Including the influence of waves in the overall slope stability analysis of rubble mound breakwaters

An offshore breakwater is designed for the construction of a LNG-terminal. For the slope stability analysis of the rubble mound breakwater the existing and the extreme wave climate are considered. Pore water pressure variations exist in the breakwater and its permeable foundation. A wave trough combined with the moment of maximum wave run-up results in a decrease and increase of the pore water pressure, respectively. Therefore, the wave actions have on overall effect on the slope stability of the breakwater. To include the wave actions in the slope stability analysis a simplified method is used. For the slope stability analysis, a specific piezometric line is determined. This piezometric line consists of a wave profile and the profile of wave run-up. The slope stability analysis are performed with GEO-SLOPE/W 2007. For the geotechnical design of the breakwater load cases of extreme and normal waves combined with, respectively, extreme and normal water levels are analysed. All the load cases which included the wave actions result in lower stability safety factors than the load cases with only still water levels. Therefore the wave actions are the determining load case for the geotechnical stability of the breakwater and it should be studied in detail

Essays on multi-sector macroeconomic models for policy analysis

This thesis studies multi-sector macroeconomic models suitable for policy analysis. The first and second chapters use a variety of empirical and theoretical macroeconomic models allowing for the consumption of goods with different durability, and analyze which modeling assumptions and features of the economy are crucial for the conduct of monetary policy. The third chapter focuses on the role of fiscal and monetary policies in the Euro Area, thus providing insights about the joint policy stance that have the potential to inform future policy choices. In the fi rst chapter, we challenge a crucial assumption made in the literature of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models with durable and nondurable goods about their relative price stickiness. We start with a thorough empirical analysis by estimating a Structural Vector Autoregressive model of the US economy, in which we find that the response of the relative price of durables to a monetary policy contraction is either flat or mildly positive. It signi cantly falls only if narrowly de ned as the ratio between new-house and nondurables prices. These findings are then rationalized via the estimation of two-sector New-Keynesian (NK) models. Durables prices are estimated to be as sticky as those of nondurables, leading to a flat relative price response to a monetary policy shock. Conversely, house prices are estimated to be almost flexible. Such results survive several robustness checks and a three-sector extension of the NK model. These findings have implications for building NK models with durable and nondurable goods, and for the conduct of monetary policy. This chapter is based on an article co-authored with Dr. Giovanni Melina (International Monetary Fund) and published in the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control. The second chapter adds imperfect labor mobility to a two-sector New- Keynesian model with durable and nondurable goods and estimates it with Bayesian methods. We use the model to design optimal monetary policy and find that an inverse relationship between sectoral labor mobility and the optimal weight the central bank should attach to durables inflation arises. Moreover, we show that the combination of nominal wage stickiness and limited labor mobility leads to a nonzero optimal weight for durables inflation even if durables prices were fully flexible. These results survive alternative calibrations and interest-rate rules and point toward a non-negligible role of sectoral labor mobility for the conduct of monetary policy. This chapter is co-authored with Dr. Giovanni Melina (International Monetary Fund). The third chapter of the thesis focuses on the role of shocks and policies in the Euro Area business cycle. We consider the long-term structure of government debt and introduce a financial sector. These features allow the model to account for both the recent nancial and sovereign debt crises, and the effects of the unconventional monetary policy implemented by the European Central Bank. We then determine the joint fi scal and monetary policy stance in the Euro Area and find that it has been expansionary in the aftermath of the financial crisis but has turned to be contractionary after the sovereign debt crisis. The joint effect of the austerity measures taken by governments of European countries and the zero-lower-bound constraint on the monetary policy rate caused the reversion of the policy stance, which was prevented to be even more contractionary only by the quantitative easing implemented by the European Central Bank. This chapter is based on a paper co-authored with Dr. Nicoletta Batini (International Monetary Fund), Dr. Giovanni Melina (International Monetary Fund) and Dr. Stefania Villa (Bank of Italy)

From kitchen to crop: The efficacy and safety of the microbial consortium treated dishwasher wastewater for the Zero Mile system

A microbial consortium, based on the functional integration of photosynthetic and heterotrophic microorganisms, is the core of the Zero Mile System. This system is designed for reusing and upcycling household grey- waters, a still untapped water resource. The previous challenges of dishwasher wastewater bioremediation demonstrated the capability of an ad hoc consortium (including a photosynthetic cyanobacterium and three heterotrophic bacterial isolates from dishwasher wastewater) to reclaim the wastewater at small/medium scale. In this study the wastewater treatment demonstrated to be effective in nutrient recycling and upcycling at a larger scale, i.e. 4 L (in three replicates to treat the total amount of wastewater discharged by the dishwasher), by removing high percentage of N and P from the wastewater (70% nitrogen, 50% phosphorous, respectively). Again, the reclaimed wastewater successfully fertilized lettuce plants both indoor (in the Zero Mile System demonstrator) and outdoor (in open field). Plants showed a significant higher biomass productivity in fresh weight compared to control plants and comparable or better values of the pigments and quality indices (e.g., soluble solids, total phenols, total flavonoids). Furthermore, the safety of the reclaimed wastewater is demonstrated by the analysis of the metabolic/ecologically relevant functions of the microbial communities in both untreated and treated wastewater. Colonizers were mainly organic matter degraders and bacteria involved in nitrogen cycling. The human related genera are quite few and no pathogens or potential microbiological contaminants of water bodies (as E. coli), ), were found. Hence, the utilization of treated dishwasher wastewater does not imply biological risks to agricultural products, soil, or groundwater

Analoghi sintetici dello xantumolo

Abstract non disponibil

Alterações na matéria orgânica do solo pela conversão da floresta nativa em pastagem cultivada, Pantanal Sul Matogrossense.

RESUMO: Diante da baixa produtividade e qualidade das pastagens nativas, principal responsável pelos baixos índices zootécnicos da pecuária pantaneira, desmatamentos para a implantação de pastagens cultivadas tem-se intensificado na região. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as alterações nos teores de carbono total e associados às frações húmicas do solo pela conversão da floresta nativa em pastagem cultivada no Pantanal. Foram avaliados os teores de carbono total (C) e nas frações humina (HUM) e ácidos fúlvicos (AF) e húmicos (AH) de amostras de solo, nas profundidades de 0-10 cm e 10-20 cm, de áreas de floresta nativa e pastagens adjacentes de Brachiaria decumbens, com diferentes tempos de implantação, como se segue: floresta semidecídua (FS) e pastagem com 27 anos de implantação (PC27); cerradão (Ce1) e pastagem com 26 anos de implantação (PC26); cerradão (Ce2) e pastagem com 11 anos de implantação (PC11). Em todas as áreas houve domínio do C da fração HUM, com aproximadamente 60% do C total, seguido das frações AH, 20 a 30% e AF, inferior a 10%. A conversão da floresta nativa em pastagem cultivada promoveu redução nos teores de carbono total no solo e nas frações húmicas, com tendência à maiores reduções nas frações ácidos fúlvicos e húmicos

Glycolytic regulation of cell rearrangement in angiogenesis

During vessel sprouting, endothelial cells (ECs) dynamically rearrange positions in the sprout to compete for the tip position. We recently identified a key role for the glycolytic activator PFKFB3 in vessel sprouting by regulating cytoskeleton remodelling, migration and tip cell competitiveness. It is, however, unknown how glycolysis regulates EC rearrangement during vessel sprouting. Here we report that computational simulations, validated by experimentation, predict that glycolytic production of ATP drives EC rearrangement by promoting filopodia formation and reducing intercellular adhesion. Notably, the simulations correctly predicted that blocking PFKFB3 normalizes the disturbed EC rearrangement in high VEGF conditions, as occurs during pathological angiogenesis. This interdisciplinary study integrates EC metabolism in vessel sprouting, yielding mechanistic insight in the control of vessel sprouting by glycolysis, and suggesting anti-glycolytic therapy for vessel normalization in cancer and non-malignant diseases

Combinatorial targeting and discovery of ligand-receptors in organelles of mammalian cells

Phage display screening allows the study of functional protein–protein interactions at the cell surface, but investigating intracellular organelles remains a challenge. Here we introduce internalizing-phage libraries to identify clones that enter mammalian cells through a receptor-independent mechanism and target-specific organelles as a tool to select ligand peptides and identify their intracellular receptors. We demonstrate that penetratin, an antennapedia-derived peptide, can be displayed on the phage envelope and mediate receptor-independent uptake of internalizing phage into cells. We also show that an internalizing-phage construct displaying an established mitochondria-specific localization signal targets mitochondria, and that an internalizing-phage random peptide library selects for peptide motifs that localize to different intracellular compartments. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate that one such peptide, if chemically fused to penetratin, is internalized receptor-independently, localizes to mitochondria, and promotes cell death. This combinatorial platform technology has potential applications in cell biology and drug development

A multi-centre study of candidate genes for wheeze and allergy: the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood Phase 2

Background: Common polymorphisms have been identified in genes suspected to play a role in asthma. We investigated their associations with wheeze and allergy in a case-control sample from Phase 2 of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Methods: We compared 1105 wheezing and 3137 non-wheezing children aged 8-12 years from 17 study centres in 13 countries. Genotyping of 55 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 14 genes was performed using the Sequenom System. Logistic regression models were fitted separately for each centre and each SNP. A combined per allele odds ratio and measures of heterogeneity between centres were derived by random effects meta-analysis. Results: Significant associations with wheeze in the past year were detected in only four genes (IL4R, TLR4, MS4A2, TLR9, P<0.05), with per allele odds ratios generally <1.3. Variants in IL4R and TLR4 were also related to allergen-specific IgE, while polymorphisms in FCER1B (MS4A2) and TLR9 were not. There were also highly significant associations (P<0.001) between SPINK5 variants and visible eczema (but not IgE levels) and between IL13 variants and total IgE. Heterogeneity of effects across centres was rare, despite differences in allele frequencies. Conclusions: Despite the biological plausibility of IgE-related mechanisms in asthma, very few of the tested candidates showed evidence of association with both wheeze and increased IgE levels. We were unable to confirm associations of the positional candidates DPP10 and PHF11 with wheeze, although our study had ample power to detect the expected associations of IL13 variants with IgE and SPINK5 variants with eczema