The acoustics of contiones, or how many Romans could have heard speakers

Contiones – assemblies during which important Roman politicians discussed the laws proposed at the People’s Assemblies as well as candidates for the offices and presented their opinions to the Roman people – are considered by some scholars as one of the central institutions and rituals of the Roman Republic. Considering the role contiones played in the political life of the Roman Republic, we can ask how many Romans participated in them. In our paper we present results of acoustic analyses of two places at the Forum Romanum that we know were platforms for speakers at contiones: the Rostra and the podium of the Temple of Castores. The main goal of our study was to establish the maximum number of participants that could have heard speeches inteligibly. To do that we used a 3D model of Forum Romanum considering not only the geometry but also the acoustic parameters of materials used to construct the rostra and adjacent constructions. Based on the sound power level of a speaker and possible noise sources, on which the recipients were exposed to, we established areas where speeches could have been heard and understood. This in turn allowed us to estimate the maximum number of recipients

One, Two, Three! Can everybody hear me? : Acoustics of Roman contiones : case studies of the Capitoline Hill and the Temple of Bellona in Rome

Retoryka była jednym z fundamentów rzymskiej edukacji a wystąpienia publiczne esencją bycia rzymskim politykiem. Mówcy starali się oczarować publiczność swoim stylem i przekonać ich do swoich argumentów. Badanie publiczności jest zatem równie ważne, jak badanie mówców i ich przemówień. Celem tego artykułu jest oszacowanie liczby osób, które mogły w zrozumiały sposób usłyszeć mówcę wygłaszającego przemówienie z dwóch mównic znajdujących się w Rzymie: podium Świątyni Bellony na Polu Marsowym (w okresie późnej republiki i późnej Augusta) oraz Świątyni Kapitolińskiej. W tym celu zbudowaliśmy wirtualne rekonstrukcje obu miejsc zgodnie z aktualnym stanem wiedzy na ich temat, biorąc pod uwagę geometrię przestrzeni, a także materiały, z których zostały zbudowane. Na tak przygotowanych modelach przeprowadziliśmy symulacje akustyczne dla trzech różnych poziomów szumu tła (36, 49 i 55 dBA), uzyskując mapy współczynnika transmisji mowy (STI). Wyniki stały się podstawą do oszacowania wielkości maksymalnego potencjalnego tłumu, który mógł słyszeć mowę w sposób zrozumiały, przy użyciu dwóch metod opartych na zachowaniu współczesnego tłumu. Następnie porównaliśmy nasze wyniki z wynikami wcześniejszych badań dotyczących innych mównic w Rzymie.Rhetoric was one of the cornerstones of Roman education and public speaking, the essence of being a Roman politician. The speakers attempted to captivate the audience with their style and convince them of their arguments. Studying the audience is therefore just as important as investigating the speakers and their speeches. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of people who could intelligibly hear a speaker delivering a speech from two speaking platforms located in the city of Rome: the podium of the Temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius (in the Late Republican and Late Augustan periods) and the Capitoline Temple. To do this, we built virtual reconstructions of both venues according to the current state of knowledge about them, taking into account the geometry of the space as well as the materials from which they were built. On the models thus prepared, we carried out acoustic simulations for three different levels of background noise (36, 49, and 55 dBA), resulting in Speech Transmission Index maps. The results became the basis upon which we estimated the size of the maximum potential crowds that could hear speech intelligibly, using two methods based on the behaviour of contemporary crowds. We further compared our results with those of previous studies that concern other speaking platforms in Rome

Intraspecific variability in growth response to environmental fluctuations modulates the stabilizing effect of species diversity on forest growth

1. Differences between species in their response to environmental fluctuations cause asynchronized growth series, suggesting that species diversity may help communities buffer the effects of environmental fluctuations. However, within-species variability of responses may impact the stabilizing effect of growth asynchrony. 2. We used tree ring data to investigate the diversity-stability relationship and its underlying mechanisms within the temperate and boreal mixed woods of Eastern Canada. We worked at the individual tree level to take into account the intraspecific variability of responses to environmental fluctuations. 3. We found that species diversity stabilized growth in forest ecosystems. The asynchrony of species' response to climatic fluctuations and to insect outbreaks explained this effect. We also found that the intraspecific variability of responses to environmental fluctuations was high, making the stabilizing effect of diversity highly variable. 4. Synthesis. Our results are consistent with previous studies suggesting that the asynchrony of species' response to environmental fluctuations drives the stabilizing effect of diversity. The intraspecific variability of these responses modulates the stabilizing effect of species diversity. Interactions between individuals, variation in tree size and spatial heterogeneity of environmental conditions could play a critical role in the stabilizing effect of diversity

The Acoustics of Contiones, or How Many Romans Could Have Heard Speakers

Contiones – assemblies during which important Roman politicians discussed the laws proposed at the People’s Assemblies as well as candidates for the offices and presented their opinions to the Roman people – are considered by some scholars as one of the central institutions and rituals of the Roman Republic. Considering the role contiones played in the political life of the Roman Republic, we can ask how many Romans participated in them. In our paper we present results of acoustic analyses of two places at the Forum Romanum that we know were platforms for speakers at contiones: the Rostra and the podium of the Temple of Castores. The main goal of our study was to establish the maximum number of participants that could have heard speeches inteligibly. To do that we used a 3D model of Forum Romanum considering not only the geometry but also the acoustic parameters of materials used to construct the rostra and adjacent constructions. Based on the sound power level of a speaker and possible noise sources, on which the recipients were exposed to, we established areas where speeches could have been heard and understood. This in turn allowed us to estimate the maximum number of recipients

Data from: Intraspecific variability in growth response to environmental fluctuations modulates the stabilizing effect of species diversity on forest growth

1.Differences between species in their response to environmental fluctuations cause asynchronized growth series, suggesting that species diversity may help communities buffer the effects of environmental fluctuations. However, within-species variability of responses may impact the stabilizing effect of growth asynchrony. 2.We used tree ring data to investigate the diversity-stability relationship and its underlying mechanisms within the temperate and boreal mixed woods of Eastern Canada. We worked at the individual tree level to take into account the intraspecific variability of responses to environmental fluctuations. 3.We found that species diversity stabilized growth in forest ecosystems. The asynchrony of species’ response to climatic fluctuations and to insect outbreaks explained this effect. We also found that the intraspecific variability of responses to environmental fluctuations was high, making the stabilizing effect of diversity highly variable. 4.Synthesis. Our results are consistent with previous studies suggesting that the asynchrony of species’ response to environmental fluctuations drives the stabilizing effect of diversity. The intraspecific variability of these responses modulates the stabilizing effect of species diversity. Interactions between individuals, variation in tree size and spatial heterogeneity of environmental conditions could play a critical role in the stabilizing effect of diversity

Applicability of 1,6-Diphenylquinolin-2-one Derivatives as Fluorescent Sensors for Monitoring the Progress of Photopolymerisation Processes and as Photosensitisers for Bimolecular Photoinitiating Systems

The applicability of new 1,6-diphenylquinolin-2-oneas derivatives as fluorescent molecular sensors for monitoring the progress of photopolymerisation processes by Fluorescence Probe Technique (FPT) has been tested. The progress of cationic, free-radical and thiol-ene photopolymerisation for commercially available monomers: triethylene glycol divinyl ether (TEGDVE), trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) and trimethylpropane tris(3-mercaptopropropionate) (MERCAPTO) was monitored. It was found that new derivatives of 1,6-diphenylquinolin-2-one shifted their fluorescence spectra towards shorter wavelengths with the progress of polymerisation, which enabled monitoring the progress in terms of fluorescence intensity ratios as the progress indicator. Derivatives of 1,6-diphenylquinolin-2-one show sensitivity to changes in both polarity and viscosity in the surrounding microenvironment during photopolymerisation processes. Therefore, it was shown that they are good candidates to act as fluorescent sensors for monitoring the kinetics of very quick processes, such as photopolymerisation processes. Furthermore, the effect of the nature of substituents attached to the 1,6-diphenylquinolin-2-one ring on the characteristics of emission spectra was identified. Moreover, the sensitivity of fluorescent sensors was compared with commercially available model sensors, such as 7-diethylamino-4-methylcoumarin (Coumarin 1) and trans-2-(2′,5′-dimethoxyphenyl)ethenyl-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzene (25ST). Moreover, it was also proven that selected derivatives of 1,6-diphenylquinolin-2-one exhibit an accelerating effect on the progress of cationic photopolymerisation of vinyl monomers (TEGDVE). Thus, the new 1,6-diphenylquinolin-2-one derivatives can be successfully used both as molecular fluorescence sensors to monitor the progress of photopolymerisation processes and as diaryliodonium salt photosensitisers to initiate cationic photopolymerisation processes in a UV-A range of 365 nm

Climatic data

01 - Climatic data for each site. File names in the 01_CLIM folder: climABI.csv, climBIC.csv, climD1823D1847.csv (given their geographical proximity, D1823 and D1847 received the same climatic data), climSUT.csv. These files contain climatic variables for the 1953-2013 period. Climatic variables are coded with letters: T: monthly mean temperatures P: total monthly precipitation S: total monthly snowfall DD: total monthly degree day DC: monthly mean drought-code GSL: growth season length. Numbers following the variables letters indicate the number of the month associated with the variable. Negative values refer to a month of the previous year. GSL6 refers to the current GSL and GSL-6 refers to the previous GSL

Species codes

02 - Species codes. File name: 02_species_codes.xlsx. This file contains correspondence between the species codes and the species latin names. A unique coding was used for cored individuals among sites. “Non-cored” individuals received another coding depending on the site