The acoustics of contiones, or how many Romans could have heard speakers

Contiones – assemblies during which important Roman politicians discussed the laws proposed at the People’s Assemblies as well as candidates for the offices and presented their opinions to the Roman people – are considered by some scholars as one of the central institutions and rituals of the Roman Republic. Considering the role contiones played in the political life of the Roman Republic, we can ask how many Romans participated in them. In our paper we present results of acoustic analyses of two places at the Forum Romanum that we know were platforms for speakers at contiones: the Rostra and the podium of the Temple of Castores. The main goal of our study was to establish the maximum number of participants that could have heard speeches inteligibly. To do that we used a 3D model of Forum Romanum considering not only the geometry but also the acoustic parameters of materials used to construct the rostra and adjacent constructions. Based on the sound power level of a speaker and possible noise sources, on which the recipients were exposed to, we established areas where speeches could have been heard and understood. This in turn allowed us to estimate the maximum number of recipients

Job Quality and Workers’ Power in Logistics in the Context of the COVID-19 (post)Pandemic Crisis in Poland

The paper explores the selected aspects of job quality (remuneration, working time/work pressure, collective interest representation) in the logistic industry in the context of the COVID-19 health and socio-economic crisis. It draws from the literature review, secondary data and expert interviews with trade union and employer organisations representatives carried out within the COV-WORK project funded by National Science Centre in Poland. The research adopts the power resources approach to explore the relevance of market, institutional, organisational and societal aspects of workers’ collective resources in various sections of logistic services on the changes of their job quality and their collective responses to these changes during pandemic. The analysis is focused on three occupational groups: (1) logistics centres employees, (2) lorry drivers, and (3) parcel-delivery couriers. The analysis suggests that the increase in workers’ structural power due to surge in demand on logistic services and their strategic importance during pandemic is insufficient for workers’ counter-actions against the deterioration of job quality during pandemic, unless reinforced by collective labour organisations (associational power)

One, Two, Three! Can everybody hear me? : Acoustics of Roman contiones : case studies of the Capitoline Hill and the Temple of Bellona in Rome

Retoryka była jednym z fundamentów rzymskiej edukacji a wystąpienia publiczne esencją bycia rzymskim politykiem. Mówcy starali się oczarować publiczność swoim stylem i przekonać ich do swoich argumentów. Badanie publiczności jest zatem równie ważne, jak badanie mówców i ich przemówień. Celem tego artykułu jest oszacowanie liczby osób, które mogły w zrozumiały sposób usłyszeć mówcę wygłaszającego przemówienie z dwóch mównic znajdujących się w Rzymie: podium Świątyni Bellony na Polu Marsowym (w okresie późnej republiki i późnej Augusta) oraz Świątyni Kapitolińskiej. W tym celu zbudowaliśmy wirtualne rekonstrukcje obu miejsc zgodnie z aktualnym stanem wiedzy na ich temat, biorąc pod uwagę geometrię przestrzeni, a także materiały, z których zostały zbudowane. Na tak przygotowanych modelach przeprowadziliśmy symulacje akustyczne dla trzech różnych poziomów szumu tła (36, 49 i 55 dBA), uzyskując mapy współczynnika transmisji mowy (STI). Wyniki stały się podstawą do oszacowania wielkości maksymalnego potencjalnego tłumu, który mógł słyszeć mowę w sposób zrozumiały, przy użyciu dwóch metod opartych na zachowaniu współczesnego tłumu. Następnie porównaliśmy nasze wyniki z wynikami wcześniejszych badań dotyczących innych mównic w Rzymie.Rhetoric was one of the cornerstones of Roman education and public speaking, the essence of being a Roman politician. The speakers attempted to captivate the audience with their style and convince them of their arguments. Studying the audience is therefore just as important as investigating the speakers and their speeches. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of people who could intelligibly hear a speaker delivering a speech from two speaking platforms located in the city of Rome: the podium of the Temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius (in the Late Republican and Late Augustan periods) and the Capitoline Temple. To do this, we built virtual reconstructions of both venues according to the current state of knowledge about them, taking into account the geometry of the space as well as the materials from which they were built. On the models thus prepared, we carried out acoustic simulations for three different levels of background noise (36, 49, and 55 dBA), resulting in Speech Transmission Index maps. The results became the basis upon which we estimated the size of the maximum potential crowds that could hear speech intelligibly, using two methods based on the behaviour of contemporary crowds. We further compared our results with those of previous studies that concern other speaking platforms in Rome

The influence of new material technology on acoustic treatment of modernized interiors

The paper deals with the problem of the acoustic treatment using modern material technology in the modernization of old interiors. On the example of an auditorium with approved acoustics, that was built in 1962 and is located at the Lviv Polytechnic, some important directions in handling this type of object was shown. The acoustic measurements of the room showed, that structures used in the 60s are acoustically proper, but planned renovation should be based on modern technologies

Cavin1; a regulator of lung function and macrophage phenotype.

Caveolae are cell membrane invaginations that are highly abundant in adipose tissue, endothelial cells and the lung. The formation of caveolae is dependent on the expression of various structural proteins that serve as scaffolding for these membrane invaginations. Cavin1 is a newly identified structural protein whose deficiency in mice leads to loss of caveolae formation and to development of a lipodystrophic phenotype. In this study, we sought to investigate the functional role of Cavin1 in the lung. Cavin1 deficient mice possessed dramatically altered distal lung morphology and exhibited significant physiological alterations, notably, increased lung elastance. The changes in distal lung architecture were associated with hypercellularity and the accumulation of lung macrophages. The increases in lung macrophages occurred without changes to circulating numbers of mononuclear cells and without evidence for increased proliferation. However, the increases in lung macrophages were associated with higher levels of macrophage chemotactic factors CXCL2 and CCL2 in BAL fluid from Cavin1-/- mice suggesting a possible mechanism by which these cells accumulate. In addition, lung macrophages from Cavin1-/- mice were larger and displayed measurable differences in gene expression when compared to macrophages from wild-type mice. Interestingly, macrophages were also increased in adipose tissue but not in liver, kidney or skeletal muscle from Cavin1-/- mice, and similar tissue specificity for macrophage accumulation was observed in lungs and adipose tissue from Caveolin1-/- mice. In conclusion, this study demonstrates an important role for Cavin1 in lung homeostasis and suggests that caveolae structural proteins are necessary for regulating macrophage number and phenotype in the lung

The Acoustics of Contiones, or How Many Romans Could Have Heard Speakers

Contiones – assemblies during which important Roman politicians discussed the laws proposed at the People’s Assemblies as well as candidates for the offices and presented their opinions to the Roman people – are considered by some scholars as one of the central institutions and rituals of the Roman Republic. Considering the role contiones played in the political life of the Roman Republic, we can ask how many Romans participated in them. In our paper we present results of acoustic analyses of two places at the Forum Romanum that we know were platforms for speakers at contiones: the Rostra and the podium of the Temple of Castores. The main goal of our study was to establish the maximum number of participants that could have heard speeches inteligibly. To do that we used a 3D model of Forum Romanum considering not only the geometry but also the acoustic parameters of materials used to construct the rostra and adjacent constructions. Based on the sound power level of a speaker and possible noise sources, on which the recipients were exposed to, we established areas where speeches could have been heard and understood. This in turn allowed us to estimate the maximum number of recipients

Impact sound reduction measurement method for lightweight floor screed

Development and implementation of a new product in the form of a lightweight screed with high impact sound reduction require a lot of measurements of different aggregates of lightweight elements and filling. The manufacturing process influences the final parameters of the solutions as well. This is why a method was developed, that allowed a comparison of many different samples within one measurement session. The measured samples must therefore be small and easy to move. In the paper, various possibilities of impact sound reduction measurements were analyzed being different variants of the normative methods and those existing in the literature on the subject. Based on the obtained results, it was shown that for lightweight floor screeds, sound pressure level measurement is more reliable than vibration acceleration measurements. The top vinyl layer used between the tapping machine and the sample did not influence the results significantly and protected the sample from being distorted by the tapping machine hammers

Measurements of the Sound Absorption Coefficient of Auditorium Seats for Various Geometries of the Samples

This paper presents the results of measurements of the sound absorption coefficient of auditorium seats carried out in the laboratory using two methods. In the first one, small blocks of seats in various arrangements were studied in a reverberation chamber to determine the absorption coefficient of an auditorium of infinite dimensions. The results were compared to the values of the absorption coefficient measured using the second method, which involved samples enclosed within a frame screening the side surfaces of other auditorium blocks. The results of both methods allowed for the assessment of the sound absorption coefficient of an auditorium of any dimensions while taking into account the sound absorption by the side surfaces. The method developed by the authors will simplify the currently known measurement procedures