On contemporary misdefinition of power and the importance of definitional fidelity

This paper's conceptual treatment documents a recent tendency in the literature to abandon the traditional definition of an important social construct: power. Naturally, such flexibility or looseness of conceptualization contains detrimental implications for operationalization and theory. When very different measures or manipulations are derived from incongruent conceptual definitions for a given nominal construct, it can produce uncertainty about the variable really being measured, from which a theoretical void follows. So, in this case, it is possible that many published studies and empirical findings ostensibly applying to social power, in fact, may not be. Thus, an entire literature stream appears to be misleading, even vitiated. Along with empirical grounding, remedial information is provided here to address the concern

The Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus Glomus viscosum Improves the Tolerance to Verticillium Wilt in Artichoke by Modulating the Antioxidant Defense Systems

Verticillium wilt, caused by the fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae, is the most severe disease that threatens artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) plants. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may represent a useful biological control strategy against this pathogen attack, replacing chemical compounds that, up to now, have been not very effective. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the AMF Glomus viscosum Nicolson in enhancing the plant tolerance towards the pathogen V. dahliae. The role of the ascorbate-glutathione (ASC-GSH) cycle and other antioxidant systems involved in the complex network of the pathogen-fungi-plant interaction have been investigated. The results obtained showed that the AMF G. viscosum is able to enhance the defense antioxidant systems in artichoke plants affected by V. dahliae, alleviating the oxidative stress symptoms. AMF-inoculated plants exhibited significant increases in ascorbate peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, a higher content of ascorbate (ASC) and glutathione (GSH), and a decrease in the levels of lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Hence, G. viscosum may represent an effective strategy for mitigating V. dahliae pathogenicity in artichokes, enhancing the plant defense systems, and improving the nutritional values and benefit to human health

Cross-cultural validation and measurement invariance of the Short Grit scale (Grit-S): preliminary results.

Preliminary results of a cross-cultural validation of the Grit -

MinerAlert: an hybrid approach for web mining detection

The introduction of new memory-based crypto-mining techniques and the rise of new web technologies like WebAssembly, made the use of browsers for crypto-currencies mining more and more convenient and popular. That, in turn, originated a new form of computer piracy, called cryptojacking, which is rapidly gaining ground on the web. A cryptojacking site exploits its visitors’ hardware resources to secretly mine crypto-currencies. This paper analyzes current web-based cryptojacking detection methods in order to propose a novel hybrid strategy. Current detection methods are found to require either considerable computer administration skills or execution privileges usually not available to common users. In this view, a method, named MinerAlert, has been designed and proposed, aiming at detecting in real-time sites performing cryptojacking. To address the limitations of current methods, the method implementation has been achieved through a browser extension. The present paper describes the method’s details and its implementation. It also reports the experimental results of its utilization, showing its positive performances in terms of ease of use, successful detections and speed

Direct Measurement of the Reduced Scattering Coefficient by a Calibrated Random Laser Sensor

The research in optical sensors has been largely encouraged by the demand for low-cost and less or non-invasive new detection strategies. The invention of the random laser has opened a new frontier in optics, providing also the opportunity to explore new possibilities in the field of sensing, besides several different and peculiar phenomena. The main advantage in exploiting the physical principle of the random laser in optical sensors is due to the presence of the stimulated emission mechanism, which allows amplification and spectral modification of the signal. Here, we present a step forward in the exploitation of this optical phenomenon by a revisitation of a previous experimental setup, as well as the measurement method, in particular to mitigate the instability of the results due to shot-to-shot pump energy fluctuations. In particular, the main novelties of the setup are the use of optical fibers, a reference sensor, and a peristaltic pump. These improvements are devoted to: eliminating optical beam alignment issues; improving portability; mitigating the variation in pump energy and gain medium performances over time; realizing an easy and rapid change of the sensed medium. The results showed that such a setup can be considered a prototype for a portable device for directly measuring the scattering of liquid samples, without resorting to complicated numerical or analytic inversion procedures of the measured data, once the suitable calibration of the system is performed

Seismic Response Analysis of Historical Towns Rising on Rock Slabs Overlying a Clayey Substratum

Two case histories are presented which refer to the historical towns of Orvieto and Bisaccia, both located on top of rock buttes overlying a more deformable clayey substratum. The comparison of the two case histories indicates that apparently similar geological conditions do not lead to the same type of seismic response. In fact, the specific physical and dynamic properties of the substratum and the overlying slab can determine different seismic behaviour at the hill top and at the rock-clay interface. In particular, at Bisaccia a deamplification of the seismic motion at the hill top was predicted, as well as the development of excess pore pressures in the clay deposit underneath the conglomerate. On the other hand, at Orvieto significant amplification of surface motion is expected, due to the impedance contrast between the different pyroclastic materials of the rock slab and to the topography effect at the slab edge as well

Seismic Response Analysis of Historical Towns Rising on Rock Slabs Overlying a Clayey Substratum

Two case histories are presented which refer to the historical towns of Orvieto and Bisaccia, both located on top of rock buttes overlying a more deformable clayey substratum. The comparison of the two case histories indicates that apparently similar geological conditions do not lead to the same type of seismic response. In fact, the specific physical and dynamic properties of the substratum and the overlying slab can determine different seismic behaviour at the hill top and at the rock-clay interface. In particular, at Bisaccia a deamplification of the seismic motion at the hill top was predicted, as well as the development of excess pore pressures in the clay deposit underneath the conglomerate. On the other hand, at Orvieto significant amplification of surface motion is expected, due to the impedance contrast between the different pyroclastic materials of the rock slab and to the topography effect at the slab edge as well

Integrated biorefinery strategy for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) accumulation in Cupriavidus necator DSM 545 using a sugar rich syrup from cereal waste and acetate from gas fermentation

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is one of the most well-known biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymers produced by prokaryotic microorganisms. It belongs to the family of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), and it has gained significant attention in recent years due to its potential as a sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics. Cupriavidus necator has been identified as a potential producer of PHB for industrial applications due to its ability to produce high amounts of the polymer under controlled conditions, using a wide range of waste substrates. In this study, the ability of Cupriavidus necator DSM 545 strain to produce PHB was tested in a fed-batch strategy providing two different organic substrates. The first is a sugar-based syrup (SBS), derived from cereal waste. The second is an acetate-rich medium obtained through CO2 -H2 fermentation by the acetogenic bacterium Acetobacterium woodii. The carbon sources were tested to improve the accumulation of PHB in the strain. C. necator DSM 545 proved to be able to grow and to perform high accumulation of biopolymer on waste substrates containing glucose, fructose, and acetate, reaching about 10 g/L of PHB, 83% of biopolymer accumulation in cell dry mass, in 48 h of fed-batch fermentation in 0.6 L working volume in a bioreactor. Moreover, a Life Cycle Assessment analysis was performed to evaluate the environmental impact of the process converting the sugar syrup alone and the integrated one. It demonstrated that the integrated process is more sustainable and that the most impactful step is the PHB production, followed by the polymer extraction

A practical method for gas changing time estimation using a simple gas-liquid mass transfer model

The present work explains a practical and simple method to calculate the gas changing time of anaerobic systems. It is substantiated under the physics of gas-liquid transfer theory and allows researchers to obtain an approximate value of gas changing time with few measurements of the gas composition in the outlet of the reactor. The only analytical equipment required is a gas analyzer, and calculations can be done using a spreadsheet. Along with the validation of the model, a short guide for its application in the laboratory is introduced. The model fits the experimental data with less than 1% error in the composition of the out-gas when no carbon dioxide is involved. This method will allow savings in valuable resources such as time and gases while providing greater comprehension of the characteristics of the gas-liquid transfer of the studied system