2,688 research outputs found
Staley, Roberta
No full textcurrentAcademic Biography
BA (University of Calgary)
Diploma Journalism (Grant MacEwan)
MA Liberal Studies (Simon Fraser University)
Roberta Staley is an author, a magazine editor and writer, and a documentary filmmaker who has reported from such places as Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, El Salvador, Haiti, Colombia, Cambodia, South Africa, Israel, and New Zealand. She currently edits Enterprise magazine, and is a contributor to BC Business, the South China Morning Post Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Trek, the Canadian Chemical News, Corporate Knights, and Sculpture, among others. She is also a columnist for Just for Canadian Doctors/Dentists magazines. Roberta has published her first book, titled Voice of rebellion : how Mozhdah Jamalzadah brought hope to Afghanistan. It is a biography of Afghan-Canadian human rights activist Mozhdah Jamalzadah
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Roberta Martinez, age 17. Queen contestant from Lorain forum, Ohio (photograph)
No full textRoberta Martinez, age 17. Queen contestant from Lorain forum, Ohio
Postface. Pour une esthétique hétéronome et plurielle
No full textBy discussing the essays collected in the volume, Roberta Dreon's paper focuses on the reasons that justify the very idea of a pragmatist aesthetic. This is done by considering that the association between the traditional, contemplative, disinterested, and anti-instrumental conception of aesthetic experience seems to preclude the possibility of characterizing it in practical or pragmatic terms.
The author argues that this is achieved on the one hand by a rethinking of the very notion of the "aesthetic" found in the philosophies of James and Dewey. This allows for supporting the idea that artistic practices are grounded in ordinary experience, and particularly in their aesthetic-qualitative aspects. On the other hand, the author argues that Dewey's aesthetics was convincingly pragmatist to the extent that it lucidly focused on the consequences of the autonomist conception of art and proposed a continuist, meliorist, and pluralist alternative capable of providing effective contributions to democratic and inclusive development
È possibile una teoria della razionalità? Il contributo di Hilary Putnam
No full textSecondo Putnam argomentare sulla natura della razionalità è l’attività per eccellenza dei filosofi. Sulla traccia di Putnam, l’autore esamina le principali teorie della razionalità presenti nel pensiero contemporaneo. Tali concezioni hanno il difetto di essere unilaterali, mentre la nozione di razionalità si rivela complessa, quindi una teoria della razionalità è possibile, benché non possa essere definitiva. In seguito l’autore cerca di individuare le caratteristiche fondamentali che competono alla razionalità, in opposizione tanto alla concezione positivista quanto al relativismo.According to Putnam, arguing about the nature of rationality is the typical task of philosophers. Following Putnam, in this paper the author examines the main theories of rationality to be found in contemporary thought. Whereas such views betray their own one-sidedness, the idea of rationality is very complicated. As a consequence, a theory of rationality is possible, but cannot be definitive. Furthermore, the author tries to highlight the chief features pertaining to rationality, opposing positivsm as well as relativism
First person - Roberta Besio
No full textFirst Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM), helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Roberta Besio is first author on 'Cellular stress due to impairment of collagen prolyl hydroxylation complex is rescued by the chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate', published in DMM. Roberta is a postdoc in the lab of Antonella Fortino at University of Pavia, Italy, investigating collagen and genetic diseases of the connective tissue
Ziegler-Natta (ZN) catalysts for isotactic polypropylene (iPP): a glimpse inside the black box
No full textClassical ZN catalysts still have the monopoly of industrial iPP production. With their complex formulation, including an ‘activated’ MgCl2 support, a Ti precursor, an Al-alkyl activator, and in most cases a properly chosen pair of electron donor modifiers, these systems are rightfully considered, in many respects, ‘black box’ ones, and so far no true cases of active surface design have been reported. On the other hand, it is indeed possible to tailor application based on trial-and-error, primarily by means of a smart selection of the electron donors, recently also under the guidance of ‘black-box’ QSAR models. In the latter respect, a collaboration between SABIC and this laboratory, making intensive use of High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) screening methods, gave important results, including the identification of electron donors with improved performance. In parallel with the ‘black-box’ QSAR, a fundamental study of the catalysts is also in progress; moving from the HTE database, added with statistical analyses of 13C NMR polymer microstructure, quenched-flow kinetic experiments, and periodic and cluster DFT calculations, quantitative hypotheses on the interactions between the various catalyst system components and the local structure of the active surfaces are being formulated, and it happens more and more that partial views of what hides in the ‘black-box’ are obtained. In this presentation, we will describe what we saw, along with the actions that, in our opinion, are necessary to fully remove the cover and highlight the box
Family altruism and incentives
No full textThe author builds on the altruistic model of the family, to explore the strategic interaction between altruistic parents, and selfish children, when children's efforts are endogenous. If there is uncertainty about the amount of income the children will realize, and if parents have imperfect information, the children have an incentive to exert little effort, and to rely on their parent's altruistically motivated transfers. Because of this, parents face a tradeoff between the insurance that bequests implicitly provide their children, and the disincentive to work prompted by their altruism. The author shows that if parents can credibly commit to a pattern of transfers, they will choose not to compensate children in bad outcomes, as much as predicted by the standard (no uncertainty, no asymmetric information) dynastic model of the family. Alternatively, parents may choose to forgo any insurance, and offer a fixed level of bequest, to elicit greater effort from their children. The optimal transfers structure that the author derives, reconciles the predictions of the altruistic family model, with much of the existing evidence on inter-generational transfers, which suggests that parents compensate only partially, or not at all, for earnings differentials among their children. Moreover, the author shows that Ricardian equivalence holds in this setup, except when non-negativity constraints are binding.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Educational Sciences,Safety Nets and Transfers
Neurotensin as Modulator of Glutamatergic Signalling: Relevance in Neurodegenerative Diseases
No full textRationale: Neurotensin (NT) is a tridecapeptide widely distributed in mammalian brain, where acts as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator of classical neurotransmitters, mainly through the activation of its receptor NTS1. Several in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated the existence of close interactions between NT and dopamine (DA) systems both in limbic and striatal brain regions (Nemeroff CB., 1985; Binder EB., 2001; Caceda R., 2006). Because of the involvement of an over-activation of DA system in the development of neurological disorders such as schizophrenia, psychosis and dyskinesia, a strong attention was given to the study of complex interactions between NTS1 and D2 dopamine receptor, highlighting the existence of receptor-receptor interaction, potential target for developing new anti-schizophrenic drugs (Ferraro L., 2007). In addition, neurochemical and biochemical data indicate that NT plays a crucial role in regulating glutamatergic transmission, probably inducing an amplification of NMDA receptor signalling, even at threshold concentrations (lOnM) (Antonelli T., 2004).
Results I: The neuromodulatory function of NT on glutamatergic signalling was studied in an in vitro model of primary cortical cultures, highlighting a dose-dependent effect (NT 0.1-300 nM) on glutamate release. In addition, NT show the ability to amplify the NMDA-induced (lOOnM) increase of glutamate release. The use of the NTS1 receptor antagonists, SR48692 (lOOnM) and the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 (l[iM), in combination with an effective concentration of NT, made possible to hypothesize that the mechanism involved could be an NTSl/NMDA receptor-receptor interaction (Antonelli T., 2004; Ferraro L., 2008) both at striatal and cortical level. It has been postulated that the accumulation of extracellular glutamate level and the consequent excessive activation of NMDA receptors (excitotoxic mechanism) contributes to neuronal death associated with chronic and acute neurodegenerative diseases (Olney JW., 1978). Since the data obtained to date suggest a NT-mediated strengthening on several glutamatergic functions in the central nervous system, our work was intended to deepen its possible involvement in glutamate-induced neurodegenerative mechanisms. The in vitro model of cerebral ischemia obtained by oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) showed a significant increase in extracellular levels of glutamate. In addition, significant alterations of biochemical and morphological parameters measured were observed. Increase the release of LDH, reduction of mitochondrial oxidative capacity (MTT levels), increased activity of caspase-3, increased number of apoptotic (fragmented) nuclei, increasead level of AN(+)/PI(-) immunoreactive cells and MAP-2 dendritic aggregations was measured 24 hours after the ischemic insult. The addition of NT (lOOnM) to the culture medium showed a significant increase in the OGD-induced changes, while cells pre-exposure to the NTS1 antagonist SR48692 (lOOnM) blocked the effect of both the neuropeptide and OGD exposure, alone or in combination. The results obtained with this in vitro model of cerebral ischemia, stress the involvement of NT activity in the eziopathogenesis of an acute neurodegenerative disease (Antonelli T., 2008).
Results II: At basal ganglia level, NT induces an amplification of glutamate release, probably through a NTS1/D2 antagonistic interaction. This phenomenon could contribute to the degeneration of dopaminergic nigro-striatal neurons by the means of an excitotoxic mechanism, pathogenetic feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). In this contex, experiments were conducted with the in vivo microdialysis technique at striatal and cortical level, anatomical areas notoriously involved in PD. The results obtained again showed that a, potential, NTS1/NMDA receptor-receptor interaction induces a glutamatergic signalling amplification. The observed increase in glutamate extracellular levels induced by treatment with NMDA (100 and 500 uM) and NT (lO nM), showed once again to be partially blocked by treatment with NT antagonist SR48692 (Ferraro L., 2008). Given the potential neuroprotective role played SR48692, successive studies in an vivo model of PD achieved through unilateral lesion of the nigro-striatalpathway with the neurotoxin 6-idroxydopamine (6-OHDA) were done. Three experimental groups were tested for the turning rotation behaviour and by a challenge with NMDA lOOuM: lesioned rats, rats exposed only to vehicle and lesioned rats treated with the neurotensinergic antagonist. The animals exposed to SR48692 have shown a significant recovery for both the parameter of turning behaviour and responsiveness to pharmacological challenge with NMDA (Ferraro L., 2008). The results obtained can lead to the hypothesis that the use of selective NTS1 receptor antagonists, in combination with conventional drug treatments, could provide a new terapeutic approach for chronic and acute neurodegenerative diseases treatment, such as cerebral ischemia and Parkinson's disease
Correction to : A Framework for Understanding the Empowerment Effects of Telecentres on Rural Communitiesin Developing Countries Sellina Khumbo Kapondera, Roberta Bernardi, and Niki Panteli Correction to: Chapter “A Framework for Understanding the Empowerment Effects of Telecentres on Rural Communities in Developing Countries” in: P. Nielsen and H. C. Kimaro (Eds.): Information and Communication Technologies for Development, IFIP AICT 551, (10.1007/978-3-030-18400-1_9))
No full textIn the originally published version of this chapter, the name of the second author Roberta Bernardi was incorrect. The name of the author has been corrected
A imagem de Alessandro Baricco no Brasil
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos da Tradução, Florianópolis, 2013.Com a intenção de delinear o modo pelo qual o escritor italiano Alessandro Baricco se inseriu no sistema literário brasileiro e os caminhos percorridos pelos seus livros traduzidos, esta dissertação dá voz às experiências tradutórias de seus tradutores. A inserção de Bariccono Brasil tem seu início em 1997, através de uma proposição da Profa. Dra. Roberta Barni à editora Iluminuras da tradução de Oceano Mare. A partir daí, outras sete obras foram publicadas no Brasil, sendo três delas traduzidas por Roberta Barni e as outras quatro por quatro tradutores diferentes. De um lado, considera-se o tradutor como figura principal namediação entre culturas, e, de outro, se analisa a realidade desta figuradentro do sistema literário, sua invisibilidade, seus limites e o exercíciode sua profissão. A pesquisa conta, ainda, com críticas e resenhas referentes ao autor italiano publicadas em jornais consagrados no Brasil, considerando estas como parte constituinte da imagem de Baricco refletida em território nacional. Abstract : Intending to delineate the way the Italian writer Alessandro Baricco has been inserted in the Brazilian literary system and the paths his translated books have followed, this thesis gives voice to the translating experiences of his translators. Baricco's insertion in Brazil began in 1997, through a personal project of Dr. Roberta Barni, with her translation of Oceano Mare. Since then, seven other of his works have been published in Brazil, three of which were translated by Roberta Barni and the other four by four different translators. On the one hand,the translator is considered as the main figure in mediation betweencultures and, on the other, this figure's reality is analyzed within theliterary system: its invisibility, its limits and its professional practice. Criticisms and reviews of this Italian author published in well established Brazilian newspapers are also considered, with the understanding that they are part of Baricco's image reflected here
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