Lipid Metabolism and Molecular Changes in Normal andAtherosclerotic Vessels

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Polarization effects in e++e−→dˉ+de^+ +e^-\to \bar d+d and determination of time like deuteron form factors

Polarization effects in the reaction $e^++e^-\to \bar d+d$ have been investigated for the case of longitudinally polarized electron beam and arbitrary polarization of the produced deuteron, with the aim of a determination of the time-like complex deuteron electromagnetic form factors. General expressions of polarization observables are derived and numerical estimations have been carried out by means of various models of deuteron electromagnetic form factors, for kinematical conditions near threshold.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Sistema informativo dinamico per la gestione e l’analisi dei dati archeologici: l’esempio di Pompei

Per decenni i responsabili di progetti e i direttori di scavo hanno fatto ordine in una marea di dati difformi usando diversi sistemi di archiviazione e gestione dei dati (database, sistemi multimediali, sistemi CAD, ecc.). Negli ultimi dieci anni in Italia abbiamo assistito alla diffusione dei Sistemi Informativi Geografici (GIS) per la registrazione, l'organizzazione e la visualizzazione in maniera interattiva di grosse banche di dati archeologici, dando così priorità all'aspetto spaziale e geografico. Il lavoro nasce nell'ambito del Progetto COFIN1998 del MURST, responsabile scientifico Prof. Andrea Carandini dell'Università La Sapienza di Roma. Con tale progetto si intende sperimentare un metodo informatizzato di gestione dello scavo che affianchi alle schede US quante più informazioni possibili. Esso si propone di fornire una registrazione, gestione e analisi completa dello scavo archeologico oltre ad una visualizzazione tridimensionale, scomponibile ed interrogabile nelle sue componenti elementari: le Unità Stratigrafiche (UUSS). Si vuole così affiancare alla solita documentazione grafica fatta di piante e prospetti un nuovo formato che tenga anche conto delle superfici e dei volumi di quanto scavato, nonché delle strutture murarie. Un sistema informatico che fosse in grado di gestire tutti i dati accumulati nei nostri archivi, al fine di automatizzare le procedure scientifiche di acquisizione ed elaborazione dell'informazione e di facilitare la ricostruzione fase per fase di una serie di immagini da sottoporre all'interpretazione storica. Il prototipo che qui presentiamo riguarda lo scavo del Palatino e di alcuni ambienti della Regio VII, 9-11 e più dettagliatamente di un ambiente (VII) della cosiddetta "Casa della Pescatrice" nel corso della campagna 2000 che l'Università La Sapienza di Roma ha condotto a Pompei

Dalla terra al monitor: riflessioni e considerazioni sulla gestione digitale dello scavo archeologico

From Harris revolution to IT revolution the archaeological process has known considerable technical and technological progresses. Despite of it the methodological process is still stopped at the end of the 70ʼs. The result is that the large use of new technologies in archaeological researches pushes up the growth of a new figure of archaeologist, the Digiarchaeologist, considered as a pure technician instead of a researcher himself. The framework in which we are moving today is made of a huge and indiscriminate use of 3D digital technologies, moving the scientific interest from the methodological problem to the technical one. This paper will try to focus on some important points of the research, such as the importance to make strong considerations and evaluations on the effective advantages of using Laser Scanner technology, the importance of the topological aspects for the stratigraphic excavation, the necessity to improve the technological aspects inside the teaching of archaeological methodologies and techniques

Re-thinking landscape archaeology and GIS analyses: a different way of dealing with archaeological landscapes within GIS

Our paper will start from exploring briefly the situation of GIS applications in the archaeological research fieldwork at the beginning of our century, looking at the capabilities and limits until now reached and discovered and will continue by proposing a new theoretical and practical Object-Oriented relational approach for the study of complex archaeological landscapes. Most of archaeologists have been captured finally by new computing technologies believing stili now that sophistication of powerful and expensive GIS software will be enough for high quality outputs and high levels of interpretation. For us, GIS is a set of techniques that at this stage help archaeologists to visualize and to manage huge amounts of georeferenced data and to execute some basic spatial analyses. Spatial Analysis offers several tools to allow archaeologists to move to more complex explanations. Therefore, the purpose of our paper will be to show how with well defined archaeological problems and starting from a well based theory, we can integrate some already existing tools in a GIS framework, moving in such way from beautiful images to complex analyses. Nowadays, most of GIS based archaeological projects are simple databases with a discrete representation of archaeological data in a 2D static space, with functionalities limited to primitive geometric operations used for the calculation of simple and basic relationships or for execute queries and summary descriptions between points (sites) or lines (ancient roads, streams, etc.) or areas (artifact concentrations) in a space. The result is that we have GIS used for the inputs of a huge quantities of data indiscriminately over a map, producing as final results a lot of maps but a lack of theories or hypotheses about the kind of problems archaeologists need to solve and about the relationships between spatial data. On the other hand, archaeologists are working today almost only with environmental variables (topography, lithology, hydrology, etc.) of an area forgetting the importance of social relationships and their interactions in the analyses. Our paper will finally focus on the hypothesis to introduce some elements able to develop a "theory of spatial relationships" needed to study human activities and social spaces. So, we propose a multidimensional and an Object- Oriented Relational approach in order to define and integrate in a GIS framework "activity areas" starting at a first level from the basic features found by archaeologists during the survey (some post-holes, a grave, a hearth, an artifact concentration, etc), anyway considered as "activity features ", and working on the relationships between them, in order to define other more complex levels of analyses. At the end, the purpose of our work is to demonstrate how it is possible to build a pattern of social interactions between different "activity features" (units), starting from a well defined archaeological theory, creating an Object-Oriented model, and integrating some already existing analytical tools in a GIS software (geo-statistic, intra-site spatial testing, visibility, etc.) in order, in such a way, to better define and clarify an historical reading of the archaeological landscape

Hyperexpression of low-density lipoprotein receptors and hydroxy-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A-reductase in human pinguecula and primary Pterygium

PURPOSE: There is now increasing evidence that pterygium and pinguecula are tumorlike tissues and that cell growth and DNA replication are closely linked to cholesterol metabolism. In this study, the expression of two main genes correlated to cholesterol metabolism--namely, the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R) gene and the hydroxy-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A-reductase (HMG-CoA-R) gene--were investigated in primary pterygium, pinguecula, and normal conjunctiva. METHODS: Pterygium, pinguecula, and normal conjunctiva samples were obtained from 30 eyes (50% men) at the time of surgery. Total RNA extracted from the specimens was subjected to semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Equal amounts of total RNA were reverse transcribed into cDNA. The cDNA was subsequently amplified by the PCR in the presence of specific primers for low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R) and for hydroxy-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA-R). RESULTS: Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that the mRNA levels of LDL-R and HMG-CoA-R were increased in pterygia, compared with levels in both pingueculae and normal conjunctivae. Differences were statistically significant (P <0.05), including pingueculae versus normal conjunctivae. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that pterygium and pinguecula have an altered metabolism of cholesterol-namely increased LDL-R and HMG-CoA-R mRNAs-as is characteristic of tumorlike tissues, and that the high expression of LDL receptors renders them amenable to be treated by photodynamic therapy with intravenously injected verteporfin

Rescue archaeology in the sultanate of Oman: methods and solution strategies

This paper aims at presenting the results of the topographic fieldwork of a team of professional archaeologists invited by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture of the Sultanate of Oman to excavate and survey three graveyards in the area of Sohar (Falaji as Souq, Wadi al Arad and Liwa) in 2014 and 2015. The construction of the Batinah Express Highway would have led to the destruction of hundreds of burial mounds, therefore the team developed a quick and accurate surveying strategy to document them properly: after a first “test” campaign using monoscopic photogrammetry, the team opted for 3D SfM photogrammetry using a completely open source workflow. This workflow required two surveyors on the field and in the IT lab to ensure the archaeologists updated orthophotos and to update the 2D and 3D vector plans. To manage the huge mass of data coming from the field the team opted for QGIS and the plugin PyArchInit. The mix of surveying methodology and managing system developed on site allowed the team to document the numerous Stratigraphic Units produced during the excavation of hundreds of graves, and also proved to be very helpful as hermeneutic tool as shown in the case of the excavation of Grave 21

Building a Secure, Location Transparent Object Invocation System

This paper addresses efficient object invocation in distributed systems. Such systems include support for transparent object migration between computers connected by a network, delegation and revocation of access to objects in a system, and very high speed communication between objects, whether they are located in the same machine or across the network from each other. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks can be effectively utilized to implement many of the necessary features of secure, location transparent object invocation. By using the switch controller in an ATM network as a repository for location information, and by mapping virtual circuits to pairwise object interactions with explicitly declared rights of each object, we are able to provide a high performance system that is both secure and simple