Assessment Techniques to Ensure Reliable Electrical Insulation for More Electric Transportation

Partial discharge testing of complete, low-voltage induction machines and dry-type convertor transformers for the More Electric Transportation is discussed. The current standard (i.e. IEC 60034-18-41, 60317-0-1 and 61378\u20131) offers very few answers to the new challenges posed to the insulating systems reliability of these increasingly electrified electrical machines. Based on tests performed on different kind of specimens and the literature, the most promising assessment technique to ensure a reliable insulation is based on optical sensors. In addition, this work seeks to give some precise, but simple, indications on how to take into account the effect of altitude and high frequency in the qualification of an insulation system for More Electric Transportation and the limits of the different standards involved are highlighted

Studio ed implemantazione di un sistema automatizzato per esecuzione di prove di qualità sulle apparecchiature ecografiche

Realizzazione di un sistema automatizzato in grado di valutare i parametri qualitativi di una immagine ecografica, definiti dal capitolato tecnico per la fornitura di apparecchiature ecografiche. Si realizza, inoltre un fantoccio per ecodoppler e un braccio meccanico di supporto al posizionamento del trasduttore ecografic

La figura de Juan el Bautista en la exégesis de Ambrosio de Milán

La figura de Juan Bautista es a menudo objeto de comentario por parte de Ambrosio de Milán, especialmente en la Expositio sobre el Evangelio de Lucas. Los textos evangélicos que hablan del Precursor plantean diversas cuestiones exegéticas y teológicas, que Ambrosio aborda con el trasfondo de la disputa con los Arrianos y los Novacianos. En el centro del discurso se encuentran una serie de importantes binomios conceptuales –Antiguo y Nuevo Testamento, ley y gracia, penitencia y sacramentos– que Ambrosio declina tratando de afirmar tanto la alteridad como la continuidad entre unos y otros. Juan el Bautista es también un ejemplo de ascetismo, útil para la exhortación, y sobre todo un modelo de valentía al oponerse a la injusticia del poder político

Divina scriptura mundus est intelligibilis. L’ermeneutica biblica nel pensiero di Giovanni Scoto Eriugena

2010 - 2011La tesi dottorale di Andrea Cavallini, dal titolo ‘Divina Scriptura mundus est intelligibilis’. L’ermeneutica biblica nel pensiero di Giovanni Scoto Eriugena, prende le mosse dalla constatazione che, nell’ormai vasto panorama della bibliografia eriugeniana, non esistono monografie che esaminino Giovanni Scoto nella sua attività di interprete della Bibbia. L’opera eriugeniana conta solo due scritti che si possono definire ‘esegetici’ in senso tecnico: un’omelia sul prologo di Giovanni e alcuni frammenti di un commento incompleto al quarto Vangelo. Nell’economia del pensiero di Giovanni Scoto, tuttavia, il ruolo giocato dall’ermeneutica biblica è ben più importante di quanto i due scritti suddetti possano far pensare. Anzitutto perché la presenza dell’esegesi nel corpus eriugeniano supera di gran lunga i confini del genere letterario: almeno tre (se non quattro) dei cinque libri che costituiscono il Periphyseon, l’opera più ampia e impegnativa di Giovanni Scoto, sono dedicati alla spiegazione continua del racconto genesiaco della creazione, costituendo così un vero ‘Esamerone’, seppur in forma di dialogo filosofico. Inoltre, se si intende la pratica esegetica in senso ampio, come interpretazione della Scrittura anche al di fuori della cornice del commento continuo al testo, va rilevato che temi biblici sono presenti anche nelle altre opere eriugeniane. Ma, al di là di un discorso quantitativo, il motivo di interesse è soprattutto speculativo. Diversamente da altri autori a lui contemporanei, che si sono limitati ad esercitare l’esegesi o a dichiararne l’importanza o a esporne la metodologia, Giovanni Scoto teorizza una precisa funzione dell’ermeneutica biblica all’interno di un sistema coerente di pensiero. La tesi è divisa in due parti. La prima, intitolata ‘Bibbia ed esegesi nell’epoca carolingia e nell’opera di Giovanni Scoto’, dopo aver tracciato un quadro dell’esegesi carolingia (c. 1), presenta le opere esegetiche eriugeniane e discute l’attribuzione a Giovanni Scoto di un commento sul vangelo di Matteo (c. 2); valuta inoltre il ruolo dell’ermeneutica biblica nel De praedestinatione e nel Periphyseon (c. 3). La seconda parte, intitolata ‘Principî ed esempi di esegesi eriugeniana’, analizza la concezione della Scrittura, nella sua ragion d’essere, origine e forma linguistica (c. 4), studia il ruolo dell’esegesi biblica nella ricerca della verità (c. 5), e nella discussione teologica (c. 6). The doctoral thesis of Andrea Cavallini, entitled ‘Divina Scriptura mundus est intelligibilis’. Biblical hermeneutics in the thought of John Scottus Eriugena, starts from the observation that, in the now vast panorama of eriugenian bibliography, there are no monographs that examine John Scottus in his work as an interpreter of the Bible. There are only two eriugenian works what might be called ‘exegetical’ in the technical sense: an homily on the prologue of John and some fragments of an incomplete commentary on the fourth Gospel. In the economy of the thought of John Scottus, however, the role played by biblical hermeneutics is more important than the two above-mentioned writings might suggest. Firstly, because the presence of exegesis in the eriugenian corpus far exceeds the boundaries of the genre: at least three (if not four) of the five books that constitute the Periphyseon, the largest and most challenging work of John Scottus, are devoted to the explanation of the Genesis story of creation, thus constituting a true ‘Exameron’, albeit in the form of philosophical dialogue. Also, if one intends the exegetical practice broadly, as an interpretation of Scripture even outside the framework of continuous commentary on the text, it should be noted that biblical themes are also present in other eriugenian works. But, beyond the quantity, the source of interest is mainly speculative. Unlike other contemporary authors, who were limited to exercise or to declare the importance of exegesis or outline the methodology, John Scottus theorizes a precise function of biblical hermeneutics within a coherent system of thought. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first, entitled ‘Bible and exegesis of the Carolingian era and work of John Scottus’, after drawing a picture of Carolingian exegesis (c. 1), presents the exegetical works of Eriugena and discusses the assignment to John Scottus of a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (c. 2); also assess the role of biblical hermeneutics in De praedestinatione and Periphyseon (c. 3). The second part, entitled ‘Principles and examples of eriugenian exegesis’, analyzes the concept of Scripture, in its essence, origin and linguistic form (c. 4), studies the role of biblical exegesis in the search for truth (c . 5), and in theological discussion (c. 6). [a cura dell'autore]X n.s

An implantable biosensor array for personalized therapy applications

At present, most of the tests involved in personalized medicine are complex and must be conducted in specialized centers. The development of appropriate, fast and inexpensive diagnostic technologies can encourage medical personnel in performing preventive tests, providing the driving force to push users, industry and administrations to the adoption of personalized therapy policies. In this respect, the development of new biosensors for various healthcare applications needs may represent a concrete incentive. The objective of this PhD project is the development of a fully implantable biosensor plat- form for personalized therapy applications. The thesis present innovative research on the electrochemical detection of common marketed drugs, drug cocktails, glucose and ATP with biosensors based on cytochromes P450 and different oxidases. The inclusion of carbon nan- otubes provided increased sensitivity and detection limit, enabling the detection of several drugs in their therapeutic range in undiluted human serum. A miniaturized, passive substrate capable to host 5 independent biosensor electrodes, a pH sensor, a temperature sensor as well as an interface for the signal processing electron- ics has been designed, microfabricated and tested. Different and reproducible nano-bio- functionalization for the single electrodes was obtained with high spatial resolution via selec- tive electrodeposition of chitosan/carbon nanotubes/enzyme solutions at the various elec- trodes. The array, completely fabricated with biocompatible materials, was then integrated with a CMOS circuit and a remote powering coil for the realization of a fully implantable device. The assembled system has been packaged with an inner moisture barrier in parylene C, to prevent circuit corrosion and toxic metals leaking, and an external biocompatible silicone shell to improve the host tolerance and reduce the local inflammation. The efficacy of the parylene barrier, as well as the toxicity of carbon nanotubes, has been assessed with in-vitro cytotoxicity tests conform to the ISO-109931 standards. The final packaged device was then implanted in mice to assess its short-term biocompatibility. Comparison between 7 and 30 days in in vivo implantations showed significant reduction of the inflammatory response in time, suggesting normal host recovery

Copia and Gypsy retrotransposons activity in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Retrotransposons are heterogeneous sequences, widespread in eukaryotic genomes, which refer to the so-called mobile DNA. They resemble retroviruses, both in their structure and for their ability to transpose within the host genome, of which they make up a considerable portion. <it>Copia</it>- and <it>Gypsy</it>-like retrotransposons are the two main classes of retroelements shown to be ubiquitous in plant genomes. Ideally, the retrotransposons life cycle results in the synthesis of a messenger RNA and then self-encoded proteins to process retrotransposon mRNA in double stranded extra-chromosomal cDNA copies which may integrate in new chromosomal locations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The RT-PCR and IRAP protocol were applied to detect the presence of <it>Copia </it>and <it>Gypsy </it>retrotransposon transcripts and of new events of integration in unstressed plants of a sunflower (<it>Helianthus annuus </it>L.) selfed line. Results show that in sunflower retrotransposons transcription occurs in all analyzed organs (embryos, leaves, roots, and flowers). In one out of sixty-four individuals analyzed, retrotransposons transcription resulted in the integration of a new element into the genome.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicate that the retrotransposon life cycle is firmly controlled at a post transcriptional level. A possible silencing mechanism is discussed.</p

Mindfulness and self-efficacy in pain perception, stress and academic performance. The influence of mindfulness on cognitive processes

Purpose: This study seeks to understand the mediating effects of mindfulness on selfefficacy, academic performance and ability to cope with pain. It further examines the effect of mindfulness on the capacity to cope with pain-induced stress. Whilst there are physiological changes which occur due to mindfulness, it is still not clearly understood how the mechanisms behind mindfulness work or whether the role of self-efficacy is an agent of mindfulness which may impact on performance and stress coping. Participants and methods: A three-part study (n=92) was conducted to test the relationship between mindfulness, self-efficacy and well-being factors, alongside academic performance in university students. Part one involved data collection one month prior to an experiment where trait scores for all factors were used to check pain and well-being behaviors. Part two consisted of participant randomization into three intervention groups(control, sham, mindfulness) and then an exposure to a fear induction task followed by cognitive tasks. The third part consisted of investigating the effect of a short mindfulness intervention on self-efficacy, pain and well-being in students. Results: The results indicate that self-efficacy had a positive effect on well-being factor (study 1 & 3) and in the experiment (study 2). Conclusion: Self-efficacy influenced pain intensity and pain unpleasantness and significantly predicted academic performance. Mindfulness had mixed results in how it influenced self-efficacy. While it influenced well-being and lowered stress (study 1 & 2) in the long term, the mindfulness intervention significantly decreased self efficacy.acceptedVersionpublishedVersio

Different histories of two highly variable LTR retrotransposons in sunflower species

In the Helianthus genus, very large intra- and interspecific variability related to two specific retrotransposons of Helianthus annuus (Helicopia and SURE) exists. When comparing these two sequences to sunflower sequence databases recently produced by our lab, the Helicopia family was shown to belong to the Maximus/SIRE lineage of the Sirevirus genus of the Copia superfamily, whereas the SURE element (whose superfamily was not even previously identified) was classified as a Gypsy element of the Ogre/Tat lineage of the Metavirus genus. Bioinformatic analysis of the two retrotransposon families revealed their genomic abundance and relative proliferation timing. The genomic abundance of these families differed significantly among 12 Helianthus species. The ratio between the abundance of long terminal repeats and their reverse transcriptases suggested that the SURE family has relatively more solo long terminal repeats than does Helicopia. Pairwise comparisons of Illumina reads encoding the reverse transcriptase domain indicated that SURE amplification may have occurred more recently than that of Helicopia. Finally, the analysis of population structure based on the SURE and Helicopia polymorphisms of 32 Helianthus species evidenced two subpopulations, which roughly corresponded to species of the Helianthus and Divaricati/Ciliares sections. However, a number of species showed an admixed structure, confirming the importance of interspecific hybridisation in the evolution of this genus. In general, these two retrotransposon families differentially contributed to interspecific variability, emphasising the need to refer to specific families when studying genome evolution

Variability in LTR-retrotransposon redundancy and proximity to genes between sunflower cultivars and wild accessions.

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) genome contains a very large proportion of transposable elements, especially long-terminal-repeat retrotransposons. Being knowledge on the retrotransposon-related variability within this species still limited, we performed a quantitative and qualitative survey of intraspecific variation of LTR-retrotransposon fraction of the genome across different genotypes of H. annuus, using next generation sequencing technologies. First, we characterized the repetitive component of a sunflower homozygous experimental line, using 454 reads, and prepared a library of retrotransposon-related sequences. Then, we analysed the LTRretrotransposon fraction of 7 wild accessions and 8 cultivars of sunflowerby mapping Illumina reads of the 15 genotypes onto the library. We observed large variations in redundancy among genotypes, at both superfamily and family levels. In another analysis, we mapped Illumina paired reads of the 15 genotypes onto two sets of sequences, i.e. retrotransposons and protein-encoding sequences, and evaluated the extent of retrotransposon proximity to genes in the 15 genomes by counting the number of paired reads of which one mapped onto a retrotransposon and the other onto a gene. Large variability among genotypes was ascertained also for retrotransposonproximity to genes. Both retrotransposon redundancy and proximity to genes showed different behaviour among retrotransposon families and also between cultivated and wild genotypes, indicating a possible involvement in sunflower domestication

Electrical Endurance of Corona-Resistant Polyimide for Electrical Traction

This paper shows the behavior of several dielectric properties of corona-resistant polyimide tapes as a function of thermal (high temperatures) and ambient stress (high humidity coupled with high temperature). The main goal of the investigation is to understand and explain the evolution of the partial discharge endurance of the tapes as a function of nonelectrical aging. The results indicate that polyimide tapes are very stable up to temperatures of 320°C. However, the most elevated temperatures reduce the partial discharge endurance to 50% of the original value. This is probably due to morphological changes in the (outer) nanostructured layers of the tapes