Search results for " catastrophe"
showing 10 items of 30 documents
Lévi-Strauss face à la catastrophe
2018
Viviamo in un “tempo di catastrofi” che il progresso tecnologico non sembra più in grado di contrastare. Ma le recenti crisi ecologiche (da Chernobyl al “morbo della mucca pazza”) non sono forse legate ad altri eventi che hanno segnato per sempre il destino dell'umanità – come i genocidi seguiti alla conquista dell'America o la Shoah? Il libro affronta questa domanda, attraverso una lettura originale dell'opera di Claude Lévi-Strauss. Disegnando un ritratto intellettuale inedito dell'antropologo francese, Salvatore D'Onofrio mostra come le idee di questo intellettuale ribelle e non consensuale forniscano le chiavi per pensare sia all'avvento della catastrofe che alle possibilità di uscirne.…
Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring cell death in higher eukaryotes
2009
Cell death is essential for a plethora of physiological processes, and its deregulation characterizes numerous human diseases. Thus, the in-depth investigation of cell death and its mechanisms constitutes a formidable challenge for fundamental and applied biomedical research, and has tremendous implications for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to standardize the experimental procedures that identify dying and dead cells in cell cultures and/or in tissues, from model organisms and/or humans, in healthy and/or pathological scenarios. Thus far, dozens of methods have been proposed to quantify cell death-related parameters. However, no guid…
Pressure stability field of Mg-perovskite under deep mantle conditions: A topological approach based on Bader's analysis coupled with catastrophe the…
2019
Abstract The pressure stability field of the Mg-perovskite phase was investigated by characterizing the evolution of the electron arrangement in the crystal. Ab initio calculations of the perovskite structures in the range 0–185 GPa were performed at the HF/DFT (Hartree-Fock/Density Functional Theory) exchange–correlation terms level. The electron densities, calculated throughout the ab-initio wave functions, were analysed by means of the Bader's theory, coupled with Thom's catastrophe theory. To the best of our knowledge the approach is used for the first time. The topological results show the occurrence of two topological anomalies at P~20 GPa and P~110 GPa which delineate the pressure ra…
MCC1019, a selective inhibitor of the Polo-box domain of Polo-like kinase 1 as novel, potent anticancer candidate
2019
Polo-like kinase (PLK1) has been identified as a potential target for cancer treatment. Although a number of small molecules have been investigated as PLK1 inhibitors, many of which showed limited selectivity. PLK1 harbors a regulatory domain, the Polo box domain (PBD), which has a key regulatory function for kinase activity and substrate recognition. We report on 3-bromomethyl-benzofuran-2-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (designated: MCC1019) as selective PLK1 inhibitor targeting PLK1 PBD. Cytotoxicity and fluorescence polarization-based screening were applied to a library of 1162 drug-like compounds to identify potential inhibitors of PLK1 PBD. The activity of compound MC1019 against the PLK1…
On universality of critical behavior in the focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation, elliptic umbilic catastrophe and the Tritronquée solution to the…
2008
We argue that the critical behavior near the point of “gradient catastrophe” of the solution to the Cauchy problem for the focusing nonlinear Schrodinger equation \(i\epsilon \varPsi _{t}+\frac{\epsilon^{2}}{2}\varPsi _{xx}+|\varPsi |^{2}\varPsi =0\) , e ≪1, with analytic initial data of the form \(\varPsi (x,0;\epsilon)=A(x)e^{\frac{i}{\epsilon}S(x)}\) is approximately described by a particular solution to the Painleve-I equation.
Bader's analysis of the electron density in the Pbca enstatite - Pbcn protoenstatite phase transition
2011
The Bader’s topological analysis of the electron density obtained via ab initio quantum mechanical simulation at Hartree–Fock and DFT level has been performed for experimentally in situ heated structures of enstatite–protoenstatite MgSiO 3 . The measurements have been performed in the temperature range 1200–1400 K. The work was aimed at characterizing both the evolution of the electron arrangement in the crystal and that of the crystal-structure at the enstatite–protoenstatite phase transition in terms of topology of the electron density, with particular care about the Mg–O and the O–O bonds. The observed breaking of some chemical bonds with increasing temperature and/or due to the phase tr…
Truncated thermalization of incoherent optical waves through supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers
2013
We revisit the process of optical wave thermalization through supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers. We report theoretically and numerically a phenomenon of `truncated thermalization': The incoherent optical wave exhibits an irreversible evolution toward a Rayleigh-Jeans thermodynamic equilibrium state characterized by a compactly supported spectral shape. The theory then reveals the existence of a frequency cut-off which regularizes the ultraviolet catastrophe inherent to ensembles of classical nonlinear waves. This phenomenon sheds new light on the mechanisms underlying the formation of bounded supercontinuum spectra in photonic crystal fibers.
Condensation and thermalization of classsical optical waves in a waveguide
2011
http://pra.aps.org/; International audience; We consider the long-term evolution of a random nonlinear wave that propagates in a multimode optical waveguide. The optical wave exhibits a thermalization process characterized by an irreversible evolution toward an equilibrium state. The tails of the equilibrium distribution satisfy the property of energy equipartition among the modes of the waveguide. As a consequence of this thermalization, the optical field undergoes a process of classical wave condensation, which is characterized by a macroscopic occupation of the fundamental mode of the waveguide. Considering the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a confining potential, we formulate a wav…
DNA Damage Response and the Balance Between Cell Survival and Cell Death
2009
DNA damage induces the activation of a cascade of kinases that trigger the DNA damage response (DDR). Downstream are targets that either help cells to survive or undergo cell death. DNA damage-induced cell death is executed by apoptosis, necrosis, mitotic catastrophe, and autophagy. Of these different forms of cell inactivation, apoptosis is often the main route of cell death following DNA damage. Cells undergo apoptosis upon genotoxic stress via the death receptor and/or the intrinsic mitochondrial damage pathway, with p53 and AP-1 involved decisively. Not every type of DNA damage induces apoptosis. Many DNA lesions are tolerated by the cell, some are mutagenic without being toxic and some…
Structural and Dynamical Complexities of Risk and Catastrophe Systems: an Approach by System Dynamics Modelling
2009
Risk and catastrophe are complex systems. Within the scope of this paper, we focus our attention on structural and dynamic complexities of catastrophes and on the possibility of modelling and simulating its double complexity with a formal and methodological framework: the General Systems Theory and System Dynamics modelling. Then we briefly propose a model of urban catastrophe related to a flood. After we propose some ways of research allowing exceeding the limits related to the modelling.