22 Mar. 2016 - Cecilia Faraloni

20160322 Seminario Faraloni

Produzione di sostanze ad alto valore aggiunto e di bioenergie con microrganismi fotosintetici e valorizzazione di reflui agro-industriali per il recupero di antiossidanti

Presenta: Cecilia Faraloni

CNR ISE, sede di Firenze

In particolari condizioni di stress i microrganismi fotosintetici possono produrre notevoli quantità di sostanze ad elevato valore aggiunto. Tra questi, i carotenoidi, tra i quali, ß-carotene, astaxantina, zexantina, luteina, risultano avere una elevata capacità antiossidante.
Inoltre alcune microalghe e cianobatteri, come Chlamydomonas e Synechocystis, per far fronte a stress fisiologici, possono indirizzare il loro metabolismo verso la produzione di idrogeno, utilizzabile come vettore di energia. Studi condotti con Chlamydomonas hanno mostrato che in questa microalga, durante il processo di produzione d'idrogeno, aumenta il contenuto delle xantofille luteina e zeaxantina. In aggiunta, particolarmente interessanti sono stati i risultati che hanno mostrato una maggiore produzione di idrogeno con cellule di Chlamydomonas cresciute utilizzando acque di vegetazione olearie, opportunamente trattate.
Il principale utilizzo di questi reflui agro-industriali resta comunque legato al recupero dei polifenoli, ed in particolare dell'idrossitirosolo, con elevata capacità antiossidante, antitumorale ed anti HIV, che trovano applicazioni in campo cosmetico e per la salute dell'uomo.

click to download notice of seminar

18 Mar. 2016 - Sara Cerri e Paolo Sasso

20160318 Seminario Cerri

A short introduction to Project Management

Presentano: Sara Cerri e Paolo Sasso

PMI® Northern Italy Chapter, Branch Piemonte-Valle D'Aosta, Chivasso (TO)

What is a project? And what is project management? A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result, while project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.
Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of 47 project management processes, which are categorized in initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. These 47 project management processes are further grouped into ten separate knowledge areas, which are used on projects most of the time.
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) is a book that provides guidelines for managing individual projects and defines project management related concepts. The PMBOK® Guide identifies that subset of the project management body of knowledge that is generally recognized as a good practice. Thus, it does not mean that the knowledge, skills, and processes described should always be applied uniformly on all projects, but, for any given project, the project manager, in collaboration with the project team, is always responsible for determining which processes are appropriate.

click to download notice of seminar

16 Mar. 2016 - Stefano Taiti

20160315 Seminario Taiti

Terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Oniscidea) as model organisms for evolutionary and biogeographic studies

Presenta: Stefano Taiti

CNR ISE, sede di Firenze

Terrestrial isopods (woodlice) are the most successful crustacean colonizers of land habitats. They represent a suborder of Isopoda (Oniscidea) with over 3700 species occurring in every kind of environment, from sea coasts to high mountains, from forests to deserts. Many species inhabit caves and a few are aquatic. From an evolutionary point, woodlice are a key taxon to study the conquest of land from marine ancestors, with morphological, physiological and behavioral adaptations to terrestriality. One of these adaptations consists in the solutions to respiration on land. Dr Taiti group's research has focused in particular on the respiratory apparatus in the pleopodal lungs on many oniscidean taxa, demonstrating a convergent evolution in different families. They have also analyzed the origin of the few aquatic Oniscidea occurring in cave aquifers in Australia, southern China and Sardinia, demonstrating their secondary adaptation to this habitat. Due to the short range distributions of the large majority of the species, with many cave adapted taxa, terrestrial isopods are very important organisms for biogeographical analyses. Our studies on oniscidean biodiversity include all the tropical areas of the world and the Mediterranean.

click to download notice of seminar

08 Mar. 2016 - Diego Rubolini

20160308 Seminario Rubolini

Cambiamenti climatici e migrazione degli uccelli: un approccio comparativo

Presenta: Diego Rubolini

Università degli Studi di Milano

Il comportamento migratorio degli uccelli, la cui evoluzione riflette una risposta adattativa alla variabilità intra- e inter-stagionale delle condizioni climatiche, sta subendo significative modifiche per effetto dei rapidi cambiamenti climatici in atto. Ma quali sono le specie che riescono ad adattarsi meglio? Che caratteristiche ecologiche hanno? Esistono delle costrizioni intrinseche che ne limitano la capacità di risposta al climate change? Nel corso del seminario si tenterà di dare una risposta a queste domande usando un approccio comparativo, che prevede il confronto delle risposte al clima tra specie di uccelli migratori con caratteristiche differenti (es. migratori che svernano nel Mediterraneo vs. migratori che svernano in Africa sub-sahariana).

click to download notice of seminar

01 Mar. 2016 - Matteo Ruocco

20160301 Seminario Ruocco

Assessing biodiversity in ponds of central Emilia

Presenta: Matteo Ruocco

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

There are more than 304 millions of water bodies on our planet, and ponds represent more than the 90% of the total number and the 30% in terms of occupied surface. Functionally different from lakes, they offer a high variability of habitats and that makes them important biodiversity hotspots. Despite their high value, they are nowadays among the most threatened aquatic ecosystems and still receive scant attention in political and legislative spheres.
To interrupt this trend and highlight the importance of ponds in central Emilia (Italy), a biodiversity index (IBEM) has been applied to 28 ponds. This will permit to better know the condition of such important biodiversity hotspots in an area where these habitats are still little studied. Results could lead future management actions to preserve, protect and improve the value of these habitats. First results of this study will be presented and discussed.

click to download notice of seminar