Towards simulating the photometry, chemistry, mass loss and pulsational properties of AGB star populations in resolved galaxies

Extended and updated grids of TP-AGB tracks have been implemented in the TRILEGAL population synthesis code, which generates mock stellar catalogues for a galaxy given its mass, distance, star formation history and age-metallicity relation, including also the Milky Way foreground population. Among the stellar parameters that are simulated, we now include the surface chemistry, mass-loss rates, pulsation modes and periods of LPVs. This allows us to perform a series of consistency checks between AGB model predictions and observations, that we are just starting to explore. We present a few examples of model--data comparisons, mostly regarding the near-infrared and variability data for AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, contributed talk to the workshop "Why galaxies care about AGB stars", Vienna, August 7-11, 200

I labirinti narrativi Di marcella cioni

In Marcella Cioni’s narrative, a competitive psychological tension prevails between the limits imposed by official culture and the desire for free and complete expression of the “I”. Her characters are all in search of their own identity and, after having discovered its coordinates, they make desperate attempts to give form to their profound feelings. Her women characters seem more able and more willing to take risks than the men, indeed they sometimes display an extreme, irrational desire for self-affirmation. The male characters are more conditioned by their socio-historical roles and their journeys are more complicated and more intellectual. Cioni’s ambitious narrative project is given germane expression by the intelligent, linguistically and structurally elaborate plots devised by this new Italian writer

Ranking Electoral Systems through Hierarchical Properties Ranking

Electoral systems are characterized by a wide spectrum of properties that cannot be all satisfied at the same time. We aim at examining such properties within a hierarchical framework, based on Analytic Hierarchy Process, performing pairwise comparisons at various levels of a hierarchy to get a global ranking of the electoral systems. In this way it should be possible to estimate the relative importance of each property with respect to the final ranking of every electoral formula.Electoral systems, global ranking, hierarchy, aggregations

Methods and Models for Environmental Conflicts Analysis and Resolution

This thesis is a description of a particular approach to the analysis and resolution of environmental conflicts. Within this framework we have presented a certain number of models as well as a certain number of methods and procedures with an heavy descriptive value but also with some normative value. On the other hand, this thesis is not a general and exhaustive description of the methods for the analysis and resolution of environmental conflicts nor it contains a full and exhaustive analysis of the literature in this area. Moreover this thesis is not a collection of turnkey recipes that can be used to analyze and resolve a particular environmental problem. An outline of the thesis The present thesis is composed by seven chapters and three short appendices. The first chapter presents the general frameworks of the thesis, defines its motivations and aims, frames some basic concepts and describes both the adopted attitudes and the proposed narratives. The second chapter is devoted essentially to an analysis of the various types of actors and of their interrelations as well as to a presentation of the various perspectives that represent the families of models we discuss in chapters 5 and 6. In the third chapter we provide a detailed critical analysis of System Dynamics as a cognitive tool that acts as a background of the whole thesis though it is mentioned explicitly only in chapter 6. The fourth chapter contains a presentation of two family of protocols (auctions and barters) that we propose both as autonomous tools and as ancillary tools of other protocols. The fifth chapter contains the analysis of the ways through which a coalition of heterogeneous deciders may form in order to define a solution to a common problem. The chapter contains an iterative procedure made of two phases (a static setting phase and a dynamic setting phase) that can be executed repeatedly by the deciders until they reach a satisfactory solution. The sixth chapter contains a description of the procedures and methods through which two or more deciders can enter into competition among themselves on two or more competing projects in order to possibly select one of them and, lastly, share among themselves the costs and benefits associated to the selected project. In the seventh chapter we draw some conclusions, list some open problems and underline some topics worth of further research efforts. The appendices aim at making this thesis as self contained as possible and therefore they contain some of the concepts we refer to in the main chapters but that we preferred to put there so to avoid cluttering too much those chapters. For these reasons we put a brief analysis of some concepts of System Dynamics in Appendix A, a description of some concepts of Decision Theory in Appendix B and a small bunch of concepts of Game Theory in Appendix C

Distances to six Cepheids in the LMC cluster NGC1866 from the near-IR surface-brightness method

We derive individual distances to six Cepheids in the young populous star cluster NGC1866 in the Large Magellanic Cloud employing the near-IR surface brightness technique. With six stars available at the exact same distance we can directly measure the intrinsic uncertainty of the method. We find a standard deviation of 0.11 mag, two to three times larger than the error estimates and more in line with the estimates from Bayesian statistical analysis by Barnes et al. (2005). Using all six distance estimates we determine an unweighted mean cluster distance of 18.30+-0.05. The observations indicate that NGC1866 is close to be at the same distance as the main body of the LMC. If we use the stronger dependence of the p-factor on the period as suggested by Gieren et al. (2005) we find a distance of 18.50+-0.05 (internal error) and the PL relations for Galactic and MC Cepheids are in very good agreement.Comment: Presented at the conference "Stellar Pulsation and Evolution" in Monte Porzio Catone, June 2005. To appear in Mem. Soc. Ast. It. 76/

Is technological change really skill biased? Evidence from the introduction of ICTs on the textile sector (1980-2000)

This paper investigates the effects of the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the skills of a workforce. Using micro-data collected from workers in the textile sector, we analyse whether the introduction of ICTs has modified workers’ tasks, so that higher skills and longer training periods than before are necessary. Our survey has shown that ICTs i) have replaced unskilled labour in some cases and skilled labour in others; ii) have changed workers’ tasks in some cases but not in others; and finally, iii) have brought about an increase in skills for only a small number of occupations. This empirical evidence does not confirm the hypothesis that technological change, and in particular change introduced by ICTs, is necessarily skill biasedTechnological change, skill bias, textile industry

RR Lyrae stars in the inner LMC: Where did they form?

RR Lyrae stars (RRLS) belong to population II and are generally used as a tracer of the host galaxy halo. The surface as well as vertical distribution of RRLS in the inner Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are studied to understand whether these stars are actually formed in the halo. RRLS identified by the OGLE III survey are used to estimate their number density distribution. The scale-height of their distribution is estimated using extinction corrected average magnitudes of ab type stars. The density distribution mimics the bar, confirming results in the literature. The distribution of their scale height indicates that there may be two populations, one with smaller scale-height, very similar to the red clump stars and the other, much larger. The distribution of the reddening-corrected magnitude along the minor axis shows variation, suggesting an inclination. The inclination is estimated to be i = 31.3 (3.5) degrees, very similar to the inclination of the disk. Thus, the RRLS in the inner LMC mimic the bar and inclination of the disk, suggesting that a major fraction of RRLS is formed in the disk of the LMC. The results indicate that the RRLS in the inner LMC trace the disk and probably the inner halo. They do not trace the extended metal-poor halo of the LMC. We suggest that a major star formation event happened in the LMC at 10-12 Gyrs ago, resulting in the formation of most of the inner RRLS, as well as probably the globular clusters, inner halo and the disk of the LMC.Comment: A&A Letters (in press