La portata applicativa della Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell'Unione europea agli stati membri nella giurisprudenza della Corte di giustizia

L'art 51 della Carta dei diritti fondamentali definisce l'ambito di applicazione della stessa, ed essendoci sul punto una giurisprudenza abbastanza recente, il presente lavoro si propone di vedere come la Corte sta interpretando il suddetto articolo

Synthesis and Analysis of the Conformational Preferences of 5-Aminomethyloxazolidine-2,4-dione Scaffolds: First Examples of \u3b22- and \u3b22, 2-Homo-Freidinger Lactam Analogues

Constrained peptidomimetic scaffolds are of considerable interest for the design of therapeutically useful analogues of bioactive peptides. We present the single-step cyclization of (S)- or (R)-\u3b1-hydroxy-\u3b22- or \u3b1-substituted-\u3b1-hydroxy-\u3b22, 2-amino acids already incorporated within oligopeptides to 5-aminomethyl-oxazolidine-2,4-dione (Amo) rings. These scaffolds can be regarded as unprecedented \u3b22- or \u3b22, 2-homo-Freidinger lactam analogues, and can be equipped with a proteinogenic side chain at each residue. In a biomimetic environment, Amo rings act as inducers of extended, semi-bent or folded geometries, depending on the relative stereochemistry and the presence of \u3b1-substituents

A Hazardous Area Personal Monitoring System for Operators in Gas Depots and Storage Tanks

This work describes a smart monitoring system for the detection of flammable gas residues, toxic gases, and reduced oxygen concentrations. The proposed system aims at reducing the risk of fires and explosions, thus increasing the safety of workers engaged in maintenance or inspection of gas storages. The monitoring system is based on compact battery-powered wearable sensor nodes containing sensors for LPG flammable compounds, toxic gases, and oxygen. The designed system can also increase plants safety by incorporating an intrusion detection system, which prevents unauthorized access to safety-critical areas to prevent accidents. The sensor nodes transmit data through a LoRa low power radio channel to a remote server whereas they allow for the identification of the operators for the access to restricted areas exploiting a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) proximity technique

Unsupervised detection of ancestry tracks with the GHap r package

Abstract The identification of ancestry tracks is a powerful tool to assist the inference of evolutionary events in the genomes of animals and plants. However, algorithms for ancestry track detection typically require labelled reference population data. This dependency prevents the analysis of genomic data lacking prior information on genetic structure, and may produce classification bias when samples in the reference data are inadvertently admixed. We combined heuristics with K‐means clustering to deploy a method that can detect ancestry tracks without the provision of lineage labels for reference population data. The resulting algorithm uses phased genotypes to infer individual ancestry proportions and local ancestry. By piling up ancestry tracks across individuals, our method also allows for mapping loci with excess or deficit ancestry from specific lineages. Using both simulated and real genomic data, we found that the proposed method was accurate in inferring genetic structure, assigning chromosomal segments to lineages and estimating individual ancestry, especially in cases where ancestry tracks resulted from recent admixture of highly divergent lineages. The method is implemented as part of the v2 release of the GHap r package (available at https://cran.r‐project.org/package=GHap and https://bitbucket.org/marcomilanesi/ghap/src/master/)

Autonomous IoT Monitoring Matching Spectral Artificial Light Manipulation for Horticulture

This paper aims at demonstrating the energy self-sufficiency of a LoRaWAN-based sensor node for monitoring environmental parameters exploiting energy harvesting directly coming from the artificial light used in indoor horticulture. A portable polycrystalline silicon module is used to charge a Li-Po battery, employed as the power reserve of a wireless sensor node able to accurately monitor, with a 1-h period, both the physical quantities most relevant for the application, i.e., humidity, temperature and pressure, and the chemical quantities, i.e., O(2) and CO(2) concentrations. To this aim, the node also hosts a power-hungry NDIR sensor. Two programmable light sources were used to emulate the actual lighting conditions of greenhouses, and to prove the effectiveness of the designed autonomous system: a LED-based custom designed solar simulator and a commercial LED light especially thought for plant cultivation purposes in greenhouses. Different lighting conditions used in indoor horticulture to enhance different plant growth phases, obtained as combinations of blue, red, far-red and white spectra, were tested by field tests of the sensor node. The energy self-sufficiency of the system was demonstrated by monitoring the charging/discharging trend of the Li-Po battery. Best results are obtained when white artificial light is mixed with the far-red component, closest to the polycrystalline silicon spectral response peak

Environmental Effects on Oxygen Isotope Enrichment of Leaf Water in Cotton Leaves

The oxygen isotope enrichment of bulk leaf water (Db) was measured in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) leaves to test the Craig- Gordon and Farquhar-Gan models under different environmental conditions. Db increased with increasing leaf-to-air vapor pressure difference (VPd) as an overall result of the responses to the ratio of ambient to intercellular vapor pressures (ea/ei) and to stomatal conductance (gs). The oxygen isotope enrichment of lamina water relative to source water ðD1Þ; which increased with increasing VPd, was estimated by mass balance between less enriched water in primary veins and enriched water in the leaf. The Craig-Gordon model overestimated Db (and D1Þ; as expected. Such discrepancies increased with increase in transpiration rate (E), supporting the Farquhar-Gan model, which gave reasonable predictions of Db and D1 with an L of 7.9 mm, much less than the total radial effective length Lr of 43 mm. The fitted values of L for D1 of individual leaves showed little dependence on VPd and temperature, supporting the assumption that the Farquhar-Gan formulation is relevant and useful in describing leaf water isotopic enrichment

The Role of Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns in Shaping Firm Innovativeness: Evidence from Italy

Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the scientific debate concerning the impact of equity crowdfunding on the performance of crowdfunded firms after campaigning. To this aim, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of the campaign and the subsequent firm innovativeness. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a quantitative research approach to evaluate if the entrepreneurial choices affecting the characteristics of the equity crowdfunding campaigns have an impact on the post-campaign firm innovativeness. Findings The results of the models show that the campaign characteristics have a direct impact on the firm innovativeness, both in terms of offering and communication and the campaign performance. Originality/value This paper presents one of the first studies to investigate the relationship between the choice of campaign characteristics and the post-campaign firm innovativeness. As such, the study contributes to both the literature concerning start-up innovation and the literature about the impact of equity crowdfunding

The Role of DNA Amplification and Cultural Growth in Complicated Acute Appendicitis

Bacterial growth of peritoneal fluid specimens obtained during surgical procedures for acute appendicitis may be useful to optimize further antibiotic therapy in complicated cases. DNA amplification represents a fast technique to detect microbial sequences. We aimed to compare the potential of DNA amplification versus traditional bacterial growth culture highlighting advantages and drawbacks in a surgical setting. Peritoneal fluid specimens were collected during surgery from 36 children who underwent appendectomy between May and December 2012. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and cultures were performed on each sample. RT-PCR showed an amplification of 16S in 18/36 samples, <em>Escherichia coli</em> (in 7 cases), <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em> (3), <em>Fusobacterium necrophorum</em> (3), <em>Adenovirus</em> (2), <em>E.coli</em> (1), <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae</em> (1), <em>Serratia marcescens/Enterobacter cloacae</em> (1). Bacterial growth was instead observed only in four patients (3 <em>E.coli</em> and 1 <em>P.aeruginosa</em> and <em>Bacteroides ovatus</em>). Preoperative C-reactive protein and inflammation degree, the most reliable indicators of bacterial translocation, were elevated as expected. DNA amplification was a quick and useful method to detect pathogens and it was even more valuable in detecting aggressive pathogens such as anaerobes, difficult to preserve in biological cultures; its drawbacks were the lack of biological growths and of antibiograms. In our pilot study RT-PCR and cultures did not influence the way patients were treated

Efficient Terahertz Generation Using Fe/Pt Spintronic Emitters Pumped at Different Wavelengths

Recent studies in spintronics have highlighted ultrathin magnetic metallic multilayers as a novel and very promising class of broadband terahertz radiation sources. Such spintronic multilayers consist of ferromagnetic (FM) and non-magnetic (NM) thin films. When triggered by ultrafast laser pulses, they generate pulsed THz radiation due to the inverse spin-Hall effect, a mechanism that converts optically driven spin currents from the magnetized FM layer into transient transverse charge currents in the NM layer, resulting in THz emission. As THz emitters, FM/NM multilayers have been intensively investigated so far only at 800-nm excitation wavelength using femtosecond Ti:sapphire lasers. In this work, we demonstrate that an optimized spintronic bilayer structure of 2-nm Fe and 3-nm Pt grown on 500 {\mu}m MgO substrate is just as effective as a THz radiation source when excited either at {\lambda} = 800 nm or at {\lambda} = 1550 nm by ultrafast laser pulses from a fs fiber laser (pulse width close to 100 fs, repetition rate around 100 MHz). Even with low incident power levels, the Fe/Pt spintronic emitter exhibits efficient generation of THz radiation at both excitation wavelengths. The efficient THz emitter operation at 1550 nm facilitates the integration of such spintronic emitters in THz systems driven by relatively low cost and compact fs fiber lasers without the need for frequency conversion

Time effectiveness of Ultraviolet C light (UVC) emitted by Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in reducing stethoscope contamination

Today it is well demonstrated that stethoscopes can be as contaminated as hands, which are a recognized source of Health-Care Associated Infections (HCAIs). Ultraviolet C (UVC) light has proven disinfection capacity and the innovative UVC technology of Light Emitting Diode (LED) shows several potential benefits. To verify whether the use of UVC LEDs is effective and reliable in stethoscope membrane disinfection after prolonged use, a pre-post intervention study was conducted. A total of 1668 five-minute cycles were performed on two UVC LEDs to simulate their use; thereafter, their disinfection capacity was tested on stethoscope membranes used on a previously auscultated volunteer. Then, a further 1249 cycles were run and finally the LEDs were tested to assess performance in reducing experimental contamination by Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli on the stethoscope membrane. Baseline volunteer contamination identified 104 Colony Forming Units (CFUs) while treated Petri dishes had 12 and 15 CFUs (p < 0.001). Statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) were also found relating to the reduction of specific bacteria: in particular, after treatment no CFU were observed for S. aureus and E. coli. UVC LEDs demonstrated the capacity to maintain high levels of disinfection after more than 240 h of use and they were effective against common microorganisms that are causative agents of HCAIs