Evaluation of Aglianico grape skin and seed polyphenols astringency by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis of salivary proteins after the binding reaction

SDS–PAGE electrophoresis and densitometry analysis were carried out to evaluate the reactivity of Aglianico red grape skin and seed polyphenols with human salivary proteins in order to find a method able to assess their astringency. Analysis of the supernatant obtained after a tannin/human salivary protein binding assay and sensorial analysis showed that four proteins, lactoferrin, PRPbg1, PRPbg2 and a-amylase, were the proteins best able to distinguish tannin solutions characterised by different levels of astringency. A correlation between densitometric data and tannin concentration was plotted in order to give an indirect measure of astringency. The two sources of Aglianico grape polyphenols differed from each other in astringency power; the seed extract solution was about two-fold more tannic than the skin one. The difference in astringency was also perceived by sensorial analysis. The results from this study show that SDS–PAGE electrophoresis of human salivary proteins after the binding reaction with grape polyphenol extracts, coupled with densitometric analysis and the use of a calibration curve, looks extremely promising as a new approach to evaluate polyphenol astringency

The revision of the 30 October 1901 earthquake, west of Lake Garda (northern Italy)

On 24 November 2004 an earthquake (Mw 5.0) struck the west side of Lake Garda (northern Italy), producing moderate but widespread damage. It provided the opportunity of reviewing the seismicity of all the area over the past two centuries, whose former most significant event is the 30 October 1901 earthquake (Mw 5.5), while other minor but damaging events are the 5 January 1892 (Mw=5.0) and 16 November 1898 (Mw=4.6) earthquakes. On the reviewing we found common similarities in ground shaking distribution as recurrent damaged spots, amplification zones due to local site condition or energy radiation We believe that these findings are suitable to provide information for provisional purposes in low hazard level area hampered by the lack of knowledge about the seismic sources. New data are provided both in MCS scale and EMS. The sensitivity of a source parameters estimation technique was evaluated for the major event

An instrument for low-level measurements of the leakage current from high-voltage biased detectors

Resistive Plates Chambers (RPC) are detectors biased at High-Voltage (HV) in excess of 4 kV. When fired by a particle, they develop a large signal current that can be read across a small resistance, 100 Omega or so. A characterization has been made of their ageing as a function of the behaviour of their leakage current with time. An array of 10 detectors has been developed for this purpose. We present the instrument designed and built to perform a continuous and automatic monitoring of the leakage current from each detector of the array, while the system is taking data. For the particular biasing set-up adopted, the current has been measured in series to the terminal connected to the HV of every channel. Since the small value of the currents, order of tens of nA, a special circuit solution and special precautions have been adopte

il terremoto del 30 Ottobre 1901 e la sismicità del versante occidentale del Garda

On November 24, 2004 a strong earthquake (Ml 5.2), followed by a small seismic sequence, hit the western side of Lake Garda area, producing moderate but widespread damage in the main locality of the area (Salò) and more serious damage in some small villages of the Val Sabbia (Clibbio, Pompegnino). The macroseismic study of the 2004 earthquake has been the opportunity to reappraise the seismicity of the area. The most significant historical earthquake of the area is certainly that occurred on October 30, 1901, well known by the local historical memory. We carried out a revision of the 1901 earthquake, which has significantly improved the informative background; at the same time we reviewed and reassessed the available information on minor earthquakes affecting the area over the past two centuries. The deep review of the 1901 earthquake together with the new data-set allow a better definition of the characteristics of local seismicity and its seismic hazard

Coexistence of single-mode and multi-longitudinal mode emission in the ring laser model

A homogeneously broadened unidirectonal ring laser can emit in several longitudinal modes for large enough pump and cavity length because of Rabi splitting induced gain. This is the so called Risken-Nummedal-Graham-Haken (RNGH) instability. We investigate numerically the properties of the multi-mode solution. We show that this solution can coexist with the single-mode one, and its stability domain can extend to pump values smaller than the critical pump of the RNGH instability. Morevoer, we show that the multi-mode solution for large pump values is affected by two different instabilities: a pitchfork bifurcation, which preserves phase-locking, and a Hopf bifurcation, which destroys it.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Educazione al terremoto. Esperienze e risultati del progetto EDURISK

Experiences and results of the EDURISK project: an educational project to seismic ris

LE ATTIVITA’ INFORMATIVE DELL’INGV IN EMERGENZA SISMICA: MOTIVAZIONI E IPOTESI DI SVILUPPO FUTURO

Negli ultimi anni, in particolare a partire dalla sequenza sismica aquilana del 2009, il tema dell’informazione e della comunicazione collegata ad una situazione di emergenza sismica è diventato oggetto di dibattito pubblico, di discussione all’interno della comunità scientifica, di studio in ambienti disciplinari molto diversi (sociologia della comunicazione, psicologia dell’emergenza, ambito giuridico, ecc.) e di riflessione più generale all’interno del Sistema di protezione civile. In questa nostro lavoro si intende discutere del tema più generale dell’informazione che il Sistema di protezione civile (e la comunità scientifica che ne è una componente essenziale) produce in situazioni di emergenza o post-emergenza. Indubbia è l’importanza di una buona comunicazione, attentamente testata, in momenti di crisi. Essa infatti può aiutare a migliorare la risposta all’emergenza, ridurre i costi del disastro, migliorare la trasparenza del processo decisionale e aumentare il potenziale di accettazione delle conseguenze (Del Lungo, 2012; Wendling et al., 2013). Lo scopo del presente lavoro è quello di sintetizzare ragioni, forme e contenuti delle attività informative che, in modo sempre più organico, sono state realizzate in numerose occasioni, a partire principalmente dal 2009, ipotizzando uno schema di protocollo operativo per la gestione di tali attività. Va ricordato che le esperienze qui descritte sono state realizzate in modo coordinato con il Dipartimento della Protezione Civile e che questa attività è formalmente parte del programma di lavoro annuale all’interno della convenzione decennale DPC-INGV