Universal design as resilient urban space plan strategy. New scenarios for environmental resources’ sustainable management

Nowadays, urban framework, stressed by the growing anthropic pressure and its constantly evolving use requests is split by uneven structures, contexts, users and patchy needs, which come out to be inefficient and ineffective in access and management. This fact is directly connected both with morph-functional structure of urban texture and its continuous changing trends. The most important consequences of this situation are some negative effects that produce entropy, mistaken anthropic space uses, ecological networks decrease and most of all a substantial urban life quality reduction connected with mobility problems and non-resilient spaces’ use at the different plan scales. These elements make it necessary to restart thinking about environmental resources’ sustainable use and management. Universal design comes out to be a useful tool related to urban space planning strategies in terms of resilient choices and actions. Design for all plan approach also represents a good solution for matching people needs to urban environmental quality improvement. This idea is supported by the experience of a certain case study, that considers universal design application positive effects on open public space plan strategy in Oslo, together with an example of an active use of water to plan a sustainable public space in Rotterdam

Quantum Modular Z^G\hat Z^G-Invariants

We study the quantum modular properties of $\hat{ Z}^G$-invariants of closed three-manifolds. Higher depth quantum modular forms are expected to play a central role for general three-manifolds and gauge groups $G$. In particular, we conjecture that for plumbed three-manifolds whose plumbing graphs have $n$ junction nodes with definite signature and for rank $r$ gauge group $G$, that $\hat{ Z}^G$ is related to a quantum modular form of depth $nr$. We prove this for $G=SU(3)$ and for an infinite class of three-manifolds (weakly negative Seifert with three exceptional fibers). We also investigate the relation between the quantum modularity of $\hat{ Z}^G$-invariants of the same three-manifold with different gauge group $G$. We conjecture a recursive relation among the iterated Eichler integrals relevant for $\hat{ Z}^G$ with $G=SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$, for negative Seifert manifolds with three exceptional fibers. This is reminiscent of the recursive structure among mock modular forms playing the role of Vafa-Witten invariants for $SU(N)$. We prove the conjecture when the three-manifold is moreover an integral homological sphere.Comment: 72 pages, 5 table

A power-law distribution for tenure lengths of sports managers

We show that the tenure lengths for managers of sport teams follow a power law distribution with an exponent between 2 and 3. We develop a simple theoretical model which replicates this result. The model demonstrates that the empirical phenomenon can be understood as the macroscopic outcome of pairwise interactions among managers in a league, threshold effects in managerial performance evaluation, competitive market forces, and luck at the microscopic level

Subchondroplasty in the treatment of bone marrow lesions of the knee: Preliminary experience on first 15 patients

Purpose The aim of this prospective study was to assess the effectiveness in terms of pain relief and functional improvement of the Subchondroplasty procedure in the treatment of osteoarthritis-related bone marrow lesions (BMLs) of the knee. Methods The study included first 15 consecutive patients undergone to Subchon-droplasty procedure for the treatment of chronic degenerative BMLs in which previous conservative treatment have failed. Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores, Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores (KOOS), and visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores were obtained preoperatively and at 1, 6, and 12 months of follow-up. Results WOMAC scores significantly improved from 39.7 \ub1 20.2 before surgery to 26.8 \ub1 16.1 at the 1-month follow-up (p = 0.045). A further significant improvement to 15.5 \ub1 12.7 (p = 0.02) and to 8.6 \ub1 3.1 (p <0.01) was obtained both at 6-month and at 1-year follow-up. KOOS scores improved significantly from 47.5 \ub1 16.6 before surgery to 65.4 \ub1 14.9 at 1 month (p = 0.013) and to 80.4 \ub1 15.1 at 6-month follow-up (p = 0.01). A further improvement to 85.6 \ub1 15.1 was recorded 1 year postoperatively, although nonsignificant. VAS score showed a significant improvement from 55.8 \ub1 20.5 preoperatively to 36.2 \ub1 16.9 at 1 month (p = 0.008) and to 18.2 \ub1 17.3 at 6-month follow-up (p = 0.005). This further improved to 12.8 \ub1 17.9 at 1-year follow-up, although not significantly. Conclusion Subchondroplasty procedure represents a safe and valid surgical option in the treatment of osteoarthritis-related BMLs of the knee, providing an improvement in terms of pain relief and functional recovery. Longer studies are required to evaluate how long these improvements may last. Level of Evidence Therapeutic case-series, Level IV study

Tumor antigens as proteogenomic biomarkers in invasive ductal carcinomas

Background: The majority of genetic biomarkers for human cancers are defined by statistical screening of high-throughput genomics data. While a large number of genetic biomarkers have been proposed for diagnostic and prognostic applications, only a small number have been applied in the clinic. Similarly, the use of proteomics methods for the discovery of cancer biomarkers is increasing. The emerging field of proteogenomics seeks to enrich the value of genomics and proteomics approaches by studying the intersection of genomics and proteomics data. This task is challenging due to the complex nature of transcriptional and translation regulatory mechanisms and the disparities between genomic and proteomic data from the same samples. In this study, we have examined tumor antigens as potential biomarkers for breast cancer using genomics and proteomics data from previously reported laser capture microdissected ER+ tumor samples. Results: We applied proteogenomic analyses to study the genetic aberrations of 32 tumor antigens determined in the proteomic data. We found that tumor antigens that are aberrantly expressed at the genetic level and expressed at the protein level, are likely involved in perturbing pathways directly linked to the hallmarks of cancer. The results found by proteogenomic analysis of the 32 tumor antigens studied here, capture largely the same pathway irregularities as those elucidated from large-scale screening of genomics analyses, where several thousands of genes are often found to be perturbed. Conclusion: Tumor antigens are a group of proteins recognized by the cells of the immune system. Specifically, they are recognized in tumor cells where they are present in larger than usual amounts, or are physiochemically altered to a degree at which they no longer resemble native human proteins. This proteogenomic analysis of 32 tumor antigens suggests that tumor antigens have the potential to be highly specific biomarkers for different cancers

Analyzing post modern consumer behavior and beef consumption patterns: Insights from Sicilian market

In current events, consumers are subject to various stimuli (advertising campaigns, popular magazines, social) that affect their marginal consumption propensity. However, as Economic Theory teaches us, the marginal propensity to consume does not necessarily translate into consumer spending. This is strongly affected by consumers' eating habits and other variables that determine where the consumption phenomenon occurs. The study aims to analyze post-modern consumer behavior toward beef consumption. An online questionnaire was administered to 535 Sicilian participants to achieve this goal. Statistical analyses were performed by R statistical software, using two-tailed P-values, and setting statistical significance at P &lt;= 0.05. The results show that consumption choices are influenced by beef meat's impact on health. In addition, consumers consider the origin and certifications of the raw material to be extremely crucial