THE GREY WATERFOOTPRINT OF CATTLE GRAZING: A CASE OF STUDY FOR ITALY

Water footprint accounting has contributed to show that livestock production, and dairy production in particular, have a non-negligible impact in terms of freshwater appropriation (Palhares and Mezzopane, 2015). In this line of research, Allocca et al (2018) have contributed to the scientific debate pointing out that livestock grazing can have a substantial effect in terms of the environment-related grey water footprint (GWFenv) originating from microbial contamination. However, cattle grazing can be a source of contamination also for chemical parameters, precisely nitrate, nitrite and ammonium. Albeit the microbial impact of cattle grazing has been documented by Allocca et al. (2018), they did not take into account possible consequences of the grazing activity in terms of chemical contamination, namely nitrates. This aspect is worth to be examined, since nitrates are important parameters to be evaluated when establishing guidelines for protecting aquatic life and/or ambient water quality for recreation use

Crack identification method for mechanical structures

LAUREA MAGISTRALEL'identificazione delle cricche in un componente meccanico riveste uno degli aspetti più importanti in campo industriale. Questi elementi sono infatti responsabili di rotture improvvise e disservizi che a volte possono essere un serio pericolo per la sicurezza complessiva di una struttura meccanica. In questo lavoro sarà illustrato in modo completo un nuovo approccio all’identificazione delle cricche. Il metodo presentato fa parte di quelli che vengono comunemente chiamati Controlli Non Distruttivi (CND). È risaputo che un danneggiamento introduce una non linearità all’interno del sistema. Anche in presenza di piccole cricche, il comportamento dinamico di una struttura con una cricca aperta, quando forzata con un eccitazione armonica, è caratterizzato dalla presenza di frequenze sub e super armoniche nello spettrogramma della risposta. Questa è la principale espressione della non-linearità del sistema. Con l’obiettivo di sviluppare un metodo di identificazione delle cricche, gran parte del lavoro si è focalizzato sullo studio delle frequenze super-armoniche della risposta del sistema. Queste frequenze sono usate per pesare la non-linearità del sistema ad ogni frequenza considerata. Considerando la presenza di una singola cricca nel sistema, lo studio segue l’intuizione che la non-linearità del sistema tende a svanire quando la cricca viene a trovarsi in corrispondenza di un punto nodale del modo di vibrare di interesse. Siccome l’obiettivo è quello di tracciare la distanza tra risposta non-lineare e lineare di una struttura criccata è necessario creare un indice da utilizzare successivamente per la localizzazione del danneggiamento. Questo indice, chiamato Non-Linearity Index, valuta queste frequenze in cui il comportamento è approssimativamente lineare e le utilizza in unione alle informazioni sulla posizione del nodi del modo per identificare la posizione della cricca. La posizione dei nodi della curvatura può essere ottenuta per via analitica nel caso di geometrie semplici oppure attraverso un analisi ad elementi finiti per geometrie complesse dove una soluzione analitica non è possibile. I vantaggi nell’utilizzo del metodo di identificazione delle cricche discusso in questa relazione sono molteplici. Le informazioni sulla posizione dei nodi della curvatura possono essere ricavate dallo studio di una struttura non danneggiata e quindi, più facilmente risolvibile rispetto ad una in cui la cricca debba essere modellata. Infine il fatto che sia possibile ricavare informazioni utili all’identificazione della cricca direttamente dalle rilevazioni fatte in un unico punto della struttura. Questi fatti rendono il metodo poco costoso e soprattutto versatile.Detection of cracks in a mechanical component is one of the most important aspect in industrial field. These elements are in fact responsible for sudden ruptures or failure and may therefore be a serious danger to the overall security of a mechanical structure indeed. In this paper will be completely illustrated a new approach to crack identification. The method presented is part of the Non Destructive Testing (NDT). It is know that a damage induces a nonlinear behaviour in the system analysed. Even in presence of small depth cracks, the dynamic behaviour of structures with breathing cracks forced by harmonic excitation is characterized by the appearance of sub-harmonic and super-harmonics in the response spectrogram. This is the main expression of the system nonlinearity. With the objective of developing a crack identification method, great part of this study is focused on the study of super-harmonic frequencies of the system response. These frequencies are used to weigh the non-linearity of system behaviour at each frequency considered. Dealing with the presence of a single crack, the study follows the intuition that the non-linearity of system behaviour tend to be switched off when the crack is located in correspondence of a nodal point of the mode of interest. Since the objective is to track the gap between non-linear and linear behaviour of a cracked structure, it is necessary to create an index that can be used in a later stage to locate the damage. This index, named Non-Linearity Index, evaluate these frequencies in which the behaviour is approximately linear and use them in conjunction with the nodal point location information to identify the position of the crack. Nodal point location can be obtained by analytical way for simple geometries as well as by Finite Element Analysis for complex geometries where an analytical solution is not available. Multiple advantages are related with the use of the crack identification method discussed in this paper. Nodal points information can be achieved from the study of an undamaged model of the structure that is more easily solvable respect to a system where a crack needs to be modelled. Finally the fact that it is possible to obtain information useful to crack identification directly from the measures of one single point of the structure. These facts make the method costly and versatile indeed

High-resolution shock-capturing numerical simulations of three-phase immiscible fluids from the unsaturated to the saturated zone

Numerical modeling of immiscible contaminant fluid flow in unsaturated and saturated porous aquifers is of great importance in many scientific fields to properly manage groundwater resources. We present a high-resolution numerical model that simulates three-phase immiscible fluid flow in both unsaturated and saturated zone in a porous aquifer. We use coupled conserved mass equations for each phase and study the dynamics of a multiphase fluid flow as a function of saturation, capillary pressure, permeability, and porosity of the different phases, initial and boundary conditions. To deal with the sharp front originated from the partial differential equations’ nonlinearity and accurately propagate the sharp front of the fluid component, we use a high-resolution shock-capturing method to treat discontinuities due to capillary pressure and permeabilities that depend on the saturation of the three different phases. The main approach to the problem’s numerical solution is based on (full) explicit evolution of the discretized (in-space) variables. Since explicit methods require the time step to be sufficiently small, this condition is very restrictive, particularly for long-time integrations. With the increased computational speed and capacity of today’s multicore computer, it is possible to simulate in detail contaminants’ fate flow using high-performance computing

Can we all be Denmark? The role of civic attitudes in welfare state reforms

Research has demonstrated the economic effectiveness of welfare state reforms that follow the Danish flexicurity model, broadly specifying the combination of highly flexible labor market policies and generous protection schemes. Notwithstanding, it has also been argued that large and generous welfare states may erode civic attitudes, defined here as people’s willingness to cheat on taxes and claim transfers to which they are not entitled. Combining data from all available waves of the World Values Survey and the European Values Study with a self-constructed flexicurity index, this paper finds that welfare state reforms involving a combination of higher benefits, lower labor market regulations, and active labor market policies are not significantly associated with an erosion of civic attitudes

Investigating the migration of immiscible contaminant fluid flow in homogeneous and heterogeneous aquifers with high-precision numerical simulations

Numerical modeling of the migration of three-phase immiscible fluid flow in variably saturated zones is challenging due to the different behavior of the system between unsaturated and saturated zones. This behavior results in the use of different numerical methods for the numerical simulation of the fluid flow depending on whether it is in the unsaturated or saturated zones. This paper shows that using a high-resolution shock-capturing conservative method to resolve the nonlinear governing coupled partial differential equations of a three-phase immiscible fluid flow allows the numerical simulation of the system through both zones providing a unitary vision (and resolution) of the migration of an immiscible contaminant problem within a porous medium. In particular, using different initial scenarios (including impermeable “lenses” in heterogeneous aquifers), three-dimensional numerical simulation results are presented on the temporal evolution of the contaminant migration following the saturation profiles of the three-phases fluids flow in variably saturated zones. It is considered either light nonaqueous phase liquid with a density less than the water, or dense nonaqueous phase liquid, which has densities greater than the water initially released in unsaturated dry soil. Our study shows that the fate of the migration of immiscible contaminants in variably saturated zones can be accurately described, using a unique mathematical conservative model, with different evolution depending on the value of the system’s physical parameters, including the contaminant density, and accurately tracking the evolution of the sharp (shock) contaminant front

The Ecotoxicity Approach as a Tool for Assessing Vermiremediation Effectiveness in Polychlorobiphenyls, Polychlorodibenzo-p-Dioxins and Furans Contaminated Soils

Chemical analyses are inadequate for assessing soil biological quality. Instead, the soil living community can be used both for monitoring and restoring soil health. The aim of this research was to verify vermiremediation efficiency in PCDD/F and PCB contaminated soils from Brescia-Caffaro (Italy), using an ecotoxicity approach. To gauge whether Caffaro soil could sustain a living community, a characterization of the arthropod community was conducted. Earthworms’ suitability for soil bioremediation was assessed applying ecotoxicity tests. Five treatments were set up: 1) contaminated soil; 2) contaminated soil + Eisenia fetida; 3) contaminated soil + Lepidium sativum; 4) contaminated soil + E. fetida + L. sativum, 5) uncontaminated soil + E. fetida. The ecotoxicity tests were: L. sativum germination index and root elongation inhibition, and Folsomia candida survival and reproduction, applied on soil and elutriate on: starter soil (T0), after 56 and 112 days (T56 and T112), the last after water percolation. Soil arthropod community was dominated by Hypogastruridae, Oribatida and, to a lesser degree, Formicidae and Coleoptera larvae. Ecotoxicity tests showed that F. candida reproduction and L. sativum root elongation were more adversely affected by pollutants than survival and germination. The higher soil ecotoxicity at T112 than at T56, suggested higher contaminant bioavailability after water addition. F. candida showed more variability between soil and elutriate than L. sativum. Both bioassays suggested earthworm treatment as the most promising. The importance of selecting different organisms in soil ecotoxicity monitoring, and the role of elutriate like a solid phase complement, was highlighted

How to minimize the environmental contamination caused by hydrocarbon releases by onshore pipelines: The key role of a three-dimensional three-phase fluid flow numerical model

The contamination impact and the migration of the contaminant into the surrounding environment due to the presence of a spilled oil pipeline will cause significant damage to the natural ecosystem. For this reason, it is decisive to develop a rapid response strategy that might include accurate predictions of oil migration trajectories from numerical simulation modeling. In this paper, a three-dimensional model based on a high-resolution shock-capturing conservative method to resolve the nonlinear governing partial differential equations of the migration of a spilled light nonaqueous liquid oil contaminant in a variably saturated zone is employed to investigate the migration of the oil pipeline leakage with great accuracy. The effects on the oil type density, gasoline and diesel oil, the unsaturated zone depth, its saturation, the hydraulic gradient, and the pressure oil pipeline are investigated through the temporal evolution of the contaminant migration following the saturation profiles of the three-phase fluids flow in the variably saturated zone. The calculation results indicate that the leaking oil's pressure is the parameter that significantly affects the contaminants' arrival time to the groundwater table. Also, the water saturation of the unsaturated zone influences the arrival time as the water saturation increases for a fixed depth. The unsaturated zone depth significantly influences the contaminant migration unsaturated zone. At the same time, the oil density and the hydraulic gradient have limited effects on the contaminant migration in the variably saturated zone.Comment: 46 pages, 19 figure

Gender and economy in medieval Milan: the autonomy of lay and religious women in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

In the last hundred years, scholarship has become increasingly aware of the importance of women in medieval history and has covered their lives from a variety of angles. Overall, it has emerged that women often lived in subordination to men and had limited economic and legal agency. However, studies from various parts of Western Europe have identified a large variation in the experience of women across different regions and different points in the medieval period. Depending on the legal system of an area, its economic welfare, and its cultural and religious situation, women could have important economic rights, a central place in family politics, and significant religious freedoms, or they could find themselves completely controlled by men, sidelined in their families, and forced to cloister against their will. Despite the evidence for variation over time and space, many regions and time periods have not received enough attention. In the Italian peninsula, twelfth- and thirteenth-century Milan is the most notable gap. By the end of the thirteenth century, this city had become an economic powerhouse, a central point in international politics, and had experienced significant legal and governmental changes. However, the role of women in the city or how this changed in this turbulent period has not been discussed. This creates a blind spot in our understanding of medieval women, as we largely ignore how they lived in a fundamental city in Southern Europe. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the economic agency lay and religious women had. To do so, this study relies on almost 6,000 parchments from the Archivio di Stato di Milano, which detail the economic transactions and disputes of most Milanese religious institutions of the period. Through this large amount of economic data, this study quantifies how frequently lay women participated in the economy and with what legal and cultural limitations. It focuses on the way abbesses managed the economy of their nunneries compared to the management styles of abbots and other male leaders. It continues with a quantification of the wealth and size of nunneries and male religious institutions, finally finishing with a discussion on the participation of nuns in the economy. This research shows that Milanese women, whether lay or religious, could participate less freely in the economy than men and generally had less wealth. However, abbesses had a great deal of control over the economies of their monasteries, which allowed them to play a large role in the Milanese economy. Among laywomen, widows could act with the greatest independence, but some exceptional examples exist of wives or unmarried women also acting with great freedom. This research therefore confirms that women had limited independence, especially when participating in the economy, but significant exceptions could exist. Furthermore, this research demonstrates the benefit of quantitatively analysing the surviving parchments of ecclesiastical institution to better understand the religious and lay life of a city in the twelfth and thirteenth century

Natural surface hydrocarbons and soil faunal biodiversity: A bioremediation perspective

Hydrocarbon pollution threatens aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems globally, but soil fauna in oil-polluted soils has been insufficiently studied. In this research, soil hydrocarbon toxicity was investigated in two natural oil seepage soils in Val D'Agri (Italy) using two different approaches: (i) toxicological tests with Folsomia candida (Collembola) and Eisenia fetida (Oligochaeta) and (ii) analysis of abundance and composition of micro- and meso-fauna. Soil sampling was done along 20 m-transepts starting from the natural oil seepages. Toxicological testing revealed that no exemplars of F. candida survived, whereas specimens of E. fetida not only survived but also increased in weight in soils with higher PAH concentrations, although no reproduction was observed. Analysis on microfauna showed that Nematoda was the most abundant group, with distance from seepages not affecting its abundance. Arthropoda results showed that Acarina, Collembola and Diptera larvae represented the most abundant taxa. The highest divergence in community composition was found between soils situated near seepages and at 5 m and 10 m distance. Arthropoda taxa numbers, total abundance and Acarina were lower in soils with high PAH concentration, while Diptera larvae were not significantly affected. Earthworms, together with Nematoda and Diptera larvae, could therefore represent ideal candidates in PAH degradation studies