Città e monumenti fra le due guerre. Un percorso fra critica, progetto d’architettura e restauro

The essay analyses the contribution of art historians and art critics in the debate on historic buildings and historical city centres between the two World Wars. In particular, it analyses the debate on the relationship between tradition and innovation in architecture which art historians and critics had with architects, planners and restorers. In the years preceding the Second World War, and the complicated phase of reconstruction, the perspective of art historians on cities and historic buildings was, in many cases, more critical and aware than that of architects. Architects, who in general considered tradition and modernity as opposites to be reconciled on an ad hoc basic, always with an eye to compromise, were engaged in defending or radically defeating the last remains of die-hardism. The essay traces the contribution of art historians to the debate on urban and historic urban fabric transformations in the years of the Fascist regime. In particular, the paper studies their attempts to go beyond ─ from a theoretical and methodological point of view ─ the typically nineteenth-century contrast between ancient and new or, similarly, conservation and transformation. The purpose is to analyse their efforts, which, however, turned out to be unproductive during the actual post- war reconstruction. Their theory tried to establish a relationship between the opposites (new/old) through critical analyses, involving town planning and restoration to the same extent, even if with different roles

The Neglected Remains of the Royal Citadel of Messina, Sicily: A Proposal for a Suitable Conservation and Re-Use Project

Neglected and abandoned heritage sites are a complex research topic, which always requires a thorough understanding of the site’s past and current condition. This article examines how research on history, architecture, and participation can contribute to creating a suitable re-use project for such heritage sites, focusing on a single case study: the Royal Citadel of Messina, Italy. Within the field of history, the city and fortification’s past underscores the importance of the site’s architectural and historical value. An urban analysis and documentation campaign were carried out during the field architecture. The urban analysis focused on the site as a remarkable natural landscape with industrial surroundings. The digital documentation, concentrating on the so-called cistern, emphasized the site’s values. Within a revalorization process, community participation is vital and is, therefore, one of the suggestions to consider in further developments. The last applied method is a comparative case study, namely, the submarine base at Saint-Nazaire, France. Considering the complexity and fragilities of the site, a framework is designed that provides suggestions for the conservation, revalorization, and re-use of the site of the Royal Citadel

Digital Recording of Historical Defensive Structures in Mountainous Areas Using Drones: Considerations and Comparisons

Digital recording of historic buildings and sites in mountainous areas could be challenging. The paper considers and discusses the case of historical defensive structures in the Italian Alps, designed and built to be not accessible. Drone images and photogrammetric techniques for 3D modeling play a fundamental role in the digital documentation of fortified constructions with non-contact techniques. This manuscript describes the use of drones for reconstructing the external surfaces of some fortified structures using traditional photogrammetric/SfM solutions and novel methods based on NeRFs. The case of direct orientation based on PPK and traditional GCPs placed on the ground is also discussed, considering the difficulties in placing and measuring control points in such environments

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

The Effects of Trans-Esterification of Castor Seed Oil Using Ethanol, Methanol and their Blends on the Properties and Yields of Biodiesel

The effects of ethanol, methanol and their blends at different percentage mixtures on the properties and yields of biodiesel at varied trans-esterification times and temperatures using sodium hydroxide as a base catalyst have been investigated. At 70oC, the optimum yields were: for ethanol 88.4%, 94.2%, 94.8%, and 95.2% and for methanol, 90.6%, 95.6%, 96.0%, and 96.4% at 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours and 4 hours respectively. The biodiesel yields increased as time of reaction progressed for both solvents but the yields obtained from methanol were generally higher than those from ethanol. A mixture of both solvents at 50% each produced the overall highest of biodiesel yield of 98.6% at 70oC and in 4 hours compared to either solvent used alone at the same time and temperature. The properties such as densities, viscosities, flash points and pour points of the biodiesels tested were found to conform to ASTM standards. The average values were as follows: densities at 15oC, were 0.8951, 0.8876 and 0.8832g/cm3; viscosities (at 40oC) were 4.7160cSt, 4.7380cSt and 4.5055cSt; flash points were 140.9oC, 147.4oC and 161.6oC while for pour points they were -2.4375oC, -1.6875oC and -6oC for ethyl, methyl and ethyl/methyl biodiesel respectively

FROM VIRTUAL TO MATERIAL RESTORATION. A PROPOSAL FOR THE REASSEMBLY OF THE ALTAR OF THE HOLY HEART OF MARY IN THE CATHEDRAL OF SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA IN GERACE (REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY)

The present study explores the relationship between the new frontiers of architectural survey and architectural restoration. The result is a project for the reassembly of the Altar of the Holy Heart of Mary in the Cathedral of Gerace, in the province of Reggio Calabria. It was dismantled in the last century with the purpose to restore the "solemn and sober aspect" of the church during the medieval age. The idea was born in the sphere of a multidisciplinary didactic experience, which involved history, conservation, digital modelling, design and enhancement of cultural heritage. The process, from analyses to project, followed four steps: realization of a systematic photogrammetrical survey of each architectural element of the 18th century altars of the cathedral, which were dismantled in the last century, with high precision photomodelling techniques; early identification of the single objects, positioning structured QR-CODE with metadata and short description directly in the shooting phase; pre-cataloguing phase, implemented by the compilation of single cards regarding each piece, using a redrafted version of the ICCD OA card (artwork 3.00 version); a proposal for the reassembly of the altar of the Holy Heart of Mary. The reassembly is conceived as an alternative to the reconstruction of the altar "as it was", using a steel structure that is partially visible, which was studied to support and "exhibit" the marble pieces. The availability of numerical models for each piece facilitated, on one side, weight distribution analysis and, consequently, correct dimensioning of the support structure and, on the other side, interactive simulation processes for design optimisation and aesthetic evaluation

Amaranthus grain as a new ingredient in diets for dairy cows: productive, qualitative, and in vitro fermentation traits

BACKGROUND: In recent decades, grain amaranths have attracted attention due to their valuable combination of nutritional traits, with higher protein and oil content than conventional cereals. Before they can be proposed as an unconventional ingredient in animal feed, many aspects still need to be investigated from field production to nutritive value. The present research aimed to study the agronomic traits, proximate composition, and digestibility/degradability, fatty acid profile, antioxidant activity, and total phenolic content of two grain amaranth species, Amaranthus cruentus and Amaranthus hypochondriacus (for a total of six accessions), grown in a Mediterranean environment. RESULTS: Both species showed seed yields comparable to or higher than the traditional cereal crops in the same environment. On the whole, A. cruentus resulted in a higher seed production than A. hypochondriacus. Mexico and Montana accessions, both belonging to A. cruentus, showed the highest yield (3.73 t ha−1, on average). Few differences emerged in nutritive value between species and accessions: the Illinois accession of A. cruentus showed the best performance in terms of in vitro degradability and gas production, but not for volatile fatty acid production; the fermentation kinetics was slowest in the Illinois accession and fastest in the Montana accession of A. cruentus and the India accession of A. hypochondriacus. CONCLUSION: From a health perspective, the Nebraska accession of A. hypochondriacus represents the best accession, with the lowest saturated fatty acid content and the highest polyunsaturated fatty acid content. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry

Productive and qualitative traits of amaranthus cruentus l.: An unconventional healthy ingredient in animal feed

Agronomic traits, oil content, fatty acid composition, antioxidant activity, and total phenolic content were studied on eight A. cruentus accessions cultivated in Southern Italy. A one-way ANOVA model was performed to compare accessions and the Principal Components Analysis was applied to identify patterns in our dataset and highlight similarities and differences. A. cruentus showed valuable seed yield (0.27 kg/m2, on average) comparable to the main tradition cereals used for animal feeding. Seed-oil composition showed significant differences among the accessions. Data showed a higher lipid content than most cereal grains (from 5.6 to 7.3%). Approximately 60% of fatty acids were unsaturated; linoleic fatty acid ranged from 19 to 34%, oleic acid from 29 to 36%, and alfa-linolenic fatty acid from 0.3 to 0.5%, respectively. The saturated/unsaturated fatty acid ratio ranged from 0.5 to 0.8, the hypocholesterolemic:hypercholesterolaemic ratio from 1.7 to 2.7, the Atherogenic Index from 0.38 to 0.66, the Thrombogenic Index from 0.85 to 1.48, the total phenolic content from 0.14 to 0.36 mg/g seeds, and the antioxidant activity (DPPH•) from 0.30 to 0.50. The studied seed-oil composition evidenced A. cruentus as a healthy ingredient for animal feed and consequently, as a possible substitute for traditional cereals. Accessions from Mexico and Arizona emerged for their high qualitative traits

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.</p