A novel approach for seismic risk assessment of porcelain cylindrical electrical equipment

Traditional seismic risk assessment approaches have been applied to different types of electrical equipment in substations. Recently, some of the authors have proposed a novel seismic risk assessment approach for new and existing structures, which is based on idea to control the record-to-record variability rather than reduce it by scaling the ground motion signals. This paper introduces the framework into seismic risk assessment of typical porcelain cylindrical electrical equipment (PCEE). Accordingly, two different sets of records are selected using the algorithm proposed in the framework to assess the risk of three pieces of PCEE selected. The selected PCEE exhibits diverse structural characteristics, providing a robust basis to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed framework across varying configurations and dimensional settings. Besides, the influence of the dispersion of limit states (LSs) on the fragility and risk of the PCEE is also investigated. The results indicate that the consistent fragility curves and risk results induced by the two record sets verify the effectiveness of the framework when applied to PCEE. Obvious differences in failure probability are observed due to the dispersion of limit states (LSs), exhibiting a “0-positive-0-negative-0” pattern as peak ground acceleration increases. Overall, the seismic risk of the PCEE increases with greater LS dispersion. Moreover, there is minimal variation in structural risk between using Normal or Weibull distributions to model LS dispersion. Targeting fragility and risk, adopting a one-piece design for PCEE insulators proves more advantageous for structural safety than using an assembled construction with flanged joints

La figura dell’allenatore nel mondo greco dall’epoca classica a quella imperiale: contesti, ruoli, status

Il presente lavoro si propone di far luce sulla figura dell’allenatore nel mondo greco. Attraverso un’analisi sistematica delle fonti letterarie, epigrafiche e papiracee, arricchita da una selezionata ricerca iconografica, è stato possibile indagare i compiti, i ruoli e lo status di questi professionisti, nonché i diversi contesti in cui essi operavano. Le testimonianze raccolte sono riferibili a un vasto spazio geografico, che copre l’intero Mediterraneo greco, e a un altrettanto ampio arco cronologico, che si estende dalla fine del VI sec. a.C. al III sec. d.C. I risultati della ricerca sono esposti in tre capitoli organizzati su base tematica. Nel primo si affronta la complessa questione terminologica: l’esistenza, in greco, di più vocaboli (παιδοτρίβης, γυμναστής, ἀλείπτης, ἐπιστάτης) per indicare quella che sembra essere un’unica professione ha reso necessario unire, a una rassegna dei termini attestati, alcune considerazioni sui criteri che regolavano l’uso di un lessico così variegato. Nel secondo capitolo vengono invece illustrati ed esaminati i vari contesti in cui gli allenatori operavano. Ne emerge l’immagine di professionisti attivi nel campo dell’educazione, dell’addestramento degli efebi e, ancora, come preparatori e accompagnatori degli atleti in occasione dello svolgimento di competizioni locali, regionali o panelleniche. Vengono approfondite, allo stesso tempo, le loro conoscenze e abilità, con particolare attenzione al rapporto con la medicina, la disciplina che più di frequente, nel corso della storia greca, sembra essersi sovrapposta alla scienza dell’allenamento. I documenti raccolti, infine, spingono a interrogarsi sul rapporto tra gli allenatori e le comunità di cui facevano parte: quali erano le modalità di assunzione e retribuzione di questi professionisti? Che ruolo potevano giocare, in questo senso, le istituzioni cittadine? E come si posizionavano gli allenatori all’interno del corpo civico? Sono simili domande ad animare il terzo e ultimo capitolo di questo lavoro, che mira ad indagare la posizione sociale ed economica degli allenatori e le modalità di rappresentazione e autorappresentazione di questi professionisti. In conclusione, l’indagine condotta ha consentito di delineare, attraverso uno studio delle fonti quanto più possibile completo e sistematico, i contorni di una categoria professionale ben riconoscibile, attiva per lungo tempo nell’ambito dell’educazione dei giovani, della formazione dei futuri cittadini e della competizione atletica. Si va ad aggiungere così un tassello ancora mancante all’ampio e ricco mondo degli studi sull’atletica antica.This research aims to shed light on the figure of trainers in the ancient Greek world. Through a systematic analysis of literary, epigraphic and papyrological sources, enriched by a selected iconographic survey, it has been possible to investigate the duties, roles and status of these professionals, as well as the various contexts in which they operated. The collected evidence covers a wide geographical area, encompassing the entire Greek Mediterranean, and an equally wide chronological span, extending from the end of the 6th century BC to the 3rd century AD. The research results are presented in three thematically organized chapters. The first chapter addresses the complex issue of terminology: the existence, in ancient Greek language, of several words (παιδοτρίβης, γυμναστής, ἀλείπτης, ἐπιστάτης) to refer to what appears to be a single profession made it necessary to combine a survey of the single terms with an analysis of the criteria governing the employment of such a varied lexicon. The second chapter examines the different contexts in which trainers worked. These professionals emerge as key figures in several fields: they could, for instance, be responsible for children’s education or for the training of the ephebes, but they could also train and give their assistance to athletes taking part in local, regional or Panhellenic competitions. At the same time, their knowledge and skills are explored, with particular attention to their relationship with medicine, the discipline that most frequently seems to have overlapped with the science of training throughout Greek history. Finally, the collected evidence raises questions about the relationship between trainers and the communities they were part of: How were the recruitment and payment of these professionals organized? What role could civic institutions play in this regard? And how were trainers positioned within the civic body? Such questions animate the third and final chapter of this work, which aims to investigate the social and economic position of coaches and the ways in which they were represented and self-represented. In conclusion, this study has made it possible to outline, through a study of the sources as complete and systematic as possible, the contours of a clearly identifiable professional category, active for a long time in the education of children, the training of future citizens and in the field of athletic competition. This work thus adds a still missing piece to the broad and rich field of studies on ancient athletics

Diversity of isotopic composition of anthropogenic radioactivity on glaciers in the Alps

: The dark sediment on the surface of glaciers, called cryoconite, plays an important role in accumulating various contaminants during glacier melting. One of the high-risk is anthropogenic fallout radioisotopes, which have been accumulating since 1945. The melting of alpine glaciers is accelerating, rapidly releasing stored pollutants, and becoming secondary sources of radioisotopes for nearby ecosystems. This study indicates the potential sources of radioisotopes based on their signatures with global and local signals using wide sampling covering eight glaciers in distinct regions of the Alps. For this purpose, the activity ratios of anthropogenic radionuclides (238Pu/239+240Pu, 239+240Pu/137Cs, 241Am/239+240Pu) and mass ratios (240Pu/239Pu) were determined. The activity ratio of 238Pu/239+240Pu in Alpine glaciers shows that plutonium-related radioactivity is mostly from global fallout, with an additional contribution from the atmospheric re-entry of the SNAP 9A satellite. 240Pu/239Pu atomic ratio suggests the heterogeneous contribution of low- and high-yielded nuclear detonations. The activity ratios of 241Am/239+240Pu are partly comparable to the reference isotopic ratio for global fallout, but the impact of unknown local radioactive contamination source(s) is also considered. The post-Chernobyl and global fallout account of 137Cs in the examined glacial area of the Alps. The results confirm the ability of cryoconite to accumulate artificial radioisotopes while recording the influence of multiple regional and global sources. Cryoconite is confirmed as an extremely valuable environmental matrix for studying radioactive contamination in glacial environments

La rappresentazione dell’ebreo nell’arte dei domini sabaudi e visconteo-sforzeschi (secc. XIV-XV)

La ricerca analizza la funzione dell’immagine dell’ebreo nell’arte dei domini sabaudi e visconteo-sforzeschi e indaga in quale modo essa rispecchi l’effettiva reputazione e condizione degli ebrei all’interno di questi territori. Le raffigurazioni degli ebrei create dai cristiani non rispecchiano la realtà religiosa e culturale ebraica, ma costituiscono un valido strumento per ricostruire la concezione cristiana dell’ebraismo e degli ebrei in un determinato luogo e momento. Questo emerge con particolare chiarezza dai casi dei domini sabaudi e visconteo-sforzeschi, la cui analisi ha permesso infatti di individuare una corrispondenza tra gli atteggiamenti in ambito politico, culturale e religioso nei confronti degli ebrei e la declinazione dell’immagine di questi ultimi. L’analisi di due motivi iconografici, quello del gruppo di ebrei cospiratori e quello degli ebrei testimoni, ha inoltre permesso di evidenziare l’ambivalente posizione ideologica nei confronti dell’ebraismo, evidenziando sia il sospetto del quale gli ebrei erano vittima, sia la continua rilevanza della dottrina della testimonianza ebraica promossa da Agostino. Ulteriori approfondimenti sono stati dedicati alla trasposizione in ambito iconografico dello stereotipo dell’usuraio ebreo e della dottrina del superamento dell’ebraismo da parte del cristianesimo

Il conflitto arabo-israeliano. origini, sviluppi e prospettive

The volume brings together contributions from a series of seminars on the Arab-Israeli conflict organised in February 2024 by the Department of Political Science at Roma Tre University. The aim of those intense days of analysis and discussion was to offer the university's teaching staff and students, and more generally the interested public, an opportunity to reflect on the Middle East conflict in light of the tragic developments that followed the attack launched by Hamas militias against Israel on 7 October 2023. by Hamas militias against Israel. Alongside articles by historians outlining the evolution of the Israeli-Palestinian question since the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the book features political, sociological and legal contributions, as well as an unpublished interview with two exceptional witnesses: Israeli sociologist Luz Nimrod and Palestinian historian Najat Abdulhaq