Income and working time of a Fencing Master in Bologna in the 15th and early 16th century

Since ancient times, the master-at-arms profession has always been considered essential for the education of the nobility and the common citizenship, especially in the Middle Ages. Yet, we know nothing about the real standard of living of these characters. The recent discovery of documents, which report the sums earned by fencing masters to teach combat disciplines, has brought us the possibility to estimate how highly this profession was regarded, and what its actual economic value was in the Italian late Middle Ages. They also give us also a material view into the modes of operation of a sala d’arme in those times. Using different comparative methods based on the quoted currencies, primary goods and the cost of living, it was possible to analyze prices and duration of various military teachings offered by the fencing Masters in the late Middle Ages and equivalent viable activities of the time. We use three ways to calculate equivalent income levels in euros: from the silver content of the coins (bolognini, equivalent to the soldo); from purchasing power in relation to bread prices; and from equivalent wages. As a result we were able to define more accurately both the accessibility of these services for citizens and the relative value to other professions. This cursory research study also aims to estimate approximately the current equivalent wages of a fencing master operating in the Italian peninsula in the 15th and early 16th century, confirming that this job was comparable to a modern, highly specialized, profession

How Do University Student Cyclists Ride? The Case of University of Bologna

In a general urban planning context, in which sustainable active mobility progressively takes up increasing attention, studies of cyclists’ attitudes and behaviors represent a relevant step to help any enhancing measures for urban cycling. Among different categories, university student cyclists represent a still unidentified class, despite the relevant impacts in terms of mass and variability of attitudes in urban areas. The novelty of this paper is to propose an innovative overview on the specific category of university student cyclists. The integrated methodology, based on direct observation through GPS detection, GIS processing, and qualitative survey, permits the evaluation of some interesting issues related to students’ propensity to cycling and their mobility patterns. The approach finds relevance in speed, frequency of movements, routing, and related infrastructure preferences. The methodology has been applied to a sample of more than 300 students of the University of Bologna who were allowed an original university-designed bicycle from February 2021 to June 2021. The analysis was applied in the Bologna urban area and allowed the evaluation of students’ preferences of using existing cycle paths, when available, the limited relevance of speed factors, the main distribution of commuter journeys concentrated in the main avenues directed to city center, and other behaviors

Quantitative comparison between two different methodologies to define rainfall thresholds for landslide forecasting

This work proposes a methodology to compare the forecasting effectiveness of different rainfall threshold models for landslide forecasting. We tested our methodology with two state-of-the-art models, one using intensity-duration thresholds and the other based on cumulative rainfall thresholds. The first model identifies rainfall intensity-duration thresholds by means of a software program called MaCumBA (MAssive CUMulative Brisk Analyzer) (Segoni et al., 2014a) that analyzes rain gauge records, extracts intensity (I) and duration (D) of the rainstorms associated with the initiation of landslides, plots these values on a diagram and identifies the thresholds that define the lower bounds of the I-D values. A back analysis using data from past events is used to identify the threshold conditions associated with the least number of false alarms. The second model (SIGMA) (Sistema Integrato Gestione Monitoraggio Allerta) (Martelloni et al., 2012) is based on the hypothesis that anomalous or extreme values of accumulated rainfall are responsible for landslide triggering: the statistical distribution of the rainfall series is analyzed, and multiples of the standard deviation (\u3c3) are used as thresholds to discriminate between ordinary and extraordinary rainfall events. The name of the model, SIGMA, reflects the central role of the standard deviations. To perform a quantitative and objective comparison, these two models were applied in two different areas, each time performing a site-specific calibration against available rainfall and landslide data. For each application, a validation procedure was carried out on an independent data set and a confusion matrix was built. The results of the confusion matrixes were combined to define a series of indexes commonly used to evaluate model performances in natural hazard assessment. The comparison of these indexes allowed to identify the most effective model in each case study and, consequently, which threshold should be used in the local early warning system in order to obtain the best possible risk management. In our application, none of the two models prevailed absolutely over the other, since each model performed better in a test site and worse in the other one, depending on the characteristics of the area. We conclude that, even if state-of-the-art threshold models can be exported from a test site to another, their employment in local early warning systems should be carefully evaluated: the effectiveness of a threshold model depends on the test site characteristics (including the quality and quantity of the input data), and a validation procedure and a comparison with alternative models should be performed before its implementation in operational early warning systems

Reliability of Multisensor Armband in Estimating Energy Expenditure According to Degree of Obesity

Resting energy expenditure (REE) represents the amount of calories required by the body to maintain vital bodyfunctions. One of the most commonly used methods for estimating REE is indirect calorimetry. Recent studies ondifferent populations have validated a highly innovative instrument, the SenseWear® Armband (SWA), which evaluatestotal energy expenditure and, when used in resting conditions, could also evaluate REE. The purpose of this study wasto determine the agreement of the SWA in assessing REE in obese subjects and, see how this agreement varies withdifferent obesity degree.89 obese subjects (59 women and 30 men), with an age range from 35-65 years and body mass index (BMI)34.5 4.5 kg/m2 were studied. REE was measured by IC Sensor Medics Vmax (SM-29N) and by SWA. Fat mass(FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) was determined by anthropometry and bio-impedance measurements. No statisticaldifference was found between REE measured by SWA (1693±276) and REE measured by SM-29N (1627±293). Thetwo methods showed similar assessments (r=0.8, p 35 kg/m2), the agreement decreases (r =0.6 p 35