The Neglected Remains of the Royal Citadel of Messina, Sicily: A Proposal for a Suitable Conservation and Re-Use Project

Neglected and abandoned heritage sites are a complex research topic, which always requires a thorough understanding of the site’s past and current condition. This article examines how research on history, architecture, and participation can contribute to creating a suitable re-use project for such heritage sites, focusing on a single case study: the Royal Citadel of Messina, Italy. Within the field of history, the city and fortification’s past underscores the importance of the site’s architectural and historical value. An urban analysis and documentation campaign were carried out during the field architecture. The urban analysis focused on the site as a remarkable natural landscape with industrial surroundings. The digital documentation, concentrating on the so-called cistern, emphasized the site’s values. Within a revalorization process, community participation is vital and is, therefore, one of the suggestions to consider in further developments. The last applied method is a comparative case study, namely, the submarine base at Saint-Nazaire, France. Considering the complexity and fragilities of the site, a framework is designed that provides suggestions for the conservation, revalorization, and re-use of the site of the Royal Citadel

Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy

© 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The transition within business from a linear to a circular economy brings with it a range of practical challenges for companies. The following question is addressed: What are the product design and business model strategies for companies that want to move to a circular economy model? This paper develops a framework of strategies to guide designers and business strategists in the move from a linear to a circular economy. Building on Stahel, the terminology of slowing, closing, and narrowing resource loops is introduced. A list of product design strategies, business model strategies, and examples for key decision-makers in businesses is introduced, to facilitate the move to a circular economy. This framework also opens up a future research agenda for the circular economy.Part of this work was supported by ResCoM, which is co-funded by the European Union under EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), Grant agreement number: 603843. We would like to thank the ResCoM team for their support and encouraging discussions on the topic of the circular economy

Late Gothic altarpieces as sources of information on medieval wood use: A dendrochronological and art historical survey

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Enhancement of tumorigenicity of human breast adenocarcinoma cells in nude mice by matrigel and fibroblasts.

The failure of MCF7 cells to induce the formation of tumours after sub-cutaneous inoculation into athymic nude mice can be obviated by the simultaneous injection of an extract of basement membrane proteins (matrigel). Tumour growth is promoted and the latency period is low (2 to 4 weeks). In the absence of matrigel, the simultaneous inoculation of fibroblasts and MCF7 cells also resulted in the development of tumours, but with a longer latency period (about 2 months). The tumorigenic synergy between matrigel and fibroblasts was evidenced by co-inoculating MCF7 cells MDA-MB 231 cells with fibroblasts and matrigel. This co-inoculation decreased the delay of appearance of the tumours and/or accelerated the tumour growth, depending upon the number of fibroblasts injected. Repeated injections of fibroblasts conditioned medium, at the site of inoculum of tumour cells also enhanced tumour growth, suggesting the involvement of soluble factors secreted by fibroblasts. Histologically, tumours induced by co-inoculation of tumour cells and fibroblasts contained more stromal structures including vimentin-positive cells, fibronectin and interstitial collagens. These data suggest that human tumours may be reconstituted and grown in athymic nude mice using basement membrane components and fibroblasts as inductors

No differential susceptibility or diathesis stress to parenting in early adolescence: Personality facets predicting behaviour problems

This multi-sample study investigated the main and interactive effects of parenting (responsiveness, overreactivity) and young adolescents' personality traits (negative-affectivity: irritability and anxiety; and orienting-sensitivity) on behaviour problems during adolescence. Data from two samples (N1 = 222; girls 45.5%; Mean age = 11.54 years; N2 = 252; girls 50.4%; Mean age = 10.85 years) were analysed using a multivariate approach. Parenting and y

The in vitro remineralizing effect of CPP-ACP and CPP-ACPF after 6 and 12 weeks on initial caries lesion

Objective: The aim of this in vitro study was to determine the effects of remineralization promoting agents containing casein phosphopeptidestabilized amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP), or CPP-ACP in combination with fluoride (CPP-ACPF) on artificial white spot lesions (WSLs) after 6 and 12 weeks. Methodology: White spot lesions were created on 123 sectioned premolars (246 specimens) with a demineralization solution during a 96 hours pH-cycling regime. Two experimental groups were created: a CPP-ACP group (Tooth MousseTM), and a CPP-ACPF group (Mi Paste PlusTM). Additionally, two control groups were created, one using only a conventional toothpaste (1450 ppm fluoride) and another one without any working agents. All teeth were also daily brushed with the conventional toothpaste except the second control group. Tooth MousseTM and Mi Paste PlusTM were applied for 180 seconds every day. The volume of demineralization was measured with transverse microradiography. Six lesion characteristics regarding the lesion depth and mineral content of WSLs were also determined. Results: The application of CPP-ACP and CPP-ACPF had a significant regenerative effect on the WSLs. Compared to Control group 1 and 2 the volume of demineralization after 6 weeks decreased significantly for CPP-ACP (respectively p<0.001 and p<0.001) and CPP-ACPF (respectively p=0.001 and p=0.003). The same trend was observed after 12 weeks. For the CPP-ACPF group, WSL dimensions decreased significantly between 6 and 12 weeks follow-up (p=0.012). The lesion depth reduced significantly after application of CPP-ACP and CPP-ACPF but increased significantly in the Control groups. Mineral content increased for CPP-ACP and CPP-ACPF after an application period of 12 weeks, but this was only significant for CPP-ACP. Conclusions: Long-term use of CPP-ACP and CPP-ACPF in combination with a conventional tooth paste shows beneficial effects in the recovery of in vitro subsurface caries lesions

Candida dubliniensis candidemia in patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and bone marrow transplantation.

The recently described species Candida dubliniensis has been recovered primarily from superficial oral candidiasis in HIV-infected patients. No clinically documented invasive infections were reported until now in this patient group or in other immunocompromised patients. We report three cases of candidemia due to this newly emerging Candida species in HIV-negative patients with chemotherapy-induced immunosuppression and bone marrow transplantation

A MIQE-Compliant Real-Time PCR Assay for Aspergillus Detection

PMCID: PMC3393739This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited