On the shape of the light profiles of early-type galaxies

We have obtained the best fit to the light profiles of a luminosity limited sample of elliptical and S0 galaxies with a power law \rn, letting the exponent remain free rather than keeping it fixed at $1/n=1/4$ as in the well known \GV formula. The introduction of a free parameter in the fitting formula (ranging from $n=0.5$ for $=0.3$ kpc to $n=16$ for $=25$ kpc) is justified by the existence of a good correlation between $n$ and the global galaxian parameters, such as total luminosity and scale-radius. This result seems to be in line with the segregation of properties between the `ordinary' and `bright' families of early-type galaxies, and has consequence for the claimed independence of the shape of galaxy profiles with respect to the Fundamental Plane parameters.Comment: 10 pages, postscript file including figures, PADOVA (archived file truncated during email transfer

Preface to the special issue on “Demographic and temporal heterogeneities in infectious disease epidemiology

No Abstrac

Seasonality in epidemic models: a literature review

We provide a review of some key literature results on the influence of seasonality and other time heterogeneities of contact rates, and other parameters, such as vaccination rates, on the spread of infectious diseases. This is a classical topic where highly theoretical methodologies have provided new insight on the seemingly random behavior observed in epidemic time-series. We follow the line of providing a highly personal non-systematic review of this topic, mainly based on the history of mathematical epidemiology and on the impact of reviewed articles. Our aim is to stress some issues of increasing interest, such as the public health implications of the biomathematical literature and the impact of seasonality on epidemic extinction or elimination

Time heterogeneous programs of vaccination awareness: modeling and analysis

We investigate the role of time heterogeneity of public health systems efforts in favoring the propensity of parents to vaccinate their newborns against a target childhood disease. The starting point of our investigation is the behavioral-epidemiology model proposed by d’Onofrio et al. (PLoS ONE 7:e45653, 2012), where the PHS effort was assumed to be constant. We also consider the co-presence of another layer of temporal heterogeneity: seasonality in the contact rate of the disease. We mainly assume that the effort is periodic with a 1-year period because of alternating working and holiday periods. We show that if the average effort is larger than a threshold, then the disease can be eliminated leading to an ideal equilibrium point with 100% of vaccinated newborns. A more realistic disease-free equilibrium can also be reached, under a condition that depends on the whole form of the time profile describing the PHS effort. We also generalize our disease elimination-related results to a wide class of time-heterogenous PHS efforts. Finally, we analytically show that if the disease elimination is not reached, then the disease remains uniformly persistent

A New Approach to the Study of Stellar Populations in Early-Type Galaxies: K-band Spectral Indices and an Application to the Fornax Cluster

New measurements of K-band spectral features are presented for eleven early-type galaxies in the nearby Fornax galaxy cluster. Based on these measurements, the following conclusions have been reached: (1) in galaxies with no signatures of a young stellar component, the K-band Na I index is highly correlated with both the optical metallicity indicator [MgFe]' and central velocity dispersion; (2) in the same galaxies, the K-band Fe features saturate in galaxies with sigma > 150 km/s while Na I (and [MgFe]') continues to increase; (3) [Si/Fe] (and possibly [Na/Fe]) is larger in all observed Fornax galaxies than in Galactic open clusters with near-solar metallicity; (4) in various near-IR diagnostic diagrams, galaxies with signatures of a young stellar component (strong Hbeta, weak [MgFe]') are clearly separated from galaxies with purely old stellar populations; furthermore, this separation is consistent with the presence of an increased number of M-giant stars (most likely to be thermally pulsating AGB stars); (5) the near-IR diagrams discussed here seem as efficient for detecting putatively young stellar components in early-type galaxies as the more commonly used age/metallicity diagnostic plots using optical indices (e.g Hbeta vs. [MgFe]').Comment: 47 pages, 16 figures, ApJ accepte

Assessment of the radiological impact of a decommissioning nuclear power plant in Italy

The assessment of the radiological impact of a decommissioning Nuclear Power Plant is presented here through the results of an environmental monitoring survey carried out in the area surrounding the Garigliano Power Plant. The levels of radioactivity in soil, water, air and other environmental matrices are shown, in which {\alpha}, {\beta} and {\gamma} activity and {\gamma} equivalent dose rate are measured. Radioactivity levels of the samples from the Garigliano area are analyzed and then compared to those from a control zone situated more than 100 km away. Moreover, a comparison is made with a previous survey held in 2001. The analyses and comparisons show no significant alteration in the radiological characteristics of the area surroundings the plant, with an overall radioactivity depending mainly from the global fallout and natural sources

Quasars: from the Physics of Line Formation to Cosmology

Quasars accreting matter at very high rates (known as extreme Population A [xA] or super-Eddington accreting massive black holes) provide a new class of distance indicators covering cosmic epochs from the present-day Universe up to less than 1 Gyr from the Big Bang. The very high accretion rate makes it possible that massive black holes hosted in xA quasars radiate at a stable, extreme luminosity-to-mass ratio. This in turns translates into stable physical and dynamical conditions of the mildly ionized gas in the quasar low-ionization line emitting region. In this contribution, we analyze the main optical and UV spectral properties of extreme Population A quasars that make them easily identifiable in large spectroscopic surveys at low-z (z < 1) and intermediate-z (2 < z < 2.6), and the physical conditions that are derived for the formation of their emission lines. Ultimately, the analysis supports the possibility of identifying a virial broadening estimator from low-ionization line widths, and the conceptual validity of the redshift-independent luminosity estimates based on virial broadening for a known luminosity-to-mass ratio.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Invited lecture at SPIG 2018, Belgrade. To appear in Ato

Assessment of the radiological impact of a decommissioning nuclear power plant in Italy

The assessment of the radiological impact of a decommissioning Nuclear Power Plant is presented here through the results of an environmental monitoring survey carried out in the area surrounding the Garigliano Power Plant. The levels of radioactivity in soil, water, air and other environmental matrices are shown, in which {\alpha}, {\beta} and {\gamma} activity and {\gamma} equivalent dose rate are measured. Radioactivity levels of the samples from the Garigliano area are analyzed and then compared to those from a control zone situated more than 100 km away. Moreover, a comparison is made with a previous survey held in 2001. The analyses and comparisons show no significant alteration in the radiological characteristics of the area surroundings the plant, with an overall radioactivity depending mainly from the global fallout and natural sources.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, 2 table