Planning & Open-Air Demonstrating Smart City Sustainable Districts

The article is focused on the \u201cdemonstration\u201d activities carried out by the University of Genoa at Savona Campus facilities in order to implement the \u201cLiving Lab Smart City\u201d. The idea is to transform the Savona Campus in a Living Lab of the City of the Future: smart technologies in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and energy sectors were installed in order to show a real application of the Smart City concept to population and external stakeholders. Moreover, special attention was given to the environment, personal wellbeing, and social equalities. The sustainable energy Research Infrastructures (RIs) of Savona Campus allowed enhancement of the applied research in degree programs and the collaboration with several companies. In particular, an important partnership with the Italian electric Distribution System Operator (DSO), ENEL S.p.A., started in 2017 to test the capability of these RIs to operate disconnected from the National Grid, relying only on the supply of renewables and storage systems. The \u201cLiving Lab Smart City\u201d is an important action to reduce the carbon footprint of the Savona Campus and to increase the awareness of students, teachers and researchers towards Sustainable Development in Higher Education Institutes

Risk-based dynamic security assessment for power system operation & operational planning

open6noAssessment of dynamic stability in a modern power system (PS) is becoming a stringent requirement both in operational planning and in on-line operation, due to the increasingly complex dynamics of a PS. Further, growing uncertainties in forecast state and in the response to disturbances suggests the adoption of risk-based approaches in Dynamic Security Assessment (DSA). The present paper describes a probabilistic risk-based DSA, which provides instability risk indicators by combining an innovative probabilistic hazard/vulnerability analysis with the assessment of contingency impacts via time domain simulation. The tool implementing the method can be applied to both current and forecast PS states, the latter characterized in terms of renewable and load forecast uncertainties, providing valuable results for operation and operational planning contexts. Some results from a real PS model are discussed.openCiapessoni, Emanuele; Cirio, Diego; Massucco, Stefano*; Morini, Andrea; Pitto, Andrea; Silvestro, FedericoCiapessoni, Emanuele; Cirio, Diego; Massucco, Stefano; Morini, Andrea; Pitto, Andrea; Silvestro, Federic

In vitro cultivation of donor quince shoots affects subsequent morphogenesis in leaf explants.

The effect of in vitro cultivation of donor shoots on subsequent morphogenesis in leaf explants of quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) clone BA29 was investigated. Proliferating donor shoots were cultured in ventilated or closed vessels under different photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFD; 200 and 100 µmol m−2 s−1) with 0, 15, 30 g dm−3 sucrose. Shoots grown in ventilated vessels, especially with sucrose at 15 or 30 g dm−3, were better developed with fully expanded leaves compared to those in standard closed vessels. Leaves collected from pre-treated donor shoots were used to assess regeneration capacity. Somatic embryo production was highest in leaves harvested from shoots cultured in closed vessels with 30 g dm−3 sucrose and in ventilated vessels with 15 and 30 g dm−3 sucrose and under high PPFD which was, in comparison with the control treatment (closed vessel, 30 g dm−3 sucrose and low PPFD), about 2 to 2.5 times higher. A similar response was observed for root regeneration

Assembly and functional analysis of an S/MAR based episome with the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene

Improving the efficacy of gene therapy vectors is still an important goal toward the development of safe and efficient gene therapy treatments. S/MAR (scaffold/matrix attached region)-based vectors are maintained extra-chromosomally in numerous cell types, which is similar to viral-based vectors. Additionally, when established as an episome, they show a very high mitotic stability. In the present study we tested the idea that addition of an S/MAR element to a CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) expression vector, may allow the establishment of a CFTR episome in bronchial epithelial cells. Starting from the observation that the S/MAR vector pEPI-EGFP (enhanced green fluorescence protein) is maintained as an episome in human bronchial epithelial cells, we assembled the CFTR vector pBQ-S/MAR. This vector, transfected in bronchial epithelial cells with mutated CFTR, supported long term wt CFTR expression and activity, which in turn positively impacted on the assembly of tight junctions in polarized epithelial cells. Additionally, the recovery of intact pBQ-S/MAR, but not the parental vector lacking the S/MAR element, from transfected cells after extensive proliferation, strongly suggested that pBQ-S/MAR was established as an episome. These results add a new element, the S/MAR, that can be considered to improve the persistence and safety of gene therapy vectors for cystic fibrosis pulmonary disease

Crisis of Capitalism, Crisis of Labour

Colonial and Global Histor

Planned energy-efficient retrofitting of a residential building in Italy

The planned energy-efficient retrofitting of a residential building in Bologna, North-Center Italy is presented. The building is a detached house with an unheated basement, three floors with 2 apartments each, and an unheated attic. The total heated floor area is 281.9 m2. The external wall is made of solid brick masonry and most windows are single glazed; no thermal insulation is present. Space heating is supplied by a gas boiler and radiators in the rooms. DHW is supplied by single-apartment electric boilers in 5 apartments and by a gas boiler in one apartment. Lighting is obtained by incandescent lamps. The proposed retrofitting includes: external thermal insulation of the vertical walls by calcium  silicate hydrates and loft insulation by mineral wool; replacement of windows; installation of a multifunction air-to-water heat pump for heating, cooling and DHW; replacement of the radiators by new heat exchangers; LED lighting; installation of PV panels. The building has been simulated by TRNSYS 17, and the heat pump has been simulated by own MATLAB codes. The retrofitting will reduce the total annual use of primary energy (excluding appliances) from 332.5 to 44.8 kWh/m2, and will yield an important improvement of thermal comfort

extraction and determination of ascorbate and dehydroascorbate from apoplastic fluid of stem of rooted and non rooted cuttings in relation to the rhizogenesis

Starting from semihardwood branches of peach and plum rootstocks (Prunus cerasifera E.) cv. MRS2/5, plum rootstocks (Prunus cerasifera × P. salicina) × (P. cerasifera × P. persica) cv. Ishtarà and olive tree (Olea europaea L.) cv. Frantoio, cuttings were collected and treated with 0 mg.L-1 and 2500 mg.L-1 of indolebutyric acid (IBA) by immersion in the base of the cuttings. After 60 days of planting, the cultivars MRS 2/5, Ishtarà and Frantoio presented a significative difference with relation to the rooting induction by application of the indolebutyric acid (27.5, 47.5 and 41.25 %, respectively), inducing a higher number of roots per cutting without at the same time significantly increasing the length of the roots themselves. The levels of ascorbate and dehydroascorbate in the rooted and non-rooted cuttings of the three cultivars were determined. These parameters varied in function of the consistency of the cuttings from each species, but showed a positive correlation between the increase of the rooting and the increase of the ascorbate in the reduced form

Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection versus conventional intracytoplasmic sperm injection: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection (IMSI) is still proposed and employed in the clinical practice to improve the reproductive outcome in infertile couples scheduled for conventional intracytoplasmic sperm injection (cICSI). The aim of the current randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to test the hypothesis that IMSI gives a better live birth delivery rate than cICSI. Methods: Infertile couples scheduled for their first cICSI cycle for male factor were allocated using a simple randomization procedure. All available biological and clinical data were recorded and analyzed in a triple-blind fashion. Results: Our final analysis involved the first 121 patients (48 and 73 subjects for IMSI and cICSI arm, respectively) because the trial was stopped prematurely on the advice of the data safety and monitoring Committee because of concerns about IMSI efficacy at the first interim analysis. No significant difference between arms was detected in rates of clinical pregnancy per embryo transferred [11/34 (32.3 %) vs. 15/64 (23.4 %); odds ratio (OR) 1.56, 95 % (confidence interval) CI 0.62–3.93, P = 0.343] and of live birth delivery [9/48 (18.8 %) vs. 11/73 (15.1 %); OR 1.30, 95%CI 0.49–3.42, P = 0.594). Conclusion: Current data did not support the routine use of IMSI in the clinical practice for improving cICSI results in unselected infertile couples with male factor