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Profili giuridici delle piattaforme marine e delle operazioni offshore
Full text linkThe thesis is based on the observation that in the exploration and exploitation of the marine subsoil the legal framework is not always sufficiently harmonised, starting from the legal status of the marine platforms, with respect to which the problem is to understand whether or not these structures can be identified as a ship or as other manmade structures such as the artificial islands.
Another topic faced in this work concerns the marine location of the structures because the operations in the field of hydrocarbons have caused important incidents, which have produced serious repercussions, for the loss of human life and in terms of marine pollution.
From this point of view the research provides an overview of the role played by international, european and national legislation in the development of the regulatory system for the introduction of minimum safety requirements to prevent accidents and limit their consequences.
The activities under consideration also include the final operational phase, relating to the end of life of the installation, during which the international law require the removal of the structure.
For this purpose, the thesis addresses the study of the Italian draft decree containing the guidelines for the decommissioning of mining marine platforms and related infrastructures which is expected to be adopted in accordance with the European legislation on this subject
On social/behavioral gradient and perinatal circumstances among children’s and adults’ caries profiles
No full textThe overall aim of this thesis was to focus on social/behavioral adult’s patterns and perinatal mothers’ characteristics that may influence children’s caries risk framing, and its mechanisms of transmission.
The specific aims of this thesis were:
• to explore the potential presence of a social/behavioural gradient in dental health among Italian adults (Paper I)
• to explore the potential presence of a social/behavioural gradient in dental health among Italian toddlers (Paper II)
• to investigate a potential association among perinatal conditions such as the mode of delivery, Apgar index, gestational week, birth weight, AB0 blood group and early childhood caries in Italian toddlers (Paper III)
Caries indices and a structured self-compiled questionnaire on social and behavioral factors administered were registered on 480 subjects (30-45 year old), 52.9% males and 47.1% females. A social/behavioral gradient was generated as the sum of the worst circumstances recorded by the questionnaire (Paper I). Caries figures (DMFT) were statistically significantly associated to gender, occupational status, frequency of tooth brushing and smoking. The number of Filled-Sound-Teeth (FS-T) was higher in females (p=0.03). FS-T was also statistically significant associated to smoking habits (p<0.01). DMFT and FS-T played a statistically significantly role on the social/behavioral gradient (chi2(9)=20.17 p=0.02 Z=0.02 p=0.99 and chi2(9)=25.68 p<0.01 Z=-4.31 respectively). The same approach was translated and applied to a population of 751 3-5 year old children. A social/behavioural gradient was shown to be confirmed also in childhood. When cross checking social/behavioural determinants with perinatal and maternal health risk factors (mode of delivery, gestational age, apgar index, body max index at early pregnancy, AB0 blood groups), no significant associations were found and the social/behavioural factors showed to be the predominant responsible of early childhood caries patterns
Diritto penale e neuroscienze: una riflessione su limiti e prospettive
No full textThe present doctoral dissertation aims at examining the coordinates of the debate centered on the penal repercussions deriving from empirical evidence of neuroscientific nature. Identifying the right perspectives and the inherent limits of interaction between these two different fields of research required the realization of an interdisciplinary paper. For this purpose, a preliminary indepth analysis of various related scientific, philosophic and legal matters was necessary. The consequent analysis of our national legal landscape highlighted that on the one hand judges were extremely cautious when using neuroscientific evidence during trials, while on the other hand it appeared that judgment of imputability is neuroscience’s primary privileged interlocutor in the field of substantive law. The cautious approach observed within the legal doctrine is fully endorsed by the undersigned, and even though a reformulation of criminal law on neuroscientific basis is impossible, the objective value of cognitive data deriving from neuroscience is perfectly clear. For this reason, it is hoped that a cautious and fruitful dialogue between these two fields of knowledge will continue
Chemical and biological recovery of soils contaminated with antimony using eco-friendly materials
Full text linkAntimony (Sb), a non-essential plant element, can be present in soils and waters in very high concentrations often due to a variety of anthropogenic activities. Though antimony is classified as a pollutant of priority interest, very little is known about its environmental behaviour and soil speciation.
In recent years, different sorbents for the in-situ remediation of metalloid-polluted soils were proposed and tested with variable success. In a search for alternative, low-cost and environmental friendly Sb sorbents, drinking water treatment residuals (WTRs), the waste material resulting from the treatment of surface or ground water, and municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) were identified as potential good candidates.
In this PhD thesis we showed that the Sb mobility, and its impact on the microbial and biochemical features of two soils artificially contaminated, were highly influenced by selected soil properties such as pH and organic matter content. Both WTRs and MSWC were able to act as effective Sb(V)-immobilizing agents in aqueous solutions especially at acidic pH (i.e. 4.5). Moreover, when added to a contaminated mine soil, the combination of both sorbents significantly reduced the mobility of antimony, alleviated its impact on soil microbiota and promoted a recovery of soil biochemical functioning. Plant growth (Helichrysum italicum L.) in the amended soil was finally enhanced while the Sb uptake was definitively reduced
Destinazioni 2.0 prospettive e pianificazione: il caso di Alghero
Full text linkThe Information and Communications Technology has revolutionised the paradigms of our everyday life, modifying the social relationships that develop both in the private field and in the professional one. The birth of this great network has permitted the redesign of the concept of geography and with it, the concepts of space-time, breaking down the distances and creating a social network without borders. The research work explores the transformations experienced by the tourism industry, with the arrival of new technologies, from the 1.0 web to the 4.0 industry, and investigates the drivers for both efficient and intelligent territorial planning in the digital age
Asmara: analisi degli aspetti compositivi e cromatici dell’architettura per la conservazione del centro storico
Full text linkThe research field in which this study is inserted is inherent in the transformations of the historical center in light of the strong pressures of various kinds that currently affect its modification.
Specifically, the case study of Asmara, in Eritrea, completely similar to the Italian context for its architectural history but less compromised by changes and additions for various contingent reasons to the specific history of the Country, allowed to contextualize the general questions to concentrate the attention on some fundamental themes concerning the modification - and, positively, the conservation - of the compositional and chromatic characteristics of the modernist architecture.
The study produced an overall reading of the historical urban context regarding the treated aspects that allowed to deepen the understanding of some formal characteristics of the twentieth-century architectural production functional and extensible to the knowledge and protection of local heritage as well as the Italian one and to define a methodological approach to the problem of the conservation of colors starting from the reconstruction of the successive architectural phases and the urban setting in which they were inserted, considering in parallel the theoretical and conceptual bases that at the international and local level have given rise to Eritrean production, examining its technical, ideological and social aspects.
In this sense, the path of analysis carried out, together with the direct examination of the buildings and the specific stratigraphic analyzes, is proposed as a useful cognitive contribution to support the hypotheses and the final conservative choices
La Città e la casa: spazi urbani e domestici in Maria Aurèlia Capmany, Natalia Ginzburg, Elsa Morante e Mercè Rodoreda
Full text linkThis research collects texts from Maria Aurèlia Capmany, Natalia Ginzburg, Elsa Morante and Mercè Rodoreda, four great female authors of the twentieth century, with the aim of reconstructing the physical spaces they described in their books. These texts offer several cues to reflect on the representation of space in female literature. The study starts from the canonical contrast between the internal space, linked to the primary perception, and the external space, regulated by social dynamics. More specifically, the effects of the caused by the prevarication of the former on the latter. The goal is not to draft an exhaustive history of theories of space in literature but, once the distinctive features are highlighted, to investigate through the novel the depths of individual feeling that, in the case of female subjectivity, shows several critical issues
Genomic landscape of local prostate cancer in Sardinia population
Full text linkRace and ethnicity are risk factors for prostate cancer. In the United States, African American men have the highest rate of mortality followed by Caucasians, and Asian Americans. The effects of race and ethnicity on prostate cancer are also reflected in different frequencies of ETS family fusion in different groups. ETS family fusions is the most common alteration in prostate cancer of Caucasian men at a frequency of ~50%, however, they are lower in African Americans and Chinese at 20-30%. Most of the genomic prostate cancer studies are focused on cohorts of European ancestry, leaving minority groups underrepresentation. Furthermore, in racial mixing, the ethnic contribution to risk is unclear. Sardinia population is an isolated Mediterranean population, and a purported refuge population of Neolithic ancestry with much lower incidence of prostate cancer than that in mainland Europe. Here, we conducted a genomic prostate cancer genomic study on a Sardinia cohort diagnosed with local prostate cancer. We identified a novel germline risk mutation ARSD-G320D occurring in 53 percent of the patients, somatic UGT family amplifications which occurred in 20% the patients, a novel in-frame fusion BTBD7-SLC2A5 occurred in 12 % of the patients. In addition, we pointed out that IRF8 deletion at 16q24.2 is a candidate driver in prostate cancer and patients with IRF8 deletion have worse prognosis. Our data revealed similarities and disparities in genomic alterations of prostate cancer between Sardinians and other ethnic groups. As well we have conducted a study based on Chinese prostate cancer cohort and have seen greater molecular disparities from TCGA cohort than in the Sardinian prostate cancer cohort. In Chinese cohort we have identified 37 genes significantly mutated and 20 of them have not implicated in prostate cancer in Caucasian and reveals a set of genomic markers that may inform the ethnic disparities
Lo Statuto giuridico dell'impresa innovativa nell'ordinamento italiano
Full text linkStarting from the analysis of the Italian innovative business model introduced by the law decree n° 179/2012 (better known as «decreto sviluppo»), the author aims to clarify which relevant meaning, from a legal stand of view, can be attributed to the concept of «technological innovation» (taking into account European law and the legislation regarding inventions), reaching the conclusion that the only kind of innovation that is juridically substantial is the one born from research and development activities.
Focusing therefore on innovative start-ups, regulated in the above-mentioned decree, the author comes to the conclusion that, among those listed by the legislator, the only element truly adequate to be used as a legal selection parameter in this case is the innovative corporate purpose, or better, the innovative activity that it implies (where technological innovation, lacking in itself an autonomous meaning, becomes a «second level prerequisite» of the economic activity conducted by the company).
For this reason, it is necessary that it carries out the productive cycle that connotes the innovative companies, as it is not permittable that the inclusion in the special section of the Italian Business Register dedicated to the innovative start-ups could be sufficient on its own to justify the applicability of the favourable legal regime.
Having said this, the author lingers on the problematics regarding the mandatory public disclosure related to the start-ups and on the relevant influences on internal organization coming from the clause on the innovative corporate purpose, which can be exemplified, among the others, by the possibility of its members to retire from the company under certain conditions, the potential winding up of the company caused by the impossibility of accomplishing the innovative corporate purpose and the exemption of start-ups from the bankruptcy proceedings.
Lastly, after a brief analysis of the possible funding solutions for innovative start-ups, he wishes for the introduction of a European common framework and a specific legislation for research and development companies
Molecular approach to early diagnosis of colonizing or invasive Candida in critically ill ventilated patients
Full text linkCandida colonization is a frequent event in respiratory tract of non-immunocompromised intensive care unit (ICU) ventilated patients. From 5 to 30% of Candida colonization patients will develop Invasive Candidiasis (IC), which is usually a late-onset ICU acquired infection. Until now, a lot of data highlight the necessity for new IC noninvasive diagnostic in high risk patients. IC is a serious complication in the ICU patients, around 35% mortality and up to 90% in patients with septic shock. How to diagnosis IC early and give appropriate antifungal therapy are the key for a remarkable reduction in mortality. The overall objective of this study was to identify the etiology of Candida and bacteria species in lower respiratory tract in the central of Vietnam, and to discriminate invasive or colonizing Candida by indirect ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay).
Ninety six critically ill ventilated patients from 2 hospital in Hue (central Vietnam) were followed in this study. The 3 main isolated fungal pathogens were C. albicans (42%), C. tropicalis (37%) and C. glabrata (16%). The fluconazole resistance of Candida species was 21.11% and caspofungin was 4.44%. C. tropicalis, that is becoming a predominant opportunistic in nosocomial fungal infections of ICU in developing country, showed highest fluconazole resistance (34.29%) and caspofungin resistance (5.71%). In ICU, 3 main bacteria resulted in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) were A. baumannii (43.2%), K. pneumoniae (28.4%) and S. aureus (14.8%), with high levels of antimicrobial resistance. A. baumannii showed resistance to all cephalosporin 2, 3, 4 generation (100%) and carbapenem (94%). A 50% of K. pneumoniae was carbapenem-resistant while 100% S. aureus was resistant to methicillin.
To discriminate invasive or colonizing Candida, we chose 2 proteins, ECE1, present in C. albicans and C. dubliniensis, and HWP1, present in almost Candida species, selecting specific epitopes to develop indirect ELISA. ELISA results showed that 47.4% of patients with C. albicans had IC and 28.9% had invasive C. albicans pneumonia. In 19.23% of patients with Candida species had IC and 2.56% had invasive Candida species pneumonia. The sensitivity and specificity of ECE1 and HWP1 antibody detecting were 80% and 96% and 60% and 77% respectively, indicating the selected ECE1 epitope as a good marker for IC due to C. albicans and C. dubliniensis. A correlation between the ELISA results and 4 clinical parameters (Candida score, procalcitonin, length of ICU stay, ventilation day) was also investigated, that should help physicians to decide early antifungal therapy waiting for a new IC test that include all Candida species