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Integrazione di Reti WSN e Spettrofotometri Low-Cost per Misure in Agricoltura di Precisione
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Migrations, coexistence, intercultural education: the pedagogical challenges for the global citizenship
No full textAdvancing recycling of end-of-life NdFeB permanent magnets for additive manufacturing
No full textRecycling end-of-life rare-earth-based permanent magnets, which are key components across many strategic sectors, offers a promising solution to address the geopolitical, economic, and environmental issues of the rare-earth industry. Among the proposed strategies, the magnet-to-magnet approach, where end-of-life magnets are transformed into fine powders to manufacture new magnets, has attracted considerable attention as it allows for complete material recovery and waste minimization through environmentally friendly processes. While the best performance can be obtained by using the powders to produce sintered magnets, additive manufacturing, especially the fused filament fabrication 3D printing technology using magnetic polymer composites as inks, has emerged as a promising and sustainable method for manufacturing bonded permanent magnets with complex geometries while minimizing waste production. This PhD research aims to advance sustainable methods for producing NdFeB magnets by recycling EoL products. The primary focus was on exploring magnet-to-magnet recycling techniques to create powders with micrometer-scale dimensions and magnetic properties similar to those of the original magnets, thus enabling their use in producing novel permanent magnets, particularly through 3D printing. The process involved pulverizing the magnets through hydrogen decrepitation, followed by high-energy ball milling to generate fine powders. These powders were then used to create dense pellets, demonstrating the feasibility of manufacturing new permanent magnets from recycled materials. Additionally, preliminary studies with commercial NdFeB powders were conducted to evaluate the potential for producing NdFeB-based polymer composites and 3D printing filaments. Furthermore, advanced modeling and simulations were used to study the alignment of recycled NdFeB powders within polymer matrices under an applied magnetic field, offering valuable insights for the production of high-performance anisotropic permanent magnets via magnetic-field-assisted 3D printing. The research findings confirm that sustainable methods for producing NdFeB magnets from recycled end-of-life products are indeed feasible. Key processes, such as hydrogen decrepitation and high-energy ball milling, were optimized to generate micrometer-sized powders with magnetic properties comparable to those of original magnets. While recycled magnets may not fully replicate the performance of their original counterparts, they can effectively bridge the gap between ferrites and high-performance NdFeB, making them suitable for lower-performance applications. The study also demonstrated that dense pellets with uniform magnetic characteristics can be produced, underscoring the potential for using recycled powders to manufacture new magnets. Additionally, preliminary investigations with commercial NdFeB powders indicated that magnetic polymer composites with controlled thermal and magnetic properties can be developed for 3D printing applications. Furthermore, the research showed that recycled powders can be aligned within polymer matrices using an external magnetic field, with alignment efficiency influenced by factors such as field strength, particle shape, and initial orientation, as well as interparticle interaction, thereby enhancing their applicability in 3D printing. These findings contribute significantly to the development of high-performance permanent magnets from recycled materials, promoting sustainability in magnet production
TERT translocation to mitochondria: Exploring its role in mitochondrial homeostasis
No full text: Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT), in addition to its well-known role in telomere lengthening, also has non-canonical functions, including gene regulation and protection against apoptosis. Beyond its nuclear functions, it is now recognized for its presence inside mitochondria. However, the biological role of TERT in mitochondrial physiological activity, with its specific mechanism of action, still needs to be clarified. This work clearly demonstrates the presence of TERT inside the mitochondrion under physiological conditions, in different cellular contexts, both with endogenous and ectopic TERT expression, and regardless of the presence of telomerase RNA counterpart TERC. TERT was shown to bind mitochondrial DNA, influencing mitochondrial replication and transcription. Furthermore, electron microscopy analysis of morphology revealed TERT-induced fragmentation of the mitochondrial network. Collectively, our findings suggest that TERT may play a role in regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and dynamics, and influencing processes such as fission and mitophagy, essential for maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis and closely connected to cellular states
Italian Theology on the Eve of the Second Vatican Council
No full textThis study explores the development of Italian theology in the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council, focusing on doctrinal trends, institutional settings, and reactions to modern intellectual movements. Throughout much of this era, theological reflection in Italy remained firmly anchored in neo-scholasticism, a framework largely shaped by Roman pontifical institutions, above all the Lateran and Gregorian universities, and marked by a cautious, often oppositional stance toward contemporary philosophy. The closure of theological faculties within state universities after 1873 intensified this condition of isolation, consolidating an apologetic style of thought and a strongly hierarchical outlook during the pontificate of Pius XII.
Despite this prevailing climate, impulses toward renewal gradually surfaced. Significant initiatives arose at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and within the theological milieu of Venegono, where alternative approaches began to challenge established patterns. The article offers a wide-ranging historiographical survey of these intertwined processes, engaging with recent academic contributions and integrating new interpretive possibilities opened by the availability of materials from the Pius XII archives.
By reexamining Italian theological reflection through these previously inaccessible sources, the study proposes a more refined reading of the interplay between inherited tradition and emerging reformist impulses, highlighting how these tensions contributed decisively to the intellectual background of the Second Vatican Council
Happiness Maximization Is a WEIRD Way of Living
No full textPsychological science tends to treat subjective well-being and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective well-being is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: What is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why "happiness maximization" might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat (i.e., faced relatively light existential pressures compared with other regions). We review the influence of the Gulf Stream on the Northwestern European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealize attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for happiness maximization, we also studied some of its potential side effects, namely alcohol and drug consumption and abuse and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we reanalyze data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction-the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology-involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level
