Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
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Luminescent Trityl‐based Diradicaloids: A Theoretical and Experimental Assessment of Charge‐Resonance in Low‐Lying Excited States
No full textThe tris(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methyl radical (TTM) has inspired the synthesis of several luminescent diradicaloids, providing an extraordinary opportunity to control the nature of the low-lying excited states by fine-tuning the diradical character. However, the photophysical properties of TTM-derived diradicals remain not fully understood yet. Here we present a combined theoretical and experimental investigation to elucidate the origin of their luminescence. The theoretical analysis explores a series of symmetric TTM-derived diradicals with singlet ground state and increasingly longer π-conjugated spacers between radical moieties, focussing on the nature of the lowest excited electronic states governing their photophysics. The study is complemented by a complete spectroscopic characterization of the TTM-TTM diradical, synthesized using a novel, simpler and more efficient procedure exploiting the unique reactivity of TTM. The diradicals feature two novel low-lying excited states, absent in TTM, arising from charge resonance (CR) between the radical units. The lowest CR state is characterized by the H,H→L,L double excitation (DE) and is a dark state for symmetric diradicals. The CR nature explains the blue-shifted emission observed by increasing the distance between the radical centres as seen in TTM-ph-TTM. This insight suggests different design strategies to improve the luminescence properties of TTM-derived diradicals
Prognostic significance of preoperative neutrophil-tolymphocyte ratio in lung carcinoid patients after receiving curative surgery. A multicentre study.
No full textBackground: Recent evidence suggests that inflammation is relevant to carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Biomarkers of the inflammatory response are increasingly regarded as valuable prognostic indicators for enhancing predictive accuracy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Nonetheless, the applicability of these measures in patients with pulmonary carcinoid remains uncertain.
Objectives: The primary outcome of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact on Overall Survival (OS) of the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) in pulmonary carcinoid after complete surgical resection.
Methods: We retrospectively evaluated data from 267 patients who underwent surgery with curative intent for pulmonary carcinoid tumors between January 2010 and December 2020. Peripheral blood samples were collected preoperatively during routine preoperative tests. The univariable-unadjusted and the Inverse of Probability Weight (IPW) propensity score (PS) adjusted Cox regression models are reported to assess the association between inflammatory biomarkers and outcomes.
Results: The median follow-up duration after surgical resection was four years. Elevated NLR was the only biomarker significantly associated with worse overall survival (OS). The significant association between NLR and OS is evidenced after adjusting for potential confounders using IPW.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated a significant association between the NLR in blood samples of carcinoid patients and their survival outcomes
Assessing the Potential Usefulness of FDG LAFOV-PET for Oncological Staging: An Evaluation of Lesion Number and Uptake
No full textBackground/Objectives: In many cases, the detection of a single lesion could revolutionise patient clinical management; not all localisations, especially those with a low uptake and, consequently, a low Tumour-to-Background Ratio (TBR), are readily detectable using [18F]F-FDG PET/CT. LAFOV-PET offers a potential enhancement in lesion detection, but the proportion of patients who would benefit from its use has yet to be determined. With the present analysis, we aimed to assess which clinical contexts the enhancement in lesion detection could affect the most. Methods: This retrospective study included 764 patients who underwent [18F]F-FDG PET/CT between January and April 2024. Data were obtained through a review of PET/CT reports. Inclusion criteria comprised patients who attended our centre for cancer pathologies or masses of undetermined nature (MUNs) in a staging setting, excluding patients who had undergone a prior [18F]F-FDG PET/CT scan or who had received therapy for any cancer pathology. This analysis focused on the total number of lesions identified, as well as the SUVmax of the lesion with the highest uptake. We analysed the proportion of patients who were within the range of number of lesions between 1 and 2, as well as who had an SUVmax of the lesion with the highest uptake between 2 and 5, either in the whole patient population or in the pathologies with a larger numerosity in the present study. Results: Among the 862 scans analysed, 289 (34%) were found to be negative, while 573 (66%) presented at least one localisation. In total, 4.5% of patients presented both a lesion number of between 1 and 2 and an SUVmax of the lesion with the highest uptake between 2 and 5. Among the malignancies that were the most common in the analysed population, a higher-than-average proportion of patients meeting these criteria were found in melanoma (6.2%), breast cancer (5.9%), and multiple myeloma (4.8%) patients. Conversely, the conditions that presented a lower proportion of patients in this range were suffering from MUNs (4.0%), lung cancer (2.1%), head–neck cancer (2.1%), suspected lymphoma (2.0%), and colon cancer (0.0%). Conclusions: Our analysis shows that almost 1 in 20 patients evaluated at oncological staging with [18F]F-FDG PET/CT could benefit from the increased diagnostic sensitivity offered by LAFOV-PET scanners. These data, although preliminary, support the need for future prospective controlled studies to confirm the actual clinical impact of implementing LAFOV-PET in current practice
Desajustes entre la legislación laboral y el procedimiento administrativo sancionador en materia de derecho de la competencia: impacto en la calificación de los despidos
No full textThis paper analyses the lack of alignment between the deadlines established by labour legislation and the typical duration of sanctioning procedures in the field of competition law. It specifically examines how this misalignment affects the validity and timeliness of disciplinary dismissals based on anticompetitive behaviour that has not yet been firmly sanctioned by the Spanish National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC). The study highlights the tension between the legal requirement to act promptly and the need for sufficient and definitive evidence. It also explores the procedural consequences of this scenario, particularly regarding evidentiary limitations and the judicial assessment of the reasonableness of employer inaction. Finally, the paper proposes normative and procedural solutions to uphold legal certainty, effective judicial protection, and proportionality in the employer’s response to collusive conduct.Este trabajo analiza la falta de sincronización entre los plazos establecidos por la legislación laboral y la duración del procedimiento sancionador en materia de defensa de la competencia. En particular, se examina cómo esta desincronización afecta la validez y oportunidad de los despidos disciplinarios basados en conductas anticompetitivas aún no sancionadas de forma firme por la CNMC. Se destaca la tensión entre la exigencia de actuar disciplinariamente en plazos breves y la necesidad de contar con pruebas suficientes y definitivas. Asimismo, se abordan las consecuencias procesales de esta situación, tanto en el plano probatorio como en la interpretación judicial de la razonabilidad temporal de la inacción empresarial. Finalmente, se proponen soluciones normativas y procesales para preservar los principios de seguridad jurídica, tutela judicial efectiva y proporcionalidad en la respuesta empresarial ante conductas colusorias
Smart Ports as Drivers of Sustainability
No full textDigitalization, automation and sustainability of most aspects of business and human life are at the core of the strategies of several international organizations, the EU and many domestic policies, among others. These goals go hand in hand, being the former also relevant instruments for achieving the latter.
This considerations are particularly true for international commerce, transports and logistics (cf. UNDP Digital Strategy 2022-2025, p. 47). The latter two play an important role for most of the SDGs and the related targets. Their relevance has two faces: first, transports are “responsible for about a quarter of the EU’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and causes air pollution, noise pollution and habitat fragmentation” (European Environment Agency, 2021): therefore in order to achieve environmental sustainability, it is necessary to change the current mobility system and approach to trade.
Second, transport and logistics services and infrastructures are crucial for enabling the sustainable development of most – if not all – the aspects of businesses and daily life considered by the SDGs. They are also a key factor for enhancing the economic and social progress in developing Countries.
The development of transport infrastructures and networks is an important component of national economic, environmental and transport policies, which however are currently subject to the strategies and constraints set at the EU level in order to avoid unlawful State aids or the disruption of the relative markets. Moreover, given natural monopolies, oligopolies and market failures that are quite common in transportation and the high need for safety and security, the sector is subject to both economic and technical regulation.
Considering the different transport modes, almost the 90% of goods are carried by sea. In the EU, seaports are the gateways to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Where included in an efficient multimodal transport and logistics network, they are therefore of high relevance for the EU sustainable development.
Consistently with the above-mentioned policies, within the EU Green Deal, in 2021 the EU published the call “Green airports and ports as multimodal hubs for sustainable and smart mobility” for financing proposals for airports and ports, that could – among the others – achieve the integration with green and smart logistics and operations and show “the positive environmental effects of digitalization in ports”.
Among the several examples of implementation of the above-mentioned strategies, are smart ports. From technical and business perspectives, there is neither a uniform model of smart port nor a unique definition. From a legal point of view, smart ports entail issues pertaining to both Public and Private Law.
The article addresses the role of Industry 4.0 in seaports as an enabler of sustainable development, identifying the current issues and challenges that smart ports present in particular from a Public law perspective, such as the powers and limits – under the EU law – for EU member States to finance the related projects and the powers, roles and responsibilities of Port Authorities and of the other different subjects
Embodiment and Emotions in Twentieth-Century German Philosophy (Special issue of "Idealistic Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy")
No full textAs noted by Shaun Gallagher, the dimension of affectivity—which clearly includes, among others, aspects such as emotions and feelings—is “closely
associated with the body.” A direct connection between the emotional dimension of human life and the dimension of embodiment thus emerges already at this preliminary level, thus showing how, on the one hand, an adequate understanding of the relevance of emotions and feelings in the structure of human experience requires to take into consideration their intrinsic embodied character, while, on the other hand, an adequate understanding of the embodied nature of human experience requires to take into account also affective factors that include emotions and feelings. Of course, much depends on the diverse ways in which the question of human embodiment, and its consequent relation with the emotional dimension of life, can be understood and approached: for example, in purely scientific and sometimes reductionist terms or, vice-versa, in terms that tend to account in a broader phenomenological and socio-cultural way for human embodiment, suggesting the irreducibility of our entire being-in-the-world (including our “[a]ffective and emotional states”) to the sole processes that take place in our brain, and sometimes arriving to blur the rigid separations between the subject and the object, the body and the environment, as happens in some recent theories of the embodied and extended mind, with noteworthy implications also at the level of our understanding of emotions and feelings. On this basis, because of the richness, variety and complexity of our embodied and emotional way of being-in-the-world, it is not surprising that the study of emotions, feelings, moods and also affective atmospheres has recently attracted the attention of a vast number of theorists in diverse fields of research, ranging from biology to psychology, from neuroscience to anthropology and sociology, and obviously including philosophy as well. As the title itself of the present volume clearly explains, the particular approach that we have chosen to adopt in this collection (Embodiment and Emotions in Twentieth-Century German Philosophy) is strictly focused, from a historico-philosophical point of view, on the context of German philosophical traditions and debates in the twentieth century. Of course, the reason for our thematic and methodological choice does not rely on the false idea that, during the twentieth century, only in the German philosophical context valuable and original contributions on embodiment and emotions were offered by various thinkers—which would obviously be historico-philosophically
naïve, incorrect and unjust. At the same time, however, it seems to us that some of the most stimulating reflections on embodiment and emotions that have characterized the wide, complex and plural philosophical scenarios of the twentieth century have precisely emerged within the context of German thought and, quite interestingly, in the context of diverse philosophical traditions that, although all belonging to the same geographical and cultural context, were nonetheless rival with each other and sometimes explicitly challenging each other: Neo-Kantianism, Lebensphilosophie, phenomenology, critical theory, hermeneutics, philosophical anthropology, etc
Prolonged nicotine exposure, via electronic cigarette, selectively increases Bdnf/TrkB transcription, dynorphin peptide levels and OLIG2 in male rat VTA
No full textDifferent drugs of abuse affect the Central Nervous System (CNS) neuronal networks and reshape the expression of neuroplasticity-related genes in crucial parts of the mesocorticolimbic reward circuitry, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Recent evidence suggests that neuronal activity and life experience, including repeated drug exposure, can modulate oligodendrogenesis thus altering neuronal myelination. This study aimed to investigate whether the prolonged exposure to nicotine, via electronic cigarettes, affects oligodendrocyte differentiation. Results showed that exposure to nicotine mainstream enhances the expression of OLIG2, a transcription factor essential for oligodendrocyte differentiation, in male rat VTA. This effect was associated with increased mRNA levels of the epigenetic enzyme Kdm6b, which is involved in regulating OLIG2 expression and synaptic plasticity. In the same brain region, nicotine increased Bdnf and TrkB gene expression as well as dynorphin peptide levels, which are positive regulators for oligodendroglial differentiation. Noteworthy, these molecular changes occurred alongside a reduction in neurofilament light levels, suggesting potential axonal remodelling associated with enhanced oligodendrogenesis. No significant changes in investigated parameters were detected in the NAc, thus suggesting that the reported molecular alterations selectively occurred in the VTA. Protein correlation analysis revealed that prolonged nicotine exposure primarily affects neuroplasticity-related protein networks within this area. Overall, these findings suggest that prolonged nicotine exposure, through electronic cigarettes, induces alterations of oligodendrogenesis modulators in the VTA. These molecular changes may impact axonal conduction velocity and reward circuitry connectivity, promoting neuronal adaptations that could be relevant for the development of addictive behaviour
From waste to thermal insulation for buildings: an investigation of potentialities in the Italian context
No full textThe demand for green insulation materials is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years as the building sector moves towards carbon neutrality. Waste-based thermal insulation materials offer a
promising area of research that aims to make a significant contribution to energy and resource efficiency while helping the building sector achieve sustainability targets. However, despite the
growing interest of researchers, proposed waste-based thermal insulation products are still mostly at an experimental research level, far from ready for the construction market. The study investigates the potential availability of waste materials for use in thermal insulation products, focusing on the Italian context. The objective is to identify available quantities of waste suitable for use in or as insulation products and the possible barriers to their widespread adoption in
the construction industry. The methodology starts with an international literature review, followed by an analysis of national waste statistics to verify quantities, and production and/or collection points for each waste. As a result, more than 20 materials are identified as promising for market uptake. The materials are mostly based on early-stage research, thus a lack of comprehensive analysis regarding their performances limits their application in building renovation and highlights the need for further research
Differentiability of monotone maps related to non quadratic costs
No full textThe cost functions considered are c(x,y)=h(x−y), with h∈C2Rn, homogeneous of degree p≥2, with positive definite Hessian in the unit sphere. We consider monotone maps T with respect to that cost and establish local scale invariant L∞-estimates of T minus affine functions, which are applied to obtain differentiability properties of T a.e. It is also shown that these maps are related to maps of bounded deformation, and further differentiability and Hölder continuity properties are derived
Carlo Emilio Gadda, Divagazioni e garbuglio, in Caso e necessità, “Nuove lezioni bellinzonesi”, 2/2025, Annuario multidisciplinare, a cura della commissione Attività culturali del Liceo Cantonale Bellinzona, Coordinatori Simone Bionda e Lucia Orelli Facchini, Liceo cantonale Bellinzona, Casagrande
No full textA partire dalla nuova edizione della raccolta di saggi gaddiani, Divagazioni e garbuglio, curata per Adelphi, nel 2019, l'articolo riflette sul rapporto in Gadda tra narrativa e saggistica, e sull'efficacia di uno studio del Gadda saggista, perché ogni intervento testuale - come aveva già intuito Giancarlo Roascioni - è una dichiarazione di poetica: "la maggiore libertà di
espressione, garantita dalla dimensione saggistica nel riflettere e valutare
le opere di altri autori, diventa una chiave di lettura per orientare
l’interpretazione della ‘propria’ opera"