"PROXIMITY" AS A DESIGN STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE, COLLABORATIVE AND INCLUSIVE URBAN PUBLIC SPACES

Public spaces at neighbourhood scale represent the main scenario of citizens’ life, nodes that define an archipelago of places with a key role in promoting and fostering the enhancement and maintenance of the built environment through mutual collaboration. This network of open and built spaces traces the reference infrastructure of urban planning and redevelopment models, based on proximity as device for physical and social relationship, central in the post-pandemic city debate. “The city of proximity” is the first focus addressed by the Atelier of Urban Innovation Lab in Bologna: an exhibition and laboratory space for comparison and co-design of public space, housed inside the City Hall of the Italian metropolitan city of Bologna and co-curated by the Department of Architecture, University of Bologna and the city agency Foundation for the Urban Innovation. The Atelier explores urban dynamics and contemporary challenges using analogue and digital tools investigating the potential of the ecosystem defining the realm of the everyday dynamics – for instance, squares, courtyards, markets, libraries, urban gardens, playgrounds, sport equipment, etc. In addition to the physical transformations linked to the concept of proximity, the design process, the actors involved and the results obtained are considered relevant. This paper, framing the topic on transition city issues, addresses the potential, transversal andrecurrent features of neighborhood spaces with the aim of acknowledging replicable strategies and design practices for collaborative cities based on new form of citizen democracy that encourage the reactivation of places, community creation, resilience to climate change and sustainable mobility, as experimented by the lab-like environment of Urban Innovation Lab Bologna

Bridging the gap between 3D navigation and semantic search. The INCEPTION platform

The paper presents the main outcomes and future development of the INCEPTION project, “Inclusive Cultural Heritage in Europe through 3D semantic modelling”, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Work Programme Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective Societies (Call Reflective-7-2014, Advanced 3D modelling for accessing and understanding European cultural assets) and completed in May 2019. In particular, the key-targeted project achievement will be presented: a specific cloud-based platform conceived to accomplish the main objectives of accessing, understanding and strengthening European Cultural Heritage by means of enriched 3D models. The need for digital data interpretation, in addition to documentation, guided the overall process of the cross-disciplinary work methodology, based on new methods and tools for 3D surveying and H-BIM modelling, new approaches and methodologies for Cultural Heritage 3D data inclusive access and exploitation by means of the Platform

Immunity of honeybee guards reflects their transition from house bees to foragers

Eusocial insect colonies represent some of the most extreme examples of specialized division of labor. Ageing in workers is often associated with a temporal polyethism in the tasks performed both inside and outside the colony. Such behavioral transition is sometimes linked to a gradual reduction in individual immunity. Here, we studied the immune ability of Apis mellifera guard bees, which represent an intermediate stage between house bees working inside the nest and foragers collecting resources outside, to assess if their specific task is associated with an immune specialization. Through immune challenge with Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, we compared the guards ability to clear bacterial cells from their haemolymph with respect to house bees and foragers. Our findings demonstrate that guards do not show an immune specialization linked to their task but seem to represent a transition also in terms of immunity, since their anti-bacterial response appears intermediate between house bees and foragers

Antimicrobial activity of the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus

The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera Dryophthoridae), is an important pest of palms. Knowl- edge of both its natural enemies and its defensive mechanisms against predators and microorganisms is important to develop methods for an integrated pest control. Antimicrobial activity of the cuticular surface of adults and larvae, as well as of eggs, of this invasive species was investigated. This activity was tested against the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis (Ehrenberg) Cohn and Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner, the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli Escherich, and the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin. A similar analysis was con- ducted with the hemolymph of R. ferrugineus\u2019 larvae infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Schroter) Migula, E. coli and Staphy- lococcus aureus Rosenbach. Polar surface fraction of extracts from adults and large larvae inhibits Gram-positive bacteria and the B. bassiana\u2019s growth, but not the growth of E. coli and M. anisopliae. Similarly, the hemolymph of larvae and the surface extracts of both small larvae and eggs seemed not to show any inhibition. Chemical analyses of the fraction exhibiting antimicrobial activ- ity show the presence of some polar compounds ranging between 1000 and 1500 Dalton. This study improves our knowledge on the biology of R. ferrugineus and helps to suggest strategies for the biocontrol of this pest

Early markers for myocardial ischemia and sudden cardiac death.

The post-mortem diagnosis of acute myocardial ischemia remains a challenge for both clinical and forensic pathologists. We performed an experimental study (ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery in rats) in order to identify early markers of myocardial ischemia, to further apply to forensic and clinical pathology in cases of sudden cardiac death. Using immunohistochemistry, Western blots, and gene expression analyses, we investigated a number of markers, selected among those which are currently used in emergency departments to diagnose myocardial infarction and those which are under investigation in basic research and autopsy pathology studies on cardiovascular diseases. The study was performed on 44 adult male Lewis rats, assigned to three experimental groups: control, sham-operated, and operated. The durations of ischemia ranged between 5 min and 24 h. The investigated markers were troponins I and T, myoglobin, fibronectin, C5b-9, connexin 43 (dephosphorylated), JunB, cytochrome c, and TUNEL staining. The earliest expressions (≤30 min) were observed for connexin 43, JunB, and cytochrome c, followed by fibronectin (≤1 h), myoglobin (≤1 h), troponins I and T (≤1 h), TUNEL (≤1 h), and C5b-9 (≤2 h). By this investigation, we identified a panel of true early markers of myocardial ischemia and delineated their temporal evolution in expression by employing new technologies for gene expression analysis, in addition to traditional and routine methods (such as histology and immunohistochemistry). Moreover, for the first time in the autopsy pathology field, we identified, by immunohistochemistry, two very early markers of myocardial ischemia: dephosphorylated connexin 43 and JunB

Il progetto Ariadne

Descrizione dei risultati del progetto di ricerca finanziato dalla Comunità Europea ”ARIADNE - Access, Information and Navigation Support in the Labyrinth of Large Buildings”, finalizzato alla messa a punto di soluzioni tecniche, attrezzature, dispositivi per l’automazione e sistemi telematici in grado di migliorare l’accessibilità e le condizioni di fruibilità dei grandi edifici pubblici da parte dei disabili e degli anziani

Running proposals to assess, manage and prevent the building decay

In 2005 the Emilia Romagna region funded the LARCO research project with the main goal to improve the knowledge in the local building sector. The LEM laboratory of Ferrara, research partner, shares this common objective investigating and promoting the term of building "durability” through the development of easy protocols to manage the building decay, the risk of failures and the maintenance procedures. The project analyses the existing information about the expected lifetime of materials and components and the most effective methods for maintenance and early detection, to promote a major awareness to the building long service life, the risk of failure and the loss of performance inside the building process. In the first stage the state of the art has been investigated, overcoming the traditional concept of "expected" or average lifetime through a risk assessment approach, that is considering all building features as joint parameters with different potential influences on building decay, functional performances and risk for users. The second phase focused some preferred relationships between the analysed features, prioritising the risk and potential effects in premature failures, to underline the importance of blending technical/functional obsolescence and building management needs. The LEM expected results include: in-depth technical tables to analyse, assess and solve the major weaknesses in the building durability (components’ specifications, defects, etc), priority-lists combining technical schemes and the potential sources of decay, specific guidelines and effective protocols to pilot sound decisions about building management or refurbishment. Through the feedback between all the building parties these outcomes will be strictly connected with running proposals to exploit the results (for consulting, technological transfers, etc), to share the knowledge using different kind of media (websites, publications, booklets, etc) and to continuously improve and enlarge the research tools