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A popular author in Italy since the late 1990s, Irish writer Catherine Dunne, like Elena Ferrante, has engaged with topics of female emancipation, resistance to patriarchal values, and the mother-daughter relationship, among others. The popular and critical acclaim Dunne's narrative has received in Italy — with her debut novel predating Ferrante's The Days of Abandonment (2002) and her subsequent work anticipating many Ferrantean themes — begs for a thorough comparative appraisal of these two authors' oeuvres. In this article, Ferrara first shows how Dunne's debut novel In the Beginning and her second novel A Name for Himself anticipate important themes and tropes explored by Ferrante in her narrative, including the concept of smarginatura or dissolving margins. Secondly, Ferrara identifies the central place that grief and grievability play in both authors' non-anthropocentric, anti-patriarchal poetics and in the construction of their female subjects. Through the lens of trauma studies and posthumanist theory, the paper reveals how Dunne and Ferrante's characters overcome abandonment and loss through a productive interconnection with nonhuman objects and entities that are signifiers of grief, such as photographs, dolls and stuffed animals. The analysis concludes with a comparative case-study of Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels (2011–2014) and Dunne's The Years that Followed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. Let π = (f1,..., fm; g1,..., gn), where f1,....., fm and g1,..., gn are two on-increasing sequences of nonnegative integers. The pair _ = (f1, ..., fm; g1,.. ., gn) is said to be a bigraphic pair if there is a simple bipartite graph = (X υ Y,E) such that f1, ..., fm and g1, ..., gn are the degrees of the ertices in X and Y, respectively. In this case, G is referred to as a realization π. We say that π is a potentially Ks,t-bigraphic pair if some realization of contains Ks,t (with s vertices in the part of size m and t in the part of size n). Ferrara et al. [Potentially H-bigraphic sequences, Discuss. Math. Graph heory 29 (2009) 583-596] defined σ π (Ks,t,m, n) to be the minimum integer such that every bigraphic pair π = (f1, ..., fm; g1, ..., gn) with σ (π) = f1+...fm ≥ k is potentially Ks,t-bigraphic. They determined σ (Ks,t,m, n) for n ≥ m ≥ 9s4t4. In this paper, we first give a procedure and two sufficient onditions to determine if π is a potentially Ks,t-bigraphic pair. Then, we determine σ (Ks,t,m, n) for n ≥ m ≥ s and n ≥ (s+1)t² -(2s-1)t+s-1. his provides a solution to a problem due to Ferrara et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A well known generalisation of Dirac's theorem states that if a graph G on n ≥ 4 k vertices has minimum degree at least n / 2 then G contains a 2-factor consisting of exactly k cycles. This is easily seen to be tight in terms of the bound on the minimum degree. However, if one assumes in addition that G is Hamiltonian it has been conjectured that the bound on the minimum degree may be relaxed. This was indeed shown to be true by Sárközy. In subsequent papers, the minimum degree bound has been improved, most recently to (2 / 5 + ε) n by DeBiasio, Ferrara, and Morris. On the other hand no lower bounds close to this are known, and all papers on this topic ask whether the minimum degree needs to be linear. We answer this question, by showing that the required minimum degree for large Hamiltonian graphs to have a 2-factor consisting of a fixed number of cycles is sublinear in n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Santa Maria in Vado is a monument in the rich artistic heritage of the city of Ferrara (north of Italy). In this paper we want to investigate the state of conservation of tombstones, cloister and the entrance to the basilica, in order to keep them in the best possible state for the future generations. From the chemical characterization, the state of conservation was determined focusing on the biodeteriogenic and non-biodeteriogenic factors, which determine a series of unwanted changes in the physical, mechanical and above all aesthetic properties of the material, often closely connected with the environment and conservation conditions. On the macroscopic observation, the state of conservation of the tombstones appeared to be very deteriorated through aesthetic and structural damage. In detail, the stereo microscope observation of samples collected from the tombstones show the presence of efflorescence probably caused by the abundant of water that bring the salts present inside the rock into solution. Relating the columns, μ-XRF analysis confirm the carbonate composition of samples and presence of iron and sulfur. Finally, SEM observation highlighted the presence of black crust on arch samples and the presence of pollen on the black crust and spheroidal particles probably related to atmospheric pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unreinforced masonry buildings undergoing seismic actions often exhibit local failure mechanisms which represent a serious life-safety hazard, as recent strong earthquakes have shown. Compared to new buildings, older unreinforced masonry buildings are more vulnerable, not only because they have been designed without or with limited seismic loading requirements, but also because horizontal structures and connections amid the walls are not always effective. Also, Out-Of-Plane (OOP) mechanisms can be caused by significant slenderness of the walls even if connections are effective. The purpose of this paper is to derive typological fragility functions for unreinforced masonry walls considering OOP local failure mechanisms. In the case of slender walls with good material properties, the OOP response can be modeled with reference to an assembly of rigid bodies undergoing rocking motion. In particular, depending on its configuration, a wall is assumed either as a single rigid body undergoing simple one-sided rocking or a system of two coupled rigid bodies rocking along their common edge. A set of 44 ground motions from earthquake events occurred from 1972 to 2017 in Italy is used in this study. The likelihood of collapse is calculated via Multiple Stripe Analysis (MSA) from a given wall undergoing a specific ground motion. Then, the single fragility functions are suitably combined to define a typological fragility function for a class of buildings. The procedure is applied to a historical aggregate in the city center of Ferrara (Italy) as a case study. The fragility functions developed in this research can be a helpful tool for assessing seismic damage and economic losses in unreinforced masonry buildings on a regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a graph G, define σ 2 (G) by σ 2 (G) = min { d G (x) + d G (y) : x , y ∈ V (G) , x ≠ y , x y ∉ E (G) } . If G is a bipartite graph with partite sets X and Y, we also define σ 1 , 1 (G) by σ 1 , 1 (G) = min { d G (x) + d G (y) : x ∈ X , y ∈ Y , x y ∉ E (G) } . Ore's theorem states that a graph of order n ≥ 3 with σ 2 (G) ≥ n contains a hamiltonian cycle and the Moon–Moser theorem states that a balanced bipartite graph G of order 2 n ≥ 4 with σ 1 , 1 (G) ≥ n + 1 contains a hamiltonian cycle. In Chen et al. (Discrete Math 343:Article No. 111663, 2020), we studied the relationship between Ore's theorem and the Moon–Moser theorem, and proved that the refinement of the Moon–Moser theorem given by Ferrara et al. (Discrete Math 312:459–461, 2012) implies Ore's theorem for graphs of even order. In this paper, we extend the above study to the graphs of odd order. Since no graphs of odd order contain a spanning balanced bipartite subgraph, the Moon–Moser theorem does not work in this case. We instead introduce its counterpart for the graphs in which the orders of the partite sets differ by 1, proved in Matsubara et al. (Discrete Math 340:87–95, 2017). We refine this result and prove that this refinement implies Ore's theorem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the use of effectively unlimited energy from the environment, contemporary heat pump installations have proven to be a highly efficient means for satisfying both heating and cooling needs. As such, they are often regarded as a key driver in the electrification process of the thermal domain. Keeping in mind the significant share of the thermal demand in building energy requirements, this aspect in particular is projected to have a great impact on the overall energy efficiency improvement of buildings and increase of demand-side flexibility. The latter point is considered crucial for improving the precarious balance against the contemporary intermittent power supply obtained from a variety of renewable sources. However, in the process of increasing their efficiency, heat pump systems are becoming significantly more complex with combinations of various different sources of energy from the ground, air and the Sun. By extension, the complexity of managing their operation has also increased and proves to be a challenge even for experienced plant operators. In order to aid in this regard, relevant literature suggests that optimization algorithms can be considered as a viable tool. This paper explores the limited extent of existing state-of-the-art approaches for hybrid heat pump control via metaheuristic optimization and broadens the subject matter with a comparative study that analyzes and benchmarks several metaheuristic approaches found in the literature on similar problems. A real-world multisource heat pump installation in Ferrara is utilized as the basis for the study. [Display omitted] • Novel systematization of optimization applications for heat pump operation and design. • Modeling approach suitable for novel optimization-assisted control algorithms. • Optimization as an enabler for increased operational efficiency of future HP systems. • Comparative analysis of optimization performances for a selection of metaheuristics. • Analysis of reference tracking and convergence results in GA being the best algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is dedicated to Michael J. Duff on the occasion of his 70th birthday. I discuss some issues of M-theory/string theory/supergravity closely related to Mike's interests. I describe a relation between STU black hole entropy, the Cayley hyperdeterminant, the Bhargava cube and a three-qubit Alice–Bob–Charlie triality symmetry. I shortly describe my recent work with Gunaydin, Linde and Yamada on M-theory cosmology (Gunaydin et al. 2020 M-theory cosmology, octonions, error-correcting codes (http://arxiv.org/abs/2008.01494)), inspired by the work of Duff with Ferrara and Borsten, Levay, Marrani et al. Here, we have seven-qubits, a party including Alice, Bob, Charlie, Daisy, Emma, Fred and George. Octonions and Hamming error-correcting codes are at the base of these models. They lead to seven benchmark targets of future cosmic microwave background missions looking for primordial gravitational waves from inflation. I also show puzzling relations between the fermion mass eigenvalues in these cosmological models, the exceptional Jordan eigenvalue problem and black hole entropy. The symmetry of our cosmological models is illustrated by beautiful pictures of a Coxeter projection of the root system of E7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the following problem proposed by Barrus, Ferrara, Vandenbussche, and Wenger. Given a graph H and an integer t, what is satt(n, R(H)), the minimum number of edges in a t-edge-colored graph G on n vertices such that G does not contain a rainbow copy of H, but adding to G a new edge in any color from t {1, 2, ..., } creates a rainbow copy of H? Here, we completely characterize the growth rates of satt(n, R(H)) as a function of n, for any graph H belonging to a large class of connected graphs and for any t ≥ e (H). This classification includes all connected graphs of minimum degree 2. In particular, we prove that satt (n, R(Kr)) = Θ( n log n), for any r ≥ 3 and t ≥ (r2), thus resolving a conjecture of Barrus, Ferrara, Vandenbussche, and Wenger. We also pose several new problems and conjectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

District heating is an effective way to increase the share of renewables in the thermal energy sector. The district heating network (DHN) of the municipality of Ferrara in northern Italy uses a geothermal reservoir at a depth of 1 km supplying hot water at 100 °C. Besides geothermal energy, the overall annual thermal demand of 170 GWh is covered by a combined heat and power (CHP) plant fed by municipal solid waste (MSW), and by auxiliary natural gas boilers. A short-term thermal energy storage having a useful capacity of 45 MWh decouples the heat production plants from the distribution network. An advanced monitoring and control system has been recently implemented to supply a high-level service to the customers connected to the network, searching for the maximum electricity saving by reducing the supply pressure of the pumping station, and targeting the maximum natural gas saving by a proper production programming of the heat supply plants. The paper describes the main design and operational features of the district heating system, and shows how the improved operation was successful in reducing the electricity and natural gas consumption. The new pressure management consists in monitoring the differential pressure in many substations, especially those located at the periphery of the network, and adjusting the water supply pressure in order to fulfil the minimum differential pressure at the most critical substation. The modified production scheduling consists in keeping using the geothermal energy and waste-to-energy plants in periods of low thermal demand and low electricity prices to daily charge the storage system. Experimental data measured in the first months of improved operation show a high saving potential of electric power for pumping equal to 400 MWh/year, which represents a saving of 30% compared to the previous "manual" optimization of the hydraulic performance. Moreover, the enhanced storage operation enables a saving of 7000 MWh/year of energy from natural gas, which finally contributes for only 11% to the annual heat demand. The calculated payback time of only a few years shows the high cost saving potential of these energy conservation measures in such systems. Image 1 • An existing geothermal and waste-to-energy district heating system is analyzed. • The study shows the results of the energy conservation strategies implemented. • The optimization concerns both the heat generation and heat distribution sides. • The proper management of the thermal storage enables a saving of natural gas. • The reduction of the differential pressure enables a reduction of pump electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reveal the enigmatic origin of one of the earliest surviving botanical collections. The 16th-century Italian En Tibi herbarium is a large, luxurious book with c. 500 dried plants, made in the Renaissance scholarly circles that developed botany as a distinct discipline. Its Latin inscription, translated as “Here for you a smiling garden of everlasting flowers”, suggests that this herbarium was a gift for a patron of the emerging botanical science. We follow an integrative approach that includes a botanical similarity estimation of the En Tibi with contemporary herbaria (Aldrovandi, Cesalpino, “Cibo”, Merini, Estense) and analysis of the book’s watermark, paper, binding, handwriting, Latin inscription and the morphology and DNA of hairs mounted under specimens. Rejecting the previous origin hypothesis (Ferrara, 1542–1544), we show that the En Tibi was made in Bologna around 1558. We attribute the En Tibi herbarium to Francesco Petrollini, a neglected 16th-century botanist, to whom also belongs, as clarified herein, the controversial “Erbario Cibo” kept in Rome. The En Tibi was probably a work on commission for Petrollini, who provided the plant material for the book. Other people were apparently involved in the compilation and offering of this precious gift to a yet unknown person, possibly the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand I. The En Tibi herbarium is a Renaissance masterpiece of art and science, representing the quest for truth in herbal medicine and botany. Our multidisciplinary approach can serve as a guideline for deciphering other anonymous herbaria, kept safely “hidden” in treasure rooms of universities, libraries and museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The dynamical behaviors of N -interacting microbubble cluster is investigated in framework of association schemes theory and Bose-Mesner algebra. • Where the complete synchronization and cluster formation in targeted microbubbles network are studied. • The distances between interacting UCAs cluster have mainly role in their synchronization states. • By introduced direct product of two different schemes, we can have an extension of interacting targeted microbubbles to network motifs from smaller ones. Abstract Ultrasound contrast agents have been recently utilized in therapeutical implementations for targeted delivery of pharmaceutical substances. Radial pulsations of a cluster of encapsulated microbubbles under the action of an ultrasound field are complex and highly nonlinear, particularly for drug and gene delivery applications with high acoustic pressure amplitudes. In this paper, based on Qin-Ferrara's model (Qin and Ferrara, 2010), the complete synchronization and cluster formation in targeted microbubbles network are studied. Also, association schemes as a novel approach are suggested for finding a relationship between coupled microbubbles elements which are immersed in blood or surrounding soft tissue. A significant advantage of this method is that the stability of the synchronized state (or symmetric eigenmode of mutual bubble oscillation) with respect to another state (another eigenmode) can now predict. More interestingly, we find a significant relationship between an isolated and multiple microbubbles. The results show that the problem of studying the dynamics of encapsulated microbubble cluster at synchronization state is dependent on the dynamical characteristics of isolated cases, shell thickness, density. Also, the distance between microbubbles has an important role in their synchronous modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospitals are the main source of pharmaceutical compounds (PhCs) released into the environment. Generally, their discharges are co-treated with domestic wastewaters, resulting in a decrement of the recalcitrant compound concentrations in the final effluent due to water dilution. However, as many PhCs resist normal treatments, pollutant load does not change. This paper compares the chemical characteristics of hospital and domestic wastewaters on the basis of an experimental investigation for macro-pollutants and literature data for PhCs. A membrane biological reactor pilot plant fed by a hospital effluent is tested in order to evaluate the feasibility of treating these kinds of wastewaters with membrane systems. The paper then presents the possible scenarios in the management of the effluent of a large hospital situated in a small town. In particular, it reports on a case study of designing a (new) treatment plant for the effluent of the 900 bed hospital in Ferrara, Northern Italy, located on the outskirts of the town. Finally, costs for the intervention are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 50 m high masonry chimney located in the old industrial facility that houses the School of Engineering of the University of Ferrara, Italy, suffered severe damages during the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence. Afterward, for security reasons, the upper damaged 12.40 m were disassembled. Both before and after shortening, the ratio between the effective mass of the fundamental mode and the total mass is approximately 20%, leading standard pushover analysis methods not to be appropriate for estimating the seismic demand. Using a single, consistent 3D FE formulation, the results of a Modal Pushover Analysis (MPA) and four nonlinear Response History Analyses (RHA) for the shortened and the original chimney were presented in the paper. The ground motions considered in the simulations are accelerograms recorded during recent and less recent devastating seismic events in Italy, New Zealand, and Japan. For both chimneys, a very good agreement between MPA and RHA was observed in terms of lateral displacements. Moreover, for the 50 m high chimney, a strong similarity was observed between the damage maps deriving from the MPA and those obtained with the RHA. All analyses confirmed a significant contribution of the higher modes. For the shortened chimney, the MPA revealed damages in the lower part of the stack (8–21 m), because of a prevailing influence of the fundamental mode. In the RHA, a more evident contribution of the higher modes was observed, probably because of the effect of the vertical component of the ground motion, not accounted for in the MPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let H be a fixed graph. We say that a graph G is H -saturated if it has no subgraph isomorphic to H , but the addition of any edge to G results in an H -subgraph. The saturation number sat (H , n) is the minimum number of edges in an H -saturated graph on n vertices. Kászonyi and Tuza, in 1986, gave a general upper bound on the saturation number of a graph H , but a nontrivial lower bound has remained elusive. In this paper we give a general lower bound on sat (H , n) and prove that it is asymptotically sharp (up to an additive constant) on a large class of graphs. This class includes all threshold graphs and many graphs for which the saturation number was previously determined exactly. Our work thus gives an asymptotic common generalization of several earlier results. The class also includes disjoint unions of cliques, allowing us to address an open problem of Faudree, Ferrara, Gould, and Jacobson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May–June 2012, several seismic events took place in the Po River Plane in northern Italy, with a maximum magnitude of M W 5.86 (M L 5.9)] and the epicentre located about 32 km from the centre of Ferrara. Many historical buildings were seriously damaged and others showed marked deformations or differential settlements. Therefore, it was necessary to place many of them under monitoring, using fast and safe measurement techniques to quickly obtain accurate information on ongoing structural deformation. This paper presents the case study of the bell tower of San Benedetto Church in Ferrara (17th century), which was already under monitoring at the time of the earthquake because of its remarkable leaning angle. Immediately after the seismic events, monitoring of the bell tower was repeated. Digital levelling indicated a marked differential settlement of the foundations with regard to the trend of secular movement, while terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) revealed a significant increase of the inclination of the tower's axis, confirming the results from levelling and showing good integration of both monitoring techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New study on the hygrothermal performance of retrofitted historic walls without a vapour barrier; • In situ monitoring campaign between November 15th 2019 and September 30th 2020; • Field data was used for the calibration of 2D hygrothermal simulation models; • No risk of frost damage or interstitial condensation was objectively proved. This paper presents the newly developed study, methodology and assessment of the hygrothermal performance of a historic building wall retrofitted with three different internal insulation technologies, without a vapour barrier. It aims at assessing any possible condensation problems at the most critical point of the tested stratigraphy (namely, in between the wall and the insulation material) and to limit the modification of the original hygrothermal behaviour of the original wall's materials with the addition of a vapour layer, as would commonly be used. This evaluation was performed through in situ measurements and dynamic software simulations. In situ data was used for calibrating the 2D simulation model conducted with Delphin software 6.0.20. Under the climatic conditions in Ferrara (Italy), the results of both the in-situ monitoring and simulation evidenced no risk of frost damage to the building's original wall. With regards to the risk of interstitial condensation, simulations showed no high risk even in the absence of a water vapour barrier. Additionally, the amount of water vapour collected during the winter season dried out during the spring/summer period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a family of graphs F , a graph G is said to be F -saturated if G does not contain a copy of F as a subgraph for any F ∈ F , but the addition of any edge e ∉ E (G) creates at least one copy of some F ∈ F within G. The minimum size of an F -saturated graph on n vertices is called the saturation number, denoted by sat (n , F). Let C ≥ r be the family of cycles of length at least r. Ferrara et al. (2012) gave lower and upper bounds of sat (n , C ≥ r) and determined the exact values of sat (n , C ≥ r) for 3 ≤ r ≤ 5. In this paper, we determine the exact value of sat (n , C ≥ r) for r = 6 and 28 ≤ n 2 ≤ r ≤ n and give new upper and lower bounds for the other cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The energy policy about energy performance of buildings, including minimum energy requirements and energy performance certificate (EPC), is applied to new and existing buildings, especially in the case of energy retrofit. Among existing buildings, heritage buildings are a special case. Another problem is finding an evaluation and measurement tool for town energy consumption which is related to the age and the characteristics of existing buildings. This problem concerns both urban planning discipline and heritage buildings discipline. The introduction of EPC database in Emilia-Romagna legislation (a region located in the North-East of Italy) is an opportunity to perform studies and simulation, in addition to GIS networking elaboration. This paper deals with the case of Ferrara, an old town, in order to debate: [-] number and energy incidence of heritage buildings; [-] influence of typology factor for energy saving in heritage buildings; [-] use of GIS tools to refer EPC, energy class in order to suggest a zone energy indicator (ZEI) for measuring the city and the old town. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Armanno, nicknamed Pungilupo, from Ferrara, Italy, was considered a religiously active person during his life. After his death in 1269, he became venerated as a saint in the cathedral of Ferrara. However, the inquisitors knew that they had received his confession and abjuration in the matter of heresy in 1254 and they had serious suspicions that his heretical contacts had continued even after his abjuration. They gathered a significant body of evidence against him. The canons of Ferrara cathedral reacted and struggled to defend Armanno's reputation as a holy man. There are several sources on Armanno - among others, detailed notarial testimonies from both parties: on Armanno's "heretical" statements and practices, on his miracles, on his going to confession and communion. The sources can be read in more than one way. In this paper I attempt to reconstruct Armanno's individual religiosity (his representations, emotions, and practices) and I confront the results with the concept of religion understood in the Durkheimian way, i.e. as a system of representations and practices where affiliation is understood as membership. I conclude that Armanno's religiosity was non-doctrinal, practical, indefinite, and anchored in particular situations. Indeed, some of his practices clash with others or with some of his beliefs, and they do not respect the borderlines between religious communities (Cathar vs. Catholic). Armanno's religiosity was not at all systematic and contrasts deeply with the usual concepts of religion and membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  This paper reports the archaeobotanical data from the so-called Vasca Ducale (Ducal Pit), a brick rubbish pit discovered in the basal floor of the ducal palace of Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It was in use during the second half of the 15th century a.d. when the rich and powerful Este family inhabited the palace. Therefore, the results help to investigate the eating customs of a Renaissance court. The pit fill largely consisted of zoological remains, especially small bones and shellfish, with mainly waterlogged plant remains and some artefacts. Though the seed/fruit concentration was not high, a long list of taxa was identified of which the largest part belonged to food and ornamental plants. The data suggest that the pit was used for the disposal of dining waste and floor sweepings. The archaeobotanical data are compared with those obtained from other medieval sites in the city, and with two Renaissance sources of documentary evidence, the frescos in the Salone dei Mesi (Room of the months) in Ferrara’s Palazzo Schifanoia, and the cookbook by Cristoforo da Messisbugo, chef at the Este court. The archaeobotanical record of the Vasca Ducale (Ducal Pit) proved to be quite different from the other sites in Ferrara, especially because of the presence of luxury or exotic foods such as, for example, Punica granatum, Prunus armeniaca and Coriandrum sativum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to report our clinical experience of Sweet's syndrome, a severe dermatological disease which may be extremely important to recognize for the early diagnosis of a neoplastic disorder. Eleven patients affected by Sweet's syndrome, treated at the Department of Dermatology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy, during 1998 to 2004, were evaluated. A retrospective analysis was performed. Data on age, sex distribution, clinical data, histopathological and immunohistochemical findings and therapy were collected. We observed one patient with idiopathic form, 5 patients affected by the para-inflammatory variant and 5 para-neoplastic cases (with haemoproliferative diseases). The cases with the para-inflammatory form were affected by minor infectious manifestations. Prolonged follow-up is necessary to verify that a case of idiopathic variant is not really a paraneoplastic form. Based on immunohistochemical analysis, we cannot exclude that true histiocytes, immunoreactive for CD68/PGM, infiltrate the dermis in Sweet's syndrome lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1984, Matthews and Sumner conjectured that every 4-connected, claw-free graph contains a Hamiltonian cycle. This still unresolved conjecture has been the motivation for research into the existence of other cycle structures. In this paper, we consider the stronger property of pancyclicity for 4-connected graphs. In particular, we show that every 4-connected, { K 1 , 3 , N (i , j , k) } -free graph, where i , j , k ≥ 1 and i + j + k = 6 , is pancyclic. This, together with results by Ferrara, Morris, Wenger, and Ferrara et al. completes a characterization of the graphs Y such that every { K 1 , 3 , Y } -free graph is pancyclic. In addition, this represents the best known progress towards answering a question of Gould concerning a characterization of the pairs of forbidden subgraphs that imply pancyclicity in 4-connected graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Comacchio lagoonal system has been affected for years by a persistent phytoplanktonic bloom which makes the waters greenish. Surveys carried out from April 1995 to February 1996 showed that this bloom was caused by a Synechococcus sp. and by an Eustigmatophycean belonging to the genus Nannochloropsis. However, while the Synechococcus sp. was mainly present in the summer, Nannochloropsis was always present with constant density values. Moreover, this species shows many ultrastructural features and a pigment composition similar to those of Nannochloropsis spp. and reproduces by autospores. The 18S rRNA gene sequence of this strain is identical to those of five strains of Nannochloropsis gaditana.In this paper, besides phytoplankton (including picophytoplankton), we also report the data of the main chemico-physical parameters. Among them, the salinity and nutrient values showed an anomalous seasonal trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This Special Issue of Biophysical Chemistry includes a selection of the papers presented at the XXI Congress of the Italian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics (i.e., SIBPA, Società Italiana di Biofisica Pura ed Applicata) held on September 2012 at the University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy. Topics cover all biophysical disciplines, from molecular to cellular, to integrative biophysics giving an almost comprehensive view of the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches, proper of the modern biophysics. SIBPA, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013, has steadily grown and appeals to both specialists and a wider general audience. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a chemical-mineralogical characterization of construction materials from medieval Renaissance buildings of Ferrara (NE Italy) to provide an insight into the nature and provenance of the raw materials used. Biagio Rossetti was an Italian architect and urbanist from the city of Ferrara. From 1483, he was the architect of the Duke of Ferrara Ercole I d'Este who in 1492 assigned him the project of enlarging the city of Ferrara. Biagio Rossetti is still famous because he designed and built many notable palaces and churches in Ferrara, e.g., the Palazzo Roverella, the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie and the renovation of the church of San Andrea. To date, only the first two historic buildings are still in use and consequently restored, while the church of San Andrea has been abandoned over the years and the remains have been subject to decay. Different kinds of samples (bricks, cotto, plaster and mortars) were collected from the three sampling sites and analyzed in X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffractometer to investigate the construction materials through the evaluation of their chemical composition, historic building activity and degradation degree. These investigations should provide knowledge useful for restoration and conservation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a graph H , a graphic sequence π is potentially H - graphic if there is a realization of π containing H as a subgraph. In 1991, Erdős, Jacobson and Lehel introduced the following problem: determine the minimum even integer σ (H , n) such that each n -term graphic sequence with sum at least σ (H , n) is potentially H -graphic. This problem can be viewed as a "potential" degree sequence relaxation of the Turán problems. For an arbitrary graph H of order k , Ferrara et al. (2016) established an upper bound on σ (H , n) as follows: If ω = ω (n) be an increasing function that tends to infinity with n , then there exists an N = N (ω , H) such that σ (H , n) ≤ σ ˜ (H) n + ω (n) for any n ≥ N , where σ ˜ (H) is a parameter only depending on the graph H. In this paper, we obtain a new upper bound on σ (H , n) so that ω (n) = k 2 − 3 k + 4 , that is, there exists an M = M (k , α (H)) such that σ (H , n) ≤ σ ˜ (H) n + k 2 − 3 k + 4 for any n ≥ M. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the global significance of food waste, a greater focus on improving food waste management strategies is called for. Implementing such management strategies requires a better understanding of stakeholder relations. This paper analyses the structure of multiplex relations among stakeholders involved in the creation of a novel food waste management system, investigating the drivers of network formation when multiple collaborations are observed between pairs of stakeholders. We apply Social Network Analysis to study food waste reduction strategies in the City of Ferrara (Italy). Our results provide support for the practical relevance of multiple interactions across dyadic relationships in stakeholder networks. They also suggest that 'third parties' are not necessary for an effective networking strategy, and that relationships between stakeholders of similar levels of expertise are not required for establishing multiple relationships, suggesting that functionally diverse coalitions are of greater practical relevance for food waste management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classical Ore's Theorem states that every graph G of order n ≥ 3 with σ 2 (G) ≥ n is hamiltonian, where σ 2 (G) = min { d G (x) + d G (y) : x , y ∈ V (G) , x ≠ y , x y ∉ E (G) }. Recently, Ferrara, Jacobson and Powell (Discrete Math. 312 (2012), 459–461) extended the Moon–Moser Theorem and characterized the non-hamiltonian balanced bipartite graphs H of order 2 n ≥ 4 with partite sets X and Y satisfying σ 1 , 1 (H) ≥ n , where σ 1 , 1 (H) = min { d H (x) + d H (y) : x ∈ X , y ∈ Y , x y ∉ E (H) }. Though the latter result apparently deals with a narrower class of graphs, we prove in this paper that it implies Ore's Theorem for graphs of even order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]