Soluble organic compounds in fog and cloud droplets: what have we learned over the past few years?

We have recently set up a new procedure for characterising the water soluble organic compounds (WSOC) in fog water, for which information is still rather limited. Fog samples collected during the 1998–1999 fall–winter season in the Po Valley (Italy) were analysed following this procedure, which allows a quantitative determination of three main classes of organic compounds (neutral species, mono- and di-carboxylic acids, polycarboxylic acids), together accounting for ca. 85% of the total WSOC. This procedure also provides information on the main chemical characteristics of these three classes of compounds (functional groups, aliphatic vs. aromatic character, etc.). The enhanced chemical knowledge on fog/cloud chemical composition opens new scenarios as far as chemical and microphysical processes in clouds and fogs are concerned.     

Milan: The city of constant renewal

Traditional models of urban development are no longer adequate to describe current metropolitan transformations. These are now at the centre of a debate concerning management and administration. In Italy, delays in resolving problems of urban and metropolitan government, despite the legal framework provided by Law 142/90, have weighed heavily on the larger urban areas of the country: Rome, Naples, Milan, which have not been able to tackle the issue of metropolitan government. Recent legislation, while not providing a pre-defined institutional solution, allows separate administrative districts to collectively establish metropolitan institutions of `variable geometry'. The Milan urban area is not one city, but a system of mutually-dependent cities, linked to each other and the rest of the world by a transport network still requiring much investment. The vitality of its economic structure (especially its small firms) is held back by seriously inadequate infrastructure and low external economic efficiency. The provincial capital may boast `historic centrality' but the most interesting potential for development is to be found on the periphery and in the administrative districts immediately surrounding it, in the recovery of derelict industrial areas and dormitory towns established in the 1950s and 1960s, especially to the north. Recovery of derelict areas, green areas, and better transport links within the urban area and with the outside world are the key elements in the reorganization of `Greater Milan'. In this situation of rapid transformation the most appropriate political strategies involve negotiated planning. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Parameters affecting maximum fluid transport in large aperture fractures

We present results of laboratory experiments to study the behavior of liquids moving in unsaturated wide-aperture fractures. A 5-mm-thick glass plate cut with a 1.7-mm aperture was used as a fractured rock analog to study behavior of film and capillary droplet flow modes. Flow rates ranged between 0.6 and 6.0 ml/min. Variability in the ambient barometric pressure, resulting from weather conditions, seemed to play a role in the natural selection of flow mode. For droplet mode, constant input conditions resulted in highly variable transport properties within the fracture. The advancing meniscus exhibited a dynamic contact angle that was a function of the droplet speed and much larger than the static contact angle. Flow rate was reduced due to the larger contact angle. Analytical expressions for droplet velocity and flow capacity are presented as a function of the dynamic rather than the static contact angle.     

Efficiency of base isolation systems in structural seismic protection and energetic assessment

This paper concerns the seismic response of structures isolated at the base by means of High Damping Rubber Bearings (HDRB). The analysis is performed by using a stochastic approach, and a Gaussian zero mean filtered non‐stationary stochastic process is used in order to model the seismic acceleration acting at the base of the structure. More precisely, the generalized Kanai–Tajimi model is adopted to describe the non‐stationary amplitude and frequency characteristics of the seismic motion. The hysteretic differential Bouc–Wen model (BWM) is adopted in order to take into account the non‐linear constitutive behaviour both of the base isolation device and of the structure. Moreover, the stochastic linearization method in the time domain is adopted to estimate the statistical moments of the non‐linear system response in the state space. The non‐linear differential equation of the response covariance matrix is then solved by using an iterative procedure which updates the coefficients of the equivalent linear system at each step and searches for the solution of the response covariance matrix equation. After the system response variance is estimated, a sensitivity analysis is carried out. The final aim of the research is to assess the real capacity of base isolation devices in order to protect the structures from seismic actions, by avoiding a non‐linear response, with associated large plastic displacements and, therefore, by limiting related damage phenomena in structural and non‐structural elements. In order to attain this objective the stochastic response of a non‐linear n‐dof shear‐type base‐isolated building is analysed; the constitutive law both of the structure and of the base devices is described, as previously reported, by adopting the BWM and by using appropriate parameters for this model, able to suitably characterize an ordinary building and the base isolators considered in the study. The protection level offered to the structure by the base isolators is then assessed by evaluating the reduction both of the displacement response and the hysteretic dissipated energy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The tectonic regime in Italy inferred from borehole breakout data

In Italy, the horizontal stress directions are well constrained in many regions, but the tectonic regime is not well known because the stress magnitudes are unknown. Our intention is to improve the knowledge of crustal stress in Italy, both at shallow depth and in low seismicity areas. Therefore, we inferred the tectonic regime from the comparison between the depth of breakout occurrence and the physical properties of the rocks in 20 boreholes. The critical value of the maximum horizontal stress, for which the effective tangential stress at the borehole wall overcomes the rock strength to form breakouts, could be computed from rock strength and density. Comparing the theoretical stress distributions for different tectonic regimes with the depth distribution of breakout occurrence, it is possible to infer the tectonic regime that fits best to the breakout depth distribution. We investigated boreholes up to 6 km deep located in different tectonic environments over the Italian peninsula: the Po Plain, the Apenninic chain, the Adriatic foredeep and the Tyrrhenian Quaternary volcanic region. These wells are characterised by breakout data of good quality (A, B and C, according to World Stress Map quality ranking system). The results are in general agreement with the style of faulting derived from earthquake focal mechanisms and other stress indicators. Our results show a predominance of a normal faulting (NF) regime in the inner Apennines and both normal faulting and strike–slip faulting (SS) style in the surrounding regions, possibly also associated with changes in the tectonic regime with depth.     

Numerical models of tectonic deformation at the Baltica–Avalonia transition zone during the Paleocene phase of inversion

Predictions from dynamic modelling of the lithospheric deformation are presented for Northern Europe, where several basins underwent inversion during the Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic and contemporary uplift and erosion of sediments occurred. In order to analyse the evolution of the continental lithosphere, the equations for the deformation of a continuum are solved numerically under thin sheet assumption for the lithosphere. The most important stress sources are assumed to be the Late Cretaceous Alpine tectonics; localized rheological heterogeneities can also affect local deformation and stress patterns. Present-day observations available in the studied region and coming from seismic structural interpretations and stress measurements have been used to constrain the model. Our modelling results show that lateral variation in lithospheric strength below the basin systems in Central Europe strongly controls the regional deformation and the stress regime. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that the geometry of the boundary between Baltica and Avalonia, together with different rheological characteristics of the two plates, had a crucial role on local crustal deformation and faulting regime resulting in the Baltica–Avalonia transition zone from the S–N Alpine convergence.