Agricultural numbers: The statistics of the international institute of agriculture in the interwar period

This article examines the statistics produced by the International Institute of Agriculture in connection with the economic conferences that were held under the auspices of the League of Nations in Genoa (1922) and Geneva (1927). Established in 1905 in Rome, the International Institute of Agriculture formed an important institutional framework for the exchange of knowledge on agriculture in the first half of the twentieth century. By examining the Institute's reports and enquiries and the planning for the world census of agriculture (1930), the article argues that the Institute held a particular vision of the relationship between agriculture and industry that differed greatly from the perspective of the Anglophone experts of the League of Nations. It will be shown that whilst the League addressed the issue of famine and food shortages, the Institute focused on stabilizing farmers' income

Analisi dinamiche in tensioni efficaci con il codice "SCOSSA"

L’incremento di pressioni interstiziali indotto da azioni sismiche in depositi sabbio-limosi determina la progressiva riduzione delle tensioni efficaci e di conseguenza della rigidezza e della resistenza dei terreni, fino a condurre alla completa liquefazione. Un metodo sviluppato per la stima di tale incremento si basa su un parametro semi-empirico, detto ‘parametro di danno’, che consente di applicare direttamente i risultati di prove cicliche di laboratorio per predire l’incremento di pressione interstiziale generato in sito dall’azione sismica. Tale procedura, implementata all’interno di un codice di calcolo non lineare, consente di effettuare analisi monodimensionali in tensioni efficaci senza adottare sofisticati modelli costitutivi del terreno. L’applicazione ad un argine danneggiato dal terremoto emiliano del 2012 ha consentito di evidenziare fenomeni di degradazione ciclica degli strati sabbiosi profondi che non sarebbe stato possibile osservare con le tradizionali analisi in tensioni totali

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

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

1D Seismic Response Analysis of Soil-building Systems Including Failure Shear Mechanisms

Modelling of soil shear rupture due to an earthquake is not generally implemented in the common codes for 1D seismic response analysis. It requires the use of advanced plasticity-based constitutive models of soil, that are often neglected in practice. A good balance between simplicity and reliability can be achieved with methods based on simplified formulations of the mathematical equations and of the constitutive models. The paper presents a computer code based on this philosophy conceived, addressed and optimised to reliably model both the 'transient' seismic response ('stick' mode) and the permanent deformation mechanisms accounting for the coupled effects of deformability and strength ('slip' mode). The code can be adopted to evaluate the seismic performance of different geotechnical systems that can be reasonably approximated to a 1D problem. In the paper, the code is applied to model a soft-storey failure occurred in a framed structure heavily damaged during a strong-motion earthquake

Calibration and prediction assessment of different ductile damage models on Ti6Al4V and 17-4PH additive manufactured alloys

Nowadays, metal additive manufacturing is becoming always more popular, being able to deliver complex shaped high quality products. Though many studies have been conducted on the high cycle fatigue behavior of these materials, yet ductile failure has still not been completely investigated, to identify the failure limits under static complex stress states. In the present study, the calibration of three ductile damage models on two popular additive manufactured alloys was carried out. The selected alloys were Ti6Al4V, processed via Electron Beam Melting, and 17-4PH fabricated with Selective Laser Melting technology; both broadly used in actual industrial applications. For each material a set of samples, was fabricated to perform a thorough static mechanical characterization, involving tensile tests on round smooth bars, notched bars, tests under plane strain conditions and torsion tests. The stress state in the critical points was retrieved relying on FEM simulations, and the data collected via the hybrid experimental-numerical procedure subsequently used to tune the damage models. Specifically, the selected models are the Rice and Tracey, the Modified Mohr-Coulomb by Wierzbicki and the one proposed by Coppola and Cortese. While the former does not take into account the effect of Lode parameter, the latter two consider its influence on fracture onset. A minimization algorithm was used for their calibration, and different optimization strategies were adopted to check the robustness of identified parameters. The resulting strains to fracture as a function of damage parameters were plotted for each formulation. The failure prediction accuracy of all models was assessed and compared to the others

Un modello semplificato per la previsione dell'incremento di pressione interstiziale indotto da carichi ciclici

Le procedure che consentono la valutazione dell’incremento di pressione interstiziale indotto da azioni sismiche in terreni sabbiosi saturi si basano, tipicamente, sui risultati di prove cicliche di laboratorio a tensione o deformazione controllata. In tali procedure la storia di carico irregolare a cui è sottoposto in terreno in sito deve essere semplificata con una azione equivalente tale che produca, su provini di terreno sottoposti a prove cicliche di laboratorio, lo stesso incremento delle pressioni interstiziali atteso nel sito. In alternativa, nel caso di propagazione monodimensionale, è possibile utilizzare un unico parametro, detto ‘parametro di danno’, per modellare gli incrementi di pressione interstiziale misurati in laboratorio. Questo parametro consente di applicare direttamente i risultati di laboratorio per predire l’incremento di pressione interstiziale generato in sito da storie irregolari di tensione o deformazione dovute all’azione sismica. Tale procedura, per la sua semplicità di applicazione, consente di effettuare analisi della risposta dinamica di depositi sabbiosi saturi senza adottare sofisticati modelli costitutivi del terreno e pertanto si presta all’implementazione in codici di calcolo che operano nel dominio del tempo

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

Study of 236U/238U ratio at CIRCE using a 16-strip silicon detector with a TOF system

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is presently the most sensitive technique for the measurement of long-lived actinides, e.g. 236 U and x Pu isotopes. A new actinide AMS system, based on a 3-MV pelletron tandem accelerator, is operated at the Center for Isotopic Research on Cultural and Environmental Heritage (CIRCE) in Caserta, Italy. In this paper we report on the procedure adopted to increase the 236 U abundance sensitivity as low as possible. The energy and position determinations of the 236 U ions, using a 16-strip silicon detector have been obtained. A 236 U/ 238 U isotopic ratio background level of about 2.9×10 −11 was obtained, summing over all the strips, using a Time of Flight-Energy (TOF-E) system with a 16-strip silicon detector (4.9×10 −12 just with one strip)