Economy and environment: Issues on transport externalities, CO2 responsibility and environmental Kuznets curve

In this thesis some of the most important issues presently debated on international sustainability are analysed. The thesis is composed of five independent studies that tackle organically the following issues: the maritime transport externalities, the environmental Kuznets curve, the responsibilities in the carbon dioxide emissions and the integrated approach that have to be used to translate the principles of sustainability into policy. The analysis will be instrumental to demonstrating that sustainability, being a matter of economy, society and environment, requires to be analysed in a transdisciplinary perspective. Using an integrated approach to analyse the relationships between economy and environment, this thesis highlight that sustainability management requires joint economic instruments, integrated analysis, societal behavioural changes as well as responsibilities shifting.

Sprawl urbano: indici applicati a un caso studio.

Lo sviluppo urbano avvenuto negli ultimi 20 anni soprattutto nelle grandi città, ma anche in quelle più piccole, è stato definito con il termine americano “urban sprawl”. In linea del tutto generale, lo sprawl può essere definito come la tendenza delle aree urbane a svilupparsi in maniera dispersa e disorganizzata nelle campagne circostanti. I principali impatti del fenomeno riguardano il consumo e l’impermeabilizzazione del suolo oltre a forti impatti su tutte le altre matrici ambientali. Per una corretta pianificazione necessita di essere studiato e quantificato nelle sue differenti declinazioni. Nella presente tesi vengono riportati i risultati della analisi diacronica nel Comune di Carpi (Provincia di Modena) attraverso una sequenza temporale di mappe dell’uso/copertura del suolo (1954,1976,1997,2003,2008) appositamente redatte. Vengono, in particolare, analizzati gli aspetti legati allo sviluppo urbano (del comune e delle frazioni di sua competenza) al fine di evidenziare l’occorrenza di sprawl. Ciò è stato fatto attraverso l’analisi degli andamenti dell’area urbana e di quella agricola nel tempo, delle trasformazioni principali avvenute nel territorio (sia in termini qualitativi che quantitativi), dell’evoluzione della rete infrastrutturale e infine mediante il calcolo di indici propri dell’ecologia del paesaggio utilizzati in molti studi sullo sprawl urbano. Dai risultati di questa analisi emerge che il territorio in esame si è fortemente trasformato dal 1954 al 1976; in particolare l’urbanizzazione è avvenuta in un primo tempo a carico del centro principale di Carpi e in seguito (1976-2008) ha interessato maggiormente le frazioni secondarie e l’edificato discontinuo lungo le principali infrastrutture viarie. Questo aspetto è attribuibile al fenomeno dello sprawl in termini di sviluppo periurbano e di invasione delle campagne. Il calcolo degli indici ha evidenziato che l’area urbana totale è fortemente dispersa, sia rispetto al centro principale che considerata come totale, fin dal 1954 (alta entropia relativa di Shannon) e contemporaneamente il territorio agricolo si presenta frammentato (Patch Density e Mean Patch Size) e con un’eterogeneità ambientale abbastanza limitata; questi indici non mostrano però un andamento che indichi un aumento dello sprawl nella sequenza temporale. Ciò che gli indici rilevano è l’urbanizzazione veloce e compatta avvenuta tra il 1954 ed il 1976. Il presente studio rivela quindi l’inadeguatezza degli indici scelti ad evidenziare il fenomeno dello sprawl negli ultimi vent’anni nel territorio d’indagine a causa della bassa sensibilità a trasformazioni molto moderate ed a scale di dettaglio dell’area urbana molto piccole.

Studien zur Immunregulation am Beispiel der Kollagen-Typ-II-induzierten Arthritis

Die Immunisierung von Mäusen bestimmter Stämme (z.B. DBA/1) mit Kollagen-Typ-II (CII) führt zu Gelenkentzündungen, die in ihrem Verlauf der Rheumatoiden Arthritis beim Menschen ähnlich sind. Viele Untersuchungen deuten darauf hin, daß vor allem TH1-Zellen entscheidend an der Entstehung einer CIA beteiligt sind. In diesem Zusammenhang ist IL-12, das an der Induktion der TH1-Zellantwort beteiligt ist, von herausragender Bedeutung. Zur Klärung der Funktion von IL-12 wurde ein IL-12-Antagonist, (IL-12(p40)2), der aus einem Homodimer der IL-12p40-Kette besteht, in vivo eingesetzt. DBA/1-Mäuse, die transgen für die T-Zellrezeptor ß-Kette eines CII-spezifischen, arthritogenen T-Zellklons sind und infolge dessen eine CIA mit 100%-iger Inzidenz, frühem Auftreten und einem schweren chronischen Verlauf entwickeln, wurden mit IL-12(p40)2 behandelt. Die Behandlung von TCR-ßtg-Mäusen mit IL-12(p40)2 verzögerte die Entwicklung einer CIA und führte zu deutlich abgeschwächten Krankheitssymptomen, konnte aber nicht die Induktion einer CIA verhindern. Darüber hinaus produzierten die Milzzellen der IL-12(p40)2-behandelten Gruppe nach einer Stimulation mit CII geringere Menge an IFN-g, verglichen mit Kontrollgruppe. Somit resultiert aus einer in vivo Neutralisation von IL-12 eine supprimierte Entwicklung von CII-spezifischen TH1-Zellen. Diese Ergebnisse lassen darauf schließen, daß endogen gebildetes IL-12 bei der Induktion einer CIA eine wichtige Rolle spielt, indem es die Differenzierung von TH1-Zellen fördert und die Produktion von IFN-g steigert. Hinsichtlich der Funktion von IFN-g bei der CIA gibt es allerdings widersprüchliche Befunde. Zur Klärung der Funktion von IFN-g wurden die TCR-ßtg-Mäuse mit Mäusen gekreuzt, die defizient für die Produktion von IFN-g (IFN-g KO) sind. Es zeigte sich, daß keine der verwendeten F2 (IFN-g KO, TCR-ßtg)-Mäuse nach Immunisierung Symptome einer CIA entwickelten. Somit scheint IFN-g essentiell für die Entstehung einer CIA zu sein. Unerwarteterweise führte aber auch die Behandlung mit IL-12 von F2 (IFN-g KO,TCR-ßtg)-Mäusen in 50% der Tiere zur Entwicklung einer CIA. Da solche Mäuse kein IFN-g bilden können, kann IL-12 auch unabhängig von IFN-g die Induktion einer CIA vermitteln. IL-12 scheint somit eine zweifache Bedeutung bei der Entstehung einer CIA zuzukommen, zum einen als direkter Induktor, wie am Beispiel der F2 (IFN-g KO, TCR-ßtg)-Mäuse nachgewiesen wurde, und zum anderen als starker Promoter der IFN-g-Bildung in normalen Mäusen.

Vegetables biofortified with iodine: chemical, agronomic and qualitative aspects of raw and fried potatoes

Iodine is an essential microelement for human health because it is a constituent of the thyroid hormones that regulate growth and development of the organism. Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDDs) are believed to be one of the commonest preventable human health problems in the world today, according to the World Health Organization: that diseases include endemic goiter, cretinism and fetal abnormalities, among others, and they are caused by lack of iodine in the diet, that is the main source of iodine. Since iodine intake from food is not enough respect to human needs, this can be remedied through dietary diversification, mineral supplementation, food fortification, or increasing the concentration and/or bioavailability of mineral elements in the edible portions of crops through agricultural intervention or genetic selection (biofortification). The introduction of iodized salt is a strategy widely used and accepted to eradicate iodine deficiency, because it is an inexpensive source of stable iodine. Since the intake of salt, though iodized, must still be limited according to the risk of cardiovascular disease, so the increase of iodine content in plants for the production of functional foods is representing a field of study of particular interest and a potential market. In Italy potatoes enriched with iodine are produced by a patented procedure of agronomic biofortification for the fresh market since several years, furthermore they are recently accepted and recommended by Italian Thyroid Association, as an alternative source of iodine. Researches performed during the PhD course intended to characterize this innovative vegetables products, focusing the attention on different aspects, such as chemistry, agriculture, and quality of fresh and fried potatoes. For this purpose, lipid fraction of raw material was firstly investigated, in order to assess whether the presence of iodine in plant metabolism can affect fatty acid or sterol biosynthesis, according to the hypothesis that iodine can be bounded to polyunsaturated fatty acids of cell membranes, protecting them from peroxydation; phytosterols of plant sterol are also studied because their importance in reducing serum cholesterol, especially in potato plant sterols are also involved in synthesis of glycoalkaloid, a family of steroidal toxic secondary metabolites present in plants of the Solanaceae family. To achieve this goal chromatographic analytical techniques were employed to identify and quantify fatty acids and sterols profile of common and iodine enriched row potatoes. Another aim of the project was to evaluate the effects of frying on the quality of iodine-enriched and common potatoes. Since iodine-enriched potatoes are nowadays produced only for the fresh market, preliminary trials of cultivation under controlled environment were carried out to verify if potato varieties suitable for processing were able to absorb and accumulate iodine in the tuber. In a successive phase, these varieties were grown in the field, to evaluate their potential productivity and quality at harvest and after storage. The best potato variety to be destined for processing purposes, was finally subjected to repeated frying cycles; the effects of lipid oxidation on the composition and quality of both potatoes and frying oil bath were evaluated by chromatographic and spectrophotometric analytical techniques. Special attention were paid on volatile compounds of fried potatoes.

Study of innovative methods of control in the cereal productive chain for the production of beer and spirits

Researches performed during the PhD course intended to assess innovative applications of near-infrared spectroscopy in reflectance (NIR) in the production chain of beer. The purpose is to measure by NIR the "malting quality" (MQ) parameter of barley, to monitor the malting process and to know if a certain type of barley is suitable for the production of beer and spirits. Moreover, NIR will be applied to monitor the brewing process. First of all, it was possible to check the quality of the raw materials like barley, maize and barley malt using a rapid, non-destructive and reliable method, with a low error of prediction. The more interesting result obtained at this level was that the repeatability of the NIR calibration models developed was comparable with the one of the reference method. Moreover, about malt, new kinds of validation were used in order to estimate the real predictive power of the proposed calibration models and to understand the long-term effects. Furthermore, the precision of all the calibration models developed for malt evaluation was estimated and statistically compared with the reference methods, with good results. Then, new calibration models were developed for monitoring the malting process, measuring the moisture content and other malt quality parameters during germination. Moreover it was possible to obtain by NIR an estimate of the "malting quality" (MQ) of barley and to predict whether if its germination will be rapid and uniform and if a certain type of barley is suitable for the production of beer and spirits. Finally, the NIR technique was applied to monitor the brewing process, using correlations between NIR spectra of beer and analytical parameters, and to assess beer quality. These innovative results are potentially very useful for the actors involved in the beer production chain, especially the calibration models suitable for the control of the malting process and for the assessment of the “malting quality” of barley, which need to be deepened in future studies.

Les québécismes dans les romans d'Anne Hébert et de Gaétan Soucy et leurs traductions italiennes: analyse intralinguistique et contrastive

La tesi si sofferma sulla traduzione dal francese quebecchese verso l'italiano di due opere letterarie del Québec rappresentative della lingua francese quebecchese: "Les Fous de Bassan" di Anne Hébert e "La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes" di Gaétan Soucy. Attraverso un'analisi dei quebecismi e della loro traduzione in italiano, abbiamo potuto verificare se i traduttori avessero tenuto conto o meno delle specificità del francese del Québec. Grazie alle ricerche condotte, abbiamo potuto dimostrare che è possibile giungere a una traduzione dei quebecismi soddisfacente grazie alla corretta consultazione delle risorse lessicografiche specifiche sul francese del Québec attualmente disponibili.

Les québécismes, ces méconnus : réflexion méthodologique sur la traduction en italien du lexique québécois dans Agaguk et N'tsuk d'Yves Thériault.

La tesi si sofferma sulla traduzione in italiano delle specificità lessicali del francese del Québec rilevate in due opere rappresentative della lingua francese quebecchese : Agaguk e N’tsuk di Yves Thériault. L’analisi monolingue e contrastiva dei quebecismi e della loro traduzione italiana ci ha permesso di verificare se i traducenti utilizzati rendessero conto o meno della specificità del francese quebecchese. La nostra ricerca ha quindi contribuito a dimostrare che una traduzione soddisfacente dei quebecismi è possibile, ma solo attraverso la consultazione corretta degli strumenti lessicografici specifici sul francese del Québec di cui oggi il traduttore può disporre.