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ABSTRACTThe cultural and creative industries (CCIs) have variously been seen as a stimulus for urban and regional development. They were also one of the few sectors in the UK and European Union countries to weather the storm of the 2008 Great Recession. Starting from the curiosity aroused by these premises, and given the paucity of studies on Italian CCIs, we analyse the growth trend of the sector following the economic shock of the Great Recession to ascertain whether this trend also held for Italy. We use data from the Aida-Bureau van Dijk database on more than 181,000 enterprises for the period 2010–18. Information on the number of employees from the cultural and creative enterprises is collected for 18 NACE Rev. 2 sectors, with the aim of disentangling the contribution of each subsector to the growth of the industry. While information is available at the firm level, we use NUTS-3-level information. Using a system generalised method of moments (GMM-SYS) approach, and controlling for some socio-economic characteristics, we examine the determinants of the growth of CCIs in the post-shock period, ultimately contributing to the underexplored debate on the resilience of the sector in Italy and accounting for its macro-regional and peripherality effects.

The history of the Earth is a story of the co-evolution of minerals and microbes: not only have numerous rocks arisen from life but also life itself may have formed from rocks. To understand the strong association between microbes and inorganic substrates, we investigated the moonmilk, a calcium carbonate deposit of possible microbial origin, occurring in the Iron Age Etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia, in Italy. These tombs provide a unique environment where the hypogeal walls of the tombs are covered by this speleothem. To study moonmilk formation, we investigated the bacterial community in the rock in which the tombs were carved: calcarenite and hybrid sandstone. We present the first evidence that moonmilk precipitation is driven by microbes within the rocks and not only on the rock surfaces. We also describe how the moonmilk produced within the rocks contributes to rock formation and evolution. The microbial communities of the calcarenite and hybrid sandstone displayed, at the phylum level, the same microbial pattern of the moonmilk sampled from the walls of the hypogeal tombs, suggesting that the moonmilk originates from the metabolism of an endolytic bacterial community. The calcite moonmilk is the only known carbonate speleothem on Earth with undoubted biogenic origin, thus representing a robust and credible biosignature of life. Its presence in the inner parts of rocks adds to its characteristics as a biosignature.

Quaternary stable isotope records of marine and lacustrine carbonate deposits as well as speleothems were extensively studied to reconstruct global and regional climatic evolution. This study demonstrates how stable isotope records of travertine provide fundamental information about climate and the consequences of its evolution on groundwater level fluctuations. The deposition of the Lapis Tiburtinus travertine succession occurred during the Late Pleistocene (150–30 ka), coeval with the last activity of the Colli Albani volcanic complex. Two boreholes (Sn1 and Sn2) were drilled into the Acque Albule Basin (23 km E of Rome), crossing the entire Lapis Tiburtinus succession. The Sn1 borehole in the central part of the basin crosscuts a travertine succession of 62.1 m in thickness, while the Sn2 borehole in the southern part of the basin is characterized by a travertine succession 36.3 m in thickness. Carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios were analysed on 118 samples (59 samples both for Sn1 and Sn2 boreholes) representative of the entire Lapis Tiburtinus travertine succession crossed by the boreholes. Values, measured and correlated in the two drilled boreholes, permitted determination of the sensitivity of the travertine depositional system to glacial and interglacial cycles, unravelling the complex oxygen and carbon cycle dynamic recorded in such sedimentary succession. Moreover, the results obtained correlated with available pollen curves of the Mediterranean area (from the Castiglione crater, 25 km E of Rome). Regional and global oxygen isotope continental and marine curves, calibrated with the stratigraphy of the Acque Albule Basin, and available U/Th dating allow the identification of at least three phases of the last interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5-MIS5). The carbon isotope record, compared with CO2 flux reconstructed and associated with the volcanic activity of the Colli Albani volcanic complex, instead shows an influence from groundwater level changes. In particular, positive shifts that occurred during arid phases are associated with a lower groundwater level and increased CO2 degassing, inducing a major fractionation effect on carbon isotopes. Instead, the negative shifts occurring during more humid periods indicate the inhibition of CO2 degassing and increase in pressure, attesting to a rise in groundwater level. In this view, travertine deposits, frequently studied to define the tectonic setting and activity of the area where they develop, can thus also be used as a tool to understand climate changes and groundwater variations apparent in their stable oxygen and carbon isotope signature.

Karst reservoirs have always been a key field of oil and gas exploration. However, quantifying the process of meteoric transformation remains a persistent challenge that limits the accuracy of reservoir quality prediction. To explore the controlling factors of meteoric cementation on karst reservoirs, the Majiagou Formation of the Ordos Basin in China was selected as an example. The petrology; carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopes; and in situ major, trace, and rare earth elements were used, types and origins of calcite cements were analyzed in detail. The results revealed five types of calcite cements (Cal-1~Cal-5), four types of cathodoluminescence (CL) intensities (dull, dull red, deep red, and bright red luminescence), and six types of rare earth element patterns (Pattern-1~Pattern-6). These five types of calcite cements developed in three periods. Cal-1 (transition CL) and Cal-2 (dull CL) were precipitated during the Early Pennsylvanian period, the meteoric freshwater was clean; Cal-3 (transition CL) and Cal-4 (bright red CL) were precipitated at the end of the Late Carboniferous period, the fluids had strong dissolution ability and were polluted by terrigenous debris; Cal-5 (transition CL) was deposited during the burial period, the fluid was pure pore water or groundwater. The control of the cement on the reservoir during the burial period was much weaker than that of meteoric cements. Therefore, explorations of karst reservoirs should be focused on weak cementation during the epigenetic period.

Ink disease, caused by Phytophthora spp., represents a serious threat to sweet chestnuts throughout their distribution area. Among the control strategies, new perspectives have been offered by using potassium phosphonate, which indirectly controls Phytophthora diseases by acting on both host physiology and host-pathogen interactions. In this study, we tested in planta the effectiveness of trunk injection with K-phosphonate against seven different Phytophthora species associated with ink disease. For the two most aggressive species, P. cinnamomi and P. ×cambivora, the treatments were repeated at two different environmental conditions (a mean temperature of 14.5 °C vs. 25 °C) and tree phenology stages. The results obtained in this study demonstrated that K-phosphonate could contain the development of Phytophthora infection in phloem tissues. However, its effectiveness varied based on the concentration applied and the Phytophthora species tested. A concentration of 280 g/L of K-phosphonate was the most effective, and in some cases, callus formation around the necrotic lesion was detected. Overall, this study broadens the knowledge of endotherapic treatments with K-phosphonate as an effective measure for managing chestnut ink disease. Interestingly, the increase in mean temperature had a positive impact on the development of P. cinnamomi lesions on chestnut phloem tissues.

Since the origin of the carbonate platform concept, the reconstruction of the geometry and the evolution of the margin has been an intriguing topic. The Latium-Abruzzi platform is one of the largest shallow water domains of the Central Apennines, however, the reconstruction of the geometry and evolution of its margin has been classically problematic because the latter has been erased by the out-of-sequence Olevano-Antrodoco thrust system. The investigated area is placed in the Prenestini Mountains, the southernmost portion of the Sabina Domain, where a Cretaceous to Neogene carbonate succession, ascribed the Latium-Abruzzi platform margin, crops out. Stratigraphic and facies analyses showed a Late Cretaceous extensional stage that produced two main fault-block platforms, respectively, South Eastern Prenestini and South Western Prenestini platforms, developed westward of the large Latium-Abruzzi Platform domain. In these platforms, during the Paleocene–Eocene interval, pelagite deposition coincides with the main relative sea-level rise. Instead, during the following falling stage, the seafloor, consisting of the Cretaceous carbonate, was in the wave abrasion zone and the pelagic carbonate mud was swept away or trapped in local depressions or fractures (neptunian dykes), whereas the coarse sediment produced by the erosion of indented and fractured substrate formed polygenic conglomerate accumulation on the Cretaceuos carbonate platform substrate. Successively, an isolated homoclinal ramp, the Guadagnolo Fm, Aquitanian to Serravallian in age, developed on the drowned fault-block platforms, suggesting that during Neogene the articulation of the substrate of the two fault-block platforms had to be limited to host the bioclastic sedimentation of the Guadagnolo Fm and to allow the development of a carbonate ramp depositional profile.

Since 1999, an unusual Phytophthora species has repeatedly been found associated with stem lesions and root and collar rot on young olive trees in Southern Italy. In all cases, this species was obtained from recently established commercial plantations or from nursery plants. Morphologically, the Phytophthora isolates were characterized by the abundant production of caducous non-papillate conidia-like sporangia (pseudoconidia) and caducous papillate sporangia with a short pedicel, resembling P. palmivora var. heterocystica. Additional isolates with similar features were obtained from nursery plants of Ziziphus spina-christi in Iran, Juniperus oxycedrus and Capparis spinosa in Italy, and mature trees in commercial farms of Durio zibethinus in Vietnam. In this study, morphology, breeding system and growth characteristics of these Phytophthora isolates with peculiar features were examined, and combined mitochondrial and nuclear multigene phylogenetic analyses were performed. The proportion between pseudoconidia and sporangia varied amongst isolates and depended on the availability of free water. Oogonia with amphigynous antheridia and aplerotic oospores were produced in dual cultures with an A2 mating type strain of P. palmivora, indicating all isolates were A1 mating type. Phylogenetically, these isolates grouped in a distinct well-supported clade sister to P. palmivora; thus, they constitute a separate taxon. The new species, described here as Phytophthora heterospora sp. nov., proved to be highly pathogenic to both olive and durian plants in stem inoculation tests.