Death of a kingdom: Montenegro and Yufoglavia in WWI

The role of Montenegro in the First World Wa

Vibro-acoustic characterization of CLT plates: analytical model and experimental measurement

Negli ultimi anni, la tecnica costruttiva a pannelli CLT ha riscosso un notevole successo, grazie a costi contenuti, velocità di messa in opera ed alta efficienza energetica con spessori moderati. Proprio per la grande resistenza meccanica i pannelli CLT vengono usati con spessori non eccessivi e quindi relativamente poca massa, per cui risulta critico l’isolamento acustico. Il lavoro di tesi pertanto riguarda lo studio e l’applicazione di metodi numerici e sperimentali per la valutazione del comportamento acustico di pannelli da costruzione in CLT. Si introduce un parametro fondamentale per la descrizione del campo acustico: l'efficienza di radiazione. Questo parametro descrive il rapporto che sussiste fra il suono irradiato e la velocità di vibrazione della lastra, coniugando cioè l’aspetto acustico e quello meccanico. Per la valutazione del parametro non esiste ancora una procedura standardizzata. Si è fatto quindi riferimento a diverse procedure tratte dalla letteratura scientifica in modo da poter comparare i risultati ottenuti. Sono stati applicati il Discrete Calculation Method (DCM) e la proposta di protocollo sperimentale del CSTB. È stata inoltre studiata la curva di dispersione della lastra. La determinazione sperimentale di tale curva risulta importante per poter dare un’ulteriore validazione ai risultati ottenuti con le misure di efficienza di radiazione ed in tal modo completare lo studio del comportamento vibro-acustico di lastre in CLT. I risultati ottenuti con i diversi metodi mostrano una buona compatibilità sia per il calcolo dell'efficienza di radiazione che per la valutazione della curva di dispersione

PD-1 and PD-L1 expression in Multiple Myeloma patients

Multiple myeloma is an incurable plasma cell malignancy with only 30% of patients surviving for more than 10 years. The bone marrow microenvironment is crucial to the survival, proliferation and growth of these malignant plasma cells and has also been heavily implicated in drug resistance. Therefore, therapeutic targeting of the microenvironment has gained interest in conjunction with targeting myeloma cells themselves. Multiple myeloma is an extraordinarily complex hematological disease in regards to its ability to manipulate the cells in the bone marrow microenvironment, as well as its genesis and progression. Multiple myeloma is a malignancy that is heavily associated to relapse after therapy. The strong dependence malignant plasma cells have on the bone marrow microenvironment makes it extremely difficult to effectively treat this disease, with a small residual population of drug-resistant myeloma cells remaining within the bone marrow after nearly all cases of treatment. An important achievement in the immunotherapeutic treatment of cancer was the discovery of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, its function in the evasion of tumor immunity, and the development of targeted antibodies. The PD-1 pathway has been shown to be extraordinarily successful in slowing or clearing tumors in multiple human cancers. Although no definitive biomarker to predict success of PD-1 immunotherapy has been described, the pre-treatment density of CD8+ T cell infiltration and expression of PD-1 or PD-L1 in the tumor microenvironment all correlate with responsiveness to PD-1 targeted therapies. Memory T cells likely play an important role in the response to tumor recurrence and metastases. Blocking PD-L1 may be a more effective therapeutic strategy than blocking PD-1, and that blocking both PD-1 and PD-L1 may be an effective combination. Although the majority of clinical effort has been put towards antibodies blocking PD-1, an antibody blocking PD-L1 interactions with both PD-1 and B7-1 has been approved in non-small cell lung cancer and bladder cancer. Anti- PD-1/PD-L1 antibody treatment could be clinically effective in MM patients by recovering T-cell cytotoxicity and inhibiting reverse signaling from PD-L1 on MM cells. Therefore, the use of combination therapies may significantly improve the impact of checkpoint inhibition as a treatment modality for selected patients. Flow cytometry may be a reliable, easy and value effective tool for the assessment of minimal residual disease in patients with multiple myeloma. Longer remissions that cannot be accurately evaluated with conventional techniques, such as immunofixation and electrophoresis, are achieved by novel drugs, which dramatically enhance patients' outcomes. Understanding the distribution of PD-1/PD-L1 molecules within the bone marrow niche of patients with multiple myeloma and the contribution of immune resistance mechanisms to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade represents a critical step in order to identify the best patient subset that could benefit from this check-point blockade and to provide rationale for new combined therapeutic strategies

THE EFFICIACY OF THE MMPI-2 LEES-HALEY FAKE BAD SCALE (FBS) FOR DIFFERENTIATING NEUROCOGNITIVE AND PSYCHIATRIC FEIGNERS

The FBS (Lees-Haley, 1992) is a relatively new validity scale for the MMPI-2 designed specifically to detect feigned neurocognitive deficit. The aim of the present study was to examine the FBSs efficacy in differentiating psychiatric and neurocognitive feigners using a known-groups design. Malingering tests were administered to 180 individuals undergoing forensic neuropsychiatric evaluations. Based on the malingering test results, participants were classified as honest responders, psychiatric feigners, neurocognitive feigners, or feigning both psychiatric and neurocognitive deficits. The FBS significantly differentiated the 3 feigning groups from the honest group, but it did not discriminate effectively between neurocognitive and psychiatric feigners

APPLYING REACTION TIME (RT) AND EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL (ERPS) MEASURES TO DETECT MALINGERED NEUROCOGNITIVE DEFICIT

This study examined the ability of reaction time (RT) and Event-Related Potentials (ERP) to detect malingered neurocognitive deficit (MNCD)in two new tasks compared to the TOMM (N = 47). Honest (HON), malingering (MAL), and traumatic brain injury (TBI) groups were compared on accuracy, RT and ERP measures. Overall, the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) accuracy was the most effective at classifying groups (hit rate = 100%). Several non-TOMM accuracy variables and RT variables reached hit rates in the range of 71%-88%. The TOMM RT variable had an unlimited time for participants to respond and was the most successful RT variable compared to the Old/New and Repetition Priming tasks that had a short time limit for participants to respond (approximately 1.5 seconds). The classic old/new effect RT pattern was evident for both the HON and TBI groups with significantly faster RTs for old items compared to new items. A logistic regression was employed to see if a RT and/or ERP variable added any unique prediction power in detecting malingering. The frontal-posterior ERP difference score had unique prediction power to detect malingering when classifying MAL vs. TBI (hit rate = 86%). In the Old/New task, ERP responses of HON produced greater activity in the frontal region compared to the posterior region. The opposite trend was found in TBI (posterior activity andgt; frontal) and MAL showed no significant difference

Nei panni di una media Potenza. La Romania e la questione albanese (1913-1914)

In October 1912 the outbreak of the First Balkan War would rapidly change the balance of power in South-Eastern Europe. The signing of the Treaty of London, officially putting an end to the conflict, created the conditions for the establishment of the Principality of Albania, whose fate would be partly entrusted to the International Commission of Control. Romania had at first remained neutral but took part in the Second Balkan War from which it emerged not only with the acquisition of Dobruja but also with an increased status as a regional power. A new status well represented by the Treaty of Bucharest of 10 August 1913. It also raised the question of Aromanian communities, in whose future Romania was extremely interested. Furthermore, questions relating to Albania remained open, both regarding the borders and its future internal structure. Here, Bucharest favoured the accession to the throne of William of Wied, who was relative to the Romanian royal family. During the months of existence of the Principality of Albania, Romania’s commitment was constant and manifested itself through diplomatic action and finally with the sending of volunteers who were supposed to contribute to the formation of an Albanian Army. This paper intends to reconstruct these events and highlight the role played by Romania in its capacity as a regional power in a particularly complex period of European history, between the end of the Balkan Wars and the first phases of the First World War

Chasing net zero: An exploratory space-time analysis of European regions’ industrial carbon emissions

Achieving a net-zero target within the European Union remains a remarkable challenge. Existing literature has predominantly examined carbon emissions at the national level, overlooking sub-national variations crucial for effective mitigation strategies. Moreover, prior studies lack a comprehensive exploration of spatiotemporal interdependencies influencing emissions dynamics within regions. We address these gaps by employing an exploratory space-time data analysis (ESTDA) to a novel panel dataset spanning 13 years and comprising carbon emissions from 238 NUTS-2 regions across 27 EU countries. The results indicate a 33.6 % decline in carbon emissions, likely driven by energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy deployment driven by European policies. However, these measures may have reached their decarbonization limit, as regional disparities in industrial emissions are narrowing and stable emission patterns persist. The study findings also indicate polarized regional clusters, often spanning multiple Member States, which follow similar decarbonization trajectories. This study applies an advanced methodological framework to a novel dataset on industrial carbon emissions across EU regions, enabling the analysis of spatial and temporal interdependencies that shape decarbonization patterns. In terms of policy implications, the findings underscore the limitations of one-size-fitsall climate strategies and emphasize the need for targeted, region-specific interventions to effectively accelerate the transition toward climate neutrality

Regional drivers of industrial decarbonisation: a spatial econometric analysis of 238 EU regions between 2008 and 2020

The European context of socio-economic integration and physical proximity likely plays an essential role in explaining the decarbonisation outcomes of industrial sectors. However, there is hardly any spatial regional analysis on CO2 emissions drivers in European countries. This study investigates the role of geographical space and regional determinants in industrial decarbonisation by analysing how socio-economic drivers and their interregional relationships impact industrial carbon emissions in European regions. We employ a spatial panel data econometric model to a novel panel dataset comprising 13 years (2008–20) of carbon emissions from hard-to-abate industrial sectors from 238 NUTS-2 regions across 27 European Union countries. Results indicate the presence of endogenous spatial interactions and high-time persistence between CO2-eq emissions in European Union regions. As such, industrial carbon emissions of regions follow similar patterns to their neighbours, supporting the evolutionary economic geography and growth theory assumptions of the spatial interaction of carbon emissions between regions. Furthermore, the use of a spatial econometric model illustrates the negative direct and spillover effects that higher levels of education and regional investment in research and development have on industrial CO2-eq emissions