Spring diet of the neotropic cormorant (<i>Phalacrocorax olivaceus</i>) in the Bahía Blanca estuary, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Se describe la dieta del Biguá (<i>Phalacrocorax olivaceus</i>) en un ambiente marino–costero durante la primavera. Pese a ser una especie ampliamente distribuida en Argentina, sus hábitos tróficos han sido escasamente estudiados y, paradójicamente, fue declarada en 1981 como especie dañina o perjudicial en la provincia de Buenos Aires. Se analizaron un total de 200 egagrópilas de adultos y juveniles recolectadas durante cuatro visitas entre 2003 y 2006 en la Isla del Puerto, estuario de Bahía Blanca, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Se identificaron un total de 15 presas, siendo los peces óseos los dominantes en la dieta. La lucerna (<i>Porichthys porosissimus</i>), especie de hábitos bentónicos y sin valor comercial en la zona, fue la presa de mayor frecuencia de ocurrencia.The spring diet of the Neotropic Cormorant (<i>Phalacrocorax olivaceus</i>) in a coastal marine environment is described. This species is widely distributed in Argentina and their trophic habits have been scarcely studied. Paradoxically, in 1981 it was declared a “harmful species” in Buenos Aires Province. A total of 200 pellets from adults and juveniles were collected during four visits between 2003 and 2006 in the del Puerto Island, Bahía Blanca estuary, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. A total of 15 prey items were recorded, with teleosts fishes as the most important items in the diet. The lucerna (<i>Porichthys porosissimus</i>), a benthic toadfish with no commercial value in this zone, was the most frequent prey

A prospective observational study comparing a non-operator dependent automatic PWV analyser to pulse pressure, in assessing arterial stiffness in hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) accelerates vascular stiffening related to age. Arterial stiffness may be evaluated measuring the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) or more simply, as recommended by KDOQI, monitoring pulse pressure (PP). Both correlate to survival and incidence of cardiovascular disease. PWV can also be estimated on the brachial artery using a Mobil-O-Graph; a non-operator dependent automatic device. The aim was to analyse whether, in a dialysis population, PWV obtained by Mobil-O-Graph (MogPWV) is more sensitive for vascular aging than PP. METHODS: A cohort of 143 patients from 4 dialysis units has been followed measuring MogPWV and PP every 3 to 6 months and compared to a control group with the same risk factors but an eGFR &gt; 30 ml/min. RESULTS: MogPWV contrarily to PP did discriminate the dialysis population from the control group. The mean difference translated in age between the two populations was 8.4 years. The increase in MogPWV, as a function of age, was more rapid in the dialysis group. 13.3% of the dialysis patients but only 3.0% of the control group were outliers for MogPWV. The mortality rate (16 out of 143) was similar in outliers and inliers (7.4 and 8.0%/year). Stratifying patients according to MogPWV, a significant difference in survival was seen. A high parathormone (PTH) and to be dialysed for a hypertensive nephropathy were associated to a higher baseline MogPWV. CONCLUSIONS: Assessing PWV on the brachial artery using a Mobil-O-Graph is a valid and simple alternative, which, in the dialysis population, is more sensitive for vascular aging than PP. As demonstrated in previous studies PWV correlates to mortality. Among specific CKD risk factors only PTH is associated with a higher baseline PWV. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02327962

Stream Ecosystems and Terrestrial Resources: a Temporal Perspective on Detritus Cycling and Keystone Shredders

Freshwater streams are fascinating habitats that not only host a striking diversity of animals, plants and microbes, but also fulfill a series of complex functions that are ultimately necessary for the sustenance of life as we know it. Streams are tightly interwoven with the surrounding terrestrial matrix, as flows of organisms, material and energy repeatedly cross the boundaries between these two markedly distinct ecosystems. A key resource connecting the terrestrial realm to the aquatic one is leaf litter. Abscised yearly in temperate climates, leaf litter is the food source of a complex community of stream detritivores, which, in turn, decompose this plant detritus ensuring the cycling of the nutrients and carbon therein. In this thesis, I explored the linkages between stream and land by investigating key flows within and across ecosystems that are associated with the cycling of leaf litter. Using a combination of field and laboratory methods, extensive timeframes and spatial replication, I identified distinct temporal signatures in the magnitude and quality of leaf litter flows and in the assemblage of dominant detritivores, freshwater amphipods. Specifically, I first demonstrate the influence of land use in shaping the temporal dynamics of amphipod assemblages. Thanks to multiple field campaigns spanning 8 years and covering 12 small freshwater streams, I found that agricultural landscapes are associated with more pronounced temporal changes in assemblages, which suggests a destabilization effect of anthropogenic activities and highlights the susceptibility of stream communities to terrestrial land use. Second, I used a mesocosm laboratory experiment to illustrate nutrient stoichiometry changes in leaf litter throughout a year of aquatic microbial decomposition, and show how the duration of this decomposition affects the subsequent shredding activity of amphipods. I provide evidence that, in comparison to labile leaf litter, recalcitrant litter can not only store higher absolute amounts of nutrients in the system over longer time periods, but also peak in palatability at a later time. Third, I investigated the seasonal patterns of leaf litter decomposition by conducting 10 consecutive 6-weeks aquatic and 10 consecutive 12-weeks terrestrial decomposition assays at two small freshwater stream catchments. The results validate the marked temperature control on in-stream decomposition and the influence of precipitations on terrestrial decomposition, but they also suggest underlying effects of the temporal changes in the viability of in-situ litter. This draws attention to the need to account for the whole ecosystem phenology and not only abiotic variables in order to understand the cycling of leaf litter within and across ecosystems. Lastly, I provide a temporally resolved and empirically derived overview of key flows that control the intra-annual cycling of leaf litter within and across the stream-forest meta-ecosystem. I show the clear seasonal patterns of plant litter inputs to terrestrial and aquatic systems, the hydrological dynamics linked to precipitation events, and the general stability of the macroinvertebrate community structure, emphasizing the urgency of achieving a more holistic understanding of the temporal interdependency of these processes. My thesis offers an in-depth examination of leaf litter flows and detritivore dynamics across time and uses the knowledge acquired through the individual investigations—i.e. chapters—to build a more comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted stream-terrestrial linkages. In particular, this work sheds light on often-overlooked temporal and phenological trajectories that drive the magnitude and quality of plant litter flows, therefore advocating for a better integration of the temporal dimension in future research. In a time of increasing anthropogenic stressors, land use conversions and climate change, the flows connecting aquatic and terrestrial realms and their temporal synchrony are bound to be transformed, with critical and cascading consequences for the overall functioning of both ecosystems. Therefore, we urgently need a more resolved understanding of the drivers, mechanisms and interactions underlying these flows to recognize and hinder their degradation or at least mitigate the consequences of it

A study on Bagging-Voronoi algorithm for tampering localization

LAUREA MAGISTRALENegli ultimi anni è diventato sempre più facile modificare il contenuto di un'immagine. Per questo motivo è stato necessario, da parte della comunità forense, sviluppare delle tecniche in grado di determinare l'autenticità delle immagini. Lo scopo di questa tesi è quella di proporre una nuova tecnica per la risoluzione del problema di ricerca di modifiche in immagini, ovvero l'algoritmo Bagging-Voronoi, tecnica originariamente sviluppata da Secchi, Vantini e Vitelli per dati spazialmente dipendenti. Ci concentreremo sulla ricerca di condizioni di ottimalità in corrispondenza delle quali la sua accuratezza di classificazione è massima. Quello che otterremo è che prese le singole immagini è assai difficile trovare a priori i parametri ottimali poiché ogni immagine presenta caratteristiche differenti, come la dimensione dell'immagine o dell'area modificata. Proporremo poi qualche miglioramento, cercando di sfruttare al meglio tutte le informazioni possibili che abbiamo sui dati in ingresso. Scopriremo che conoscendo la geometria dei dati (ovvero in che modo sono stati costruiti i dati) e utilizzando questa informazione nell'algoritmo Bagging-Voronoi, otterremo risultati decisamente migliori, sebbene rimangono alcune immagini per le quali non si ottengono i risultati sperati. L'algoritmo e tutte le analisi sono state svolte con l'utilizzo di R.In the last decades, it's always become easier to modify an image. For this reason the forensic community has dedicated significant attention to the development of image authenticity verification algorithms. The aim of this thesis is to propose a new technique to solve the tampering localization problem, using the Bagging-Voronoi algorithm. This algorithm was originally developed by Secchi, Vantini and Vitelli for spatial dependents data. We will focus on the investigation of the optimal parameters under which the algorithm gives us the best results in a real-case tampering localization scenario. We will see that looking at a single image it's very difficult to find a priori, the optimal parameters, since any image has different characteristics, as the dimension of the whole image and the dimension of the tampered area. Then we will propose some improvements, trying to exploit all the possible information we have about the input data. We will notice that knowing the geometry of our data, and using this information in the Bagging-Voronoi algorithm, we will obtain much better results, while there are some images for which it's difficult to obtain the expected good results. The algorithm and all the analysis are done using R

Spatiotemporal dynamics in freshwater amphipod assemblages are associated with surrounding terrestrial land use type

Biological assemblages are the result of dynamic processes that have explicit temporal and spatial dimensions. Although biodiversity patterns can be directly inferred from the structure of these assemblages, an assessment of changes through time and space is needed to understand how organisms initially assembled and how they are responding to local environmental and biotic factors. Small freshwater streams are particularly affected by contemporary anthropogenic activities and biological invasions, yet they are commonly less studied, as studies often focus on lakes and large streams. Here, we conducted a spatially explicit analysis of keystone shredder assemblages across eight years in 12 replicated small tributary streams. In each stream, we monitored multiple sites per kilometer of stream length. By assessing temporal beta diversity dynamics, defined by the gain or loss of species or abundance per species at individual sites, we show that changes in amphipod assemblages occur within the context of the surrounding terrestrial matrix and reflect recent amphipod colonization history. While amphipod composition was mostly constant in streams located in forested catchments, streams embedded in catchments with more extensive agricultural land use displayed more pronounced temporal changes, either driven by colonization of unoccupied upstream locations or by more pronounced but undirected fluctuations in gains and losses of species or abundance per species. Our study thus suggests that agricultural landscapes might destabilize aquatic amphipod assemblages, causing higher temporal changes in community structures and highlighting the vulnerability of aquatic ecosystems to terrestrial land use drivers

Resistance of Dynamin-related Protein 1 Oligomers to Disassembly Impairs Mitophagy, Resulting in Myocardial Inflammation and Heart Failure

We have reported previously that a missense mutation in the mitochondrial fission gene Dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) underlies the Python mouse model of monogenic dilated cardiomyopathy. The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of the C452F mutation on Drp1 protein function and to define the cellular sequelae leading to heart failure in the Python monogenic dilated cardiomyopathy model. We found that the C452F mutation increased Drp1 GTPase activity. The mutation also conferred resistance to oligomer disassembly by guanine nucleotides and high ionic strength solutions. In a mouse embryonic fibroblast model, Drp1 C452F cells exhibited abnormal mitochondrial morphology and defective mitophagy. Mitochondria in C452F mouse embryonic fibroblasts were depolarized and had reduced calcium uptake with impaired ATP production by oxidative phosphorylation. In the Python heart, we found a corresponding progressive decline in oxidative phosphorylation with age and activation of sterile inflammation. As a corollary, enhancing autophagy by exposure to a prolonged low-protein diet improved cardiac function in Python mice. In conclusion, failure of Drp1 disassembly impairs mitophagy, leading to a downstream cascade of mitochondrial depolarization, aberrant calcium handling, impaired ATP synthesis, and activation of sterile myocardial inflammation, resulting in heart failure

Motovun District in the Cadastre of Francis I.: features, economic situation and analysis of agrarian structure

Analiza bogate dokumentacije Državnoga arhivu u Trstu, nastale između 1818. i 1840. tijekom prve sustavne katastarske izmjere i ustroja Stabilnoga katastra Franje I. u ukupno 19 katastarskih općina sjeverne i središnje Istre koje su tada činile kotar Motovun, daje uvid u njihove zajedničke značajke i specifičnosti. Te su općine bile administrativno organizirane u tri glavne općine s ukupno 16 podopćina (Motovun i podopćine Brkač, Kaldir, Karojba, Muntrilj, Novaki, Rakotule, Sovišćina, Zumesk, Višnjan, Bačva, Sv. Ivan od Šterne i Sv. Vital; Oprtalj i podopćine Zrenj i Čepić; Vižinada i podopćine Kaštelir i Labinci); sjedište političke i sudbene vlasti bilo je u Motovunu, dok su crkvene institucije bile podložne Porečkoj ili Novigradskoj biskupiji. Godine 1827. kotar Motovun broji 11.564 duša, 2767 obitelji i 2024 stambenih građevina; pučku školu imaju samo glavne općine; prevladava opća nepismenost. Od 28.704,74 ha ukupne površine Kotara čak 27.777,88 ha (96,77 %) je plodno zemljište koje je, uz pokoji zanemariv izuzetak, obrađeno u cjelini. Od četiriju (iznimno pet) klasa plodnosti plodnoga zemljišta, prevladavaju zemljišta nižih klasa. Čak 70 % produktivnoga zemljišta je poljoprivredno zemljište, a preostalih je 30 % šumsko, koje uključuje Motovunsku šumu od 1671,71 ha. U Kotaru je zabilježena koegzistencija višeetničkoga stanovništva; primarna mu je aktivnost bila poljoprivreda tradicionalnoga tipa plodoredom i plodosmjenama različitih dužina, kojoj slijedi sječa šuma. Poljoprivredne i šumske površine obrađivane su u režimu nedostatnoga broja kako krupne, tako sitne stoke i konzekventno nedostatnoga stajskoga gnoja. Za oranje i prijevoz zaprežnim kolima uz volove se često zaprežu krave, a za prijevoz se rabe i magarci i konji. Mnoge poljoprivredne obitelji teško se opskrbljuju ogrjevnim drvom i drvom neophodnim za poljoprivredne aktivnosti; taj problem bilježe i vrlo šumovite katastarske općine, čije su šume djelomično ili u cjelini u državnom vlasništvu. Premda Kotarom protječu rijeka Mirna i njezin pritok Butoniga, koji su bogati vodom, vodoopskrba je kronično nedostatna: ti vodotokovi dijelom su državnoga dobra Motovunska šuma, a ostali vodni tokovi ne zadovoljavaju potrebe poljoprivrednih domaćinstava i poljoprivrede. Od elementarnih nepogoda najpogubnije su suša i tuča. Kotar nema vlastito tržište pa se prodaja malobrojnih tržišnih viškova, prije svega vinogradarstva, a manje od sječe šuma, obavlja izvan njegovih granica, osobito na porečkom tržištu. Izuzev dobro održavane poštanske ceste Trst – Pula, prometnice su loše, najčešće zapuštene, a za kišnoga vremena pretvaraju se u vodotokove. Mnoge su poljoprivredne obitelji imale u vlasništvu zemljišta terećena raznim feudalnim nametima, dok druge obrađuju zemlju veleposjednika pod teškim uvjetima kolonatskih ugovora. Uvjeti pribavljanja egzistencijalnoga minimuma općenito su teški, a u nekim katastarskim općinama ekstremno teški.Lʼanalisi della ricca documentazione presente nellʼArchivio di Stato di Trieste e relativa al Catasto franceschino allestito tra il 1818 e il 1840 per i 19 comuni catastali dellʼIstria settentrionale e centrale facenti parte di quello che allʼepoca fu il Distretto di Montona, ha permesso di definire caratteristiche comuni e specificità dei comuni stessi. Detti comuni erano organizzati amministrativamente in 3 capocomuni e 16 sottocomuni (Montona con: S. Pancrazio [Bercaz], Caldier, Caroiba, Montreo, Novacco, Raccotole, Sovischine, Zumesco, Visignano, Mondellebotte, S. Giovanni della Cisterna e S. Vitale; Portole con: Stridone [Sdregna] e Ceppich; Visinada con: Castellier e S. Domenica); lʼautorità politica e quella giudiziaria erano insediate a Montona mentre le istituzioni ecclesiastiche sottostavano rispettivamente alla Diocesi di Parenzo e a quella di Cittanova. Nel 1827 il Distretto di Montona contava 11.564 anime, 2767 nuclei famigliari e 2024 edifici ad uso abitativo. Solo i comuni amministrativi avevano una scuola pubblica; lʼanalfabetismo strumentale era pressoché totale. Della superficie totale del Distretto, calcolata in 28.704,74 ha, ben 27.777,88 ha (96,77 %) erano considerati terreni produttivi e, fatte salve trascurabili eccezioni, tutti coltivati. Delle quattro (raramente cinque) classi di fertilità del terreno produttivo, prevalevano quelle minori. Il 70 % del terreno produttivo era ad uso agricolo, mentre il rimanente 30 % erano boschi, ivi compreso il Bosco di Montona con una superficie complessiva di 1.641,71 ha. Nel Distretto conviveva una popolazione multietnica la cui attività principale era lʼagricoltura di tipo tradizionale con rotazione colturale in cicli di diversa durata; per importanza segue il taglio dei boschi. Le attività sono svolte in regime di insufficienza sia di bestiame di grosso taglio che di quello minuto e della conseguente scarsità di letame. Per aratura e trasporto con i carri, in mancanza dei buoi, si ricorreva spesso alle mucche; per il trasporto a soma ad asini e cavalli. Molte famiglie agricole faticavano a rifornirsi di legna da ardere e di legno per le attività agricole; il problema sussisteva anche in taluni comuni catastali altamente boschivi in quanto la maggior parte dei boschi, se non tutti, erano di proprietà demaniale. Sebbene attraverso il Distretto scorrano le abbondanti acque del fiume Quieto e dellʼaffluente Bottonega, la carenza idrica era una costante in quanto i corsi dʼacqua menzionati erano parte del Bosco demaniale di Montona; con i corsi dʼacqua minori non si arrivava a coprire il fabbisogno dei nuclei familiari e ancor meno dellʼagricoltura. Delle avversità climatiche, le più devastanti erano la siccità e la grandine. Il Distretto non aveva un proprio mercato, quindi le poche eccedenze, derivanti principalmente dalla viticoltura e, in misura minore, dal taglio dei boschi, venivano vendute fuori Distretto, soprattutto al mercato di Parenzo. Ad eccezione della strada postale Trieste – Pola, le vie di comunicazione interne erano trascurate e diventavano corsi dʼacqua nei periodi piovosi. Molte famiglie agricole erano in possesso di terre sulle quali gravavano svariati tributi feudali; altri coltivavano le terre altrui alle dure condizioni del contratto colonico. Le condizioni per raggiungere il minimo di sussistenza erano generalmente difficili e in alcuni comuni catastali estremamente difficili.An analysis of the rich documentation of the State Archives in Trieste, created between 1818 and 1840 during the first systematic cadastral survey and organization of the Stable Cadastre of Francis I in the total of 19 cadastral municipalities of northern and central Istria that then formed the district of Motovun, gives an insight into their common features and specifics. These municipalities were administratively organized into three main municipalities with a total of 16 sub-municipalities (Motovun and the sub-municipalities of Brkač, Kaldir, Karojba, Muntrilj, Novaki, Rakotule, Sovišćina, Zumesk, Višnjan, Bačva, Sveti Ivan od Šterne and Sveti Vital; Oprtalj and sub-municipalities of Zrenj and Čepić, Vižinada and sub-municipalities of Kaštelir and Labinci); the seat of political and judicial power was in Motovun, while church institutions were subjects of the Diocese of Poreč or Novigrad. In 1827, the district of Motovun had 11 564 souls, 2767 families and 2024 residential buildings; only the main municipalities had public schools; general illiteracy prevailed. Of the 28.704,74 ha of the total area of the district, as much as 27.777,88 ha (96,77%) is fertile land, which, with a few negligible exceptions, is wholly cultivated. Out of the four (exceptionally five) fertility classes of fertile land, lower class lands predominate. As much as 70% of the productive land is agricultural land, and the remaining 30% is forest, which includes the Motovun 1671,71 ha forest. Coexistence of multi-ethnic population was recorded in district; its primary activity was traditional type agriculture with crop rotations of different lengths, followed by forest cutting. Agricultural and forest areas were cultivated under the regime of insufficient numbers of both large and small livestock and, consequently, insufficient manure quantity. For ploughing and cart transport, cows were often used due to a lack of oxen, whereas donkeys and horses were used for transport. Many agricultural families found it difficult to obtain firewood and wood necessary for agricultural activities; this problem was also denoted by heavily forested cadastral municipalities, whose forests are partly or entirely state-owned. Although the river Mirna and its tributary Butoniga flowed through the district, both rich in water, the water supply was chronically insufficient: these water flows were parts of the state property Motovun Forest, and other water flows did not meet the needs of agricultural households and agriculture. Of the natural disasters, drought and hail were the most devastating. The district did not have its own market, so the sale of the few market surpluses, primarily from viticulture, and less from forest cutting, was done outside its borders, especially on the Poreč market. With the exception of the well-maintained postal road Trieste – Pula, the roads were bad, mostly neglected, and in rainy weather they turned into water streams. Many agricultural families owned land burdened with various feudal levies, while others cultivated the land of the landlord under the harsh conditions of serflike contracts. The conditions for obtaining the subsistence minimum were generally difficult, and in some cadastral municipalities extremely difficult

Prefectorial decrees published by the Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d’Italia and the compulsory italianization of the surnames present in the Nuove Province with a focus on the Istrian province

L’italianizzazione forzata dei cognomi, parte del più ampio programma di snazionalizzazione delle minoranze nelle Nuove Province (Trento, Bolzano, Trieste, Istria, Gorizia, Fiume, Zara) avviato dallo Stato italiano nel primo dopoguerra, fu legalizzata per mezzo di leggi e decreti votati appositamente dal giovane governo fascista e implementata con l’istituzione, presso le prefetture di ogni provincia, di commissioni responsabili per la compilazione di elenchi contenenti i cognomi ritenuti non italiani e le loro rispettive forme sostitutive. L’iter, non sempre rispettato, prevedeva il cambiamento del cognome su domanda del capofamiglia (con l’affissione sul rispettivo albo comunale) oppure per imposizione della prefettura. Dopodiché, il cambiamento veniva pronunciato con un decreto del Prefetto della Provincia, notificato agli interessati, pubblicato nella Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d’Italia ed annotato nei registri dello stato civile. La ricerca qui esposta ha considerato e analizzato numericamente tutti i decreti di cambiamento di cognome pubblicati nella Gazzetta Ufficiale. Poiché lo Stato italiano non sempre adempì all’obbligo di pubblicare tutti i decreti, il risultato ottenuto non può che essere incompleto. Nondimeno testimonia una vera e propria ossessione onomastica che coinvolse centinaia di migliaia di individui. Infine, un’analisi più dettagliata dei decreti emessi dalla Prefettura di Pola dimostra quanta e quale fu la mobilitazione dell’apparato del potere che, dietro il dichiarato desiderio di “recupero dei cognomi originari italiani o latini”, perpetrava quello che la storiografia definirà come “genocidio culturale” e “onomasticidio di Stato”.Prisilna talijanizacija prezimena, kao dio širega programa denacionalizacije manjina u Novim pokrajinama (Trento, Bolzano, Trst, Istra, Gorica, Rijeka, Zadar) koji je talijanska država pokrenula nakon Prvoga svjetskog rata, legalizirana je zakonima i uredbama koje je mlada fašistička vlada posebno izglasala i implementirala kroz instituciju povjerenstava, nazočnih u prefekturi svake pokrajine i odgovornih za sastavljanje popisa svih prezimena koja nisu bila smatrana talijanskima te njihovih odgovarajućih zamjenskih oblika. Postupak, koji se nije uvijek poštivao, predviđao je promjenu prezimena na zahtjev glave obitelji (uz objavu na općinskoj oglasnoj ploči) ili bi ju nametnula prefektura. Nakon toga, promjena bi bila proglašena uredbom provincijskoga prefekta, zainteresirane strane bi bile obaviještene, a promjena bi se objavila u Gazzetti Ufficiale del Regno d’Italia i zapisala u matične knjige. Istraživanje je uzelo u obzir i numerički analiziralo sve uredbe o promjeni prezimena objavljenih u Gazzetti Ufficiale. Budući da talijanska država nije uvijek objavljivala sve uredbe o promjeni prezimena, dobiveni su rezultati nepotpuni, no svejedno svjedoče o pravoj onomastičkoj opsesiji koja je zahvatila stotine tisuća pojedinaca. Na kraju, podrobnija analiza dekreta koje je izdala Prefektura u Puli pokazuje kolika i kakva je bila mobilizacija državnoga aparata koji je, pod krinkom izražene želje za „obnavljanjem izvornih talijanskih ili latinskih prezimena“, počinio ono što će historiografija zabilježiti kao „kulturni genocid“ i „državni onomastički genocid“.The denationalization plan of the minorities living in the Nuove Province (Trento, Bolzano, Trieste/Trst, Istria/Istra, Gorizia/Gorica, Fiume/Rijeka, Zara/Zadar) was started by the Italian State in the aftermath of World War I and comprised the compulsory Italianization of surnames. The latter process was legalized by means of laws and decrees passed by the new fascist government. In each provincial prefecture, committees were established to put together a register recording all surnames considered non-Italian along with their respective substitutive forms. The formal procedure, with which it was not always complied, required that a request for surname change either came from the head of the household (by posting it on the City Hall bulletin board) or from the prefecture by imposition. Afterwards, the change was declared valid with a decree signed by the Province Prefect, notified to the individual involved, published on the Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d’Italia, and recorded in the civil registry. In the present work, we considered and numerically analyzed all decrees concerning a surname change and published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale. Since the Italian State not always complied with the obligation to publish all decrees, our results cannot be complete. Nonetheless, they attest to the sheer onomastic obsession that affected hundreds of thousands of individuals. Lastly, a more detailed analysis of the decrees issued by the Pola/Pula Prefecture shows to what extent the dominant power was engaged in this process. Behind the stated desire to recover the original Italian and Latin surnames, the fascist regime was in fact perpetrating what historiography later called “cultural genocide” and “State onomasticide”

Seasonal dynamics of detritus flows and decomposition across ecosystem boundaries

Material fluxes are ubiquitous in nature within and across ecosystems, connecting habitats with vastly different characteristics, like forests to rivers and lakes.1–3 Although individual fluxes and their cascading effects are well known,4–6 very few studies address the intra-annual phenology of ecosystem processes, despite the pronounced seasonality of fluxes. Here, we empirically quantified and resolved fluxes of recalcitrant and labile types of leaf litter in temperate riparian forests and streams across a year, representing one of the most emblematic examples of seasonal systems. We quantified intra-annual variation in litter inputs from terrestrial plants to forest floors and streams and estimated aquatic and terrestrial decomposition rates across the year at 6-week intervals. Our data show that the autumn pulse of leaf litter is complemented by smaller magnitude but more constant-through-the-year lateral flows to the stream ecosystems. Decomposition of labile litter fluctuated seasonally, on a different phenology, with generally higher rates in summer, but rates of recalcitrant litter decomposition remained largely constant. Microorganisms were the main contributors to the decomposition process in both forests and streams. Overall, our work highlights the asynchronous and seasonally variable changes in decomposition rates between recalcitrant and labile detritus despite their initial synchronized availability and suggests that the dominating presence of recalcitrant litter buffers ecosystem responses to the concentrated temporal distribution of litter resources.7,8 Investigating such ecological processes both across ecosystem borders and at fine intra-annual resolutions is imperative to understand complex system responses in the context of species’ shifts in phenologies and resource quality.9–1