Informal social networks, organised crime and local labour market

This paper’s purpose is to show a new informal social networks interpretation, according to which social networks change their nature if they are located in social contexts where organised crime is relevant. Here the perusal of a social network is just a necessary condition to enter the labour market rather than a deliberate choice. Moreover this labour market is the ground where favouritisms and social and electoral consensus policies take placesocial networks, organised crime, labour market

Current Status and Perspectives of Cosmic Microwave Background Observations

Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation provide a unique opportunity for a direct study of the primordial cosmic plasma at redshift z ~1000. The angular power spectra of temperature and polarisation fluctuations are powerful observational objectives as they encode information on fundamental cosmological parameters and on the physics of the early universe. A large number of increasingly ambitious balloon-borne and ground-based experiments have been carried out following the first detection of CMB anisotropies by COBE-DMR, probing the angular power spectrum up to high multipoles. The recent data from WMAP provide a new major step forward in measurements percision. The ESA mission Planck Surveyor, to be launched in 2007, is the third-generation satellite devoted to CMB imaging. Planck is expected to extract the full cosmological information from temperature anisotropies and to open up new fronteers in the CMB field.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, to appear in "Proc of International Symposium on Plasmas in the Laboratory and in the Universe: new insights and new challenges", September 16-19, 2003, Como, Ital

Effect of Fourier filters in removing periodic systematic effects from CMB data

We consider the application of high-pass Fourier filters to remove periodic systematic fluctuations from full-sky survey CMB datasets. We compare the filter performance with destriping codes commonly used to remove the effect of residual 1/f noise from timelines. As a realistic working case, we use simulations of the typical Planck scanning strategy and Planck Low Frequency Instrument noise performance, with spurious periodic fluctuations that mimic a typical thermal disturbance. We show that the application of Fourier high-pass filters in chunks always requires subsequent normalisation of induced offsets by means of destriping. For a complex signal containing all the astrophysical and instrumental components, the result obtained by applying filter and destriping in series is comparable to the result obtained by destriping only, which makes the usefulness of Fourier filters questionable for removing this kind of effects.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, published in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Somatic, but not cognitive-affective, symptoms are associated with reduced heart rate variability in individuals with dysphoria

Background: Somatic, but not cognitive-affective, symptoms of depression have been associated with reduced heart rate variability (HRV), and with poor prognosis in cardiovascular patients. However, factors concomitant with cardiovascular diseases may confound the relationship between somatic symptoms of depression and reduced HRV. Therefore, this study examined whether reduced HRV was differentially associated with cognitive-affective and somatic symptoms of depression in medically healthy individuals with and without dysphoria. Methods: Self-reported cognitive-affective and somatic symptoms as measured with the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) questionnaire and time and frequency domain parameters of HRV were collected in 62 medically healthy individuals, of whom 25 with and 37 without dysphoria. Results: Somatic, but not cognitive-affective, symptoms of depression were inversely associated with standard deviation of NN intervals (SDNN) (beta = -0.476, p .24). Conclusions: By showing that the relationship between somatic depressive symptoms and reduced HRV extends to medically healthy individuals with dysphoria, the present findings suggest that this association is independent of factors concomitant with cardiovascular diseases. The present study also suggests that individuals with somatic rather than cognitive-affective subsets of depressive symptoms may be at greater risk for developing cardiovascular diseases

Messaggi nelle figlinae: un nuovo graffito ante cocturam dall’ager Taurinensis

Un nuovo testo graffito su di un mattone già esposto nell’antiquarium di Collegno (TO) si aggiunge alle testimonianze relative ai laterizi stilo inscripti che riguardano le relazioni personali fra gli operai nelle figlinae. Su questi particolari messaggi viene proposta una classificazione preliminare.Un texte inédit sur un brique qui a été dejà exposé dans l’antiquarium de Collegno (TO), va accroître les témoignages relatives au matériel en argile cuite concernant les relations personnelles entre les ouvriers qui travaillaient dans les figlinae. Sur cette particulière documentation on propose une classification préliminaire

The microwave sky after one year of Planck operations

The ESA Planck satellite, launched on May 14th, 2009, is the third generation space mission dedicated to the measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the first light in the Universe. Planck observes the full sky in nine frequency bands from 30 to 857 GHz and is designed to measure the CMB anisotropies with an unprecedented combination of sensitivity, angular resolution and control of systematic effects. In this presentation we summarise the Planck instruments performance and discuss the main scientific results obtained after one year of operations in the fields of galactic and extragalactic astrophysics.Comment: Invited presentation at the 13th ICATPP Conference on Astroparticle, Particle, Space Physics and Detectors for Physics Applications (Villa Olmo, Como 3-7 October 2011

Tracing the Rise of Food Mash-ups

Tracing the Rise of Food Mash-ups In 2013, Chef Dominique Ansel gave the world something it had never seen before -- the Cronut. The cross between a donut and a croissant sent shockwaves that rippled through the New York City culinary scene and through food culture across the country. People waited in line for hours and even sold their Cronuts on the black market. While the line for the dessert has simmered down in recent years, the effort to follow suit has not. Restaurateurs, fast-food establishments and food bloggers quickly made efforts to construct new dishes with strange food combinations, some whipping up eats that are beloved by foodies -- and Instagram accounts -- while others have missed the mark with their wacky combinations. In the midst of the Cronut’s success, a look back at culinary history reveals that unique food combinations existed before, for example, in fusion-food culture of the 1990’s. But the mix of food mash-ups and millennial social-media interest put it into the forefront of food culture in a new way. This story will touché on the current state of food mash-ups and fads; discusses the history of food mash-ups; examines success stories; and looks at where food-mash-up culture is going. https://medium.com/@jennifer.mennella/tracing-the-rise-of-food-mash-ups-588625f31d7