Jet-Pacs Project: Dynamic Experimental Tests and Numerical Results Obtained for a Steel Frame Equipped with Hysteretic Damped Chevron Braces

The experimental and numerical results obtained by Research Units of the University of Basilicata and University of Calabria for a steel frame, bare or equipped with metallic yielding hysteretic dampers (HYDs), are compared. The shaking table tests were performed at the Structural Laboratory of the University of Basilicata within a wide research program, named JETPACS (“Joint Experimental Testing on Passive and semiActive Control Systems”), which involved many Research Units working for the Research Line 7 of the ReLUIS (Italian Network of University Laboratories of Earthquake Engineering) 2005–2008 project. The project was entirely founded by the Italian Department of Civil Protection. The test structure is a 1/1.5 scaled two-story, single-bay, three-dimensional steel frame. Four HYDs, two for each story, are inserted at the top of chevron braces installed within the bays of two parallel plane frames along the test direction. The HYDs, constituted of a low-carbon U-shaped steel plate, were designed with the performance objective of limiting the inter-story drifts so that the frame yielding is prevented. Two design solutions are considered, assuming the same stiffness of the chevron braces with HYDs, but different values of both ductility demand and yield strength of the HYDs. Seven recorded accelerograms matching on average the response spectrum of Eurocode 8 for a high-risk seismic region and a medium subsoil class are considered as seismic input. The experimental results are compared with the numerical ones obtained considering an elastic-linear law for the chevron braces (in tension and compression), providing that the buckling be prevented, and the Bouc-Wen model to simulate the response of HYDs.     

Interdisciplinary approach for reconstructing an alder-based historical agricultural practice of the Eastern Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy)

Data from four soil profiles studied through pollen and macroscopic charcoal analyses were used to identify specific palynological assemblages associated with a traditional land-use system documented in the Eastern Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy) between the 18th and early 20th century, concerning a cyclical use of grey alder plots for temporary cultivations involving to the use of controlled fire. This is the first attempt to verify on palynological evidence some hypotheses raised by previous historical ecology studies about the consequences of this agricultural practice (recently named alnocoltura) on past and present vegetation. Our investigations underline (1) high percentages of anthropogenic pollen indicators, (2) increase of Ericaceae percentages, (3) low pollen percentages of Alnus, (4) high macrocharcoal concentrations and (5) high values of palynological richness during periods affected by the alnocoltura cycle according to the historical sources. Similar patterns are also detectable in pollen diagrams from two adjacent peat bogs. The paper shows the strength of an interdisciplinary methodology (field observations, cartographical and archival historical data, palynological and archaeological investigations) for studies of past land-use systems. By demonstrating the necessity of a long-term prospective in environmental reconstructions for the preservation of the cultural landscape, one of the important elements of this research is its potential contribution to issues of habitat management and nature-conservation policy. Further analyses are needed to test the replicability and reliability of the hypotheses derived from this study.     

Masonry Italian Code-Conforming Buildings. Part 1: Case Studies and Design Methods

ABSTRACT

Several architectural configurations of unreinforced masonry residential buildings are designed according to the different methods proposed in the Italian code: rules for the so-called simple masonry buildings, linear and nonlinear static analyses. Always complying with code requirements, for each building-site combination, the design was made, as much as possible, without an excessive margin of safety. The different design methods provided buildings with very different levels of safety, being linear static analysis largely overconservative with respect to the nonlinear static approach. These buildings were then analyzed in the companion paper.     

A Roman shipwreck with a cargo of Apuan marble (marmor lunense) at Punta del Francese (Stintino-Sassari,Sardinia)

The wreck-site of Punta del Francese (Stintino-Sassari) off the island of Sardinia (Italy) is composed of 14 roughly cubic blocks and slabs of marble lying in an almost coherent arrangement. Archaeometric analyses indicate a provenance of the entire cargo of marble from the Apuan Alps (marmor lunense) of north Italy. Fragments of amphoras confirm its dating to the Flavian period (first century ce ). The dimensions of the cargo, and especially of the single blocks, suggest it would have been destined for the building of an important public monument in western Hispania or southern Gallia. A first hypothesis for the ship's sailing route, and a comparison with the other cargoes of marble from Luna, are proposed.     

Raptor pellets as zooarchaeological material for paleoparasitological studies in Patagonia

Raptor pellets from Cerro Casa de Piedra archaeological sites, Patagonia, have yielded consistent evidence of parasitism and possible zoonoses in ancient times. Pellet samples analyzed were dated at 2740 ± 100 and 3.990 ± 80 years before present and have produced evidence of three intestinal parasite genera. Eggs of two nematodes Trichuris and Calodium, and one cestode, taeniid, were found. Its significance for rock shelters paleoepidemiology of the Holocene is discussed. This study increases the evidences that raptor pellets can be used as source of paleoparasitological information in archaeological sites.     

Mesowear as a means of determining diets in African antelopes

Analysis of dental mesowear is a useful tool to examine dietary strategies in ungulates, and provides a palaeoenvironmental proxy at archaeological and palaeontological sites. We examine the distribution of traditional qualitative mesowear variables amongst 33 species of extant African antelope. We also examine the relationship of our dataset with the original dataset of Fortelius and Solounias (2000). We find that confining mesowear analyses to antelope species alone reduces their discriminating power relative to that found in analyses using a broader range of taxa. Variability in mesowear scores along the toothrow suggest that different teeth do not wear equivalently over an individual’s life-time, so it is important to confine comparisons to individual tooth positions for palaeodietary classifications. Mesowear scores from the third upper molar were found to have the greatest discriminating power. Frugivores displayed unique mesowear signatures, suggesting that this trophic guild should be taken into consideration separately in future mesowear analyses. These results have implications which can improve the application and the discriminatory power of mesowear analyses for the determination of the palaeodiets of extinct taxa, and, by extension, their palaeoenvironments.     

The Roman Ship 'punta Scifo d' and its Marble Cargo (Crotone,Italy)

In the first three centuries AD, large‐scale building projects, both in Rome and in the western colonies, stimulated the demand for marble from the eastern quarries. The Punta Scifo D shipwreck – discovered in 1986 in the Bay of Scifo, south of Crotone, Italy, and investigated in 2011 and 2013 by a team from the Università Ca' Foscari of Venice – is an important source for the reconstruction of this kind of trade in the Roman Empire. Studies of the cargo, dated to the third century AD, were the basis for the virtual reconstruction of a barge about 40 m long carrying a cargo of almost 340 tons. Petrographic and isotopic analyses demonstrated that it carried three different types of marble: mainly Proconnesian, some Pentelic, and one slab of Dokimean marble. The ship probably departed from the island of Marmara, and stopped at Ephesos, and perhaps also at Piraeus.     

A 5th‐Century‐AD Sewn‐Plank River Barge at St Maria in Padovetere (Comacchio‐FE), Italy: an interim report

This article reports on the remains of a 5th‐century‐AD river barge excavated in 2014 and 2015. Most of the flat bottom and one side are preserved. The barge is at least 20 m in length and 2.9 m across the floor, and is constructed using sewn planks, iron nails and mortise‐and‐tenon fasteners. Both flush‐laid and lapstrake planks are recorded. Archaeological, historical, iconographic and ethnographic evidence is used to propose explanations for features, such as the use of lapstrakes, a possible steering system and platform, and the likely position of a pump, while setting the barge in the context of the North Adriatic shipbuilding tradition.