VVV DR1: The first data release of the Milky Way bulge and southern plane from the near-infrared ESO public survey VISTA variables in the Via Lactea

Context. The ESO public survey VISTA variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) started in 2010. VVV targets 562 sq. deg in the Galactic bulge and an adjacent plane region and is expected to run for about five years. Aims. We describe the progress of the survey observations in the first observing season, the observing strategy, and quality of the data obtained. Methods. The observations are carried out on the 4-m VISTA telescope in the ZYJHK(s) filters. In addition to the multi-band imaging the variability monitoring campaign in the K-s filter has started. Data reduction is carried out using the pipeline at the Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit. The photometric and astrometric calibration is performed via the numerous 2MASS sources observed in each pointing. Results. The first data release contains the aperture photometry and astrometric catalogues for 348 individual pointings in the ZYJHK(s) filters taken in the 2010 observing season. The typical image quality is similar to 0 ''.9-1 ''.0. The stringent photometric and image quality requirements of the survey are satisfied in 100% of the JHK(s) images in the disk area and 90% of the JHK(s) images in the bulge area. The completeness in the Z and Y images is 84% in the disk, and 40% in the bulge. The first season catalogues contain 1.28 x 10(8) stellar sources in the bulge and 1.68 x 10(8) in the disk area detected in at least one of the photometric bands. The combined, multi-band catalogues contain more than 1.63 x 10(8) stellar sources. About 10% of these are double detections because of overlapping adjacent pointings. These overlapping multiple detections are used to characterise the quality of the data. The images in the JHK(s) bands extend typically similar to 4 mag deeper than 2MASS. The magnitude limit and photometric quality depend strongly on crowding in the inner Galactic regions. The astrometry for K-s = 15-18 mag has rms similar to 35-175 mas. Conclusions. The VVV Survey data products offer a unique dataset to map the stellar populations in the Galactic bulge and the adjacent plane and provide an exciting new tool for the study of the structure, content, and star-formation history of our Galaxy, as well as for investigations of the newly discovered star clusters, star-forming regions in the disk, high proper motion stars, asteroids, planetary nebulae, and other interesting objects.

GALAXIES BEHIND THE GALACTIC PLANE: FIRST RESULTS AND PERSPECTIVES FROM THE VVV SURVEY

VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) is an ESO variability survey that is performing observations in near-infrared bands (ZY JHK(s)) toward the Galactic bulge and part of the disk with the completeness limits at least 3 mag deeper than Two Micron All Sky Survey. In the present work, we searched in the VVV survey data for background galaxies near the Galactic plane using ZY JHK(s) photometry that covers 1.636 deg(2). We identified 204 new galaxy candidates by analyzing colors, sizes, and visual inspection of multi-band (ZY JHK(s)) images. The galaxy candidate colors were also compared with the predicted ones by star count models considering a more realistic extinction model at the same completeness limits observed by VVV. A comparison of the galaxy candidates with the expected one by Millennium simulations is also presented. Our results increase the number density of known galaxies behind the Milky Way by more than one order of magnitude. A catalog with galaxy properties including ellipticity, Petrosian radii, and ZY JHK(s) magnitudes is provided, as well as comparisons of the results with other surveys of galaxies toward the Galactic plane.

Occurrence and sorption of fluoroquinolones in poultry litters and soils from sao Paulo State, Brazil

Animal production is one of the most expressive sectors of Brazilian agro-economy. Although antibiotics are routinely used in this activity, their occurrence, fate, and potential impacts to the local environment are largely unknown. This research evaluated sorption-desorption and occurrence of four commonly used fluoroquinolones (norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, danofloxacin, and enrofloxacin) in poultry litter and soil samples from Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The sorption-desorption studies involved batch equilibration technique and followed the OECD guideline for pesticides. All compounds were analyzed by HPLC, using fluorescence detector. Fluoroquinolones' sorption potential to the poultry litters (K-d <= 65 L kg(-1)) was lower than to the soil (K-d similar to 40,000 L kg(-1)), but was always high (>= 69% of applied amount) indicating a higher specificity of fluoroquinolones interaction with soils. The addition of poultry litter (5%) to the soil had not affected sorption or desorption of these compounds. Desorption was negligible in the soil (<= 0.5% of sorbed amount), but not in the poultry litters (up to 42% of sorbed amount). Fluoroquinolones' mean concentrations found in the poultry litters (1.37 to 6.68 mg kg(-1)) and soils (22.93 mu g kg(-1)) were compatible to those found elsewhere (Austria, China, and Turkey). Enrofloxacin was the most often detected compound (30% of poultry litters and 27% of soils) at the highest mean concentrations (6.68 mg kg(-1) for poultry litters and 22.93 mu g kg(-1) for soils). These results show that antibiotics are routinely used in poultry production and might represent one potential source of pollution to the environment that has been largely ignored and should be further investigated in Brazil. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Caso alóctone de leishmaniose visceral canina, no município de Campo Mourão, Paraná, Brasil

O presente relato tem por objetivo descrever o primeiro caso alóctone de leishmaniose visceral (LV) no município de Campo Mourão, Paraná, Brasil, em um canino, da raça Boxer, apresentando lesões oculares e cutâneas, linfoadenomegalia e esplenomegalia, atendido no Hospital Veterinário da Faculdade Integrado de Campo Mourão, após ter residido na cidade de Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. O diagnóstico da enfermidade baseou-se na observação direta de formas amastigotas de Leishmania spp., em linfonodos poplíteos, sugerindo ser um caso de LV, uma vez que o animal era proveniente de área endêmica para a enfermidade. A migração de cães infectados de regiões endêmicas para áreas indenes torna-se um problema para a saúde pública, uma vez que poderá permitir a instalação de novos focos, favorecendo a disseminação da doença em todo o país.

A comparison for a multiscale study of structural lineaments in southern Brazil: LANDSAT-7 ETM+ and shaded relief images from SRTM3-DEM

This paper presents a comparison of descriptive statistics obtained for brittle structural lineaments extracted manually from LANDSAT images and shaded relief images from SRTM 3 DEM at 1:100, 000 and 1:500, 000 scales. The selected area is located in the southern of Brazil and comprises Precambrian rocks and stratigraphic units of the Paraná Basin. The application of this methodology shows that the visual interpretation depends on the kind of remote sensing image. The resulting descriptive statistics obtained for lineaments extracted from the images do not follow the same pattern according to the scale adopted. The main direction obtained for Proterozoic rocks using both image types at a 1:500, 000 scale are close to NS±10, whereas at a 1:100, 000 scale N45E was obtained for shaded relief images from SRTM 3 DEM and N10W for LANDSAT images. The Paleozoic sediments yielded the best results for the different images and scales (N50W). On the other hand, the Mesozoic igneous rocks showed greatest differences, the shaded relief images from SRTM 3 DEM images highlighting NE structures and the LANDSAT images highlighting NW structures. The accumulated frequency demonstrated high similarity between products for each image type no matter the scale, indicating that they can be used in multiscale studies. Conversely, major differences were found when comparing data obtained using shaded relief images from SRTM 3 DEM and Landsat images at a 1:100, 000 scale.

Ecological aspects of the sandfly fauna (Diptera, Psychodidae) in an American cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic area under the influence of hydroelectric plants in Paranapanema river, State of Paraná, Brazil

INTRODUCTION: An epidemiological study was undertaken to identify determinant factors in the occurrence of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in areas under the influence of hydroelectric plants in Paranapanema river, State of Paraná, Brazil. The ecological aspects of the phlebotomine fauna were investigated. METHODS: Sandflies were sampled with automatic light traps from February 2004 to June 2006 at 25 sites in the urban and rural areas of Itambaracá, and in Porto Almeida and São Joaquim do Pontal. RESULTS: A total of 3,187 sandflies of 15 species were captured. Nyssomyia neivai predominated (34.4%), followed by Pintomyia pessoai (32.6%), Migonemyia migonei (11.6%), Nyssomyia whitmani (8.8%), and Pintomyia fischeri (2.7%), all implicated in the transmission of Leishmania. Males predominated for Ny. neivai, and females for the other vector species, with significant statistical differences (p < 0.001). Nyssomyia neivai, Pi. pessoai, Ny. whitmani, Brumptomyia brumpti, Mg. migonei, and Pi. fischeri presented the highest values for the Standardized Species Abundance Index (SSAI). The highest frequencies and diversities were found in the preserved forest in Porto Almeida, followed by forests with degradation in São Joaquim do Pontal and Vila Rural. CONCLUSIONS: Sandflies were captured in all localities, with the five vectors predominating. Ny. neivai had its highest frequencies in nearby peridomestic environments and Pi. pessoai in areas of preserved forests. The highest SSAI values of Ny. neivai and Pi. pessoai reflect their wider dispersion and higher frequencies compared with other species, which seems to indicate that these two species may be transmitting leishmaniasis in the area.

Environmental impact assessment, from Rio-92 to Rio+20 and beyond

The 1992 Rio Earth Summit was of paramount importance in the consolidation and international dissemination of environmental impact assessment, officially recognized as a tool for informed decision-making towards sustainable development (Principle 17, Rio Declaration) and for protection of biodiversity (Article 14, Convention on Biological Diversity). A significant development afterwards was the strengthening of strategic environmental assessment in the design of policies, plans and programs. Both forms of impact assessment can establish the necessary connections between one goal of the Rio+20 Conference - reaching an agreement on the transition to a green economy - and the underpinning decision making processes. Although the Rio+20 Summit has faced challenges to acknowledge its potential, impact assessment should be strengthened in support of both government and business decisions.

Validation of the land water storage from gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) with gauge data in the amazon basin

The Amazon basin is a region of constant scientific interest due to its environmental importance and its biodiversity and climate on a global scale. The seasonal variations in water volume are one of the examples of topics studied nowadays. In general, the variations in river levels depend primarily on the climate and physics characteristics of the corresponding basins. The main factor which influences the water level in the Amazon Basin is the intensive rainfall over this region as a consequence of the humidity of the tropical climate. Unfortunately, the Amazon basin is an area with lack of water level information due to difficulties in access for local operations. The purpose of this study is to compare and evaluate the Equivalent Water Height (Ewh) from GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) mission, to study the connection between water loading and vertical variations of the crust due to the hydrologic. In order to achieve this goal, the Ewh is compared with in-situ information from limnimeter. For the analysis it was computed the correlation coefficients, phase and amplitude of GRACE Ewh solutions and in-situ data, as well as the timing of periods of drought in different parts of the basin. The results indicated that vertical variations of the lithosphere due to water mass loading could reach 7 to 5 cm per year, in the sedimentary and flooded areas of the region, where water level variations can reach 10 to 8 m.

Essays on the political economy of European integration

Recently, a rising interest in political and economic integration/disintegration issues has been developed in the political economy field. This growing strand of literature partly draws on traditional issues of fiscal federalism and optimum public good provision and focuses on a trade-off between the benefits of centralization, arising from economies of scale or externalities, and the costs of harmonizing policies as a consequence of the increased heterogeneity of individual preferences in an international union or in a country composed of at least two regions. This thesis stems from this strand of literature and aims to shed some light on two highly relevant aspects of the political economy of European integration. The first concerns the role of public opinion in the integration process; more precisely, how economic benefits and costs of integration shape citizens' support for European Union (EU) membership. The second is the allocation of policy competences among different levels of government: European, national and regional. Chapter 1 introduces the topics developed in this thesis by reviewing the main recent theoretical developments in the political economy analysis of integration processes. It is structured as follows. First, it briefly surveys a few relevant articles on economic theories of integration and disintegration processes (Alesina and Spolaore 1997, Bolton and Roland 1997, Alesina et al. 2000, Casella and Feinstein 2002) and discusses their relevance for the study of the impact of economic benefits and costs on public opinion attitude towards the EU. Subsequently, it explores the links existing between such political economy literature and theories of fiscal federalism, especially with regard to normative considerations concerning the optimal allocation of competences in a union. Chapter 2 firstly proposes a model of citizens’ support for membership of international unions, with explicit reference to the EU; subsequently it tests the model on a panel of EU countries. What are the factors that influence public opinion support for the European Union (EU)? In international relations theory, the idea that citizens' support for the EU depends on material benefits deriving from integration, i.e. whether European integration makes individuals economically better off (utilitarian support), has been common since the 1970s, but has never been the subject of a formal treatment (Hix 2005). A small number of studies in the 1990s have investigated econometrically the link between national economic performance and mass support for European integration (Eichenberg and Dalton 1993; Anderson and Kalthenthaler 1996), but only making informal assumptions. The main aim of Chapter 2 is thus to propose and test our model with a view to providing a more complete and theoretically grounded picture of public support for the EU. Following theories of utilitarian support, we assume that citizens are in favour of membership if they receive economic benefits from it. To develop this idea, we propose a simple political economic model drawing on the recent economic literature on integration and disintegration processes. The basic element is the existence of a trade-off between the benefits of centralisation and the costs of harmonising policies in presence of heterogeneous preferences among countries. The approach we follow is that of the recent literature on the political economy of international unions and the unification or break-up of nations (Bolton and Roland 1997, Alesina and Wacziarg 1999, Alesina et al. 2001, 2005a, to mention only the relevant). The general perspective is that unification provides returns to scale in the provision of public goods, but reduces each member state’s ability to determine its most favoured bundle of public goods. In the simple model presented in Chapter 2, support for membership of the union is increasing in the union’s average income and in the loss of efficiency stemming from being outside the union, and decreasing in a country’s average income, while increasing heterogeneity of preferences among countries points to a reduced scope of the union. Afterwards we empirically test the model with data on the EU; more precisely, we perform an econometric analysis employing a panel of member countries over time. The second part of Chapter 2 thus tries to answer the following question: does public opinion support for the EU really depend on economic factors? The findings are broadly consistent with our theoretical expectations: the conditions of the national economy, differences in income among member states and heterogeneity of preferences shape citizens’ attitude towards their country’s membership of the EU. Consequently, this analysis offers some interesting policy implications for the present debate about ratification of the European Constitution and, more generally, about how the EU could act in order to gain more support from the European public. Citizens in many member states are called to express their opinion in national referenda, which may well end up in rejection of the Constitution, as recently happened in France and the Netherlands, triggering a European-wide political crisis. These events show that nowadays understanding public attitude towards the EU is not only of academic interest, but has a strong relevance for policy-making too. Chapter 3 empirically investigates the link between European integration and regional autonomy in Italy. Over the last few decades, the double tendency towards supranationalism and regional autonomy, which has characterised some European States, has taken a very interesting form in this country, because Italy, besides being one of the founding members of the EU, also implemented a process of decentralisation during the 1970s, further strengthened by a constitutional reform in 2001. Moreover, the issue of the allocation of competences among the EU, the Member States and the regions is now especially topical. The process leading to the drafting of European Constitution (even if then it has not come into force) has attracted much attention from a constitutional political economy perspective both on a normative and positive point of view (Breuss and Eller 2004, Mueller 2005). The Italian parliament has recently passed a new thorough constitutional reform, still to be approved by citizens in a referendum, which includes, among other things, the so called “devolution”, i.e. granting the regions exclusive competence in public health care, education and local police. Following and extending the methodology proposed in a recent influential article by Alesina et al. (2005b), which only concentrated on the EU activity (treaties, legislation, and European Court of Justice’s rulings), we develop a set of quantitative indicators measuring the intensity of the legislative activity of the Italian State, the EU and the Italian regions from 1973 to 2005 in a large number of policy categories. By doing so, we seek to answer the following broad questions. Are European and regional legislations substitutes for state laws? To what extent are the competences attributed by the European treaties or the Italian Constitution actually exerted in the various policy areas? Is their exertion consistent with the normative recommendations from the economic literature about their optimum allocation among different levels of government? The main results show that, first, there seems to be a certain substitutability between EU and national legislations (even if not a very strong one), but not between regional and national ones. Second, the EU concentrates its legislative activity mainly in international trade and agriculture, whilst social policy is where the regions and the State (which is also the main actor in foreign policy) are more active. Third, at least two levels of government (in some cases all of them) are significantly involved in the legislative activity in many sectors, even where the rationale for that is, at best, very questionable, indicating that they actually share a larger number of policy tasks than that suggested by the economic theory. It appears therefore that an excessive number of competences are actually shared among different levels of government. From an economic perspective, it may well be recommended that some competences be shared, but only when the balance between scale or spillover effects and heterogeneity of preferences suggests so. When, on the contrary, too many levels of government are involved in a certain policy area, the distinction between their different responsibilities easily becomes unnecessarily blurred. This may not only leads to a slower and inefficient policy-making process, but also risks to make it too complicate to understand for citizens, who, on the contrary, should be able to know who is really responsible for a certain policy when they vote in national,local or European elections or in referenda on national or European constitutional issues.

Relationships between running economy and mechanics in middle-distance runners

Running economy (RE), i.e. the oxygen consumption at a given submaximal speed, is an important determinant of endurance running performance. So far, investigators have widely attempted to individuate the factors affecting RE in competitive athletes, focusing mainly on the relationships between RE and running biomechanics. However, the current results are inconsistent and a clear mechanical profile of an economic runner has not been yet established. The present work aimed to better understand how the running technique influences RE in sub-elite middle-distance runners by investigating the biomechanical parameters acting on RE and the underlying mechanisms. Special emphasis was given to accounting for intra-individual variability in RE at different speeds and to assessing track running rather than treadmill running. In Study One, a factor analysis was used to reduce the 30 considered mechanical parameters to few global descriptors of the running mechanics. Then, a biomechanical comparison between economic and non economic runners and a multiple regression analysis (with RE as criterion variable and mechanical indices as independent variables) were performed. It was found that a better RE was associated to higher knee and ankle flexion in the support phase, and that the combination of seven individuated mechanical measures explains ∼72% of the variability in RE. In Study Two, a mathematical model predicting RE a priori from the rate of force production, originally developed and used in the field of comparative biology, was adapted and tested in competitive athletes. The model showed a very good fit (R2=0.86). In conclusion, the results of this dissertation suggest that the very complex interrelationships among the mechanical parameters affecting RE may be successfully dealt with through multivariate statistical analyses and the application of theoretical mathematical models. Thanks to these results, coaches are provided with useful tools to assess the biomechanical profile of their athletes. Thus, individual weaknesses in the running technique may be identified and removed, with the ultimate goal to improve RE.

Non-Markovian stochastic processes and their applications: from anomalous diffusion to time series analysis

This work provides a forward step in the study and comprehension of the relationships between stochastic processes and a certain class of integral-partial differential equation, which can be used in order to model anomalous diffusion and transport in statistical physics. In the first part, we brought the reader through the fundamental notions of probability and stochastic processes, stochastic integration and stochastic differential equations as well. In particular, within the study of H-sssi processes, we focused on fractional Brownian motion (fBm) and its discrete-time increment process, the fractional Gaussian noise (fGn), which provide examples of non-Markovian Gaussian processes. The fGn, together with stationary FARIMA processes, is widely used in the modeling and estimation of long-memory, or long-range dependence (LRD). Time series manifesting long-range dependence, are often observed in nature especially in physics, meteorology, climatology, but also in hydrology, geophysics, economy and many others. We deepely studied LRD, giving many real data examples, providing statistical analysis and introducing parametric methods of estimation. Then, we introduced the theory of fractional integrals and derivatives, which indeed turns out to be very appropriate for studying and modeling systems with long-memory properties. After having introduced the basics concepts, we provided many examples and applications. For instance, we investigated the relaxation equation with distributed order time-fractional derivatives, which describes models characterized by a strong memory component and can be used to model relaxation in complex systems, which deviates from the classical exponential Debye pattern. Then, we focused in the study of generalizations of the standard diffusion equation, by passing through the preliminary study of the fractional forward drift equation. Such generalizations have been obtained by using fractional integrals and derivatives of distributed orders. In order to find a connection between the anomalous diffusion described by these equations and the long-range dependence, we introduced and studied the generalized grey Brownian motion (ggBm), which is actually a parametric class of H-sssi processes, which have indeed marginal probability density function evolving in time according to a partial integro-differential equation of fractional type. The ggBm is of course Non-Markovian. All around the work, we have remarked many times that, starting from a master equation of a probability density function f(x,t), it is always possible to define an equivalence class of stochastic processes with the same marginal density function f(x,t). All these processes provide suitable stochastic models for the starting equation. Studying the ggBm, we just focused on a subclass made up of processes with stationary increments. The ggBm has been defined canonically in the so called grey noise space. However, we have been able to provide a characterization notwithstanding the underline probability space. We also pointed out that that the generalized grey Brownian motion is a direct generalization of a Gaussian process and in particular it generalizes Brownain motion and fractional Brownain motion as well. Finally, we introduced and analyzed a more general class of diffusion type equations related to certain non-Markovian stochastic processes. We started from the forward drift equation, which have been made non-local in time by the introduction of a suitable chosen memory kernel K(t). The resulting non-Markovian equation has been interpreted in a natural way as the evolution equation of the marginal density function of a random time process l(t). We then consider the subordinated process Y(t)=X(l(t)) where X(t) is a Markovian diffusion. The corresponding time-evolution of the marginal density function of Y(t) is governed by a non-Markovian Fokker-Planck equation which involves the same memory kernel K(t). We developed several applications and derived the exact solutions. Moreover, we considered different stochastic models for the given equations, providing path simulations.

Self-Organizing Mechanisms for Task Allocation in a Knowledge-Based Economy

A prevalent claim is that we are in knowledge economy. When we talk about knowledge economy, we generally mean the concept of “Knowledge-based economy” indicating the use of knowledge and technologies to produce economic benefits. Hence knowledge is both tool and raw material (people’s skill) for producing some kind of product or service. In this kind of environment economic organization is undergoing several changes. For example authority relations are less important, legal and ownership-based definitions of the boundaries of the firm are becoming irrelevant and there are only few constraints on the set of coordination mechanisms. Hence what characterises a knowledge economy is the growing importance of human capital in productive processes (Foss, 2005) and the increasing knowledge intensity of jobs (Hodgson, 1999). Economic processes are also highly intertwined with social processes: they are likely to be informal and reciprocal rather than formal and negotiated. Another important point is also the problem of the division of labor: as economic activity becomes mainly intellectual and requires the integration of specific and idiosyncratic skills, the task of dividing the job and assigning it to the most appropriate individuals becomes arduous, a “supervisory problem” (Hogdson, 1999) emerges and traditional hierarchical control may result increasingly ineffective. Not only specificity of know how makes it awkward to monitor the execution of tasks, more importantly, top-down integration of skills may be difficult because ‘the nominal supervisors will not know the best way of doing the job – or even the precise purpose of the specialist job itself – and the worker will know better’ (Hogdson,1999). We, therefore, expect that the organization of the economic activity of specialists should be, at least partially, self-organized. The aim of this thesis is to bridge studies from computer science and in particular from Peer-to-Peer Networks (P2P) to organization theories. We think that the P2P paradigm well fits with organization problems related to all those situation in which a central authority is not possible. We believe that P2P Networks show a number of characteristics similar to firms working in a knowledge-based economy and hence that the methodology used for studying P2P Networks can be applied to organization studies. Three are the main characteristics we think P2P have in common with firms involved in knowledge economy: - Decentralization: in a pure P2P system every peer is an equal participant, there is no central authority governing the actions of the single peers; - Cost of ownership: P2P computing implies shared ownership reducing the cost of owing the systems and the content, and the cost of maintaining them; - Self-Organization: it refers to the process in a system leading to the emergence of global order within the system without the presence of another system dictating this order. These characteristics are present also in the kind of firm that we try to address and that’ why we have shifted the techniques we adopted for studies in computer science (Marcozzi et al., 2005; Hales et al., 2007 [39]) to management science.

A mixed methods inquiry into the political economy of agriculture and rural areas in Lebanon

The present work, then, is concerned with the forgotten elements of the Lebanese economy, agriculture and rural development. It investigates the main problematic which arose from these forgotten components, in particular the structure of the agricultural sector, production technology, income distribution, poverty, food security, territorial development and local livelihood strategies. It will do so using quantitative Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modeling and a qualitative phenomenological case study analysis, both embedded in a critical review of the historical development of the political economy of Lebanon, and a structural analysis of its economy. The research shows that under-development in Lebanese rural areas is not due to lack of resources, but rather is the consequence of political choices. It further suggests that agriculture – in both its mainstream conventional and its innovative locally initiated forms of production – still represents important potential for inducing economic growth and development. In order to do so, Lebanon has to take full advantage of its human and territorial capital, by developing a rural development strategy based on two parallel sets of actions: one directed toward the support of local rural development initiatives, and the other directed toward intensive form of production. In addition to its economic returns, such a strategy would promote social and political stability.

Alla ricerca della sostenibilità: lo sviluppo dell'agricoltura dall'Unità d'Italia alla Green Economy

L’elaborato finale presentato per la tesi di Dottorato analizza e riconduce a unitarietà, per quanto possibile, alcune delle attività di ricerca da me svolte durante questi tre anni, il cui filo conduttore è l'impatto ambientale delle attività umane e la promozione dello sviluppo sostenibile. Il mio filone di ricerca è stato improntato, dal punto di vista di politica economica, sull'analisi storica dello sviluppo del settore agricolo dall'Unità d'Italia ai giorni nostri e dei cambiamenti avvenuti in contemporanea nel contesto socio-economico e territoriale nazionale, facendo particolare riferimento alle tematiche legate ai consumi e alla dipendenza energetica ed all'impatto ambientale. Parte della mia ricerca è stata, infatti, incentrata sull'analisi dello sviluppo della Green Economy, in particolare per quanto riguarda il settore agroalimentare e la produzione di fonti di energia rinnovabile. Enfasi viene posta sia sulle politiche implementate a livello comunitario e nazionale, sia sul cambiamento dei consumi, in particolare per quanto riguarda gli acquisti di prodotti biologici. La Green Economy è vista come fattore di sviluppo e opportunità per uscire dall'attuale contesto di crisi economico-finanziaria. Crisi, che è strutturale e di carattere duraturo, affiancata da una crescente problematica ambientale dovuta all'attuale modello produttivo, fortemente dipendente dai combustibili fossili. Difatti la necessità di cambiare paradigma produttivo promuovendo la sostenibilità è visto anche in ottica di mitigazione del cambiamento climatico e dei suoi impatti socio-economici particolare dal punto di vista dei disastri ambientali. Questo punto è analizzato anche in termini di sicurezza internazionale e di emergenza umanitaria, con riferimento al possibile utilizzo da parte delle organizzazioni di intervento nei contesti di emergenza di tecnologie alimentate da energia rinnovabile. Dando così una risposta Green ad una problematica esacerbata dall'impatto dello sviluppo delle attività umane.

The prehistoric inhabitants of the Wadi Howar : an anthropological study of human skeletal remains from the Sudanese part of the Eastern Sahara

All currently available human skeletal remains from the Wadi Howar (Eastern Sahara, Sudan) were employed in an anthropological study. The study’s first aim was to describe this unique 5th to 2nd millennium BCE material, which comprised representatives of all three prehistoric occupation phases of the region. Detecting diachronic differences in robusticity, occupational stress levels and health within the spatially, temporally and culturally heterogeneous sample was its second objective. The study’s third goal was to reveal metric and non-metric affinities between the different parts of the series and between the Wadi Howar material and other relevant prehistoric as well as modern African populations. rnThe reconstruction and comprehensive osteological analysis of 23 as yet unpublished individuals, the bulk of the Wadi Howar series, constituted the first stage of the study. The analyses focused on each individual’s in situ position, state of preservation, sex, age at death, living height, living weight, physique, biological ancestry, epigenetic traits, robusticity, occupational stress markers, health and metric as well as morphological characteristics. Building on the results of these efforts and the re-examination of the rest of the material, the Wadi Howar series as a whole, altogether 32 individuals, could be described. rnA wide variety of robusticity, occupational stress and health variables was evaluated. The pre-Leiterband (hunter-gatherer-fisher/hunter-gatherer-fisher-herder) and the Leiterband (herder-gatherer) data of over a third of these variables differed statistically significantly or in tendency from each other. The Leiterband sub-sample was characterised by higher enamel hypoplasia frequencies, lower mean ages at death and less pronounced expressions of occupational stress traits. This pattern was interpreted as evidence that the adoption and intensification of animal husbandry did probably not constitute reactions to worsening conditions. Apart from that, the relevant observations, noteworthy tendencies and significant differences were explained as results of a broader spectrum of pre-Leiterband subsistence activities and the negative side effects of the increasingly specialised herder-gatherer economy of the Leiterband phase. rnUsing only the data which could actually be collected from it, multiple, separate, individualised discriminant function analyses were carried out for each Wadi Howar skeleton to determine which prehistoric and which modern comparative sample it was most similar to. The results of all individual analyses were then summarised and examined as a whole. Thus it became possible to draw conclusions about the affinities the Wadi Howar material shared with prehistoric as well as modern populations and to answer questions concerning the diachronic links between the Wadi Howar’s prehistoric populations. When the Wadi Howar remains were positioned in the context of the selected prehistoric (Jebel Sahaba/Tushka, A-Group, Malian Sahara) and modern comparative samples (Southern Sudan, Chad, Mandinka, Somalis, Haya) in this fashion three main findings emerged. Firstly, the series as a whole displayed very strong affinities with the prehistoric sample from the Malian Sahara (Hassi el Abiod, Kobadi, Erg Ine Sakane, etc.) and the modern material from Southern Sudan and, to a lesser extent, Chad. Secondly, the pre-Leiterband and the Leiterband sub-sample were closer to the prehistoric Malian as well as the modern Southern Sudanese material than they were to each other. Thirdly, the group of pre-Leiterband individuals approached the Late Pleistocene sample from Jebel Sahaba/Tushka under certain circumstances. A theory offering explanations for these findings was developed. According to this theory, the entire prehistoric population of the Wadi Howar belonged to a Saharo-Nilotic population complex. The Jebel Sahaba/Tushka population constituted an old Nilotic and the early population of the Malian Sahara a younger Saharan part of this complex. The pre-Leiterband groups probably colonised the Wadi Howar from the east, either during or soon after the original Saharo-Nilotic expansion. Unlike the pre-Leiterband groups, the Leiterband people originated somewhere west of the Wadi Howar. They entered the region in the context of a later, secondary Saharo-Nilotic expansion. In the process, the incoming Leiterband groups absorbed many members of the Wadi Howar’s older pre-Leiterband population. The increasing aridification of the Wadi Howar region ultimately forced its prehistoric inhabitants to abandon the wadi. Most of them migrated south and west. They, or groups closely related to them, probably were the ancestors of the majority of the Nilo-Saharan-speaking pastoralists of modern-day Southern Sudan and Eastern Chad.