Ossicular chain changes revealed middle ear inflammation in medieval rural central Italy (Tuscany 10th-12th century)

Objective: To assess the prevalence of chronic otitis media in the medieval rural site of Pieve di Pava (central Italy) by analysing pathological changes in auditory ossicles and to investigate specific risk factors responsible for middle ear inflammation in a rural environment. Materials: A total of 224 ossicles from 119 individuals (20 pre-adults and 99 adults) were examined. Methods: Stereomicroscopic observation was used to evaluate osteoclastic and osteoblastic COM-related bone changes. Results: COM-related bone changes were observed in 52 ossicles, pertaining to 39 individuals (25 % of pre-adults and 34.3 % of adults), with no statistically significant difference between adult males and females. Pitting was the most common lesion-type (82.7 %), while new bone formation was less common (13.5 %). Conclusions: Compared to urban medieval sites in western and northern-eastern Europe, the individuals from rural Pieve di Pava exhibited lower rates of chronic otitis media. This may be attributed to reduced exposure to urban-risk factors, such as indoor air pollution and overcrowding. Conversely, rural-specific factors, like farming, husbandry, and craft activities, might have influenced the observed prevalence. Significance: The broad range of lesion-types on the ossicles and their severity helped us to provide diagnostic criteria for assessing COM in paleopathology. Limitations: The inability to examine all ossicles per individual, as well as the restricted number of pre-adults compared to adults. Suggestions for future research: Further archaeological population-based studies examining ossicles from different time periods and urban/rural settings across Mediterranean Europe could provide insights into the prevalence of chronic otitis media with a diachronic perspective

Salt release and performance of self-ice-melting epoxy asphalt pavement under accelerated loading simulation conditions

To evaluate the salt release and road performance of self-ice-melting asphalt pavements under the environment-load coupling, this study aims to determine the ice melting, road performance, and the internal void structure of self-ice-melting asphalt pavements under accelerated loading simulation conditions. First, an indoor accelerated loading simulation (rainfall, loading, rain-load coupling) test system (ALSTS) was established, and 1.2 million cyclic loading tests were carried out on ordinary and self-ice-melting epoxy asphalt pavements. Then, the conductivity measurement test, freezing force test, and ice melting test were determined under different salt release conditions. Furthermore, the laser rutting instrument, pendulum friction meter, and Universal Testing Software (UTS) were used to determine the evolutionary patterns of rutting depth, skidding resistance, and dynamic modulus. Finally, the change law of the internal pore structure was determined by CT tomography and image processing technology. The results show that the coupling accelerated the release of salt from the self-ice-melting asphalt pavement, which exacerbated the decay rate of its road performance. Compared with the individual impact of rainfall, the coupling increased the salt release by 47.9∼71.2 % and shortened the de-icing life by 7.3∼13.3 %. Adding epoxy asphalt mitigated this adverse effect, which slowed down road performance decay, increased the fatigue life by 50.5∼104.8 %, and extended the de-icing life by 14.1∼33.9 %. Adding epoxy asphalt effectively inhibited the growth of internal voids and the creation of connected voids in the specimen, improving the fatigue resistance of self-ice-melting asphalt pavement by the CT image analysis

Il semipresidenzialismo in Romania tra teoria e prassi: dalla Costituzione del 1991 agli accordi di rotazione del Primo ministro, fino all’anno elettorale 2024

Semi-Presidentialism in Romania Between Theory and Practice: From the 1991 Constitution to Recent Prime Minister Rotation Agreements (up to the 2024 Election Year). This essay deals with the form of government in Romania by analyzing the normative framework and constitutional practice of recent decades, with particular attention to the powers of the President. The role of the presidential figure (similarly to the situation in France) is indicative of the flexibility inherent in semi-presidential systems, which alternate between phases of strengthening the presidential character and phases of reaffirming the parliament-government circuit. In the Romanian experience, this evolution results from institutional reforms and conventions, with a significant role played by the Constitutional Court (as observed in the aftermath of the first round of the presidential elections in November 2024)

I diritti religiosi e le balene

A whale emerges when applying the metaphor of immersion to religious rights. It is an animal that lives submerged in the sea but to survive it needs to emerge to breathe, and when it does so it emits upward flows, almost signifying the need for further elevation towards the sky; sometimes it expresses itself with high dives, with which it tries to make itself visible to its peers, but inexorably it ends up submerging again, to live waiting for the next emersion. This contribution aims to express the specificity of religious laws through the image of a whale: social — and cultural — tools for managing conflicts that arise in the sea of daily life and which are however managed in the light of an immanence other than everyday life. The oxygen that allows religious laws to live is found elsewhere than the place where those conflicts take place. The rules move within a horizon of purpose that marks their specificity and makes them different from secular rights. The salus animarum, the exit from the cycle of reincarnations, the entrance into the Garden of Eden can only be achieved if one emerges, and if one jumps upwards. However, the tension towards emersions also affects secular laws, especially when these come to regulating ethically sensitive issues. Even in these cases, it seems that the rules need to be oriented away from the sea of life, towards the same horizon of ultimativity identified by religious laws. After all, both act in the same sea, inhabited by an infinite number of animals that breathe the same oxygen. Most of these animals do not need to emerge to breathe; instead, the enormous whales rise and fall, drawing a path of extraordinary agility. Perhaps they are the oldest sea beasts in the world: sea monsters in which the Bible contains the symbol of life beyond life. I will conclude my reflection with an open question: for what life is law useful

Some claim for the end of Botany... but what is Botany today?

In times of increasing interest in plants, a major challenge lies in effectively communicating the essence of Botany: What exactly does it encompass? Who are botanists? And how do botanical gardens differ from other types of gardens? To address these questions, refined definitions that account for the blurred boundaries between the fields of Botany, Agronomy, and Medicine are proposed. By representing these three disciplines in a ternary plot, I suggest defining Botany as a biological discipline where studies have a predominant (> 50%) component of basic plant science—this area is referred to here as the ‘Triangle of Botany’. In this context, a botanist can be defined as a professional or scientist whose primary research fo- cus is on basic research related to plant organisms. A botanical garden, therefore, is a space dedicated to the cultivation, conservation, study, and display of plants, based primarily on scientific principles grounded in basic research. The overlap between disciplines contributes to the communication difficulties in clearly defining what botanists do, especially when compared to professionals such as agronomists or doctors. The lack of distinct boundaries between these fields can lead the general public to misinterpret Botany and its practitioners. As a result, people may seek advice from “experts” who may not necessarily have a strong foundation in Botany. Similarly, botanical gardens are often perceived by the public as merely aesthetic spaces, akin to vegetable gardens or parks, rather than as scientifically-driven institutions. Disseminating refined definitions could help bridge the gap in public understanding of the role of Botany, fostering a clearer appreciation of this essential scientific field

Italian Manufacturing Productivity, 1976–2016: Sectoral Reallocation Versus Firms’ Heterogeneity

Based on new datasets collecting financial statements and off-balance sheet data on a wide number of medium and large Italian enterprises between the 1970s and the 2010s, the work aims at contributing to the debate about the productivity growth gap that affected the Italian industry, as compared to other advanced economies, at the end of the last century. It also aims at understanding whether productivity gaps were mainly determined by differences among firms (within-effect) or by resources’ reallocation across industries (between-effect). What emerges from the long term analysis is a contraction of most productive sectors and a productivity slowdown affecting almost all industries. In the long run, the reallocation of resources across sectors has had a negative impact on productivity trends, preceding and somehow offsetting any positive contributions from the within-effect

Battery energy storage systems for ancillary services in renewable energy communities

Renewable Energy Communities can become relevant flexibility actors thanks to their capability of gathering under the same ecosystem, different energy assets, such as generation, and storage, and deferrable and controllable devices such as heavy appliances and computing assets. Particularly thanks to the integration of different energy storages RECs can therefore become a relevant grid operator. This document presents a review of storage and flexibility services alongside a quantitative methodology to analyze its benefits, using the Julia-based EnergyCommunity.jl package. The renewable energy community in Savona in collaboration with the University of Genova campus has been simulated to assert the battery energy storage systems potential. The study compares the outcomes of cooperative approaches with and without flexibility services to a scenario where users do not cooperate. The study concludes that storage systems can create new flexible instruments for the grid and a tool for citizens, which could make batteries financially viable. The study suggests that greater transparency and information on hourly energy sales and purchase prices would facilitate awareness among community members and stimulate discussion of technologies such as batteries to cover the most expensive nighttime periods for users

Analysis of BEPU-Approached Multi-Physics Wall-to-Fluid Single Phase Friction Pressure Drop

Over the last few decades, the aim in Nuclear Reactor Safety (NRS) research and licensing has been to transition from conservative model use, which was widely used in the early stages of the nuclear industry, to the Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty (BEPU) approach in order to increase the accuracy of results to increase reactor output power safely. Furthermore, this decision is made to cover the increase in complexity of physics (i.e. Natural Circulation (NC), Passive Safety Systems) used in nuclear reactors, despite a reduction in the number of active mechanical parts. The central pillars of BEPU which are the selection of realistic Boundary and Initial Conditions (BIC) along with the adoption of an accurate model implemented in the Best Estimate (BE) System Thermal-hydraulic (SYS TH) Code, and uncertainty quantification methodologies should provide the reference for future works. Among the 116 Thermal-Hydraulic Phenomena (THP) for Water Cooled Nuclear Reactors (WCNRs) that are unique within the studied range of variables, the wall-to-fluid friction pressure drop (PD) as a Basic Phenomenon (BP) that can have a severe impact on the overall behavior of a thermal-hydraulic (TH) system. In fact, in normal operation conditions of NC systems, the efficiency of heat removal in the primary system is strongly dependent on PDs whereas, in off-normal scenarios, meeting Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) criteria may be subject to the influence of PDs along injection lines. Furthermore, this THP has an empirical origin, meaning there exists an integration domain in friction PD explicit formulas based on Re number and relative roughness, while some geometries used in Nuclear Power Proceedings of the 14th International Conference of the Croatian Nuclear Society Zadar, Croatia, June 9 – 12, 2024 Paper No. 120 SESSION X: Title of Session X (To be added by Programme Committee) Plants (NPP) may not fulfill the requirements of this integration domain. One of the main sources of uncertainty in friction factor calculations is the selection of an appropriate value for absolute roughness. The selection of the right value for roughness can become difficult because of the possible evolution of the surface of the hydraulic component concerning time. Indeed, the initial surface condition of the alloys can evolve on contact with the cooling solutions, by the growth of corrosion products, or by the deposition of particles resulting from this corrosion. Thus, roughness can change both with aging also based on different stages in subsequent time windows, and choosing a range for absolute roughness is suggested. This work's ultimate goal is to assess the possible errors in both RELAP Mod3.2mz and RELAP-3D as candidates for the most used BE SYS TH codes in Thermal-Hydraulic analysis and to emphasize the selection of the most appropriate model for wall-to-fluid friction factor. To do so, research focused on the results obtained in single-phase PDs using subcooled water with realistic BICs, since the correlations used for single-phase calculations are fairly well developed, and enough experimental data are available. In order to use the results obtained from codes in the nuclear industry, V&V&C must be applied in core-related safety issues, as it must be able to show the capability of computational tools with a demonstration of an error. As stated, wall-to-fluid friction PDs, must not be treated as low-level objectives anymore, especially for the design of RCS that rely on NC or passive systems. In addition, wall-to-fluid friction PD must be considered as a Multi-Physical BP, since both water chemistry and wall material, as representative of coolant chemistry and material, all affect the PDs

Development and experimental validation of a Sense-and-Avoid System for a mini-UAV

This paper provides an overview of the three-year effort to design and implement a prototypical sense-and-avoid (SAA) system based on a multisensory architecture leveraging data fusion between optical and radar sensors. The work was carried out within the context of the Italian research project named TERSA (electrical and radar technologies for remotely piloted aircraft systems) undertaken by the University of Pisa in collaboration with its industrial partners, aimed at the design and development of a series of innovative technologies for remotely piloted aircraft systems of small scale (MTOW < 25 Kgf). The system leverages advanced computer vision algorithms and an extended Kalman filter to enhance obstacle detection and tracking capabilities. The “Sense” module processes environmental data through a radar and an electro-optical sensor, while the “Avoid” module utilizes efficient geometric algorithms for collision prediction and evasive maneuver computation. A novel hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation environment was developed and used for validation, enabling the evaluation of closed-loop real-time interaction between the “Sense” and “Avoid” subsystems. Extensive numerical simulations and a flight test campaign demonstrate the system’s effectiveness in real-time detection and the avoidance of non-cooperative obstacles, ensuring compliance with UAV aero-mechanical and safety constraints in terms of minimum separation requirements. The novelty of this research lies in (1) the design of an innovative and efficient visual processing pipeline tailored for SWaP-constrained mini-UAVs, (2) the formulation an EKF-based data fusion strategy integrating optical data with a custom-built Doppler radar, and (3) the development of a unique HIL simulation environment with realistic scenery generation for comprehensive system evaluation. The findings underscore the potential for deploying such advanced SAA systems in tactical UAV operations, significantly contributing to the safety of flight in non-segregated airspaces