1,354,085 research outputs found
Natura dei terremoti e comportamenti di sicurezza
No full textI disastri sono eventi che hanno conseguenze potenzialmente negative per le persone, le cose e l’ambiente, comportando una sproporzione tra le richieste del contesto e le risorse degli individui atte a farvi fronte. Si distinguono principalmente in disastri naturali e disastri provocati dall’uomo o tecnologici. La comunicazione opportuna delle informazioni relative ai disastri è fondamentale per mitigarne gli effetti. La comunicazione del rischio può essere svolta in modo preventivo al fine di aumentare la preparazione individuale e la resilienza. A tale scopo, si possono implementare programmi di educazione ai disastri che, tuttavia, sono ancora rari. La percezione del rischio può essere influenzata da fattori individuali, familiari, relazionali e sociali. La scuola è un’arena ideale sia per strutturare la comunicazione relativa ai disastri sia per addestrare i giovani su come far fronte a un disastro prima che questo si verifichi, tenendo conto delle diverse caratteristiche in base alla fascia d’età. La resilienza permette di far fronte al rischio e agli eventi avversi e si manifesta tramite un adattamento psicologico positivo. Il progetto PrEmT permette di accrescere la resilienza in relazione al rischio sismico
Extracellular sphingosine-1-phosphate contributes to survival properties of glioblastoma stem cells
No full textExtracellular sphingosine-1-phosphate contributes to survival properties of glioblastoma stem cells
Riccitelli E., Giussani P., Di Vito C., Condomitti G., Tringali C., Galli R., Viani P., Riboni L.
Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, University of Milan, LITA Segrate, Via Fratelli Cervi 93, 20090 Segrate, Milan, Italy ([email protected])
Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a potent bioactive lipid formed from sphingosine by sphingosine kinases (SKs) action. S1P is considered as an onco-promoter molecule, favouring growth, invasion, and therapy-resistance of different tumours, including glioblastomas, the most frequent and aggressive human intracranial cancers. Despite the introduction of the alkylating agent temozolomide in glioblastoma therapy has improved patient survival, drug resistance limits its benefits. Accumulating literature indicates that glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs), a subpopulation of cells with the exclusive ability to self-renew and maintain the tumor, might contribute to glioblastoma aggressiveness and resistance to therapy. This study investigated S1P secretion by GSCs, and its possible role in cell survival. To this purpose we used GSCs isolated from the human U87 glioblastoma cell line (U-SC) and GSCs derived from a primary culture of human glioblastoma (L0627). We found that both GSC models efficiently form neurospheres in mitogen-defined medium, and express high levels of recognized neural-stem cell markers. Moreover, GSCs exhibited resistance to temozolomide, despite not expressing the DNA repair protein MGMT, a major contributor to temozolomide-resistance. Further analyses revealed the presence of S1P not only inside the cells, but also in the culture medium from both GSCs and U87. Notably the extracellular S1P level was found much higher in GSC models than in U87 cells, and the ratio between extracellular and intracellular S1P was 1:10 and 1:1 in U87 and GSCs, respectively. Enzyme activity assays excluded SKs presence in GSC medium, implicating an efficient secretion of S1P in GSCs. Intriguingly, concomitant treatment with temozolomide and a SKs inhibitor made GSCs sensitive to drug toxicity. Furthermore, S1P administration promoted cell survival after this co-treatment. Altogether our data implicate GSCs as an important source of extracellular S1P, which might act as an autocrine signal contributing to the survival properties of GSCs
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
How do stakeholders perceive the impacts of Nature-based solutions? An Italian case study for coastal restoration and climate change adaptation.
No full textThe escalation of natural disasters linked to climate change has underlined the urgent need for effective risk management strategies to mitigate their adverse impacts on communities and economies. To address this, there is a growing emphasis on integrated ecosystem-based approaches, in particular Nature-based Solutions (NBS). NBS offer multiple benefits, including increased resilience and various societal, environmental and economic benefits. However, it is essential to conduct comprehensive evaluations considering both positive (benefits) and negative (costs) impacts across diverse domains. Our study aims to bridge existing gaps in the literature by analyzing potential synergies and trade-offs arising from NBS implementation. Building on previous research, we propose a participatory approach to assess stakeholders' perceptions of the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits associated with NBS implementation. Through a case study in the Tuscany region as part of the Horizon project Regions4Climate, we seek to categorize stakeholders based on their impact and influence on NBS, providing valuable insights from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The anticipated outcomes include a framework mapping costs and benefits associated with NBS implementation against stakeholder perceptions, highlighting potential trade-offs and synergies, and a novel stakeholder classification based on impact intensity and influence degre
Variations on the Author
No full text“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Estimation of User's Orientation via Wearable UWB
No full textUser's orientation in indoor environments is an important part of her context. Orientation can be useful to understand what the user is looking at, and thus to improve the interaction between her and the surrounding environment. In this paper, we present a method based on wearable UWB-enabled devices. The position of the devices in space is used to estimate the user's orientation. We experimentally evaluated the impact of some operational parameters, such as the distance between worn devices, or some environmental conditions, such as the position of the user in the room. Results show that the accuracy of the method suits the needs of a wide range of practical purposes
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Author, publisher and bookseller : a tripartite synergy in Nigerian book industry
No full textThis work is about the roles of Author, Publisher and Bookseller in Book development in
Nigeria. The paper started by delving into the history of Book Publishing in Nigeria after
which it proceeded by defining who an author, a publisher, and a bookseller is and
expatiated on the indispensable roles of these key actors in Nigerian Book Industry and in
the emerging Information Society. Furthermore, the various constraints to book
development were identified while the paper advised on how the Book Industry can be
further promoted in Nigeria. However, the paper concluded and made recommendations
on how the Book sector can help in enhancing scholarship in the country
The Thursday Murder Club: Launching a megabrand author - a publishing case study
No full textIn 2020, the Christmas book charts in the UK made headlines: Barack Obama’s eagerly awaited autobiography, The Promised Land, was beaten to the top spot by The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, a debut cosy crime novel set in a retirement village. Not only did Osman’s book beat the former US president’s expected bestseller, it also broke records, becoming the fastest-selling debut crime novel of all time. Although Osman has a certain level of fame in the UK from his TV appearances on shows such as Pointless, his celebrity status does not entirely explain the novel’s huge sales. This article tracks the acquisition, publication, and promotion journey of The Thursday Murder Club in order to understand the industry and cultural context of its success and to interrogate the role of celebrity in the creation of author brands. The findings suggest that the unexpected scale of the success of the book owed to a number of factors, including in-depth editing by the novel’s agent, editor, and author to tighten up the plot, an extensive and strategic promotional campaign, the pandemic (which drove interest in the book’s genre and themes), and the quality of the writing. We find that the book’s success was accentuated by Osman’s celebrity status rather than being entirely reliant on it. This research adds to the growing scholarship on celebrity authorship by means of an in-depth case study and provides insight into the processes behind publishing a ‘celebrity’ book and launching a megabrand author
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