Matteo’s third way: what lessons could Labour learn from Renzi’s success in Italy?

Traditional centre-left parties have experienced difficult electoral results and low polling ratings in a number of European countries in recent years, including the Labour Party in the UK, the SPD in Germany, the PS in France and the PSOE in Spain. Yet one significant exception has been the success of Matteo Renzi and his Democratic Party in Italy, who have enjoyed strong polling figures since Renzi became Italian Prime Minister in February 2014. Francesco Amodio and Angelo Martelli write on Renzi’s success and assess whether there are lessons for other centre-left parties in Europe, notably in the UK given the current Labour leadership contest

DEMO WCLL BB breeding zone cooling system design: analysis and discussion

The Water-Cooled Lithium-Lead (WCLL) Breeding Blanket (BB) is a key component in charge of ensuring Tritium self-sufficiency, shielding the Vacuum Vessel and removing the heat generated in the tokamak plasma. The last function is fulfilled by the First Wall (FW) and Breeding Zone (BZ) independent cooling systems. Several layouts of BZ coolant system have been investigated in the last years in order to identify a configuration that guarantee Eurofer temperature below the limit (823 K) and good thermal-hydraulic performances (i.e. water outlet temperature 601 K). A research activity is conducted to study and compare four configurations, which rely on different arrangement of the stiffening plates (i.e. toroidal-poloidal and radial-poloidal), orientation of the cooling pipes (i.e. horizontal, vertical) and PbLi flow path. The analysis is carried out using a CFD codes, thus a threedimensional finite volume model of each configuration is developed, adopting the commercial ANSYS CFX code. The objective is to compare the BZ cooling system layouts, identifying and discussing advantages and key issues from the thermal-hydraulic point of view, also considering feedbacks from MHD and neutronics analyses. The research activity aims at laying the groundwork for the finalization of the WCLL blanket design, pointing out relevant thermal-hydraulic aspects

Large scale analysis of protein stability in OMIM disease related human protein variants

Modern genomic techniques allow to associate several Mendelian human diseases to single residue variations in different proteins. Molecular mechanisms explaining the relationship among genotype and phenotype are still under debate. Change of protein stability upon variation appears to assume a particular relevance in annotating whether a single residue substitution can or cannot be associated to a given disease. Thermodynamic properties of human proteins and of their disease related variants are lacking. In the present work, we take advantage of the available three dimensional structure of human proteins for predicting the role of disease related variations on the perturbation of protein stability

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of a CPV/T Receiver Suitable for Low Solar Concentration Factors

AbstractSolar energy conversion is one promising technology to provide the building required energy. Generally, the main used technologies are the PV and thermal flat panels, but this situation provides separately electricity and thermal energy. Electrical and Thermal power combined production is available for the concentrating solar but, usually, this technology is applied to devices working at high concentration factor (over 100), which are large and, therefore, are not suitable for roof installations. At lower concentrating factors (less of 50 suns) small linear, mono-axial, roof integrated devices can be designed and built. The solar receiver plays a key role in the performance of energy generation because it houses the solar cells and itis used to recover the thermal solar power: actually, this is the device where solar energy is converted in electrical and thermal power. The radiation flux distribution on the receiver affects the efficiency of the linear solar concentrator system, because in a mono-axial sunrays are not perpendicular to the receiver. This paper describes the numerical and experimental investigation useful to evaluate the performance of a linear low (20 suns) CPV device and to understand the thermal working condition of the solar receiver. The experimental study focuses to a quantitative analysis of the energy transfer from sun to the water. The numerical activity is a CFD conjugate analysis where the solid volume and the fluids are investigated together; the scope is to individuate how the energy flux cross the device

Dynamic behaviour of a battery pack for agricultural applications

Abstract Fight and contrast against climate change and global warming can be considered the most important challenge for the next decades. One of the most involved sectors is the one related to the carriage of passengers and goods, and, recently, also the work vehicles too. The agricultural machines and tractors are no exception to this. Indeed, agricultural industry is the second contributor in terms of pollutant emissions. So, research about agricultural machinery is focusing itself about the development of more sustainable propulsion systems such as hybrid or full-electric solutions. One of the most important components of a hybrid or full electric vehicle is the battery pack. The lack of adequate vibration isolation is the main cause of battery pack failure during operation. In the field of the agricultural vehicles, since the maximum speed is quite low and the weight of the various subsystems are high, combined with heavy working cycles, the dynamic analysis of the battery pack focuses on its low frequency behaviour. In this context, this paper focuses the attention on the dynamic behaviour of a battery pack, thought for a plug-in hybrid electric orchard tractor, through simulations obtained taking advantage of FEM and multibody software. In particular, it will be illustrated the dynamic behaviour of the battery pack while the tractor is moving on a bumpy road and when the tractor chassis is subjected to an impulsive load

Optical coherence tomography in Alzheimer's disease. A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, which is likely to start as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) several years before the its full-blown clinical manifestation. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been used to detect a loss in peripapillary retina nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and a reduction in macular thickness and volume of people affected by MCI or AD. Here, we performed an aggregate meta-analysis combining results from different studies. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data sources were case-control studies published between January 2001 and August 2014 (identified through PubMed and Google Scholar databases) that examined the RNFL thickness by means of OCT in AD and MCI patients compared with cognitively healthy controls. RESULTS: 11 studies were identified, including 380 patients with AD, 68 with MCI and 293 healthy controls (HC). The studies suggest that the mean RNFL thickness is reduced in MCI (weighted mean differences in μm, WMD = -13.39, 95% CI: -17.34 to -9.45, p = 0.031) and, even more so, in AD (WMD = -15.95, 95% CI: -21.65 to -10.21, p<0.0001) patients compared to HC. RNFL in the 4 quadrants were all significantly thinner in AD superior (superior WMD = -24.0, 95% CI: -34.9 to -13.1, p<0.0001; inferior WMD = -20.8, 95% CI: -32.0 to -9.7, p<0.0001; nasal WMD = -14.7, 95% CI: -23.9 to -5.5, p<0.0001; and temporal WMD = -10.7, 95% CI: -19.9 to -1.4, p<0.0001); the same significant reduction in quadrant RNFL was observed in MCI patients compared with HC (Inferior WMD = -20.22, 95% CI: -30.41 to -10.03, p = 0.0001; nasal WMD = -7.4, 95% CI: -10.08 to -4.7, p = 0.0000; and temporal WMD = -6.88, 95% CI: -12.62 to -1.13, p = 0.01), with the exception of superior quadrant (WMD = -19.45, 95% CI: -40.23 to 1.32, p = 0.06). CONCLUSION: Results from the meta-analysis support the important role of OCT for RNFL analysis in monitoring the progression of AD and in assessing the effectiveness of purported AD treatments

Oxidative stress and epigenetic regulation in ageing and age-related diseases

Recent statistics indicate that the human population is ageing rapidly. Healthy, but also diseased, elderly people are increasing. This trend is particularly evident in Western countries, where healthier living conditions and better cures are available. To understand the process leading to age-associated alterations is, therefore, of the highest relevance for the development of new treatments for age-associated diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer and cardiovascular accidents. Mechanistically, it is well accepted that the accumulation of intracellular damage determined by reactive oxygen species (ROS) might orchestrate the progressive loss of control over biological homeostasis and the functional impairment typical of aged tissues. Here, we review how epigenetics takes part in the control of stress stimuli and the mechanisms of ageing physiology and physiopathology. Alteration of epigenetic enzyme activity, histone modifications and DNA-methylation is, in fact, typically associated with the ageing process. Specifically, ageing presents peculiar epigenetic markers that, taken altogether, form the still ill-defined “ageing epigenome”. The comprehension of mechanisms and pathways leading to epigenetic modifications associated with ageing may help the development of anti-ageing therapies