Effective viscosity of grease ice in linearized gravity waves

Grease ice is an agglomeration of disc-shaped ice crystals, named frazil ice, which forms in turbulent waters of the Polar Oceans and in rivers as well. It has been recognized that the properties of grease ice to damp surface gravity waves could be explained in terms of the effective viscosity of the ice slurry. This paper is devoted to the study of the dynamics of a suspension of disc-shaped particles in a gravity wave field. For dilute suspensions, depending on the strength and frequency of the external wave flow, two orientation regimes of the particles are predicted: a preferential orientation regime with the particles rotating in coherent fashion with the wave field, and a random orientation regime in which the particles oscillate around their initial orientation while diffusing under the effect of Brownian motion. For both motion regimes, the effective viscosity has been derived as a function of the wave frequency, wave amplitude and aspect ratio of the particles. Model predictions have been compared with wave attenuation data in frazil ice layers grown in wave tanks.Comment: 13 pages, 3 eps figures included; one more section on inertia effect

Portata e limiti della competenza di piena giurisdizione nell'ordinamento dell’Unione Europea

Il presente contributo è volto ad elaborare alcune riflessioni in ordine alla natura, alla portata e ai “limiti” della competenza di piena giurisdizione riconosciuta in capo agli organi giurisdizionali nell'ordinamento dell'Unione, con particolare attenzione all'ambito antitrust. Tale competenza configura una modalità di attuazione del principio di tutela giurisdizionale effettiva, che trova espressione nell’art. 47 della Carta dei diritti fondamentali e corrisponde, nel diritto dell’Unione, all’art. 6 della CEDU. Lo scopo principale di una simile competenza è quello di integrare l’effettività del sindacato di legittimità svolto dal giudice dell’Unione in virtù dell’art. 263 TFUE, assicurando l’effetto utile di una sentenza che annulli una decisione delle Istituzioni dell’Unione che imponga una sanzione, così da garantire la più ampia soddisfazione in sede giurisdizionale alla posizione giuridica soggettiva fatta valere dal ricorrente, consentendo al giudice dell’Unione, per esigenza di economia procedurale, di concludere egli stesso il “procedimento”, senza dover rinviare a tal fine all’Istituzione competente. In tale contesto, l'indagine rivela però che questa competenza è soggetta ad alcuni limiti "intrinseci" ed "estrinseci". Da un lato, pur non essendo subordinato alla previa constatazione d’illegalità della decisione impugnata, il sindacato di piena giurisdizione può essere esercitato soltanto mediante il ricorso agli strumenti procedurali propri del ricorso di annullamento ex art. 263 TFUE, in virtù della natura “non autonoma” dello stesso. Dall'altro, le giurisdizioni europee devono rispettare gli stessi principi giuridici che si impongono alle Istituzioni dell'Unione nel corso del procedimento interno diretto all'adozione di un atto che commina sanzioni a persone fisiche o giuridiche. In tale prospettiva, si rileva dunque, al termine dell'analisi svolta, che, laddove consentita dalla normativa europea, la competenza di piena giurisdizione riduce fortemente la distanza e la separazione tra potere amministrativo e giudiziario. Per questa ragione, sarà opportuno calibrare bene, nel corso di future evoluzioni legislative in materia, la portata e i limiti di una simile competenza, così da conciliare al meglio l'esigenza di una protezione giurisdizionale efficace ed effettiva con il rispetto dell'equilibrio istituzionale e la separazione dei poteri che caratterizza l'architettura costituzionale dell'Unione. This article investigates the nature, scope and “limits” of the unlimited jurisdiction conferred by EU law to EU courts, focusing specifically on the field of antitrust law. Such competence constitutes a means to implement the principle of effective judicial protection which is enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and which corresponds, in EU law, to Article 6 of the ECHR. The primary purpose of the unlimited jurisdiction is to supplement the legality review carried out by the EU judge on the basis of Article 263 TFEU. In case of the annulment of an EU institution’s decision to impose a fine, it allows the EU judge to close the “procedure” without referring the matter back to the competent institution, thus preserving the full effectiveness of the annulment and giving direct satisfaction to the applicant’s request of judicial protection. In this context, the investigation reveals the “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” limits of the unlimited jurisdiction. On the one hand, such competence does not provide for an autonomous legal remedy. In fact, while a prior finding of illegality of the act under review is not a precondition to exercise this competence, it can only be applied in the context of the legality review of acts of EU institutions, more particularly in actions for annulment on the basis of Article 263 TFEU. On the other hand, the exercise of unlimited jurisdiction by EU courts must comply with the rules and principles applicable to EU institutions when adopting fines against individuals or legal persons. In such perspective, the analysis reveals that the exercise of unlimited jurisdiction – insofar as it is allowed by the relevant EU legislation – significantly reduces the distance and separation between administrative and judicial powers. Therefore, any future development of the EU legal framework at stake should take into account the limits of the unlimited jurisdiction and strike a fair balance between the need to ensure efficient and effective judicial protection, and the need to respect the institutional balance and separation of powers inherent to the EU constitutional architecture. Parole chiave: Competenza di piena giurisdizione - Sanzioni - Antitrust - Tutela giurisdizionale effettiva - Rapporto con ricorso in annullamento.Keywords: Unlimited jurisdiction – Fines – Antitrust – Effective judicial protection – Relationship with the action for annulmen

Traditional alcoholic beverages and their value in the local culture of the Alta Valle del Reno, a mountain borderland between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

BACKGROUND: Traditional alcoholic beverages (TABs) have only received marginal attention from researchers and ethnobotanists so far, especially in Italy. This work is focused on plant-based TABs in the Alta Valle del Reno, a mountainous area on the border between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna regions. The aims of our study were to document local knowledge about TABs and to analyze and discuss the distribution of related knowledge within the investigated communities. METHODS: Field data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The relative importance of each plant species used to prepare TABs was assessed by calculating a general Use Value Index (UV(general)), a current UV (UV(current)) and a past UV (UV(past)). We also assessed personal experience of use by calculating effective and potential UV (UV(effective,)UV(potential)). A multivariate analysis was performed to compare ingredients in recipes recorded in the Alta Valle del Reno with those reported for neighboring areas. RESULTS: Forty-six plant species, belonging to 20 families, were recorded. Rosaceae was the most significant family (98 citations, 19 species), followed by Rutaceae (15, 3) and Lamiaceae (12, 4). The most important species was Prunus cerasus L. (UV(general) = 0.44), followed by Juglans regia L. (0.38), Rubus idaeus L. (0.27) and Prunus spinosa L. (0.22). Species with the highest UV(current) were Juglans regia (0.254), Prunus cerasus (0.238) and Citrus limon L. (0.159). The highest UV(effective) values were obtained by Prunus cerasus (0.413), Juglans regia (0.254), Rubus idaeus (0.222) and Citrus limon (0.206). We also discuss the results of the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: TABs proved to occupy an important place in the traditional culture and social life of the studied communities. Moreover, data highlight the local specificity and richness of this kind of tradition in the Alta Valle del Reno, compared to other Italian areas. Some plant ingredients used for TABs have potential nutraceutical and even therapeutic properties that are well known by local people. These properties could constitute an additional economic value for TABs' commercialization, which in turn could promote the local rural economy

The Brain on Low Power Architectures - Efficient Simulation of Cortical Slow Waves and Asynchronous States

Efficient brain simulation is a scientific grand challenge, a parallel/distributed coding challenge and a source of requirements and suggestions for future computing architectures. Indeed, the human brain includes about 10^15 synapses and 10^11 neurons activated at a mean rate of several Hz. Full brain simulation poses Exascale challenges even if simulated at the highest abstraction level. The WaveScalES experiment in the Human Brain Project (HBP) has the goal of matching experimental measures and simulations of slow waves during deep-sleep and anesthesia and the transition to other brain states. The focus is the development of dedicated large-scale parallel/distributed simulation technologies. The ExaNeSt project designs an ARM-based, low-power HPC architecture scalable to million of cores, developing a dedicated scalable interconnect system, and SWA/AW simulations are included among the driving benchmarks. At the joint between both projects is the INFN proprietary Distributed and Plastic Spiking Neural Networks (DPSNN) simulation engine. DPSNN can be configured to stress either the networking or the computation features available on the execution platforms. The simulation stresses the networking component when the neural net - composed by a relatively low number of neurons, each one projecting thousands of synapses - is distributed over a large number of hardware cores. When growing the number of neurons per core, the computation starts to be the dominating component for short range connections. This paper reports about preliminary performance results obtained on an ARM-based HPC prototype developed in the framework of the ExaNeSt project. Furthermore, a comparison is given of instantaneous power, total energy consumption, execution time and energetic cost per synaptic event of SWA/AW DPSNN simulations when executed on either ARM- or Intel-based server platforms

The awareness and acceptance of anti-COVID 19 vaccination in adolescence

Background: COVID-19 had devastating effects on children's and adolescents' life, including neuropsychological impairment, discontinuation of social life and education. Since June 2021, antiCOVID19 vaccination has become available to adolescents in Italy up to 12 years and since December 2021 to children aged more than 5 years. The pediatric population represents a challenging target for vaccination. Aim of the study is to perform a survey among adolescents to explore factors associated with COVID 19 immunization and their perceptions about COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: Italian students aged 10-17 years were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey regarding their immunization against COVID-19 and their opinion on the immunization practice through a web link to the questionnaire. The study period was March-June 2022. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS v 21. Results: In the study period, 895 students entered the survey. A total of 87.3% of respondents were immunized against SARS-CoV2. The most important predictors of being immunized against SARS-CoV2 were having both parents immunized (p < 0, 001) and being aged over 12 years. In the unvaccinated group, the decision was mostly influenced by the family (65.8%). Regardless the immunization status, respondents were willing to receive information about COVID 19 vaccination mostly by their family doctor (51.8%) and at school (28.9%). Conclusions: Parents' decisions and attitudes strongly affected the immunization status of adolescents. Students' willing to receive COVID 19 vaccine information by family doctors and at school, underline the potential role of paediatricians and school educators in contributing to an increased vaccine coverage among the paediatric age

Forze impulsive e sormonti su muri ricurvi soggetti ad onde non frangenti

Opere a parete verticale di tipo ricurvo per la riduzione delle portate di tracimazione. Azioni impulsive generate da onde non frangenti su pareti ricurve. Nuovo fenomeno fisico identificato e denominato "crest-confined impact"

Implementing energy transition and SDGs targets throughout energy community schemes

Citizens are expected to play a great role in the future global energy transition, being able to give a decisive contribution to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst consequences. Empowering citizens is crucial and assigning them the role of prosumers in the new energy market is necessary to ensure a sustainable and fair pathway to the low-carbon energy transition. Creating energy communities (ECs) can also engage citizens by providing flexibility and ancillary services, reducing losses and curtailments in the grid. It also yields environmental and social benefits, activating virtuous circles in the local economy aligned with the SDGs of Agenda 2030. We illustrate the experience of an EC implementation, using GECO-Green Energy COmmunity project, as a case study. In particular, the in-depth qualitative analysis of the project from a social and technical perspective is provided. The GECO Project is active in the districts of Pilastro and Roveri, Bologna, Italy, being implemented by a consortium including the Energy and Sustainable Development Agency (AESS), the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) and the University of Bologna (UniBo). Our findings show the potential interconnections among the development of an ECs and SDGs, especially goals 7, 11, 12 and 13. Placing ECs and prosumers at the centre of the international debate may deliver a more sustainable paradigm in the energy sector, in line with the climate change needs and community approaches