By the end of the twelfth century, the Byzantine genos was a politically effective social group based upon ties of consanguineous kinship, but, importantly, it was also a cultural construct, an idea ...that held very real power, yet defies easy categorization. This study explores the role and function of the Byzantine aristocratic family group, or genos , as a distinct social entity, particularly its political and cultural role, as it appears in a variety of sources in the tenth through twelfth centuries.
Whereas Picasso’s work in ceramics, wood and bronze is rather well known, the body of his sculptures in glass remains an object of little research. In fact, as a thorough analysis reveals, they ...rarely find mention in publications or catalogues on Picasso and seldom are included in exhibitions or retrospectives on the great Spanish artist. This may on the one hand be attributed to a still prevailing perception of glass as a medium for industrial, functional or everyday purposes—hence discounting the material in terms of artistic output—while on the other to controversies of authorship, related to the question of ideation versus creation. Unlike ceramics or bronze, the realisation of blown glass sculpture hinges on the involvement of the maestro vetraio as the mediator between thought and form—thus resulting in a distancing between artwork and artist conditioned by the nature of the medium. Against this background, the paper aims at a better understanding of Picasso’s vision of sculpture through an examination of his creations in the vitreous medium. On these grounds, a closer look at Picasso’s works in glass is meant to highlight his unique ‘hand’ in terms of idiom, line and form.
In 1454 the Sienese painter Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei faced litigation from the Mercanzia in Siena for defaulting on a contract from one of the leading Franciscan confraternities in the city. Two ...fellow Sienese artists, Giovanni di Paolo and Sano di Pietro, had recently completed a new altarpiece for the same entity. Anabel Thomas considers how the two commissions were linked and questions why Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei's brief to fresco the confraternity chapel remained unfinished.
In a wide ranging analysis of mainly unpublished records, focussing on the artist's association with key members of Sienese society, fellow artisans and government officials, Thomas concludes that Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei might have honoured his contract had he not become immersed in the military strategy, diplomacy and visual propaganda of the Republic of Siena.
The Dosso degli Angeli reservoir is located along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, approximately 20km north of Ravenna, Italy, in the nearby of the Comacchio Lagoons. The field was discovered in 1968 ...and the production started in 1971. The production strongly decreased from 1998 to 2004 and suspended in 2004. In 2012 Eni, the oil company managing the reservoir, has planned to complete the exploitation of the residual reserves over the period from 2013 to 2023. An elasto-plastic FE model provided by Eni was used to measure the expected residual land subsidence, whose maximum value will amount to 2.8cm. In this work the environmental impact assessment of the expected land subsidence has been quantified on the lowlying coastland above the reservoir. Initially, the subsidence map has been used to quantify the displacement gradient ξ in correspondence of sensitive structures (bridges, pumping stations, lagoon embankments, historical buildings, power plants and a power lines) in order to assess the possible damages. Because the maximum ξ value amount to 1×10−5, i.e. 1mm over 100m, no damage is expected to the structures. Moreover, hydrological (HEC-HMS) and hydraulic (HEC-RAS) models have been used to evaluate the possible effects of the land subsidence on the efficiency of the main drainage networks used to keep dry the area, which is mainly located below the mean sea level. The results have shown a negligible loss of efficiency of the drainage system. The study allows concluding that land subsidence due to the residual gas production from the Dosso degli Angeli reservoir will not affects the environment, hydraulic safety, and infrastructures of the Comacchio Lagoons and the lowlying coastland surrounding this precious natural environment.
Display omitted
•3D geomechanical model simulates the subsidence due to production of hydrocarbon reservoir.•Subsidence rates due to residual development of the reservoir is <2.8mm/year.•The expected displacement ranges between 10−6 and 10−5.•The effective subsidence capacity will not reduce the reclamation system efficiency.•Anthropogenic land subsidence is small compared to the actual land subsidence.
Thymus L. is of great interest in horticulture as ornamentals, spices, and medicinal plants, as well as in the extracts industry due to the richness in bioactive specialized metabolites. The natural ...hybrid T. × josephi-angeli Mansanet & Aguil. is produced in Spain, as its horticultural forms are very popular for domestic uses and gardening. However, its micropropagation and chemical composition have not been studied yet. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to develop a micropropagation procedure for T. × josephi-angeli, and to check whether the in vitro culture had an impact on the chemical profile of the plants. The results showed a high initiation rate (>91%) after two sterilization treatments were applied. Moreover, a micropropagation rate of around 21 new rooted explants per culture cycle was obtained in treatment M7 (Murashige and Skoog with 0.064 µM 6-(γ,γ-Dimethylallylamino)purine) when compared to the other 10 treatments performed. Acclimatization was successful in all three approaches tested (>75%), and all plants kept growing after 4 months of outdoor cultivation. Finally, 36 volatiles were identified, and the content of major compounds remained not statistically different in acclimatized plants when compared to the wild-type plants according to the analyses made by HS-SPME-GC/MS and SPME-GC/MS. This chemical stability points out the uniformity of the microplants and the suitability of the procedure applied in this study for T.×josephi-angeli horticultural production using in vitro techniques.
Salts of
N
-(het)aryl-
N
´-hydroxydiazene
N
-oxides were synthesized by the reaction of sodium nitrohydroxylaminate (Angeli´s salt) with the appropriate nitro compounds. The ion exchange reactions ...gave the corresponding copper and lead salts. The thermal stability of the synthesized salts was evaluated. Methylation of the synthesized salts afforded
N
-(het)aryl-
N
´-methoxydiazene
N
-oxides.
Hydroxamic acids have attracted significant attention due to their widespread use in applied chemistry. In this report, a modified Angeli–Rimini method has been achieved via the visible ...light-mediated catalytic transformation of a variety of heterocyclic, aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes
1a–j
to their corresponding hydroxamic acids
2a–j
in 81–93% yield. The unique ability of vitamin K
3
as a photoredox catalyst to expedite the development of completely new reaction mechanisms and to enable the construction of challenging carbon–nitrogen bonds has been investigated. It is shown for the first time that the vitamin K
3
and aldehyde are largely responsible for rapid in situ reduction of Ag
+
ions to catalytic photoluminescent Ag nanoclusters that possess a bandgap energy of 2.87 eV and are less than 2 nm in size. A mechanism for this reaction has been proposed and is supported by UV–Vis, TEM, ESI/MS, FT-IR,
1
H NMR and
13
C NMR analyses. The investigated method utilizes readily available reagents and produces the hydroxamic acids in high yields without the formation of side products, making it simple, practical and cost-effective.
PDF
