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Mario Puccini letterato-editore. Prospettive d’archivio e mediazione letteraria tra Italia e Spagna
Full text linkThis thesis explores the editorial work of Mario Puccini (Senigallia 1887 - Rome, 1957) during the first thirty years of the twentieth century. After having introduced the Italian publishing scenario of the time, I analyze the two publishing houses led by Puccini: Giovanni Puccini e Figli Editori and Studio Editoriale Lombardo. The aim of this analysis is to provide an innovative and accurate account on several issues, generally misregarded by scholarship, such as series, advertising strategies, the relationship between authors and publishers, the catalogue of books. My thesis, furthermore, highlights the importance of Puccini’s role by comparing it with that of other well-known contemporary writers-editors, namely Marinetti and Prezzolini. A separate chapter is also dedicated to G.P. Lucni, who played a crucial role in establishing the Studio Editoriale Lombardo. A systematic research carried out in several archives, both in Italy (Archivio A. Bonsanti, Firenze, Archivio Papini, Primo Conti Foundation, Fiesole, Archivio Lucini, Biblioteca Comunale, Como) and in Spain (Biblioteca Nacional de España, Sala Cervantes, Publishing house Biblioteca Nueva Archive, Madrid) has made possible to retrace Puccini's editorial profile. The letters shed light on Puccini’s view about his editorial profession as well as on the book market and the Italian publishing history. Yet, the letters provided by the Spanish archives, show the remarkable mediation performed by Puccini for the dissemination of Italian contemporary literature in Spain. After being introduced to the Spanish literary circles by Miguel de Unamuno, Puccini became, within few years, the most important critical voice of the contemporary Italian literature, due to his collaboration with the literary magazine La Pluma by Azaña and Rivas Cherif and the simultaneous activity of literary agent for the publishing house led by Jose Ruiz-Castillo, Biblioteca Nueva. Amongst his numerous translations, I will mention the novel by Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal, recommended by Puccini even before the Italian comedy writer became famous in Europe. Finally, my thesis demonstrates how Puccini tried to favour a different view of Italian literature in order to overcome the dominant dannunzianism in Spain
Computer aided diagnosis algorithms for digital microscopy
Full text linkAutomatic analysis and information extraction from an image is still a highly chal-
lenging research problem in the computer vision area, attempting to describe the
image content with computational and mathematical techniques. Moreover the in-
formation extracted from the image should be meaningful and as most discrimi-
natory as possible, since it will be used to categorize its content according to the
analysed problem. In the Medical Imaging domain this issue is even more felt
because many important decisions that affect the patient care, depend on the use-
fulness of the information extracted from the image. Manage medical image is even
more complicated not only due to the importance of the problem, but also because
it needs a fair amount of prior medical knowledge to be able to represent with data
the visual information to which pathologist refer.
Today medical decisions that impact patient care rely on the results of laboratory
tests to a greater extent than ever before, due to the marked expansion in the number
and complexity of offered tests. These developments promise to improve the care of
patients, but the more increase the number and complexity of the tests, the more
increases the possibility to misapply and misinterpret the test themselves, leading
to inappropriate diagnosis and therapies. Moreover, with the increased number of
tests also the amount of data to be analysed increases, forcing pathologists to devote
much time to the analysis of the tests themselves rather than to patient care and
the prescription of the right therapy, especially considering that most of the tests
performed are just check up tests and most of the analysed samples come from
healthy patients.
Then, a quantitative evaluation of medical images is really essential to overcome
uncertainty and subjectivity, but also to greatly reduce the amount of data and
the timing for the analysis. In the last few years, many computer assisted diagno-
sis systems have been developed, attempting to mimic pathologists by extracting
features from the images. Image analysis involves complex algorithms to identify
and characterize cells or tissues using image pattern recognition technology. This
thesis addresses the main problems associated to the digital microscopy analysis
in histology and haematology diagnosis, with the development of algorithms for the
extraction of useful information from different digital images, but able to distinguish
different biological structures in the images themselves. The proposed methods not
only aim to improve the degree of accuracy of the analysis, and reducing time, if used as the only means of diagnoses, but also they can be used as intermediate tools
for skimming the number of samples to be analysed directly from the pathologist,
or as double check systems to verify the correct results of the automated facilities
used today
Alterazioni indotte dall'isolamento sociale sulla regolazione a feedback negativo dell'asse ipotalamo-ipofisi-surrene
No full textRearing of rodents from weaning to adulthood in isolation induces various behavioral and neurochemical alterations in comparison with group-housed controls, suggesting that socially isolated rodents represent an animal model of neuropsychiatric disorder. Social isolation results in a decrease in plasma adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and corticosterone levels and in a decrease in the brain and plasma concentrations of neuroactive steroids that act as positive modulators at GABAA receptors. Moreover, social deprivation is accompanied by an enhanced neurosteroidogenesis in response to acute stressful stimuli and it increases the sensitivity of the pituitary to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). Furthermore, the corticosterone level after dexamethasone injection was significantly greater in isolated animals than in the group-housed rats. These results suggest that social isolation induces changes in responsiveness and impaired negative feedback regulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. The aim of this research was to study mechanisms that might contribute to the different HPA reactivity to acute stress. We evaluated plasma corticosterone, hypothalamic level of CRF and of endocannabinoid 2-AG, hypothalamic endocannabinoid receptors (CB1 receptors) and hippocampal and hypothalamic glucocorticoid receptors (GR), in at different time point after acute heterotypic stress (foot-shock, 5 min). Moreover we have investigated GR function by blockade these receptors with mifepristone (a non-selective GR antagonist) in control group-housed animals and we have measured the expression of hypothalamic α4 and δ GABAA receptor subunits in basal condition and allopregnanolone (AP) levels after stress exposure.
Socially isolated rats exposed to foot-shock stress showed a marked increased in plasma corticosterone levels which were still significantly high 7 hours later, while in group-housed animals plasma corticosterone levels return to baseline 60 mins after stress exposure. Similar pattern was found in plasma AP where socially isolated rats showed a significant increase at 30 mins and still high 90 mins after acute stress exposure. In the hypothalamus of socially isolated rats a significant increase in the levels of CRF was found at 15 min, 30 and 60 min after the end of the stress, while in control animals no change in CRF levels was detected at any time point measured. Moreover, social isolation induced a decrease of hypothalamic 2-AG, that play a key role in the regulation of negative feedback of HPA axis. Social deprivation results in a increase of expression of hypothalamic CB1 and of both hippocampal and hypothalamic GR than control group, probably as a result by lower corticosterone and 2-AG levels in these animals. After acute stress exposure, in socially isolated rats both CB1 and GR expression did not show any change or was reduced during time course, while in control animals progressively increased with the time. We have hypothesized that this dysregulation of GR expression induced by social isolation may be important in disruption of HPA axis activity and in failure of glucocorticoid negative feedback resulting in prolonged
response to acute stress. To study GR function, in control group-housed animals, we have measured plasma corticosterone concentration after mifepristone administration. Mifeprisone treatment resulted in a decrease of basal corticosterone levels and an increase of steroidogenic effect of stress at 30 and 90 min; these effects were similar to that observed in non-treated isolated rats. Moreover, social isolation decreased the expression of both basal hypothalamic α4 and δ GABAA receptor subunits and reduced basal hypothalamic concentration of AP, suggesting a reduction of GABAergic transmission in this area. According to previous data (Serra et al., 2000), foot-shock stress exposure induced an increase of AP levels in socially isolated rats, probably to offset the reduction GABAA-mediated signaling.
These data demonstrate that HPA axis hyperresponsiveness to acute heterotypic stress in socially isolated rats may be due to a dysregulation of GR function. Further experiments are in progress in order to clarify the role of endocannabinoid and GABAergic system in the impairment of glucocorticoid negative feedback induced by social isolation
Effetti del Metilfenidato sulla crescita in bambini e adolescenti ADHD. Revisione sistematica e monitoraggio prospettico a lungo termine dei parametri auxologici: analisi preliminari dei risultati dello studio europeo di farmacovigilanza ADDUCE
No full textStimulant medications represent the main effective treatment in improving the core symptoms of
ADHD. However, in the last 30 years, there has been increasing concern about the risks
associated with these medications in particular with respect to possible growth deficits, due to their
impact on weight, height and BMI. The aim of this work was to provide an extensive update of the
literature on methylphenidate (MPH) long-term adverse effects on growth and pubertal maturation
in ADHD and to evaluate, within the prospective pharmaco-vigilance EU funded ADDUCE (ADHD
DRUGS USE CHRONIC EFFECTS) study, whether MPH for ADHD is associated with a
statistically and clinically significant increase in long-term (> 1 year) risk of negative effects on the
rate of growth velocity and on bone and pubertal maturation and to explore the application of the
monitoring of bone age as a helpful tool able to add value to the routine measures of growth within
the clinical care.
The systematic review included a Pubmed and a centralized search carried out up to July 2015,
using Ovid Medline, Embase and PsychInfo. The review was centred on human studies focusing
on the impact of MPH exposure on growth in ADHD children and adolescents diagnosed according
to DSM criteria. In total 38 eligible studies were identified covering a total of 6385 subjects.
Analysis of the impact of MPH was performed in 3790 subjects. Nineteen studies did not support
the hypothesis of a correlation between a growth deficit and treatment. Nineteen studies (n =2018
subjects) found instead significant changes on height, weight and BMI z scores. Height deficit
appeared more evident during the first 6-12 months with a subsequent normalization. Dose, drug
holidays, the length of treatment and the basal growth parameter appeared as possible important
mediating factors.
Within the multicentre ADDUCE longitudinal study, a total of 1397 subjects have been enrolled in
the four countries involved into the projects (Italy, Germany, Hungary and UK). For the purpose of
the present work, growth parameters were analysed for 267 Italian children and adolescents (129
drug naïve ADHD starting MPH for the first time; 113 unmedicated ADHD and 25 non ADHD),
aged 6 to 17 years old. Weight, height and BMI, their Z-scores and pubertal maturation were
assessed at baseline and every six months within 24 months of follow up. Height velocity and the
SDS for height velocity were calculated at 12 and 24 months. Bone age by the X-ray of left wrist
was further assessed for 44 drug naïve ADHD children, aged 6-12, at three time points of the
ADDUCE longitudinal protocol, baseline visit and after 12 and 24 months. Baseline data analysis
revealed normal growth parameters for the ADHD population with height, weight and BMI Z-score
within the expected growth national norms. At the 12 and 24 month observation, absolute values of
height and weight continued to increase in all subjects. Medication did not cause any significant
impact on height neither on pubertal maturation. BMI Z-score decreased significantly only during
the first 12 month of treatment (p=.04). Growth velocity SDS at T12 was not significantly different
when compared to T24. The calculation of the predicted adult height by using the bone age
confirmed no suppressive effect of stimulants on height remaining substantially similar at the
different time-points of follow up (T0= 178.37 ±7.2; T12=177.18±7.8; T24=178.63±8.0).
In conclusion, results from the present work revealed that the condition of ADHD per se does not
appear to include an altered pattern of growth and that MPH has a modest impact mainly on
weight and only a marginal effect on height with a minimal clinical influence generally remittent in
adulthood. On the bases of the present evidences is however considered appropriate to refer to
the current clinical guidelines for an adequate drug monitoring of growth and pubertal parameters
in children on stimulant medication
Negozio giuridico processuale e categoria generale di contratto nella scienza giuridica europea
Full text linkThe research aims to clarify the connection between procedural agreement and the
general category of contract, according to Roman law sources. In particular, we should
highlight that the contract prototype, used in the trial context, imposes us to believe that
the parties are propelled to mutually collaborate in order to obtain a fair trial
Computational investigation on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the molecular and solid phases
Full text linkIn this Thesis we discuss the effects of specific chemical functional- ization and partial/complete atomic substitution on the electronic (ground-/excited-state) and charge-transport properties of small or- ganic compounds of interest for molecular electronics. In particular, we considered several Polycyclic Aromatic Hydro- carbons (PAHs) with different morphologies (small-compact, com- pact, angular and linear). For these molecules we study the effects of complete substitution of the peripheral H atoms with halogens (F and CL), the functionalization with Triisopropylsilylethynil (TIPS) group, and the partial substitution with chalcogen (S in particular) atoms on several physical properties. In the first part of this work we report a systematic comparative study on dibenzo[b,def]chrysene (angular) and dibenzo[def,mno]chrysene (compact) polyaromatic hydrocarbons and their bis-triisopropylsilylethynyl (TIPS)-functionalized and per- halogenated (F, Cl) counterparts.
We used all-electrons density functional theory(DFT)and time- dependent DFT(TDDFT)to quantify the effects of morphology and chemical modifications ondifferent physical observables, namely electron affinity,ionization energy,quasi-particleenergy gap,optical absorption,excitonbindingenergy, and molecular reorganization energies for holesand electrons.For thispart of thework we used the hybrid exchange-correlation functional B3LYP in conjunction with a Gaussian localized basis-set.This adopted combination functional/basis-set has proven to yield good results for polyaromatic hydrocarbons and derivatives.
In the second part of the work we used the same theoretical frame- work (DFT and TDDFT), to study the electronic, optical, and charge- transport properties of the hexathiapentacene (HTP) molecule. HTP is a derivative of pentacene (PNT) obtained by symmetric substi- tution of the six central H with S atoms. We discuss in a compar- ative way the key molecular properties of HTP and PNT. In par- ticular, electron affinities, ionization energies, quasi-particle energy- gaps, optical absorption spectra, exciton binding energies, and re- organization energies for holes and electrons are calculated for the molecules and compared with the corresponding results for PNT, as well as with the available experimental data. The DFT and TDDFT results are also validated by performing many-body perturbation theory calculations within the GW and Bethe-Salpeter equation for- malisms. In addition, for the crystal structures of PNT and HTP we perfomed DFT-based calculations using a pseudopotentials+plane- waves formalism and adopting the PBE exchange-correlation func- tional empirically corrected in order to take properly into account dispersive interactions
Re-identification and semantic retrieval of pedestrians in video surveillance scenarios
Full text linkPerson re-identification consists of recognizing individuals across different sensors of a camera
network. Whereas clothing appearance cues are widely used, other modalities could
be exploited as additional information sources, like anthropometric measures and gait. In
this work we investigate whether the re-identification accuracy of clothing appearance descriptors
can be improved by fusing them with anthropometric measures extracted from
depth data, using RGB-Dsensors, in unconstrained settings. We also propose a dissimilaritybased
framework for building and fusing multi-modal descriptors of pedestrian images for
re-identification tasks, as an alternative to the widely used score-level fusion. The experimental
evaluation is carried out on two data sets including RGB-D data, one of which is a
novel, publicly available data set that we acquired using Kinect sensors.
In this dissertation we also consider a related task, named semantic retrieval of pedestrians
in video surveillance scenarios, which consists of searching images of individuals using
a textual description of clothing appearance as a query, given by a Boolean combination of
predefined attributes. This can be useful in applications like forensic video analysis, where
the query can be obtained froma eyewitness report. We propose a general method for implementing
semantic retrieval as an extension of a given re-identification system that uses any
multiple part-multiple component appearance descriptor. Additionally, we investigate on
deep learning techniques to improve both the accuracy of attribute detectors and generalization
capabilities. Finally, we experimentally evaluate our methods on several benchmark
datasets originally built for re-identification task
La causa nei contratti derivati
Full text linkIn recent years there have been intense and fast changes in the economy and on the
markets. In this context an economic model strongly marked by liberalism which has been
the beginning of the phenomenon known as globalization has been implemented. A market
free from state intervention (including rules) encourages the access of some people such as
individuals and unskilled operators in general in particularly insidious market sectors. At
the same time the contracts practice has been enriched by different and diverse models of
contracts that have raised and continues to raise several legal problems. Among these
figures are “derivatives” which are financial instruments whose circulation is still «one of
the main factors of amplification of the crisis» of a market which is already deregulated
and globalized. A crisis which in turn is the effect of various systemic risks that the various
institutions (political and economic) are struggling to govern.
This thesis is structured in three chapters. In the first chapter social and economics
problems posed by derivatives are discussed. The most relevant sources of law are listed
and the different approaches adopted by the doctrine has been examinated to try to define a
model which introduces a novelty in the law of contracts. The second chapter speaks about
the presence of a “multi-level” regulation which is still being formed and in which the
«customer interest» and the «integrity of markets» are not opportunely reconciled.
Inevitably this has an impact on the individual dealing with derivatives (especially
derivatives “over the counter” trading) with respect to which the particular situation of
conflict between the interests of the intermediary and the customer assumes very often
pathological character. In the third chapter the strictly civil issues that are raised by
derivative contracts have been elaborated. These are issues that come into tension with the
whole system of contract law and still are not definitively overcome. For this reason it was
decided to set the examination of various issues in a systematic and historical perspective.
In particular the main themes that have been discussed in this chapter are: the notion of
«alea» and the category of «aleatory contracts», the consideration («causa») of contracts
in general, and of the derivative contracts in particular and lastly the object («oggetto») of
derivative contracts
Scienza, tecnica e alienazione del mondo nel pensiero politico di Hannah Arendt
Full text linkIn this thesis the science and technology subjects as developed by Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition are discussed.
The underlying theme is the phenomenon of worldlessness, which refers to the existential condition of modern man, and manifests itself in the rejection of the world, conceived as Lebenswelt.
The current technological advances and contemporary society are key in Arendt’s thought as they developed from worldlessness. Such topics give the measure of alienation, being the activities through which processes and actions are enfranchised, and whose consequences appear to be highly dangerous to mankind and its proximity.
Arendt’s methodological approach can be described as ‘humanist’, therefore it focuses on humans and those implications due to the modern technological advances.
Arendt’s point of view is that of the common man: she urges each individual to question their actions by investigating his naïves questions, and wondering if people are really aware of what they are doing in the name of scientific progress.
Therefore, the ambivalent nature of scientific development – both creative and destructive – is criticised. Such criticism focuses on the interactive networks through which technicians and scientists contribute in constantly changing the world of life.
This is in line with the main task of the aforementioned work, which is to develop the discussion within a semantic and decisional collective framework, politically responsible and democratically sustainable.
Hence the need of a socio-anthropological investigation of a world that looks entirely determined by science and technology arises. These ensure that ‘objective’ truth and operational ability are given by universal, rather than natural and terrestrial laws.
Consequently this kind of knowledge - acquired from a extra-terrestrial point of view, the Archimedean point – imposes itself on nature an human life, shading the differences between human and artificial
Biomimetic emulators of high potential peroxygenases: Implications in bioremediation and metabolic studies
Full text linkNowadays, classical (bio)remediation processes are affected by some economical and environmental drawbacks. These approaches often seem to be inadequate, particularly in the perspective of sustainable green processes. Since immobilized metalloporphines can emulate the active site of peroxidases and peroxygenases, their use in several bioremediation processes has been analyzed in this work. The described catalytic reactions use bioinspired, homogenized or heterogenized, commercial porphines and showed a remarkable ability to catalyze substrates oxidation at the expenses of different oxidants such as Oxone and hydrogen peroxide.
The biomimetic catalysts have been also investigated about their peroxidase- and peroxygenase-like catalysis and ability to emulate lignolytic peroxidases action and substrate specificity. The adducts showed a remarkable ability to catalyze veratryl alcohol (widely recognized as a simple model compound of lignin) oxidation at the expenses of H2O2.
In the perspective of broadening industrial applications of the described catalysts, the oxidation of several pollutants such as durable textile dyes and inorganic sulfides, has been attempted with quite promising results, and some findings open the way toward industrial scaling-up. Accordingly, the inexpensiveness of the synthesis and the mild operational conditions allow these adducts to be proposed as applicable catalysts also for industrial large-scale processes. Besides, these synthetic models are helpful also to understand the behavior of pharmaceuticals, antifungal drugs in this case, in the environment, and to predict the drug metabolism by cytochromes P450. The biomimetic catalysts, for the studied cases, also proved to be much more efficient than the corresponding enzymes