Sonic Tomography for Masonry Walls Characterization

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, Sonic Pulse Velocity tests (SPV tests) are widely applied for detecting the morphology, hidden defects, and voids within structural elements. This technique, largely applied because non invasive and easy to perform, reveals particularly adapt in the case of ancient buildings, where usually any damage is not tolerated due to the historical preservation requirements. Moreover, recently the SPV tests have been also applied with tomography technology to obtain images of sonic speeds from which it is possible to rapidly reconstruct the internal elements morphology.

In this article, the results of some SPV tomographies regarding masonry elements are presented. The tests are carried out with the aim of establishing consistency and accuracy of this technique in determining the morphology of the investigated elements. The influence of investigation points number and noise smoothing is taken into account, too. At first, the results of a tomography derived from synthetic data of an ideal section are shown. Then, the SPV tomographies of some masonry specimens and of elements sections of a real case study are illustrated and compared among them.     

An extremely large saber-tooth cat skull from Uruguay (late Pleistocene–early Holocene,Dolores Formation): body size and paleobiological implications

Abstract

Among the three recognized species of Smilodon, S. populator is the largest in size and has the widest distribution across South America. The present contribution describes an almost complete skull assigned to the aforementioned felid. The material was recovered from sediments of the Dolores Formation (Lujanian Stage/Age) from the southern part of Uruguay. This specimen is remarkable for its unusual craniodental measurements, indicating that it is one of the largest known specimens of the genus. Estimates of body mass indicate that this individual weighed over 400?kg. In addition, maximum prey size estimation greatly surpasses 1 t and approach nearly 3 t. Based on this, aspects of the paleobiology and paleoecology of S. populator are discussed. Undoubtedly, this kind of carnivorous mammal was at the top of the food chain, with clear adaptations for feeding upon the largest available herbivores, which potentially includes several megafaunal mammal species found in South America during the late Pleistocene.

Aldo Manzuetti [aldomanzuetti@adinet.com.uy], Facultad de Ciencias (UdelaR), Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay; Daniel Perea [perea@fcien.edu.uy], Facultad de Ciencias (UdelaR), Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay; Washington Jones [wawijo@yahoo.com.ar], Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 25 de Mayo 582, CP 11000, Montevideo, Uruguay; Martín Ubilla [ubilla@fcien.edu.uy], Facultad de Ciencias (UdelaR), Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay; Andrés Rinderknecht [apaleorinder@yahoo.com], Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 25 de Mayo 582, CP 11000, Montevideo, Uruguay.     

Improving the learning processes of Physical Geography through the use of landscape photographs in class

The use of alternative teaching methods to lectures is one of the keys to develop a more participatory and effective education. In the teaching of Geography, greater interaction of students with elements of the landscape through the active use of photography could be one of the ways to achieve this efficiency. This article describes an experiment conducted in 2016 with students of the subject Physical Geography of the Iberian Peninsula. Two different teaching methodologies were applied to two groups of students. The first one was based on dividing the time of each class between participatory comments of landscape photographs and imparting theoretical knowledge through lectures. The second methodology consisted only of lectures, following a more traditional approach. Additionally, some students from the first group actively participated by uploading and tagging their own field pictures to a photographic repository of the University of Seville. The effectiveness of the different activities in each group was assessed through four tests, performed monthly. The results indicate that the use of landscape photographs as a participative teaching resource allows a more efficient learning of theoretical concepts. Therefore, the proposed methodology should be considered by those interested in improving the quality and effectiveness of their teaching of Geography.     

A Preliminary Study of the Aqueduct of Reccopolis

Reccopolis was a new urban foundation of the late sixth century AD, built by King Liuvigild during the period of the Visigothic state formation. The city was equipped, alongside other facilities, with an aqueduct built ex novo in the Roman technique. This has only recently been studied. The construction of a new city and a new aqueduct indicates a great economic effort by the Visigothic ruler: the event was in itself also a grand act of propaganda in addition to its obvious functional purpose. The aqueduct is itself unmatched in public constructions of this period.     

FOUCAULT'S ‘HALL OF MIRRORS’: AN INVESTIGATION INTO GEO‐EPISTEMOLOGY

In this article we aim to single out a part of Foucault's trihedrals of spatialization – discourses and practices, that is, technologies of power that have their spatialized frames. In order to analyse them we use the concept of a trihedral, not a triangle, because we noticed that several lines can be drawn from any angle and can form new spaces. In such a manner we are able to see their multiplication, separation and parallelisms. Using the trihedrals of spatialization we detect in Foucault's work, besides the demands for a certain (spatialized) ontology, the existence of no less significant geo‐epistemology as knowledge and discourses that are formed in spaces and as the space formed through knowledge/power/discourses. We face a polyvalent character of the angles of the trihedrals and try to avoid the labyrinth into which their multiplication pulls us. The article pays special attention to Foucault's elementary trihedral, life–work–language, in which man came to life as a being who works, speaks and reproduces in a new shape – as population. In this trihedral the angles/concepts are only seemingly separated: they overlap, mix, collide and intertwine in a game that cannot end. That is why this is only a snapshot of the many trihedrals; a possible aggregate of combinations, yet in no case coherent and homogenous. In that sense this article is not an attempt to systematize Foucault's thought but to identify one of the many possible models/matrices for understanding the meaning of his spatial turn and his analysis of power.     

Fluvial dispersal potential of guanaco bones (Lama guanicoe) under controlled experimental conditions: the influence of age classes to the hydrodynamic behavior

Hydrodynamic sorting is a taphonomic process able to transport and scatter bones deposited in archaeological and paleontological sites. This study presents the results of experimentation performed in an artificial flume with guanaco (Lama guanicoe) bones of different ontogenetic development, dry and saturated in water, in hydric flows velocities of 15 and 30 cm/s. The obtained results show that bone global density, the age of the individual, the dry or wet bone state, and the hydric flow velocity influence significantly bone dispersion. In this way, bones from immature individuals with unfused secondary growth centers and relatively low bulk density have better possibility of being transported than fused bones from adult individuals. Taking into account the results obtained in this experimentation and the feasibility of discriminating age categories in fossil assemblages, two bone groups with differential potential transport are presented in this paper. These transport groups constitute a methodological tool to evaluate the role hydric current may had played in the formation of a fossil assemblage.     

#spanishrevolution (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

The article reports on the street protests that took over Spanish cities earlier in May and June. The protests have been explained as a response on the part of new media democratic networks to the governance of the economic crises by corrupt political and financial classes. We offer here a tentative chronology of the events, and essay instead an argument about a revitalised municipalist tradition, that sees in the plaza the centrepiece of new forms of do‐it‐yourself political action.     

Osteological and paleodietary investigation of burials from Cova de la Pastora,Alicante, Spain

We present results of osteological and isotopic analyses of human remains from Cova de la Pastora (Alcoi, Alicante, Spain) and discuss the implications in light of a new sequence of radiocarbon dates indicating that the cave was used as a burial site in the Late Neolithic (ca. 3800–3000 cal BC), Chalcolithic (ca. 3000–2500 cal BC), Bell Beaker Transition (Horizonte Campaniforme Transicional - HCT; ca. 2500–2200 cal BC) and the Bronze Age (ca. 2200–1500 cal BC). Similarities in stable isotopic values of C and N indicate little variation in subsistence between men and women, and a similar nutritional base from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age. This pattern of stability is augmented by evidence of trauma and disease found on numerous skulls in the collection. Since no clear associations of specific grave goods with certain individuals based on sex or age could be determined, the only suggestion of social inequality lies in the burial practice itself, where certain individuals were interred in caves while others were not.