Study of innovative methods of control in the cereal productive chain for the production of beer and spirits

Researches performed during the PhD course intended to assess innovative applications of near-infrared spectroscopy in reflectance (NIR) in the production chain of beer. The purpose is to measure by NIR the "malting quality" (MQ) parameter of barley, to monitor the malting process and to know if a certain type of barley is suitable for the production of beer and spirits. Moreover, NIR will be applied to monitor the brewing process. First of all, it was possible to check the quality of the raw materials like barley, maize and barley malt using a rapid, non-destructive and reliable method, with a low error of prediction. The more interesting result obtained at this level was that the repeatability of the NIR calibration models developed was comparable with the one of the reference method. Moreover, about malt, new kinds of validation were used in order to estimate the real predictive power of the proposed calibration models and to understand the long-term effects. Furthermore, the precision of all the calibration models developed for malt evaluation was estimated and statistically compared with the reference methods, with good results. Then, new calibration models were developed for monitoring the malting process, measuring the moisture content and other malt quality parameters during germination. Moreover it was possible to obtain by NIR an estimate of the "malting quality" (MQ) of barley and to predict whether if its germination will be rapid and uniform and if a certain type of barley is suitable for the production of beer and spirits. Finally, the NIR technique was applied to monitor the brewing process, using correlations between NIR spectra of beer and analytical parameters, and to assess beer quality. These innovative results are potentially very useful for the actors involved in the beer production chain, especially the calibration models suitable for the control of the malting process and for the assessment of the “malting quality” of barley, which need to be deepened in future studies.

Low-temperature thermochronological evolution of the Menderes and Alanya massifs (Turkey)

The application of two low-temperature thermochronometers [fission-track analysis and (U-Th)/He analyses, both on apatite] to various tectonostratigraphic units of the Menderes and Alanya Massifs of Turkey has provided significant new constraints to the understanding of their structural evolution. The Menderes Massif of western Anatolia is one of the largest metamorphic core complexes on Earth. The integration of the geochronometric dataset presented in this dissertation with preexisting ones from the literature delineates three groups of samples within the Menderes Massif. In the northern and southern region the massif experienced a Late Oligocene-Early Miocene tectonic denudation and surface uplift; whereas data from the central region are younger, with most ages ranging between the Middle-Late Miocene. The results of this study are consistent with the interpretation for a symmetric exhumation of the Menderes Massif. The Alanya Massif of SW Anatolia presents a typical nappe pile consisting of thrust sheets with contrasting metamorphic histories. Petrological and geochronological data clearly indicate that the tectonometamorphic evolution Alanya started from Late Cretaceous with the northward subduction of an ‘Alanya ocean’ under the Tauride plate. As an effect of the closure of the İzmir–Ankara–Erzincan ocean, northward backthrusting during the Paleocene-Early Eocene created the present stacking order. Apatite fission-track ages from this study range from 31.8 to 26.8 Ma (Late Rupelian-Early Chattian) and point to a previously unrecognized mid-Oligocene cooling/exhumation episode. (U-Th)/He analysis on zircon crystals obtained from the island of Cyprus evidentiate that the Late Cretaceous trondhjemites of the Troodos Massif not recorded a significant cooling event. Instead results for the Late Triassic turbiditic sandstones of the Vlambouros Formation show that the Mamonia mélange was never buried enough to reach the closure temperature of the ZHe radiometric system (ca. 200°C), thus retaining the Paleozoic signature of a previous sedimentary cycle.

Tectonics of the wedge-top Epiligurian basins and implications for the syn-to-post orogenic evolution of the Northern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt (Italy)

This thesis has the aim to give an overview about the tectonic history of the Epiligurian units, which crop out in the axial portion of the Northern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt, from a structural and thermal point of view, through a multiscalar and multitecnique approach. I focused on a key example of Epiligurian wedge-top basin, (Marzabotto Basin) proceeding from macro-to-microscale approach. The study started from a remote sensing analysis of the lineaments and morphostructures which affected the study area to obtain the regional faulting pattern and an overview about the main tectonic structures, used as basis for the structural investigation at the mesoscale. On the basis of this, it was possible to reconstruct the succession of tectonic events that affected the Marzabotto Basin, consisting in: i) two sets of thrusts indicating a NE-SW and NW-SE shortening of the sedimentary succession; ii) NE-SW-left lateral transtensional faults related to a strike-slip tectonic phase; iii) three main sets of extensional structures which cut and displace the previous thrusts. Normal faults are related to the post-orogenic evolution and have been dated with U-Th method, getting an age of Middle-Late Pleistocene. From a thermal point of view, apatite fission-tracks and (U-Th)/He analyses of detrital minerals and thermal modelling on the middle-upper Eocene siliciclastic deposits allowed me to better constrain the local exhumation history and correlate it with the large-scale tectonic evolution of the Northern Apennines. In particular, the Marzabotto Basin experienced a complex burial-exhumation history, consisting in two cooling cooling phases related to the growth of the Northern Apennines belt (Oligo-Miocene in age) and a later cooling which tracks the accretion in the orogenic wedge concomitant with rollback-driven extension (late Miocene-Pliocene in age). In conclusion it is possible to affirm that the study shed new light on poorly constrained elements of fold-and-thrust belt.

Valutazione del rapporto urinario proteine totali/creatinina e albumina/creatinina in cani affetti da iperadrenocorticismo e da diabete mellito

INTRODUCTION – In human medicine, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, proteinuria and nephropathy are often associated although it is still not clear whether hypertension is the consequence or the cause of nephropathy and albuminuria. Microalbuminuria, in humans, is an early and sensitive marker which permits timely and effective therapy in the early phase of renal damage. Conversely, in dogs, these relationships were not fully investigated, even though hypertension has been associated with many diseases (Bodey and Michell, 1996). In a previous study, 20% of diabetic dogs were found proteinuric based on a U:P/C > 1 and 46% were hypertensive; this latter finding is similar to the prevalence of hypertension in diabetic people (40-80%) (Struble et al., 1998). In the same canine study, hypertension was also positively correlated with the duration of the disease, as is the case in human beings. Hypertension was also found to be a common complication of hypercortisolism (HC) in dogs, with a prevalence which varies from 50 (Goy-Thollot et al., 2002) to 80% (Danese and Aron, 1994).The aim of our study was to evaluate the urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (U:A/C) in dogs affected by Diabetes Mellitus and HC in order to ascertain if, as in human beings, it could represent an early and more sensitive marker of renal damage than U:P/C. Furthermore, the relationship between proteinuria and hypertension in DM and HC was also investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS – Twenty dogs with DM, 14 with HC and 21 healthy dogs (control group) were included in the prospective case-control study. Inclusion criteria were hyperglycaemia, glicosuria and serum fructosamine above the reference range for DM dogs and a positive ACTH stimulation test and/or low-dose dexamethasone test and consistent findings of HC on abdominal ultrasonography in HC dogs. Dogs were excluded if affected by urinary tract infections and if the serum creatinine or urea values were above the reference range. At the moment of inclusion, an appropriate therapy had already been instituted less than 1 month earlier in 12 diabetic dogs. The control dogs were considered healthy based on clinical exam and clinicopathological findings. All dogs underwent urine sample collection by cystocentesis and systemic blood pressure measurement by means of either an oscillometric device (BP-88 Next, Colin Corporation, Japan) or by Doppler ultrasonic traducer (Minidop ES-100VX, Hadeco, Japan). The choice of method depended on the dog’s body weight: Doppler ultrasonography was employed in dogs < 20 kg of body weight and the oscillometric method in the other subjects. Dogs were considered hypertensive whenever systemic blood pressure was found ≥ 160 mmHg. The urine was assayed for U:P/C and U:A/C (Gentilini et al., 2005). The data between groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The reference ranges for U:P/C and U:A/C had already been established by our laboratory as 0.6 and 0.05, respectively. U:P/C and U:A/C findings were correlated to systemic blood pressure and Spearman R correlation coefficients were calculated. In all cases, p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS – The mean ± sd urinary albumin concentration in the three groups was 1.79 mg/dl ± 2.18; 20.02 mg/dl ± 43.25; 52.02 mg/dl ± 98.27, in healthy, diabetic and hypercortisolemic dogs, respectively. The urine albumin concentration differed significantly between healthy and diabetic dogs (p = 0.008) and between healthy and HC dogs (p = 0.011). U:A/C values ranged from 0.00 to 0.34 (mean ± sd 0.02 ± 0.07), 0.00 to 6.72 (mean ± sd 0.62 ± 1.52) and 0.00 to 5.52 (mean ± sd 1.27 ± 1.70) in the control, DM and HC groups, respectively; U:P/C values ranged from 0.1 to 0.6 (mean ± sd 0.17 ± 0.15) 0.1 to 6.6 (mean ± sd 0.93 ± 1.15) and 0.2 to 7.1 (mean ± sd 1.90 ± 2.11) in the control, DM and HC groups, respectively. In diabetic dogs, U:A/C was above the reference range in 11 out of 20 dogs (55%). Among these, 5/20 (25%) showed an increase only in the U:A/C ratio while, in 6/20 (30%), both the U:P/C and the U:A/C were abnormal. Among the latter, 4 dogs had already undergone therapy. In subjects affected with HC, U:P/C and U:A/C were both increased in 10/14 (71%) while in 2/14 (14%) only U:A/C was above the reference range. Overall, by comparing U:P/C and U:A/C in the various groups, a significant increase in protein excretion in disease-affected animals compared to healthy dogs was found. Blood pressure (BP) in diabetic subjects ranged from 88 to 203 mmHg (mean ± sd 143 ± 33 mmHg) and 7/20 (35%) dogs were found to be hypertensive. In HC dogs, BP ranged from 116 to 200 mmHg (mean ± sd 167 ± 26 mmHg) and 9/14 (64%) dogs were hypertensive. Blood pressure and proteinuria were not significantly correlated. Furthermore, in the DM group, U:P/C and U:A/C were both increased in 3 hypertensive dogs and 2 normotensive dogs while the only increase of U:A/C was observed in 2 hypertensive and 3 normotensive dogs. In the HC group, the U:P/C and the U:A/C were both increased in 6 hypertensive and 2 normotensive dogs; the U:A/C was the sole increased parameter in 1 hypertensive dog and in 1 dog with normal pressure. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION- The findings of this study suggest that, in dogs affected by DM and HC, an increase in U:P/C, U:A/C and systemic hypertension is frequently present. Remarkably, some dogs affected by both DM and HC showed an U:A/C but not U:P/C above the reference range. In diabetic dogs, albuminuria was observed in 25% of the subjects, suggesting the possibility that this parameter could be employed for detecting renal damage at an early phase when common semiquantiative tests and even U:P/C fall inside the reference range. In HC dogs, a higher number of subjects with overt proteinuria was found while only 14% presented an increase only in the U:A/C. This fact, associated with a greater number of hypertensive dogs having HC rather than DM, could suggest a greater influence on renal function by the mechanisms involved in hypertension secondary to hypercortisolemia. Furthermore, it is possible that, in HC dogs, the diagnosis was more delayed than in DM dogs. However, the lack of a statistically significant correlation between hypertension and increased protein excretion as well as the apparently random distribution of proteinuric subjects in normotensive and hypertensive cases, imply that other factors besides hypertension are involved in causing proteinuria. Longitudinal studies are needed to further investigate the relationship between hypertension and proteinuria.

Erosione e sollevamento nell'arco calabro-peloritano

The Calabrian-Peloritani arc represents key site to unravel evolution of surface processes on top of subducting lithosphere. During the Pleistocene, in fact the arc uplifted at rate of the order of about 1mm/yr, forming high-standing low-relief upland (figure 2). Our study is focused on the relationship between tectonic and land evolution in the Sila Massif, Messina strait and Peloritani Mts. Landforms reflect a competition between tectonic, climatic, and surficial processes. Many landscape evolution models that explore feedbacks between these competing processes, given steady forcing, predict a state of erosional equilibrium, where the rates of river incision and hillslope erosion balance rock uplift. It has been suggested that this may be the final constructive stage of orogenic systems. Assumptions of steady erosion and incision are used in the interpretation of exhumation and uplift rates from different geologic data, and in the formulation of fluvial incision and hillslope evolution models. In the Sila massif we carried out cosmogenic isotopes analysis on 24 samples of modern fluvial sediments to constrain long-term (~103 yr) erosion rate averaged on the catchment area. 35 longitudinal rivers profiles have been analyzed to study the tectonic signal on the landscape evolution. The rivers analyzed exhibit a wide variety of profile forms, diverging from equilibrium state form. Generally the river profiles show at least 2 and often 3 distinct concave-up knickpoint-bounded segments, characterized by different value of concavity and steepness indices. River profiles suggest three main stages of incision. The values of ks and θ in the lower segments evidence a decrease in river incision, due probably to increasing uplift rate. The cosmogenic erosion rates pointed out that old landscape upland is eroding slowly at ~0.1 mm/yr. In the contrary, the flanks of the massif is eroding faster with value from 0.4 to 0.5 mm/yr due to river incision and hillslope processes. Cosmogenic erosion rates mach linearly with steepness indices and with average hillslope gradient. In the Messina area the long term erosion rate from low-T thermochronometry are of the same order than millennium scale cosmogenic erosion rate (1-2 mm/yr). In this part of the chain the fast erosion is active since several million years, probably controlled by extensional tectonic regime. In the Peloritani Mts apatite fission-track and (U-Th)/He thermochronometry are applied to constraint the thermal history of the basement rock. Apatite fission-track ages range between 29.0±5.5 and 5.5±0.9 Ma while apatite (U-Th)/He ages vary from 19.4 to 1.0 Ma. Most of the AFT ages are younger than the overlying terrigenous sequence that in turn postdates the main orogenic phase. Through the coupling of the thermal modelling with the stratigraphic record, a Middle Miocene thermal event due to tectonic burial is unravel. This event affected a inner-intermediate portion of the Peloritani belt confined by young AFT data (<15 Ma) distribution. We interpret this thermal event as due to an out-of–sequence thrusting occurring in the inner portion of the belt. Young (U-Th)/He ages (c. 5 Ma) record a final exhumation stage with increasing rates of denudation since the Pliocene times due to postorogenic extensional tectonics and regional uplift. In the final chapter we change the spatial scale to insert digital topography analysis and field data within a geodynamic model that can explain surface evidence produced by subduction process.

La Pace Calda. La nascita del movimento antinucleare negli Stati Uniti e in Gran Bretagna, 1957-1963

The aim of this proposal is to offer an alternative perspective on the study of Cold War, since insufficient attention is usually paid to those organizations that mobilized against the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons. The antinuclear movement began to mobilize between the 1950s and the 1960s, when it finally gained the attention of public opinion, and helped to build a sort of global conscience about nuclear bombs. This was due to the activism of a significant part of the international scientific community, which offered powerful intellectual and political legitimization to the struggle, and to the combined actions of the scientific and organized protests. This antinuclear conscience is something we usually tend to consider as a fait accompli in contemporary world, but the question is to show its roots, and the way it influenced statesmen and political choices during the period of nuclear confrontation of the early Cold War. To understand what this conscience could be and how it should be defined, we have to look at the very meaning of the nuclear weapons that has deeply modified the sense of war. Nuclear weapons seemed to be able to destroy human beings everywhere with no realistic forms of control of the damages they could set off, and they represented the last resource in the wide range of means of mass destruction. Even if we tend to consider this idea fully rational and incontrovertible, it was not immediately born with the birth of nuclear weapons themselves. Or, better, not everyone in the world did immediately share it. Due to the particular climate of Cold War confrontation, deeply influenced by the persistence of realistic paradigms in international relations, British and U.S. governments looked at nuclear weapons simply as «a bullet». From the Trinity Test to the signature of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963, many things happened that helped to shift this view upon nuclear weapons. First of all, more than ten years of scientific protests provided a more concerned knowledge about consequences of nuclear tests and about the use of nuclear weapons. Many scientists devoted their social activities to inform public opinion and policy-makers about the real significance of the power of the atom and the related danger for human beings. Secondly, some public figures, as physicists, philosophers, biologists, chemists, and so on, appealed directly to the human community to «leave the folly and face reality», publicly sponsoring the antinuclear conscience. Then, several organizations leaded by political, religious or radical individuals gave to this protests a formal structure. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Great Britain, as well as the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy in the U.S., represented the voice of the masses against the attempts of governments to present nuclear arsenals as a fundamental part of the international equilibrium. Therefore, the antinuclear conscience could be defined as an opposite feeling to the development and the use of nuclear weapons, able to create a political issue oriented to the influence of military and foreign policies. Only taking into consideration the strength of this pressure, it seems possible to understand not only the beginning of nuclear negotiations, but also the reasons that permitted Cold War to remain cold.

Evoluzione Morfotettonica delle Aree Alpine "Sempione" e "Brennero" attraverso Studi Termocronologici di bassa temperatura

E’ mostrata l’analisi e la modellazione di dati termocronologici di bassa temperatura da due regioni Alpine: il Sempione ed il Brennero. Le faglie distensive presenti bordano settori crostali profondi appartenenti al dominio penninico: il duomo metamorfico Lepontino al Sempione e la finestra dei Tauri al Brennero. I dati utilizzati sono FT e (U-Th)/He su apatite. Per il Sempione i dati provengono dalla bibliografia; per il Brennero si è provveduto ad un nuovo campionamento, sia in superficie che in sotterraneo. Gli attuali lavori per la galleria di base del Brennero (BBT), hanno consentito, per la prima volta, di raccogliere dati di FT e (U-Th)/He in apatite in sottosuolo per la finestra dei Tauri occidentale. Le analisi sono state effettuate tramite un codice a elementi finiti, Pecube, risolvente l’equazione di diffusione del calore per una topografia evolvente nel tempo. Il codice è stato modificato per tener conto dei dati sotterranei. L’inversione dei dati è stata effettuata usando il Neighbourhood Algorithm (NA), per ottenere il più plausibile scenario di evoluzione morfotettonico. I risultati ottenuti per il Sempione mostrano: ipotetica evoluzione dello stile tettonico della faglia del Sempione da rolling hinge a low angle detachment a 6.5 Ma e la cessazione dell’attività a 3 Ma; costruzione del rilievo fino a 5.5 Ma, smantellamento da 5.5 Ma ad oggi, in coincidenza dei cambiamenti climatici Messiniani e relativi all’inizio delle maggiori glaciazioni; incremento dell’esumazione da 0–0.6 mm/anno a 0.6–1.2 mm/anno a 2.4 Ma nell’emisfero settentrionale. I risultati al Brennero mostrano: maggiore attività tettonica della faglia del Brennero (1.3 mm/anno), maggiore attività esumativa (1–2 mm/anno) prima dei 10 Ma; crollo dell’attività della faglia del Brennero fra 10 Ma e oggi (0.1 mm/anno) e dell’attività esumativa nello stesso periodo (0.1–0.3 mm/anno); nessun aumento del tasso esumativo o variazioni topografiche negli ultimi 5 Ma.

Capacità di sviluppo di Diabrotica virgifera virgifera Leconte su ospiti alternativi al mais

Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) è una specie esotica invasiva di origine centro americana e introdotta in Europa agli inizi degli anni ’90, in Italia nel 1998. Considerata negli Stati Uniti la principale avversità del mais (Zea mais L.), è oggi presente in quasi tutti i Paesi europei dove è presente tale coltura. Poiché il mais risulta l’ospite prioritario di Diabrotica, attualmente il principale metodo di contenimento consiste nella rotazione con una coltura non ospite. L’obiettivo del lavoro è stato quello di indagare sulle piante ospiti alternative al mais nel nostro ambiente, accertando il ruolo che possono avere le infestanti o altre Poaceae coltivate nella biologia della Diabrotica. Tali essenze sono state scelte tra specie mai sottoposte a sperimentazione e tra quelli già oggetto di indagini, ma su cui si sono ottenuti esiti discordi o non soddisfacenti. Sono state allestite prove con infestazione artificiale in ambiente controllato e prove in campo per valutare la sopravvivenza larvale e il completamento del ciclo, nonché le prestazioni biologiche degli individui ottenuti. Le ricerche hanno permesso di osservare sopravvivenza di Diabrotica su numerose graminacee, in particolare cereali. Tale capacità è confermata dalla presenza di larve di diversa età e in alcuni casi di pupe sulle specie ospiti alternative, sia con infestazione artificiale che in campo. Tuttavia crescita e sviluppo su queste piante sono stati più lenti del mais e gli stadi giovanili trovati hanno mostrato caratteristiche morfometriche inferiori rispetto a quelli del mais. Adulti non sono mai stati raccolti in campo, mentre questo si è verificato in condizioni controllate. Le specie che meritano maggior attenzione sono i cereali Triticum spelta e Panicum miliaceum e l’infestante Sorghum halepense. Si potrebbe dunque ipotizzare che alcune specie vegetali possano fungere da ospite secondario quando non è presente il mais riducendo l’efficacia dell’avvicendamento.

Disturbi dell'informazione, nuovi media e libertà di manifestazione del pensiero

L’elaborato affronta il tema della massiccia diffusione di disinformazione tramite internet sotto il profilo del diritto costituzionale, nell’ottica di indagare se le dimensioni del fenomeno richiedano l’elaborazione di principi e soluzioni nuove ovvero se i paradigmi costituzionali enucleati dalla tradizione costituzionalistica con riferimento alla libertà d’espressione forniscano gli strumenti sufficienti per un intervento efficace. In tale ottica, il lavoro premette una ricostruzione del fenomeno della disinformazione nel tentativo di individuare il perimetro socio-cognitivo e tecnologico entro cui la medesima prolifera, descrivendo gli elementi che distinguono l’informazione diffusa dai nuovi media rispetto a quella veicolata dai media mainstream. Ciò premesso, lo studio passa a delineare lo “statuto costituzionale” del falso, indagando la rilevanza che la menzogna assume sotto il profilo costituzionale nel suo rapporto con la libertà di manifestazione del pensiero negli ordinamenti interno, europeo e statunitense. L’analisi prosegue poi con l’esame delle politiche di contrasto alla disinformazione introdotte da singoli Stati (prevalentemente Germania, Francia e Italia), Unione europea, e piattaforme, con l’obiettivo di mettere in luce vantaggi e limiti dei modelli di eteroregolamentazione, coregolamentazione e autoregolamentazione. Da ultimo, l’elaborato scompone alcune delle azioni e misure passate in rassegna e le analizza con la lente d’ingrandimento della libertà di manifestazione del pensiero, ordinandone i contenuti secondo la specifica propensione a comprimere la libertà d’espressione. L’indagine si conclude con alcuni brevi spunti conclusivi che evidenziano l’esigenza, in base ai principi costituzionali analizzati, che eventuali interventi normativi siano se del caso volti alla regolazione delle piattaforme, ovvero dei “contenitori”, lasciano i contenuti al libero scambio delle idee.