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Dr. Emanuele Barca
Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy

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0 Geostatistics
0 Statistics
0 Statistics with R
0 stochastic modelling
0 Multivariate regression

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Geostatistics
mixed models.

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Journal article
Published: 29 May 2021 in Plants
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Olive groves represent an important economic, agro-ecological, and cultural resource in the Mediterranean Basin. Weed management plays a fundamental role in their sustainable management. The aim of this work was to characterize and assess the plant diversity associated with different weed control practices, in a homogeneous olive-dominated landscape in the South-East of Italy. Sixty-five vegetation plots were sampled in orchards treated with different weed control practices: mowing, tillage, and use of chemical herbicides. The multi-response permutation procedure was used to test the hypothesis of no difference among the treatments. The relationships between plots were visualized by means of non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination. A generalized linear mixed model was used to analyze the relationships between weed control practices and life forms, chorotypes, and diversity indexes. The results showed that the three weed control practices determined slightly different plant communities. Chemically weeded orchards showed an impoverished floristic composition and the lowest diversity, whereas mowing and tillage yielded similar values. These latter two treatments differed for the percentages of hemicryptophytes and therophytes. Moreover, different from other studies, we did not find plant species of particular concern for biodiversity conservation. We hypothesize that this result is due to the monotonous structure of the agro-landscape we investigated, where natural elements are almost lacking. From this point of view, a correct management of agro-districts should consider both the agronomic practices at the level of the individual olive groves and the structure of the agro-landscape.

ACS Style

Massimo Terzi; Emanuele Barca; Eugenio Cazzato; Francesco D’Amico; Cesare Lasorella; Mariano Fracchiolla. Effects of Weed Control Practices on Plant Diversity in a Homogenous Olive-Dominated Landscape (South-East of Italy). Plants 2021, 10, 1090 .

AMA Style

Massimo Terzi, Emanuele Barca, Eugenio Cazzato, Francesco D’Amico, Cesare Lasorella, Mariano Fracchiolla. Effects of Weed Control Practices on Plant Diversity in a Homogenous Olive-Dominated Landscape (South-East of Italy). Plants. 2021; 10 (6):1090.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Massimo Terzi; Emanuele Barca; Eugenio Cazzato; Francesco D’Amico; Cesare Lasorella; Mariano Fracchiolla. 2021. "Effects of Weed Control Practices on Plant Diversity in a Homogenous Olive-Dominated Landscape (South-East of Italy)." Plants 10, no. 6: 1090.

Journal article
Published: 27 January 2021 in Journal of Environmental Management
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The effectiveness of an advanced treatment of wastewater generated by non-hazardous plastic solid waste (PSW) washing, based on the Sequencing Batch Biofilter Granular Reactor (SBBGR), was assessed in terms of gross parameters, removal efficiencies and sludge production. The proposed treatment was also compared with the conventional treatment, which was based on primary and secondary treatments, using the activated sludge process, performed by Recuperi Pugliesi, a leading company in the plastic recycling industry located in Bari, Italy. The company produces low-density polyethylene (LDPE) regenerated granules from PSW used in agricultural and floricultural greenhouse activities and industrial packaging after a washing stage in the aqueous phase. The latter generates large volumes of wastewater, the conventional treatment of which is characterised by large quantities of sludge and the associated disposal problems. Under steady-state conditions, the SBBGR provided impressive removal efficiencies regarding the main gross parameters (over 90% for COD and TKN, over 99% for BOD5, TSS, VSS and NH3, and over 80% for TN) with a statistically better effluent quality than that of the conventional treatment. The SBBGR effluent quality was modelled in terms of washing water characteristics by using generalized additive models (GAMs). The SBBGR treatment was characterised by a specific sludge production five times lower than that of the conventional treatment (0.21 kg TSS vs. 1.0 kg TSS per m3 of wastewater treated). Compared with the conventional treatment, the proposed process showed a five-fold reduction in the cost of sludge disposal, which saved 50% of the operating cost.

ACS Style

Valerio Guido Altieri; Marco De Sanctis; Damiano Sgherza; Simona Pentassuglia; Emanuele Barca; Claudio Di Iaconi. Treating and reusing wastewater generated by the washing operations in the non-hazardous plastic solid waste recycling process: Advanced method vs. conventional method. Journal of Environmental Management 2021, 284, 112011 .

AMA Style

Valerio Guido Altieri, Marco De Sanctis, Damiano Sgherza, Simona Pentassuglia, Emanuele Barca, Claudio Di Iaconi. Treating and reusing wastewater generated by the washing operations in the non-hazardous plastic solid waste recycling process: Advanced method vs. conventional method. Journal of Environmental Management. 2021; 284 ():112011.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Valerio Guido Altieri; Marco De Sanctis; Damiano Sgherza; Simona Pentassuglia; Emanuele Barca; Claudio Di Iaconi. 2021. "Treating and reusing wastewater generated by the washing operations in the non-hazardous plastic solid waste recycling process: Advanced method vs. conventional method." Journal of Environmental Management 284, no. : 112011.

Journal article
Published: 26 October 2020 in Journal of Hydrology
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Simulating soil hydrological processes at the plot or field scale requires using spatially representative values of the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks. Sampling campaigns should yield a reliable mean of Ks with a sustainable workload since measuring Ks at many points is challenging. Uncertainty analysis can be used to determine the lowest number of measurements that yield a mean Ks value with a specified accuracy level. Potential and limitations of this analysis were tested in this investigation for different extents of the sampled area and sampling densities. A clay soil was sampled intensively on two plots (plot area = 44 m2), two dates and using both small (0.15 m in diameter) and large (0.30 m) rings. With the small rings, intensively sampling an appropriate portion of the total plot area should be enough to establish the number of measurements yielding a certain accuracy level for the entire plot since this level remained nearly constant when the same number of measurements was performed on larger areas. Moreover, for these areas, the spatial resolution of the measurements did not influence appreciably the width of the confidence interval of the mean Ks value. However, working with larger rings was recommended since, in this case, the sampled area did not affect at all normalized confidence levels that, in addition, varied only a little with the number of the considered measurements of Ks. In practice, characterizing the plots required about 20 and 10 measurements with the smaller and the larger rings, respectively. The uncertainty analysis appears promising to plan practically sustainable soil sampling campaigns.

ACS Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Emanuele Barca; Mirko Castellini; Massimo Iovino; Renato Morbidelli; Carla Saltalippi; Alessia Flammini. A plot-scale uncertainty analysis of saturated hydraulic conductivity of a clay soil. Journal of Hydrology 2020, 596, 125694 .

AMA Style

Vincenzo Bagarello, Emanuele Barca, Mirko Castellini, Massimo Iovino, Renato Morbidelli, Carla Saltalippi, Alessia Flammini. A plot-scale uncertainty analysis of saturated hydraulic conductivity of a clay soil. Journal of Hydrology. 2020; 596 ():125694.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincenzo Bagarello; Emanuele Barca; Mirko Castellini; Massimo Iovino; Renato Morbidelli; Carla Saltalippi; Alessia Flammini. 2020. "A plot-scale uncertainty analysis of saturated hydraulic conductivity of a clay soil." Journal of Hydrology 596, no. : 125694.

Journal article
Published: 11 July 2020 in Remote Sensing
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Georeferenced archival aerial images are key elements for the study of landscape evolution in the scope of territorial planning and management. The georeferencing process proceeds by applying to photographs advanced digital photogrammetric techniques integrated along with a set of ground truths termed ground control points (GCPs). At the end of that stage, the accuracy of the final orthomosaic is assessed by means of root mean square error (RMSE) computation. If the value of that index is deemed to be unsatisfactory, the process is re-run after increasing the GCP number. Unfortunately, the search for GCPs is a costly operation, even when it is visually carried out from recent digital images. Therefore, an open issue is that of achieving the desired accuracy of the orthomosaic with a minimal number of GCPs. The present paper proposes a geostatistically-based methodology that involves performing the spatialization of the GCP errors obtained from a first gross version of the georeferenced orthomosaic in order to produce an error map. Then, the placement of a small number of new GCPs within the sub-areas characterized by the highest local errors enables a finer georeferencing to be achieved. The proposed methodology was applied to 67 historical photographs taken on a geo-morphologically complex study area, located in Southern Italy, which covers a total surface of approximately 55,000 ha. The case study showed that 75 GCPs were sufficient to garner an orthomosaic with coordinate errors below the chosen threshold of 10 m. The study results were compared with similar works on georeferenced images and demonstrated better performance for achieving a final orthomosaic with the same RMSE at a lower information rate expressed in terms of nGCPs/km2.

ACS Style

Manuela Persia; Emanuele Barca; Roberto Greco; Maria Marzulli; Patrizia Tartarino. Archival Aerial Images Georeferencing: A Geostatistically-Based Approach for Improving Orthophoto Accuracy with Minimal Number of Ground Control Points. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 2232 .

AMA Style

Manuela Persia, Emanuele Barca, Roberto Greco, Maria Marzulli, Patrizia Tartarino. Archival Aerial Images Georeferencing: A Geostatistically-Based Approach for Improving Orthophoto Accuracy with Minimal Number of Ground Control Points. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (14):2232.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Manuela Persia; Emanuele Barca; Roberto Greco; Maria Marzulli; Patrizia Tartarino. 2020. "Archival Aerial Images Georeferencing: A Geostatistically-Based Approach for Improving Orthophoto Accuracy with Minimal Number of Ground Control Points." Remote Sensing 12, no. 14: 2232.

Journal article
Published: 28 May 2020 in Ecological Indicators
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Biological quality in rivers based on benthic macroinvertebrates is typically assessed by comparison with expected reference conditions, which represent relatively undisturbed situations. Commonly, reference conditions are set in agreement with river typologies to handle major ecological differences and limit biological variability. Although natural hydrological variation can be highly influential, site-specific tuning of reference conditions is rare in Mediterranean countries. River flow and local hydraulics change continuously over time, shaping the occurrence of lentic and lotic habitat features. Thus, biological reference conditions might require site-specific adjustment based on the ratio of lentic to lotic habitats assessed at the time of sampling. This would help reducing systematic bias in ecological assessments, interpreting benthic invertebrate responses to pressures, and diminishing the amount of unexplained biological variability. In this study, the response to the lentic-lotic character of river reaches was assessed for nineteen macroinvertebrate metrics and indices commonly used for the classification of ecological status in South European rivers. The study sites, with a prevalent temporary character, were located in Sardinia, southwestern Italy. Most metrics were significantly related to the lentic-lotic habitat conditions, both in pool and riffle mesohabitats, and their response curves were either parabolic or linearly decreasing at increasing lentic conditions. Taxonomic richness, score-based metrics, ovoviviparous taxa and multi-metric indices related well to the lentic-lotic conditions, while abundance metrics correlated less. The potential impact on ecological status classification was tested for the method formally used in Italy, which had a major role in comparing and inter-calibrating European assessment methods for the Water Framework Directive. After adjusting for bias due to the ratio of lentic to lotic habitat features, quality classification shifted towards better ecological status for ≈ 23% samples. This highlighted the impact of ignoring lentic-lotic information when defining reference conditions for assessing ecological status, varying from difficulties in understanding the biological response to pressures, to largely biased ecological status classification. The observed response of macroinvertebrate metrics to lentic-lotic conditions should be a key consideration for realistic ecological status assessment and could further be a valuable input for evaluating the effects of human-induced hydrological alteration and for assessing environmental flows.

ACS Style

Andrea Buffagni; Stefania Erba; Marcello Cazzola; Emanuele Barca; Carlo Belfiore. The ratio of lentic to lotic habitat features strongly affects macroinvertebrate metrics used in southern Europe for ecological status classification. Ecological Indicators 2020, 117, 106563 .

AMA Style

Andrea Buffagni, Stefania Erba, Marcello Cazzola, Emanuele Barca, Carlo Belfiore. The ratio of lentic to lotic habitat features strongly affects macroinvertebrate metrics used in southern Europe for ecological status classification. Ecological Indicators. 2020; 117 ():106563.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Buffagni; Stefania Erba; Marcello Cazzola; Emanuele Barca; Carlo Belfiore. 2020. "The ratio of lentic to lotic habitat features strongly affects macroinvertebrate metrics used in southern Europe for ecological status classification." Ecological Indicators 117, no. : 106563.

Journal article
Published: 22 November 2019 in International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
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Conventional machine learning methods are often unable to achieve high degrees of accuracy when only spectral data are involved in the classification process. The main reason of that inaccuracy can be brought back to the omission of the spatial information in the classification. The present paper suggests a way to combine effectively the spectral and the spatial information and improve the classification’s accuracy. In practice, a Bayesian two-stage methodology is proposed embodying two enhancements: i) a geostatistical non-parametric classification approach, the universal indicator kriging and ii) the smooth multivariate kernel method. The former provides an informative prior, while the latter overcomes the assumption (often not true) of independence of the spectral data. The case study reports an application to land-cover classification in a study area located in the Apulia region (Southern Italy). The methodology performance in terms of overall accuracy was compared with five state-of-the-art methods, i.e. naïve Bayes, Random Forest, artificial neural networks, support vector machines and decision trees. It is shown that the proposed methodology outperforms all the compared methods and that even a severe reduction of the training set does not affect seriously the average accuracy of the presented method.

ACS Style

Emanuele Barca; Annamaria Castrignanò; Sergio Ruggieri; Michele Rinaldi. A new supervised classifier exploiting spectral-spatial information in the Bayesian framework. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 2019, 86, 101990 .

AMA Style

Emanuele Barca, Annamaria Castrignanò, Sergio Ruggieri, Michele Rinaldi. A new supervised classifier exploiting spectral-spatial information in the Bayesian framework. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 2019; 86 ():101990.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Emanuele Barca; Annamaria Castrignanò; Sergio Ruggieri; Michele Rinaldi. 2019. "A new supervised classifier exploiting spectral-spatial information in the Bayesian framework." International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 86, no. : 101990.

Correction
Published: 21 October 2019 in Water
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The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper

ACS Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Maria Stellacci; Matteo Tomaiuolo; Emanuele Barca. Correction: Castellini, M., et al. Spatial Variability of Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties in a Durum Wheat Field: An Assessment by the BEST-Procedure. Water 2019, 11, 1434. Water 2019, 11, 2185 .

AMA Style

Mirko Castellini, Anna Maria Stellacci, Matteo Tomaiuolo, Emanuele Barca. Correction: Castellini, M., et al. Spatial Variability of Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties in a Durum Wheat Field: An Assessment by the BEST-Procedure. Water 2019, 11, 1434. Water. 2019; 11 (10):2185.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Maria Stellacci; Matteo Tomaiuolo; Emanuele Barca. 2019. "Correction: Castellini, M., et al. Spatial Variability of Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties in a Durum Wheat Field: An Assessment by the BEST-Procedure. Water 2019, 11, 1434." Water 11, no. 10: 2185.

Journal article
Published: 12 July 2019 in Water
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Spatial variability of soil properties at the field scale can determine the extent of agricultural yields and specific research in this area is needed. The general objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between soil physical and hydraulic properties and wheat yield at the field scale and test the BEST-procedure for the spatialization of soil hydraulic properties. A simplified version of the BEST-procedure, to estimate some capacitive indicators from the soil water retention curve (air capacity, ACe, relative field capacity, RFCe, plant available water capacity, PAWCe), was applied and coupled to estimates of structure stability index (SSI), determinations of soil texture and measurements of bulk density (BD), soil organic carbon (TOC) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks). Variables under study were spatialized to investigate correlations with observed medium-high levels of wheat yields. Soil physical quality assessment and correlations analysis highlighted some inconsistencies (i.e., a negative correlation between PAWCe and crop yield), and only five variables (i.e., clay + silt fraction, BD, TOC, SSI and PAWCe) were spatially structured. Therefore, for the soil–crop system studied, application of the simplified BEST-procedure did not return completely reliable results. Results highlighted that (i) BD was the only variable selected by stepwise analysis as a function of crop yield, (ii) BD showed a spatial distribution in agreement with that detected for crop yield, and (iii) the cross-correlation analysis showed a significant positive relationship between BD and wheat yield up to a distance of approximately 25 m. Such results have implications for Mediterranean agro-environments management. In any case, the reliability of simplified measurement methods for estimating soil hydraulic properties needs to be further verified by adopting denser measurements grids in order to better capture the soil spatial variability. In addition, the temporal stability of observed spatial relationships, i.e., between BD or soil texture and crop yields, needs to be investigated along a larger time interval in order to properly use this information for improving agronomic management.

ACS Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Maria Stellacci; Matteo Tomaiuolo; Emanuele Barca; Castellini Mirko; Stellacci Anna Maria; Tomaiuolo Matteo; Barca Emanuele. Spatial Variability of Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties in a Durum Wheat Field: An Assessment by the BEST-Procedure. Water 2019, 11, 1434 .

AMA Style

Mirko Castellini, Anna Maria Stellacci, Matteo Tomaiuolo, Emanuele Barca, Castellini Mirko, Stellacci Anna Maria, Tomaiuolo Matteo, Barca Emanuele. Spatial Variability of Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties in a Durum Wheat Field: An Assessment by the BEST-Procedure. Water. 2019; 11 (7):1434.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Maria Stellacci; Matteo Tomaiuolo; Emanuele Barca; Castellini Mirko; Stellacci Anna Maria; Tomaiuolo Matteo; Barca Emanuele. 2019. "Spatial Variability of Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties in a Durum Wheat Field: An Assessment by the BEST-Procedure." Water 11, no. 7: 1434.

Journal article
Published: 01 May 2019 in Soil Science Society of America Journal
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Long-term field experiments and multivariate analysis techniques represent research tools that may improve our knowledge on soil physical quality (SPQ) assessment. These techniques allow us to measure relatively stable soil conditions and to improve soil quality judgment, thereby reducing uncertainties. A monitoring of SPQ under long-term experiments, aimed at comparing crop residue management strategies (burning vs. incorporation of straw, FE1) and soil management (minimum tillage vs. no tillage, FE2), was established during the crop growing season of durum wheat. The relationships between five SPQ indicators (bulk density [BD], macroporosity [PMAC], air capacity [AC], plant available water capacity [PAWC], and relative field capacity [RFC]) were evaluated, and two techniques of multivariate analysis (principal component analysis and stepwise discriminant analysis) were applied to select key indicators for SPQ assessment. According to the used indicators, an SPQ from optimal to intermediate (i.e., not definitely poor) was detected in 65% of the observations in FE1 and in 54% in FE2. The main results showed a significant negative relationship between RFC and AC, and multivariate analysis identified RFC as a key SPQ indicator, mainly in FE2. Plant available water capacity and BD showed the highest discriminating capability in the FE1 dataset. The highest scores of RFC assessment were highlighted for burning and minimum tillage treatments (+1 and +2). An optimal AC range, derived from optimal RFC limits, was obtained and was suggested to better assess the AC of agricultural soils (0.10 ≤ AC ≤ 0.26 cm3 cm–3). Copyright © 2019. . © 2019 The Author(s).

ACS Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Maria Stellacci; Emanuele Barca; Massimo Iovino. Application of Multivariate Analysis Techniques for Selecting Soil Physical Quality Indicators: A Case Study in Long-Term Field Experiments in Apulia (Southern Italy). Soil Science Society of America Journal 2019, 83, 707 -720.

AMA Style

Mirko Castellini, Anna Maria Stellacci, Emanuele Barca, Massimo Iovino. Application of Multivariate Analysis Techniques for Selecting Soil Physical Quality Indicators: A Case Study in Long-Term Field Experiments in Apulia (Southern Italy). Soil Science Society of America Journal. 2019; 83 (3):707-720.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Castellini; Anna Maria Stellacci; Emanuele Barca; Massimo Iovino. 2019. "Application of Multivariate Analysis Techniques for Selecting Soil Physical Quality Indicators: A Case Study in Long-Term Field Experiments in Apulia (Southern Italy)." Soil Science Society of America Journal 83, no. 3: 707-720.

Journal article
Published: 10 April 2019 in Science of The Total Environment
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The positive effect of mitigation measures on in-stream habitat conditions and the benthic community is recognised. In heavily modified rivers, though, the response of aquatic invertebrates to mitigation measures and habitat mosaic changes is scarcely documented. We used non-metric multidimensional scaling to explore the benthic community of leveed rivers in the agricultural lowlands of Northern Italy. The relevance of in-stream substrate microhabitat for the benthic community was assessed, together with the impact of mitigation measures. We proposed a straightforward approach to quantify similarity of microhabitat mosaic between sites testing its statistical significance based on Bayesian statistics. We hypothesised that changes of microhabitat mosaic would reflect the level of implementation of mitigation measures and benthic invertebrates would respond accordingly. Alpha, beta diversity and benthic metrics used to classify ecological status/potential were considered and their variation tested against different levels of measure implementation. Lastly, ecological potential classification was paralleled to both the level of measure implementation and habitat attributes. The microhabitats found at sites where measures were fully implemented differed from those observed elsewhere and they clearly mirrored morphological alteration and mitigation measures. Moreover, alongside morphological alteration, microhabitat diversity and mosaic were the main factors for benthic community structure. While benthic beta diversity strictly reflected microhabitat diversity, alpha diversity and ecological status metrics copied the mosaic gradient. Microhabitat attributes and most benthic metrics showed significant changes following measure implementation and they were accompanied by a gradual shift in ecological potential classes. We demonstrated the importance of in-stream substrate microhabitats as a bridge between mitigation measures and the benthic community. Particularly when ecological classification is under focus, microhabitat mosaic should be evaluated for achieving a better understanding of biological responses. The huge amount of data available worldwide could support a straightforward use of river mosaic information for river management.

ACS Style

Andrea Buffagni; Emanuele Barca; Stefania Erba; Raffaella Balestrini. In-stream microhabitat mosaic depicts the success of mitigation measures and controls the Ecological Potential of benthic communities in heavily modified rivers. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 673, 489 -501.

AMA Style

Andrea Buffagni, Emanuele Barca, Stefania Erba, Raffaella Balestrini. In-stream microhabitat mosaic depicts the success of mitigation measures and controls the Ecological Potential of benthic communities in heavily modified rivers. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 673 ():489-501.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Buffagni; Emanuele Barca; Stefania Erba; Raffaella Balestrini. 2019. "In-stream microhabitat mosaic depicts the success of mitigation measures and controls the Ecological Potential of benthic communities in heavily modified rivers." Science of The Total Environment 673, no. : 489-501.

Journal article
Published: 28 March 2019 in Ecological Indicators
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The grey water footprint (GWF) refers to the amount of freshwater required to dilute pollutants to meet water-quality standards. The aim of this paper was to estimate the GWF and its uncertainty for crop production at the basin scale. The proposed approach was tested in the Rio Mannu Basin (Sardinia, Italy) for durum wheat production. The fraction of nutrients flowing into the river and groundwater was evaluated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model that was calibrated with in-stream monitoring data. A bootstrap technique coupled with Monte Carlo simulations was used to estimate the uncertainty of the GWF due to the variability of the primary input data and the unknown natural background level of nutrients in the waters. The GWF for total phosphorus (TP) input (3284 m3 t−1) was higher than that for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) (275 m3 t−1), despite the lower rate of phosphorus fertiliser application. The uncertainty was found to be relevant for both DIN (60%) and TP (18%). The environmental sustainability of durum wheat production was assessed throughout the water pollution level. This showed that the TP load exceeded the assimilation capacity at the reach scale, and that further analyses are needed to assess the environmental sustainability at the basin scale.

ACS Style

Anna Maria De Girolamo; Pierluigi Miscioscia; Tiziano Politi; Emanuele Barca. Improving grey water footprint assessment: Accounting for uncertainty. Ecological Indicators 2019, 102, 822 -833.

AMA Style

Anna Maria De Girolamo, Pierluigi Miscioscia, Tiziano Politi, Emanuele Barca. Improving grey water footprint assessment: Accounting for uncertainty. Ecological Indicators. 2019; 102 ():822-833.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria De Girolamo; Pierluigi Miscioscia; Tiziano Politi; Emanuele Barca. 2019. "Improving grey water footprint assessment: Accounting for uncertainty." Ecological Indicators 102, no. : 822-833.

Journal article
Published: 28 February 2019 in Geoderma
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The estimation of topsoil water content is of primary interest in the framework of precision farming, but, in general, such assessment is costly and complicated by several interfering factors which do not allow an accurate prediction. Proximal sensing can provide suitable technological facilities to support researchers and technicians in this task. GPR and EMI sensors are valuable instruments as they can provide very informative covariates to be used for improving soil water content estimation. In the present work, it was explored the single (EMI or GPR) and the combined (EMI + GPR) contribution of these proximal data sources. Furthermore, geostatistical (Ordinary Kriging and Kriging with external drift) and linear mixed effects models were applied to compare their respective predictive capabilities. As a result, GPR demonstrated to be more effective in estimating topsoil water content with respect to EMI but, combining both the information, an improvement in the prediction accuracy was observed. Moreover, adding more covariates in the models (GPR outcomes or GPR + EMI outcomes) allowed filtering out the structured spatial component of soil water content. Finally, the statistical approaches proved to behave very similarly, with a slight better performance of Kriging with external drift.

ACS Style

Emanuele Barca; Daniela De Benedetto; Anna Maria Stellacci. Contribution of EMI and GPR proximal sensing data in soil water content assessment by using linear mixed effects models and geostatistical approaches. Geoderma 2019, 343, 280 -293.

AMA Style

Emanuele Barca, Daniela De Benedetto, Anna Maria Stellacci. Contribution of EMI and GPR proximal sensing data in soil water content assessment by using linear mixed effects models and geostatistical approaches. Geoderma. 2019; 343 ():280-293.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Emanuele Barca; Daniela De Benedetto; Anna Maria Stellacci. 2019. "Contribution of EMI and GPR proximal sensing data in soil water content assessment by using linear mixed effects models and geostatistical approaches." Geoderma 343, no. : 280-293.

Journal article
Published: 01 June 2018 in CATENA
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ACS Style

A.M. De Girolamo; Raffaele Di Pillo; Antonio Lo Porto; M.T. Todisco; Emanuele Barca. Identifying a reliable method for estimating suspended sediment load in a temporary river system. CATENA 2018, 165, 442 -453.

AMA Style

A.M. De Girolamo, Raffaele Di Pillo, Antonio Lo Porto, M.T. Todisco, Emanuele Barca. Identifying a reliable method for estimating suspended sediment load in a temporary river system. CATENA. 2018; 165 ():442-453.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A.M. De Girolamo; Raffaele Di Pillo; Antonio Lo Porto; M.T. Todisco; Emanuele Barca. 2018. "Identifying a reliable method for estimating suspended sediment load in a temporary river system." CATENA 165, no. : 442-453.

Journal article
Published: 24 April 2018 in Science of The Total Environment
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Three different chemical oxidation processes were investigated in terms of their capability to degrade organic chemical components of real mature landfill-leachate in combination with biological treatment run in a Sequencing Batch Biofilter Granular Reactor (SBBGR). H2O2, H2O2 + UV and O3 were integrated with SBBGR and respective effluents were analyzed and compared with the effluent obtained from biological SBBGR treatment alone. In agreement with their respective oxidative power, conventional bulk parameters (residual COD, TOC, Ntot, TSS) determined from the resulting effluents evidenced the following efficacy ranking for degradation: SBBGR/O3 > SBBGR/UV + H2O2 > SBBGR/H2O2 > SBBGR. A more detailed characterization of the organic compounds was subsequently carried out for the four treated streams. For this, effluents were first subjected to a sample preparation step, allowing for a classification in terms of acidic, basic, strongly acidic and strongly basic compounds, and finally to analysis by liquid chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (LC/HR-MS). This classification, combined with further data post-processing (non-target screening, Venn Diagram, tri-dimensional plot and Principal Component Analysis), evidenced that the SBBGR/H2O2 process is comparable to the pure biological oxidation. In contrast, SBBGR/O3 and SBBGR/UV + H2O2 not only resulted in a very different residual composition as compared to SBBGR and SBBGR/H2O2, but also differ significantly from each other. In fact, and despite of the SBBGR/O3 being the most efficient process, this treatment remained chemically more similar to SBBGR/H2O2 than to SBBGR/UV + H2O2. This finding may be attributable to different mechanism of degradation involved with the use of UV radiation. Apart from these treatment differences, a series of recalcitrant compounds was determined in all of the four treatments and partly identified as hetero-poly-aromatic species (humic acids-like species).

ACS Style

Carlo Pastore; Emanuele Barca; G. Del Moro; Claudio DI Iaconi; M. Loos; Heinz Singer; G. Mascolo. Comparison of different types of landfill leachate treatments by employment of nontarget screening to identify residual refractory organics and principal component analysis. Science of The Total Environment 2018, 635, 984 -994.

AMA Style

Carlo Pastore, Emanuele Barca, G. Del Moro, Claudio DI Iaconi, M. Loos, Heinz Singer, G. Mascolo. Comparison of different types of landfill leachate treatments by employment of nontarget screening to identify residual refractory organics and principal component analysis. Science of The Total Environment. 2018; 635 ():984-994.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Carlo Pastore; Emanuele Barca; G. Del Moro; Claudio DI Iaconi; M. Loos; Heinz Singer; G. Mascolo. 2018. "Comparison of different types of landfill leachate treatments by employment of nontarget screening to identify residual refractory organics and principal component analysis." Science of The Total Environment 635, no. : 984-994.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2018 in Geomorphology
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Delia Evelina Bruno; Emanuele Barca; Rodrigo Mikosz Goncalves; Heithor Queiroz; Luigi Berardi; Giuseppe Passarella. Linear and evolutionary polynomial regression models to forecast coastal dynamics: Comparison and reliability assessment. Geomorphology 2018, 300, 128 -140.

AMA Style

Delia Evelina Bruno, Emanuele Barca, Rodrigo Mikosz Goncalves, Heithor Queiroz, Luigi Berardi, Giuseppe Passarella. Linear and evolutionary polynomial regression models to forecast coastal dynamics: Comparison and reliability assessment. Geomorphology. 2018; 300 ():128-140.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Delia Evelina Bruno; Emanuele Barca; Rodrigo Mikosz Goncalves; Heithor Queiroz; Luigi Berardi; Giuseppe Passarella. 2018. "Linear and evolutionary polynomial regression models to forecast coastal dynamics: Comparison and reliability assessment." Geomorphology 300, no. : 128-140.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2018 in Measurement
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E. Barca; D.E. Bruno; A. Lay-Ekuakille; Sabino Maggi; Giuseppe Passarella. Retrospective analysis: A validation procedure for the redesign of an environmental monitoring network. Measurement 2018, 113, 211 -219.

AMA Style

E. Barca, D.E. Bruno, A. Lay-Ekuakille, Sabino Maggi, Giuseppe Passarella. Retrospective analysis: A validation procedure for the redesign of an environmental monitoring network. Measurement. 2018; 113 ():211-219.

Chicago/Turabian Style

E. Barca; D.E. Bruno; A. Lay-Ekuakille; Sabino Maggi; Giuseppe Passarella. 2018. "Retrospective analysis: A validation procedure for the redesign of an environmental monitoring network." Measurement 113, no. : 211-219.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2017 in Agricultural Water Management
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Anna Maria De Girolamo; Emanuele Barca; Giuseppe Pappagallo; Antonio Lo Porto. Simulating ecologically relevant hydrological indicators in a temporary river system. Agricultural Water Management 2017, 180, 194 -204.

AMA Style

Anna Maria De Girolamo, Emanuele Barca, Giuseppe Pappagallo, Antonio Lo Porto. Simulating ecologically relevant hydrological indicators in a temporary river system. Agricultural Water Management. 2017; 180 ():194-204.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria De Girolamo; Emanuele Barca; Giuseppe Pappagallo; Antonio Lo Porto. 2017. "Simulating ecologically relevant hydrological indicators in a temporary river system." Agricultural Water Management 180, no. : 194-204.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2017 in Environmental Modelling & Software
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In the present paper, an extensive cross-validation procedure, based on the analysis of numerical indices and graphical tools, is described and discussed. The procedure has been implemented in a software application designed to support practitioners in the variogram model assessment. It provides an extensive report, which summarizes a large post-processing stage and suggests how to interpret the performed analysis to rate the model to be validated. Besides classical accuracy indices, two new integrated tools based on the variogram of residuals are introduced, which take the spatial nature of the dataset into account. Finally, inspecting the summary report, the user can decide whether the considered model is satisfactory for his/her goals or it needs to be improved. Finally, a case study is presented related to the variogram assessment of groundwater level measured in a porous shallow aquifer of the Apulia Region (South-Italy).

ACS Style

Emanuele Barca; Emilio Porcu; Delia Bruno; Giuseppe Passarella. An automated decision support system for aided assessment of variogram models. Environmental Modelling & Software 2017, 87, 72 -83.

AMA Style

Emanuele Barca, Emilio Porcu, Delia Bruno, Giuseppe Passarella. An automated decision support system for aided assessment of variogram models. Environmental Modelling & Software. 2017; 87 ():72-83.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Emanuele Barca; Emilio Porcu; Delia Bruno; Giuseppe Passarella. 2017. "An automated decision support system for aided assessment of variogram models." Environmental Modelling & Software 87, no. : 72-83.

Comparative study
Published: 07 December 2016 in Journal of Water and Health
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Escherichia coli (E. coli) is one of the most commonly adopted indicators for the determination of the microbiological quality in water and treated wastewater. Two main types of methods are used for the enumeration of this faecal indicator: membrane filtration (MF) and enzyme substrate tests. For both types, several substrates based on the β-D-glucuronidase activity have been commercialized. The specificity of this enzyme for E. coli bacteria has generated considerable use of methods that identify the β-D-glucuronidase activity as a definite indication of the presence of E. coli, without any further confirmation. This approach has been recently questioned for the application to wastewater. The present study compares two methods belonging to the above-mentioned types for the enumeration of E. coli in wastewater: MF with Tryptone Bile X-glucuronide agar and the Colilert®-18 test. Confirmation tests showed low average percentages of false positives and false negatives for both enumeration methods (between 4 and 11%). Moreover, the counting capabilities of these two methods were compared for a set of 70 samples of wastewater having different origins and degrees of treatment. Statistical analysis showed that the Colilert®-18 test allowed on average for a significantly higher recovery of E. coli.

ACS Style

P. Vergine; C. Salerno; E. Barca; G. Berardi; A. Pollice. Identification of the faecal indicator Escherichia coli in wastewater through the β-D-glucuronidase activity: comparison between two enumeration methods, membrane filtration with TBX agar, and Colilert®-18. Journal of Water and Health 2016, 15, 209 -217.

AMA Style

P. Vergine, C. Salerno, E. Barca, G. Berardi, A. Pollice. Identification of the faecal indicator Escherichia coli in wastewater through the β-D-glucuronidase activity: comparison between two enumeration methods, membrane filtration with TBX agar, and Colilert®-18. Journal of Water and Health. 2016; 15 (2):209-217.

Chicago/Turabian Style

P. Vergine; C. Salerno; E. Barca; G. Berardi; A. Pollice. 2016. "Identification of the faecal indicator Escherichia coli in wastewater through the β-D-glucuronidase activity: comparison between two enumeration methods, membrane filtration with TBX agar, and Colilert®-18." Journal of Water and Health 15, no. 2: 209-217.

Article
Published: 20 October 2016 in Water Resources Management
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Groundwater represents an essential water resource for human purposes, mainly in those areas characterised by a scarcity of surface water and dry climate. Consequently, tools for assessing the groundwater balance are fundamental for its suitable management. The conventional groundwater balance equation, which considers all the natural and human-induced terms of the balance, such as rainfall, withdrawals, irrigation, etc., sometimes lacks of some important terms. One of the terms of the balance that is most difficult assess is the volume of water exchanged with other neighbouring water bodies (subsurface inflow/outflow). In this case, the estimation must be considered as a poor approximation. In this paper, a novel methodology is proposed that is capable of significantly increasing the accuracy of the groundwater balance when subsurface inflows and outflows are unknown. The improvement is accomplished by comparing two corresponding time series of annual groundwater balances assessed by means of different balance models. The first time series is evaluated by means of the conventional balance equation and the second one by directly estimating the groundwater volumes by means of geostatistical methods. Both these models are supposed to lack specific, even though different, information. Their comparison through simple statistical tools allows them to be calibrated and to recover missing average information. A study case is presented considering the inflow/outflow term and the specific yield as missing information for the conventional and the geostatistical approaches, respectively. The study area is the shallow porous aquifer of the Tavoliere di Puglia (South Italy).

ACS Style

Giuseppe Passarella; Emanuele Barca; Donato Sollitto; Rita Masciale; Delia Evelina Bruno. Cross-Calibration of Two Independent Groundwater Balance Models and Evaluation of Unknown Terms: The Case of the Shallow Aquifer of “Tavoliere di Puglia” (South Italy). Water Resources Management 2016, 31, 327 -340.

AMA Style

Giuseppe Passarella, Emanuele Barca, Donato Sollitto, Rita Masciale, Delia Evelina Bruno. Cross-Calibration of Two Independent Groundwater Balance Models and Evaluation of Unknown Terms: The Case of the Shallow Aquifer of “Tavoliere di Puglia” (South Italy). Water Resources Management. 2016; 31 (1):327-340.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Giuseppe Passarella; Emanuele Barca; Donato Sollitto; Rita Masciale; Delia Evelina Bruno. 2016. "Cross-Calibration of Two Independent Groundwater Balance Models and Evaluation of Unknown Terms: The Case of the Shallow Aquifer of “Tavoliere di Puglia” (South Italy)." Water Resources Management 31, no. 1: 327-340.