CamEPrints
Not a member yet
689 research outputs found
Sort by
STUDY AND APPLICATION OF AUTOLOGOUS MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS IN EQUINE RECURRENT UVEITIS
No full textThe ability to repair damaged organs or to create in vitro tissues is now a reality and regenerative medicine is attracting more and more interest in the veterinary field, due to the possibility to provide a shorter period of hospitalization and a greater possibility of recovery, leading to greater benefits both for the animal and the economy.\ud
Chronic diseases, cancer and injuries are often severe, in pets, especially in the elderly, whose owners are increasingly demanding new and more sophisticated treatments and prevention strategies. Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is a major ophthalmic disease of the horse and is the most common cause of blindness in this species and it continues to be a common and frustrating problem in horses both in Europe and USA. Standard symptomatic anti-inflammatory therapy is effective to control most cases of ERU, especially when treated early in course of the recurrent episode. However, some patients required advanced therapy when they fail to respond to the standard therapy.\ud
The horse is a perfect model for the study of new therapies in spontaneous uveitis and the model could be translated, with care of each order and for all levels, in man. In fact, man and horse are united by the fact that they are the only two species that can develop spontaneous uveitis.\ud
The purpose of this research project was to assess the application of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of end-stage equine recurrent uveitis, focusing on the possibility of obtaining mesenchymal stem cells suitable for the use in this eye problem. In addition, feasibility and outcomes of this novel stem therapy has been evaluated.\u
Nature and Culture: unconventional ways to inform the Public about Geo-Environmental concepts essential for Prevention
No full textDuring these years emerged the need to create new kinds of communication that can activate a conscious society, providing people with clear information on the geo-environmental scenarios of our country. \ud
A sensitive point in the scientific communication is how to organize the information in a strategic way, referring to targets and messages, in order to better communicate the contents to the audience. Being Landscape an object of human perceptions, it could become a “medium” to communicate the Earth Sciences to the whole society: it can be considered the result of the interaction of many natural and cultural components, as well as the expression of the geological processes. \ud
The following projects, realised in an experimental way in Italy, are successfully started thanks to a synergy between the Camerino University, the Geological Survey of Italy-ISPRA, the National Council of Geologists and Rai Sport. The main topics are: \ud
• The geological characterization of the Landscape in movies and fictions, based on the use of the filmic communication in order to make the territory comprehensible to the society. In the episodes of the famous TV series "Il Commissario Montalbano" filmed in Sicily, the natural and cultural landscapes, giving a fascinating scenery to the films, represent a meaning in the representation of history. \ud
The “GeoloGiro” and the “GiROSAuro” (a cartoon created for the youngest audience) for the popularization of the scientific knowledge, explaining the geological setting of the landscapes crossed by the cycling race “Giro d’Italia”. The morphology of the territory becomes a key component in the race context: if explained by the geologist, can offer to the public a new point of view of the landscapes, linking scientific information to the agonistic valence of the stage. The Giro d’Italia has welcomed the presence of the geologist, thanks to a dedicated space during the TV live transmission of the race. \u
Desplazamiento forzado interno en Colombia, niÑez y derechos fundamentales: el enfoque diferencial etario
No full textCan a website make high school teachers without a geological background more self confident towards Earth\ud Sciences teaching?
No full textThe structure of this work has been designed in the following chapter sequence.\ud
Chapter 1 – This chapter presents the general background\ud
and motivation of the project, in relation with the Italian situation concerning Earth science teaching at high school. A brief explanation of the International\ud
Earth Sciences Olympiad (IESO) is also present.\ud
Chapter 2 - This chapter focuses on the research design\ud
and the methods adopted to develope the project through all its phases. Especially the selection of the sampling\ud
group of teachers, the way questionnaires are developed\ud
and tested, the criterion for the selection of the\ud
materials and for the data analysis are reported.\ud
Chapter 3 ‐ This chapter presents the results of the\ud
preliminary investigation about teachers’ attitudes\ud
toward Earth sciences teaching. Due to the particular\ud
origin of the sampling group of teachers, a section\ud
is dedicated to the Natural Science Olympiad explanation.\ud
Special attention is given to identify teachers’ needs\ud
of web‐based didactical tools for Earth sciences teaching.\ud
Chapter 4 ‐ This chapter focuses on the construction\ud
of the website. The technical procedure used for developing the website and its structure are explained.\ud
A detailed description of the different kind of learning\ud
objects is the central part of the chapter.\ud
Chapter 5 ‐ In this chapter the first testing activity\ud
is presented, discussing the feedback received by the\ud
teachers about the Plate Tectonics didactical pilot\ud
unit. The evaluation of each different learning object\ud
is reported and the level of teachers’ satisfaction with\ud
the website as well.\ud
Chapter 6 - This chapter includes the results and the\ud
discussions of the final teachers’ feedback, received\ud
once all the four didactical units were uploaded to the\ud
website.\ud
Chapter 7 – This chapter presents the results and the\ud
outcomes of this work. The limitations of the project\ud
are underlined and some suggestions about further studies\ud
that could be developed at a later stage are proposed\ud
as well.\ud
Appendix – The appendixes include the three questionnaires, the list of the lessons and the list of\ud
the didactical extra movies developed during the project.\ud
Media resources – This includes an example of one lesson,\ud
including all the different kind of files: ppt, pdf, video‐lessons, exercises and extra movies. All the rest\ud
of the material is available at the link: http://d7.unicam.it/teachingearthsciences/
Development of a support teleconsultation system based on ontologies to improve remote medical care
No full textOur system has been conceived to improve the state-of-the-art remote medical communication procedures.\ud
The ultimate objective was:\ud
a) to standardize as much as possible the requests of medical advice at a distance, allowing the correct codification of the relevant information concerning the status of the patient;\ud
b) to overcome language barriers and jammed-related troubles that could make difficult or not understandable a telephone conversation;\ud
c) to store remote patients’ clinical data for personalized decision making and to allow physicians to introduce their diagnostic answers
Heating distributions and Hadley circulation in\ud an axisymmetric model
No full textThis thesis studies the impact of the equilibrium temperature distribution θE, on the Hadley circulation simulated by an axisymmetric model, a bi-dimensional model of the tropical atmosphere. The θE distribution, which represents the thermal forcing of the model is\ud
modulated here by two parameters, n and k, the former controlling its horizontal broadness and the latter controlling the vertical stratification of θ E . In the present study, variations in the θE distribution mimic changes in the energy input of the atmospheric system leaving as almost invariant the Equator-poles θE difference.\ud
The results give evidence that concentrated θE distributions enhance the meridional circulation and jet wind speed intensities even with a lower energy input. The meridional circulation and the subtropical jet stream widths are controlled by the broadness of horizontal θ E rather than by the vertical stratification, which is important only when the temperature distribution is concentrated at the Equator. The jet stream position does not show any dependence with n and k, except when the θE distribution is very wide and in such a case the jet is located at the mid-latitude and the model temperature clamps to forcing θE.\ud
Using n=2 and k=1 we have the formulation of the potential temperature adopted in the classical literature. A comparison with other works is performed and our results show that the model running in different configurations (equinoctial, solstitial and time- dependent)\ud
yields results similar to one another.\ud
When adiabatic forcing, corresponding to k = 0, is applied to the model, the symmetric circulation exhibits a chaotic response due to triggering of explicit convection.\ud
However the time averaged meridional circulation is still a Hadley circulation that appears more similar than that obtained in the previous experiments and in literature. Adiabatic forcing is equivalent to force the model atmosphere towards the neutral stability.\ud
In order to examine the response of the Hadley circulation to periodic changes of vertical stratification, the parameter k was set as a periodic function in such a way we can force the model atmosphere with convection that starts periodically. The response of the model was that a quasi periodic circulation is triggered by the periodic forcing, with two well defined periods, one related to the periodicity of forcing and another with half of\ud
forcing period. This periodic behavior will change when the period of k is greater than 60 days, when a chaotic behavior start periodically lasting for a while, whereas the rest of time the Hadley circulation solution is steady.\ud
Another important aspect is how the relaxation time, i.e. the velocity with which θE tends to model potential temperature θ . We will assume that the relaxation time is dependent on space and in order to investigate the effect of the space distribution of thermal relaxation\ud
time on the strength of the winter cell, the zonal wind, the temperature. A low value of relaxation time at mid-latitudes is more effective in enhancing the tropical circulation than a low value of relaxation time located in the same position of maximum heating
Violazioni della normativa antitrust e tutela del consumatore
No full textIl lavoro mira a ricostruire e ad analizzare la problematica relativa alle tutele civilistiche (in particolar modo contrattuale e risarcitoria) che l’ordinamento riconosce al consumatore in caso di violazione delle regole, comunitarie e nazionali, atte a garantire il corretto svolgimento del gioco concorrenziale all’interno del mercato.\ud
Partendo da una ricostruzione della evoluzione normativa e giurisprudenziale, si e' sottolineato come la disciplina della concorrenza, da normativa volta essenzialmente alla regolamentazione del mercato, abbia come propria ratio la tutela del corretto svolgimento delle operazioni economiche, tutela che ha il suo immediato riflesso nella garanzia delle posizioni e liberta' giuridiche dei soggetti che in esso operano. Detta lettura, come sottolineato, deve il suo evolversi ad una maggiore attenzione rivolta dalle istituzioni e dagli interpreti alla figura del consumatore, che da semplice parte debole del rapporto, viene delineato come soggetto del mercato, in quanto sono le sue scelte ad indirizzare il successo di un’impresa. L’importanza della premessa metodologica e sistematica, volta a ricostruire l’assunta centralita' del consumatore e dell’atto di consumo, si riverbera nella delineazione del rapporto tra public e private enforcement: la matrice pubblicistica della disciplina antimonopolistica, infatti, fa si' che la stessa sia teleologicamente rivolta alla tutela degli interessi di cui sono portatori i soggetti del mercato. Un potenziamento delle tutele privatistiche, quindi, ha come precipitato una maggiore realizzazione delle finalita' proprie della disciplina.\ud
Nella successiva trattazione, infatti, il lavoro mira ad analizzare detti strumenti di tutela. In primis, da un punto di vista contrattuale, si sottolinea come il regime delle invalidita' miri non solo a garantire gli interessi dei contraenti, ma anche valori di carattere generale ispirati da principi solidaristico e personalistico, ormai immanenti nel sistema italo-comunitario. Partendo da un’analisi dell’incidenza delle norme comunitarie sull’intero impianto della disciplina dei contratti, si passa successivamente ad una analisi e critica delle varie teorie relative alla sorte dei contratti BtoC attuativi dell’illecito anticoncorrenziale, per concludere in favore del ricorso allo strumento delle nullita' di protezione, sulla scorta del richiamo ai canoni generali di correttezza e buona fede.\ud
In secondo luogo, nel lavoro si sottolinea come la tutela contrattuale, di carattere preventivo, risulta essere da sola inadatta a garantire una piena ed effettiva tutela degli interessi del consumatore: partendo anche dall’analisi dei principi comunitari, si conclude come il concorso di tutela contrattuale e risarcitoria sia idoneo a garantire la pienezza del private enforcement. Attivare meccanismi giurisdizionali, tuttavia, appare aspetto ancora controverso. L’analisi dell’art. 140 bis del codice del consumo (che disciplina l’azione collettiva risarcitoria), infatti, evidenzia come numerosi siano ancora gli aspetti problematici, che renderebbero di fatto arduo per il consumatore agire per ottenere il ristoro del danno subito a causa dell’illecito anticoncorrenziale: in primo luogo, in quanto riduttiva appare la stessa definizione di consumatore, soggetto processualmente legittimato all’azione, in secondo luogo, perche' la specificita' della materia rende non agevole il regime probatorio. Proprio l’analisi dell’onus probandi (soprattutto in relazione ai programmi di clemenza), e la conseguente relazione tra AGCM e giudice ordinario, appaiono essere gli aspetti maggiormente controversi, rispetto ai quali, anche alla luce della recente direttiva in materia di azioni collettive risarcitorie del dicembre 2014, si e' concentrata l’analisi.\ud
In conclusione, l’effettivita' della tutela, quale aspetto fondamentale per garantire di fatto gli interessi riconosciuti dell’impianto costituzionale non solo nazionale ma anche comunitario, passa necessariamente attraverso il lavoro attento dell’interprete, chiamato a ricostruire sistematicamente gli strumenti forniti dall’ordinamento alla luce dei principi ai quali lo stesso si ispira
Equilibrium temperature distribution and\ud Hadley circulation in an axisymmetric model
No full textThe impact of the equilibrium temperature distribution, θE, on the Hadley circulation simulated by an axisymmetric model is studied. The θ E distributions that drive the model are modulated here by two parameters, n and k, the former controlling the horizontal broadness and the latter controlling the vertical stratification of θE. In the present study, variations in the θ E distribution mimic changes in the energy input of the atmospheric system, leaving as almost invariant the Equator–poles θE difference. Both equinoctial and time-dependent Hadley circulations are simulated and the results compared. The results give evidence that concentrated θE distributions enhance the meridional circulation and jet wind speed intensities, even with a lower energy input. The meridional circulation and the subtropical jet stream widths\ud
are controlled by the broadness of horizontal θE rather than\ud
by the vertical stratification, which is important only when\ud
θ E distribution is concentrated at the Equator. The jet stream position does not show any dependence with n and k, except when the θ E distribution is very wide (n = 3) and, in such a case, the jet is located at the mid-latitudes and the model temperature clamps to forcing θE. Using n = 2 and k = 1, we have the formulation of the potential temperature adopted in the classical literature. A comparison with other works is performed, and our results show that the model running in different configurations (equinoctial, solstitial and time dependent) yields results similar to one another
Analisi teorica ed empirica sulla determinazione dei costi e dei benefici sociali generati dalla gestione dei rifiuti. Tra reti sociali e illegalità, strumenti di governance e buone pratiche
No full textIl lavoro di ricerca proposto in queste pagine si e' cimentato nel tentativo di rispondere a due quesiti, che in realta' racchiudono entrambi un lungo elenco di domande. Il primo e' stato quello di comprendere meglio come si articola e come si manifesta l’illegalita' nel settore dei rifiuti e, soprattutto, perche' ha trovato così ampio spazio nel Paese, seppure articolandosi in maniera abbastanza disomogenea da un punto di vista geografico. Per fare cio', la prima accortezza e' stata\ud
quella di non usare solo la chiave di lettura giudiziaria, quanto piuttosto ricorrere agli strumenti\ud
interpretativi e metodologici delle scienze sociali per avere una visione olistica e non parziale, se non quando distorta, del fenomeno. Insomma, non e' una vicenda relegabile all’annosa lotta tra guardie e ladri, ma una estrinsecazione violenta della ricorrente modalita' economica e politica di scaricare sulla collettivita' i costi dello smaltimento illegale dei rifiuti. Trattandosi di una forma di crimine di natura prettamente economica e' con i molteplici strumenti e le molteplici declinazioni dell’economia e della sociologia che si e' spaziato nell’intera analisi. Determinante e' stato, dunque, intercettare quegli elementi, di diversa natura, che hanno agevolato il ricorso all’illegalita', adoperando un approccio laico e multidisciplinare al tema. Per rispondere alla prima domanda – che in realta' ne racchiude tante altre – e' stata dedicata l’intera Parte Prima della ricerca.\ud
La seconda domanda e' stata, invece, quella di capire perche' e come ha funzionato il modello di gestione dei rifiuti implementato nei 12 Comuni della Media Vallesina, concretizzatosi attraverso la società Sogenus Spa, compagine societaria di diritto privato ma a totale capitale pubblico. Un caso concreto di societa' investita da una mission interamente pubblica perseguita con gli strumenti del diritto privato e dell’economia aziendale. Lungi dal rappresentare un alieno per il territorio,\ud
questa societa' si e' invece rivelata punto di snodo e centro propulsore di quel fascio di relazioni che\ud
ha consentito la realizzazione senza traumi del sistema di gestione previsto precedentemente solo in astratto. Comprendere cosa ha funzionato, come ha funzionato e perche' ha funzionato, costituisce il nocciolo duro della ricerca. Con l’ambizione di proporre un piccolo contributo di conoscenza allargata, utile sia agli scienziati sociali che ai policymakers chiamati a mettere in pratica strumenti di policies in uno dei settori più delicati e foriero di conflitti sociali, soprattutto in un’ottica di prevenzione dai rischi di infiltrazione ecocriminale. A queste domande e' stata dedicata l’intera\ud
Seconda Parte della ricerca
Surface Modifications: from Heterogeneous Catalysis in Nitrogen Heterocycles Synthesis to Polymer Nanocomposites Interface Design
No full textResearch reported in this thesis was carried out thanks to a strong partnership between the laboratory of organic chemistry of Prof. Enrico Marcantoni at the University of Camerino and R&D laboratory of Delta S.r.l. in Montecassiano. It was conducted between January 2012 and December 2013 and between August 2014 and December 2014 in the laboratory of Prof. Enrico Marcantoni at the University of Camerino and in the R&D laboratory of Delta S.r.l. in Montecassiano. Research conducted during the visiting period (January 2014 – August 2014) at the Prof. Brian Benicewicz research group at University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (USA) is also presented.\ud
The work concerns two main fields, divided in polymer and organic synthesis, sharing a common leitmotif, namely the importance of surface’s modification both in heterogeneous catalysis for heterocycles synthesis and in the design and preparation of polymer nanocomposites. In the first part a brief overview over Controlled Radical Polymerization (CRP) techniques is given, displaying main techniques the advantages they brought to polymer chemistry and also relative limitations. This section is followed by a deeper focus on Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer polymerization (RAFT), its mechanism and the role and importance of the Chain Transfer Agent (CTA). Furthermore, applications of RAFT to surface modification are described and the importance of these modifications on interface science in polymer nanocomposites chemistry is reported.\ud
In particular are herein reported studies over 2-vinylpyridine and 4-vinylpyridine RAFT polymerization and more attention has been paid to kinetics of RAFT solution polymerization and RAFT surface initiated polymerization reaction of both monomers. Are herein reported successful synthesis and characterization of monomodal P2VP-g-SiO2 and bimodal P2VP-g-SiO2-g-PS polymer brushes.\ud
In the second part, the importance of the interface modification theme is followed from the organic synthesis point of view. Key features of heterogeneous catalysis are briefly reported, followed by examples and explanation of heterogeneous catalysis given by cerium-based promoting systems in many organic reactions. In particular we focused onto the application of an innovative Ce(III)/Cu(I) cooperative system in the synthesis of nitrogen containing heterocycles. With this purpose, procedures involving this cocatalyzed reaction are reported in the preparation of several benzimidazoles and dihydropyridones moieties containing heterocycles