Andrea Rosario Proto

Firewood cable extraction in the southern Mediterranean area of Italy

This research assesses the efficiency and the costs of different cable cranes used in harvesting, in the forests of the southern Mediterranean area of Italy. During the study process a total of 100 cycle times were recorded in order to obtain the average performance. The cable cranes were tested in six different sites. Machine costs make up an essential part of timber harvesting costs; it is necessary to analyze these costs in order to decide which methods or machine types to use. Costs have been calculated using a standard hourly method. The present investigation showed that the three cable cranes extracted inferior volumes of timber compared to their load potential; in fact, the average extracted volume was inferior compared to the load capacity of the carriage. Nevertheless, from the comparison between cost per m3 and the market price of firewood, sufficient margins of value for the producer emerged. The level of productivity analyzed on these different sites showed that unproductive time influenced the extraction costs of wood. In fact, when the three cable cranes were productive the extraction cost of 1 m3 of firewood varied from €20.89 to €27.84.

Biomass Production in Agroforestry Systems: V.E.Ri.For Project

The biomass for energy purposes, coming from agroforestry systems and timber industry, can provide various environmental and socio-economic benefits. Among all renewable energy sources, agroforestry biomass represents both an important alternative source to fossil fuels and an opportunity for the socio-economic development of various marginal areas in Italy. In particular, agroforestry is a collective name of land use systems in which woody perennials are grown in association with herbaceous plants and/or livestock in a spatial arrangements, a rotation, or both in which there are both ecological and economic interactions between the tree and the non-tree components of the system. Estimating availability of biomass resources is important to assess bioenergy production potential and so bioenergy contribution to annual energy demand. In the supply of biomass to energy use, the planning of operations is the basis for sustainable development of agroforest system. Most existing forest practice rules and recommendations did not anticipate this increased extraction of woody biomass and offer no specific guidance on how much removal is healthy for ecosystems. Intensification of biomass utilization, particularly for energy and fuel needs, presents a range of potential environmental risks. Therefore, the research focuses on development of guidelines for increasing a sustainable biomass supply chain at local scale, in order to facilitate energy planning that considers the local system carrying capacity and the potential of substitution of fossil fuels.

Risk Assessment of Repetitive Movements in the Citrus Fruit Industry

Musculoskeletal disorders are injuries of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, or spinal discs and are often classified as soft tissue injuries. They are the result of chronic or gradual development and are not caused by acute incidents such as slips, trips, or falls. The significance of this phenomenon prompted us to carry out a broader study of pathologies attributable to repetitive movements in the upper limbs within the citrus growing industry. Calabria, a very important region for citrus fruit growing in Italy, was chosen as the study area. The study analyzed the risks of repetitive movements for 180 workers on 35 different farms using the OCRA (Occupational Repetitive Actions) checklist method By analyzing the scores obtained in the different work phases, it was possible to determine the tasks that incur more risk in the citrus fruit industry. The OCRA checklist considers all the repetitive tasks involved in a complex job and estimates the level of exposure to each worker. In support of the specific aims of the present study, it is possible to identify a series of working conditions for which the level of risk may be reasonably estimated and for which it is possible to adopt a checklist system. The results of this study suggest that there must be a significant increase in the use of effective ergonomic interventions in the workplace in order to attain reductions in the number of local musculoskeletal complaints.

A Blockchain Implementation Prototype for the Electronic Open Source Traceability of Wood along the Whole Supply Chain

This is the first work to introduce the use of blockchain technology for the electronic traceability of wood from standing tree to final user. Infotracing integrates the information related to the product quality with those related to the traceability [physical and digital documents (Radio Frequency IDentification—RFID—architecture)] within an online information system whose steps (transactions) can be made safe to evidence of alteration through the blockchain. This is a decentralized and distributed ledger that keeps records of digital transactions in such a way that makes them accessible and visible to multiple participants in a network while keeping them secure without the need of a centralized certification organism. This work implements a blockchain architecture within the wood chain electronic traceability. The infotracing system is based on RFID sensors and open source technology. The entire forest wood supply chain was simulated from standing trees to the final product passing through tree cutting and sawmill process. Different kinds of Internet of Things (IoT) open source devices and tags were used, and a specific app aiming the forest operations was engineered to collect and store in a centralized database information (e.g., species, date, position, dendrometric and commercial information).

Assessing Voc Emission by Wood Pellets Using the Ptr-tof-ms Technology

Assessing VOC Emission by Wood Pellets Using the PTRToF-MS Technology Corrado Costa, Cosimo Taiti, Michela Zanetti, Andrea Proto, Stefano D’Andrea, Rosa Greco, Luisa Demattè, Stefano Mancuso, Raffaele Cavalli Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CREA), Unità di ricerca per l’ingegneria agraria. Via della Pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo scalo (Roma), Italy. Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agroalimentari e dell’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Viale delle Idee, 30, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. Università degli Studi di Padova, Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy. Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Department of Agriculture, Feo di Vito, 89122, Reggio Calabria, Italy. Ente Nazionale per la Meccanizzazione Agricola (ENAMA), Via Venafro, 5, 00159, Roma, Italy. corrado.costa@crea.gov.it