Urban Voids After the Pandemic. A New Chance for Greenway

Our proposal deals with the meaning of urban voids in the post-COVID-19 period to suggest new understandings of how urban green corridors can positively affect design for healthier and more sustainable cities. According to Secchi (1986), planning through the void involves a profound revision of the way we think about the city, reversing the points of interest, proposing as polarities the spaces that do not usually emerge. The void thus becomes an opportunity, a chance to improve the structure of our urban landscape (Lopez-Pineiro, 2020). A city is a powerful place, always in motion and transformation. It has an artificial spirit full of surprises and vague limits. It is the scene of remarkable transformations that in their wildness are partially ungovernable by the designers themselves. The desire to control them leaves a series of abandoned and unfinished spaces, “holes” that live from their discontinuity with the surroundings (Labriola, 2021). During a period of crisis, like the one that we are still living with COVID-19 (Fabris et al, 2020), it is common to re-think our cities to create better places for the community. After the long period of forced distance that we lived, an evolution of public space is recommended. During the pandemic, the emptiness of our cities permitted Nature to re-appropriate its spaces. Following this trend and thinking about a new kind of public space where Nature and its inside processes are the protagonists, it is possible to intervene in our cities. The porosity of the urban fabric in towns without humans, blocked at home by the never-ending lockdowns, became a new green corridor that revealed the presence of wildlife (both fauna and flora) as part of a forgotten urban layer that turned visible again. The preservation of this new asset should be possible. The spaces to allow this change can be the abandoned and empty areas present in the contemporary city’s sick body that we can finally heal. The so-called wastelands, voids, or terrain vague, have a significant value independent from the environment in which they are inserted, showing a relationship with the contemporary city extraneous to its rhythms. For this reason, they are the perfect place for experimentation in terms of greenways, a possible starting point to re-think how green can be part of the urban texture and how to conceive public and open spaces after the nowadays crisis. The paper considers the Metropolitan City of Milan as a remarkable case study to understand the pivotal role played by urban voids in the formation of greenways and their capacity of reshaping the environmental, aesthetic and healthy dimensions of urban landscapes

Modelado a microescala de variables eólicas para banco de ensayos eólicos en Neuquén

En el contexto del uso racional de la energía y sustentabilidad energética aplicados en una primera etapa para los edificios de la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue se desarrolla el proyecto de una Central Eléctrica Escuela a partir de Recursos Renovables Combinados para abastecimiento del 70% de la potencia contratada y el 95% de la energía consumida por la FIUNCo. En dicho proyecto la primera etapa de instalación comprende a la generación eólica. En el presente trabajo se caracterizan las condiciones del viento para el sitio donde se instalará el aerogenerador en el predio de la Universidad de acuerdo a sus particularidades geofísicas. Para este estudio a microescala se utilizan los resultados de un modelo diagnóstico de conservación de la masa. Se han obtenido valores medios anuales en general y por cada una de las direcciones del viento a 10 m, 30 m y 50 m de altura. Se establece la dirección más energética del viento, la velocidad media, los parámetros de la distribución de Weibull y la densidad de potencia. Se calculan las velocidades extremas con períodos de retorno de 50 años. Se comparan los resultados con valores medios medidos en la zona observándose una adecuada correspondencia en los valores medios, mientras que los extremos son subestimados. Los resultados obtenidos orientan el proyecto a la instalación de conversores eólicos de hasta 50kW con dos líneas de trabajo diferenciadas por la solución tecnológica de cada una: conversores eólicos de eje horizontal con control por entrada en pérdida aerodinámica (control stall) y conversores eólicos de eje vertical (tipo Darrieus) con control aerodinámico de frenado.Laboratorio de Capa Límite y Fluidodinámica AmbientalGrupo Fluidodinámica Computaciona

Modelado a microescala de variables eólicas para banco de ensayos eólicos en Neuquén

En el contexto del uso racional de la energía y sustentabilidad energética aplicados en una primera etapa para los edificios de la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue se desarrolla el proyecto de una Central Eléctrica Escuela a partir de Recursos Renovables Combinados para abastecimiento del 70% de la potencia contratada y el 95% de la energía consumida por la FIUNCo. En dicho proyecto la primera etapa de instalación comprende a la generación eólica. En el presente trabajo se caracterizan las condiciones del viento para el sitio donde se instalará el aerogenerador en el predio de la Universidad de acuerdo a sus particularidades geofísicas. Para este estudio a microescala se utilizan los resultados de un modelo diagnóstico de conservación de la masa. Se han obtenido valores medios anuales en general y por cada una de las direcciones del viento a 10 m, 30 m y 50 m de altura. Se establece la dirección más energética del viento, la velocidad media, los parámetros de la distribución de Weibull y la densidad de potencia. Se calculan las velocidades extremas con períodos de retorno de 50 años. Se comparan los resultados con valores medios medidos en la zona observándose una adecuada correspondencia en los valores medios, mientras que los extremos son subestimados. Los resultados obtenidos orientan el proyecto a la instalación de conversores eólicos de hasta 50kW con dos líneas de trabajo diferenciadas por la solución tecnológica de cada una: conversores eólicos de eje horizontal con control por entrada en pérdida aerodinámica (control stall) y conversores eólicos de eje vertical (tipo Darrieus) con control aerodinámico de frenado.Laboratorio de Capa Límite y Fluidodinámica AmbientalGrupo Fluidodinámica Computaciona

Modelado a microescala de variables eólicas para banco de ensayos eólicos en Neuquén

En el contexto del uso racional de la energía y sustentabilidad energética aplicados en una primera etapa para los edificios de la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue se desarrolla el proyecto de una Central Eléctrica Escuela a partir de Recursos Renovables Combinados para abastecimiento del 70% de la potencia contratada y el 95% de la energía consumida por la FIUNCo. En dicho proyecto la primera etapa de instalación comprende a la generación eólica. En el presente trabajo se caracterizan las condiciones del viento para el sitio donde se instalará el aerogenerador en el predio de la Universidad de acuerdo a sus particularidades geofísicas. Para este estudio a microescala se utilizan los resultados de un modelo diagnóstico de conservación de la masa. Se han obtenido valores medios anuales en general y por cada una de las direcciones del viento a 10 m, 30 m y 50 m de altura. Se establece la dirección más energética del viento, la velocidad media, los parámetros de la distribución de Weibull y la densidad de potencia. Se calculan las velocidades extremas con períodos de retorno de 50 años. Se comparan los resultados con valores medios medidos en la zona observándose una adecuada correspondencia en los valores medios, mientras que los extremos son subestimados. Los resultados obtenidos orientan el proyecto a la instalación de conversores eólicos de hasta 50kW con dos líneas de trabajo diferenciadas por la solución tecnológica de cada una: conversores eólicos de eje horizontal con control por entrada en pérdida aerodinámica (control stall) y conversores eólicos de eje vertical (tipo Darrieus) con control aerodinámico de frenado.Laboratorio de Capa Límite y Fluidodinámica AmbientalGrupo Fluidodinámica Computaciona

A large ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A predominantly affecting young males in Lazio, Italy; August 2016 - March 2017

The hepatitis A virus (HAV) is mainly transmitted through the faecal-oral route. In industrialized countries HAV infection generally occurs as either sporadic cases in travelers from endemic areas, local outbreak within closed/semi-closed population and as foodborne community outbreak. Recently, an increasing number of HAV infection clusters have been reported among young men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). The Lazio Regional Service for the epidemiology and control for infectious diseases (SeRESMI) has noticed an increase of acute hepatitis A (AHA) since September 2016. Temporal analysis carried out with a discrete Poisson model using surveillance data between January 2016 and March 2017 evidenced an ongoing outbreak of AHA that started at the end of August. Molecular investigation carried out on 130 out of 513 cases AHA reported until March 2017 suggests that this outbreak is mainly supported by an HAV variant which is currently spreading within MSM communities across Europe (VRD_521_2016). The report confirms that AHA is an emerging issue among MSM. In addition through the integration of standard (case based) surveillance with molecular investigation we could discriminate, temporally concomitant but epidemiologically unrelated, clusters due to different HAV variants. As suggested by the WHO, in countries with low HAV circulation, vaccination programmes should be tailored on the local epidemiological patterns to prevent outbreaks among high risk groups and eventual spillover of the infection in the general population

A large ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A predominantly affecting young males in Lazio, Italy; August 2016 - March 2017

The hepatitis A virus (HAV) is mainly transmitted through the faecal-oral route. In industrialized countries HAV infection generally occurs as either sporadic cases in travelers from endemic areas, local outbreak within closed/semi-closed population and as foodborne community outbreak. Recently, an increasing number of HAV infection clusters have been reported among young men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). The Lazio Regional Service for the epidemiology and control for infectious diseases (SeRESMI) has noticed an increase of acute hepatitis A (AHA) since September 2016. Temporal analysis carried out with a discrete Poisson model using surveillance data between January 2016 and March 2017 evidenced an ongoing outbreak of AHA that started at the end of August. Molecular investigation carried out on 130 out of 513 cases AHA reported until March 2017 suggests that this outbreak is mainly supported by an HAV variant which is currently spreading within MSM communities across Europe (VRD_521_2016). The report confirms that AHA is an emerging issue among MSM. In addition through the integration of standard (case based) surveillance with molecular investigation we could discriminate, temporally concomitant but epidemiologically unrelated, clusters due to different HAV variants. As suggested by the WHO, in countries with low HAV circulation, vaccination programmes should be tailored on the local epidemiological patterns to prevent outbreaks among high risk groups and eventual spillover of the infection in the general population

Voyaging in the Pacific

Teaching Oceania is a publication series created with the collaboration of scholars from around the Pacific region to address the need for appropriate literature for undergraduate Pacific Islands Studies students throughout Oceania. The series is designed to take advantage of digital technology to enhance texts with embedded multimedia content, thought-provoking images, and interactive graphs.Teaching Oceania is a publication series created with the collaboration of scholars from around the Pacific region to address the need for appropriate literature for undergraduate Pacific Islands Studies students throughout Oceania. The series is designed to take advantage of digital technology to enhance texts with embedded multimedia content, thought-provoking images, and interactive graphs

TGF-β1 modulates the homeostasis between MMPs and MMP inhibitors through p38 MAPK and ERK1/2 in highly invasive breast cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Metastasis is the main factor responsible for death in breast cancer patients. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors, known as tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs), and the membrane-associated MMP inhibitor (RECK), are essential for the metastatic process. We have previously shown a positive correlation between MMPs and their inhibitors expression during breast cancer progression; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this coordinate regulation remain unknown. In this report, we investigated whether TGF-β1 could be a common regulator for MMPs, TIMPs and RECK in human breast cancer cell models.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The mRNA expression levels of TGF-β isoforms and their receptors were analyzed by qRT-PCR in a panel of five human breast cancer cell lines displaying different degrees of invasiveness and metastatic potential. The highly invasive MDA-MB-231 cell line was treated with different concentrations of recombinant TGF-β1 and also with pharmacological inhibitors of p38 MAPK and ERK1/2. The migratory and invasive potential of these treated cells were examined in vitro by transwell assays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In general, TGF-β2, TβRI and TβRII are over-expressed in more aggressive cells, except for TβRI, which was also highly expressed in ZR-75-1 cells. In addition, TGF-β1-treated MDA-MB-231 cells presented significantly increased mRNA expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-14, TIMP-2 and RECK. TGF-β1 also increased TIMP-2, MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein levels but downregulated RECK expression. Furthermore, we analyzed the involvement of p38 MAPK and ERK1/2, representing two well established Smad-independent pathways, in the proposed mechanism. Inhibition of p38MAPK blocked TGF-β1-increased mRNA expression of all MMPs and MMP inhibitors analyzed, and prevented TGF-β1 upregulation of TIMP-2 and MMP-2 proteins. Moreover, ERK1/2 inhibition increased RECK and prevented the TGF-β1 induction of pro-MMP-9 and TIMP-2 proteins. TGF-β1-enhanced migration and invasion capacities were blocked by p38MAPK, ERK1/2 and MMP inhibitors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Altogether, our results support that TGF-β1 modulates the mRNA and protein levels of MMPs (MMP-2 and MMP-9) as much as their inhibitors (TIMP-2 and RECK). Therefore, this cytokine plays a crucial role in breast cancer progression by modulating key elements of ECM homeostasis control. Thus, although the complexity of this signaling network, TGF-β1 still remains a promising target for breast cancer treatment.</p