Bøger udgivet af Edizioni Accademiche Italiane

Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an autosomal recessive inherited disease that causes progressive neurodegeneration. It is caused by reduced expression of the mitochondrial protein frataxin (FXN). To follow the depletion of FXN linking with the disease chronological progression at cellular level and thus to discriminate causative mechanisms from secondary effects, a new cellular model was developed by Pastore¿s team in order to follow the effects of FXN depletion in a time controlled manner. The model was carried out using a human cell line in which an exogenous inducible gene was introduced to rescue the cells from the knocked out endogenous FXN gene. The knockout was achieved by using two gene-editing platforms: the Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs) and the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9). To enable successful knockout of FXN gene via Homologous Recombination a targeting construct was used. The goal of my project was to obtain the tools necessary to enable the knockout of FXN gene.

In the economic environment firms born and die. The development of start-ups is essential for the growth of the whole economy. The present book analyses the role of financial and legal local systems on new firms¿ access to external sources of finance and their consequential capacity to get growth opportunities. The findings evidence the importance of local financial development for start-ups¿ capital structure decisions, providing a useful advice in order to improve financial institutions.

During the last two decades, Italy has lagged behind in production and productivity growth with respect to other rich countries. This seems to be in contrast with its notable elements of wealth and convergence predictions of modern growth theories. This work aims at identifying critical features of this puzzling case in a variant version of Solow¿s growth accounting where ¿true¿ index numbers derived from Afriat¿s approach allow for scale (dis)economies, (mis)allocation effects as well as technical (in)efficiency. The empirical results suggest that the relatively high technical and allocative inefficiencies in the Italian production system may be alleviated by eliminating the chronic vicious circle between underinvestment in human capital and depressingly low premiums in high-skilled labour rewards.

In a globalised and interrelated world, why are identities still that important? How can they become the cause of gross human rights violations? Are they suitable of changes and deconstruction? And, finally, can the analysis of such identities be useful in understanding and solving such a protracted conflict as the Israeli/Palestinian one? Keeping these questions in mind, addressing the problem of conflict resolution in divided societies, this work aims at shifting the attention on the identity issue in order to discuss the possibility of innovative and imaginative resolution. The analysis takes into account the complexity and plurality of the concept of identity and points out the central role of collective memories and hegemonic narratives in the construction of the ¿imagined communities¿. Furthermore, the discussion follows the possibility of ¿re-thinking¿ the Israeli/Palestinian issue, in an identity-centred perspective. Taking into account the relevance of the past constructions of the conflicting identities, the possibility of reshaping the Israeli national identity is explored, developing a pattern for the coexistence in a Israeli/Palestinian state.

This work is a formal linguistic study of the analogous polygenetic emergence and optional omissibility of a syncretic that-type complementiser across the Germanic (Part I), Romance (Part II), ¿Balkan¿ (Part III) and Celtic (Part IV) branches of the Indo-European family. It has, however, many parts which seem redundant but actually aim at providing a solid background about the Indo-European language family being treated in each section, as well as some very interesting appendixes. Cover image: Confronted leopards above a banqueting scene in the Tomb of the Leopards, Etruscan Necropolis of Monterozzi (480¿450 BC).

Photography¿s world represents one of the most complex, controversial and mutating phenomena human beings began to share their lives with in less than 200 years, since it has reached a so immense importance that we developed a real and unconscious necessity to get information about events, persons, objects, circumstances based on images. This scenario opened my short study, that aimed to embrace several aspects of photographic history, technique, paradigms and perceptions in order to provide the reader with a clear image of what brought the primitive conception of photography to the modern one. One of the most effective strategies in order to raise profits and to create new value added both for a firm itself and for the entire system with all the affiliated realities, is to have the clearest picture possible of the subjects that will purchase the final products. The results I also obtained through a survey have been extremely helpful and I believe they may represent and incentive for users to abandon the careless approach that push them not to think about the image they are capturing with a smartphone...because after all ¿I just need to push a button, it does the rest¿.

In the mammalian brain, the dopaminergic circuits (nigrostriatal and meso-cortico-limbic pathways) are essential for motor control, reward mechanisms and modulation of affective and emotional states. Dysfunctions of these circuits are involved in serious neurological and psychiatric diseases (Parkinson¿s disease, schizophrenia, ADHD and addiction). For these reasons, the study of molecular mechanisms involved in the acquisition and maturation of midbrain-dopaminergic neurons is essential to generate in vitro DA neurons useful for disease modelling and regenerative medicine. The present work, by identifying microRNAs involved in DA development, contributes to add new and interesting information on the molecular mechanisms underlying the DA differentiation and maintenance, leading to the identification of new molecular targets for potential therapeutic strategies to cure pathological disorders affecting the DA system.

The "Scientific Committee on the Effects of Radiation" of the United Nations stated that "there is no threshold dose, outside of which there is no risk of getting cancer ... every small dose increases the likelihood of getting cancer for the person who has received it and any subsequent dose increases this probability. " This book shows the development of studies on the subject conducted at the ¿Istituto Zooprofilatticö and, in particular, describes the development of the screening methods suitable to guarantee consumers¿ safety and their application on field for the territorial surveillance. The proposed methods are described by comprehensive extracts of works with the indication of the role of each in a more general supervisory system, in which they applied the principles of the Health Surveillance aimed at the protection of consumers¿ health. This monograph is addressed to any technicians who deal with food control, both in territorial surveillance and laboratory controls, who want to deepen the study of an integrated sampling system - analysis aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness in e Food safety supervisory systems.

From India to East Timor, from 1947 until 2002, every State in South-East Asia obtained full independence with new ruling elites forced to face the consequences of the colonialist strategy of ¿divide and rule¿. Malaysia is one of the main ports of arrival and transit for thousands of vulnerable persons who are still fleeing those countries seeking refuge from poverty, conflict, and discrimination. However, Malaysian law does not provide special protection for asylum seekers, refugees or stateless persons. Undocumented immigrants are not allowed to work, own property, enroll for the public education system, nor are they granted full access to national healthcare. This work aims at giving an overview of the legal framework created by the International Community to assist refugees, of the main patterns of forced displacement in South-East Asia, and of the shortcomings of the Malaysian case by telling the stories, tragically true, of refugees.

Mergers and Acquisitions have been widely used by so many companies and industries as a way to enhance and achieve inorganic growth or to boost the corporate overall performance. Mergers and Acquisitions are ever present in the corporate environment and they have become an increasingly important part of corporate strategies. However, not all attempts to undertake M&A deal are successful. Catherine explored and examined the ¿Success and Failure of Mergers and Acquisitions¿ using two different cases to verify this phenomenon: one that was successful (a very rare case) and unsuccessful one. Analyzing these cases she pointed out the reasons and factors for the M&A outcomes which gives an answer to as of why do some Mergers and Acquisitions succeed whereas others fail.

The book aims to outline a possible firm model capable to contribute to the socio-economic development of its territory. The first chapter, rooting in a wide literature review, analyses the territory as a multidisciplinary concept. The second chapter develops a taxonomy of firms depending on the role they play towards the territory, i.e. in relation to how they read, interpret, live and how they are related with the territory. Then it proposes a sustainable business model called metaphorically Arbor Vitae. The third and final chapter presents four case studies based on in-depth interviews and on focus groups made with the owners and to certain stakeholders of the selected companies. The empirical analysis carried out on four Italian secular companies in the manufacturing sector ¿the Pontifical Marinelli Foundry, the Barone Ricasoli, The Grazia company of Deruta and the Amarelli ¿ allows us to verify whether and how the business actually embody the peculiar characters of the Arbor Vitae model proposed in the previous chapter.

The scope of this work is to show the influence of postcolonial theories in Western countries and how their cultural stereotypes are used by the tourism industry in order to create the exotic idea of paradise of some tourist destinations, that are frequently former colonies of the ancient imperial powers. For instance, the simple and innocent idea of a Western tourist, who is arranging a travel to one of the paradisiacal islands of the Caribbean, may be seen as a consequence of the colonial idea of the exotic and paradise. The multifaceted phenomenon of postcolonialism offers disparate starting points for multidisciplinary discourses and for this reason this work aims at the analysis of: postcolonial theories and their importance in Western culture and attitude towards the former colonies; the relevance of postcolonial theories in tourism in order to explain that there are points in common between this two ¿worlds¿ completely different; and in conclusion, there is a case study regarding the Caribbean in order to show to what extent the European colonization has been important and the cultural results that it has produced.