On the adoption of carbon dioxide thermodynamic cycles for nuclear power conversion: A case study applied to Mochovce 3 Nuclear Power Plant

In this study, closed CO2 cycles are investigated for potential application in existing nuclear power stations, referring in particular to Mochovce power station currently under construction in Slovak Republic. Three different CO2 cycles layouts are explored in the range of temperatures offered by the nuclear source and of the existing cooling towers. The investigation shows that the common opinion that S-CO2 cycles are well suited in the medium to a high temperature range only (higher than about 450 °C) seems unjustified. For a primary heat source with a maximum temperature of 299 °C and a heat sink with a minimum temperature of 19 °C and reasonable assumptions about advanced turbomachines and heat exchanger performances, the supercritical recompressed reheated regenerative CO2 cycle would yield a net efficiency of 34.04%, which compares well with the 33.51% net efficiency of the existing Rankine cycle. The estimated length of the complete turboset (2 turbines, 1 pump and 1 compressor) would be less than 11 m (versus two wet steam turbines of 22 m each for the same power), resulting in a factor of 10 reduction in the footprint of the balance of plant.The total CO2 cycle equipment and main pipelines would have a combined weight of 3957 tons, while in the Mochovce 3 NPP existing Rankine cycle, the main components and connecting piping weigh nearly 7377 tons, thus a 40% reduction.These results suggest that the adoption of CO2 in nuclear power stations would not penalize the plant efficiency and would yield significant savings on installation costs and construction times from the much more compact balance of plant

Study of the Displacement per Atom in the n-alpha reaction on MgB2

In the frame of the High-Luminosity LHC*) project (Working Package 6.4, dedicated to the energy deposition and material studies), the effects of the energy deposition from the 7+7 TeV p-p debris on the High Temperature Superconducting Links (made of MgB2) is evaluated. This paper is focused on the effect of the n-alpha reaction on MgB2 and the determination of the induced Displacement per Atom (DPA). The contribution of the single component of the reaction i.e. neutrons, alpha particles and lithium atoms on the DPA is evaluated

Victor Hugo as a reader of the Edda, Han d'Islande

Victor Hugo as a reader of the Edda, Han d'Island

Anticipazioni wolfiane, filologia e sociologia nelle Quaestiones Romanae di Christian Falster

The aim of the paper is intended to examine particularly the Quaestiones Romanae of the humanist Christian Falster, who lived and taught lifelong Latin in the Danish kingdom of the early XVIII century. The book is structured formerly according the system of questions and answers, but the exposition begins to become important when the author is giving more attention for the linguistic phenomena of the Latin language and for their evolution in the works of writers, which in my opinion reveals an anticipation of the German philological and historical studies of the forthcoming century. Interesting is also that Falster is gazing on what it means to analyze the patterns of the Roman civilization (the so-called Realien) by a conception which looks like the actually sociology

Bell lysaker emotion recognition test: a contribution for the italian validation

INTRODUCTION: Emotion recognition deficits in psychopathology have been extensively studied with a variety of measures. The Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Test (BLERT; Bell et al., 1997) is an effective method to assess emotion recognition by presenting affect stimuli which may have greater verisimilitude with real life events. Indeed, BLERT combines facial expressions with affective information transmitted in prosody or body posture. This method has allowed the study of emotion recognition deficit in psychotic patients, as well as its relationships with other aspects of psychopathology (Vohs et al., 2014). OBJECTIVES: We aimed at testing the validity and reliability of an Italian version of the BLERT. AIMS: First, a group-comparison was carried out between clinical and nonclinical participants. Then, correlations among BLERT scores and other indices of psychological functioning were explored. METHODS: We recruited 12 inpatients with psychotic disorders (mean age= 54.75; 58.3% female) and 45 nonclinical participants (mean age= 24.04; 75.6% female). We administered the BLERT (Bell et al., 1997), along with the following measures: Empathy Quotient (Lawrence et al., 2004), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-47 (Pilkonis et al., 1996). RESULTS: Clinical participants resulted impaired in all indices of the BLERT. Further, the construct validity of the BLERT was confirmed by associations with measures of empathy, emotion dysregulation, and interpersonal problems. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the Italian version of the BLERT seemed promising for the study of emotion recognition in both clinical and nonclinical samples

Therapeutic potential of the phosphino Cu(I) complex (HydroCuP) in the treatment of solid tumors

[Cu(thp)4][PF6] (HydroCuP) is a phosphino copper(I) complex highly soluble and stable in physiological media that has been developed as a possible viable alternative to platinum-based drugs for anticancer therapy. HydroCuP potently inhibited the growth of human cancer cells derived from solid tumors by inducing endoplasmatic reticulum (ER) stress thus leading to cell death through paraptosis with a preferential efficacy against cancer rather than non-cancer cells. Aim of the present study was to assess the therapeutic potential of HydroCuP in vivo, in syngenic and xenograft murine models of solid tumors by triggering the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) pathway. With respect to platinum drugs, HydroCuP induced a markedly higher reduction of tumor growth associated with minimal animal toxicity. In human colorectal cancer xenografts, chemotherapy with HydroCuP was extremely effective in both oxaliplatin-sensitive and resistant models. The favorable in vivo tolerability of HydroCuP was also correlated to an encouraging biodistribution profile. Additionally, no signs of drug-related neurotoxicity and nephrotoxicity were observed. Altogether, these results demonstrate that HydroCuP appears worth of further investigation to evaluate its therapeutic activity towards a broad spectrum of solid malignancies

Editorial

A partire dagli anni '80 del XX secolo, la società culturale "Classiconorroena" ha affiancato all'organizzazione di convegni e alla conseguente cura degli atti, la pubblicazione di un'agile rivista, il "Bollettino di Classiconorroena", che da questo numero viene distribuito online ai soci.Since the 80s years of 20th century the cultural society Classiconorroena has focused on the interrelation between the Greek and Latin culture (namely, the classical, medieval and humanistic classical cultures) and the Scandinavian area. In order to reach this aim, Classiconorroena has organized conferences and published the Bullettin of Classiconorroena, which is now online