The Nora Virtual Tour: an immersive visit in the ancient city

The ancient city of Nora was a Phoenician, Punic and Roman settlement rising on a peninsula in the south-western coast of Sardinia. Since 1990, the University of Padova has been carrying on an interdisciplinary research project of excavation, architectural analysis, historical reconstruction and cultural promotion of tourism in this site. The excavations allow us to increase our knowledge of Middle Imperial Roman urban planning and to get a better understanding of the whole city and its history; the restoration of excavated monuments using gravels with different colours helps more than 60,000 tourists every year to recognize the function of different areas. In spite of this, visitors experience difficulty in understanding a landscape of ruins with barely visible evidence. Thus, a complete virtual reconstruction of the ancient city has become essential. 3D models of the Phoenician and Roman settlement have been developed, reshaping archaeological plans produced in 25 years by Universities that work in the site. The main monuments of the Roman city and the major crossroads have been rendered in greater detail, using sample-based textures that give a photorealistic effect and implementing the models with furniture and decorations selected through reliable sources of information. 3D reconstructions are now available for tourist groups led by a guide in the Nora Virtual Tour: stereoscopic images have been rendered and uploaded in an app for mobile headsets that provides immersive virtual reality for the users. The guide controls the devices with a tablet using a Bluetooth connection: at the beginning of the visit, the tourists can view equirectangular panoramas of the ruins taken from a helicopter, then they are accompanied to hot-spots where the ancient monuments are shown in an evocative Roman reconstruction

SIRT1 in Neurodevelopment and Brain Senescence

Sirtuins are nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacylases that have traditionally been linked with calorie restriction and aging in mammals. These proteins also play an important role in maintaining neuronal health during aging. During neuronal development, the SIR2 ortholog SIRT1 is structurally important, promoting axonal elongation, neurite outgrowth, and dendritic branching. This sirtuin also plays a role in memory formation by modulating synaptic plasticity. Hypothalamic functions that affect feeding behavior, endocrine function, and circadian rhythmicity are all regulated by SIRT1. Finally, SIRT1 plays protective roles in several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and motor neuron diseases, which may relate to its functions in metabolism, stress resistance, and genomic stability. Drugs that activate SIRT1 may offer a promising approach to treat these disorders

The Optimized Model of Multiple Invasion Percolation

We study the optimized version of the multiple invasion percolation model. Some topological aspects as the behavior of the acceptance profile, coordination number and vertex type abundance were investigated and compared to those of the ordinary invasion. Our results indicate that the clusters show a very high degree of connectivity, spoiling the usual nodes-links-blobs geometrical picture.Comment: LaTeX file, 6 pages, 2 ps figure

The N-steps Invasion Percolation Model

A new kind of invasion percolation is introduced in order to take into account the inertia of the invader fluid. The inertia strength is controlled by the number N of pores (or steps) invaded after the perimeter rupture. The new model belongs to a different class of universality with the fractal dimensions of the percolating clusters depending on N. A blocking phenomenon takes place in two dimensions. It imposes an upper bound value on N. For pore sizes larger than the critical threshold, the acceptance profile exhibits a permanent tail.Comment: LaTeX file, 12 pages, 5 ps figures, to appear in Physica

Social Media in Relation to Cooperate Social Responsibility in Fast Food Industry

This paper focuses on analyzing the role of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+,Youtube) with regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR), specifically in the fast food industry. The objectives are to identify the use of social media platforms by fast food restaurants, identify if social media integrate corporate social responsibility in their business thereby limiting marketing of unhealthy meals on their websites, and lastly, to find out if marketing of fast food products on social platforms affect users, especially the young people between the age of 15 to 25. The study analyzed and monitored 70 fast food restaurants and their social media activities. 63 0ut of 70 were found to have at least three social media platforms where they promote their products to end users and none of the restaurants have any restriction in marketing any kind of product using social media. Results from questionnaire survey also found that many social media users get adverts from fast food restaurants with 13.85% being affected to buy the food most times and 47.69% sometimes. 81.54% of the participants also agreed that social media can do a great job in limiting the free marketing of unhealthy products by fast food restaurants. Keywords: Social Media, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Stakeholders, fast food

Analisis Proses Pengintegrasian Pendidikan Karakter Dalam Pembelajaran Matematika Kelas X Ilmu Alamsma Negeri 1 Surakarta Tahun Ajaran 2013/2014

The purposes of this research were to: (1) describe the process of integrating the characteristic values of disciplinary, creative, critical thinking, inquiring, and thorough in learning mathematics at the tenth of science class SMA Negeri 1 Surakarta, and (2) describe the students\u27 opinion of the tenth of science class SMA Negeri 1 Surakarta about the integration of the characteristic values of disciplinary, creative, critical thinking, inquiring, and thorough in learning mathematics. Qualitative research was applied in this research. The subject of the research are students and a mathematics teacher of the tenth grade of SMA Negeri 1 Surakarta. The source of data was taken from informants (teacher and students), documentation (lesson plan), and learning activity. Data collection was taken by using interview, observation, and documentation. Data validity used the source of triangulation. Data analysis used Miles and Huberman\u27s concept that are data collection, data reduction, presenting the data, and drawing the conclusion. The result of the research showed as follows. (1) Integrating character education of discipline, teacher did it implicitly (being a model) and explicitly (giving an urge). To integrate the critical character, teacher associates learning with daily life and guiding students analyse the information obtained or given to the students. Creative character done by the teacher in integrating for learning mathematics was to developed active classroom and informed with gave the opportunity for students to express their ideas in solving problems of mathematics questions. The integration of inquiring character in learning mathematics was not visible. To integrate thorough character, teacher planted thorough character by giving the test and urging the students to recheck the result of their works, listen carefully to what the teacher had said. (2) According to students\u27 opinion, teacher had planted the character of disciplinary, creative, critical thinking, inquiring, and thorough. However, there was no explanation about the character of inquiring because the test given was the standard questions so that it cannot encourage students to have inquiry

p53 and telomerase control rat myocardial tissue response to hypoxia and ageing

Cellular senescence implies loss of proliferative and tissue regenerative capability. Also hypoxia, producing Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), can damage cellular components through the oxidation of DNA, proteins and lipids, thus influencing the shortening of telomeres

pPKCα mediated-HIF-1α activation related to the morphological modifications occurring in neonatal myocardial tissue in response to severe and mild hyperoxia

In premature babies birth an high oxygen level exposure can occur and newborn hyperoxia exposure can be associated with free radical oxygen release with impairment of myocardial function, while in adult animal models short exposure to hyperoxia seems to protect heart against ischemic injury. Thus, the mechanisms and consequences which take place after hyperoxia exposure are different and related to animals age. The aim of our work has been to analyze the role played by HIF-1α in the occurrence of the morphological modifications upon hyperoxia exposure in neonatal rat heart. Hyperoxia exposure induces connective compartment increase which seems to allow enhanced blood vessels growth. An increased hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) translocation and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression has been found upon 95% oxygen exposure to induce morphological modifications. Upstream pPKC-α expression increase in newborn rats exposed to 95% oxygen can suggest PKC involvement in HIF-1α activation. Since nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are involved in heart vascular regulation, endothelial NOS (e-NOS) and inducible NOS (i-NOS) expression has been investigated: a lower eNOS and an higher iNOS expression has been found in newborn rats exposed to 95% oxygen related to the evidence that hyperoxia provokes a systemic vasoconstriction and to the iNOS pro-apoptotic action, respectively. The occurrence of apoptotic events, evaluated by TUNEL and Bax expression analyses, seems more evident in sample exposed to severe hyperoxia. All in all such results suggest that in newborn rats hyperoxia can trigger oxygen free radical mediated membrane injury through a pPKCα mediated HIF-1α signalling system, even though specificity of such response could be obtained by in vivo administration to the rats of specific inhibitors of PKCα. This intracellular signalling can switch molecular events leading to blood vessels development in parallel to pro-apoptotic events due to an immature anti-oxidant defensive system in newborn rat hearts