The disappearance of cultural landscapes: the case of wooded-meadows in the Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy)

The \u201cwooded-meadows system\u201d is a multifunctional use of vegetation resources widespread in Europe since the Neolithic, and well documented in the Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy) between the Middle Ages and the first half of the 19th century. The management of wooded-meadows included: collection of fallen and dead branches in spring, later used for fuel; mowing and grazing in summer; collection of secondary products; making sheaves from branches in autumn, later used as cattle and sheep fodder; coppicing, pollarding and cutting of trees in winter. Three sites located in eastern Ligurian Apennines were studied by means of an interdisciplinary approach in order to better understand the impact and the consequences of this historical landuse practice on vegetation structure and composition. In particular, based on specific features of palynological diagrams, it was possible to conclude that (compared to the post-cultural phase) \u2013 when the wooded-meadows system was in use all the sites were characterized by: (1) lower pollen percentages of trees; (2) higher pollen percentages of shrubs and herbs; (3) higher percentages of anthropogenic pollen indicators; (4) higher values of palynological richness. This research also represents a contribution to issues of nature-conservation policy for the preservation of cultural landscapes

Is the team leading surgeon criminally liable for his collaborators’ errors? judges confirm responsibility and condemn an otorhinolaryngologist

In current healthcare, delivery of medical and surgical treatment takes place in a multidisciplinary manner. This raises the problem of distinguishing the conditions under which the person who has properly carried out his duties, respecting the related leges artis, can be held responsible for damages materially caused by another member of the medical team. Jurisprudence has developed the so-called “principle of trust” for which every member of the team can rely on the fact that other members are acting in compliance with the leges artis of their specialisation. The Supreme Court has limited the application of this principle. The authors examine the jurisprudence on responsibility of the team in otolaryngology and conclude that individual liability should be limited to the specific expertise of the individual specialist

The Dinosaur Blues

(Slow blues in E for voice, guitar, and blues harmonica.) 1) I woke up this morning; saw a big rock in the sky. I woke up this morning; I knew I was gonna die. It\u27s the end of an era; I knew I was gonna die. 2) We were much bigger than the rats and fish. We were the kings on the land and the sea. But when that stone came down, we disappeared from the scene. 3) 65 million years - it\u27s a date to recall. 65 million years - enough time for you all. If you see a stone in the sky, sing the DINOSAUR BLUES. Conclusions The dinosaurs became extinct because they lacked a sense of humor. References Montanari, A., and Kruge, M., 1991, The Dinosaur Blues: in The Bottaccione K/T Visitor Book, Ristorante Bottaccione, Gubbio, Italy

Stratigrafia magnetica ad alta risoluzione del limite Eocene-Oligocene nella successione Umbro-Marchigiana

High-resolution magnetostratigraphy across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary has been employed in a detailed investigation of the nature of low-amplitude, short-wavelength oceanic magnetic anomalies. A core, 39.4mlong and 10 cm in diameter, was drilled through the Eocene-Oligocene boundary near to the Massignano Quarry stratotype section near Ancona, Italy. The stratigraphy of the core, which traverses the Scaglia Variegata and Scaglia Cinerea formations, was correlated precisely to the quarry section by linear regression of the depths of identifiable biotite-rich layers. The good recovery of intact material allowed an average sampling interval of about 12 cm, which is closer than in preceding magnetostratigraphic studies of Umbrian-Marche sequences. The characteristic remanent magnetization was obtained by both progressive alternating field and thermal demagnetizations. The stable component of the natural remanent magnetization could be isolated by thermal demagnetization at temperatures of 300-540°C or by alternating field demagnetization in fields higher than 20 mT. It is probably carried by magnetite in the Scaglia Cinerea marls, while some amount of hematite is present in the underlying Scaglia Variegata. A stratigraphic plot of the ChRM directions shows well-defined magnetozones and the resulting polarity sequence correlates well with polarity chrons C12r to C16n-2. A few single-sample normal magnetozones that do not correspond to the geomagnetic polarity timescale are found within chron 16n.1-r. The magnetozones corresponding to chrons C12r or C13r do not exhibit short subchrons that might account for the low-amplitude and short-wavelength magnetic anomalies reported in this part of the marine magnetic record. In investigation of relative paleointensity fluctuations has been carried out in this part of the core, which embraces the Scaglia Cinerea formation. Anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) has been used to normalize the natural remanent magnetization (NRM), compensating variations in sedimentary input. The ensuing NRM/ARM ratio is taken to be a proxy for relative variation of paleomagnetic field intensity. The paleointensity fluctuates systematically and has minimum values close to the reported positions of low-amplitude, short-wavelength magnetic anomalies in the marine recor

Primi test di funzionalità di fotomoltiplicatori al silicio (SiPM) in vuoto

Da osservazioni su scala astronomica e cosmologica si stima che il 26.8% dell’Universo sia costituito da materia oscura. Sono state formulate varie ipotesi sulla natura della materia oscura, tra di esse spicca quella delle Weakly Interactive Massive Particles. L’esperimento XENON, presso i Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, cerca la Materia Oscura con un rivelatore che utilizza la tecnica della rivelazione diretta di WIMP. In particolare, è dedicato alla rivelazione dell’urto elastico di particelle di materia oscura con i nuclei di Xeno, contenuto in una Time Projection Chamber. Il progetto XENON è nella fase sperimentale XENON1T che rappresenta il primo rivelatore con massa attiva di Xeno liquido su scala della tonnellata. I primi dati del rivelatore, tuttora in funzione, non hanno evidenziato eventi dovuti a materia oscura ed hanno permesso di fissare il limite per la sezione d’urto WIMP-nucleo, indipendente dallo spin e migliorare i limiti precedentemente ottenuti. Nonostante ciò la collaborazione XENON è già a lavoro per la fase successiva del programma, XENONnT in cui la massa attiva di Xeno sarà di circa 6 t. Sono in corso vari programmi di ricerca e sviluppo (R&D) volti al miglioramento delle prestazioni del rivelatore, con particolare attenzione alla possibilità di aumentare la raccolta di luce prodotta dall’interazione della WIMP con lo Xeno, con conseguente l’aumento della sensibilità. Una delle possibilità è quella di utilizzare fotomoltiplicatori al Silicio. Essi dovranno operare a temperature di circa 170 K e avere buona efficienza di rivelazione per fotoni di lunghezza d’onda di circa 175 nm. Questo lavoro di tesi si colloca nell’ambito di tale progetto di ricerca e sviluppo. In particolare ho lavorato per sviluppare un codice in ambiente LabVIEW capace di monitorare diversi parametri di un setup sperimentale di test di SiPM in Xeno. Il setup è stato infine utilizzato per effettuare prime misure di guadagno del SiPM in una camera a vuoto

Devising and evaluating wearable technology for social dynamics monitoring

The importance of studying social interactions has been proven useful in several fields. In the workplace, studies have found that allowing mixing among different groups could improve team coordination and productivity. Architectural studies have analysed how physical spaces can potentially increase unplanned interactions. Other areas such as epidemiology have also benefited from tracking face-to-face contacts to study the spread of disease. Although technology has progressed significantly, the automated and accurate measurement of human interactions with mobile devices is still lagging. The main shortcomings have to do with accuracy of the captured data and with the communication modalities considered. Additionally, non-verbal behaviours during social interactions (e.g. body posture, orientation and interaction distance) have been often neglected, with a few exceptions, even if traditional sociology has highlighted their importance. In this dissertation we address these challenges by developing two wearable research platforms to monitor different dimensions of social interactions. First, we study the extent to which Bluetooth Low Energy could detect proximity in indoor environments. We analyse all the relevant protocol parameters and measure their impact on power consumption, on custom as well as on commercial devices. We assess its accuracy with a 4-week long deployment illustrating its sustainability for social dynamics studies. With the contacts and mobility data collected during the deployment we study the relationship between social contacts and space design, focusing on a modern architectural concept, Activity-Based Working (ABW). We uncover several patterns and we show how they could be the result of the correct adoption of ABW principles. However, we also discover that the employees might not have fully embraced the ABW concepts entirely, leading to mismatches between principles and actual space usage. Given the importance of studying non-verbal behaviour during social contact we then devise a novel wearable device that, by exploiting near-infrared signals, is able to capture accurate information about distance and angle of interaction between people. We show how we design the device to be robust to ambient light changes and short occlusions by leveraging inertial measurement units. With extensive testing we evaluate its accuracy and robustness. We then explore its potential to study creative processes by deploying it to capture non-verbal cues during a creative task. We show how data about the relative orientation between people and their interpersonal distance could be used to predict the role they have during the interaction and the status of the task. The platforms developed and the insights drawn in this dissertation provide evidence to support the use of wearable technologies to monitor social interactions at an unprecedented level

Towards the ultimate reach of current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes to TeV Dark Matter

Indirect detection opens a unique window for probing thermal dark matter (DM): the same annihilation process that determined the relic abundance in the early Universe drives the present day astrophysical signal. While TeV-scale particles weakly coupled to the Standard Model face undoubted challenges from decades of null searches, the scenario remains compelling, and simple realizations such as Higgsino DM remain largely unexplored. The fate of such scenarios could be determined by gamma-ray observations of the centre of the Milky Way with Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). We consider the ultimate sensitivity of current IACTs to a broad range of TeV-scale DM candidates - including specific ones such as the Wino, Higgsino, and Quintuplet. To do so, we use realistic mock H.E.S.S.-like observations of the inner Milky Way halo, and provide a careful assessment of the impact of recent Milky Way mass modeling, instrumental and astrophysical background uncertainties in the Galactic Center region, and the theoretical uncertainty on the predicted signal. We find that the dominant systematic for IACT searches in the inner Galaxy is the unknown distribution of DM in that region, however, beyond this the searches are currently statistically dominated indicating a continued benefit from more observations. For two-body final states at $1~{\rm TeV}$, we find a H.E.S.S.-like observatory is sensitive to $\langle \sigma v \rangle \sim 3 \times 10^{-26}-4 \times 10^{-25}~{\rm cm}^3{\rm s}^{-1}$, except for neutrino final states, although we find results competitive with ANTARES. In addition, the thermal masses for the Wino and Quintuplet can be probed; the Higgsino continues to be out of reach by at least a factor of a few. Our conclusions are also directly relevant to the next generation Cherenkov Telescope Array, which remains well positioned to be the discovery instrument for thermal DM.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, including appendi

Serravallian Shales in the Monte dei Corvi Pelagic Sequence (Ancona, Italy): An Organic Geochemical Perspective

In addition to the predominant marly lithologies, the Serravallian-Tortonian sequence at Monte dei Corvi (MDC), south of Ancona, Italy, contains at least 85 thin, dark calcareous shales. Such shales, averaging 14 cm in thickness, comprise 9% of the total Serravallian sequence. Sixteen of them were sampled for a preliminary organic geochemical evaluation. All the MDC shales appear to have been deposited during periodic anoxic events, as demonstrated by the presence of significant quantities of organic matter and authigenic pyrite. The degree of anoxicity (and thus the amount of organic matter preserved) appears to have differed from one event to the next. The quantity of organic matter preserved is highly variable, with Rock Eval S2 ranging from 0.4 to 27.6 mg/g. However, the type is remarkably consistent from sample to sample, as evidenced both by analytical pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) of the solid organic matter and by the GC/MS analysis of the extractable material. This implies a regeneration of similar microfloral/microbial assemblages and depositional conditions during each anoxic event. The dominant organic matter types are marine, including several types of fossil algae and amorphous material (largely the product of bacterial reworking of organic matter). There is evidence of minor terrestrial input. The presence of isoprenoid hydrocarbons (prist-1-ene) in the pyrolyzates and 17β(H),21β(H) hopanes in the extractable organic matter attest to the low level of thermal alteration of the MDC shales. The MDC organic matter appears to be partially oxidized, probably from weathering at the outcrop, which partly obscures its original nature. To avoid this problem in any future organic geochemical study of the MDC sequence, the authors recommend that fresh, unweathered samples be obtained, preferably by coring

Reactive Synthesis from Extended Bounded Response LTL Specifications

Reactive synthesis is a key technique for the design of correct-by-construction systems and has been thoroughly investigated in the last decades. It consists in the synthesis of a controller that reacts to environment's inputs satisfying a given temporal logic specification. Common approaches are based on the explicit construction of automata and on their determinization, which limit their scalability. In this paper, we introduce a new fragment of Linear Temporal Logic, called Extended Bounded Response LTL (\LTLEBR), that allows one to combine bounded and universal unbounded temporal operators (thus covering a large set of practical cases), and we show that reactive synthesis from \LTLEBR specifications can be reduced to solving a safety game over a deterministic symbolic automaton built directly from the specification. We prove the correctness of the proposed approach and we successfully evaluate it on various benchmarks.Comment: Extended Versio

Complexity of Safety and coSafety Fragments of Linear Temporal Logic

Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) is the de-facto standard temporal logic for system specification, whose foundational properties have been studied for over five decades. Safety and cosafety properties define notable fragments of LTL, where a prefix of a trace suffices to establish whether a formula is true or not over that trace. In this paper, we study the complexity of the problems of satisfiability, validity, and realizability over infinite and finite traces for the safety and cosafety fragments of LTL. As for satisfiability and validity over infinite traces, we prove that the majority of the fragments have the same complexity as full LTL, that is, they are PSPACE-complete. The picture is radically different for realizability: we find fragments with the same expressive power whose complexity varies from 2EXPTIME-complete (as full LTL) to EXPTIME-complete. Notably, for all cosafety fragments, the complexity of the three problems does not change passing from infinite to finite traces, while for all safety fragments the complexity of satisfiability (resp., realizability) over finite traces drops to NP-complete (resp., ${\Pi}^P_2$-complete)