The architectural patronage of the Fāṭimid queen-mother Durzān (d. 385/995): an interdisciplinary analysis of literary sources, material evidence and historical context

This paper on Fāṭimid female architectural patronage is divided into two parts. The first contains an analysis of the link between historical sources and epigraphic evidence, the second interprets such evidence in the light of the political and economic climates in which such patronage took place. The figure this paper focuses on is Durzān. She was the consort of the Fāṭimid imam-caliph al-Mu‘izz (r. 341-365/953-975) and mother of his successor, the imam-caliph al-‘Azīz (r. 365-386/975-996) and the first and most prolific of the Fāṭimid patronesses

A Study of Charged P-wave D Meson Production in Semileptonic B Decays

A Study of Charged P-wave D Meson Production in Semileptonic B Decays. A search for the semileptonic decay of B mesons into final states involving charged D** as well as non resonant D0-pi is performed in a sample of approximately 3 million hadronic Z decays recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP. Topological vertex criteria are used to separate the B -> D**+ l nu X signal from background as well as to search for the non-resonant component B -> D0 pi l nu X. Preliminary results for the branching fraction into resonant and non-resonant components are presented

Measurement of the Charge Collection Efficiency after Heavy Non-Uniform Irradiation in BaBar Silicon Detectors

We have investigated the depletion voltage changes, the leakage current increase and the charge collection efficiency of a silicon microstrip detector identical to those used in the inner layers of the BaBar Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) after heavy non-uniform irradiation. A full SVT module with the front-end electronics connected has been irradiated with a 0.9 GeV electron beam up to a peak fluence of 3.5 x 10^14 e^-/cm^2, well beyond the level causing substrate type inversion. We irradiated one of the two sensors composing the module with a non-uniform profile with sigma=1.4 mm that simulates the conditions encountered in the BaBar experiment by the modules intersecting the horizontal machine plane. The position dependence of the charge collection properties and the depletion voltage have been investigated in detail using a 1060 nm LED and an innovative measuring technique based only on the digital output of the chip.Comment: 7 pages, 13 figures. Presented at the 2004 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, October 18-21, Rome, Italy. Accepted for publication by IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Scienc

Effect of slow-moving landslides on a vaulted masonry building: The case of San Carlo Borromeo church in Cassingheno (Genova)

This paper presents the structural analysis of San Carlo Borromeo church, a masonry building located in Cassingheno (Genoa, Italy) in an area affected by a slow-moving landslide. A deep knowledge of the building in terms of geometry, structural configuration, history and construction phases was acquired by means of on-site surveys and archival research. The crack patterns were surveyed in detail and the deformations were studied through a point cloud obtained from a LIDAR survey. The comparison between the landslide direction and the damage observed showed discrepancies and suggested the presence of foundation settlements due to other phenomena. To identify the actual causes of damage, a finite element model (FEM) of the building in its hypothetical undeformed configuration was created. The geometry of such configuration was reconstructed starting from the point cloud obtained from the LIDAR survey and removing geometrical defects such as leaning of walls, deformation of vaults and inclination of tie-rods. To simulate the effects produced by the landslide and the foundation settlements on the building over time, nonlinear analyses were performed by imposing different displacement fields at the foundation plane in multiple steps. The damage predicted numerically was then compared with the one experienced by the building, showing good agreement

Gene Flow in Medicago Through Somatic Hybridization

The objective of this research was the characterization at both molecular and phenotypic level of three somatic hybrid plants obtained by electrofusion of protoplasts of Medicago sativa with those of M.coerulea, M.falcata and M.arborea, three Medicago species in a different relation with alfalfa. Different kinds of rearrangements including the amplification of new spacer-length variants were detected at rDNA loci in the somatic hybrids. Analysis of field performances confirmed the suitability of these plants for breeding purposes

SuperB: a linear high-luminosity B Factory

This paper is based on the outcome of the activity that has taken place during the recent workshop on "SuperB in Italy" held in Frascati on November 11-12, 2005. The workshop was opened by a theoretical introduction of Marco Ciuchini and was structured in two working groups. One focused on the machine and the other on the detector and experimental issues. The present status on CP is mainly based on the results achieved by BaBar and Belle. Estabilishment of the indirect CP violation in B sector in 2001 and of the direct CP violation in 2004 thanks to the success of PEP-II and KEKB e+e- asymmetric B Factories operating at the center of mass energy corresponding to the mass of the Y(4s). With the two B Factories taking data, the Unitarity Triangle is now beginning to be overconstrained by improving the measurements of the sides and now also of the angles alpha, and gamma. We are also in presence of the very intriguing results about the measurements of sin(2 beta) in the time dependent analysis of decay channels via penguin loops, where b --> s sbar s and b --> s dbar d. Tau physics, in particular LFV search, as well as charm and ISR physics are important parts of the scientific program of a SuperB Factory. The physics case together with possible scenarios for the high luminosity SuperB Factory based on the concepts of the Linear Collider and the related experimental issues are discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 22 figures, INFN Roadmap Repor

Publication and patent analysis of European researchers in the field of production technology and manufacturing systems

This paper develops a structured comparison among a sample of European researchers in the field of Production Technology and Manufacturing Systems, on the basis of scientific publications and patents. Researchers are evaluated and compared by a variegated set of indicators concerning (1) the output of individual researchers and (2) that of groups of researchers from the same country. While not claiming to be exhaustive, the results of this preliminary study provide a rough indication of the publishing and patenting activity of researchers in the field of interest, identifying (dis)similarities between different countries. Of particular interest is a proposal for aggregating analysis results by means of maps based on publication and patent indicators. A large amount of empirical data are presented and discusse