DESIGNING BY STUDENTS FOR STUDENTS: AN EDUCATIONAL ROADMAP IN THE DESIGN OF UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES

The increased emphasis on the environments contributing to people's well-being has prompted a more profound contemplation within university settings. Prioritising both physical and mental well-being has compelled universities to take decisive actions to ensure the welfare of students and all staff members. The Laboratorio di Sintesi Finale (LSF) of section I1 is explicitly predicated on this premise. This course, the final design laboratory of Politecnico di Milano's three-year Interior Design degree program, gives the 57 enrolled students the chance to work on a project that will serve as the focus of their thesis. Students are expected to design spaces on Politecnico's three campuses in Milan to maximise the user experience of events and services. The intention is to engage students in working on permanent or temporary locations, as well as dedicated and interstitial spaces, both indoor and outdoor. The faculty team is multidisciplinary and includes professors and specialists from architecture, interior design, product design, and materials expertise due to the diversity and scope of the work. Giving students the assistance they require to effectively present their research and projects is crucial. Consequently, the LSF aims to give students practical tools for analysing design problems in the larger framework of cultural, social, and technological changes (discoveries, new lifestyles, and new technological scenarios). Students have to develop an interior design project that narrates and represents their ideation process using a range of methodologies and digital and non-digital media. During the research phase, the students must design printed layouts, videos and presentations to represent their project; at the same time, they collect case studies on preset boards that summarise the analysed projects and artefacts. The expected results are an in-depth representation of the research analysis and a description of the concept phase. The final documents must include technical and analytical aspects, mainly in hard copy, and emotional and conceptual elements, represented through videos. The case studies have been explored in depth in several course steps and are a reference throughout the design phase. The rules provided for the layout and organisation of the material make it possible to obtain coherent papers in proportions and format for the final exam. Upon completing the course, students have comprehensively understood interior design, material selection, and practical guidance on crafting and editing a thesis. This has equipped them with a method for effectively representing and communicating their projects

Anionic glycolipids related to glucuronosyldiacylglycerol inhibit protein kinase Akt

New glucuronosyldiacylglycerol (GlcADG) analogues based on a 2-O-\u3b2-D-glucopyranosyl-sn-glycerol scaffold and carrying one or two acyl chains of different lengths have been synthesized as phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) mimics targeting the protein kinase Akt. Akt inhibitory effect of prepared compounds, was assayed using an in vitro kinase assay. The antiproliferative activity of the compounds was tested in the human ovarian carcinoma IGROV-1 cell line in which we found that two of them could inhibit proliferation, in keeping with the target inhibitory effect

Occurrence of genes of putative fibrinogen binding proteins and hemolysins, as well as of their phenotypic correlates in isolates of S. lugdunensis of different origins

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Staphylococcus lugdunensis </it>is an important human pathogen that causes potentially fatal endocarditis, osteomyelitis and skin and soft tissue infections similar to diseases caused by <it>Staphylococcus aureus</it>. Nevertheless, in contrast to <it>S. aureus</it>, data on pathogenicity factors of <it>S. lugdunensis </it>is scarce. Two adhesins, a fibrinogen and a von Willebrand factor binding protein, and a <it>S. lugdunensis </it>synergistic hemolysin (SLUSH) have been previously described. Moreover, the newly sequenced genome of <it>S. lugdunensis </it>revealed genes of other putative fibrinogen binding adhesins and hemolysins. The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the occurrence of genes likely coding for fibrinogen binding adhesins and hemolysins using clinical strains of <it>S. lugdunensis</it>.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Most of the putative adhesin genes and hemolysin genes investigated in this study were highly prevalent, except for the SLUSH gene cluster. In contrast to previous reports, binding to fibrinogen was detected in 29.3% of the <it>S. lugdunensis </it>strains. In most strains, hemolysis on blood agar plates was weak after 24 h and distinct after 48 h of incubation. The fibrinogen binding and hemolysis phenotypes were also independent of the type of clinical specimen, from which the isolates were obtained.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this study we described a pyrrolidonyl arylamidase negative <it>S. lugdunensis </it>isolate. Our data indicate that a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight MS-based identification of <it>S. lugdunensis </it>or species-specific PCR's should be performed in favour of pyrrolidonyl arylamidase testing. In contrast to the high occurrence of putative fibrinogen binding protein genes, 29.3% of the <it>S. lugdunensis </it>strains bound to fibrinogen. Putative hemolysin genes were also prevalent in most of the <it>S. lugdunensis </it>strains, irrespective of their hemolysis activity on Columbia blood agar plates. Similar to a previous report, hemolysis after 48 h of incubation is also indicative for <it>S. lugdunensis</it>. The SLUSH gene cluster was detected in an estimated 50% of the strains, indicating that this locus is different or non-prevalent in many strains.</p

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer mission

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), one of the four scientific space science missions within the framework of the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a general purpose high energy cosmic-ray and gamma-ray observatory, which was successfully launched on December 17th, 2015 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The DAMPE scientific objectives include the study of galactic cosmic rays up to $\sim 10$ TeV and hundreds of TeV for electrons/gammas and nuclei respectively, and the search for dark matter signatures in their spectra. In this paper we illustrate the layout of the DAMPE instrument, and discuss the results of beam tests and calibrations performed on ground. Finally we present the expected performance in space and give an overview of the mission key scientific goals.Comment: 45 pages, including 29 figures and 6 tables. Published in Astropart. Phy

Direct detection of a break in the teraelectronvolt cosmic-ray spectrum of electrons and positrons

High energy cosmic ray electrons plus positrons (CREs), which lose energy quickly during their propagation, provide an ideal probe of Galactic high-energy processes and may enable the observation of phenomena such as dark-matter particle annihilation or decay. The CRE spectrum has been directly measured up to $\sim 2$ TeV in previous balloon- or space-borne experiments, and indirectly up to $\sim 5$ TeV by ground-based Cherenkov $\gamma$-ray telescope arrays. Evidence for a spectral break in the TeV energy range has been provided by indirect measurements of H.E.S.S., although the results were qualified by sizeable systematic uncertainties. Here we report a direct measurement of CREs in the energy range $25~{\rm GeV}-4.6~{\rm TeV}$ by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) with unprecedentedly high energy resolution and low background. The majority of the spectrum can be properly fitted by a smoothly broken power-law model rather than a single power-law model. The direct detection of a spectral break at $E \sim0.9$ TeV confirms the evidence found by H.E.S.S., clarifies the behavior of the CRE spectrum at energies above 1 TeV and sheds light on the physical origin of the sub-TeV CREs.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, Nature in press, doi:10.1038/nature2447

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Performance and Operation of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The operation and general performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter using cosmic-ray muons are described. These muons were recorded after the closure of the CMS detector in late 2008. The calorimeter is made of lead tungstate crystals and the overall status of the 75848 channels corresponding to the barrel and endcap detectors is reported. The stability of crucial operational parameters, such as high voltage, temperature and electronic noise, is summarised and the performance of the light monitoring system is presented

Fulminant Staphylococcus lugdunensis septicaemia following a pelvic varicella-zoster virus infection in an immune-deficient patient: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The deadly threat of systemic infections with coagulase negative <it>Staphylococcus lugdunensis </it>despite an appropriate antibiotic therapy has only recently been recognized. The predominant infectious focus observed so far is left-sided native heart valve endocarditis, but bone and soft tissue infections, septicaemia and vascular catheter-related bloodstream infections have also been reported. We present a patient with a fatal <it>Staphylococcus lugdunensis </it>septicaemia following zoster bacterial superinfection of the pelvic region.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 71-year old male diagnosed with IgG kappa plasmocytoma presented with a conspicuous weight loss, a hypercalcaemic crisis and acute renal failure. After initiation of haemodialysis treatment his condition improved rapidly. However, he developed a varicella-zoster virus infection of the twelfth thoracic dermatome requiring intravenous acyclovir treatment. Four days later the patient presented with a fulminant septicaemia. Despite an early intravenous antibiotic therapy with ciprofloxacin, piperacillin/combactam and vancomycin the patient died within 48 hours, shortly before the infective isolate was identified as <it>Staphylococcus lugdunensis </it>by polymerase chain reaction.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Despite <it>S. lugdunensis </it>belonging to the family of coagulase-negative staphylococci with an usually low virulence, infections with <it>S. lugdunensis </it>may be associated with an aggressive course and high mortality. This is the first report on a <it>Staphylococcus lugdunensis </it>septicaemia following a zoster bacterial superinfection of the pelvic region.</p

INDIGO-DataCloud: a Platform to Facilitate Seamless Access to E-Infrastructures

[EN] This paper describes the achievements of the H2020 project INDIGO-DataCloud. The project has provided e-infrastructures with tools, applications and cloud framework enhancements to manage the demanding requirements of scientific communities, either locally or through enhanced interfaces. The middleware developed allows to federate hybrid resources, to easily write, port and run scientific applications to the cloud. In particular, we have extended existing PaaS (Platform as a Service) solutions, allowing public and private e-infrastructures, including those provided by EGI, EUDAT, and Helix Nebula, to integrate their existing services and make them available through AAI services compliant with GEANT interfederation policies, thus guaranteeing transparency and trust in the provisioning of such services. Our middleware facilitates the execution of applications using containers on Cloud and Grid based infrastructures, as well as on HPC clusters. 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