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In the Mediterranean basin, coniferous reforestation mainly comprises forest stands highly susceptible to fires. When silvicultural treatments have not been performed for decades after plantation, these stands often exhibit high vertical and horizontal tree density, along with a significant occurrence of lying and standing deadwood, thereby increasing the fuel load. On average, these pine forests are characterized by high values of above-ground biomass, ranging from 175 to 254 Mg ha−1 for the younger and the older ones, respectively. The theoretical heat energy produced per surface unit, in the case of the total combustion of the above-ground biomass, is also high, varying from 300 to 450 MJ ha−1 depending on the stage of stand development. In this study, we demonstrated the importance of silvicultural interventions in reducing the pyrological potential in pine reforested stands located in southern Italy, also giving attention to the water savings needed during extinction phases. In detail, we applied a preliminary mathematical reaction-diffusion model aimed at predicting the development of forest fires. The model was applied using data obtained through the estimation of the pyrological potential in terms of heat energy produced per surface unit (1 hectare) and the variation in the critical surface intensity. We verified that, when silvicultural interventions are applied, they induce a reduction of heat energy ranging between 17 and 21%, while the extinguishing water saved ranges between 600 and 1000 Mg ha−1. Moreover, when the silvicultural interventions are implemented, the probability of the transition from surface fire to crown fire can be reduced by up to 31%. The most effective results on fire risk mitigation are mainly obtained when thinning aimed at reducing canopy and tree density is carried out in the younger phases of the reforested pine stands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intellectual journey that began with the discovery of strange attractors derived from Chua's circuit, their translation into physical shapes by means of 3D printers, and finally, to the production of jewelry is presented. After giving the mathematical characteristics of Chua's circuit, we explain the chaotic design process, used for creating jewels, providing specifications of the used methodological approach, for its reproduction. We discuss the feasibility of this approach and the transmission of scientific contents on chaos theory, usually restricted to university students, in a high school Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics course, for the realization of advanced educational processes, implemented both in computational and real environments. We think that the idea of transforming science into art forms can drive students in acquiring scientific knowledge and skills, allowing them to discover the inner beauty of chaos.

The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, prone to variation when interacting with spatially extended ecosystems and within hosts, can be considered a complex dynamic system. Therefore, it behaves creating several space-time manifestations of its dynamics. However, these physical manifestations in nature have not yet been fully disclosed or understood. Here we show 4D and 2D space-time patterns of the rate of infected individuals on a global scale, giving quantitative measures of transitions between different dynamical behaviors. By slicing the spatiotemporal patterns, we found manifestations of the virus behavior, such as cluster formation and bifurcation. Furthermore, by analyzing morphogenesis processes by entropy, we have been able to detect the virus phase transitions, typical of adaptive biological systems. Our results for the first time describe the virus patterning behavior processes all over the world, giving them quantitative measures. We know that the outcomes of this work are still partial and more advanced analyses of the virus behavior in nature are necessary. However, we think that the set of methods implemented can provide significant advantages to better analyze the viral behavior in the approach of system biology, thus expanding knowledge and improving pandemic problem solving.