Car sharing demand estimation and urban transport demand modelling using stated preference techniques

The research deals with the use of the stated preference technique (SP) and transport demand modelling to analyse travel mode choice behaviour for commuting urban trips in Palermo, Italy. The principal aim of the study was the calibration of a demand model to forecast the modal split of the urban transport demand, allowing for the possibility of using innovative transport systems like car sharing and car pooling. In order to estimate the demand model parameters, a specific survey was carried out inside the urban area of Palermo. The survey focused on the morning rush hour and involved mainly employees, selfemployed workers and students (about 500 respondents) whose final destination was located within the historical centre of the city. The questionnaires contained a stated preference experiment regarding the choice among four different transport alternatives: private car, car pooling, car sharing and public transport. A random utility model was developed by using data resulting from the SP experiment. We found out that, for the specific case of Palermo, the multinomial logit proved to be the best urban transport demand model, even if the choice set contained three car alternatives. We identified as main attributes affecting mode choice behaviour the one-way trip travel time and cost, the parking time, the number of cars available to each household member, the alternative specific attributes for the car option and the car sharing one. The model was applied to analyse the potential demand for car sharing and car pooling in Palermo, under a future scenario characterized by several policy actions for limiting private transport use. The analysis highlighted that the car club market share could increase up to the 10% level, while car pooling could slightly rise

Use of Sheet Material for Rapid Prototyping of Cardiovascular Stents

Manufacturing of cardiovascular stents most commonly involve the use of tubular precursors and laser microcutting of the stent mesh, followed by chemical and electrochemical surface treatments. For mass manufacturing purposes, this production route is well-established, while for small batch or prototype production it proves to be cumbersome. Especially concerning newly developed alloys based, the production of microtubes is time consuming and highly costly. On the other hand, production of these new alloys in sheet metal form is a simpler approach, since the process uses non-dedicated tools and is easier as opposed to extrusion and tube drawing. Accordingly, in this work, the use of sheet material as precursor for rapid prototyping of cardiovascular stents is proposed. In particular, a ns-pulsed fiber laser is used for cutting permanent AISI 316L. Laser microcutting conditions are investigated in terms of generated spatter and kerf geometry. Chemical etching is employed to clean the dross generated around the cut kerf. A novel stent geometry allowing for transforming the sheet material to a tubular form is employed to produce prototype stents

Microglia-derived microvesicles affect microglia phenotype in glioma

Extracellular-released vesicles (EVs), such as microvesicles (MV) and exosomes (Exo) provide a new type of inter-cellular communication, directly transferring a ready to use box of information, consisting of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. In the nervous system, EVs participate to neuron-glial cross-talk, a bidirectional communication important to preserve brain homeostasis and, when dysfunctional, involved in several CNS diseases. We investigated whether microglia-derived EVs could be used to transfer a protective phenotype to dysfunctional microglia in the context of a brain tumor. When MV, isolated from microglia stimulated with LPS/IFNg were brain injected in glioma-bearing mice, we observed a phenotype switch of tumor associated myeloid cells (TAMs) and a reduction of tumor size. Our findings indicate that the MV cargo, which contains upregulated transcripts for several inflammation-related genes, can transfer information in the brain of glioma bearing mice modifying microglial gene expression, reducing neuronal death and glioma invasion, thus promoting the recovery of brain homeostasis

Taphonomy and the Reconstruction of Tomb Architecture and Mortuary Practices at Protohistoric Crustumerium (Rome)

This paper takes into account all factors that affected the preservation of tombs and their inventories in the burial grounds of ancient Crustumerium, a Latin settlement 13 km north of Rome, inhabited between the 9th and 5th c. BC. Its aim is to highlight the combined effect of two main processes;a) the severe erosion of the topsoil and the underlying soft volcanic bedrock caused by centuries of ploughing that has profoundly affected the preservation of tomb architecture, i.e. landscape processes;b) post-depositional processes affecting organic materials (wood, textiles, human bone) and inorganic materials (pottery, metal) in the tombs as a result of flooding, collapse and the acidity of the soil, i.e. taphonomy

El edificio eclesial para Lina Bo Bardi

This intervention aims to investigate the figure of Lina Bo Bardi, an Italian architect who moved to Brazil in 1946, at the end of the Second World War, who during his years of activity in Italy was also collaborating with the architect Gio Ponti. Bo Bardi sacred architecture will be discussed in detail. Among the large number of works by the architect are, in fact, two small but significant churches built in Brazil in the seventies of the last century.What were the Lina Bo Bardi architectural references to the place of worship? How her Italian training has permeated her work and how they have been contaminated by the architecture of the new continent? A few years before, the Second Vatican Council had given new liturgical indications. We can wonder if the liturgical opening was seen in his work as part of the architectural discourse used or if it simply was took as a fact occurred.La intervención tiene como objetivo investigar la figura de Lina Bo Bardi, una arquitecta italiana que se trasladó a Brasil en 1946, al final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y que durante sus años de actividad en Italia fue también colaboradora del arquitecto Gio Ponti. Se analizará en detalle su arquitectura destinada al culto. Entre el gran número de obras de la arquitecta se encuentran, de hecho, dos pequeñas pero significativas iglesias construidas en Brasil durante los años setenta del siglo pasado.¿Cuáles fueron las referencias arquitectónicas de Lina Bo Bardi para el edificio de culto? ¿Cómo su formación italiana ha impregnado sus obras y cómo éstas han sido contaminadas por la arquitectura del nuevo continente? Pocos años atrás, el Concilio Vaticano II había dado nuevas indicaciones litúrgicas. Nos podemos preguntar si la apertura litúrgica fue considerada en su obra como parte del discurso arquitectónico utilizado o si, simplemente, se tomó como un dato sobrevenido

Church Building by Lina Bo Bardi

[Resumen] La intervención tiene como objetivo investigar la figura de Lina Bo Bardi, una arquitecta italiana que se trasladó a Brasil en 1946, al final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y que durante sus años de actividad en Italia fue también colaboradora del arquitecto Gio Ponti. Se analizará en detalle su arquitectura destinada al culto. Entre el gran número de obras de la arquitecta se encuentran, de hecho, dos pequeñas pero significativas iglesias construidas en Brasil durante los años setenta del siglo pasado. ¿Cuáles fueron las referencias arquitectónicas de Lina Bo Bardi para el edificio de culto? ¿Cómo su formación italiana ha impregnado sus obras y cómo éstas han sido contaminadas por la arquitectura del nuevo continente? Pocos años atrás, el Concilio Vaticano II había dado nuevas indicaciones litúrgicas. Nos podemos preguntar si la apertura litúrgica fue considerada en su obra como parte del discurso arquitectónico utilizado o si, simplemente, se tomó como un dato sobrevenido.[Abstract] This intervention aims to investigate the figure of Lina Bo Bardi, an Italian architect who moved to Brazil in 1946, at the end of the Second World War, who during his years of activity in Italy was also collaborating with the architect Gio Ponti. Bo Bardi sacred architecture will be discussed in detail. Among the large number of works by the architect are, in fact, two small but significant churches built in Brazil in the seventies of the last century. What were the Lina Bo Bardi architectural references to the place of worship? How her Italian training has permeated her work and how they have been contaminated by the architecture of the new continent? A few years before, the Second Vatican Council had given new liturgical indications. We can wonder if the liturgical opening was seen in his work as part of the architectural discourse used or if it simply was took as a fact occurred

SUSY Resonances from UHE neutralinos in Neutrino Telescopes and in the Sky

In the Top-down scenarios, the decay of super-heavy particles (m~10^{12-16}GeV), situated in dark-matter halos not very far from our Galaxy, can explain the ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic-ray spectrum beyond the Griesen-Zatasepin-Kuzmin cut-off. In the MSSM, a major component of the UHE cosmic-ray flux at PeV-EeV energies could be given by the lightest neutralino \chi, that is the lightest stable supersymmetric particle. Then, the signal of UHE \chi's on earth might emerge over the interactions of a comparable neutrino component. We compute the event rates for the resonant production of "right" selectrons and "right" squarks in mSUGRA, when UHE neutralinos of energy larger than 10^5 GeV scatter off electrons and quarks in an earth-based detector like IceCube. When the resonant channel dominates in the total \chi-e,\chi-q scattering cross section, the only model parameters affecting the corresponding visible signal rates turn out to be the physical masses of the resonant right-scalar and of the lightest neutralino. We compare the expected number of supersymmetric events with the rates corresponding to the expected Glashow W resonance and to the continuum UHE \nu-N scattering for realistic power-law spectra. We find that the event rate in the leptonic selectron channel is particularly promising, and can reach a few tens for a one-year exposure in IceCube. Finally, we note that UHE neutralinos at much higher energies (up to hundreds ZeV) may produce sneutrino resonances by scattering off relic neutrinos in the Local Group hot dark halo. The consequent \tilde{\nu}-burst into hadronic final states could mimic Z-burst events, although with quite smaller conversion efficiency.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures; one reference adde

Before-During-After Biomonitoring Assessment for a Pipeline Construction in a Coastal Lagoon in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Italy)

During 2006–2008, a pipeline was buried in Vallona lagoon in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Italy). A Before-During-After environmental monitoring programme was scheduled to monitor possible alterations. Bioaccumulation of metal(loid)s, BTs (butyltins) and HMW-PAHs (High Molecular Weight Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons), and biological responses (Condition index, air Survival –LT50, Acetylcholinesterase, Micronuclei –MN, acyl-CoA oxidase, catalase, malondialdehyde –MDA, and the total oxyradical scavenging capacity-TOSCA) were investigated in Manila clams (Ruditapes philippinarum) from November 2005 to June 2015. In opera (IO) results showed higher levels of HMW-PAHs (73 ± 13 ng/g), BTs (90 ± 38 ng Sn/g) and increasing levels of Pb (6.7 ± 0.7 mg/kg) and Zn (73.6 ± 6.08 mg/kg) probably linked to works. Other contaminant alterations, especially metal(loid)s, before (AO) and after (PO) the burial, were attributed to a general condition of the area and mostly unrelated to works. In addition, LT50, MN and TOSCA showed alterations, probably due to hotspots occurring in IO. TOSCA and MDA increases, right after the burial, were considered delayed responses of IO, whilst other biological responses detected later were connected to the general condition of the area. Comparisons between results of Principal Component Analyses (PCAs) highlighted partial overlapping of AO and IO, whilst PO differed only for contaminants. Visual correlations between PCAs highlighted the biomarkers’ latter response

Cytotoxic activity of a plant extract on cancer cells

Chemoprevention by natural products may be considered a promising approach to cancer control and management [1]. Many studies have demonstrated antiproliferative, cytostatic and cytotoxic activities of phytochemicals against cancer cells [2]. In this study, a plant extract from Arctium lappa, Berberis vulgaris and Eschscholtia californica was tested as potential anticancer agent. The antitumoral activity of this plant extract was tested on four human cancer cell lines: MCF-7 (breast carcinoma cells), Huh-7 (hepatic carcinoma cells), HTB-43 (oropharyngeal carcinoma cells) and ECV- 304 (urinary bladder carcinoma cells). The efficacy of the extract was compared to the common chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide. Three plant extract concentrations were tested: 800, 650 and 450 ng/ml; for cyclophosphamide, three concentrations were assayed, according to literature data: 1300, 1000 and 850 ng/ml [3]. In addition, plant extract and cyclophosphamide were tested on two primary cell lines as controls, human gingival fibroblasts and human mammary fibroblasts. Cell viability was evaluated by the MTT [(3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, Sigma] colorimetric assay and the new xCELLigence system (Roche) for real-time monitoring of cell viability. All concentrations of plant extract exhibited a high level of cytotoxicity on MCF-7, Huh-7, HTB-43 and ECV-304 cancer cells, similar to cyclophosphamide, though they slightly reduced viability of human gingival and mammary fibroblasts. Conversely, the conventional chemotherapeutic drug showed a marked cytotoxicity on control cells. The potential of the plant extract has been demonstrated in vitro on various types of cancers, suggesting a possible use of this natural product as a promising anticancer agent. Further studies are needed to ascertain its efficacy in vivo and to elucidate its mechanism(s) of action at molecular and biochemical levels