasale di Casina (Langhian). The most common components of this association are typical chemosynthetic/wood-fall molluscs, such as the gastropods Homalopoma sp. and Pseudonina bellardii, the bivalves Idas sp. and shipworms, and the chiton Leptochiton lignatilis n. sp., which belongs to a genus typical of recent sunken woods in tropical waters. The new species described is compared with other fossil and recent congeners, especially with those sharing the same kind of tegmental sculpture, fully covered with randomly or quincuncially arranged granules. An overview of the sunken wood-related chitons is provided. Surprisingly no taxa of the boring bivalves of the family Xylophagidae, whose species have been known to be fundamental for sustaining this kind of deep sea chemosynthetic ecosystem, were found in the studied site; however, other boring Teredinidae bivalves have been abundantly recovered. This suggests that, conversely to what has previously been observed on sunken wood communities, Teredinidae may be viewed as a counterpart for the maintenance of deep-sea wood-fall ecosystems.

This paper examines the economic and social aspects of migration flows to Europe from the Mediterranean countries and the different problems that these flows are creating in the countries of the European Union, who has long lived a long crisis. The work also seeks to provide some indication of policy useful to overcome the difficult and complex situation and the achievement of sustainable growth in the migrants’ home countries.

"Tourism contributes to deterioration and degradation of environmental
resources by using natural capital with direct and indirect impacts both in
quantity and quality. Environmental amenities are a resource base for the
practice and development of tourism industries and by disrupting the
natural functions of ecosystem services, the tourism industry can factually
threaten regional and local economies and some very traditional tourism
destinations in the Mediterranean region, such as the Sicily Isle. This paper adopts the local development approach by following Italian
eminent scholars in finding explanations for the local diffusion of
industries and their complementary relationships. The empirical study of tourism space diffusion in a case study
regarding the Isle of Sicily demonstrates that socio-economic and historical
conditions have caused a rapid increase in the tourism industry, related
revenues and employment, but placed environment and landscape in
danger of disruption due to lack of respect for sustainability and profiting
from natural resource equilibrium. After WWII, during the Sixties, Sicilian
tourism industry took great advantage of development of marine tourism,
overcrowding coasts and coastal tourism destinations, ignoring inner
zones, which have important cultural and tourism potential attractions. The inner zones now are suffering from the diminishing of the economic
importance of agriculture, even if rural life is still fundamental for the
conservation of environment, and social and cultural heritage equilibrium.
In the perspective of the 2020 CAP reform, rural tourism and agri-
tourism, both as forms of sustainable tourism and agricultural multi-
functionality, can contribute to future re-equilibrium to be used in Sicilian
territory. Notwithstanding, the real future of rural tourism development
depends on the organization of integrated supply of tourism services which
will be able to connect natural resources and cultural heritages in Sicily,
without distinction between rural areas, coastal, or inner zones.
The entire territory is still used not homogeneously, with tourism
attractions located in sole selected zones and with a very high image of the
tourism supply in national and international markets. The tourism image of
Sicily is more related to “arts and cultural heritage” than “a vacation
place” (Regione Sicilia, 2006). Policy makers do know that the Isle is
identified more for its history than for its marine coast, even if the tourism
demand still prefers marine destinations.
The equilibrated valorisation of Sicilian territory and tourism is an
important political challenge that can use the large diffusion of cultural
heritage in rural zones and less crowded localities."