Constructing imperial imaginations through educational cinema in Britain and Italy (1922–1937)

During the period 1922–37, both the British and Italians launched institutes for educational cinematography and collaborated in the creation of the League of Nations’ International Educational Cinematographic Institute. Their leading newspapers dedicated entire sections to the advertising of educational campaigns through cinema. Comparing official documents and the print apparatus about the establishment and the activities of two institutes for educational cinema in Europe gives us a perception of how similarly and differently the British and Italians used their educational films to convey imperial sentiments and rhetoric into civilian life during fifteen years of colonial rule

Origination and extinction patterns of mammals in three Central Western Mediterranean islands from the Late Miocene to Quaternary.

An overview of the population histories of three insular realms (Gargano palaeo-archipelago, Sardinia–Maritime Tuscany palaeobioprovince and the Sicilian insular complex) during the Late Miocene and Quaternary are here presented. The complexity of biodiversity changes in the islands is analysed to propose an interpretation of origination and extinction patterns. The study highlighted several important aspects of insular faunas. Evolutionary radiations were found to contribute significantly only to the Gargano faunal diversity, likely because the area was an archipelago at the time. Another interesting result is that large and small mammals do not disperse and become extinct all at the same time on each island. In fact, because of their distinct body sizes, large and small mammals have different dispersal ability and therefore different chances to cross-filtering barriers. But distinct body sizes means also different influence on diversity, resistance to environmental changes and likelihood of extinction. Another important point is that large mammalian carnivores at the top of the trophic net are quite more fragile and susceptible to become extinct than other predators. The study finally shows the clear influence that the intense Middle and Late Pleistocene climate-driven environmental changes had on island communities. The reconstruction of the faunal histories of Sardinia and Sicily shows that without exchanges with the mainland the island system represents a rather stable refuge area not too affected by the changes in the ‘‘physical’’ parameters of the environment. In contrast, if the island is frequently connected with the continent, insular faunal assemblages tend to behave as their mainland counterparts

Data organization using gis for a more conscious conservation approach for abandoned sites

The purpose of this paper is to rediscover the abandoned village of Castelnuovo dei Sabbioni with new tools and modalities, providing an overall descriptive picture of the context in the framework of a pressing marginalization of territories subjected to depopulation and abandonment, and providing the appropriate tools for the definition of a possible future scenario for the village. The main novelty of this work is proposing alternative data recording and management strategies, preparatory to the definition of an actual project. The proposed strategy blends modern documentation technology and ICT processing tools with the consultation of more traditional sources of information, encouraging the adoption of a highly analytical structure in the design process. The paper, which brings a practical example, aims to support the implementation of interventions that are conscious, and targeted to the needs of future users and actors in the development of these places. Finally, the work aims at exploring the pros of offline and online GIS database in the case of historic sites through the development of shareable maps able to store multiple information

Integration of ground-penetrating radar, ultrasonic tests and infrared thermography for the analysis of a precious medieval rose window

Abstract. The integration of high-resolution, non-invasive geophysical techniques (such as ground-penetrating radar or GPR) with emerging sensing techniques (acoustics, thermography) can complement limited destructive tests to provide a suitable methodology for a multi-scale assessment of the state of preservation, material and construction components of monuments. This paper presents the results of the application of GPR, infrared thermography (IRT) and ultrasonic tests to the 13th century rose window of Troia Cathedral (Apulia, Italy), affected by widespread decay and instability problems caused by the 1731 earthquake and reactivated by recent seismic activity. This integrated approach provided a wide amount of complementary information at different scales, ranging from the sub-centimetre size of the metallic joints between the various architectural elements, narrow fractures and thin mortar fillings, up to the sub-metre scale of the internal masonry structure of the circular ashlar curb linking the rose window to the façade, which was essential to understand the original building technique and to design an effective restoration strategy

Water adsorption on amorphous silica surfaces: A Car-Parrinello simulation study

A combination of classical molecular dynamics (MD) and ab initio Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) simulations is used to investigate the adsorption of water on a free amorphous silica surface. From the classical MD SiO_2 configurations with a free surface are generated which are then used as starting configurations for the CPMD.We study the reaction of a water molecule with a two-membered ring at the temperature T=300K. We show that the result of this reaction is the formation of two silanol groups on the surface. The activation energy of the reaction is estimated and it is shown that the reaction is exothermic.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, to be published in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

The compositional and mineralogical analysis of fired pigments in Nasca pottery from Cahuachi (Peru) by the combined use of the portable PIXE-alpha and portable XRD techniques

Abstract An analytical protocol based on the combined use of the portable PIXE-alpha (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) and XRD (X-ray Diffraction) non destructive techniques developed at the LANDIS laboratory (Laboratorio di Analisi Non Distruttive) of the INFN–CNR (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare–Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) in Catania (Italy), was applied for the characterisation of the surface paints of some archaeological fragments of Nasca pottery from the Ceremonial Centre of Cahuachi in Southern Peru. Measurements were carried out on the black, white, red, orange and grey pigments; quantitative information on the chemical composition as well as on the mineralogical phases present on the paints were obtained. Results allowed to make some considerations about the materials and the manufacturing technique used to realise such fired pigments. It should be noted that during firing the precursor minerals composing the pigments undergo a phase transformation and their identification presents some difficulties