Project of an advanced ISOL facility for exotic beams at LNL

Abstract In the framework of the European program to define a second generation Radioactive Ion Beam facility, LNL are proposing the construction in the next five–seven years of a specialized national facility for RIB originated by fission fragments produced by secondary neutrons. It consists on a two-accelerator ISOL-type facility to provide intense neutron-rich radioactive ion beams of highest quality, in the range of masses between 80 and 160. The conceptual design is based on a high intensity 50 MeV (100 kW) proton linac as driver and on the availability of the heavy-ion accelerator ALPI as post accelerator. The estimated neutron yield is 2×1014 n/s at 0°, high enough to satisfy the demand for an advanced RIB facility. An intense R&D program on different items is actually in progress in collaboration with other Laboratories and University groups and is moving in a European context

Rethinking cultural diversity in the UK film sector:practices in community filmmaking

© The Author(s) 2017. Academic, policy and industry debates have tended to focus on the mainstream film sector when discussing cultural diversity. One of the persistent challenges for the sector has been how to diversify cultural representation and participation. This article suggests that participatory modes of community filmmaking make an important contribution to cultural diversity. Drawing on an evidence base derived from qualitative research conducted in three English regions, the article shifts the spotlight away from the mainstream and onto the margins of the film sector in order to explore more ‘bottom-up’ approaches to cultural diversity. It examines how community filmmakers interpret and engage with questions of cultural diversity and how this connects to the participatory and business practices that they adopt. The findings highlight the significance of processes of practice in how mediated cultural diversity manifests itself and the value of community filmmaking in contributing to wider cultural diversity debates and practices.The authors thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) for funding the ‘Community Filmmaking and Cultural Diversity: Practice, Innovation and Policy project’ (2013–2014)

Culture-level dimensions of social axioms and their correlates across 41 cultures

Leung and colleagues have revealed a five-dimensional structure of social axioms across individuals from five cultural groups. The present research was designed to reveal the culture level factor structure of social axioms and its correlates across 41 nations. An ecological factor analysis on the 60 items of the Social Axioms Survey extracted two factors: Dynamic Externality correlates with value measures tapping collectivism, hierarchy, and conservatism and with national indices indicative of lower social development. Societal Cynicism is less strongly and broadly correlated with previous values measures or other national indices and seems to define a novel cultural syndrome. Its national correlates suggest that it taps the cognitive component of a cultural constellation labeled maleficence, a cultural syndrome associated with a general mistrust of social systems and other people. Discussion focused on the meaning of these national level factors of beliefs and on their relationships with individual level factors of belief derived from the same data set.(undefined

Antibiotic resistance determinants in the interplay between food and gut microbiota

A complex and heterogeneous microflora performs sugar and lactic acid fermentations in food products. Depending on the fermentable food matrix (dairy, meat, vegetable etc.) as well as on the species composition of the microbiota, specific combinations of molecules are produced that confer unique flavor, texture, and taste to each product. Bacterial populations within such “fermented food microbiota” are often of environmental origin, they persist alive in foods ready for consumption, eventually reaching the gastro-intestinal tract where they can interact with the resident gut microbiota of the host. Although this interaction is mostly of transient nature, it can greatly contribute to human health, as several species within the food microbiota also display probiotic properties. Such an interplay between food and gut microbiota underlines the importance of the microbiological quality of fermented foods, as the crowded environment of the gut is also an ideal site for genetic exchanges among bacteria. Selection and spreading of antibiotic resistance genes in foodborne bacteria has gained increasing interest in the past decade, especially in light of the potential transferability of antibiotic resistance determinants to opportunistic pathogens, natural inhabitants of the human gut but capable of acquiring virulence in immunocompromised individuals. This review aims at describing major findings and future prospects in the field, especially after the use of antibiotics as growth promoters was totally banned in Europe, with special emphasis on the application of genomic technologies to improve quality and safety of fermented foods

Optimization study of FDM 3d printing for the presentation of the architectural models

The prototyping of physical models by 3d printing is today one of the most common methods of presentation or composition of architectural projects, both in the academic and professional fields. In particular, the 3d printing with the FDM method based on PLA is diffused in several laboratories and studies, offering a high-precision physical model of remarkable resistance. Given its increasing use, also a lot of scientific literature has deepened its qualities, practices, and aesthetics, as well as identifying material compositions and procedural expedients increasingly efficient from the ecological point of view, therefore, the study proposes an analysis and the verification of the actual sustainability of the process, focusing phase of estimation, project management, and actual extrusion, in an exclusively ecological perspective, through experimentation and comparison of data. The analysis has led to the specific deepening of the techniques of infill of the printed volume, which affect in particular the consumption of material and its efficiency, therefore identifying optimal solutions and finding critical issues to be taken into account during the life of the prototype