A taphonomic examination of inhumed and entombed remains in Parma cemeteries, Italy

People of different cultures bury their dead in different ways, based on religious beliefs, historical rituals, or public health requirements. In Italy, cremation is still a limited practice compared to entombment and inhumation. Accordingly with the law, a buried body can be moved to the cemetery ossuary only if skeletonized. Generally, complete skeletonization occurs within 40 years following burial, but sometimes the body may mummify, or it may turn into adipocere. Globally, today burial space is limited with cemeteries facing a growing need for both burials and entombments. The present study considered the thanatological, taphonomical, anthropological, microbiological and geochemical examination of 408 human bodies exhumed from grave pits and stone tombs located in two cemeteries in Parma, Italy. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors associated with the process of the decomposition of such bodies were documented in order to identify which factors promote or reduce the time needed for skeletonization. Overall, the aim of this study was to improve the management of the body turnover in cemeteries, providing recommendations for cemetery management and turnover planning, with the goal of avoiding extra costs that may be attributed to the family and the State. The results of this study show that inhumation in burial grounds and soils with a high percentage of sand and gravel promote decomposition and skeletonization, whereas entombments inside stone tombs and the presence of stone slabs on the ground covering burials, aid in the formation of adipocere, slowing down the decomposition process

Gli insetti al servizio degli inquirenti

Per molti anni gli insetti che popolavano la superficie e gli orifizi dei cadaveri sono stati considerati solo una presenza poco gradevole del lavoro dei medici legali e delle Forze dell'Ordine coinvolte nelle indagini inerenti a crimini violenti. Ma come gli intriganti romanzi di Deawer e della Cornwell ci hanno insegnato, gli insetti costituiscono dei silenziosi custodi di preziosi informazioni sull'accadimento di fatti a volte inspiegabili. Tuttavia mentre le varie branche delle scienze criminalistiche (la biologia, la balistica, la chimica, ecc.) hanno avuto nel tempo una crescita esponenziale, affinando tecniche e metodologie, lo studio degli insetti associati alla scena criminis è stato, nel nostro Paese per molto tempo sottovalutato o addirittura ignorato. L'Entomologia Forense è un ramo della zoologia dedicata allo studio degli insetti e di altri artropodi, dal cui esame è possibile ricavare elementi decisivi per la persecuzione di un reato. Negli ultimi anni tale disciplina ha visto crescere l'interesse da parte degli scienziati forensi, dei Medici Legali e delle Forze dell'Ordine, soprattutto in Europa e negli USA, dove esistono figure professionali specialistiche che affiancano la magistratura inquirente nella risoluzione di casi di morti sospette ed altri reati accomunati dalla presenza di insetti. Purtroppo in Italia solo da pochi anni si è sviluppato l'interesse verso la materia e ancora oggi gli entomologi forensi non lavorano sistematicamente accanto agli organi di Giustizia. Lo scopo del presente lavoro è una disamina delle potenzialità dell'Entomologia Forense e delle relative applicazioni come strumento spesso determinante per la risoluzione di intriganti e complessi casi giudiziari

Electrochemistry of cyclic triimidazoles and their halo derivatives: A casebook for multiple equivalent centers and electrocatalysis

A family of cyclic triazines, based on the triimidazo[1,2-a:1\u2032,2\u2032-c:1\u2033,2\u2033-e][1,3,5]triazine scaffold, has recently caught attention due to its variegated solid state photoluminescent properties (e.g., crystallization induced emission, fluomechanochromism, dual fluorescence, room temperature ultralong phosphorescence), tuned by proper functionalization of the cyclic core. From an electrochemical point of view, this family of heteroaromatic cyclic triazines is unexplored. A cyclic voltammetry study is here performed aiming to clarify structure/electroactivity relationship. The peculiar molecular structure of this class of molecules offers a multi-approach case study, spanning from multiple equivalent redox site interactions in small hoops (due to ideally C3h symmetry) to carbon-halogen bond reactivity in the presence of catalytic metal electrode surfaces (for \u2013Br and \u2013I derivatives). Results point to a poor heteroannular aromaticity along the rigid, planar cyclotrimer, with each equivalent redox site acting quite independently. An unusually higher electrocatalytic performance of gold with respect to silver electrode for the electrocleavage of carbon-halogen bonds (that decreases by increasing number of halo substituents) is tentatively explained in term of a specific interaction between gold and the nitrogen-rich planar cyclotrimer platform

Ellagic Acid as Green Corrosion Inhibitor: a Necessary Validation

Corrosion of metals is an unavoidable but controllable process. Among techniques developed to slow down or prevent metal deterioration the addition of small amount of inhibitors directly in the corrosive environment is a quite common strategy. In particular, among organic compounds effectively used as adsorption inhibitors (thanks to N, O and/or S atoms that act as anchoring groups for metal surface) only a few percentage belongs to the so called \u201cgreen inhibitor\u201d class. In this field most of the studies employ plant extracts being rich in phytochemical constituents considered to be potential eco-friendly corrosion inhibitors. However, the often extraordinary complexity of crude extracts makes difficult the rationalization of the inhibition mechanism. So, from a purely academic point of view, the study of pure compounds is often encouraged. Among potential green inhibitors our attention has been focused on ellagic acid (EA) that can be obtained by hydrolysis of ellagitannin contained in peels of pomegranate. Ellagic acid is a polyphenol having four phenolic and two lactone groups that should act like two and one couples of equivalent sites, respectively, due to the C2h molecular symmetry. Up to know the corrosion inhibition properties of EA was only marginally studied in literature, both theoretically and experimentally. However some reported results need to be validated because of discrepancies concerning some fundamental chemical physical features of the target acid, like i) solubility in pure water (9 mg/dm3 versus 1.2 g/dm3) and ii) pKa values for the two acid dissociation processes. For this purposes, using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, a mainly-aqueous medium was selected to assure homogeneity of the EA-based solution; after that the corrosion inhibition properties of ellagic acid toward mild steel was studied by weight loss measurements (according to ASTM G1 standard practice) and by electrochemical tests. Preliminary results performed in 1% v/v MeOH/H2O mixture with HCl 0.05 M point to potentially interesting inhibition effect even working with 1.0 1910\u20135 M EA (i.e., 3 mg/dm3)

Cooperative constrained control of distributed agents with nonlinear dynamics and delayed information exchange: A stabilizing receding-horizon approach

This paper addresses the problem of cooperative control of a team of distributed agents with decoupled nonlinear discrete-time dynamics, which operate in a common environment and exchange-delayed information between them. Each agent is assumed to evolve in discrete-time, based on locally computed control laws, which are computed by exchanging delayed state information with a subset of neighboring agents. The cooperative control problem is formulated in a receding-horizon framework, where the control laws depend on the local state variables (feedback action) and on delayed information gathered from cooperating neighboring agents (feedforward action). A rigorous stability analysis exploiting the input-to-state stability properties of the receding-horizon local control laws is carried out. The stability of the team of agents is then proved by utilizing small-gain theorem results

Microplastics in deep water : a combined GC-MS e FT-IR approach

Microplastics are water-insoluble, solid polymer particles that are 645\u202fmm in size. A lower size boundary has not been defined, but particles below 1\u202f\u3bcm are usually referred to as nanoplastics rather than microplastics. The ubiquity of microplastics of all sizes in surface water, groundwater and wastewater has raised the question if pollution of drinking water occurs and to date, few studies indeed described the presence of this new contaminant in tap and bottled water. Toxicity it is not yet known, they might cause local inflammations in the gut, but a transport into organs might occur. As a final problem in this field, microplastics in the environment are difficult to sample, to identify and standardized methods do not exist. For this reason, we have been involved in a research project finalized to the definition of a protocol strategy for sampling and analysis of microplastics in drinking waters, coming from deep water wells, in the networks of three large cities in the Northern part of Italy. The project is on going and presently two groups of deep water samples have been collected in the city of Milano and Brescia, before and after the treatment stages used for the urban network. Great attention has been paid to sampling and extraction steps as microplastic contamination, in this kind of samples, is expected to be very low and contamination during sampling might occur through air or materials. Analytical methods have been defined for the detection of main microplastic contamination, like PE/PP, PS, PA, PVC e PET residues > 1 \ub5m. Samples have been analysed first by a non-destructive approach using a Spotlight 200i microscope equipped with a \ub5ATR probe and coupled to an FT-IR spectrophotometer, followed by a mass spectrometric characterization of the polymers by a solid phase microextration (SPME) GC-MS of thermal decomposition products (TED) of microplastic residues. Results will be presented and critically discussed

On the formation of hot DQ white dwarfs

We present the first full evolutionary calculations aimed at exploring the origin of hot DQ white dwarfs. These calculations consistently cover the whole evolution from the born-again stage to the white dwarf cooling track. Our calculations provide strong support to the diffusive/convective-mixing picture for the formation of hot DQs. We find that the hot DQ stage is a short-lived stage and that the range of effective temperatures where hot DQ stars are found can be accounted for by different masses of residual helium and/or different initial stellar masses. In the frame of this scenario, a correlation between the effective temperature and the surface carbon abundance in DQs should be expected, with the largest carbon abundances expected in the hottest DQs. From our calculations, we suggest that most of the hot DQs could be the cooler descendants of some PG1159 stars characterized by He-rich envelopes markedly smaller than those predicted by the standard theory of stellar evolution. At least for one hot DQ, the high-gravity white dwarf SDSS J142625.70+575218.4, an evolutionary link between this star and the massive PG1159 star H1504+65 is plausible.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

Changes in drought tolerance of Pinus radiata in Chile associated with provenance and breeding generation

International audienceAbstractKey messageIn Chile, breeding radiata pine for growth has led to drifts in the degree of drought tolerance of the seedlings. Interior provenances gained a larger tolerance to drought after three breeding generations as shown by larger survival and root/shoot ratio under water shortage, while coastal provenance displayed an opposite trend.•Context Given that rainfall is predicted to decrease and to affect establishment and early survival of radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) in Chile, there is a need to identify more drought tolerant genotypes at seedling stage.•Aims The aim of this study was to test whether provenances of P. radiata originating from interior or from coastal provenances, displayed different responses to short-term water shortage, and whether these responses differed from the first to the third breeding generation.•Methods Three generations of breeding families from two sites in Central Chile were compared. The seedlings were grown during 100 days and subjected to two watering regimes for 45 days. Survival, growth, and biomass allocation to roots and shoots were recorded.•Results The two provenances displayed different responses to drought. Biomass allocation to shoots and survival were significantly reduced by water shortage. The first generation seedlings from the coastal provenance displayed a larger survival rate when exposed to water shortage (i.e., 60 %); this rate decreased in the following breeding generations. On the contrary, the survival rate increased from the first to the third generation in the interior provenance.•Conclusions We observed an important local adaptation to water shortage in the interior provenance. This response may be due to the fact that parent tree populations of the interior provenance have successfully adapted to sites with periodic drought