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Écriture, sociabilité et stratégies de persuasion : Marie-Anne Paulze-Lavoisier, secrétaire (1758-1836)
Get PDFAttraverso uno studio di caso, centrato su Marie-Anne Paulze-Lavoisier (1758-1836), la tesi tratta di pratiche legate all’annotazione e, più in generale, alla registrazione di informazioni su supporti cartacei tra gli anni ’70 del Settecento e gli anni ‘30 dell’Ottocento. Nota oggi come moglie e collaboratrice del chimico Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), di cui avrebbe promosso le teorie attraverso un’attività di traduttrice e illustratrice, Paulze-Lavoisier è qui presentata nella veste di “secrétaire”, ossia di figura incaricata di mettere per iscritto osservazioni di varia natura. Ci si concentra, in particolare, sui Registres de laboratoire di Lavoisier, 14 quaderni petit in-folio a cui sono affidati i resoconti di esperimenti condotti a Parigi tra il 1772 e il 1788 e che rilevano in misura significativa della mano di lei. Oggetto finora di una storia del pensiero scientifico, interessata alle “idee” in essi contenute, i Registres sono da noi riletti alla luce di un approccio “materiale”, attento alle pratiche e alle condizioni della loro compilazione e del loro riutilizzo nel tempo. Si indagano quindi le funzioni di questi quaderni rispetto alla pratica sperimentale, ricostruendo al contempo i tratti e le evoluzioni del ruolo di segretaria affidato a Paulze-Lavoisier. Il focus su Paulze-Lavoisier permette da un lato a sollevare nuove domande in merito al rapporto tra scrittura delle note, genere e sociabilità ma anche, ad un altro livello, alla cosiddetta “invisibilità” degli assistenti; dall’altro offre la materia per una storia lunga dei Registres, che dai primi gesti in essi da lei operati agli inizi degli anni ’70 del Settecento arriva fino alle manipolazioni a cui sono sottoposti, per sua volontà, nei primi decenni dell’Ottocento.Taking Marie-Anne Paulze-Lavoisier (1758-1836) as a primary case study, this dissertation examines note-taking practices and information management during the long eighteenth-century (1770-1830 circa). Known as the wife and scientific associate of the French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), and more notably, as a translator and illustrator of chemical texts on her own right, Paulze-Lavoisier is here presented as a secretaire and namely as someone whose main charge was to store and exchange information by means of writing. I focus, in particular, on the so-called Registres de laboratoire: 14 notebooks containing the accounts of numerous experiments performed by Lavoisier and his associates in Paris between 1772 and 1788 and annotated thoroughly by Paulze-Lavoisier. In contrast to previous historiography, I reassess the meaning of the Registres in the light of the practices by which they were compiled, consulted, and preserved. By tracing Paulze-Lavoisier’s interventions and exploring the material and social conditions in which they were made, I show the role of scribal practices in Lavoisier’s working routine and, at the same time, I retrace her trajectories as a secrétaire. In the last part of the dissertation, I explore the fate of the Registres after Lavoisier’s death in 1794, when Paulze-Lavoisier’s work as a secrétaire took new directions. The broader aim of the thesis is to raise new questions relating to the relationships between note-taking practices, gender, and sociability as well as to the social construction of scientific authority, and the social visibility of scribal helpers and assistants before and after the French Revolution
Epigenetic Landscape of Pain in Diabetic Neuropathy
Get PDFThe available treatments for neuropathic pain are still unsatisfactory – they cope with low efficiency and serious side effects. To our knowledge, this is a pioneering study evaluating whole-genome DNA methylation in unique populations of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients that were histopalogically diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy, with or without neuropathic pain. We provided an evidence on the significant differences in methylation patterns between painful and painless phenotypes.
Epigenomes of patients from two independent cohorts were assessed in whole blood samples with Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip. We performed differential analysis and identified epigenetic signals that highlight the dissimilarities between painful and painless subjects. We estimated epigenetic age of the patients and evaluated eventual acceleration of biological age in painful and painless phenotypes using set of epigenetic predictors.
With the differential analysis we identified 27 CpG sites that reached the level of statistical significance in both studied cohorts, presented the methylation change between painful and painless diabetic neuropathy > 1% in one of the populations and had the direction of methylation change concordant between the two cohorts. 19 of selected probes were genic and resulted in a list of 19 unique genes. Multidimensional scaling analysis confirmed the potential of generated set of CpG sites to separate painful and painless subjects and to highlight the dissimilarities between two phenotypes.
Evaluation of biological age showed that there was no association between painful phenotype and acceleration of biological age expressed by any of the assessed epigenetic clocks. DNA methylation based prediction of telomere length was found to vary between painful and painless groups in both studied cohorts.
Obtained results confirmed the presence of epigenetic differences between painful and painless diabetic neuropathy patients. Promising genes were identified that may be linked to neuropathic pain through DNA methylation mechanisms
International investment law between investor protection and State prerogatives in the pursuit of the principle of sustainable development
Get PDFIl principio dello sviluppo sostenibile può fornire una guida per bilanciare il diritto degli Stati a regolamentare nell’interesse pubblico, da un lato, e la protezione degli investitori stranieri, dall’altro. La sua evoluzione nel tempo culmina con l’adozione nel 2015 dell’Agenda ONU 2030, attraverso 17 Obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile universali, integrati ed indivisibili. In virtu' di questo suo progressivo sviluppo nel diritto internazionale e, allo stesso tempo, alla luce delle istanze di riforma dell’arbitrato internazionale in materia di investimenti, gli Accordi internazionali sugli investimenti di terza generazione e la recente giurisprudenza arbitrale mostrano una tendenza a guardare al rapporto giuridico tra Stati ospiti dell’investimento ed investitori stranieri in termini più simmetrici, aprendo la porta ad investimenti socialmente responsabili e creare così un "level playing field" che colmi le fisiologiche disparità di partenza tra i giocatori della partita Investor-State.The principle of sustainable development may provide useful guidance on balancing States’right to regulate,on one hand,and the protection of foreign investors on the other. Its evolution over time and its widely accepted recognition are well represented by the UN Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are universal, integrated and indivisible, global in nature and universally applicable. In the light of this progressive development of international law in the field of sustainable development, it will be demonstrated how International Investment Agreements (IIAs) of third generation as well as recent international arbitration case-law witness an increasing trend towards looking at the legal relationship between Host States and foreign investors in more symmetrical terms, opening the gate for socially responsible investments worldwide
Laparoscopic colectomy vs open colectomy for chronic inflammatory bowel diseases: short and long term surgical and functional outocomes
Get PDFIl presente studio si propone di eseguire un’analisi comparativa fra diverse tecniche chirurgiche per l’esecuzione dell’intervento di colectomia totale addominale e di confrontare i risultati di diversi standard di cura postoperatoria, in pazienti affetti da malattie infiammatorie croniche intestinali. A tal fine è stato disegnato uno studio prospettico randomizzato della durata di tre anni, di cui i primi due per l’arruolamento e trattamento dei pazienti e l’ultimo per garantire un follow-up minimo postoperatorio ed eseguire l’analisi statistica dei risultati. Il presente studio monocentrico verrà eseguito in un centro di riferimento riconosciuto a livello nazionale per il trattamento medico e chirurgico delle patologie in oggetto. L’obiettivo primario del presente studio è di valutare differenze in termini di outcomes chirurgici a breve e lungo termine dell’intervento di colectomia totale addominale eseguito con tecnica tradizionale open e laparoscopica. Si propone inoltre di evidenziare, come obiettivo secondario, eventuali differenze nella degenza postoperatoria e negli outcomes clinici nei pazienti sottoposti ad intervento di colectomia in relazione al tipo di gestione postoperatoria, confrontando la gestione postoperatoria tradizionale con i nuovi protocolli di trattamento fast-track.This study aims to perform a comparative analysis between different surgical techniques for total abdominal colectomy surgery and to compare the results of different standards of postoperative care, in patients suffering from chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.
A prospective randomized three-year study was designed, the first two for the enrollment and treatment of patients and the last to ensure a minimum postoperative follow-up and perform statistical analysis of the results. This single-center study was performed in a nationally recognized reference center for the medical and surgical treatment of the diseases in question. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate differences in terms of short and long-term surgical outcomes of total abdominal colectomy performed with traditional open and laparoscopic technique. It is also proposed to highlight, as a secondary objective, any differences in postoperative hospitalization and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing colectomy in relation to the type of postoperative management, comparing traditional postoperative management with new fast-track treatment protocols
Newly developed electrosynthesis of Layered Double Hydroxides: application to sensing, energy storage and conversion
Get PDFLayered Double hydroxides (LDHs) have been widely studied for their plethora of fascinating features and applications. The potentiostatic electrodeposition of LDHs has been extensively applied in the literature as a fast and direct method to substitute classical chemical routes. However, it does not usually allow for a fine control of the M(II)/M(III) ratio in the synthesized material and it is not suitable for large anions intercalation. Therefore, in this work a novel protocol has been proposed with the aim to overcome all these constraints using a method based on potentiodynamic synthesis.
LDHs of controlled composition were prepared using different molar ratios of the trivalent to bivalent cations in the electrolytic solution ranging from 1:1 to 1:4.
Moreover, we were able to produce electrochemically LDHs intercalated with carbon nanomaterials for the first time. A one-step procedure which contemporaneously allows for the Ni/Al-LDH synthesis, the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and its intercalation inside the structure has been developed. The synthesised materials have been applied in several fields of interest.
First of all, LDHs with a ratio 3:1 were exploited, and displayed good performances as catalysts for 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural electro-oxidation, thus suggesting to carry out further investigation for applications in the field of industrial catalysis. The same materials, but with different metals ratios, were tested as catalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction, obtaining results comparable to LDHs synthesised by the classical co-precipitation method and also a better activity with respect to LDHs obtained by the potentiostatic approach. The composite material based on LDH and reduced graphene oxide was employed to fabricate a cathode of a hybrid supercapacitor coupled with an activated carbon anode. We can thus conclude that, to date, the potentiodynamic method has the greatest potential for the rapid synthesis of reproducible films of Co and Ni-based LDHs with controlled composition
Ultra-low power IoT applications: from transducers to wireless protocols
Get PDFThis dissertation aims to explore Internet of Things (IoT) sensor nodes in various application scenarios with different design requirements. The research provides a comprehensive exploration of all the IoT layers composing an advanced device, from transducers to on-board processing, through low power hardware schemes and wireless protocols for wide area networks.
Nowadays, spreading and massive utilization of wireless sensor nodes pushes research and industries to overcome the main limitations of such constrained devices, aiming to make them easily deployable at a lower cost. Significant challenges involve the battery lifetime that directly affects the device operativity and the wireless communication bandwidth. Factors that commonly contrast the system scalability and the energy per bit, as well as the maximum coverage.
This thesis aims to serve as a reference and guideline document for future IoT projects, where results are structured following a conventional development pipeline. They usually consider communication standards and sensing as project requirements and low power operation as a necessity.
A detailed overview of five leading IoT wireless protocols, together with custom solutions to overcome the throughput limitations and decrease the power consumption, are some of the topic discussed. Low power hardware engineering in multiple applications is also introduced, especially focusing on improving the trade-off between energy, functionality, and on-board processing capabilities. To enhance these features and to provide a bottom-top overview of an IoT sensor node, an innovative and low-cost transducer for structural health monitoring is presented. Lastly, the high-performance computing at the extreme edge of the IoT framework is addressed, with special attention to image processing algorithms running on state of the art RISC-V architecture. As a specific deployment scenario, an OpenCV-based stack, together with a convolutional neural network, is assessed on the octa-core PULP SoC
On Optimality of Score Driven Models
Get PDFThe contribution of this thesis consists in proving that score driven models possess a novel, intuitive, high dimensional and global optimality criterion, called Conditional Expected Variation optimality that formalizes the following words from Creal et al. (2013) "The use of the score is intuitive. It defines a steepest ascent direction for improving the model's local fit in terms of the likelihood or density at time t given the current position of the parameter. This provides the natural direction for updating the parameter. "
Indeed, the fact that the score defines a steepest ascent direction is crucial in deriving the results and for the proposed optimality criterion to hold.
To prove the aforementioned property, a point of contact between the econometric literature and the time varying optimization literature will be established. As a matter of fact, the Conditional Expected Variation optimality can be naturally viewed as a generalization of the monotonicity property of the gradient descent scheme. A number of implications on the specification of score driven models are analyzed and discussed, even in the case of model misspecification
Performance of eus-fnb in solid pancreatic masses: lesson from 463 consecutive procedures and a practical nomogram
Get PDFObjectives: The study's main goal was the diagnostic adequacy of pancreatic EUS-FNB and associated predictive factors. The secondary objective was to define the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNB in the diagnosis of pancreatic masses and pancreatic malignancies.
Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with solid pancreatic lesions that underwent EUS-FNB between 2013, and 2018. We calculated diagnostic adequacy and related factors. Using definitive histology on the surgically resected specimen as the gold standard, we calculated diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of EUS-FNB.
Results: We identified a total of 463 procedures. Diagnostic specimens were adequate in 436 procedures (94.1%), while 27 biopsies provided insufficient samples (5.9%). The multivariate analysis showed that lesion size and needle caliper were the only factors influencing diagnostic adequacy. The use of a biopsy needle (OR=0.69, 95% IC 0.30-0.1.63, p=0.400) did not improve sample adequacy. We calculated sensitivity (89%), specificity (100%), diagnostic accuracy (91.9%), positive predictive value (100%), and negative predictive value (76.6%) using resected specimen as the gold standard. We found no significant complications.
Conclusions: EUS-FNB is a reliable technique for the histological characterization of solid pancreatic masses
New advances in molecular epidemiology of emerging enteric parasites in farmed gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) and insights into zoonotic parasites of new relevance in Italian freshwater fish
Get PDFFish products are essential to the food and economic security for almost a billion people around the world. Parasitic diseases outbreaks are a major concern for aquaculture and fishery industries, and they may represent a major constraint for sectors’ expansion. Fish-borne parasitic zoonoses due to the consumption of fishery products are an increasing phenomenon in European Countries.
This work maps the available information on Enterospora nucleophila and Cryptosporidium molnari presence in gilthead sea bream Mediterranean aquaculture. The existing diagnostic techniques for the detection of E. nucleophila and C. molnari were reviewed and a new in situ hybridization assay for the detection of E. nucleophila developmental stages is provided. Data from a survey involving 17 gilthead sea bream facilities showed a wide distribution pattern of E. nucleophila and C. molnari, with their detection in 41% and 47% farms, respectively. Data also showed a non-homogeneous distribution within different production phases and type of facilities. Parasites were mainly detected in post-weaning production phases, with higher detection of E. nucleophila at ongrowing in-land and cage-based rearing systems, and higher positivity percentages of C. molnari at pre-growing and in-land tanks. The absence of positivity at early production stages including eggs led to consider vertical transmission unlikely and to confirm the role of water in transmitting the infection.
This work aimed at shedding light on emerging zoonotic parasites in European freshwater fishery products. This work provided consistent information on Eustrongylides excisus epidemiology in Central Italy lakes and confirmed the presence of infective stages in freshwater fish. A molecular assay for the identification of adult and larval stages of E. excisus is reported.
A novel multiplex PCR assay for the simultaneous identification of Opisthorchis felineus, Pseudamphistomum truncatum, Metorchis spp., Metagonimus spp. and Apophallus spp., the main zoonotic or potentially zoonotic trematodes described in Europe, is also provided
Bio-plastics and technologies for eco-sustainable packaging
Get PDFTransmission welding tests on different eco-sustainable materials were performed using Thulium fiber laser radiation with 2 μm wavelength. All the samples were characterized via infra-red spectroscopy and DSC. The morphology of the materials and the relations between the laser process conditions and the quality of the seam were investigated by means of optical microscopy. Mechanical strength of the weld joints were measured via tensile tests, comparing some of them with different sealing methods and/or original tensile properties of the materials.
The morphology of the non-woven material especially plays an important role, compared to the continuous films, as well as the chemical nature of the samples. The experiments demonstrate new application areas of mid-IR fiber laser sources for materials processing