Archaeobotanical analysis from the long-term rural settlement of Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo): preliminary data

The project ¿Harvesting Memories: Ecology and Archaeology of Monti Sicani landscapes¿ aims to analyse the long-term relationship of landscape dynamics and settlement patterns in a Mediterranean inland of Central-Western Sicily. The project combined different interdisciplinary approaches of vegetation science, landscape ecology, history and archaeology in order to diachronically understand and reconstruct the human- society-environment interactions. From 2017 to 2019 a new rural settlement has been investigated in Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo). The excavation in Contrada Castro showed a clear case of long-term occupation of an hill-top site during Late Archaic/Classical age (6 th -5 th c. BC) and the Byzantine and Islamic period (7 th -11 th c. AD). Soils from the archaeological excavation were sampled to obtain evidences about paleo-vegetation and vegetal paleo-diet. Archaeobotanical data (seeds and charcoal remains) represent an informative source in human-environmental dynamics to collect specific data on a small scale in terms of chronology and topography (Hastorf, Popper 1988; Pearsall 2009). Furthermore, presence of edible plants as cereals, pulses and fruit characterize their use as economical resources. Unfortunately, archaeobotanical analyses from archaeological sites in Sicily are still not very common (see http://brainplants.successoterra.net/sites.html). For the reconstruction of the paleo-environment and the use of arboreal resources from the three chronological phases of the site, a total of 239 liters of soils were analysed. Taxonomical identification was made by optical microscopy through the comparison with the reference collection and specific atlases (fig.). More than 400 wood charcoals were observed, about 80% of them was identified. Thanks to comparisons with the current vegetation, so far 8 species have been identified - Quercus cfr. ilex (fig.), Pistacia cfr. terebinthus, Rhamnus alathernus, Fraxinus ornus, Ulmus canescens, Acer cfr. campestris, Ostrya carpinifolia, Populus cf. nigra; identification reached the detail of genus or subfamily in 6 cases - Quercus cf. robur / pubescens, Phillyrea sp., Sorbus sp., Rosacea cfr. Pirus sp. and maybe Moracea. The arboreal vegetation is therefore represented by evergreen oaks, semi- and deciduous oaks, maples, ash trees, associated with riparian species such as elm, poplar and hornbeam, and shrub species such as backthorn, terebinth, sorb, plum. Cultivated species are mostly not represented. Despite the widespread presence of the evergreen oaks in the whole record, differences between the three chronological phases were identified, highlighting a selective use of the wild species present in the area and a specific collection of wood for the hearths. 1) Hastorf C.A., Popper V.F.1988, Current Paleoethnobotany. Analytical Methods and Cultural Interpretations of Archaeological Plant Remains, Chicago. ISBN: 978022631893 2) Pearsall D. M. 2009, Paleoethnobotany: A Handbook of Procedures, Second Edition, Walnut Creek. ISBN-10: 1598744720 3) BRAIN Network, http://brainplants.successoterra.net/sites.htmlFinanciación: beca "Juan de la Cierva-incorporación, IJCI-2017-31494, MINECO), IJCI-2017-31494" y proyecto "Harvesting Memories" de la Universidad de Palermo (financiado por Bona Furtuna LLC)

Lockdown and Covid-19:Brazilian evidence

We estimate the impact of strict social distancing policies on isolation, COVID-19 cases and deaths, and employment in Brazil. Compiling social distancing decrees and combining them with publicly available data, we identify a set of treated municipalities that adopted lockdown between May and June 2021 in the State of São Paulo and build a control group with cities from the same Regional Health Departments. We estimate the lockdown effects using a Difference- -in-Differences model with two-way fixed effects and staggered adoption. Our findings suggest that the policy increased social distancing one week after its adoption, decreased cases from two weeks on, reduced deaths from four weeks on, and did not significantly impact employment.Nós estimamos o impacto de políticas restritivas de distanciamento social sobre isolamento, casos e mortes de COVID-19 e emprego no Brasil. Compilando decretos de distanciamento social e combinando-os com dados públicos, nós identificamos um conjunto de municípios tratados que adotaram lockdown entre maio e junho de 2021 no Estado de São Paulo e construímos um grupo de controle com cidades dos mesmos Departamentos Regionais de Saúde. Nós estimamos os efeitos do lockdown usando um modelo de Diferença-em Diferenças com efeitos fixos de dois níveis e adoção escalonada. Nossas conclusões sugerem que a política aumentou o isolamento social uma semana após sua adoção, diminuiu os casos a partir de duas semanas, reduziu as mortes a partir de quatro semanas e não teve impactos significativos no emprego

Ergodic observables in non-ergodic systems: the example of the harmonic chain

In the framework of statistical mechanics the properties of macroscopic systems are deduced starting from the laws of their microscopic dynamics. One of the key assumptions in this procedure is the ergodic property, namely the equivalence between time averages and ensemble averages. This property can be proved only for a limited number of systems; however, as proved by Khinchin [1], weak forms of it hold even in systems that are not ergodic at the microscopic scale, provided that extensive observables are considered. Here we show in a pedagogical way the validity of the ergodic hypothesis, at a practical level, in the paradigmatic case of a chain of harmonic oscillators. By using analytical results and numerical computations, we provide evidence that this non-chaotic integrable system shows ergodic behavior in the limit of many degrees of freedom. In particular, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution turns out to fairly describe the statistics of the single particle velocity. A study of the typical time-scales for relaxation is also provided.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Progetto di adeguamento funzionale e miglioramento statico del complesso scolastico “G. Pascoli” nel centro storico di Lucca

La presente Tesi di Laurea è stata in parte condotta nell’ambito di uno stage svolto presso il “Settore Edilizia Pubblica” del Comune di Lucca, secondo una convenzione stipulata con l’Università degli Studi di Pisa. Questa esperienza è stata un primo, utilissimo, approccio alla professione e mi ha permesso di acquisire ulteriori conoscenze circa la manutenzione ordinaria e straordinaria degli edifici, lo svolgimento delle gare d’asta per l’appalto dei lavori pubblici, la stesura di preventivi di spesa, di capitolati d’appalto e di computi metrici estimativi. Inoltre ho potuto apprendere come vengono eseguite le determine dirigenziali e gli affidamenti di incarico, oltre ad approfondire aspetti, già conosciuti, come la progettazione di nuovi edifici, la progettazione di ampliamenti, di ristrutturazioni e l’adeguamento a norme di sicurezza e di accessibilità. Nello specifico caso di studio è stata affrontata l’analisi funzionale e statica del complesso edilizio che ospita la Scuola elementare “G. Pascoli” e la Scuola materna “Il Giardino” nel Centro Storico di Lucca. L’Amministrazione Pubblica, ma anche tutta la cittadinanza, ha particolarmente a cuore questo edificio, sia per l’importanza storica, che per quella logistica. Vi è, nel centro storico, solo un’altra scuola elementare che verrà spostata a breve per ospitare altri locali del vicino Tribunale. La scuola “Pascoli” assumerà un grande valore nell’organizzazione della città all’interno delle Mura. Il piano di lavoro prevedeva una fase informativa che ha richiesto una approfondita ricerca di carattere storico negli Archivi Comunali, di Stato e della Curia Arcivescovile e un’indagine “in situ” con l’obiettivo di rilevare la tipologia degli elementi che compongono la struttura e individuarne eventuali dissesti o malfunzionamenti. E’ seguita una fase di analisi dei dati e delle funzioni e la valutazione della vulnerabilità sismica, secondo i suggerimenti proposti dal GNDT (Gruppo Nazionale Difesa dai Terremoti). La redazione del Documento preliminare all’avvio della progettazione (Dpp) ha visto la messa a punto degli obiettivi, la presa visione dei vincoli e delle prestazioni attese dall’Amministrazione comunale, l’esplicitazione delle esigenze, delle funzioni e attività e dei requisiti, per soddisfare le esigenze del Committente e degli Utilizzatori del complesso scolastico. La progettazione ha corrisposto ai contenuti del Dpp ed è stata particolarmente mirata ad un adeguamento funzionale rispettoso delle esigenze di sicurezza e di accessibilità. Sono stati inoltre predisposti particolari costruttivi e un preventivo di spesa, che fanno assumere al progetto elaborato il carattere di definitivo, anche se andrebbero ancora affrontati elementi tipici del benessere ambientale e del contenimento dei costi energetici

Ultrasonic force microscopy on 'poly(vinyl alcohol)/SrTiO3' nano-perovskites hybrid films

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Ultrasonic Force Microscopy (UFM) have been applied to the characterization of composite samples formed by SrTiO 3 (STO) nanoparticles (NPs) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The morphological features of the STO NPs were much better resolved in UFM than in contact-mode AFM topography. For high STO concentrations the individual STO NPs formed nanoclusters, which gathered in microaggregates. The STO aggregates, covered by PVA, exhibited no AFM frictional contrast, but were clearly distinguished from the PVA matrix using UFM. Similar aggregation was observed for NPs in the composite samples than for NPs deposited on top of a flat silicon substrate from a milliQ water solution in the absence of polymer. In the hybrid films, most STO nanoparticles typically presented a lower UFM contrast than the PVA matrix, even though stiffer sample regions such as STO should give rise to a higher UFM contrast. STO NPs with intermediate contrast were characterized by an UFM halo of lower contrast at the PVA/STO interface. The results may be explained by considering that ultrasound is effectively damped on the nanometer scale at PVA/ STO interfaces. According to our data, the nanoscale ultrasonic response at the PVA/STO interface plays a fundamental role in the UFM image contrast

Stochastic Gradient Descent-like relaxation is equivalent to Glauber dynamics in discrete optimization and inference problems

Is Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) substantially different from Glauber dynamics? This is a fundamental question at the time of understanding the most used training algorithm in the field of Machine Learning, but it received no answer until now. Here we show that in discrete optimization and inference problems, the dynamics of an SGD-like algorithm resemble very closely that of Metropolis Monte Carlo with a properly chosen temperature, which depends on the mini-batch size. This quantitative matching holds both at equilibrium and in the out-of-equilibrium regime, despite the two algorithms having fundamental differences (e.g.\ SGD does not satisfy detailed balance). Such equivalence allows us to use results about performances and limits of Monte Carlo algorithms to optimize the mini-batch size in the SGD-like algorithm and make it efficient at recovering the signal in hard inference problems.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

tribological properties of wear resistant coatings obtained by cold gas dynamic spray

Abstract The aim of this study was obtaining good deposits of stellite-6 by Cold Gas Dynamic Spray (CGDS), in terms of low porosity and good adhesion and cohesion. In fact, the high strength and melting point of the investigated alloy lead to a high value of the particle critical velocity in CGDS and, therefore, good quality results are difficult to achieve. The tribological properties of the coatings were analyzed by micro-hardness measurements and pin-on-disk wear tests. Results revealed that spraying parameters can be optimized to obtain almost pore-free coatings

Participation of the nucleobases in the regioselective backbone fragmentation of nucleic acids. A molecular dynamics and tandem mass spectrometric investigation on a model dinucleoside phosphotriester

The anions (I–III) obtained from O-methyl 5′-O-(5′-deoxythymidine) 3′-O-(2′,3′-dideoxyuridine) phosphate by the competitive removal of the 3-N-H protons of the nucleobases and of the methyl group from the phosphotriester bond, assume in the gas phase stable conformations as a function of their charge site. The mass-analyzed ion kinetic energy (MIKE) spectra of I and III show that the regioselective backbone cleavage of the internucleotidic linkage is controlled by the 2′-H proton transfer to the nucleobase within the 5′-end nucleoside. Similar pathways are taken by species II when the nucleobase is eliminated as neutral from the 5′-end nucleoside

The artificial retina processor for track reconstruction at the LHC crossing rate

We present results of an R&D study for a specialized processor capable of precisely reconstructing, in pixel detectors, hundreds of charged-particle tracks from high-energy collisions at 40 MHz rate. We apply a highly parallel pattern-recognition algorithm, inspired by studies of the processing of visual images by the brain as it happens in nature, and describe in detail an efficient hardware implementation in high-speed, high-bandwidth FPGA devices. This is the first detailed demonstration of reconstruction of offline-quality tracks at 40 MHz and makes the device suitable for processing Large Hadron Collider events at the full crossing frequency.Comment: 4th draft of WIT proceedings modified according to JINST referee's comments. 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

DISTRETTI ENERGETICI: UNO STUDIO SU UN QUARTIERE DI UNA CITTÀ DELL’ITALIA MERIDIONALE

Nowadays the energy transition, which implies the design of a new energy supply and distribution model based on RES, is an urgent course of action. Not only is it crucial to tackle climate change issues but it is also an opportunity to generate new technical, economic and social development possibilities. In this framework, the implementation of new structures of collective and collaborative economy, such as energy districts and communities, is encouraged by the European Union's development programs as a crucial strategy to mitigate both climate change crisis and economic inequalities as well as socio-environmental injustices. With a view to providing a contribution to the studies addressing the effectiveness of these new energy management structures, especially in Mediterranean climates, this work proposes an analysis focused on a neighborhood of a city located in the Southern Italy. The results showed that the implementation of RES in an energy district perspective, according to the feasibility granted by the neighborhood features, allowed the balance between energy productivity and needs to be reached