Quale intervento per la mobilità sostenibile nel quartiere Murat di Bari? Risultati di una procedura partecipata di valutazione

Bari è una delle otto “città - pilota” del progetto MUSA (Mobilità Urbana Sostenibile e Attrattori culturali) in cui viene sperimentata una procedura partecipata d i valutazione (PPV) delle strategie e politiche per la mobilità urbana sostenibile. Nel caso di Bari l’applicazione di una PPV è simulata con riferimento a un intervento specifico: la riorganizzazione della circolazione e della sosta nel centrale quartiere Murat. La PPV utilizzata prevede l'uso di tre strumenti: un “dialogo strutturato” con gli stakeholder, basato su una multicriteria semplificata; un'indagine demoscopica per raccogliere le valutazioni dei cittadini; una “consulta dei cittadini”, che ha il compito di modificare, integrare e validare l’esito finale della PPV. La PPV è basata su uno schema di valutazione con quattro obiettivi: 1. Protezione e valorizzazione dei beni culturali; 2. Miglioramento della vivibilità; 3. Sviluppo delle attività comme rciali e turistiche; 4. Miglioramento dell’accessibilità. Tali obiettivi sono stati utilizzati per valutare quattro alternative d’intervento nel quartiere Murat: A. Pedonalizzazione totale; B. Pedonalizzazione con zone interne a traffico limitato; C. Zona a traffico limitato con isole pedonali; D. Zona a traffico moderato con isole pedonali. L'applicazione della PPV nel caso barese ha avuto un buon esito: sia per il livello e la qualità della partecipazione di stakeholder e cittadini, sia per la preferenza espressa in modo condiviso per l'opzione C (ztl + isole pedonali). L'indicazione emersa alla fine della PPV di un'ulteriore opzione “ibrida” (la C con corridoi di attraversamento del quartiere aperti a tutti) spinge a suggerire che in futuro la PPV sia int egrata da una fase preliminare di progettazione che consenta di generare in modo partecipato le alternative d'intervento da sottoporre a valutazione

Action video-games improves reading and global perception in children with dyslexia: An electroencephalographic study

We used electroencephalography (32 channels-EEG) in a sample of children with DD to investigate whether AVG training can effectively translate into better MD functionality at the neurophysiological level

Action video games enhance attentional control and phonological decoding in children with developmental dyslexia

Reading acquisition is extremely difficult for about 5% of children because they are affected by a heritable neurobiological disorder called developmental dyslexia (DD). Intervention studies can be used to investigate the causal role of neurocognitive deficits in DD. Recently, it has been proposed that action video games (AVGs)—enhancing attentional control—could improve perception and working memory as well as reading skills. In a partial crossover intervention study, we investigated the effect of AVG and non-AVG training on attentional control using a conjunction visual search task in children with DD. We also measured the non-alphanumeric rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological decoding and word reading before and after AVG and non-AVG training. After both video game training sessions no effect was found in non-alphanumeric RAN and in word reading performance. However, after only 12 h of AVG training the attentional control was improved (i.e., the set-size slopes were flatter in visual search) and phonological decoding speed was accelerated. Crucially, attentional control and phonological decoding speed were increased only in DD children whose video game score was highly efficient after the AVG training. We demonstrated that only an efficient AVG training induces a plasticity of the fronto-parietal attentional control linked to a selective phonological decoding improvement in children with DD

Lernen von Ottawa? Perspektiven der humanitären Ächtung von Kernwaffen im 21. Jahrhundert

"Der nukleare Rüstungskontroll- und Abrüstungsprozess liegt seit Jahren brach. Doch eine humanitäre Initiative bemüht sich darum, einen globalen Diskurswechsel in der Kernwaffenfrage zu erzielen. Ein solcher Diskurswechsel, der der menschlichen Sicherheit gleiche Bedeutung zumisst wie der staatlichen Sicherheit, ging auch den erfolgreichen Kampagnen für das Verbot von Anti-Personenminen und Streumunition voraus. Die Autoren zeigen Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der humanitären Initiative und den anderen Kampagnen auf. Sie loten die Erfolgschancen aus, inwieweit die Ächtung von Kernwaffen die Haltung der Atommächte und das nukleare Nichtverbreitungsregime beeinflussen kann." (Autorenreferat

Natural Islands for a 125 GeV Higgs in the scale-invariant NMSSM

We study whether a 125 GeV standard model-like Higgs boson can be accommodated within the scale-invariant NMSSM in a way that is natural in all respects, i.e., not only is the stop mass and hence its loop contribution to Higgs mass of natural size, but we do not allow significant tuning of NMSSM parameters as well. We pursue as much as possible an analytic approach which gives clear insights on various ways to accommodate such a Higgs mass, while conducting complementary numerical analyses. We consider both scenarios with singlet-like state being heavier and lighter than SM-like Higgs. With A-terms being small, we find for the NMSSM to be perturbative up to GUT scale, it is not possible to get 125 GeV Higgs mass, which is true even if we tune parameters of NMSSM. If we allow some of the couplings to become non-perturbative below the GUT scale, then the non-tuned option implies that the singlet self-coupling, kappa, is larger than the singlet-Higgs coupling, lambda, which itself is order 1. This leads to a Landau pole for these couplings close to the weak scale, in particular below ~10^4 TeV. In both the perturbative and non-perturbative NMSSM, allowing large A_lambda, A_kappa gives "more room" to accommodate a 125 GeV Higgs, but a tuning of these A-terms may be needed. In our analysis we also conduct a careful study of the constraints on the parameter space from requiring global stability of the desired vacuum fitting a 125 GeV Higgs, which is complementary to existing literature. In particular, as the singlet-Higgs coupling lambda increases, vacuum stability becomes more serious of an issue.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, references added, minor corrections to text and figures, version to be published in JHE

Cascaded neural networks improving fish species prediction accuracy: the role of the biotic information

Species distribution is the result of complex interactions that involve environmental parameters as well as biotic factors. However, methodological approaches that consider the use of biotic variables during the prediction process are still largely lacking. Here, a cascaded Artifcial Neural Networks (ANN) approach is proposed in order to increase the accuracy of fsh species occurrence estimates and a case study for Leucos aulain NE Italy is presented as a demonstration case. Potentially useful biotic information (i.e. occurrence of other species) was selected by means of tetrachoric correlation analysis and on the basis of the improvements it allowed to obtain relative to models based on environmental variables only. The prediction accuracy of the L. aulamodel based on environmental variables only was improved by the addition of occurrence data for A. arborellaand S. erythrophthalmus. While biotic information was needed to train the ANNs, the fnal cascaded ANN model was able to predict L. aula better than a conventional ANN using environmental variables only as inputs. Results highlighted that biotic information provided by occurrence estimates for non-target species whose distribution can be more easily and accurately modeled may play a very useful role, providing additional predictive variables to target species distribution models

Differential nickel-induced responses of olfactory sensory neuron populations in zebrafish

The olfactory epithelium of fish includes three main types of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Whereas ciliated (cOSNs) and microvillous olfactory sensory neurons (mOSNs) are common to all vertebrates, a third, smaller group, the crypt cells, is exclusive for fish. Dissolved pollutants reach OSNs, thus resulting in impairment of the olfactory function with possible neurobehavioral damages, and nickel represents a diffuse olfactory toxicant. We studied the effects of three sublethal Ni2+ concentrations on the different OSN populations of zebrafish that is a widely used biological model. We applied image analysis with cell count and quantification of histochemically-detected markers of the different types of OSNs. The present study shows clear evidence of a differential responses of OSN populations to treatments. Densitometric values for G\u3b1 olf, a marker of cOSNs, decreased compared to control and showed a concentration-dependent effect in the ventral half of the olfactory rosette. The densitometric analysis of TRPC2, a marker of mOSNs, revealed a statistically significant reduction compared to control, smaller than the decrease for G\u3b1 olf and without concentration-dependent effects. After exposure, olfactory epithelium stained with anti-calretinin, a marker of c- and mOSNs, revealed a decrease in thickness while the sensory area appeared unchanged. The thickness reduction together with increased densitometric values for HuC/D, a marker of mature and immature neurons, suggests that the decrements in G\u3b1 olf and TRPC2 immunostaining may depend on cell death. However, reductions in the number of apical processes and of antigen expression could be a further explanation. We hypothesize that cOSNs are more sensitive than mOSNs to Ni2+ exposure. Difference between subpopulations of OSNs or differences in water flux throughout the olfactory cavity could account for the greater susceptibility of the OSNs located in the ventral half of the olfactory rosette. Cell count of anti-TrkA immunopositive cells reveals that Ni2+ exposure does not affect crypt cells. The results of this immunohistochemical study are not in line with those obtained by electro-olfactogram

Immunohistochemical Analysis of Olfactory Sensory Neuron Populations in the Developing Olfactory Organ of the Guppy, Poecilia reticulata (Cyprinodontiformes, Poecilidae)

: Olfaction is fundamental for sensing environmental chemicals and has obvious adaptive advantages. In fish, the peripheral olfactory organ is composed of lamellae in which the olfactory mucosa contains three main categories of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) as follows: ciliated (cOSNs), microvillous (mOSNs), and crypt cells. We studied the appearance of these different OSNs during development of Poecilia reticulata, given its growing use as animal model system. We performed immunohistochemical detection of molecular markers specific for the different OSNs, carrying out image analyses for marked-cell counting and measuring optical density. The P. reticulata olfactory organ did not show change in size during the first weeks of life. The proliferative activity increased at the onset of secondary sexual characters, remaining high until sexual maturity. Then, it decreased in both sexes, but with a recovery in females, probably in relation to their almost double body growth, compared to males. The density of both cOSNs and mOSNs remained constant throughout development, probably due to conserved functions already active in the fry, independently of the sex. The density of calretinin-positive crypt cells decreased progressively until sexual maturity, whereas the increased density of calretinin-negative crypt cell fraction, prevailing in later developmental stages, indicated their probable involvement in reproductive activities