The long and fascinating history of scientific and ludic Imagination in the interactive books (13th-20th centuries)

Il contributo illustra alcune prospettive di ricerca nello studio dei libri mobili e interattivi tra il XIV e il XX secoloThe paper indicates some threads of study and some research perspectives for the study of mobile and interactive books (14th – 20th centuries

Welfare and the public city: new standards for a new urban form

A lo largo del siglo XX el estado del bienestar ha sido el motor de desarrollo que ha permitido alcanzar un alto nivel de bienestar, favoreciendo un mayor volumen de consumo y el aumento de la productividad. La transformación estructural, que a partir de los años ochenta se convierte en una de las señas de identidad del mundo capitalista occidental, pone en crisis su rol al que se le consideraba como un freno a la competitividad. En las últimas décadas la situación geopolítica global, ha alimentado las desigualdades, por lo que se han ido acentuando los fenómenos de marginalidad, de polarización social, económica y espacial. En las ciudades, la crisis climática y ambiental, sumada a la ausencia de políticas sociales adecuadas, ponen de manifiesto el surgir de una nueva “cuestión urbana” que requiere la creación de un nuevo estado del bienestar basado en la construcción de la ciudad pública como estrategia para la regeneración urbana y el reequilibrio territorial. Más de 50 años después de la promulgación del D.I. 1444/68, sobre lo estándares urbanísticos considerado como un momento crucial en la reflexión sobre el estado del bienestar urbano, esta contribución pretende hacer un análisis profundo – a partir del estudio de la forma y de los materiales constitutivos de la ciudad pública – sobre la relación entre las transformaciones que se están produciendo y el surgir de un nuevo marco de exigencias, que puede encontrar en la propuesta de nuevas dimensiones proyectuales, ambientales y sociales de los espacios “estándar” un terreno muy fértil incluso para la definición de una nueva forma urbana. Una perspectiva en la que las actuaciones capaces de concluir el diseño de los vacíos para dar respuesta a las instancias de sostenibilidad, investigando las relaciones entre plan y proyecto, entre arquitectura, ciudad y territorio en busca de nuevas morfologías urbanas y modelos de asentamientos, tienen un papel fundamental.Over the course of the twentieth century, welfare was the engine of development that allowed a high level of well-being to be achieved, by promoting greater consumption and increased productivity. However, the structural transformations that, starting in the 1980s, impacted the Western capitalist world cast the role of welfare, considered a brake on competitiveness, into crisis. In recent decades, the global geopolitical situation, has fed inequalities, accentuating phenomena of alienation and of social, economic, and spatial polarization. In cities, the environmental and climate crisis and the lack of adequate social policies highlight the emergence of a new “urban question” that requires putting into play a new welfare, based upon the building of the public city as a strategy aimed at urban regeneration and at restoring territorial balance. Fifty years after the issuance of Ministerial Decree no. 1444/68 on town planning standards, considered a crucial moment in the reflection on urban welfare, this paper aims to more deeply examine – starting from the study of the form and of the materials constituting the public city – the relationship between the changes taking place, and the emergence of a new framework of needs. In proposing new design, environmental, and social dimensions of spaces “to standard,” this framework can also find very fertile ground for defining a new urban form. In this perspective, an essential role is played by interventions capable of finalizing the design of voids to the demands of sustainability by adjusting the relationships between plan and design, between architecture, city, and territory, in a search for new urban morphologies and settlement models

“Mirabili visioni": from movable books to movable texts

This contribution reconstructs the history of movable books, books created for a wide range of different purposes (teaching, mnemonics, play, divining, etc.) including mechanical or paratextual devices demanding or soliciting the interaction of the reader. The investigation runs from hand-written books to the most courageous paper-engineering experiments of the 20th century Avant-Garde, considering some specific editorial genres, including calendars, “libri di sorti”, anatomical books, navigation handbooks etc., and animated children’s books. In particular, it demonstrates how the happy season for animated paper production and publishing of the 19th century would not have been possible without the scientific inheritance of optical studies and vision sciences, precursors a short time before the invention of the Lumière brothers (1895). The study also examines some literary works using combinatorial mechanisms, experimenting the semiotic potential of expressive codes and very different techniques and materials: the reference is to books of Futurism and Dadaism, the “artists’book”, and other avant-garde texts from the second half of the 20thcentury

Plasmonic nanostructures for light trapping in thin-film solar cells

The optical properties of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) sustained by self-assembled silver nanoparticles are of great interest for enhancing light trapping in thin film photovoltaics. First, we report on a systematic investigation of the structural and the optical properties of silver nanostructures fabricated by a solid-state dewetting process on various substrates. Our study allows to identify fabrication conditions in which circular, uniformly spaced nanoparticles are obtainable. The optimized NPs are then integrated into plasmonic back reflector (PBR) structures. Second, we demonstrate a novel procedure, involving a combination of opto-electronic spectroscopic techniques, allowing for the quantification of useful and parasitic absorption in thin photovoltaic absorber deposited on top of the PBR. We achieve a significant broadband useful absorption enhancement of 90% for 0.9 um thick uc-Si:H film and demonstrate that optical losses due to plasmonic scattering are insignificant below 730 nm. Finally, we present a successful implementation of a plasmonic light trapping scheme in a thin film a-Si:H solar cell. The quantum efficiency spectra of the devices show a pronounced broadband enhancement resulting in remarkably high short circuit current densities (Jsc)

Colloidal plasmonic back reflectors for light trapping in solar cells

Novel plasmonic scattering structures are presented, composed of self-assembled arrays of monosized colloidal gold nanospheres, for light trapping in photovoltaics

Understanding the Potential and Limitations of Tunnel FETs for Low-Voltage Analog/Mixed-Signal Circuits

In this paper, the analog/mixed-signal performance is evaluated at device and circuit levels for a III-V nanowire tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) technology platform and compared against the predictive model for FinFETs at the 10-nm technology node. The advantages and limits of TFETs over their FinFET counterparts are discussed in detail, considering the main analog figures of merits, as well as the implementation of low-voltage track and-hold (T/H) and comparator circuits. It is found that the higher output resistance offered by TFET-based designs allows achieving significantly higher intrinsic voltage gain and higher maximum-oscillation frequency at low current levels. TFET-based T/H circuits have better accuracy and better hold performance by using the dummy switch solution for the mitigation of the charge injection. Among the comparator circuits, the TFET-based conventional dynamic architecture exhibits the best performance while keeping lower area occupation with respect to the more complex double-tail circuits. Moreover, it outperforms all the FinFET counterparts over a wide range of supply voltage when considering low values of the common-mode voltage

New insights to assess the consolidation of stone materials used in built heritage: the case study of ancient graffiti (Tituli Picti) in the archaeological site of Pompeii

Abstract Tituli Picti are an ancient form of urban graffiti very common in the archaeological site of Pompeii (Naples, South—Italy). They are generally made of red pigments applied on walls of Campanian ignimbrite. This paper deals with a scientific investigation aimed to their conservation. This is a challenging task since it requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes restorers, archaeologists and conservation scientists. The study has provided suggestions on the proper way to conserve Tituli Picti over time. In the present work, several specimens of Campanian ignimbrite were painted with red earth pigment; lime and Arabic gum have been used as binders as well. Such painted stones were treated with three consolidants: a suspension of reactive nanoparticles of silica, ethyl silicate and an acrylic microemulsion. Treated and untreated specimens were subjected to thermal aging, artificial solar radiation and induced crystallization decay. It has been assessed the colorimetric variations induced by treatments. Moreover, the micromorphologic features of the consolidated surfaces have been highlighted by means of electron microscope observations. The scotch tape test allowed to compare the superficial cohesion induced by the three used products. According to the results, ethyl silicate seems to represent the most successful product

Diagnostic investigation of the Cycle of the new church of Sarria (Floriana, Malta) by Mattia Preti

In the present paper, we present the main results of a diagnostic investigation on different paintings by Mattia Preti, belonging to the Cycle of the New Church of Sarria, located inside the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Sarria (Floriana) in Malta. The analysis was carried out on the occasion of the restoration process and, due to the short time available, only on some representative areas of each painting. A multi-technique approach was applied in situ, employing X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and Raman microscopy. The aim was to achieve information on the execution technique, in a completely non-invasive way, following the requirements of the restorers.peer-reviewe

Broadband photocurrent enhancement in a-Si:H solar cells with plasmonic back reflectors

The authors acknowledge Francesco Ruffino for the AFM measurements. This work was funded by the EU FP7 Marie Curie Action FP7-PEOPLE-2010-ITN through the PROPHET project (Grant No. 264687), the bilateral CNR/AVCR project "Photoresponse of nanostructures for advanced photovoltaic applications", the MIUR project Energetic (Grant no. PON02_00355_3391233) and by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT-MEC) through the Strategic Project PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2013-14 and the research project PTDC/CTM-ENE/2514/2012.Plasmonic light trapping in thin film silicon solar cells is a promising route to achieve high efficiency with reduced volumes of semiconductor material. In this paper, we study the enhancement in the opto-electronic performance of thin a-Si:H solar cells due to the light scattering effects of plasmonic back reflectors (PBRs), composed of self-assembled silver nanoparticles (NPs), incorporated on the cells' rear contact. The optical properties of the PBRs are investigated according to the morphology of the NPs, which can be tuned by the fabrication parameters. By analyzing sets of solar cells built on distinct PBRs we show that the photocurrent enhancement achieved in the a-Si:H light trapping window (600 - 800 nm) stays in linear relation with the PBRs diffuse reflection. The best-performing PBRs allow a pronounced broadband photocurrent enhancement in the cells which is attributed not only to the plasmon-assisted light scattering from the NPs but also to the front surface texture originated from the conformal growth of the cell material over the particles. As a result, remarkably high values of J(sc) and V-oc are achieved in comparison to those previously reported in the literature for the same type of devices. (C)2014 Optical Society of Americapublishersversionpublishe