Alessandro Pluchino

University of Catania | UNICT · Department of Physics and Astronomy (DFA)

Precipitation patterns are critical for understanding the hydrological and climatological dynamics of any region. Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea, with its diverse topography and climatic conditions, serves as an ideal case study for analyzing precipitation data, to gain insights into regional water resources, agricultural produ...

Precipitation patterns are critical for understanding the hydrological and climatological dynamics of any region. Sicily, the largest island of the Mediterranean sea, with its diverse topography and climatic conditions, serves as an ideal case study for analyzing precipitation data to gain insights into regional water resources, agricultural produc...

Success in sports is a complex phenomenon that has only garnered limited research attention. In particular, we lack a deep scientific understanding of success in sports like tennis and the factors that contribute to it. Here, we study the unfolding of tennis players’ careers to understand the role of early career stages and the impact of specific t...

In this paper we review some recent results about the efficiency of random strategies for complex systems. Inspired by physical systems, we discuss several successful examples of the beneficial role of randomness in the realm of socio-economic systems. We dedicate this paper to Alfredo Ferro to celebrate his distinguished career.

Today, the original Michelson–Morley experiment and its early repetitions at the beginning of the 20th century are considered as a venerable historical chapter for which, at least from a physical point of view, there is nothing more to refine or clarify. The emphasis is now on the modern versions of these experiments, with lasers stabilized by opti...

Rainfall constitutes an important climatic variable as its lack can lead to severe droughts while its excess can trigger catastrophic events. The Mediterranean basin is one of the European regions most affected by climate change's effects and Sicily island, for its location in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, represents a very interesting place...

Seismic vulnerability assessment in urban areas would, in principle, require the detailed modeling of every single building and the implementation of complex numerical calculations. This procedure is clearly difficult to apply at an urban scale where many buildings must be considered; therefore, it is essential to have simplified, but at the same t...

Seismic vulnerability assessment in urban areas would in principle require the detailed modeling of each single building and the implementation of complex numerical calculations. This procedure is clearly difficult to apply at urban scale where many buildings have to be considered and therefore it is essential to have simplified, but at the same ti...

Seismic vulnerability assessment in urban areas would in principle require the detailed modeling of each single building and the implementation of complex numerical calculations. This procedure is clearly difficult to apply at urban scale where many buildings have to be considered and therefore it is essential to have simplified, but at the same ti...

Individual sports competitions provide a natural setting for examining the relative importance of talent and luck/chance in achieving success. The belief that success is primarily due to individual abilities and hard work rather than external factors is particularly strong in this context. Thus, individual talent is regarded as the most important –...

An innovative strategy for an optimal design of planar frames able to resist seismic excitations is proposed. The optimal design is performed considering the cross sections of beams and columns as design variables. The procedure is based on genetic algorithms (GA) that are performed according to a nested structure suitable to be implemented in para...

The determination of seismic risk in urban settlements has received increasing attention in the scientific community during the last decades since it allows to identify the most vulnerable portions of urban areas and therefore to plan appropriate strategies for seismic risk reduction. In order to accurately evaluate the seismic risk of urban settle...

We propose a new statistical analysis of the Acoustic Emissions (AE) produced in a series of triaxial deformation experiments leading to fractures and failure of two different rocks, namely, Darley Dale Sandstone (DDS) and AG Granite (AG). By means of q-statistical formalism, we are able to characterize the pre-failure processes in both types of ro...

In this work, we address the beneficial role of noise in two different contexts, the human brain and financial markets. In particular, the similitude between the ability of financial markets to maintain in equilibrium asset prices is compared with the ability of the human nervous system to balance a stick on a fingertip. Numerical simulations of th...

We propose a new statistical analysis of the Acoustic Emissions (AE) produced in a series of triaxial deformation experiments leading to fractures and failure of two different rocks, namely, Darley Dale Sandstone (DDS) and AG Granite (AG). By means of q-statistical formalism, we are able to characterize the pre-failure processes in both types of ro...

Individual sports competitions provide a natural setting for examining the relative importance of talent and luck in achieving success. The belief that success is primarily due to individual abilities and hard work rather than external factors is especially strong in this context. Thus, individual talent is regarded as the most important – if not t...

Despite its centennial successes in describing physical systems at thermal equilibrium, Boltzmann–Gibbs (BG) statistical mechanics have exhibited, in the last several decades, several flaws in addressing out-of-equilibrium dynamics of many nonlinear complex systems. In such circumstances, it has been shown that an appropriate generalization of the...

In this paper we analyse the effects of information flows in cryptocurrency markets. We first define a cryptocurrency trading network, i.e. the network made using cryptocurrencies as nodes and the Granger causality among their weekly log returns as links, later we analyse its evolution over time. In particular, with reference to years 2020 and 2021...

“Non-locality is most naturally incorporated into a theory in which there is a special frame of reference. One possible candidate for this special frame of reference is the one in which the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is isotropic. However, other than the fact that a realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics requires a preferred frame and...

"Non-Locality is most naturally incorporated into a theory in which there is a special frame of reference. One possible candidate for this special frame of reference is the one in which the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is isotropic. However, other than the fact that a realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics requires a preferred frame and...

The actual relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is a challenging and intriguing issue which always fascinated many ecologists. In this study the detrital soil food webs of three temperate sandy ecosystems have been compared in the attempt to quantify the extent to which anthropogenic action affects them. The structure of the...

The assessment of seismic risk in urban areas with high seismicity is certainly one of the most important problems that territorial managers have to face. A reliable evaluation of this risk is the basis for the design of both specific seismic improvement interventions and emergency management plans. Inappropriate seismic risk assessments may provid...

The assessment of seismic risk in urban areas with high seismicity is certainly one of the most important problems that territorial managers have to face. A reliable evaluation of this risk is the basis for the design of both specific seismic improvement interventions and emergency management plans. Unappropriate seismic risk assessments may provid...

In this paper we analyse the effects of information flows in cryptocurrency markets. We first define a cryptocurrency trading network, i.e. the network made using cryptocurrencies as nodes and the Granger causality among their weekly log returns as links, later we analyse its evolution over time. In particular, with reference to years 2020 and 2021...

“Non-Locality is most naturally incorporated into a theory in which there is a special frame of reference. One possible candidate for this special frame of reference is the one in which the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is isotropic. However, other than the fact that a realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics requires a preferred frame and...

In this paper we study tax evasion by means of a unified framework, based on a behavioral approach, where each individual decision with respect to tax compliance is driven by either personal evaluations of the available information, correlated to income and the perception of the quality of the public good, and social influences, derived by the know...

The assessment of seismic risk in urban areas with high seismicity is certainly one of the most important problems that territorial managers have to face. A reliable evaluation of this risk is the basis for the design of both specific seismic improvement interventions and emergency management plans. Unappropriate seismic risk assessments may provid...

Background The recent health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to change their mobility habits, with the reduction of non-essential travels and the promotion online activities. During the first phase of the emergency in 2020, governments considered several mobility restrictions to avoid the pandemic diffusion. However, it is d...

It is a widespread belief that success is mainly due to innate qualities rather than external forces. This is particularly true in sports competitions, where individual talent is usually considered the main, if not the only, ingredient to reach success. In this study, we explore the limits of this belief by quantifying the relative weight of talent...

The determination of seismic risk in urban settlements has received increasing attention in the scientific community during the last decades since it allows to identify the most vulnerable portions of urban areas and therefore to plan opportune strategies for seismic risk reduction. In order to accurately evaluate the seismic risk of urban settleme...

Disease outbreaks force the governments to rapid decisions. However, the stream of decision-making could be costly in terms of the democratic representativeness. The goal of the paper is to investigate the trade-off between pluralism of preferences and the time required to approach a decision. To this aim we develop and test a modified version of t...

Framed structures are deeply studied in civil engineering since they provide a numerical model for the analysis of the static and dynamic response of multi-storey buildings. In order to evaluate the vibrational properties of these structures, an eigen-problem, which involves the stiffness and mass matrices of the frame, must be solved. Both matrice...

Despite the existence of an extensive literature, no definitive conclusion seems to emerge on the extent to which minorities are guaranteed by democratic rules in political systems. This paper contributes to this debate by proposing a modified Heigselmann and Krauss two-dimensional model of preferences in order to capture the role of abstention on...

The dominant CMB dipole anisotropy is a Doppler effect due to a particular motion of the solar system with a velocity of 370 km/s. Since this derives from peculiar motions and local inhomogeneities, one could meaningfully consider a fundamental frame of rest Σ associated with the Universe as a whole. From the group properties of Lorentz transformat...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

It is a widespread belief that success is mainly due to innate qualities, rather than to external forces. This is particularly true in sport competitions, where individual talent is considered the only ingredient in order to reach success. In this study, we propose to explore the relative weight of talent and luck in individual sports through agent...

It is a widespread belief that success is mainly due to innate qualities, rather than to external forces. This is particularly true in sport competitions, where individual talent is usually considered the main, if not the only, ingredient in order to reach success. In this study, with the help of both real data and agent-based simulations, we explo...

In response to the Positive Energy District transition, this paper proposes an energy tool for the modeling of energy sharing configurations among buildings equipped with energy production systems and distributive storages. The model is targeted for urban planners and energy policymakers and gives insights into the role of buildings in fostering th...

We propose a novel data-driven framework for assessing the a-priori epidemic risk of a geographical area and for identifying high-risk areas within a country. Our risk index is evaluated as a function of three different components: the hazard of the disease, the exposure of the area and the vulnerability of its inhabitants. As an application, we di...

In this paper we present a new analytical model of a Parliament and investigate the beneficial effects of the selection of legislators by lot in order to reduce some of the drawbacks of modern representative democracies. Resorting to sortition for the selection of public officers used to be in the past a popular way of taming factionalism in public...

Mobility restriction is considered one of the main policies to contain COVID-10 spreading. However, there are multiple ways to reduce mobility via differentiated restrictions, and it is not easy to predict the actual impact on virus spreading. This is a limitation for policy-makers who need to implement effective and timely measures. Notwithstandin...

Public transport in urban and suburban areas is not always able to meet population’s need of accessibility to jobs, education, health and other opportunities in terms of routes and frequencies; therefore, those who do not own a private vehicle, or who cannot afford public individual transport (e.g. taxis), often find themselves in a condition of so...

The aim of the study is the formulation of a computational method for the identification of the first damage in planar frames. The damage is considered to be concentrated in some opportune sections of beams and columns and may assume different intensities. In order to identify the location and intensity of the damage when measured frequencies on th...

In this paper we present a simplified model of a proportional taxation system where citizens decide whether to pay taxes or evade them. We initially derive a dynamic equation for the fraction of evaders and then present both its critical points and equilibrium stable states for a well-mixed population and for a fixed audit probability. Our theoreti...

Disease outbreaks force the governments to rapid decisions to deal with. However, the rapid stream of decision-making could be costly in terms of the democratic representativeness. The aim of the paper is to investigate the trade-off between pluralism of preferences and the time required to approach a decision. To this aim we develop and test a mod...

An innovative strategy for the optimal design of planar frames able to resist to seismic excitations is here proposed. The procedure is based on genetic algorithms (GA) which are performed according to a nested structure suitable to be implemented in parallel computing on several devices. In particular, this solution foresees two nested genetic alg...

The power sector is undergoing a fundamental transition from centralized fossil-fuelled to distributed production systems. Usually, the decentralization of the energy distribution is treated by considering the interactions between prosumers and main grid, neglecting to include the rising chance for prosumers to directly exchange the produced energy...

Complexity is a widely acknowledged feature of urban areas. Among the different levels to which this definition applies, the energy sector is one of the most representative of this way of conceiving cities. An evidence of this complexity can be detected in the growing impact of prosumers. Prosumers produce energy to meet their own demands, distribu...

Limit analysis is a computationally efficient tool to assess the resistance and the failure mode of structures but does not provide any information on the displacement capacity, which is one of the concepts which most affects the seismic safety. Therefore, since many researchers did not consider limit analysis as a possible tool for the seismic ass...

We present a new way of estimation of the role of chance in achieving success, by comparing the empirical data from 100-m dash competitions (one of the sports disciplines with the most stringent controls of external randomness), with the results of an agent-based computer model, which assumes that success depends jointly on the intrinsic talent of...

To investigate the structural changes of a food‐web architecture, we considered real data coming from a soil food web in one abandoned pasture with former low‐pressure agriculture management and we reproduced the corresponding ecological network within a multi‐agent fully programmable modeling environment in order to simulate dynamically the cascad...

While wealth distribution in the world is highly skewed and heavy-tailed, human talent — as the majority of individual features — is normally distributed. In a recent computational study by Pluchino et al. [Talent vs luck: The role of randomness in success and failure, Adv. Complex Syst.21(03–04) (2018) 1850014], it has been shown that the combined...

Increase in city population and size leads to growing transport demand and heterogeneous mobility habits. In turn, this may result in economic and social inequalities within the context of rapid economic growth. Provision of flexible transit in fast-growing cities is a promising strategy to overcome the limits of conventional public transport and a...

In this study three soil ecosystems, that differ in the type of management, have been compared in the attempt to understand if and how anthropogenic action affects them. The structure of the corresponding food webs was analyzed and their robustness was calculated through the use of a dynamic model. With regard to the topology, it has been found tha...

We present a novel methodology in order to perform the epidemic risk assessment in terms of different factors which are useful to understand the different impact of an epidemic in different areas of a country. In particular we discuss the case of COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. We characterize each region of Italy by considering the available data on a...