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In Tuscany, the art of paving has never been codified in written form, being already encapsulated in knowledge based on practical experience, with specialized tradesmen and stonemasons relying on direct observation and passing on their knowledge to apprentices through repetition of gestures. The streets of Volterra, a historic town in Tuscany, are still paved with the local stone, the panchina volterrana (Volterran panchina stone). Photogrammetry techniques allow high-resolution reconstruction of 3-D pavement models and geometric representation of the macrotexture component resulting from the chiselling of the stone, as well as gaining high-resolution, high-precision geometry information along with colour information. In this way, it is possible to fully characterize the stone and generate a catalogue, which can become an operational tool for those involved in monitoring and maintaining pavements. This paper presents the methodology of photogrammetric surveying and the possibility of obtaining indices of the macrotexture of the processed surface of the stone, in terms of Virtual Mean Texture Depth (V-MTD), in analogy with the analysis of asphalt surfaces. The classification is also proposed by integrating the geometric macrotexture data with the data derived from a segmentation of the different textures obtainable for the model (diffuse, ambient occlusion). This geometric information could be then enriched by the stonemason's indications, constituting, therefore, a tool for passing on one's knowledge and experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To control the spread of COVID-19, exceptional restrictive measures were taken in March 2020 that imposed a radical change on the lifestyle of millions of citizens around the world, albeit for a short period. The national lockdown, which lasted from 10 March to 18 May 2020 in Italy, was a unique opportunity to observe the variation in air quality in urban environments under conditions comprising almost total traffic restriction and a strong reduction in work activities. In this paper, the data from 17 urban monitoring sites in Tuscany are presented, and the PM and NO2 concentrations in the 2 months before the start of the lockdown and the 2 months after lockdown are compared with the corresponding months of the previous 3 years. The results show that the total loads of PM 2.5 and PM 10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 and 10 µm , respectively) decreased, but they did not exhibit significant changes compared to previous years, whereas NO2 underwent a drastic reduction. For three of these sites, the chemical composition of the collected samples was measured using thermal–optical techniques, ion chromatography, and particle-induced X-ray emission analysis, and the application of multivariate positive matrix factorization analysis also allowed for PM 10 source identification and apportionment. Using these analyses, it was possible to explain the low sensitivity of PM 10 to the lockdown effects as being due to different, sometimes inverse, behaviors of the different sources that contribute to PM. The results clearly indicate a decline in pollution levels related to urban traffic and an increase in the concentration of sulfate for all sites during the lockdown period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with 3D morphological studies of architecture surveyed with TLS to allow the modelling of a Renaissance villa in a BIM environment; the aim is to create Renaissance objects to be shaped into a parametric software and made recognizable in a BIM environment balancing level of accuracy and shortness of workflow. The approach of this study lies in the comparison of different workflows, using different BIM software and apps, useful to extract transverse ridge or primitive ribs from the point cloud of walls as vaulted ceilings, shape accurate objects, considering their level of detail and their morphological and typological aspect. The first steps of Data Processing from 3D Survey started with an accurate cleaning and transformation in appropriate but different format to be analysed into different environment and treated for a modelling phase. The different results of the different workflow have been compared to measure grade of simplification, when existent, of the single objects compared. The case study deepens the entrance of a Renaissance Villa in Tuscany, Villa di Poggio a Caiano, in its main elevation considering the vaults of porches and entrances as barrel vaults or lunette-like with double-curved nails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the days 20-21 November 2000, a storm of exceptional intensity triggered over 50 landslides within the province of Pistoia in Tuscany (Italy). These failures are mostly of complex type, originating as rotational or translational landslides, and transforming into flows. Two of these landslides were investigated in this paper by modelling the ground water infiltration process, the pore water pressure variations, both positive and negative, and the effects of these variations on slope stability during the rainfall event. Morphometric and geotechnical analyses were carried out for both sites through a series of in-situ and laboratory tests, the results of which were used as input for the modelling process. In a first step the surface infiltration rate was simulated using a modified Chu (1978) approach for the Green and Ampt (1911) equations in case of unsteady rainfall together with a surficial water balance. A finite element seepage analysis for transient conditions was then employed to model the changes in pore water pressure during the event, using the computed infiltration rate as the ground surface boundary condition. Finally, once again using the data from the previous step as input, the limit equilibrium Morgenstern-Price (1965) slope stability method was applied to calculate the variations in the factor of safety during the event and thereby determine the most critical time of instability. In both sites this method produced a curve for the factor of safety that indicated that the most critical time for failure occurred a few hours after the peak of rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new mineral batoniite, [Al 8 (OH) 14 (H 2 O) 18 ](SO 4)5 ⋅ 5H 2 O, was discovered in the Cetine di Cotorniano Mine, Chiusdino, Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It occurs as hemispherical aggregates composed of brittle tabular crystals, up to 1 mm in size, white to colorless in color, with a white streak and a vitreous to greasy luster. Batoniite is biaxial negative, with α= 1.4833(6), β= 1.4948(6), γ= 1.5019(5) (589 nm), and 2 V(meas.)= 71(1) ∘. Electron microprobe analysis, affected by the dehydration of batoniite under the chamber vacuum, gave (in wt %) the following: Al 2 O 3 33.48, Fe 2 O 3 0.05, SO 3 33.00, and H 2 O calc 44.41, total 110.94. It corresponds to the chemical formula (Al 7.98 Fe 0.013+)Σ7.99 (SO 4)5.01 (OH) 13.95 (H 2 O) 18 ⋅ 5H 2 O. Batoniite is triclinic, belonging to space group P1‾ , with a= 9.1757(6), b= 12.0886(9), c= 20.9218(15) Å, α= 82.901(3), β= 87.334(3), γ= 86.999(2) ∘ , V= 2297.8(3) Å 3 , and Z= 2. The crystal structure was refined to R1= 0.0916 for 8118 unique reflections with Fo>4σ(Fo) and 811 refined parameters and 60 restraints. Batoniite is characterized by isolated [Al 8 (OH) 14 (H 2 O) 18 ] 10+ polyoxocations, H-bonded to five interstitial (SO 4) 2- and five H 2 O groups. In type material, it is associated with gypsum and a poorly crystallized Al–Fe sulfate. The crystallization of batoniite is probably due to the action of H 2 SO 4 on Al-bearing rocks of Paleozoic age cropping out in the Garibaldi Tunnel, the lowest mining level of the Cetine di Cotorniano Mine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new tourmaline supergroup mineral dutrowite, Na(Fe 2.52+ Ti 0.5)Al 6 (Si 6 O 18)(BO 3) 3 (OH) 3 O, has been discovered in an outcrop of a Permian metarhyolite near the hamlet of Fornovolasco, Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy. It occurs as chemically homogeneous domains, up to 0.5 mm, brown in colour, with a light-brown streak and a vitreous lustre, within anhedral to subhedral prismatic crystals, up to 1 mm in size, closely associated with Fe-rich oxy-dravite. Dutrowite is trigonal, space group R 3 m , with a=15.9864(8) , c=7.2187(4) Å, V=1597.68(18) Å 3 , and Z=3. The crystal structure was refined to R1=0.0257 for 1095 unique reflections with Fo>4σ (Fo) and 94 refined parameters. Electron microprobe analysis, coupled with Mössbauer spectroscopy, resulted in the empirical structural formula X (Na 0.81 Ca 0.20 K 0.01) Σ1.02 Y (Fe 1.252+ Mg 0.76 Ti 0.56 Al 0.42) Σ3.00 Z (Al 4.71 Fe 0.273+ V 0.023+ Mg 0.82 Fe 0.182+) Σ6.00 T [(Si 5.82 Al 0.18) Σ6.00 O 18 ] (BO 3)3O(3) (OH) 3O(1) [O 0.59 (OH) 0.41 ] Σ1.00 , which was recast in the empirical ordered formula, required for classification purposes: X (Na 0.81 Ca 0.20 K 0.01) Σ1.02 Y (Fe 1.432+ Mg 1.00 Ti 0.56) Σ3.00 Z (Al 5.13 Fe 0.273+ V 0.023+ Mg 0.58) Σ6.00 T [(Si 5.82 Al 0.18) Σ6.00 O 18 ] (BO 3) 3V (OH) 3 W [O 0.59 (OH) 0.41 ] Σ1.00. Dutrowite is an oxy-species belonging to the alkali group of the tourmaline supergroup. Titanium is hosted in octahedral coordination, and its incorporation is probably due to the substitution 2Al 3+ = Ti 4+ + (Fe,Mg) 2+. Its occurrence seems to be related to late-stage high-T/low-P replacement of "biotite" during the late-magmatic/hydrothermal evolution of the Permian metarhyolite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "history" of places exists as a stratification process of events that have occurred over time in a specific place, leaving more or less appreciable physical traces. The "memory" of the places, instead, is the result of a conscious choice of events to be handed down to future generations constructing the identity of a community and a recognisable image of places. It is in this sense that the project conducted in Quota, a mountain village in central Tuscany, Italy should be interpreted and set. The urban redevelopment process led to the design and reconstruction of a small agricultural artefact, particularly important to the local community given its location near a public fountain. Initially identified as the subject of an exercise to be conducted as part of the Thematic Seminar "Survey, redevelopment and redesign of architecture and environment", the redesign offered an opportunity to "re-invent" a neglected corner of the village taking as reference the traces of the ancient village fountains to create the plot of a new "story" involving the small local community. The reconstruction was carried out using traditional techniques with stone ashlars and cement mortar. To complete it, a corten steel staircase designed with reverse engineering methods and modelled using experimental 3D photo-modelling was created. The "Quota chestnut dryer" proved to be a virtuous process involving various subjects to enable the recovery of a degraded area, a possible model for the preservation of villages in the Apennines of central Italy, authentic sites of collective memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing has become an important mean to assess crop areas, specially for the identification of crop types. Google Earth Engine (GEE) is a free platform that provides a large number of satellite images from different constellations. Moreover, GEE provides pixel-based classifiers, which are used for mapping agricultural areas. The objective of this work is to evaluate the performance of different classification algorithms such as Minimum Distance (MD), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Classification and Regression Trees (CART) and Na¨ıve Bayes (NB) on an agricultural area in Tuscany (Italy). Four different scenarios were implemented in GEE combining different information such as optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, indices and time series. Among the five classifiers used the best performers were RF and SVM. Integrating Sentinel-1 (S1) and Sentinel-2 (S2) slightly improves the classification in comparison to the only S2 image classifications. The use of time series substantially improves supervised classifications. The analysis carried out so far lays the foundation for the integration of time series of SAR and optical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring major public works progresses is strongly a prominent topic. Citizens often ask about the state of "in progress" infrastructures such as highways or railways or any extensive work. On the other hand, governments, at different levels, need to offer cool information to share their effort and improve civic engagement, accountability and transparency. This is truer when dealing with works referring to the mitigation of hydrogeological risk: It is important for any type of user to know the exact state of progress or the entry into operation of this type of infrastructures also for an effective management of the emergency and of public security. Official reports on construction sites progresses often show huge delays that have however physiological causes due to long approval processes of the ongoing administrative single deeds. This delay can be of several months that sound unacceptable when dealing with government needs. We propose here an application aimed to wide scale public work monitoring using Copernicus Sentinel-2 data: The method requires a deep preliminary analysis of the project and of the work processes; Sentinel-2's data are used to define the changes and the effective state of the pixels in the area using a suitable algorithm. Thanks to the high frequency of Sentinel-2 data acquisition, it is possible to perform a frequent monitoring integrating remote sensed data with available high-resolution images and official reports, offering an effective view of the progresses of the work. the aim of this paper is to conceive an open source platform that offers citizens and stakeholders a "global eye" on the entire construction site and near-real time update, providing a vision of the changes taking place and improving accountability and transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new data on the 4.2 ka event in the central Mediterranean from Corchia Cave (Tuscany, central Italy) stalagmite CC27. The stalagmite was analyzed for stable isotopes (δ13C and δ18O) and trace elements (Mg, U, P, Y), with all proxies showing a coherent phase of reduced cave recharge between ca. 4.5 and 4.1 ka BP. Based on the current climatological data on cyclogenesis, the reduction in cave recharge is considered to be associated with the weakening of the cyclone center located in the Gulf of Genoa in response to reduced advection of air masses from the Atlantic during winter. These conditions, which closely resemble a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) type of configuration, are associated with cooler and wetter summers with reduced sea warming, which reduced the western Mediterranean evaporation during autumn–early winter, further reducing precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A valid tool for the retrieving of the turbulent fluxes that characterize the surface energy budget is constituted by the remote sensing of land surface states. In this study sequences of satellite-derived observations (from SEVIRI sensors aboard the Meteosat Second Generation) of Land Surface Temperature have been used as input in a data assimilation scheme in order to retrieve parameters that describe energy balance at the ground surface in the Tuscany region, in central Italy, during summer 2005. A parsimonious 1-D multiscale variational assimilation procedure has been followed, that requires also near surface meteorological observations. A simplified model of the surface energy balance that includes such assimilation scheme has been coupled with the limited area atmospheric model RAMS, in order to improve in the latter the accuracy of the energy budget at the surface. The coupling has been realized replacing the assimilation scheme products, in terms of surface turbulent fluxes and temperature and humidity states during the meteorological simulation. Comparisons between meteorological model results with and without coupling with the assimilation scheme are discussed, both in terms of reconstruction of surface variables and of vertical characterization of the lower atmosphere. In particular, the effects of the coupling on the moisture feedback between surface and atmosphere are considered and estimates of the precipitation recycling ratio are provided. The results of the coupling experiment showed improvements in the reconstruction of the surface states by the atmospheric model and considerable influence on the atmospheric dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]