Search results for "feature"
showing 10 items of 4091 documents
TRAVELLING TOWARDS AND FROM MINOR ISLANDS THROUGH NON-CONVENTIONAL AIR TRANSPORT: DEMAND AND COST ANALYSIS
2010
This research addresses the role of innovative forms of passenger air transport in favouring mobility of tourists visiting minor islands. In particular, we studied the feasibility of scheduled transport services using helicopter and seaplane for connecting Sicily in the south of Italy, to the near and very attractive Eolie Islands rapidly. In order to estimate the potential service demand, we allowed for the number of tourists arriving in the Eolie Archipelago during the period 1999-2008. In detail, we considered only the market of visitors with a high willingness-to-pay for time savings (individuals choosing superior hotels) coming from origins at least 300 km away from the Eolie Islands. …
Discovering web services in social web service repositories using deep variational autoencoders
2020
Abstract Web Service registries have progressively evolved to social networks-like software repositories. Users cooperate to produce an ever-growing, rich source of Web APIs upon which new value-added Web applications can be built. Such users often interact in order to follow, comment on, consume and compose services published by other users. In this context, Web Service discovery is a core functionality of modern registries as needed Web Services must be discovered before being consumed or composed. Many efforts to provide effective keyword-based service discovery mechanisms are based on Information Retrieval techniques as services are described using structured or unstructured textdocumen…
Low Dose-Rate, High Total Dose Set-Up for Rad-Hard CMOS I/O Circuits Testing
2017
In this paper, the planning of low dose-rate, high total dose testing campaign for I/O circuits is reported. In particular, the paper describes all development steps, starting from the rad-hard I/O circuits design and the implementation of the test-chip, which is meant to allow comparative testing between rad-hard and standard devices. The designed experimental setup permits in situ measurements, therefore the circuits behavior can be remotely monitored for very long periods. This feature enables low dose-rate testing up to very high dose.
Modeling musical attributes to characterize ensemble recordings using rhythmic audio features
2011
In this paper, we present the results of a pre-study on music performance analysis of ensemble music. Our aim is to implement a music classification system for the description of live recordings, for instance to help musicologist and musicians to analyze improvised ensemble performances. The main problem we deal with is the extraction of a suitable set of audio features from the recorded instrument tracks. Our approach is to extract rhythm-related audio features and to apply them for regression-based modeling of eight more general musical attributes. The model based on Partial Least-Squares Regression without preceding Principal Component Analysis performed best for all of the eight attribu…
The agricultural heritage of Lampedusa (Pelagie Archipelago, South Italy) and its key role for cultivar and wildlife conservation
2011
As occurred on many other little Mediterranean islands, agricultural activity at Lampedusa (Strait of Sicily) underwent a very strong decline in terms of surface area during the second half of the last century. In particular, cereal crops have ceased and horticulture is disappearing, while vineyards still occupy a reduced area but are quickly vanishing and currently survive thanks to a small number of old farmers. Here are presented the results of a research carried out by interviewing seven farmers in order to study not only the techniques and the germplasm used in local viticulture, but also the final use of grapes and an evaluation on the connection between traditional farming and agro-e…
Grassland fire effect on soil organic carbon reservoirs in a semiarid environment
2013
Abstract. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of an experimental fire used for grassland management on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. The study was carried out on Hyparrhenia hirta (L.) Stapf (Hh) grassland and Ampelodesmos mauritanicus (Desf.) T. Durand & Schinz (Am) grasslands located in the north of Sicily. Soil samples were collected at 0–5 cm before and after the experimental fire, and SOC was measured. During the grassland fire, soil surface temperature was monitored. Biomass of both grasses was analysed in order to determine dry weight and its chemical composition. The results showed that SOC varied significantly with vegetation type, while it is not affecte…
Fitting the Stocking Rate with Pastoral Resources to Manage and Preserve Mediterranean Forestlands: A Case Study
2015
Pasture practices have affected Mediterranean forest ecosystems for millennia, and they are still quite widespread in mountainous areas. Nevertheless, in the last decades, the stability of forest ecosystems has been jeopardized due to the abandonment of traditional agro-pastoral practices, so that the gradual reduction of open areas due to progressive succession processes has caused a high increase of grazing pressure by livestock and wild ungulates feeding on forest areas. This paper aims at showing a methodological approach for evaluating the effect of applying measures in order to improve the grazing value of grasslands and ecotonal patches and lower the grazing impact on native woodland…
Modifications over time of volatile compounds in coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.)
2007
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is an annual strongly-smelling herb belonging to the family Apiaceae, which is cultivated all over the world for its aromatic fruits (“seeds”) and, in many Asiatic and South American countries, for its green leaves. The aromatic features of leaves and fruits are sharply different, and the strong smell coming from leaves (many times referred to as a “bug” scent) is not always pleasant to many consumers from western countries. In our work, one Coriander small-seeded biotype has been grown in plastic covered greenhouses, and at given time intervals samples of leaves, flowers and fruits have been analyzed by means of HS-SPME and GC-MS to study the evolution ove…
Different key roles of mesoscale oceanographic structures and ocean bathymetry in shaping larval fish distribution pattern: A case study in Sicilian …
2016
Fish larvae data collected in year 2009 were used to examine the effects of particular environmental conditions on the structure of larvalassemblages in two oligotrophic Mediterranean areas (the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea and the Strait of Sicily). For this purpose, relationships with environmental variables (temperature, salinity and fluorescence), zooplankton biomass, water circulation and bathymetry are discussed. Hydrodynamic conditions resulted very differently between two study areas. The Southern Tyrrhenian Sea was characterized by moderate shallow circulation compared to the Strait of Sicily. In this framework, distribution pattern of larval density in the Tyrrhenian Sea was mainly dri…
Past cover modulates the intense and spatially structured natural regeneration of woody vegetation in a pastureland
2020
Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T02:34:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-03-01 Università degli Studi di Palermo Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca Vegetation natural regeneration after agricultural abandonment is changing the landscape patterns in many areas worldwide. However, the expansion rate, spatio-temporal dynamics, and the role of past vegetation cover in shaping such patterns are still barely quantified in fine and meso scales. Here, we aim to quantify the expansion rate and assess the spatio-temporal patterns and the effects of past cover on natural woody vegetation cover increase. We sampled woodland and shrubland cover from …