Chemical Hazard in FRP Pleasure boats' Manufacturing

The work aims to discuss measures to reduce risks associated with the workers’ exposure to harmful chemical agents in FRP manufacturing processes. Data on workers’ exposure were collected directly on the site plant of a manufacturer of fiberglass pleasure boats. Work focuses on various stages of progressive study: I) study of the molding manufacturing process, workplace, structures, tools, materials and plants in the company; II) statistical study of the use of Personal Protective Equipment; III) environmental and personal sampling campaign. The study phase I is preliminary to the following. It allowed us to identify, for each operators category, the risk factors to which each category is most exposed. Styrene and other VOCs are the main chemical risk factor on which attention has been paid for resins and gelcoat workers. The phase study II about the use of PPE leads to define evolution models in the use of PPE in relationship with room temperature and referring to Behaviour-Based Safety techniques to increase the percentage of use of PPE. The phase study III leads to define what the critical exposure moments are for workers, specially the processes when resin or gelcoat are sprayed. From this stage, intervention proposals arise measured to reduce risks

ZEBRAFISH AS A MODEL TO STUDY THE ROLE OF PAX5/ETV6 FUSION GENE IN ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA AND THE FUNCTION OF THE SINGLE WILD TYPE GENES IN NORMAL HEMATOPOIESIS

B cell precursors Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BCP-ALL) is a tumor characterized by the malignant expansion of B cell progenitors and it is the most common childhood cancer. About 30% of BCP-ALL cases are characterized by mutations, deletions or translocations of the PAX5 gene. Among PAX5 translocations, the most recurrent is t(9;12) which determines the generation of PAX5/ETV6 fusion gene. The PAX5 transcription factor is essential for B cell lineage commitment and differentiation. PAX5 fulfills its function mainly through the activation of B lineage-specific genes and the repression of inappropriate ones. ETV6 transcription factor is specifically required for adult hematopoiesis in mice. Moreover, ETV6 accelerates erythroid differentiation of cell lines and it stimulates hemoglobin synthesis in adult mice. PAX5/ETV6 is able to down-regulate the expression of some PAX5-activated-genes, as well as to up-regulate some PAX5-repressed-genes. Accordingly, PAX5/ETV6 caused the alteration of B cell differentiation and conferred survival advantages to mouse B cell precursors in vitro. The acquisition of survival advantages by PAX5/ETV6 expressing cells is due to the activation of the Lck-STAT5 pathway leading to the upregulation of STAT5 effectors Ccnd2 and cMyc. When we started this project very little was known about the conservation of pax5 and etv6 roles in zebrafish hematopoiesis. We thus analyzed their expression pattern and we found that these genes are expressed in several hematopoietic tissues. Indeed, pax5 is expressed in pancreas, which has been proposed to be a transient embryonic site of B cell lymphopoiesis in zebrafish. pax5 knockdown caused the alteration of the expression of several B cell markers. Otherwise, etv6 is expressed in tissues related to both primitive and definitive hematopoiesis. etv6 loss of function determined the reduction of primitive mature erythrocytes and we found that this alteration is due to the defective differentiation of primitive erythrocytes. Moreover, we tried to shed light into the mechanism through which etv6 regulates primitive erythrocytes maturation. Interestingly, we found that etv6 is a potential modulator of Notch signaling in primitive erythrocytes. Furthermore, etv6 is involved, directly or indirectly, in the repression of klf1, klf3, klf6a and klf17 genes, which are essential for primitive erythrocytes maturation. Overall, our findings suggest that the roles of pax5 and etv6 in hematopoiesis could be, at least in part, conserved in zebrafish. Interestingly, etv6 knockdown caused the alteration of the expression of some B cell markers which are impaired also by pax5 loss of function, thus, we investigated if the contemporary pax5 and etv6 knock-down could cooperate to alter the expression of these genes. However, the coinjection of pax5 and etv6 morpholinos did not cause significant alteration of igh\uf06d\uf020 and cd79a, thus excluding a possible cooperation between pax5 and etv6 in the regulation of their expression. Finally, we transiently expressed PAX5/ETV6 in zebrafish embryos and, despite it did not caused the deregulation of B cell markers expression, this aberrant gene is able to activate the same pathway which is altered in vitro, inducing the phosphorylation of Lck and Stat5 proteins as well as the upregulation of Stat5 effectors, suggesting that zebrafish could be a suitable model to study BCP-ALL related to PAX5/ETV6 fusion gene

Sustainability in Aquaponics: Industrial Spirulina Waste as a Biofertilizer for Lactuca sativa L. Plants

Aquaponics represents an alternative to traditional soil cultivation. To solve the problem of nutrient depletion that occurs in this biotechnological system, the application of a spirulina-based biofertilizer was assessed. The microalgal waste used in this study came from industrial processing. Four different dilutions of the supernatant portion of this waste were sprayed on lettuce plants cultivated in an aquaponics system installed at the Botanical Gardens of the Tor Vergata University of Rome. The biofertilizer was characterized to evaluate its amount of macro- and micronutrients. The analysis conducted on the plants involved both morpho-biometric aspects and qualitative–quantitative measurements. The experiments showed that the spirulina extract had a positive effect on the growth and nutraceutical content of the lettuce plants; the obtained results highlighted that a dilution of 75% was the best for treatment. The use of the proposed organic and recycled fertilizer could increase the sustainability of crop cultivation and promote the functioning of aquaponics systems

“Mura della Bastia” – Onigo di Pederobba (Treviso). Ricerche archeologiche, rilievo 3D laser scanning e anastilosi virtuale in un castello medievale del pedemonte trevigiano

The paper presents the results of the ongoing research coordinated by the Chair of Ancient Topography at the University of Padova. The work concerns the medieval site of “Mura della Bastia” in Onigo di Pederobba (Treviso), in the North-Eastern part of Italy. Historical information from written documents and results obtained from the archaeological investigation at the Onigo castle (1994-2007) are discussed. The study provided the historical reconstruction of recent collapses of the Onigo tower and allowed the virtual reconstruction of still-cohesive blocks, which had fallen down in 1989, and which were recovered during the summer of 2007. At this time, five of the ten building blocks have been positioned; the procedure was carried out by comparing the panoply of each agglomerate with the prospect of the tower, which was obtained from the photogrammetric rectification of the historical images (2D). The 3D survey of the tower and of nine blocks was performed with a Leica HDS 2500 laser scanner. The resulting point clouds were aligned with Cyclone software, also using the coordinates of some laser scanning targets, which were measured with the Leica TC 2003 total station in a local reference system. The final 3D model obtained by the co-registration of the scans was textured with the digital images acquired with a Canon EOS 1 ds Mark II camera. Subsequently, three of the five recognized blocks were positioned on the 3D model using Reconstructor software

ccdc80-l1 Is Involved in Axon Pathfinding of Zebrafish Motoneurons

Axon pathfinding is a subfield of neural development by which neurons send out axons to reach the correct targets. In particular, motoneurons extend their axons toward skeletal muscles, leading to spontaneous motor activity. In this study, we identified the zebrafish Ccdc80 and Ccdc80-like1 (Ccdc80-l1) proteins in silico on the basis of their high aminoacidic sequence identity with the human CCDC80 (Coiled-Coil Domain Containing 80). We focused on ccdc80-l1 gene that is expressed in nervous and non-nervous tissues, in particular in territories correlated with axonal migration, such as adaxial cells and muscle pioneers. Loss of ccdc80-l1 in zebrafish embryos induced motility issues, although somitogenesis and myogenesis were not impaired. Our results strongly suggest that ccdc80-l1 is involved in axon guidance of primary and secondary motoneurons populations, but not in their proper formation. ccdc80-l1 has a differential role as regards the development of ventral and dorsal motoneurons, and this is consistent with the asymmetric distribution of the transcript. The axonal migration defects observed in ccdc80-l1 loss-of-function embryos are similar to the phenotype of several mutants with altered Hedgehog activity. Indeed, we reported that ccdc80-l1 expression is positively regulated by the Hedgehog pathway in adaxial cells and muscle pioneers. These findings strongly indicate ccdc80-l1 as a down-stream effector of the Hedgehog pathway

Tubazioni in polietilene per il trasporto di acqua

211 pp. + CD-ROM Programma PIPE

Un prototipo di Augmented Reality per la valorizzazione della villa romana di Torre di Pordenone (Friuli Venezia Giulia)

In 2008 a new excavation project started in the archaeological site of the Castle of Torre di Pordenone (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy), thanks to the efforts of the Municipality of Pordenone. During the archaeological campaign, a new rectangular building was discovered, in connection with the Roman villa already investigated in the 1930s. This building is divided into at least nine consecutive areas and the W side has a porticus supported by 8 pillars. Given the nature of the architectural elements, which are preserved in almost all cases at the foundation level, the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Friuli Venezia Giulia (Nucleo Operativo di Pordenone), in cooperation with the Municipality of Pordenone and the Museo Archeologico del Friuli Occidentale, decided to test modern information technologies, in order to create a virtual tour, based on an accurate 3D reconstruction of the Roman building. The final prototype, developed for the project, has an Augmented Reality level that can be visualized through video-glasses (Head Mounted Display), thanks to the interaction with a high definition webcam and a tablet equipped with open source software

"Mura Bastia". Dati archeologici, informatizzazione e rilievi 3D laser scanning del Castello degli Onigo (Pederobba, Treviso)

This paper concerns computer applications for the management of archaeological data through GIS software, as related to the 2008 excavation campaign at “Mura Bastia”, Onigo (Treviso), Italy. The approach allows for the correlation of data previously acquired with those collected more recently using newer technologies. The shift from the traditional way of drawing archaeological records to the new digital technique began during the excavation of 2007. All of the walls and the layers were documented using a total station and a digital camera (photo-mosaic method). The elaboration of raw data was obtained using Free and Open Source Software only (GRASS, E-FOTO, GIMP, OPENJUMP, gvSIG). All of the new information levels (bi-dimensional raster and vector layers) were connected with the digitized plan of the old excavation into a GIS project that became the final product of the whole work. 3D terrestrial laser scanning surveys, integrated with classical topography and digital photogrammetric methodologies, allowed us to extract an accurate and photorealistic digital model of the Onigo castle. Moreover, a partial 3D virtual anastylosis of the tower was completed thanks to the reallocation of two missing elements in their correct position

Probing athletics tracks degradation using a microscratch technique

Continuous outdoor exposure of athletics tracks can lead to an important degradation of their mechanical and aesthetical properties. In this work, flat laboratory samples prepared from rubber blends of different colours were subjected to natural and artificial ageing, to investigate their effect on the surface properties. Compositional variations demonstrated a generalized oxidization of the outer (top) material layer, together with surfacing of inorganic additives; a small increase of the degradation temperature of the natural rubber component was reported, similar to the one previously observed on bulk track samples. The smooth surface of the present samples allowed their testing using a microscratching technique, able to mechanically probe the material within a few hundred microns below the top surface. The formation of a significantly harder outer crust layer was reported, potentially impacting the track performance since it is exactly the locus of interaction between the athlete and the sport surface. In particular, the increase in scratch hardness is accompanied by a significant reduction in the apparent friction coefficient. These surface modifications, previously unreported in the literature, are independent phenomena with respect to generalized bulk ageing. Microscratch data supported by microscopy evidenced a significantly varying sensitivity to ageing for the different colours (red, blue, green, neutral). Moreover, this sensitivity appeared strongly dependent on the applied ageing protocol (natural vs. artificial). In view of these results, care must be taken when accelerated artificial weathering is used to simulate long-term natural ageing of these materials

Size effects in the fracture of a pipe-grade high density polyethylene

The effect of specimen size on fracture toughness of a pipe-grade high density polyethylene has been examined using the J integral approach. It was found that the size requirements set up by common standards appear inadequate for this material. Measurements at low temperatures, at which a plane strain fracture toughness value could be obtained, turned out to be very effective in establishing a more appropriate size requirement for this material