When a state competes with its people over resources : What kind of cooperation? : What kind of partnership? .

Resources are the key point of our relationship with the planet Earth and the tuning of this relationship is the core goal of every human activity claiming to be sustainable. In this context, there is growing concern over the paradigm on which International Cooperation (IC) is currently working. Universities have a role to play in shaping and spreading the new \u201cdevelopment\u201d paradigm. From this point of view, each component of a university should take action. University cooperation, always in collaboration with civil society, could fill the emerging gap between the states who follow the direction of the global economic system and populations, more and more in need of the proper tools to get an equally diffused, grassroots ecological development. This short paper will argue this point of view by presenting a small student association born inside the Faculty of Agronomy in Milan

Lezioni apprese da una lunga esperienza di cooperazione internazionale a supporto dell’agricoltura urbana di Dakar, il caso dei Microjardins

Urban agriculture (UA) is nowadays called to enhance metropolitan resilience in front of a more and more industrialized food chain. One of the many International Cooperation for Development focuses is nowadays on UA. In this paper we discuss the history and diffusion of Microgardening in Dakar, Senegal, drawing some final lessons from this long-lasting project. Since 1999, Microgardens\u2019 network in Dakar received different and various supports. The paper resumes the activities conducted by the University of Milan during the last two years and focuses on the data collection and analysis related to two specific activities: GIS implementation and value chain analysis. ESRI ARC GIS was used to produce participatory cartography and Rapid Market Appraisal (RMA) technique was used to collect information about the Microgardens value chain in Dakar. Building on the results of the Microgardens programme in Dakar we can suggest three general features that should be taken into account when planning future interventions on urban food systems

Photonic integrated reconfigurable linear processors as neural network accelerators

Reconfigurable linear optical processors can be used to perform linear transformations and are instrumental in effectively computing matrix–vector multiplications required in each neural network layer. In this paper, we characterize and compare two thermally tuned photonic integrated processors realized in silicon-on-insulator and silicon nitride platforms suited for extracting feature maps in convolutional neural networks. The reduction in bit resolution when crossing the processor is mainly due to optical losses, in the range 2.3–3.3 for the silicon-on-insulator chip and in the range 1.3–2.4 for the silicon nitride chip. However, the lower extinction ratio of Mach–Zehnder elements in the latter platform limits their expressivity (i.e., the capacity to implement any transformation) to 75%, compared to 97% of the former. Finally, the silicon-on-insulator processor outperforms the silicon nitride one in terms of footprint and energy efficiency

Evaluation des paramètres productifs et quantification d’aflatoxine de sept variétés de maïs (Zea mays L.) testées en Haïti

Maize is the second most consumed cereal in Haiti after rice. Even so national maize yield is low (0.84 t/ha) with high aflatoxin (AF) risk exposure. The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the yield parameters of seven maize varieties tested in a participative approach at Torbeck plain and quantify the aflatoxin content. Two maize varieties are from University of Milan (UNIMI), two from Agriculture College of University Notre Dame of Haiti (UNDH), and the other three, from local farmers of Torbeck. Results revealed that maximal (4.36 t/ha) and minimal (3.14 t/ha) maize grain yield were noted for Tilevy, provided by local farmers and for R4865, from UNIMI (p<0.05), respectively. The maximal correlation was found between maize grain yield and mass of 100 grains (\u3c1= 0.485) followed by the correlation with the number of grains per row (\u3c1= 0.477). AF contamination of tested materials varied from Comayagua (Max: 7.6; average: 5.6\ub11.8 ppb) to Maquina (Max: 151; average: 79.65\ub172.56 ppb). The material R4865, provided by UNIMI showed AF concentration < 20 ppb fixed by US Food and Drugs Administration limits. Therefore, R4865 from UNIMI could be used as the donor of pollen to Tilevy in programs with aim to produce large maize grain quality in Haiti.Le ma\uefs est la deuxi\ue8me c\ue9r\ue9ale la plus consomm\ue9e en Ha\uefti apr\ue8s le riz. Mais, le rendement (Rdt)national reste faible avec de risque \ue9lev\ue9 de contamination d\u2019aflatoxines (AF). L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude est d\u2019\ue9valuer les param\ue8tres productifs de 7 vari\ue9t\ue9s de ma\uefs test\ue9es dans une approche participative \ue0 Torbeck et quantifier les AF. Deux des vari\ue9t\ue9s proviennent de l\u2019Universit\ue9 des Etudes de Milan (UNIMI), 2 de la Facult\ue9 d\u2019Agronomie de l\u2019Universit\ue9 Notre Dame d\u2019Ha\uefti et les 3 autres aupr\ue8s des planteurs de Torbeck. Les r\ue9sultats ont r\ue9v\ue9l\ue9 que les Rdt maximal (4,36 t/ha) et minimal (3,14 t/ha) ont \ue9t\ue9 d\ue9tect\ue9s sur Tilevy, fournie par les producteurs et R4865, provenant d\u2019UNIMI (p<0,05). La corr\ue9lation maximale du Rdt a \ue9t\ue9 not\ue9e avec la masse des 100 grains (\u3c1=0,485) suivie du nombre grains par rang (\u3c1=0,477). Les concentrations d\u2019AF varient de Comayagua (Max : 7,6 ; moyenne : 5,6\ub11,8 ppb) \ue0 Maquina (Max : 151 ; moyenne : 79,65\ub172,56 ppb). R4865 provenant d\u2019UNIMI a r\ue9v\ue9l\ue9 des taux d\u2019AF < 20 ppb, fix\ue9 par la l\ue9gislation am\ue9ricaine. Ainsi, la vari\ue9t\ue9 R4865 d\u2019UNIMI peut \ueatre donneuse de pollen \ue0 Tilevy dans des programmes ayant pour but de produire de grandes quantit\ue9s de grains de qualit\ue9 en Ha\uefti

Passive ocean acoustic tomography: theory and experiment

In this paper the Passive Ocean Acoustic Tomography (P-OAT) methodology is presented. This technique, avoiding the use of a dedicated active sound source, estimates the sea water temperature spatial distribution from the received noise emitted from ships of opportunity. The feasibility of the proposed methodology has been confirmed both by test-runs on semi-synthetic data and by the use of real acoustic and environmental data collected during INTIMATE00 experiment performed on October 2000 in the Atlantic Ocean off the Portuguese coasts

Mitomycin-ifosfamide-cisplatinum (MIP) vs MIP-interferon vs cisplatinum-carboplatin in metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer: a FONICAP randomised phase II study. Italian Lung Cancer Task Force.

The FONICAP group is screening, with randomised phase II studies, the activity of new chemotherapy programmes for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) looking for regimens with > 30% activity. In the present study, three regimens were tested: MIP (mitomycin 6 mg m-2, ifosfamide 3 g m-2, cisplatinum 80 mg m-2 on day 1 every 28 days); MIP-IFN (MIP and interferon alpha-2b 3 MU s.c. three times a week); and PC (cisplatinum 60 mg m-2 and carboplatin 400 mg m-2 on day 1 every 28 days). Overall 93 chemotherapy-naive patients were enrolled: 23 received MIP, 27 received MIP-IFN and 43 received PC. Eighty per cent of the patients had stage IV and 20% stage IIIb disease (positive pleural effusion or supraclavicular nodes). Response rates were as follows: MIP = 9% (95% CI 1-28%), MIP-IFN = 7% (95% CI 1-24%) and PC = 14% (95% CI 5-28%). The overall median survival was 183 days. Grade III-IV leucopenia was observed in 36% of patients treated with MIP-IFN vs 10% in the other two arms, and thrombocytopenia grade III-IV was reported in nearly 10% of patients overall. In conclusion, (1) all three regimens investigated have poor activity (< 30%); (2) when tested in multicentre randomised phase II trials, MIP displays lower activity than in phase II trials; (3) PC has similar activity to other platinum-containing regimens; (4) randomised phase II studies are a reliable and quick method of determining the anti-tumour activity of novel chemotherapeutic regimens in NSCLC

Secondary Metabolite Profile, Antioxidant Capacity, and Mosquito Repellent Activity of Bixa orellana from Brazilian Amazon Region

The Brazilian flora was widely used as source of food and natural remedies to treat various diseases. Bixa orellana L. (Bixaceae), also known as annatto, uruc\uf9, or achiote, is a symbol for the Amazonian tribes that traditionally use its seeds as coloured ink to paint their bodies for religious ceremonies. The aim of this study was to investigate the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profile of B. orellana fresh fruits (in vivo sampled), dried seeds, wood, bark, and leaves analyzed with Headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. A screening on phenolic content (the Folin-Ciocalteu assay) and antiradical activity (DPPH assay) of seeds was also conducted. In addition, the repellent properties of seed extracts against Aedes aegypti L. were investigated. Volatile compounds detected in B. orellana samples consisted mainly of sesquiterpenes, monoterpenes, and arenes: \u3b1-humulene is the major volatile compound present in seed extracts followed by D-germacrene, \u3b3-elemene, and caryophyllene. B. orellana proved to be a good source of antioxidants. Preliminary data on repellency against A. aegypti of three different dried seed extracts (hexane, ethanol, and ethanol/water) indicated a significant skin protection activity. A protection of 90% and 73% for hexane and ethanol/water extracts was recorded