Papers by Simone Orlandini
Agricultural meteorology is concerned with every aspect of local and regional climates and the ca... more Agricultural meteorology is concerned with every aspect of local and regional climates and the causes of their variations, thus making standard observation of climatic elements a fundamental necessity (e.g. . It is also concerned with any climatic modifications which may be introduced by human management of agriculture, animal husbandry or forestry operations (e.g. Stigter, 1994a). Physical elements of climate are observed to assist the management of agricultural activities. Such management includes determining the time, extent and manner of cultivation and other agricultural operations (sowing, harvesting, planting, application of biocides and herbicides, ploughing, harrowing, rolling, irrigation, suppression of evaporation, deign, construction and repair of buildings for storage, animal husbandry etc.) and different methods of conservation, industrial use and transportation of agricultural products.
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Objective To investigate the short-term effect of air temperature on outdoor occupational injurie... more Objective To investigate the short-term effect of air temperature on outdoor occupational injuries (out_OI) in Central Italy, also by taking different geographical factors and employment sectors of workers into account. Methods Out_OI for all of Tuscany (Central Italy), from 2003 to 2010 (n=162 399), were provided by the National Institute of Insurance for Occupational Illness and Injury. Representative daily meteorological data of the geographical area under study were obtained from the European Reanalysis-interim climatological reanalysis archive. Relationships between short-term changes in air temperature and out_OI were studied through Generalised Additive Models. Results The exposure-response curves of out_OI and short-term changes in air temperature generally showed significant out_OI increases when cold conditions occurred. The air temperature breakpoint corresponded to the 10th centile (-0.8 degrees C) of the air temperature time series used in this study: a 1 degrees C decr...
International Journal of Biometeorology
Military and civil defense personnel are often involved in complex activities in a variety of out... more Military and civil defense personnel are often involved in complex activities in a variety of outdoor environments. The choice of appropriate clothing ensembles represents an important strategy to establish the success of a military mission. The main aim of this study was to compare the known clothing insulation of the garment ensembles worn by soldiers during two winter outdoor field trials (hike and guard duty) with the estimated optimal clothing thermal insulations recommended to maintain thermoneutrality, assessed by using two different biometeorological procedures. The overall aim was to assess the applicability of such biometeorological procedures to weather forecast systems, thereby developing a comprehensive biometeorological tool for military operational forecast purposes. Military trials were carried out during winter 2006 in Pokljuka (Slovenia) by Slovene Armed Forces personnel. Gastrointestinal temperature, heart rate and environmental parameters were measured with porta...
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o... more Agricultural and Forest Meteorology j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / a g r f o r m e t a b s t r a c t Leaf wetness (LW) is one of the most important input variables of disease simulation models because of its fundamental role in the development of the infection process of many fungal pathogens. The low reliability of LW sensors and/or their rare use in standard weather stations has led to an increasing demand for reliable models that are able to estimate LW from other meteorological variables. When working on large databases in which data are interpolated in grids starting from weather stations, LW estimation is often penalized by the lack of hourly inputs (e.g., air relative humidity and air temperature), leading researchers to generate such variables from the daily values of the available weather data. Although it is possible to find several papers about models for the estimation of LW, the behavior and reliability of these models we...
During the past decades, many new software tools were developed to be used for agricultural resea... more During the past decades, many new software tools were developed to be used for agricultural research as well as for decision making. For example, crop and whole farm system modeling, pest and disease warning models/algorithms, models for irrigation scheduling or agroclimatic indices can help farmers significantly in decision making for crop management options and related farm technologies. The aim of Working Group 1 of COST 734 was a review and assessment of agroclimatic indices and simulation models relevant for various European agricultural activities. The key results, based on a survey by questionnaires among the COST 734 participating countries (see: www.cost734.eu) and a literature survey, are presented in this study. It includes an overview of most used agrometeorological or agroclimatic indices and process oriented crop models for operational as well as scientific applications, an analysis of the limitations for applications, and an overview of spatial applications in combina...
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Climate plays a fundamental role in agriculture because of to its influence on production. All pr... more Climate plays a fundamental role in agriculture because of to its influence on production. All processes are regulated by specific climatic requirements. Furthermore, European agriculture, based on highly developed farming techniques, is mainly oriented to high quality food production that is more susceptible to meteorological hazards. These hazards can modify environment-genotype interactions, which can affect the quality of production. The COST 734 Action (Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on European Agriculture), launched in 2006, is composed of 28 signature countries and is funded by the European Commission. The main objective of the Action is the evaluation of possible impacts arising from climate change and variability on agriculture and the assessment of critical thresholds for various European areas. The Action will concentrate on four different tasks: agroclimatic indices and simulation models, including review and assessment of tools used to relate climate and agr...
During the last decades, a large number of flood control reservoirs were developed in Northern It... more During the last decades, a large number of flood control reservoirs were developed in Northern Italy, in order to mitigate flood risk in urban areas. The city of Parma, located on the large alluvial fan of the Parma River, is served by a flood control reservoir (i.e., dry dam), completed in 2004. The reservoir can store a volume of 12·106
PLOS ONE, 2015
Short-term impacts of high temperatures on the elderly are well known. Even though Italy has the ... more Short-term impacts of high temperatures on the elderly are well known. Even though Italy has the highest proportion of elderly citizens in Europe, there is a lack of information on spatial heat-related elderly risks. Development of high-resolution, heat-related urban risk maps regarding the elderly population (≥65). A long time-series (2001-2013) of remote sensing MODIS data, averaged over the summer period for eleven major Italian cities, were downscaled to obtain high spatial resolution (100 m) daytime and night-time land surface temperatures (LST). LST was estimated pixel-wise by applying two statistical model approaches: 1) the Linear Regression Model (LRM); 2) the Generalized Additive Model (GAM). Total and elderly population density data were extracted from the Joint Research Centre population grid (100 m) from the 2001 census (Eurostat source), and processed together using "Crichton's Risk Triangle" hazard-risk methodology for obtaining a Heat-related Elderly Risk Index (HERI). The GAM procedure allowed for improved daytime and night-time LST estimations compared to the LRM approach. High-resolution maps of daytime and night-time HERI levels were developed for inland and coastal cities. Urban areas with the hazardous HERI level (very high risk) were not necessarily characterized by the highest temperatures. The hazardous HERI level was generally localized to encompass the city-centre in inland cities and the inner area in coastal cities. The two most dangerous HERI levels were greater in the coastal rather than inland cities. This study shows the great potential of combining geospatial technologies and spatial demographic characteristics within a simple and flexible framework in order to provide high-resolution urban mapping of daytime and night-time HERI. In this way, potential areas for intervention are immediately identified with up-to-street level details. This information could support public health operators and facilitate coordination for heat-related emergencies.
The Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is one of the most important models used to describe the thermal se... more The Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is one of the most important models used to describe the thermal sensation. Many programs are used to calculate it, and one of these is RayMan, created by Matzarakis, from the University of Freiburg. In this work, the RayMan model was tested to appraise its use in biometeorological applications. For this purpose, data collected in Florence in Summer 2003 were used, the hottest in Europe over the last years, and different situations for many categories of people wearing different types of clothing and with different of activities were simulated. The RayMan model showed that the environmental variables with a more significant weight on PMV were air temperature and global radiation rather than relative humidity. The model pointed out differences in PMV between male and female: females generally have lower values of PMV. From the data it is possible to notice that people with a low value of activity are more sensible to environmental variables. The model sh...
Journal of agrometeorology
Cupressaceae family has been recognized as a unique source of an increasing number of winter poll... more Cupressaceae family has been recognized as a unique source of an increasing number of winter pollinosis in Mediterranean countries. In the area of Florence, Central Italy, cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) represents the only source of Cupres- saceae pollen during winter months. Due to its abundant presence, the concentration of airborne pollen in the area and the impact on allergenic population are dramatically high. It has been well demonstrated that the period of pollination of cy- press (Cupressus Main Pollen Season, Cup MPS) shows a high variability year by year, depending on meteorological fac- tors and increasing temperatures as observed in the last 20 years caused an anticipation of Cup MPS in many countries. Ac- cordingly, the aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of the expected global warming on the start date and end date of Cupressaceae MPS in the area of Florence. With this aim, a stochastic weather generator (LARS WG) was run to derive daily Tmin, and ...
Advances in Global Change Research, 2011
... Simone Orlandini, Anna Dalla Marta, Marco Mancini, and Daniele Grifoni ... Sivle, 2005), part... more ... Simone Orlandini, Anna Dalla Marta, Marco Mancini, and Daniele Grifoni ... Sivle, 2005), particularly influencing winter weather and, through climate interactions on plants, flowering time of many tree species (Klaveness and Wielgolaski, 1996; Gormsen et al., 2005; Avolio et al ...
![Research paper thumbnail of Thermal maps of Florence: research supports urban planners and policymakers to take action towards urban temperature mitigation [Le mappe termiche della città di Firenze: la ricerca alla base delle strategie di adattamento degli estremi termici in città]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/41184829/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The growth of urban populations means that most people will experience urban climate, that is sig... more The growth of urban populations means that most people will experience urban climate, that is significantly different from the rural one. Urban climate is a very complex field of study because of the great number of characteristics that affect weather variables in the urban environment and because of the different kind of morphologies and materials used in cities all over the world. There is a need to increase the climatic knowledge of urban areas all over the world and to translate it into a planning language in order to facilitate the design of more sustainable cities. The aim of this work is to show how thermal maps can be used by urban planners and policymakers to take action towards urban temperature mitigation. A network of air temperature sensor was used to quantify the thermal variability of Florence and to analyze the relationship between air temperature and some urban indicators, such as green cover ratio, street cover ratio and building volume. All those studies were used...
British journal of cancer, 2001
Alterations of K- ras, p53, p16 and DPC4/Smad4 characterize pancreatic ductal cancer (PDC). Repor... more Alterations of K- ras, p53, p16 and DPC4/Smad4 characterize pancreatic ductal cancer (PDC). Reports of inactivation of these latter two genes in pancreatic endocrine tumours (PET) suggest that common molecular pathways are involved in the tumorigenesis of pancreatic exocrine and endocrine epithelia. We characterized 112 primary pancreatic tumours for alterations in p16 and DPC4 and immunohistochemical expression of DPC4. The cases included 34 PDC, 10 intraductal papillary-mucinous tumours (IPMT), 6 acinar carcinomas (PAC), 5 solid-pseudopapillary tumours (SPT), 16 ampulla of Vater cancers (AVC) and 41 PET. All tumours were also presently or previously analysed for K- ras and p53 mutations and allelic loss at 9p, 17p and 18q. Alterations in K- ras, p53, p16 and DPC4 were found in 82%, 53%, 38% and 9% of PDC, respectively and in 47%, 60%, 25% and 6% of AVC. Alterations in these genes were virtually absent in PET, PAC or SPT, while in IPMT only K- ras mutations were present (30%). Posi...
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, funded... more COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, funded by its member countries through the EU Framework Programme. The objective of COST is to coordinate, integrate and synthesise results from ongoing national research within and between COST member countries to add value to research investment. COST Actions aim to deliver scientific syntheses and analyses of best
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2015
ABSTRACT Urban planners need tools to manage urban growth without compromising the citizens’ qual... more ABSTRACT Urban planners need tools to manage urban growth without compromising the citizens’ quality of life. Urban vegetation plays an important role in regulating local climate and improving air quality. Further, urban vegetation provides non quantifiable psychological and aesthetic benefits. On the other hand, vegetation also has negative impacts, such as allergen risk due to pollen dispersion. This paper investigates the effects of urbanization on tree phenology, exploring the intra-urban variability of Tilia x europaea L. flowering in Florence (Italy). Phenological observations were related to local air temperature, distance from the city center, impervious surfaces and building density. Data collected were used to test whether urban characteristics could be used to describe phenophase timing differences in the city. These differences are explained both by seasonal temperature variation as well as by impervious surface density. In fact Tilia x europaea flowering occurred first in the areas with a higher percentage of impervious surfaces. Both the start and end of flowering advanced by 1.4 days with a 10% increase in impervious surfaces. Our results suggest a potential application of the “impervious surfaces” urban morphology indicator to predict phenological shifts in an urban environment. These indicators can be processed by geographic information system tools to produce phenological maps of a specific urban area or future urban planning scenarios. This information can be used to improve the evaluation of the benefits and drawbacks of trees, such as their impact on local temperatures, the aesthetic improvement of the urban landscape or the negative effects on human health due to the risk of pollen allergy during the flowering period.
Environmental Pollution, 2014
The pollination period and pollen concentration of olive trees (Olea europea L.) and olive produc... more The pollination period and pollen concentration of olive trees (Olea europea L.) and olive production were analysed for Prato and Florence using a data set of 8 years (1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998). Meteorological data have been used to obtain information about weather conditions during vegetative seasons and correlations were found both for the phenology and yield.
Climate and meteorological conditions greatly affect agricultural activities, modifying plant res... more Climate and meteorological conditions greatly affect agricultural activities, modifying plant responses and determining the quantity and the quality of production. In this respect, the aim of this research was to analyze the quality of winter durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum), in terms of protein content through the use of meteorological information. Meteorological conditions were described utilizing both local weather station data (air temperature, cumulated precipitation) and large-scale information available freely on the internet, such as geopotential height (GPH), sea surface temperature (SST), and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. The analysis was carried out for the period
Occupational and environmental medicine, 2014
To investigate the short-term effect of air temperature on outdoor occupational injuries (out_OI)... more To investigate the short-term effect of air temperature on outdoor occupational injuries (out_OI) in Central Italy, also by taking different geographical factors and employment sectors of workers into account. Out_OI for all of Tuscany (Central Italy), from 2003 to 2010 (n=162,399), were provided by the National Institute of Insurance for Occupational Illness and Injury. Representative daily meteorological data of the geographical area under study were obtained from the European Reanalysis-interim climatological reanalysis archive. Relationships between short-term changes in air temperature and out_OI were studied through Generalised Additive Models. The exposure-response curves of out_OI and short-term changes in air temperature generally showed significant out_OI increases when cold conditions occurred. The air temperature breakpoint corresponded to the 10th centile (-0.8°C) of the air temperature time series used in this study: a 1°C decrease in temperature below the 10th centile...
This note describes some aspects regarding the management of water resources in Italy. The study ... more This note describes some aspects regarding the management of water resources in Italy. The study in-cludes the analysis of rainfall patterns in the last years (2003-2007), considering the trend of annual and seasonal precipitation. Furthermore, an other issue is the irrigation systems: the more diffuse methods and the modality of water supplying adopted by farmers in the North, Centre and South of It-aly are evaluated. The role of farm ponds as water storage reservoir is an important as- pect: the study takes into account the ponds distribution, management and their use for aid irrigation. Some examples about the possible use of farm ponds are described for different regions of Italian territory.
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Papers by Simone Orlandini