Anna Maria Fundarò. Il progetto di allestimento come espressione della cultura dell’abitare

2022

Anna Maria Fundarò, architetto e fondatrice della scuola di design di Palermo, ha posto al centro del suo lavoro il tema dell’abitare, non limitato alla casa, ma esteso a tutti i luoghi dove le persone vivono, si incontrano, lavorano, fanno esperienza e sviluppano forme di conoscenza. Nella sua visione il progetto di allestimento è il campo delle sperimentazioni progettuali più innovative ed espressive; un’interfaccia tra architettura e design, che tiene assieme aspetti socio-culturali, tecnologici, produttivi, percettivi, comunicativi, comportamentali. Il testo propone inizialmente una lettura della sua formazione e della sua attività di ricerca: sulle vicende storico-artistiche della Sici…

Empathes: A general code for nudged elastic band transition states search

2022

Abstract An easy and flexible interface, Empathes (Extensible Minimum PATH EStimator), that allows to perform Nudged Elastic Band calculation for the determination of transition states is presented. The code is designed to be easily modified, in order to be associated with the user's preferred calculation software, even with those which implement composite approaches. In particular, the interfaces to Gaussian and Siesta programs are discussed in details, being the former only used for testing purpose, while the latter can be productively employed for transition states search with that commonly used density functional theory software for periodic calculations. Program summary Program Title: …

Bodily Practices in Action Formation and Ascription in Multilingual Interaction: Introduction to the Special Issue.

2022

This special issue brings together empirical studies that investigate how bodily practices feature in action formation and action ascription in multilingual interaction (Schegloff, 2007; Levinson, 2013). Grounded in video-based conversation analysis and drawing on data from diverse sociomaterial settings, the articles investigate the contingent interactional processes through which speakers from different language backgrounds accomplish actions and achieve intersubjectivity. They demonstrate how specific constellations of linguistic resources, bodily conduct, spatial configurations, and material ecology are built into accomplishment of actions at different levels of interactional organizati…

Natural Halogen Emissions to the Atmosphere: Sources, Flux, and Environmental Impact

2022

Understanding the atmospheric geochemical cycle of both natural and anthropogenic halogens is important because of the detrimental effect halogens have on the environment, notably on tropospheric and stratospheric ozone. Oceans are the primary natural source for atmospheric Cl, F, Br, and I, but anthropogenic emissions are still important, especially for Cl. While emissions of human-made halocarbons (e.g., chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs) are expected to continue to decrease allowing progressive stratospheric ozone recovery, volcanic activity (e.g., clusters of mid-scale explosive eruptions or large-scale explosive eruptions) might disturb this recovery over the next decades. This review provid…

Multidisciplinary Approaches to Study Ancient Cities in a Seismic Region

2022

The paper focuses on the strong connections between natural resources, environment, and urban development in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Pamukkale, Turkey). The ancient city was founded on a travertine terrace crossed by an active fault, responsible for impressive geothermal phenomena, i.e., flowing of thermal water, emission of gases, and frequent earthquakes, while the surrounding territory offered various stone qualities (travertine, alabaster, marbles, etc.). These environmental features affected the cultural identity of Hierapolis and its urban layout, conditioning also the construction techniques and the monumentalization of the city. In recent…

Insegnare facendo, imparare dimenticando

2022

Il saggio riflette sulla pedagogia dell'architettura e sull'insegnamento della progettazione architettonica di prima annualità. Attraverso l'esperienza didattica di alcuni maestri e contemporanei rintraccia una linea di condotta per la propria esperienza didattica che discute criticamente i fondamenti disciplinare dell'architettura.

Employee tenure and staff performance: The case of a social enterprise

2022

Abstract The literature on social enterprises has largely examined tradeoffs at the organizational level. In this study, we examine tradeoffs at the employee level. By analyzing the case of an Ecuadorian microfinance institution, we show that the tenure of social enterprise employees affects individual social and financial performance differently: the relationship between tenure and social performance is positive, whereas the relationship between tenure and financial performance is an inverted U-shape. Furthermore, our results suggest that social enterprise employees with the longest tenure are the least inclined to experience tradeoff tensions.

La misura discreta dell’infinito

2022

Il progetto di architettura è un percorso di sfrondamento delle complessità e delle contraddizioni che predispone il presente fisico all’autenticità dell’abitare. Questo percorso interpreta l’inconciliabilità delle relazioni urbane, compone le differenze. Ricerca la semplicità senza semplificazione, interpreta lo stare nel mondo nella continuità dei suoi significati, ma con la misura esatta e discreta di un innovativo cambiamento di senso.

S-Nitrosation of Arabidopsis thaliana Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1 Prevents Its Irreversible Oxidation by Hydrogen Peroxide

2022

Tyrosine-specific protein tyrosine phosphatases (Tyr-specific PTPases) are key signaling enzymes catalyzing the removal of the phosphate group from phosphorylated tyrosine residues on target proteins. This post-translational modification notably allows the regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades during defense reactions. Arabidopsis thaliana protein tyrosine phosphatase 1 (AtPTP1), the only Tyr-specific PTPase present in this plant, acts as a repressor of H2O2 production and regulates the activity of MPK3/MPK6 MAPKs by direct dephosphorylation. Here, we report that recombinant histidine (His)-AtPTP1 protein activity is directly inhibited by H2O2 and nitric oxide (NO) …

Tuning of interfacial charge transport in polyporphine/phthalocyanine heterojunctions by molecular geometry control for an efficient gas sensor

2022

Abstract Owing to high interfacial conductivity, organic heterostructures hold great promises to augment the electrical performances of electronic devices. In this endeavor, the present work reports fabrication of novel polyporphine/phthalocyanine heterostructures and investigates the modulation of charge transport induced by structural change of polyporphine and its implication on ammonia sensing properties. Polyporphines materials are electrosynthesized by oxidation of zinc(II) porphine monomer that corresponds to the fully unsubstituted porphyrin. At less-positive anodic potential, low conducting meso,meso-singly-linked type-1 polymer (pZnP-1) is formed in which a monomer unit stays orth…

Effect of foot health and quality of life in patients with Parkinson disease: A prospective case-control investigation.

2022

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG [Abstract] Background Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder, characterised by the presence of motor disturbances. Therefore, it can be related to musculoskeletal and orthopaedic problems, particularly in the foot status, that are linked to a negative effect on overall health, mobility and social function. Objective The aim was to analyse the impact of foot health and quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease and people without Parkinson's disease, with normalised reference scores, in the light of the values recorded with regard to foot health status and overall health. Material an…

Divertor of the European DEMO: Engineering and technologies for power exhaust

2022

International audience; In a power plant scale fusion reactor, a huge amount of thermal power produced by the fusion reaction and external heating must be exhausted through the narrow area of the divertor targets. The targets must withstand the intense bombardment of the diverted particles where high heat fluxes are generated and erosion takes place on the surface. A considerable amount of volumetric nuclear heating power must also be exhausted. To cope with such an unprecedented power exhaust challenge, a highly efficient cooling capacity is required. Furthermore, the divertor must fulfill other critical functions such as nuclear shielding and channeling (and compression) of exhaust gas fo…

Optimization of Reactive Force Field Simulation: Refactor, Parallelization, and Vectorization for Interactions

2022

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are playing an increasingly important role in many areas ranging from chemical materials to biological molecules. With the continuing development of MD models, the potentials are getting larger and more complex. In this article, we focus on the reactive force field (ReaxFF) potential from LAMMPS to optimize the computation of interactions. We present our efforts on refactoring for neighbor list building, bond order computation, as well as valence angles and torsion angles computation. After redesigning these kernels, we develop a vectorized implementation for non-bonded interactions, which is nearly $100 \times$ 100 × faster than the management processing…

Electromagnetic Structure of the Neutron from Annihilation Reactions

2022

The investigation of the fundamental properties of the nucleon is one of the most important topics in the modern hadron physics. Its internal structure and dynamics can be studied through the measurement of electromagnetic form factors which represent the simplest structure observables and serve as a test ground for our understanding of the strong interaction. Since the first attempt to measure the time-like form factors of the neutron, only four experiments published results on its structure from annihilation reactions. Due to the lack of statistics and experimental challenges, no individual determination of the form factors of the neutron has been possible so far. Modern developments of e…

Grothendieck-type subsets of Banach lattices

2022

Abstract In the setting of Banach lattices the weak (resp. positive) Grothendieck spaces have been defined. We localize such notions by defining new classes of sets that we study and compare with some quite related different classes. This allows us to introduce and compare the corresponding linear operators.

Potential of phosphonium-based ionic liquids to purify 1-propanol from water by liquid–liquid extraction at mild conditions

2022

Abstract In order to reduce the environmental of the separation of 1-propanol from water in a residual industry stream for its reuse, the capability as solvents of two different trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium ionic liquids (ILs) – trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium chloride ([TDTHP][Cl]) and trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium bromide ([TDTHP][Br])-, was studied. The liquid–liquid equilibria data for both ternary systems, {water + 1-propanol + [TDTHP][Cl]} and {water + 1-propanol + [TDTHP][Br]} at different mild work temperatures, (283.2, 303.2 and 323.2) K, and atmospheric pressure were measured. The thermodynamic parameters for both ternary systems at different work conditions were obtained by …

Context dependent variation in corticosterone and phenotypic divergence of Rana arvalis populations along an acidification gradient

2022

Background Physiological processes, as immediate responses to the environment, are important mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity and can influence evolution at ecological time scales. In stressful environments, physiological stress responses of individuals are initiated and integrated via the release of hormones, such as corticosterone (CORT). In vertebrates, CORT influences energy metabolism and resource allocation to multiple fitness traits (e.g. growth and morphology) and can be an important mediator of rapid adaptation to environmental stress, such as acidification. The moor frog, Rana arvalis, shows adaptive divergence in larval life-histories and predator defense traits along an acidi…

Regione pianificata

2022

Cosa significa “regione pianificata”, e perché parlarne? Tutto questo capitolo si confronterà con un’ambiguità di fondo, che proveremo ad affrontare fin dall’inizio, ma che non sarà possibile sciogliere del tutto. Il problema fondamentale è legato all’essenza stessa di “regione”, difficilmente definibile. Dovremmo considerarla come un dato spaziale, cioè un’entità geografica che esiste a prescindere dai suoi abitanti, dai processi storici che la possono modificare e dagli enti che la governano? O, piuttosto, la regione è l’esito dei processi che la pianificano? In questa seconda accezione, la regione andrebbe considerata come risultato più che come dato pre-esistente.

Psychological Profile of Patients Diagnosed With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

2022

Global health security and islands as seen through COVID-19 and vaccination

2022

Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020, significant research and attention has focused on countries’ abilities and interests in enacting response measures to the spread of the coronavirus including lockdowns, travel restrictions, and vaccination programmes to contain infections, hospitalisations, and deaths. As the pandemic has continued, much discussion has also centred on the ability of islands to control borders, enact public health measures, and keep the virus out or controlled, owing in part to presumed islandness characteristics of isolation and remoteness. Drawing from ongoing empirical examples of island experiences in the context of COVID-19, this article exa…

TOP WOMAN: Identifying barriers to women's access to management

2022

Abstract Despite some recent advances, women face more difficulties in accessing management positions. Previous research analyzed several types of barriers contributing to the maintenance of the glass ceiling, including factors such as gender stereotypes, difficulties in work–family balance, human resource policies, difficulties in accessing networks, organizational culture, and higher demands for women to demonstrate their value. The perception of the gender barriers can be different or may have a different value depending on the characteristics of specific organizations, teams, jobs, and employees. In this study, we develop the scale “TOP WOMAN” (Testing the Obstacles to Promotion of WOme…

Prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with immunotherapy - development and validation of the CRAFITY score.

2022

Immunotherapy with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab represents the new standard of care in systemic front-line treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, biomarkers that predict treatment success and survival remain an unmet need.Patients with HCC put on PD-(L)1-based immunotherapy were included in a training set (n = 190; 6 European centers) and a validation set (n = 102; 8 European centers). We investigated the prognostic value of baseline variables on overall survival using a Cox model in the training set and developed the easily applicable CRAFITY (CRP and AFP in ImmunoTherapY) score. The score was validated in the independent, external cohort, and evaluated in a cohort of patie…

Eye disease and mortality, cognition, disease, and modifiable risk factors: an umbrella review of meta-analyses of observational studies

2022

Globally, 2.2 billion people live with some form of vision impairment and/or eye disease. To date, most systematic reviews examining associations have focused on a single eye disease and there is no systematic evaluation of the relationships between eye diseases and diverse physical and mental health outcomes. Moreover, the strength and reliability of the literature is unclear. We performed an umbrella review of observational studies with meta analyses for any physical and/or mental comorbidities associated with eye disease. For each association, random-effects summary effect size, heterogeneity, small-study effect, excess significance bias and 95% prediction intervals were calculated, and …

The ARF GAPs ELMOD1 and ELMOD3 act at the Golgi and cilia to regulate ciliogenesis and ciliary protein traffic

2022

ELMODs are a family of three mammalian paralogs that display GTPase activating protein (GAP) activity towards a uniquely broad array of ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family GTPases that includes ARF-like (ARL) proteins. ELMODs are ubiquitously expressed in mammalian tissues, highly conserved across eukaryotes, and ancient in origin, being present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor. We described functions of ELMOD2 in immortalized mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) in the regulation of cell division, microtubules, ciliogenesis, and mitochondrial fusion. Here, using similar strategies with the paralogs ELMOD1 and ELMOD3, we identify novel functions and locations of these cell regulators a…

Modulational stability brought by cubic–quartic interactions of the nearest-neighbor in FK model subjected in a parametrized on-site potential

2022

Abstract This work extends to higher-order interactions the results of Ref. Nguetcho (2021), in which we discussed only on modulational instability in one-dimensional chain made of atoms, harmonically coupled to their nearest neighbors and subjected to an external on-site potential. Here we investigate the competition between cubic-quartic nonlinearities interactions of the nearest-neighbor and substrate’s deformability, and mainly discuss its impact on the modulational instability of the system. This makes it possible to adapt the theoretical model to a real physical system such as atomic chains or DNA lattices. The governing equation, derived from the modified Frenkel-Kontorova model, is …

Cellulolytic bacteria joined with deproteinized whey decrease carbon to nitrogen ratio and improve stability of compost from wine production chain by…

2022

Composting residues from wine and dairy chains would contribute to increase the environmental sustainability of the production. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of deproteinized whey combined with bioactivators on the composting process. Bacillus velezensis and Kocuria rhizophila, bacteria with cellulolytic activity, were isolated from raw materials and inoculated in the organic mass to be composted. Piles moistened with deproteinized whey showed the highest reduction of total and dissolved organic carbon due to the stimulation of bacterial activity by nitrogen compounds held within deproteinized whey. Such findings were also confirmed by the speed up of the microbial carbo…

Biological control of Listeria monocytogenes in soil model systems by Enterococcus mundtii strains expressing mundticin KS production

2022

Abstract The agricultural practices applied in pre-harvest greatly influence the presence and the levels of microorganisms in fresh produce. Among these, Listeria monocytogenes represents one of the most lethal foodborne pathogens associated with vegetables. The main hypothesis of this work is that bacteriocin producer Enterococcus mundtii strains can be effective against L. monocytogenes in soil. To this purpose, bacteriocin production by E. mundtii WFE3, WFE20 and WFE31, three strains showing a strong bacteriocin activity in terms of inhibitory power and inhibition spectra, was evaluated in sterile extracts from agricultural soil and peat moss, in organic nutrient solution (ONS) and miner…

Risk factors for high fall risk in elderly patients with chronic kidney disease

2022

Purpose: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) usually represent an aging population, and both older age and CKD are associated with a higher risk of falling. Studies on risk factors among subjects with CKD are lacking. Methods: Records of outpatients from one geriatric clinic in Turkey were retrospectively reviewed. A result of ≥ 13.5 s on the timed up and go (TUG) test was accepted as a high risk of falls. Independent predictors of an increased risk of falls among subjects with CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate of < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) were identified using logistic regression models. Results: Patients with CKD (n = 205), represented the 20.2% of the entire cohort and was i…

Benchmark of a multi-physics Monte Carlo simulation of an ionguide for neutron-induced fission products

2022

AbstractTo enhance the production of medium-heavy, neutron-rich nuclei, and to facilitate measurements of independent yields of neutron-induced fission, a proton-to-neutron converter and a dedicated ion guide for neutron-induced fission have been developed for the IGISOL facility at the University of Jyväskylä. The ion guide holds the fissionable targets, and the fission products emerging from the targets are collected in helium gas and transported to the downstream experimental stations. A computer model, based on a combination of MCNPX for modeling the neutron production, the fission code GEF, and GEANT4 for the transport of the fission products, was developed. The model will be used to i…

NAFLD-driven HCC: Safety and efficacy of current and emerging treatment options

2022

In light of a global rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) represent an increasingly important underlying aetiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCCs arising from lipotoxicity-mediated chronic inflammation are characterised by several unique features: in contrast to virally driven HCC, up to 50% of NAFLD-HCC occurs in patients without cirrhosis and annual HCC incidence is comparatively low, complicating current surveillance strategies. On average, patients are older and are more frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage. While locoregional treatments are probably equally effective regardless of HCC aetio…

Les jeunes et la conduite : une envie sous contraintes

2022

International audience

Principio di non incriminazione della vittima di tratta autore di reato e obblighi di tutela ai sensi dell'art. 4 Cedu. Primi chiarimenti dalla Corte…

2022

Per la prima volta, la Corte europea dei diritti dell’uomo (Corte EDU) è chiamata a decidere se, ed entro quali limiti, un ordinamento che non rispetta il principio di non-incriminazione della vittima di tratta (VDT) per i reati da questa commessi violi o meno il divieto di schiavitù e di lavoro forzato stabilito dall’art. 4 della Convezione europea dei diritti dell’uomo (CEDU). Che il principio di non incriminazione abbia trovato tutela convenzionale soltanto sotto un profilo procedimentale, e non anche sostanziale, può a prima vista deludere le aspettative di chi ne auspica ormai da tempo un’ampia attuazione. Non può però escludersi che sia proprio sul piano della tutela procedimentale, d…

Design and Implementation of Density Sensor for Liquids Using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor

2022

In this paper, an optical fiber sensor based density sensor is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The sensor is formed by fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. The proposed sensor design is very simple and versatile for density measurements of liquids. The FBG strain sensor has one end mounted to a 3D printed rigid support, and the other end connected to a 3D manufactured clamp in this sensor design. A metal ball is suspended from this clamp by a non-stretchable cord. When it is completely immersed in liquid, the liquid buoyancy force acts on it. As a result, the strain in FBG varies depending on the force applied to the ball. This results in a wavelength shift in the FBG sensor. The pro…

Sleep duration and sarcopenia in adults aged ≥ 65 years from low and middle-income countries

2022

Background: Sleep duration may influence risk for sarcopenia but studies on this topic are scarce, especially from low and- middle-income countries (LMICs). Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the association between sleep duration and sarcopenia among adults aged ≥ 65 years from five LMICs (China, Ghana, India, Russia, South Africa). Methods: Cross-sectional, community-based data from the WHO study on global ageing and adult health (SAGE) were analysed. Sarcopenia was defined as having low skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and weak handgrip strength, while severe sarcopenia was defined as having low SMM, weak handgrip strength, and slow gait speed. Self-reported sleep duration i…

Electrochemical performance of Na2FeP2O7/C cathode for sodium-ion batteries in electrolyte with fluoroethylene carbonate additive

2022

Abstract Solution synthesis was used to prepare pristine Na2FeP2O7 and Na2FeP2O7/C composite cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries, using glucose as a carbon source. While the pristine Na2FeP2O7 displays capacity of only 45 mAh/g due to the relatively large grain size, the addition of carbon increases the capacity to up to 92 mAh/g (95% of the theoretical 97 mAh/g capacity) with excellent rate capability, as 44 mAh/g capacity is still retained even at 20 C (1.94 A/g) current. The optimal content of carbon was found to be 4.8%. The initial capacity of 81 mAh/g is fully retained after 500 cycles at 1 C, indicating excellent cycle life. Measurements were carried out in 1 M NaClO4 salt in …

Oggi viene male questo celeste. Paolo Conte e il dilettantismo

2022

The figure of the amateur is emerging on the contemporary semiosphere, both in terms of scientific research and in the artistic domain. In this paper we discuss this phenomenon from the textual analysis of a song by Paolo Conte. We thus deal with the relations of mutual inter semiotic translation between music and image by showing how, in Conte, a musical compo sition can, at the level of utterance, become the theory of a given pictorial making and, at the level of enunciation, be transposed into a drawing that predicates it by its own expressive and semantic means. But also how, in the reverse sense, a certain form of life of the amateur visual artist can be transposed into a precise devic…