STeMA: new methodologial rules in order to measure the sustainable territorial development

In order to obtain a territorial sustainable vision of development, we need to perform a planning act and relative governance’ rules. It means to build a ‘machine’ or a ‘process’ which produces Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) at different geographical scales. In a territorial dimension this could be used to assess the current and future regional or local capability to be competitive in sustainability (Prezioso, 2006, 2007). The following process has been standardized on a specific methodological approach, Sustainable Territorial Environmental/Economic Management Approach - STeMA , and transformed into logical passages (steps), so to be applied at national (macro), regional (meso) and sub-regional (micro) scales. It is useful to clearly list some axioms explaining why STeMA is the best approach to analyse the “competitiveness in sustainability”, making this procedure smoother and more user-friendly. At the moment, this contribution is a voluntary and pro-active choice; its implications and responsibilities are evident from a political-administrative point of view. In fact, STeMA could assist policy makers in choosing appropriate regional policies, assessing these choices ex ante

Fel Oscillators with Tapered Undulators: Inclusion of Harmonic Generation and Pulse Propagation

We review the theory of FEL oscillators operating with tapered undulators. We consider the case of a uniform tapering and introduce a parameter which characterizes the effect of the tapering on the gain and on the saturation intensity. We analyze the effect of the tapering on the FEL dynamics by including the pulse propagation effects too. We analyze the importance of tapering as a tool to model the optical pulse shapes and to control the higher harmonic intensities

Hybrid Superconducting Neutron Detectors

A new neutron detection concept is presented that is based on superconductive niobium (Nb) strips coated by a boron (B) layer. The working principle of the detector relies on the nuclear reaction 10B+n $\rightarrow$ $\alpha$+ 7Li , with $\alpha$ and Li ions generating a hot spot on the current-biased Nb strip which in turn induces a superconducting-normal state transition. The latter is recognized as a voltage signal which is the evidence of the incident neutron. The above described detection principle has been experimentally assessed and verified by irradiating the samples with a pulsed neutron beam at the ISIS spallation neutron source (UK). It is found that the boron coated superconducting strips, kept at a temperature T = 8 K and current-biased below the critical current Ic, are driven into the normal state upon thermal neutron irradiation. As a result of the transition, voltage pulses in excess of 40 mV are measured while the bias current can be properly modulated to bring the strip back to the superconducting state, thus resetting the detector. Measurements on the counting rate of the device are presented and the future perspectives leading to neutron detectors with unprecedented spatial resolutions and efficiency are highlighted.Comment: 8 pages 6 figure

The curve of lines on a prime Fano threefold of genus 8

We show that a general prime Fano threefold X of genus 8 can be reconstructed from the pair $(\Gamma,L)$, where $\Gamma$ is its Fano curve of lines and $L=O_{\Gamma}(1)$ is the theta-characteristic which gives a natural embedding \Gamma \subset \matbb{P}^5.Comment: 24 pages, misprints corrected, to appear in International Journal of Mathematic

Deep Saturated Free Electron Laser Oscillators and Frozen Spikes

We analyze the behavior of Free Electron Laser (FEL) oscillators operating in the deep saturated regime and point out the formation of sub-peaks of the optical pulse. They are very stable configurations, having a width corresponding to a coherence length. We speculate on the physical mechanisms underlying their growth and attempt an identification with FEL mode locked structures associated with Super Modes. Their impact on the intra-cavity nonlinear harmonic generation is also discussed along with the possibility of exploiting them as cavity out-coupler.Comment: 28 page

Cu-catalyzed Si-NWS grown on “carbon paper” as anodes for Li-ion cells

The very high theoretical capacity of the silicon (4200mAh/g more than 10 times larger than graphite), environmental-friendly, abundant and low-cost, makes it a potential candidate to replace graphite in high energy density Li-ion batteries. As a drawback, silicon suffers from huge volume changes (300%) on alloying and dealloying with Li, leading a structural deformation that induces disruption. The use of nanostructured silicon materials has been shown to be an effective way to avoid this mechanical degradation of the active material. In this paper the synthesis of silicon nanowires, grown on a highly porous 3D-like carbon paper substrate by CVD using Cu as the catalyst, is presented. The use of carbon paper allows to achieve remarkable loadings of active material (2-5 mg/cm2) and, consequently, high capacity densities. The silicon electrode was investigated both morphologically and electrochemically. To improve the electrochemical performance various strategies have been carried out. It was observed that a very slow first cycle (C/40), which helps the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase on the silicon surface, improves the performance of the cells; nevertheless, their cycle life has been found not fully satisfactory. Morphological analysis of the Si-NWs electrodes before and after cycling showed the presence of a dense silicon layer below the nanowires which could reduce the electrical contact between the active material and the substrate

Reduced recognition of facial emotional expressions in global burnout and burnout depersonalization in healthcare providers

The healthcare provider profession strongly relies on the ability to care for others' emotional experiences. To what extent burnout may relate to an actual alteration of this key professional ability has been little investigated. In an experimentally controlled setting, we investigated whether subjective experiences of global burnout or burnout depersonalization (the interpersonal component of burnout) relate to objectively measured alterations in emotion recognition and to what extent such alterations are emotion specific. Healthcare workers (n = 90) completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a dynamic emotion recognition task in which faces with neutral emotional expressions gradually changed to display a specific basic emotion (happiness, anger, fear, or sadness). Participants were asked to identify and then classify each displayed emotion. Before the task, a subsample of 46 participants underwent two salivary cortisol assessments. Individuals with global burnout were less accurate at recognizing others' emotional expressions of anger and fear, tending to misclassify these as happiness, compared to individuals without global burnout. Individuals with high burnout depersonalization were more accurate in recognizing happiness and less accurate in recognizing all negative emotions, with a tendency to misclassify the latter as positive ones, compared to healthcare workers with moderate/low depersonalization. Moreover, individuals with high depersonalization-but not participants with global burnout-were characterized by higher cortisol levels. These results suggest that the subjective burnout experience relates to an actual, but selective, reduction in the recognition of facial emotional expressions, characterized by a tendency to misclassify negative emotional expressions as positive ones, perhaps due to an enhanced seeking of positive social cues. This study adds to the understanding of emotional processing in burnout and paves the way for more nuanced studies on the role of altered processing of threat signals in the development and/or persistence of burnout

Crystallization of Ge and Si in metal films. II

Heat treatment of evaporated Si in contact with Ag films and Ge in contact with Al films results in the formation of precipitates of the semiconductor in a metal matrix. The structure of these precipitates was studied by transmission electron microscopy and diffraction (TEMD) and MeV 4He ion channeling techniques. TEMD studies showed that the semiconductor precipitates were crystalline in nature. Channeling techniques showed that the crystallites did not have a simple orientation relationship with the underlying single-crystal substrate

Study of the stability of a paramagnetic label linked to mesoporous silica surface in contact with rat mesothelial cells in culture.

Stable radicals detectable by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) may be use in the investigation of early events in cell-particle toxicity. Piperidine-N-oxyl derivatives (nitroxides), covalently linked to the surface of a high surface area silica (used as model solid for the technique), served as probes in the investigation of the effects of incubation of silica particles with mesothelial cells. A mesoporous silica (MCM-41), prepared by precipitation from a micellar solution, was the most appropriate silica-based particle for this purpose, as its channels allow direct contact with small molecules but not with macromolecules. The cytotoxicity of this amorphous silica is very low, allowing relatively high particle loading in the cell cultures. Both the high surface area of the sample and the large amount of inorganic material extracted from the cell culture provide enough material to run reasonably intense EPR spectra. Computer-aided analysis of the EPR spectra of silica-bound nitroxides provided information on the sensitivity of the labeled silica monitoring different environments, e.g., to follow the path of particles in a mammalian cell culture. Upon contact of the particles with mesothelial cells, the mean distance among the labels at the silica surface decreased as a consequence of the release of oxidizing and/or radical moieties from the cells