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Sin dalla sua “scoperta”, che potremmo definire recente, l’autismo è stato investigato in differenti aree. Buona parte della ricerca si è concentrata sui segni e sintomi che ne permettono la diagnosi. Gli apporti del mondo scientifico alla lettura dell’autismo sono stati differenti, ad oggi vi sono diverse piste genetiche, neuroscientifiche e psicologiche che, alla luce della complessità, tendono a dare una descrizione dell’autismo o di alcuni suoi aspetti. Ad oggi non vi è una teoria omnicomprensiva di lettura dell’autismo, tuttavia si sta provando ad andare in questa direzione ed il NMIH di Insel ne è un esempio. Sebbene la ricerca abbia prodotto molto nei settori citati, ci confrontiamo con molti meno dati quando indaghiamo l’età adulta. Vi sono due aspetti particolarmente interessanti dell’autismo in età adulta, il primo riguarda la diagnosi in quanto sono tanti i soggetti, soprattutto donne ad alto funzionamento o asperger, che arrivano ad avere una diagnosi nella giovinezza o età adulta. Un altro aspetto interessante, invece, riguarda le aree dell’istruzione, dell’impiego lavorativo, dell’indipendenza ed autonomia nei soggetti adulti autistici. Pertanto, sebbene la gravità dei sintomi dell'autismo e le difficoltà comportamentali tendano a diminuire in media nel tempo, l’età adulta rimane appannaggio del singolo soggetto e della famiglia, senza la presenza di supporti adeguati. Infatti, in termini di prospettive educative e occupazionali post-scolastiche, gli individui con autismo tendono a cavarsela ancora meno bene degli individui con altri disturbi, come disabilità intellettiva, difficoltà specifiche di apprendimento, disturbi della parola e del linguaggio. Inoltre, conseguenza del poco investimento della comunità all’interno di questo ambito, vi sono delle preoccupazioni sullo screening accurato e sulla diagnosi degli adulti. La mancanza di strumenti diagnostici specificamente convalidati per l'uso con gli adulti rimane una seria sfida metodologica sia per i ricercatori che per gli specialisti. Lo scopo della nostra scoping review, è evidenziare quanto emerge in termini di outcomes nella popolazione di autistici adulti, e quanti di questi studi coinvolgono la popolazione femminile. I nostri risultati hanno rivelato quanto aspetti legati alla famiglia, all’ambiente ed alle politiche sociali, influiscano sugli outcomes di benessere dei soggetti autistici adulti.

Calabria (Italy) is a particularly interesting region of the Mediterranean basin from the perspective of forest management due to the extension of reforestation activities aimed at soil conservation. According to international agreements, these reforestation activities fulfill other functions as well, including carbon storage. Thus, Calabria was selected as a representative area for a study on the different typologies of forest plantations to verify the effects of these functions. Results showed a significant increment in carbon stock compared to the previous land use (i.e. arable land and pastures) and how the average carbon stock per hectare varies in relation to the species considered at the above- and below-ground levels. Carbon stock was higher in conifers (Calabrian pine, Douglas fir) and lower in broad-leaved trees (Turkey oak, European chestnut). The study analyses demonstrate how, based on different intensities of thinning, the carbon eliminated by trees is reconstituted over time in quantities larger than those eliminated by cutting. This latter aspect is relevant, as forest management allows the partial removal of biomass produced without negatively affecting carbon stock. Consequently, reforestation and sustainable forms of forest management are powerful strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change.

Cohesion policy, focused on the relevance of the place-based approaches, suggests defining territorialised interventions, that is to say calibrated on the actual needs of geographical contexts as well as on specificities and local resources. The result is a rediscovered centrality of the concept of territorial capital which is deepened in this contribution, as per the methodological indications provided by the PRIN. In the first instance a brief review is proposed on the concept itself, aimed at highlighting the different theoretical interpretations present in the literature and in the policy documents, on an international / national and local scale. Subsequently some possible territorial capital measurement criteria are considered in the perspective of being able to use them in an empirical research phase that imposes the concrete choice of measurable indicators. Finally, some examples of regional ex ante analysis presented on the basis of selected indicators (as pertinent to the topic and measurable) and applied to the national scale are presented.

Taking the cue from the augmented reality installation Gardens of the Anthropocene by eco-artist Tamiko Thiel, the Parco Arte Vivente in Turin, and the Japanese gardens described by Italo Calvino in his Collection of Sand, this essay reflects on the entanglements between art, media, and the becoming- geological of the human. In this framework, and thought with the Anthropocene, the garden is a lens to analyze the impact of old and new forms of aestheticization of nature on the geology of our planet, focusing on the landscapes of power and depletion, but also on the territories of resistance and creativity emerging from it.

In this paper we discuss the concept of «land take» and its interpretations, focusing on the Italian experience. In particular, by using several sources of information (that directly or indirectly deal with land use/land cover), we analyse the specific structure that this phenomenon has taken at national level, in order to highlight the characteristics, the patterns and the evolutionary trends.

We propose several guidelines for sustainable forest management of the main regional forest types based on literature review on silviculture and forest management and taking into account the results from surveys carried out in four test sites located in Calabria (Southern Italy) within the framework of ALForLAB project. The four test sites cover 16% of regional forested area, which included ten of the main silvicultural types. Results highlighted a high variability in stand structure of high forests, while coppice woods were characterised by low structural variablity. The different silvicultural treatments proposed for high forests focused on the maintenance of stand structure complexity where it is already high, and to enhance it where the past management options simplified stand structure. The proposed silvicultural treatments for conifer plantations aimed at progressive renaturalisation. In the regional context coppice management, especially simple coppice with standards, still maintains an important role for fuelwood and charcoal production, poles and posts (chestnut coppice) production, and more recently for forest biomass for energy use. Coppice management, with exception for beech stands and stands within protected areas, can still be maintained with the adoption of suitable tending and thinnings interventions and rotation periods. The management guidelines here proposed for both high forests and coppices represent an important tool for sustainable forest management in Calabria. In addition, they can be an useful and complementary tool for spatial decision support system aimed to Precision Forestry issues.

Based on LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data, estimates of volume and biomass potentially available from coppice and high forest stands under different silvicultural options were estimated in a case study located in the Pollino National Park (Calabria - Southern Italy) within the framework of the ALForLAB project. Estimates of volume and biomass potentially available were elaborated separately for the main silvicultural types: beech, Calabrian pine and Mediterranean pines high forest stands on one hand, and for traditional coppices, outgrown coppice and coppice in conversion to high forest on the other. The estimates were performed taking into duly account both of the forest regional law and the restrictions due to the protected area (Natural Park). The overall standing volume ranged from 4.8 up to 7.7 M m3, while the volume potentially available ranged from 3.7 up to 6 M m3. Estimates of mass potentially available under the the adoption of different silvicultural system and options, in a sustainable forest management context, and according to the main stand structure types were analysed and discussed.

Prendendo spunto da un passo del Sistema periodico in cui Levi definisce Dio un “maestro di polimerizzazioni” che non ama le sostanze “troppo incorruttibili”, questo saggio discute il tema della responsabilità ambientale e della trascendenza in relazione all’ecologia. In particolare, ci si sofferma sul pensiero di H. Jonas e sul legame che connette l’idea di responsabilità ambientale in Das Prinzip Verantwortung (1979) al pensiero dell’impotenza di Dio in Der Gottesbegriff nach Auschwitz (1987). Il saggio si conclude considerando le implicazioni di questi concetti per le environmental humanities, in connessione con i discorsi sulla giustizia ambientale (la slow violence di R. Nixon) e le nuove ontologie degli iper-oggetti (la object-oriented-ontology di Morton). Idea fondamentale è che la letteratura, specie quando ci parla della materialità e del nostro rapporto con il non umano, è una voce importante nell’orizzonte immanente/trascendente del nostro essere ambientale.

Attraverso l’osservazione di una prestazione sportiva si riescono a mettere in evidenza aspetti estremamente signifi- cativi delle dinamiche di gioco e del comportamento degli atleti sia negli sport individuali che di squadra. L’analisi della gara attraverso uno specifico sistema di monitoraggio e di tracciamento dello spostamento degli atleti, nella disciplina calcio, ci fa ottenere dati attendibili sia sulla prestazione del singolo che del collettivo. Le moderne tec- nologie di video analisi attraverso l’utilizzo dei software consentono di elaborare specifiche valutazioni tecniche, tattiche e condizionali ed offrono indicazioni strategiche vantaggiose per i tecnici.

La valorizzazione e della tutela del calcio giovanile è uno dei pilastri per l’esistenza e lo sviluppo del sistema calcio in Italia. La F.I.G.C. nella stagione 2015/2016 ha messo in atto il progetto dei Centri Tecnici Federali (C.F.T), dei poli di eccellenza e riferimento sul territorio che hanno come mission la ricerca, valorizzazione e tutela del talento, da perseguire attraverso un monitoraggio costante dell’attività sul territorio e l’utilizzo di metodologie di allenamen- to univoche e coordinate su tutto il territorio nazionale.

La valutazione funzionale in uno sport integrato rappresenta uno degli aspetti più significativi da considerare in rela- zione alla partecipazione degli atleti alle attività sportive. Essa consente di definire attraverso riferimenti sia medici che specificamente motori le capacità che possiede un atleta in relazione ad una singola disciplina. La valutazione funzionale rappresenta il primo step operativo che l’atleta diversamente abile compie nell’avvicinarsi alla pratica sportiva. Comprendere le caratteristiche che determinano la valutazione dell’atleta significa avere la possibilità di rendere l’attività motoria scelta più adatta alle caratteristiche fisiche ed alle potenzialità motorie proprie dell’atleta e permette una maggiore inclusione nelle attività sportive. Nuovi modelli di valutazione funzionale vengono descritti in relazione al loro utilizzo in uno sport integrato.

This review presents a multidisciplinary framework for integrating the ecological, regulatory, procedural and technical aspects of forest management for fires prevention under Mediterranean environments. The aims are to: i) provide a foreground of wildfire scenario; ii) illustrate the theoretical background of forest fuel management; iii) describe the available fuel management techniques and mechanical operations for fire prevention in forest and wildland-urban interfaces, with exemplification of case-studies; iv) allocate fire prevention activities under the hierarchy of forest planning. The review is conceived as an outline commentary discussion targeted to professionals, technicians and government personnel involved in forestry and environmental management.

This paper deals with Latin discontinuous nominal expressions (hyperbatons) both by a diachronic perspective internal to Latin (I-VI cent. A.D.) and compared to Romance languages. A nominal expression can be considered discontinuous when its word order is interrupted by one or more elements. In these cases a violation of the principle of the ‘domain integrity’ takes place. Discontinuity is typical of Latin and sets it apart from Romance languages, in which hyperbatons are not allowed. It is well attested in all phases of Latin so that it is considered one of the most distinctive feature of Latin word order. In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that not all linearly discontinuous orders are real hyperbatons. In fact, cases in which the order Modif.-N or N-Modif. is interrupted by the complement of one of the two categories are frequent; in this perspective the domain of hyperbatons results consistently restricted. As regards real hyperbatons, we will propose the following three syntactic configurations: Type 1 due to the extraction of an element within the phrase; Type 2 due to the insertion of a weak element in second position; Type 3 due to the insertion of a verb. A final observation will concern the fact that we find in Latin kinds of hyperbatons that can be considered a clear sign of those that will develop later in Romance because they involve clitics which are absent in Latin.

What is a narrative agent and what are the political effects of a material narrative? This essay addresses such issues by considering the case of Italy’s first big ecological disaster, occurred in Seveso in 1976. A cloud of dioxin burst out from an industrial site, poisoning people and territory, killing livestock and domestic animals, causing miscarriages and fetal malformations, and producing strong political and ideological polemics over women, their bodies, and their right to self-determination. Laura Conti, scientist, writer, and environmental activist, witnessed and narrated the catastrophe in both its ecological and political dimensions. Analyzing her works, and focusing on dioxin as a "posthuman narrative agent," namely, as a revealing agent that interlaces both materiality and its discursive reverberations, I reflect on how feminist ecocriticism may act as an epistemological tool for an ethics and politics of liberation. This study situates itself in the broader horizon of a feminist theory of material ecocriticism, one that investigates the representations of the body, of inter- and trans-corporeality, multiple causality, complexity and agentic entanglements of matter and discourse.

Chestnut (Castanea sativa MILL.) is one of the most important forest tree species in Europe, and it is considered a symbol of the natural vegetation in southern Europe. In Calabria (southern Italy) chestnut forest covers an area of approximately 87000 hectares, most of which (about 80%) managed as coppice. In this study a growth and yield table has been elaborated. Thurthermore, assortment type and quantity of deadwood have been evaluated according to age of coppice and forest fire prevention, respectively. The study site is located in the “Presila of Catanzaro” and the research was carried out in 15 plots; the age of the examined stands ranged from 2 to 50 years old. More than 30000 shoots per hectare were recorded in the first two years after coppicing. As opposed, about 2300 and 1000 shoots per hectare were observed 15 and 50 years after coppicing, respectively. The culmination of the mean annual increment of the forest standing volume (16 m3 ha-1 year-1) was highlighted 25 years after coppicing, while the current annual increment culmination (21 m3 ha-1 year-1) was observed at 15 years. Fifteen years after coppicing, most of the wood production was constituted by small dimension assortments. Twenty five years after coppicing small and large poles were the prevailing assortments while telegraph poles and timber beams increased after 50 years. The amount of deadwood in forest ranged between 11.9 and 68.7 m3 ha-1. The largest component was represented by standing dead shoots. The results show that coppice management can be adopted even if the main purpose of the chestnut stand is the production of large size assortments. In chestnut coppice, highly vulnerable to fire, the reduction of stand density with silvicultural practices (thinning and displacement) is the main way to promote the efficiency of forest and a higher strength and resiliency against forest fire.

The proliferation of studies bearing on the intellectual movement known as the "new materialisms" evinces that a material turn is becoming an important paradigm in environmental humanities. Ranging from social and science studies, feminism, to anthropology, geography, environmental philosophies and animal studies, this approach is bringing innovative ways of considering matter and material relations that, coupled with reflections on agency, text, and narrativity, are going to impact ecocriticism in an unprecedented way.In consideration of the relevance of this debate, we would like to draw for Ecozon@'s readers an introductory map of the new paradigm and introduce what can be called "material ecocriticism." We will illustrate what we consider to be its main features, situating them in the conceptual horizons of the new materialisms. From this genealogical sketch, we will examine the re-definitions of concepts like matter, agency, discursivity, and intentionality, with regard to their effects on ecocriticism and in terms of their ethical perspectives.

Based on a comprehensive literature analysis, a review on factors that control water cycle and water use in Mediterranean forest ecosystems is presented, including environmental variables and silvicultural treatments. This important issue is considered in the perspective of sustainable forest management of Mediterranean forests, with special regard to crucial environmental hazards such as forest fires and desertification risks related to climate change.

On december 3rd, 2015 the 80th birthday of prof. Orazio Ciancio has been celebrated at the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences in Florence (Italy) by a meeting organized by the proponents of the “Manifesto of the systemic silviculture”. In this special occasion, prof. Ciancio has given his lectio magistralis focused on the systemic silviculture, the culture of complexity, the reference scientific paradigma, the relationships between science and humanism and those among culture, aethics and arts.

Ci sono concetti e storie che, letti insieme, riescono ad illuminare la realtà in modi inattesi. È quanto è capitato a me nelle prime fasi della pandemia di COVID-19, quando le mie letture di Levi si sono intrecciate con la biosemiotica, un paradigma teorico che aiuta a capire come funziona lo scambio di segni sotteso alle dinamiche biologiche. Scritto durante quei mesi difficili, questo saggio è il risultato di quell’esperienza. Prendendo la biosemiotica come chiave interpretativa, nelle pagine che seguono userò due diversi scritti di Primo Levi – “L’amico dell’uomo” dalle Storie naturali e I sommersi e i salvati – per esplorare quanto profondamente la comunicazione sia parte del tessuto stesso della nostra vita, dalle cellule agli organismi della società. Vedremo come la libera espressione di questo impulso semiotico – un desiderio di vivere attraverso la circolazione di segni – sia rintracciabile in tutti gli strati della materia vivente. E vedremo come esso non sia solo la condizione per la sopravvivenza, ma tout court la forza indispensabile che rende possibile l’evoluzione naturale e i cambiamenti culturali. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L’ecologia non è solo una scienza, ma il pensiero dell’interconnessione dei fenomeni sullo sfondo di un ambiente. Tali fenomeni possono essere organismi viventi ma anche idee, culture, forme dell’immaginario. Gregory Bateson definisce questo modello bio-culturale “ecologia della mente”. Alla radice dell’ecologia della mente vi è la nozione che le idee sono interdipendenti, e soprattutto che vi è un circuito di reciprocità tra natura e cultura. L’ecologia letteraria è una forma di ecologia della mente. Essa nasce da una considerazione di Joseph Meeker, curiosa figura di etologo e comparatista. Se lungo il percorso evolutivo il genere umano si è manifestato come l’unica “specie letteraria”, allora è probabile che la letteratura possa avere un ruolo nella nostra sopravvivenza. Meeker sostiene tuttavia che ci sono generi letterari evolutivamente più “vincenti” di altri. La commedia per esempio è una strategia più vantaggiosa rispetto alla tragedia, questo perché, a differenza della tragedia, basata sul conflitto, la commedia si fonda su un modello che prevede orizzontalità, adattamento, co-evolutività. A questo Meeker giunge sviluppando un’etica del gioco basata sulla collaborazione intra- e interspecifica, che combina insieme Darwin, ecologia umana e teorie estetiche schilleriane. In termini etico-ecologici, ciò significa sostituire modelli educativi basati sul dualismo e sulla competizione con modelli educativi basati sull’orizzontalità tra le forme di vita, sulla collaborazione, sull’interdipendenza, in termini ambientali come sociali. Il saggio interpreta secondo questo paradigma Le Cosmicomiche di Italo Calvino, grande gioco narrativo ed esempio perfetto di interazione ludica tra forme di vita. Con il suo “antropomorfismo non antropocentrico”, l’opera è infatti una commedia dell’universo, un darwinismo cosmologico, un racconto evolutivo della vita del mondo. L’ecologia non è solo una scienza, ma il pensiero dell’interconnessione dei fenomeni sullo sfondo di un ambiente. Tali fenomeni possono essere organismi viventi ma anche idee, culture, forme dell’immaginario. Gregory Bateson definisce questo modello bio-culturale “ecologia della mente”. Alla radice dell’ecologia della mente vi è la nozione che le idee sono interdipendenti, e soprattutto che vi è un circuito di reciprocità tra natura e cultura. Ecology is not only a science, but the thought of interconnection of occurrences before the background of environment. Those occurrences or phenomenons can be living organisms as well as ideas, cultures, forms of imagination. Gregory Bateson defines this bio-cultural model as “ecology of the mind”. At the root of the ecology of the mind there is the notion that ideas are interdependent and especially that there is a circuit of reciprocity between nature and culture. Ecologic literature is a form of ecology of the mind. It originates from a consideration by Joseph Meeker, a curious figure in between of an ethologist and a comparatist. If in evolution the human race is the “literary species”, it is also likely that literature will play a role in our survival. Meeker claims however, that there are literary genres that are, speaking in evolutionary terms, more winning than others. Comedy for example is a more successful strategy compared to tragedy, as it is based on a horizontal level that implies adaptation and co-evolution, rather than conflict (which is at the base of tragedy). Meeker comes to the idea through developing an ethic of “playing” based on intra- and interspecific cooperation which combines Darwin, human ecology and aesthetic theories by Schiller. In ethic-ecological terms this implies replacement of educational models based on dualism and competition by models based on horizontality of forms of life, on cooperation, on interdependence – in environmental as well as social terms. The script analyses Italo Calvinos Le Cosmicomiche, a great narrative game and perfect example of playful interaction of forms of life, by using the second paradigm. With its “non anthropocentric anthropomorphism” this work is in fact a comedy of the universe, a cosmologic Darwinism, an evolutional story of the life of the world.