Real-time geophysical applications with Android GNSS raw measurements

The number of Android devices enabling access to raw GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) measurements is rapidly increasing, thanks to the dedicated Google APIs. In this study, the Xiaomi Mi8, the first GNSS dual-frequency smartphone embedded with the Broadcom BCM47755 GNSS chipset, was employed by leveraging the features of L5/E5a observations in addition to the traditional L1/E1 observations. The aim of this paper is to present two different smartphone applications in Geoscience, both based on the variometric approach and able to work in real time. In particular, tests using both VADASE (Variometric Approach for Displacement Analysis Stand-alone Engine) to retrieve the 3D velocity of a stand-alone receiver in real-time, and VARION (Variometric Approach for Real-Time Ionosphere Observations) algorithms, able to reconstruct real-time sTEC (slant total electron content) variations, were carried out. The results demonstrate the contribution that mass-market devices can offer to the geosciences. In detail, the noise level obtained with VADASE in a static scenario-few mm/s for the horizontal components and around 1 cm/s for the vertical component-underlines the possibility, confirmed from kinematic tests, of detecting fast movements such as periodic oscillations caused by earthquakes. VARION results indicate that the noise level can be brought back to that of geodetic receivers, making the Xiaomi Mi8 suitable for real-time ionosphere monitoring

Health and socio-demographic conditions as determinants of marriage and social mobility

This paper makes use of data collected from military registers and marriage certificates for the population of Alghero, in Sardinia, for the period 1866-1925, with the aim of investigating the role played by physical characteristics and health in the possibility of social mobility through marriage. Our findings demonstrate that, whereas physical defects and ill health had little impact on the chances of marrying an illiterate woman, these factors did have a negative effect on the chances of marrying a woman who was literate. In a context in which intergenerational social mobility remained limited and the family had the final say on marriage arrangements, it is likely that only healthy individuals were selected for marriages regarded as strategic for the purposes of forming and strengthening family alliances, and/or improving the social position within the community.health, marriage, Sardinia, social mobility

Phase analysis method for burst onset prediction

The response of bursting neurons to fluctuating inputs is usually hard to predict, due to their strong nonlinearity. For the same reason, decoding the injected stimulus from the activity of a bursting neuron is generally difficult. In this paper we propose a method describing (for neuron models) a mechanism of phase coding relating the burst onsets with the phase profile of the input current. This relation suggests that burst onset may provide a way for postsynaptic neurons to track the input phase. Moreover, we define a method of phase decoding to solve the inverse problem and estimate the likelihood of burst onset given the input state. Both methods are presented here in a unified framework, describing a complete coding-decoding procedure. This procedure is tested by using different neuron models, stimulated with different inputs (stochastic, sinusoidal, up, and down states). The results obtained show the efficacy and broad range of application of the proposed methods. Possible applications range from the study of sensory information processing, in which phase-of-firing codes are known to play a crucial role, to clinical applications such as deep brain stimulation, helping to design stimuli in order to trigger or prevent neural bursting

The Role of Cogeneration in the Electrification Pathways towards Decarbonization

The global call for an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and reliable energy system looks for the optimal integration of different technologies to allow a smooth and economically viable transition towards electrification. In this context, small, medium, and large industrial processes are relevant contributors to global CO2 emissions production due to the simultaneous requirement of electricity, heating, and cooling power generally obtained through fossil fuel combustion. In this context, Combined Heat and Power Energy converters based on internal combustion engines, such as reciprocating engines, gas turbines, and gas turbine combined cycles, and external combustion, such as backpressure and condensing steam power plants, are the most suitable solutions for the efficient and reliable generation of the above-mentioned assets. Typically, the industrial demand for heat and electricity differs in terms of heat-to-power ratio when compared to the heat-to-power ratio of the CHP plant, and this has led to requiring the selection of a control strategy to follow, partially or fully, the heat load or the electric load. In this paper, the authors propose an operating and design strategy addressed to fully covering the heat load demands by the heat generated by the CHP, allowing the system to have an excess of electricity generated. This electricity can be used for different purposes, as regards the novel electrification roadmap. Indeed, the authors have explored four configurations in which the excess of the CHP-generated electricity can be exported to the national grid, used for high-tension fast-charging electromobility systems, for running reverse osmosis desalination plants, and for the production of alternative fuels such as hydrogen. The authors propose a methodology for providing an extensive environmental techno-economic assessment that looks at 2050 CO2 targets. Accordingly, the environmental techno-economic assessment results are presented and discussed by considering the Net Present Value, payback period, and CO2 emission savings

Male partner choice in Sardinia, late 19th-early 20th century

This paper makes use of data collected from military registers and marriage certificates for the population of Alghero, in Sardinia, for the period 1866-1925, with the aim of investigating the role played by physical characteristics and health in the possibility of social mobility through marriage. Our findings demonstrate that, whereas physical defects and ill health had little impact on the chances of marrying an illiterate woman, these factors did have a negative effect on the chances of marrying a woman who was literate. In a context in which intergenerational social mobility remained limited and the family had the final say on marriage arrangements, it is likely that only healthy individuals were selected for marriages regarded as strategic for the purposes of forming and strengthening family alliances, and/or improving the social position within the community

Who Helps Berlusconi win general elections? Political Communication in Italian entertainment shows

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L’uomo e la nascita della società: mythoi antropologici e sociogonici all’interno dei dialoghi di Platone

Plato, in different dialogues such as Statesman, Protagoras, Republic, Timaeus-Critias and Laws, creates a number of myths that describe both the early condition of the human race and the efforts made by men to develop the first forms of social and political organisation. Myth - that ancient and unsurpassed mean of transmission of knowledge and moral precepts - seems indeed to be the only instrument able to reconstruct not only the anthropological characteristics and original state of man, but also the genesis of human aggregation and of the first technical and cultural realisations. Therefore, a determined group of dialogical characters – The Stranger of Elea, Protagoras, Socrates, Critias and the Athenian –, within the different platonic dialogues, presents a number of myths marked not only by their great literary fascination, but also by their independent philosophical value. Although each myth is linked to the others by many analogies both in structure and content, each one is an autonomous artistic and intellectual creation, but is however intrinsically bound to the dialogical context it is collocated in. As myths are introduced in order to give answers to precise questions and find solutions to certain problems (is the “golden age” lifestyle a desirable one? is it just an “animal paradise”? is man a selfish and aggressive being or is he a social and peace-loving one? is the political aggregation the product of an artificial and utilitarian contract or is it a natural result? is it possible to create a polis that guarantees collaboration and peace, without excluding cultural and aesthetical realisations?), it is essential not to sever the deep link between the mythical tale and the context in which it is collocated, but rather to examine carefully the function and meaning of the former in relationship to the latter and vice versa

La leadership di Matteo Renzi. Il leader “televisivo” alla prova delle primarie del Partito democratico

The following article aims to study the 2013 primaries organized by the PD (Partito Democratico) for the election of the National Secretary of the Party. The outcome of said primaries (leader selection), that sees Matteo Renzi as the winner only a few weeks before his appointment to the presidency of the Council of Ministers, is compared to that obtained by the same party in 2007 and in 2009, respectively with Veltroni and Bersani as Secretaries. In this specific case study, the paper aims to analyse the peculiarities that distinguish Renzi’s leadership from that exercised by his predecessors. Within this framework our objective is to comprehend the role played by the mass media, and how Renzi used it in the internal battle for the party’s Secretariat. Our interest lies in understanding whether (and eventually why) television has been the informative tool most used by the people that, in the 2013 primaries, voted for Renzi. The results of our research, conducted using data provided by C&LS (Candidate & Leader Selection - www.cals.it), Standing Group of the Societá Italiana di Scienza Politica, highlight a close correlation between the candidate of choice and the communication tool used to access information regarding the primaries

Quali-quantitative analysis of eight Rosmarinus officinalis essential oils of different origin. First report.

Aim. It is well known that the pharmacological activity of essential oils depends on their major components, which may vary enormously. The aim of the present study was to determine the chemical composition of samples of essential oil of rosemary of different origins, in order to identify the main therapeutic constituents, according to European Pharmacopoeian (EP). Material and Methods. Analytical GC/MS was carried out on a total of eight samples of essential oil of rosemary: seven samples were commercial products from producers located in different geographical areas; the last sample was prepared in our labo- ratory from fresh flowering terminal sprigs of rosemary collected in Siena’s Province. results. The most representative constituents of the essential oils tested, were 1,8-cineole and camphor. Other components also occurred in significant quantities in some samples, for example and α- and β-pinene, limonene and caryophyllene, in- dicating clear phytochemical differences among samples. discussion. The high quantity of eucalyptol and camphor detected in the samples made them particularly suited for treating minor respiratory disorders. Eucalyptol is expectorant and liquefies bronchial secretions; camphor increases the interval bet- ween inspiration and expiration and increases the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, facilitating respiration. On the other hand, the essential oils analyzed by us were not suitable for perfume production, because they contained little or no positive aromatic components

An analysis of multi-GNSS observations tracked by recent Android smartphones and smartphone-only relative positioning results

In this study we assess the quality of multi-GNSS observations of recent Android smartphones. The results reveal a significant drop of smartphone carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) with respect to geodetic receivers, and discernible differences among constellations and frequency bands. We show that the higher the elevation of the satellite, the larger discrepancy in C/N0 between the geodetic receivers and smartphones. Thus we show that a C/N0 weighting scheme may be superior to the elevation dependent one usually adopted for GNSS observations. We also discover that smartphone code pseudoranges are noisier by about one order of magnitude as compared to geodetic receivers, and that the code signals on L5 and E5a outperform those on L1 and E1, respectively. It is shown that smartphone phase observations are contaminated by the effects that can destroy the integer property and time-constancy of the ambiguities. There are long term drifts detected for GPS L5, Galileo E1, E5a and BDS B1 phase observations of Huawei P30. We highlight competitive phase noise characteristics for the Xiaomi Mi 8 when compared to the geodetic receivers. We also reveal a poor quality of other than GPS L1 phase signals for the Huawei P30 smartphones related to the unexpected drifts of the observations. Finally, the positioning experiment proves that it is feasible to obtain a precise cm-level solution of a smartphone to smartphone relative positioning with fixed integer ambiguities