Tracce archeologiche di un terremoto tardo-antico nella Piana del Fucino (Italia centrale)

Il tempo di ricorrenza definito dalle indagini paleosismologiche sulle faglie dell’Appennino abruzzese è nell’ordine dei 1500-2500 anni. Pertanto, in caso di terremoto storico, di elevata magnitudo, relativamente recente (es. il terremoto del 1703 nell’Aquilano o quello del 1915 nella Marsica), l’evento sismico precedente potrebbe essere stato causato dalla stessa sorgente sismogenetica in un’epoca per cui si ha carenza di informazione storica ma abbondanza di fonti archeologiche. Per questo motivo, accanto alle ricerche paleosismologiche, tradizionalmente indirizzate alla definizione del comportamento sismogenetico di una faglia, fin dalla metà degli anni 90 furono avviate ricerche archeosismologiche, mirate all’identificazione di tracce di terremoti distruttivi su emergenze archeologiche, prevalentemente di età classica (Galadini e Galli, 1996). Gli studi archeosismologici nella regione abruzzese hanno consentito di acquisire finora informazioni sugli effetti di tre terremoti distruttivi, noti ai cataloghi sismici (es. Boschi et al., 1995), di cui due (II sec. d.C. e 484-508 d.C.) con epicentro nella regione e un altro (346 d.C.) originato in area limitrofa (Galadini e Galli, 2001; 2004). Nel 2004, l’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia ha avviato una collaborazione con la Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Abruzzo su tematiche geoarcheologiche, sia in prospettiva paleoambientale che per una migliore comprensione degli effetti delle catastrofi naturali del passato su siti archeologici dell’area appenninica. In questo ambito, è stato possibile effettuare indagini in prospettiva archeosismologica durante le fasi di scavo in alcuni siti archeologici della Marsica e della Valle Subequana, come l’anfiteatro di San Benedetto dei Marsi, la villa produttiva di Avezzano-Macerine, il tempio di Castel di Ieri, il piazzale antistante il santuario di Ercole, gli edifici prospicienti la via del Miliario e l’area del Foro ad Alba Fucens. Nel caso dell’anfiteatro di San Benedetto dei Marsi, le evidenze della distruzione sismica vengono dal crollo sincrono delle grandi lastre di pietra che delimitavano il balteo, dalla rotazione di blocchi attorno all’asse verticale, dall’espulsione di angolata in uno degli ambienti prossimi all’ingresso nord della struttura, oltre che dai crolli di ampie parti dell’edificio. Nella villa produttiva di Avezzano, ai crolli di muri di costruzione tarda si accompagnano vistose tracce di combustione, su resti pressoché integri delle travature. Le unità di crollo furono rinvenute al di sopra del piano di calpestio che era ancora in uso al momento della distruzione. La subitaneità dell’evento è testimoniata dal reperimento di una notevole quantità di materiali nelle unità di crollo stesse, a testimonianza di un abbandono improvviso, senza asportazione degli oggetti di uso comune. Ad Alba Fucens, le evidenze della distruzione cosismica erano già note grazie alle pubblicazioni relative alle campagne di scavo soprattutto degli anni 50 e 60. Le fotografie di archivio mostrano i pilastri della cosiddetta Via dei Pilastri in posizione di crollo attraverso la strada, la statua dell’Ercole Epitrapezio in giacitura sul piano di calpestio del sacello, colonne in posizione di crollo con capitello ancora giustapposto

Analytic estimates and topological properties of the weak stability boundary

The weak stability boundary (WSB) is the transition region of the phase space where the change from gravitational escape to ballistic capture occurs. Studies on this complicated region of chaotic motion aim to investigate its unique, fuel saving properties to enlarge the frontiers of low energy transfers. This “fuzzy stability” region is characterized by highly sensitive motion, and any analysis of it has been carried out almost exclusively using numerical methods. On the contrary this paper presents, for the planar circular restricted 3 body problem (PCR3BP), 1) an analytic definition of the WSB which is coherent with the known algorithmic definitions; 2) a precise description of the topology of the WSB; 3) analytic estimates on the “stable region” (nearby the smaller primary) whose boundary is, by definition, the WSB

Eventi naturali distruttivi e storia degli abitati nel settore abruzzese dell’Appennino centrale

Nell’ambito della collaborazione tra l’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia e la Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Abruzzo, durante gli scavi archeologici effettuati tra il 2006 e il 2007, sono state condotte delle indagini geoarcheologiche in prospettiva archeosismologica e paleoambientale per una migliore comprensione degli effetti di eventi naturali distruttivi del passato – principalmente terremoti e frane – su siti archeologici dell’area appenninica abruzzese. Tale indagine ha permesso di meglio definire, nell’area appenninica indagata, l’interazione tra storia dell’ambiente naturale ed evoluzione degli abitati antichi. In questo ambito, sono state eseguite indagini in alcuni siti archeologici del Bacino del Fucino e della Conca Subequana, nello specifico il Santuario di Angizia, la città di Alba Fucens e il tempio di Castel di Ieri. Le indagini condotte hanno dimostrato come eventi geologici di natura franoso-colluviale e sismica possano essere stati potenziali cause di distruzione e/o abbandono degli abitati antichi. I vincoli cronologici, acquisiti con l’analisi dei materiali ceramici, le determinazioni numismatiche, la rilettura critica dei rapporti di scavo dei passati decenni, e le datazioni radiometriche, hanno consentito di definire l’età dell’occorrenza dei vari eventi naturali riconosciuti

Analytical method for perturbed frozen orbit around an Asteroid in highly inhomogeneous gravitational fields : A first approach

This article provides a method for nding initial conditions for perturbed frozen orbits around inhomogeneous fast rotating asteroids. These orbits can be used as reference trajectories in missions that require close inspection of any rigid body. The generalized perturbative procedure followed exploits the analytical methods of relegation of the argument of node and Delaunay normalisation to arbitrary order. These analytical methods are extremely powerful but highly computational. The gravitational potential of the heterogeneous body is rstly stated, in polar-nodal coordinates, which takes into account the coecients of the spherical harmonics up to an arbitrary order. Through the relegation of the argument of node and the Delaunay normalization, a series of canonical transformations of coordinates is found, which reduces the Hamiltonian describing the system to a integrable, two degrees of freedom Hamiltonian plus a truncated reminder of higher order. Setting eccentricity, argument of pericenter and inclination of the orbit of the truncated system to be constant, initial conditions are found, which evolve into frozen orbits for the truncated system. Using the same initial conditions yields perturbed frozen orbits for the full system, whose perturbation decreases with the consideration of arbitrary homologic equations in the relegation and normalization procedures. Such procedure can be automated for the first homologic equation up to the consideration of any arbitrary number of spherical harmonics coefficients. The project has been developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA)

Low thrust propulsion in a coplanar circular restricted four body problem

This paper formulates a circular restricted four body problem (CRFBP), where the three primaries are set in the stable Lagrangian equilateral triangle configuration and the fourth body is massless. The analysis of this autonomous coplanar CRFBP is undertaken, which identies eight natural equilibria; four of which are close to the smaller body, two stable and two unstable, when considering the primaries to be the Sun and two smaller bodies of the solar system. Following this, the model incorporates `near term' low-thrust propulsion capabilities to generate surfaces of articial equilibrium points close to the smaller primary, both in and out of the plane containing the celestial bodies. A stability analysis of these points is carried out and a stable subset of them is identied. Throughout the analysis the Sun-Jupiter-Asteroid-Spacecraft system is used, for conceivable masses of a hypothetical asteroid set at the libration point L4. It is shown that eight bounded orbits exist, which can be maintained with a constant thrust less than 1:5 10􀀀4N for a 1000kg spacecraft. This illustrates that, by exploiting low-thrust technologies, it would be possible to maintain an observation point more than 66% closer to the asteroid than that of a stable natural equilibrium point. The analysis then focusses on a major Jupiter Trojan: the 624-Hektor asteroid. The thrust required to enable close asteroid observation is determined in the simplied CRFBP model. Finally, a numerical simulation of the real Sun-Jupiter-624 Hektor-Spacecraft is undertaken, which tests the validity of the stability analysis of the simplied model

Survey of highly non-Keplerian orbits with low-thrust propulsion

Celestial mechanics has traditionally been concerned with orbital motion under the action of a conservative gravitational potential. In particular, the inverse square gravitational force due to the potential of a uniform, spherical mass leads to a family of conic section orbits, as determined by Isaac Newton, who showed that Kepler‟s laws were derivable from his theory of gravitation. While orbital motion under the action of a conservative gravitational potential leads to an array of problems with often complex and interesting solutions, the addition of non-conservative forces offers new avenues of investigation. In particular, non-conservative forces lead to a rich diversity of problems associated with the existence, stability and control of families of highly non-Keplerian orbits generated by a gravitational potential and a non-conservative force. Highly non-Keplerian orbits can potentially have a broad range of practical applications across a number of different disciplines. This review aims to summarize the combined wealth of literature concerned with the dynamics, stability and control of highly non-Keplerian orbits for various low thrust propulsion devices, and to demonstrate some of these potential applications

Exploring mobility in Italian Neolithic and Copper Age communities

As a means for investigating human mobility during late the Neolithic to the Copper Age in central and southern Italy, this study presents a novel dataset of enamel oxygen and carbon isotope values (delta (18)Oca and delta (13)Cca) from the carbonate fraction of biogenic apatite for one hundred and twenty-six individual teeth coming from two Neolithic and eight Copper Age communities. The measured delta (18)Oca values suggest a significant role of local sources in the water inputs to the body water, whereas delta (13)Cca values indicate food resources, principally based on C-3 plants. Both delta (13)Cca and delta (18)Oca ranges vary substantially when samples are broken down into local populations. Statistically defined thresholds, accounting for intra-site variability, allow the identification of only a few outliers in the eight Copper Age communities, suggesting that sedentary lifestyle rather than extensive mobility characterized the investigated populations. This seems to be also typical of the two studied Neolithic communities. Overall, this research shows that the investigated periods in peninsular Italy differed in mobility pattern from the following Bronze Age communities from more northern areas

Long-term outcome of COVID-19 patients treated with helmet noninvasive ventilation vs. high-flow nasal oxygen: a randomized trial

Background: Long-term outcomes of patients treated with helmet noninvasive ventilation (NIV) are unknown: safety concerns regarding the risk of patient self-inflicted lung injury and delayed intubation exist when NIV is applied in hypoxemic patients. We assessed the 6-month outcome of patients who received helmet NIV or high-flow nasal oxygen for COVID-19 hypoxemic respiratory failure. Methods: In this prespecified analysis of a randomized trial of helmet NIV versus high-flow nasal oxygen (HENIVOT), clinical status, physical performance (6-min-walking-test and 30-s chair stand test), respiratory function and quality of life (EuroQoL five dimensions five levels questionnaire, EuroQoL VAS, SF36 and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the DSM) were evaluated 6 months after the enrollment. Results: Among 80 patients who were alive, 71 (89%) completed the follow-up: 35 had received helmet NIV, 36 high-flow oxygen. There was no inter-group difference in any item concerning vital signs (N = 4), physical performance (N = 18), respiratory function (N = 27), quality of life (N = 21) and laboratory tests (N = 15). Arthralgia was significantly lower in the helmet group (16% vs. 55%, p = 0.002). Fifty-two percent of patients in helmet group vs. 63% of patients in high-flow group had diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide < 80% of predicted (p = 0.44); 13% vs. 22% had forced vital capacity < 80% of predicted (p = 0.51). Both groups reported similar degree of pain (p = 0.81) and anxiety (p = 0.81) at the EQ-5D-5L test; the EQ-VAS score was similar in the two groups (p = 0.27). Compared to patients who successfully avoided invasive mechanical ventilation (54/71, 76%), intubated patients (17/71, 24%) had significantly worse pulmonary function (median diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide 66% [Interquartile range: 47–77] of predicted vs. 80% [71–88], p = 0.005) and decreased quality of life (EQ-VAS: 70 [53–70] vs. 80 [70–83], p = 0.01). Conclusions: In patients with COVID-19 hypoxemic respiratory failure, treatment with helmet NIV or high-flow oxygen yielded similar quality of life and functional outcome at 6 months. The need for invasive mechanical ventilation was associated with worse outcomes. These data indicate that helmet NIV, as applied in the HENIVOT trial, can be safely used in hypoxemic patients. Trial registration Registered on clinicaltrials.gov NCT04502576 on August 6, 202

Perinatal care in SARS-CoV-2 infected women: the lesson learnt from a national prospective cohort study during the pandemic in Italy

Background: Despite the growing importance given to ensuring high-quality childbirth, perinatal good practices have been rapidly disrupted by SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This study aimed at describing the childbirth care provided to infected women during two years of COVID-19 emergency in Italy. Methods: A prospective cohort study enrolling all women who gave birth with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within 7 days from hospital admission in the 218 maternity units active in Italy during the periods February 25, 2020-June 30, 2021, and January 1-May 31, 2022. Perinatal care was assessed by evaluating the prevalence of the following indicators during the pandemic: presence of a labour companion; skin-to-skin; no mother-child separation at birth; rooming-in; breastfeeding. Logistic regression models including women' socio-demographic, obstetric and medical characteristics, were used to assess the association between the adherence to perinatal practices and different pandemic phases. Results: During the study period, 5,360 SARS-CoV-2 positive women were enrolled. Overall, among those who had a vaginal delivery (n = 3,574; 66.8%), 37.5% had a labour companion, 70.5% of newborns were not separated from their mothers at birth, 88.1% were roomed-in, and 88.0% breastfed. These four indicators showed similar variations in the study period with a negative peak between September 2020 and January 2021 and a gradual increase during the Alpha and Omicron waves. Skin-to-skin (mean value 66.2%) had its lowest level at the beginning of the pandemic and gradually increased throughout the study period. Among women who had a caesarean section (n = 1,777; 33.2%), all the indicators showed notably worse outcomes with similar variations in the study period. Multiple logistic regression analyses confirm the observed variations during the pandemic and show a lower adherence to good practices in southern regions and in maternity units with a higher annual number of births. Conclusions: Despite the rising trend in the studied indicators, we observed concerning substandard childbirth care during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Continued efforts are necessary to underscore the significance of the experience of care as a vital component in enhancing the quality of family-centred care policies