322 research outputs found
Cu-phthalocyanine long-range ordered bulk growth due to the weak interaction with highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrate
No full textRicordo di Alessandro Ballio
No full textIl testo tratta dell’ultimo lavoro intrapreso da Sandro Ballio prima di morire, dedicato all’immagine della Fenice, l’«impresa» (cioè un’immagine che indica anche un valore e uno scopo) divenuta simbolo dell’Accademia: lavoro concluso e portato alla pubblicazione da Tiziana Pesenti, che da tempo era impegnata su questo progetto, e ha terminato la stesura del testo nelle settimane seguite alla scomparsa di Ballio. Si ricorda poi ll’attività del prof. Ballio nel campo della storia della scienz
The gendered nature of academic institutions: a gender-analysis of Italian Universities
No full textThe academic fields are highly gendered, with men being overrepresented in the highest academic positions, while women tend to occupy the lower and more precarious positions, which indicates the existence of an academic ‘glass ceiling’. Most Italian academic institutions have policies on gender equality and/or diversity, but a common problem is a lack of transparency and gender-disaggregated data. Information such as sex-disaggregated data is essential to carry out gender- equality analysis and to analyse important decision-making processes from a gender perspective. In this paper, we assess the gendered nature of Italian universities by investigating the structure of academic positions by gender at both public and private universities from 2011 to 2017, with the help of gender-disaggregated statistics. Furthermore, we also analyse the gender segregation patterns in the data by geographical area. We document the persistence of a gender gap in a typical Italian academic career. Indeed, the empirical investigation finds that in 2017, while the proportion of women academic staff was 40.2%, women made up only 37.5% of associate professors and 23% of full professors. The results indicate that gender segregation in Italian universities has been reduced over time but is far from eliminated. Despite positive changes achieved in recent years, the study reveals a prevailing vertical segregation in Italian universities, i.e., a significant under- representation of women in the higher ranks of academia
Il rifiuto di Vito Volterra: matematica e politica. Dalla damnatio memoriae alla memoria ritrovata
No full textThe author frames Vito Volterra’s refusal of the oath of allegiance to fascism in the general context of his anti-fascist political position. Such position became public as early as 1923, with his opposition to the educational reform promoted by Giovanni Gentile, and later on as opposition to the Mussolini government in parliamentary activity and as a signatory of Benedetto Croce’s Manifesto in 1925. Fascism reacted by ousting Volterra from its positions in the world of culture (presidency of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, and presidency of the National Research Council) and by making him invisible to public opinion. In a few years, Volterra was obscured outside the scientific community, and even within it the very important role he had played as a science stateman was forgotten. Only after decades has the historical significance of his personality been fully rediscovered
Group, basic assumptions and complexity science
No full textThis article represents the first complete systematization of the basic assumptions as theorized by Wilfred R. Bion and post-Bionian authors. The authors reviewed, compared and systematized all the Bionian developments concerning the basic assumptions taking the prevailing anxieties, group topology, leader peculiarities, interactions with the work-group mentality into account. The analysis evinced five main ba(s) and five subsets (i.e. their features resemble one of the five main basic assumptions). Briefly, in the first paragraph the authors summarize Bionian thought and its underlying logical criteria while in the second they reviewed all the new proposals for basic assumptions emerging from the psychoanalytic literature (i.e. Lawrence, Bain and Gould, 1996; Romano, 1997; Sandler, 2002; Sarno, 1999; Turquet, 1974; Hopper, 2009). In conclusion the authors focus on the main strengths and critical points of the systematization. In the last section ‘Promising developments’ they address the methodology of the study of basic assumptions, its main features and potential developments. The article rounds off with a clinical appendix
Vito Volterra
No full textVito Volterra (1860-1940) was one of the most famous representatives of Italian science in his day. Angelo Guerragio and Giovanni Paolini analyze Volterra’s most important contributions to mathematics and their applications, as well as his outstanding organizational achievements in scientific policy. Volterra was one of the founding fathers of functional analysis and the author of fundamental contributions in the field of integral equations, elasticity theory and population dynamics (Lotka-Volterra model). He delivered keynote lectures on the occasion of the International Congresses of Mathematicians held in Paris (1900), Rome (1908), Strasbourg (1920) and Bologna (1928). He became involved in the scientific development in united Italy and was appointed senator of the kingdom in 1905. One of his numerous non-mathematical activities was founding the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR). During the First World War he was active in military research. After the war he took a clear stand against fascism, which was the starting point for his exclusion. In 1926 he resigned as president of the world famous Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and was later on excluded from the academy. In 1931 he was one of the few university lecturers who denied to swear an oath of allegiance to the fascistic regime. In 1938 he suffered from the impact of the racial laws. The authors draw a comprehensive picture of Vito Volterra, both as a great mathematician and an organizer of science
Strong Chemical Interaction and Self-Demetalation of Zinc-Phthalocyanine on Al(100)
No full textWe investigate the early stages of the growth of zinc-phthalocyanine on Al(100) using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). Diffraction patterns show a (5 × 5) reconstruction, characteristic of flat-lying molecules forming a long-range-ordered structure with a square unit cell. The degree of ordering (i.e., the average domain size) is increased when the substrate is kept above 100 °C during the deposition. At low coverage (≤1 ML), a sizeable charge transfer from the substrate to the molecules is observed, indicating a strong interaction at the organic–inorganic interface. As a consequence of charge filling of ZnPc LUMO, a self-demetalation of the molecule occurs while the structure of the ligand remains mostly unaffected
The misleading Dodo Bird verdict. How much of the outcome variance is explained by common and specific factors?
No full textThe literature on psychotherapy research makes use of the so-called "Dodo Bird Verdict" to show that therapeutic change owes more to common factors than to specific techniques. According to the bulk of the empirical literature, common factors explain 30–70% of therapy outcome variance, while specific factors account for between 5% and 15%. This formulation is based on the assumption that common and specific factors are independent of each other. The present study uses a systematic review of the literature to empirically demonstrate that common and specific factors of change are actually correlated. In other words, the prevalent practice in the literature of using correlated common and specific factors as independent predictors in classical ANOVA models is both statistically unsound and conceptually distorted. We offer several alternative proposals for a sensible reevaluation of the Dodo Bird verdict
Proximity effects on the reactivity of a nonheme iron (IV) oxo complex in C−H oxidation
No full textPrecise control of substrate positioning and orientation (its proximity to the reactive unit) is often invoked to rationalize the superior enzymatic reaction rates and selectivities when compared to synthetic models. Artificial nonheme iron (IV) oxo (Fe(IV)=O) complexes react with C(sp3)-H bonds via a biomimetic Hydrogen Atom Transfer/Hydroxyl Rebound mechanism, but rates, site-selectivity and even hydroxyl rebound efficiency (ligand rebound versus substrate radical diffusion) are smaller than in oxygenases. Herein, we quantitatively analyze how substrate binding modulates nonheme Fe(IV)=O reactivity by comparing rates and outcomes of C-H oxidation by a pair of Fe(IV)=O complexes that share the same first coordination sphere but only one contains a crown ether receptor that recognizes the substrate. Substrate binding makes the reaction intramolecular, exhibiting Michaelis-Menten kinetics and increased reaction rates. In addition, C-H oxidation occurs with high site selectivity for remote sites. Analysis of Effective Molarity reveals that the system operates at its maximal theoretical capability for the oxidation of these remote sites. Remarkably, substrate positioning also affects Hydroxyl Rebound, whose efficiency only increases on the sites placed in proximity by recognition. Overall, these observations provide evidence that supramolecular control of substrate positioning can effectively modulate the reactivity of oxygenases and its models.We report evidence that supramolecular substrate binding increases several aspects of iron (IV) oxo (Fe(IV)=O) reactivity not only in nonheme oxygenases but also in synthetic models. Recognition-induced proximity of certain substrate C-H bonds increases both rate and selectivity for their C-H abstraction, analyzed by Effective Molarity, and increases the efficiency of subsequent Oxygen Rebound, as exclusively observed in enzymes.+ imag
Characterisation of the Nonlinear Coefficients of AlGaN/GaN Crystalline Thin Films Via SHG Measurements
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