This paper describes the methodology adopted and the results obtained during the 3D documentation of the medieval capitals of St. Orso Collegiate Church, in Aosta, for reference and digital archiving. This task has been carried out through low cost technology entirely based on digital scanning of high quality images applying stereophotogrammetric principles. This technology allows to obtain point clouds with RGB information and geometries at different levels of complexity, processing a number of images taken with a limited set of constraints, with the use of a special acquisition equipment and through an image matching algorithm. Issue in this research was to obtain the accurate 3D information required to build models of artifacts of a such heritage importance, with a high degree of complexity. In future the 3D model will contribute to create a spatial information system which will assist conservation and restoration activities on the one hand and will be used for tourist information inside the St. Orso Collegiate Church on the other.

Survey technologies play a leading role in Cultural Heritage knowledge and so far they have been finalized to the acquisition of data for describing geometric features and peculiarities of historical monuments with the purpose of conservation and safeguard. Moreover the demand for 3D models of historical monuments is continuously growing in the field of archaeological and architectural applications. The two main sources that can provide detailed and reliable 3D surface models are Terrestrial Laser Scanner through laser scanning techniques, and photogrammetry through image-based modelling. Among the many works so far presented, the use of laser scanner for Cultural Heritage survey seems to gain a monopoly position in the 3D modelling pipeline. This technology permits a detailed 3D description of the artefacts geometry, without subjective interpretation. Nevertheless, some related geometric issues still remain unsolved and thus a great amount of post processing work is required to obtain final results. Recently, on the other hand, development of digital photogrammetric systems allow to define 3D visualization and navigation environments; data referring to geometric consistency are combined, without loss of rigor, to other qualitative, morphological and colour information. This paper aims to present how wide can be the application range of quick three focal photogrammetric system finalized to the digital scanning of high quality images, within the context of Cultural Heritage artefact surveying at different scales and for different purposes.

Survey technologies play a leading role in the knowledge of cultural heritage and so far they have been finalized to data acquisition for describing geometric features and peculiarities of historical monuments in the context of conservation and safeguard. Moreover, the demand for 3D models of historical monuments is continuously increasing in the field of archaeological and architectural applications. The two main sources that can provide detailed and reliable 3D surface models are photogrammetry through image-based modelling, and Terrestrial Laser Scanner through laser scanning techniques. Among the works so far presented, the use of laser scanner for cultural heritage survey seems to achieve a position of monopoly in the 3D modelling pipeline. Laser scanner technology permits a detailed 3D description of the artefacts geometry: during the acquisition phase, it is possible to automatically acquire a great amount of 3D points without subjective interpretation from the operators. Some related geometric issues have not been solved yet, and thus a great amount of post-processing work is required to get final results. Recently, the development of digital stereo-photogrammetric systems capable to define 3D visualization and navigation environments represents a valid alternative as a tool for 3D documentation of cultural heritage. This paper aims to present the wide range of application of quick photogrammetric systems, either stereoscopic or trifocal, in the context of surveying archaeological–architectural artefacts at different scales and for different purposes.

The recent survey technologies, play a leading role in the process of knowledge of the cultural heritage. In fact they are finalized to the acquisition of geometric data necessary to describe usefully geometric features and peculiarities of historical monuments necessary for their conservation and safeguard. Besides digitalisation of the acquired data, allows the same data availability by different typologies of users in order to spread and share knowledge for cultural heritage valorisation. Quick stereo-photogrammetric systems and laser scanner technology have advantages but also limits referring to the elaboration, management and possibilities of use. The recent development of digital stereo-photogrammetric systems allows the definition of 3d visualization and navigation environments within which the data referring to geometric consistency is combined, without loss of rigour, with other qualitative, morphological and colour information specific to the photographic document. The laser scanner technology likewise permits a detailed three-dimensional description of the artefacts geometry, without subjective interpretation from the operators. Therefore laser scanner opens up extremely interesting horizons to possible geometry analyses or to evaluations of monuments state of conservation and static conditions. The necessity to compare these different survey technologies becomes fundamental to verify the accuracy of acquired numeric data, to evaluate their possible integration and to define different protocols of use in relation to the artefacts morphological-architectural characteristics and to the survey finalities. The critical aspects of the described topic will be proposed through the analysis of a specific study case: the documentation of the roman triumphal arch of Augustus in Aosta.

Diastereomeric forms of l-(pyrrolidin-1-ylmethyl)-2-(N-methyl)-4-[(3,4-dichloro)phenyl]-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinol in-3(2H)-ones 3a and its chloro analog 3c were synthesized. Compounds 3a,c are related to the κ-selective opiate ICI 199441 1 by linking the benzylic CH2 to the ortho position of the phenyl in 1. Compared with morphine, these compounds had lost in κ and κ affinities; only cis-3a showed a modest κ affinity. 1-Pyrrolidin-1-ylmethyl-N-[2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)acetyl]-1,2,3, 4-tetrahydroisoquinoline 2, which is also a cyclic congener of 1, was reported to display high κ and μ affinity, and so a conformational study was undertaken on 1, 2 and 3a. This showed that, while active 2 extensively superposed on 1, 3a assumes another geometry which does not allow a fit with the pharmacophoric moieties of 1 and 2.

1-(3-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzyl)-2-alkyl-6,7-methylenedioxytetrahydroisoquinolines (3a–c), derived from the D1, selective antagonist S-bulbocapnine by cleavage of the bond between the 2 aromatic moieties, have been synthesized and their in vitro affinity towards D1 and D2 receptors evaluated. Of the compounds tested, the 2-methyl derivative 3a while showing poor affinity towards D1 receptors was able to inhibit the D2 radioligand 3H-raclopride binding by 60% at 10−5 M. Conformational analysis allows reasonable explanations of the loss of D2-affinity of 3a with respect to the model.

A methodology based on molecular modeling and chemometrics is applied to identify the geometrical pharmacophore and the stereoelectronic requirements for the activity in a series of inhibitors of 3-hydroxy 3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, an enzyme involved in cholesterol biosynthesis. These inhibitors present two common structural features - a 3,5-dihydroxy heptanoic acid which mimics the active portion of the natural substrate HMG-CoA and a lipophilic region which carries both polar and bulky groups. A total of 432 minimum energy conformations of 11 homologous compounds showing different levels of biological activity are calculated by the molecular mechanics MM2 method. Five atoms are selected as representatives of the relevant fragments of these compounds and three interatomic distances, selected among 10 by means of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), are used to describe the three-dimensional disposition of these atoms. A cluster analysis procedure, performed on the whole set of conformations described by these three distances, allows the selection of one cluster whose centroid represents a geometrical model for the HMG-CoA reductase pharmacophore and the conformations included are candidates as binding conformations. To obtain a refinement of the geometrical model and to have a better insight into the requirements for the activity of these inhibitors, the Molecular Electrostatic Potential (MEP) distributions are determined by the MNDO semiempirical method.

The critical process of reading the artefacts has been facilitated by the introduction of Computer Science in the field of documentation and survey of architectural heritage. Indeed, computer-based techniques have strongly modified the acquisition phase as well as subsequent operations such as computation and management of information coming from different fields. For instance, it is possible to add further information, such as qualitative data, morphology, colour information and so on, to photogrammetric acquisition. This paper focuses on experimental results deriving from the application of quick photogrammetric stereoscopic systems to surveying and documenting the Roman city walls in Aosta, a circuit of five kilometres around the town (internal and external sides). The final result is composed of metric raster stereoscopic strips, explorable in a stereoscopic environment, where it is possible to perform three-dimensional measures and to survey conservation status. In this way is possible to avoid the vectorial phase which often represents a subjective abstraction from the truth: the raster strips provide a corpus of information deriving from the geometrically controlled stereoscopic pairs, which are qualitatively and quantitatively richer than a traditional relief. The innovative photogrammetric system tested is a digital mono-camera system which has the advantages of a bi-camera based system and allows stereoscopic acquisition that can be used directly for restitution. This system guarantees the same accuracy of geometric data acquisition as a traditional stereoscopic method, which is fundamental in the process of diagnosing the state of conservation. Although the system does not need topographical support, the latter was nevertheless provided in order to verify the reliability of the test system, the accuracy of the results obtained and to set the stereoscopic models properly in real space. All the photographic stereoscopic pairs were processed using dedicated software that allowed control points to be added (natural and targets deriving from topographic survey) in order to minimize errors in overlapping stereoscopic models.