AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022025
F. Lugeri, B. Aldighieri, P. Farabollini, Fabrizio Bendia, A. Cardillo
{"title":"Territorial knowledge and cartographic evolution","authors":"F. Lugeri, B. Aldighieri, P. Farabollini, Fabrizio Bendia, A. Cardillo","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022025","url":null,"abstract":"The role of geological and geotematic mapping has recently come to the forefront in spatial/environmental management. This paper aims to present some cases of boundary extension in the use of contemporary cartographic tools (GIS and WEBGIS). The potential of digital maps and associated databases offers a wide range of applications, responding to the urgent need to make available to users (practitioners in the technical sectors, planners and society as a whole) the most important concepts to concretely achieve better land management, active risk prevention and sustainable resource enhancement. The application of geomorphological maps to issues closer to society can effectively create its approach to more properly technical-scientific issues, fostering a shared awareness, useful in protecting and enhancing the fragile Italian territory. The described experiences focus on GIS, which confirms its effectiveness both for social involvement in environmental issues, and in territorial/environmental management.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70249786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022013
A. Betts
{"title":"The Earth's view of climate change","authors":"A. Betts","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022013","url":null,"abstract":"<abstract> <p>I review the Earth's perspective on the destruction of the planet driven by burning the fossil fuels, based on my personal perspective.</p> </abstract>","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70249956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022035
E. Genovese
{"title":"University student perception of sustainability and environmental issues","authors":"E. Genovese","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022035","url":null,"abstract":"There is a global consensus among scientists that human-caused climate change is threatening the environment and communities worldwide and that major changes must be implemented to reduce the increasing rate of CO2 emissions. Moreover, environmentally unsustainable practices are both endangering and degrading the quality of life on Earth. One major and often underestimated aspect of this problem is the difference in individual environmental risk perception and evaluation. It is evident that the responsibility for Earth's future lies in the hands of young generations and raising their awareness of environmental issues is a substantial challenge for education institutions. Students need to develop new values, skills and behaviors to foster sustainable development. As institutions of higher education, universities have a major impact on society and play a key role in the development of environmental awareness in young people. The paper describes the results of a survey administered to students in the Cultural Geography B course at the University of Torino. The purpose of the analysis was to determine if there is a relationship between environmental perception, attitude and behavior. The results showed that the students had a good knowledge of and positive attitude to the environment. However, as past studies have already revealed, there is a gap between their awareness and proactive environmental behaviors. Knowledge does not appear to be the only variable needed and other hypotheses should be explored to change the behavior of young generations. This study provides some insights for implementing integrated sustainability processes and engaging students. Moreover, the results will support the structuring of a future Geography course that focuses on sustainable development and environmental risk.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70250100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022004
Stefania Palmentieri
{"title":"E-Learning in Geography: new perspectives in post-pandemic","authors":"Stefania Palmentieri","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022004","url":null,"abstract":"Recent developments in low-cost information technology, fast internet, intelligent terminals, apps that can manage the most varied activities in a professional but simple way, have allowed their diffusion in sectors traditionally reluctant to rapid change. The pandemic crisis caused by Covid-19 and the consequent provisions of social distancing to curb its spread, have also forced the world of education to deal with this modality. Terms such as Distance Learning and Smart Working have forcefully entered the vocabulary and daily life of millions of people. The persistence of the pandemic due to the variants of the virus is convincing even the most reluctant to change that the new \"normal\" will have to rely on information technology to a greater extent than in the past. In much of the Western world, where culture has long been a thriving economic sector, much has been invested for decades to strengthen and disseminate distance learning activities recognized as economically and socially beneficial. The European institutions have moved in this direction more recently. The author's experience in the last two years in emergency remote education in geography at university level has not always been positive. He therefore felt the urgency to consider adopting existing standards and best practices in order to improve outcomes and achieve effective online geography learning. The evident advantages of adopting good quality e-learning for an extended community would facilitate understanding and acceptance even in the Italian school and academic environment, usually conservative and conformist. In this environment, up to now, many have in fact feared that it could lead to the endorsement of distance learning, viewed with contempt if not really with aversion as it is considered to be of poor quality.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70249613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022023
V. Kompanichenko, G. El’-Registan
{"title":"Advancement of the TI concept: defining the origin-of-life stages based on the succession of a bacterial cell exit from anabiosis","authors":"V. Kompanichenko, G. El’-Registan","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022023","url":null,"abstract":"Now there is a huge variety of scenarios of prebiotic chemical evolution, culminating in the emergence of life on Earth, which demonstrates the obvious insufficiency of existing criteria for a reliable consideration of this process. This article develops the concept of thermodynamic inversion (TI concept) according to which the real succession of the formation of metabolism during the origin of life is fixed in the stages of the exit of a resting bacterial cell from anabiosis (suspended animation), just as the succession of events of phylogenesis is fixed in ontogenesis. The deepest phase of anabiosis considers by us as an intermediate state of a microorganism between non-life and life: it is no longer able to counteract the increase in entropy, but retains structural memory of the previous living state. According to the TI concept, the intermediate state between non-life and life thermodynamically corresponds to the approximate equality of the total contributions of entropy and free energy in prebiotic systems (Sc ≈ FEc). Considering such intermediate state in prebiotic systems and microorganisms as a starting point, the authors use the experimentally recorded stages of restoring the metabolic process when a resting (dormant) bacterial cell emerges from anabiosis as a guideline for identifying the sequence of metabolism origin in prebiotic systems. According to the TI concept, life originated in a pulsating updraft of hydrothermal fluid. It included four stages. 1) Self-assembly of a cluster of organic microsystems (complex liposomes). 2) Activation (formation of protocells): appearance in the microsystems a weak energy-giving process of respiration due to redox reactions; local watering in the membrane. 3) Initiation (formation of living subcells): formation of a non-enzymatic antioxidant system; dawning of the protein-synthesizing apparatus. 4) Growth (formation of living cells—progenotes): arising of the growth cell cycle; formation of the genetic apparatus.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70249737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022016
Lorenzo D'Agostino, Daniela Santus
{"title":"Teaching geography and blended learning: interdisciplinary and new learning possibilities","authors":"Lorenzo D'Agostino, Daniela Santus","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022016","url":null,"abstract":"The pandemic due to Covid-19 ushered Italian universities into the world of digital education, with geography being one of the disciplines that derived multiple benefits from a worldwide, technological transition. Our contribution focuses on the Turin experience of Cultural Geography teaching for the degree-courses of Languages and Cultures for Tourism (Undergraduate course) and of International Communication for Tourism (Master's degree-course). It highlights how the combined use of Moodle, WebEx, Google Earth, and Instagram stimulated an interest in a traditionally neglected subject, but also offers food for thought on the use of the same technologies in teaching Italian language, through geography, in US universities.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70250066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022018
Zach Boakes, Alice E. Hall, G. C. Jones, Rahmadi Prasetijo, Richard Stafford, Yunaldi Yahya
{"title":"Artificial coral reefs as a localised approach to increase fish biodiversity and abundance along the North Bali coastline","authors":"Zach Boakes, Alice E. Hall, G. C. Jones, Rahmadi Prasetijo, Richard Stafford, Yunaldi Yahya","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022018","url":null,"abstract":"Coral reefs face worldwide decline from threats such as climate change, destructive fishing practices, overfishing and pollution. Artificial reefs have shown potential as a method to mitigate localised habitat loss and biodiversity decline on degraded coral reefs. The health of coral reefs in Indonesia and their associated faunal populations have displayed a downward trend in recent decades, and community-managed non-government organisations have started using artificial reefs to restore local degraded reef habitats. In this study, we demonstrate how locally-managed NGOs and communities in north Bali, Indonesia have implemented artificial reef projects, and assess the associated benefits to biodiversity. Using Remote Underwater Video (RUV) over a 3 month period in north Bali, fish assemblages on two artificial reefs of different ages (new and mature) were compared to two nearby natural habitats: degraded sand flats and relatively healthy coral reefs. When compared with a nearby degraded sand habitat, both artificial reefs displayed a significantly higher number of species, which for the mature artificial reef was not statistically different to a nearby coral reef. Community structure was also compared, again showing similarity between artificial reefs and natural coral reefs, but differing in a few species, including specific damselfish and wrasse. This study is one of few which highlight the potential of artificial reef habitat enhancement in Indonesia, and suggests that these structures can provide ecologically equivalent mobile faunal communities to a natural reef on a localised scale. As such, well designed projects may be able to provide some local ecosystem services lost from degraded coral reefs, and become an important focus for coastal communities.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70250077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022039
Adil Mansoor, H. Abduljabbar
{"title":"Calculation and determination of radioactivity in the old district of Najaf by using the track detector CR-39 and geographical information systems (GIS) methods","authors":"Adil Mansoor, H. Abduljabbar","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022039","url":null,"abstract":"This research aims to study the radiation concentration distribution of the old District of Najaf (Iraq), where 15 samples were taken from featured sites in the District, which represents archaeological, religious, and heritage sites. Track detector CR-39 was used to calculate the concentration of three different soil weights for each sample site after being exposed for a month. Geographical information systems (GIS) were used to distribute the radioactive concentration on the sites of the samples, where two interpolation methods, namely the inverse distance weight method (IDW) and the triangle irregular network method (NIT), to study the distribution of the radioactivity concentration. The study showed that the western part of the district, which includes the old cemetery and the areas adjacent to the Najaf water depression, are characterized by a relatively high amount of radioactivity concentration compared to the eastern part, which represent the residential areas, and for all sample weights.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70250178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022006
B. I. Birger
{"title":"Internal friction in the Earth' crust and transverse seismic waves","authors":"B. I. Birger","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022006","url":null,"abstract":"A transverse harmonic seismic wave, which propagates through the upper fractured layer of the Earth towards the Earth's surface, is considered. It is shown that the attenuation of a seismic wave in the Earth's upper crust is due to internal friction, i.e., friction between the sides of micro-fractures. Such a damping mechanism does not work in the deeper layers of the Earth where high lithostatic pressure prevents the movement along fractures. The governing equation for a brittle fractured medium is nonlinear. In the study of wave propagation, an approximate method of harmonic linearization is used. It is shown that internal friction in the upper crust leads to the transformation of a transverse harmonic wave into a shock wave.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70249696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AIMS GeosciencesPub Date : 2022-01-01DOI: 10.3934/geosci.2022009
S. Falco, Giuliana Fiorentino
{"title":"Geographical scattering in Italian inner areas, politics and COVID-19","authors":"S. Falco, Giuliana Fiorentino","doi":"10.3934/geosci.2022009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2022009","url":null,"abstract":"In recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic has been fervently considered from the perspective of various disciplines in the scientific community. Many of the proposed approaches are tied to reflections on the imminent and future effects of the pandemic. This contribution begins with a study of the recent past in Italy, analyzing the hurdles in politics that came to light due to the wave of COVID-19 infections worldwide. Particularly, the research considers the criticality of the geographical scale of reference in Italy's political actions. COVID-19 induced a need for the government to interact with people locally, especially through small municipalities in geographically central, inner areas, is emphasized. The main aim of this research is to attribute to this specific COVID-19 disaster the instrumental role of turning on the lights on the need to intervene in the inner areas of Italy, often very neglected. So the focus of the work is on inner areas and the probable catalysis of the political management dynamics that concern them, as an effect of the COVID's impacts. The pandemic is, therefore, only the contingent phenomenon which, in this case, can perhaps accelerate political interventions in inner areas. To explain the reason for this, we show how the vulnerability of inner areas, already generally risky, has become one of the weak links in the chain of protection from COVID-19 in terms of a geographical scattering phenomenon.","PeriodicalId":43999,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Geosciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70249813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}