Tag Archives: National Research Council of Italy (CNR)

Preserving stone and repairing historic Church of the Scalzi in Venice (Italy) with nanotechnology

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Since stone wear down and away with time these researchers from China and Italy are trying to find ways to mitigate the damage. (At the end of this piece I have a list of other posts about stone buildings and monuments, preservation, and nanotechnology.)

From an August 23, 2023 news snippet by Echo Xie for the South China Morning Post, Note: Links have been removed,

A team of Chinese and Italian researchers has restored parts of a 300-year-old Catholic church in Venice, Italy, using modern nanotechnology.

The Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth [Church of the Scalzi], which overlooks the Grand Canal and is a prime example of Venetian Baroque architecture, is the beneficiary of a patented method developed to consolidate, or treat, marble stones damaged by time and the elements.The research was funded by the Veneto regional government, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Ministry of Science and Technology’s belt and road foreign expert exchange programme [part of the Belt and Road Initiative?].

…

There’s a more extended Sept. 6, 2023 snippet about the research on Vuink,

…

The cutting-edge method could be used to restore landmarks of world-class cultural heritage – including the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column and the Victoria Memorial in London as well as historic sculptures – made from marble similar to the church [Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth]

The research team, led by scientists at China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xian and the CNR [National Research Council of Italy]-Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources in Florence, Italy, found an “effective and enduring” method to consolidate marble stones after the design and systematic study of nine different treatment methods.

….

Ivana Milanovic’s, ASME [American Society of Mechanical Engineers] Fellow’s Post [undated] on LinkedIn provides more details,

… They [research team] discovered the combination of two commonly used consolidation products – nanosilica and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) – had the highest consolidating effect among all tested materials.

In the study published in the peer-reviewed journal [Science China Technological Sciences], the authors used a two-step method to consolidate the marble stones. They first applied nanosilica with dimensions less than 10nm to the surface of the stone using a poultice, a paste-like material, to cover the stone. The nanosilica particles could then penetrate as deep as 5cm (2 inches) into the pores of the stone and consolidate it. Then they used the same poultice method and put TEOS on the surface, which could enhance the stone’s hardness or mechanical strength. …

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Enhanced consolidation efficacy and durability of highly porous calcareous building stones enabled by nanosilica-based treatments by YiJian Cao, Mara Camaiti, Monica Endrizzi, Giorgio Forti, Ernesta Vergani & Ilaria Forti. Science China Technological Sciences volume 66, pages 2197–2212 (2023 Published May 18, 2023

This paper is behind a paywall. However, it is possible to request a PDF copy of the paper from the authors on their Research Gate “Enhanced consolidation efficacy and durability of highly porous calcareous building stones enabled by nanosilica-based treatments” webpage,

My other stone postings:

That should be enough, eh?

Final Call For Papers for IEEE MetroXRAINE 2023 Special Session on “eXtended Reality as a gateway to the Metaverse: Practices, Theories, Technologies and Applications” extended to April 7, 2023

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I received an April 5, 2023 announcement for the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Neural Engineering (IEEE MetroXRAINE 2023) via email. Understandably given that it’s an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) conference, they’re looking for submissions focused on developing the technology,

Last days to submit your contribution to our Special Session on “eXtended Reality as a gateway to the Metaverse: Practices, Theories, Technologies and Applications” – IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Neural Engineering (IEEE MetroXRAINE 2023) – October 25-27, 2023 – Milan – https://metroxraine.org/special-session-17.

I want to remind you that the deadline of April 7 [2023] [extended to April 14, 2023 as per April 11, 2023 notice received via email] is for the submission of a 1-2 page Abstract or a Graphical Abstract to show the idea you are proposing.
You will have time to finalise your work by the deadline of May 15 [2023].

Please see the CfP below for details and forward it to colleagues who might be interested in contributing to this special session.

I’m looking forward to meeting you, virtually or in your presence, at IEEE MetroXRAINE 2023.

Best regards,
Giuseppe Caggianese

Research Scientist
National Research Council (CNR) [Italy]
Institute for High-Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR)
Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131, Naples, Italy

Here’s are specific for the Special Session’s Call for Papers (from the April 5, 2023 email announcement),

Call for Papers – Special Session on: “EXTENDED REALITY AS A GATEWAY TO THE METAVERSE: PRACTICES, THEORIES, TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS” https://metroxraine.org/special-session-17

2023 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Neural Engineering (IEEE MetroXRAINE 2023) https://metroxraine.org/

October 25-27, 2023 – Milan, Italy.

SPECIAL SESSION DESCRIPTION
————————-
The fast development of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) solutions over the last few years are transforming how people interact, work, and communicate. The eXtended Reality (XR) term encloses all those immersive technologies that can shift the boundaries between digital and physical worlds to realize the metaverse. According to tech companies and venture capitalists, the metaverse will be a super-platform that convenes sub-platforms: social media, online video games, and ease-of-life apps, all accessible through the same digital space and sharing the same digital economy. Inside the metaverse, virtual worlds will allow avatars to carry out all human endeavours, including creation, display, entertainment, social, and trading. Thus, the metaverse will evolve how users interact with brands, intellectual properties, health services, cultural heritage, and each other things on the Internet. A user could join friends to play a multiplayer game, watch a movie via a streaming service and then attend a university course precisely the same as in the real world.
The metaverse development will require new software architecture that will enable decentralized and collaborative virtual worlds. These self-organized virtual worlds will be permanent and will require maintenance operations. In addition, it will be necessary to design an efficient data management system and prevent privacy violations. Finally, the convergence of physical reality, virtually enhanced, and an always-on virtual space highlighted the need to rethink the actual paradigms for visualization, interaction, and sharing of digital information, moving toward more natural, intuitive, dynamically customizable, multimodal, and multi-user solutions.
This special session aims to focus on exploring how the realization of the metaverse can transform certain application domains such us: (i) healthcare, in which the metaverse solutions can, for instance, improve the communication between patients and physicians; (ii) cultural heritage, with potentially more effective solutions for tourism guidance, site maintenance, and heritage object conservation; and (iii) industry, where to enable data-driven decision making, smart maintenance, and overall asset optimisation.

More information can be found here: https://metroxraine.org/special-session-17

TOPICS

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Hardware/Software Architectures for metaverse
  • Decentralized and Collaborative Architectures for metaverse
  • Interoperability for metaverse
  • Tools to help creators to build the metaverse0
  • Operations and Maintenance in metaverse
  • Data security and privacy mechanisms for metaverse
  • Cryptocurrency, token, NFT Solutions for metaverse
  • Fraud-Detection in metaverse
  • Cyber Security for metaverse
  • Data Analytics to Identify Malicious Behaviors in metaverse
  • Blockchain/AI technologies in metaverse
  • Emerging Technologies and Applications for metaverse
  • New models to evaluate the impact of the metaverse
  • Interactive Data Exploration and Presentation in metaverse
  • Human-Computer Interaction for metaverse
  • Human factors issues related to metaverse
  • Proof-of-Concept in Metaverse: Experimental Prototyping and Testbeds

IMPORTANT DATES

Abstract Submission Deadline: April 7, 2023 (extended) NOTE: 1-2 pages abstract or a graphical abstract
Final Paper Submission Deadline: May 15, 2023 (extended)
Full Paper Acceptance Notification: June 15, 2023
Final Paper Submission Deadline: July 31, 2023

SUBMISSION AND DECISIONS
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Authors should prepare an Abstract (1 – 2 pages) that clearly indicates the originality of the contribution and the relevance of the work. The Abstract should include the title of the paper, names and affiliations of the authors, an abstract, keywords, an introduction describing the nature of the problem, a description of the contribution, the results achieved and their applicability.

As an alternative to the traditional abstract, it is possible to submit a Graphical Abstract. For further information, please see here: https://metroxraine.org/initial-author-instructions.

When the first review process has been completed, authors receive a notification of either acceptance or rejection of the submission. If the abstract has been accepted, the authors can prepare a full paper.
The format for the full paper is identical to the format for the abstract except for the number of pages: the full paper has a required minimum length of five (5) pages and a maximum of six (6) pages.
Full Papers will be reviewed by the Technical Program Committee. Authors of accepted full papers must submit the final paper version according to the deadline, register for the workshop, and attend to present their papers. The maximum length for final papers is 6 pages.
All contributions will be peer-reviewed and acceptance will be based on quality, originality and relevance. Accepted papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore Digital Library.

Submissions must be written in English and prepared according to the IEEE Conference Proceedings template. LaTeX and Word templates and an Overleaf sample project can be found at: https://metroxraine.org/initial-author-instructions.

The papers must be submitted in PDF format electronically via EDAS online submission and review system: https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=30746.
To submit abstracts or draft papers to the special session, please follow the submission instructions for regular sessions, but remind to specify the special session to which the paper is directed.

The special session organizers and other external reviewers will review all submissions.

More information can be found here: https://metroxraine.org/initial-author-instructions

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
———————————–
All contributions will be peer-reviewed, and acceptance will be based on quality, originality, and relevance. Accepted papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore Digital Library.

Extended versions of presented papers are eligible for post-publication; more information will be provided soon.

ORGANIZERS
————-
Giuseppe Caggianese
National Research Council of Italy
giuseppe.caggianese@cnr.it

Ugo Erra
University of Basilicata
ugo.erra@unibas.it

Luigi Gallo
National Research Council of Italy
luigi.gallo@cnr.it

Good luck!