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Land transformation is one of the phenomena that have largely interested several areas of the World and in particular the African continent. Furthermore, during last years, due to several causes, in some of the poorest countries, like Mozambique, a very great extent of land has been acquired by private companies or by a foreign country, generally for extensive agricultural purposes. In the majority of cases, the transition from a multivariate subsistence farming and slight pastoralism (made of small land parcels, exploited for cropping to satisfy local needs) to extremely large monoculture systems causes a heavy land use transformation. Moreover, the climate change effects, which have inexorably affected the African continent since various decades, constitute a further cause in vegetation changing. All these conditions make the Mozambican territory one of the most potentially subjected to the land transformation. Using GIS methodologies and Remote Sensing (RS) data, territorial dynamics were identified, in order to investigate possible situations of land cover changes. This paper describes the approach, based on Geomatics (GIS and RS), for monitoring the above-mentioned phenomena at suitable spatial and temporal scales and for identifying areas with potential vulnerabilities.

Recent seismic event worldwide proved how fragile the electric power system can be to seismic events. Decision Support Systems (DSSs) could have a critical role in assessing the seismic risk of electric power networks and in enabling asset managers to test the effectiveness of alternative mitigation strategies and investments on resilience. This paper exemplifies the potentialities of CIPCast, a DSS recently created in the framework of the EU-funded project CIPRNet, to perform such tasks. CIPCast enables to perform risk assessment for Critical Infrastructures (CI) when subjected to different natural hazards, including earthquakes. An ad-hoc customization of CIPCast for the seismic risk analysis and management of electric power networks is featured in this paper. The international literature describes effective and sound efforts towards the creation of software platforms and frameworks for the assessment of seismic risk of electric power networks. None of them, unfortunately, achieved the goal of creating a user-friendly and ready available DDS to be used by asset managers, local authorities and civil protection departments. Towards that and building on the international literature, the paper describes metrics and methods to be integrated within CIPCast for assessing the earthquake-induced physical and functional impacts of the electric power network at component and system level. The paper describes also how CIPCast can inform the service restoration process. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.

This paper describes a new idea and methodology developed for overcoming problems linked to the climate changes science and how to make them effectively accessible by end users. In today’s scientific approach, communication, on climatic information and on climatic changes condition, has to be clear, accessible and perceptive to everyone, to definitely address the right interest on such problem. Results coming from climatic changes Research and Development projects, in addition to being accepted by policymakers, that have to take future decisions and practical actions to mitigate their possible negative effects, must also be recognized and believed by ordinary citizens that have to understand and accept restrictions, for example in energy consumptions, potentially affecting their habit of life. Accordingly, it will be necessary to regenerate policy-making so as to make it more direct and potentially open to networking interactive communication tools. The present work substantially deals with the problem of the outcomes communication both in the field of climatic studies both of climatic trend conditions, also at a long-term scale. Furthermore, it has been observed that one of the most widely discussed issues, in addition to that of the uncertainty of the climatic condition predictions, is the data/results communication to policy makers, stakeholders, environmental agencies, citizens, etc. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.

The last guidelines approved by Italian government to financially support the solar Photovoltaic (PV) Energy production development include specific indications for more advantageously funding installations exploiting roofs/covers surfaces mainly located in urban or industrial areas. Since the 3D heterogeneity, albedo, atmospheric turbidity and casting shadows significantly influence here the local solar irradiance, the implemented methodology allowed us to suitably account for these distributed factors by means active (LIDAR) and passive satellite/airborne remote sensing techniques and advanced GIS modelling tools in order to support more realistic estimates of PV potential at roofs level in urban areas.

The last guidelines approved by Italian government to financially support the solar Photovoltaic (PV) Energy production development (Fourth and Fifth feed-in-scheme, January 2012 and later), in order to avoid soil consumption in agricultural or naturals areas, include specific indications for more advantageously funding installations exploiting roofs or covers surfaces. In this context it becomes important, for a suitable PV planning and monitoring, the extensive mapping of the available surfaces extent, usually corresponding to covers and properly assessing their quality in term of PV potential. Since the covers are mainly located in urban or industrial areas, whose 3D heterogeneity, albedo, atmospheric turbidity and casting shadows significantly influence the local solar irradiance, it is necessary to suitably account for these distributed factors by means of GIS mapping and advanced modeling tools in order to provide realistic estimates of solar available radiance at roofs level. The implemented methodology, based on remote sensing techniques, has allowed to estimate and map the global solar radiance over all the roofs within Avellino (southern Italy) municipality. Starting from LIDAR data, DSM of the entire area of interest (~42 Km2) has been firstly obtained; then the 3D model of each building and related cover has been derived. To account the atmospheric transparency and the related time-dependent diffuse/direct radiation percentage on the area, data and tools from EU PVGIS web application have been also used. The final processing to obtain the solar radiance maps has been carried out using specific software modules available within commercial and open-source GIS packages. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

BACKGROUND: Knee dislocation is a severe but relatively uncommon injury caused by violent trauma that can result in long-term complications, such as arthrofibrosis, stiffness, instability, and pain. Perhaps owing in part to its rarity, treatment of this injury is controversial. We therefore describe a treatment approach for these complex cases involving a novel dynamic knee external fixator. DESCRIPTION OF TECHNIQUE: We performed open PCL reconstruction when possible and/or repair of other associated lesions. At the end of the surgical procedure, the surgeon applied an external fixator that reproduced normal knee kinematics, allowing early motion exercises and reducing the risk of joint stiffness while protecting the bony and soft tissue structures involved in the repair during the first healing phase. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed eight patients treated with this approach, four of whom had the PCL reconstructed and four of whom had only associated injuries reconstructed. We evaluated all patients with clinical scores (subjective International Knee Documentation Committee form, Lysholm score, and Tegner level), physical examination (objective International Knee Documentation Committee form), and KT-1000™ arthrometer for AP laxity. Minimum followup was 10 months (mean, 26 months; range, 10-45 months). RESULTS: One patient had manipulation under anesthesia. The median Lysholm score was 76, Tegner level was 4, and subjective International Knee Documentation Committee was 73. All patients recovered to their preinjury work activity, except one unemployed patient. Stability was normal or nearly normal in five patients; the mean side-to-side difference in AP displacement with manual maximum force was 2.9 mm. CONCLUSIONS: This approach with an external fixator allowed staged reconstruction and early motion and provided reasonable stability, ROM, and activity level at followup in patients with complex injuries. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.