Il patrimonio culturale per la dinamizzazione dell'economia territoriale: Il riconoscimento dell'indicazione geografica "Vale do Paraiba Fluminense" ad un caffè con identità culturale

Le Indicazioni Geografiche (IG) giocano un ruolo importante nella crescita economica e nello sviluppo territoriale rurale quando una determinata qualità di prodotto, reputazione o altra caratteristica del prodotto siano attribuibili essenzialmente alla sua origine geografica. In questa ricerca si è verificato la possibilità di valorizzare la regione del Brasile denominata Vale do Paraiba Fluminense, soprannominata “Vale do Café” e di mettere in luce le potenzialità del caffè come prodotto di qualità, sostenibile sotto il profilo ambientale e sociale: un vero e proprio patrimonio culturale che può rivelarsi una valida risorsa economica per il territorio. Nella prima fase dell'indagine è stata realizzata la ricerca a tavolino e sul campo fondata sulle fonti bibliografiche; nella seconda fase è stata applicata la Metodologia Partecipativa della FAO per identificare il collegamento dell’area di origine e del prodotto locale ed il suo potenziale di sviluppo con le risorse locali attraverso questionari on line. Nell’analisi qualitativa sono stati intervistati rappresentanti delle differenti categorie di stakeholder per arricchire il quadro sul contesto storico della regione. Infine, nella parte quantitativa sono stati applicati dei questionari ai consumatori di caffè del territorio. A conclusione della ricerca il territorio potrebbe reintrodurre un caffè storico, simbolo della ricchezza e decadenza di quella regione come elemento di potenziale economico locale, sfruttando la parte immateriale delle aziende agricole storiche, rilocalizzando il prodotto nella memoria locale, riavvicinando la popolazione alla sua storia e principalmente sensibilizzandola del valore del nome geografico “Vale do Paraiba Fluminense” o “Vale do Café” relazionata alla storia della regione, e del prodotto caffè che si propone rilanciare a favore del territorio, rilocalizzando il nome geografico.

Concurrent monitoring of cerebral electrophysiology and metabolism after traumatic brain injury: an experimental and clinical study

Multiparameter cerebral monitoring has been widely applied in traumatic brain injury to study posttraumatic pathophysiology and to manage head-injured patients (e.g., combining O(2) and pH sensors with cerebral microdialysis). Because a comprehensive approach towards understanding injury processes will also require functional measures, we have added electrophysiology to these monitoring modalities by attaching a recording electrode to the microdialysis probe. These dual-function (microdialysis/electrophysiology) probes were placed in rats following experimental fluid percussion brain injuries, and in a series of severely head-injured human patients. Electrical activity (cell firing, EEG) was monitored concurrently with microdialysis sampling of extracellular glutamate, glucose and lactate. Electrophysiological parameters (firing rate, serial correlation, field potential occurrences) were analyzed offline and compared to dialysate concentrations. In rats, these probes demonstrated an injury-induced suppression of neuronal firing (from a control level of 2.87 to 0.41 spikes/sec postinjury), which was associated with increases in extracellular glutamate and lactate, and decreases in glucose levels. When placed in human patients, the probes detected sparse and slowly firing cells (mean = 0.21 spike/sec), with most units (70%) exhibiting a lack of serial correlation in the spike train. In some patients, spontaneous field potentials were observed, suggesting synchronously firing neuronal populations. In both the experimental and clinical application, the addition of the recording electrode did not appreciably affect the performance of the microdialysis probe. The results suggest that this technique provides a functional monitoring capability which cannot be obtained when electrophysiology is measured with surface or epidural EEG alone.

ALTERNATING CURRENT DIELECTROPHORESIS OF CORE-SHELL NANOPARTICLES: EXPERIMENTS AND COMPARISON WITH THEORY

Nanoparticles are fascinating where physical and optical properties are related to size. Highly controllable synthesis methods and nanoparticle assembly are essential [6] for highly innovative technological applications. Among nanoparticles, nonhomogeneous core-shell nanoparticles (CSnp) have new properties that arise when varying the relative dimensions of the core and the shell. This CSnp structure enables various optical resonances, and engineered energy barriers, in addition to the high charge to surface ratio. Assembly of homogeneous nanoparticles into functional structures has become ubiquitous in biosensors (i.e. optical labeling) [7, 8], nanocoatings [9-13], and electrical circuits [14, 15]. Limited nonhomogenous nanoparticle assembly has only been explored. Many conventional nanoparticle assembly methods exist, but this work explores dielectrophoresis (DEP) as a new method. DEP is particle polarization via non-uniform electric fields while suspended in conductive fluids. Most prior DEP efforts involve microscale particles. Prior work on core-shell nanoparticle assemblies and separately, nanoparticle characterizations with dielectrophoresis and electrorotation [2-5], did not systematically explore particle size, dielectric properties (permittivity and electrical conductivity), shell thickness, particle concentration, medium conductivity, and frequency. This work is the first, to the best of our knowledge, to systematically examine these dielectrophoretic properties for core-shell nanoparticles. Further, we conduct a parametric fitting to traditional core-shell models. These biocompatible core-shell nanoparticles were studied to fill a knowledge gap in the DEP field. Experimental results (chapter 5) first examine medium conductivity, size and shell material dependencies of dielectrophoretic behaviors of spherical CSnp into 2D and 3D particle-assemblies. Chitosan (amino sugar) and poly-L-lysine (amino acid, PLL) CSnp shell materials were custom synthesized around a hollow (gas) core by utilizing a phospholipid micelle around a volatile fluid templating for the shell material; this approach proves to be novel and distinct from conventional core-shell models wherein a conductive core is coated with an insulative shell. Experiments were conducted within a 100 nl chamber housing 100 um wide Ti/Au quadrapole electrodes spaced 25 um apart. Frequencies from 100kHz to 80MHz at fixed local field of 5Vpp were tested with 10-5 and 10-3 S/m medium conductivities for 25 seconds. Dielectrophoretic responses of ~220 and 340(or ~400) nm chitosan or PLL CSnp were compiled as a function of medium conductivity, size and shell material.

Chronic administration of methylphenidate produces neurophysiological and behavioral sensitization.

The electrophysiological properties of acute and chronic methylphenidate (MPD) on neurons of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and caudate nucleus (CN) have not been studied in awake, freely behaving animals. The present study was designed to investigate the dose-response effects of MPD on sensory evoked potentials recorded from the PFC and CN in freely behaving rats previously implanted with permanent electrodes, as well as their behavioral (locomotor) activities. On experimental day 1, locomotor behavior of rats was recorded for 2 h post-saline injection, and sensory evoked field potentials were recorded before and after saline and 0.6, 2.5, and 10 mg/kg, i.p., MPD administration. Animals were injected for the next five days with daily 2.5 mg/kg MPD to elicit behavioral sensitization. Locomotor recording was resumed on experimental days 2 and 6 after the MPD maintenance dose followed by 3 days of washout. On experimental day 10, rats were connected again to the electrophysiological recording system and rechallenged with saline and the identical MPD doses as on experimental day 1. On experimental day 11, rat's locomotor recording was resumed before and after 2.5 mg/kg MPD administration. Behavioral results showed that repeated administration of MPD induced behavioral sensitization. Challenge doses (0.6, 2.5, and 10.0 mg/kg) of MPD on experimental day 1 elicited dose-response attenuation in the response amplitude of the average sensory evoked field potential components recorded from the PFC and CN. Chronic MPD administration resulted in attenuation of the PFC's baseline recorded on experimental day 10, while the same treatment did not modulate the baseline recorded from the CN. Treatment of MPD on experimental day 10 resulted in further decrease of the average sensory evoked response compared to that obtained on experimental day 1. This observation of further decrease in the electrophysiological responses after chronic administration of MPD suggests that the sensory evoked responses on experimental day 10 represent neurophysiological sensitization. Moreover, two different response patterns were obtained from PFC and CN following chronic methylphenidate administration. In PFC, the baseline and effect of methylphenidate expressed electrophysiological sensitization on experimental day 10, while recording from CN did not exhibit any electrophysiological sensitization.

The AEgIS experiment at CERN for the measurement of antihydrogen gravity acceleration

The Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEgIS) experiment is conducted by an international collaboration based at CERN whose aim is to perform the first direct measurement of the gravitational acceleration of antihydrogen in the local field of the Earth, with Δg/g = 1% precision as a first achievement. The idea is to produce cold (100 mK) antihydrogen ( ¯H) through a pulsed charge exchange reaction by overlapping clouds of antiprotons, from the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) and positronium atoms inside a Penning trap. The antihydrogen has to be produced in an excited Rydberg state to be subsequently accelerated to form a beam. The deflection of the antihydrogen beam can then be measured by using a moir´e deflectometer coupled to a position sensitive detector to register the impact point of the anti-atoms through the vertex reconstruction of their annihilation products. After being approved in late 2008, AEgIS started taking data in a commissioning phase in 2012. This paper presents an outline of the experiment with a brief overview of its physics motivation and of the state-of-the-art of the g measurement on antimatter. Particular attention is given to the current status of the emulsion-based position detector needed to measure the ¯H sag in AEgIS.

Apoyando innovaciones locales: Un instrumento para el fortalecimiento de innovaciones locales y la promoción del desarrollo rural sostenible: Experiencias de dos talleres pilotos de MASAL y CDE realizados en laprovincia de Cuzco, Perú

Local communities have often underestimated their endogenous potentials for innovation – potentials that could help them adapt to changing socio-cultural, political, economic and environmental conditions, to improve their livelihoods, develop their own visions, and negotiate their own priorities. While the significance of local innovation potentials for sustainable development is now increasingly acknowledged, projects and development plans rarely attempt to explicitly develop these potentials; nor do they try to disseminate local innovations within and among communities. Based on the conceptual framework of “social learning”, CDE has developed an instrument to promote existing local potential for innovation. The instrument is based on social learning processes involving different stakeholder groups in local contexts. It was successfully tested during two pilot workshops in a rural development context in the Peruvian highland. The present paper reports on the experience of these two workshops held in April and May 2004 in the communities of Tungasuca in the Cuzco Province. The paper describes the context of innovations and the methodology applied, followed by a detailed description of the contents and outcomes of the workshops, as well as the experience gained in the process. Finally it draws a set of conclusions and presents the lessons learnt.

Table 1: Station data for the entire survey, including coordinates and description of BPBASE

During GANOVEX VI new gravity data were collected along an east-west profile in North Victoria Land south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue, extending 150 km across the Transantarctic Mountains, and comprising 21 data points. Thirty five additional data points were collected over a small area near Brimstone Peak, near the western end of the regional profile. The survey south of the Drygalski has been connected to northern gravity data (GANOVEX V) by a survey line of 12 points. All data have been terrain corrected, and are further constrained by satellite elevation (GPS) and radar ice-thickness measurements. A pronounced regional Bouguer gravity gradient decreasing to the west by approximately 3 mgal/km is superimposed over a coast-parallel belt of granitoid basement rock. West of this belt the local gravity fields become mote variable. Over Beta Peak (Ferrar dolerite) a 50 mgal spike is obser- ved. Within this area, the Ferrar sills are exposed at the surface. West of Brimstone Peak (Ferrar/Kirk patrick sequences), a smooth regional gradient appears to reassert itself. We interpret the initial gradient east (oceanward) of the break-in-slope to be representative of the crust/mantle boundary within the study area. We interpret the initial break-in-slope and the apparent flattening of the regional gradient to be an effect of the N-S trending zone of dense Ferrar sills and associated deep crusttil fractionate replacing less dense basement. We attribute the variability of the local field to be the product of sub-glacial density contrasts that cannot be removed. The regional gravity gradient of the profile is steeper than that observed to the north (Mt. Melbourne quadrangle) and shallower than that reported to the south (McMurdo Sound). The absolute values of the coastal points of origin south of the Drygalski and within the Mt. Melbourne quadrangle differ by 60 to 100 mgal. In addition, topographic relief within the regional transect area is subdued relative to the Transantarctic Mountains to the north and south. We speculate that the root structure of the Transantarctic Mountains undergoes a change somewhere between the Mt. Melbourne quadrangle and the region south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue.

インド 現地資料の収集

アジア経済研究所（アジ研）は，開発途上国・地域の政治，経済，社会に関する社会科学分野の基礎的総合的研究を行う研究機関である。研究活動の現地主義に対応し，アジ研図書館でも現地刊行の現地語の資料を重視し，現地に根ざした資料収集を行っている。特に，現地書店との直接取引による購入，現地研究機関や大学，政府機関等との資料交換，直接現地を訪問しての資料収集活動が特徴的である。本稿では，インドの現地資料収集について，アジ研図書館のこの特徴ある資料収集活動を基にご紹介してみたい。また，後半では2007 年にデリーを訪問して資料事情に関する現地調査を行った際の体験についても触れる。

Leading role of thalamic over cortical neurons during postinhibitory rebound excitation

The postinhibitory rebound excitation is an intrinsic property of thalamic and cortical neurons that is implicated in a variety of normal and abnormal operations of neuronal networks, such as slow or fast brain rhythms during different states of vigilance as well as seizures. We used dual simultaneous intracellular recordings of thalamocortical neurons from the ventrolateral nucleus and neurons from the motor cortex, together with thalamic and cortical field potentials, to investigate the temporal relations between thalamic and cortical events during the rebound excitation that follows prolonged periods of stimulus-induced inhibition. Invariably, the rebound spike-bursts in thalamocortical cells occurred before the rebound depolarization in cortical neurons and preceded the peak of the depth-negative, rebound field potential in cortical areas. Also, the inhibitory-rebound sequences were more pronounced and prolonged in cortical neurons when elicited by thalamic stimuli, compared with cortical stimuli. The role of thalamocortical loops in the rebound excitation of cortical neurons was shown further by the absence of rebound activity in isolated cortical slabs. However, whereas thalamocortical neurons remained hyperpolarized after rebound excitation, because of the prolonged spike-bursts in inhibitory thalamic reticular neurons, the rebound depolarization in cortical neurons was prolonged, suggesting the role of intracortical excitatory circuits in this sustained activity. The role of intrathalamic events in triggering rebound cortical activity should be taken into consideration when analyzing information processes at the cortical level; at each step, corticothalamic volleys can set into action thalamic inhibitory neurons, leading to rebound spike-bursts that are transferred back to the cortex, thus modifying cortical activities.

Quantal release at a neuronal nicotinic synapse from rat adrenal gland.

The neuronal nicotinic synapse in tissue slices of the adrenal medulla was studied with whole-cell patch-clamp. Excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) were evoked by local field stimulation or occurred spontaneously especially when external [K+] was increased. EPSCs were carried by channels sharing biophysical and pharmacological properties of neuronal-type nicotinic receptors (nAChRs). A single-channel conductance (gamma) of 43-45 pS was found from nonstationary variance analysis of EPSCs. Spontaneous EPSCs were tetrodotoxin-insensitive and Ca(2+)-dependent and occurred in burst-like clusters. Quantal analysis of spontaneous EPSCs gave a quantal size of 20 pA and amplitude histograms were well described by binomial models with low values of quantal content, consistent with a small number of spontaneously active release sites. However, rare large amplitude EPSCs suggest that the total number of sites is higher and that extrajunctional receptors are involved. Our estimates of quantal content and size at the chromaffin cell neuronal nicotinic synapse may be useful in characterizing central neuronal-type nicotinic receptor-mediated cholinergic synaptic transmission.

Long-term modifications of synaptic efficacy in the human inferior and middle temporal cortex.

The primate temporal cortex has been demonstrated to play an important role in visual memory and pattern recognition. It is of particular interest to investigate whether activity-dependent modification of synaptic efficacy, a presumptive mechanism for learning and memory, is present in this cortical region. Here we address this issue by examining the induction of synaptic plasticity in surgically resected human inferior and middle temporal cortex. The results show that synaptic strength in the human temporal cortex could undergo bidirectional modifications, depending on the pattern of conditioning stimulation. High frequency stimulation (100 or 40 Hz) in layer IV induced long-term potentiation (LTP) of both intracellular excitatory postsynaptic potentials and evoked field potentials in layers II/III. The LTP induced by 100 Hz tetanus was blocked by 50-100 microM DL-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid, suggesting that N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors were responsible for its induction. Long-term depression (LTD) was elicited by prolonged low frequency stimulation (1 Hz, 15 min). It was reduced, but not completely blocked, by DL-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid, implying that some other mechanisms in addition to N-methyl-DL-aspartate receptors were involved in LTD induction. LTD was input-specific, i.e., low frequency stimulation of one pathway produced LTD of synaptic transmission in that pathway only. Finally, the LTP and LTD could reverse each other, suggesting that they can act cooperatively to modify the functional state of cortical network. These results suggest that LTP and LTD are possible mechanisms for the visual memory and pattern recognition functions performed in the human temporal cortex.

Effective nonlinear model of resonant tunneling nanostructures

We introduce a model of a nonlinear double-barrier structure to describe in a simple way the effects of electron-electron scattering while remaining analytically tractable. The model is based on a generalized effective-mass equation where a nonlinear local field interaction is introduced to account for those inelastic scattering phenomena. Resonance peaks seen in the transmission coefficient spectra for the linear case appear shifted to higher energies depending on the magnitude of the nonlinear coupling. Our results are in good agreement with self-consistent solutions of the Schrodinger and Poisson equations. The calculation procedure is seen to be very fast, which makes our technique a good candidate for a rapid approximate analysis of these structures.

Towards Closed-loop Deep Brain Stimulation: Behavior Recognition from Human STN

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) provides significant therapeutic benefit for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). Current DBS devices lack real-time feedback (thus are open loop) and stimulation parameters are adjusted during scheduled visits with a clinician. A closed-loop DBS system may reduce power consumption and side effects by adjusting stimulation parameters based on patient’s behavior. Thus behavior detection is a major step in designing such systems. Various physiological signals can be used to recognize the behaviors. Subthalamic Nucleus (STN) Local field Potential (LFP) is a great candidate signal for the neural feedback, because it can be recorded from the stimulation lead and does not require additional sensors. This thesis proposes novel detection and classification techniques for behavior recognition based on deep brain LFP. Behavior detection from such signals is the vital step in developing the next generation of closed-loop DBS devices. LFP recordings from 13 subjects are utilized in this study to design and evaluate our method. Recordings were performed during the surgery and the subjects were asked to perform various behavioral tasks. Various techniques are used understand how the behaviors modulate the STN. One method studies the time-frequency patterns in the STN LFP during the tasks. Another method measures the temporal inter-hemispheric connectivity of the STN as well as the connectivity between STN and Pre-frontal Cortex (PFC). Experimental results demonstrate that different behaviors create different m odulation patterns in STN and it’s connectivity. We use these patterns as features to classify behaviors. A method for single trial recognition of the patient’s current task is proposed. This method uses wavelet coefficients as features and support vector machine (SVM) as the classifier for recognition of a selection of behaviors: speech, motor, and random. The proposed method is 82.4% accurate for the binary classification and 73.2% for classifying three tasks. As the next step, a practical behavior detection method which asynchronously detects behaviors is proposed. This method does not use any priori knowledge of behavior onsets and is capable of asynchronously detect the finger movements of PD patients. Our study indicates that there is a motor-modulated inter-hemispheric connectivity between LFP signals recorded bilaterally from STN. We utilize a non-linear regression method to measure this inter-hemispheric connectivity and to detect the finger movements. Our experimental results using STN LFP recorded from eight patients with PD demonstrate this is a promising approach for behavior detection and developing novel closed-loop DBS systems.

The missing link:Analogous human and primate cortical gamma oscillations

Recent animal studies highlighting the relationship between functional imaging signals and the underlying neuronal activity have revealed the potential capabilities of non-invasive methods. However, the valuable exchange of information between animal and human studies remains restricted by the limited evidence of direct physiological links between species. In this study we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate the occurrence of 30-70 Hz (gamma) oscillations in human visual cortex, induced by the presentation of visual stimuli of varying contrast. These oscillations, well described in the animal literature, were observed in retinotopically concordant locations of visual cortex and show striking similarity to those found in primate visual cortex using surgically implanted electrodes. The amplitude of the gamma oscillations increases linearly with stimulus contrast in strong correlation with the gamma oscillations found in the local field potential (LFP) of the macaque. We demonstrate that non-invasive magnetic field measurements of gamma oscillations in human visual cortex concur with invasive measures of activation in primate visual cortex, suggesting both a direct representation of underlying neuronal activity and a concurrence between human and primate cortical activity. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neuronal network dynamics during epileptogenesis in the medial temporal lobe

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, a large fraction of which is resistant to pharmacotherapy. In this light, understanding the mechanisms of epilepsy and its intractable forms in particular could create new targets for pharmacotherapeutic intervention. The current project explores the dynamic changes in neuronal network function in the chronic temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in rat and human brain in vitro. I focused on the process of establishment of epilepsy (epileptogenesis) in the temporal lobe. Rhythmic behaviour of the hippocampal neuronal networks in healthy animals was explored using spontaneous oscillations in the gamma frequency band (SγO). The use of an improved brain slice preparation technique resulted in the natural occurence (in the absence of pharmacological stimulation) of rhythmic activity, which was then pharmacologically characterised and compared to other models of gamma oscillations (KA- and CCh-induced oscillations) using local field potential recording technique. The results showed that SγO differed from pharmacologically driven models, suggesting higher physiological relevance of SγO. Network activity was also explored in the medial entorhinal cortex (mEC), where spontaneous slow wave oscillations (SWO) were detected. To investigate the course of chronic TLE establishment, a refined Li-pilocarpine-based model of epilepsy (RISE) was developed. The model significantly reduced animal mortality and demonstrated reduced intensity, yet high morbidy with almost 70% mean success rate of developing spontaneous recurrent seizures. We used SγO to characterize changes in the hippocampal neuronal networks throughout the epileptogenesis. The results showed that the network remained largely intact, demonstrating the subtle nature of the RISE model. Despite this, a reduction in network activity was detected during the so-called latent (no seizure) period, which was hypothesized to occur due to network fragmentation and an abnormal function of kainate receptors (KAr). We therefore explored the function of KAr by challenging SγO with kainic acid (KA). The results demonstrated a remarkable decrease in KAr response during the latent period, suggesting KAr dysfunction or altered expression, which will be further investigated using a variety of electrophysiological and immunocytochemical methods. The entorhinal cortex, together with the hippocampus, is known to play an important role in the TLE. Considering this, we investigated neuronal network function of the mEC during epileptogenesis using SWO. The results demonstrated a striking difference in AMPAr function, with possible receptor upregulation or abnormal composition in the early development of epilepsy. Alterations in receptor function inevitably lead to changes in the network function, which may play an important role in the development of epilepsy. Preliminary investigations were made using slices of human brain tissue taken following surgery for intratctable epilepsy. Initial results showed that oscillogenesis could be induced in human brain slices and that such network activity was pharmacologically similar to that observed in rodent brain. Overall, our findings suggest that excitatory glutamatergic transmission is heavily involved in the process of epileptogenesis. Together with other types of receptors, KAr and AMPAr contribute to epilepsy establishment and may be the key to uncovering its mechanism.