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Ischia Island: a model for sustainable development and natural risk mitigation
No full textThe island of Ischia has a land area of 46.3 square kilometers and a population of 64.115 inhabitants by 2019. The territorial density is 1,385 inhabitants per square kilometer. The environmental sustainability of Ischia is about 22 thousand inhabitants. In the year 2017 there were about 2.3 million tourists. The remarkable expansion of historical settlements on the Island in recent decades, without adequate planning that would pay attention to the geological hazard, has produced an exponential increase in risk, as it was shown by the disastrous earthquake that occurred in Casamicciola on 21 August 2017. The underestimation of volcanic, seismic and hydrogeological risks on the Island is incomprehensible due to the catastrophes that occurred with the historic eruption of 1302, the strong earthquakes of 1881 and 1883 and the disastrous flood of 1910.
The historical data and the most recent ones produced through the monitoring of the Island allow to obtain the maps of the hazard of the territory. These maps are the basic tools for defining acceptable risk and structural interventions to reach this level. The entire Island is exposed to volcanic risk because its structure is an active volcanic field affected by the collapse of the Green Tuff Caldera, an area considered active. In the last 10 Ka eruptive activity developed mainly between the eastern edge of Mt. Epomeo and the eastern coast of the Island. The area with the greatest seismic risk develops on the northern edge of the Mt. Epomeo massif. The hydrogeological instability invests Mt. Epomeo and the floods develop both on the southern and northern side of the Island.
The territory is divided into six Municipalities: Ischia, Casamicciola Terme, and Lacco Ameno to the north, Barano d’Ischia, Serrara Fontana and Forio to the south, but none of the six municipalities has an urban Plan
and an inter-municipal Plan is missing. The government of the Island territory, characterized by valuable environmental elements and high risks, has to provide for a unitary action such as to allow the conservation of
environmental parameters through the evaluation of environmental sustainability to the anthropic impact and the mitigation of risks. The model for such an intervention foresees:
–– Map of volcanic, seismic and hydrogeological risks;
–– Definition of Homogeneous Territorial Zone on the basis of the maximum expected damage - any measures to reduce the density of housing and construction;
–– Destination of land use - Apply the Landscape Plan;
–– Evaluation of the vulnerability of buildings and seismic adaptation of existing buildings;
–– Realize an efficient infrastructural system of road and path networks to enhance escape routes;
–– Develop equipment and public thermal resources activities.
In this context of natural risks and extraordinary environmental resources it would be appropriate to set up an Advanced Research Center to be placed in an area destined for a Scientific-Naturalistic and Archaeological
Park
Flood propagation modeling with the Local Inertia Approximation: Theoretical and numerical analysis of its physical limitations
No full textAttention of the researchers has increased towards a simplification of the complete Shallow water Equations called the Local Inertia Approximation (LInA), which is obtained by neglecting the advection term in the momentum conservation equation. This model, whose physical basis is discussed here, is commonly used for the simulation of slow flooding phenomena characterized by small velocities and absence of flow discontinuities. In the present paper it is demonstrated that a shock is always developed at moving wetting-drying frontiers, and this justifies the study of the Riemann problem on even and uneven beds. In particular, the general exact solution for the Riemann problem on horizontal frictionless bed is given, together with the exact solution of the non-breaking wave propagating on horizontal bed with friction, while some example solution is given for the Riemann problem on discontinuous bed. From this analysis, it follows that drying of the wet bed is forbidden in the LInA model, and that there are initial conditions for which the Riemann problem has no solution on smoothly varying bed. In addition, propagation of the flood on discontinuous sloping bed is impossible if the bed drops height has the same order of magnitude of the moving-frontier shock height. Finally, it is found that the conservation of the mechanical energy is violated. It is evident that all these findings pose a severe limit to the application of the model. The numerical analysis has confirmed the existence of the frontal shock in advancing flows, but has also demonstrated that LInA numerical models may produce numerical solutions, which are unreliable because of mere algorithmic nature, also in the case that the LInA mathematical solutions do not exist.
Following the preceding results, two criteria for the definition of the applicability limits of the LInA model have been considered. These criteria, which are valid for the very restrictive case of continuously varying bed elevation, are based on the limitation of the wetting front velocity and the limitation of spurious total head variations, respectively. Based on these criteria, the applicability limits of the LInA model are discouragingly severe, even if the bed elevation varies continuously. More important, the non-existence of the LInA solution in the case of discontinuous topography and the non-existence of receding fronts radically question the viability of the LInA model in realistic cases. It is evident that classic SWE models should be preferred in the majority of the practical applications
Seeing the wood through the trees. Combining shape information from different landmark configurations
No full textThe geometric morphometric (GM) analysis of complex anatomical structures is an ever more powerful tool to study biological variability, adaptation and evolution. Here, we propose a new method (combinland), developed in R, meant to combine the morphological information contained in different landmark coordinate sets into a single dataset, under a GM context. combinland builds a common ordination space taking into account the entire shape information encoded in the starting configurations. We applied combinland to a Primate case study including 133 skulls belonging to 14 species. On each specimen, we simulated photo acquisitions converting the 3D landmark sets into six 2D configurations along standard anatomical views. The application of combinland shows statistically negligible differences in the ordination space compared to that of the original 3D objects, in contrast to a previous method meant to address the same issue. Hence, we argue combinland allows to correctly retrieve 3D-quality statistical information from 2D landmark configurations. This makes combinland a viable alternative when the extraction of 3D models is not possible, recommended, or too expensive, and to make full use of disparate sources (and views) of morphological information regarding the same specimens. The code and examples for the application of combinland are available in the Arothron R package. © 2018 Associazione Teriologica Italiana
Inventare ad Atene, realizzare nel Mediterraneo. Dedalo, uno "scienziato" esule in Italia
No full textL’articolo esamina la tradizione del mitico inventore e artigiano ateniese Dedalo, in particolare le sue peregrinazioni nel Mediterraneo. Dedalo è un inventore ad Atene e straordinario artigiano nelle diverse aree da lui raggiunte (Creta, Sicilia, Sardegna, Cuma). I suoi viaggi non solo diffondono tecniche e conoscenza, ma sono anche determinati da condanne ed espulsioni. Dedalo era noto per i primi più importanti lavori di costruzione e di idraulica sul territorio italiano. Per difendere il primato degli Italiani, Angelo Mazzoldi, nel 1840, riteneva che Dedalo non fosse un greco, ma un antico italiano nato nelle regioni meridionali della penisola
Le proiezioni estere delle mafie italiane
No full textLa proiezione all'estero delle mafie italiane ha sollevato numerosi e complessi problemi di carattere giuridico-penale: in primo luogo, la possibile applicazione alle c.d. locali estere collegate con le case madri della fattispecie di cui all'art. 416 bis c.p.; in secondo luogo la applicabilità della aggravante della transnazionalità
Therapeutic Approaches Targeting Nucleolus in Cancer.
No full textThe nucleolus is a distinct sub-cellular compartment structure in the nucleus. First observed more than 200 years ago, the nucleolus is detectable by microscopy in eukaryotic cells and visible during the interphase as a sub-nuclear structure immersed in the nucleoplasm, from which it is not separated from any membrane. A huge number of studies, spanning over a century, have identified ribosome biogenesis as the main function of the nucleolus. Recently, novel functions, independent from ribosome biogenesis, have been proposed by several proteomic, genomic, and functional studies. Several works have confirmed the non-canonical role for nucleoli in regulating important cellular processes including genome stability, cell-cycle control, the cellular senescence, stress responses, and biogenesis of ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs). Many authors have shown that both canonical and non-canonical functions of the nucleolus are associated with several cancer-related processes. The association between the nucleolus and cancer, first proposed by cytological and histopathological studies showing that the number and shape of nucleoli are commonly altered in almost any type of cancer, has been confirmed at the molecular level by several authors who demonstrated that numerous mechanisms occurring in the nucleolus are altered in tumors. Recently, therapeutic approaches targeting the nucleolus in cancer have started to be considered as an emerging hallmark of cancer and several therapeutic interventions have been developed. This review proposes an up-to-date overview of available strategies targeting the nucleolus, focusing on novel targeted therapeutic approaches. Finally, a target-based classification of currently available treatment will be proposed
Hexamethylenediamine-mediated polydopamine film deposition: Inhibition by resorcinol as a strategy for mapping quinone targeting mechanisms
No full textHexamethylenediamine (HMDA) and other long chain aliphatic diamines can induce substrate-independent polymer film deposition from dopamine and several other catechols substrates at relatively low concentrations, however the mechanism of the diamine-promoted effect has remained little understood. Herein, we report data indicating that: (a) film deposition from 1 mM HMDA and dopamine is not affected by chemical oxidation with periodate but is markedly inhibited by resorcinol, which also prevents PDA film formation at 10 mM monomer concentration in the absence of HMDA; (b) N-acetylation of HMDA completely inhibits the effect on PDA film formation; (c) HMDA enables surface functionalization with 1 mM 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) polymerization at pH 9.0 in a resorcinol-inhibitable manner. Structural investigation of the polymers produced from dopamine and DHI in the presence of HMDA using solid state 13C and 15N NMR and MALDI-MS suggested formation of covalent cross linked structures. It is concluded that HMDA enhances polydopamine adhesion by acting both on dopamine quinone and downstream, e.g., via covalent coupling with DHI. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms of PDA adhesion and disclose resorcinol as a new potent tool for targeting/mapping quinone intermediates and for controlling polymer growth
Development and validation of a university students’ progression in learning quantum mechanics through exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis
No full textWe report an empirical study on the development and validation of a learning progression (LP) in quantum mechanics (QM) at university level. Drawing on research results about students’ reasoning in QM, we designed a hypothetical LP (HLP) consisting of three Big Ideas: Measurement, A toms and Electrons, Wave function. We then developed ten Ordered-Multiple-Choice (OMC) items to assess the construct validity and hierarchy of HLP levels. We administered the questionnaire to 244 students attending the Bachelor in Physics, divided into three groups under different instruction conditions: no course, introductory course, introductory and upper-level course. An additional group of 43 non-physics students, who attended an introductory QM course, was also involved to inspect the role of physics background knowledge . We used exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis to analyse collected data. The results provided evidence for the revision of the HLP around only two Big Ideas – Atomic description and measurement; Wave function and its properties in the measurement process – which roughly match the topics covered in the introductory and upper-level courses, respectively. However, the hierarchy of hypothesised levels was substantially confirmed. Implications of our findings for the teaching of QM, and the improvement of the revised LP are also discussed
D21 DIGITAL INDEX 2018/2019 Jährliches Lagebild zur Digitalen Gesellschaft / Initiative D21 e.V.
Get PDFHISTORIE UND STUDIENZIEL
Wie geht die deutsche Bevölkerung mit dem
digitalen Wandel um?
Die Studie D21-Digital-Index ist das umfassende jährliche
Lagebild zur Digitalen Gesellschaft in Deutschland.
Hervorgegangen aus den Studien (N)ONLINER Atlas und Digitale Gesellschaft entwickelte die Initiative D21 im Jahr 2013 mit dem D21-Digital-Index ein neues empirisches Instrument und Studiendesign. Sie ermöglicht ein besseres
Verständnis der Digitalen Gesellschaft und dient als
Grundlage, um aktuelle und zukünftige Entwicklungen abzuschätzen,Fortschritte in der Gesellschaft zu identifizieren und entsprechendes Handeln abzuleiten. Die Studie erfasst in einer integrierten Untersuchung sowohl Onliner als auch Offliner und bildet damit die gesamte deutsche Wohnbevölkerung ab 14 Jahren ab.
Der Digital-Index gibt den Digitalisierungsgrad der Gesellschaft auf einer Skala von 0 bis 100 Punkten wieder
und fasst die Subindizes Zugang, Nutzungsverhalten,
Kompetenz und Offenheit in einer einzigen Kennzahl
zusammen. Der Fragebogen der Studie wird jährlich angepasst, um aktuelle Entwicklungen des digitalen Wandels
und neue Anforderungen gegenüber der Gesellschaft
abzubilden. Hierbei finden neue Geräte (wie Smart-TVs
oder Sprachassistenten) genauso Berücksichtigung wie
neue Dienste (z. B. Sprachnachrichten oder Gesundheitsdienste).
Die Studie beinhaltet dabei digitale Themen
und Entwicklungen der Gesellschaft, die jährlich ein
Partnerkreis mit VertreterInnen aus Politik, Wirtschaft,
Wissenschaft und Zivilgesellschaft erarbeitet.
Die vorliegende Studie 2018 / 2019 beleuchtet die heterogene Digitale Gesellschaft mit einem vertiefenden Blick auf Unterschiede im Nutzungsverhalten sowie hinsichtlich Zugang zu und Kompetenzen bei digitalen Anwendungen sowie Einstellungen (Offenheit) gegenüber neuen Entwicklungen. Sie betrachtet dabei auch Unterschiede in urbanen und ländlicheren Regionen. Außerdem legt sie als eines der großen Zukunftsthemen einen Schwerpunkt auf die „Vernetzte Lebenswelt“ und untersucht, wie die Menschen zu Smart-Home-Anwendungen und dem Bereich E-Health stehen. Wie ist ihr Wohlbefinden gegenüber verschiedenen gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Szenarien im Umgang mit diesen Anwendungen? Weiterhin steht auch „Digitales Arbeiten“ im Fokus der Fragestellungen, die aufzeigen, in welchen Bereichen die Gesellschaft von den Möglichkeiten der digitalen Arbeitswelt profitiert und in welchen nicht, sowie die Auswirkungen der Veränderungen auf die Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Privatleben.
Insgesamt bekräftigt der D21-Digital-Index 2018 / 2019
die Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre: Die deutsche Gesellschaft wird digitaler, immer mehr Menschen zählen
sich zu den digitalen Vorreitern. Doch die zunehmende
Bindung gesellschaftlicher Teilhabe an die digitale Welt
verdeutlicht auch die Risiken: Denn je mehr die Digitalisierung ganz selbstverständlich zum Alltag der meistenMenschen gehört, umso mehr verlieren die Abseitsstehenden den Anschluss