Fiftyfive years after the Apollo 11 landing, the Moon continues to reveal its dark side to scientists still studying Earth's natural satellite: for the first time, international research has identified more than 20 structures linked to now-buried craters and various inclined stratifications in the regolith, which is the layer of material composed of dust, rock and debris that lies on the Moon's surface and is the result of millennia of meteorite impacts and erosive processes. 

Coordinating the team of researchers is the Applied Geophysics group of Professor Michele Pipan from the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Geosciences at the University of Trieste.

Scientists interpreted geological structures at a depth of more than 30 metres from the lunar surface by analysing radar data collected by the Chinese Chang'E-4 mission from 2019, through the first rover landed on the moon's hidden face and integrating them with measurements from remote sensors.

The investigation involved part of the Van Kármán crater, located within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, an unexplored area of the satellite with a diameter of more than 180 km now at the centre of new geological revelations. For the first time, the researchers used deep learning algorithms based on artificial intelligence to collect and process the data, which allowed them to examine the radar data much more precisely and objectively than before, uncovering features and evolution of the hidden side of the lunar surface and revealing a complexity in the geometry of the regolith that was previously unknown. In fact, the regolith in the area observed does not have a constant thickness, contrary to previous assumptions, but varies between 5 and 15 metres.

‘These results demonstrate the importance of multidisciplinary analyses, which not only provide crucial information from a scientific point of view, but are also the essential starting point for the evaluation of potential lunar subsurface resources and for the planning of future missions and permanent lunar bases’, explains Michele Pipan, Professor of Applied Geophysics at the University of Trieste.

The research, published in the scientific journal Icarus, involved scientists from the University of Trieste, the INAF - National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome, Purdue University (USA), the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhejiang University (China). 

In January 2024, the same research team corrected and validated the radar data collected by the mission, available on the Lunar and Planetary data release system site of the National Astronomical Observatory of China and made them available to the international community through publication in the journal Scientific Data.

Currently, the University of Trieste research group that led this study is involved in a project selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to send a magnetometer and radar system to the Moon for geophysical surveys of the lunar subsurface.

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Full study published in Icarus

Deep learning driven interpretation of Chang’E – 4 Lunar Penetrating Radar

G. Roncoroni a, E. Forte a, I. Santin a, A. ˇCernok a, A. Rajˇsi´c b, A. Frigeri c, W. Zhao d, G. Fang e,f,g, M. Pipan a

a Department of Mathematics, Informatics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Italy
b Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
c Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (IAPS), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Rome, Italy
d Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
e Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
f Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Radiation and Sensing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
g School of Electronic, Electrical and Communication Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

The ELMA research project, jointly presented by UniTS and GSI Laboratories in Darmstadt, Germany, has been awarded a €150,000 grant to conduct a study on the energy response of monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS).

ELMA is financed by funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) within the framework of the Italy-Germany Cultural Cooperation, which aims to facilitate the access of Italian research personnel to large German research centres.

The research groups of the ELMA project, led by Giacomo Contin from the Physics Department of the University of Trieste and Silvia Masciocchi from the University of Heidelberg and the GSI laboratory, will systematically study the response of MAPS to particles accelerated to certain energies. The researchers will prepare and characterise functional MAPS samples, in planar and curved geometries, and irradiate them at the ion beams of the GSI-FAIR accelerator. The shape and size of the groups of pixels activated by the incident particles with different charge number and energy, and the analogue signal information stored by the detector logic, will be used to study the response and accurately calibrate the sensors for further use in various experimental applications.

The GSI laboratories will make local beam facilities available to the project and provide scientific and technical support.

The project will also provide the opportunity to establish a lasting collaboration between the Italian and German groups, enabling the exchange of students and scientific staff, routine access to each other's facilities, further joint research initiatives and scientific publications.

The funding also made it possible to announce research grants for undergraduate and graduate students and two post-doctoral positions as research assistant who will work on the proposed research and on the fabrication of the necessary setups for data collection. For information and to apply by 6th September 2024: https://amm.units.it/en/node/51946/assegno/pub and https://amm.units.it/en/node/51947/assegno/pub.

PHOTO: 2 x 2 pixel illustration of the ALPIDE chip, currently operating in the detector of the ALICE experiment at CERN.

Credits: courtesy of the ALICE Collaboration

Matteo Parenzan, a table tennis champion and student at the University of Trieste, will be competing for the second time in the most prestigious and evocative setting for a sportsman: the Paralympics in Paris, which kicks off today.

The Class 6 table tennis tournament will take place next week, but the Trieste student-athlete has already arrived in the French capital and Olympic venue to prepare in the best possible way. On 1st September, the draw will be made with the names of the 16 participating players, while the matches will start the following day: Matteo, the youngest competitor, will be the No. 3 seed.

Parenzan has just come back from a three-year period in which he consolidated his position at the top of the discipline, having become world champion in Granada in 2022 and European champion in Sheffield in 2023.

Living with a neuromuscular disease characterised by hypotonia and muscle weakness since birth, the young world champion first took hold of the bat as a child, beginning a journey that at 21 is already full of successes and has led him to be the flag-bearer of the Italian team in the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Games in 2021.

‘In the run-up to the Paralympics in Paris, I have committed myself not only to improving technically, but also to growing mentally and emotionally,’ says Parenzan, who combines his commitment to table tennis with his studies. 

Enrolled in the second year of Political Science and Administration, his university curriculum tries not to be outdone by his sporting one. Often travelling to international tournaments, Matteo always carries his gym bag with clothes and backpack with books. 

On an intercontinental trip that took him to Singapore for an exhibition tournament, he says he took advantage of the flight to study: ‘The exam session was coming up and I had two exams to prepare for,’ he says with a satisfied smile.

‘Life as a student and an athlete,’ continues Parenzan, ‘is a continuous challenge. I still have many sporting dreams to fulfil, and I try to apply the same determination to the goal of graduating. Determination is crucial, but so is serenity.’

The five-ring dream is about to begin, and the whole of UniTS is ready to cheer on its champion.

It is with great sadness that the University of Trieste learnt of the untimely death of Professor Teresa Tonchia on 15th August, an esteemed colleague and lecturer in the Department of Political and Social Sciences.

Teresa Tronchia taught Women’s History to undergraduate students of Political Science and Administration and remained committed to studying the relationship between genders, disputing harmful feminine stereotypes, and furthering the social and political recognition of the role of women.

Her commitment to women's issues, however, was not confined to the classroom and a record of this dedication is to be found (among other examples) in her involvement as a referee in 2017 for the tenth edition of the ‘Society, Politics and Cinema’ seminar series organised for the University entitled ‘The Power of Women’.

Her attention to different modes of communication and to modes of representation in cinema is reflected in her contributions to the volumes Lo spettro della fine. Pensare l'Apocalisse tra filosofia e cinema (Mimesis 2016) and L'enigma del potere. L'immaginario politico nel cinema (Mimesis 2020), of which she was also editor.

The whole University remembers her kindness with affection and sincerely shares in the grief of her family.

Today the academic community and the local sports community met as Rector Roberto Di Lenarda welcomed the President of Triestina Calcio Ben Rosenzweig to the Sala Cammarata for his first visit to the University of Trieste.

The American businessman, who has owned Trieste’s football club for just over a year, and the UniTS Rector exchanged mutual good wishes for both the 100th anniversary of the University of Trieste on 8th August and for the forthcoming start of the football season, which kicks off on Saturday 24th August.

The meeting spoke to the ongoing consolidation of the partnership between the University and the football club, both of which are ready to outline future opportunities for collaboration, in the interest of the territory and the academic community.

The event was marked by an exchange of T-shirts, in keeping with sporting tradition. Rosenzweig presented the Rector with a Triestina T-shirt, customized with UniTS and the number 100, to celebrate the University's important anniversary. Rector Di Lenarda, in turn, reciprocated by presenting the Triestina president with a t-shirt celebrating the UniTS centenary.

The Mare Sopra outreach project devised by the University of Trieste to raise public awareness of rising sea levels caused by global warming is now in full swing. With almost 100 kilometres of coastline, Friuli Venezia Giulia is particularly vulnerable to risks caused by coastal erosion and flooding that could threaten local communities and infrastructure. Rising sea levels in the region could jeopardise not only the environment but also many of the activities that gravitate towards coastal areas, such as fishing and tourism.

In order to better understand the state of Friuli Venezia Giulia's coastline, researchers involved in the Mare Sopra project have recently begun monitoring the Trieste coastline with a special vehicle, a sort of kayak-pedalo-catamaran equipped with modern technology. In addition to the measurements that will be taken, these marine expeditions will be used to gather a vast collection of images and footage, making use of underwater cameras and drones. All updates and videos of upcoming activities will be made available on the Mare Sopra playlist on the University of Trieste's YouTube channel. 

At the end of the summer, the project will continue with further outreach activities on the beaches for schoolchildren and members of the public. The shooting of 360-degree spherical aerial videos captured by a drone is sure to be of particular interest. Images will be selected from underwater dives in order to create a high-resolution virtual tour.

At the end of all these activities, the main coastal locations will be marked with two lines. A yellow line will mark where the sea will be in 2050 and a red line its level in 2100.

Mare sopra is an interdisciplinary project conceived by Professor Stefano Furlani (UniTS), implemented with the collaboration of several partners and the contribution of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It involves geomorphologists, sociologists and biologists from three university departments (Mathematics, Informatics and Geosciences; Political and Social Sciences; Life Sciences), as well as citizens, schools and associations.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are one of the most recent open mysteries in modern astrophysics: within milliseconds they release one of the highest amounts of energy observable in cosmic phenomena. Discovered just over a decade ago, these strong radio-band flashes come from mostly extragalactic sources, but their origin is still uncertain and many efforts are being made by the astrophysical community worldwide to try to understand the physical processes at their origin.

In very few cases, the rapid flash that characterises fast radio bursts coincides with a persistent radio emission. New research led by the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) has recorded the weakest persistent radio emission ever detected so far for an FRB. It is FRB20201124A, a fast radio burst discovered in 2020, whose source is located about 1.3 billion light years away. In addition to the work of INAF researchers, the study sees the collaboration of UniTS (Roberta Tripodi), the University of Bologna, the University of Calabria, and the international participation of research institutes and universities in China, the United States, Spain and Germany.

The observations, made possible by the world's most sensitive radio telescope, the Very Large Array (VLA) in the US, have verified the theoretical prediction that a plasma bubble is at the origin of the persistent radio emission of fast radio bursts. The results were published today in the journal Nature.

The new work also helps to circumscribe the nature of the driving force behind these mysterious flashes. According to the new data, either a magnetar (strongly magnetised neutron star) or an X-ray binary with a very high accretion regime, i.e. a binary system formed by a neutron star or a black hole that accretes material from a companion star at a very high rate, would be at the basis of the phenomenon. It is in fact the winds produced by the magnetar, or the binary X system, that 'inflate' the plasma bubble that gives rise to the persistent radio emission. There is therefore a direct physical relationship between the FRB 'engine' and the bubble, which is located in its immediate vicinity.

‘A nebular origin for the persistent radio emission of fast radio bursts’, by Gabriele Bruni, Luigi Piro, Yuan-Pei Yang, Salvatore Quai, Bing Zhang, Eliana Palazzi, Luciano Nicastro, Chiara Feruglio, Roberta Tripodi, Brendan O'Connor, Angela Gardini, Sandra Savaglio, Andrea Rossi, A. M. Nicuesa Guelbenzu, Rosita Paladino.

Happy Birthday UniTS also from the USA!

The D-ETEF laboratories’ research group from the Department of Engineering and Architecture have taken part in the sixth edition of the ‘International Conference on DC Microgrids’ organised by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, https://attend.ieee.org/icdcm-2024/) with a delegation consisting of Giorgio Sulligoi, Daniele Bosich and Andrea Alessia Tavagnutti, lecturers and researchers in electrical energy systems at our University.

The conference took place in Columbia (SC), at the University of South Carolina, a leading university for real-time studies and simulations on integrated, flexible and hybrid AC/DC electrical systems.

Prof. Sulligoi, who gave a keynote speech entitled ‘DC grids and ships: technological trends, proof of concepts, integrated ship design’, said: ‘The invitation to participate as a keynote speaker came from Professors Enrico Santi, general chair, and Roger Dougal, general co-chair, key figures in the field whom I had the good fortune to meet at several IEEE conferences during my PhD. Receiving an invitation from them to give a plenary session speech after twenty years of work in the field made me particularly honoured. It is an achievement which is the result of the work of the entire D-ETEF laboratories’ research team. Joining me in the proceedings were my colleagues Prof. Daniele Bosich, a specialist in the DC microgrids sector and track chair of the conference on Circuit Breakers and Protections, and Dr. Andrea Alessia Tavagnutti, who has just taken up her post at our university and was part of the PhD programme in Industrial and Information Engineering at MIT Boston, doing research in the specific field of DC microgrid storage. I would also like to thank our University for grasping the importance of having competitive laboratories to carry out power tests and trials on industrial-scale electrical systems, contributing to the renovation of spaces and achieving state-of-the-art infrastructures'.

The keynote speech took place on 8th August, so the UniTS team was able to publicly wish our University a happy 100th birthday!

Pictured: Prof. Giorgio Sulligoi and Enrico Santi, General Chairman of ICDCM 

The University of Trieste will activate a bachelor’s degree in Dietetics  starting from the academic year 2024-2025: the publication of the call for applications for degree courses for health professions confirms what has been anticipated in the last weeks about the new course catalogue. 

The bachelor’s degree with competitive admission in Dietetics will be based in Pordenone and will have 30 places available. It will train food and nutrition professionals in safety, healthcare, catering, research and teaching as well as in the educational and collaborative aspects of food policies, and will prepare graduates to be able to work both independently and in teams with other professional figures.

Teaching will be divided into theoretical and practical lessons that will provide a solid basis of skills and knowledge in the propaedeutic and biomedical sciences. It will then focus on healthcare, which also involves the main medical and surgical specialities, without neglecting training in psychology and pedagogy, law, economics and ethics.

The course will favour international aspects and experiences, including participation in European networks and collaboration with professional associations and the relevant communities.

The compulsory internship will then enable the student to gain real life work experience. The final examination, in addition to awarding the degree, will be valid in the same way as the State examination qualifying the student to practice the profession.

The degree course will pay particular attention to training future dieticians so that they will be able to carry out their professional activity according to scientific evidence and in compliance with the code of ethics. They will also possess knowledge of food safety and catering and will be able to manage the needs of patients at various stages of life.

In addition to the opportunities offered by the new activation of Dietetics, the call for applications for degree courses for health professions will also see a significant overall increase in available places, almost one hundred more than in the past.

There are more places available in Nursing (+20), which reaches the 200 threshold, in Physiotherapy (+10), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques (+10), Speech Therapy (+5) and Medical Radiology Imaging and Radiotherapy Techniques (+20), which doubles the number of possible admissions compared to the previous call for applications two years ago.

The numbers for Dental Hygiene, Biomedical Laboratory Techniques, Prevention Techniques in the Environment and in the Workplace and Health Care remain constant, the latter two being activated at the Gorizia Campus.

Applications must be submitted, exclusively online, by 13:00 on 26th August according to the procedures outlined in the call for applications. 

The admission test will be held on Thursday 5th September 2024 in Trieste, Piazzale Europa Campus, in buildings H3 and C1. The test will begin at 11:00 (identification operations will start at 8:30), last one hundred minutes and consist of sixty questions with five options for each answer.

On 8th August, UniTS will celebrate the ‘National Day of Italian Labour Sacrifices in the World’, established to preserve the memory of the 136 Italians who lost their lives in a coal mine in Marcinelle in 1956. This was a tragedy that has become a symbol of Italian emigrants who were victims of accidents at work. 

This day highlights the significance of work as an irreplaceable driving force in the life of every individual: our Constitution, from its very first article, makes work a cardinal principle of our social system and the very foundation of the Republic.

The University is committed to training young people so that they can be the driving force and stimulus of our society in working contexts that guarantee dignity, security and prospects for professional growth.