1,721,080 research outputs found
Regional disparities in the European Union. What are the factors that could influence the succes of single regions in deploying European aid?
No full textThe concepts of solidarity and cohesion represent the principal aims of European Union (EU) regional policy. The paper aims to identify and examine driving forces that influence and encourage the regions’ success in deploying EU regional aid, analyzing the specific case study of Italy. Indeed, Italy represents a significant case study due to historical divide between northern and southern regions
The crisis of participatory practices: the case study of the Sardinian Regional Landscape Plan
No full textThe paper concerns the analysis of participatory practices in support of decision-making processes. In particular, the case study of Sardinian Regional Landscape Plan is examined in order to understand the difficulties to translate theoretical concepts about participation into practice. Indeed, at any level, governments sometimes use the term of participation in an improper way. In other words, politicians emphasize the concept of participation without a profound comprehension of its real meaning. In particular, in the Sardinian case study, political issues have negatively influenced the outcomes of participatory processes
The role of politics in the planning process
No full textThe article explores the role that the political system has had in the planning process of the
Regional Landscape Plan in Sardinia, Italy
Nanostructured Zinc Oxide as drug carrier for pharmaceutical applications
Full text linkIn this PhD thesis nanostructured ZnO (NsZnO) was studied to develop innovative drug carriers
for future dermatological applications.
In particular the novelty of the research was the use of a green organic-solvent free route both
for the production of the NsZnO and for the loading of of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
(API), by means of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) technology.
The first chapter deals with a general overview of the ZnO properties and applications in the
biomedical field, offering a detailed description of the current state-of-art related to the use of
ZnO nanostructures as drug delivery systems. Particular attention is focused on the existing
studies of NsZnO in skin applications.
The second chapter presents the scCO2 technology as an innovative and greener approach to
perform the drug loading of a delivery system. The fundamental properties of the scCO2 are
described in order to understand the mechanism of scCO2-mediated drug impregnation, since
it is the drug loading method selected in this PhD research project.
The third chapter illustrates the development of a green organic-solvent-free route to prepare
ZnO-based drug carriers. Two NsZnO materials with different morphologies were synthesized
using wet organic-solvent-free processes and they were characterized to elucidate their morphological
and physico-chemical properties. In this investigation, Clotrimazole (CTZ) and Ibuprofen
(IBU) were selected as the drug models. For the first time, scCO2-mediated drug impregnation
was used in the loading of NsZnO materials.
The fourth chapter describes the study of a third ZnO nanostructure, which consists in mesoporous
ZnO particles. A simple synthesis was carried out, based on the on the hydrolysis of a
zinc salt in basic alcoholic solutions. A material with a significant high surface area and a
morphology suitable for the biomedical applications was obtained. Also in this case the scCO2
technology was studied as a greener alternative technology to carry out the drug loading of the
mesoporous NsZnO. CTZ was selected as the drug model.
The fifth chapter is focused on the study of the three developed NsZnOs from a biological point
of view, in order to highlight their intrinsic biological properties. Particularly, their antimicrobial
activity against different microbial strains were investigated, and the results were correlated
with their physico-chemical parameters. Also the in vitro Zn2+ release profiles from the
NsZnO matrices were evaluated, simulating a release to the skin.
The sixth chapter presents the research work carried out at the Lancaster University (UK). The
main aim was the study of innovative materials for wound healing. Particularly, this section
describes the development of biocompatible in-situ-forming composite hydrogels, based on
natural polysaccharides, where one of the previously synthetized NsZnO was used as inorganic
nanofiller. The crosslinking mechanism, structure, morphology and swelling behavior of the
in situ forming composite hydrogels were studied. Moreover, in vitro release of Zn2+from the
formulations was simulated on synthetic skin and the cytotoxicity of the different component
was carried out on a HaCat cell line.
The seventh chapter describes the main results of a parallel research project carried out within
my PhD studies. In particular, the proof of concept of an innovative dermatological formulation
containing ordered mesoporous silica (OMS) was successfully demonstrated. The possibility
to obtain a drug reservoir system, combining API-loaded OMS with a saturated solution of the
same API was investigated obtaining outstanding results from both a physical-chemical and
biological point of view. The innovative formulation resulted in a sustained release of the drug
lasting two times with respect to the commercial gel, which opens the possibility of reducing
the daily number of administrations during a real treatment
Drug nanosuspensions: A ZIP tool between traditional and innovative pharmaceutical formulations
Full text linkInfrastrutture verdi multifunzionali: un caso di studio dalla città metropolitana di Cagliari
No full textLe infrastrutture verdi (IV) sono definite come reti di aree naturali e semi-naturali pianificate a livello strategico per garantire la connessione ecologica tra gli ecosistemi.
La questione dell’identificazione spaziale delle IV e della loro gestione rappresenta quindi un tema chiave nella pianificazione del paesaggio. Infatti, la definizione delle IV, favorendo l’integrazione del concetto della conservazione della biodiversità nelle pratiche pianificatorie, può contribuire all’attuazione dell’articolo 10 della Direttiva 92/43/CEE.
Partendo dall’approccio utilizzato da Arcidiacono et al. (2016), il contributo sviluppa una metodologia di supporto alle decisioni per l’identificazione di una possibile IV tenendo conto del concetto di multifunzionalità attraverso quattro valori (valore conservazionistico, valore naturale, valore ricrea-tivo e patrimonio antropico) nel contesto della città metropolitana di Cagliari. In particolare, l’introduzione del valore conservazionistico sottolinea l’importanza della tutela della biodiversità, tematica fortemente connessa al concetto di IV, in quanto la conservazione di aree naturali e semi-naturali (quali sono gli habitat tutelati dalla Direttiva Habitat) all’interno di paesaggi a vario livello antropizzati e urbanizzati (Garmendia et al., 2016) è prerequisito essenziale per l’erogazione di servizi ecosistemici da parte delle IV. L’analisi dei quattro valori mostra come, all’interno del territorio analizzato, aree diverse tendono ad esercitare funzioni differenti, talvolta mutuamente comple-mentari. Di conseguenza, lo studio di sinergie e trade off tra aree e valori risulta di fondamentale importanza nella definizione di una IV
Participatory processes and spatial planning – The Regional Landscape Plan of Sardinia, Italy
No full textWe examine the evolution of the concept of participation by underlining its theoretical and technical pros and cons. Moreover, we put in evidence that participatory processes in public decision-making show significant implementation
difficulties. On the one hand, public managers and policy makers often emphasize the role of participatory processes as providers of social equity and fair representation of needs and expectations of the local communities. On the other hand, the use of participation by the very same managers and policy makers is often used strategically, in order to move public opinion in the direction theywant.
The Sardinian Regional Landscape Plan (RLP) represents an emblematic case of this dichotomy.
Our analysis of the participatory processes implemented during the elaboration and revision phases of the RLP highlights that although participation could be utilized as a way to enforce democratic rights, the main goal of the regional administration was legitimation of already-taken decisions concerning the establishment of public policies. As a consequence, planning is subordinated to political constraints and, at the same time, it is shaped by the political system
La pianificazione dei Centri storici in Sardegna: una visione strategica per la redazione dei piani particolareggiati nel contesto del Piano paesaggistico regionale
No full textL’orizzonte concettuale del contributo riguarda, da un lato, l’adeguamento dei piani particolareggiati al Piano paesaggistico regionale della Sardegna (PPR) e, dall’altro, la pianificazione strategica come strumento per orientare le trasformazioni del territorio, definendo e prevedendo possibili scenari e dinamiche di sviluppo dei territori. Il contributo analizza questa problematica attraverso una lettura critica di alcuni casi di studio riguardanti la redazione dei piani particolareggiati dei Centri storici nel contesto dell’attuazione del PPR, nel quadro definito dalla pianificazione strategica, come espressione di un approccio integrato alla pianificazione urbana
Ecosystem services as external drivers in the Strategic environmental assessment of management plans of the sites of the Natura 2000 network
No full textEcosystem services (ESs) deliver benefits to human beings by the provision of goods and services, by regulating or supporting natural processes in order to improve life quality, and by increasing the cultural level of the local societies. These services are produced by ecosystems, which is “dynamic complex[es] of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit” (United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992: Article 2).
The goal of the paper is to discuss the role of ESs as factors that improve the effectiveness of Strategic environmental assessment (SEA)-based processes related to management plans (MPs) of sites that belong to the Natura 2000 Network in increasing their environmental quality.
The discussion is based on a logical framework (LF) which takes account of the identification of objectives related to the provision of ESs as tentative specification of the general objective of environmental sustainability which are the foundation of the SEA of MPs.
In the first section, we present a logical framework which relates the system of specific objectives of MPs to the system of specific objectives of Municipal masterplans (MMPs) as stated in their SEA reports, and discuss the issue of sustainability in the context therein. Consistency of specific objectives of MPs and MMPs should be granted in a sustainability-based perspective.
In the second section we analyze the question of provisioning ESs in the sustainability-oriented conceptual framework aimed at making MPs’ and MMPs’ objectives consistent with each other. In our view, the implementation of the MPs’ objectives into the sustainability-based framework of the SEA of MMPs, may possibly imply a loss of the ESs’ productive output due to measures adopted by the MPs in order to protect habitats and species. Our tentative conclusion is that a sustainability objective should be added to MPs and to MMPs, which may be possibly be integrated into the SEA reports of MPs and MMPs, that is, the output of provisioning ESs in the municipal area ruled by the MPs’ provisions should not decrease as a consequence of the implementation of the MPs’ regulation. We consider the MPs of the Site of the Natura 2000 Network named Site of Community Interest of Stagni di Colostrai e delle Saline (Wetlands of Colostrai and of Saline), located in Muravera, a municipality of Southern Sardinia, Italy
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