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A key aspect of adaptation to cold environments is the production of cold‐active enzymes by psychrophilic organisms. These enzymes not only have high activity at low temperatures, but also exhibit remarkable structural flexibility and thermolability. In this context, the role of metal ions has been little explored, and the few available studies seem to suggest that metal binding counteracts structural flexibility. This article reports an investigation into the role of the binding of manganese ion (Mn2+) in the thermal adaptation of an esterase (M‐Est) of the GDSx family, identified in the genome of the Antarctic bacterium Marinomonas sp. ef1. M‐Est is specific for esters containing acetate groups and turned out to be a highly thermolabile cold‐active enzyme, with a catalysis optimum temperature of 5 °C and a melting temperature of 31.7 °C. A combination of biochemical and computational analyses, including molecular dynamics simulations, revealed that M‐Est binds Mn2+ ions via a single binding site located on the surface of the enzyme, close to the active site. Although the interaction between M‐Est and Mn2+ induces only local conformational changes involving the active site, quite surprisingly they trigger an improvement in both thermal stability and catalytic efficiency under mild temperature conditions. These results, together with the conservation of the Mn2+ binding site among psychrophilic and psychrotolerant homologues, suggest that Mn2+ binding may be a useful, albeit atypical, strategy to mitigate the detrimental effects of temperature on true cold‐active enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Montefeltro seismic network (FDSN Network code: 1S) was deployed in the Apennines area of northern Marche and southern Emilia-Romagna regions (central Italy). A temporary network was set up in December 2018 and continues to operate, with an array consisting of stations equipped with dynamic digitizers and three-component short/extended/broad band seismometers (Guralp CMG/20s and 30s, Lennartz 3D/5s, Sara SS20 3D/0.5s sensors). The network records in continuous mode at 100 sps. The data are used to analyze the seismic activity and the spatiotemporal evolution of small seismic sequences occurring in the considered area and surrounding zones, strongly clustered in time and space. The data of dataset files are mini-seed formatted and subdivided by the following tree: (1) the dataset is divided by years; (2) the dataset is then subdivided by stations; (3) finally, the data are divided by days of each year in every station folder. Dataset: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7064384. Dataset License: CC-BY 4.0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iodination has long been employed as a successful labelling strategy to gain structural insights into proteins and other biomolecules via several techniques, including Small Angle X‐ray Scattering, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP‐MS), and single‐crystal crystallography. However, when dealing with smaller biomolecular systems, interactions driven by iodine may significantly alter their self‐assembly behaviour. The engineering of amyloidogenic peptides for the development of ordered nanomaterials has greatly benefitted from this possibility. Still, to date, iodination has exclusively been applied to aromatic residues. In this work, an aliphatic bis‐iodinated amino acid was synthesized and included into a custom pentapeptide, which showed enhanced fibrillogenic behaviour. Peptide single crystal X‐ray structure and powder X‐ray diffraction on its dried water solution demonstrated the key role of iodine atoms in promoting intermolecular interactions that drive the peptide self‐assembly into amyloid fibrils. These findings enlarge the library of halogenated moieties available for directing and engineering the self‐assembly of amyloidogenic peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bicontinuous jammed emulsions (known as bijels) are Pickering emulsions where oil and water are both continuous phases. These interconnected structures, stabilized by colloidal nanoparticles at the oil–water interface, have been used in a wide range of applications. Among these, catalysis and encapsulation of solutes has showed promising potential, but the low mechanical properties of the systems limit their use. Here it is proposed that the use of a hydrophobic monomer able to polymerize in bulk and form a biphasic porous structure with polymer and water as immiscible phases. The final system is stabilized by colloidal nanoparticles made of hydroxyapatite, and the system's ability to release both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs has been demonstrated. The strategy has been proven to be highly versatile and may be tuned with a diversity of monomers and nanoparticles to satisfy specific industrial and medical needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method is described to selectively orient polarization from the whole proton bath to a specific part of the carbon spectra, without any loss of sensitivity for the aliphatic signals and with a gain of carbonyls, which are more difficult to polarize with conventional CP. The [super 1]H-[super 13]C SPECIFC-CP method is advantageously combined with 2D correlation experiments to reduce experimental times by sampling selectively the bandwidths which contain information.

Porous hydroxyapatite (HA) matrices with high porosity were prepared through a high temperature sintering method by using HA powder as raw material, polystyrene (PS) microspheres as pore-forming agents and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution as adhesive. The characterization of HA was carried out by a series of techniques including XRD, FT-IR, FESEM and BET, and showed that the morphology and structure of porous HA material were closely related to the amount of PS and PVA. The adsorption capability for Cu2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ in aqueous solution showed that the porous HA possessed a selective and strong uptake of Pb2+ ions and the adsorption efficiency reached 99.8% in 10 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic reduction with sunlight is an economical and promising advanced approach for reducing the excessive emissions of CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels. Aimed at practical applications, a type of inexpensive colored anatase material was used to evaluate CO2 photoreduction performance on a platform with a continuous flow of gas mixtures (10 vol % CO2, 90% N2), which resembles realistic flue gas conditions. The results showed an enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with standard P25 and significant improvement over pristine anatase. Based on a series of characterization techniques, we propose that the oxygen vacancies and surface hydroxyl groups on colored anatase can reduce the bandgap and assist the binding of CO2 molecules. Our results showed that photoreduction of CO2 is feasible under practical conditions, and the efficiency could be improved through modification of catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon (C) at regional scale induced by land use and soil type, we performed a simulation study, based on a bio-physical model (RothC10N) combined with a spatially explicit database including soil, land use and climate. RothC10N was linked to GIS and outputs were interpolated using Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) to estimate the C stocks and CO 2 emissions in the Mediterranean area of Foggia province in Southern Italy. The typical cropping systems of the area, i.e. arable rainfed (ACR) and irrigated crops (ACI) (cereals in rotation with irrigated tomato), vines (VIN), olives (OLI), and grasslands (GL) were considered. RothC10N simulations showed that OLI and VIN were able to store a considerable amount of C. Conversely, arable crops led to a reduction which was higher when the rotation included the irrigated tomato. The transition from arable to permanent crops (A2P) showed higher SOC stock increases than that from permanent to arable (P2A). The CO 2 -C released to the atmosphere was higher in ACI, P2A, and VIN, and lower in OLI and GL. Overall, in the year 2013 the total soil C stock in agricultural land across the province of Foggia was 19 Tg C, while the total GHG emission was 16.9 Tg CO 2 -C. The proposed methodology has proved to be effective to estimate the C stocks and emissions in the Mediterranean area and can be applied to assess the effect of specific land uses and land use change. Main land management recommendations to prevent soil organic C decline in the study area are: conservation tillage of arable lands, improvement of crop rotations, e.g. from continuous wheat to cropping systems including alfalfa or other legume crops, retention of crop residues into the field, rational use of irrigation for the summer crop, use of cover crops during the winter season to replace fallow periods, and supply of organic fertilizers (compost or manure). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the integration of sentiment analysis in ALCIDE, an online platform for historical content analysis. A prior polarity approach has been applied to a corpus of Italian historical texts, and a new lexical resource has been developed with a semi-automatic mapping starting from two English lexica. This article also reports on a first experiment on contextual polarity using both expert annotators and crowdsourced contributors. The long-term goal of our research is to create a system to support historical studies, which is able to analyse the sentiment in historical texts and to discover the opinion about a topic and its change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mediterranean agricultural areas are dominated by cropping systems based on winter cereals crops, summer irrigated crops, foragebased systems, and mixed succession with bare fallow. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is widely used to assess the environmental performance of these cropping systems, since it is strongly influenced by management practices and environmental conditions. This study evaluates the sustainability of representative intensive cropping systems of Southern Italy, in terms of SOC stock changes and CO2 emissions in the long-term perspective, using a process-based model (RothC10N) combined with a GIS-based spatialization procedure. On the basis of SOC modelling, results showed that crop management practices currently adopted by farmers did not guarantee SOC sequestration in all the rotations (-4.29 Mg C ha-1). The sustainability of cropping systems can be improved through management practices such as the retention of crop residues into the field and/or the rational use of irrigation for the summer crop (6.73 Mg C ha-1). This finding could help policy makers to provide suggestions for a more effective local implementation of agro-environmental measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is an Italian research institution, with focus on Earth Sciences. INGV runs the Italian National Seismic Network (Rete Sismica Nazionale, RSN) and other networks at national scale for monitoring earthquakes and tsunami as a part of the National Civil Protection System coordinated by the Italian Department of Civil Protection (Dipartimento di Protezione Civile, DPC). RSN is composed of about 400 stations, mainly broadband, installed in the Country and in the surrounding regions; about 110 stations feature also co-located strong motion instruments, and about 180 have GPS receivers and belong to the National GPS network (Rete Integrata Nazionale GPS, RING). The data acquisition system was designed to accomplish, in near-real-time, automatic earthquake detection, hypocenter and magnitude determination, moment tensors, shake maps and other products of interest for DPC. Database archiving of all parametric results are closely linked to the existing procedures of the INGV seismic monitoring environment and surveillance procedures. INGV is one of the primary nodes of ORFEUS (Observatories & Research Facilities for European Seismology) EIDA (European Integrated Data Archive) for the archiving and distribution of continuous, quality checked seismic data. The strong motion network data are archived and distributed both in EIDA and in event based archives; GPS data, from the RING network are also archived, analyzed and distributed at INGV. Overall, the Italian earthquake surveillance service provides, in quasi real-time, hypocenter parameters to the DPC. These are then revised routinely by the analysts of the Italian Seismic Bulletin (Bollettino Sismico Italiano, BSI). The results are published on the web, these are available to both the scientific community and the general public. The INGV surveillance includes a pre-operational tsunami alert service since INGV is one of the Tsunami Service providers of the North-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Tsunami warning System (NEAMTWS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Starting from late May 2012, the Emilia region (Northern Italy) was severely shaken by an intense seismic sequence, originated from a ML 5.9 earthquake on May 20th, at a hypocentral depth of 6.3km, with thrust-type focal mechanism. In the following days, the seismic rate remained high, counting 50 ML ≥2.0 earthquakes a day, on average. Seismicity spreads along a 30km east–west elongated area, in the Po river alluvial plain, in the nearby of the cities Ferrara and Modena. Nine days after the first shock, another destructive thrust-type earthquake (ML 5.8) hit the area to the west, causing further damage and fatalities. Aftershocks following this second destructive event extended along the same east-westerly trend for further 20km to the west, thus illuminating an area of about 50km in length, on the whole. After the first shock struck, on May 20th, a dense network of temporary seismic stations, in addition to the permanent ones, was deployed in the meizoseismal area, leading to a sensible improvement of the earthquake monitoring capability there. A combined dataset, including three-component seismic waveforms recorded by both permanent and temporary stations, has been analyzed in order to obtain an appropriate 1-D velocity model for earthquake location in the study area. Here we describe the main seismological characteristics of this seismic sequence and, relying on refined earthquakes location, we make inferences on the geometry of the thrust system responsible for the two strongest shocks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Two different geostatistical methods, OK and RK, allowed to map soil characters. [•] Maps are used for agricultural and environmental assessment and for regional planning. [•] Maps estimated both by OK and RK showed similar accuracy for all the variables. [•] Spatializing soil variables provide decision makers with a useful reference tool. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Solid State 2H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was applied to the structural and orientational studies of a selectively labelled ‘de Vries’ liquid crystal compound. Measurements were performed at five values of the magnetic field, ranging from 4.70 to 18.80 T. The trend of the orientational order S and tilt angle θ of the 2H-labeled moiety in the SmA and SmC* phases at different magnetic fields confirms previous results and allows us to better characterize the SmA-SmC* transition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. A screening program was proposed for the village of Carcare (population 5700), located in a region of Italy with an apparently low prevalence of coeliac disease (CD): only 1 patient diagnosed out of 2557 inhabitants. The study group comprised 1002 individuals (568 F, 434 M, age range 13–90 years) recruited from blood donors, secondary school pupils and people referred to the local outpatient facilities for routine blood chemistry. Material and methods. Total IgA, IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) (ELISA, recombinant human antigen) and IgA antiendomysium (EMA) (IFI, umbilical cord substrate) antibodies were measured in the serum of all participants. All patients with IgA deficiency were investigated for IgG tTG antibodies, and in the case of disagreement between tTG and EMA, they were typed for HLA DQ2-DQ8 haplotypes. Results. Thirteen subjects were positive and 988 negative for autoantibodies (3/988 had IgA deficiency). One serum sample was positive for tTG antibodies but negative for EMA. Ten out of 13 positive subjects consented to undergo duodenal biopsy, which invariably produced evidence of CD despite the absence of clinical signs/symptoms. A post-diagnostic clinical investigation provided evidence showing mild iron deficiency (4 subjects) and osteoporosis (2 subjects). After counselling, all subjects accepted a gluten-free diet. Conclusions. The prevalence of CD in the study group was 1:100 (1.0%; 95% CI: 0.5–1.8%): this indicates that CD is largely underdiagnosed in Carcare. Our results suggest that the low prevalence of CD observed in some regions is likely to be due to underdiagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the program of holographic renormalization, we discuss the computation of three-point correlation functions along RG flows. We illustrate the procedure in two simple cases. In an RG flow to the Coulomb branch of N=4 SYM theory we derive a compact and finite expression for the three-point function of lowest CPOs dual to inert scalars. In the GPPZ flow, that captures some features of N=1 SYM theory, we identify two new logarithmically divergent counterterms and compute the three-point function with insertion of two inert scalars and one active scalar that mixes with the stress tensor. By amputating the external legs at the mass poles we extract the finite and scheme independent trilinear couplings of the corresponding superglueballs. Finally we outline the procedure for computing three-point functions with insertions of the stress tensor as well as of (broken) R-symmetry currents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the last years, nanogels have emerged as one of the most promising classes of novel drug delivery vehicles since they can be employed in multiple fields, such as various therapeutics or diagnostics, and with different classes of compounds and active molecules. Their features, such as a high volume to surface ratio, excellent drug loading and release ability, as well as biocompatibility and tunable behavior, are unique, and, nowadays, great efforts are made to develop new formulations that can be employed in a wider range of applications. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-polyethylenimine (PEI) nanogels probably represent the baseline of this class of biomaterials and they are still largely employed and studied. In any way, the possibility to exploit new core formulations for nanogels is certainly very interesting in order to understand the influence of different polymer chains on the final properties of the system. In this research, we explore and make a comparison between PEG-PEI nanogels and two other different formulations: pluronic F127-PEI nanogels and PEG-Jeffamine nanogels. We propose nanogels synthesis methods, their chemical and physical characterization, as well as their stability analysis, and we focus on the different drug delivery ability that these structures exhibit working with different typologies of drug mimetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on band-selective cross-polarization in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It states that solid state NMR becomes a more preferred tool for structural and dynamical characterization of an area of extremely pertinent biomolecular systems. It also mentions that the band selective spectrally induced filtering in combination with cross-polarization (SPECIFIC-CP) is a key method in controlling the spin angle coherence transfer.

Graphical abstract Highlights • NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) was successfully water-based synthesized. • The nano-sized NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) particles possess rod-like shape and narrow size distribution. • The NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) matrix displays enhanced elimination of methyl blue in aqueous solution. Abstract Nano-sized NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) particles were conveniently synthesized in aqueous solution at ambient temperature with a widely applicable mixing method, and the morphology and character were examined with a series of techniques. XRD patterns and TEM images showed that the obtained NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) material possessed rod-like shape, which is different from those obtained from N, N-dimethyl formamide (DMF). This nano-sized NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) matrix displayed enhanced efficiency for adsorptive elimination of methyl blue molecules in aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of systematic compost addition or cover cropping throughout the agricultural land of the Foggia province (Southern Italy) on the soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and the CO 2 -C emissions were predicted over a period of 20 years (1994–2013). Therefore, the bio-physical model RothC10N was used in combination with spatially explicit input data including soil types, soil textures, land use and climate. Actual crop successions and crop types on a grid with a resolution of 30-arc sec (1 km at the equator) were included in the input data. Compost application and cover cropping were not adopted as a general input to all soils and land use classes, but according to applicability in the particular cropping systems, therefore representing a realistic input scenario under given soil use practices in the area. The results of the modelling process were spatialized with regression kriging, using soil maps, land use maps and satellite images as co-variates. While the control scenario led to a SOC depletion of 0.81 Tg and a total CO 2 -C emission of 21.1 Tg over 20 years in the Foggia province, systematic compost addition could reduce the loss of SOC to 0.56 Tg C while slightly increasing CO 2 -C emissions to 21.6 of Tg C. Cover cropping led to an overall SOC accumulation of 0.61 Tg and cumulated CO 2 -C emissions of 24.6 of Tg. Cover cropping therefore represents the most promising tool for carbon sequestration in the Foggia province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the Apennines thrust-and-fold belt is related to heterogeneous process of subduction and continental delamination that generates extension within the mountain range and compression on the outer front of the Adria lithosphere. While normal faulting earthquakes diffusely occur along the mountain chain, the sparse and poor seismicity in the compressional front does not permit to resolve the ambiguity that still exists about which structure accommodates the few mm/yr of convergence observed by geodetic data. In this study, we illustrate the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence that is the most significant series of moderate-to-large earthquakes developed during the past decades on the compressional front of the Apennines. Accurately located aftershocks, along with P-wave and Vp/Vs tomographic models, clearly reveal the geometry of the thrust system, buried beneath the Quaternary sediments of the Po Valley. The seismic sequence ruptured two distinct adjacent thrust faults, whose different dip, steep or flat, accounts for the development of the arc-like shape of the compressional front. The first shock of May 20 (Mw 6.0) developed on the middle Ferrara thrust that has a southward dip of about 30°. The second shock of May 29 (Mw 5.8) ruptured the Mirandola thrust that we define as a steep dipping (50–60°) pre-existing (Permo-Triassic) basement normal fault inverted during compression. The overall geometry of the fault system is controlled by heterogeneity of the basement inherited from the older extension. We also observe that the rupture directivity during the two main-shocks and the aftershocks concentration correlate with low Poisson ratio volumes, probably indicating that portions of the fault have experienced intense micro-damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Here we performed a SOC distribution model in soil with different occupation. • We performed a comparison of two different SOC mapping technics. • The morphology and soil texture play the major role on SOC distribution. • Our introduction of variables related to SOC improve the interpolation results. • Soil organic carbon sequestration is the best under soil with dense vegetation. Soils of semi-arid climates undergo organic carbon loss, which in turn affects their agricultural potential. Geostatistics is often used as an interpolation tool to thoroughly describe SOC spatial distribution. To focus on soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion, the Tiffech watershed (Northeast of Algeria), an economically important agricultural area, was chosen due to intensive agricultural practices, decline of forests and occurrence of erosion. The present study aimed to predict the spatial variation of SOC in Tiffech watershed using geostatistics and a Geographical Information System (GIS) software, comparing the performance of two geostatistical methods—Ordinary Kriging (OK) and Regression Kriging (RK)—also assessing the role of auxiliary variables in improving the prediction accuracy and highlighting the role of land cover in SOC storage. The SOC content in Tiffech soils was determined on 42 soil samples from the surface layer (0–10 cm) collected all over the study area and the results were used to estimate SOC density in non-sampled locations. The prediction efficiency of the two methods was evaluated by calculating the Mean Error (ME), the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the Root Mean Square Standardized Error (RMSSE). The interpolation results showed that SOC distribution in the study area was correlated to the topography, the clay index, and general landscape features. SOC content increased northwards in the area, ranging from 0.53 to 6.9 kg·m−2 in relation to land use. As expected, maps figured a good conservation status of SOC stocks in areas with dense vegetation; conversely poor SOC contents were estimated where land degradation factors take place. Cross-validation results showed an outperformance in the interpolation accuracy of RK on OK after the introduction of environmental variables, with an RMSE value of 0.02 versus 0.81. This suggests a higher efficiency of RK in predicting SOC content across the Tiffech area in comparison with OK, confirming that introducing some auxiliary data correlated to the target variable in SOC estimation, considerably improved the interpolation accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) are the most abundant renewable nanoscale fibers on Earth, and their use in the design of hybrid materials is ever more acclaimed, although it has been mostly limited, to date, to CNF derivatives obtained via covalent functionalization. Herein, we propose a noncovalent approach employing a set of short peptides - DFNKF, DF(I)NKF, and DF(F 5 )NKF - as supramolecular additives to engineer hybrid hydrogels and films based on unfunctionalized CNF. Even at minimal concentrations (from 0.1% to 0.01% w/w), these peptides demonstrate a remarkable ability to enhance CNF rheological properties, increasing both dynamic moduli by more than an order of magnitude. Upon vacuum filtration of the hydrogels, we obtained CNF-peptide films with tailored hydrophobicity and surface wettability, modulated according to the peptide content and halogen type. Notably, the presence of fluorine in the CNF-DF(F 5 )NKF film, despite being minimal, strongly enhances CNF water vapor barrier properties and reduces the film water uptake. Overall, this approach offers a modular, straightforward method to create fully bio-based CNF-peptide materials, where the inclusion of DFNKF derivatives allows for facile functionalization and material property modulation, opening their potential use in the design of packaging solutions and biomedical devices.

Na superionic conductor (NASICON)-type Na 3 (VO) 2 (PO 4 ) 2 F (NVOPF) exhibits excellent cycling stability for high-voltage sodium ion batteries. Various strategies have been developed to form ion-exchanged NVOPF which can enhance the ionic and electronic conductivity. However, the underlying ion transport mechanism and complex structural transitions during battery operation remained uninvestigated. In this work, we prepared lithium-exchanged NVOPF (namely NLVOPF) which shows improved ionic conductivity and increased capacity at high discharging rates. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) revealed the distinctive presence of two kinds of Li-exchanged sites in the NLVOPF, which are attributed to the occupied lithium ions at the Na1 and Na2 sites (namely Li1 and Li2, respectively). The Li1 site was metastably replaced in the first cycle, yet the Li2 site participated in ion insertion/extraction in the subsequent cycles. Our characterizations show that the dynamic doping of lithium in NLVOPF could contribute to the improved cycling stability and capacity retention.