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the origin and the development of the Etruscan Bologna: relationship between the north-eastern area and the proto-urban centre
Get PDFQuesto progetto di Dottorato si focalizza sulle dinamiche di formazione della città etrusca di Felsina. In un primo momento è stata effettuata una disamina dei punti più critici di questa tematica. Successivamente sono stati affrontati tre contesti in larga parte inediti. Si tratta degli abitati della Fiera e di Caserma Battistini, oltre all'area di Villa Cassarini. Grazie allo studio di questi siti, è stato possibile delineare come il processo poleogenetico di Felsina prende avvio già con la fase finale del Bronzo Finale, momento in cui l'area attorno Bologna viene ripopolata. Agli inizi dell'età del Ferro si svilupperanno numerosi abitati nell'area attorno al futuro centro, che avevano stretti rapporti fra loro in termini di cultura materiale e scelte insediative. Con il passaggio all'VIII sec. a.C. si osserva un rafforzamento dell'area centrale, che nell'arco di mezzo secolo porterà ad un ulteriore accentramento di popolazione nell'area che di lì a poco diventerà la sede della città etrusca di Felsina, esito ultimo di un lungo processo di poleogenesi.This PhD project focuses on the dynamics of the formation of the Etruscan city of Felsina. At first, an examination of the most critical points of this issue was carried out. Subsequently, three largely unpublished contexts were dealt with. These are the inhabited areas of the Fiera and Caserma Battistini, as well as the area of Villa Cassarini. Thanks to the study of these sites, it was possible to delineate how the poleogenetic process of Felsina starts already with the final phase of the Final Bronze Age, when the area around Bologna is repopulated. At the beginning of the Iron Age, numerous settlements will develop in the area around the future centre, which had close relations with each other in terms of material culture and settlement choices. With the passage to the eighth century B.C. there is a strengthening of the central area, which in the span of half a century will lead to a further centralization of the population in the area that will soon become the seat of the Etruscan city of Felsina, the final result of a long process of poleogenesis
The fortune of tragic Seneca in the tradition of the magistri of the 14th and 15th centuries
Get PDFLa tesi intende evidenziare i meriti di alcuni esegeti delle Tragoediae di Seneca dei secoli XIV-XV. Nella prima parte, si propone una nuova edizione critica degli argumenta delle Tragoediae di Pietro da Moglio. Nella seconda, si ripercorre anzitutto la tradizione delle Tragoediae fino alla loro riscoperta a inizio Trecento. Ci si sofferma poi sulla ricezione di Petrarca e Boccaccio, e si evidenzia la conoscenza da parte di Giovanni del Virgilio delle Tragoediae, rievocate in brani delle sue opere analizzati e posti a confronto con gli studi di Petrarca. Si riporta il testo critico degli argumenta del da Moglio con traduzione e commento, analizzandone l’ampia diffusione. Si propone l’edizione con traduzione e commento dei testi sulle Tragoediae redatti da Lorenzo Ridolfi quand’era allievo di Coluccio Salutati e aveva conosciuto Domenico Bandini. Raccolti i manoscritti delle opere di Bartolomeo del Regno, ci si sofferma su un volume delle Tragoediae esemplato su un suo codice e con contenuti inediti. Si avanzano ipotesi su Petrus Y. Parmensis sulla base delle glosse di un manoscritto delle Tragoediae da lui copiato e annotato e si esamina il rapporto testo-miniature di questo e altri codici. Passati in rassegna i libri di Francesco da Fiano e Francesco Piendibeni, si auspica l’edizione del commento del primo al Bucolicum carmen – evidenziando rimandi alle Tragoediae nelle sue opere –, e quella delle postille del Piendibeni a Seneca tragico. Si pone in luce l’origine bolognese dell’interesse del Salutati per le Tragoediae, da lui copiate in gioventù e corredate di note, di cui si auspica l’edizione. Si presentano i passi dell’Epistolario e del De laboribus Herculis debitori alle Tragoediae, auspicandone l’analisi.The thesis aims to highlight the merits of some exegetes of Seneca's Tragoediae of the 14th-15th centuries. The first part proposes a new critical edition of the argumenta of the Tragoediae by Pietro da Moglio. The second part traces, first of all, the tradition of the Tragoediae up to their rediscovery at the beginning of the 14th century. It then dwells on the reception by Petrarch and Boccaccio, and highlights Giovanni del Virgilio's knowledge of the Tragoediae, evoked in passages from his works that are analysed and compared with Petrarch's studies. The critical text of da Moglio's argumenta is reported with translation and commentary, analysing its wide circulation. It proposes the edition with translation and commentary of the texts on the Tragoediae written by Lorenzo Ridolfi when he was a pupil of Coluccio Salutati and had met Domenico Bandini. After collecting the manuscripts of Bartolomeo del Regno's works, the focus is on a volume of the Tragoediae based on one of his codices and with unpublished contents. Hypotheses are put about Petrus Y. Parmensis on the basis of the glosses of a manuscript of the Tragoediae copied and annotated by him, and the text-miniatures relationship of this and other codices is examined. After reviewing the books of Francesco da Fiano and Francesco Piendibeni, the edition of the former's commentary on the Bucolicum carmen is hoped for - highlighting references to the Tragoediae in his works - as the edition of Piendibeni's notes to tragic Seneca. It highlights the Bolognese origin of Salutati's interest in the Tragoediae, which he copied in his youth and provided with notes,the edition of which is hoped for. Passages of the Epistolario and De laboribus Herculis that are indebted to the Tragoediae are presented, hoping for an analysis
Before It's Too Late: INGOs' Handling of Conflict Risk in South Sudan
Get PDFWhat do international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) do before and during the escalation of conflicts? The academic literature primarily focuses on these organisations' behaviour during an evident crisis rather
than on how they anticipate the escalation of conflicts, assess the situation in which they find themselves, and decide on strategies to cope with the possibility of upcoming violence. Such lopsided focus persists despite calls for INGOs to become more proactive in managing their programmes and their staff members' safety. Mindful of this imbalance, the present study provides a causal explanation of how decision-makers in INGOs anticipate and react to the risk of low-level violence escalating into full-blown conflicts.
This thesis aims to explain these actors' behaviour by presenting it as a two�step process involving how INGOs conduct risk assessments and how they turn these assessments into decisions. The study performs a structured, focused
comparison of seven INGOs operating in South Sudan before the so-called Juba Clashes of 7 July 2016. Based on an analytical framework of INGO decision�making stemming from political risk analysis, organisational decision-making theory and conflict studies literature, the study reconstructs decision-making via process-tracing combined with mixed methods of data collection
Evaluation of alpha-synuclein RT-QuIC for an early and differential diagnosis of Lewy body disease
Get PDFSynucleinopathies are a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by tissue deposition of insoluble aggregates of the protein α-synuclein. Currently, the clinical diagnosis of these diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA), is very challenging, especially at an early disease stage, due to the heterogeneous and often non-specific clinical manifestations. Therefore, identifying specific biomarkers to aid the diagnosis and improve the clinical management of patients with these disorders represents a primary goal in the field.
Pursuing this aim, we applied the α-Syn Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC), an ultrasensitive technique able to detect minute amounts of amyloidogenic proteins, to a large cohort of 953 CSF samples from clinically well-characterized (“clinical” group), or neuropathologically verified (“NP” group) patients with parkinsonism or dementia. Of significance, we also studied patients with prodromal synucleinopathies (“prodromal” group), such as pure autonomic failure (PAF) (n = 28), isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) (n = 18), and mild cognitive impairment due to probable Lewy body (LB) disease (MCI-LB) (n = 81).
Our findings show that α-syn RT-QuIC can accurately detect α-Syn seeding activity across the whole spectrum of LB-related disorders (LBD), exhibiting a mean sensitivity of 95.2% in the “clinical” and “NP” group, while ranging between 89.3% (PAF) and 100% (RBD) in the “prodromal group”. Moreover, we observed 95.1% sensitivity and 96.6% specificity in the distinction between MCI-LB patients and cognitively unimpaired controls, demonstrating the solid diagnostic potential of α-Syn RT-QuIC in the early phase of the disease. Finally, 13.3% of MCI-AD patients also had a positive test, suggesting an underlying LB co-pathology.
This work demonstrated that α-Syn RT-QuIC is an efficient assay for accurate and early diagnosis of LBD, which should be implemented for clinical management and recruitment for clinical trials in memory clinics
Central and peripheral manipulation of the sympathetic nervous system to study immune, thermoregulatory and sleep-related neural functions
Get PDFThe primary aim of this thesis has been to investigate the effects of central and peripheral Sympathetic Nervous System manipulation on immune responses and on hypothermia and sleep-related brain neural plasticity, through three different sub-projects.
The first sub-project investigated the role of the endogenous inflammatory reflex in mice: it is activated in response to immune challenges and its efferent pathway, the splanchnic anti-inflammatory pathway (SAIP), inhibits the inflammatory response to immune challenges. The effects of prior bilateral section of the greater sympathetic splanchnic nerves on cytokine responses to three different systemic immune challenges were investigated: LPS, TLR4 agonist; Poly I:C, TLR3 agonist; and Pam2cys, TLR2 and TLR6 agonist. The results showed that each challenge active the SAIP in mice, resulting in the enhance of systemic levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokines and the inhibition of those of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
The second sub-project investigated the effects of synthetic torpor (ST) and of the following recovery period on cortical and hippocampal Tau protein (τp) expression. Animals entering both natural and ST accumulate the hyperphosphorylated τp, resembling a similar pattern observed in tauopathies. However, this accumulation is reverted when animals recover from torpor. In this study, the levels of the τp, its phosphorylation/dephosphorylation processes, and the plasma levels of some hormones and transmitters were determined in rats subjected to and recovering from ST. The results confirmed the reversibility of the τp phosphorylation after the arousal from ST. Moreover, during ST and its recovery, plasma melatonin concentration increased.
The third sub-project investigated the role of sleep, through a sleep deprivation protocol, in the levels of the τp and its phosphorylation/dephosphorylation processes, 3 and 6 hours after the exit from ST. The results showed that sleep deprivation did not impair τp dephosphorylation process, but apparently accelerated it through a finely regulated process, without affecting melatonin levels
Upgrading Bio-Platform Molecules in the Gas-Phase: From Levulinic Acid to Bio-Chemicals
Get PDFLevulinic acid (LA) is a polyfunctional molecule obtained from biomass. Because of its structure, the United States Department of energy classified LA as one of the top 12 building block chemicals. Typically, it is valorized through chemical reduction to γ-valerolactone (GVL). It is usually done with H2 in batch systems with high H2 pressures and noble metal catalysts, making it expensive and less applicable. Therefore, alternative approaches such as catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) through the Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley (MPV) reaction over heterogeneous catalysts have been studied. This uses organic molecules (alcohols) which act as a hydride transfer agent (H-donor), to reduce molecules containing carbonyl groups. Given the stability of the intermediate, reports have shown the batch liquid-phase CTH of levulinate esters with secondary alcohols, and remarkable results (GVL yield) have been obtained over ZrO2, given the need of a Lewis acid (LASites) and base pair for CTH. However, there were no reports of the continuous gas-phase CTH of levulinate esters. Therefore, high surface area ZrO2 was tested for gas-phase CTH of methyl levulinate (ML) using ethanol, methanol and isopropanol as H-donors. Under optimized conditions with ethanol (250 ℃), the reaction is selective towards GVL (yield 70%). However, heavy carbonaceous materials over the catalyst surface progressively blocked LASites changing the chemoselectivity. The in situ regeneration of the catalyst permitted a partial recovery of the LASites and an almost total recovery of the initial catalytic behavior, proving the deactivation reversible. Tests with methanol were not promising (ML conversion 35%, GVL yield 4%). As expected, using isopropanol provided complete conversion and a GVL yield of 80%. The reaction was also tested using bioethanol derived from agricultural waste. In addition, a preliminary study was performed for the hydrogenolysis of polyols to produce bioethanol, were Pd-Fe catalyst promoted the ethanol selective (37%) hydrogenolysis of glycerol
Promoting Weight Loss and Psychological Well-being in patients with obesity: A Sequential Combination of Behavioral Lifestyle and Well-Being Intervention
Get PDFIntroduction: Behavioral lifestyle interventions focused on diet and physical activity are a cornerstone for the treatment of obesity. However, their effects vary substantially across individuals in terms of magnitude and durability. Personalized approaches that target psychological well-being may facilitate healthy behaviors and sustained weight loss. Objectives: This study aimed to explore whether the sequential combination of behavioral
lifestyle and well-being intervention (BLI/WBI) may result in more favorable outcomes than behavioral lifestyle intervention alone (BLIA) in promoting weight loss (primary outcome) and improving psychological well-being, distress, dietary behaviors, and physical activity (secondary outcomes). Methods: 83 patients with obesity were randomly assigned to the BLI/WBI group (n=38) or the BLIA group (n=43). Participants in the BLIA group received a
12-week behavioral weight loss program, while those in the BLI/WBI received the same program followed by an additional 4-week well-being intervention. Data were collected at pretreatment (baseline, T1), at the end of BLI/WBI (T2), and at 6-month follow-up (T3). Results: There was a significant weight loss in both treatment groups at the end of BLI/WBI and 6-month follow-up. The BLI/WBI group showed greater improvements in anxiety symptoms (β=-1.92 [-3.66 to -0.18], p< 0.05) at the end of BLI/WBI and in depressive symptoms (β= -2.28[-4.20 to -0.37], p< 0.05) at 6-month follow-up compared to the BLIA group. Conclusions: The WBI showed no additional effect on weight loss. However, the secondary outcomes indicate that the WBI may reduce vulnerability to depressive and anxiety symptoms in obese patients. Future studies are needed to explore whether the psychological benefits of WBI can foster long-term weight loss maintenance
The spatial logic of fear
Get PDFPeripersonal space (PPS) is the multimodal sensorimotor representation of the space surrounding the body. This thesis investigates how PPS is modulated by emotional faces, which represent particularly salient cue in our environment. Study 1 shows that looming neutral, joyful, and angry faces gradually facilitate motor responses to tactile stimuli. Conversely, looming fearful faces show no such effect. Also, at the closest position in PPS, multisensory response facilitation is lower for fearful than neutral faces. Study 2a addresses the hypothesis that fearful faces promote a redirection of attention towards the peripheral space. In line with this, it shows that motor responses to tactile stimuli are facilitated when a looming fearful face is associated with the appearance of a visual element presented in the periphery, rather than close to the face. Also, this effect is found in near space and not in far space. This result suggests that a near looming fearful face elicits a redirection of attention to the peripheral space. Such effect is not found for neutral, joyful, or angry faces (Study 2b). Study 3 shows that the redirection of attention in PPS by fearful faces is accompanied by a modulation of the electrophysiological signal associated with face processing (N170). Finally, Study 4 shows that the skin conductance response to looming fearful, but not joyful or neutral faces, is modulated by the distance of the face from participants’ body, being maximal in the near space. Together these studies show that, at variance with other emotions, fearful faces shift attention to other portions of space - than that of the face - where the threat may be located. It is argued that this fear-evoked redirection of attention may enhance the defensive function of PPS, when most needed, i.e., when the source of threat is nearby, but its location remains unknown
Discrimination between natural and induced seismicity in the Hengill geothermal area, SW Iceland
Get PDFThe Hengill area is a complex tectonic and geothermal site, located at the triple junction between the Reykjanes Peninsula (RP), the Western Volcanic Zone (WVZ), and the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ). Geothermal systems in the vicinity of the Hengill volcano are exploited for electrical power and heat production, and today the two largest operating geothermal power plants are located at the Nesjavellir and the Hellisheiði. The region is seismically highly active with several thousand earthquakes located yearly, and whose origin may be either natural or anthropogenic. The thesis focuses on the analysis and investigation of th
Evapotranspiration: Present and Future Challenges
Get PDFThe thesis first explored and evaluated some of the most used models that were developed to account for the effect of CO2 on evapotranspiration. This review depicts the complexity of the modeling procedure and underlines the advantages and shortcomings of each model. Then, the projected climate change in the near future (2021-2050) in different locations in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) was studied, with an emphasis on the opposite effect of an increase in both air temperature and CO2 levels on ETo. The case study used reanalysis data as a surrogate to historical weather stations measurements and an ensemble of regional climate models (RCMs) for the future projections. Results show that higher CO2 levels moderated the increase in ETo that accompanies an increase in air temperature, taking in consideration the change in other weather variables i.e. solar radiation, wind speed and dew point temperature. The outcomes of this study show that considering the CO2 fertilization effect when calculating reference evapotranspiration might give a more realistic estimation of water use efficiency and irrigation requirements in Emilia-Romagna and a better analysis of the future availability and distribution of water resources in the region. Finally, data from a model forecasting reference evapotranspiration (FRET) and the different variables involved in its calculation for the state of California (USA) were compared with similar data from the regional weather station network (CIMIS) to evaluate their accuracy and reliability. The evaluation was done in locations with different microclimates and included also sample irrigation schedules developed using FRET ETo. The obtained results demonstrate that FRET ETo forecasts are a viable alternative to traditional ETo measurements with some differences depending on the climatic condition of the location considered in this study. This implies that FRET could be replicated in other areas with similar climate settings