730 research outputs found
Stimulus novelty and emotionality interact in the processing of visual distractors
No full textNovel distractors are prioritized for attentional selection. When distractors also convey emotional content, they divert attention from the primary task more than neutral stimuli do. In the present study, while participants were engaged in a central task, we examined the impact of peripheral distractors that varied for emotional content and novelty. Results showed that emotional interference on reaction times completely habituated with repetition and promptly recovered with novelty. The enhanced LPP for emotional pictures was attenuated by repetitions and, interestingly, stimulus novelty only affected emotional, but not neutral distractors, in both the RTs and LPP. Alpha-ERD was similarly reduced for repeated emotional and neutral distractors. Altogether, these findings suggest that the impact of peripheral distractors can be attenuated through a non-strategic learning mechanism mediated by mere stimulus repetition, which is fine-tuned to detect changes in emotional distractors only, supporting the hypothesis that novelty and emotion share the same motivational circuits
Strategic Tools in Regenerative and Translational Dentistry.
No full textHuman oral-derived stem cells can be easily obtained from several oral tissues, such as dental pulp, periodontal ligament, from gingiva, or periapical cysts. Due to their differentiation potential, oral-derived mesenchymal stem cells are promising for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The regenerative ability showed by some oral tissues strongly depends on their sleeping adult stem cell populations that are able to repair small defects and to manage local inflammation. To date, researchers are working on effective and efficient methods to ensure safe and predictable protocols to translate stem cell research into human models. In the last decades, the challenge has been to finally use oral-derived stem cells together with biomaterials or scaffold-free techniques, to obtain strategic tools for regenerative and translational dentistry. This paper aims to give a clear point of view on state of the art developments, with some exciting insights into future strategies
Ritrovamento di una sorgente per la produzione di acqua radioattiva: la fiala Pagliani.
No full textNel maggio 2017, a seguito di un allarme al portale radiometrico presso il termovalorizzatore A2A Silla2 di Milano, è
stata rinvenuta una sorgente di radio 226 in un sacchetto di rifiuti urbani.
Tale sorgente consiste in un piccolo cilindro ceramico contenente radio 226 alloggiato all’interno di un supporto aperto in
argento. Sul cilindro è riportata la seguente dicitura: ”Fiala Radioemanogena ... Torino 1924”. A valle di una ricerca
bibliografica estesa, è emerso che tale fiala rappresenta un esemplare di valenza storica dei dispositivi per la produzione
di acqua arricchita al radon 222 prodotti negli anni che vanno dal 1910 al 1930 dal prof. Luigi Pagliani, professore presso
l’Istituto di Igiene dell’università di Torino.
Sono state effettuate alcune misurazioni in spettrometria gamma sulla sorgente e in scintillazione liquida sull’acqua
prodotta utilizzando la fiala secondo le indicazioni fornite dallo stesso Pagliani nelle sue pubblicazioni. In tal modo è stato
possibile caratterizzare la sorgente determinandone l’attività di Rn-222 rilasciata giornalmente nell’acqua e stimare la
dose derivante dal consumo della medesima così “radioattivata”.
Tali risultati vengono confrontati con quanto stimato sperimentalmente da Pagliani
Radiological Pre-Characterisation for Decommissioning of L-54M Nuclear Research Reactor and Waste Management Strategy
No full textCeSNEF L-54M (Nuclear Studies Centre Enrico Fermi) is a research reactor owned by Politecnico di Milano
(POLIMI) that was shut down in 1979 and since then kept in safe storage condition. In 2014 POLIMI decided to proceed towards an active decommissioning strategy aiming towards a greenfield status.
In the following paper, a discussion of the methodologies defined in the POLIMI pre-characterization campaign of the reactor Systems, Structures, and Components (SSC), and its waste management strategy will be discussed. The obtained plant data herein described provides useful references for similar decommissioning projects as they were utilized for the creation of benchmark analyses in two IAEA and
OECD/NEA Collaborative Research Projects (GRAPA, DACCORD phase II)
CRAB: A CMS application for distributed analysis
No full textBeginning in 2009, the CMS experiment will produce several petabytes of data each year which will be distributed over many computing centres geographically distributed in different countries. The CMS computing model defines how the data is to be distributed and accessed to enable physicists to efficiently run their analyses over the data. The analysis will be performed in a distributed way using Grid infrastructure. CRAB (CMS remote analysis builder) is a specific tool, designed and developed by the CMS collaboration, that allows the end user to transparently access distributed data. CRAB interacts with the local user environment, the CMS data management services and with the Grid middleware; it takes care of the data and resource discovery; it splits the user's task into several processes (jobs) and distributes and parallelizes them over different Grid environments; it performs process tracking and output handling. Very limited knowledge of the underlying technical details is required of the end user. The tool can be used as a direct interface to the computing system or can delegate the task to a server, which takes care of the job handling, providing services such as automatic resubmission in case of failures and notification to the user of the task status. Its current implementation is able to interact with gLite and OSG Grid middlewares. Furthermore, with the same interface, it enables access to local data and batch systems such as load sharing facility (LSF). CRAB has been in production and in routine use by end users since Spring 2004. It has been extensively used in studies to prepare the Physics Technical Design Report, in the analysis of reconstructed event samples generated during the Computing Software and Analysis Challenges and in the preliminary cosmic ray data taking. The CRAB architecture and the usage inside the CMS community will be described in detail, as well as the current status and future development
Stem cells-based and molecular-based approaches in regenerative dentistry: A topical review
No full textRegenerative medicine is a growing branch of medicine aimed to treat damaged or lost tissues, to promote tissue formation and to restore both aesthetics and function. In the last years, several scientific articles have been focused on the regenerative procedures aimed to increase the survival rate of compromised teeth; the most effective approaches have been based on molecularbased and on cellular-based protocols; however, to date, both these techniques have not been carefully analysed and discussed, to know in details the advantages of each of them
Using the Q/V-Band Aldo Paraboni Payload to Validate Future Satellite Systems: Test Campaign and Preliminary Results of the QV-LIFT Project
No full textIPID5196777submitted. The subsystems developed in the course of the project will be tested in a real environment using the Q/V-band Aldo Paraboni (AP) payload on Alphasat (25 and deg; east) and its associated ground segment, made available by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). This project has been granted by the European Commission and involves a consortium of companies and universities coordinated by ASI. The consortium consists of: Martel GmbH, Erzia Technologies SL, Eutelsat SA, MBI Srl, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT), OMMIC SAS, Heriot-Watt University and SkyTech Italia Srl. In preparation of the on-field test campaign using the Aldo Paraboni payload (to be started in July, 2018), two earth stations have been equipped with the QV-LIFT gateways component, whereas a third station hosts the fixed user terminal. This paper describes the preparatory activities carried out to assess the performance of the hardware and software components specifically designed for the Q/V-band satellite communications system. The QV-LIFT project also includes the development of a Q/V-band Airborne Terminal providing a two-way on-the-move communication link for aircrafts. However, this activity is not presented in this paper
Potential Use of Human Periapical Cyst-Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hPCy-MSCs) as a Novel Stem Cell Source for Regenerative Medicine Applications
No full textMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are attracting growing interest by the scientific community due to their huge regenerative potential. Thus, the plasticity of MSCs strongly suggests the utilization of these cells for regenerative medicine applications. The main issue about the clinical use of MSCs is related to the complex way to obtain them from healthy tissues; this topic has encouraged scientists to search for novel and more advantageous sources of these cells in easily accessible tissues. The oral cavity hosts several cell populations expressing mesenchymal stem cell like-features, furthermore, the access to oral and dental tissues is simple and isolation of cells is very efficient. Thus, oral-derived stem cells are highly attractive for clinical purposes. In this context, human periapical cyst mesenchymal stem cells (hPCy-MSCs) exhibit characteristics similar to other dental-derived MSCs, including their extensive proliferative potential, cell surface marker profile and the ability to differentiate into various cell types such as osteoblasts, adipocytes and neurons. Importantly, hPCy-MSCs are easily collected from the surgically removed periapical cysts; this reusing of biological waste guarantees a smart source of stem cells without any impact on the surrounding healthy tissues. In this review, we report the most interesting research topics related to hPCy-MSCs with a newsworthy discussion about the future insights. This newly discovered cell population exhibits interesting and valuable potentialities that could be of high impact in the future regenerative medicine applications
Using the Q/V-Band Aldo Paraboni Payload to Validate Future Satellite Systems: Test Campaign and Preliminary Results of the QV-LIFT Project
No full textIPID5196777submitted. The subsystems developed in the course of the project will be tested in a real environment using the Q/V-band Aldo Paraboni (AP) payload on Alphasat (25 and deg; east) and its associated ground segment, made available by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). This project has been granted by the European Commission and involves a consortium of companies and universities coordinated by ASI. The consortium consists of: Martel GmbH, Erzia Technologies SL, Eutelsat SA, MBI Srl, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT), OMMIC SAS, Heriot-Watt University and SkyTech Italia Srl. In preparation of the on-field test campaign using the Aldo Paraboni payload (to be started in July, 2018), two earth stations have been equipped with the QV-LIFT gateways component, whereas a third station hosts the fixed user terminal. This paper describes the preparatory activities carried out to assess the performance of the hardware and software components specifically designed for the Q/V-band satellite communications system. The QV-LIFT project also includes the development of a Q/V-band Airborne Terminal providing a two-way on-the-move communication link for aircrafts. However, this activity is not presented in this paper
MCNP model of L-54M nuclear research reactor: validation by preliminary graphite radiological characterization
No full textSince its shutdown in 1979, L-54M nuclear research reactor of Politecnico di Milano has been kept in safe storage configuration. In view of forthcoming decommissioning activities, many characterization activities have been performed on its matrices. Regarding the L-54M graphite stack, a neutron activation model was developed and validated by a graphite sampling and preliminary radiological characterization campaign focused on the most significant gamma-emitting radionuclides. Even if slightly underestimating the measured values, between − 5% and − 49% for 152Eu, between − 41% and − 67% for 154Eu, the simulated activity concentrations promisingly reproduce the experimental radial profile
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