The XXL survey: first results and future

The XXL survey currently covers two 25 sq. deg. patches with XMM observations of ~10ks. We summarise the scientific results associated with the first release of the XXL data set, that occurred mid 2016. We review several arguments for increasing the survey depth to 40 ks during the next decade of XMM operations. X-ray (z1 cluster density. It will eventually constitute a reference study and an ideal calibration field for the upcoming eROSITA and Euclid missions

The XXL Survey: I. Scientific motivations - XMM-Newton observing plan - Follow-up observations and simulation programme

We present the XXL Survey, the largest XMM programme totaling some 6.9 Ms to date and involving an international consortium of roughly 100 members. The XXL Survey covers two extragalactic areas of 25 deg2 each at a point-source sensitivity of ~ 5E-15 erg/sec/cm2 in the [0.5-2] keV band (completeness limit). The survey's main goals are to provide constraints on the dark energy equation of state from the space-time distribution of clusters of galaxies and to serve as a pathfinder for future, wide-area X-ray missions. We review science objectives, including cluster studies, AGN evolution, and large-scale structure, that are being conducted with the support of approximately 30 follow-up programmes. We describe the 542 XMM observations along with the associated multi-lambda and numerical simulation programmes. We give a detailed account of the X-ray processing steps and describe innovative tools being developed for the cosmological analysis. The paper provides a thorough evaluation of the X-ray data, including quality controls, photon statistics, exposure and background maps, and sky coverage. Source catalogue construction and multi-lambda associations are briefly described. This material will be the basis for the calculation of the cluster and AGN selection functions, critical elements of the cosmological and science analyses. The XXL multi-lambda data set will have a unique lasting legacy value for cosmological and extragalactic studies and will serve as a calibration resource for future dark energy studies with clusters and other X-ray selected sources. With the present article, we release the XMM XXL photon and smoothed images along with the corresponding exposure maps. The XMM XXL observation list (Table B.1) is available in electronic form at the CDS. The present paper is the first in a series reporting results of the XXL-XMM survey

Guglielmo Marconi : the Pioneer of Wireless Communications

In 1909 Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Although very young - he was thirty-five-years old - he had proved how far his system of wireless telegraphy could work, from the first experiments carried out near Bologna, till the first commercial transatlantic servi ce inaugurated in 1907. This successful path will be presented as well as some considerations on Marconi\u2019s legacy in teleco mmunications, 100 hundred years after his most prestigious award

Guglielmo Marconi tra storia e cronaca

Trattato storico scientifico su marconi e le sue scopert

Marconi Galaxy: Technology, Cultural Models, Myth-Making

The event is supported by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (IOF Development Grant) and by the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of Bologna as ISA Topic 2009. The goal is to popularise through performances and open talks the result of s research project dedicated to the impact that the wireless is having on our daily life, as well as on our imagination. On December 12, 1901, Guglielmo Marconi and his assistants received the first transatlantic wireless communication transmitted from Poldhu, Cornwall to Signal Hill, Newfoundland. This feat has played a pivotal role in communication practices and has influenced the mythic foundations of the field. In his famous book The Gutenberg Galaxy, Marshall McLuhan invokes the name of Guglielmo Marconi to underline the passage from the mechanical age to the new electrical age of radio and television. The idea of a galaxy suggests the existence and the instantiation of a broad constellation of social and cultural changes. For this event, we have assembled an international group of Canadian and Italian scholars who are interested in the role that the wireless imaginary has played in shaping our everyday practices. It is these practices that constitute the substance of this constellation. Working within this metaphoric trajectory, we term this shift the 'Marconi Galaxy', an appellation coined by McLuhan. Our international research efforts will investigate these shifts into the electric age, which are still being realized. In 1909 Guglielmo Marconi received the Nobel Prize in physics, the first Nobel Prize in that field awarded to an Italian. In 2009, Canada and Italy will be participating in a series of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Marconi's contribution to the invention of one of the first systems of wireless communication, the radio. This important international moment offers the perfect occasion to reassess and revisit Marconi\u2019s inventions at the dawn of a new wireless era of the internet and mobile computing devices. It offers an opportunity to investigate the role that these technologies have played in establishing innovative and groundbreaking cultural, sociological and political alignments. In the past hundred years, we have moved from the presence of analogue-based stationary transmitters and receivers to the use of digital mobile devices, from a broadcasting model predicated on the movement of information to new modes of communication that are many to many and highly interactive. These reverberations were set into motion with Marconi's single 'click' created by an electromagnetic impulse. Today, these same impulses are capable of transmitting sound and moving images in real time from 'terra firma' to satellites circling the earth. It is precisely these reverberations, impulses and interactions that will be explored throug this event, emphasizing the complex evolutionary processes that have made such developments possible. It is for these reasons that the collaboration between Canadian and Italian academic scholars, designers and curators is here encouraged to trigger a set of unique understandings of these societal phenomena and facilitate their popularisation

The managerial work of Italian city managers: an empirical analysis

Among the measures taken to reform local government in Italy, one of the most significant is the introduction of the post of city manager. In this paper we outline the personal and professional traits of city managers in today’s Italy. The study provides a snapshot of a situation marked by increasing dynamism, but still with a certain degree of conservatism. A picture emerges of a manager with multiple roles, spending most time within the organisation and whose work seems typically orientated towards internal stakeholders rather than external constituencies. However, the changing role of municipalities in the Italian context poses new challenges and these will probably influence the evolution of the content of the managers’ work