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The bacterial photosynthetic reaction centre (RC) is a membrane spanning protein that, upon illumination, promotes the reduction of a ubiquinone molecule withdrawing electrons from cytochrome c2. This photo-activated reaction has been often exploited, in suitably designed photoelectrochemical cells, to generate photocurrents sustained by the reduction at the working electrode of the photo-oxidized electron donor or by the oxidation of the electron acceptor. In this work we have explored in more detail the factors affecting the photocurrent generation in commercially available screen-printed electrochemical cells containing an electrolyte solution where RC proteins and suitable mediators are solubilized. In particular, the role of the applied potential and the influence of concentration and structure of acceptor and donor molecules have been assessed. We show that efficient generation of cathodic photocurrents in a three electrode configuration occurs at an applied potential of 0.0 V versus quasi-ref Ag (the open circuit potential of the system measured in the dark) in presence of ferrocenemethanol and decylubiquinone, which proved to guarantee high performances as electron donor and acceptor respectively. Moreover, we employed a set of differential equations, describing reaction and diffusion processes, for modelling with high accuracy the chronoamperometry profiles recorded at variable RC concentrations. This model allowed us to estimate the kinetic parameters relevant to the chemical and electrochemical reactions triggered by light and to get a snapshot of the electrolyte composition in the bulk and electrode surroundings at different times from the light exposure. The characteristic time course of the photocurrent, showing a fast rise to a peak value followed by a slower decay, has been therefore explained as the result of the strict interconnection between the dynamical processes involved.

The reconstitution of the integral membrane protein photosynthetic reaction center (RC) in polymersomes, i.e. artificial closed vesicles, was achieved by the micelle-to-vesicle transition technique, a very mild protocol based on size exclusion chromatography often used to drive the incorporation of proteins contemporarily to liposome formation. An optimized protocol was used to successfully reconstitute the protein in a fully active state in polymersomes formed by the tri-block copolymers PMOXA22-PDMS61-PMOXA22. The RC is very sensitive to its solubilizing environment and was used to probe the positioning of the protein in the vesicles. According to charge-recombination experiments and to the enzymatic activity assay, the RC is found to accommodate in the PMOXA22 region of the polymersome, facing the water bulk solution, rather than in the PDMS61 transmembrane-like region. Furthermore, polymersomes were found to preserve protein integrity efficiently as the biomimetic lipid bilayers but show a much longer temporal stability than lipid based vesicles.

Effectiveness of Essential Oils Mixtures Based on Soy Emulsifier Against Powdery Mildew on Zucchini Plants Chemical control is the main protection tool against several diseases that affect agricultural crops. The use of essential oils for the control of crop diseases is a potential alternative to the use of synthetic pesticides. The aim of this work was to test some essential oil mixtures, formulated with a soy emulsifier, against powdery mildew on zucchini plants, starting from the results of previous greenhouse trials. Moreover, the potential phytotoxicity of essential oils was also investigated on Vicia faba, a plant usually used as a bioindicator in ecotoxicological tests due to its sensitivity to mutagenic substances. The obtained results in greenhouse confirm the effectiveness of the essential oil mixtures using soy based emulsifier suitable for field treatments. Furthermore, the tests confirmed that essential oil treatments caused a dose-dependent phytotoxic effect on V. faba.

This chapter describes the impacts that time delays in feedback have on small signal as well as transient stability of power systems. We present a power system model comprising of delay differential-algebraic equations (DDAEs) and describe general techniques to compute the spectrum of DDAE and to integrate such equations in time domain. The focus is on delays arising in measured signals, e.g., remote frequency measurements for power system stabilizers (PSS) of synchronous machines. Several examples based on a benchmark system, the IEEE 14-bus test system, as well as a real-world system are discussed and analysed.

Consecutive non-replicate clinical isolates (n=191) of carbapenem non-susceptible Enterobacteriaceae were collected from 21 hospital laboratories across Italy from November 2013 to April 2014 as part of the European Survey on Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (EuSCAPE) project. Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (KPC-KP) represented 178 (93%) isolates with 76 (43%) respectively resistant to colistin, a key drug for treating carbapenamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. KPC-KP colistin-resistant isolates were detected in all participating laboratories. This underscores a concerning evolution of colistin resistance in a setting of high KPC-KP endemicity.

Contains fulltext : 58326.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) PURPOSE: To provide a guideline curriculum covering theoretical and practical aspects of education and training for medical physicists in radiotherapy within Europe. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Guidelines have been developed for the specialist theoretical knowledge and practical experience required to practice as a medical physicist in radiotherapy. It is assumed that the typical entrant into training will have a good initial degree in the physical sciences, therefore these guidelines also require that and are additional to it. National training programmes of medical physics, radiation physics and radiotherapy physics from a range of European countries and from North America were reviewed by an expert panel set up by the European Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) and the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (EFOMP). A draft document prepared by this group was circulated, via the EFOMP infrastructure, among national professional medical physics societies in Europe for review and comment and was also discussed in an education session in the May 2003 EFOMP scientific meeting in Eindhoven. RESULTS: The resulting guideline curriculum for education and training of medical physicists in radiotherapy within Europe discusses the EFOMP terms, qualified medical physicist (QMP) and specialist medical physicist (SMP), and the group's view of the links to the EU (Directive 97/43) term, medical physics expert (MPE). The minimum level expected in each topic in the theoretical knowledge and practical experience sections is intended to bring trainees up to the requirements of a QMP. The responses from the circulation of the document to national societies and its discussion were either to agree its content, with no changes required, or to suggest changes, which were taken into account after consideration by the expert group. Following this the guidelines have been endorsed by the parent organisations. CONCLUSIONS: This new joint ESTRO/EFOMP European guideline curriculum is a first step to harmonise specialist training of medical physicists in radiotherapy within Europe. It provides a common framework for national medical physics societies to develop or benchmark their own curricula, but is also flexible enough to suit different situations of initial physics qualifications, medical physics training programmes, accreditation structures, etc. The responsibility for the implementation of these standards and guidelines will lie with the national training bodies and authorities.

This paper describes the results of a retrospective study that analyzed the extent and role of diagnostic delays on the development and prognosis of oral cancer. We consulted the digital archives of the Anatomy and Pathology Department of the University Hospital of Modena and Reggio Emilia for the period from 2000 to 2016, to identify all patients with oral cavity lesions according to the SNOMED coding system. In total, 645 reports of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity were retrieved. Data collected from the reports was supplemented with clinical information, with particular reference to the time of onset of the first signs and/or symptoms and the time elapsed between biopsy and definitive histological diagnosis following surgery. The average delay of patients from onset of signs and/or symptoms and seeking medical care was 112 days, or about 4 months. A longer delay was found for male with respect to female patients (151 days versus 82 days respectively; plt; 0.015). An average delay of 40 days was observed between the first biopsy and the postoperative histological diagnosis. Results indicate that diagnostic delays occur frequently in oral tumours and can due to both the patient's wait-and-see conduct upon appearance of the first signs and/or symptoms, and to the organizational and communicative deficiencies among the different medical specialties. In light of these results, we make the recommendation to organize information campaigns through the Public Health Departments and specific screening programs, and to introduce an operational protocol for the prevention and early diagnosis of oral cancer, involving general medicine practitioners and dentists as the main promoters.

Specific functional role of physiologically important lipids of the photosynthetic membrane (phosphatidylcholine, cardiolipin and phosphaticlylglycerol) was investigated on the thermodynamic and kinetic requirements of the charge movements in bacterial reaction centers. The major effect of these lipids is to increase the stabilization of the separated caharges induced by light excitation during the photosynthetic energy conversion. It can be achieved by (1) changing the redox midpoint potential of the Q(A)/Q(A)(-) and Q(B)/Q(B)(-) redox couples, which results in the increase of the free energy gap that drives the Q(A)(_) to Q(B) electron transfer or (2) by changing the quinone binding/unbinding equilibrium. This study provides evidence that from kinetic point of view the P(+)Q(A)(-)Q(B) -> P(+)Q(A)Q(B)(-) charge transfer is mainly driven by the change in the enthalpy in LDAO and PC, whereas the entropy contribution is larger if negatively charged lipids are introduced.

Purpose This research aimed to investigate the socio-demographic, clinical, and psychological variables predictive of a greater functioning and quality of life in patients with gynecological cancer after their first cycle of carboplatin and taxol-based chemotherapy. Methods The sample of the present research consisted of 104 patients. The European Organization on Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Form Y, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were administered to each participant. Results The analyses showed that higher state anxiety levels predicted a lower role, emotional, and social functioning and a lower general quality of life. Higher trait anxiety levels and social support perceived from one’s friends predicted a greater role functioning. Similarly, having a relationship predicted a greater physical, cognitive, and social functioning. On the contrary, the presence of relapsed cancer was negatively associated with these patients’ quality of life. Conclusions The present study highlighted the importance of identifying patients at higher risk of experiencing lower levels of functioning and worse general quality of life to implement tailored interventions from the beginning of treatment, thus improving the quality of life of these patients throughout the chemotherapy treatment.

The topic of the paper is an analysis of the debated notion of the category ‘pronoun’ in East and Southeast Asian languages, with a special focus on Japanese. After a description of the main aspects of the notion of ‘person’ as a grammatical category, the focus is devoted to personal pronouns in general and then to personal pronouns in East and Southeast Asian languages. Special attention is devoted to Japanese personal pronouns, taking into account the Emancipatory Pragmatics approach.

The paper proposes a method to assess the equivalent inertial response provided by converter-interfaced generation equipped with fast frequency response capability and its impact on the minimum amount of rotational inertia required to guarantee power system's stability. The method is based on the solution of an optimization problem aimed at finding the minimum inertia required by the system to contain frequency and rate of change of frequency deviations within the limits required by system operators. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated through the WSCC 9-bus test system.

Background: COVID-19 forced healthcare workers to work in unprecedented and critical circumstances, exacerbating already-problematic and stressful working conditions. The “Healthcare workers’ wellbeing (Benessere Operatori)” project aimed at identifying psychological and personal factors, influencing individuals’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: 291 healthcare workers took part in the project by answering an online questionnaire twice (after the first wave of COVID-19 and during the second wave) and completing questions on socio-demographic and work-related information, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Brief Cope. Results: Higher levels of worry, worse working conditions, a previous history of psychiatric illness, being a nurse, older age, and avoidant and emotion-focused coping strategies seem to be risk factors for healthcare workers’ mental health. High levels of perceived social support, the attendance of emergency training, and problem-focused coping strategies play a protective role. Conclusions: An innovative, and more flexible, data mining statistical approach (i.e., a regression trees approach for repeated measures data) allowed us to identify risk factors and derive classification rules that could be helpful to implement targeted interventions for healthcare workers.

In this work, we show the extraction, purification and reconstitution of the bacterial protein complex bc1 in giant lipid vesicles used as versatile micro-sized enzymatic reactors. Firstly, it is demonstrated that the bc1 shows an enzymatic activity also as micellar suspension when the proper substrates are added. Moreover, it has been possible to reconstitute, with the droplet transfer method, the bc1 complex in artificial giant lipid vesicles. The reconstitution has been proved by confocal microscopy analysis demonstrating a change of internal pH, thanks to a pH-sensitive fluorescent dye, upon the addition of a trigger substrate.

In this chapter, we discuss the transmission line theory and its application to the problem of external electromagnetic field coupling to transmission lines, with particular reference to lightning-induced overvoltages on overhead power lines. After a short discussion on the underlying assumptions of the transmission line theory, we provide the derivation of field-to-transmission line coupling equations for the case of a single-wire line above a perfectly conducting ground. We also describe three seemingly different but completely equivalent approaches that have been proposed in the literature to describe the coupling of electromagnetic fields to transmission lines. The derived equations are extended to deal with the presence of losses and multiple conductors. The time-domain representation of the field-to-transmission line coupling equations, which allows for a straightforward treatment of non-linear phenomena as well as the variation in the line topology, is also described. Solution methods in the time domain are presented. The description of the main modelling features of an advanced computer code for the calculation of lightning originated voltages, i.e., the LIOV-EMTP-RV code, is given. The application of the illustrated theory and relevant computer codes to the case of a typical medium-voltage multi-conductor distribution feeder, which includes transformers and surge protection devices, is presented. The lightning performance assessment of traditional and compact overhead lines is dealt with as well.

This paper concludes a book on ‘cultural traits’ which features 20 contributions from the most diverse disciplines, from cultural anthropology to archaeology, from psychology to history, from economics to musicology. The paper dodges the attempt to make a conceptual synthesis, arguing positively for such avoidance. Borrowing a term from the U.S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, the paper likens the book, Understanding Cultural Traits, to a catalysis meeting, i.e., a lowering of disciplinary barriers that influences the disciplines’ culture of data, broadens the scientific vision, and generates scientific collaborations. Catalysis is not alternative to synthesis. It is a different phase of scientific progress, one that can be hindered by an obsession for concepts and by an urge to close the discourse.

Every discipline poses its research questions in specific ways and thus uses concepts that are suited to find answers in its well defined disciplinary frameworks. Accordingly, the idea of cultural trait has been used and developed in several disciplines, often without any reference to each other. The result has often been non-communicability across different fields. We first show, by means of two examples, that the lack of deep interdisciplinary dialogue and reciprocal understanding has generated some harsh controversies. We argue that our book Understanding Cultural Traits: A Multidisciplinary Perspective on Cultural Diversity tries to overcome not only the gap between cultural traits specialists and other scientists, but also the barriers among the researchers who are not specialists on cultural traits but that nevertheless directly or indirectly use cultural traits in their different disciplines.

For a long time literary theorists have been concerned with the question “What is literature?". This issue does not raise the same interest in our days. After all, what really matters is what we do with literature, whatever it is. Time has come for a comparison between literary and evolutionary studies. The question we should ask is: “Why is literature?" Where do poetic uses of language rise from? For what reason or reasons, in a remote era of our history, did our ancestors start to spend (or lavish) both time and mental energies in seemingly free and relaxed verbal activities which were unrelated to immediate needs? What are the features of human behaviour that literature tends to foster and strengthen? This article argues that, after all, the aim of literature - as in any other human activity - is nothing but survival.

The aim of this paper is to show the usefulness of parallel texts for typological inves-tigations. In order to analyze the way in which demonstrative systems of the European languages function, two kinds of data have been considered: first, the results of a questionnaire based on situations represented in 48 pictures, which will be necessarily discussed only in a summarized way here. Second, and this will be the main topic of this paper, a corpus of parallel texts: the translations, in different languages of Europe, of the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Parallel texts have been used to verify the generalizations based on the data elicited through the questionnaire.

Static frequency converters, which are the core element of high voltage direct current transmission systems and FACTS devices, are becoming a mature technology for applications in medium voltage distribution networks. This paper considers a novel device, namely, the back-to-back connector, which provides a medium voltage dc link with control capabilities similar to high-voltage back-to-back VSC-HVDC systems. In this work several aspects of potential applications of back-to-back connectors in a distribution network are presented. The paper describes the background, the technology, the control scheme and regulatory aspects of back-to back connectors. The paper also presents a practical case study consisting of a real-world configuration where two distribution systems with different owners are connected through a medium voltage dc link.

Several countries are undergoing a considerable development of distributed generation (DG). Hence, Distribution System Operators (DSO) are coping with unprecedented technical issues which force introducing new connection rules for customers that produce energy. This work focuses on voltage control issues of distribution systems with inclusion of distributed generation. A review of the standards that have been recently introduced is accompanied by a discussion on simulation results based on a real-world distribution grid. All simulations are solved with DOME, a novel Python-based software tool.

Serafini, Fausta et al., Bifidobacteria are extensively exploited by the food industry as health-promoting microorganisms. However, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for these beneficial activities, or the molecular players that sustain their ability to colonize and persist within the human gut. Here, we have investigated the enteric adaptation features of the gut commensal Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010, originally isolated from infant feces. This strain was able to survive under gastrointestinal challenges, while it was shown to adhere to human epithelial intestinal cell monolayers (Caco 2 and HT-29), thereby inhibiting adhesion of pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Cronobacter sakazakii. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd., This work was also financially supported by Fondazione Cariparma to MV, by FEMS Advanced Fellowship 2011 and an IRCSET Embark postdoctoral fellowship to FT. DvS is a member of The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, which is a Centre for Science and Technology (CSET) funded by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), through the Irish Government's National Development Plan (Grant no. 02/CE/B124 and 07/CE/B1368). The grant I-LINK2010-0122, funded by CSIC, is also acknowledged.

L’uso di risorse elettroniche per documentare e descrivere fenomeni linguistici è una pratica ormai consolidata nella linguistica quantitativa, dati i vantaggi che un ausilio computazionale comporta in termini di velocità e precisione nella raccolta dei dati. L’estensione di tali strumenti ad ambiti di ricerca più tradizionalmente legati allo studio qualitativo del dato linguistico, come la tipologia, è invece più recente. Obiettivo di questo articolo è analizzare il ruolo dei database elettronici nella ricerca tipologica, combinando riflessioni di natura teorica più generale con l’esperienza specifica del Pavia Typological Database (in seguito PTD, cfr. §2), un database che raccoglie e rende accessibili dati relativi ad alcuni fenomeni morfosintattici delle lingue d’Europa. Descrivendo la struttura, le problematiche e le soluzio-ni che hanno caratterizzato la creazione del PTD, intendiamo evidenziare i vantaggi che un database e-lettronico può portare alla comparazione interlinguistica e tipologica.