59 research outputs found
Monitoraggio e analisi di segnali ORP, pH, DO finalizzato al controllo del processo di predenitrificazione eseguito su impianto pilota a F.A.
No full textIl lavoro sperimentale condotto nell’ambito della presente tesi è stato svolto su un impianto pilota a flusso continuo con schema predenitro/nitro in scala di laboratorio, alimentato con refluo sintetico ed installato presso i laboratori della Sezione ACS PROT IDR - Gestione Risorse Idriche dell’ENEA (sede di Bologna).
Le finalità della sperimentazione erano mirate ad una verifica preliminare sull’utilizzo di segnali indiretti, quali pH, ORP, DO, nel monitoraggio in tempo reale dei processi biologici, mirata alla possibilità di implementare un sistema di controllo automatico di un impianto di depurazione, capace di minimizzare i costi di gestione e in grado di garantire, in ogni caso, elevate efficienze depurative.
Nel presente studio sono stati esaminati gli aspetti metodologici e tecnologici alla base dell’automazione di un impianto di trattamento di acque reflue, avendo il duplice obiettivo di garantire una buona qualità dell’effluente e un contestuale risparmio energetico. In particolare si è studiato un problema molto diffuso: il controllo della rimozione dell’azoto in un sistema a fanghi attivi con predenitrificazione per l’ossidazione congiunta di carbonio ed azoto, ponendolo in relazione con la variazione dei tempi di commutazione in un processo SBR.
L’obiettivo primario della sperimentazione effettuata è stato quello di portare il sistema in un regime di equilibrio stazionario, in modo da poter definire delle condizioni di regime per le quali, ad un ingresso costante e noto, corrispondesse un’uscita altrettanto costante che mantenesse tali condizioni fino a quando non fosse cambiato l’ingresso e/o le condizioni al contorno. A questo scopo si è provveduto, in primo luogo, allo studio di un influente sintetico con cui alimentare l’impianto, di composizione tale da simulare in tutte le sue caratteristiche un refluo civile reale e, successivamente, alla valutazione di una configurazione impiantistica idonea per il raggiungimento dell’equilibrio dei processi.
La prima parte della sperimentazione è stata dedicata all’avviamento dell’impianto, effettuando un monitoraggio continuo dell’intero sistema allo scopo di impostare i parametri operativi e in modo da ottenere condizioni stabili per effettuare le successive sperimentazioni
Microarray gene expression profiling of neural tissues in bovine spastic paresis
No full textBovine Spastic Paresis (BSP) is a neuromuscular disorder which affects both male and female cattle. BSP is characterized by spastic contraction and overextension of the gastrocnemious muscle of one or both limbs and is associated with a scarce increase in body weight. This disease seems to be caused by an autosomal and recessive gene, with incomplete penetration, although no genes clearly involved with its onset have been so far identified. We employed cDNA microarrays to identify metabolic pathways affected by BSP in Romagnola cattle breed. Investigation of those pathways at the genome level can help to understand this disease
Orthopedic implant-infections. Incompetence of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus lugdunensis and Enterococcus faecalis to invade osteoblasts.
No full textSeptic failure is still the major complication of prosthetic implants. Entering host cells, bacteria hide from host immune defenses, shelter from extracellular antibiotics, and cause chronic infection. Staphylococcus aureus, the leading etiologic agent of orthopedic implant-infections, is able to enter bone cells and induce osteoblast apoptosis, osteoclast recruitment, and highly destructive osteomyelitis. Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus lugdunensis and Enterococcus faecalis are opportunistic pathogens causative of implant-related infections. This study investigated the ability to internalize into osteoblastic MG63 cells of 22 S. epidermidis, 9 S. lugdunensis and 21 E. faecalis clinical isolates from orthopedic implant-infections. Isolates were categorized in clusters by ribotyping. Internalization assay was carried out by means of a microtiter plate-based method. S. epidermidis, S. lugdunensis and E. faecalis strains turned out incompetent to enter osteoblasts, exhibiting negligible internalization into MG63 cells, nearly three orders of magnitude lower than that of S. aureus. Osteoblast invasion does not appear as a pathogenetic mechanism utilized by S. epidermidis, S. lugdunensis or E. faecalis for infecting orthopedic implants. Moreover, it can be inferred that intracellularly active antimicrobials should not be necessary against implant-infections caused by the three bacterial species. Finally, implications with the uptake of biomaterial microparticles by non-phagocytic cells are enlightened. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserve
The undoing project
No full textIn his most recent book, entitled The Undoing Project, the American author Michael Lewis unfolds the story of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the two Israeli psychologists who laid the foundations for behavioural science. But this is not quite the story you might have read elsewhere
More e l’utopia politica moderna. Oltre la contingenza
No full textThis new reading of Thomas More’s Utopia focuses on the dialogue as literary genre disclosing several aspects that illustrate the close relation between the original design of the utopian political system and the contemporary English political arrangement. The author also examines the reasons for the lasting interest of this work in the centuries. Still today political utopia results useful and even necessary to good politicians who in their practice never forget their ideal goals
MOOCs e biblioteche accademiche: tra possibilità di “esserci” e criticità
No full textMassive open online courses(MOOCs) are online courses free and open to anyone: the MOOCs enrollement is essentially unlimited.Purpose of this essay is to offer an overview on the debate about the development of the MOOCs and about their impact on academic libraries information services.In the first part MOOCs are examined as an emerging educational tool and a very "disruptive" innovation in the field of the higher education.The development of MOOCs platforms as Coursera, EdX and Udacity in 2012 starts an enthusiastic phase (the so-called "peak of inflated expectations" in the Hype cycle model), followed by a wide debate in the educational / academic milieu.We consider the strengths and the critical points of MOOCs.In the second part the author focuses the attention on the interaction between the MOOCs and the academic libraries. The following issues are taken into account: the involvement / the roles of the librarians in the implementation of the MOOCs; the copyright management in the MOOCs environment; the information literacy; the library advocacy; the impact of the MOOCs on information services provided by academic libraries.I MOOCs (Massive open online courses) sono corsi online di carattere accademico aperti a tutti e senza limiti di iscrizione.Obiettivo di questo contributo è delineare il dibattito sullo sviluppo dei MOOCs e sul loro impatto sui servizi informativi delle biblioteche accademiche.Nella prima parte dell'articolo vengono descritti i MOOC come fenomeno didattico emergente nell'ambito dell'educazione superiore e accademica.Lo sviluppo di piattaforme come Coursera, EdX e Udacity nel 2012 apre una fase entusiastica (il cosiddetto "picco di aspettativa", nel Ciclo di Hype), accompagnata da un ampio dibattito nell'ambiente educativo e accademico. Nell'articolo si analizzano punti di forza e criticità dei MOOCs.Nella seconda parte parte dell'articolo si focalizza l'attenzione sulle possibili interazioni tra MOOCs e biblioteche accademiche, concentrandosi sui temi seguenti: coinvolgimento e ruolo dei bibliotecari nell'implementazione dei MOOCs; gestione del copyright all'interno dei materiali didattici che costituiscono un corso; information literacy; advocacy della biblioteca; impatto dei MOOCs nei servizi informativi forniti dalle biblioteche accademiche
Scienza, Tecnica, Politica: Il Problema del Metodo nel Pensiero di Jacopo Aconcio
No full textThe aim of this PhD thesis is to study accurately and in depth the figure and the literary production of the intellectual Jacopo Aconcio.
This minor author of the 16th century has long been considered a sort of “enigmatic character”, a profile which results from the work of those who, for many centuries, have left his writing to its fate: a story of constant re-readings and equally incessant oversights.
This is why it is necessary to re-read Aconcio’s production in its entirety and to devote to it a monographic study. Previous scholars’ interpretations will obviously be considered, but at the same time an effort will be made to go beyond them through the analysis of both published and manuscript sources, in the attempt to attain a deeper understanding of the figure of this man, who was a Christian, a military and hydraulic engineer and a political philosopher,.
The title of the thesis was chosen to emphasise how, throughout the three years of the doctorate, my research concentrated in equal measure and with the same degree of importance on all the reflections and activities of Jacopo Aconcio. My object, in fact, was to establish how and to what extent the methodological thinking of the intellectual found application in, and at the same time guided, his theoretical and practical production. I did not mention in the title the author’s religious thinking, which has always been considered by everyone the most original and interesting element of his production, because religion, from the Reformation onwards, was primarily a political question and thus it was treated by almost all the authors involved in the Protestant movement - Aconcio in the first place.
Even the remarks concerning the private, intimate sphere of faith have therefore been analysed in this light: only by acknowledging the centrality of the “problem of politics” in Aconcio’s theories, in fact, is it possible to interpret them correctly. This approach proves the truth of the theoretical premise to my research, that is to say the unity and orderliness of the author’s thought: in every field of knowledge, Aconcio applies the rules of the methodus resolutiva, as a means to achieve knowledge and elaborate models of pacific cohabitation in society.
Aconcio’s continuous references to method can make his writing pedant and rather complex, but at the same time they allow for a consistent and valid analysis of different disciplines. I have not considered the fact that most of his reflections appear to our eyes as strongly conditioned by the time in which he lived as a limit. To see in him, as some have done, the forerunner of Descartes’ methodological discourse or, conversely, to judge his religious theories as not very modern, is to force the thought of an author who was first and foremost a Christian man of his own time. Aconcio repeats this himself several times in his writings: he wants to provide individuals with the necessary tools to reach a full-fledged scientific knowledge in the various fields, and also to enable them to seek truth incessantly in the religious domain, which is the duty of every human being.
The will to find rules, instruments, effective solutions characterizes the whole of the author’s corpus: Aconcio feels he must look for truth in all the arts, aware as he is that anything can become science as long as it is analysed with method. Nevertheless, he remains a man of his own time, a Christian convinced of the existence of God, creator and governor of the world, to whom people must account for their own actions. To neglect this fact in order to construct a “character”, a generic forerunner, but not participant, of whatever philosophical current, is a dangerous and sidetracking operation.
In this study, I have highlighted how Aconcio’s arguments only reveal their full meaning when read in the context in which they were born, without depriving them of their originality but also without charging them with meanings they do not possess. Through a historical-doctrinal approach, I have tried to analyse the complex web of theories and events which constitute the substratum of Aconcio’s reflection, in order to trace the correct relations between texts and contexts.
The thesis is therefore organised in six chapters, dedicated respectively to Aconcio’s biography, to the methodological question, to the author’s engineering activity, to his historical knowledge and to his religious thinking, followed by a last section concerning his fortune throughout the centuries.
The above-mentioned complexity is determined by the special historical moment in which the author lived. On the one hand, thanks to the new union between science and technique, the 16th century produces discoveries and inventions which make available a previously unthinkable number of notions and lead to a “revolution” in the way of studying and teaching the different subjects, which, by producing a new form of intellectual, involved in politics but also aware of scientific-technological issues, will contribute to the subsequent birth of modern science. On the other, the 16th century is ravaged by religious conflicts, which shatter the unity of the Christian world and generate theological-political disputes which will inform the history of European states for many decades.
My aim is to show how Aconcio’s multifarious activity is the conscious fruit of this historical and religious situation, as well as the attempt of an answer to the request of a new kind of engagement on the intellectual’s behalf. Plunged in the discussions around methodus, employed in the most important European courts, involved in the abrupt acceleration of technical-scientific activities, and especially concerned by the radical religious reformation brought on by the Protestant movement, Jacopo Aconcio reflects this complex conjunction in his writings, without lacking in order and consistency, differently from what many scholars assume.
The object of this work, therefore, is to highlight the unity of the author’s thought, in which science, technique, faith and politics are woven into a combination which, although it may appear illogical and confused, is actually tidy and methodical, and therefore in agreement with Aconcio’s own intentions and with the specific characters of European culture in the Renaissance. This theory is confirmed by the reading of the Ars muniendorum oppidorum, Aconcio’s only work which had been up till now unavailable.
I am persuaded that only a methodical reading of Aconcio’s works, without forgetting nor glorifying any single one, respects the author’s will. From De methodo (1558) onwards, all his writings are summae, guides for the reader who wishes to approach the study of the various disciplines. Undoubtedly, Satan’s Stratagems (1565) is something more, not only because of its length, but because it deals with the author’s main interest: the celebration of doubt and debate as bases on which to build religious tolerance, which is the best method for pacific cohabitation in society. This, however, does not justify the total centrality which the Stratagems have enjoyed for centuries, at the expense of a proper understanding of the author’s will to offer examples of methodological rigour in all sciences.
Maybe it is precisely because of the reforming power of Aconcio’s thought that, albeit often forgotten throughout the centuries, he has never ceased to reappear and continues to draw attention, both as a man and as an author. His ideas never stop stimulating the reader’s curiosity and this may ultimately be the best demonstration of their worth, independently from the historical moment in which they come back to the surface
Atrial tachycardia ablation through the sub‐pulmonary ventricle in a patient with multiple malformations associated with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries and double‐sided slow‐pathway
No full textKey Clinical Message A 46‐year‐old woman with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA) associated with dextrocardia, situs viscerus inversus, and left superior vena cava persistence presented with an incessant supraventricular tachycardia. Electrophysiological study was not conclusive in differential diagnosis of atrial tachycardia versus atypical atrioventricular (AV) nodal reentrant tachycardia, also due to the unconventional anatomy of the coronary sinus. By a comprehensive mapping of cardiac chambers, a double side slow‐pathway was localized in both atrial chambers and subsequently ablated by radiofrequency delivery without tachycardia changes. Aortic root and cusps were devoid of electrical activity. The muscular part of the sub‐pulmonary ventricle at the level of interatrial septum showed an earliest activation signal of −90 ms and ablation of this site was effective in abolish the tachycardia. This is the first case to report technical concerns of septal atrial tachycardia ablation in ccTGA associated with multiple anatomical malformations. Moreover, some peculiarities have been reported for the first time including the presence of double‐side AV nodal slow‐pathway and atypical localization of the tachycardia origin into the muscular part of the sub‐pulmonary ventricle instead of posterior pulmonary cusp
April-May 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic fallout over Rimini, Italy
No full textLocated at a distance of approximately 3200km from Iceland, where the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted, Italy was affected by volcanic ash transported by middle altitude air masses across Europe. Volcanic emissions from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in April 2010 were detected in Rimini (44° 2' 28" N, 12° 34' 3" E) (Italy) by means of in-situ measurements (sampling of bulk depositions). Sampling was carried out during the period April-August 2010, and the following parameters were determined: grain size, TSP, mineralogy, particle morphology and chemical content in terms of Br -, Cl -, F -, SO42-, Al, As, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Lu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sb, Sc, Se, Si, Sn, Sr, Tb, Te, Ti, Tl, U, V, Y, Zn and Zr. Information from the Hysplit-NOAA back trajectory helped to identify the origin of the air mass. The results obtained from the observations are in good agreement with similar studies carried out by other European scientists, confirming that the Eyjafjallajökull ash plume also had a surface impact in Italy. The findings of our study support observations made by researchers of the CNR-IMAA Atmospheric Observatory at the EARLINET station in Southern Italy and enlarge the geographical area known to have been affected by fallout from the April-May 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd
Analysis of Scientific Production on Pedagogy of Death in the Scopus
No full textAlthough death is a reality inherent to human life, it continues to be a taboo phenomenon that generates unease in some contexts such as education. Its limited curricular approach and the personal implications of its treatment in the classroom constitute some difficulties for greater inclusion in the different stages.Method.The aim of this study is a bibliometric analysis of the scientific output on the pedagogy of death in Scopus. The sample consisted of 139 papers to which different bibliometric techniques were applied (bibliographic coupling, co-authorship, co-citation, co-occurrence).Results.The results revealed a growing scientific production, with Testoni as the most prolific author. As potential lines of development, it is worth highlighting the implementation of training schemes for teachers to be able to educate about death, as well as educational activities (with different methodologies and resources) in order to work on reducing anxiety and fear of death.Discussion and Conclusion.The relevance of the study of scientific production is concluded to establish collaborations between researchers and develop new lines of research on Pedagogy of Death.Introducción. Aunque la muerte es una realidad inherente a la vida humana, sigue constituyendo un tema tabú y que genera desasosiego en algunos contextos como el educativo. Su escaso abordaje curricular y las implicaciones personales de su tratamiento en el aula constituyen algunas dificultades para una mayor inclusión en las diferentes etapas.
Método. Este estudio pretende analizar bibliométricamente la producción científica sobre pedagogía de la muerte en Scopus. La muestra la conforman 139 artículos a los que se aplican diferentes técnicas bibliométricas (acoplamiento bibliográfico, coautoría, co-citación, co-ocurrencia).
Resultados. Los resultados revelan una producción científica creciente, con Testoni como la autora más prolífica. Como potenciales líneas de desarrollo, subrayar la implementación de planes formativos para docentes sobre educar para la muerte, así como intervenciones didácticas (con diferentes metodologías y recursos) que permitan trabajar en reducir la ansiedad y el miedo ante la muerte.
Discusión y Conclusion: Se concluye la relevancia del estudio de la producción científica para establecer colaboraciones entre investigadores y desarrollar nuevas líneas de investigación sobre la pedagogía de la muerte
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