Experimental optimization of perforated structures in presence of ship-generated waves

Due to waves generated by ferries and motorboats in Venice's canals, the navigation of small vessels, such as typical gondolas, has recently become more and more difficult. With the goal of reducing ferry- and motorboat-generated waves, 2 types of perforated breakwaters have been considered. After a preliminary sizing by using a mathematical model, the structures have been tested with experiments on physical models. Transient wave trains, similar to the ship waves observed in Venetian canals, have been considered incident loads. A wavelet transform-based method has been used to evaluate breakwaters' reflection coefficients. This paper looks at presenting an optimization-design procedure for perforated breakwaters subject to ship-generated transient waves. Since the breakwaters are going to be in Venice, an area of great architectural and environmental interest, their visual impact was one of the most important issues in our analysis

Alterations in the mitochondrial proteome of neuroblastoma cells 2 in response to complex 1 inhibition

Increasing evidence points to mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD) associated with complex I dysfunction, but the exact pathways which lead to cell death have not been resolved. 2D-gel electrophoresis profiles of isolated mitochondria from neuroblastoma cells treated with subcytotoxic concentrations of l-methyl-4-phenyl-l,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), a well-characterized complex I inhibitor, were assessed to identify associated targets. Up to 27 differentially expressed proteins were observed, of which 16 were identified using peptide mass fingerprinting. Changes in protein levels were validated by immunoprobing ID blots, confirming increases in heat shock cognate 71 kDa (Hsc70), 60 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp60), fumarase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase 2, ATP synthase subunit d, and voltage-dependent anion-channel 1 (VDACl). Immunoprobing of 2D blots revealed isoform changes in Hsc70, Hsp60, and VDACl. Subcytoxic concentrations of MPTP modulated a host of mitochondrial proteins including chaperones, metabolic enzymes, oxidative phosphorylation-related proteins, an inner mitochondrial protein (mitofilin), and an outer mitochondrial membrane protein (VDACl). Early changes in chaperones suggest a regulated link between complex 1 inhibition and protein folding. VDACl, a multifunctional protein, may have a key role in signaling between mitochondria and the rest of the cell prior to cell death. Our work provides new important information of relevance to PD

3D numerical simulation of hydro-acoustic waves registered during the 2012 negros-cebu earthquake

The paper investigates on the hydro-acoustic waves propagation caused by the underwater earthquake, occurred on 6 February 2012, between the Negros and Cebu islands, in the Philippines. Hydro-acoustic waves are pressure waves that propagate at the sound celerity in water. These waves can be triggered by the sudden vertical sea-bed movement, due to underwater earthquakes. The results of three dimensional numerical simulations, which solve the wave equation in a weakly compressible sea water domain are presented. The hydro-acoustic signal is compared to an underwater acoustic signal recorded during the event by a scuba diver, who was about 12 km far from the earthquake epicenter

Classificazione, diagnosi ed ICD-10. I - Principi generali e considerazioni critiche

Scopo - Discutere i principali problemi teorico-pratici connessi alia classificazione in campo medico e psichiatrico, e presentare la struttura generale della decima revisione della Classificazione Internazionale delle Malattie (ICD-10), entrata ufficialmente in vigore dal gennaio del 1993. Risultati - Sono dapprima discussi i fondamenti epistemologici della classificazione, le varie strategic classificatorie adottate in campo medico e psichiatrico ed i principali modelli classificatori esistenti. Sono quindi analizzati i problemi relativi alia attendibilità ed alia validità delle diagnosi psichiatriche, e vengono descritte le strategic che possono essere impiegate per migliorarle. Infine sono discussi i principi che hanno informato ia stesura dell' ICD-10 ed i field trials effettuati al fine di preparare il testo finale delle direttive diagnostiche. Conclusioni - La classificazione in psichiatria rappresenta un passaggio obbligato e necessario per rendere possibile la sistematizzazione delle nuove conoscenze e la comunicazione tra operatori, ricercatori ed utenti. La decima revisione dell' ICD rappresenta lo sforzo più ampio sinora compiuto in campo psichiatrico al fine di predisporre un sistema classificatorio rigoroso che, nel contempo, sintetizzi approcci e culture psichiatriche differenziat

The Negotiation Process: Exploring Negotiator Moves Through a Processual Framework

Published in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolutio

Financial Globalization and the Anglo-Saxon Model of Capitalism: an Agency-Centered Approach to Study Financial Change

This paper examines the main theoretical perspectives on the process of financial change in modern capitalism. It discusses institutionalist political economy approaches claiming that their conception of states, markets and financial innovation is problematic when analysing financial globalisation. In order to consider how the internationalisation of financial practices can be studied, this article suggests that a necessary step is that of firstly deconstructing the model of Anglo-Saxon capitalism as present in the literature. Whereas scholars have emphasised deregulation in the explanation of the development of financial practices, this essay emphasizes that in key respects their development in the Anglo-American core has been profoundly shaped by the actions and interests of state actors and at the end, it rests on a set of highly formalised set of institutions. This allows this paper to locate historically the peculiar American institutional roots of modern financial practices, focusing on the singularity of the social contexts in which practices emerge rather than studying finance solely in relation to the liberal nature of the state. After this, it proposes a theoretical framework to conceive the relationship between states and markets in international contexts from a historical agency-centred perspective

Collective dissent as legal consciousness in contemporary British theatre

This article explores legal consciousness in contemporary British theatre. It is concerned with the messages conveyed about law in society as experienced through participant-observation and textual analysis. The interpretation of meaning will take place within the legal consciousness framework of collective dissent developed by Halliday and Morgan. Using this framework, this article will show that dissent is a reoccurring theme in these performances, with the legitimacy of state law under challenge. Alternative visions of law are pluralistic in nature. By applying a collective dissent narrative to this study, the article tests and further develops collective dissent as an analytical tool for examining legal consciousness for cultural legal studies. Through this framework, it also advances the study of theatrical performance for cultural legal studies in terms of what dramaturgic images, observational and textual, say about the relationship between law and society; specifically, to determine what theatrical performance of British contemporary theatre says about the law in this snapshot of time and place

The Historical Development of the Port of Livorno (Italy) and Its New Port Plan 2010 in Advanced Stage of Elaboration

The geographical location makes the port of Livorno one of the most important in Italy. The port, in fact, benefits of an extended network of roads and rails connecting it with the rest of Italy, and central and southern Europe as well. The history of Livorno and its port is inextricably linked to that of Pisa and Florence, and to the complexity of events that determined the political set-up of the region along several centuries. Looking at the new port plan of Livorno has made it necessary an extensive overview of the history of both the port, and of its planning. This analysis has allowed: to understand the reason for the different choices made in the past for the development of the port, highlighting, when necessary, the errors made; to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing port infrastructure; to identify the works needed to boost the port in the European context. The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the analysis performed for the implementation of the new Livorno port plan 2010 and show how the port planning in Italy is often conditioned by hundreds of centuries of history

Assessment of the direct and indirect effects of MPP+ and dopamine on the human proteasome: implications for Parkinson's disease aetiology

Mitochondrial impairment, glutathione depletion and oxidative stress have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), linked recently to proteasomal dysfunction. Our study analysed how these factors influence the various activities of the proteasome in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells treated with the PD mimetics MPP+ (a complex 1 inhibitor) or dopamine. Treatment with these toxins led to dose- and time-dependent reductions in ATP and glutathione and also chymotrypsin-like and post-acidic like activities; trypsin-like activity was unaffected. Antioxidants blocked the effects of dopamine, but not MPP+, suggesting that oxidative stress was more important in the dopamine-mediated effects. With MPP+, ATP depletion was a prerequisite for loss of proteasomal activity. Thus in a dopaminergic neuron with complex 1 dysfunction both oxidative stress and ATP depletion will contribute independently to loss of proteasomal function. We show for the first time that addition of MPP+ or dopamine to purified samples of the human 20S proteasome also reduced proteasomal activities; with dopamine being most damaging. As with toxin-treated cells, chymotrypsin-like activity was most sensitive and trypsin-like activity the least sensitive. The observed differential sensitivity of the various proteasomal activities to PD mimetics is novel and its significance needs further study in human cells