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Articolo di introduzione ad altro articolo sul tema della Human Resources Managemen

Systematics, bionomy, and metamorphosis of Coleoptera (Insecta): Papers celebrating the 80th birthday of Cleide Costa - Foreword from the editors

We present a brief biography of Dr. Cleide Costa, eminent entomologist from Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP). She has been dedicating the last six decades to the study of adults and immatures of Coleoptera. Dr. Costa is the pioneer in collecting and rearing immature beetles in Brazil, being responsible for establishing the most extensive Latin American collection of reared immatures Coleoptera. We discuss central aspects of her personal history, as well as career landmarks and achievements. A compilation of taxa introduced to science by her, taxa named in her honor, and a full list of her scientific, educational and cultural production are provided in chronological order. More than a biographical account, this publication is an acknowledgment of Dr. Cleide Costa’s legacy to entomology

AGN contamination of galaxy-cluster thermal X-ray emission: predictions for eRosita from cosmological simulations

In this study, we present a modelling of the X-ray emission from the simulated SMBHs within the cosmological hydrodynamical Magneticum Pathfinder Simulation, in order to study the statistical properties of the resulting X-ray Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) population and their expected contribution to the X-ray flux from galaxy clusters. The simulations reproduce the evolution of the observed unabsorbed AGN bolometric luminosity functions (LFs) up to redshift z~2, consistently with previous works. Furthermore, we study the evolution of the LFs in the soft (SXR) and hard (HXR) X-ray bands by means of synthetic X-ray data generated with the PHOX simulator, that includes an observationally-motivated modelling of an instrinsic absorption component, mimicking the torus around the AGN. The reconstructed SXR and HXR AGN LFs present a remarkable agreement with observational data up to z~2 when an additional obscuration fraction for Compton-thick AGN is assumed, although a discrepancy still exists for the SXR LF at z=2.3. With this approach, we also generate full eROSITA mock observations to predict the level of contamination due to AGN of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) X-ray emission, which can affect cluster detection especially at high redshifts. We find that, at z~1-1.5, for 20-40% of the clusters with M500>3e13 Msun/h, the AGN counts in the observed SXR band exceed by more than a factor of 2 the counts from the whole ICM.Comment: in press, MNRAS Main Journa

Development and Validation of a Spike Detection and Classification Algorithm Aimed at Implementation on Hardware Devices

Neurons cultured in vitro on MicroElectrode Array (MEA) devices connect to each other, forming a network. To study electrophysiological activity and long term plasticity effects, long period recording and spike sorter methods are needed. Therefore, on-line and real time analysis, optimization of memory use and data transmission rate improvement become necessary. We developed an algorithm for amplitude-threshold spikes detection, whose performances were verified with (a) statistical analysis on both simulated and real signal and (b) Big O Notation. Moreover, we developed a PCA-hierarchical classifier, evaluated on simulated and real signal. Finally we proposed a spike detection hardware design on FPGA, whose feasibility was verified in terms of CLBs number, memory occupation and temporal requirements; once realized, it will be able to execute on-line detection and real time waveform analysis, reducing data storage problems

La-Ag-Co perovskites for the catalytic flameless combustion of methane

Ag represents an interesting dopant for the highly active LaCoO3 perovskites used for the catalytic flameless combustion (CFC) of methane, due to its ability to adsorb and activate oxygen and to the possibility of incorporation into the framework as Ag+ or Ag2+, with formation of oxygen vacancies. In the present work we compared the catalytic activity and resistance to sulphur poisoning of a series of LaCoO3, x%Ag/LaCoO3, La1-xAgxCoO3 samples (nominal composition), the latter two notations indicating post-synthesis Ag loading or direct incorporation during the synthesis, respectively. The samples were prepared by flame pyrolysis (FP) and by the sot-gel (SG) method, leading to different particle size and possibly to different incorporation degree of the dopant, quantified by Rietveld refinement of XRD patterns. Higher activity was observed, in general, with fresh catalysts synthesised by FP. The SG samples demonstrated a slightly better resistance to sulphur poisoning when considering the conversion decrease between the fresh and the poisoned samples, due to lower surface exposure. However, interesting data have been obtained with some of the Ag-doped poisoned FP samples, performing even better than the fresh SG-prepared ones. Ag addition led to a complex change of activity and resistance to poisoning. The activity of FP-prepared samples doped with a small amount of Ag (e.g. 5 mol%) was indeed lower than that of the undoped LaCoO3. By contrast, a further increase of Ag concentration led to increasing catalytic activity, mainly when big extra framework Ag particles were present. By contrast, for SG samples a low Ag amount was beneficial for activity, due to an increased reducibility of Co3+

Enrichment of the hot intracluster medium: observations

Four decades ago, the firm detection of an Fe-K emission feature in the X-ray spectrum of the Perseus cluster revealed the presence of iron in its hot intracluster medium (ICM). With more advanced missions successfully launched over the last 20 years, this discovery has been extended to many other metals and to the hot atmospheres of many other galaxy clusters, groups, and giant elliptical galaxies, as evidence that the elemental bricks of life - synthesized by stars and supernovae - are also found at the largest scales of the Universe. Because the ICM, emitting in X-rays, is in collisional ionisation equilibrium, its elemental abundances can in principle be accurately measured. These abundance measurements, in turn, are valuable to constrain the physics and environmental conditions of the Type Ia and core-collapse supernovae that exploded and enriched the ICM over the entire cluster volume. On the other hand, the spatial distribution of metals across the ICM constitutes a remarkable signature of the chemical history and evolution of clusters, groups, and ellipticals. Here, we summarise the most significant achievements in measuring elemental abundances in the ICM, from the very first attempts up to the era of XMM-Newton, Chandra, and Suzaku and the unprecedented results obtained by Hitomi. We also discuss the current systematic limitations of these measurements and how the future missions XRISM and Athena will further improve our current knowledge of the ICM enrichment.Comment: 49 pages. Review paper. Accepted for publication on Space Science Reviews. This is the companion review of "Enrichment of the hot intracluster medium: numerical simulations