1,156 research outputs found
Introduction a "Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature"
No full textThe article aims at introducing the volume "Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature", edited By Ada Barbaro. The volume aims to provide lenses that examine, from various angles, a country, Iraq, in the aftermath of the quintessential trauma of its contemporary history, namely, 2003.The volume is thus a collection of "narratives", of
narrative acts that render the relationship between reality and its discourse almost oxymoronic. The present work, born in the wake of the conference «Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature», is therefore published as an outcome of the scientific project "Forms, Languages, and [Con]texts of Tàrìkh: Writing and Rewriting History in Iraq", of which the author of these pages is the Principal Investigator
Daniele Barbaro and the Foundation of the Botanical Garden for the University of Padua
No full textWhen in the Renaissance the Venetian authorities decided to establish the Botanical Garden at the University of Padua in order to carry out experimental studies directly on plants, they entrusted Daniele Barbaro with the role of administrative supervisor. This essay, by comparing the Garden as built with documentary information and historical records, advances the hypothesis of a role not exclusively focused on economic aspects but also on considerations of design. Although information is scarce, the author reasonably speculates that Daniele Barbaro, probably assisted by other scholars and botanical experts, may have conceived the Hortus Sphaericus of Padua, an original design that was never completed
The very short story in the time of revolution. al-Mihmāz (the Spur) and the Syrian author Zakariyā Tāmir
No full textThe mass protests swept through the Middle East in early 2011 underlined the role of modern information-communication technologies (ICT). From a literary point of view, the “Arab Spring” inevitably marked the birth of a new model of writing, characterised by a more participatory, global and immediate manner of expression that could be defined as Humanism 2.0. In this context, we may insert the experimental writing by the famous Syrian author Zakariyā Tāmir: on the al-Mihmāz (The Spur) Facebook page the writer begins a literary journey publishing daily posts and explicitly supporting the Syrian revolution. This contribution intends to analyse a few of Tāmir’s most significant posts published on Facebook. The time span is 2012, just one year after the Syrian revolution: thanks to aphorisms, posts and short stories, a new literary pact with potential readers is inaugurated, within a phenomenon that we can call al-adab al-raqmī (digital literature
Implantable recording/stimulating neural interface for peripheral nervous system
No full textIn recent years many researchers have focused their attention on the development and on the
clinical experimentation of neural prosthesis [1] for hand amputees. Recent achievements in this
field have made this challenge easier with the introduction of innovative biocompatible materials
and the production of smart, light, artificial limbs characterized by lots of freedom degrees [2].
Despite such improvements, the communication between an implanted electrode and a prosthetic
limb is still an open issue, due to long cables and cumbersome electronic equipments that typically
separate them. In this contest it is very important the miniaturization of the electronic used to
acquire the neural signals from efferent fibers of the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) and to
elicitate the afferent axons in order to restore the sensory feedback. Due to the weak amplitude of
neural signals, this kind of design is particularly critical. Indeed neural signals are drowned in a
noisy environment characterized by other biological electrical sources such as Electromyographic
(EMG) interferences which have amplitudes many orders of magnitude greater than that of the
neural signal and a bandwidth very close to them. Our group proposes an approach based on sigma
delta converters that reduces the complexity in the analog (implanted) part and shifts the critical
points on the digital side.
A novel bidirectional interface for implantable PNS electrodes has been conceived, designed and is
currently in the manufacturing phase after tape-out. In Fig.1 is depicted the system which is
composed of two main blocks: the analog implantable CMOS circuit and the digital system
controller, implemented on a FPGA. The recording unit (CMOS chip) contains a band-pass filter, a
sigma-delta modulator and a current-output stimulator. The decimation module of the sigma/delta
converter is located on an external digital device (implemented on a FPGA) which implements also
a highly selective filter to separate the neural signal (800 Hz – 8kHz) from electromyographic
interferences (100 Hz – 500 Hz). Such architecture was chosen to put in the implantable chip only
the most critical analog modules while, at the same time, having a robust digital communication
interface with the outside world. In this way, the digital communication protocol is more simple to
implement and more robust to interferences and the implantable chip does not contain power
hungry, sophisticated digital modules.
The implantable device was designed on an austriamicrosystems 0.35um process. The chip layout is
shown in Fig. 2. The chip contains 8 parallel readout channels and has a 4.1mm x 4.1mm die size.
Several parameters (amplifier gain, opamp bandwidths, etc.) are programmable. Power
consumption ranges from 20mW to 27.2mW depending on the operating mode. Each channel has
an overall precision (taking into consideration noise and errors of all the blocks in the acquisition
chain) of 10.4 bit. Fig. 3 shows the post-layout simulation results (including transient noise) for an
input trace obtained from real measurements of an electrode implanted in a rat sciatic nerve. The
original signal is largely affected by low-frequency noise (ECG and EMG) which is completely
removed by the system. The simulation includes the off-chip decimation module
Intravenous IgG: Biological modulating molecules
No full textIntravenous IgG has been adopted as treatment for various immune-related diseases, including immune thrombocytopenic purpura, autoimmune neuropathies, systemic lupus erythematosus, Guillain-Barré syndrome, myasthenia gravis, Kawasaki disease, skin blistering diseases. The intravenous administration of exogenously pooled human immunoglobulin was originally licensed as antibody replacement therapy in patients with primary immunodeficiencies, but in the last thirty years, despite a current lack of institutional approval, off-label IVIgG treatment of a consistent number of disorders has shown to be a useful approach with good clinical results. The mechanism of action of IVIgG is complex and is not fully understood. The current understanding and development in the immune modulant action of IVIgG has three basic mechanisms: 1) F(ab')2 mediated actions; 2) interaction of IgGFc molecule with Fe receptors (FcγR); 3) actions mediated by complement fractions binding within the Fc molecular structure. The mode of action of IVIgG involves expression and function of Fc receptors, idiotype network, complement and cytokine network, T and B cell differentiation, modulation of antigen-presenting cells (APC). The therapeutic action of IVIgG is also related to natural antibodies in maintaining immune homeostasis. In addition, IVIgG interaction through V regions with complementary V regions of antibodies may provide a rational basis for selection of various immune repertoires. Since there is a significant gap between the institutional approval and the use of IVIgG in various clinical conditions, for which there is no adequate testing or for which a small number of records does not allow a rigorous statistical approach, several public and private institutions (mostly insurance companies) and research centres have developed guidelines for evaluating a rational and deontological approach in various pathological situations where IVIgG is used. Mathematical models based on non-linear differential equations may represent another potentially useful system to better understand an IVIgG targeted use in individual subjects. Copyright © by Biolife
Iraq after 2003: when trauma becomes art. Myth, history, and literature
No full textThe volume aims to provide lenses that examine, from various angles, a country, Iraq, in the aftermath of the quintessential trauma of its contemporary history, namely, 2003.The volume is thus a collection of "narratives", of
narrative acts that render the relationship between reality and its discourse almost oxymoronic. The present work, born in the wake of the conference «Iraq After 2003: When Trauma Becomes Art. Myth, History, and Literature», is therefore published as an outcome of the scientific project "Forms, Languages, and [Con]texts of Tàrìkh: Writing and Rewriting History in Iraq", of which the author of these pages is the Principal Investigator
al-Qārūrah (La bottiglia, 2004) dello scrittore saudita Yūsuf al-Muḥaymīd. Quale “genere” di lettura?
No full textal-Qārūrah (The Bottle, 2004) is one of the best-known novels written by the Saudi author Yūsuf al-Muḥaymīd (1964). Set in the timeline of the Gulf War (1990-91), the novel mainly reconstructs the life of Munīrah al-Sāhī, the female protagonist. Symbol of the general climate of violence towards women in her country, she decides to record women’s stories on pieces of paper that she places in the bottle given to her by her grandmother. Feminism, struggles for women empowerment and historical critique are – as one would expect – the central aspects of this novel. This article will try to introduce a different key reading, by assuming that the originality of the work probably lies in its unusual act of re-writing History. The single pieces of paper are single stories able to re-construct the collective History. So Munīrah becomes a particular ḥakawātiyyah, collecting stories in order to offer an historical narration
In nome del pane e della liberta’: Tawfīq Yūsuf ‘Awwād e il suo al-Raġīf
No full textWorld War I has often been the privileged setting for the artistic experience of many intellectuals, who tried to give their personal response to such an event that influenced the future of their society. Arab writers also offered a glimpse into an historical event whose effects were felt well beyond the confines of the “Western World”. The experience of Lebanese writer Tawfīq Yūsuf ‘Awwād (1911-1989) flourishes in this literary milieu. In his book al-Raġīf (The Loaf, 1939), ‘Awwād describes the Arab revolt against the Ottomans during World War I: this novel was soon recognized as a landmark in the literary expression of Arab nationalism. al-Raġīf becomes the symbol of the impoverished inhabitants of a village subjected to a feudal authority: the author uses the powerful image of bread, symbol par excellence of life, to describe the daily struggle of the individual against every form of authoritarianis
Perdition and getting lost in a lost short story by Ghassān Kanafānī: When hostile space (al-makān al-muʿādī) takes over narrative space
No full textThe literary space assumes essential semantic importance: from Bakhtin’s structuralist
analysis to the reading of space as in the concept of the “production of space” theorized
by Henri Lefebvre, the issue of spatiality has unquestionably gained importance in literary
studies. When the Jordanian writer Ghālib Halasā translated Gaston Bachelard’s
La Poétique de l’espace (1957) as Jamāliyyāt al-makān (1984), he observes the French
author does not address the hostile space (al-makān al-muʿādī). Halasā admits how
this subject has enriched the issue of spatiality with significant data. Building upon
these premises, the present contribution aims to offer an interpretation of this hostile
spatiality within a story by the Palestinian writer Ghassān Kanafānī. “ʿUlbat zujāj
wāḥidah” (Just a glass box)—included in the collection ʿĀlam laysa la-nā (A World Not
Our Own, 1963)—is the forgotten short story to which this article intends to devote
itself. Within this narrative space, two different forms of spatiality take shape—outside
and inside the titular glass box—both characterized by that hostile, unfamiliar trait to
which reference has been made thus far, and which we will try to investigate to expose
its distinctive features through the actors who act in this space
Le Confabulationes di Poggio e il «palcoscenico» della Curia
No full textIl saggio prende in esame la struttura e l’organizzazione retorica del Liber facetiarum di Poggio Bracciolini, avanzando alcune ipotesi sul progetto narrativo dell’autore alla luce delle modifiche apportate nelle diverse fasi redazionali del libro. L’accento viene posto sulla costruzione di una cornice dialogica, che coordina le singole pièce narrative e riconduce l’atto del narrare alle conversazioni del circolo umanistico della Curia pontificia. Da un lato, Poggio recupera il modello della «lieta brigata» del Decameron, adattandolo al nuovo contesto della "confabulatio" umanistica; dall’altro, approfondisce la dimensione comica e scenica dello scambio verbale, istituendo uno stretto rapporto fra modalità di recitazione e contenuto dei microtesti. In quest’ottica, le Confabulationes – così l’autore definisce il proprio libro – si incaricano di riprodurre e codificare la nuova prassi della convivialità cortigiana, aprendo la strada alle successive riflessioni teoriche di Pontano e di Castiglione.The article reviews the structure as well as the rhetorical organization of Poggio Bracciolini’s Liber facetiarum. Furthermore, it suggests some hypothesis on the author’s narrative project by examining the amendments to the book occurred over the different editing stages. The article focuses on the dialogical setting, which coordinates the narrative pieces and brings the act of narration back to the conversations held within the humanistic circle of the papal Curia. Poggio chooses the pattern of Decameron «lieta brigata» and adapts it to the new context of the humanistic "confabulatio"; he also emphasizes the comic and the theatrical aspects of verbal interaction and creates a close relationship between the way of acting and the content of microtexts. In this way, the Confabulationes – according to the title chosen by the author for his book – represent and encode the new practice of the courtesan conversation, which will lead to the theoretical treatises of Pontano and Castiglione
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