Iron Age people of Norway

‘Iron Age People in Norway’ is an interdisciplinary research project. The source material consists of archaeological finds of graves containing human skeletal remains. Archaeological and physical anthropological methods and data will be combined in analyses of the people, their living conditions, aspects of social organization and questions about ethnic groups, using a specially developed computer registration system and database structure. The in‐depth analyses concentrate on the five northernmost counties in Norway, while the catalogue covers the whole country.     

Comparison of Nonlinear Static Methods for the Seismic Assessment of Plan Irregular Frame Buildings with Non Seismic Details

The use of Nonlinear Static Procedures (NSPs) for the seismic assessment of plan irregular buildings is challenging. The most common pushover-based approaches have led to adequate results in regular buildings, and hence, there is a need to verify the validity of such methods on the assessment of irregular structures. In this article, four commonly used nonlinear static procedures (CSM, N2, MPA, ACSM) are applied on the assessment of two existing five- and eight-story plan-asymmetric buildings in Turkey. The accuracy of the different NSPs is evaluated through comparisons with the results derived from nonlinear dynamic analyses. The results are presented in terms of interstory drifts, normalized top displacements, lateral displacement profiles, chord rotations, base shear, and top displacement ratios. The performance of such procedures in evaluating the damage limitation according to the Eurocode8 is also verified. Special attention is given to the ACSM (Adaptive Capacity Spectrum Method) whose performance in 3D plan irregular buildings has recently been tested. Conclusions about the performance of each NSP are outlined at the end of the article.     

Experimental Characterization of Ancient Metal Tie-Rods in Historic Masonry Buildings

Metal tie-rods play a decisive role in the control of horizontal thrusts in historic masonry buildings. The main goal of the present study is to investigate the relationship between metallurgical and mechanical properties of original tie-rods in order to contribute to a wider study on ancient building stability and their restoration protocols. This article presents the results of an experimental test campaign carried out on 14 historic tie-rods (dating back from 16^th–19^th century) recovered from restoration works or building demolitions. Stress-strain mechanical tests showed that the elastic modulus of the material is comparable to that of modern structural steel, while the strength and the elongation capability are significantly lower, with a large scatter. Further analyses based on metallography allowed us to assess that this mechanical behavior depends on the heterogeneous nature of the material, which can eventually be compared to a composite with vitreous elongated particles in a ferritic or ferrito-pearlitic matrix. The origin of such metallurgical condition is related to the iron making based on direct smelting from ores.     

The cultural landscape near the ancient city of Tharros (central West Sardinia): vegetation changes and human impact

The evolution of the cultural landscape in coastal western Sardinia is investigated by means of pollen analysis in the Mistras Lagoon sediments, near the ancient city of Tharros, with particular attention to changes in evergreen vegetation and the impact of human activity. The pollen diagram, spanning the time interval from 5300 to 1600 cal BP, documents the influence of man, climate, and geomorphic dynamics on the evolution of a semi-open evergreen vegetation landscape and variations in extent of a salt-marsh environment. Anthropogenic indicators and microcharcoals concur in depicting increased land use coinciding with the Nuragic, Phoenician, Punic and Roman dominations. Pollen data, along with archaeobotanical evidence, suggest a prevailing arable farming economy, vocated to Vitis and cereals exploitation, during the Nuragic phase until 2400 cal BP, replaced since then by a prevailing stock rearing economy. Between 2050 and 1600 cal BP, a less intensive human impact on the landscape is profiled, consistently with the archaeologically documented abandonment of the rural villages in favour of a slow urbanization, experienced by the Sinis territory in Imperial times. The pollen record provides new insights into the history of important economic plants in the Mediterranean, such as Vitis, Olea and Quercus suber. The results of the pollen analysis reveal how the records of these taxa are primarily influenced by the cultural development of the Sinis region and secondarily by dynamics involving the natural companion vegetation.     

Women with disabilities: from discrimination and violence towards an ethics of reciprocity

Since 2001 DPI Italia, the Italian section of Disabled People's International, has played an important role in a series of research projects in the European Commission's Daphne Programme on violence against women with disabilities. Several different types of violence have been identified, from sexual abuse to removal of women's control over their environment to invasion of their privacy in healthcare contexts to control of their reproductive capacity, particularly of women with intellectual disabilities. In the light of these projects, and of the CRPD's recognition of the multiple discriminations experienced by many women with disabilities, the article argues for a shift away from an ethics of care and dependency towards one of equal reciprocal relations between disabled women and others and to a bioethics grounded not in exceptional need but in everyday life. Peer counselling among disabled women is particularly important in effecting this shift.     

Out of the crisis: an empirical investigation of place-specific determinants of economic resilience

This article attempts to isolate the structural characteristics that affect the resilience of a regional economy. It focuses on the role played by related/unrelated variety and differentiated knowledge bases as drivers for regional resilience and originally explores their interdependences. Italy is the empirical setting, and Italian local labour systems the unit of analysis. Regional resilience is measured as growth of the employment rate after the Great Recession that began in 2008. Results confirm the importance of related variety and of differentiated knowledge bases as drivers for regional resilience. We found support of the creative capacity of culture argument, providing evidence that a moderate concentration in symbolic knowledge-based economic activities contributes to resilience. Synthetic and analytical knowledge-based activities provide positive and no support to regional resilience, respectively. Finally, the relatedness of the symbolic knowledge-based activities increases regional economic resilience. Some policy implications are then derived from these findings.