Search results for "Processes"
showing 10 items of 3831 documents
Music and Emotions in the Brain: Familiarity Matters
2011
The importance of music in our daily life has given rise to an increased number of studies addressing the brain regions involved in its appreciation. Some of these studies controlled only for the familiarity of the stimuli, while others relied on pleasantness ratings, and others still on musical preferences. With a listening test and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, we wished to clarify the role of familiarity in the brain correlates of music appreciation by controlling, in the same study, for both familiarity and musical preferences. First, we conducted a listening test, in which participants rated the familiarity and liking of song excerpts from the pop/rock repe…
URBAN RESILIENCE AND WASTE MANAGEMENT: PROPOSALS OF NEW INFRASTRUCTURES FOR URBAN AREAS AND BUILDINGS
2015
La produzione ingente di rifiuti, quale conseguenza di costumi di vita volti allo spreco, rende vulnerabili i sistemi urbani che possono essere sottoposti, in casi emergenziali, a pressioni eccezionali e incontrollate con situazioni prossime al collasso. Un’opportuna e corretta gestione integrata dei rifiuti contribuisce alla resilienza dei sistemi urbani. Perciò si rendono necessarie la pianificazione e la progettazione di nuovi servizi e l’individuazione/integrazione di spazi e dotazioni tecnologiche per incentivare la popolazione a effettuare la raccolta differenziata in modo corretto e costante. Si presentano gli esiti di uno studio svolto in un piccolo centro siciliano. Partendo dalle …
Microemulsion encapsulated into halloysite nanotubes and their applications for cleaning of a marble surface
2018
Halloysite nanotubes were used to incorporate anionic surfactant micelles and an organic solvent to generate a cleaning system to be applied in Cultural Heritage restoration. The targeted adsorption is driven by electrostatic interactions based on the nanotubes peculiar charge separation. Namely anionic species are driven to the positively charged inner surface while being prevented from interacting with the halloysite outer surface that possesses a positive charge density. The hybrid organic/inorganic emulsion was characterized by dynamic light scattering. Analysis of the autocorrelation function allowed us to define the presence of surfactant aggregates inside/outside the nanotube lumen a…
Climate Change in the Mediterranean Basin (Part II): A Review of Challenges and Uncertainties in Climate Change Modeling and Impact Analyses
2023
AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is particularly prone to climate change and vulnerable to its impacts. One of the most relevant consequences of climate change, especially for the southern Mediterranean regions, is certainly water scarcity as result of a reduction of surface runoff and groundwater levels. Despite the progress achieved in recent years in the field of climate change and its impact on water resources, results and outcomes should be treated with due caution since any future climate projection and derived implications are inevitably affected by a certain degree of uncertainty arising from each different stage of the entire modeling chain. This work offers a comprehensive overview…
Recent trends of temperature change under hot and cold desert climates: Comparing the Sahara (Libya) and Central Asia (Xinjiang, China)
2011
Abstract According to trend computations at three stations each in Sahara desert (Libya), characterized by a “hot” desert type (“BWh”, according to the Koeppen climate classification), and in Central Asia (Xinjiang, China) identified as a “cold” desert type (“BWk”, after Koeppen), increasing annual temperatures were detected over the period 1955–2005 corresponding with global temperature warming. From 1955–1978, negative (decreasing) temperature trends were, however, observed at all three hot desert stations and at two of the three cold desert stations. From 1979–2005, strikingly positive temperature trends were seen at all six stations. In seasonal respects, winter (December to February) a…
Prevalence of burnout in a sample of Brazilian teachers
2011
Background and Objectives: Burnout is a psychological response to chronic work-related stress of an interpersonal and emotional nature. Brazilian law have already contemplated burnout syndrome as a mental and behavioural disorder related to work. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of burnout in a sample of Brazilian teachers. Methods: The sample was composed of 714 teachers from 8 schools in Porto Alegre and its metropolitan area (Brazil). The levels of burnout were evaluated by the Spanish Burnout Inventory, educational version (SBI-Ed). In addition, Psychosomatic disorders were estimated by the UNIPSICO subscale. Results: The percentage of participants who indicated high…
Project Management Information Systems (PMISs): A Statistical-Based Analysis for the Evaluation of Software Packages Features
2021
Project Managers (PMs) working in competitive markets are finding Project Management Information Systems (PMISs) useful for planning, organizing and controlling projects of varying complexity. A wide variety of PMIS software is available, suitable for projects differing in scope and user needs. This paper identifies the most useful features found in PMISs. An extensive literature review and analysis of commercial software is made to identify the main features of PMISs. Afterwards, the list is reduced by a panel of project management experts, and a statistical analysis is performed on data acquired by means of two different surveys. The relative importance of listed features is properly comp…
Post-fragmentation vesiculation timescales in hydrous rhyolitic bombs from Chaitén volcano
2020
Abstract Bubble nucleation and growth dynamics exert a primary control on the explosivity of volcanic eruptions. Numerous theoretical and experimental studies aim to capture the complex process of melt vesiculation, whereas textural studies use vesicle populations to reconstruct magma behaviour. However, post-fragmentation vesiculation in rhyolitic bombs can create final quenched bubble (vesicle) textures that are not representative of the nature of fragmenting magma within the conduit. To examine bubble growth in hydrous rhyolitic bombs, we have used heated stage microscopy to directly observe vesiculation of a Chaiten rhyolite melt (with an initial dissolved water content of ~0.95 wt %) a…
Photocatalytic coalescence of functionalized gold nanoparticles.
2009
A novel strategy for the synthesis of chromophore-functionalized AuNPs with a narrow size distribution is reported. It consists of increasing the size of preprepared NPs by means of a fast (second scale) and clean (light and an organic photocatalyst) method. The results agree with thiolate ligand liberation from the NP surface promoted by photogenerated radicals. This lets gold cores come together and finally coalesce.
CALYPSO: a new HF RADAR network to monitor sea surface currents in the Malta-Sicily channel (Mediterranean sea)
2016
Located in one of the main shipping lanes in the Mediterranean Sea, and in a strategic region for oil extraction platforms, the Malta-Sicily channel is exposed to significant oil spill risks. Shipping and extraction activities constitute a major threat for marine areas of relevant ecological value in the area, and impacts of oil spills on the local ecosystems and the economic activities, including tourism and fisheries, can be dramatic. Damages would be even more devastating for the Maltese archipelago, where marine resources represent important economic assets. Additionally, North Africa coastal areas are also under threat, due to their proximity to the Malta-Sicily Channel. Prevention and…