553 research outputs found
Un modello operativo di gestione delle risorse idriche nel Regenerative Design
No full textSempre più scarsa e meno accessibile, l’acqua sta assumendo i connotati di una risorsa pregiata in grado di alimentare marcate iniquità. Gli elevati consumi dovuti all’uso civile – nei settori domestico e terziario – accrescono la pressione sull’ambiente, tracciando una condizione di stress idrico molto alto in gran parte delle città italiane. Il tema della gestione delle risorse idriche all’interno degli edifici si pone quindi come un campo di indagine prioritario, e come processo centrale nell’approssimazione a un modello di sostenibilità nell’edificazione, oggi individuabile nel Regenerative Design. La scarsità idrica rappresenta un rischio pendente derivato da interferenze di natura ambientale, tecnologica, economica, sociale e politica, con conseguenze sulla disponibilità e l’accessibilità alle risorse.
La ricerca si pone di interpretare il principio di sostenibilità nella gestione delle risorse idriche, attraverso la comprensione delle principali pratiche di riferimento, negli edifici, per la raccolta, il trattamento e il riuso, che consentano di preservarne la quantità e la qualità – in un’ottica di circolarità, come diversi casi di studio sono in grado di documentare. Lo studio è volto a estendere i margini dell’analisi a tutte le componenti che contribuiscono, anche indirettamente, alla definizione del consumo lungo tutte le fasi di operatività dell’edificio e a integrare i criteri valutativi attraverso la costruzione di Key performance indicators, strumentali a definire la rilevanza delle strategie e l’affinità con gli obiettivi della ricerca. Il risultato è la proposta di un modello rigenerativo con strategie complementari di intervento nelle costruzioni, capace di fornire uno strumento di supporto nell’affrontare decisioni progettuali consapevoli e funzionali alla prevenzione del rischio di scarsità idrica.Increasingly scarce and less affordable, water is taking on the characteristics of a precious resource able to increase marked inequities. The high consumption due to civil use – in domestic and tertiary sectors – fuels the pressure on the environment, drawing a very high water-stress condition in most Italian cities. The issue of water resources management within buildings stands as a priority field of investigation, and as a central process in the transition to a sustainability model in construction, today recognizable as ‘Regenerative Design’. Water scarcity represents a pending risk derived from environmental, technological, economic, social and political interferences. It threatens consequences on the availability and affordability of resources. The research aims to interpret the sustainability principle in water resources management, through the understanding of the best practices for harvesting, collection, treatment and reuse – with a circular approach – to preserve water quantity and quality in buildings, as various case studies can attest. The work tries to extend the field of analysis to all the components that contribute, even indirectly, to water consumption along all phases of the building’s life cycle and to integrate the evaluation criteria through a set of Key performance indicators, instrumental to define the relevance of strategies and the affinity with the research objectives. The result is the proposal of a regenerative model with complementary approaches for buildings, capable of providing a support tool to address aware and functional design choices in preventing water scarcity risk
Un poemetto «rubato al cinema»: Nel bosco di Alessandro Parronchi
No full textIl presente contributo intende analizzare Nel bosco di Alessandro Parronchi, nelle sue diverse stesure, sottolineando le scelte stilistiche e narratologiche messe in campo dall’autore per replicare le forti impressioni suscitate dal film giapponese Rashomon di Akira Kurosawa.
L’esperienza “cinematografica” di Nel bosco, sebbene solo parzialmente riuscita, incarna un momento di passaggio necessario sulla strada di quella maturità poetica che giungerà poi con il «diario sentimentale» tracciato dalle poesie destinate a confluire nel Coraggio di vivere, oltre a costituire l’occasione in cui per la prima volta in Italia si è posto «il quesito su come e fino a che punto, il linguaggio cinematografico possa influire, e giovare, sul linguaggio della poesia scritta. E non più, o non soltanto, intendendo il cinema come semplice fonte d’emozione, ma proprio come fatto d’arte, come fatto tecnico concernente l’intera poesia» (Caproni 1954)
Mai più consegne senza diritti. Il sindacalismo informale nel food delivery: il caso di riders union bologna
No full textIl testo affronta le tematiche sindacali nel contesto della gig economy a partire dal caso di studio di Riders Union Bologna, una tre le più significative esperienze di lotta all'interno del mondo delle piattaforme di food delivery. Dopo aver presentato lo scenario dell'economia delle piattaforme, mettendo in rilievo i fattori che ne hanno favorito l'ascesa, il contributo si focalizza sulle pratiche organizzative, le rivendicazioni e le strategie sindacali che hanno condotto alla firma della 'Carta dei diritti dei lavoratori digitali nel contesto urbano' nella città di Bologna che ha costituito il primo esempio di accordo territoriale sul tema delle piattaform
Auranofin Targeting the NDM-1 Beta-Lactamase: Computational Insights into the Electronic Configuration and Quasi-Tetrahedral Coordination of Gold Ions
No full textRecently, the well-characterized metallodrug auranofin has been demonstrated to restore the penicillin and cephalosporin sensitivity in resistant bacterial strains via the inhibition of the NDM-1 beta-lactamase, which is operated via the Zn/Au substitution in its bimetallic core. The resulting unusual tetrahedral coordination of the two ions was investigated via the density functional theory calculations. By assessing several charge and multiplicity schemes, coupled with on/off constraining the positions of the coordinating residues, it was demonstrated that the experimental X-ray structure of the gold-bound NDM-1 is consistent with either Au(I)-Au(I) or Au(II)-Au(II) bimetallic moieties. The presented results suggest that the most probable mechanism for the auranofin-based Zn/Au exchange in NDM-1 includes the early formation of the Au(I)-Au(I) system, superseded by oxidation yielding the Au(II)-Au(II) species bearing the highest resemblance to the X-ray structure
Reactivity of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Half-Sandwich Ru-, Os-, Rh-, and Ir-Based Complexes with Cysteine and Selenocysteine: A Computational Study
No full textThe structure and the reactivity of four half-sandwich metal complexes of Ru-II, Os-II, Rh-III, and Ir-III were investigated by means of density functional theory approaches. These piano-stool complexes, grouped in cym-bound complexes, Ru-II(cym)(dmb)Cl-2, 1, and Os-II(cym)(dmb)Cl-2, 2, and Cp*-bound complexes, Rh-III(Cp*)(dmb)Cl-2, 3, and Ir-III(Cp*)(dmb)-Cl-2, 4, with cym = eta(6)-p-cymene, Cp* = eta(5)-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl, and dmb = 1,3-dimethylbenzimidazol-2-ylidene, were recently proposed as anticancer metallodrugs that preferably target Cys- or Sec-containing proteins. Thus, density functional theory calculations were performed here to characterize in detail the thermodynamics and the kinetics underlining the targeting of these metallodrugs at either neutral or anionic Cys and Sec side chains. Calculations evidenced that all these complexes preferably target at Cys or Sec via chloro exchange, although cym-bound and Cp*-bound complexes resulted to be more prone to bind at neutral or anionic forms, respectively, of these soft protein sites. Further decomposition analyses of the activation free energies for the reaction between 1-4 complexes and either Cys or Sec, paralleled with the comparison among the optimized transition-state structures, allowed us to spotlight the significant role played by solvation in determining the overall reactivity and selectivity expected for these prototypical metallodrugs
Combined computational and bioinformatic approach to uncover the pre-covalent protein interactions of auranofin and its chlorido derivative Au(PEt3)Cl
No full textSelenocysteine of thioredoxin reductase as the primary target for the antitumor metallodrugs: A computational point of view
No full textSelenocysteine (Sec) has been recognized as a soft metal-coordinating residue that dues its relevance to the important role played in the catalytic activity of thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), a well-characterized an-ticancer target. Thus, several computational studies have been devoted to the metalation of this Se-based residue and several metal scaffolds have been proposed as potential Sec-binders, i.e. TrxR inhibitors. Here, we reported an overview of the chemical features of Sec, as well as of typical Sec-binding metal com-plexes, and of the computational studies carried on metallodrugs that primary target TrxR, by specifically posing our attention to antitumour metallodrugs based on Au(I), Au(III), Ag(I), Pt(II), Pt(IV), Ru(II), Ru(III), and Rh(III) metal centers. Moreover, we provided a computational insight on the available structural data and highlighted how an optimal articulation of computational methods and modeling of the metallodrug-target system may expand our understanding of the targeting of TrxR active site by metallic scaffolds.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Computational Studies Unveiling the Mechanism of Action of Selected Pt-, Te-, Au-, Rh-, Ru-Based Drugs
No full textModern medicinal chemistry is unimaginable without the employment of metallodrugs, which form a crucial source of novel anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial, and antiparasitic agents. The wide variety of molecular geometries, availability of several oxidation states, redox properties are ascribable to the presence of a metal center that can be exploited in the design of bioactive metal scaffolds with various modes of action, different selectivities, and activation mechanisms. This minireview focuses on an abridged account of the computational studies of the mechanism of action of selected Pt-, Te-, Au-, Rh-, Ru-based drugs, carried out in our group. This account is specifically focused on how the molecular geometry and the reactivity with the biological milieu may influence the modus operandi of these metal scaffolds
- …
