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Since a few years, the LISA-PF group in Napoli has been working to the development of an optical read-out system, based on optical levers and position sensitive detectors, for the LISA Gravitational Reference Sensor (GRS). This is intended as a more sensitive extra sensing device, in addition to capacitive readout that is the reference solution already tested on flight by the LISA-Pathfinder mission. The reliability of the proposed ORO device and the fulfillment of the sensitivity goals have been already demonstrated in bench-top measurements and tested with torsion pendulum facilities. In this paper we report on the present status of this activity, presenting the results obtained so-far and the perspectives for the future LISA mission.

Landslides are natural hazards occurring in response to triggers of different origins, which can act with different intensities and durations. Despite the variety of conditions that cause a landslide, the analysis of landslide inventories has shown that landslide events associated with different triggers can be characterized by the same probability distribution. We studied a cellular automaton, able to reproduce the landslide frequency-size distributions from catalogues. From the comparison between our synthetic probability distribution and the landslide area probability distribution of three landslide inventories, we estimated the typical size of a single cell of our cellular automaton model to be from 35–100 m2, which is important information if we are interested in monitoring a test area. To determine the probability of occurrence of a landslide of size s, we show that it is crucial to get information about the rate at which the system is approaching instability rather than the nature of the trigger. By varying such a driving rate, we find how the probability distribution changes and, in correspondence, how the size and the lifetime of the most probable events evolve. We also introduce a landslide-event magnitude scale based on the driving rate. Large values of the proposed intensity scale are related to landslide events with a fast approach to instability in a long distance of time, while small values are related to landslide events close together in time and approaching instability slowly.

Ground testing with torsion pendulums played a key role in the development and characterization of the Gravitational Reference Sensor (GRS) of LISA-Pathfinder (LPF). We report on a torsion pendulum facility with 2 soft degrees of freedom (DOF), realized by off-axis cascading two torsion fibers. This instrument, developed for testing on two DOFs the LPF GRS, allows simultaneous measurement of force and torque acting on the suspended test mass (TM), approaching free-fall condition on two DOFs down to a few mHz. We will report on the results of some measurement campaigns devoted in particular to the characterization of force to torque and torque to force actuation cross-talks (CT).

Abstract A model is presented for forecasting the seismic vulnerability and probability of damage of ordinary building types, as a function of the local macroseismic intensity or correlated parameters of the ground motion. The conventional definitions of damage degrees and vulnerability classes of the building types have been assumed according to the EMS98 macroseismic scale. The model allows damage scenarios to be evaluated in selected areas where an inventory of the buildings, containing at least some qualitative information is available, in order to recognize, for the different types, the corresponding vulnerability class or at least the probability of membership to the vulnerability classes. The epistemic uncertainty of the qualitative definitions suggested by the scale for frequencies of damage is taken into account through the formalizing of the imprecise probabilities, i.e. through convex sets of possible probability distributions on the discrete space of the damage degrees, with particular reference to their description by means of random sets, both non-consonant and consonant (fuzzy sets). It is thus possible to obtain upper/lower bounds of the expectation of interesting functions of the damage degrees (e.g. number of victims, unusable buildings, and collapsed buildings). The model has been applied to the entire area of the Abruzzo Region (Central Italy), using the inventory of buildings recorded by the National Statistics Agency. Some comparisons are given between the expected damage and that observed after the strong earthquake that in April 2009 struck a more restricted zone of the region (the town of L'Aquila and surrounding countryside).

Tropical cyclones (TCs) produce strong winds and heavy rains accompanied by consecutive events such as landslides and storm surges, resulting in losses of lives and livelihoods, particularly in regions with high socioeconomic vulnerability. To proactively mitigate the impacts of TCs, humanitarian actors implement anticipatory action. In this work, we build upon such an existing anticipatory action for the Philippines, which uses an impact-based forecasting model for housing damage based on eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) to release funding and trigger early action. We improve it in three ways. First, we perform a correlation and selection analysis to understand if Philippines-specific features can be left out or replaced with features from open global data sources. Secondly, we transform the target variable (percentage of completely damaged houses) and not yet grid-based global features to a 0.1∘ grid resolution by de-aggregation using Google Open Buildings data. Thirdly, we evaluate XGBoost regression models using different combinations of global and local features at grid and municipality spatial levels. We first introduce a two-stage model to predict if the damage is above 10 % and then use a regression model trained on all or only high-damage data. All experiments use data from 39 typhoons that impacted the Philippines between 2006–2020. Due to the scarcity and skewness of the training data, specific attention is paid to data stratification, sampling, and validation techniques. We demonstrate that employing only the global features does not significantly influence model performance. Despite excluding local data on physical vulnerability and storm surge susceptibility, the two-stage model improves upon the municipality-based model with local features. When applied to anticipatory action, our two-stage model would show a higher true-positive rate, a lower false-negative rate, and an improved false-positive rate, implying that fewer resources would be wasted in anticipatory action. We conclude that relying on globally available data sources and working at the grid level holds the potential to render a machine-learning-based impact model generalizable and transferable to locations outside of the Philippines impacted by TCs. Also, a grid-based model increases the resolution of the predictions, which may allow for a more targeted implementation of anticipatory action. However, it should be noted that an impact-based forecasting model can only be as good as the forecast skill of the TC forecast that goes into it. Future research will focus on replicating and testing the approach in other TC-prone countries. Ultimately, a transferable model will facilitate the scaling up of anticipatory action for TCs.

The double ridge structure previously observed in Pb-Pb collisions has also been recently observed in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV. These systems show a long-range structure (large separation in Δη) at the near- (Δϕ ≊ 0) and away-side (Δϕ ≊ π) of the trigger particle. In order to understand the nature of this effect the two-particle correlation analysis has been extended to identified particles. Particles are identified up to transverse momentum pT values of 4 GeV/c using the energy loss signal in the Time Projection Chamber detector, complemented with the information from the Time of Flight detector. This measurement casts a new light on the potential collective (i.e. hydrodynamic) behaviour of particle production in p-Pb collisions.

The eating disorders (DCA) are complex systemic diseases with high social impact, which tend to become chronic with significant medical and psychiatric comorbidities. The literature data showed that there is good evidence to suggest the use of SSRIs, particularly at high doses of fluoxetine, in the treatment of BN reducing both the crisis of binge that the phenomena compensates and reducing the episodes of binge in patients with BED in the short term. Also, the topiramate (an AED) showed a good effectiveness in reducing the frequency and magnitude of episodes of binge with body weight reduction, both in the BN that is in the therapy of BED. To date, modest data support the use of low doses of second-generation antipsychotics in an attempt to reduce the creation of polarized weight and body shapes, the obsessive component, and anxiety in patients with AN. Data in the literature on long-term drug treatment of eating disorders are still very modest. It is essential to remember that the pharmacotherapy has, however, a remarkable efficacy in treating psychiatric disorders that occur in comorbidity with eating disorders, such as mood disorders, anxiety, insomnia, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders and behavior.

Corrections to the relativistic theory of orbits are discussed considering higher order approximations induced by gravitomagnetic effects. Beside the standard periastron effect of General Relativity (GR), a new nutation effect was found due to the c−3 orbital correction. According to the presence of that new nutation effect we studied, via the quadrupole approximation, the gravitational waveforms emitted by a compact object (neutron star (NS) or black hole (BH)) orbiting around a massive black hole (MBH). To obtain the emitted gravitational wave (GW) amplitudes, a numerical solution of the equations is given in different mass ratios and initial conditions. We conclude that the effects we studied could be of interest for the future space laser interferometric GW antenna LISA.

Electrostatic actuators are one of the most promising devices for mirror control in advanced gravitational waves detectors. An accurate characterization of such actuators is required for a correct design, able to satisfy the requirement of the control system, both in term of low noise content as well as to fit the required dynamic range. To this aim a simple and effective experimental set-up was developed, consisting in a suspended mirror which displacement, induced by an electrostatic actuator, is measured by using an optical lever. The effect of stray patch charge on the mirror was minimized by using an alternate voltage as bias reference for the actuator. Different working conditions were investigated, in particular by varying the mirror-actuator distance and the bias amplitude. The experimental results were compared to the prediction of a numerical model taking into account the actuator geometry and the working conditions.

The LISA test-mass (TM) is sensitive to weak forces along all 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoFs). Extensi ve ground test ing is required in order to evaluate the influence of cross-talks of read-outs and actuators operating on different DoFs. To best represent the flight conditions, we developed in Firenze a facility with 2 soft DoFs. Using this facility we measure the forces and stiffnesses acting simultaneously along the 2 soft DoFs, and, more specifically, we will be able to de b ug residual couplings between the TM and the capacitive position sensor that reads the TM position, and to measure actuation cross talks with closed feedback loop. The facility is now ready, and here we report on the co mmi ssioning test s, and on the first measurements.