207 research outputs found
“La donna “Tipo Tre” nella satira fascista”, in Linguaggi della stampa satirica del ‘900, a cura di Fabio Santilli
No full textAntiprotons or pseudoprotons?
No full textThe author, an undergraduate physics student, reviews in this paper: 1) positive mass negative charge antiprotons according to 20th cen- tury particle physics; 2) positive mass negative charge pseudopro- tons according to hadronic mechanics; 3) the notion of antiprotons according to the isodual theory of antimatter; 4) a theorem recently proved by R. M. Santilli essentially implying that, under the spinorial Poincare ́ symmetry, the 20th century conjugation from particles to an- tiparticles prohibits partlcle-antiparticle annihilation into light; and 5) consequential doubts on the recent gravity test for the anti-hydrogen atom. Therefore, the author examines the possibility that antiparti- cles are actually gravitationally rejected by matter and 20th century antiprotons are in reality pseudoprotons with a consequential number of intriguing open problems in antimatter, like the astrophysical ori- gin of true antiprotons from cosmic rays, and others. We conclude by examining: the 1994 proposal for a resolutory test on the gravity of true antiparticles, such as the positrons; the possible existence of antimatter bodies in the universe which originate cosmic antiprotons; and related aspec
Prophetia ex Dictis Sibyllae Magae
No full textLa figura mitologica della Sibilla ha ispirato numerosi componimenti letterari a partire dall’epoca classica (V sec. a.C.) fino a quella contemporanea. Tra questi compare, in epoca tardoantica, un poemetto latino di incipit Mundus Origo mea est, intercettato da B. Bischoff e da lui edito nel 1951 .
Si tratta di un testo esametrico di 136 versi rappresentanti un vaticinio di natura apocalittico-escatologica. La Sibylla Maga, cui è attribuito l’oracolo, dopo essersi presentata al suo pubblico di lettori, ripercorre i momenti salienti della Creazione, annunciando la venuta di Cristo e dispensando consigli etici in attesa del Giudizio Universale.
Il presente elaborato, tenuto conto dell’ampliamento delle testimonianze manoscritte attestanti il componimento, ha come scopo quello di indagare la vicenda ecdotica del testo sibillino, producendone una edizione critica con traduzione e commento e descrivendo le dinamiche storiche della sua diffusione.
La poesia rientra a pieno titolo nel tipo specifico di letteratura ispirata alla image letteraria di Sibilla, la quale a partire da Eraclito, viene ripresa con continuità nella letteratura greca, romana, giudaico-ellenistica e cristiana. Muovendo dalla analisi comparata della raccolta degli Oracula Sibyllina, prodotti nel VI sec. d.C. da un anonimo compositore bizantino, viene proposta una lettura antropologico-letteraria e multifocale della produzione sibillina tout court. Essa è caratterizzata da un fenomeno di riscrittura per il quale un testo viene assemblato a partire da un avan-testo, cristallizzatosi come intertesto duro sibillino (imagologicamente inteso), il quale conserva, oltre alla tipica attribuzione alla profetessa Sibilla, anche l’impronta tematica politica, apocalittica, escatologica e salvifica e un assetto retorico conforme alle produzioni di enigmi e oracoli. Se ne ricava una specificità letteraria distintiva che permette una lettura a sistema di molti componimenti per lo più isolati o adespoti. Tra gli esempi degni di menzione vanno ricordati: 1)i Versus Sibylle Theodole Magne (X sec.- inedito), vero e proprio panphlet in cui la grande Sibilla, incalzata dall’arcangelo Michele, vaticina sulla venuta di Cristo, concedendosi un indugio descrittivo dell’Eden e degli episodi salienti della infanzia di Maria; 2) gli oracoli sibillini annessi alle varie edizioni (1481-1517) degli Opuscola di Filippo Barbieri, realizzati nel pieno XV sec., i quali rappresentano la pars poetica delle didascalie iconiche utili a designare i prototipi iconografici sibillini umanistici in voga fino al XIX sec.; 3) il Mundus Origo.
Ribattezzato Prophetia ex Dictis Sibyllae Magae per confronto delle occorrenze manoscritte, il poemetto entra a far parte di un più ampio compendio caratterizzante e culturalmente poliedrico, recependo la complessa strutturazione tematica e retorico-stilistica del tempo di cui è figlio. Infatti, la Prophetia per la quale l’indagine filologica sul campo ha permesso di identificare 11 codici di trasmissione, databili tra IX e XV sec., è una vera e propria summa delle letture classiche in voga nel pieno V sec. d.C., evocate anche negli aspetti fonici e stilistici come rileva l’andamento parafonico delle partes terminali di verso e spesso re-interpretate in una funzionalità teologica impegnata, tutta votata alla diffusione dei messaggi salienti della novella religio cristiana.
D’altra parte, ispirandosi alla metodologia comparata di matrice francese, viene proposto un raffronto del testo sibillino con quello più noto di Voluspà, appartenente alla raccolta norrena degli Edda. L’attinenza strutturale e le modalità con cui viene proposta la figura della Sibilla nel vaticinio hanno permesso di identificare l’analogia con il ruolo della volva di Odino: entrambe le ministre divine sono concepite come strumenti di dispensazione sapienziale e i messaggi offerti condividono la medesima struttura drammatico-dialogica nella presentazione degli argomenti. Condivisa è pure la matrice neoplatonica ravvisabile nella concezione degli spazi terrestri e nella organizzazione di quelli celesti.
D’altra parte la Sibylla del componimento latino è considerata propriamente una Maga: il sostantivo, nonostante sia presumibilmente derivato da un errore filologico di eziologia meccanica, rivela un nuovo tipo sibillino, intermediario rispetto alla profetessa classica e cristiana e alla Sibilla fata e strega dei romanzi medievali, arricchendo l'idea del magico cristiano in epoca tardoantica. La Sibylla Maga rientra tra le manifestazioni del monstrum immaginario-letterario e antropologico, secondo quanto confermato dalla esemplificativa descrizione di Gervasio di Tilbury negli Otia imperalia (legitur autem Sibilla que in Italia vaticinata est Chimera dicta propter sua vaticinia, que mutabilitate sua varias profecie producebat figuras (cap. CXXI), per la quale si recepisce il transfert phantasmatico di questa donna mitemica sui generis.
Eppure, la percezione transeunte del personaggio Sibilla nella Prophetia ex Dictis Sibyllae Magae rimane ancora conforme alla più tradizionale oracolistica cristiana, come pure è evidente dal core tematico del testo, rappresentato dall’annuncio della venuta di Cristo. Sulla scorta della ricezione cristiana della materia virgiliana e, specificamente, del valore messianico attribuito alla Ecloga IV (Carmen Cumaeum), anche la Maga tardoantica vaticina sulla venuta del Figlio di Dio in terra. Egli, per mezzo di una minuziosa costruzione retorica, viene sovente accostato alla figura classica di Saturno disceso nelle terre del Lazio a ristorare il mondo, collaudando un sistema di dialogo prolifico tra fonti pagane e cristiane nel passaggio al tardoantico. Il nome del Salvatore, appellato sempre per mezzo di perifrasi, viene rivelato solo attraverso il gioco acrostico dei versi 77-83, i quali restituiscono il nome CRISTUS, attestando una familiarità dell’anonimo autore con le più consuete scritture sibilline e con le tendenze tematiche e stilistiche dell’epoca. Infatti, l’uso acrostico accanto alla prassi metrica tecnicamente irregolare ma comunque finalizzata a una resa euritmica coerente con le norme classiche, l’uso del lessico e delle espressioni dialogicamente intervallate con soluzione di continuità hanno permesso di leggere il testo della Prophetia in maniera analogica rispetto alla produzione commodianea. Pur non potendo esprimersi in merito a una diretta attribuzione del testo, emergono chiaramente i lineamenti di una letteratura poetica teologicamente e storicamente impegnata dove, pur mancando l’attenzione politica, continua a risaltare l’impegno paideutico per la distinzione tra un comportamento cristiano ispirato alla fides Dei (v.4) e uno destinato ad essere punito con il Tartarus (v.129), nonché un certo rimaneggiamento sapiente delle fonti sia pagane sia cristiane (prioritariamente veterotestamentarie) che ne eleva lo stile e ne determina una longeva conservazione nel tempo.
Il testo non rimane emarginato nella parentesi tardoantica ma è stato recepito in versione ridotta fino almeno al XV sec. L’estratto di sei/nove versi, relativo alla venuta di Cristo in terra, viene presto associato alla produzione dei carmi pseudo-virgiliani e della Appendix, per poi emigrare nella raccolta scolastica nota con il titolo Carmina Duodecim Sapientum.
Si tratta di 12 serie di 12 carmi metrici ciascuna, con le quali la Prophetia ex Dictis Sibyllae Magae rimane affiancata fino alla più tarda epoca umanistica e, proprio in virtù di tale associazione letteraria, il componimento verrà trascritto anche nel noto codice autografo di Boccaccio Plut. 33.31, oggi presso la Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.The mythological figure of the Sybil has inspired many literary works since the Classical Antiquity (5th century BC) up until now. One of these works is incipit Mundus Origo mea est, a short poem in Latin dating back to Late Antiquity discovered by B. Bischoff and edited by him in 1951 . It is a hexametric text with 136 verses describing a prophecy of apocalyptic and eschatological nature. After introducing herself to her readership, the Sibylla Maga, who is credited with this oracle, recalls the main phases of the Creation announcing the advent of Christ and dispensing ethical advice while waiting for the Universal Judgement.
This paper takes into account the greater handwritten evidence attesting the poem and aims at analysing the ecdotics of the Sibylline text in order to present a critical edition with a translation and commentary while describing the historical dynamics of its dissemination.
The poem is part and parcel of the type of literature inspired by the Sybil’s literary image that, starting from Heraclitus, is regularly recaptured by the Greek, Roman (Sibylline Books), Judeo-Hellenistic and Christina literatures. Starting from the comparative analysis of the main collection of Oracula Sibyllina, produced in the 6th century A.C. by an anonymous Byzantine author, a new anthropological, literary and multifocal interpretation of the Sibylline production tout court is presented. This production is characterised by re-writing: a text is assembled from a pre-text that crystallises itself into a core Sibylline inter-text (imagologically understood) which, as well as being typically attributed to the Sybil, preserves its political, apocalyptical, eschatological and salvific nature as well as a rhetoric structure in line with the production of riddles and oracles. All this work has highlighted a distinctive literary peculiarity enabling a systematic and multidisciplinary reading of many texts that are on the main isolated or adespota. Some examples that are worth mentioning are: a) Versus Sibylle Theodole Magne (10th century - unpublished), a real pamphlet where the great Sybil, pressed by the Archangel Michael, prophesises the advent of Christ while indulging in a long description of the Eden and the most salient episodes of Mary’s childhood; b) the Sibylline oracles included in the various editions (1481-1517) of Filippo Barbieri’s Opuscola, written in the 15th century and showing the poetic pars of the iconic caption that were useful to designate the humanistic Sibylline iconographic prototypes in vogue until the 19th century; c) Mundus Origo.
Renamed Prophetia ex Dictis Sibyllae Magae after comparing it with the handwritten texts, this short poem becomes part of a larger, more distinguishing and culturally versatile collection and acknowledges the complex thematic and stylistically rhetoric structure of the time it spawned from. As a matter of fact, Prophetia, for which the philological analysis has enabled to identify 11 transmission codes dated between the 9th and 10th century AD, is a true summa of classical readings in vogue in the 5th century AD. These readings are also recalled by their phonic and stylistic aspects, as shown by the para-phonic trend of the end partes of the verses and are often re-interpreted in an engaged theological functionality totally devoted to spreading the salient messages of the Christian religious novella. Furthermore, by drawing inspiration from the comparative methodology of French origin, a comparison between the Sibylline text and the better known text by Voluspà, belonging to the Norse Edda collection, is made. The similarities in terms of structure and content as well as the ways the Sybil is represented within the oracle have helped to identify a significant analogy with the role played by Odin’s volva. Both divine female ministers are seen as instruments to dispense wisdom, and their messages share the same dramatic and dialogic structure when outlining the various topics. They also share the same neo-platonic matrix that can be recognised in the way terrestrial spaces are conceived and celestial spaces are organised.
In the Latin text, however, Sybilla is considered a true Maga: although this noun must presumably have come from a philological mistake of mechanical aetiology, it shows a new Sibylline type, an intermediary in relation to the classic and Christian prophetesses and the Sybil as fairy and witch of medieval novels, thus enriching the idea of Christian magic in the Late Antiquity. According to what is confirmed by the illustrative description of Gervase of Tilbury in Otia imperalia (legitur autem Sibilla que in Italia vaticinata est Chimera dicta propter sua vaticinia, que mutabilitate sua varias profecie producebat figuras (chapter CXXI), which takes on board the phantasmatic transfert of this sui generis mythological woman, Sybil Maga is one of the expressions of the imaginary, literary and anthropological monstrum.
Yet, the transient perception of the Sybil in Prophetia ex Dictis Sibyllae Magae is still in keeping with the more traditional Christian way of formulating oracles, as is clear by the thematic core of the text: the announcement of the advent of Christ. In the wake of the Christian reception of the Virgilian themes and, more specifically, the messianic value attributed to Ecloga IV (Carmen Cumaeum), the Maga of the Late Antiquity prophesises the advent of the Son of God on earth as well. By means of a meticulous rhetoric construction, he is often compared to the classic figure of Saturn who descended to Lazio to revive the world thus testing a system of prolific dialogue of pagan and Christian sources when moving onto the Late Antiquity. The name of Saviour, always mentioned through paraphrases, is revealed only through the acrostic play of verses 77-83 which the name CRISTUS appears thus testifying to the familiarity of the anonymous author with the more usual sibylline writings and the thematic and stylistic trends of the time. An analogic interpretation of Prophetia as opposed to the Commodian production has been possible thanks to: a) this acrostic approach alongside the technically irregular metrics still aiming at a eurythmic rendition consistent with classic norms; and b) lexicon and expressions that are dialogically and seamlessly spaced out. Even though the text cannot be clearly attributed to anyone in particular, the features of a theologically and historically engaged poetic literature come clearly to the fore. Although there is no political focus, the paideutic commitment to distinguish between Christian behaviour inspired by the fides Dei (v. 4) and behaviour bound to be punished with Tartarus (v.129), as well as wise reorganisation of pagan and Christian sources (the Old Testament being the first source) elevate its style and make for its long shelf life.
During Late Antiquity this text was not marginalised. However, until at least the 15th century only a reduced version of it was available. This excerpt (six/nine verses) relating to the advent of Christ on earth was soon associated to the production of pseudo-Virgilian solemn poems and the Appendix. It was subsequently transferred to the Scholastic collection known as Carmina Duodecim Sapientum. This is a collection of 12 series with 12 metric solemn poems, each of which will be associated with Prophetia ex Dictis Sibyllae Magae until the late humanistic period. Thanks to this literary association, the poem was transcribed in the famous code by Boccaccio Plut. 33.31, currently kept at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
Theoretical Development and Validation of a New 3D Macrotexture Index Evaluated from Laser Based Profile Measurements
No full textThe Mean Profile Depth (MPD) is the synthetic index worldwide used to describe the macrotexture of road pavement surfaces. MPD is evaluated from two dimensional profiles captured by macrotexture laser-based devices, by means of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) or ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials International) algorithms. Several macrotexture laser-based measuring devices are present in the world market and, usually each one provides different MPD values also for the same road pavement. Furthermore the Standard Algorithm application produces MPD values affected by a wide variability. For these reasons the comparison of MPD values deriving from different laser-based macrotexture measuring devices is unsatisfying and it can produces deep misunderstanding on road macrotexture characterization. In order to reduce the MPD variability and to improve the MPD values comparison a new algorithm to evaluate a more stable macrotexture synthetic index (Estimated Texture Depth) ETD, has been proposed. It has been developed with more than two hundred profiles belonging to virtual pavements and it has been validated on fifteen real road profiles. The results seems to be promising: the Square Weight Estimated Texture
Depth (ETDsw) provides more stable and reliable MPD values and in the same time, it improves the agreement between macrotexture values provided by different laser-based devices
Estimation of Pedestrian Flows in Urban Context: A Comparison Between the Pre and Post Pandemic Period
No full textThe Covid-19 pandemic, within a few months, radically changed the organization of daily life on a global scale; this has affected all aspects related to everyday life such as home-to-work or not home-to the work trips, accessibility of destination, recreational activities and so on.The need to reduce coronavirus transmission, especially indoors, has imposed the "social or physical distancing" that has required administrations to reorganize roads and sidewalks for public use both to tackle this crisis and to prepare for the future pandemic challenges. Following a previous extensive study devoted to the analysis and prediction of pedestrian flows in urban area in the city of Cassino, a new experimental campaign has been recently designed and carried out in order to validate the previous methodology and/or to highlight new trends in urban pedestrian activities.Comparison between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic data and calibrated models provided an interesting insight on the pedestrian behavioral impacts of emergency measures undertaken during pandemic. It is believed that obtained results may provide a useful knowledge for urban planners and designers to retrofit urban spaces taking into account the new pedestrian attitudes to mobility induced by the pandemic
Economic Risk Evaluation in Road Pavement Management
No full textPavement maintenance is essential to prevent the deterioration of asset value and satisfy all stakeholders' expectations. However, the budgets are often insufficient to keep the road pavement at optimum levels. Therefore, a decision-making process ought to be used to prioritize different maintenance activities to optimize the fulfillment of the pre-defined goals. At the same time, there is a growing need to integrate risk management into asset management, and therefore into the Pavement Management System. It is the best way to understand risk in decision-making at the program and organizational levels. This paper examines how risk-based pavement management practices can be implemented. The idea is to identify the best combination of maintenance actions given budget constraints, also considering budget risk reduction within a multiobjective optimization process. As far as economic risk assessment is concerned, probabilistic LCCA with Monte Carlo Simulation was used to investigate the risk of budget exceeding in Pavement Management Systems as a secondary criterion for choosing the optimal maintenance strategy on a road network. The method allows assessing epistemic uncertainties regarding discount rate and materials, man-power, transportation, and equipment rental costs. Outputs were able to show the possible variability of maintenance strategies costs. Moreover, probability density functions provide for establishing the most economically advantageous solutions (lower mean value) and for the riskiest ones (greater standard deviation). The optimal strategy might be selected by minimizing the probability of budget exceeding. The innovation of this research is in the introduction of the quantitative economic risk analyses into pavement management, with the aim to integrate epistemic and aleatory uncertainties in the process
Post processing of two dimensional road profiles: variogram scheme application and sectioning procedure
No full textRoad sectioning plays a crucial role in Road Asset Management Systems and High Speed laser-based devices are able to collect a huge amount of data on pavement characteristics. However this implies an high computational effort in identifying road homogeneous sections following a long and meticulous post processing analysis. The Geostatistic methodology, in terms of Variogram scheme has been applied for characterizing road surface: “Range” and “Sill” values, deriving from the Variogram application, have been proposed as macrotexture synthetic indices to characterized different road surfaces. Once that Variogram scheme has been applied a dynamic sectioning procedure can be employed to detect homogeneous road pavement sections. Preliminary results obtained by an experimental smart road, seem to highlight that the Variogram variables can be promising in identifying homogeneous sections in terms of pavement surface macrotexture
A Simplified Approach for the Prioritization of Bridge Stock Seismic Retrofitting
No full textPrioritization methods for bridge stock seismic retrofitting underwent to a remarkable discussion among the researchers in the past thirty years. Several approaches have been proposed that can be mainly grouped according to 1) the method employed to evaluate the condition state and corresponding structural rate of failure of the specific bridge, that can be physically based or dependent on subjective judgment, and 2) the method to assess the failure cost for each bridge which is related to social cost born by the surrounding communities that can be focused on a specific bridge or on the entire transportation network operating in the area exposed to the seismic hazard. However, the approach investigating the impact in terms of reduced efficiency of a transportation network as a result of a defined seismic input can be often extremely complex and cumbersome, as far as the computational aspect is concerned. There is therefore, a need to develop more direct and simple methods to assess the social cost related to bridge failure at the network level. In this paper, a prioritization method based on a combined approach taking into account seismic input, specific fragility curves according to several bridge features and condition state and transportation-related failure cost is proposed The method has been applied to a case study of a local bridge stock located in central Italy to demonstrate its effectivenes
An Exploratory Step to Evaluate the Pedestrian Flow in Urban Environment
No full textThe pedestrian accounts for part of the road safety problem in most developed countries. Pedestrian accidents are thus an urgent issue for safety improvement, particularly in urban area. Furthermore, recent sustainable mobility oriented policies are boosting walking in urban areas. In order to cope with this increase in pedestrian flows, European municipal authorities, responsible for road safety, traffic management and mobility, need reliable engineering methods to plan urban road safety and protect vulnerable users. Road safety management systems are usually developed to identify hazardous sites and to find suitable countermeasures. Risk exposure assessment is required to identify sites with high accident potential. This assessment requires the knowledge, on one side, of the known vehicular flows and, on the other, of the pedestrian flows, which are not normally known to road operators.
In this paper a methodology to develop and calibrate forecasting model aimed at evaluating pedestrian exposure is presented. The model is based on original approach that integrates the Space Syntax modelling framework with pedestrian mobility aspects and a calibration procedure was proposed that use counts on a limited number of roads. Preliminary results derived from a case study in an urban environment seem promising and confirm the model's good ability to predict pedestrian flow
Comment on “early efficacy of intra-articular HYADD® 4 (Hymovis®) injections for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis”
No full textWe read with great interest the study by Priano titled“Early
efficacy of intra-articular HYADD® 4 (Hymovis®) injections
for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.”
1
The author would like
to explore the efficacy of intra-articular HYADD 4 (Hymovis)
injections for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Results from
this study are very interesting and promising from a clinical
aspect; however, we believe that studying patient’sclinical
status with visual analog scale and Western Ontario and
McMaster Universities Arthritis Index scale should be supported by biomechanical information. From this point of
view, to have more data that could influence the clinical
practice, it is important to note the possible action that intraarticular injections of different kinds of hyaluronic acid could
have on walking biomechanics using an objective measurement tool as gait analysis. In our opinion, the work by Priano1
is promising because it investigates the efficacy of a new
formulation of hyaluronic acid. Nowadays, many hyaluronic
acid formulations are approved for clinical use in Europe and
the United States. Furthermore, hyaluronic acid injections’
efficacy has been demonstrated also in hip osteoarthritis.
2
However, even if these formulations differ in their chemical–
physical properties, joint space half-life, rheological properties, and clinical efficacy, there are few studies that investigate hyaluronic acid’s possible action from a biomechanical
point of view.
3,4
From this point of view, we believe that
osteoarthritis management and rehabilitation should be
prescribed after an objective analysis of functional walking
alterations using gait analysis instrumentations. The use
of gait analysis should be desirable during diagnosis and
follow-up. In fact, it is capable to identify different walking
patterns in patient with osteoarthritis of the lower limbs,
whereas the radiology can evaluate the status of the joint’s
structures
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