Sequential Purification and Crystal Growth for the Production of Low Cost Silicon Substrates: Quarterly Technical Progress Report No. 3, April 1 - June 30, 1980

The objective of this program is to identify and develop low cost processing for fabricating large grain size polycrystalline silicon substrates. Metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) is chosen as the starting material for sequential purification and crystal growth. As shown in the previous two technical reports, several purification techniques have been studied. They include (l) acid leaching with HCl, (2) physical separation of insoluble impurities, (3) reactive gas treatment of molten silicon, and (4) slagging using a mixed-oxide slag. In this quarterly period purification by vacuum treatment and by impurity redistribution using ingot pulling has been studied

Orchestrating Forest Policy in Italy: Mission Impossible?

In the Italian political and economic agenda the forest sector occupies a marginal role. The forest sector in Italy is characterized by a high institutional fragmentation and centralized decision-making processes dominated by Public Forest Administrations. Public participation in forest policy processes has been implemented since the 1990s at national, regional and local levels in several cases. However, today no significant changes have been observed in the overall governance of the forest sector and stakeholders' involvement in Italian forest policy decision-making is still rather limited. The aims of this paper are to describe the state of forest-related participatory processes in Italy at various levels (national, regional and local) and identify which factors and actors hinder or support the establishment and implementation of participatory forest-related processes in the country. The forest-related participatory processes are analyzed adopting a qualitative-based approach and interpreting interactive, complex and non-linear participatory processes through the lens of panarchy theory

Co-constructing a new framework for evaluating social innovation in marginalized rural areas

The EU funded H2020 project \u2018Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas\u2019 (SIMRA; www.simra-h2020.eu) has the overall objective of advancing the state-of-the-art in social innovation. This paper outlines the process for co- developing an evaluation framework with stakeholders, drawn from across Europe and the Mediterranean area, in the fields of agriculture, forestry and rural development. Preliminary results show the importance of integrating process and outcome-oriented evaluations, and implementing participatory approaches in evaluation practice. They also raise critical issues related to the comparability of primary data in diverse regional contexts and highlight the need for mixed methods approaches in evaluation

Marble Architectural Elements and Liturgical Furniture of the Santa Giustina Basilica in Padova : New Archaeometric Data on the Importation of Proconnesian Marble in the Late Antique Adriatic

This paper examines eight marble samples from the architectural elements and liturgical furniture of the ecclesiastical complex of Santa Giustina in Padova (Italy), founded by the Rufus Venantius Opilio before AD 524. The provenance determination of the marbles was carried out by means of a multi-analytical approach combining mineralogical-petrographic investigations, performed by microscopic observations of thin sections, and the measurement of the ratios of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. The results obtained were compared with up-to-date petrographic and isotopic databases (Antonelli and Lazzarini 2015), and they showed that the analyzed marbles come from the quarries of the island of Proconnesus in Asia Minor, modern Marmara Adasi (Turkey). Archaeometric evidence, together with the stylistic and functional analysis of the pieces, suggests the direct importation of a complete set of sculptures, shipped at different stages of workmanship from the workshops of Constantinople and expressly ordered by a single patron, who can be identified as Opilio, founder of the basilica of Santa Giustina and praetorian prefect at the court of King Theodoric

Mechanistic aspects of thioflavin-T self-aggregation and DNA binding: evidence for dimer attack on DNA grooves

Thioflavin-T (TFT) is a fluorescent marker widely employed in biomedical research but the mechanism of its binding to polynucleotides has been poorly understood. This paper presents a study of the mechanisms of TFT self-aggregation and binding to DNA. Relaxation kinetics of TFT solutions show that the cyanine undergoes dimerization followed by dimer isomerisation. The interaction of TFT with DNA has been investigated using static methods, such as spectrophotometric and spectrofluorometric titrations under different conditions (salt content, temperature), fluorescence quenching, viscometric experiments and the T-jump relaxation method. The combined use of these techniques enabled us to show that the TFT monomer undergoes intercalation between the DNA base pairs and external binding according to a branched mechanism. Moreover, it has also been observed that, under dye excess conditions, the TFT dimer binds to the DNA grooves. The molecular structures of intercalated TFT and the groove-bound TFT dimer are obtained by performing QM/MM MD simulations

Caesalpinieae (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae) do campo experimental da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, município de Moju, PA, Brasil.

(Caesalpinieae (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae) do Campo Experimental da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Município de Moju, PA, Brasil). Este trabalho tem como objetivo realizar o estudo florístico-taxonômico da tribo Caesalpinieae, do Campo Experimental da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Moju, PA, complementando o conhecimento da flora local, cujo inventário teve início em 2001; visa também contribuir para o conhecimento das Leguminosae do Estado do Pará. As coletas foram feitas através de técnicas convencionais utilizadas em taxonomia vegetal. A identificação dos espécimes foi realizada, inicialmente, nos herbários IAN e MG, comparando-se com material previamente determinado; a seguir, utilizou-se literatura específica e comparação com os tipos. Caesalpinieae está representada na área por 10 táxons, dos quais Batesia, Campsiandra, Dimorphandra, Libidibia e Vouacapoua apresentam apenas uma espécie cada; Tachigali está representado por cinco espécies. Dimorphandra macrostachya ssp. congestiflora é um novo registro para o Estado do Pará. Neste trabalho são apresentadas descrições e chave para identificação dos táxons estudados, ilustrações detalhadas, área de ocorrência, lista do material examinado e comentários sobre cada táxon tratado

Caesalpinieae (Leguminosae-caesalpinoideae) do campo experimental da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Município de Moju, Estado do Pará, Brasil.

PIBIC 2010. Publicado também no CONGRESSO NACIONAL DE BOTÂNICA, 61., 2010, Manaus

Living myocardial slices for the study of nucleic acid-based therapies

Gene therapy based on viral vectors offers great potential for the study and the treatment of cardiac diseases. Here we explore the use of Living Myocardial Slices (LMS) as a platform for nucleic acid-based therapies. Rat LMS and Adeno-Associated viruses (AAV) were used to optimise and analyse gene transfer efficiency, viability, tissue functionality, and cell tropism in cardiac tissue. Human cardiac tissue from failing (dilated cardiomyopathy) hearts was also used to validate the model in a more translational setting. LMS were cultured at physiological sarcomere length for 72-h under electrical stimulation. Two recombinant AAV serotypes (AAV6 and AAV9) at different multiplicity of infection (MOI) expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) were added to the surface of rat LMS. AAV6 at 20,000 MOI proved to be the most suitable serotype without affecting LMS contractility or kinetics and showing high transduction and penetrability efficiency in rat LMS. This serotype exhibited 40% of transduction efficiency in cardiomyocytes and stromal cells while 20% of the endothelial cells were transduced. With great translational relevance, this protocol introduces the use of LMS as a model for nucleic acid-based therapies, allowing the acceleration of preclinical studies for cardiac diseases