187,238 research outputs found
Suspense! Il cinema della possibilità
No full textChe cos’è la suspense? Come funziona? A che cosa serve?
Si potrebbe sostenere della suspense quello che Agostino diceva a proposito del tempo: “Se nessuno me lo chiede, lo so; se voglio spiegarlo a chi me lo chiede, non lo so più”. Tutti sappiamo a cosa ci si riferisce quando si parla di un film o di un libro di suspense ma, non appena proviamo a spingerci un po’ più in là del suo mero funzionamento tecnico-narrativo (un dispositivo drammaturgico che tiene lo spettatore con il fiato sospeso in attesa che qualcosa di imprevisto si riveli), ci accorgiamo che essa è particolarmente refrattaria all’ingabbiamento concettuale, un meccanismo sfuggente e opaco, privo di chiari appigli teorici. L’idea di Cantone e Tomaselli è che la suspense trovi nel medium audiovisivo (nel cinema, ma anche nella serialità televisiva e nel videogame) il suo terreno più fertile proprio perché l’immagine in movimento la declina in una sua specifica forma storico-ermeneutica, relativa ai diversi ambiti mediatico-culturali nei quali essa si esercita: la suspense si sostanzia più a partire dalla peculiare dimensione esistenziale e storica del soggetto-spettatore che attraverso le tecniche narrative utilizzate
Habitat mapping and change detection in Natura2000 coastal sites in Southern Apulia
No full textMonitoring biodiversity at habitat and landscape level is becoming widespread in Europe and elsewhere as countries establish national and international habitat conservation policies and monitoring systems. Long-term habitat mapping and change detection are essential for the management of coastal wetlands as well as for evaluating the impact of conservation policies. Earth observation (EO) data and techniques are a valuable resource for long-term habitat mapping, through direct mapping of habitats or by integrating Land Cover/Use (LC/LU) maps with contextual spatial information and in situ data. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) has been identified as the most effective for translating EO-derived LC/LU classes to habitat types, since it allows a better description of natural habitats in comparison to other classification systems; moreover, LCCS has proven to be a effective tool in change detection, both at the level of conversion and modification (Tomaselli et al., 2013; Adamo et al 2014). As regards the present contribution, vegetation, LC and habitat mapping has been performed on three coastal sites belonging to the Natura 2000 and located in Southern Apulia (Italy), in years 2007 and 2015. Vegetation maps represented the baseline position for natural and semi-natural types, defined as phytosociological units in accordance with the Zurich-Montpellier method. Vegetation units were then reclassified in habitat types (according to the Annex I to the 92/43 EEC Directive and EUNIS) and in LC classes (according to Corine Land Cover and LCCS). The adopted landscape classification procedure refers to a hierarchical model with three different information levels: the vegetation unit, the habitat type, and the LC type. The mapping products were then compared, in the different acquisitions, in order to point out the ability of different taxonomies in detecting changes in vegetation and habitat types. LCCS turned out to be the most effective, highlighting changes such as height, structure and density, which were not evidenced with other classification systems
Habitat monitoring in coastal landscapes: the use of vegetation pattern information for habitat discrimination in satellite images classification
No full textCoastal environments are among the most threatened worldwide, undergoing numerous human-induced and natural pressures resulting in habitat loss, alteration and fragmentation. Conservation of coastal environments is one of the major concerns of the European Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, and periodic monitoring of biodiversity changes at different scales constitutes a key issue to adopt adequate conservation policies. Structure, composition and spatial pattern of coastal plant communities may be extensively surveyed by means of in situ methodologies. The integration of in situ data (vegetation) with earth observation (EO) data offer a significant enhancement, through direct or indirect mapping of habitats at different spatial and temporal scales. In the framework of the BIO_SOS project, funded within the European Union FP7-SPACE third call (www.biosos.eu), a pre-operational system for periodic monitoring of changes in land cover and habitats within Natura 2000 sites was developed. The FAO - Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) was considered as the most appropriate Land Cover/Use (LC/LU) taxonomy for habitat mapping, since in situ expert knowledge can be easily embedded in such a framework (Tomaselli et al., 2013). Besides a wide and in depth documentation on omposition, structure and ecology of plant communities, the effectiveness of information related to the vegetation pattern (zonation) has been also explored to enhance the habitat discrimination process. As case study, two coastal Natura 2000 sites located on the Adriatic side of the Puglia region were selected: "Le Cesine" and "Zone umide della Capitanata e Paludi presso il Golfo di Manfredonia". LC/LU maps were produced directly in LCCS taxonomy (scale 1:5000) on the basis of pre-existing information. In order to investigate the application of topological rules based on vegetation pattern for LC/LU to habitats translation, available literature data on ecological gradients and vegetation pattern relationships in Mediterranean coastal environments were examined. Then, in order to validate the feasibility of the rules in the study sites, eight vegetation transects (with regular vegetation plots) were carried out and vegetation composition and structure were surveyed in each plot. Data were analyzed and grouped in plant communities using multivariate analysis. Plant communities were related to syntaxa and then to habitat types according to Annex I (92/43/EEC Directive) and EUNIS taxonomies. The spatial patterns observed are in accordance with the existing literature for Central-Southern Italian peninsula and Puglia region (Biondi,Casavecchia, 2010; Biondi et al., 2006; Sciandrello, Tomaselli, 2014). Adjacency rules based on vegetation pattern turned out to be effective in habitat discrimination, and the products of the habitat mapping process were validated with high rates of overall accuracy. Nevertheless, the whole expected zonation is present only where pressures have none or low relevance. Human activities determining habitat loss, alteration and fragmentation cause deep changes in the vegetation spatial pattern. In cases of intense disturbance, regression effects may also occur (Acosta et al., 2007; Doing, 1985). Therefore, in defining and applying such rules, local expert information is required. Acosta A., Ercole S., Stanisci A., De Patta Pillar V., Blasi C., 2007. Coastal vegetation zonation and dune morphology in some Mediterranean ecosystems. Journal of Coastal Research, 23: 1518-1524. Biondi E., Casavecchia S., 2010. The halophilous retro-dune grasslands of the italian adriatic coastline. Braun-Blanquetia, 46: 11-127. Biondi E., Casavecchia S., Guerra V., 2006. Analysis of vegetation diversity in relation to the geomorphogical characteristics in the Salento coasts (Apulia-Italy). Fitosociologia, 43(1): 25-38. Doing H., 1985. Coastal fore-dune zonation and succession in various parts of the world. Vegetatio, 61: 65-75. Sciandrello S, Tomaselli V., 2014. Coastal salt marshes plant communities of the Salicornietea fruticosae class in Apulia (Italy). Biologia, 69(1): 53-69. Tomaselli V., Dimopoulos P., Marangi C., Kallimanis A.S., Adamo M., Tarantino C., Panitsa M., Terzi M., Veronico G., Lovergine F., Nagendra H., Lucas R., Mairota P., Mücher C.A., Blonda P., 2013. Translating land cover/land use classifications to habitat taxonomies for landscape monitoring: a Mediterranean assessment. Landscape Ecology, 28(5): 905-930
Mapping and monitoring in protected natural areas: the use of the FAO LCCS as an effective tool for habitat mapping and change detection
No full textEffective and timely biodiversity monitoring within protected sites and their surroundings is critical for detecting landscape changes which might impact sites conservation status, quality and resources and to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation policies in protecting biodiversity and ecosystems from human activities. The most commonly used Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU) or habitat classification systems are limited in their ability to read all aspects of the landscape. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) taxonomy (Di Gregorio and Jansen, 2005) was identified as the most appropriate for providing a common language for harmonizing different LC/LU legends. One of the basic principles of this system is that a given land-cover class is defined by a dynamic combination of classifiers, thus allowing the more complex semantics of each land-cover class may be described. FAO/LCCS has been also found to be effective for translating EO-derived LC/LU classes to habitat types (Tomaselli et al., 2013; Adamo et al 2014), since it allows a better description of natural habitats in comparison to other classification systems. Furthermore, LCCS has proven to be a valid tool in change detection, both at the level of conversion and modification. In fact, changes become immediately identifiable by a difference in classifier, or through the use of additional classifiers, although maintaining the same class type. In this contribution LC and habitat mapping have been performed on a site belonging to the Natura 2000 and located in Southern Apulia (Italy), characterized by coastal environments, Mediterranean maquis and extensive pine forests. The mapping was performed by means of photo interpretation and on-site survey, in years 2007 and 2015. Different LC and habitat classification systems were used and results compared. The LCCS turned out to be the most effective in detecting changes in forest types, highlighting changes such as height and density which were not evidenced with other classification systems
Ion-molecule chemistry of carbon suboxide in an ion-trap mass spectrometer
No full textThe gas phase ion molecule reactions between carbon suboxide, neutral or radical cation, and different ionic or neutral substrates have been investigated or reviewed. The experiments show that neutral C3O2 is reactive with ionized target, reflecting the high nucleophilicity of carbon suboxide
Different strategies to target the epigenome
No full textDespite the overriding importance of the role covers by the epigenetic modifications in the control of several cellular processes such as differentiation and development, dysfunctional gene regulation and relative expression is responsible for the onset of many human diseases, first of all cancer. On these bases, the modulation of epigenetic processes is presently and strongly considered an innovative and challenging therapeutic strategy. SIRT4 is one of the three mitochondrial sirtuins and exhibits mainly ADP-ribosyltransferase activity but also deacylase, lipoamidase properties with which affects different targets. Given these recent evidences the emerging role of such human mitochondrial sirtuin generated considerable interest, because could offer new therapeutic opportunities in various disorders such as obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiac hypertrophy and, although the role of SIRT4 is entirely in discussion in this disease, in cancer. No specific and potent SIRT4 inhibitors (SIRT4i) have been reported so far. Starting from a docking screen and a homology model of SIRT4 , the research group of our collaborator prof. Sippl (Martin Luther Universitat of Halle Wittenberg, Germany), identified two inhibitor scaffolds and relative hit candidates: UBCS191 (IC50(SIRT4)= 66.7 μM) and UBCS178 (IC50 (SIRT4)= 45.6 μM). Prof. Steegborn and coworkers (University of Bayreuth, Germany), instead, highlighted the SIRT4 capability to recognize and remove the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaric (HMG) residue if linked to the -amino group of a lysine (in addition to the other already accepted enzymatic activities). Since SIRT4 shows little to no detectable deacetylase activity against acetylated histone in vitro, the synthesis of a substrate was needed in order to perform enzymatic assays to evaluate the potential inhibitory capability of the developed SIRT4i. Exploiting the new discovery, we designed an analog of the SIRT1-3 substrate Z-MAL (Z-Lys (Acetyl) AMC) which, instead of being characterized by an acetyl moiety linked to the ε-amino group of lysine, has the HMG residue (Z-Lys (HMG) AMC), toward which, indeed, such mitochondrial sirtuin shows a new catalytic activity. In addition, we were able to develop analogues of both the two main scaffolds identified by Prof. Sippl as well as a series of hybrid compounds between them as a first series of SIRT4i. Beyond the direct inhibition of a specific (epigenetic-)protein of interest ((e-)POI), another approach could be to reduce the levels of the latter by promoting its degradation. This can be reached through Protein-Targeting Chimeras knows as PROTACs. PROTACs molecules are composed of two portions connected with a linker that combine an E3 ligase recognition sequence with a moiety that targets the selected (e-)POI. The key aspect of the mechanism of action of PROTACs provides the selective induction of the degradation of its target protein at sub-stoichiometric concentrations through the recruitment of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), thus modulating the targeted protein's levels instead of its function To date, about 600 different types of E3 ligases have been identified, which differ in terms of their characteristics and specificity. In this framework, only degraders of bromodomains and BET family members, PCAF and GCN5, SIRT2 and HDAC are reported to literature so far. 34 novel Epi-PROTACs targeting different epigenetic targets in the category of “erasers” (such as LSD1 and JmjC KDMs) and “writers” (such as p300 and EZH2) characterized by different E3 ligase binders, pegylated and non-pegylated linkers and by already known epigenetic modulators to provide the degradation of LSD1, JmJC KDMs, p300 and EZH2 have been developed
Ability of software SWMM to simulate sewer smooth pressurization transient
No full textAs a consequence of heavy rainfall events or network malfunctioning, filling of sewers (pressurization) and network overflowing may occur. Several models are commonly used to simulate floods in drainage networks and their results are usually thought to be reliable and robust. Actually, mathematical models based on the momentum equation appear to be more suitable in correctly simulating the pressurization moving jump but models based on the energy equation are much more popular because of their greater simplicity in comparison to the former ones. In this paper, on the basis of laboratory pipe tests, the ability of software SWMM (Storm Water Management Model, probably the most popular software for drainage networks) to simulate transient pressurization is studied. Many numerical tests were carried out by SWMM varying the spatial and time steps as well as the Preissmann slot width in order to examine the performances of the software along even wider intervals of these parameters than usual in practical applications. The comparison between simulated and experimental surges allows one to draw interesting conclusions on the effectiveness of SWMM in simulating pressurization as well as on the choice of the parameters themselves
Cross-section determination of an autoionizing transition in atomic uranium through a laser induced photoionization in hollow cathode lamp
No full textOn the top-down direction of complementizer borrowings. Evidence from Cimbrian and other languages
No full textWhat we will focus on in this paper is the Cimbrian complementation system, which is of particular interest for its hybrid nature. After briefly reviewing the state of the art on this phenomenon we will proceed in three steps: first, we take into account the “double” nature of the Cimbrian subordination system describing two different classes of complementizers, i.e. the az-type and the ke-type: the former gives rise to an asymmetry in word orders between main and embedded clauses, the latter does not; second, we will show that the twofold system of complement clauses carries over to adverbial clauses as well. In a third step, we delve into a particular subclass of adverbial clauses, namely causal clauses, introduced by the complementizer umbromm ‘because’ and discussing the possible implications of (what might be viewed as) contact-induced grammatical change. As concluding remarks we will tentatively propose two generalizations on a theoretical approach to language contact, also basing on contact situations outside the Indo-European languages
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