Plant Extracts as Antimicrobial Agents in Sustainable Conservation of Erythrina caffra (Fabaceae) Historical Trees

Microbial colonization plays a relevant role in the biodegradation and biodeterioration of cultural and natural heritage, representing a revealing problem in conservation strategy. In this study, the essential oil (EO) and hydro-alcoholic extract (HAE) of Origanum vulgare L. (Lamiaceae), an aromatic perennial plant, representative of the Mediterranean basin, growing spontaneously and cultivated all over the world, were analysed. Natural products, such as essential oil and hydroalcoholic extract, have strong antiseptic and antimicrobial properties and are ad hoc applied for the sustainable conservation of Erithryna caffra (Fabaceae). The main taxa revealed in the damaging of these arboreal h…

LiDAR-derived DTM for historical landscape evaluation: the case study of the “Harvesting Memories” project (Castro Valley and Mt. Barraù, Corleone – Palermo)

The project “Harvesting Memories” is focused on the analysis of the long-term transformation of the cultural landscape in a rural area of Central-Western Sicily (Castro Valley and Mt. Barraù, Corleone – Palermo). In order to quickly outline the history of the territory with an acceptable precision, our survey aimed at covering and sampling as much surface as possible, according to time and human resources available. To reach this goal, in the research design we opted for qualitative surveys. The choice of the fields to be surveyed was based on GIS analysis — our predictive model took in consideration slope, water sources and presence of points with high visibility in the landscape —, that h…

Harvesting memories project: ricognizioni archeologiche nelle contrade Castro e Giardinello e nell’area di Monte Barraù (Corleone, Palermo)

The “Harvesting Memories” project (funded by Bona Furtuna LLC) is focused on the long-term Transformation of the cultural landscape in the central part of the Alto Belice Corleonese (Central-Western Sicily). In particular, we surveyed the area of Contrada Giardinello, Castro Valley and the western slopes of Monte Barraù (Corleone, Palermo). The fieldwork led to the identification of 12 sites featuring pottery concentrations spanning from Protohistory (Middle Copper Age/Aeneolithic and Bronze Age), Classic period, Middle Ages/Arab-Norman period to the Late Modern period and 4 areas with dry-stone structures related to the Late Modern Age pastoral activities. This report represents the first …

Higgs boson studies at the Tevatron

We combine searches by the CDF and D0 Collaborations for the standard model Higgs boson with mass in the range 90-200 GeV/c2 produced in the gluon-gluon fusion, WH, ZH, tt̄H, and vector boson fusion processes, and decaying in the H→bb̄, H→W+W-, H→ZZ, H→τ+τ-, and H→γγ modes. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of up to 10 fb-1 and were collected at the Fermilab Tevatron in pp̄ collisions at √s=1.96 TeV. The searches are also interpreted in the context of fermiophobic and fourth generation models. We observe a significant excess of events in the mass range between 115 and 140 GeV/c2. The local significance corresponds to 3.0 standard deviations at mH=125 GeV/c2, consistent with the…

The Harvesting Memories Project: Landscape Archaeology in the Castro/Giardinello Valley and Mt. Barraù (Corleone, Palermo)

Il progetto Harvesting Memories è finalizzato allo studio delle interazioni tra dinamiche umane e fattori ecologici che nella lunga durata hanno contribuito alla formazione dei paesaggi rurali. L’area di studio è localizzata tra Corleone e Campofiorito (Palermo) nei pressi delle contrade Castro e Giardinello e lungo le pendici occidentali di Monte Barrù. Questo distretto dell’Alto Belice Corleonese ha rappresentato un asse di collegamento tra la costa meridionale della Sicilia e quella settentrionale fin all’epoca repubblicana con continuità anche nel Medioevo in cui è citato per la prima volta il toponimo Barraù/Barracù, dal nome arabo ra’s e ǧabal bū ‘r-raḫū, nella Jarida di Monreale del …

Archeologia nel territorio dei Monti Sicani (Harvesting Memories project). L’insediamento di lunga durata di Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo). Prima campagna di scavo 2017.

The “Harvesting Memories” project aims to address diachronic change in landscape and settlement patterns during the long-term in the area of Sicani Mountains in Central-West Sicily (Italy). This area is a sort of palimpsest of Mediterranean inland areas characterized by a long-term occupation of low-lying lands suitable for agriculture and hills for pastoral activi-ties. The settlement dynamics of this inner area are well documented in the archaeological sequence of the hilltop site of Contrada Castro. Recent excavation (spring 2017) showed dry-stone structures related to the Islamic and Norman period (9th-12th c. AD), a Byzantine infant burial (7th-8th c. AD) and evidence (layer of morphol…

Un nuovo insediamento rurale nel territorio dei Monti Sicani tra epoca bizantina e normanna: dati preliminari sul sito di lunga durata di Contrada Castro (Corleone, PA)

Negli ultimi anni (2015-2017) sono state avviate delle ricerche archeologiche sulle dinamiche diacroniche dei paesaggi di una porzione di territorio localizzata a sud del comune di Corleone corrispondente alle contrade Castro e Giardinello delimitate a nord dal massiccio promontorio di Pizzo Castro o Rocche di Mezzogiorno e ad est dalle pendici del Monte Barraù. Il progetto Harvesting Memories ha previsto diverse fasi di studio relative alle traiettorie ecologiche e alle trasformazioni del paesaggio (Università di Palermo) e indagini archeologiche (Soprintendenza BB. CC. AA. di Palermo). In questo contributo si presentano i risultati preliminari di una prima campagna di scavo (marzo-maggio …

Elementi di Botanica forestale

Search for CP violation in D (+/-) -> (KSK +/-)-K-0 and D-s(+/-) -> K-S(0)pi(+/-) decays

A search for \CP violation in Cabibbo-suppressed $D^{\pm}\rightarrow K^0_{\mathrm{S}} K^{\pm}$ and $D^{\pm}_{s}\rightarrow K^0_{\mathrm{S}} \pi^{\pm}$ decays is performed using $pp$ collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3~fb$^{-1}$, recorded by the LHCb experiment. The individual $CP$-violating asymmetries are measured to be \begin{eqnarray*} \mathcal{A}_{CP}^{D^{\pm}\rightarrow K^0_{\mathrm{S}} K^{\pm}} & = & (+0.03 \pm 0.17 \pm 0.14) \% \mathcal{A}_{CP}^{D^{\pm}_{s}\rightarrow K^0_{\mathrm{S}} \pi^{\pm}} & = & (+0.38 \pm 0.46 \pm 0.17) \%, \end{eqnarray*} assuming that $CP$ violation in the Cabibbo-favoured decays is negligible. A combination of the measured asymmet…

Measurement of polarization amplitudes and CP asymmetries in B 0 → Φk *(892)0

An angular analysis of the decay $B^0 \to \phi K^*(892)^0$ is reported based on a $pp$ collision data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb$^{-1}$, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV with the LHCb detector. The P-wave amplitudes and phases are measured with a greater precision than by previous experiments, and confirm about equal amounts of longitudinal and transverse polarization. The S-wave $K^+ \pi^-$ and $K^+K^-$ contributions are taken into account and found to be significant. A comparison of the $B^0 \to \phi K^*(892)^0$ and $\bar{B}^0 \to \phi \bar{K}^*(892)^0$ results shows no evidence for direct CP violation in the rate asymmetry, in th…

Long-term human occupation of a rural landscape in central-western Sicily (Castro/Giardinello valley and mt Barraù): Harvesting memoires project case study

The “Harvesting Memories” project focuses on the study of long-term landscape transformations as a diachronic result of the interaction between socio-economic human patterns and environmental and ecological trends in a rural area of Central-Western Sicily. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the archaeological survey carried out in Castro/Giardinello Valley and the Mt. Barraù area (Corleone, Palermo). The fieldwork confirmed the long occupation of this area characterized by archaeological evidences dating to the Middle Copper Age/Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Classical period, Middle Ages and Late Modern age. The detection of the high intensity of human presence in this area across…

Angular analysis of charged and neutral B → Kμ + μ − decays

The angular distributions of the rare decays B → K+µ+µ- and B0 → K0 <inf>a</inf>Sμ+μ- are studied with data corresponding to 3 fb-1 of integrated luminosity, collected in proton-proton collisions at 7 and 8TeV centre-of-mass energies with the LHCb detector. The angular distribution is described by two parameters, FH and the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system AFB, which are determined in bins of the dimuon mass squared. The parameter F<inf>H</inf> is a measure of the contribution from (pseudo)scalar and tensor amplitudes to the decay width. The measurements of A<inf>FB</inf> and F<inf>H</inf> reported here are the most precise to d…

LONG-TERM OCCUPATION OF A MEDIEVAL RURAL SETTLEMENT IN SICANI MOUNTAINS (C-W SICILY): NEW DATA FROM CONTRADA CASTRO (CORLEONE, PALERMO)

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Combination of measurements of the top-quark pair production cross section from the Tevatron Collider

We combine six measurements of the inclusive top-quark pair (tt̄) production cross section (σtt̄) from data collected with the CDF and D0 detectors at the Fermilab Tevatron with proton-antiproton collisions at s=1.96TeV. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of up to 8.8fb-1. We obtain a value of σtt̄=7.60±0.41pb for a top-quark mass of mt=172.5GeV. The contributions to the uncertainty are 0.20 pb from statistical sources, 0.29 pb from systematic sources, and 0.21 pb from the uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The result is in good agreement with the standard model expectation of 7.35-0.33+0.28pb at next-to-next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to leading logarithms in pert…