Il Decameron e la letteratura d'Oriente: confronti e scambi

Il lavoro si divide in quattro capitoli in cui il candidato cerca di stabilire i rapporti intertestuali tra il Sindbad, un libro di matrice orientale, e la Disciplina Clericalis da una parte e il Decameron dall’altra. 1- Nel primo capitolo il candidato ha trattato l’origine e la diffusione del Il libro di Sindbad e della Disciplina Clericalis. Il libro di Sindbad è di indubbia origine orientale. Si diffonde in oriente e poi in Occidente. Giunge in Italia nel Dodicesimo secolo. L’altra opera è la Disciplina Clericalis, di Pietro Alfonsi, un-opera di origine orientale. 2- Nel secondo capitolo il candidato ha svolto una attenta ricerca sulla visione boccacciano verso il mondo orientale, arabo-islamico in particolare. 3- Nel terzo capitolo il candidato mette a confronto la struttura narrativa del Sindbad con quella del Decameron, rilevando gli elementi principali che accomunano le due strutture delle due opere sono. Nella parte finale del capitolo il candidato mette in discussione il termine con cui viene definita la struttura narrativa, cioè la cosiddetta cornice, dando una nuova terminologia alla struttura. 4- Nel quarto e ultimo capitolo il candidato cerca di rintracciare le fonti di alcune novelle decameroniane. Le fonti si dividono in due parti: scritte e orali. Nella prima parte mette a confronto alcune novelle del Decameron con racconti della Disciplina Clericalis e del Sette Savi. La seconda parte invece studia le fonti orali di altre novelle decameroniane le cui radici affondano nella tradizione orientale, arabo-islamica soprattutto. La prima novella è la (I, 5) della marchesana Monferrato. La (V, 9), la (VIII, 2), e l’ultima novella in questa parte è la (X, 3).

Strategie insediative, economiche e scambi culturali nell'Appennino bolognese e romagnolo nell'eta' del Bronzo

Il seguente lavoro analizza lo sviluppo dell’occupazione territoriale dell’area collinare e montana del bolognese e della Romagna nell’età del Bronzo. Si sono censite le attestazioni archeologiche relative all’età del Bronzo nell’area di studio, per analizzare le tendenze insediative e le loro eventuali modificazioni nel corso del tempo, onde individuare le strategie alla base del scelta del luogo da insediare e le eventuali vie di percorrenza. Attraverso l’analisi tipologica del materiale rinvenuto nei vari contesti si è cercato di determinare le influenze culturali provenienti dal centro Italia o dalla zona terramaricola. Per raggiungere questo obbiettivo si sono analizzati i dati di archivio della Soprintendenza ai beni archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna e l’Archivio Renato Scarani, protagonista delle ricerche archeologiche in Emilia Romagna per il periodo degli anni ’50-’70 del XX secolo, recentemente acquisito dall’Università di Bologna. Ai dati desunti dagli archivi, che in molti casi hanno chiarito le vicende concernenti le indagini ed i posizionamenti di molti dei siti segnalati ed esplorati tra la seconda metà del XIX e gli anni ’70 del XX secolo, che costituiscono la maggioranza del campione analizzato, si sono aggiunti i dati recentemente acquisiti a seguito degli scavi a Monterenzio Località Chiesa Vecchia (Bo), uno dei siti più importanti (per stratigrafia conservata e per contesto territoriale) dell'Appennino Bolognese.

Connectivity management and dynamic context grouping in mobile heterogenous systems

In the last 10 years the number of mobile devices has grown rapidly. Each person usually brings at least two personal devices and researchers says that in a near future this number could raise up to ten devices per person. Moreover, all the devices are becoming more integrated to our life than in the past, therefore the amount of data exchanged increases accordingly to the improvement of people's lifestyle. This is what researchers call Internet of Things. Thus, in the future there will be more than 60 billions of nodes and the current infrastructure is not ready to keep track of all the exchanges of data between them. Therefore, infrastructure improvements have been proposed in the last years, like MobileIP and HIP in order to facilitate the exchange of packets in mobility, however none of them have been optimized for the purpose. In the last years, researchers from Mid Sweden University created The MediaSense Framework. Initially, this framework was based on the Chord protocol in order to route packets in a big network, but the most important change has been the introduction of PGrids in order to create the Overlay and the persistence. Thanks to this technology, a lookup in the trie takes up to 0.5*log(N), where N is the total number of nodes in the network. This result could be improved by further optimizations on the management of the nodes, for example by the dynamic creation of groups of nodes. Moreover, since the nodes move, an underlaying support for connectivity management is needed. SCTP has been selected as one of the most promising upcoming standards for simultaneous multiple connection's management.

A study of air-sea interaction processes on water mass formation and upwelling in the Mediterranean sea

Air-sea interactions are a key process in the forcing of the ocean circulation and the climate. Water Mass Formation is a phenomenon related to extreme air-sea exchanges and heavy heat losses by the water column, being capable to transfer water properties from the surface to great depth and constituting a fundamental component of the thermohaline circulation of the ocean. Wind-driven Coastal Upwelling, on the other hand, is capable to induce intense heat gain in the water column, making this phenomenon important for climate change; further, it can have a noticeable influence on many biological pelagic ecosystems mechanisms. To study some of the fundamental characteristics of Water Mass Formation and Coastal Upwelling phenomena in the Mediterranean Sea, physical reanalysis obtained from the Mediterranean Forecating System model have been used for the period ranging from 1987 to 2012. The first chapter of this dissertation gives the basic description of the Mediterranean Sea circulation, the MFS model implementation, and the air-sea interaction physics. In the second chapter, the problem of Water Mass Formation in the Mediterranean Sea is approached, also performing ad-hoc numerical simulations to study heat balance components. The third chapter considers the study of Mediterranean Coastal Upwelling in some particular areas (Sicily, Gulf of Lion, Aegean Sea) of the Mediterranean Basin, together with the introduction of a new Upwelling Index to characterize and predict upwelling features using only surface estimates of air-sea fluxes. Our conclusions are that latent heat flux is the driving air-sea heat balance component in the Water Mass Formation phenomenon, while sensible heat exchanges are fundamental in Coastal Upwelling process. It is shown that our upwelling index is capable to reproduce the vertical velocity patterns in Coastal Upwelling areas. Nondimensional Marshall numbers evaluations for the open-ocean convection process in the Gulf of Lion show that it is a fully turbulent, three-dimensional phenomenon.

Characterization of the porcine transferrin gene (TF) and its association with disease severity following an experimental Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection

Transferrin (TF)-mediated provision of iron is essential for a productive infection by many bacterial pathogens, and iron-depletion of TF is a first line defence against bacterial infections. Therefore, the transferrin (TF) gene can be considered a candidate gene for disease resistance. We obtained the complete DNA sequence of the porcine TF gene, which spans 40 kb and contains 17 exons. We identified polymorphisms on a panel of 10 different pig breeds. Comparative intra- and interbreed sequence analysis revealed 62 polymorphisms in the TF gene including one microsatellite. Ten polymorphisms were located in the coding sequence of the TF gene. Four SNPs (c.902A>T, c.980G>A, c.1417A>G, c.1810A>C) were predicted to cause amino acid exchanges (p.Lys301Ile, p.Arg327Lys, p.Lys473Glu, p.Asn604His). We performed association analyses using six selected TF markers and 116 pigs experimentally infected with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 7. The analysis showed breed-specific TF allele frequencies. In German Landrace, we found evidence for a possible association of the severity of A. pleuropneumoniae infection with TF genotypes.

Securities: Its Conception and Protection of Interests of its Holders

Theoretical studies of the problems of the securities markets in the Russian Federation incline to one or other of the two traditional approaches. The first consists of comparing the definition of "valuable paper" set forth in the current legislation of the Russian Federation, with the theoretical model of "Wertpapiere" elaborated by German scholars more than 90 years ago. The problem with this approach is, in Mr. Pentsov's opinion, that any new features of the definition of "security" that do not coincide with the theoretical model of "Wertpapiere" (such as valuable papers existing in non-material, electronic form) are claimed to be incorrect and removed from the current legislation of the Russian Federation. The second approach works on the basis of the differentiation between the Common Law concept of "security" and the Civil Law concept of "valuable paper". Mr. Pentsov's research, presented in an article written in English, uses both methodological tools and involves, firstly, a historical study of the origin and development of certain legal phenomena (securities) as they evolved in different countries, and secondly, a comparative, synchronic study of equivalent legal phenomena as they exist in different countries today. Employing the first method, Mr. Pentsov divided the historical development of the conception of "valuable paper" in Russia into five major stages. He found that, despite the existence of a relatively wide circulation of valuable papers, especially in the second half of the 19th century, Russian legislation before 1917 (the first stage) did not have a unified definition of valuable paper. The term was used, in both theoretical studies and legislation, but it covered a broad range of financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, government bonds, promissory notes, bills of exchange, etc. During the second stage, also, the legislation of the USSR did not have a unified definition of "valuable paper". After the end of the "new economic policy" (1922 - 1930) the stock exchanges and the securities markets in the USSR, with a very few exceptions, were abolished. And thus during the third stage (up to 1985), the use of valuable papers in practice was reduced to foreign economic relations (bills of exchange, stocks in enterprises outside the USSR) and to state bonds. Not surprisingly, there was still no unified definition of "valuable paper". After the beginning of Gorbachev's perestroika, a securities market began to re-appear in the USSR. However, the successful development of securities markets in the USSR was retarded by the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework. The first effort to improve the situation was the adoption of the Regulations on Valuable Papers, approved by resolution No. 590 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, dated June 19, 1990. Section 1 of the Regulation contained the first statutory definition of "valuable paper" in the history of Russia. At the very beginning of the period of transition to a market economy, a number of acts contained different definitions of "valuable paper". This diversity clearly undermined the stability of the Russian securities market and did not achieve the goal of protecting the investor. The lack of unified criteria for the consideration of such non-standard financial instruments as "valuable papers" significantly contributed to the appearance of numerous fraudulent "pyramid" schemes that were outside of the regulatory scheme of Russia legislation. The situation was substantially improved by the adoption of the new Civil Code of the Russian Federation. According to Section 1 of Article 142 of the Civil Code, a valuable paper is a document that confirms, in compliance with an established form and mandatory requisites, certain material rights whose realisation or transfer are possible only in the process of its presentation. Finally, the recent Federal law No. 39 - FZ "On the Valuable Papers Market", dated April 22 1996, has also introduced the term "emission valuable papers". According to Article 2 of this Law, an "emission valuable paper" is any valuable paper, including non-documentary, that simultaneously has the following features: it fixes the composition of material and non-material rights that are subject to confirmation, cession and unconditional realisation in compliance with the form and procedure established by this federal law; it is placed by issues; and it has equal amount and time of realisation of rights within the same issue regardless of when the valuable paper was purchased. Thus the introduction of the conception of "emission valuable paper" became the starting point in the Russian federation's legislation for the differentiation between the legal regimes of "commercial papers" and "investment papers" similar to the Common Law approach. Moving now to the synchronic, comparative method of research, Mr. Pentsov notes that there are currently three major conceptions of "security" and, correspondingly, three approaches to its legal definition: the Common Law concept, the continental law concept, and the concept employed by Japanese Law. Mr. Pentsov proceeds to analyse the differences and similarities of all three, concluding that though the concept of "security" in the Common Law system substantially differs from that of "valuable paper" in the Continental Law system, nevertheless the two concepts are developing in similar directions. He predicts that in the foreseeable future the existing differences between these two concepts will become less and less significant. On the basis of his research, Mr. Pentsov arrived at the conclusion that the concept of "security" (and its equivalents) is not a static one. On the contrary, it is in the process of permanent evolution that reflects the introduction of new financial instruments onto the capital markets. He believes that the scope of the statutory definition of "security" plays an extremely important role in the protection of investors. While passing the Securities Act of 1933, the United States Congress determined that the best way to achieve the goal of protecting investors was to define the term "security" in sufficiently broad and general terms so as to include within the definition the many types of instruments that in the commercial world fall within the ordinary concept of "security' and to cover the countless and various devices used by those who seek to use the money of others on the promise of profits. On the other hand, the very limited scope of the current definition of "emission valuable paper" in the Federal Law of the Russian Federation entitled "On the Valuable Papers Market" does not allow the anti-fraud provisions of this law to be implemented in an efficient way. Consequently, there is no basis for the protection of investors. Mr. Pentsov proposes amendments which he believes would enable the Russian markets to become more efficient and attractive for both foreign and domestic investors.

Novel mutations in the human sucrase-isomaltase gene (SI) that cause congenital carbohydrate malabsorption

Disaccharide intolerance I or congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency (CSID) is a disorder leading to maldigestion of disaccharides, which is autosomal recessively inherited. Here we analyzed the sucrase-isomaltase (SI) gene from 11 patients of Hungarian origin with congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency. Variants in the SI gene had previously been described in CSID patients, which cause amino acid exchanges that affect the transport, the processing, or the function of the SI protein. None of our patients had known mutations for CSID. Our analyses revealed 43 SI variants in total, 15 within exons and one at a splice site. Eight of the exonic mutations lead to amino acid exchanges, causing hypomorph or null alleles. One new variation affects a splice site, which is also predicted to result in a null allele. All potential pathological alterations were present on one allele only. In six out of the 11 patients the phenotype of CSID could be explained by compound heterozygosity.

Serine residues 1177/78/82 of the insulin receptor are required for substrate phosphorylation but not autophosphorylation

Serine residues of the human insulin receptor (HIR) may be phosphorylated and negatively regulate the insulin signal. We studied the impact of 16 serine residues in HIR by mutation to alanine and co-overexpression in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells together with the docking proteins insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1, IRS-2, or (SHC) Src homologous and collagen-like. As a control, IRS-1 was also cotransfected with an HIR with a juxtamembrane deletion (HIR delta JM) and therefore not containing the domain required for interaction with IRS-1. Coexpression of HIR with IRS-1, IRS-2, and SHC strongly enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation of these proteins. A similar increase in tyrosine phosphorylation was observed in cells overexpressing IRS-1, IRS-2, or SHC together with all HIR mutants except HIR delta JM and a mutant carrying exchanges of serines 1177, 1178, and 1182 to alanine (HIR1177/78/82), although this mutant showed normal autophosphorylation. Analysis of total cell lysates with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies showed that in addition to the overexpressed substrates, other cellular proteins displayed reduced levels of tyrosine phosphorylation in these cells. To study consequences for phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) activation, we established stable NIH3T3 fibroblast cell lines overexpressing wild-type HIR, HIR1177/78/82, and other HIR mutants as the control. Again, HIR1177/78/82 showed normal autophosphorylation but showed a clear decrease in tyrosine phosphorylation of endogenous IRS-1 and activation of PI 3-kinase. This decrease in kinase activity also occurred in an in vitro kinase assay towards recombinant IRS-1. Finally, we performed a separation of the phosphopeptides by high-performance liquid chromatography and could not detect any differences in the profiles of HIR and HIR1177/78/82. In conclusion, we have defined a region in HIR that is important for substrate phosphorylation but not autophosphorylation. Therefore, this mutant may provide new insights into the mechanism of kinase activation and substrate phosphorylation.

The Geology of Central Chile's Long-Lived Volcanic Arc

Discussion of subduction zones that are associated with volcanic arcs and major chemical exchanges between the Earth's surface and underlying mantle.

Hemostasis management in pediatric mechanical circulatory support

In a 9-year-old boy, bridging to transplantation was successful with an external biventricular device, the Berlin Heart Excor (Berlin Heart, Berlin, Germany), during a 7-month period. Main long-term complications consisted of infection and hypercoagulability with clotting inside the chambers necessitating six pump exchanges, but without thromboembolic events. This report reviews hemostasis monitoring and management of long-term mechanical circulatory support.

The interaction of generic structure and interpersonal relations in two-party e-chat discourse

On the basis of a corpus of e-chat IRC exchanges (approximately 10,000 words in total) between Greek- and English-speaking speakers, the paper establishes a typical generic structure for two-party IRC exchanges, by focusing on how participants are oriented towards an ideal schema of phases and acts, as well as on how their interpersonal concerns contribute to the shaping of this schema. It is found that IRC interlocutors are primarily concerned with establishing contact with each other, while the (ideational) development of topic seems to be a less pressing need. The signaling of interpersonal relations is pervasive throughout e-chat discourse, as seen both in the range of devices developed and the two free elements of the generic schema, that is conversation play and channel check. It is also found that the accomplishment of the generic schema in each IRC exchange crucially depends on the acts of negotiation performed by the initiator and the responder.

A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Suicide Bombing

Understanding suicide bombing entails studying the phenomenon on three different dimensions: the suicide bomber, the terrorist organization, and the community from which suicide bombings emerge. Political and social psychology allow us to establish the reciprocal relationships that underpin the exchanges between the three dimensions. This method increases our theoretical understanding of suicide bombing by moving away from the unidimensional models that have previously dominated the terrorism literature.

Topo IIIalpha and BLM act within the Fanconi anemia pathway in response to DNA-crosslinking agents

The Bloom protein (BLM) and Topoisomerase IIIalpha are found in association with proteins of the Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway, a disorder manifesting increased cellular sensitivity to DNA crosslinking agents. In order to determine if the association reflects a functional interaction for the maintenance of genome stability, we have analyzed the effects of siRNA-mediated depletion of the proteins in human cells. Depletion of Topoisomerase IIIalpha or BLM leads to increased radial formation, as is seen in FA. BLM and Topoisomerase IIIalpha are epistatic to the FA pathway for suppression of radial formation in response to DNA interstrand crosslinks since depletion of either of them in FA cells does not increase radial formation. Depletion of Topoisomerase IIIalpha or BLM also causes an increase in sister chromatid exchanges, as is seen in Bloom syndrome cells. Human Fanconi anemia cells, however, do not demonstrate increased sister chromatid exchanges, separating this response from radial formation. Primary cell lines from mice defective in both Blm and Fancd2 have the same interstrand crosslink-induced genome instability as cells from mice deficient in the Fancd2 protein alone. These observations demonstrate that the association of BLM and Topoisomerase IIIalpha with Fanconi proteins is a functional one, delineating a BLM-Topoisomerase IIIalpha-Fanconi pathway that is critical for suppression of chromosome radial formation.

The EmsB tandemly repeated multilocus microsatellite: a new tool to investigate genetic diversity of Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a widespread and severe zoonotic disease caused by infection with the larval stage of the eucestode Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato. The polymorphism exhibited by nuclear and mitochondrial markers conventionally used for the genotyping of different parasite species and strains does not reach the level necessary for the identification of genetic variants linked to restricted geographical areas. EmsB is a tandemly repeated multilocus microsatellite that proved its usefulness for the study of genetic polymorphisms within the species E. multilocularis, the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis. In the present study, EmsB was used to characterize E. granulosus sensu lato samples collected from different host species (sheep, cattle, dromedaries, dogs, and human patients) originating from six different countries (Algeria, Mauritania, Romania, Serbia, Brazil, and the People's Republic of China). The conventional mitochondrial cox1 and nad1 markers identified genotypes G1, G3, G5, G6, and G7, which are clustered into three groups corresponding to the species E. granulosus sensu stricto, E. ortleppi, and E. canadensis. With the same samples, EmsB provided a higher degree of genetic discrimination and identified variations that correlated with the relatively small-scale geographic origins of the samples. In addition, one of the Brazilian single hydatid cysts presented a hybrid genotypic profile that suggested genetic exchanges between E. granulosus sensu stricto and E. ortleppi. In summary, the EmsB microsatellite exhibits an interesting potential for the elaboration of a detailed map of the distribution of genetic variants and therefore for the determination and tracking of the source of CE.

A manifesto for an e-lending limitation in copyright

In the European Union, lending is an exclusive right for copyright and related rights, but Member States can transform public lending to a right of remuneration and even exempt some establishments from any payment. The making available of works online is not covered by the public lending right regime of the Rental and Lending Directive but is considered as an act of making available governed by the InfoSoc Directive. As a consequence, libraries are currently not allowed to digitally transmit works to their patrons as lending, but have entered into licenses with publishers to develop an offer of lending of e-books, also called e-lending, with the intermediation of dedicated platforms operated by commercial actors. Compared to physical lending, e-lending is not based on ownership of the book by libraries but on its provision by this intermediary. This paper discusses how the objective of enabling libraries to engage in e-lending should be achieved, and what is the proper dividing line between a market-based solution, as developing today, and a limitation to exclusive rights. The impact of an extension of the public lending right to e-lending should be assessed, but not based on a criterion of direct substitution of a book on loan at the library to a book bought at a retailer. By definition, libraries are substitutes to normal trade. Instead, the overall effect of lending to the commercialisation of books and other works should be verified. Particular conditions for a limitation in favour of lending are also addressed, and notably the modalities of lending (a limited duration, one simultaneous user per title, …), not to make e-lending through libraries easier and preferable to the normal acquisition of an e-book. This paper argues in favour of some and controlled extension of the public lending right to cover the lending of e-books and other digital content. For the role of libraries is essential in providing access to works and culture to readers who would or could not rely only on normal acquisition of books or other items on the market, to works that are not provided by the market, and to material for research. Libraries are a third sector providing access to works, aside the market and non-market exchanges between individuals. This role should not lose its relevance in the digital context, or it would culturally impoverish future generations of readers.