Corrosion Behaviour of Al, Cu, and Fe Alloys in Deep Sea Environment

Corrosion Behaviour of Al, Cu, and Fe Alloys inDeep Sea EnvironmentG. Luciano, P. Letardi, P. Traverso, L. BelsantiThe aimof this study is to investigate deep sea environment effects on the corrosion of Al, Fe, and Cu alloys, employedin the KM3NeT project, a deep sea infrastructure designed to host a neutrino telescope. Alloys commonly used inseawater, as well as less widely employed materials were studied. Samples were immersed at the NEMO site (locatedoff Capo Passero, Italy; 3365 mdepth) for consecutive time periods of 6, 12 and 18 months. A representative set ofsamples was recovered and laboratory tests performed to evaluate the type and degree of corrosion attack. Stainlesssteels reported the best performance in terms of weight loss, corrosion rate, and corrosion morphology. However, alsoAl 5093 and Al 6082 performed satisfactorily, in terms of weight loss and corrosion rate. This prescreening will bepartially employed in selecting buildingmaterials for the KM3NeT structure

Priority 4: Sustainable development of rural communities in Mediterranean region

International audienceThe present document aims to provide a framework for further discussions and investigation on how sustainable development of small rural communities in SEMC can contribute to food security, which can guide future policy design to better target the needs of those communities for supporting and promoting development process. The specific objectives of this paper are to present the situation of small rural communities in the SEMC taking into consideration their geographical and social context, their farming systems, livelihoods strategies, political and institutional context, environmental, social and economic challenges, and what are the aspects that need additional research to provide a more target specific set of policies to address development and respond to the need of guaranteeing food security

Effects of streptozocin diabetes and diabetes treatment by islet transplantation on in vivo insulin signaling in rat heart

The insulin signaling cascade was investigated in rat myocardium in vivo in the presence of streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetes and after diabetes treatment by islet transplantation under the kidney capsule. The levels of insulin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor beta -subunit, insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-2, and p52(Shc) were increased in diabetic compared with control heart, whereas tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 was unchanged. The amount of the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) and the level of PI 3-kinase activity associated with IRS-2 were also elevated in diabetes, whereas no changes in IRS-1-associated PI 3-kinase were observed. Insulin-induced phosphorylation of Akt on Thr-308 was increased fivefold in diabetic heart, whereas Akt phosphorylation on Ser-473 was normal. In contrast with Akt phosphorylation, insulin-induced phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3, a major cellular substrate of Akt, was markedly reduced in diabetes. In islet-transplanted rats, the majority of the alterations in insulin-signaling proteins found in diabetic rats were normalized, but insulin stimulation of IRS-2 tyrosine phosphorylation and association with PI 3-kinase was blunted. In conclusion, in the diabetic heart, 1) IRS-1, IRS-2, and p52(Shc) are differently altered, 2) the levels of Akt phosphorylation on Ser-473 and Thr-308, respectively, are not coordinately regulated, and 3) the increased activity of proximal-signaling proteins (i.e., IRS-2 and PI 3-kinase) is not propagated distally to GSK-3. Islet transplantation under the kidney capsule is a potentially effective therapy to correct several diabetes-induced abnormalities of insulin signaling in cardiac muscle but does not restore the responsiveness of all signaling reactions to insulin