Studio di fenomeni d'instabilità gravitativa sui fondali marini, con particolare riferimento all'isola di Stromboli

In the last decade the interest for submarine instability grew up, driven by the increasing exploitation of natural resources (primary hydrocarbons), the emplacement of bottom-lying structures (cables and pipelines) and by the development of coastal areas, whose infrastructures increasingly protrude to the sea. The great interest for this topic promoted a number of international projects such as: STEAM (Sediment Transport on European Atlantic Margins, 93-96), ENAM II (European North Atlantic Margin, 96-99), GITEC (Genesis and Impact of Tsunamis on the European Coast 92-95), STRATAFORM (STRATA FORmation on Margins, 95-01), Seabed Slope Process in Deep Water Continental Margin (Northwest Gulf of Mexico, 96-04), COSTA (Continental slope Stability, 00-05), EUROMARGINS (Slope Stability on Europe’s Passive Continental Margin), SPACOMA (04-07), EUROSTRATAFORM (European Margin Strata Formation), NGI's internal project SIP-8 (Offshore Geohazards), IGCP-511: Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences (05-09) and projects indirectly related to instability processes, such as TRANSFER (Tsunami Risk ANd Strategies For the European region, 06-09) or NEAREST (integrated observations from NEAR shore sourcES of Tsunamis: towards an early warning system, 06-09). In Italy, apart from a national project realized within the activities of the National Group of Volcanology during the framework 2000-2003 “Conoscenza delle parti sommerse dei vulcani italiani e valutazione del potenziale rischio vulcanico”, the study of submarine mass-movement has been underestimated until the occurrence of the landslide-tsunami events that affected Stromboli on December 30, 2002. This event made the Italian Institutions and the scientific community more aware of the hazard related to submarine landslides, mainly in light of the growing anthropization of coastal sectors, that increases the vulnerability of these areas to the consequences of such processes. In this regard, two important national projects have been recently funded in order to study coastal instabilities (PRIN 24, 06-08) and to map the main submarine hazard features on continental shelves and upper slopes around the most part of Italian coast (MaGIC Project). The study realized in this Thesis is addressed to the understanding of these processes, with particular reference to Stromboli submerged flanks. These latter represent a natural laboratory in this regard, as several kind of instability phenomena are present on the submerged flanks, affecting about 90% of the entire submerged areal and often (strongly) influencing the morphological evolution of subaerial slopes, as witnessed by the event occurred on 30 December 2002. Furthermore, each phenomenon is characterized by different pre-failure, failure and post-failure mechanisms, ranging from rock-falls, to turbidity currents up to catastrophic sector collapses. The Thesis is divided into three introductive chapters, regarding a brief review of submarine instability phenomena and related hazard (cap. 1), a “bird’s-eye” view on methodologies and available dataset (cap. 2) and a short introduction on the evolution and the morpho-structural setting of the Stromboli edifice (cap. 3). This latter seems to play a major role in the development of largescale sector collapses at Stromboli, as they occurred perpendicular to the orientation of the main volcanic rift axis (oriented in NE-SW direction). The characterization of these events and their relationships with successive erosive-depositional processes represents the main focus of cap.4 (Offshore evidence of large-scale lateral collapses on the eastern flank of Stromboli, Italy, due to structurally-controlled, bilateral flank instability) and cap. 5 (Lateral collapses and active sedimentary processes on the North-western flank of Stromboli Volcano), represented by articles accepted for publication on international papers (Marine Geology). Moreover, these studies highlight the hazard related to these catastrophic events; several calamities (with more than 40000 casualties only in the last two century) have been, in fact, the direct or indirect result of landslides affecting volcanic flanks, as observed at Oshima-Oshima (1741) and Unzen Volcano (1792) in Japan (Satake&Kato, 2001; Brantley&Scott, 1993), Krakatau (1883) in Indonesia (Self&Rampino, 1981), Ritter Island (1888), Sissano in Papua New Guinea (Ward& Day, 2003; Johnson, 1987; Tappin et al., 2001) and Mt St. Augustine (1883) in Alaska (Beget& Kienle, 1992). Flank landslide are also recognized as the most important and efficient mass-wasting process on volcanoes, contributing to the development of the edifices by widening their base and to the growth of a volcaniclastic apron at the foot of a volcano; a number of small and medium-scale erosive processes are also responsible for the carving of Stromboli submarine flanks and the transport of debris towards the deeper areas. The characterization of features associated to these processes is the main focus of cap. 6; it is also important to highlight that some small-scale events are able to create damage to coastal areas, as also witnessed by recent events of Gioia Tauro 1978, Nizza, 1979 and Stromboli 2002. The hazard potential related to these phenomena is, in fact, very high, as they commonly occur at higher frequency with respect to large-scale collapses, therefore being more significant in terms of human timescales. In the last chapter (cap. 7), a brief review and discussion of instability processes identified on Stromboli submerged flanks is presented; they are also compared with respect to analogous processes recognized in other submerged areas in order to shed lights on the main factors involved in their development. Finally, some applications of multibeam data to assess the hazard related to these phenomena are also discussed.

Tectonic geomorphology and active strain of the Northern Apennines mountain front

The Northern Apennines (NA) chain is the expression of the active plate margin between Europe and Adria. Given the low convergence rates and the moderate seismic activity, ambiguities still occur in defining a seismotectonic framework and many different scenarios have been proposed for the mountain front evolution. Differently from older models that indicate the mountain front as an active thrust at the surface, a recently proposed scenario describes the latter as the frontal limb of a long-wavelength fold (> 150 km) formed by a thrust fault tipped around 17 km at depth, and considered as the active subduction boundary. East of Bologna, this frontal limb is remarkably very straight and its surface is riddled with small, but pervasive high- angle normal faults. However, west of Bologna, some recesses are visible along strike of the mountain front: these perturbations seem due to the presence of shorter wavelength (15 to 25 km along strike) structures showing both NE and NW-vergence. The Pleistocene activity of these structures was already suggested, but not quantitative reconstructions are available in literature. This research investigates the tectonic geomorphology of the NA mountain front with the specific aim to quantify active deformations and infer possible deep causes of both short- and long-wavelength structures. This study documents the presence of a network of active extensional faults, in the foothills south and east of Bologna. For these structures, the strain rate has been measured to find a constant throw-to-length relationship and the slip rates have been compared with measured rates of erosion. Fluvial geomorphology and quantitative analysis of the topography document in detail the active tectonics of two growing domal structures (Castelvetro - Vignola foothills and the Ghiardo plateau) embedded in the mountain front west of Bologna. Here, tilting and river incision rates (interpreted as that long-term uplift rates) have been measured respectively at the mountain front and in the Enza and Panaro valleys, using a well defined stratigraphy of Pleistocene to Holocene river terraces and alluvial fan deposits as growth strata, and seismic reflection profiles relationships. The geometry and uplift rates of the anticlines constrain a simple trishear fault propagation folding model that inverts for blind thrust ramp depth, dip, and slip. Topographic swath profiles and the steepness index of river longitudinal profiles that traverse the anti- clines are consistent with stratigraphy, structures, aquifer geometry, and seismic reflection profiles. Available focal mechanisms of earthquakes with magnitude between Mw 4.1 to 5.4, obtained from a dataset of the instrumental seismicity for the last 30 years, evidence a clear vertical separation at around 15 km between shallow extensional and deeper compressional hypocenters along the mountain front and adjacent foothills. In summary, the studied anticlines appear to grow at rates slower than the growing rate of the longer- wavelength structure that defines the mountain front of the NA. The domal structures show evidences of NW-verging deformation and reactivations of older (late Neogene) thrusts. The reconstructed river incision rates together with rates coming from several other rivers along a 250 km wide stretch of the NA mountain front and recently available in the literature, all indicate a general increase from Middle to Late Pleistocene. This suggests focusing of deformation along a deep structure, as confirmed by the deep compressional seismicity. The maximum rate is however not constant along the mountain front, but varies from 0.2 mm/yr in the west to more than 2.2 mm/yr in the eastern sector, suggesting a similar (eastward-increasing) trend of the apenninic subduction.

Strati, piano, rizoma. John Cage e la filosofia di Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari

In base ad una recensione esaustiva dei riferimenti alla musica e al sonoro nella produzione filosofica di Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari, la presente ricerca s’incentra sulla posizione che il pensiero musicale di John Cage occupa in alcuni testi deleuziani. Il primo capitolo tratta del periodo creativo di Cage fra il 1939 e il 1952, focalizzandosi su due aspetti principali: la struttura micro-macrocosmica che contraddistingue i suoi primi lavori, e i quattro elementi che in questo momento sintetizzano per Cage la composizione musicale. Questi ultimi sono considerati in riferimento alla teoria della doppia articolazione che Deleuze e Guattari riprendono da Hjelmslev; entrambi gli aspetti rimandano al sistema degli strati e della stratificazione esposta su Mille piani. Il secondo capitolo analizza la musica dei decenni centrali della produzione cagiana alla luce del luogo in Mille piani dove Cage è messo in rapporto al concetto di “piano fisso sonoro”. Un’attenzione particolare è posta al modo in cui Cage concepisce il rapporto fra durata e materiali sonori, e al grado variabile in cui sono presenti il caso e l’indeterminazione. Le composizioni del periodo in questione sono inoltre viste in riferimento al concetto deleuzo-guattariano di cartografia, e nelle loro implicazioni per il tempo musicale. L’ultimo quindicennio della produzione di Cage è considerata attraverso il concetto di rizoma inteso come teoria delle molteplicità. In primo luogo è esaminata la partitura di Sylvano Bussotti che figura all’inizio di Mille piani; in seguito, i lavori testuali e musicali di Cage sono considerati secondo le procedure compositive cagiane del mesostico, delle parentesi di tempo che concorrono a formare una struttura variabile, e dell’armonia anarchica dell’ultimo Cage.

Paleontological studies of Cretaceous vertebrate fossil beds in the Tataouine Basin (southern Tunisia)

The ‘Continental Intercalaire’ deposits of the Tataouine basin of southern Tunisia preserve one of the most diverse Cretaceous vertebrate fauna from Africa. This research project focuses on a detailed revision of the stratigraphic distribution of mid-Cretaceous fossil beds in the Tataouine Basin and includes the description of four, newly discovered vertebrate tracksites. In the Tataouine region, macro- and microvertebrate remains are recovered from three stratigraphic intervals: the lower Douiret Formation (Barremian), the Chenini (rare) and Oum ed Diab members of the Aïn El Guettar Formation (Albian). A detailed, basin-scale revision of the stratigraphic occurrence of fossil-bearing strata indicates 1. lateral facies variability within the context of a low gradient, circalittoral to coastal-plain environment; 2. multiple and diachronous fossil beds which include elasmobranchs, actinopterygians, sarcopterygians, turtles, crocodyliforms, pterosaurs, and non-avian dinosaurs remains. Four vertebrate tracksites have been discovered in the study area: 1. the Middle Jurassic Beni Ghedir site which preserves approximately 130 tridactyl footprints distributed over an area of 200 square meters, representing the oldest evidence of a dinosaur fauna in Tunisia; 2. the late Albian Chenini tracksite, which includes poorly preserved crocodilian tracks and the dinosaur ichnospecies Apulosauripus federicianus; 3. the Cenomanian Ksar Ayaat locality, where footprints assigned to a pleurodiran turtle are exposed, and 4. the upper Cenomanian Jebel Boulouha site which presents almost 100 well-preserved tridactyl tracks referred to small-sized theropods, fossil bird tracks - ichnogenus Koreanaorins – and tracks referred to a mammalian trackmaker, representing the first report of fossil bird and mammal from the Cretaceous of continental Africa and Tunisia respectively. In addition, data collected from the Tunisian tracksites have been compared with coeval tracksites in Italy and Croatia, showing analogies in morphology and paleoenvironment of dinosaur ichnoassociations, supporting the already hypothesized subaerial connection between these areas during the mid-Cretaceous.

Miocene basin development and volcanism along a strike-slip to flat-slab subduction transition: Stratigraphy, geochemistry, and geochronology of the central Wrangell volcanic belt, Yakutat-North America collision zone

New geochronologic, geochemical, sedimentologic, and compositional data from the central Wrangell volcanic belt (WVB) document basin development and volcanism linked to subduction of overthickened oceanic crust to the northern Pacific plate margin. The Frederika Formation and overlying Wrangell Lavas comprise >3 km of sedimentary and volcanic strata exposed in the Wrangell Mountains of south-central Alaska (United States). Measured stratigraphic sections and lithofacies analyses document lithofacies associations that reflect deposition in alluvial-fluvial-lacustrine environments routinely influenced by volcanic eruptions. Expansion of intrabasinal volcanic centers prompted progradation of vent-proximal volcanic aprons across basinal environments. Coal deposits, lacustrine strata, and vertical juxtaposition of basinal to proximal lithofacies indicate active basin subsidence that is attributable to heat flow associated with intrabasinal volcanic centers and extension along intrabasinal normal faults. The orientation of intrabasinal normal faults is consistent with transtensional deformation along the Totschunda-Fairweather fault system. Paleocurrents, compositional provenance, and detrital geochronologic ages link sediment accumulation to erosion of active intrabasinal volcanoes and to a lesser extent Mesozoic igneous sources. Geochemical compositions of interbedded lavas are dominantly calc-alkaline, range from basaltic andesite to rhyolite in composition, and share geochemical characteristics with Pliocene-Quaternary phases of the western WVB linked to subduction-related magmatism. The U/Pb ages of tuffs and Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of lavas indicate that basin development and volcanism commenced by 12.5-11.0 Ma and persisted until at least ca. 5.3 Ma. Eastern sections yield older ages (12.5-9.3 Ma) than western sections (9.6-8.3 Ma). Samples from two western sections yield even younger ages of 5.3 Ma. Integration of new and published stratigraphic, geochronologic, and geochemical data from the entire WVB permits a comprehensive interpretation of basin development and volcanism within a regional tectonic context. We propose a model in which diachronous volcanism and transtensional basin development reflect progressive insertion of a thickened oceanic crustal slab of the Yakutat microplate into the arcuate continental margin of southern Alaska coeval with reported changes in plate motions. Oblique northwestward subduction of a thickened oceanic crustal slab during Oligocene to Middle Miocene time produced transtensional basins and volcanism along the eastern edge of the slab along the Duke River fault in Canada and subduction-related volcanism along the northern edge of the slab near the Yukon-Alaska border. Volcanism and basin development migrated progressively northwestward into eastern Alaska during Middle Miocene through Holocene time, concomitant with a northwestward shift in plate convergence direction and subduction collision of progressively thicker crust against the syntaxial plate margin.

Estimating loss to follow-up in HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy: the effect of the competing risk of death in Zambia and Switzerland

Background Loss to follow-up (LTFU) is common in antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes. Mortality is a competing risk (CR) for LTFU; however, it is often overlooked in cohort analyses. We examined how the CR of death affected LTFU estimates in Zambia and Switzerland. Methods and Findings HIV-infected patients aged ≥18 years who started ART 2004–2008 in observational cohorts in Zambia and Switzerland were included. We compared standard Kaplan-Meier curves with CR cumulative incidence. We calculated hazard ratios for LTFU across CD4 cell count strata using cause-specific Cox models, or Fine and Gray subdistribution models, adjusting for age, gender, body mass index and clinical stage. 89,339 patients from Zambia and 1,860 patients from Switzerland were included. 12,237 patients (13.7%) in Zambia and 129 patients (6.9%) in Switzerland were LTFU and 8,498 (9.5%) and 29 patients (1.6%), respectively, died. In Zambia, the probability of LTFU was overestimated in Kaplan-Meier curves: estimates at 3.5 years were 29.3% for patients starting ART with CD4 cells <100 cells/µl and 15.4% among patients starting with ≥350 cells/µL. The estimates from CR cumulative incidence were 22.9% and 13.6%, respectively. Little difference was found between naïve and CR analyses in Switzerland since only few patients died. The results from Cox and Fine and Gray models were similar: in Zambia the risk of loss to follow-up and death increased with decreasing CD4 counts at the start of ART, whereas in Switzerland there was a trend in the opposite direction, with patients with higher CD4 cell counts more likely to be lost to follow-up. Conclusions In ART programmes in low-income settings the competing risk of death can substantially bias standard analyses of LTFU. The CD4 cell count and other prognostic factors may be differentially associated with LTFU in low-income and high-income settings.

Provenance signature of a forearc basin modified by spreading ridge subduction: Detrital zircon geochronology and detrital modes from the Paleogene Arkose Ridge Formation, southern Alaska

Upper Paleocene–Eocene boulder conglomerate, cross-stratified sandstone, and laminated carbonaceous mudstone of the Arkose Ridge Formation exposed in the southern Talkeetna Mountains record fluvial-lacustrine deposition proximal to the volcanic arc in a forearc basin modified by Paleogene spreading ridge subduction beneath southern Alaska. U-Pb ages of detrital zircon grains and modal analyses were obtained from stratigraphic sections spanning the 2,000 m thick Arkose Ridge Formation in order to constrain the lithology, age, and location of sediment sources that provided detritus. Detrital modes from 24 conglomerate beds and 54 sandstone thin sections aredominated by plutonic and volcanic clasts and plagioclase feldspar with minor quartz, schist, hornblende, argillite, and metabasalt. Westernmost sandstone and conglomerate strata contain <5% volcanic clasts whereas easternmost sandstone and conglomerate strata contain 40 to >80% volcanic clasts. Temporally, eastern sandstones andconglomerates exhibit an upsection increase in volcanic detritus from <40 to >80% volcanic clasts. U-Pb ages from >1400 detrital zircons in 15 sandstone samples reveal three main populations: late Paleocene–Eocene (60-48 Ma; 16% of all grains), Late Cretaceous–early Paleocene (85–60 Ma; 62%) and Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (200–100 Ma; 12%). A plot of U/Th vs U-Pb ages shows that >97% of zircons are <200 Ma and>99% of zircons have <10 U/Th ratios, consistent with mainly igneous source terranes. Strata show increased enrichment in late Paleocene–Eocene detrital zircons from <2% in the west to >25% in the east. In eastern sections, this younger age population increases temporally from 0% in the lower 50 m of the section to >40% in samples collected >740 m above the base. Integration of the compositional and detrital geochronologic data suggests: (1) Detritus was eroded mainly from igneous sources exposed directly north of the Arkose Ridge Formation strata, mainly Jurassic–Paleocene plutons and Paleocene–Eocenevolcanic centers. Subordinate metamorphic detritus was eroded from western Mesozoic low-grade metamorphic sources. Subordinate sedimentary detritus was eroded from eastern Mesozoic sedimentary sources. (2) Eastern deposystems received higher proportions of juvenile volcanic detritus through time, consistent with construction of adjacent slab-window volcanic centers during Arkose Ridge Formation deposition. (3)Western deposystems transported detritus from Jurassic–Paleocene arc plutons that flank the northwestern basin margin. (4) Metasedimentary strata of the Chugach accretionaryprism, exposed 20-50 km south of the Arkose Ridge Formation, did not contribute abundant detritus. Conventional provenance models predict reduced input of volcanic detritus to forearc basins during exhumation of the volcanic edifice and increasing exposure ofsubvolcanic plutons (Dickinson, 1995; Ingersoll and Eastmond, 2007). In the forearc strata of these conventional models, sandstone modal analyses record progressive increases upsection in quartz and feldspar concomitant with decreases in lithic grains, mainly volcanic lithics. Additionally, as the arc massif denudes through time, theyoungest detrital U-Pb zircon age populations become significantly older than the age of forearc deposition as the arc migrates inboard or ceases magmatism. Westernmost strata of the Arkose Ridge Formation are consistent with this conventional model. However, easternmost strata of the Arkose Ridge Formation contain sandstone modes that record an upsection increase in lithic grains accompanied by a decrease in quartz and feldspar, and detrital zircon age populations that closely match the age of deposition. This deviation from the conventional model is due to the proximity of the easternmost strata to adjacent juvenile volcanic rocks emplaced by slab-window volcanic processes. Provenance data from the Arkose Ridge Formation show that forearc basins modified by spreading ridge subduction may record upsection increases in non-arc, syndepositional volcanic detritusdue to contemporaneous accumulation of thick volcanic sequences at slab-window volcanic centers. This change may occur locally at the same time that other regions of the forearc continue to receive increasing amounts of plutonic detritus as the remnant arc denudes, resulting in complex lateral variations in forearc basin petrofacies and chronofacies.

Sedimentology, Depositional Age, and Provenance of Sedimentary and Volcanic Rocks Exposed Along Willow Creek, Eastern Susitna Basin, South-Central Alaska: Implications for Modification of a Forearc Basin by Spreading Ridge Subduction

This is the first detailed study of the westernmost portion of the outcrop belt, which extends along the western flank of the Talkeetna Mountains and includes thick, well-exposed outcrops along Willow Creek in the eastern Susitna basin. New sedimentologic, compositional, and geochronologic data were obtained from stratigraphic sections within Arkose Ridge Formation strata at Willow Creek. This data combined with new geologic mapping and geochronologic data from Willow Bench and Kashwitna River Bluff (north of Willow Creek), and from the Government Peak area (east of Willow Creek), help constrain depositional processes and source terranes that provided detritus to the westernmost Arkose Ridge Formation strata.

The Charity and the Poverty

At the end of the middle Ages, financial savings institutions developed, largely in response to the increasingly usurious money-lending practices of the Jews and to the adaptation of church authorities to the by then well developed commercial and financial operations. It was the Franciscan Order that took the initiative to develop such institutions, first in Italy and later in other western European Mediterranean towns. These were the so-called Monte di Pieta, which lent money at low rates of interest taking objects in pawn as security. However, as they had to operate with circulating capital and on the principles of savings banks, they may be considered to be the predecessors of modern banks. Although charity was declared in the very names of these institutions, this was no longer in the sense of the medieval mercy towards the virtuous poor, but more a support for impoverished members of higher social strata, as loan applicants had to place valuable movable property in pawn, meaning that they first had to possess such property. In spite of this, the institutions had the character of the primeval accumulation of capital, although not so much for individuals as for a community or, in the latter's name, for a commune, i.e. the local authority, which at least in the cases of Koper and Piran was also the founder. However, the stagnation of trade with the hinterland and the decline in the economic power of the Venetian Republic, particularly in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, pushed pawnshops into a more miserable existence, with ups and downs linked with the irregularities of profit-making on behalf of the institution, particularly by its clerks.

The Supportive Role of the Family in Solving Real and Projected Problems of Everyday Life

In this research the supportive role of the family in coping with everyday problems was studied using two large data sets. The results show the importance of the structural aspect of social support. Mapping individual preferences to support referents showed the crucial role of spouse and parents in solving everyday problems. The individual choices of particular support referents could be fairly accurately predicted from knowledge of the composition of the family, in both categorical regression and logit models. The far lower predictability of the criterion variable was shown using a wide range of socioeconomic, social and demographic indicators. Residence in small cities and indicators of extreme occupational strata were particularly predictive of the choice of support referent. The supportive role of the family was also traced in the personal projects of young adults, which were seen as ecological, natural and dynamic middle-level units of analysis of personality. Different aspects of personal projects, including reliance on social support referents, turned out to be highly interrelated. One the one hand, expectations of support were determined by the content of the project, and on the other, expected social support also influences the content of the project. Sivuha sees this as one of the ways others can enter self-structures.

Hepatitis C virus and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: Findings from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study

Infections with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and, possibly, hepatitis B virus (HBV) are associated with an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in the general population, but little information is available on the relationship between hepatitis viruses and NHL among people with HIV (PHIV). We conducted a matched case-control study nested in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS). Two hundred and ninety-eight NHL cases and 889 control subjects were matched by SHCS centre, gender, age group, CD4+ count at enrollment, and length of follow-up. Odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using logistic regression to evaluate the association between NHL and seropositivity for antibodies against HCV (anti-HCV) and hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), and for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Anti-HCV was not associated with increased NHL risk overall (OR = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.63-1.75), or in different strata of CD4+ count, age or gender. Only among men having sex with men was an association with anti-HCV found (OR = 2.37; 95% CI: 1.03-5.43). No relationships between NHL risk and anti-HBc or HBsAg emerged. Coinfection with HIV and HCV or HBV did not increase NHL risk compared to HIV alone in the SHCS.

Will International Pursuit of the Millenium Development Goals Alleviate Poverty in Mountains?

Since September 2000, when world leaders agreed on time-bound, measurable goals to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and disease while fostering gender equality and ensuring environmental sustainability, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have increasingly come to dominate the policy objectives of many states and development agencies. The concern has been raised that the tight timeframe and financial restrictions might force governments to invest in the more productive sectors, thus compromising the quality and sustainability of development efforts. In the long term, this may lead to even greater inequality, especially between geographical regions and social strata. Hence people living in marginal areas, for example in remote mountain regions, and minority peoples risk being disadvantaged by this internationally agreed agenda. Strategies to overcome hunger and poverty in their different dimensions in mountain areas need to focus on strengthening the economy of small-scale farmers, while also fostering the sustainable use of natural resources, taking into consideration their multifunctionality.

Hepatitis C coinfection is independently associated with decreased adherence to antiretroviral therapy in a population-based HIV cohort

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the impact of hepatitis C (HCV) serostatus on adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART) among HIV-infected adults initiating ART. METHODS: The British Columbia HIV/AIDS Drug Treatment Program distributes, at no cost, all ART in this Canadian province. Eligible individuals used triple combination ART as their first HIV therapy and had documented HCV serology. Statistical analyses used parametric and non-parametric methods, including multivariate logistic regression. The primary outcome was > or = 95% adherence, defined as receiving > or = 95% of prescription refills during the first year of antiretroviral therapy. RESULTS: There were 1186 patients eligible for analysis, including 606 (51%) positive for HCV antibody and 580 (49%) who were negative. In adjusted analyses, adherence was independently associated with HCV seropositivity [adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 0.48; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.23-0.97; P = 0.003], higher plasma albumin levels (AOR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.01-1.12; P = 0.002) and male gender (AOR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.04-6.15; P = 0.017), but not with injection drug use (IDU), age or other markers of liver injury. There was no evidence of an interaction between HCV and liver injury in adjusted analyses; comparing different strata of HCV and IDU confirmed that HCV was associated with poor adherence independent of IDU. CONCLUSIONS: HCV-coinfected individuals and those with lower albumin are less likely to be adherent to their ART.

Effects of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on the Herbaceous Layer of a Central Appalachian Hardwood Forest

Additions of nitrogen (N) have been shown to alter species diversity of plant communities, with most experimental studies having been carried out in communities dominated by herbaceous species. We examined seasonal and inter-annual patterns of change in the herbaceous layer of two watersheds of a central Appalachian hardwood forest that differed in experimental treatment. This study was carried out at the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia, using two adjacent watersheds: WS4 (mature, second-growth hardwood stand, untreated reference), and WS3. Seven circular 0.04-ha sample plots were established in eachwatershed to represent its full range of elevation and slope aspect. The herbaceous layer was sampled by identifying and visually estimating cover (%) of all vascular plants. Sampling was carried out in mid-July of 1991 and repeated at approximately the same time in 1992. In 1994, these same plots were sampled each month fromMay to October. Seasonal patterns of herb layer dynamics were assessed for the complete 1994 data set, whereasinter-annual variability was based on plot data from 1991, 1992, and the July sample of 1994. There were nosignificant differences between watersheds for any sample year for any of the other herb layer characteristics measured, including herb layer cover, species richness, evenness, and diversity. Cover on WS4 decreased significantly from 1991 to 1992, followed by no change to 1994. By contrast, herb layer cover did not varysignificantly across years on WS3. Cover of the herbaceous layer of both watersheds increased from early in the growing season to the middle of the growing season, decreasing thereafter, with no significant differencesbetween WS3 and WS4 for any of the monthly cover means in 1994. Similar seasonal patterns found for herblayer cover—and lack of significant differences between watersheds—were also evident for species diversityand richness. By contrast, there was little seasonal change in herb layer species evenness, which was nearlyidentical between watersheds for all months except October. Seasonal patterns for individual species/speciesgroups were closely similar between watersheds, especially for Viola rotundifolia and Viola spp. Species richnessand species diversity were linearly related to herb layer cover for both WS3 and WS4, suggesting that spatialand temporal increases in cover were more related to recruitment of herb layer species than to growth of existingspecies. Results of this study indicate that there have been negligible responses of the herb layer to 6 yr of additions to WS3.

Effects of Harvesting on Herbaceous Layer Diversity of a Central Appalachian Hardwood Forest

Clearcutting is a common harvesting practice in many eastern hardwood forests. Among the vegetation strata of these forests, the herbaceous layer is potentially the most sensitive in its response to harvest-mediated disturbances and has the highest species diversity. Thus, it is important to understand the response of herbaceous layer diversity to forest harvesting. Previous work on clearcut and mature stands at the Fernow Experimental Forest (FEF), West Virginia, has shown that, although, harvesting did not alter appreciably herbaceous layer cover, it influenced the relationship of cover to biotic and abiotic factors, such as tree density and soil nutrients, respectively. The purpose of this study was to examine the response of species diversity of the herbaceous layer to harvesting at FEF. Fifteen circular, 0.04 ha sample plots were established in each of four watersheds (60 plots in total) representing two stand age categories: two watersheds with 20 years even-age stands following clearcutting and two watersheds with mature second growth stands. All woody stems ≥2.5 cm diameter at breast height were identified, tallied, and measured for diameter. The herbaceous layer was sampled by identifying all vascular plants ≤1 m in height and estimating cover for each species in each of 10 (1 m2) circular sub-plots per sample plot (600 sub-plots total). Species diversity for each plot was calculated from herbaceous layer data using the ln-based Shannon Index (H′) equation. Ten stand and soil variables also were measured on each plot. Mean herbaceous layer cover for clearcut versus mature stands was 27.2±14.3% versus 20.2±8.1% (P>0.05), respectively and mean H′ was 1.67±0.42 versus 1.55±0.48 (P>0.05), respectively. Herbaceous layer diversity was negatively correlated with cation exchange capacity and extractable Ca and Mg in the mineral soil in clearcut stands. In contrast, herbaceous layer diversity was positively correlated with soil organic matter and clay content. Although, 20 years of recovery after clearcutting did not have significant effects on the species diversity of the herbaceous layer when examining stand age means alone, harvesting did appear to influence the spatial relationships between herbaceous layer diversity and biotic factors (e.g. tree density) and abiotic factors (e.g. soil nutrients).