The Impact of Temperature Change on Energy Demand: A Dynamic Panel Analysis

This paper presents an empirical study of energy demand, in which demand for a series of energy goods (Gas, Oil Products, Coal, Electricity) is expressed as a function of various factors, including temperature. Parameter values are estimated econometrically, using a dynamic panel data approach. Unlike previous studies in this field, the data sample has a global coverage, and special emphasis is given to the dynamic nature of demand, as well as to interactions between income levels and sensitivity to temperature variations. These features make the model results especially valuable in the analysis of climate change impacts. Results are interpreted in terms of derived demand for heating and cooling. Non-linearities and discontinuities emerge, making it necessary to distinguish between different countries, seasons, and energy sources. Short- and long-run temperature elasticities of demand are estimated.Energy Demand, Cooling Heating Effect , Temperature, Dynamic Panel

The Impact of Temperature Change on Energy Demand a Dynamic Panel Analysis

This paper presents an empirical study of energy demand, in which demand for a series of energy goods (Gas, Oil Products, Coal, Electricity) is expressed as a function of various factors, including temperature. Parameter values are estimated econometrically, using a dynamic panel data approach. Unlike previous studies in this field, the data sample has a global coverage, and special emphasis is given to the dynamic nature of demand, as well as to interactions between income levels and sensitivity to temperature variations. These features make the model results especially valuable in the analysis of climate change impacts. Results are interpreted in terms of derived demand for heating and cooling. Non-linearities and discontinuities emerge, making necessary to distinguish between different countries, seasons, and energy sources. Short- and long-run temperature elasticities of demand are estimated.Advertising, Media Industries, Broadcasting, Price Discrimination, Television, Radio, Differentiation..

ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATION THROUGH DIGITAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY OF THE SOUTH FACADE OF “LA LOGGIA” PALACE IN BRESCIA (ITALY)

Even though the coming of the laser-scanning technology opens wide to the architectural survey new applicatory ambits and allows to obtain unthinkable representations with traditional survey methodologies, the digital photogrammetry preserves a series of characteristics which favor her in many applications. The choice about the survey of the south façade of the La Loggia palace in Brescia, born from the will to show the potentialities of a survey technique known and tested for decades in the topographic world, but doesn’t still come into the common usual procedures of the architectural survey. Potentialities in terms of precision and completeness of particulars that the close range digital photogrammetry is able to reach through the most recent hardware/software instrumentation. This application is not limited to the study about the new instrumentations and application ambits, but it also tried to define some restitution methodologies of the survey results, so to build architectural table richest as possible of information, but at the same time easy and clear to read also by users without the knowledges necessary to the interpretation of a traditional architectural table. This project born inside an advanced didactic activity in Brescia University, where from some years the topographic group coordinated from Professor Vassena, mobilize the new generation to look after the cultural heritage in the feature through the architectural photogrammetric documentatio

Adipocitoquinas y síndrome metabólico : rol de la vistafina en la patogenia de enfermedad cardiovascular

La enfermedad cardiovascular es la primera causa de morbi-mortalidad en los países industrializados. El síndrome metabólico, caracterizado por hipertensión, dislipidemia, obesidad e hiperglucemia, constituye el principal factor de riesgo para la enfermedad cardiovascular. El tejido adiposo visceral juega un papel fundamental en este proceso, dado que secreta una variedad de sustancias biológicamente activas denominadas adipoquinas o adipocitoquinas, tales como leptina, resistina, adiponectina, factor de necrosis tumoral alfa (TNFa), y visfatina entre otras. La visfatina es una citoquina descubierta recientemente y su rol en la enfermedad cardiovascular es controversial y aún no ha sido completamente dilucidado. Estudios realizados en humanos y en modelos experimentales en animales sugieren que la visfatina tendría un papel muy importante en las patologías asociadas a la enfermedad cardiovascular. Esta revisión intenta mostrar los últimos avances sobre el rol de la visfatina y las principales adipocitoquinas en las patologías cardiovasculares y el síndrome metabólico.Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in western countries. Metabolic syndrome (MS), characterized by hyperlipidemia, hypertension, obesity and hyperglycemia, is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Visceral adipose tissue play a key role in the development of metabolic syndrome since this tissue secrets a variety of bioactive substances named adipokines or adipocytokines such as leptin, resistin, adiponectin, tumor necrosis factor alfa (TNFa), and visfatin. Visfatin has been described recently and its role in cardiovascular disease is controversial and has not yet been fully elucidated. Studies in human and animal experimental models suggest that visfatin would have a key role in the pathologies associates with cardiovascular disease. This review is focused in the role of visfatin as well as the main dipocytokines with cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.Fil: Rodríguez Lanzi, María Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Área de Fisiología PatológicaFil: Miatello, Roberto. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Área de Fisiología PatológicaFil: Vazquez-Prieto, Marcela Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Área de Fisiología Patológic

Domain Translation with Conditional GANs: from Depth to RGB Face-to-Face

Can faces acquired by low-cost depth sensors be useful to see some characteristic details of the faces? Typically the answer is not. However, new deep architectures can generate RGB images from data acquired in a different modality, such as depth data. In this paper we propose a new Deterministic Conditional GAN, trained on annotated RGB-D face datasets, effective for a face-to-face translation from depth to RGB. Although the network cannot reconstruct the exact somatic features for unknown individual faces, it is capable to reconstruct plausible faces; their appearance is accurate enough to be used in many pattern recognition tasks. In fact, we test the network capability to hallucinate with some Perceptual Probes, as for instance face aspect classification or landmark detection. Depth face can be used in spite of the correspondent RGB images, that often are not available for darkness of difficult luminance conditions. Experimental results are very promising and are as far as better than previous proposed approaches: this domain translation can constitute a new way to exploit depth data in new future applications

Garlic and Onion Attenuates Vascular Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Fructose-Fed Rats

This study evaluates the antioxidant and the anti-inflammatory properties of garlic (G) and onion (O) in fructose-fed rats (FFR). Thirty-day-old male Wistar rats were assigned to control (C), F (10% fructose in drinking water), F+T (tempol 1 mM as control antioxidant), F+G, and F+O. Aqueous G and O extracts were administered orally in doses of 150 and 400 mg/kg/d respectively, and along with tempol, were given during the last 8 weeks of a 14-week period. At the end of the study, FFR had developed insulin resistance, aortic NADPH oxidase activity, increased SBP, plasma TBARS and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression in mesenteric arteries, and a decrease in heart endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Garlic and onion administration to F rats reduced oxidative stress, increased eNOS activity, and also attenuated VCAM-1 expression. These results provide new evidence showing the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect of these vegetables

The non-anticoagulant heparin-like K5 polysaccharide derivative K5-N,OSepi attenuates myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury.

Heparin and low molecular weight heparins have been demonstrated to reduce myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, although their use is hampered by the risk of haemorrhagic and thrombotic complications. Chemical and enzymatic modifications of K5 polysaccharide have shown the possibility of producing heparin-like compounds with low anticoagulant activity and strong anti-inflammatory effects. Using a rat model of regional myocardial I/R, we investigated the effects of an epimerized N-,O-sulphated K5 polysaccharide derivative, K5-N,OSepi, on infarct size and histological signs of myocardial injury caused by 30 min. ligature of the left anterior descending coronary artery followed by 1 or 24 h reperfusion. K5-N,OSepi (0.1–1 mg/kg given i.v. 15 min. before reperfusion) significantly reduced the extent of myocardial damage in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we investigated the potential mechanism(s) of the cardioprotective effect(s) afforded by K5-N,OSepi. In left ventricular samples, I/R induced mast cell degranulation and a robust increase in lipid peroxidation, free radical-induced DNA damage and calcium overload. Markers of neutrophil infiltration and activation were also induced by I/R in rat hearts, specifically myeloperoxidase activity, intercellular-adhesion-molecule-1 expression, prostaglandin-E(2) and tumour-necrosis-factor-α production. The robust increase in oxidative stress and inflammatory markers was blunted by K5-N,OSepi, in a dose-dependent manner, with maximum at 1 mg/kg. Furthermore, K5-N,OSepi administration attenuated the increase in caspase 3 activity, Bid and Bax activation and ameliorated the decrease in expression of Bcl-2 within the ischaemic myocardium. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the cardioprotective effect of the non-anticoagulant K5 derivative K5-N,OSepi is secondary to a combination of anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects

Quercetin attenuates adipose hypertrophy, in part through activation of adipogenesis in rats fed a high-fat diet

An impaired capacity of adipose tissue expansion leads to adipocyte hypertrophy, inflammation and insulin resistance (IR) under positive energy balance. We previously showed that a grape pomace extract, rich in flavonoids including quercetin (Q), attenuates adipose hypertrophy. This study investigated whether dietary Q supplementation promotes adipogenesis in the epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) of rats consuming a high-fat diet, characterizing key adipogenic regulators in 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes. Consumption of a high-fat diet for 6 weeks caused IR, increased plasma TNFα concentrations, eWAT weight, adipocyte size and the eWAT/brown adipose tissue (BAT) ratio. These changes were accompanied by decreased levels of proteins involved in angiogenesis, VEGF-A and its receptor 2 (VEGF-R2), and of two central adipogenic regulators, i.e. PPARγ and C/EBPα, and proteins involved in mature adipocyte formation, i.e. fatty acid synthase (FAS) and adiponectin. Q significantly reduced adipocyte size and enhanced angiogenesis and adipogenesis without changes in eWAT weight and attenuated systemic IR and inflammation. In addition, high-fat diet consumption increased eWAT hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) levels and those of proteins involved in adipose inflammation (TLR-4, CD68, MCP-1, JNK) and activation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, i.e. ATF-6 and XBP-1. Q mitigated all these events. Q and quercetin 3-glucoronide prevented TNFα-mediated downregulation of adipogenesis during 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes early differentiation. Together, Q capacity to promote a healthy adipose expansion enhancing angiogenesis and adipogenesis may contribute to reduced adipose hypertrophy, inflammation and IR. Consumption of diets rich in Q could be useful to counteract the adverse effects of high-fat diet-induced adipose dysfunction.Fil: Perdicaro, Diahann Jeanette. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez Lanzi, Maria Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Gambarte Tudela, Julian Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Miatello, Roberto Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Oteiza, Patricia Isabel. University of California. Departments of Nutrition and Environmental Toxicology; Estados UnidosFil: Vazquez, Marcela Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina; Argentin