Avaliação da viabilidade econômica da implantação de uma usina de triagem e compostagem na cidade de Rio Claro-SP

The question of the solid waste is without a doubt one of the biggest problems faced for the world-wide population in the present time, resulting in the call “collapse of the garbage”. In this direction that appears the composting, in the scope of the treatment of organic waste origin, that in Brazil, approximately correspond 50% of the generated volume. However, the rare plants of selection and composting (UTC) existing at least do not obtain auto-to support themselves, increasing to each day the number of deactivations, almost always related the financial questions. In this direction, the present research brings the analysis of the economic viability of the implantation of a UTC for the city of Rio Claro-SP, relating it with the thick organic composition sales, for the cultures of vegetables cultivated in a ray of 30 km of the study area. For in such a way, they had been carried through, calculations concerning the regional demand for organic composition, and the verification of the implantation costs and operation of the plant. The reached results had been the flow of box for the first year of functioning of the UTC, as well as the break-even point between the gotten expenditures and prescriptions. From this relation investment profitability, it was verified that the UTC is presented impracticable under the economic point of view.

Acupuntura na abordagem da Síndrome da Cauda Equina em pequenos animais Trabalho

Nowadays, in any area that acts within the veterinary medicine, we talk a lot of specialists. Specialists in neurology, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, finally, more specialized in a subject, better is the veterinarian. However, on one hand to deepen the knowledge helped in the discovery of new diagnostics and treatments, secondly, a bit lost sight of the patient as a whole. Traditional Chinese medicine, one of whose branches is acupuncture, is aimed at exactly this approach to be fully alive, where all body is interconnected and the disease is not seen as the imbalance of one system, but, as the imbalance between our being and the environment external. Acupuncture is an alternative in the treatment of many diseases, among them Cauda Equina Syndrome, and consists of stimulating specific points on the body surface, which help the body return to its natural harmony. A Cauda Equina Syndrome is a frame subsequent to a neuromuscular spinal cord at the level of the spinal canal of the lower lumbar spine and sacral, whose treatment is almost always surgical. This study aims to show the relevance of acupuncture treatment in this condition and report the importance of the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine nowadays, even when their arms are not in the treatment of choice

Caracterização Físico-Química de Polpas de Frutas do Bioma Amazônia

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Presença de fatores de risco dependentes ou não de esforço físico em praticantes de corrida de rua

In order to reduce the sedentarism and to improve population's health condition, many physical activity incentive programs have been stimulated. As a result, many people have adhered to street racing, but their health condition is almost always ignored. The aim of this study was to evaluate street racers' health condition, identifying the presence of cardiovascular risk factors as well as problems associated to street racing. The study case was composed by 111 racers from the town of Bauru (94 men and 17 women) aged in average 39±13 years old, who were evaluated in 4 street race competitions. The subjects answered to an anamnesis with questions about their socioeconomic status, medicine use, cardiovascular risk, physical exercise practices, and issues related to racing and injury. Weight (kg) and height (m) were measured to calculate the body mass index (BMI, kg/m²) as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), abdominal circumference (AC), and flexibility. It could be observed that the majority of racers were Caucasian, married and belonged to social classes over C. The prevalent age was between 18 and 35 years old (42%). Among the participants, 38.7% have already undergone some kind of surgery and 13% declared having some health problem. The questionnaire pointed out that 36% had low and moderate cardiovascular risk. It could be noticed from the AC that 10% of men and 18% of women had high cardiac risk. Among the tested, 43.2% (24.3% altered and 18.9% borderline) showed high BP on the day of the test, but only 2.7% had self-declared hypertensive. In relation to injury, 36% had already had lesions of some kind, 27.5% of which had occurred in the last 8 months. 66.6% had derived from training or racing competitions and the knee was the mostly affected body part. Only 43% had professional orientation by a physical education teacher during their training and the main reasons for them to begin racing practice were...

Theoretical study of the stoichiometric and reduced Ce-Doped TiO2 anatase (001) surfaces

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Surgical Treatment of Severe Frontal Bone Fracture

Craniofacial trauma can lead to several complications. The combined fractures of anterior and posterior walls of the frontal bone are almost always followed by lesions in nasofrontal orifices and disruption of nasofrontal ostia or ducts, a significant factor for the development of early and late complications after sinus fractures. This article reports a case of trauma patient, who underwent neurological evaluation and at first showed good general condition. Computed tomography noted fracture of the anterior and posterior walls of the frontal sinus and small foci of pneumocephalus in the cerebral cortex. The patient was monitored periodically and 9 days after trauma showed increased areas of pneumocephalus in prefrontal cortex, cerebrospinal fluid draining, and large dura mater lesion, with signs of necrosis and inflammation (meningitis). The necrotic tissues were removed, and dura mater was repaired through the approximation with resorbable wire polyglactin 910 5-0, oxidized cellulose application, and bonding with human fibrin sealant (fibrinogen, thrombin, and calcium chloride). Sinusectomy, frontal sinus, and nasofrontal duct obliteration with pedicled pericranium flap were performed. Tomographically, a reanatomization was noted in frontal region, and a 12-month follow-up showed no complication. The use of fibrin glue to repair dura mater lacerations, as well as the pedicle pericranium flap for frontal sinus and nasofrontal duct obliteration, is an efficient method for treating fractures of the frontal bone.

Cetacean sightings around the Republic of the Maldives, April 1998

In April 1998, as part of a project to collect biopsy samples of putative pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) in the waters around the Republic of the Maldives, Indian Ocean, incidental sightings of cetaceans encountered were recorded. Using modified line-transect methods and handheld binoculars, a total of 267 sightings of 16 species of whales and dolphins were recorded during 20 at-sea days in the northeastern part of the atoll. Significant results include the following: (1) cetaceans were abundant and species diversity was high, including nearly every pantropical species of pelagic cetacean; (2) the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) was by far the most common species encountered (56 sightings) and also had the largest mean school size ( = 50.3 individuals); (3) blue whales were rare; only four individuals were sighted; (4) a large concentration of Bryde’s whales (28 sightings in two days) was apparently feeding in nearshore waters; (5) this paper reports the first records for the Maldives of Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), Blainville’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) and the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima): the latter was particularly common (17 sightings); (6) the spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) was rare and almost always associated with yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), spinner dolphin, or seabirds, as has been reported in the eastern Pacific and western Indian oceans.

Inconsistent-tolerant base revision through Argument Theory Change

Reasoning and change over inconsistent knowledge bases (KBs) is of utmost relevance in areas like medicine and law. Argumentation may bring the possibility to cope with both problems. Firstly, by constructing an argumentation framework (AF) from the inconsistent KB, we can decide whether to accept or reject a certain claim through the interplay among arguments and counterarguments. Secondly, by handling dynamics of arguments of the AF, we might deal with the dynamics of knowledge of the underlying inconsistent KB. Dynamics of arguments has recently attracted attention and although some approaches have been proposed, a full axiomatization within the theory of belief revision was still missing. A revision arises when we want the argumentation semantics to accept an argument. Argument Theory Change (ATC) encloses the revision operators that modify the AF by analyzing dialectical trees-arguments as nodes and attacks as edges-as the adopted argumentation semantics. In this article, we present a simple approach to ATC based on propositional KBs. This allows to manage change of inconsistent KBs by relying upon classical belief revision, although contrary to it, consistency restoration of the KB is avoided. Subsequently, a set of rationality postulates adapted to argumentation is given, and finally, the proposed model of change is related to the postulates through the corresponding representation theorem. Though we focus on propositional logic, the results can be easily extended to more expressive formalisms such as first-order logic and description logics, to handle evolution of ontologies.

Un paso de América: Alfonso Reyes, Victoria Ocampo y el cosmopolitismo en la década de 1930

[ES] El artículo trata de las construcciones americanistas del cosmopolitismo (entendido en relación a la geopolítica imperial) en los textos de Victoria Ocampo y Alfonso Reyes de los años treinta. Al analizar su relación con los movimientos de inmigración y la subsiguiente revalorización de la nación, el artículo postula que en Alfonso Reyes la mediación cosmopolita es «des-jerarquizada», ubicada casi siempre en una «periferia», a diferencia de Victoria Ocampo cuyas visiones cosmopolitas son mediadas desde un «centro» —ya sea París o Buenos Aires— y relacionadas con una jerarquía de valores estéticos y políticos.

Dall'involucro all'invaso. Lo spazio a pianta centrale nell'opera architettonica di Adalberto Libera

An archetype selected over the centuries Adalberto Libera wrote little, showing more inclination to use the project as the only means of verification. This study uses a survey of the project for purely compositional space in relation to the reason that most other returns with continuity and consistency throughout his work. "The fruit of a type selected over centuries", in the words of Libera, is one of the most widely used and repeated spatial archetypes present in the history of architecture, given its nature as defined by a few consolidated elements and precisely defined with characters of geometric precision and absoluteness, the central space is provided, over the course of evolution of architecture, and its construction aspects as well as symbolic, for various uses, from historical period in which it was to coincide with sacred space for excellence, to others in which it lends itself to many different expressive possibilities of a more "secular". The central space was created on assumptions of a constructive character, and the same exact reason has determined the structural changes over the centuries, calling from time to time with advances in technology, the maximum extent possible and the different applications, which almost always have coincided with the reason for the monumental space. But it’s in the Roman world that the reason for the central space is defined from the start of a series of achievements that fix the character in perpetuity. The Pantheon was seen maximum results and, simultaneously, the archetype indispensable, to the point that it becomes difficult to sustain a discussion of the central space that excludes. But the reason the space station has complied, in ancient Rome, just as exemplary, monuments, public spaces or buildings with very different implications. The same Renaissance, on which Wittkower's proving itself once and for all, the nature and interpretation of sacred space station, and thus the symbolic significance of that invaded underlying interpretations related to Humanism, fixing the space-themed drawing it with the study and direct observation by the four-sixteenth-century masters, the ruins that in those years of renewed interest in the classical world, the first big pieces of excavation of ancient Rome brought to light with great surprise of all. Not a case, the choice to investigate the architectural work of Libera through the grounds of the central space. Investigating its projects and achievements, it turns out as the reason invoked particularly evident from the earliest to latest work, crossing-free period of the war which for many authors in different ways, the distinction between one stage and another, or the final miss. The theme and the occasion for Libera always distinct, it is precisely the key through which to investigate her work, to come to discover that the first-in this case the central plan-is the constant underlying all his work, and the second reason that the quota with or at the same time, we will return different each time and always the same Libera, formed on the major works remained from ancient times, and on this building method, means consciously, that the characters of architectural works, if valid, pass the time, and survive the use and function contingent. As for the facts by which to formalize it, they themselves are purely contingent, and therefore available to be transferred from one work to another, from one project to another, using also the loan. Using the same two words-at-issue and it becomes clear now how the theme of this study is the method of Libera and opportunity to the study of the central space in his work. But there is one aspect that, with respect to space a central plan evolves with the progress of the work of Libera on the archetype, and it is the reason behind all the way, just because an area built entirely on reason centric. It 'just the "center" of space that, ultimately, tells us the real progression and the knowledge that over the years has matured and changed in Libera. In the first phase, heavily laden with symbolic superstructure, even if used in a "bribe" from Free-always ill-disposed to sacrifice the idea of architecture to a phantom-center space is just the figure that identifies the icon represents space itself: the cross, the flame or the statue are different representations of the same idea of center built around an icon. The second part of the work of clearing the space station, changed the size of the orders but the demands of patronage, grows and expands the image space centric, celebratory nature that takes and becomes, in a different way, this same symbol . You see, one in all, as the project of "Civiltà Italiana" or symbolic arch are examples of this different attitude. And at the same point of view, you will understand how the two projects formulated on the reuse of the Mausoleum of Augustus is the key to its passage from first to second phase: the Ara Pacis in the second project, making itself the center of the composition "breaks" the pattern of symbolic figure in the center, because it is itself an architecture. And, in doing so, the transition takes place where the building itself-the central space-to become the center of that space that itself creates and determines, by extending the potential and the expressiveness of the enclosure (or cover) that defines the basin centered. In this second series of projects, which will be the apex and the point of "crisis" in the Palazzo dei Congressi all'E42 received and is no longer so, the symbol at the very geometry of space, but space itself and 'action' will be determined within this; action leading a movement, in the case of the Arco simbolico and the "Civiltà Italiana" or, more frequently, or celebration, as in the great Sala dei Recevimenti all’E42, which, in the first project proposal, is represented as a large area populated by people in suits, at a reception, in fact. In other words, in this second phase, the architecture is no longer a mere container, but it represents the shape of space, representing that which "contains". In the next step-determining the knowledge from which mature in their transition to post-war-is one step that radically changes the way centric space, although formally and compositionally Libera continues the work on the same elements, compounds and relationships in a different way . In this last phase Freedom, center, puts the man in human beings, in the two previous phases, and in a latent, were already at the center of the composition, even if relegated to the role of spectators in the first period, or of supporting actors in the second, now the heart of space. And it’s, as we shall see, the very form of being together in the form of "assembly", in its different shades (up to that sacred) to determine the shape of space, and how to relate the parts that combine to form it. The reconstruction of the birth, evolution and development of the central space of the ground in Libera, was born on the study of the monuments of ancient Rome, intersected on fifty years of recent history, honed on the constancy of a method and practice of a lifetime, becomes itself, Therefore, a project, employing the same mechanisms adopted by Libera; the decomposition and recomposition, research synthesis and unity of form, are in fact the structure of this research work. The road taken by Libera is a lesson in clarity and rationality, above all, and this work would uncover at least a fragment.

Sistemi riconfigurabili a basso consumo per applicazioni di monitoraggio distribuito

The term Ambient Intelligence (AmI) refers to a vision on the future of the information society where smart, electronic environment are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people and their activities (Context awareness). In an ambient intelligence world, devices work in concert to support people in carrying out their everyday life activities, tasks and rituals in an easy, natural way using information and intelligence that is hidden in the network connecting these devices. This promotes the creation of pervasive environments improving the quality of life of the occupants and enhancing the human experience. AmI stems from the convergence of three key technologies: ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous communication and natural interfaces. Ambient intelligent systems are heterogeneous and require an excellent cooperation between several hardware/software technologies and disciplines, including signal processing, networking and protocols, embedded systems, information management, and distributed algorithms. Since a large amount of fixed and mobile sensors embedded is deployed into the environment, the Wireless Sensor Networks is one of the most relevant enabling technologies for AmI. WSN are complex systems made up of a number of sensor nodes which can be deployed in a target area to sense physical phenomena and communicate with other nodes and base stations. These simple devices typically embed a low power computational unit (microcontrollers, FPGAs etc.), a wireless communication unit, one or more sensors and a some form of energy supply (either batteries or energy scavenger modules). WNS promises of revolutionizing the interactions between the real physical worlds and human beings. Low-cost, low-computational power, low energy consumption and small size are characteristics that must be taken into consideration when designing and dealing with WSNs. To fully exploit the potential of distributed sensing approaches, a set of challengesmust be addressed. Sensor nodes are inherently resource-constrained systems with very low power consumption and small size requirements which enables than to reduce the interference on the physical phenomena sensed and to allow easy and low-cost deployment. They have limited processing speed,storage capacity and communication bandwidth that must be efficiently used to increase the degree of local ”understanding” of the observed phenomena. A particular case of sensor nodes are video sensors. This topic holds strong interest for a wide range of contexts such as military, security, robotics and most recently consumer applications. Vision sensors are extremely effective for medium to long-range sensing because vision provides rich information to human operators. However, image sensors generate a huge amount of data, whichmust be heavily processed before it is transmitted due to the scarce bandwidth capability of radio interfaces. In particular, in video-surveillance, it has been shown that source-side compression is mandatory due to limited bandwidth and delay constraints. Moreover, there is an ample opportunity for performing higher-level processing functions, such as object recognition that has the potential to drastically reduce the required bandwidth (e.g. by transmitting compressed images only when something ‘interesting‘ is detected). The energy cost of image processing must however be carefully minimized. Imaging could play and plays an important role in sensing devices for ambient intelligence. Computer vision can for instance be used for recognising persons and objects and recognising behaviour such as illness and rioting. Having a wireless camera as a camera mote opens the way for distributed scene analysis. More eyes see more than one and a camera system that can observe a scene from multiple directions would be able to overcome occlusion problems and could describe objects in their true 3D appearance. In real-time, these approaches are a recently opened field of research. In this thesis we pay attention to the realities of hardware/software technologies and the design needed to realize systems for distributed monitoring, attempting to propose solutions on open issues and filling the gap between AmI scenarios and hardware reality. The physical implementation of an individual wireless node is constrained by three important metrics which are outlined below. Despite that the design of the sensor network and its sensor nodes is strictly application dependent, a number of constraints should almost always be considered. Among them: • Small form factor to reduce nodes intrusiveness. • Low power consumption to reduce battery size and to extend nodes lifetime. • Low cost for a widespread diffusion. These limitations typically result in the adoption of low power, low cost devices such as low powermicrocontrollers with few kilobytes of RAMand tenth of kilobytes of program memory with whomonly simple data processing algorithms can be implemented. However the overall computational power of the WNS can be very large since the network presents a high degree of parallelism that can be exploited through the adoption of ad-hoc techniques. Furthermore through the fusion of information from the dense mesh of sensors even complex phenomena can be monitored. In this dissertation we present our results in building several AmI applications suitable for a WSN implementation. The work can be divided into two main areas:Low Power Video Sensor Node and Video Processing Alghoritm and Multimodal Surveillance . Low Power Video Sensor Nodes and Video Processing Alghoritms In comparison to scalar sensors, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, velocity, and acceleration sensors, vision sensors generate much higher bandwidth data due to the two-dimensional nature of their pixel array. We have tackled all the constraints listed above and have proposed solutions to overcome the current WSNlimits for Video sensor node. We have designed and developed wireless video sensor nodes focusing on the small size and the flexibility of reuse in different applications. The video nodes target a different design point: the portability (on-board power supply, wireless communication), a scanty power budget (500mW),while still providing a prominent level of intelligence, namely sophisticated classification algorithmand high level of reconfigurability. We developed two different video sensor node: The device architecture of the first one is based on a low-cost low-power FPGA+microcontroller system-on-chip. The second one is based on ARM9 processor. Both systems designed within the above mentioned power envelope could operate in a continuous fashion with Li-Polymer battery pack and solar panel. Novel low power low cost video sensor nodes which, in contrast to sensors that just watch the world, are capable of comprehending the perceived information in order to interpret it locally, are presented. Featuring such intelligence, these nodes would be able to cope with such tasks as recognition of unattended bags in airports, persons carrying potentially dangerous objects, etc.,which normally require a human operator. Vision algorithms for object detection, acquisition like human detection with Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification and abandoned/removed object detection are implemented, described and illustrated on real world data. Multimodal surveillance: In several setup the use of wired video cameras may not be possible. For this reason building an energy efficient wireless vision network for monitoring and surveillance is one of the major efforts in the sensor network community. Energy efficiency for wireless smart camera networks is one of the major efforts in distributed monitoring and surveillance community. For this reason, building an energy efficient wireless vision network for monitoring and surveillance is one of the major efforts in the sensor network community. The Pyroelectric Infra-Red (PIR) sensors have been used to extend the lifetime of a solar-powered video sensor node by providing an energy level dependent trigger to the video camera and the wireless module. Such approach has shown to be able to extend node lifetime and possibly result in continuous operation of the node.Being low-cost, passive (thus low-power) and presenting a limited form factor, PIR sensors are well suited for WSN applications. Moreover techniques to have aggressive power management policies are essential for achieving long-termoperating on standalone distributed cameras needed to improve the power consumption. We have used an adaptive controller like Model Predictive Control (MPC) to help the system to improve the performances outperforming naive power management policies.

Der irische Buchmarkt

Der irische Buchmarkt als Teil des englischsprachigen Buchmarktes ist stark von der Geschichte des Landes geprägt. Die Fremdbestimmung im Rahmen des Commonwealth unterdrückte eine eigenständige Verlagslandschaft bis weit ins 20. Jahrhundert hinein. Mit der Unabhängigkeit des irischen Staates stieg die Anzahl der Verlage langsam aber stetig an. In den 70er Jahren kam die irische Verlagslandschaft zu einem fast explosionsartigen Erblühen. Die Gründung des Verlegerverbandes Clé war einer von vielen Schritten, um den nationalen Buchmarkt von der Dominanz britischer Bücher in Buchhandlungen und Bibliotheken zu emanzipieren. Die Nachfrage nach Irish-Interest-Titeln ist im Inland hoch. Britische Verlage hatten bis dato diesen Bedarf übersehen, und so füllten irische Verlage diese Nische. Die Einführung eines von Großbritannien unabhängigen Lehrplans führte zur Etablierung eines eigenständigen Schulbuchmarktes, inklusive Lehrwerke zur irischen Sprache bzw. Titel auf Irisch. Irische Verlage sind in ihrem Programm größtenteils breit aufgestellt und selten spezialisiert. Sie sind erstaunlich häufig unabhängige mittelständische Unternehmen. Nur wenige Verlage sind staatlich geführt oder gehören ausländischen Konzernen an. Auch der stationäre Buchhandel ist überwiegend eigenständig, da die – vor dem Wirtschaftsboom wenig kaufkräftige - Republik von den expandierenden britischen Buchhandelsketten vernachlässigt wurde. Erst nach dem Wirtschaftsboom und dem damit verbundenen soziokulturellen Wandel von einer traditionellen Agrar- hin zu einer modernen Informationsgesellschaft stiegen die Umsätze mit Büchern stark an. Sobald der Buchmarkt eine nennenswerte wirtschaftliche Größe erreichte, eröffneten britische Buchhandlungen Filialen in irischen Städten. Sie vermochten jedoch nicht, die Sortimentsvielfalt der irischen Buchhandelslandschaft zu zerstören. Die fehlende Buchpreisbindung ist keine Bedrohung der Titelvielfalt, da Handelsformen wie Buchclubs, Supermärkte und Internethandel – die mit teils aggressivem Preismarketing arbeitenden Nebenmärkte – hier nur eine Randexistenz führen. In diesem Fall wandelt sich die geringe (Umsatz-) Größe und damit Attraktivität des Buchmarktes zum Vorteil. Die staatliche Kulturförderung ist ein bedeutender Beitrag zum Verlegen von Literatur, die wirtschaftlich gerechnet keine Daseinsberechtigung hätte. Irische Verleger mit relativ geringem Budget sind nicht in der Lage, solche unökonomischen Titel mit dem finanziellen Erfolg eines Bestsellers in Mischkalkulation aufzufangen. Hier greift die staatliche Unterstützung. Die Subventionierung von Titeln über die irischen Sprache bzw. von Literatur auf Irisch führte zur Herausbildung eines Marktsektors, der vor der Staatsgründung nicht existierte. Die Übersetzungsförderung verstärkt die Verbreitung von bis dato unbekannter irischer Literatur im Ausland und stimuliert das Lizenzgeschäft. Die aktuelle staatliche Kulturpolitik setzt ihren Schwerpunkt auf Marketing, PR sowie Nachfolgeregelung und fördert so nachhaltig statt bloß in Form einer kurzlebigen Titelsubvention. Eine noch mehr in die Zukunft gerichtete Förderung würde genauso wie die Unterstützung von Fortbildungsmaßnahmen zu besseren wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen führen. Auch wenn die nationale Verlagsszene im Aufschwung begriffen ist, befindet sich der irische Buchmarkt insgesamt in fester Hand der britischen Verlagsproduktion. Der britische Buchmarkt mit seinen multinationalen und finanzkräftigen Verlagen lebt vom Export. Aus Sicht von Großbritannien ist heutzutage der Nachbar Irland, einst Teil des britischen Buchmarktes, einer der besten Kunden. Dieser Aspekt bezieht sich nicht nur auf die langjährig entwickelten Handelsbeziehungen. In kulturellen Aspekten orientiert sich Irland stark am britischen Vorbild: Ein britischer Bestseller wird fast immer auch ein Bestseller in Irland. Lediglich Irish-Interest-Titel durchbrechen diesen Automatismus. Während Irish Interest im Inland hohe Umsätze vorweist, sind diese Titel im Ausland lediglich ein Nischenprodukt. Zusätzlich müssen irische Verlage außerhalb des Landes mit britischen und US-amerikanischen Verlagen in Konkurrenz treten, die ebenfalls Irish-Interest-Titel für die irische Diaspora anbieten. Es besteht daher nur eine geringe Chance, erfolgreich am globalen englischsprachigen Buchmarkt mitzuwirken. Bis dato haben Versuche, dem irischen Buchmarkt durch Export zu Umsatzwachstum zu verhelfen, keinen nennenswerten Erfolg gebracht. Lediglich auf dem Gebiet der populären Literatur und in Form von Kooperationen mit britischen Verlagskonzernen vermögen irische Verlage, am internationalen Buchhandel teilzuhaben.

Materiale epigrafico per la ricostruzione dei contatti nel Mediterraneo tra il 1200 a.C. e il 500 a.C.

La Tesi Materiale epigrafico per la ricostruzione dei contatti nel Mediterraneo tra il 1200 a.C. e il 500 a.C. si propone di illustrare i complessi rapporti instauratisi tra i vari popoli che si affacciarono sulle rive del Mediterraneo e nelle sue vicinanze, tra il 1200 e il 500 a.C. circa, quali emergono dalle iscrizioni disponibili, principalmente greche e semitiche (soprattutto fenicie, ebraiche, aramaiche e assire), prendendo tuttavia in esame anche iscrizioni ittite, egiziane, frigie, etrusche e celtiche. Le date suddette riguardano due eventi cruciali, che sconvolsero il Mediterraneo: gli attacchi dei Popoli del Mare, che distrussero l'Impero Ittita e indebolirono l'Egitto, e le guerre Persiane. Le iscrizioni riportate sono 1546, quasi sempre traslitterate, tradotte, e accompagnate da un'immagine, da riferimenti bibliografici essenziali e da una breve motivazione del collegamento proposto. Il quadro che si delinea ben testimonia la complessità dei rapporti che si intrecciarono in quel periodo: si pensi alle centinaia di graffiti greci trovati a Naucrati, in Egitto, o alle decine di iscrizioni greche trovate a Gravisca. Anche le iscrizioni aramaiche e assire attestano gli stretti rapporti che si formarono tra Siria e Mesopotamia; ugualmente Iran e Arabia sono, direttamente o indirettamente, collegati a Etruria e Grecia; così troviamo un'iscrizione greca nel cuore dell'Impero Persiano, e un cratere laconico nel centro della Gallia. In realtà lo scopo di questo lavoro è anche quello di mettere in contatto due mondi sostanzialmente separati, ossia quello dei Semitisti e quello dei Grecisti, che solo apparentemente si conoscono e collaborano. Inoltre vorrei soavemente insinuare l'idea che la tesi di Joseph Naveh, che ipotizzò che gli alfabeti greci abbiano tratto origine in prima istanza dalle iscrizioni protocananaiche, nel XII sec. a.C., è valida, e che solo in un secondo tempo i Fenici abbiano dato il loro apporto.

Hydration of the Bisulfate Ion: Atmospheric Implications

Using molecular dynamics configurational sampling combined with ab initio energy calculations, we determined the low energy isomers of the bisulfate hydrates. We calculated the CCSD(T) complete basis set (CBS) binding electronic and Gibbs free energies for 53 low energy isomers of HSO4–(H2O)n=1–6 and derived the thermodynamics of adding waters sequentially to the bisulfate ion and its hydrates. Comparing the HSO4–/H2O system to the neutral H2SO4/H2O cluster, water binds more strongly to the anion than it does to the neutral molecules. The difference in the binding thermodynamics of HSO4–/H2O and H2SO4/H2O systems decreases with increasing number of waters. The thermodynamics for the formation of HSO4–(H2O)n=1–5 is favorable at 298.15 K, and that of HSO4–(H2O)n=1–6 is favorable for T < 273.15 K. The HSO4– ion is almost always hydrated at temperatures and relative humidity values encountered in the troposphere. Because the bisulfate ion binds more strongly to sulfuric acid than it does to water, it is expected to play a role in ion-induced nucleation by forming a strong complex with sulfuric acid and water, thus facilitating the formation of a critical nucleus.

Implicit Memory for Music in Alzheimer's Disease

Short, unfamiliar melodies were presented to young and older adults and to Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients in an implicit and an explicit memory task. The explicit task was yes–no recognition, and the implicit task was pleasantness ratings, in which memory was shown by higher ratings for old versus new melodies (the mere exposure effect). Young adults showed retention of the melodies in both tasks. Older adults showed little explicit memory but did show the mere exposure effect. The AD patients showed neither. The authors considered and rejected several artifactual reasons for this null effect in the context of the many studies that have shown implicit memory among AD patients. As the previous studies have almost always used the visual modality for presentation, they speculate that auditory presentation, especially of nonverbal material, may be compromised in AD because of neural degeneration in auditory areas in the temporal lobes.