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Nowadays, several ongoing processes, ranging from climate change to alien pests spreading, make plants protection and green care more complex, forcing the adoption of stringent management rules and changing traditional operational frameworks. In Tuscany, green maintenance has become extremely challenging for municipal technical departments, professionals, and private companies having the responsibility of High-Quality Urban Green Areas Management, characterized by different types of plants and services. The application of new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), geomatics, and automation, could provide concrete assistance for precision gardening, increasing the sustainability of the management practices. This paper describes the general structure and main components of GARANTES, a support system for green maintenance, oriented also to improve the analytical performance of decision-makers and stakeholders in site design and fieldwork programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the continuous increase of the tourism industry, tourism destinations need to be managed under a sustainable framework, with the main aim of minimizing the adverse eff ects caused by tourism fl ows. In recent years, several attempts have been made to measure those eff ects and value the level of sustainability of every destination. A clear example of this is the European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS). In the paper, the results are presented of a project which aimed to test indicators of sustainable tourism in coastal destinations of Catalonia, Istrian Region, and Tuscany Region. The results of 33 collected indicators are available on the online platform of the project INTERREG MED MITOMED+. During the fi rst year, in every category of indicators (economic, social-cultural and environmental) only some indicators were collected, which was expected because diff erent regions apply diff erent methodologies. The collected data is the starting point that shows destinations how the indicator can be obtained and what its purpose is. Furthermore, collected data can help local and regional tourism stakeholders to prevent factors of risk, to take decisions and to improve the implementation of policies for sustainable maritime and coastal tourism development in the Mediterranean area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archeologia Postmedievale is the property of Edizioni all'Insegna del Giglio and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In a traditional wine region such as Tuscany (Italy), the wine production is perceived by several industry players as weak and fragmented because it is mainly managed by small and medium-sized wineries that have limited market power compared to large companies and distributors. In this paper, we hypothesise that this problem was influenced - in a period of strong market growth - by producers' choices that underestimated the impact of several external forces (e.g. competition, changes in demand and regulation) and promoted strategies without considering their combination with key context-specific physical, structural and socio-cultural factors. The study investigates the origin of these marketing strategies confronted with the contested fragmentation, exploring both current and future trends of the wine market in Tuscany. The objective is to provide a better understanding on how the combinations between these factors and firm's activities define regional settings in which the different strategies are developed and how these settings can be used to promote more effective and calibrated strategies towards greater economic sustainability of the sector. The focus is to understand the nature and the dynamics of interlinkages between the adoption of quality-based differentiation strategies, the diversification of marketing channels, and their regional and local determinants. We adopt a mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach composed of an analytical framework, an econometric analysis, and interviews with wine producers. First, the method provides a conceptual framework to understand the interlinkages between producers' strategies and local and regional determinants. Then, the winery decision-making process is modelled through a two-by-two differentiation strategy model that represents the wineries' decision towards the adoption of PDO/PGI appellation or organic certification in relation with the choice of distribution channels. Through the reciprocal of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI−1) - calculated on alternative marketing strategies – we verified the extent of diversification of sale channels under the different quality choices (i.e. PDO/PGI and organic or without them). Then, the determinants of the choice of distribution channels were quantified by applying a censored regression model and the results were elaborated and discussed in the light of 32 producers' interviews. The main trend highlights the fragmentation of wine production that has been determined by the differentiation model adopted by the regional producers. The results confirm a great divide in strategies between those producing quality wines and those who do not: on the one hand being mainly involved in PDO/PGI or organic certification positively affects the choice of multiple distribution channels; on the other hand, those who are not involved in quality labels have concentrated their production in a restricted number of marketing channels. The analysis shows that different producers' strategies have been influenced by the interaction between structural factors, farm characteristics and terroir in response to external changes. It also reveals a transformation process in progress that involves the concentration of the supply chain. Producers are promoting greater consolidation and reassembling of the production through new producer networks and associations that aim to reduce the fragmentation and related weakness with new common strategies. • The adoption of a quality label can affect the choice of diversification of sale channels. • Firm resources, terroir and factors endowment influence the marketing choices. • Horizontal coordination is influenced by the strategies of quality differentiation and the choice of marketing channels. • The terroir as an additional resource defines a set of characteristics that contribute to developing the regional setting. • Process of reorganization and consolidation of the sector in order to reduce the fragmentation of wine production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring soil organic carbon (SOC) typically assumes conducting a labor-intensive soil sampling campaign, followed by laboratory testing, which is both expensive and impractical for generating useful, spatially continuous data products. The present study leverages the power of machine learning (ML) and, in particular, deep neural networks (DNNs) for segmentation, as well as satellite imagery, to estimate the SOC remotely. We propose a new two-stage pipeline for remote SOC estimation, which relies on using a DNN trained to classify land cover to perform feature extraction, while the SOC estimation is performed by a different ML model. The first stage is an image segmentation DNN with the U-Net architecture, which is trained to estimate the land cover for an observed geographical region, based on multi-spectral images taken by the Sentinel-2 satellite constellation. This estimator is subsequently used to extract the latent feature vector for each of the output pixels, by rolling back from the output (dense) layer of the U-Net and accessing the last available convolutional layer of the same dimension as our desired output. The second stage is trained on a set of feature vectors extracted at the coordinates for which manual SOC measurements exist. We tested a variety of ML models and report on their performance. Using the best extremely randomized trees model, we generated a spatially continuous map of SOC estimations for the region of Tuscany, in Italy, with a resolution of 10 m, to share with the researchers as a means of validating the results and to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach, which can can easily be scaled to create a global continuous SOC map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges in the healthcare sector is making accurate forecasts across insurance years for claims reserve. Healthcare claims present huge variability and heterogeneity influenced by random decisions of the courts and intrinsic characteristics of the damaged parties, which makes traditional methods for estimating reserves inadequate. We propose a new methodology to estimate claim reserves in the healthcare insurance system based on generalized linear models using the Overdispersed Poisson distribution function. In this context, we developed a method to estimate the parameters of the quasi-likelihood function using a Gauss–Newton algorithm optimized through a genetic algorithm. The genetic algorithm plays a crucial role in glimpsing the position of the global minimum to ensure a correct convergence of the Gauss–Newton method, where the choice of the initial guess is fundamental. This methodology is applied as a case study to the healthcare system of the Tuscany region. The results were validated by comparing them with state-of-the-art measurement of the confidence intervals of the Overdispersed Poisson distribution parameters with better outcomes. Hence, local healthcare authorities could use the proposed and improved methodology to allocate resources dedicated to healthcare and global management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigación e Innovación en Ingenierías is the property of Universidad Simon Bolivar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this work, Arthrospira platensis grown in Tuscany, Italy, was investigated using different analytical approaches to characterize its volatile and non-volatile chemical composition. The results showed the presence of a high number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as hydrocarbons, furans, sulfides, alkanes, aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, esters and compounds belonging to other chemical classes such as fatty acids, alcohols and sugars. Furthermore, a proximal composition analysis was also performed to determine the protein, fat, carbohydrate and ash content. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) determined by FRAP and ABTS•+ methods (5.96 mmol TE/g DW; 5.28 mmol Fe2+E/g DW, respectively), showed good reducing power and comparable free radical scavenging activity. The antibacterial power of spirulina-based alcoholic macerate (AM) was also evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 060127853), Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29211), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 700603) and Candida albicans (ATCC 24433) and the obtained data have shown that it had no effect against pathogenic bacterial strains. On the contrary, at low concentrations, AM exerted a prebiotic effect on some probiotic strains such as L. casei if treated with AM concentrations ranging from 1.56% v/v and 3.12% v/v and L. rhamnosus if treated with AM concentrations lower than 0.78% v/v. In conclusion, this study highlighted how spirulina, based on the rich composition and its antioxidant and prebiotic effect, can represent a source of beneficial substances for human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toscana virus (TOSV), a sandfly-borne virus, is an important etiological agent in human acute meningitis and meningoencephalitis in the Mediterranean area during the summer. However, the actual number of TOSV infections is underestimated. Laboratory confirmation is necessary because TOSV infection has overlapping clinical features with other neuro-invasive viral infections. Nowadays, the reference test for direct diagnosis in the acute phase of TOSV infection is the PCR based method for detecting TOSV in cerebrospinal fluid and/or plasma, serum, or blood. Although poorly employed, urine is another helpful biological matrix for TOSV detection. Urine is a matrix rich in PCR inhibitors that affect PCR efficiency; consequently, false negatives could be generated. To investigate the potential effect of urine PCR inhibitors on TOSV detection, we compared undiluted and diluted urine using 10-fold series of spiked TOSV. The results showed a significant improvement in TOSV detection performance in diluted urine (1 TCID50 vs. 1 × 104 TCID50 limit of detection and 101.35% vs. 129.62% efficiency, respectively, in diluted and undiluted urine). In conclusion, our data provide preliminary important insights into the use of diluted urine to limit the impact of the inhibitory effects of urine on the detection of TOSV in RT-PCR-based approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape of an area is not only made up of natural elements but also of man-made elements represented by civil and agricultural artefacts and much more. These elements used to blend aesthetically and harmoniously with the landscape itself thanks to the use of local building materials. Particularly, this contribution examines the use of the travertine in the architecture of the Tuscany region from the Etruscan time to the contemporary age. In Tuscany, travertine is a remarkable example of an identity stone of the territory, so rich in thermal springs that favoured the formation of large deposits of this stone widely used in public and private buildings both in interior design and urban furnishing. The work was carried out through a survey in the Tuscan territory and collection of bibliographic information on the architectural web sites. The survey made it possible to collect a photographic documentation and to assess the state of conservation through the empirical observation of the morphologies of decay when present. Indeed, this stone material in the Mediterranean climate, which characterises Tuscany, shows a good durability against atmospheric agents but may be affected by a chromatic alteration that tends to give the surfaces a greyish appearance. This aesthetic issue is more evident in the Tuscan travertine due to is classic whitish colour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Catalana de Dret Ambiental is the property of Universitat Rovira I Virgili and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: The Italian healthcare jurisdiction promotes patient mobility, which is a major determinant of practice variation, thus being related to the equity of access to health services. We aimed to explore how travel times, waiting times, and other efficiency- and quality-related hospital attributes influenced the hospital choice of women needing pelvic organ prolapse (POP) surgery in Tuscany, Italy. Methods: We obtained the study population from Hospital Discharge Records. We duplicated individual observations (n = 2533) for the number of Tuscan hospitals that provided more than 30 POP interventions from 2017 to 2019 (n = 22) and merged them with the hospitals' list. We generated the dichotomous variable "hospital choice" assuming the value one when hospitals where patients underwent surgery coincided with one of the 22 hospitals. We performed mixed logit models to explore between-hospital patient choice, gradually adding the women's features as interactions. Results: Patient choice was influenced by travel more than waiting times. A general preference for hospitals delivering higher volumes of interventions emerged. Interaction analyses showed that poorly educated women were less likely to choose distant hospitals and hospitals providing greater volumes of interventions compared to their counterpart. Women with multiple comorbidities more frequently chose hospitals with shorter average length of stay. Conclusion: Travel times were the main determinants of hospital choice. Other quality- and efficiency-related hospital attributes influenced hospital choice as well. However, the effect depended on the socioeconomic and clinical background of women. Managers and policymakers should consider these findings to understand how women behave in choosing providers and thus mitigate equity gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using vegetation as a bioindicator in urban and degraded areas is an effective way to assess the status of the environment. In this work, we present the results of a phytosociological investigation of a suburban river and of its surroundings in southern Tuscany (Bestina river and its tributary Bestinino in Asciano, Province of Siena). By means of 94 phytosociological relevés, we identified 34 plant communities belonging to the 17 classes. Six habitats included in the 92/43/EEC Directive, plus two habitats recently proposed for inclusion, were identified, as well as one habitat of regional interest. The study revealed that, despite the high levels of human disturbance, aquatic and herbaceous riparian vegetation is still well-preserved, though mostly represented by stress-tolerant communities. On the contrary, most of the vegetation types not being directly linked to the river dynamic are in poor conservation status. Despite this, some habitats of community interest were detected even in non-riverine sites. Our work provides the basic knowledge for future restoration of the Bestina river and of its surroundings, wished by the Tuscany Region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of Phytophthora in commercial plant nurseries is important for biosecurity of traded plants, and monitoring of incidence of this important plant pathogen is a prerequisite to prevent its spread. Potted plants showing Phytophthora spp. symptoms, and nursery irrigation and runoff water, were sampled from a commercial and a non-commercial nursery in Tuscany, Italy. The samples were processed to detect Phytophthora spp., using baiting, and molecular identification of obtained isolates. High Phytophthora incidence was shown in the commercial nursery. Twelve Phytophthora spp. were isolated from potted plants or nursery runoff water. Individual symptomatic potted plants were infected with up to four pathogenic Phytophthora spp. The water sampled from nursery drainage canals had the greatest Phytophthora species diversity, with less diversity in 'flow-through' water samples (irrigation water percolated through potted plants) and samples from water puddles inside the nurseries. This study showed high incidence of Phytophthora in the commercial nursery, and associated risk of spread of these pathogens within and outside nursery operations. Lack of appropriate disease management probably increases occurrence of these pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early Iron Age pottery from central Italian regions has so far largely been studied with a particular emphasis on typological and stylistical features. However, an analytical approach to ancient ceramic technology can reveal a wealth of data on the know-how of early Iron Age central Italian craftspeople and their production choices. With this aim we conducted archaeometric analyses of forty vessels from one of the main protohistoric cemeteries of Vetulonia, coupled with geological surveys of the territory around the settlement and the collection of raw materials. The occurrence of a ceramic fabric marked by fragments of metasedimentary rocks, as opposed to a fabric tempered with flint fragments, indicates the existence of separate traditions, characterised by distinct processes and the addition of specific tempers, probably reflecting different technological practices. The significance of our findings is briefly discussed within the historical and social scenario of early Iron Age Vetulonia, at the dawn of urbanisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many research works propose sophisticated methods to analyse the carbon balance, while only a few tools are available for the calculation of both greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration with simplified methods. This paper describes a carbon balance assessment conducted at farm level with a simplified methodology, which includes calculations of both CO2 emissions and carbon sequestration in crop rotations. This carbon balance was tested in the Montepaldi Long Term Experiment (MOLTE) trial in central Italy, where two agroecosystems managed with two different farming practices (organic vs conventional) are compared. Both in terms of CO2eq emissions and carbon sequestration, this simplified method applied in our experiment provided comparable results to those yielded by complex methodologies reported in the literature. With regard to the crop rotation scheme applied in the reference period (2003-2007), CO2 emissions from various farm inputs were found to be significantly lower (0.74 Mg ha-1) in the organically managed system than in the conventionally managed system (1.76 Mg ha-1). The same trend was observed in terms of CO2eq per unit of product (0.30 Mg kg-1 in the organic system and 0.78 Mg kg-1 in the conventional system). In the conventional system the sources that contributed most to total emissions were direct and indirect emissions associated with the use of fertilisers and diesel fuel. Also the stock of sequestered carbon was significantly higher in the organic system (27.9 Mg ha-1 of C) than in the conventional system (24.5 Mg ha-1 of C). The carbon sequestration rate did not show any significant difference between the two systems. It will be necessary to test further this methodology also in commercial farms and to validate the indicators to monitor carbon fluxes at farm level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Close Proximity Index (CPX) measurement method is proposed in the ISO/DIS 11819-2:2011 and it aims to evaluate different road pavements with respect to their influence on traffic noise, under conditions when tyre/road noise dominates. In this paper, a modified CPX-based methodology is presented, in order to improve the usefulness of tyre/road noise measurement in the evaluation of acoustical performances of a road surface, in terms of both temporal and spatial stability and in terms of effectiveness of a mitigation action. In particular, the proposed methodology uses a finer spatial resolution and improves the speed-levels relationship knowledge. Moreover, data variability and uncertainty related to tyre/road noise measurement results are here investigated. This paper is conceived within LEOPOLDO project, developed in Tuscany with the aim to study the acoustical characteristics of six new experimental road surfaces, and the proposed methodology has been applied to some of them. The evaluation of the local possible acoustical inhomogeneities of test pavements and a three years long monitoring of the time evolution of their acoustical performances were required by the project. Finally, a new criterion is proposed to make more reliable comparisons (differential criterion) between different road surface types and to better evaluate the temporal evolution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Calcareous tufa, as well as other types of continental carbonates, are largely sensitive to climate variations. As a consequence, the relationship between climate variations and tufa deposition is relatively well known and calcareous tufa deposits are often used as a reliable climatic proxy in many geological settings. Conversely, the response of tufa to tectonics and uplifting processes is relatively poorly known, due to their genetic independence from geothermally heated groundwater springs and associated tectonic-controlled upwelling conduits in tectonically active settings. The aim of this paper is to describe a peculiar stratigraphic succession where calcareous tufa deposits are closely associated and interbedded with coarse-grained clastic deposits. The study area is located in southern Tuscany (Massa Marittima), where extensional tectonic processes, responsible for the emplacement of magmatic bodies at shallow crustal levels, have been active from Pliocene to Quaternary age, and caused a diffuse uplift as well as local volcanic eruptions and hydrothermal fluid circulation. The succession described in the paper recorded phases of calcareous tufa-dominated deposition (i.e. overall, medium/low hydrodynamic energetic settings) repeatedly interbedded with coarse-grained clastic fluvial sediments which testify an abrupt change in both the energy of the depositional environment and the sediment supply. Nevertheless, during the phases dominated by clastic sedimentation, tufa deposition was not inhibited as it would be expected for climate-influenced settings, suggesting that the observed stratigraphic settings were a consequence of a local uplift of the catchment area. These findings indicate that calcareous tufa deposits could be a sensitive proxy to tectonics when they are associated with coarse-grained clastic deposits, in a geological setting where the origin of the clastic sediments cannot be explained by autocyclic or climate-induced factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Previous studies on nonagenarians have widely investigated functional and cognitive decline, falls, predictors of mortality, inflammation and aging genetics. However, some intriguing domains, such as body composition, daily energy expenditure, sleep quality and physical activity, as well as endothelial progenitor cells and “omics” fields, such as proteomics or metabolomics, have been poorly explored. In this preliminary paper we report design, methods and characteristics of participants in the Mugello Study, a survey of nonagenarians aimed at filling these gaps. Methods: 475 non selected nonagenarians, 130 men and 345 women, mean age 92.6years±SD 2.6, received a visit by a trained physician at their residence. Along with the assessment of social, functional and cognitive status, reported in this paper, participants also underwent instrumental examinations, including body impedance assessment and continuous direct calorimetry, and were administered a series of validated questionnaires. Further, 385 participants accepted to undergo blood withdrawal. Results: In 52 cases the visit was conducted in nursing homes. Among the 423 home-living participants, 91 lived alone and 77 were not looked after by any caregiver. Altogether, 154 participants over 475 were free from disabilities and 266 showed Mini Mental State Examination raw scores≥21. Men showed less disability and cognitive impairment (p<0.001, for both). Conclusions: As a whole, our findings are comparable to those reported in other surveys. Future studies, by using the Mugello Study database and biologic bank, that will be available to all researchers, will shed some more light on the aging process in nonagenarians. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper provides an overview of wild food plants traditionally used in the gastronomy of Tuscany, an Italian region with high biological diversity and whose cultural heritage is well known. Forty-nine bibliographic sources, including five unpublished studies, were reviewed. A list of species with ecological characteristics, plant parts used, use category (food, liquor, or seasoning), methods of preparation (raw or cooked), and recipes is presented. The use of 357 taxa (3711 use reports, URs), was recorded, belonging to 215 genera and 72 botanical families. Over the total taxa, 12 are new for Tuscany, 52 seem not to be present in other Italian regions, and 54 were not detected in the consulted European ethnobotanical literature. Of these taxa, 324 (3117 URs) were used as food, while 49 (178 URs) and 81 (416 URs) were used for liquor and seasoning, respectively. Of the 17 different food recipes, cooked vegetables constituted the largest group, followed by salads, omelets, snacks, and fillings. The chemical composition of the recorded food plants and the possible safety risks associated to their consumption, as well as their traditional medicinal use, are also shown. This review highlights the richness of ethnobotanical knowledge in Tuscany. Such biocultural heritage can be a "source of inspiration" for agriculture. As a reservoir of potential new crops, wild edible flora may contribute to the development of emerging horticultural sectors such as vertical farming and microgreens production. Moreover, the nutrient content and healthy properties of many wild food plants reported in this study has the ability to meet consumer demand for functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A proper assumption of the concrete strength is essential to model existing RC structures; their seismic performance, in fact, can be affected by the poor quality of materials, both in terms of low strength and high variability. This paper considers the effects of the variability of concrete strength within buildings. Due to the high variability of concrete strength, in fact, buildings can experience irregular seismic responses, both in plan and in elevation. This research investigates the effects of irregularity in elevation due to the strength variability of concrete in a case study, namely a four-storey RC framed building, designed for vertical loads only. The variability of the concrete strength has been evaluated on the basis of an extensive survey carried out by the REGIONE TOSCANA (Tuscany Regional Government) on a large sample of RC framed buildings. Special attention has been paid to the adequacy of current codes provisions (Eurocodes, FEMA) on how to quantify concrete strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report an extensive survey of the natural radioactive content of rocks of the Tuscany Region (Italy): this permitted the first total natural radioactivity map of the region. The sampling was planned using the geological map of Tuscany at scale 1:250,000, which contains 45 distinct geological groups recognized by tectonic and stratigraphic features. Each geological group was characterized for the total activity by measuring the activity concentrations of40K,238U and232Th in 865 samples using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometer. The average areal distribution of samples is approximately one sample per 25 km2. The radiometric map was constructed through the reclassification of each geological formation based on the median value of the total activity. Seven classes of total activity are identified by choosing percentiles almost evenly spread across the range of values. This map represents the starting point for future studies on natural background radiation, geochemical processes and epidemiological investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on transnationalism and integration is increasingly focusing on the intersections between the two concepts. However, the debate is polarised between the country of origin and the host country when migrants' identity and belongingness are concerned. In the case of the children of migrants, the literature also largely lacks references to locality, mobility and cosmopolitanism. This paper explores the integration of Albanian-origin teenagers in Tuscany and the relationship between their transnational orientations and their integration strategies. Findings show that both the social and cultural institutions and the spatial ‘units’ to which these teenagers refer in their integration discourse go beyond their country of origin and their host country. Firstly, there is a translocal dimension to their references—to Florence, Prato and Tuscany and the place of their parental origin in Albania. Secondly, their views and perceptions of integration contain a strong cosmopolitan orientation—both conceptually and spatially. The qualities of space and locality impact on transnational ties, giving rise to cosmopolitan orientation and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In forest sector several practical applications need to consider the monetary value of social utility for each specific location and forest function. In this framework the aim of the paper is to implement a spatial analysis model able to link a set of methodologies for the quantification of the total economic value of the forests. The main characteristic of the proposed methodology is the achievement of a geographical dataset with high resolution that can be used for both ex-ante and ex-post Cost-Benefit Analysis and the improvement of spatially explicit forest planning and policy. The results of the application show that spatial analysis methodologies allow the aggregation of several variables and also facilitate the introduction of natural capital concepts into environmental decision-making processes. The analysis is implemented and verified in Tuscany region (central Italy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

eParticipation involves the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for facilitating the two-way communication between governments and citizens. Designing eParticipation activities is a complex task. Challenges include the need for interdisciplinary expertise and knowledge (e.g., in political, sociology, usability and technology domains) and the lack of widely accepted models and technological standards. This paper paves the way for the definition of a basic reference model for eParticipation, providing guidelines for the design, implementation and management of eParticipation web applications. This model was put into practice for the design of an eParticipation Framework helping users in designing, customizing and deploying web-based services for a given eParticipation process. The authors also report on the experimental use of the Framework in a group of Tuscany municipalities for carrying out participatory budget activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key strand of research for social and economic historians of the pre-industrial period is the relationship between city and countryside. Sometimes urban and rural environments enjoyed mutually beneficial relationships, though in other cases cities reduced their rural hinterlands to poverty and decay – the question is, why? By focusing on late-medieval Florence and Tuscany, this paper moves away from approaching this question through an ‘urban bias’, and suggests the answers can be found within the structural configuration of rural societies themselves. Essentially, some rural regions were well set up to repel urban predatory tendencies, while other societies were susceptible to exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Siena Basin is a post-collisional basin of the inner Northern Apennines (Tuscany, Italy) characterized by a thick siliciclastic Neogene infill, mainly composed of marine sediments with subordinate alluvial deposits close to basin margins. The central-southern sector of the basin shows a more complex stratigraphy with the occurrence of sandy deposits also in distal areas, far from the basin margin. The aim of this paper is to provide a new 1:10,000-scale geological map of this key sector (about 45 km2) of the Siena Basin, helpful for a better reconstruction of its sedimentary evolution. The new fieldwork was based on the identification and mapping of different facies associations (expression of different sedimentary environments), whose shifts in time and space provide elements to understand the basin-fill history. The recognition of two main intra-Pliocene erosional surfaces allowed the subdivision of the succession into three alloformations. Therefore, a more complex depositional history, with respect to the previous knowledge for this key-sector of the Siena Basin, has been reconstructed, thus highlighting the importance of this kind of approach with respect to the classical lithostratigraphic criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the linked fields of population, migration, and ageing, international retirement migration (IRM) has emerged as a strong focus for empirical research. Thus far, the classic studies have been on European North–South IRM, with a specific concentration on iconic regions such as the Costa del Sol, southern France, and Tuscany. But the geography of IRM is constantly changing, as prior destination regions become "saturated" and perhaps too expensive, so that new "frontiers" are opened up. One such frontier is the Italian region of Marche, now seen as a cheaper and more "authentic" region than Tuscany. This paper uses interview narratives from 69 older age British, Dutch, and German people who have relocated, as either permanent settlers or seasonal residents, in the Marche, in order to answer two questions. The questions relate first to the main drivers of IRM at the decision‐making level and, second, to the experiences of living there, including advantages and disadvantages. We find the participants for the most part engaged in active ageing, growing their own produce, and joining in local community life and are appreciative of the beauty of the hilly landscape. However, "full" integration is hampered by language and cultural barriers, whereas the bureaucracy is their main complaint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper presents the development and testing of a multi-step methodology which integrates remotely sensed and ancillary data to estimate olive (Olea europaea L.) fruit yield in Tuscany (Central Italy). The processing of very high resolution (Ikonos) and high resolution (Landsat ETM+) images provides a map of olive tree canopy cover fraction for all Tuscany olive yards, which is used to extract olive tree NDVI values from MODIS imagery. The combination of these values with standard meteorological data within a modified parametric model (C-Fix) enables the prediction of daily olive tree gross primary production (GPP) for ten years (2000–2009). These GPP estimates are then joint to the respiration estimates of a bio-geochemical model (BIOME-BGC) to simulate olive tree net primary production (NPP). The NPP accumulated over proper periods of the ten growing seasons is finally converted into olive fruit yield, whose accuracy is assessed through comparison with provincial statistics. The methodology is only partly capable of capturing spatial and temporal olive fruit yield variability at province level, but can accurately reproduce inter-year yield variation over the entire region. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results achieved and with considerations on the research prospects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper seeks to respond to recent calls by the academic community for studies investigating sustainability reporting by the public sector, as well as for more engagement-based studies of this issue by examining the views of managers within local councils (LC). The objective of this project is to provide insights as to the possible reasons and explanations for the types of sustainability disclosures among a group of local councils operating in Italy and Australia. In particular, an international comparison is undertaken to ascertain the effect of culture on the adoption of sustainability reporting (SR). Evidence is collected from semi-structured interviews with managers and accountants from ten local councils consisting of five from Italy (Tuscany) and five from Australia (Victoria). The findings suggest that although there are available some general policy documents relating to sustainability reporting, councils are left to their own discretion as to what they consider fit under the definition of sustainability and therefore, determine to a large extent, what to report to stakeholders. Moreover, there was a range of legitimacy type behaviours displayed by a number of councils while others were influenced by notions of public sector accountability and transparency. Adopting Hofstede's cultural framework, the research also highlights the relevance of the Italian and Australian cultural settings in shaping the SR practices used by LCs. The findings suggest that differences regarding cultural dimensions, such as ‘power distance’ and ‘uncertainty avoidance’, influence key aspects of SR. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An alternative procedure for drought risk assessment and for the mitigation of drought risk is proposed in the paper. An analysis of the relationship between failure of water supply systems and reservoir volumes for the urban area of Firenze in central Tuscany, in central Italy, is performed. Long term simulations are carried out using the software package WEAP. A simplified model of the water resources system is built to assess the threshold values and the management rules. The probability to have definite degree of shortage in the water supply system is evaluated in function of the volume stored in the reservoir at the beginning of the month with Monte Carlo simulations. The reservoir levels and volumes are simulated using time series of the period 1970-2005. Four scenarios (i.e. normal, pre-alert, alert and emergency) associated with different levels of severity of drought are defined. Threshold values are identified considering the probability to assure a given fraction of the demand in a certain time horizon, and are calibrated with an optimization method, which try to minimize the water shortages, especially the heavier. The critical situations are assessed month by month in order to evaluate optimal management rules during the year and avoid conditions of total water shortage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of flood events that occurred in autumn 2011 in the Italian regions of Liguria and Tuscany revived the engagement of the public decision-maker to enhance the synergy of flood control and land use planning. In this context, the design of efficient flood risk mitigation strategies and their subsequent implementation critically relies on a careful vulnerability analysis of the fixed and mobile elements exposed to flood hazard. In this paper we develop computation schemes enabling dynamic vulnerability and risk analyses for a broad typological variety of elements at risk. To show their applicability, a series of prime examples are discussed in detail, e.g. a bridge deck impacted by the flood and a car, first displaced and subsequently exposed to collision with fixed objects. We hold the view that it is essential that the derivation of the computational schemes to assess the vulnerability of endangered objects should be based on classical and fluid mechanics. In such a way, we aim to complement from a methodological perspective the existing, mainly empirical, vulnerability and risk assessment approaches and to support the design of effective flood risk mitigation strategies by defusing the main criticalities within the systems prone to flood risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the Middle Palaeolithic evidence of Central Italy still lacks a reliable chrono-cultural framework mainly due to research history. In this context Grotta dei Santi, a wide cave located on Monte Argentario, on the southern coast of Tuscany, is particularly relevant as it contains a very well preserved sequence including several Mousterian layers. Research carried out at this site in the last years (2007–2017) allowed for a preliminary estimation of its chronology based on a set of radiometric determinations which place the investigated sequence in the time interval between 50 and 40 ka BP. Alongside the chronological issue, this paper mainly focuses on the geoarchaeological and zooarchaeological (micro and macro fauna) studies carried out on the materials retrieved during the 2007–2014 excavation fieldworks. The results of these studies are consistent with those from the radiometric chronology. A state of art concerning the MIS3 Italian sites is also provided in order to highlight the key role Grotta dei Santi may play in the assessment of late Neandertals' behaviour within the framework of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition of Central Italy. • Key Mousterian deposit not excavated before due to difficult accessibility. • The deposit has been radiometrically dated to 50-40ka BP. • Recurrent short-lasting occupations with largely undisturbed living floors. • New chrono-cultural and palaeoenvironmental data on late Neandertals in Central Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural tourism (RT) has grown in many rural regions worldwide and today it is a stable driver of rural social and economic development. In this paper we argue that RT growth should follow a divergent path from sea tourism development, because failing to do so would likely push RT toward mass tourism, resulting in a harmful twofold effect: (i) given that mass tourism requires built-up expansion to accommodate larger number of tourists, in rural areas this will certainly compromise the beauty of the landscape, which is a fundamental local resource for RT; (ii) built-up growth required to satisfy seaside mass tourism expectations is often characterized as holiday resorts, artificial villages, and residential high-density condos, with a consequent loss of cultural-traditional identity, which is also a key element for rural landscapes' attractiveness. In order to monitor the impact of RT on built-up growth we propose to investigate land development and soil consumption over time in the countryside using a GIS (Geographical Information System) approach. The analytical model will be applied to the case study of Tuscany considering circa the past quarter of century. Furthermore, we also aim at discussing the role of available planning instruments in regulating settlements and infrastructures development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal wastewaters may pose a risk to the aquatic environment and ultimately to human kind. Their treatment is a fundament step but the actual WWTPs performances cannot be taken for granted, claiming instead for continuous evaluation campaigns. Our waters are indeed threatened by the continuous input of various persistent micropollutants that are part of human daily routine life; the potential effects of their presence in the receiving waters have to be quantified. The present paper reports data of a monitoring campaign focused on nine pharmaceuticals belonging to different therapeutic groups in three WWTPs in Tuscany (Italy). All the three WWTPs use conventional activated sludge process with pre-denitrification and no tertiary treatment. The analytical determination has been achieved through off-line solid phase extraction and analysis in liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The overall ecotoxicological effect of effluents was evaluated through a battery of tests using organisms belonging to different trophic levels. All nine pharmaceuticals were detected in the influent of all WWTPs at least in one sampling campaign. The most concentrated compounds were acetaminophen, diclofenac and amoxicillin followed by atenolol, ketoprofen, clarithromycin, carbamazepine, doxycycline and E2; their average concentrations (considering all measurements from all plants) were, respectively: 3914 ± 2620; 2065 ± 739; 2002 ± 2170; 1223 ± 1042; 961 ± 1003; 356 ± 370; 233 ± 100; 196 ± 189; 4 ± 4 ng/L. The highest concentrations were found in the plant that treats urban and hospital wastewaters. Amoxicillin, atenolol and diclofenac were more concentrated in winter than in summer, while ketoprofen, doxycycline and 17-β-estradiol are higher in summer. These results are probably due to the different consumption of each drug during the year, depending on their therapeutic usage. Measured drugs can be divided into three categories: those ones that are generally well removed inside the WWTP (such as acetaminophen, ketoprofen and atenolol), the partly removed ones (doxycycline, clarithromycin and 17-β-estradiol) and the refractory ones to biodegradation during activated sludge process (carbamazepine, diclofenac and amoxicillin). Regarding ecotoxicological assays, the most sensitive organisms were V. fisheri and R. subcapitata, whereas D. magna almost never reacted to the wastewaters. Seasonal variability was not clearly observed among plants and collecting time. The toxicity score evaluated all the results coming from the bioassays battery, indicating that WWTPs treatments always determined a toxicity reduction, even though a residual toxicity was still measured. This observation, together with chemical data, clearly indicate WWTPs as an important source of pharmaceuticals in the Arno river with an important environmental toxicity; therefore, the reduction of pharmaceutical load originated from point source such us WWTPs would ask in the future the adoption of refinery steps in WWTPs able to increase RE of drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper reflects on ways of updating tools for engagement and enhancing citizens' participation in local urban planning, and aims to reshape them according to theories that have emerged in recent decades on the conceptualization of such participation and on interdisciplinary methodologies. It does so in the context of a project investigating how local institutions try to produce new forms of engagement. The project was carried out in the Municipality of Peccioli, an ancient medieval village in Tuscany, Italy. We have revisited and combined some classical tools, such as documentary investigation, participant observation, focus groups and interviews, and proposed changes for capturing unexplored features, dimensions, and living experiences in the social body. The updating of classical methods aims to overcome existing power structures and to reshape the relationship between citizens and their local institutions, generating a more inclusive decision-making process. Highlights • Many traditional participatory methods need to be updated and reshaped. • Need of tools able to effectively capture the contributions of all citizens. • Improved methodological tools foster the awareness and inclusion of public policies. • Updated tools can make participation more responsible, informed, inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The architecture of a process-based model for olive tree is presented. • The model was validated across different climates, soils and management practices. • The model was able to faithfully reproduce different processes of olive groves. Abstract This paper describes the architecture of a process-based model that simulates on a daily time step growth and development of an olive agroecosystem, including the olive tree and grass cover growth and their competition for water. The key process of the model is the simulation of daily potential biomass increase for olive tree and grass cover that may be reduced depending on water availability. The model includes a phenological sub-model simulating the sequence of olive tree vegetative and reproductive stages for determining changes in biomass allocation and the timing of possible environmental stresses (heat and water stress) that may reduce final yield. The model was calibrated and validated in Tuscany region by exploiting a data set covering heterogeneous climatic features as well as soil types and management practices existing in this region. The results pointed out that the model is able to faithfully reproduce water balance of the system, biomass accumulation and yield of olive tree and grass cover biomass. We concluded that this model is a useful prognostic tool to test the effectiveness of management practices for improving economic viability of olive tree cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the philosophical and political assumptions supporting the commonly held view of 'place identity', exemplarily represented by the Tuscany region in Italy and its wine. It focuses on the production process of one of the most expensive and highly rated Italian wines, the Brunello di Montalcino, produced in the southeast of Tuscany. The Brunello di Montalcino wine area in Tuscany has a leading role in Italian wine production, and it represents an enormously successful example of place authenticity protection, promoting high-quality standards of economic solidarity and a fulfilling sense of well-being. This paper puts into question the romantic and fascinating image of Tuscany by offering an alternative portrait of the material-semiotic networks constituting the specificity of this place. The case for the analysis is provided by the diplomatic impasse between Italy and the United States in 2008. Anomalies in the wine production process were detected by a massive use of technological control devices; this put in 'danger' the reputation of the Italian wine makers and overturned the tradition, local authenticity, and identity of Tuscan wines-and eventually the identity of the Tuscany region itself. En reconstructing the way in which Brunello di Montalcino wine materially shapes politics, economic relations, social behaviours, landscape, cultural production and international narratives, the paper analyses the related material-semiotic networks. These analyses show that local identity does not naturally grow out of the soil but is generated and preserved by a long retinue of global-based practices and connections. Brunello, a symbol of authentic Tuscany, only exists as Brunello and can be enjoyed as such through the mediation of a large apparatus of very specific scientific knowledge, laboratory practices and protocols, administrative procedures at different geographical scales, and certificates and licences. Paradoxically, we need the global to protect the local. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to identify the monetary value of the different functions of a forest in order to estimate the environmental diseases or in order to plan and take decisions. The aim of this paper is to test a new methodology that focuses on the spatialization of the monetary values of benefits (services) that are offered by a forest. This methodology is based on the "Benefit transfer" approach and empirical indexes used in non-monetary evaluations. The result demonstrates the analysis of tourist-recreational function of the forest in the Tuscany Region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the research work carried out on Octopus vulgaris reproduction at Maricoltura di Rosignano Solvay, Italy, during the period 2002-2007. Already in the first few years, it was possible to establish healthy broodstock groups, starting from subadults captured in the wild. Obtaining numerous viable eggs was not difficult and paralarval rearing up to around 40 days was successful. In 2007, the first juveniles were produced and the oldest juvenile reached the age of 160 days. During the initial stages, careful attention was paid to work as closely as possible with standard aquaculture procedures for live food production (mainly the use of Artemia and rotifers as live prey) and paralarval rearing techniques, in order to facilitate the step towards industrialization later on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extra-zonal beech forests in Tuscany: structure, diversity and synecologic features. The present paper focuses on the structural, synecological and floristic diversity features of beech-dominated forest communities in four major areas of the Antiapenninic Tyrrhenian system in Tuscany: Metalliferous hills, mountains to the south of Mt. Amiata, volcanic area of the upper Lente valley and Mt. Cetona. These are relict woodlands of Holo-Pleistocene origin with a special ecological and conservation value due to their extrazonal location in lowland submediterranean areas. Results show substantial among-area differences in structure, synecology and plant species composition, but in general a potential for coppices to reach the tall forest stage, as demonstrated by the old-growth stands of Pietraporciana and Sassoforte. Compared with montane Apenninic beechwoods, the relatively rich flora of the studied communities include thermophilous species with a southern Apennine-Balkan distribution, making their syntaxonomical position unclear. Closer affinities are found with the calcicolous Beech Forests of the Lathyro veneti-Fagetum association and with the silicicolous ones of the Fraxino orni-Fagetum. Based on the Natura 2000 system, all the examined communities belong to the priority Habitat "Apennine beech forests with Taxus and Ilex" (code: 9210*). Due their relict nature, these biotopes appear vulnerable to climate changes and to a production-oriented forest management. Criteria of naturalistic silviculture should instead promote the dynamic development of these communities towards tall forests and their natural regeneration. INSET: Schema sintassonomico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure networks play a crucial role in the construction of the territory because they create connections among places and define spatial systems in physical and economic as well as political terms. The development of mobility networks activate the re-definition of the constituting relations of territories (de-territorialization and re-territorialization processes) and interact with the re-scaling of territorial governance; new actors appear on the scene and places take part in 'multiple spatialities'. Territorial planning has to face the new infrastructure proposals within multilevel governance processes. This paper addresses these issues on the basis of a case study regarding a proposal for a 'territorial platform', named Ti-Bre, between the Brenner axis and the Tuscany harbour system, in Italy. This is a new connection that may change traditional transport flows, challenging regional and sectoral visions and plans as well as territorial cooperation processes, and requiring appropriate assessment of environmental and economic sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Holocene deposits of the Firenze alluvial plain (Northern Apennines, Italy) and deals with the sedimentary features of chute channels draining the down-river edges of the meander neck formed by 70 to 100 m wide and 1 to 1·5 m deep sinuous channels. Two main types of chute channels have been recognized. Type 1 is represented by 3 to 6 m wide and 0·5 to 1 m deep straight channels filled with mud aggregates overlying a basal gravel lag made of reworked caliches. These channels drained the point bar top during floods, and are thought to have been initiated as small rills when a shallow flow overpassed the downstream side of the point bar. Type 2 channels, 3 to 6 m wide and 1 to 1·5 m deep, are moderately to highly sinuous and filled with well-stratified sand and gravels sourced from nearby rocky highlands. Type 2 channels were connected to the main river channel also during the base flow stage. The transition from Type 1 to Type 2 channels is documented and is interpreted as the result of the meander cut-off process. Type 1 chute channels represent the early stage of the cut-off phase, when a headcut is incised on the down-river edges of the meander neck. The headcut migrates up-river across the meander neck during floods, when fast currents shape the chute channels into a straight route. The transition from Type 1 into Type 2 channels is linked to the connection of the up-river migrating headcut with the main channel and the termination of the cut-off process. At this stage, the cut-off channel is drained permanently and receives bedload from the main channel. The progressive shaping of the newly formed channel will convert it into the main channel and lead to the formation of an oxbow lake in the abandoned meander branch. Development of chute channels in the Firenze alluvial plain is thought to have heralded a decrease in sinuosity of the main channels, triggered by a climate-driven increase in water discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology capable of combining Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery and ancillary data to estimate durum wheat production in Tuscany (Central Italy). First, the phenological stages of winter wheat are simulated by the use of an agro-meteorological model (Syrius 4.1). Next, MODIS NDVI images at 250 m spatial resolution are utilized to identify fields likely grown with winter wheat. The multitemporal NDVI profiles of these fields are then integrated with Syrius 4.1 outputs through a previously developed procedure in order to simulate wheat above-ground biomass and harvest index. This allows the computation of wheat yield, which, combined with relevant cropped area, provides provincial wheat production estimates. The methodology is tested using ground and MODIS data taken over four Tuscany provinces where winter wheat is widely cultivated. The accuracy of all estimated variables (wheat cropped area, yield and production) is finally evaluated against provincial statistical data. The results of this experiment indicate that the accuracy of wheat cropped area estimation and yield simulation is variable, but interannual production variations are reproduced well for all provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of its high price, extra virgin olive oil is frequently targeted for adulteration with lower quality oils. This paper presents an innovative optical technique capable of quantifying and discriminating the adulteration of extra virgin olive oil caused by lower-grade olive oils. An original set-up for diffuse-light absorption spectroscopy in the wide 400-1,700 nm spectral range was experimented. It made use of an integrating sphere containing the oil sample and of optical fibers for illumination and detection; it provided intrinsically scattering-free absorption spectroscopy measurements. This set-up was used to collect spectroscopic fingerprints of authentic extra virgin olive oils from the Italian Tuscany region, adulterated by different concentrations of olive-pomace oil, refined olive oil, deodorized olive oil, and refined olive-pomace oil. Then, a straightforward multivariate processing of spectroscopic data based on principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis was applied which was successfully capable of predicting the fraction of adulterant in the mixture, and of discriminating its type. The results achieved by means of optical spectroscopy were compared with the analysis of fatty acids, which was carried out by standard gas chromatography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Italian housing policy there has recently been a huge shift in competences from national to regional governments. The work to formulate a General Social Housing Law for Tuscany has provided the opportunity for an accurate analysis of how the current housing policy tools work. The main goal of this paper is not to demonstrate whether new tools, i.e. demand-side subsidies, are more or less efficient than traditional ones, i.e. bricks and mortar subsidies in the form of public houses for social rent. Instead, the aim is to point out that new and traditional tools use different eligibility criteria, thereby creating a problem of target efficiency and equity. By simulating some simple changes to the recipient selection criteria and recalculating the amount of public aid assigned to each family, there is an improvement in target efficiency and therefore in equity, while keeping the current total amount of public expenditure unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial beach nourishment can significantly modify original beach colour, altering an important component of the coastal landscape; this can produce deleterious environmental effects and potentially induce controversies among stakeholders, leading even to litigation. This paper reviews some of these impacts, discusses chromatic compatibility of borrow sediments, and proposes techniques to assess it. Further, it evaluates the preference of beach users towards different sand colours through 320 interviews held at natural and nourished beaches in Italy using Munsell and CIE L*a*b* colour spaces. Results show that colour acceptance is significantly related to sand lightness, though in some cases different preferences were due to memories and sensations related to the colour of original or idealised beaches. The study confirmed the preference of beach users towards light-colour sand and showed that nourishments that use sediment of a new colour can influence the degree of appreciation of light and dark sands. Results from this study were further applied to the specifications of a bid for a beach fill project, setting the colorimetric coordinates in CIE L*a*b* space for sediments considered suitable for the nourishment of a particular beach in Tuscany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the performance measurement system of the maternity pathway used in Tuscany by health care professionals, general managers and regional policy-makers. This system uses 19 indicators grouped in six dimensions: population's state of health; compliance with regional guidelines; efficiency and financial performance; clinical and health assessment; patient satisfaction; and employees' satisfaction. The results are represented on a spider diagram that summarizes the results on the different dimensions. The Tuscan performance measurement system of the maternity pathway has been used to identify best practice within, and their adoption throughout, the Tuscan public health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  This paper presents the first general survey of carpological analyses carried out in archaeological sites in Tuscany (Italy), based on literature and our own research. The data show that with the onset of the Neolithic, naked wheats (Triticum aestivum/durum/turgidum), unfortunately not certainly identifiable due to the lack of chaff, different glume wheats (Triticum monococcum/dicoccum/spelta) of which einkorn and emmer are certainly identified and barley (Hordeum vulgare) play a definite role. Certainly identified specimens of spelt (Triticum spelta) and millet (Panicum miliaceum) appear in the Bronze Age. The importance of oats is difficult to assess. Beginning in the Bronze Age, an increasing importance of pulses is observed, as in some other parts of Europe. Grape collection seems to be a practice that goes back at least to the Neolithic in Tuscany, while it is not yet clear as to when the appearance of viticulture and wine-making should be dated. The use of cornelian cherry was widespread in the Bronze Age and also continued in the Etruscan period (around 1000 b.c.). However, the available results are scarce and previous identifications may need verification. Corroboration of the data is needed through future systematic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper illustrates the results of a correlation study focusing on linguistic variation in an Italian region, Tuscany. By exploiting a multi-level representation scheme of dialectal data, the study analyses attested patterns of phonetic and morpho-lexical variation with the aim of testing the degree of correlation between a) phonetic and morpho-lexical variation, and b) linguistic variation and geographic distance. The correlation analysis was performed by combining two complementary approaches proposed in dialectometric literature, namely by computing both global and place-specific correlation measures and by inspecting their spatial distribution. Achieved results demonstrate that phonetic and morpho-lexical variations in Tuscany seem to follow a different pattern than encountered in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]