Control of structural, electronic andoptical properties of eumelanin films by electrospraydeposition

The capability to monitor finely the physical properties of eumelanin, an important class of biopolymers, involved in melanoma cancer pathologies, whose function and intrinsic disorder still collects the interest of many investigators, was achieved by means of electrospray deposition (ESD). By alleviating the problem of the solubility of melanin through the realization of high-quality films it was possible to spread light on the unknown biopolymer supramolecular organization. In fact, on the basis of scanning probe microscopies, electron spectroscopies, and transport properties, it was possible to delineate peculiar features of the melanin organization varying from heteropolymeric to oligomeric in character and eventually turning in a cross-linked secondary molecular structure

The digital whomanities project. Best practices for digital pedagogy in the pandemic era

This paper aims to enter the ongoing debate about the critical issues of digital pedagogy through the presentation of Digital WHOmanities, a series of online conferences and workshops held at the University of Bologna. Distance learning has become one of the most discussed topics in educational institutions during the spread of Covid-19, revealing a discrepancy between the rapid development of technology and the ability of learning environments to adapt to this turn. In view of this ongoing debate, Digital WHOmanities tried to define the complex and multifaceted figure of the digital humanist and to provide a methodological framework that could foster further online academic initiatives. Specifically, the accurate organization of timing and contents and the adoption of synchronous and asynchronous approaches have highlighted the effectiveness of flexible digital didactics

Thyroid Hormone T3 Counteracts STZ Induced Diabetes in Mouse

This study intended to demonstrate that the thyroid hormone T3 counteracts the onset of a Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetes in wild type mice. To test our hypothesis diabetes has been induced in Balb/c male mice by multiple low dose Streptozotocin injection; and a group of mice was contemporaneously injected with T3. After 48 h mice were tested for glucose tolerance test, insulin serum levels and then sacrified. Whole pancreata were utilized for morphological and biochemical analyses, while protein extracts and RNA were utilized for expression analyses of specific molecules. The results showed that islets from T3 treated mice were comparable to age- and sex-matched control, untreated mice in number, shape, dimension, consistency, ultrastructure, insulin and glucagon levels, Tunel positivity and caspases activation, while all the cited parameters and molecules were altered by STZ alone. The T3-induced pro survival effect was associated with a strong increase in phosphorylated Akt. Moreover, T3 administration prevented the STZ-dependent alterations in glucose blood level, both during fasting and after glucose challenge, as well as in insulin serum level. In conclusion we demonstrated that T3 could act as a protective factor against STZ induced diabetes

Infrared Microspectroscopy study of insulin crystals at high pressure

During the last years the coupling of high pressure techniques and infrared spectroscopy has proven to be a very powerful tool in the study of conformational changes of proteins. Protein unfolding and monomerization are events that are expected to take place at high pressure due to the peculiarity of pressure to shift the system towards the state that occupies the minimum volume. We observed the growth of apparently cubic crystals at a pressure of about 4 kbar, subjecting to high pressure a solution of misfolded insulin. Even if high pressure is commonly used to tune the growth rate of crystals, protein crystallization at high pressure is not a well known process and no evidences of the particular case of insulin are present in literature

Are bottom-up enhancement processes just a temporary trend? empirical evidence in italy

The experiences of urban regeneration promoted through social innovation are counted in hundreds in Italy and often significantly contribute to the new use of assets and parts of cities otherwise underutilized or abandoned. In many areas of the country, in particular those most affected by the real estate crisis, assets have changed their function: public property has ceased to represent a reserve of financial value and has become a strategic resource for bottom up social and cultural projects. The research question we intend to face in this paper concerns the lasting or transitory nature of such processes. It is at stake the ability to change permanently the status of public property, no more a deposit of rent available for administrations financially distressed, but resources enabling new forms of local development. We investigated in depth some Italian case studies to better highlight the economic, social and cultural traits of bottom-up regenerations experiences. Some initial results of the research suggest that the ability to transform social and human capital into economic and financial value seems therefore uncertain and, in the absence of a national provision on the matter, depend on the choices made by local authorities

Structure of the Molten Salt Methyl Ammonium Nitrate Explored by Experiments and Theory

We present an analysis of the structure of the monomethylammonium nitrate (MMAN) compound. Vibrational Raman spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction have been used to characterize the bulk phases of MMAN, and assignment of the resonant frequencies has been performed by ab initio (DFT) computations on small clusters of the compound. The theoretical spectra are in excellent agreement with the experimental ones and provide a means by which an interpretation of the hydrogen-bonding network that exists in such compound can be analyzed. In particular, we found that the spectrum of one of the solid phases is structurally very similar to that of the liquid. We present experimental evidence for the existence of such phase both from X-ray data and Raman spectra which, in turn, is easily interpreted with a one-to-one correspondence with the ab initio simulation of the small clusters. A geometric structure of the short-range local arrangement in these two bulk phases is therefore proposed

Participation, culture, entrepreneurship : using public real estate assets to create new urban regeneration models

For years, public real estate assets were considered a reserve available to compensate limited financial resources of the central government. When demand ceased to exist, many public buildings were underused or abandoned. Sometimes with illegality forms of employment tolerated by the owner administrations, sometimes with the more or less support of public authorities, communities of various kinds have found in the public assets the place to create new forms of social and economic organization offering hospitality to new formations of urban life, associations and social entrepreneurs capable of economic and social innovation whose collective benefits concern the city as a whole. The paper aims to address the issue by focusing attention to many changes within the Italian context that, from a technical and cultural point of view, appear important in the broader reasoning on the forms of urban regeneration and policies to support it. Although the processes of enhancement of public real estate assets are a well-established procedure, the intrinsic fragility of the phenomenon requires adequate policies, certainly endowed with financial resources, but above all capable of a renewed cultural attitude