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La legittimazione attiva dei privati alla pretesa risarcitoria antitrust in Europa, Italia ed America: uno studio comparato.
No full textLa presente ricerca prende le mosse dai recenti sviluppi del diritto europeo della concorrenza: in particolare la proposta di Direttiva relativa a determinate norme che regolamentano le azioni per il risarcimento del danno ai sensi della legislazione nazionale a seguito della violazione delle disposizioni del diritto della concorrenza degli Stati membri e dell'Unione europea e l’evoluzione giurisprudenziale nei casi Courage e Manfredi. Il crescente interesse mostrato da parte delle istituzioni europee verso il ruolo dei privati nell’applicazione delle norme a tutela della concorrenza e, al contempo, dello spazio da riservare alle rispettive situazioni giuridiche soggettive in tale settore ha spostato infatti l’attenzione dal versante di mera matrice pubblicistica della disciplina in esame su quello privatistico. L’apertura ai rimedi civilistici antitrust ha interessato naturalmente gli stessi Stati membri nei quali il decollo di simili azioni vacillava e fatica tuttora ad attecchire. \ud
Questo lavoro si propone invece di analizzare un aspetto di centrale rilevanza al quale tuttavia non è stata spesso apprestata la dovuta attenzione, per lo meno nel contesto europeo e nazionale, costituito dalla legittimazione attiva dei privati ad avanzare la pretesa risarcitoria. La condizione processuale in America è stata invece al centro di un acceso e vivace dibattito che ha coinvolto tanto il formante giurisprudenziale quanto quello legislativo nonché dottrinale. Lo studio intende, pertanto, offrire una panoramica degli sviluppi evolutivi della legittimazione dei singoli ad agire per il risarcimento dei danni subiti a causa di una condotta antitrust sia nel sistema europeo, in particolare in Italia, che in quello d’oltreoceano ed effettuare una comparazione degli ordinamenti giuridici coinvolti per una ulteriore riflessione sugli esiti talora difformi, talaltra concordi da questi raggiunti.\ud
L’indagine è dunque circoscritta ai presupposti che permettono di individuare l’attore privato quale soggetto legittimato a far valere la responsabilità patrimoniale delle imprese che hanno violato la disciplina antitrust. Il tema implica quindi una estesa applicazione del metodo comparato ed un attento esame dell’aquis communautaire sul punto. In sintesi lo studio ha ad oggetto l’analisi del diritto italiano, europeo e comparato ed è suddiviso in quattro sezioni.\ud
Il primo capitolo è dedicato alla posizione che occupa la legittimazione attiva antitrust dei privati all’interno dell’Unione Europea. A tale riguardo è opportuno precisare l’utilizzo in maniera alternativa dell’aggettivo europeo o comunitario a seconda che ci riferisca al periodo rispettivamente precedente o successivo all’entrata in vigore del Trattato di Lisbona, che ha mutato la Comunità europea in Unione Europea (salvo l’utilizzo di “europeo” in senso generico). Tale capitolo è stato ulteriormente bipartito: ciascuna sezione raggruppa, in ordine cronologico, i principali interventi delle istituzioni europee sul tema del locus standi dei privati nel settore antitrust in base al valore, vincolante o meno, dei documenti prodotti. La prima parte è dedicata alla posizione della legittimazione ad agire antitrust nel quadro normativo: sorprenderà, ma forse non troppo, notare che il presupposto processuale è assente sia nei Trattati che negli atti di diritto derivato. I suoi primi richiami sono infatti da individuarsi nelle decisioni della Corte di Giustizia che, con argomenti di non sempre facile comprensione, ha apprestato una base giuridica al rimedio risarcitorio antitrust. La seconda sezione, passa invece in rassegna gli studi e i documenti che, seppur a carattere non vincolante, hanno contribuito notevolmente all’affermazione del ruolo dei privati nell’applicazione delle norme a tutela della concorrenza e hanno fornito il substrato giuridico all’attuale proposta di Direttiva avanzata dalla Commissione.\ud
Il secondo capitolo tratta dell’esperienza Italiana con particolare riguardo all’articolo 33 comma 2 della Legge 1990, il quale, pur prevedendo il rimedio risarcitorio, non individua tuttavia i soggetti legittimati ad esperirlo. Tra questi sono stati identificati, in modo alquanto controverso, i concorrenti e i consumatori dalla giurisprudenza della Corte di Cassazione, la quale non ha ancora avuto occasione di pronunciarsi su ulteriori classi di possibili attori.\ud
Il terzo capitolo si rivolge invece al contesto americano, termine di raffronto obbligato, dal momento che in esso la disciplina antitrust prende forma in maniera compiuta sia sul piano pubblicistico che privatistico. L’analisi avrà ad oggetto la cd antitrust standing doctrine costituita dalla Section 4 del Clayton Act, che riconosce sul piano legislativo la legittimazione dei privati ad esperire la tipica azione risarcitoria triplice, secondo l’interpretazione attribuita dalla corti federali ai singoli elementi che la compongono, nonché da altre due regole essenziali, elaborate dalla Corte Suprema, ossia l’antitrust injury doctrine e la indirect purchaser rule. È importante notare al riguardo che tale tipologia di standing individua dei requisiti da provare in via ulteriore rispetto all’ordinaria legittimazione ad agire sancita all’art. III della Costituzione USA, alla base di qualunque azione federale.\ud
L’ultimo capitolo vuole essere invece una riflessione in chiave comparata sull’analisi condotta nei precedenti capitoli. Si effettua inoltre un raffronto tra i diversi ruoli assegnati ai possibili attori nel contesto americano ed europeo, con particolare riguardo all’Italia
Tratti della pedagogia spiritualista in Italia durante l’«età del positivismo».
No full textNel corso dell’Ottocento, l’elaborazione pedagogica di matrice cristiana si espresse prevalentemente nella corrente «spiritualista». Il termine deriva da uno dei suoi assunti fondanti, vale a dire la convinzione che la persona sia animata da un’essenza irriducibile al determinismo biologico e fisiologico. Stando a questo orientamento, nell’uomo albergherebbe una natura libera ed eccedente l’ordine materiale. La vita della coscienza, la razionalità e l’esperienza della volontà ne indicherebbero l’esistenza. \ud
Se gli studi relativi alla pedagogia spiritualista italiana hanno dato ampio risalto ai suoi più noti esponenti risorgimentali, tra tutti Rosmini, Lambruschini, Tommaseo, la lunga fase successiva alla loro scomparsa, compresa approssimativamente tra gli anni ’70 dell’Ottocento e la rinascita della neoscolastica negli anni ’20, è invece stata per lo più trascurata. Le poche ricerche esistenti appaiono insufficienti. Alcune, risalenti alla prima metà del secolo scorso, rimangono condizionate da ragioni ideologiche, mentre altre scontano un approccio molecolare. Manca soprattutto uno studio d’insieme che mostri il percorso comune, le ragioni caratterizzanti, i legami, la forza propulsiva, i ritardi. La carenza di approfondimenti in merito ha favorito nelle più generali storie della pedagogia la diffusione di una lettura «negativa» di questa stagione, che ne ha evidenziato soprattutto i limiti teorici. Secondo questa interpretazione, gli eredi della pedagogia risorgimentale non sarebbero stati in grado di misurarsi con il più incisivo positivismo, condannando la riflessione di matrice cristiana alla marginalità. La metafora dell’«eclissi» usata da Franco Cambi enuclea chiaramente il senso di questa ricostruzione. Si tratta di sintesi che meritano di essere riviste sulla base di un più accurato confronto con le fonti primarie.\ud
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La presente ricerca intende iniziare questo complesso lavoro, nel tentativo di migliorare le conoscenze su questo significativo scorcio della storia pedagogica. Data la vastità del tema, le indagini proposte rappresentano solo un primo «assaggio» di un terreno che necessita ulteriori esplorazioni. La ricerca si svolge su tre direzioni principali, che rappresentano anche le parti in cui è suddivisa la tesi. Sebbene si presentino abbastanza distinti, i percorsi sono strettamente connessi tra loro.\ud
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Nella prima parte del lavoro, sono approfondite alcune delle più importanti personalità spiritualiste dell’epoca: Giuseppe Allievo, Francesco Paoli, Carlo Uttini, Augusto Conti e Augusto Alfani. Mentre la riflessione dei primi tre si innesta nel ceppo della scuola rosminiana, Conti e Alfani si rifanno alla tradizione «moderata» toscana. Si tratta di autori che incrociano la storia dell’educazione e della pedagogia in diversi ambiti, come le battaglie per la libertà d’insegnamento, la diffusione del self-helpismo in Italia, la manualistica per l’insegnamento della pedagogia, la storia dell’infanzia, i plutarchi femminili, etc... All’analisi di questi cinque autori è aggiunto un breve capitolo dedicato ad una nota rivista toscana dell’epoca: la «Rassegna Nazionale». Il periodico, che fu il maggiore organo dei cattolici liberali italiani, è stato variamente studiato sotto il profilo politico e religioso. Il versante «pedagogico» è stato, invece, perlopiù tralasciato, sebbene la rivista abbia rappresentato una «piazza» rilevante per la riflessione educativa spiritualista. Vi collaborarono, infatti, alcuni dei suoi più importanti esponenti. Fu uno spazio di incontri, influenze, fermenti, che appare di primaria importanza nell’itinerario della pedagogia cristiana. \ud
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Nella seconda parte del lavoro si sono affrontati tre pedagogisti spiritualisti francesi che ebbero largo corso in Italia: Félix Dupanloup, Jean Guibert e Martin Stanislas Gillet. Si tratta di autori abbastanza distanti cronologicamente, ma strettamente legati nelle tematiche di fondo. Félix Dupanloup, un eccellente educatore prima che teorico dell’educazione, presenta una pedagogia incentrata sulla riflessione filosofica, ma anche attenta ai vissuti educativi e alla psicologia infantile. Diede un fondamentale contributo alle sorti del sistema scolastico francese (fu il principale fautore della legge Falloux e della riforma dell’istruzione superiore nel 1875), e per l’evoluzione della riflessione cristiana sull’educazione femminile. \ud
L’opera di Jean Guibert, sebbene particolarmente influente nel suo tempo, è stata perlopiù trascurata dalla storiografia. Docente presso l’Istituto Cattolico di Parigi, dedicò la sua vita all’insegnamento e all’elaborazione pedagogica. Nei suoi numerosi libri si occupò di questioni come l’educazione del carattere, la formazione cristiana, lo sviluppo della coscienza e del senso etico, il rapporto tra religione e scienza. In Italia le sue opere conobbero una vasta fortuna (diverse superarono i 15.000 esemplari), grazie specialmente alla casa editrice salesiana e alla Marietti che ne tradussero e diffusero alcune delle più fortunate.\ud
Martin Stanislas Gillet rappresenta un autore di fondamentale importanza nella rinascita pedagogica della neoscolastica. Anche in questo caso, il suo contributo è rimasto perlopiù inedito. Professore di filosofia e pedagogia all’Università di Lovanio e all’Istituto Cattolico di Parigi, diresse la nota rivista «Revue des jeunes», per poi divenire padre generale dei domenicani. I suoi saggi furono lungamente tradotti anche in Italia. La sua opera appare di grande interesse per la sua caratura filosofica e il serrato confronto con la psicologia e sociologia coeva. Contro la deriva scientista, il domenicano sosteneva la necessità di promuovere una prospettiva spiritualista nell’affronto dei problemi relativi alla persona ed invitava a riprendere l’approccio metafisico per poter collocare su solide fondamenta l’etica e la pedagogia. Risultano di particolare spessore i suoi studi sulla formazione del carattere e le riflessioni dedicate alla «pedagogia dei valori». \ud
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Nella terza parte sono stati approfonditi i temi e i modelli educativi di alcuni dei più diffusi «plutarchi» francesi tradotti in Italia. Questa produzione «torrenziale», sebbene senza pretese e destinata ad un ampio consumo, presenta numerosi legami con l’elaborazione più alta. L’indagine proposta rappresenta un piccolo «carotaggio» in un settore sterminato. Il campione analizzato, composto da una ventina di titoli, appare molto utile a lumeggiare gli ideali «perfettivi», i messaggi morali, gli stereotipi di genere veicolati in questo filone. Tra gli aspetti principali, sono stati approfonditi temi come la rappresentazione del ruolo femminile nella società, i suoi «doveri» in casa, l’educazione e l’istruzione delle giovani, i «miti» della donna «salvatrice» e «missionaria»
Le "Irrequietas leis de segurança nacional". Sistema penale e repressione del dissenso politico nel Brasile dell'Estado Novo (1937 - 1945).
No full textIl presente lavoro ha come scopo quello di analizzare il sistema penale progettato per la repressione del dissenso politico all’Estado Novo brasiliano. Si è inteso, pertanto, evidenziare la specificità di questa esperienza, ancora non studiata in modo approfondito sul versante storico-giuridico, cercando di percepire i punti di rottura e di continuità sia rispetto al periodo repubblicano precedente sia con riguardo al regime militare autoritario successivo. Questo lavoro inizia con la determinazione del campo di azione della repressione politica attraverso il diritto penale e a partire dell’amministrazione della giustizia criminale contro il dissenso politico. Sono state utilizzate diversi tipi di fonti e di storiografie. Gli strumenti teoretici di base consistono nelle categorie storiografiche del “doppio livello di legalità” (Mario Sbriccoli) e dei “regimi giuridici dell’eccezione” (Massimo Meccarelli). La prima parte della tesi si occupa di presentare la struttura del sistema penale ed il pensiero giuridico che vi ruotava intorno, partendo dal dibattito precedente all’ascesa al potere di Getúlio Vargas e negli anni immediatamente precedenti al colpo di Stato, con l’emanazione delle prime leggi di sicurezza nazionale; da questa prima analisi si passerà poi a allo studio delle leggi penali eccezionali applicate per tutelare l’ordine politico vigente. La seconda parte della ricerca, invece, si occupa di analizzare la struttura e le dinamiche del Tribunal de Segurança Nacional, organo giurisdizionale di eccezione istituito per giudicare i reati contro il regime. Questa corte di giustizia politica è stata esaminata sia in quanto apparato, a partire dal suo rapporto con le giurisdizioni ordinarie; sia dai discorsi giuridici prodotti mediante le sue sentenze. Il risultato principale di questa ricerca non è stata la scoperta di strumenti giuridici innovativi né l’utilizzo del diritto penale in chiave autoritaria da parte del regime, ma ha riguardato proprio la concorrenza di questi due fattori, immersi nella logica contingenziale, costitutiva dell’Estado Novo, che affermò la vigenza di un sistema penale di repressione al dissenso politico così particolare
Le politiche per l'impiego tra servizi pubblici e operatori privati: dalle fonti europee all'attuazione a livello locale. Criticità e prospettive.
No full textLa tesi di dottorato si propone di ricostruire lineamenti e tendenze delle politiche per l’impiego, con un approccio che partendo dallo studio delle fonti europee arriva all'analisi dell'attuazione concreta a livello locale, al fine di individuare criticità e prospettive di un sistema caratterizzato dalla dialettica tra i servizi erogati dalla pubblica amministrazione e dagli operatori privati.\ud
In particolare, l'elaborato si concentra nel primo capitolo sul complesso tema delle politiche e dei servizi per l’impiego come concepiti nella normativa e nella giurisprudenza europee, con l'obiettivo di individuare le linee di tendenza, anche alla luce delle novità apportate dal Trattato di Lisbona. I fattori di maggiore criticità appaiono essere quelli relativi alla natura dei servizi per l’impiego, al rapporto tra questi ultimi e la disciplina sulla concorrenza e più in generale alla relazione tra ruolo degli operatori pubblici e di quelli privati.\ud
Il secondo capitolo è quindi dedicato al tema del decentramento di funzioni in materia di politiche del lavoro nell'evoluzione della normativa nazionale, con una ricognizione delle vicende e delle criticità che hanno accompagnato il cammino legislativo intrapreso con il d.P.R. n. 616 del 1977, fino alle novità introdotte con il d.lgs. n. 276 del 2003. A tale excursus ricostruttivo si accompagna l'analisi delle peculiari ricadute sul diritto del lavoro determinate dalla modifica al Titolo V della Costituzione, con la legge costituzionale n. 3 del 2001, e dalla giurisprudenza della Corte costituzionale in punto di riparto di competenze tra Stato e Regioni.\ud
Nel capitolo terzo, quindi, l'analisi si concentra sullo studio delle esperienze normative degli ordinamenti regionali, oscillanti tra attuazione tardiva del d.lgs. n. 469 del 1997 e tentativi di intervento organico, con una particolare attenzione alle politiche per l'impiego realizzate in cinque Regioni italiane (Lombardia, Piemonte, Emilia Romagna, Veneto e Marche), al fine di coglierne, per quanto possibile in un quadro alquanto mutevole e magmatico, le particolarità e criticità più significative. Nello specifico, tale attività ricostruttiva è supportata anche dai risultati del contributo del Prof. Canavesi e del dottorando, dal titolo Le politiche regionali del lavoro, edito nel libro a cura del Prof. Mario Mezzanzanica, Ipotesi di lavoro. Le dinamiche, i servizi e i giudizi che cambiano il Mercato del Lavoro II Rapporto della Fondazione Obiettivo Lavoro, Aracne, Roma, 2013, p. 221 ss. \ud
Oggetto di analisi è infine il ruolo delle Province nelle politiche di attuazione, anche alla luce delle più recenti novità normative e dell’intervento della Corte costituzionale del 2013.\ud
Nel tentativo di delineare delle – inevitabilmente provvisorie – conclusioni, viene messo in luce il carattere ancora precario della costruzione giuridica delle politiche per l'impiego, nella quale ai proclami generici provenienti dall'Unione europea, basati più su approcci ideologici neo-liberali e sulla mitizzazione delle “migliori pratiche” che sulla concreta analisi di problemi e sullo studio di soluzioni adatte alle singole realtà, si aggiungono le criticità interne legate alla non agevole delimitazione del ruolo dello Stato e delle Regioni, oltre all'incerto destino degli enti provinciali.\ud
D'altra parte, l'ordinamento si caratterizza per l'ipertrofia amministrativa e il depotenziamento della legge, con decisioni concrete che dipendono dalla discrezionalità della pubblica amministrazione, a sua volta legata a doppio filo alle esigenze di pareggio di bilancio e di riduzione della spesa pubblica, ma svincolata dalla sovranità popolare, con il rischio sempre più concreto di rendere ineffettivi i diritti soggettivi, a partire da quello al lavoro, fondativo del sistema costituzionale. \ud
Da ciò si fa discendere la necessità di attualizzare i principi costituzionali, con l'impegno a garantire pienamente ed effettivamente i diritti fondamentali che, a partire dal lavoro, fanno parte del patrimonio inalienabile delle persone, in quanto tale non suscettibile di essere riconosciuto o negato esclusivamente in base ad un atto amministrativo o ad una scelta orientata da mere finalità di profitto
The extent of Software Patentability: an international dilemma.
No full textComputer programs (more generally, software) have become an essential part of the contemporary (social, economic, juridical etc.) life. Nevertheless, an agreement regarding the extent of their protection has yet to be reached. \ud
Thanks to some international conventions, and in particular to the “TRIPs Agreement” (Art. 10), a certain kind of uniform protection was granted to software through copyright legislation. At the European level, such harmonization had also been anticipated by the so called “first software directive” (Directive 91/250/EEC, subsequently amended by Directive 93/98/EEC).\ud
After a long international debate, inventions regarding programs per computer and business methods (often reciprocally linked) are not considered inventions and/or are deemed not patentable by the great majority of national legislations and in particular by one of the most important international IP treaties: the “European Patent Convention (EPC)”. The “TRIPs Agreement” is silent on the matter.\ud
However, it was argued from the very start that copyright protection was insufficient and/or inadequate for computer programs. Some scholars proposed that software had not only to be copyrightable but also patentable, while some others submitted that the best solution was to create an “ad hoc” intellectual property right for software-related products. \ud
While the theoretical debate was continuing, and still goes on, computer programs and the computer industry greatly evolved. As a consequence, administrative and judicial case law gradually began to adapt to the new market’s needs: software patents were granted and deemed to be valid. At the end of the Twentieth century, patenting software became common practice and the official guidelines of the most important Patent Offices began to be drawn accordingly. \ud
It is evident that software protection, far from having been confined to copyright (trade secret and trademark) law, increased year after year, while the legislative provisions and the international treaties remained unchanged. The aim of this dissertation is to establish the extent of software patentability in Europe and in the United States, with a brief reference, where necessary, to other legal systems. The dissertation also suggests that a harmonization at the international level with regard to software programs patent protection would be helpful in increasing legal certainty
Structural bioinformatic analyses of (macro)molecular interactions of biomedical relevance: an experimental validation
No full textStructural bioinformatics, like many other subdisciplines within bioinformatics, is characterized by the establishment of general purpose methods for manipulating\ud
information about biological macromolecules, and the application of these methods to solving problems in biology and creating new knowledge. Among its capabilities, structural bioinformatics can analyse the feasible\ud
(macro)molecular interactions and assists, or sometimes anticipates, the experimental approaches in biological research, even starting from a prediction analysis of the three-dimensional structures of the partners.\ud
This thesis reports on the in silico and in vitro characterization of a selection on physiologically relevant processes involving binding between proteins and\ud
endogenous and exogenous ligands, with results confirming the well-founded capability of the bioinformatic methods to clarify these issues. The general approach consisted in:\ud
(i) the in silico derivation of the predictive structural and equilibrium parameters for the ligand-receptor complexes starting from either deposited crystallographic (where available) or homology modeled structures;\ud
(ii) the experimental validation of the computational data according to both "in solution" and "on surface" in vitro studies;\ud
(iii) the final evaluation of the effects of the interactions on cell based models.\ud
Specifically, during the PhD period my interest was mainly focused on the characterization of the molecular basis of the systemic sclerosis (SSc), a rare human auto-immune disease, with particular emphasis on the interaction\ud
between platelet-derived growth factor receptor and a selection of human autoantibodies expressed in SSc patients (the revised version of this manuscript is currently under evaluation in Nature Communications). This project was\ud
paralleled by several other studies, among which the modulation by natural polyphenols of two human enzymes, HMG-CoA reductase and plasmin, involved in cholesterol biosynthetic pathway and in cellular adhesion and mobility,\ud
respectively. The results of these studies were published in impacted scientific journals
Fabrication and characterization of semiconductor Nanowires based on Silicon and Germanium
No full textLow-Dimensional semiconducting material specially Silicon and Germanium are of the vastly studied systems due to their interesting properties and also their abundance which makes them economically favored. Germanium, in particular, has the advantage of enhanced electrical properties compared to silicon while compatible with conventional silicon technology. In the middle, the 1-D systems due to their unique properties can be tuned for different band gaps because of the quantum confinement which will be applied in the other two dimensions. Hence the electrons in\ud
these systems act like they are bounded in a two dimensional quantum well. This tuning happens to be a useful property for fabrication of the advanced devices. For instance, the transport mechanism in these structures can lead to a ballistic regime, i.e. the scattering happens only at the boundaries. This property opens up vast variety of the application of the 1-D semiconductors system. However, this property strongly depends on the surface properties of the synthesized structures. The possibility to control the surface roughness can lead to an enhanced electronic transport in these structures. Furthermore, doping of these structures with a magnetic element can\ud
lead to a 1-D diluted magnetic semiconductor system with an enhanced ferromagnetic transition temperature (up to 400 K) due to the confinement as it has been demonstrated for Ge nanodots doped with Mn. This will allow another way of the control over the energy band level tuning as well as ferromagnetic behavior with possibility to be utilized in spintronic applications. The enhanced electrical and optical properties of Si and Ge nanowires make them an interesting subject in a frame of study. Although there has been many studies in last decade on these system, the mechanism behind the fabrication processes and the properties of the fabricated structures are not clearly understood yet. Hence, in this work I have tried to go further in comprehension of the mist that still remains on top of the knowledge of the fabrication and properties of 1-D Si and Ge systems.\ud
In this thesis I have considered two approaches, so called ”top down” and ”bottom up”. The ”top down” approach includes the self assembly of semiconductor nanowires by vapor liquid solid growth and the ”endotaxial” growth. The ”bottom up” approach will be focused on metal assisted\ud
etching fabrication of silicon nanowires.\ud
Amongst the different mechanism available for the self assembly of nanowires (bottom up), Vapor Liquid Solid (VLS), is the well studied method to grow semiconducting nanowires. This method can be used in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system with few modifications of the original idea. MBE technique, allowing low temperature growth, low deposition rate and fine control over ultra high vacuum level, it is considered one of the most reliable and sensitive deposition techniques in nanostructure fabrication.\ud
VLS growth in MBE differs from the chemical deposition methods in the sense that the liquid droplet does not act as a catalyst but as a seed, i.e. nucleation center, and the growth is strongly dependent on the diffusion of the adatom rather than direct impinging on the liquid droplet. This growth mechanism of nanowires is called diffusion induced VLS (DI-VLS). In this framework the growth of the wires are strongly affected by their diffusion. There are models concerning the DI-VLS mechanism including models concerning the diffusion of adatoms or the models based\ud
on the mass transfer in the process. However, these models explaining this mechanism do not clarify certain aspects of the growth. Here, I have carried out a systematic experimental work to have a more clear understanding of the above mentioned mechanisms which is reported in the first chapter. I have shown that the geometry of the wire can be affected by the growth condition which has not been considered previously in the models. I have also found that the DI-VLS model is size dependent and discussed the effects that controls the growth at high temperatures.\ud
I have studied ”endotaxial” growth of the Mn-Ge nanowires which can be categorized as a bottom up method (second chapter). Due to the novelty and importance of the work I preferred to report the experimental results in a separate chapter, rather than include them as a section in the first\ud
chapter.\ud
This work is done based on the idea proposed by Tromp and Tersoff about the possibility of the nanowire growth by strain relaxation of the wetting layers deposited on a substrate. This method can have more control over the dimension of the grown structure, particularly the diameter\ud
of the nanowires which is a crucial parameter in the quantum confinement. Since these wires are in the plane of the substrate they are easier to be utilized as a device compared to the VLS grown wires which are in vertical or tilted direction with respect to the substrate. Nonetheless the engineering of the electrical contacts may reveal several problems due to their superposition in the substrate matrix.\ud
Regarding the top down approach frame, wires are fabricated rather than synthesized. For silicon nanowire fabrication, metal assisted chemical etching (MAcE) is one of the studied methods which is relatively simple and economically favored. However, the process mechanism is in its infancy\ud
and clear understanding of the roles played by the different parameters, involved in the process, is still lacking. In this thesis I have tried to clear out these roles by a deep and systematic study. I propose a model which can explain up to some extent the effect of doping and metal catalyst on the growth and structure of the fabricated wires.\ud
For both of the two methods mentioned above the level of control of the different parameters may allow device fabrication.\ud
In VLS system, I have engineered the dimension of the droplets to have a very narrow distribution of the diameter which resulted in a narrow distribution of the grown Ge wires. In MAcE, I used two stage polymer and plasma etching lithography which resulted in a sub 100 nm large uniform\ud
area of the silicon nanowires.\ud
Both single silicon and germanium wires have been contacted in order to characterize their electrical properties. Unique electrical properties of the DI-VLS synthesized germanium nanowire are reported at the end of the first chapter, while the complicated properties of semi porous silicon nanowire, as well as its optical properties are reported at the end of the third chapter.\ud
Finally, I desire to thank all the colleagues and technicians of other research groups who helped me to carry on the experimental work. The results presented in this thesis are in collaboration of groups, listed below :\ud
Transmission electron microscopy at University of Marseilles, France and IIT Turin\ud
Scanning electron microscopy in INRiM, Turin\ud
Nanolithography in INRiM, Turin\ud
Photoluminescence spectroscopy at Polytechnic of Turin
LEARNING WITH “STYLE” A study on learning styles: analysis and correlation with results, motivation, context
No full textTheoretical Background\ud
Recent discoveries within cognitive psychology and neurosciences bring about new crucial considerations about teaching and learning.\ud
It has become clear that, as far as learning is concerned, we have to shift our attention from “what” is learnt to “how” we learn.\ud
Learning Theories\ud
Learning only became part of cognitive sciences in 1800. Up to then learning theories belonged to Philosophy. Modern theories about learning date back to the end of the Nineteenth Century.\ud
The German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850- 1909) was among the first experimental psychologists who contributed with original and important research about learning and memory. Ebbinghaus can be considered the father of experimental psychology, more specifically of associationism. He was followed by Thorndike (1874-1949) and Pavlov (1849 – 1946) who laid ground for Skinner’s research (1904- 1990). Thorndike can also be seen as an associationist, even though his main interest was about associations between actions and reactions rather than about\ud
associations of ideas.\ud
While Thorndike can be viewed as a forerunner, the real father of behaviourism is Pavlov who espressed the famous theory of classical conditioning. Skinner introduced the theory of operant conditioning which differs from classical conditioning in that the subject acts in an environment and\ud
modifies it by behaving in response to stimuli reinforcement theory) .\ud
According to behaviourism, learning consists in acquiring new attitudes and habits which can be the result of associating a stimulus with another (in classical conditioning) or associating the response of an individual with its consequence (operant conditioning).\ud
The Gestalt school (beginning of the Twentieth Century) laid the basis for the most recent cognitive learning theories. According to Gestalt, the typical learning form is “insight”, consisting in a sudden reorganization of the cognitive field. Such theory was opposing both associationism and behaviorism which were very authoritative in those years. The term “insight” refers to a learning process which diverges both from the theory of association and from“ trial and error”. According to Gestalt, the individual experiences a sudden enlightenment and connects scattered elements into a “new” form giving them a new meaning. “Insight” is a sudden restructuring of the cognitive field which develops new learning.\ud
Starting from the 1960s this new cognitivism and the related research become very influential. Cognitive processes are described as the mental processes which allow us to perceive and elaborate information which support behaviour.\ud
The human mind is seen as a processor of information working within a given sequential organization. Only in the 1980s was this theoretical background partly questioned, when the idea was put forward that the world is not an outside objective reality, but a construction based on\ud
experience. Such outlook developed into the second generation cognitivism or “constructivism”. The main assumption of constructivism is that knowledge is the result of active construction by the subject, closely connected with the actual situation where learning takes place. Therefore learning is active, not passive and receptive, and derives from comparing and contrasting new information with information and knowledge already stored in memory. New knowledge is influenced by previous\ud
knowledge and is organized in representational patterns which can add up and integrate previous patterns or sometimes create new ones.\ud
Kolb’s theory of experiential learning derives from constructivism. He refers back to John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Kurt Lewin and Carl Rogers and ascribes a central role to experience in the learning process. According to Kolb, learning is a dynamic cycle where two main dimensions interact:\ud
1. “grabbing experience” which develops from concrete experience (CE) to abstract conceptualization (AC);\ud
2. “transforming experience” moving from active experimentation (AE) to reflective observation (RO).\ud
Kolb views learning as the result of a 4 phases cycle: a process through which people try to understand their experiences and to modify their behaviours accordingly. The 4 phases support one another and each of them requires different skills and competences. According to this model, people learn in four phases:\ud
- Concrete experiences (CE) in which learning is mainly influenced by feelings and reactions to experience;\ud
- Reflective observation (RO), in which learning is mainly influenced by listening and watching;\ud
- Abstract conceptualization (AC),in which learning is shaped by thinking and by a systematic analysis of problems;\ud
- Active experimentation (AE) in which learning is mainly influenced by doing, experimenting and observing results.\ud
While learning, the subject should go through all four phases, at least in part, but due to genetic factors and other variables depending on interaction with the environment, he starts preferring a phase to another (learning style)\ud
By learning style Kolb means the typical “language” of an individual which makes him process information in a way rather than another. Kolb identifies four styles:\ud
- assimilating\ud
- converging\ud
- diverging\ud
- accomodating (adaptive)\ud
each one characterized by a precise orientation on the axes of concrete experience/abstract conceptualization and active experimentation / reflective observation.\ud
The issue of the research\ud
In the last 15 years in Italy there have been about 3 million (31.9%) dropouts among state high school students. Most of them are included in statistics about Neet, young people between 15 and 29 years of age who neither study nor work or experience any form of training or internship.\ud
ISTAT estimates they are 2.2 million or 23.9 % of people within this age group. So the challenge of education for the twenty-first century is to endow schools with vocational guidance procedures in order to prevent early school leaving and promote the right and duty to effective education and training. We need to move from dealing with the negative results of early school leaving to preventing it. It is necessary to plan curricula and teaching practice which focus on the learner. We need to develop teaching activities which can encompass our students’ different learning styles including verbal as well as visual information and logical as well as systemic sequences .\ud
Objective of the research\ud
The main objective of this research are:\ud
1. Inquire into the different learning styles in a representative sample of third year lowersecondary\ud
school students in the Parma region in order to connect them with possible prediction of later school choice as well as educational success or failure.\ud
2. Investigate mutual influence and relationship between learning style and:\ud
- attitude to study\ud
- school performance\ud
- socio-economic and cultural context\ud
MATERIALS AND METHOD\ud
The study population was chosen among lower secondary schools in the Parma area, more specifically 3 schools within the Parma municipality and 3 schools outside it. The analyzed classes were third year classes in each school making a total of 744 students.\ud
All Principals were sent a written request of collaboration. Two sample classes (not included in the\ud
study population) were administered a questionnaire aimed at testing the possible effectiveness of an online administration of the questionnaire and the reliability of the Italian translation of Kolb and Biggs’ questionnaires. The study population came out as representative in terms of gender as well as matching the regional spread of foreign students.\ud
The questionnaire consisted of three sections.\ud
In Section 1 the researcher inserted socio-economic data (Reference were INVALSI and TIMSS tests) and questions about high school choices, average grade in school subjects and feelings about school.\ud
Section 2 consisted in the Kolb’s test, carefully translated by the researcher in agreement with David\ud
and Alice Kolb. Such test (Learning Style Inventory – LSI) is one of the most widely used tools in research about learning styles.\ud
It is based on a precise theory of learning derived from the thinking of psychologists and educationists of the last century (Jean Piaget, John Dewey, Carl Rogers, Carl Jung, Paulo Freire). For these reasons LSI has been used as a tool for testing of styles in the present research.\ud
LSI 3.1, revised in 2005, is the most recent version of original LSI which was developed, validated and tuned up by David Kolb. The main purpose Kolb describes as the aim of his investigation tool is increasing the individual’s awareness of his own learning and improving his meta-cognitive skills as well as the learning process itself.\ud
LSI has been planned to measure an orientation or a preference profile in how an individual faces reality. The tool format has three main features:\ud
1. the test is short and simple and is suitable for both research and teaching purposes;\ud
2. the test is devised to match learning situations; each item requires a choice between abstract vs concrete and between active vs reflective orientation;\ud
3. the test should measure a preferred learning style closely connected with the experiential learning theory.\ud
The test appears to inquire four dimensions:\ud
concrete esperience\ud
abstract conceptualization\ud
active experimentation\ud
reflective observation\ud
Each subject is given a score related to the four dimensions (preference ) which should signal his preferred approach to the experience cycle. The assumption is that each person has a personal preferred way of learning:\ud
CE (EC) – Concrete experience – who scores high in this area usually feels directly and personally involved in experience- He emphasizes feeling rather than thinking.\ud
RO (OR) - Reflective observation - who scores high in this area usually tries to understand the meaning of ideas and situations. To do so he relies on careful observation and unbiased descriptions. He emphasizes understanding rather than doing;\ud
CA (AC)- Abstract Conceptualization: who scores high in this area usually manipulates ideas and concepts following a strict logic. He emphasizes thinking rather than feeling;\ud
AE (SA)- Active Experimentation: who scores high in this area usually acts to try and change situations and people. He emphasizes doing rather than watching;\ud
Besides preferences, Kolb describes four main learning styles: accomodating, diverging, converging, assimilating. Learning styles are oriented on an XY-plane where the Y axis represents concrete vs abstract style whereas the X axis represents active vs reflective style. Each subject will find himself in one of the four quadrants shown in the picture according to the interpretation of the graph:\ud
Accommodating style: People with an accommodating learning style are primarily oriented to concrete experience and active experimentation. They are good at setting targets and working actively trying different ways to achieve an objective. This style is described as adaptive because\ud
these people can easily adapt to new situations.\ud
Diverging style: People with a diverging learning style are primarily oriented to concrete experience and reflective observation. They tend to be imaginative and are good at understanding meanings and values. They are best at viewing situations from different viewpoints and organize what they\ud
observe in a consistent way .\ud
Converging style: People with a converging learning style are primarily oriented to abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. They are good at problem solving, decision making and using their learning to find solutions to practical issues. This style is described as converging as it is typical of people who are best at solving problems which a single solution or answering questions with a single correct answer.\ud
Assimilating Style: People with an assimilating learning style are primarily oriented to abstract conceptualization and reflective observation. They excel at inductive reasoning, generating wide ranging ideas and organizing single observations in a clear and logical format.\ud
Section 3 refers to the attitude to study. The choice of this questionnaire is consistent with the reasons for choosing the Kolb questionnaire.\ud
The questionnaire is based on a series of answers on a Likert scale and includes items concerning two dimensions:\ud
- motivation (attitude) to study\ud
- learning strategies\ud
both dimensions are investigated both on a superficial and on a deeper level.\ud
RESULTS\ud
The study population came out as representative in terms of gender and percentage distribution of foreign students in Emilia –Romagna. The socio-economic status (SES) of the\ud
interviewed students is close to the regional average. The sample also matches the regional trend in terms of the type of upper secondary school students choose, showing a high percentage of students opting for a College Preparatory High Schools (Licei) and a low percentage opting for\ud
Vocational Schools. Enrolments to Technical School are about 30% .\ud
Students’ perception of learning difficulties calls for special attention. Most of them relate difficulties in reading, writing and calculation. Data are highly relevant: 30% of students in their third year of lower secondary school claim they “have more difficulties than their classmates”, whereas only 3.2% state they “have sought professional help to improve their learning”.\ud
22,3% of students scoring passing grades express their difficulty compared to only 6.1 students scoring failing grades (relevant result) and clearly to 1.5% of students achieving excellent results. Students perceiving difficulties are equally distributed as far as the choice of high school is concerned. (see chart). This accounts for a widespread unease within lower secondary school\ud
population which could be seen as a drop out indicator.\ud
Inquiry about learning styles (Kolb’s test) shows a minimal percentage of converging students within the study population. The most frequent appears to be the diverging style. Accommodating and assimilating styles are represented, though to a lesser degree.\ud
Diverging students show a deeper approach to learning in comparison with students with other learning styles. The low number of converging students could depend on everyday school teaching which does not encourage the two dimensions typical of this style (abstract conceptualization and active experimentation). It would appear that our school usually offers very little opportunities for developing such dimensions. On the contrary reflective observation is by far the predominant activity in a standard lesson. Therefore learning styles which rely more on that dimension perform better in school education.\ud
In terms of predictability, the results show that the difference between learning styles and school performance and approach to learning is statistically relevant. More specifically accommodating students differ greatly both from diverging and from assimilating students, showing\ud
better performance, school achievement and a deeper approach to learning particularly if compared to assimilating students. This is probably due to their higher ability to adapt to situations.\ud
With reference to their school career, students who opt for vocational schools are significantly stronger in the “doing” dimension (lower score) compared to those who opt for technical or grammar schools. These latter courses of study also show a relevant difference. The “thinking”\ud
dimension is definitely stronger (lower score) in students who choose a grammar school than in the ones who choose a technical or vocational school.\ud
CONCLUSIONS\ud
Italy appears to confirm the general trend that one student out of five experiences learning difficulties at least once in his school career. Some of these difficulties can be ascribed neither to specific reasons nor to poor learning abilities, but seem to derive from family or cultural background, quality of education, general school context or the student’s individual features (motivation, self-control,\ud
sensitivity, relationship problems or communication difficulties, cognitive styles). Immediate evidence of qualitative differences in cognitive processes comes from observing how people with similar general intelligence tackle certain tasks differently. Such variations occur in all areas of cognitive activity. Therefore the idea of cognitive style and learning style acquires increasing\ud
significance. It appears that a “thinking style” can be the key to interpret school failure, which can be due to a mismatch between a student’s learning style and the characteristics of the learning context. Most teachers share the belief that all students apply the same strategies in dealing with a given learning task. It has been proved that teachers and learners who share the same learning profile interact more effectively. To promote meaningful learning for all students, we should enable learners to become aware of their own learning style (meta-cognition) in order to pursue two objectives: relying on a student’s learning style to achieve effective learning while at the same time helping him develop new learning strategies they would not normally use. The “recipe” for reducing early school leaving could consist in allowing students to reflect on their own learning style as well as providing them with diversified teaching methods and materials
Tele-Neuropsychological assessments in Alzheimer's disease: a comparison of “face to face” versus Video-Conferencing
No full textTelemedicine consists in the use of telecommunication technologies to provide healthcare services, overcoming geographic, temporal, social, and cultural barriers. Today telemedicine is a developed field which includes about 50 different subspecialties: neuropsychology is one of them. Allowing the objective evaluation of the cognitive state of individuals, neuropsychology is a discipline of wide application; it also contributes significantly to an early diagnosis of subjects suspected to develop cognitive impairments due to Alzheimer disease or other degenerative dementias. Subjects at risk, and subjects who have already develop the illness, would particularly benefit of a telehealth intervention, which allows to overcome the barriers of space and time, and to provide an evaluation, as well as the therapy monitoring. These aspects would be particularly important for subjects who live far from health institutions , as those of rural areas. Obviously, we need to be sure that the results of the Tele-Neuropsychological assessment are comparable to those obtained via the classic “ face to face “ administration. This is the purpose of this research. We aimed in fact to compare the performances obtained in the two conditions at the MMSE test and the ADAS Cog test. To this purpose, we submitted a group of subjects affected by mild to moderate Alzheimer disease with associated vascular damages, to MMSE and the ADAS COG test, and performed a statistical analysis of data through a two sided Student “t” test. We found that the administration modality had no significant impact on the results. In fact, no significant difference was found neither in the MMSE, or in the ADAS_Cog scores administered by telehealth versus “face to face”. While the results obtained at the MMSE confirm some previous data, this is, at our knowledge, the first study done on the ADAS_Cog, a test. Even if the conditions we employed in this research are not entirely superposable to those of patients staying at home (we evaluated the feasibility of teleheath by locating the patient and his caregiver in another room of the memory clinic ), we are confident that telehealth methodology, by video-conferencing, is as much reliable as the face to face modality. The small number of the subjects evaluated represents an obvious limitation of this study and suggests further studies involving larger number of subjects. However, our preliminary results give support to the idea that by tehealth the screening and the follow-up of the cognitive impairments age associated is feasible and valid
Molecular and Stereochemical Requirements of 1,4-Dioxane\ud Ligands for the Interaction with Different Receptor Systems
No full textA strategy that can lead to the discovery of novel biologically active compounds, and over the last 20 years has emerged as a fruitful approach, is the identification and use of molecular scaffolds with versatile binding properties. For such structures, bearing appropriate molecular decoration and, therefore, able to recognize with high affinity more unrelated targets, the term “privileged structure” has been proposed.\ud
The 1,4-dioxane nucleus is a versatile scaffold to obtain drugs directed to mAChRs, α1-ARs, and 5-HT1A receptors. The aim of this PhD thesis was to extend the previous structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies about ligands interacting with the above receptors and to investigate the\ud
possibility to address novel ligands toward other receptor systems.\ud
In particular, it has been confirmed that the properly substituted 1,4-dioxane nucleus is a suitable scaffold for:\ud
• potent muscarinic receptor (mAChRs) agonists and antagonists;\ud
• selective α1d-adrenoreceptor (α1d-ARs) antagonists;\ud
• potent 5-HT1A serotoninergic receptor full agonists.\ud
Moreover, it has proven to be a versatile scaffold to obtain:\ud
• selective α2A-adrenoreceptor (α2A-ARs) antagonists/I2 imidazoline binding site (I2-IBS) ligands;\ud
• blockers of the PCP binding site of NMDA receptor;\ud
• selective σ1 or σ2 ligands;\ud
• dopamine D2-like receptor ligands.\ud
A series of mAChRs agonists, obtained by moving the methyl substituent in position 6 of the 1,4-dioxane of the potent M2/M3 agonist cis-N,N,N-trimethyl-(6-methyl-1,4-dioxan-2-\ud
yl)methanaminium iodide to position 2 or 3, was prepared to complete a previous SAR study. To verify whether the methyl group in position 6 of 1,4-dioxane was essential for its potent mAChR activity, its desmethyl analogue was also prepared and pharmacologically characterized. To\ud
rationalize the experimental observations and to get information about the mode of interaction of the already published and novel 1,4-dioxane agonists, a retrospective computational study was performed. Afterwards, docking studies, using the recently published crystal structures of human M2 and rat M3 receptors were conducted to investigate relationships between the biological behaviour of 1,4-dioxane compounds and 1,3-dioxolane analogues and their functional groups involved in the interaction with these protein receptors. Moreover, the modulation of the\ud
pharmacological profile from agonist to antagonist was successfully obtained by replacing the methyl group in position 6 of the 1,4-dioxane scaffold of the potent M2/M3 mAChR agonist cis-N,N,N-trimethyl-(6-methyl-1,4-dioxan-2-yl)methanaminium iodide with bulkier groups. In particular, the 6,6-diphenyl substitution provided a selective M3 antagonist, whose racemic form and its (S) eutomer proved to be effective in reducing the volume-induced contractions of rat urinary bladder and were devoid of cardiovascular effects in an in vivo study.\ud
It is well known that the benzodioxane nucleus bearing an appropriate substituent at position 2 can discriminate markedly among α-AR subtypes. Indeed, Idazoxan and WB 4101, both carrying a 1,4-benzodioxan-2-yl moiety as a basic feature but a different 2-substituent [imidazoline or (2,6-\ud
dimethoxyphenoxy)ethylamine], are highly selective for α2- and α1-ARs, respectively. To investigate the possibility that the quite planar 1,4-benzodioxane privileged structure of Idazoxan and WB 4101 might be replaced by the less conformationally constrained 1,4-dioxane ring, two\ud
series of ligands were prepared and pharmacologically characterized. With the Idazoxan-related analogues, we demonstrated that α2A-AR antagonism might favourably contribute to I2-IBSmediated morphine analgesia enhancement. Therefore, the most interesting compound and its eutomer, which showed such a biological profile and lacked sedative and hypotensive side effects due to their selective α2A-AR antagonism, might be novel promising tools therapeutically useful in pain management in combination with opioids.\ud
WB 4101-related analogues allowed us to demonstrate that 5-HT1A receptor and α1-AR binding sites recognized by the 1,4-dioxane compounds display reversed stereochemical requirements: the (R) configuration favoured high affinity and selectivity for the α1d-AR subtype with respect to α1a and α1b-AR subtypes, while the (S) configuration was associated to higher affinity and potency for 5-HT1A receptor with high selectivity ratios. Moreover, eutomers at the α1d-AR subtype also displayed the best antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects in human prostate cancer cells (PC-3), indicating the involvement of the α1d-AR subtype in their anticancer properties, which was\ud
confirmed evaluating the most interesting compounds in α1d-AR silenced PC-3 cells.\ud
We also demonstrated that 1,4-dioxane nucleus proved to be a suitable scaffold for the design of ligands directed to other receptor systems, such as sigma, NMDA and dopamine (DA) receptors.\ud
Recently, it was demonstrated that the properly substituted 4-(2-aminoethyl)-1,3-dioxane and the Nbenzyl-4-(2-aminoethyl)-1,3-dioxane derivatives, ring and side chain homologues of dexoxadrol and etoxadrol, resulted in compounds showing high NMDA or σ1 receptor affinity, respectively.\ud
Therefore, two series of regioisomers, bearing the 1,4-dioxane nucleus were prepared and evaluated in vitro for their affinities at σ1, σ2, and PCP binding site of NMDA receptor. Within the aminomethyl series, trans-(6-cyclohexyl-6-phenyl-1,4-dioxan-2-yl)methanamine, which showed binding affinity and functional activity not significantly different from those of (S)-(+)-ketamine,\ud
due to its promising therapeutic potential, deserves to be pharmacologically studied in depth. The N-benzyl-aminomethyl derivative N-Benzyl-1-(5,5-diphenyl-1,4-dioxan-2-yl)methanamine showed the highest affinity and selectivity for σ1 with respect to both σ2 and the PCP binding site.\ud
Some compounds, already published or previously synthesized by the members of the research group, were selected to be evaluated for their binding affinity at human dopamine D2, D3 or D4 receptor subtypes, expressed on HEK293 cells, which I carried out during my experience at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Encouraged by the preliminary results, during the six months I spent at NIDA in Baltimore (U.S.A.), I designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated a novel series of hybrid molecules, obtained by coupling 5,5-, 6,6-diphenyl-substituted 1,4-dioxane nucleus\ud
or the more conformationally constrained 1,4-benzodioxane nucleus with the N-(4-(4-(2,3-dichloro)-piperazine-1-yl)butyl)carboxamide or N-(3-fluoro or 3-hydroxy-4-(4-(2,3-dichloro)-piperazine-1-yl)butyl)carboxamides fragments, which had previously been shown to play a crucial role in increasing selectivity toward the dopamine D3 receptor subtype compared to the D2 and D4 subtypes. From the SAR study some interesting D3-selective compounds emerged, for which functional studies are in progress.\ud
Moreover, during my research experience in Germany, at Westfälische Wilhelm-Universität Münster, I optimized and validated a cell-based functional assay for GluN2A and GluN2B subunitcontaining NMDA receptors, which was performed to test the antagonist potency of 1,4-dioxane\ud
NMDA channel blockers and a novel series of selective GluN2B subunit antagonists