The phenomenon produced by the Hopf bifurcations is of notable importance. In fact, a Hopf bifurcation—guaranteeing the existence of an unsteady periodic solution of the linearized problem at stake—is also an optimum limit cycle candidate of the nonlinear associated problem and, if non linearly globally attractive, is an absorbing set and an effective limit cycle. The present paper deals with the onset

Studies on cannabinoids that predate the identification of ∆9-THC as the intoxicating constituents of recreational cannabis by Raphael Mechoulam in 1964 are reviewed, critically analyzing the controversies and faux pas that have characterized the early research in this area. Significant contributions to the elucidation of the signature molecular scaffold of cannabinoids were provided by some of the

This paper presents a scoping review of recent literature regarding the phylogenetics of Cannabis, descending the taxonomic ranks of family, genus, species, subspecies, and varieties. The family Cannabaceæ now consists of ten genera. Cannabis is a monotypic genus consisting of one species, Cannabis sativa L. The monotypic model is supported by DNA “barcode” studies. Two subspecies are recognized, and

Unexpected finding of Egyptian blue emerged in Raphael’s fresco Triumph of Galatea at Villa Farnesina, in Rome. This pigment is the oldest man-made blue, dating back to Egyptians who manufactured it first and whose occurrence was thought to be lost with Romans. Thanks to advanced imaging techniques it has been possible to non-invasively map its distribution throughout the frescoed surface and to obtain

The Erbario Estense, preserved in the Archivio Segreto Estense (Modena State Archives, Italy), is one of the very few sixteenth century herbaria still existing today. Among its exsiccata are a dozen species coming from the Americas, one of which is tobacco. The author of the specimen calls the plant Tabacho, ouer Herba Regina; Camus and Penzig, in the late nineteenth century, identify it as Nicotiana

This work describes the fully analytical method for the calculation of the molecular integrals over Slater-type orbitals with non-integer principal quantum numbers. These integrals are expressed through relativistic molecular auxiliary functions derived in our previous paper (Bağcı and Hoggan in Phys Rev E 91(2):023303, 2015). The procedure for computation of the molecular auxiliary functions is detailed

The definition of a common global vertical coordinate system is nowadays one of the key points in Geodesy. With the advent of GNSS, a coherent global height has been made available to users. The ellipsoidal height can be obtained with respect to a given geocentric ellipsoid in a fast and precise way using GNSS techniques. On the other hand, the traditional orthometric height is not coherent at global

Novel features of turbulent flows have been analyzed recently, for example: (1) the possibility of an ideal invariant, such as the energy, to be transferred both to the small scales and to the large scales, in each case with a constant flux; (2) the existence of non-Gaussian wings in Probability Distribution Functions of kinetic, magnetic, and temperature fluctuations, together with their gradients

The use of symbols in architecture of the past centuries is evident, even if sometimes cryptic. The reasons behind the representation of plants in artistic and architectural contexts are of great interest as they help in their understanding. We analysed the plants carved in the Fountain of Four Rivers (Rome), designed by G.L. Bernini (mid-seventeenth century), through iconographic and historical documents

The use of renewable resources alternative to fossil fuels, thus contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions, requires the assessment of eventual negative impacts on the environment. This study was devoted to the characterization of low-enthalpy geothermal resources and the potential contamination of geothermal effluents into the aquatic system. Thirty-five groundwater samples were collected in

We assessed seven decades of change in the largest known population of the endangered endemic Boswellia elongata Balf. F. (Burseraceae) on Socotra Island (Yemen). To quantify the population change we evaluated tree number and locations on digitized images from various sources in the period 1956–2017 and combined this with direct field measurements of the population between 2011 and 2017. Our study

The relationship of two geographically and ecologically separated populations of Turraea socotrana Styles and F. White (Meliaceae), a vulnerable and scattered shrub from the island of Socotra (Yemen), was explored using preliminary molecular data. The nuclear ribosomal ITS region was used to screen the level of genetic divergence of T. socotrana from ecologically distant localities in comparison to

AbstractDragonflies are important bioindicators of aquatic ecosystem health. We discuss the distribution and richness of the 22 dragon- and damselfly species known from the Socotra Archipelago UNESCO World Heritage Site (Yemen) in the western Indian Ocean. We compiled 841 records from literature, field data and museum collections, covering a surveying period of 123 years (1896–2019). Distribution of

With more than 7000 inner rivers, streams, small permanent or temporal watercourses, and wetlands, Entre Ríos province has the richest fish diversity in Argentina due to habitats diversity generated by the climatic, biogeographic, and topologic characteristics. However, this region is one of the most impacted areas by intense livestock and farming activities. For this reason, it is necessary and urgent

The Moho surface, namely the density discontinuity between crust and mantle, is traditionally studied by seismic methods. However, gravity information can contribute to the Moho estimation and, more generally, to the crustal modeling. The contribution is twofold. First, gravimetry generally provides observations with much lower errors than those implied by the mass density uncertainty and other geophysical

With occasion of the “Murillo’s year” (fourth centenary of his birth), the Andalusian Institute for Cultural Heritage (Instituto Andaluz de Patrimonio Histórico) received the request from a private collector for the restoration and authentication of a bozzetto of the Murillo´s painting entitled Moses and the water from the rock of Horeb. During the intervention, several studies on the materials employed

This paper deals with the phenomenology of magnetic reconnection during reversed-field pinch helical self-organization. Numerical results obtained by solving a three-dimensional nonlinear visco-resistive fluid model to describe the hot current-carrying plasma are summarized. Magnetic reconnection manifests itself during the plasma dynamics, interrupting the persistence of quasi-helical states. The

The way quantum mechanical ab initio computer codes allow to compute, through perturbation theory (the so-called SC-CP, self-consistent coupled-perturbed scheme), many properties resulting from the interaction of the electric field with a crystalline system is illustrated. The polarizability, which leads to the dielectric tensors as well as to the refractive indices and to the birefringence of materials

Museums, historical buildings mainly located in urban centers, may be seriously affected by pollution and other critical urban atmospheric conditions. In addition to museums, there are many other different cultural heritage indoor environments each having different characteristics, mainly depending on the type of preserved materials that are sensitive to pollution and urban conditions. In this contribution

The explosive eruptions that occurred between nineteenth and twentieth centuries produced a fundamental cultural impact on the development of Volcanology. Pyroclastic products and ignimbrites features start to be at the base of an international debate. Various descriptions of explosive eruptions, and a new terminology of their products, such as nuée ardente and ignimbrite, were presented and extensively

Marine litter is recognized as a global marine environmental problem. Beach litter surveys are used to monitor litter pollution and can be used to determine the origins of litter which can be used for the improvement of waste management. This research studied abundance, composition and sources of marine litter on the beach during one year period in four seasons in Vodenjak cove, central Croatian Adriatic

Socotra, the largest of four islands in the Socotra archipelago (Yemen), is characterized by high geo-morphological and biological diversity. Traditional management of land resources has been impacted by cultural shifts, globalization and urban expansion. In addition, the island has been affected by climate impacts, such as droughts and recent cyclones causing significant economic and environmental

The importance of populations of the Socotra dragon’s blood trees (Dracaena cinnabari Balf.f., 1882) for horizontal precipitation capture was estimated for the first time. Dragon’s blood trees (Asparagaceae) inhabit semiarid cloud forests with low levels of rainfall that strongly depend on additional moisture from fog and clouds. Our estimation was based on a detailed description of the aboveground

This survey reports on topics that were presented at the workshop on “Challenges with Rare Earth Elements. The Periodic Table at work for new Science & Technology” hold at the Academia dei Lincei in November 2019. The herein reported materials refer to presentations dealing with studies and applications of rare earth elements (REE) in several areas of Biology and Medicine. All together they show the

We reviewed and compared the occurrence and biogeographic origins of three arthropod groups, darkling beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae), spiders (Araneae) and butterflies (Papilionoidea) on the Socotra archipelago (Yemen). More than half of the darkling beetles (80.3%) and spiders (51.5%) are endemic to the Socotra archipelago, in contrast with only 5 species (18.5%) of butterflies. The number of

We conducted a study throughout Socotra Island (Yemen) to investigate the distribution, population structure and regeneration potential of the endemic and threatened tree species Dendrosicyos socotranus, the Cucumber Tree. In total, 163 live trees (excluding seedlings) were found in all (24) investigated locations, covering an area of 96 km2. The height, stem circumference, fertility and coordinates

In this paper, several techniques applied to different studies of artistic or archaeological objects carried out on different scenarios ranging from prehistoric works to the more modern paintings, passing through Roman or mediaeval samples, are described.

AbstractSocotra Island, in the western Indian Ocean, harbors high biodiversity and endemism and makes up the largest part of the Socotra archipelago UNESCO World Heritage site. Its climatic, pedological, and geomorphological characteristics, together with the long geological isolation and inaccessibility, led to the flourishing of unique tree diversity, with great cultural and ecological value. Lately

The Socotra Archipelago is a unique hotspot of biodiversity, particularly for terrestrial reptiles (28 endemic out of 31 native species) whose ecology is known only in general terms. We describe the ecological preference and the daily activity of 21 species of terrestrial reptiles, geckos, lizards, skinks, snakes and chameleon, from the largest island of the archipelago. The database includes 6950

Relative and absolute gravimetric measurements are carried out for metrological, geodetic and geophysical (structural and dynamic) studies. Gravimetry is largely used in Italy since long time for vast set of studies. Both relative and absolute measurements are carried out in several fields of geodesy, geophysics and geodynamic with different approaches. After a brief historical excursus, the paper

The presence of Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820), commonly known as the Mediterranean recluse spider, is recorded from Socotra Island (Yemen) for the first time. This originally circum-Mediterranean species is potentially harmful to humans, considering the strong cytotoxicity of the venom and the species often inhabiting human settlements. It has been shown that L. rufescens can easily be introduced

AbstractFunctional recovery rates after peripheral nerve injury are quite poor. Studies have focused on the organization of axonal development and the alteration of the microenvironment of the regenerated nerve. It is a frequently used repair method to place a tube to the incision area with tubulization technique and to try increasing the effect by filling the tube with various substances. Hyaluronic

The endemic fauna of achatinoid terrestrial molluscs for the Socotran Archipelago (Yemen) is revised. The main group falls into two genera, viz. Riebeckia E. v. Martens, 1883 with five species and Balfouria Crosse, 1884 with seven species, two of which are here described as new to science, i.e. Balfouria nitida n. sp., and Balfouria minima n. sp. Another globally distributed species could be found

This article presents the methodological approach of age estimation of juvenile Socotra dragon’s blood trees (Dracaena cinnabari Balf. F., DBT) for the first time. To date, only the model for the age estimation of the tree crown after the first flowering event has been published. The DBTs were measured on Socotra Island (Yemen), on the Firmihin Plateau. A set of three indirect growth models was used

AbstractAnnex I habitat types are a key factor for biodiversity conservation in Europe and distribution maps are essential for assessing their conservation status.We aim to increase the responsiveness to habitat knowledge needs and to propose the use of data collected at local scale for assessing a key indicator such as the Area of Occupancy (AOO) of habitats. In this paper, starting from the 4th Report

We report on the first finding of a widespread exotic pest species, the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on date palms Phoenix dactylifera L. (Arecaceae) on Socotra Island, Yemen. Our initial surveys reveal that the pest species is present in date palm plantations on the north-eastern coast of the island, within 5 km of the capital Hadiboh. More surveys

Quartz-based hunter-gatherer lithic technology is present around the world. It occurs particularly where the Precambrian crystalline basement outcrops, including South Africa, Northern Europe, North America and large areas of South America. However, little effort has been made to try to characterize its chemical composition to help understand either mobility strategies or exchange networks. We report

The article illustrates the MOLAB research project devoted to the non-invasive investigation of pre-Hispanic and colonial Mesoamerican manuscripts. In the present paper, we provide a description of the project and its aims, listing the artworks so far investigated and describing analytical techniques we employed. A presentation of the data obtained by the scientific analyses is then followed by a description

This paper presents a survey on inbreeding (F), phenotypic traits, coat colours and prevalence of health problems in a population of English Cocker Spaniels. The aims were to analyse the health and genetic variability of the population and to check whether the population falls within the standards for the breed from a morphological point of view. In addition, we studied the influence of F on phenotypic

The presence of nanogranitoids (crystallized melt inclusions showing a granitic s.l. composition) in regionally metamorphosed migmatitic and granulitic terranes was documented for the first time in 2009. This important finding represented a hallmark event for crustal petrologists, demonstrating that the pristine composition of anatectic melts may be preserved and recovered in small objects hosted in

XLab Frascati is a facility open to external users for different X-ray analyses, ranging from structural studies through X-ray diffraction to elemental mapping by means of µX-ray Fluorescence, colour tomography and X-ray imaging studies. This is possible thanks to our experimental layouts XENA (X-ray Experimental station for Non-destructive Analysis) and RXR (Rainbow X-Ray) along with our facility

As a contribution to the 2019 World Water Day, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei promoted a symposium on “Coastal protection and management”. A selection of the papers presented at the meeting have been assembled as a Topical Collection. Costal zones are densely populated due to their morphological, climate, economic and recreational opportunities, but are exposed to the adverse effects of the sea

Cancer is the second cause of death and morbidity in Europe. Unfortunately, currently available treatments cannot permanently cure most cancers, especially when metastatic. New therapy approaches are, therefore, urgently needed. Radionuclide therapy deposits cytotoxic radiation by means of energetic particles (alfa, beta, and auger) labeled to a carrier that specifically targets cancer cells. Targeted

This work presents the formalism for evaluating molecular SCF equations, adapted to four-component Dirac spinors, which in turn reduce to Slater-type orbitals with non-integer principal quantum numbers in the non-relativistic limit. If Slater-type spinor orbitals are used in the algebraic approximation to solve the Dirac equation, the “catastrophe” previously noted for atomic numbers \(Z>137\), in

A considerable literature has developed around the concept that the complexity of biological organisms, and the development of ever increasing complexity during biological evolution, is driven, in some way, by the maximization of entropy production (MEP). Most of these studies deal in very general terms with the living state and do not examine specific biological models. In the present study, we discuss

Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Congress grass, family Asteraceae) is found throughout the global agricultural and vacant lands. In the present work, the pharmacognostic, pharmacological and allelopathic traits of various parts (root, stem and leaves) of P. hysterophorus grown in Pakistan were investigated. P. hysterophorus growing/flowering season starts from March–April till August–September. The plant

We explored whether leaf detritus of an exotic species, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, affects the structural and functional processes of macrozoobenthic assemblages in four increased salt stress conditions of a transitional aquatic ecosystem (central Italy). We compared the dynamics of the weight loss of leaves of E. camaldulensis by leaching and feeding activities on palatable fraction, measuring the

Since the nineteenth century, street trees have become a significant component of urban landscapes, with multiple ecological roles and social-economic functions. However, data about their abundance and diversity, and information about the criteria used for the species selection, are still limited. Besides providing a historical overview, we analyze and compare data on abundance, diversity and criteria

Starting from the second half of the twentieth century, the Ionian coast of the Basilicata Region (southern Italy) has shown a progressive retreat. The analysis of the shoreline variations covering a time lapse of about 150 years has been carried out over the last 20 years according with the evolution of technology over time, so using various data sources and methods, as historical cartography, aerial

An axe head and a round bead were found at the burial site of an adult male (dated at 3770 ± 90 14C years BP) at Amboy, Córdoba (central Argentina). These artifacts were studied using electron microprobe, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, for a complete characterization of the materials and to infer the source. The axe head is carved from very fine-grained tonalite (composed dominantly

AbstractConverging cylindrical electromagnetic fields in vacuum have been shown (Zababakhin and Nechaev Sov Phys JETP 6:345, 1958) to exhibit amplitude “cumulation”. It was found that the amplitude of self-similar waves increases without bounds at finite distances from the axis on the front of the fields reflected from the cylindrical axis. In the present paper, we propose to exploit this cylindrical

AbstractThis work presents the interdisciplinary research and intervention of a big format painting attributed to Salvator Rosa. In addition to the challenging nature of the restoration, due to its format and state of conservation, the painting is a good example of the proliferation of art commerce in Argentina by the end of nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Art collection and art dealing in

The structure of the lithosphere–asthenosphere system as imaged from the complementary inversion of seismological and gravimetric data can provide significant clues to understand the processes of orogeny and cratonization and to better formulate the theory of plate tectonics within a sound geodynamic context. In this paper, we review some studies sharing a common synergic methodology that uses the