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The recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence have paved the way for remarkable achievements in tasks that have traditionally posed challenges even for humans [...]

In 2001 we started a topographic study on an active rock glacier (named Maroccaro rock glacier, acronym MaRG, coordinates: 46° 13’ 06” N, 10° 34’ 34” E) located in the Adamello-Presanella massif (Central Italian Alps). Since 2004, also the near-surface ground temperature was measured using a miniature data logger. Our data show that in eight years (2001-2009) MaRG has moved downslope with average velocities ranging from 0.02 to 0.21 m/year. The velocity reaches a maximum in the middle and the lower part of the rock glacier, and decreases towards the upper sector, where the surveyed boulders are almost stationary. A considerable different velocity from year to year has been observed, but no clear trends seem to emerge from the mean annual displacement rate. On the rock glacier the evolution of the ground temperature since 2004 is directly associated with the air temperature and the snow conditions, in terms of thickness and duration of the snowpack. The ground has warmed significantly both in 2007, after a very mild and little snowy winter, and in 2009, after a cold but exceptionally snowy winter. The displacement rate of MaRG seems to rapidly react to the ground temperature variations, apparently without any time delay. The exceptionally snowy winter 2008/09 seems to have played a significant role on the displacement rate, causing a ground temperature increase and, probably, an increase in velocity, which reached its maximum in that year.

Abstract This article focuses on the results obtained by the enforcement of a original greenhouse gas emissions policy, issued in recent years in several municipalities in Northern Italy. The Municipality of Reggio Emilia was one of the firsts in Italy to develop and adopt a voluntary building energy-consumption certification method called Ecoabita, aiming to promote energy efficiency in buildings over its jurisdiction. Several reasons make this project innovative: first, the certification method has been processed through and verified by a quality international agency, secondly the procedure is assisting financial-incentive policies both on mandatory (European Directive 2002/91/CE) and voluntary basis (Municipality Protocol Ecoabita), finally it allows to obtain eligible credits for avoided emissions that can be negotiated on the CO2 exchange market. With specific reference to Reggio Emilia case, acknowledged the amount of actions, that are normally scheduled in the municipality throughout a year, it has been evaluated the benefit, in terms of environmental improvement, descended from the protocol, also projecting their trend in future years up to 2020 as well, demonstrating the scheduled interventions are fundamental in sought of the achievement of the Kyoto and Copenhagen commitments. The entire procedure has been developed in accordance to the parameters given by UNFCCC for these kinds of analyses and has been recently confirmed to be one of the most accurate international accounting procedure by a survey developed by the scientific committee of the European Project LIFE-LAKS.

Abstract This paper presents a non-stoichiometric equilibrium model for the simulation of biomass downdraft gasifiers. The chemical equilibrium is determined by minimizing the Gibbs free energy. Five elements characterize the biomass and 15 chemical species are considered in the syngas. The model calculates the lower heating value of the syngas and the relative abundances of gasification products. An advantage of this model is that it can easily calculate not only the concentrations of the main gasification products, but also the concentrations of minor product, especially the pollutant chemical species containing Nitrogen and Sulfur. To analyse the model behaviour, a sensitivity analysis on process parameters is presented. The model is validated by comparing its results with the results of simulation carried out with a stoichiometric model and with experimental data found in literature. Finally, the model is applied to the study of the gasification of forest waste.

Dataset used for the work described in "An Instrumental Contribution to Include the Impact of PV on Capacity Adequacy in Long-Term Energy Models", for the EEEIC (2017) conference.

This is a Phase 3 multicenter, double-blind, double-dummy, randomized study. Only subjects with PV who have received HU for at least 12 weeks, have been receiving a stable dose before screening, and still have symptoms related to PV will be enrolled. Subjects will be randomized (1:1) to 1 of 2 treatment arms: A: ruxolitinib and HU-placebo B: HU and ruxolitinib-placebo Subjects randomized to either arm may be eligible to transition to open-label ruxolitinib after Week 16. The purpose of the RELIEF study is to compare symptoms in polycythemia vera (PV) subjects treated with ruxolitinib versus subjects treated with hydroxyurea (HU) as measured by the percent of subjects who achieve a clinically meaningful symptom improvement (ie, total symptom score reduction of ≥ 50% reduction) at Week 16 compared to Baseline. The study is also designed to demonstrate that these responses are durable with continued treatment.

# Reproductive data Fagus sylvatica: Widespread masting breakdown in beech [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qz612jmps](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qz612jmps) This dataset, used in the Global Change Biology article "Widespread breakdown in masting in European beech due to rising summer temperatures", contains 50 time series of population-level annual reproductive data by European beech (*Fagus sylvatica*, L) across Europe. The dataset builds on the open-access dataset [MASTREE+](https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16130), and expands it for European beech. ## Description of the data The dataset column names follow that of MASTREE+. A description of MASTREE+ column names (Modified from Table 1 in the [MASTREE+ article)](https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16130): | *Columns* | *Description* | *Contains NA?* | | :-------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------- | | Alpha\_Number | Unique code associated with each original source of data, that is, the publication, report or thesis containing extracted data, or the previously unpublished data set included in MASTREE+. | No | | Segment | Temporal segment of a time-series containing gaps (note that years with no observations are not recorded). Individual timeseries can consist of multiple segments. | No | | Site\_number | Code to differentiate multiple sites from the same original source (Alpha\_Number/Study\_ID). | No | | Variable\_number | Code to differentiate multiple measures of reproductive output from the same species-site combination (e.g. where seeds and cones were recorded separately). | No | | Year | Year of observation. | No | | Species | Species identifier, standardised to The Plant List nomenclature. ‘spp.’ is used to indicate a record identified to the genus level only. ‘MIXED’ indicates a non-species-specific community-level estimate of annual reproductive effort. | No | | Species\_code | Six-character species identifier. | No | | Mono\_Poly | Monocarpic (semelparous) or Polycarpic (iteroparous) species. | No | | Value | The measured value of annual reproductive output. | No | | VarType | Continuous or ordinal data. Continuous time-series are recorded on a continuous scale. Ordinal series are recorded on an ordered categorical scale. All ordinal series are rescaled to start at 1 (lowest reproductive effort) and to contain only integer values. | No | | Max\_value | The unit of measurement, where VarType is continuous (otherwise: NA). | No | | Unit | The maximum value in a time-series. | No | | Variable | Categorical classification of the measured variable. Options limited to: cone, flower, fruit, seed, pollen, total reproduction organs. | No | | Collection\_method | Classification of the method used to measure reproductive effort. Options are limited to: cone count, cone scar count, flower count, fruit count, fruit scar sound, seed count, seed trap, pollen count, lake sediment pollen count, harvest record, visual crop assessment, other quantification, dendrochronological reconstruction. | No | | Latitude | Latitude of the record, in decimal degrees. | No | | Longitude | Longitude of the record, in decimal degrees. | No | | Coordinate\_flag | A flag to indicate the precision of the latitude and longitude. A = coordinates provided in the original source B = coordinates estimated by the compiler based on a map or other location information provided in the original source C = coordinates estimated by the compiler as the approximate centre point of the smallest clearly defined geographical unit provided in the original source (e.g. county, state, island), and potentially of low precision. | No | | Site | A site name or description, based on information in the original source. | No | | Country | The country where the observation was recorded. | No | | Elevation | The elevation of the sample site in metres above sea level, where provided in the original source (otherwise: NA). | Yes | | Spatial\_unit | Categorical classification of spatial scale represented by the record, estimated by the compiler based on information provided in the original source. stand = <100 ha, patch = 100–10,000 ha, region = 10,000–1,000,000 ha, super-region = >1,000,000 ha. | No | | No\_indivs | Either the number of monitored individual plants, or the number of litter traps. NA indicates no information in the original source, and 9999 indicates that while the number of monitored individuals was not specified, the source indicated to the compiler that the sample size was likely ≥10 individuals or litter traps. | No | | Start | The first year of observations for the complete time-series, including all segments. | No | | End | The final year of observations for the complete time-series, including all segments. | No | | Length | The number of years of observations. Note that may not be equal to the number of years between the Start and End of the time-series, due to gaps in the time-series. | No | | Reference | Identification for the original source of the data. | No | | Record\_type | Categorisation of the original source. Peer-reviewed = extracted from peer reviewed literature Grey = extracted from grey literature Unpublished = unpublished data. | No | | ID\_enterer | Identification of the original compiler of the data. AHP, Andrew Hacket-Pain; ES, Eliane Schermer; JVM, Jose Moris; XTT, Tingting Xue; TC, Thomas Caignard; DV, Davide Vecchio; DA, Davide Ascoli; IP, Ian Pearse; JL, Jalene LaMontagne; JVD, Joep van Dormolen. | No | | Date\_entry | Date of data entry into MASTREE+ in the format yyyy-mm-dd. | No | | Note on data location | Notes on the location of the data within the original source, such as page or figure number. If not provided, NA. | Yes | | Comments | Additional comments. If not provided, NA. | Yes | | Study\_ID | Unique code associated with each source of data. M\_ = series extracted from published literature; A\_ = series incorporated from Ascoli et al. (2020), Ascoli, Maringer, et al. (2017) and Ascoli, Vacchiano, et al. (2017); PLK\_ = series incorporated from Pearse et al. (2017); D\_ = unpublished data sets. NA is attributed if no study ID has been previously associated with this time-series in MASTREE+ v.1. | Yes | Note that the new beech reproductive data has been assigned an arbitrary Alpha_Number for the purpose of this study. Future MASTREE+ updates which incorporate this new data may alter the time series ID columns (e.g. Alpha_Number, Site_number, Variable_number). MASTREE+ updates can be found on [GITHUB](https://github.com/JJFoest/MASTREEplus). Climate change effects on tree reproduction are poorly understood even though the resilience of populations relies on sufficient regeneration to balance increasing rates of mortality. Forest-forming tree species often mast, i.e. reproduce through synchronised year-to-year variation in seed production, which improves pollination and reduces seed predation. Recent observations in European beech show, however, that current climate change can dampen interannual variation and synchrony of seed production, and that this masting breakdown drastically reduces the viability of seed crops. Importantly, it is unclear under which conditions masting breakdown occurs, and how widespread breakdown is in this pan-European species. Here, we analysed 50 long-term datasets of population-level seed production, sampled across the distribution of European beech, and identified increasing summer temperatures as the general driver of masting breakdown. Specifically, increases in site-specific mean maximum temperatures during June and July were observed across most of the species range, while the interannual variability of population-level seed production (CVp) decreased. The declines in CVp were greatest where temperatures increased most rapidly. Additionally, the occurrence of crop failures and low-seed years has decreased during the last four decades, signalling altered starvation effects of masting on seed predators. Notably, CVp did not vary among sites according to site mean summer temperature. Instead, masting breakdown occurs in response to warming local temperatures (i.e. increasing relative temperatures), such that the risk is not restricted to populations growing in warm average conditions. As lowered CVp can reduce viable seed production despite the overall increase in seed count, our results warn that a covert mechanism is underway that may hinder the regeneration potential of European beech under climate change, with great potential to alter forest functioning and community dynamics.

Abstract Probability density functions (PDFs) are normally used to describe wind speed distribution for the proper selection of wind turbines in a given location. The identification of a suitable PDF is fundamental for accurately assessing the wind energy potential and designing the wind farms. To achieve this objective, the use of a mixture of two truncated normal distributions (MTTND), defined for v ≥ 0 and obtained by linearly combining two normal distributions with different means and variances, is proposed in this work for the representation of the wind speed PDF. The distribution is a function of five parameters, does not require a high computational burden and allows the representation of wind calm hours (v = 0). The use of the MTTND allows an accurate estimation to be obtained of the experimental discrete distribution of the probability density and cumulative probability, and the characteristic statistical quantities used to estimate the available energy and the performance indicators in the selection of both the site and wind turbine. The validity of the use of the MTTND was verified by comparison with the most widespread PDFs in the scientific literature: Weibull, Rayleigh, lognormal, gamma, inverse Gaussian and Burr. This comparison was developed using experimental wind speed data relating to five Italian locations and a location in Colorado (USA) belonging to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. For each location, the parameters of each PDF were obtained with the least squares non-linear regression method. The results of the comparisons, in terms of the coefficient of determination R2 and root mean square error (RMSE) for goodness of fit and in terms of relative error in the calculation of the statistical quantities, show that the use of the MTTND gives rise to greater accuracy than a conventional wind speed PDF.

Abstract Reaching universal access to electricity by 2030 requires a massive deployment of mini-grids in rural areas of developing countries. Among the many challenges hindering this process, there are the high uncertainties in assessing demand patterns in rural communities, the costs of field survey campaigns, and the absence of ample and reliable datasets coming from existing projects. This paper tries to address these issues by presenting and discussing a database of load profiles from sixty-one off-grid mini-grids from developing countries worldwide, gathered from the literature, private developers and fieldworks, and reported with technical, socio-economic and geographical characterization factors. A clustering procedure led to the identification of five archetypal load profile clusters, which are presented and analyzed together with their load duration curves. Subsequently, the distribution among the clusters of the various characterization factors selected is studied. The proposed approach allows to widen the range of load profiles usually considered, and to seek correlations between the load profile shapes, the peak power and average energy consumption per connection, the number of customers, the age of measurement, geographical position, operator model, type of tariff and generation technologies present. This work establishes a first step in the creation of a shared database for load profiles of rural mini-grids, helping to overcome the lack of available data and difficulties of demand assessment, proposing original insights for researchers to understand load patterns, and contributing to reduce risks and uncertainties for mini-grid developers.

Abstract In vivo NMR techniques and substrates selectively enriched with 13 C were used to follow the step-by-step metabolism of glucose and xylose, on their own or as mixed substrates in the ratio as they occur in hydrolysates from hemicellulose. The organism used was a newly isolated strain of Klebsiella planticola isolated from soil where maize has been cultivated for 30 years. Results suggest that glucose is converted to pyruvate via the Embden-Meyerhof pathway and then to lactate and ethanol. No evidence of 2,3-butandiol or formate metabolism was observed. This organism had a higher rate of uptake of xylose than previously studied microorganisms, resulting in ethanol, lactate, acetate succinate and formate as end products. Xylose metabolism in K. planticola G11, unlike that reported for many other organisms, was not inhibited by glucose. The addition of glucose, after 2 h of xylose fermentation, did not change the rate of xylose metabolism.