Net CO2 Reduction Analysis for A Wind Farm

The purpose of this study was to determine the net CO2 reduction benefit that can be achieved by using wind instead of coal power. Coal power has a significantly higher rate of CO2 emissions than wind generation, but wind power generation has a significant amount of embodied energy. The goal of this study is to determine the net carbon reduction benefit that can be achieved using wind power after accounting for factors such as embodied energy in materials and construction

OPA1 isoforms and protein domains in the rescue of mitochondrial dysfunctions

Mutations in OPA1 gene have been identified in the majority of patients with Dominant Optic Atrophy (DOA), a blinding disease, and the syndromic form DOA-plus. OPA1 protein is a mitochondrial GTPase involved in various mitochondrial functions, present in humans in eight isoforms, resulting from alternative splicing and proteolytic processing. In this study we have investigated the specific role of each isoform through expression in OPA-/- MEFs, by evaluating their ability to improve the defective mitochondrial phenotypes. All isoforms were able to rescue the energetic efficiency, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content and cristae integrity, but only the presence of both long and short forms could recover the mitochondrial morphology. In order to identify the OPA1 protein domains crucial for its functions, we selected and modified the isoform 1, shown to be one of the most efficient in preserving mitochondrial phenotype, to express three specific OPA1 variants, namely: one with a different N-terminus portion, one unable to generate short form owing to deletion of S1 cleavage site and one with a defective GTPase domain. We demonstrated that the simultaneous presence of the N- and C-terminus of OPA1 was essential for the mtDNA maintenance; a cleavable isoform generating s-forms was necessary to completely rescue the energetic competence and the presence of the C-terminus was sufficient to partially recover the cristae ultrastructure. Lastly, several pathogenic OPA1 mutations were inserted in MEF clones and the biochemical features investigated, to correlate the defective phenotypes with the clinical severity of patients. Our results clearly indicate that this cell model reflects very well the clinical characteristics of the patients, and therefore can be proposed as an useful tool to shed light on the pathomechanism underlying DOA

Progetto e realizzazione di un Mini Aerial Vehicle a controllo semi-automatico per monitoraggio ambientale

Questa tesi si inserisce nel contesto del Progetto Si.Mon.A costituendone la prima tappa. Il lavoro di tesi riguarda la progettazione e realizzazione di una piattaforma di volo di piccole dimensioni per applicazioni di monitoraggio ambientale; si articola in tre parti. Nella parte prima si affronta il progetto concettuale con la concezione di un'architettura capace di soddisfare le specifiche, il suo successivo affinamento e l'approvazione del layout tramite studi di convalidazione aerodinamica, viene concepito uno schema per l'elettronica Fly By Wire di controllo e l'analisi del sistema propulsivo del velivolo. Nella seconda parte si affronta il progetto di dettaglio della cellula strutturale e di tutte le parti che la costituiscono, lo studio dell’elettronica a bordo destinata al controllo del volo e la scelta e caratterizzazione della propulsione fino ad arrivare al trittico dimensionato. Si affronta poi la costruzione materiale del prototipo, mettendo in evidenza i metodi usati e le tecniche di realizzazione impiegate. Nella terza parte si illustrano i risultati ottenuti con le prove in volo del velivolo

Democracy in Action: A Book Review of \u3ci\u3eJohn Dewey’s Imaginative Vision of Teaching: Combining Theory and Practice\u3c/i\u3e

With his new book, John Dewey’s Imaginative Vision of Teaching: Combining Theory and Practice, Deron Boyles set out to explore the confluence of Deweyan practice in real-world educational settings. Arguing there is a dearth of books analyzing Dewey’s pedagogical philosophy in these settings, Boyles detailed and clarified Dewey’s imaginative vision of teaching via the blending of theory and case studies. This approach honors the merger of theory and action that characterizes Dewey’s unique brand of pragmatism. Here, Boyles gave credence to Dewey’s claim that philosophy can be recovered by applying it to our own, real-world problems. This easily accessible book is useful for those searching for an introduction to Deweyan philosophy as well as for educators seeking to revitalize their practice with democratic notions of education

Towards an improved description of SiDIS by a polarized 3He target

The possibility of improving the description of the semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron scattering off polarized 3He, that provides information on the neutron single spin asymmetries, is illustrated. In particular, the analysis at finite momentum transfers in a Poincare' covariant framework is outlined and a generalized eikonal approach to include final state interaction is presented.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, presented at The 22nd European Conference on Few Body Problems in Physics, Krakow, Poland, 9 - 13 September 201

Neutron Transverse-Momentum Distributions and Polarized 3He within Light-Front Hamiltonian Dynamics

The possibility to extract the quark transverse-momentum distributions in the neutron from semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron scattering off polarized 3He is illustrated through an impulse approximation analysis in the Bjorken limit. The generalization of the analysis at finite momentum transfers in a Poincare' covariant framework is outlined. The definition of the light-front spin-dependent spectral function of a J=1/2 system allows us to show that within the light-front dynamics only three of the six leading twist T-even transverse-momentum distributions are independent.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Presented at the 20th International IUPAP Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics, 20 - 25 August, 2012, Fukuoka, Japa