Acquisition of ownership illusion with self-disownership in neurological patients

The multisensory regions in frontoparietal cortices play a crucial role in the sense of body and self. Disrupting this sense may lead to a feeling of disembodiment, or more generally, a sense of disownership. Experimentally, this altered consciousness disappears during illusory own-body perceptions, increasing the intensity of perceived ownership for an external virtual limb. In many clinical conditions, particularly in individuals with a discontinuous or absent sense of bodily awareness, the brain may effortlessly create a convincing feeling of body ownership over a surrogate body or body part. The immediate visual input dominates the current bodily state and induces rapid plastic adaptation that reconfigures the dynamics of bodily representation, allowing the brain to acquire an alternative sense of body and self. Investigating strategies to deconstruct the lack of a normal sense of bodily ownership, especially after a neurological injury, may aid the selection of appropriate clinical treatment

Nanoparticolati metallici supportati preparati "via" Metal Vapour Synthesis: impiego di sistemi bimetallici Pd-Cu in reazioni di coupling tipo Sonogashira e Glaser

Considerato l'attuale interesse verso l'impiego, come catalizzatori per reazioni di coupling C-C e C-eteroatomo, di nanoparticolati metallici supportati, nonchè di sistemi bimetallici, questo lavoro di tesi ha compreso l'individuazione di efficienti, convenienti e pratiche procedure per alchinilazioni tipo Sonogashira e omocoupling ossidativi tipo Glaser, realizzate appunto grazie all'impiego di un nanoparticolato bimetallico Pd-Cu preparato "via" Metal Vapour Synthesis e supportato su polivinilpiridina (PvPy)nonchè il confronto fra i risultati ottenibili con tale sistema e quelli forniti da sistemi più convenzionali

La fruizione telematica dei carteggi d'artista. Una proposta metodologica e Carlo Finelli Corpus, un corpus epistolare esemplificativo.

Lo studio delle fonti dirette è fondamentale per la storia dell'arte: tra le fonti dirette è opportuno citare i carteggi, dai quali si possono desumere importantissime informazioni sulle opere d'arte e sugli artisti. Tuttavia sono ancora pochi i portali presenti in rete che consentano un accesso libero, rapido e il più completo possibile ai carteggi d'artista. Il presente lavoro è stato ideato con l'obiettivo di offrire una proposta metodologica per realizzare corpora digitali di carteggi d'artista di qualità, utili, completi, usabili e accessibili. Lo studio è inoltre arricchito con un esempio concreto, il progetto "Carlo Finelli Corpus": si tratta del primo corpus di carteggi d'artista realizzato secondo gli standard della proposta metodologica presentata in questo studio. "Carlo Finelli Corpus" contiene le lettere in formato digitale scritte da Carlo Finelli (1782 - 1853), importante scultore neoclassico di Carrara

A multi-adaptive framework for the crop choice in paludicultural cropping systems

The conventional cultivation of drained peatland causes peat oxidation, soil subsidence, nutrient loss, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity reduction. Paludiculture has been identified as an alternative management strategy consisting in the cultivation of biomass on wet and rewetted peatlands. This strategy can save these habitats and restore the ecosystem services provided by the peatlands both on the local and global scale. This paper illustrates the most important features to optimise the crop choice phase, which is the crucial point for the success of paludiculture systems. A multi-adaptive framework was proposed. It was based on four points that should be checked to identify suitable crops for paludicultural cropping system: biological traits, biomass production, attitude to cultivation and biomass quality. The main agronomic implications were explored with the help of some results from a plurennial open-field experimentation carried out in a paludicultural system set up in the Massaciuccoli Lake Basin (Tuscany, Italy) and a complete example of the method application was provided. The tested crops were Arundo donax L., Miscanthus × giganteus Greef et Deuter, Phragmites australis L., Populus × canadensis Moench. and Salix alba L. The results showed a different level of suitability ascribable to the different plant species proving that the proposed framework can discriminate the behaviour of tested crops. Phragmites australis L.was the most suitable crop whereas Populus × canadensis Moench and Miscanthus × giganteus Greef et Deuter (in the case of biogas conversion) occupied the last positions in the ranking

A stacked ensemble learning and non‐homogeneous hidden Markov model for daily precipitation downscaling and projection

Global circulation models (GCMs) are routinely used to project future climate conditions worldwide, such as temperature and precipitation. However, inputs with a finer resolution are required to drive impact-related models at local scales. The non-homogeneous hidden Markov model (NHMM) is a widely used algorithm for the precipitation statistical downscaling for GCMs. To improve the accuracy of the traditional NHMM in reproducing spatiotemporal precipitation features of specific geographic sites, especially extreme precipitation, we developed a new precipitation downscaling framework. This hierarchical model includes two levels: (1) establishing an ensemble learning model to predict the occurrence probabilities for different levels of daily precipitation aggregated at multiple sites and (2) constructing a NHMM downscaling scheme of daily amount at the scale of a single rain gauge using the outputs of ensemble learning model as predictors. As the results obtained for the case study in the central-eastern China (CEC), show that our downscaling model is highly efficient and performs better than the NHMM in simulating precipitation variability and extreme precipitation. Finally, our projections indicate that CEC may experience increased precipitation in the future. Compared with ~26 years (1990–2015), the extreme precipitation frequency and amount would significantly increase by 21.9%–48.1% and 12.3%–38.3%, respectively, by the late century (2075–2100) under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 585 climate scenario

Biomimetic hydroxyapatite nanocrystals are an active carrier for Salmonella bacteriophages

open access articlePurpose: The use of bacteriophages represents a valid alternative to conventional antimicrobial treatments, overcoming the widespread bacterial antibiotic resistance phenomenon. In this work, we evaluated whether biomimetic hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocrystals are able to enhance some properties of bacteriophages. The final goal of this study was to demonstrate that biomimetic HA nanocrystals can be used for bacteriophage delivery in the context of bacterial infections, and contribute – at the same time – to enhance some of the biological properties of the same bacteriophages such as stability, preservation, antimicrobial activity, and so on. Materials and methods: Phage isolation and characterization were carried out by using Mitomycin C and following double-layer agar technique. The biomimetic HA water suspension was synthesized in order to obtain nanocrystals with plate-like morphology and nanometric dimensions. The interaction of phages with the HA was investigated by dynamic light scattering and Zeta potential analyses. The cytotoxicity and intracellular killing activities of the phage–HA complex were evaluated in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. The bacterial inhibition capacity of the complex was assessed on chicken minced meat samples infected with Salmonella Rissen. Results: Our data highlighted that the biomimetic HA nanocrystal–bacteriophage complex was more stable and more effective than phages alone in all tested experimental conditions. Conclusion: Our results evidenced the important contribution of biomimetic HA nanocrystals: they act as an excellent carrier for bacteriophage delivery and enhance its biological characteristics. This study confirmed the significant role of the mineral HA when it is complexed with biological entities like bacteriophages, as it has been shown for molecules such as lactoferrin

Carbon Budget of an Agroforestry System after Being Converted from a Poplar Short Rotation Coppice

Poplar (Populus L. spp.) Short Rotation Coppice systems (SRCs) for bioenergy production are being converted back to arable land. Transitioning to Alley Cropping Systems (ACSs) could be a suitable strategy for integrating former tree rows and arable crops. A field trial (Pisa, Central Italy) was set up with the aim of assessing the C storage of an ACS system based on hybrid poplar and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and comparing it with that of an SRC cultivation system. The carbon budget at the agroecosystem scale was assessed in the first year of the transition using the net biome production (NBP) approach with a simplified method. The overall NBP for the SRC was positive (96 40 g C m2 year1), highlighting that the system was a net carbon sink (i.e., NBP > 0). However, the ACS registered a net C loss (i.e., NBP < 0), since the NBP was 93 56 g C m2 year1. In the first year of the transition, converting the SRC into an ACS counteracted the potential beneficial eect of C storage in tree belowground biomass due to the high heterotrophic respiration rate recorded in the ACS, which was fostered by the incorporation of residues and tillage disturbance in the alley. Additional years of heterotrophic respiration measurements could allow for an estimate of the speed and extent of C losses