Organogels for low-polar organic solvents. Potential applications on cultural heritage materials

Traditional cleaning methods for removing undesired substances from artworks often involve the use of toxic volatile solvents, raising concerns about human health and environmental impact. Over time, various cleaning systems, such as thickeners, rigid, peelable, and nanostructured gels, have been introduced in the conservation sector to minimize solvent use and toxicity. However, these methods are primarily tailored for aqueous solutions or medium-to-high-polar solvents, leaving sustainable organogels for low-polar solvents largely unexplored. This paper explores the application of Low-Molecular-Weight Gelators (LMWGs) in the field of cultural heritage conservation, focusing on their potential to gel low-polar organic solvents. LMWGs, including cholesterol derivatives, fatty acidderived compounds, anthryl, anthraquinone, amino acid, and saccharide-based organogelators, offer biocompatible and cost-effective options by forming supramolecular gels that immobilize solvents and reduce their release into the environment. This study highlights the need to transition from traditional, often toxic, solvents to greener and more sustainable cleaning systems by emphasizing LMWGs’ biodegradability, biocompatibility, and sustainability. While challenges such as optimizing gel properties and ensuring compatibility with artwork surfaces still need to be addressed, LMWGs hold promise as organogelators in conservation practice. Further research into LMWGs should focus on their optimization for conservation applications by adjusting their rheological properties and physico-chemical stability

To abuse or not to abuse. This is the question. On whether social corporate responsibility influences human rights abuses of large multinational corporations (1990-2006)

We are currently observing an apparent paradox. On the one hand there is growing evidence about corporate misbehaviour and Multinational Corporations (MNCs)' violations of human rights. On the other, the largest MNCs are showing an unprecedented level of commitment to save the world through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and investments. In this scenario, how much does CSR contribute to curb human rights abuses of the largest worldwide MNCs? This paper investigates this question using a novel dataset of 135 MNCs operating in several sectors over the period 1990-2006. We apply Probit estimations to our data and show that MNCs that have adopted CSR initiatives have higher probabilities of being involved in alleged human rights abuses, but such probability decreases over time, as they accumulate experience in CSR. This result is found for human rights abuses for which MNCs are directly held accountable, whereas our evidence suggests that CSR experience does not curb corporate complicity in abuses committed by third parties. The paper concludes by discussing the normative implications of this result and by suggesting directions for further research

Is cancer an intelligent species?

Some relevant emerging properties of intelligent systems are "adaptation to a changing environment," "reaction to unexpected situations," "capacity of problem solving," and "ability to communicate." Single cells have remarkable abilities to adapt, make adequate context-dependent decision, take constructive actions, and communicate, thus theoretically meeting all the above-mentioned requirements. From a biological point of view, cancer can be viewed as an invasive species, composed of cells that move from primary to distant sites, being continuously exposed to changes in the environmental conditions. Blood represents the first hostile habitat that a cancer cell encounters once detached from the primary site, so that cancer cells must rapidly carry out multiple adaptation strategies to survive. The aim of this review was to deepen the adaptation mechanisms of cancer cells in the blood microenvironment, particularly referring to four adaptation strategies typical of animal species (phenotypic adaptation, metabolic adaptation, niche adaptation, and collective adaptation), which together define the broad concept of biological intelligence. We provided evidence that the required adaptations (either structural, metabolic, and related to metastatic niche formation) and "social" behavior are useful principles allowing putting into a coherent frame many features of circulating cancer cells. This interpretative frame is described by the comparison with analog behavioral traits typical of various animal models

Awareness: An empirical model

In this work, we face the time-honored problem of the contraposition/integration of analytical and intuitive knowledge, and the impact of such interconnection on the onset of awareness resulting from human decision-making processes. Borrowing the definitions of concepts like intuition, tacit knowledge, uncertainty, metacognition, and emotions from the philosophical, psychological, decision theory, and economic points of view, we propose a skeletonized mathematical model grounded on Markov Decision Processes of these multifaceted concepts. Behavioral patterns that emerged from the solutions of the model enabled us to understand some relevant properties of the interaction between explicit (mainly analytical) and implicit (mainly holistic) knowledge. The impact of the roles played by the same factors for both styles of reasoning and different stages of the decision process has been evaluated. We have found that awareness emerges as a dynamic process allowing the decision-maker to switch from habitual to optimal behavior, resulting from a feedback mechanism of self-observation. Furthermore, emotions are embedded in the model as inner factors, possibly fostering the onset of awareness

Ignition and reaction mechanism of Co-Al and Nb-Al intermetallic compounds prepared by combustion synthesis

The ignition and propagation mechanism of the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of several cobalt and niobium aluminides was investigated. Two propagation mechanisms were identified depending on the stoichiometry of the starting mixture. Al-rich compositions propagate through a dissolution-precipitation mechanism while Al-poor mixtures require solid state diffusion. The ignition temperatures were measured by means of microthermocouples in quasi-adiabatic conditions through experiments carried out in thermal explosion mode. Ignition temperatures were found to be characteristic of each system and to depend strongly on reactants particle size. Ignition energies for all compositions were evaluated through a mathematical model

Evaluation of DNA Methylation Profiles of LINE-1, Alu and Ribosomal DNA Repeats in Human Cell Lines Exposed to Radiofrequency Radiation

A large body of evidence indicates that environmental agents can induce alterations in DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles. Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) are radiations emitted by everyday devices, which have been classified as "possibly carcinogenic"; however, their biological effects are unclear. As aberrant DNAm of genomic repetitive elements (REs) may promote genomic instability, here, we sought to determine whether exposure to RF-EMFs could affect DNAm of different classes of REs, such as long interspersed nuclear elements-1 (LINE-1), Alu short interspersed nuclear elements and ribosomal repeats. To this purpose, we analysed DNAm profiles of cervical cancer and neuroblastoma cell lines (HeLa, BE(2)C and SH-SY5Y) exposed to 900 MHz GSM-modulated RF-EMF through an Illumina-based targeted deep bisulfite sequencing approach. Our findings showed that radiofrequency exposure did not affect the DNAm of Alu elements in any of the cell lines analysed. Conversely, it influenced DNAm of LINE-1 and ribosomal repeats in terms of both average profiles and organisation of methylated and unmethylated CpG sites, in different ways in each of the three cell lines studied

Understanding care relationships in diabetes practice. A psychodynamic interview-based exploratory study

ObjectiveTo explore the subjective experience of physicians working in diabetic settings about their care relationships in order to find some unique clues contributing to physician professional health and capacity to manage patients' adherence.Research design and methodsAn interview-based exploratory study has been carried out involving 18 physicians (77.8% female) with at least 3 years of clinical practice in diabetes care. In-depth interviews about the emotional experience with patients with diabetes were conducted and audio recorded. Interviews transcripts were analyzed through a computer-based text analysis which allowed the identification of thematic domains (Cluster Analysis) and latent factors (Correspondence Analysis) viewed through a psychodynamic and constructivist lens.ResultsSix thematic domains emerged respectively referring to: Concern (8.43%), Control (14.42%), Ambivalence (22.08%), Devotion (22.49%), Guilt (19.29%) and Strive for Achievement (13.30%). Moreover, three latent dimensions were taken into account, which explained 69.20% of data variance: Affect Repression (28.50%), Tendency to Repair (22.70%) and Anxiety Pattern (18.00%).ConclusionsOverall, the results of the present study confirm the challenging nature of diabetes care. In particular, physicians ongoing effort to restore patients' psychological integrity in chronic condition constitute the most novel finding above all. In this regard, the need for emotional labor in physicians' education and training is suggested in order to both prevent burnout symptoms (e.g. depersonalization) and promote shared decision making in care relationships. However, findings should be treated as preliminary given the convenience nature of the sample and its reduced size