1,203 research outputs found
Fandom politici e social media l’affettività nella fase preelettorale
No full textThis article analyses political fandom in Italy through the cases of Giorgia
Meloni, Giuseppe Conte, Elly Schlein, and Matteo Salvini. Based on 7,622 social
media posts from April to June 2024 (during the Italian campaign for the European
elections), the study examines affective expressions toward leaders to assess whether
they reflect structured fandoms, spontaneous participation, or orchestrated strategies. It focuses on the strategic use of emotions during the electoral campaign. Using
a mixed-methods approach, the article offers an interpretive lens on emerging forms of political participation in today’s digital ecosystem
Expected posterior priors for model comparison in a class of discrete graphical models.
No full textThe implementation of the Bayesian paradigm to model comparison can be problematic. In
particular, prior distributions on the parameter space of each candidate model require special
care. While it is well known that improper priors cannot be routinely used for Bayesian model
comparison, we claim that also the use of proper conventional priors under each model should
be regarded as suspicious, especially when comparing models having different dimensions.
The basic idea is that priors should not be assigned separately under each model; rather they
should be related across models, in order to acquire some degree of compatibility, and thus
allow fairer and more robust comparisons. In this connection, the intrinsic prior as well as
the expected posterior prior (EPP) methodology represent a useful tool. In this paper we develop
a procedure based on EPP to perform Bayesian model comparison for discrete undirected
decomposable graphical models, although our method could be adapted to deal also with directed
acyclic graph models. We present two possible approaches. One based on imaginary
data, and one which makes use of a limited number of actual data. The methodology is illustrated
through the analysis of a 2 × 3 × 4 contingency table
Comment on 'The latency period of mesothelioma among a cohort of British asbestos workers (1978-2005)': methodological problems with case-only survival analysis.
No full textMetal(loid)s role in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Environmental, epidemiological, and genetic data
No full textAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the motor system. The etiology is still unknown and the pathogenesis remains unclear. ALS is familial in the 10% of cases with a Mendelian pattern of inheritance. In the remaining sporadic cases, a multifactorial origin is supposed in which several predisposing genes interact with environmental factors. The etiological role of environmental factors, such as pesticides, exposure to electromagnetic fields, and metals has been frequently investigated, with controversial findings. Studies in the past two decades have highlighted possible roles of metals, and ionic homeostasis dysregulation has been proposed as the main trigger to motor-neuron degeneration. This study aims at evaluating the possible role of environmental factors in etiopathogenesis of ALS, with a particular attention on metal contamination, focusing on the industrial Briga area in the province of Novara (Piedmont region, North Italy), characterized by: i) a higher incidence of sporadic ALS (sALS) in comparison with the entire province, and ii) the reported environmental pollution. Environmental data from surface, ground and discharge waters, and from soils were collected and specifically analyzed for metal content. Considering the significance of genetic mechanisms in ALS, a characterization for the main ALS genes has been performed to evaluate the genetic contribution for the sALS patients living in the area of study. The main findings of this study are the demonstration that in the Briga area the most common metal contaminants are Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni (widely used in tip-plating processes), that are above law limits in surface waters, discharge waters, and soil. In addition, other metals and metalloids, such as Cd, Pb, Mn, and As show a severe contamination in the same area. Results of genetic analyses show that sALS patients in the Briga area do not carry recurrent mutations or an excess of mutations in the four main ALS causative genes (SOD1, TARDBP, FUS, C9ORF72) and for ATXN2 CAG repeat locus. This study supports the hypothesis that the higher incidence of sALS in Briga area may be related to environmental metal(loid)s contamination, along with other environmental factors. Further studies, implementing analysis of genetic polymorphisms, as well as investigation with long term follow-up, may yield to key aspects into the etiology of ALS. The interplay between different approaches (environmental, chemical, epidemiological, genetic) of our work provides new insights and methodology to the comprehension of the disease etiology
Calcium Looping technology demonstration in industrial environment: The CLEANKER project and status of the CLEANKER pilot plant
No full textThe CLEANKER (CLEAN clinKER production by calcium looping process) project got EC support from October 2017 to September 2021 under the Horizon 2020 call LCE 29-2017. CLEANKER (www.cleanker.eu) aims at demonstrating at TRL7 (Technology Readiness Level) the Calcium Looping (CaL) concept in a configuration highly integrated with the cement production process, making use of entrained flow reactors. There are currently no feasible methods to produce clinker, and thus cement, without releasing CO2 from CaCO3, and, given the lifetime of a cement plant, the technologies to be developed have to be retrofittable. In addition to oxyfuel combustion and post-combustion solvent-based capture technologies, which have attracted most of the research efforts up to now, Calcium Looping is recognized as another very promising emerging technology for CO2 capture in cement plants. The core activity of the project is the design, construction and operation of a CaL demonstration system including the entrained-flow carbonator (the CO2 absorber) and the entrained-flow oxyfuel calciner (the sorbent regenerator). This demonstration system, connected to the Buzzi Unicem kiln of the Vernasca cement plant (Italy), will capture the CO2 from a portion of the flue gases of the kiln, using as CO2 sorbent the same raw meal that is used for clinker production. The CLEANKER implementation plan spans four years from October 2017 to September 2021.The project is in its crucial phase: the erection of the demo plant is going to be completed by the end of August 2020 and the experimental campaigns will start immediately after
Tonic Modulation of GABA Release by Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Layer V of the Murine Prefrontal Cortex
No full textBy regulating the neocortical excitability, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) control vigilance and cognition and are implicated in epileptogenesis. Modulation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) release often accompanies these processes. We studied how nAChRs regulate GABAergic transmission in the murine neocortex with immunocytochemical and patch-clamp methods. The cholinergic fibers densely innervated the somatosensory, visual, motor, and prefrontal cortices (PFC). Laminar distribution was broadly homogeneous, especially in the PFC. The cholinergic terminals were often adjacent to the soma and dendrites of GABAergic interneurons, but well-differentiated synapses were rare. Tonically applied nicotine (1-100 mu M) increased the frequency of spontaneous GABAergic inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) on pyramidal neurons in PFC layer V. The contribution of nAChR types was assessed by using 1 mu M dihydro-beta-erythroidine (DH beta E), to block heteromeric nAChRs, and 10 nM methyllycaconitine (MLA), to block homomeric nAChRs. Both inhibitors antagonized the effect of nicotine on IPSCs, suggesting that mixed nAChR types control pyramidal neuron inhibition in layer V. To determine whether nAChRs are expressed on basket cells' terminals, we studied miniature IPSCs (mIPSCs). These were revealed using 0.5 mu M tetrodotoxin and 50 mu M Cd2+ to isolate the GABAergic terminals from the action potential drive. The nicotinic stimulation of mIPSCs was antagonized by DH beta E, but not MLA, indicating that heteromeric nAChRs prevail in GABAergic terminals. Immunocytochemistry confirmed the expression of nAChRs on basket cells' somata and terminals. Finally, when the ionotropic glutamatergic transmission was blocked, nicotine partially inhibited the IPSCs, an effect counteracted by both DH beta E and MLA. Therefore, a fraction of nAChRs are capable of activating GABAergic interneurons that in turn inhibit other GABAergic interneurons, thereby reducing the IPSCs. We conclude that heteromeric nAChRs control GABA release presynaptically, whereas mixed nAChRs regulate both excitation and inhibition of interneurons, the balance depending on the overall glutamatergic drive
Matching user preferences and behavior for mobility
No full textUnderstanding user mobility is central to develop better transport systems that answer users' needs. Users usually plan their travel according to their needs and preferences; however, different factors can influence their choices when traveling. In this work, we model users' preferences, and we match their actual transport use. We use data coming from a mobility platform developed for mobile devices, whose aim is to understand the value of users' travel time. Our first goal is to characterize the perception that users have of their mobility by analyzing their general preferences expressed before their travel time. Our approach combines dimensionality reduction and clustering techniques to provide interpretable profiles of users. Then, we perform the same task after monitoring users' travels by doing a matching between users' preferences and their actual behavior. Our results show that there are substantial differences between users' perception of their mobility and their actual behavior: users overestimate their preferences for specific mobility modes, that in general, yield a lower return in terms of the worthwhileness of their trip
Prospettive della cogenerazione nella regione Emilia Romagna
No full textUn'analisi delle potenzialità della cogenerazione nell'industria relativamente al contesto della regione Emilia Romagn
Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management systems: project overview and main results
No full textThis paper describes the context, the basic assumptions and the main findings of a joint research project aimed at identifying the optimal breakdown between material recovery and energy recovery from municipal
solid waste (MSW) in the framework of integrated waste management systems (IWMS). The project was carried out from 2007 to 2009 by five research groups at Politecnico di Milano, the Universities of Bologna and Trento, and the Bocconi University (Milan), with funding from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). Since the optimization of IWMSs by analytical methods is practically impossible, the search for the most attractive strategy was carried out by comparing a number of relevant recovery paths from the point of view of mass and energy flows, technological features, environmental impact and economics.
The main focus has been on mature processes applicable to MSW in Italy and Europe. Results show that, contrary to a rather widespread opinion, increasing the source separation level (SSL) has a very marginal effects on energy efficiency. What does generate very significant variations in energy
efficiency is scale, i.e. the size of the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant. The mere value of SSL is inadequate to qualify the recovery system. The energy and environmental outcome of recovery depends not only on ‘‘how much’’ source separation is carried out, but rather on ‘‘how’’ a given SSL is reached
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