Temperature Dependent Stress–Strain Behavior and Martensite Stabilization in Magnetic Shape Memory Ni51.1Fe16.4Ga26.3Co6.2 Single Crystal

The superelastic properties and stress-induced martensite (SIM) stabilization have been studied in a shape memory Ni51.1Fe16.4Ga26.3Co6.2 single crystal. The single crystal, characterized by a thermally induced forward martensitic transformation temperature around 56 °C in the initial state, has been submitted to compression mechanical testing at different temperatures well above, near and below the martensitic transformation (MT). After each mechanical test, the characteristic MT temperatures and the transformation enthalpy have been monitored by means of differential scanning calorimetry. At temperatures below MT, the stress–strain (σ–ε) curves show a large strain, around 6.0%, resulting from the detwinning process in the martensitic microstructure, which remains accumulated after unloading in the detwinned state of the sample as a typical behavior of the shape memory alloys (SMAs). After just two “σ–ε + heating” cycles the accumulation of strain was not observed any more indicating the formation of a two-way shape memory effect which consists in a spontaneous recovery of the aforementioned detwinned state of the sample during its cooling across the forward MT. Whereas the thermally induced shape recovery in conventional SMAs occurs at the fixed value of the reverse MT temperature, the heating DSC curves of the mechanically deformed martensite in the present work show a burst-like calorimetric peak at the reverse MT arising at temperatures essentially higher than the thermally activated one. This behavior is the result of the SIM stabilization effect. After a short thermal aging in the stress-free state, this effect almost disappears, showing a slight impact on the MT characteristic temperatures and the enthalpy. At temperatures higher than the transformation one, the SIM is not stabilized, as the mechanically induced martensite fully retransforms into austenite after the unloading. From the σ–ε curves, the critical stress, σc, as well as the values of Young’s moduli of martensite and austenite are determined showing linear dependences on the temperature with a slope of 3.6 MPa/°C.This research has been carried out with the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (project RTI2018-094683-B-C53-54) and Basque Government Department of Education (project IT1245-19) and in the framework of INNOSMAD ID546749 Project, PROGRAMMA DI COOPERAZIONE INTERREG V-A ITALIA SVIZZERA CCI 2014TC16RFCB035. s

Appropriate solid waste management system in Quelimane (Mozambique): study and design of a small-scale center for plastic sorting with wastewater treatment

Appropriate solid waste management (SWM) strategies are necessary to avoid severe environmental and sanitary impacts, especially in low-income countries. Such strategies are most likely to succeed whether implementing actors are supported by scientific research. In this paper, the results of a collaboration between local authorities and researchers are presented and discussed that are the assessment of waste generation in the city of Quelimane (Mozambique), integrating existing and field-collected data and the design of a small-scale center for plastic sorting to complement the SWM system of the city. The center is expected to receive about 0.3-0.4 t/day of plastic waste (5%-7% of the overall amount of plastic waste daily produced in Quelimane). As long-term sustainability represents a typical issue, simplicity of operation was a leading principle in the design of the center; moreover, the design included a treatment plant (WWTP) for generated wastewater, whose management is usually neglected in such interventions. Among others, natural wastewater treatment (constructed wetlands) has been chosen for its affordability. Noteworthy, the so-conceived WWTP appears as a novelty in the scientific literature associated with small-scale plastic sorting plants. The system is designed to treat an average flow of 6 m3/day and consisted of a septic tank followed by a subsurface flow constructed wetland. Overall, the COD (chemical oxygen demand) and TSS (total suspended solids) removal higher than 80% and 90% were estimated, respectively. Based on this work, both the center and the WWTP were successfully realized, which are waiting to become operational. In the authors' opinion, the implemented procedure could become a reference for broader investigations and surveys

Calibration photométrique de l'imageur MegaCam. Analyse des données SnDICE.

version finalePhotometric calibration of wide field imagers is becoming a crucial issue in various cosmological measurements, such as the measurement of the cosmological parameters with type Ia supernovæ. To achieve the accuracy level of 0.1% required by future surveys, several collaborations are studying new instrumental calibration strategies as alternative to the traditional stellar calibration. The LPNHE Cosmology Group is working on the SnDICE project. SnDICE is an innovative and very stable illumination system installed at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to calibrate the MegaCam imager and monitor its performances. The goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of an instrumental photometric absolute calibration with an accuracy at least of 0.1%. In the first part of this thesis, an introduction to the basic concepts is given. The cosmological standard model and the principal probes studied in order to constrain it are presented, before moving to the description of MegaCam and SNDIce. The second part is devoted to the modeling of the MegaCam optics and to the geometrical model allowing to know the relative orientations of the imager and the SnDICE light source in the dome. These two models have been implemented in a ray-tracing soft- ware developed within the CERN ROOT framework in order to simulate the focal plan illumination. This simulation allows one to disentangle the direct light from the secondary contributions due to reflections within the optics of the wide field corrector. Finally the application of the developed tools to the first analysis of the SnDICE calibration poses is presented, discussing the determination of the MegaCam rM passband.L'étalonnage photométrique des imageurs grand champ est à ce jour la principale limitation pour plusieurs mesures de cosmologie, parmi lesquelles celle des paramètres cosmologiques à l'aide des supernovæ de type Ia. Afin d'obtenir l'exactitude de l'ordre de 0.1% nécessaire pour les relevés futurs, les collaborations actives dans ce domaine explorent la possibilité de nouvelles techniques de calibration à l'aide d'instruments dédiés comme alternative à celle traditionnelle à l'aide d'étoiles standard spectrophotométriques. Le groupe du LPNHE a conçu SnDICE, un système d'illumination innovant et très stable qui a été installé dans la dôme du télescope Canada-France-Hawaii pour calibrer l'imageur MegaCam et en suivre les performances. Le but est de démontrer la faisabilité d'une calibration instrumentale absolue exacte à 0.1% ou mieux. Dans la première partie de la thèse, un bref aperçu du modèle standard de la cosmologie et des principales sondes étudiées pour en contraindre les paramètres est suivi par la description de MegaCam et SnDICE. La seconde partie s'attache à présenter la construction d'un modèle optique de MegaCam et d'une modélisation géométrique permettant de connaître les attitudes de MegaCam et SnDICE dans le dôme. Ces deux modèles ont été implémentés dans un logiciel traceur de rayons, créé à l'aide des librairies ROOT, de façon à simuler l'éclairement du plan focal. Cette simulation permet de distin- guer l'illumination directe des contributions dues aux réflexions issues des surfaces du correcteur grand champ. Enfin, est présentée l'application de ces outils pour la première analyse des poses de calibration SnDICE : la détermination de la bande passante rM de MegaCam

LA PELLE: PROCESSI DI LAVORAZIONE NEL RISPETTO DELL'AMBIENTE

Le concerie italiane attivano meccanismi per ridurre l'impatto ambientale e gli agenti inquinanti nelle acque e nell'atmosfera. A confermarlo è il presidente dell'A.I.C.C. e consulete di Conceria Stefania s.p.a

A hybrid multi-step approach for urban area mapping in the Province of Milan, Italy

AbstractRemote sensing products have proven an effective tool for the study of urban areas, from city management to environmental monitoring. This work focuses on the mapping of urban areas in the Province of Milan, Northern Italy, using mid-resolution remote sensing data covering the last 20 years. The methodology consists of three main steps: (i) a pixel-based classification tree, (ii) object-based filtering of agricultural terrain, and (iii) joining of land cover classes into two (urbanized and non-urbanized), adding post-classification editing. The final derived urban maps were validated and demonstrated to reach very good accuracy (error: 7–13%), thus providing reliable thematic information for urban planning of local and regional authorities

SULLE ORME DEL 'CORTEGIANO'. IL 'SAVIO IN CORTE' NELLA TRATTATISTICA DEI SECOLI XVI-XVII

"Il Libro del Cortegiano" di Baldassarre Castiglione, a stampa nel 1528, costituisce l’archetipo di una florida tradizione: numerosi i trattati e i dialoghi che, dopo il 1528, mettono a fuoco qualità e prerogative richieste a corte, confutando oppure corroborando il modello delineato nel classico cinquecentesco. La dissertazione intende vagliare l’eredità dell’opera di Castiglione isolando alcuni temi rintracciabili in contributi pubblicati in volgare dopo il 1528 e sino al 1640; fra gli autori considerati spiccano Pelegro de Grimaldi, Lucio Paolo Rosello, Giovanni Francesco Commendone, Agostino Nifo e Francesco Baldelli (volgarizzatore dell’opera latina di Nifo), Giovanni Andrea Gilio, Giovan Battista Giraldi, Lorenzo Ducci, Sigismondo Sigismondi, Pietro Andrea Canonieri, Giovanni Capponi, Bernardino Castori, Camillo Baldi, Matteo Peregrini, Giovanni Battista Manzini ed Agostino Mascardi, senza dimenticare i più celebri Stefano Guazzo, Giovanni Della Casa, Torquato Tasso. Le proposte di questi autori sono state accostate ed intrecciate alla voce di Castiglione nei primi tre capitoli della tesi, suggellata da una appendice che presenta e riproduce l’inedito "Dialogo di quello che deve fare un servitore di corte per acquistare la grazia del suo signore e farsi amare da tutto il resto della corte" di Camillo Baldi, custodito presso la Biblioteca Classense di Ravenna.Baldassarre Castiglione’s "Libro del Cortegiano", printed in 1528, represents the archetype of a flourishing written tradition: refuting or corroborating the model drafted in the sixteenth-century masterpiece, many essays and dialogues published after 1528 have focused on qualities and prerogatives required at court. The present thesis aims at sifting through Castiglione’s heritage, selecting themes and topics from some works printed in Italian between 1528 and 1640; the authors of the books examined are Pelegro de Grimaldi, Lucio Paolo Rosello, Giovanni Francesco Commendone, Agostino Nifo (his essay, first published in Latin, was translated by Francesco Baldelli), Giovanni Andrea Gilio, Giovan Battista Giraldi, Lorenzo Ducci, Sigismondo Sigismondi, Pietro Andrea Canonieri, Giovanni Capponi, Bernardino Castori, Camillo Baldi, Matteo Peregrini, Giovanni Battista Manzini and Agostino Mascardi, not forgetting the more famous Stefano Guazzo, Giovanni Della Casa, Torquato Tasso. These authors’ proposals have been compared with Castiglione’s ideas in the first three chapters of the thesis, which is completed by an appendix that reproduces and analyzes Camillo Baldi’s "Dialogo di quello che deve fare un servitore di corte per acquistare la grazia del suo signore e farsi amare da tutto il resto della corte", an unpublished work located at the Biblioteca Classense of Ravenna

Optimal galaxy survey for detecting the dipole in the cross-correlation with 21 cm Intensity Mapping

We investigate the future perspectives of the detection of the relativistic dipole by cross-correlating the 21 cm emission in Intensity Mapping (IM) and galaxy surveys at low redshift. We model the neutral hydrogen (HI) and the galaxy population by means of the halo model to relate the parameters that affect the dipole signal such as the biases of the two tracers and the Poissonian noise. We investigate the behavior of the signal-to-noise as a function of the galaxy and magnification biases, for two fixed models of the neutral hydrogen. In both cases we found that the signal-to-noise does not grow by increasing the difference between the biases of the two tracers, due to the larger shot-noise yields by highly biased tracers. We also study and provide an optimal luminosity-threshold galaxy catalogue to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the relativistic dipole. Interestingly, we show that the maximum magnitude provided by the survey does not lead to the maximum signal-to-noise for detecting relativistic effects and we predict the optimal value for the limiting magnitude. Our work suggests that an optimal analysis could increase the signal-to-noise ratio up to a factor five compared to a standard one

Glycine-Spacers Influence Functional Motifs Exposure and Self-Assembling Propensity of Functionalized Substrates Tailored for Neural Stem Cell Cultures

The understanding of phenomena involved in the self-assembling of bio-inspired biomaterials acting as three-dimensional scaffolds for regenerative medicine applications is a necessary step to develop effective therapies in neural tissue engineering. We investigated the self-assembled nanostructures of functionalized peptides featuring four, two or no glycine-spacers between the self-assembly sequence RADA16-I and the functional biological motif PFSSTKT. The effectiveness of their biological functionalization was assessed via in vitro experiments with neural stem cells (NSCs) and their molecular assembly was elucidated via atomic force microscopy, Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. We demonstrated that glycine-spacers play a crucial role in the scaffold stability and in the exposure of the functional motifs. In particular, a glycine-spacer of four residues leads to a more stable nanostructure and to an improved exposure of the functional motif. Accordingly, the longer spacer of glycines, the more effective is the functional motif in both eliciting NSCs adhesion, improving their viability and increasing their differentiation. Therefore, optimized designing strategies of functionalized biomaterials may open, in the near future, new therapies in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Selective inhibition of phosphodiesterase 4D increases tau phosphorylation at Ser214 residue

Tau is a protein that normally participates in the assembly and stability of microtubules. However, it can form intraneuronal hyperphosphorylated aggregates that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders known as tauopathies. Tau can be phosphorylated by multiple kinases at several sites. Among such kinases, the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylates tau at Ser214 (pTAU-S214), an event that was shown to reduce the pathological assembly of the protein. Given that the neuronal cAMP/PKA-activated cascade is involved in synaptic plasticity and memory, and that cAMP-enhancing strategies demonstrated promising therapeutic potential for the treatment of cognitive deficits, we investigated the impact of cAMP on pTAU-S214 in N2a cells and rat hippocampal slices. Our results confirm that the activation of adenylyl cyclase increases pTAU-S214 in both model systems and, more interestingly, this effect is mimicked by GEBR-7b, a phosphodiesterase 4D inhibitor with proven pro-cognitive efficacy in rodents