Venetian Area Research Articles

Study and characterization of paper bookbindings from 16 to 18th stored in the Marciana National Library (Venice)

Paper bookbindings have been disregarded for centuries by scholars since they were only considered temporary covering materials for manuscripts and books. Recently, there is a willingness to reconsider these bindings and to evaluate their role. Thanks to the collaboration with the Marciana National Library in Venice, which stores an impressive collection of 849 detached bindings, the current research provides a chemical-physical elucidation about the composition and the manufacture of paper bookbindings realized between the 16th and the eighteenth century in the Venetian area. A selection of bookbindings was analysed by the means of complementary methods (thickness measurements, Attenuated Total Reflection—Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC–MS) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)). Data evidence the presence of cellulose as the main component of paper pulp; hemicellulose and lignin were identified too, probably related to the presence of linen/hemp rags in the paper production. Gelatine was detected muck likely related to paper sizing; among inorganic additives CaCO3 was found in all samples. The presence of waxy material may be due to past undocumented conservation treatments.

SAT278 - Is hospital admission an ideal condition for HCV screening? A survey from the Venetian area (north-east of Italy)

SAT278 - Is hospital admission an ideal condition for HCV screening? A survey from the Venetian area (north-east of Italy)

Daily Life on the Istrian Frontier: Living on a Borderland in the Sixteenth Century by Robert Kurelić

Reviewed by: Daily Life on the Istrian Frontier: Living on a Borderland in the Sixteenth Century by Robert Kurelić Sybil M. Jack Kurelić, Robert, Daily Life on the Istrian Frontier: Living on a Borderland in the Sixteenth Century (Studies in the History of Daily Life (800–1600), 7), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. viii, 232; 6 b/w illustrations, 2 b/w tables; R.R.P. €75.00; ISBN 9782503551869. Robert Kurelić has written both a remarkable and a frustrating book. It is frustrating because, despite a brief overview, the complicated political background of the difficult and diverse corner of Europe studied here has been scattered through the chapters in a way that cannot be easily put together. In order to appreciate the significance of Kurelić's analysis the reader is constantly obliged to review the context elsewhere. It is remarkable because the author has found useful ways in which to extract the information he wants from material not immediately intended to provide it. Interpreting the surviving records for the area is no simple matter, but Kurelić has achieved it in a way that he makes plain to readers. The contemporary analysis of the changes Istria underwent in the period analysed is pessimistic, but Kurelic reviews their presentation and offers a more nuanced exposition. No two frontiers are the same and Kurelić shows that Istria had apparently suffered a more severe loss of population due to famine, plague, and pestilence than most other frontiers in the years since the Black Death. After 1453 Istria was pressured by the increasing threat from the Ottomans, which resulted in the migration from areas overrun by the Turks of many people, known as Morlaks, whose culture was distinct, and who brought with them behaviour deemed criminal by the locals. This differs markedly from the position on borders elsewhere in Europe. Given the nature of the intrusion, Kurelić's conclusion, that the greater [End Page 267] part of the very different populations managed to coexist despite frequent boundary conflicts and the ever-present feud, is unexpected but well argued. Kurelić concentrates on the relationships between the areas under Venetian and those under Austrian influence. The cultural divide he identifies, however, is not so much between the two states as within them. He shows that the coastal towns in the Venetian area enjoyed a different culture and language similar to that of Venice itself, while the interior settlements, both those owing allegiance to Venice and those obeying the Habsburgs, largely spoke the same language, and practised the same local symbolic rituals and traditions. The structure and management of their local churches, which involved the local election of priests, added to the similarity, since they worshipped using the same distinctively different language and rites. It is less surprising that many of the popular beliefs for the whole place and period were common—many supernatural superstitions were Europe-wide if one allows for some local distinctions. Kurelić also illustrates how the administrative structures in all these places were very similar. He shows how throughout the period the entire area was still socially and economically struggling with the loss of population that meant some villages and even towns had disappeared. He highlights the way that agriculture was giving way to animal husbandry and that the people who remained had difficulties in supporting themselves. In showing that local feuding over resources was kept within limits he makes the legal position clear. Whose courts had authority was ill-defined and disputed. The poorly marked boundaries and conflict over the rights and ownership of the territory, especially in the forests, which was of key importance to the residents, resulted in numerous long-drawn-out and inconclusive conflicts. The restrictions that resulted help explain the limitations on the authority of the local officials, especially the zupans. To explain the dynamics of life in Istria Kurelić turns to the difficult concept of honour, differing as it did between the Morlaks, who were basically egalitarian, the established local nobility, and the outside authority. Kurelić concludes that even though the frontiers were a mosaic of complexities and periodically subject to violence, they were ultimately tolerant of the different groups. The frontiers were no impediment to economic...

Wetland Loss in Northeastern Italy Documented by Historical Maps

Abstract. Historical landscape and habitat reconstruction can be an important mitigation tool for regional habitat loss, conservation and restoration (NRC 1992; Swetnam et al. 1999; Steiner 2000). Among landscapes and habitats, wetlands play an important role in providing ecosystem services. Any loss of wetland areas may cause serious and sometimes irreparable environmental and habitat damages (Soule, 1991). Wetlands have a paramount importance for ecosystems and are protected by the Ramsar Convention and regulated and valorized, in different ways, by local and/or regional protection agency and laws.Analysing trends of wetlands loss on a regional scale can now be performed using geo-historical approaches and remote sensing and GIS technologies. Many notable examples of wetlands loss studies using a combined geohistorical and GIS approach may be find in the literature. Much of the previous research on wetlands loss has focused on the United States where wetlands are more legally protected and regulated. Little research has focused on wetlands in southern Europe. The focus of this research is on wetland loss in the Southern Venetian-Po Plain (Northeastern Italy) through a comparison of contemporary and historical data with the analysis of remote sensing and historical maps. In particular, this work focuses on the province of Padova, well known for their abundance of inland wetlands in the past although greatly disrupted through drainage and agricultural expansion in the last century.The Southern Venetian Po-Plain is an alluvial plain located between the Lagoon of Venice, the Po river and the Veneto pre-Alps piedmont region. This region is currently characterized by an apparent scarcity of wetlands in comparison to what is represented in many historical maps and described in historical documents. Some studies on wetlands in parts of the Venetian region have been conducted using different approaches. Typical research focused on single portions of larger wetlands or single ponds for the study of current biochemical conditions and ecosystems in the environment (e.g. Serandrei-Barbero et al., 2011; Pappalardo et al., 2016). Research on more extensive wetlands, land reclamations and humans-rivers relationships mostly focus on the analysis of the socio-economical conditions in the Po Delta and the Lagoon of Venice (e.g. Bertoncin, 2002; Novello, 2009). Despite numerous works on singular ponds or studies on larger water bodies in the Venetian area, there is still a poor knowledge of the amount, the extension and the type of wetlands in the Southern Venetian Po-Plain. A comprehensive survey of wetlands for the Venetian area has never been conducted, and the ‘official’ data are notably incomplete.The objectives of this work were: 1) to perform a survey (Figure 1) of both historic and present-day wetlands in the province of Padova (northeastern Italy) using historical cartography (1882 map of the province of Padova by O. Morelli) and recent aerial orthophotos (2015), 2) to provide a first estimation of the extraordinary loss of wetlands in this province due mostly to land reclamation processes of the last century, and 3) to discuss the prospects for further historical wetlands analysis based on additional historic maps (1776, 1801, 1862, 1882, 1980) for a key area called Bassa Padovana (Padova’s lowland). All quantitative analyses were performed through the use of a GIS. This research contributes to the discussion of small isolated wetlands (Figure 2) that have been created in the last century and their unique role in the ecosystems.

Water matters. Geoarchaeology of the city of Adria and palaeohydrographic variations (Po Delta, Northern Italy)

Adria is located in the northern Po delta at the edge of the Venice Lagoon, a sector of the Po Plain that was built by the late Holocene geomorphic activity of the Po, Adige and Tartaro rivers. Early settlements are dated to the Middle Bronze Age, and the city developed as a major urban centre during the Iron Age and Roman times. In the early Middle Ages, Adria survived as a local religious centre in the Venetian area, as evidenced by the existence of a 9th century AD church. The superimposition of archaeological deposits led to the upbuilding of an anthropogenic mound rising up to 5m above the surrounding plain. The aim of this investigation is to understand the evolution of the city of Adria from the 1st millennium BC to the Middle Ages, and its relationships with the rearrangement of the river network and connected palaeogeographic setting.The area was studied through the analysis of historical cartography, aerial photographs, a digital terrain model, archaeological data from the archives of the Soprintendenza Archeologia del Veneto, geological corings and a cone penetration test. New stratigraphic data have been acquired through the execution of 21 manual boreholes up to 5m in depth with an Edelman combination-type auger. Radiocarbon datings were carried out on selected peat samples.The analysis of the elevation above sea level of different stratigraphic data has exposed the stages of the evolution of the city, starting from the 6th century BC through Roman times and post-Antiquity, revealing the extension of the archaeological mound in the southern part of the modern city. The growth of the mound took place in four phases, dated to the 6th–5th centuries BC, 4th–3rd centuries BC, 1st century BC–1st century AD and post-Antiquity. The presence of a buried soil at the top of the Po deposits, coupled with radiocarbon dating of extensive peat layers, has allowed the reconstruction of the stratigraphy of the alluvial succession, and to correlate it with the archaeological record. The buried soil at the top of the Po deposits lies below the 6th century BC archaeological levels in the lowest part of the archaeological mound. On this same palaeosurface the first 9th century AD church was built. Two alluvial events buried this church under about 2m of overbank fines, turning it into an underground hall, known as the ‘crypt’ of the modern San Giovanni church. These alluvial events are attributed to the Tartaro River, with a probable contribution by the Adige River. The first alluvial event took place between the 9th and 11th centuries AD. In the 11th–15th centuries AD, a marshy area extended north, west and east of the city centre, as evidenced by an extensive peat layer that was buried by the second alluvial event later than the 15th century AD.

Praising Discord

This paper aims to explore the variety of sophistic argumentations that the Paduan philosopher and writer Sperone Speroni (1500–1588) applies in the so-called paradoxical work Dialogo della Discordia (1542), in which style as well as content factor into the author’s interest in ancient sophistic rhetoric. In analyzing the subject, the paper focuses on the influence of Erasmus’ Praise of Folly (1511) in Speroni’s dialogue. In so doing, the paper also intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the impact of Erasmus’ work in the Venetian area—in particular, the rebirth of ancient sophistic literature in the Italian Renaissance.

Middle Eocene Nummulites and their offshore re-deposition: A case study from the Middle Eocene of the Venetian area, northeastern Italy

The Middle Eocene Calcari nummulitici formation from northeastern Italy, Venetian area, represents a shallow-marine carbonate ramp developed on the northern Tethyan margin. In the Monti Berici area, its main components are larger foraminifera and coralline red algal communities that constitute thick carbonate sedimentary successions. Middle ramp and proximal outer ramp environments are recognized using component relationships, biofacies and sedimentary features. The middle-ramp is characterized by larger flattened-lenticular Nummulites on palaeohighs between which rhodoliths formed. Larger Nummulites palaeohighs containing Nummulites millecaput, Nummulites crassus, Nummulites discorbinus and Nummulites cf. gizehensis developed more basin-wards. The following relatively quiet environments of basin-wards of the palaeohighs represent areas of maximum carbonate production. The transition between the distal middle- and the proximal outer-ramp settings is marked in the study area by a large erosional surface which is interpreted to have been formed as a result of an erosive channel body filled in by deposits re-sedimented from shallower depths. These off-shore re-sedimented channelized deposits, ascribed to the Shallow Benthic Zone SBZ 15, lying on hemipelagic marls (planktonic foraminiferal zone E9 (P11)) allow for a biostratigraphic correlation to the Late Lutetian.The studied deposits, represented by packstone to rudstones, were displaced whilst still unlithified. The Lutetian–Bartonian regression along with the local tectonic activity promoted the production of a high amount of biogenic shallow-water carbonates mainly produced in the Mossano middle-ramp settings. These prograded towards the basinal areas with high-sedimentation rate of carbonate deposits characterized by the larger Nummulites rudstones. Such high amounts of sediment led to sediment instability which potentially could be mobilized either by return currents due to occasional major storms or by earthquakes induced by tectonic activity. These will have led to the offshore re-deposition of the Nummulites sediments into deeper water setting via the observed channels. Since potential migration pathways are short, such distal re-sedimented channel-filled material surrounded by hemipelagic marls is optimally placed for the formation of potential subsurface oil reservoirs.

I Celti e il Veneto

The Celts and the Venetic space. The paper examines Celtic influences and presence in the Venetian area between the Vth and IInd century b. C. Archaeological and epigraphical finds show economic and social relationships between Celti and Veneti. New archaeological contexts now allow a more detailed chronology for some specific types, such as glass bracelets from Adria and earrings with complex decorations from Este and Padova. The comparison with Venetic inscriptions allows interesting insights in the social evolution.

Le strutture del popolamento rurale tra IV e IX secolo in Emilia Romagna e nelle Venezie

The study is devoted to the structures of coastal and rural populations of the large territory of the Venetian area and Emilia Romagna between the 4th and the 8th/9th centuries. The first reviewed data derive from research projects based on surveys: the Late Roman settlement pattern, despite evidence for a general decline of the sites, shows a reorganization of land holdings with different outcomes in different territories. A comparison with the data from excavations provides evidence for simple structures built over the villas or wooden huts with no ties to the previous structures of the Roman period. The early Middle Ages are marked by a trend towards centralization (villages, curtes central places, castles, etc..) together with a scattered settlement which was highly mobile and difficult to document, which in some areas continues to be based on previous fundia. The most economically vibrant structures are located along the Adriatic coast. A series of Late Antique settlements comprises functions related to roads, navigation, and handicraft production. In some cases urban sites were created ex novo.

Prevalence of erosive osteoarthritis of the hand in a population from Venetian area

The exact prevalence of erosive osteoarthritis (EOA) is still unknown. Aim of our study was therefore to evaluate the prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) and EOA of the hand in a representative population from Venetian area. All people aged > 40 years of a small town in Venetian area has been considered. A complete clinical evaluation has been performed in all subjects. For those patients with clinical signs or symptoms of OA, radiographic evaluation of the hands has been carried out. The entire population aged >40 years living in Silea entered the study. Signs or symptoms of OA were present in 200 out 640 subjects (31.2%), whereas EOA was diagnosed in 17 (8.5%) all female, mean age 57.5 +/-10.1 years (range 41-74) mean disease duration 5.1 +/-3.8 years (range 1-15). The most frequently involved joint was the second DIP of the right hand. The prevalence of EOA in the Venetian area seems to be around 8.5%.

PM source apportionment analysis in the Venetian area

A CALMET-CAMx system was implemented to investigate PM10 source apportionment in the urban area of Venice. The modelling system was run for two winter months on a domain covering most of the Veneto region with a 4 km resolution mesh and a 1 km nested grid over Venice and its mainland area, in order to distinguish the local emission contributions from the regional ones. A brute-force method was applied in the nested grid: a 50% emission reduction was imposed separately for the main sectors (road transport, industrial plants, agricolture domestic heating, other transport, the latest comprehending the Venice harbour activities).

Components, facies and ramps: Redefining Upper Oligocene shallow water carbonates using coralline red algae and larger foraminifera (Venetian area, northeast Italy)

Chattian mixed carbonate-siliciclastic deposits from two palaeogeographic units of Southern Alps, the Lessini Shelf and Venetian foreland basin of northeast Italy, are studied with respect to facies distributions and controlling ecological factors on dominant biogenic components. These ramp depositional systems are located in the western Southern Alps on the Lessini Shelf, and in the eastern Southern Alps in the Venetian foreland basin. The successions show an extensive geographic distribution of at least 150 km × 40 km at the southern margin of the Southern Alps. Palaeoenvironments are inferred following microfacies characteristics and floral and faunal indicators, especially those of coralline red algae and larger foraminifera. An inner- to middle homoclinal ramp morphology is reconstructed based on facies distributions and taxonomic and coralline algal growth-form proxy data. The distribution along depositional strike shows variation from thinner, carbonate dominated sequence in the west (Monti Berici and Monti Lessini) to a more variable, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic dominated environment to the east (Vittorio Veneto, Alpago). Facies character and occurrence are controlled by local hydrodynamic conditions and varying water turbidity of the studied ramp depositional system. The general facies succession shows a transgressive sequence from the proximal inner- to proximal middle ramp. A shoal belt of trough cross-bedded sandstones occurs in a proximal inner ramp position in all of the studied areas. In a gentle-dipping homoclinal ramp, most benthic organisms inhabited the relatively quite environments off these shoals in a distal inner ramp setting. Basinward environments (proximal middle ramp) constitute areas of maximal carbonate production and consist primarily of larger foraminiferal facies and rhodolith pavements. Larger foraminifera, represented by two larger foraminiferal assemblages, are most diversified in the shallower settings (near the fair-weather wave base, distal inner/proximal middle ramp), whereas coralline algae predominate in deeper areas (proximal middle ramp) constructing extensive rhodolith pavements. Rhodolith pavements are distinguished with respect to rhodolith shape, size, growth-forms and coralline algal taxonomic composition. Larger foraminifera are interpreted with respect to shell structures, shell architectures and comparable Recent counterparts. The analysed benthic communities thrived in a mesotrophic regime within trophic gradients constrained by fluvial influence. Coralline algal dominance and a moderately diverse larger foraminiferal assemblage suggest a tropical/warm temperate transition. The considerable stability imposed on sediments by the rhodolith pavement must also have significantly contributed to the maintenance of a middle ramp profile bulge. This study will contribute to a better understanding of Oligocene carbonates which have received less attention than their Eocene or Miocene counterparts.

Present-day and fossil rhodolith pavements compared: Their potential for analysing shallow-water carbonate deposits

Coralline red algae represent the main biogenic components in most shallow-water carbonate successions from the Eocene to the Recent. They contribute significantly to sediment production on open platforms. Carbonate sediments formed by unattached coralline algae include rhodolith pavements (RPs) which represent dense accumulations of rhodoliths, as well as maërl which is composed of rhodoliths, coralline algal branches and their detritus. Recent RPs sampled off Sesoko-jima (Okinawa-jima, southern Japan) occur at depths of 50–70 m on a submarine terrace. The taxonomic coralline composition is dominated by melobesioids associated with minor amounts of mastophoroids and sporolithaceans. The rhodoliths are characterised by various nuclei, an encrusting inner arrangement, encrusting to warty outer growth-forms and sub-spheroidal shapes. Bioerosion, encrustation and abrasion are the most prevalent taphonomic features. Possible fossil counterparts were identified in Chattian and Priabonian RPs from middle-ramp depositional systems from the Venetian area, north-east Italy. A direct comparison between Recent and fossil RPs is possible by contrasting the constituent rhodolith characteristics including taxonomic composition, nature of the nucleus, inner arrangement, outer growth-forms, size and shape as well as taphonomic signatures. This allows factors controlling rhodolith formation and growth in RPs to be compared especially with respect to hydrodynamic regimes and substrate type.

Old and New Ceramics: Manufacturers, Products and Markets in the Venetian Republic in the 17th and 18th Centuries

This contribution aims to draw up a map of ceramics production sites in the Venetian area from 1600 to 1800, bearing particular attention to institutional and informal devices allowing local production to adapt to European markets trends and innovations. The paper investigates the logics of privileges allowance to private entrepreneurs outside of the guilds framework, conceived probably as a protection for offer more than for demand: they had to do the exploitation of natural resources at a local level (water, raw materials), and of the services labor force accumulating specialized skills working in close contact with foreign invited artisans. The defence and seizure of industrial expertise was in fact the object of enduring court cases between manufacturers fighting to retain and attract highly qualified workers. These were the actual agents' innovation exchange among European, Italian and regional production centres. Continuous exchange and imitation allowed Venetian privileged firms to keep positions in secondary European markets providing most of the demand for local production. The paper is a contribution in a collection edited by Paola Lanaro, submitted and accepted publication by the Center for Renaissance and Reformation Studies of the Toronto University.

Fifteen-year results with the Hancock II valve: A multicenter experience

The purpose of this multi-institutional study was to review the 15-year outcome of patients who received isolated aortic or mitral valve replacement with the Hancock II bioprosthesis. From 1983 through 2002, 1274 patients underwent 1293 isolated valve replacements, 809 aortic valve replacements and 484 mitral valve replacements, at hospitals in the Venetian area (Padova, Treviso, and Venice). Mean age was 68 +/- 8 years in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement and 66 +/- 9 years in patients undergoing mitral valve replacement; 52% of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement and 63% of patients undergoing mitral valve replacement were in New York Heart Association class III or greater. Coronary artery disease was present in 32% of patients who had undergone aortic valve replacement and 18% of patients who had undergone mitral valve replacement. Follow-up included 8520 patient-years, with a median of 12 years, and was 97% complete. Overall 15-year survival was 39.7% +/- 2.4%, similar in both the aortic and mitral positions. Multivariable analysis of late survival showed the incremental risk of male sex, higher New York Heart Association class, coronary artery disease, and mitral position. Freedom from embolism was higher in the aortic position (81% +/- 2.9% in aortic vs 72% +/- 4.7% in mitral valve replacements). Freedom from endocarditis was similar in the aortic and mitral position (95% +/- 1.2% vs 94% +/- 1.7%). Freedom from reoperation (82% +/- 3.7% vs 71% +/- 5.0%) and from valve-related morbidity-mortality (52% +/- 3.6% vs 36% +/- 4.4%) was higher in patients who had undergone AVR. Actual freedom from structural valve deterioration for patients 60 years and older who had undergone aortic valve replacement was 96.5% +/- 1.3% versus 88% +/- 3.2% for patients who had undergone mitral valve replacement and 70% +/- 7.5% versus 77.5% +/- 5.3%, respectively, in younger patients. Multivariable Weibull analysis showed structural valve deterioration related to younger age and preoperative valve incompetence and inversely related to coronary artery disease. Optimal 15-year durability can be expected in male patients 60 years and older who have undergone aortic valve replacement and in male patients 65 years and older who have undergone mitral valve replacement, extending safely the age limits for the use of this valve.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Venice Area: A Methodological Framework

Recent years have seen an increasing consensus on the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) principles and structure, and the widespread recognition of its effectiveness in dealing with multiples and interconnected coastal issues. A successful ICZM programme adjusted to a specific context will incorporate systems of governance, culture and tradition, needs and expectations and will be built as much as possible on existing organisation and arrangements. This paper aims at defining the methodological basis for an ICZM framework suitable for an operational application in the socio-economic and environmental context of the Venetian area. The first section of the paper defines the basic concepts involved in coastal planning. The second section reviews methodological requirements and constraints. In the third section the paper analyses the procedure, the stages and steps within those stages that are generally necessary to implement ICZM programmes. Finally, the conclusive remarks identify further research requirements that will contribute to a concrete proposal for the Venice Lagoon System.

Antonio Tarsia: analiza stila i funkcija skladateljskoga opusa

Antonio Tarsia: analiza stila i funkcija skladateljskoga opusa

GEOLOGIA E ATTIVITÀ MINERARIA IN ITALIA SETTENTRIONALE TRA SETTECENTO ED OTTOCENTO: L'INFLUENZA DELLA «SCUOLA DI FREIBERG» SU ALCUNI SCIENZIATI ITALIANI 1

Abstract<title> SUMMARY </title>The relevance of German mineralogy and mining was completely recognized in northern Italy during the eighteenth century, for example in the work of two distinguished Italian scientists such as Giovanni Arduino and Benedetto Spirito Nicolis di Robilant Malet. Nevertheless, between the end of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century, the growing diffusion of the lithogenetic theories of Abraham Gottlob Werner caused the internal division of the Italian scientific community between «volcanists» and «neptunists». The present study gives a general look at this controversy, through published and unpublished sources, paying particular attention to the Venetian area.

Applications of the generalized gamma distribution to air pollution problems: The case of Venice

Ground level concentrations of sulphur dioxide in the Venetian area of Italy were analyzed from a receptor-oriented point of view with reference to the seasonal evolution of the atmospheric stability over a coastal site. The observed frequency distributions of air quality data were well reproduced by employing the generalized gamma distribution. By restricting the shape-parameter in the adopted distribution function to integer values the main features of the considered region could be modelled in a simple and unified way. If the shape-parameter was allowed to assume both integer and half-integer values a more refined representation was achieved, in which the heterogeneous behaviour of the region was characterized mathematically. Economically sensitive problems such as land use planning may be possible applications of these results.

Probability Model for Atmospheric Sulphur Dioxide Concentrations in the Area of Venice

This paper deals with a comparative screening of existing air quality models based on their ability to simulate the distribution of sulfur dioxide data in the Venetian area. Investigations have been carried out on sulfur dioxide dispersion in the atmosphere of the Venetian area. The studies have been mainly focused on transport models (Gaussian, plume and K-models) aiming at meaningful correlations of sources and receptors. Among the results, a noteworthy disagreement of simulated and experimental data, due to the lack of thorough knowledge of source field conditions and of local meteorology of the sea-land transition area, has been shown. Investigations with receptor oriented models (based, e.g., on time series analysis, Fourier analysis, or statistical distributions) have also been performed.