Search results for "River"

A knowledge-based exploratory framework to study quality of Italian mobile telecommunication services

2017

A novel two-step knowledge-based exploratory framework is proposed in this paper for studying quality of Italian Mobile Telecommunication Services (MTSs). Particularly, the Delphi technique is initially considered to finalize an overall quality structure of MTSs features, indicators and drivers, herein described on the basis of a comprehensive review of the fundamental references for the field, and also to select the key elements with reference to the Italian context. At the second step, selected key elements are prioritized via the Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) method according to viewpoints of the fundamental stakeholders for the sector. Furthermore, possible uncertainty and ambigui…

The Use of Experts Panels in ERP Cost Estimation Research

2011

Published version of a chapter in the book: Enterprise information systems. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16419-4_10 This paper is an effort towards illustrating the use of expert panel (EP) as a mean of eliciting knowledge from a group of enterprise resource planning (ERP) experts as an exploratory research. The development of a cost estimation model (CEM) for ERP adoptions is very crucial for research and practice, and that was the main reason behind the willingness of experts to participate in this research. The use of EP was very beneficial as it involved various data collection and visualisation techniques, as well as…

Combining multi-typologies landslide susceptibility maps: a case study for the Visso area (central Italy)

2023

The research proposes a simple but geomorphologically adequate method to produce a combined landslide susceptibility map. In fact, in a logic of real use, offering type-specific landslide susceptibility maps to land use planners and administration could be not a successful solution. On the other hand, the simple grouping of more types of landslides could be misleading for model calibration considering that the relationships between slope failures and geo-environmental predictors should be conveyed by the abundance of each type of landslide resulting not specific and diagnostic for each typology. In this test, after having produced independent models for flow, slide and complex landslide by …

Short-term occupations at high elevation during the Middle Paleolithic at Kalavan 2 (Republic of Armenia).

2021

The Armenian highlands encompasses rugged and environmentally diverse landscapes and is characterized by a mosaic of distinct ecological niches and large temperature gradients. Strong seasonal fluctuations in resource availability along topographic gradients likely prompted Pleistocene hominin groups to adapt by adjusting their mobility strategies. However, the role that elevated landscapes played in hunter-gatherer settlement systems during the Late Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic [MP]) remains poorly understood. At 1640 m above sea level, the MP site of Kalavan 2 (Armenia) is ideally positioned for testing hypotheses involving elevation-dependent seasonal mobility and subsistence strateg…

Phytoplankton in the Physical Environment

2010

Driver mutations and differential sensitivity to targeted therapies: a new approach to the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma

2010

The adenocarcinoma of the lung has recently shown peculiar molecular characteristics, which relate with both carcinogenesis and response to targeted drugs. Several molecular alterations have been defined as "driver mutations". These are responsible for both the initiation and maintenance of the malignancy. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway is the main regulator of cell function and cancer development. It has a widely defined role in the occurrence of driver mutations. Up till now EGFR gene mutations, KRAS gene mutations and EML4-ALK fusion genes are the most widely recognized alterations involved in both the biology and the clinical management of lung adenocarcinoma. In th…

Determination of organic and inorganic mercury species in water and sediment samples by HPLC on-line coupled with ICP-MS.

2009

This paper describes a preconcentration method for Hg(2+) and MeHg(+) in water samples using sodium diethyldithiocarbamate immobilized in polyurethane foam (PU-NaDDC) and an extraction method for several mercury species in sediment samples, including MeHg(+), EtHg(+) and PhHg(+), which is simple, rapid, and uses a single organic solvent. Separation and measurement were done by high-performance liquid chromatography on-line with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP-MS). Initially, the test of recovery was applied using procedures compatible with HPLC. Under the optimum extraction conditions, recoveries of 96.7, 96.3 and 97.3% were obtained for MeHg(+), EtHg(+), and PhHg(+),…

Water dynamics and its role in structural hysteresis of dissolved organic matter

2016

Knowledge of structural dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is of paramount importance for understanding DOM stability and role in the fate of solubilized organic and inorganic compounds (e.g., nutrients and pollutants), either in soils or aquatic systems. In this study, fast field cycling (FFC) (1)H NMR relaxometry was applied to elucidate structural dynamics of terrestrial DOM, represented by two structurally contrasting DOM models such as Suwanee River (SRFA) and Pahokee peat (PPFA) fulvic acids purchased by the International Humic Substance Society. Measurement of NMR relaxation rate of water protons in heating-cooling cycles revealed structural hysteresis in both fulvic acids. I…

Detection of a synthetic sex steroid in the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus): Evidence for a novel environmental androgen

2017

Endocrine-disrupting contaminants (EDC's) are well known to alter sexual differentiation among vertebrates via estrogenic effects during development, particularly in organisms characterized by temperature-dependent sex determination. However, substances producing androgenic effects typically lack potency when tested in laboratory settings and are virtually unstudied in field settings. Here, we assay levels of a synthetic androgen, 17a-methyltestosterone (MT), in a heavily male-biased population of American crocodiles in the Tempisque River Basin of Costa Rica based on the recent hypothesis that this chemical is an EDC in developing crocodilian embryos. The presence of MT was documented in a…

Successive Invasion-Mediated Interspecific Hybridizations and Population Structure in the Endangered Cichlid Oreochromis mossambicus.

2013

Hybridization between invasive and native species accounts among the major and pernicious threats to biodiversity. The Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus, a widely used freshwater aquaculture species, is especially imperiled by this phenomenon since it is recognized by the IUCN as an endangered taxon due to genetic admixture with O. niloticus an invasive congeneric species. The Lower Limpopo and the intermittent Changane River (Mozambique) drain large wetlands of potentially great importance for conservation of O. mossambicus, but their populations have remained unstudied until today. Therefore we aimed (1) to estimate the autochthonous diversity and population structure among genet…