Sector Of Sicily Research Articles

Benford's Law for economic data reliability: The case of tourism flows in Sicily

This paper proposes a data science approach based on Benford's Law to analyse tourist flows – being tourism a relevant economic sector in Sicily. In particular, we are interested in detecting irregular patterns in the numerical data that may represent manipulations, inaccuracies or biases in the self-reported data from tourism organisations. The analysis is carried out by using monthly data for arrivals and overnight stays in hotels, B&Bs, and complementary accommodations in the seven provinces of the island from January 2016 to December 2019.We perform the analysis by employing several statistical tests and through a visual inspection of the difference between the empirical distributions and the theoretical Benford's.Conformity to Benford's distribution is mostly confirmed for the total number of overnight stays and the data considered on a yearly basis. On the contrary, we found evident deviations from Benford's Law in the empirical distribution of data broken down by nationality of tourist and accommodation type. Some comments on possible motivations for such deviations are also advanced, even though a detailed exploration of them deserves a devoted study.

Quality and Genuineness in the World of Sicilian Olive Oil

This article draws on the concept of authenticity as it is often deployed in regards to food, and specifically in regards to foods with Geographical Indication certifications (GIs). Authenticity, as a concept, does boundary work by coding some objects or subjects as authentic, defining them against inauthentic others. Power dynamics inhere in any use of the processes of authentication, which render the authentic as noteworthy (Bendix 1997). Following calls to practice the “arts of noticing” (Tsing 2015) and to question our own ethnographic categories (De Martino 1975), this article takes the case of the olive oil sector in Sicily, Italy, and Sicilian Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) extra virgin olive oil, to think through authenticity and processes of authentication through the lens of two related concepts: quality (qualità) and genuineness (genuinità). I conceptualize qualità as a top-down articulation of authenticity: Sicilian olive and olive oil producers’ articulation of authenticity and excellence in response to a global hierarchy of value (Herzfeld 2004) in which they are situated and to which they respond. Genuinità, on the other hand, I argue is a bottom-up articulation of authenticity and goodness, one concerned less with international recognition and chemical purity and more with social relationships of trust and practices of commensality. I argue that qualità is a powerful measure of authenticity and a livelihood strategy for Sicilian oliviculturalists, but that genuinità is perhaps an even more powerful measure of authenticity in its capacity to create or reinscribe social bonds.

Environmental Sustainability Indicators Applied to Tourism Sector in Sicily

Tourism represents one of the leading sectors worldwide and for this reason; its importance extends to a variety of studies and researches aimed to a better and more sustainable development. Tourism is an important added value to the economy of a city, of a region and therefore of a whole country. As a result, the development of this sector can be instrumental in improving the existing conditions in one place. But, it is not just an economic factor, but much more. It is not by chance that it is studied under different points of view such as economic, social, geographical and psychological. Tourism is an important source of revenue for the economy of a country because it brings money to the State which use it as a source to improve services, buildings, facilities and tourism destinations. In Italy, the tourism sector has a primary importance on the economy of the Country with an incidence on the Gross Domestic Product of 7% offering two million job positions. Every year facilities host more than 80 million people with about 350 million overnight stays. The aim of this study is to analyze environmental impact caused by tourism, thanks to the use of indicators, which varies regarding the tourism destination they are linked with. In particular, some environmental indicators on the city of Catania, in east of Sicily, are analyzed and their interaction could give a wide panorama of Sustainability in Catania and to identify all the advantages on sustainable tourism tools in Sicily.

Assessment of the Geochemical Potential in a Complex Tectonic Environment of South-East Sicily: New Insights From Hydrochemical Data

We analyzed a large dataset (143 water sampling sites, 22 variables) of chemical parameters in local groundwaters from the south-east sector of Sicily, namely the Hyblean plateau, in order to set an original evaluation of its geothermal potential using applied geochemistry. The area was affected by volcanism until about 1.4 Ma. Today, though no active volcanism occurs, it is site of surface gas manifestations of focused degassing to which a mantle source has been attributed. We identified and thence selected the most promising sites (water springs and wells) based both on their main geochemical characteristics and on their calculated equilibrium temperature (resulting in the range between 50 and 140 °C). We then applied Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to this restricted dataset and we were able to discriminate between different sources of solutes, both natural and anthropogenic. Finally, we mapped the factor scores obtained from PCA and we focused on those likely related with geothermal conditions in order to highlight the areas with the highest geothermal potential.

From the Qualities of Products to the Qualities of Relations: Value Conventions in the Solidarity Economy in Sicily

This article explores the “quality battlefield” in the food economy – the dispute over value conventions between mainstream business actors and alternative food networks. It shows how actors in one particular alternative network – the solidarity economy – shift such notions from product qualities to the qualities of relations in production. Opposing the standardized criteria characterizing private certification schemes and organic certification, they struggle to establish the value of their products by creating and circulating verifiable stories proving their involvement in the solidarity economy. These stories further emphasize the distance to standard business motivations, for instance by accentuating the cooperative rather than competitive relations with other producers. The article illustrates the features and tensions of value conventions in alternative food networks by contrasting actors in mainstream agriculture with an expanding organization of agricultural producers adhering to solidarity economy and operating in the grocery sector in Sicily, Italy.

A GIS‐based spatial index of feedstock‐mixture availability for anaerobic co‐digestion of Mediterranean by‐products and agricultural residues

AbstractBiogas obtained from the anaerobic digestion of biomasses has increasingly been considered a feasible alternative to energy production from fossil fuel because of the possible advantages derived from both the reduction of the environmental burden and the reuse of by‐products and agricultural residues. Italy is the third largest biogas producer in the world after China and Germany, but the biogas sector in southern Italy, especially in Sicily, is still developing.The objective of this study was to contribute to the sustainable development of the biogas sector in Sicily by developing a method for the localization of geographical areas suitable for biogas production. First, a feedstock mixture found in previous research studies (which investigated several mixes of main agricultural residues and by‐products available in Sicily for the enhancement of biogas production in terms of methane content) was used to evaluate each feedstock territorial distribution in a study area. Then a GIS‐based model for the computation of a spatial index of feedstock‐mixture availability, ifm_a , was developed. The computed spatial index was applied on a GIS map to investigate the availability of the feedstock mixture in the area under study.The results of the territorial analyses obtained by applying the index showed the geographical areas suitable for the development of new biogas plants. The results of this study could be helpful in reducing the significant transport costs of each feedstock as well as the environmental impact of biogas production. In this regard, the results are in line with the policy priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy, which aims to valorize by‐products and agricultural residues through their reuse. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The Human Resource Approach to Innovation in the Recent Growth of Floriculture Sector in Rural Areas of Sicily

The variety and variability of the most commonly recognized innovation categories (product, process and management) have been the structural basis of the recent growth of floriculture sector in Sicily. However it is due to the virtuous character of farmer (vision, knowledge, skills and abilities) the ability to integrate the specific functions involved of the farm with innovation. As well as that, fundamental the relational behaviors within external environments characterized by non-deterministic stimulation-response mechanisms. This paper presents the main results of a motivational investigation of the figure of the farmer of the floriculture sector in Sicily.

Beyond post-national citizenship: an evaluation of the experiences of Tunisian and Romanian migrants working in the agricultural sector in Sicily

To further advance the literature which contests the shift from national to post-national citizenship, the aim of this paper is to compare the experiences of two groups of migrants to reveal how national immigration policies remain influential and determine the employment and living conditions of migrants. Reporting evidence from Italy on the different experiences of non-European Union (Tunisian) and European Union (Romanian) migrants employed as seasonal workers in the agricultural sector in Sicily, the finding is that the degree of exploitation they witness in their working conditions is shaped by their citizenship entitlements. The outcome is that it is revealed that (European Union) citizenship status, rather than formal employment, provides greater belonging and security to economic migrants.

Exploiting Maximum Entropy method and ASTER data for assessing debris flow and debris slide susceptibility for the Giampilieri catchment (north‐eastern Sicily, Italy)

AbstractThis study aims at evaluating the performance of the Maximum Entropy method in assessing landslide susceptibility, exploiting topographic and multispectral remote sensing predictors. We selected the catchment of the Giampilieri stream, which is located in the north‐eastern sector of Sicily (southern Italy), as test site. On 1 October 2009, a storm rainfall triggered in this area hundreds of debris flow/avalanche phenomena causing extensive economical damage and loss of life. Within this area a presence‐only‐based statistical method was applied to obtain susceptibility models capable of distinguishing future activation sites of debris flow and debris slide, which where the main source of failure mechanisms for flow or avalanche type propagation. The set of predictors used in this experiment comprised primary and secondary topographic attributes, derived by processing a high resolution digital elevation model, CORINE land cover data and a set of vegetation and mineral indices obtained by processing multispectral ASTER images. All the selected data sources are dated before the disaster. A spatially random partition technique was adopted for validation, generating 50 replicates for each of the two considered movement typologies in order to assess accuracy, precision and reliability of the models. The debris slide and debris flow susceptibility models produced high performances with the first type being the best fit. The evaluation of the probability estimates around the mean value for each mapped pixel shows an inverted relation, with the most robust models corresponding to the debris flows. With respect to the role of each predictor within the modelling phase, debris flows appeared to be primarily controlled by topographic attributes whilst the debris slides were better explained by remotely sensed derived indices, particularly by the occurrence of previous wildfires across the slope. The overall excellent performances of the two models suggest promising perspectives for the application of presence‐only methods and remote sensing derived predictors. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Calabria-Peloritani Orogen, a composite terrane in Central Mediterranean; its overall architecture and geodynamic significance for a pre-Alpine scenario around the Tethyan basin

The Calabria-Peloritani Orogen is an arcuate segment of the peri-Mediterranean orogenic Alpine nappe system that comprises the whole Calabria and the north-eastern sector of Sicily. It comprises the Sila and Catena Costiera Massifs in northern Calabria, the Serre and Aspromonte Massifs in central and southern Calabria, and the Peloritani Mountains in Sicily. In Sila and Catena Costiera Massifs, three tectonic complexes are recognisable: a) the basal Apennine Complex, which consists of carbonate platform sequences of passive continental margin; b) the intermediate Liguride Complex, made of oceanic-derived units, affected by HP/LT metamorphism; and c) the upper Calabride Complex, which represents a nearly entire section of continental crust. The Catanzaro Line separates the northern sector from the Serre Massif that also represents a nearly entire segment of Variscan continental crust unaffected by Alpine metamorphism. Further to the south, the Palmi Line separates the Serre from the Aspromonte Massif and the Peloritani Mountains. These two latter nappe edifices consist of either Variscan metamorphic units, Variscan units with Alpine overprint and units of continental derivation that are exclusively affected by Alpine metamorphism. The comparison between the geological evolutions of the various chain sectors, as well as their structural setting and their direction of tectonic transport, indicates that the Calabria-Peloritani Orogen is a composite terrane derived from the amalgamation of crustal blocks of different continental provenance. Northern Calabria represents a fragment of the Adria palaeomargin, whereas southern Calabria and northeastern Sicily are relics of an accretionary wedge resulting from the deformation of the European continental margin. As a consequence, nowadays a segment of the Europe-Adria collisional suture crops out in central Calabria.

Vulnerability to Forced Labour and Trafficking: The case of Romanian women in the agricultural sector in Sicily

This paper focuses on labour and sexual exploitation faced by Romanian female workers employed in the agricultural sector in Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in 2013 and 2014 with Romanian female farm workers in Ragusa, the paper identifies factors that contribute towards their vulnerability to exploitation. By paying specific attention to the experiences of women who are mothers with dependent children, we look at structural factors that increase their vulnerability and consider how this vulnerability ‘forces’ women into situations whereby they effectively accept and/or submit to abuse. We also highlight how European Union (EU) citizenship does not automatically protect migrants from such abuse. This is important because, as we argue, the mistreatment experienced by participants in this study can be regarded as cases of forced labour and trafficking, based on International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators[1] and the definition of trafficking provided by the Directive 2011/36/EU. For a long time, these cases have mostly been neglected by incompetent authorities or addressed using only repressive and assistentialist approaches. Thus, this paper also investigates the limits and potentialities of the Italian legal framework on trafficking, and the ways local institutions and organisations confront the rights violations occurring in the agricultural sector. We contend that in order to effectively counter these phenomena, labour rights measures and anti-trafficking interventions have to be combined based on a comprehensive approach aimed not only at assisting victims, but also at tackling the structural factors that create their vulnerability.[1] ILO, ‘ILO Indicators of Forced Labour’, International Labour Office, 2012, retrieved 11 August 2015, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_203832.pdf

THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS PLATFORM IN ITALY

This paper reports the activity, promoted by the Italian agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA), in the framework of the project for the development and implementation of the first Italian Platform for Industrial Symbiosis implemented in Sicily (2011-2015). The goals of the project were: to provide a methodology and an instrument for industrial symbiosis implementation at regional scale, to implement a IS Platform as a support to SMEs to individuate symbiosis opportunities in the region. The whole approach includes: network activation, platform architecture design and implementation, analysis of the productive sector in Sicily, data collection and companies involvement. In particular the paper focuses on the activities developed for companies’ network creation trough a preliminary analysis of the predominant productive sectors followed by the organization of operative meetings in Sicily for companies’ involvement, analysis of potential synergies and resources sharing, and finally platform population. During the first two meetings more than 80 SME were linked giving rise to almost 400 output resources and almost 180 input resources. More than 690 potential matches were found between the participating enterprises showing interesting opportunities both for substituting resources with waste products in real and virtual cases and for sharing waste management services and infrastructures. The discussion occurred during the meeting has remarked the significance and the consequences of the regulatory and control system on IS application, underlining the necessary participation of local stakeholders and control authorities. It has also emerged the need to identify predominant productive activities in well-defined territorial contexts where to investigate the specific/local tangles taking into account legislative and technical-economic feasibility. Technical dossiers on three main resource streams (wastes from processing stone materials; plastics and agro-industrial wastes), which may generate the more interesting potential synergies, are being processed. These dossiers include European, Italian and regional regulations, guidelines, technical standards, logistic and economical aspects useful for supporting companies in synergies implementation. Results of this activity will also be used to improve the algorithm in the platform to find synergies.

Aquaculture in Sicily: the state of the art

Aquaculture in Sicily, represented almost exclusively by seabass and sea bream production, together with capture fishery, plays a significant role in the regional economy. On a national basis, the regional production covers about 20% of Italian euryhaline fish production. Fingerling supply is guaranteed by the two hatcheries present on the Island. Twelve floating cage farms and two inshore farms annually produce about 4,000 t of fish. A small extensive production arises from the storage basins of the salt work of Trapani. This niche production could represent an opportunity to realize a new distinctive organic aquaculture, preferred by the consumers respect to intensive produced fish, that could contribute to promote the Territory. Two bluefin tuna fattening farms produce about 1,300 t of sashimi grade tuna annually. The aquaculture sector in Sicily faces the same problems of the Italian and Mediterranean sectors. However, Sicily is considered a Convergence Region by the European Union Cohesion Policy and is legible for special funding. The operational program 2007/2013 “European Fishery Found” will be an effective instrument to stimulate investment and technological innovation and to promote sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture in the Region.

A geophysical and geochemical approach for seawater intrusion assessment in the Acquedolci coastal aquifer (Northern Sicily)

Vertical electrical sounding (VES’) surveys and chemical analyses of groundwater have been executed in the coastal plain of Acquedolci (Northern Sicily), with the aim to circumscribe seawater intrusion phenomena. This urbanized area is representative of a more general problem interesting most of Mediterranean littoral areas, where intensive overdraft favors a heavy seawater intrusion through the coastline. Aquifer resistivity seems decisively to be conditioned by the chlorine and magnesium content in the main aquifer of the region. Schlumberger VES’, together with piezometric and chemical–physical information of groundwater, allowed us to perform hydrogeological and geophysical elaborations, to propose the occurrence of a relatively narrow belt marked by fresh–salt water mixing. In the considered plain, pollution risk studies have been already realized by authors with the proposal to identify—by parametric and synthetic zoning of significant hydrogeological elements—the most vulnerable sectors. In detail, an intrinsic vulnerability mapping has been already performed, applying the well-known SINTACS system. This paper intends to give—in this sector of Sicily—an example of integration of different methodologies, showing the role of geophysics to describe the degradation of aquifers on the whole as well as to assess their pollution risk better.

The production and marketing of organic wine in Sicily

This paper aims at a better knowledge of the organic wine sector in Sicily. In the last few years regulations 2078/92 and 2092/91 have had a wide diffusion in the agricultural regional context; a rapid increase of areas and farms justify the attention paid by the European union policies. Two aspects of the sector have been examined: the influence on the implementation of Reg. 2078/92 with regard to diffusion of the organic wine sector in Sicily; and a group of farms in the west of Sicily have been analysed to verify the scenario of organic wine, and the strategy used in the commercialization of organic production. The results show a very interesting framework for organic wine. This is a sector in the process of major expansion, especially with regard to the trade profile, mainly because of increasing demand from markets abroad.

Production and trade marketing policies regarding organic olive oil in Sicily

This research analyses the main structural factors of the organic olive oil sector in Sicily, and the effects of the European sustainable development policy (EEC Regulation 2092/91, EEC Regulation 2078/92). It examines the trade marketing of organic producers of olive oil like the initiatives to exploit European branding, typicalness, and European recognition of PDO (protected denomination of origin).

The regional park of the Nebrodi Mts. (Sicily): a contribution to an integrated groundwater management

The Nebrodi Park, located in the north-eastern sector of Sicily, is of particular environmental and scientific interest. This is due to the morphological heterogeneity of the protected region that presents a wide variety of landscapes and ecosystems. In spite of the recent efforts of the Regional Government and Municipalities, environmental resources, especially groundwater, risk progressive depauperation and pollution. In this paper, the authors consider the hydrogeological karst unit of Monte Traura-Rocche del Crasto, the most productive in the Nebrodi belt (zone B of the regional park). This unit is underexploited and needs a careful hydrogeological study in order to supply coastal aquifers. Geochemical and geophysical prospecting has been carried out in this area. Analyses of water springs, sampled in different seasons, have suggested patterns of groundwater circulation. Apparent resistivity measurements have yielded complementary information about the recharge processes of deep aquifers. Goals of the project to which this research belongs are the rational exploitation and protection of reservoirs such as Monte Traura and the recovery of the degraded aquifers, proposing new strategies of regional management for the water resources in this comer of Sicily.