462 research outputs found
Relativistic generalizations of gravity-induced localization models
No full textAbstractNonunitary versions of Newtonian gravity leading to wavefunction localization admit natural special-relativistic generalizations. They include the first consistent relativistic localization models. At variance with the unified model of localization and gravity, the purely localizing version requires negative energy fields, which however are less harmful than usual and can be used to build ultraviolet-finite theories
Dal mondo antico alla virtù dei moderni. Storia e letteratura nel pensiero di Melchiorre Cesarotti. In appendice il “Piano Ragionato di Traduzioni dal Greco”
No full textThe article analyzes the evolution of Cesarotti's aesthetic, historical and anthropological thought, from the years of his classical training to his more mature academic works. Animated by keen curiosity, the abbot of Padua introduced European enlightenment and romantic issues into the Italian culture. This strong inclination for modern questions has interested the historiographical debate. Therefore, many scholars have defined Cesarotti as an enlightenment or a romantic author. As the article shows, Cesarotti, despite some precious modern insights and the insistent calls to the liberty of the human being, continued to determine himself with the categories of moderate Enlightenment. In other words, he conjugated the scientific achievements and the new idea of freedom with the traditionalist and metaphysical forms of classical rationalism. Cesarotti did not want to base indeed his philosophical thought on the individual's autonomy of judgment. According to the author, the decision of the individual must be integrated in a metaphysical philosophy, centered on the self-sufficiency of universal beauty and, more generally, of the moral, aesthetic and scientific laws, which pre-exist the human being and regulate his existence. The abbot then replaces the classicist and traditionalist literary form, which was built on the dogmatic core of the canon, with a rationalist/neoclassical artistic form, which was centered on the more inclusive, but nevertheless assertive and impersonal, dogma of the law. The historicistic and preromantic elements of his theory remain a minor argument, aimed solely at enhancing the cult of truth. A truth deposited in the judgment of the community of nobles, scholars, and worthy individuals. A social group that recognizes itself in a set of pre-established and immutable values. In the appendix of the article has been digitalized the Piano Ragionato di Traduzioni dal Greco, written by the author in 1778
L’ inquieto incontro con l’altro. Pietro Verri “caffettista”: fra estetica e vita civile
No full textThe article analyses the writings published by Pietro Verri on the issues of the Caffè, one of the most important periodicals of the Italian Enlightenment, founded in a cultural climate marked by optimism towards enlightened absolutism. The work is a contribution to the lively and open debate on the aesthetic and literary thought of Pietro Verri. In the first place, the work follows Verri's reflections on the problem of the Italian language. Secondly, the work explores Pietro's aesthetic-literary thought, with particular attention to the writings on theatre and comedy. Verri reflects organically on these problems and develops an analysis of the passions of the human being. The author explains the function perform by the sentiment in the psychological and physiological processes that constitute the consciousness. Finally, the article analyses the repercussions of this aesthetic-psychological thought in the dimension of morality and politics. The analysis of these literary and aesthetic writings can enrich the historiographical picture of Pietro Verri. Despite the aristocratic conception of culture and politics, the author elaborates the cultural presuppositions of an intersubjective conception, which prefigures the political contract between free and equal individuals. Pietro's reflections refer therefore to a set of unresolved issues, around which moderates and democrats will conflict in the years of the Revolution
La politica di Melchiorre Cesarotti tra Rivoluzione ed Età napoleonica
No full textThe article, through a cross-reading of published writings and private correspondence, reconstructs how Cesarotti's political thought evolved from French Revolution until 1808, the year of the author's death. As this research has highlighted, the Abbot has enriched his theory over time, shaping it on empirical observations of the continental and Italian political events. However, the philosophical core of his doctrine, built on the concept of "wise freedom", remained unchanged. For our author freedom consisted in the institutional implementation of the natural law. Based on his idea of natural order, Cesarotti articulated a project of liberalization of the economic and social structures of the Old Regime society. In particular, the Abbot believed that a strong executive power could establish a meritocratic civilization, which was supposed to guarantee a moderate involvement of the notable section of the Third State in government positions. Inspired by the works of Rousseau, Cesarotti deemed it necessary to also involve the popular strata in the new institutional settlement, both culturally and
practically. Therefore, he devoted himself to define a reform for the public education system, which should have spread and rooted in the collective consciousness of the masses the fundamental principles of the new political system. Cesarotti welcomed the first news of the Revolution with timid enthusiasm, then condemned its developments. In 1797 he believed he could carry out his political program in the Municipality of Padua. After having ascertained the failure of democratic governments, he entrusted his plans finally to the imperial force, turning first in 1803 to Francis II, then in 1807 to Napoleon. According to the Abbot, the Divine Providence commissioned the French general of establishing "peace" and natural "happiness" on the Continent. This operation should have ended with the overcoming of the concept of "fatherland" and the reunification of European "Peoples" in a single supranational state
Zonal-meridional decomposition and the Hamiltonian description of planetary fluid dynamics
No full textThe basic properties of planetary flows are studied within the framework of the noncanonical Hamiltonian approach formulated by Morrison. A zonal-symmetric decomposition is applied in Order to characterize the contributions of the different dynamical terms. Steady states and the Lorenz energy and angular momentum cycles are also written within the Lie-Poisson bracket formalism. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Accelerating Palladium-Catalyzed C-F Bond Formation: Use of a Microflow Packed-Bed Reactor
No full textA flow process for Pd-catalyzed C-F bond formation is described. A microreactor with a packed-bed design allows for easy handling of large quantities of insoluble CsF with precise control over reaction times, efficient mixing, and the ability to safely handle elevated temperatures and pressures. A variety of aryl triflates, including heteroaryl ones, were converted into aryl fluorides in short reaction times (see scheme).National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM46059)Fulbright Program (Fellowship)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Postdoctoral Fellowship 1F32GM088931)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant CHE 9808061)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DBI 9729592)Novartis (Firm
Molecular epidemiology and origin of cholera reemergence in Italy and Albania in the 1990s
No full textIn 1994 a cholera epidemic occurred in Italy and Albania after more than a decade of case absence. To investigate genotypic characteristics and
the origin of the epidemic strains, 110 Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor isolates from Italy and Albania were studied by randomly amplified polymorphic
DNA analysis (RAPD), BglI ribotyping, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of genomic DNA. The Italian and Albanian strains were all
ribotype 6 and their RAPD and PFGE patterns were identical as well. These findings indicated that the 1994 isolates belonged to the same clone
and that the clone was part of the larger global spread of epidemic ribotype 6 strains, which started in southern Asia in 1990
SXT-related integrating conjugative element and IncC plasmids in Vibrio cholerae O1 strains in Eastern Africa
No full textObjectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the extent of resistance patterns and associated
mobile genetic elements in epidemic V. cholerae O1 El Tor strains isolated from Eastern Africa in
the late 1990s.
Methods: Self-transmissible genetic elements and associated clusters of genes encoding resistance
were detected by conjugation experiments. Detection of SXT-related integrating conjugative elements
(ICEs) and associated antibiotic resistance genes was performed by PCR to amplify the SXT elementintegrase
gene (int), right SXT element-chromosome junction (attP-prfC) and genes conferring resistance
to chloramphenicol (floR), sulfamethoxazole (sulII), streptomycin (strA) and trimethoprim (dfrA1).
Genomic relatedness was established by random amplified polymorphic DNA patterns.
Results: Of 224 strains analysed, 200 isolates exhibited resistance to four or more antimicrobials. An
IncC plasmid, encoding resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole and
trimethoprim, conferred multidrug resistance to 113 strains isolated from Somalia and Ethiopia, whereas
an SXT-related ICE, encoding resistance to chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole and
trimethoprim, conferred multidrug resistance to 74 strains isolated from Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania.
Conclusions: This study has shown the spread of SXT-related ICEs among V. cholerae O1 African isolates.
It has also highlighted the role of two distinct genetic elements in conferring multiple resistance to
the two distinct groups of V. cholerae O1 strains that, in the late 1990s, spread through Eastern Africa, a
critical geographic region for the persistence and transmission of cholera to the entire continent
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