An optimised workflow for the interactive experience with cultural heritage through reality-based 3d models: Cases study in archaeological and urban complexes

The paper compares two workflows for the achievement of 3D models aimed at in-depth studies on the geometric features of Cultural Heritage artefacts and their dissemination. The purpose is the outlining of pros and cons of different techniques coming from entertainment and video games industry, starting from highly reliable 3D documentation of cultural assets, i.e. architectural/archaeological/urban sites. Two different possible applications are described: (i) procedural modelling used for understanding and visualising reconstruction hypotheses of the vaulted pavilions at Hadrian\u2019s Villa, Tivoli, Rome; (ii) optimisation of 3D high-detailed models, as input files, turned into visual reliable and highly portable assets for game-engines. The first case study is focussed on creating a flexible model for evalueting reconstruction hypotheses and supplying restorers with useful hints for shape completion of ruined pavilions. The second case study makes available detailed digital contents for storytelling historical and cultural events in an attractive way, as in the case of the urban explorative model of Chiuro, a small town in northern Italy

SACHER Project: A Cloud Platform and Integrated Services for Cultural Heritage and for Restoration

The SACHER project provides a distributed, open source and federated cloud platform able to support the life-cycle management of various kinds of data concerning tangible Cultural Heritage. The paper describes the SACHER platform and, in particular, among the various integrated service prototypes, the most important ones to support restoration processes and cultural asset management: (i) 3D Life Cycle Management for Cultural Heritage (SACHER 3D CH), based on 3D digital models of architecture and dedicated to the management of Cultural Heritage and to the storage of the numerous data generated by the team of professionals involved in the restoration process; (ii) Multidimensional Search Engine for Cultural Heritage (SACHER MuSE CH), an advanced multi-level search system designed to manage Heritage data from heterogeneous sources

The colour of stones and mosaics in Ravenna: new images of ancient monuments using the latest generation of unconventional photogrammetry

[EN] This paper focuses on texture accuracy for a reliable simulation of construction materials present in some important historic monuments on the World Heritage List, dating back to Late Antiquity in Ravenna (Italy). A series of novel strategies will be explained in order to take advantage of automatic texturing solutions of 3D digital models created by Structure from Motion (SfM) applications. These monuments will be used as case studies toillustrate a shadow removal technique on Lambertian surfaces (stone, mortar, bricks, etc.) from apparent colour texture and a rapid approach for optic simulation of mosaic decoration. The latter consists of splitting a single apparent colour texture into a set of images whose purpose is to supply render engines more suitable shaders for representing coloured mosaic tiles in an optically reliable way[ES] El propósito de este trabajo es destacar el papel de la precisión de la textura para una representación fiable de los materiales presentes en algunos relevantes monumentos de Rávena (Italia), pertenecientes a la Lista del Patrimonio Mundial y que datan de la Antigüedad Tardía. Una serie de estrategias se explicarán con el fin de aprovechar las ventajas de las soluciones automáticas de texturizado de modelos 3D creados con aplicaciones Structure from Motion (SfM). Estos edificios serán los casos de estudios para ilustrar una técnica innovadora para la eliminación de las sombras de la textura aparente del color y un método rápido para la simulación de decoración taraceadas de mosaico. Este último problema consiste en dividir una única textura en un conjunto de imágenes cuya finalidad es ofrecer a los motores de renderizado los shaders más adecuados para la representación en una forma ópticamente fiable de las teselas coloreadas de mosaicoCipriani, L.; Fantini, F.; Bertacchi, S. (2015). El color en las piedras y en los mosaicos de Rávena: nuevas imágenes de los monumentos antiguos a través de la fotogrametría no convencional de última generación. EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. 20(26):190-201. doi:10.4995/ega.2015.4052SWORD1902012026Cipriani, L., Fantini, F., & Bertacchi, S. (2014). 3D models mapping optimization through an integrated parameterization approach: cases studies from Ravenna. ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XL-5, 173-180. doi:10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-5-173-201

Colour measurement and documentation in historical buildings: the case study of the Kirna Manor House in Estonia

Historical buildings and their decorative apparatus have a key role in the transmission of national and local traditions, requiring careful conservation of these structures and their overlapping decorative layers, mostly made up of stuccos and coatings. Unfortunately, the procedures and methodologies for both documenting and preserving such cultural heritage are not clearly standardised in Estonia, where most historic manor houses are managed by private owners who have no precise guidelines to follow during the restoration of such complex structures. To amend this issue, the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) organised an international workshop on “Colour Measurement and Documentation in Architectural Paint Research” with the aim to bring together several experts, techniques and tools from different countries in order to define, optimise and modernise the methodologies employed for the identification, documentation and preservation of historical painted interiors and colours. In addition to a theoretical session, the workshop held in October 2019 entailed practical work at the Kirna Manor House, analysing the entrance hall of the building. The paper presents the results of the research and the discussion between international experts

An overview of the Italian forest biodiversity and its conservation level, based on the first outcomes of the 4th Habitat Report ex-Art. 17

In 2019 the 4th Report ex-Art. 17 on the conservation status (CS) of Annex I Habitats of the 92/43/EEC Directive was expected by every EU/28 country, with reference to the period 2013-18. In Italy, the process was in charge to the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), on behalf of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection (MATTM), with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society (SBI). A large group of thematic and territorial experts elaborated the available data concerning the 124 types of terrestrial and inland water Habitats present in Italy, 39 of which are represented by Forest Habitats (Group 9),. The main aim of the work was the evaluation of the overall CS of each Habitat by Biogeographic Region (Mediterranean, Continental and Alpine), for a total amount of 294 assessments. A high proportion of these (92, corresponding to 31% of the total) referred to Forest Habitats, including 20 marginal types for which the CS was not requested. The analysis was carried out at different scales: a) administrative territory, through the data contained in the ISPRA database, whose compilation was in charge to the Regions and Autonomous Provinces; b) Natura 2000 site, with the latest updates available (Standard Data Forms updated to 2018); c) national scale, implementing the distribution maps for each Habitat based on the European grid ETRS89-LAEA5210 (10x10 km2 mesh); d) Biogeographic Region, scale of the final assessment. Cartographic outcomes, associated databases and additional data used for the assessments will be available online on the ISPRA Portal as soon as the validation process by the European Commission will be completed. A dedicated archive named "HAB_IT" has been created in the national database "VegItaly" (1), managed by the Italian Society of Vegetation Science, where the phytosociological relevés representative of the various Annex I Habitats in Italy will be archived and freely accessible. An overview of the results regarding the Forest habitats is here provided, including a comparison with the outcomes of the former reporting cycle, the 3rd Report ex-Art. 17 (2). In several cases (e.g. 9120, 91L0), the distribution maps have been remarkably improved due to better knowledge and more fitful interpretation. The conservation status resulted as Favourable (FV) for 6,7%, Inadequate (U1) for 58,7% and Bad (U1) for 32,0% of the 72 assessed forest Habitat types. In no case there was an improvement of the conservation status, while in 6 cases a worsening of the conditions resulted from the data analysis, pointing out the Habitats types with a higher need of action. Similarly to other projects carried out as a team by the network of Annex I Habitat experts of the Italian Botanical Society and the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (e.g. 3, 4), this is another step in the direction of supporting the implementation of the 92/43/EEC "Habitat" Directive in Italy and Europe. On this ground, the high biodiversity of the Italian forest Habitats could be emphasized, however results pointed out that some rare or endemic types (e.g. Alnus cordata or Betula aetnensis-dominated forests) are still scarcely acknowledged by the most prominent EU conservation tools such as the Annex I to the "Habitat" Directive. 1) F. Landucci et al. (2012) Plant Biosyst., 146(4), 756-763 2) P. Genovesi et al. (2014) ISPRA, Serie Rapporti, 194/2014 3) E. Biondi et al. (2009) Società Botanica Italiana, MATTM, D.P.N., http://vnr.unipg.it/habitat/ 4) D. Gigante et al. (2016) Plant Sociology, 53(2), 77-8

Shedding light on typical species : implications for habitat monitoring

Habitat monitoring in Europe is regulated by Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, which suggests the use of typical species to assess habitat conservation status. Yet, the Directive uses the term “typical” species but does not provide a definition, either for its use in reporting or for its use in impact assessments. To address the issue, an online workshop was organized by the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (SISV) to shed light on the diversity of perspectives regarding the different concepts of typical species, and to discuss the possible implications for habitat monitoring. To this aim, we inquired 73 people with a very different degree of expertise in the field of vegetation science by means of a tailored survey composed of six questions. We analysed the data using Pearson's Chi-squared test to verify that the answers diverged from a random distribution and checked the effect of the degree of experience of the surveyees on the results. We found that most of the surveyees agreed on the use of the phytosociological method for habitat monitoring and of the diagnostic and characteristic species to evaluate the structural and functional conservation status of habitats. With this contribution, we shed light on the meaning of “typical” species in the context of habitat monitoring

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe