122,753 research outputs found
O comércio da literatura esotérica: implicações de um fenômeno sociológico
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia Política
Distant Early Warning System, Progetto DEWS n. 045453
No full textProgetto con 20 partners (durata 40 mesi a partire dall’1/02/2007)
Project summary
The tsunami disaster affecting the Indian Ocean region on Christmas 2004 demonstrated very clearly the shortcomings in tsunami detection, public warning processes as well as intergovernmental warning message exchange in the Indian Ocean region.
There is an urgent need for a new generation of reliable tsunami early warning systems based on a stable multi-sensor monitoring platform. The time interval between an initial strong earthquake and the detection of the tsunami has to be drastically reduced. Warning messages should be generated more rapidly and should only be disseminated to responsible authorities and people at risk. Initial warnings should be followed by in depth information that is understandable and reliable for people. Another important challenge is the international communication and warning exchange in the Indian Ocean region.
The DEWS project – DEWS stands for Distant Early Warning System - aims at strengthening the early warning capacities by building an innovative generation of interoperable tsunami early warning systems. Tsunami detection will be based on an open sensor platform, integrating sensor systems for earthquake (seismic), sea level (tide gauge, buoys) and ground displacement (GPS land stations) monitoring. Based on this improved upstream information flow the downstream capacities will be enhanced by improving information logistics and multi channel warning dissemination. Warning messages have to be disseminated to the public, authorities and emergency management forces. Of special importance is the distant communication of warning information among warning centres in the Indian Ocean region.
Based on results of the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) the DEWS approach will in a first step provide a Reference Model for interoperable tsunami early warning systems based on the ORCHESTRA Reference Model, the specifications of the GITEWS sensor system platform (Tsunami Service Bus) and regional user requirements that will be represented by the INCO project partners. The design of DEWS will thus be based on standards and practical experience in the field of disaster management. Following the guidelines of the DEWS reference model a set of components will be developed comprising upstream, downstream and warning centre services. Both, DEWS Reference Model and software components will be validated in two prototype implementations, a National and a Regional Warning Centre. The national centre scenario will focus on public warning, the regional centre scenario on centre to centre warning dissemination in a multi lingual environment.
In Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka authorities responsible for disaster management and/or operation of early warning systems as well as universities are involved in the DEWS project. They will on the one hand help to improve the quality of user and system requirements considerably. On the other hand these organisations will improve and promote the transfer of technology including capacity building.
Measures for the future exploitation and dissemination of results will be conducted successively throughout the project to ensure the future practical use of DEWS, including two conferences involving major stakeholders at world-wide level. The project also aims at ensuring transferability and applicability of the proposed DEWS system to other regions, and this task will be undertaken by supplementary action in the Mediterranean basin.
The DEWS consortium presents a well balanced number of public and private organization from several EU member states and INCO countries. It combines participants from diverse disciplines able to combine cutting edge thinking with hands-on experience. The broad range of EU technological competence and application experience including defence system and civil security suppliers, telecommunications network and system developers and servic..
Scenarios for Hazard-induced Emergencies Management, Progetto SCHEMA n. 030963
No full textProgetto con 9 partners (durata 36 mesi a partire dall’1/08/2007). Il Prof.S.Tinti è responsabile dell'Unità di Ricerca dell'Università di Bologna.
Project Summary
A consortium of 9 organisations proposes a research project involving international cooperation around the Mediterranean basin: they aim at using earth observation data to develop a generic methodology able to help experts build vulnerability and hazard impact maps associated with earthquakes, tsunamis and floods. Involving Morocco and Bulgaria, GEOSCIENCES will coordinate the design and development of this vulnerability map creation technique which involves intrinsic vulnerability variables of systems facing a hazard (types of building, categories of inhabitants, ...), secondary environment vulnerability variables (location of buildings in old areas, access conditions, ...) and crisis organisations vulnerability variables which shape efficient rescue operations (enhance or inhibit actions near the impacted regions). The notion of hazard scenario will be revisited with end-users (including Turkey) and players in countries recently impacted by coupled earthquakes/tsunamis events. The Asian tsunami will be used for the extraction of relevant vulnerability, hazard and crisis management factors, including indicators from earth observation data. After a first tuning against data from Asia, the methodology will be deployed for 5 Euro-Mediterranean tests sites in Portugal, Morocco, France, Italy and Bulgaria. The results of the methodology will be presented within a Geographic Information System, to allow interrogation of a primary data base by different end users. Hence more realistic pictures of the spatial and temporal patterns of vulnerability can be obtained whatever the coastal area. The resulting work flow will be imbedded within existing hazard/ exposure analysis techniques to provide multi hazard risk evaluation. Results of the prototype processing will be put on line for 6 months, using the ORCHESTRA platform. Exploitation plans will be provided by the consortium in conjunction with the recommendations from EU and international civil security experts
Lagrangian 1D and 2D models for the simulation of the Vajont landslide, October 9th, 1963, Italy
No full textAnalisi di rischio da maremoti in Arco Calabro e in Mare Adriatico, Progetto PRIN n. 2004041134
No full textProgetto con 4 Unità Operative di durata biennal
Tsunami Risk and strategies for the European Region, Progetto TRANSFER n. 037058
No full textProgetto con 29 partner europei (durata 30 mesi a partire dall’1/10/2006). Il Prof.S.Tinti è il coordinatore del Progetto.
Project Summary
The project main goal is to contribute to our understanding of tsunami processes in the Euro-Mediterranean region, to the tsunami hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment and to identifying the best strategies for reduction of tsunami risk. Focus will be posed on the gaps and needs for the implementation of an efficient tsunami early warning system (TEWS) in the Euro-Mediterranean area, which is a high-priority task in consideration that no tsunami early warning system is today in place in the Euro-Mediterranean countries. The main items addressed by the project may be summarised as follows. The present Europe tsunami catalogue will be improved and updated, and integrated into a world-wide catalogue (WP1). A systematic attempt will be made to identify and to characterise the tsunamigenic seismic (WP2) and non-seismic (WP3) sources throughout the Euro-Mediterranean region. An analysis of the present-day earth observing and monitoring (seismic, geodetic and marine) systems and data processing methods will be carried out in order to identify possible adjustments required for the development of a TEWS, with focus on new algorithms suited for real-time detection of tsunami sources and tsunamis (WP4). The numerical models currently used for tsunami simulations will be improved mainly to better handle the generation process and the tsunami impact at the coast (WP5). The project Consortium has selected seven test areas in different countries. Here innovative probabilistic and statistical approaches for tsunami hazard assessment (WP6), up-to-date and new methods to compute inundation maps (WP7) will be applied. Here tsunami scenario approaches will be envisaged; vulnerability and risk will be assessed; prevention and mitigation measures will be defined also by the advice of end users that are organised in an End User Group (WP8). Dissemination of data, techniques and products will be a priority of the project (WP9)
It’s all about the surface! Vibrational spectroscopy applied to the study of biomimetic surfaces in Tissue Engineering
No full textTissue Engineering is a multidisciplinary field aimed at the creation of biological substitutes that restore and maintain the biological function of a damaged tissue. The key of the success of these biomedical devices lies into surface interactions with living tissues, therefore a common strategy is to create biomimetic surfaces that helps cells to colonize the biomaterial, leading to tissue healing.
Vibrational spectroscopy, in particular Raman, apart from being mainly surface and non-destructive technique, is extremely sensitive to changes in structure and molecular interactions, thus its use in investigating biomimetic devices is increasing.
In particular, we have recently used vibrational spectroscopies to investigate different biomimetic materials and to test some of their proprieties:
- self-assembling peptides adsorbed on titanium surfaces for bone implants [1], analyzed before and after attack from free radicals (obtained by gamma-radiolysis and mimicking inflammation processes) [2], with the aim to evaluate their capability in resisting to oxidative stress;
- composite (ceramic-polymer, polymer-polymer) bioresorbable biomaterials [3, 4];
- hydroxyapatite nanomaterials functionalized with proteins to increase biocompatibility [5-7].
[1] M. Di Foggia, P. Taddei, A. Torreggiani, M. Dettin, A. Tinti, J. Raman Spectrosc. 42 (2011) 276-285.
[2] M. Di Foggia, A. Torreggiani, P. Taddei, M. Dettin, A. Tinti, J. Raman Spectrosc. 44 (2013) 1446-1450.
[3] V. Guarino, F. Causa, P. Taddei, M. Di Foggia, G. Ciapetti, D. Martini, C. Fagnano, N. Baldini, L. Ambrosio, Biomaterials 29 (2008) 3662-3670.
[4] V. Guarino, P. Taddei, M. Di Foggia, C. Fagnano, G. Ciapetti, L. Ambrosio, Tissue Eng. A 15 (2009) 3655-3668.
[5] M. Iafisco, B. Palazzo, G. Falini, M. Di Foggia, S. Bonora, S. Nicolis, L. Casella, N. Roveri, Langmuir 24 (2008) 4924-4930.
[6] M. Iafisco, M. Di Foggia, S. Bonora, M. Prat, N. Roveri, Dalton Trans. 40 (2011) 820-827.
[7] M. Iafisco, E. Varoni, M. Di Foggia, S. Pietronave, M. Fini, N. Roveri, L. Rimondini, M. Prat, Colloids Surf.s B 90 (2012) 1-7
Earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides in the Corinth rift, Greece, Progetto 3HAZ-Corinth, n.004043
No full textProgetto coordinato da IPGP, Parigi (durata 30 mesi con inizio 1/11/2004, 19 partners
SERS characterization of self-assembling oligopeptides for tissue engineering
No full textEight alternating polar/non-polar peptides derived from the self-assembling peptide EAK-16 (Ac- AEAEAKAKAEAEAKAK-NH2) were examined in comparison with the EAK-16 parent form (peptide 1), both as-synthesized and after gamma-radiation treatment in oxidative environment (formation of ∙OH radical), to mimic the inflammation process occurring during the first phases of implantation. The peptides were studied for their possible use as biomimetic materials [1] due to their self-assembling properties and to the presence, in two of them, of the RGD sequence, an active modulator of cell adhesion. Previous investigations on titanium surfaces [2] demonstrated that some oligopeptides, i.e. EAK16 (peptide 1), peptide 3 (obtained by K→Orn substitution), peptide 5 (A→Abu substitution), peptide 7 (insertion at the N-terminus of the RGD sequence), and peptide 8 (RGD insertion and “scrambling” of the sequence) were not severely affected by the treatment and retained their prevalent structure. The other peptides, i.e. peptide 2 (obtained by E→D substitution), peptide 4 (E→D and K→Orn substitutions) and peptide 6 (A→Y substitution), underwent significant conformational changes (i.e. increase in the á-helix content). Interestingly, these same last 3 peptides were severely affected also by the radical attack induced by irradiation [3], changing their secondary structure and lateral chains interactions.
To better investigate the interaction between peptides and metallic surfaces, we carried out SERS experiments on silver nanoparticles. As regards the as-synthesized peptides, all of them interacted with the Ag colloid by the COO- lateral groups of aspartic or glutamic acid residues. Other observed interaction sites were:
- NH2/NH3+ of basic aminoacidic residues (lysine and/or ornithine) in peptides 3, 4 and 7;
- amide group in peptides 1, 2, 4 and 8;
- the aromatic ring of Tyr side chains in peptide 6.
As regards the peptides after irradiation, they still interact through the before-mentioned groups; however, those undergoing conformational changes showed differences in band intensities and positions (see Fig.1)
References
[1] A. Tinti, M. Di Foggia, P. Taddei, A. Torreggiani, M. Dettin, C. Fagnano, J. Raman Spetrosc. 39, 250 (2008)
[2] M. Di Foggia, P. Taddei, A. Torreggiani, M. Dettin, A. Tinti, J. Raman Spetrosc. 42, 276 (2011)
[3] M. Di Foggia, P. Taddei, A. Torreggiani, M. Dettin, A. Tinti, J. Raman Spetrosc. 44, 1446 (2013
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