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The archaeological area of Amrit (350 ha) is located on the Syrian coastal region of Tartus and is known since the 18th century CE, due to its imposing archaeological remains dated to the first millennium BCE and to the Roman period. It was listed in the UNESCO tentative list in 2005.Since 2022, the University of Firenze (SAGAS) in collaboration with the CNR-ISPC and the DGAM-Syria, conducts a project that aims towards the documentation, restoration, public display, and community involvement of the archaeological site of Amrit, after more than 10 years of conflict and a still ongoing economic and social instability.Aim of this paper is to present the first results of the 3D survey at the site carried out in September 2022. This survey, conducted by archaeologists, aimed at obtaining a detailed documentation of the monumental structures on the site, to assess their state of preservation as of 2022, and to record the decay process of previous restorations and facilitate the planning for the archaeological park. The rapidity of acquiring data and the precision of this technique is obviously of great advantage in difficult contexts such as is Syria, where power cuts are systematic and there is a need of acquiring as much as data as possible in a limited time. This specific activity aims also at showing that archaeologists can acquire technological skills and gather specific knowledge to obtain the best possible results when dealing with damage assessment of heritage during and after a conflict.

Hard X-/soft Gamma-ray astronomy is a key field for the study of important astrophysical phenomena such as the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves, gamma-ray bursts, black holes physics and many more. However, the spatial localization, imaging capabilities and sensitivity of the measurements are strongly limited for the energy range $>$70 keV due to the lack of focusing instruments operating in this energy band. A new generation of instruments suitable to focus hard X-/ soft Gamma-rays is necessary to shed light on the nature of astrophysical phenomena which are still unclear due to the limitations of current direct-viewing telescopes. Laue lenses can be the answer to those needs. A Laue lens is an optical device consisting of a large number of properly oriented crystals which are capable, through Laue diffraction, of concentrating the radiation into the common Laue lens focus. In contrast with the grazing incidence telescopes commonly used for softer X-rays, the transmission configuration of the Laue lenses allows us to obtain a significant sensitive area even at energies of hundreds of keV. At the University of Ferrara we are actively working on the modelization and construction of a broad-band Laue lens. In this work we will present the main concepts behind Laue lenses and the latest technological developments of the TRILL (Technological Readiness Increase for Laue Lenses) project, devoted to the advancement of the technological readiness of Laue lenses by developing the first prototype of a lens sector made of cylindrical bent crystals of Germanium., 13 pages, 9 figures, sixteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting - Conference Proceedings

Gamma-ray astronomy is a branch whose potential has not yet been fully exploited. The observations of elemental and isotopic abundances in supernova (SN) explosions are key probes not only of the stellar structure and evolution but also for understanding the physics that makes Type-Ia SNe as standard candles for the study of the Universe expansion properties. In spite of its crucial role, nuclear astrophysics remains a poorly explored field mainly for the typical emission lines intensity which are vanishing small and requires very high sensitivities of the telescopes. Furthermore, in spite that the Galactic bulge-dominated intensity of positron annihilation line at 511 keV has been measured, its origin is still a mystery due to the poor angular resolution and insufficient sensitivity of the commonly employed instrumentation in the sub-MeV energy domain. To answer these scientific issues a jump in sensitivity and angular resolution with respect to the present instrumentation is required. Conceived within the EU project AHEAD, a new high energy mission, capable of tackling the previously mentioned topics, has been proposed. This concept of mission named ASTENA (Advanced Surveyor of Transient Events and Nuclear Astrophysics), includes two instruments: a Wide Field Monitor with Imaging and Spectroscopic (WFM-IS, 2 keV - 20 MeV) capabilities and a Narrow Field Telescope (NFT, 50 - 700 keV). Thanks to the combination of angular resolution, sensitivity and large FoV, ASTENA will be a breakthrough in the hard X and soft gamma--ray energy band, also enabling polarimetry in this energy band. In this talk the science goals of the mission are discussed, the payload configuration is described and expected performances in observing key targets are shown., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, sixteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting - Conference Proceedings

International audience

International audience; Introduction The main current research interest in the field of composite materials consists in minimizing the environmental impact of both materials and manufacturing. Having a good control of (bio)composite manufacturing implies a good knowledge of wetting phenomena occurring during impregnation of (natural) fibres by thermoset or thermoplastic polymers. It is known that capillary effects, and particularly capillary parameters like molten polymer surface tension and fibre surface energy, play an important role on impregnation. These effects coupled with the viscous ones are dominant during composite manufacturing [1,2]. The visco-capillary balance in dynamic wetting can be described by a hydrodynamic approach. In the literature, the de Gennes and Cox-Voinov theories [3] were used to fit experimental data (obtained mainly by optical methods) of liquid drops spreading on model substrates at standard conditions (room temperature). This procedure is not suitable in the case of fibres wetted by molten polymers for composite applications. Moreover, the influence of temperature and polymer molecular weight still remain unknown. The aim of this study was to set an experimental procedure that can be applied to fibres and polymers to investigate wetting dynamic and identify physical parameters such as a slip length, that can be inserted into numerical models to predict flow process [4]. The experimental procedure was validated on cellulosic films with different liquids. Paraffin oils are totally wetting liquids and they were used in order to evaluate the influence of temperature on wetting dynamics. Polyethylene glycols (PEGs) are partially wetting liquids; they were used to evaluate the effect of molecular weights (Mn) on wetting dynamics of molten polymers. An independent characterisation of the solid and of the liquids was carried out as well as solid/liquid dynamic wetting tests. Hydrodynamic models were used to fit the dynamic contact angle data. The results are meaningful for a better understanding of the influence of temperature, viscosity and liquid molecular weight on the dynamic contact angles and on capillary phenomena existing during the impregnation of fibrous reinforcements in composite processing.

Magnesium is an essential mineral naturally present in the human body, where it acts as cofactor in several enzymatic reactions. Magnesium is a key cardiovascular regulator, which maintains electrical, metabolic, and vascular homeostasis. Moreover, magnesium participates in inflammation and oxidative processes. In fact, magnesium deficiency is involved in the pathophysiology of arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, endothelial dysfunction, coronary artery disease, cardiac arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. In consideration of the great public-health impact of cardiovascular disease, the recognition of the negative effects of magnesium deficiency suggests the possible role of hypomagnesaemia as cardiovascular risk factor and the use of serum magnesium level for the screening and prevention of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, it might help with the identification of new therapeutical strategies for the management of cardiovascular disease through magnesium supplementation.