A bedform phase diagram for dense granular currents.

Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) are a life-threatening volcanic hazard. Our understanding and hazard assessments of these flows rely on interpretations of their deposits. The occurrence of stratified layers, cross-stratification, and bedforms in these deposits has been assumed as indicative of dilute, turbulent, supercritical flows causing traction-dominated deposition.

The footprint of column collapse regimes on pyroclastic flow temperatures and plume heights.

The gravitational collapse of eruption columns generates ground-hugging pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) with highly variable temperatures, high enough to be a threat for communities surrounding volcanoes. The reasons for such great temperature variability are debated in terms of eruptive versus transport and emplacement processes. Here, using a three-dimensional multiphase model, we show that the initial temperature of PDCs linearly correlates to the percentage of collapsing mass, with a maximum temperature decrease of 45% in the case of low percentages of collapse (10%), owing to an efficient entrainment of air into the jet structure.

The effect of crate height on the behavior of female turkeys during commercial pre-slaughter transportation.

Limited information is available on suitable height of transport crates for turkeys. We compared behaviors and physiological indicators of four groups of 10 female turkeys each confined in either conventional (38.5 cm height) or experimental (77 cm height) crates during six commercial pre-slaughter transportations for 86 km (76 ± 4 min) along two tracts with one-lane streets, crossroads, bends, roundabouts (S1 and S2) and a highway tract (H) between S1 and S2.

The introduction of fox rabies into Italy (2008-2011) was due to two viral genetic groups with distinct phylogeographic patterns.

Fox rabies re-emerged in north-eastern Italy at the end of 2008 and circulated until early 2011. As with previous rabies epidemics, the Italian cases were linked to the epidemiological situation in adjacent regions. To obtain a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of the recent Italian epidemic, we performed a detailed evolutionary analysis of RABVs circulating in north-eastern Italy.

GeoCREV: veterinary geographical information system and the development of a practical sub-national spatial data infrastructure.

This paper illustrates and discusses the key issues of the geographical information system (GIS) developed by the Unit of Veterinary Epidemiology of the Veneto region (CREV), defined according to user needs, spatial data (availability, accessibility and applicability), development, technical aspects, inter-institutional relationships, constraints and policies. GeoCREV, the support system for decision-making, was designed to integrate geographic information and veterinary laboratory data with the main aim to develop a sub-national, spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for the veterinary services of the Veneto region in north-eastern Italy. Its implementation required (i) collection of data and information; (ii) building a geodatabase; and (iii) development of a WebGIS application.