Early warning monitoring of natural and engineered slopes with Ground-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar

The first application of ground-based interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (GBInSAR) for slope monitoring dates back 13 years. Today, GBInSAR is used internationally as a leading-edge tool for near-real-time monitoring of surface slope movements in landslides and open pit mines. The success of the technology relies mainly on its ability to measure slope movements rapidly with sub- millimetric accuracy over wide areas and in almost any weather conditions. In recent years, GBInSAR has experienced significant improvements, due to the development of more advanced radar techniques in terms of both data processing and sensor performance. These improvements have led to widespread diffusion of the technology for early warning monitoring of slopes in both civil and mining applications. The main technical features of modern SAR technology for slope monitoring are discussed in this paper. A comparative analysis with other monitoring technologies is also presented along with some recent examples of successful slope monitorin

A COMUNICAÇÃO DOS MOVIMENTOS SOCIAIS COMO MEIO DE EMPODERAMENTO PARA A CIDADANIA

Esta pesquisa busca compreender a relação entre os processos comunicativos e as conquistas de cidadania. A comunicação é percebida aqui em seu sentido amplo abarca os meios de informação de massa, que trazem informações e entretenimento, mas são frequentemente manipulados por interesses econômicos; as mídias alternativas, que amplia vozes e luta por direitos, praticada principalmente pelos movimentos sociais; e a comunicação interpessoal, dialógica, que permeia os processos cotidianos das pessoas e as esferas públicas de discussões. Todas essas comunicações são percebidas como parte essencial do entendimento do que é cidadania, de como ela se desenvolve e influencia a maneira como o cidadão se vê como tal. Os movimentos sociais são analisados como parte fundamental deste processo, uma vez que atuam como os principais agentes de luta pela conquista de direitos nas sociedades contemporâneas. Este trabalho justifica-se na medida em que busca contribuir para o entendimento dos processos comunicacionais que permeiam o cotidiano da sociedade civil, a partir da análise da comunicação que envolve os movimentos sociais. Parte-se da proposição de que a comunicação em todos os seus aspectos é fundamental para esses movimentos enquanto atores na luta pelo fortalecimento da cidadania. Para isso, é apresentado um histórico e o debate atual dos conceitos de cidadania, direitos humanos, participação e movimentos sociais e sua relação com os âmbitos comunicacionais citados. O objetivo é contribuir para o entendimento da relação entre comunicação, processos democráticos e a construção da cidadania, ainda pouco pesquisada de forma sistemática. Este estudo teórico utiliza como metodologia o levantamento bibliográfico, buscando identificar, debater e relacionar conceitos já desenvolvidos por pensadores dos diferentes campos abordados. Dentre as principais referências bibliográficas estão Desmond Fischer (1984), Cees Hamelink (2004), Norberto Bobbio (1982, 2004), Fabio Comparato (2010), Thomas Marshall (1967), José Murilo de Carvalho (2004), Liszt Vieira (2001), Pedro Demo (1993, 1995), Juan Bordenave (1983), Charles Tilly (2007), Alberto Melucci (2001), Jürgen Habermas (1984, 1997), Andrew Arato e Jean Cohen (1992), John Downing (2004), Cicilia Peruzzo (1998), Paulo Freire (2013), Jesús Martín-Barbero (1997, 2012) e Milton Santos (2013)

Observaciones sobre las madrigueras y comportamiento enterrador de Brachynotus gemmellari y otras especies de los fondos de Squilla en Ancona, Adriático Central

The paper presents information on the burrows of a number of species that occur on Squilla grounds in the coastal Adriatic off Ancona, Italy. The burrows and burrowing behaviour of Brachynotus gemmellari are described for the first time. For Upogebia tipica, Solecurtus strigilatus and Gobius niger, the observations add to sparse burrow information in the literature. Little is known of the burrows of Echiura in the Mediterranean: those of two species are briefly described from surface features.Este trabajo presenta información sobre las madrigueras de diversas especies presentes en los fondos de Squilla en las costas de Ancona, Italia, en el Adriático central. Se describen por vez primera las madrigueras y el comportamiento excavador de Brachynotus gemmellari. En el caso de Upogebia tipica, Solecurtus strigilatus y Gobius niger, las presentes observaciones se añaden a información dispersa sobre las madrigueras de Echiura en el Mediterráneo: se describen brevemente las de dos especies a partir de características de la superfície

First optical validation of a Schwarzschild Couder telescope: the ASTRI SST-2M Cherenkov telescope

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the most advanced facility designed for Cherenkov Astronomy. ASTRI SST-2M has been developed as a demonstrator for the Small Size Telescope in the context of the upcoming CTA. Its main innovation consists in the optical layout which implements the Schwarzschild-Couder configuration and is fully validated for the first time. The ASTRI SST-2M optical system represents the first qualified example for two mirrors telescope for Cherenkov Astronomy. This configuration permits to (i) maintain a high optical quality across a large FoV (ii) de-magnify the plate scale, (iii) exploit new technological solutions for focal plane sensors. The goal of the paper is to present the optical qualification of the ASTRI SST-2M telescope. The qualification has been obtained measuring the PSF sizes generated in the focal plane at various distance from the optical axis. These values have been compared with the performances expected by design. After an introduction on the Gamma Astronomy from the ground, the optical design and how it has been implemented for ASTRI SST-2M is discussed. Moreover the description of the setup used to qualify the telescope over the full field of view is shown. We report the results of the first--light optical qualification. The required specification of a flat PSF of $\sim 10$ arcmin in a large field of view ~10 deg has been demonstrated. These results validate the design specifications, opening a new scenario for Cherenkov Gamma ray Astronomy and, in particular, for the detection of high energy (5 - 300 TeV) gamma rays and wide-field observations with CTA.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Extreme precipitation events over northern Italy. Part I: A systematic classification with machine‐learning techniques

Extreme precipitation events (EPEs) are meteorological phenomena of major concern for society. They can have different characteristics depending on the physical mechanisms responsible for their generation, which in turn depend on the large and mesoscale conditions. This work provides a systematic classification of EPEs over northern–central Italy, one of the regions in Europe with the highest frequency of these events. The EPE statistics have been deduced using the new high‐resolution precipitation dataset ArCIS (Climatological Archive for Central–Northern Italy), that gathers together a very high number of daily, quality‐controlled and homogenized observations from different networks of 11 Italian regions. Gridded precipitation is aggregated over Italian operational warning‐area units (WA). EPEs are defined as events in which daily average precipitation in at least one of the 94 WAs exceeds the 99th percentile with respect to the climate reference 1979–2015. A list of 887 events is compiled, significantly enlarging the database compared to any previous study of EPEs. EPEs are separated into three different dynamical classes: Cat1, events mainly attributable to frontal/orographic uplift; Cat2, events due to frontal uplift with (equilibrium) deep convection embedded; Cat3, events mainly generated by non‐equilibrium deep convection. A preliminary version of this classification is based on fixed thresholds of environmental parameters, but the final version is obtained using a more robust machine‐learning unsupervised K‐means clustering and random forest algorithm. All events are characterized by anomalously high integrated water vapour transport (IVT). This confirms IVT as an important large‐scale predictor, especially for Cat2 events, which is shown to be the most important category in terms of impacts and EPE area extension. Large IVT values are caused by upper‐level waves associated with remotely triggered Rossby wave packets, as shown for two example Cat2 events

The EEE Project

The new experiment ``Extreme Energy Events'' (EEE) to detect extensive air showers through muon detection is starting in Italy. The use of particle detectors based on Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) will allow to determine with a very high accuracy the direction of the axis of cosmic ray showers initiated by primaries of ultra-high energy, together with a high temporal resolution. The installation of many of such 'telescopes' in numerous High Schools scattered all over the Italian territory will also allow to investigate coincidences between multiple primaries producing distant showers. Here we present the experimental apparatus and its tasks.Comment: 4 pages, 29th ICRC 2005, Pune, Indi