La diffusione e le applicazioni del calcestruzzo ai primi del '900 nei centri di provincia: studi per la conservazione - Il caso di Legnano (MI)

The diffusion of cement and concrete since the end of the XIX century has given rise to various applications with a progressively widespread use on a large scale. The paper is aimed at analyzing the diffusion and the applications of the concrete at the beginning of the XX century in a provincial town, in order to understand what has been produced with this material outside the major cities, and to allow the recognition of its value and properly address interventions on it. The analyzed case is Legnano, a former agricultural village which became an industrial town in the XX century, with a consequent urban expansion characterized by the use of both traditional and innovative techniques and materials. Between these the reinforced concrete was imported in the 1901 from Milan and used for bridges on the Olona river, water tanks or industrial buildings, but also for civil architectures, albeit limited to the floors. It started a slow evolution of ceiling systems and patents and encouraged debate on local journals. The use of decorative concrete was also massive: Legnano did not experience an artistic season generating new languages, but had more "epidermal" features with basic and simplified shapes, often related to "utilitarian" buildings

Polyaniline (PANI): an innovative support for sampling and removal of VOCs in air matrices

Polyaniline (PANI)-based materials for both removal and sampling of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from air by rapid adsorption/desorption processes have been developed. The polymer was synthesized in form of emeraldine as both salt and base using different synthetic approaches, a traditional one and a "green" one. VOCs adsorption/desorption efficiency was evaluated for all the materials analyzing the desorbed VOCs fractions by GC/MS technique and obtaining results similar to the presently adopted method employing commercial activated carbon. Most important, in this work it has been demonstrated for the first time that the use of PANI-based sorbents allowed the substitution of the toxic CS2, recommended in official methods, with the less hazardous CH3OH as the VOCs extraction solvent. Moreover, a complete regeneration of the polymers could be realized by a few rapid washing steps. Finally, the best PANI-based material was subjected to recycling tests thereby showing a high adsorption/desorption efficiency retention up to four runs

Population of neutron-rich nuclei around 48ca with deep inelastic collisions

The deep inelastic reaction 48Ca+64Ni at 6 MeV/A has been studied using the CLARA–PRISMA setup. Angular distributions for pure elastic scattering and total cross-sections of the most relevant transfer channels have been measured. The experimental results are compared with predictions from a semiclassical model, showing good agreement for the presently analyzed few neutrons transfer channels. The decay of the most intense reaction products has also been studied, giving indications of the population of states with very short lifetimes.Gadea Raga, Andrés, [email protected]

Highlights lecture EANM 2015: the search for nuclear medicine’s superheroes

The EANM 2015 Annual Congress, held from October 10th to 14th in Hamburg, Germany, was outstanding in many respects. With 5550 participants, this was by far the largest European congress concerning nuclear medicine. More than 1750 scientific presentations were submitted, with more than 250 abstracts from young scientists, indicating that the future success of our discipline is fuelled by a high number of young individuals becoming involved in a multitude of scientific activities. Significant improvements have been made in molecular imaging of cancer, particularly in prostate cancer. PSMA-directed PET/CT appears to become a new gold standard for staging and restaging purposes. Novel tumour specific compounds have shown their potential for target identification also in other solid neoplasms and further our understanding of tumour biology and heterogeneity. In addition, a variety of nuclear imaging techniques guiding surgical interventions have been introduced. A particular focus of the congress was put on targeted, radionuclide based therapies. Novel theranostic concepts addressing also tumour entities with high incidence rates such as prostate cancer, melanoma, and lymphoma, have shown effective anti-tumour activity. Strategies have been presented to improve further already established therapeutic regimens such as somatostatin receptor based radio receptor therapy for treating advanced neuroendocrine tumours. Significant contributions were presented also in the neurosciences track. An increasing number of target structures of high interest in neurology and psychiatry are now available for PET and SPECT imaging, facilitating specific imaging of different subtypes of dementia and movement disorders as well as neuroinflammation. Major contributions in the cardiovascular track focused on further optimization of cardiac perfusion imaging by reducing radiation exposure, reducing scanning time, and improving motion correction. Besides coronary artery disease, many contributions focused on cardiac inflammation, cardiac sarcoidosis, and specific imaging of large vessel vasculitis. The physics and instrumentation track included many highlights such as novel, high resolution scanners. The most noteworthy news and developments of this meeting were summarized in the highlights lecture. Only 55 scientific contributions were mentioned, and hence they represent only a brief summary, which is outlined in this article. For a more detailed view, all presentations can be accessed by the online version of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (Volume 42, Supplement 1)

Instruments for the preservation and promotion of the 20th-century built heritage: the case study of Legnano (MI)

Our country is characterized by a wide historical and architectural built heritage dating back to the 20th century, which strongly distinguishes the urban fabric of our cities. This is, however, very often not adequately acknowledged, resulting in demolitions or indiscriminate interventions causing radical changes, though there have been countless battles to spread awareness of the need for its preservation and protection. This is the case with Legnano (MI), for example, which in the last two centuries has undergone some structural economic changes, which have influenced its architecture and urban planning, thus engendering profound modifications in the architectural aspect of this agricultural village, often through the demolition of a part of its built heritage. This sudden expansion, started from the end of the 19th century, has left us with a relatively "young", diffuse and heterogeneous built heritage, with its peculiarities and contradictions, which is unknown to most of the actors of transformations and requires protection. This paper, which focuses on this case study, aims to examine the tools carried out in Italy and in other European countries for the protection of 20th-century architecture, which have involved and sensitized the population on cultural values. It also intends to suggest some actions that can be achieved by the Legnano public administration, by analyzing some virtuous processes spontaneously created by individuals or Local Associations. These are in tune with a need of "memory" that is essential, in order to make regulations, guidelines or best practices to be endorsed by the actors of the transformations, since they are based on the detailed knowledge of the local situation and on the awareness of the value of the existing heritage

Polyanilines as new sorbents for hydrocarbons removal from aqueous solutions

Water remediation from hydrocarbons is crucial to reduce health risks. Numerous costly and, sometimes, sophisticated methods were proposed over the years. Herein, an innovative green procedure for porous polyanilines preparation is reported. Polyaniline (PANI) was synthesized by three different approaches ranging from traditional to more eco-friendly ones. Thermal, optical and morphological features of the resulting materials were investigated along with their surface properties. Finally, PANIs were tested as sorbents for hydrocarbons removal from waterbodies. Although an overall fast and high sorption efficiency is always observed, the effective hydrocarbons abatement performed by 'green' PANIs is particularly welcome in the context of environmental protection. Moreover, the sorption efficiency retention after five-run recycling tests suggests potential applications in wastewater remediation