ESR/U-series chronology of the Lower Palaeolithic palaeoanthropological site of Visogliano, Trieste, Italy

The Visogliano shelter, in north-eastern Italy, is an important Middle Pleistocene occupation site where human remains were found together with an archaic lithic industry, including choppers, chopping tools and a few protobifaces. It is of utmost importance to try to document this period, when a second wave of settlement colonised Western Europe, carrying new flaking techniques and tools.Combined ESR/U-series analyses, integrated with biostratigraphical and environmental data, define a chronological frame for the layers from which the artefacts were unearthed. The lower levels, including human remains, can be dated to the 350–500 kyr time span, in agreement with micromammal and stratigraphical studies.These data make Visogliano one of the oldest palaeoanthropological sites in Italy, where human remains are directly associated with protobifaces, choppers and chopping tools. In Western Europe, Visogliano is contemporaneous to the G soil of the Arago Cave, France, with which it shares several similarities in faunal assemblages and radiometric data, and which contains human remains also. These data make Visogliano as one of the oldest sites in Europe where the Acheulian culture is observed.     

Functional outlier detection by a local depth with application to NO<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> levels

This paper proposes methods to detect outliers in functional data sets and the task of identifying atypical curves is carried out using the recently proposed kernelized functional spatial depth (KFSD). KFSD is a local depth that can be used to order the curves of a sample from the most to the least central, and since outliers are usually among the least central curves, we present a probabilistic result which allows to select a threshold value for KFSD such that curves with depth values lower than the threshold are detected as outliers. Based on this result, we propose three new outlier detection procedures. The results of a simulation study show that our proposals generally outperform a battery of competitors. We apply our procedures to a real data set consisting in daily curves of emission levels of nitrogen oxides (NO\(_{x}\)) since it is of interest to identify abnormal NO\(_{x}\) levels to take necessary environmental political actions.     

Possible effects of human impacts on epibenthic communities and coral rubble features in the marine Park of Bunaken (Indonesia)

Indo-Pacific coral reefs are considered among the most complex and biodiversified ecosystems in the world. Their existence is threatened by both natural and anthropogenic factors. Therefore, the assessment of anthropogenic disturbances is necessary to protect and manage these marine natural resources. In Bunaken Marine Park (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) epibenthic assemblages and coral rubble features at four impacted sites (each of them located close to villages and frequently exploited as recreational diving spots), and four well preserved sites (far from villages and scarcely frequented by divers), were investigated at 6, 12 and 18 m depth, in order to identify possible reef modifications. The assemblages were sampled by way of photographs. Coral rubble cover was estimated both by way of photographs and along belt transects, while grain size and the living fraction of the coral rubble were assessed by direct samples. The data showed significant differences between the study sites and between depths with regard to human activity. The hard coral cover and the assemblage heterogeneity are higher in control sites than in the impacted site where, especially in shallow water, the mechanical damage can strongly affect the assemblage structure.     

On the equations of the dynamics of the attracting point masses

On the equations of the dynamics of the attracting point masses     

Assessment of the performance of hysteretic energy dissipation bracing systems

The advantages of passive supplemental dampers for performance enhancement of new and existing structures have been demonstrated extensively in the past. The big amount of experimental tests carried out all over the world on framed structures upgraded by energy dissipating bracing (EDB) systems based on hysteretic dampers (HDs), have shown their effectiveness in reducing seismic effects on buildings. The mechanical characteristics of the HDs in some cases may be different from those arising by the design procedure due to industrial tolerance or because of some damage suffered during previous earthquakes. In order to assess the robustness of this technique, in terms of capacity of seismic vibrations control even for significant changes in the mechanical characteristics of the EDB system respect to the design ones, in this paper experimental tests and parametric nonlinear time history analysis have been carried out changing the characteristics of the HD stiffness and strength. The experimental results refer to the shaking table tests performed at the Structural Laboratory of the University of Basilicata within a wide research program, named Joint Experimental Testing on Passive and semiActive Control Systems. The program has been completely funded by the Italian Department of Civil Protection within the activity of the Research Line 7 of the ReLUIS (Italian Network of University Laboratories of Earthquake Engineering) 2005–2008 project. A displacement-focused design procedure has been considered to evaluate the mechanical characteristics of the dissipating system, with the aim of limiting inter-storey drifts after frame yielding. From the experimental point of view, two design solutions have been tested for chevron braces equipped with HD, assuming the same stiffness but different values of both ductility demand and yield strength of the HDs. Moreover, parametric studies have been performed through numerical simulations. This paper provides an overview of the experimental set up and briefly summarizes the experimental outcomes and the comparison with the results of numerical nonlinear time history analysis. Moreover, the results of the parametric analysis for the assessment of the performances of the dissipating system in controlling structural response are presented.     

Observations and box model analysis of radon-222 in the atmospheric surface layer at L’Aquila,Italy: March 2009 case study

Two years of radon-222 observations collected at L’Aquila (Italy) in the atmospheric surface layer during 2004–2006 were analyzed in correlation with meteorological data and other atmospheric tracers. A box model was developed to better understand the mechanisms of diurnal and seasonal variability of the tracer and to indirectly assess the magnitude of the monthly averaged radon soil flux in the L’Aquila measurement site. The model was successfully validated with measurements, with a 0.8 average correlation coefficient between hourly values for the whole period of radon observations. Measurements taken during March 2009 were analyzed to find possible signs of perturbation due to the ongoing seismic activity that would have reached its peak on the 6 April 2009 destructive earthquake. Contrary to the professed (and unpublished) dramatic increases of radon activity unofficially announced to the inhabitants at that time, the study presented here shows that no radon activity increase took place in L’Aquila with respect to a previous ‘seismically unperturbed’ year (same month with similar meteorological conditions), but that an average 30 % decrease was experienced. This conclusion is reached from a direct comparison of observed data and also as a result of the previously validated radon box model constrained by actual meteorological data, from which an indirect estimate of a 17 % reduction of the radon soil flux is obtained.     

A merger tree with microsolar mass resolution: application to γ-ray emission from subhalo population

Observations of the southern Cepheid ℓ Car to yield the mean angular diameter and angular pulsation amplitude have been made with the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer at a wavelength of 696 nm. The resulting mean limb-darkened angular diameter is 2.990 ± 0.017 mas (i.e. ± 0.6 per cent) with a maximum-to-minimum amplitude of 0.560 ± 0.018 mas corresponding to 18.7 ± 0.6 per cent in the mean stellar diameter. Careful attention has been paid to uncertainties, including those in measurements, in the adopted calibrator angular diameters, in the projected values of visibility squared at zero baseline, and to systematic effects. No evidence was found for a circumstellar envelope at 696 nm. The interferometric results have been combined with radial displacements of the stellar atmosphere derived from selected radial velocity data taken from the literature to determine the distance and mean diameter of ℓ Car. The distance is determined to be 525 ± 26 pc and the mean radius  169 ± 8 R_⊙  . Comparison with published values for the distance and mean radius shows excellent agreement, particularly when a common scaling factor from observed radial velocity to pulsation velocity of the stellar atmosphere (the p -factor) is used.     

The Campo Felice late Pleistocene Glaciation (Apennines,central Italy)

Study of the glacial deposits and lacustrine sediments of Campo Felice (Apennines, central Italy) has enabled the glacial phases of the last 40 ka to be dated more precisely, and has demonstrated that the maximum glacial advance did not occur in correspondence with the last global glacial maximum and with the coldest and most arid phase suggested by the pollen, but in a period dated between about 33 and 27 ka, characterized by a less extreme climate. Furthermore, a glacial expansion took place also in the period prior to 35 ka. Correlation with the Alpine glacial variations has shown that the Apennine last glacial maximum occurred before that of the southern slope of the Alps. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.