Europeana communication bug: which intervention strategy for a better cooperation with creative industry?

Although Europeana as well as many GLAMs are very engaged - beside the main mission, i.e. spreading cultural heritage knowledge- in developing new strategies in order to make digital contents reusable for creative industry, these efforts have been successful just only in sporadic cases. A significant know how deficits in communication often compromises expected outcomes and impact. Indeed, what prevails is an idea of communication like an enhancement “instrument” intended on the one hand in purely economic (development) sense, on the other hand as a way for increasing and spreading knowledge. The main reference model is more or less as follows: digital objects are to be captured and/or transformed by digital technologies into sellable goods to put into circulation. Nevertheless, this approach risks neglecting the real nature of communication, and more in detail the one of digital heritage where it is strategic not so much producing objects and goods as taking part into sharing environments creation (media) by engaged communities, small or large they may be. The environments act as meeting and interchange point, and consequently as driving force of enhancing. Only in a complex context of network interaction on line accessible digital heritage contents become a strategic resource for creating environments in which their re/mediation can occur – provided that credible strategies exist, shared by stakeholders and users. This paper particularly describes a case study including proposals for an effective connection among Europeana, GLAMs and Creative Industry in the framework of Food and Drink digital heritage enhancement and promotion. Experimental experiences as the one described in this paper anyway confirm the relevance of up-to-date policies based on an adequate communication concept, on solid partnerships with enterprise and association networks, on collaborative on line environments, on effective availability at least for most of contents by increasing free licensing, and finally on grassroots content implementation involving prosumers audience, even if filtered by GLAMs

Environmental Influences on the Morphology and Dynamics of Group Size Haloes

We use group size haloes identified with a ``friends of friends'' (FOF) algorithm in a concordance $\Lambda \rm{CDM}$ GADGET2 (dark matter only) simulation to investigate the dependence of halo properties on the environment at $z=0$. The study is carried out using samples of haloes at different distances from their nearest massive {\em cluster} halo. We find that the fraction of haloes with substructure typically increases in high density regions. The halo mean axial ratio $$ also increases in overdense regions, a fact which is true for the whole range of halo mass studied. This can be explained as a reflection of an earlier halo formation time in high-density regions, which gives haloes more time to evolve and become more spherical. Moreover, this interpretation is supported by the fact that, at a given halo-cluster distance, haloes with substructure are more elongated than their equal mass counterparts with no substructure, reflecting that the virialization (and thus sphericalization) process is interrupted by merger events. The velocity dispersion of low mass haloes with strong substructure shows a significant increase near massive clusters with respect to equal mass haloes with low-levels of substructure or with haloes found in low-density environments. The alignment signal between the shape and the velocity ellipsoid principal axes decreases going from lower to higher density regions, while such an alignment is stronger for haloes without substructure. We also find, in agreement with other studies, a tendency of halo major axes to be aligned and of minor axes to lie roughly perpendicular with the orientation of the filament within which the halo is embedded, an effect which is stronger in the proximity of the massive clusters.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Effective critical micellar concentration of a zwitterionic detergent: A fluorimetric study on n-dodecyl phosphocholine

We have investigated the effect of ionic strength on the aggregation behavior of n-dodecyl phosphocholine. On the basis of the classical Corrin-Harkins relation, the critical micellar concentration of this detergent decreases with a biphasic trend on lithium chloride addition. It is nearly constant below 150 mM salt, with a mean value of 0.91 mM, whereas it undergoes a dramatic 80-fold decrease in 7 M LiCl. Such a drop in the critical micellar concentration could be explained by the effect of salting out and the implication of phosphocholine head groups on the organization of surrounding water. Knowledge of the effective critical micellar concentration of n-dodecyl phosphocholine could be useful in the purification of membrane proteins in non-denaturing conditions

The concentration of homocysteine-derived disulfides in human coronary artery

*Background* 
Based on previous findings, we have estimated that, in injured coronary artery tissue, the low molecular weight disulfides homocystine and cysteine-homocysteine, otherwise identified as oxidized homocysteine equivalents (OHcyE), may achieve a total concentration that is higher than the aqueous solubility of homocystine at room temperature. In order to verify whether or not OHcyE could reach their saturation limit in the vascular tissue, we have measured the solubility of homocystine in physiological-like condition.

*Materials and methods* 
The solubility of homocystine has been measured in aqueous sodium chloride solutions at 37 °C by differential pulse polarography based on the reduction of homocystine to homocysteine.

*Results* 
We have estimated that the concentration achieved by OHcyE in injured coronary artery tissue is at least near-saturating, because the solubility of homocystine in physiological-like condition, above which deposition of homocystine and/or cysteine-homocysteine as solid phase occurs, almost exactly matches its value. Near-saturation levels of OHcyE within the vascular tissue means that significant leakage of intracellular fluid can promote OHcyE crystallization in tissue fluids, which may serve to initiate inflammation. 

*Conclusions* 
We speculate that deposition of OHcyE crystals could damage blood vessels and act as a primer of homocysteine-triggered inflammation, thus being along the causal pathway that leads to vascular dysfunction

The "Basic Structure" of the Constitution as an Enforceable Yardstick in Comparative Constitutional Adjudication

This article deals with the elaboration and use of the concept of a basic structure of the constitution in different jurisdictions, especially from Europe and Latin America. Through this comparative analysis, it aims to prove that the yardstick employed for constitutional adjudication on amendments has a specific scope and content, and that both scope and content are mainly decided by courts. After explaining the arguments courts have employed in order to justify their role, it focuses on the different denominations of the "basic structure" in the set of the selected case studies, finally concentrating on the role of constitutional and supreme courts

Conventionality Control Between International and Constitutional Law: the Viewpoint of a Comparativist

This contribution addresses conventionality control in its double dimension, encompassing international law and constitutional law. It focuses on the comparative methodological issues when equating the Inter-American and the European systems of protection of human rights, taking into account the progressive “Europeanization” of the former’s case law. Then, it critically examines the question of judicial authority of domestic and international courts in multilevel systems, to raise a few points concerning the complex relationship between international courts and states

EUROPEAN COMPARATIVE LAW: Reasons for “Enhanced Comparison” and Role of the CJEU

This paper offers a critical reconstruction of the conceptual and comparative assessment of European Law, while putting forward two novel ideas. On the one hand, the author elaborates upon the existence of an ‘inner core’ within the European legal space which is distinctively prone to successful and methodologically sound comparison, providing a threefold justification of her reasoning. Such justification is based on the unique normative and institutional framework, on the overlap of interconnections between the coexisting legal systems and on the evolution of the methodology in European scholarship. On the other hand, the author focuses on the role of the CJEU, departing from previous studies on the use of comparative law and proposing a new approach to case selection and application of legal comparison

The GMO Authorization Procedure in Eu : Inclusivity, Access to Justice and Participation in Decision-Making

Il presente contributo indaga in che misura i principi di inclusivit\ue0, accesso alla giustizia e partecipazione nei processi decisionali trovano attuazione all\u2019interno della procedura di autorizzazione degli organismi geneticamente modificati (OGM) dell\u2019Unione Europea. Il paragrafo introduttivo mette in luce le principali problematiche sottese allo studio di questo argomento: in particolare, le difficolt\ue0 derivanti dalla regolamentazione del rischio in relazione alle biotecnologie applicate all\u2019agricoltura (incertezza scientifica, conflitti d\u2019interesse etc), nonch\ue9 la necessit\ue0 di garantire ampia partecipazione e rappresentanza dei diversi portatori d\u2019interessi nei processi decisionali che incidono sull\u2019ambiente globale e sulla realizzazione dello Sviluppo Sostenibile. Nei paragrafi successivi, dopo aver illustrato le principali lacune della procedura di autorizzazione degli OGM, l\u2019articolo analizza la prassi e la giurisprudenza della Corte GUE successive all\u2019approvazione del Regolamento UE n. 1367/2006. Quest\u2019ultimo implementa a livello Europeo la Convenzione di Aarhus sull'accesso alle informazioni, la partecipazione del pubblico ai processi decisionali e l'accesso alla giustizia in materia ambientale. Come emerge dalle conclusioni, n\ue8 la sottoscrizione della Convenzione di Aarhus, prima, n\ue8 la sua implementazione tramite Regolamento, poi, hanno condotto ad oggi ad una soddisfacente attuazione dei principi di inclusivit\ue0, accesso alla giustizia e partecipazione nei processi decisionali nell\u2019ambito degli OGM. Dal momento che tali principi riecheggiano alcuni degli obiettivi stabiliti dal Goal 16 dell\u2019Agenda 2030, l\u2019articolo riflette da ultimo sulla possibilit\ue0 che il dibattito sullo Sviluppo Sostenibile possa portare a passi ulteriori nella direzione di una maggiore implentazione dei principi menzionati nel processo di autorizzazione degli OGM in Europa