96 research outputs found
Giovanni Patroni e l’opposizione a Luigi Pigorini
No full textGiovanni Patroni e l’opp osizione a Luigi Pigorini - Giovanni Patroni (1868-1951) is notorious for a virulently anti-communist passage describing the inhabitants of the Terramare, which appears in his La Preistoria d’Italia (2 vols, Milan, 1937). He is also an important figure in the history of Italian prehistoric archaeology who is worth remembering as the author of the first major synthesis of Italian prehistory (La Preistoria d’Italia), for his courage in daring to oppose the ideas of Pigorini even before Pigorini died, and as the founder of the Milan School of prehistoric studies. Patroni first major contribution was his La ceramica antica nell’Italia meridionale (Naples, 1897), in which, in disagreement with the majority view in Europe, according to which Apulian red-figure pottery was made at Taras, he argued that it was more likely that it was made in the indigenous settlement of Ruvo di Puglia. This publication highlights the two sides of Patroni - his polemical nature and his nationalistic preference to explain archaeological phenomena as having developed locally. In 1901 he was appointed Professor of Archeology at the University of Pavia, and in parallel Archaeological Superintendent for Lombardy from 1905 to 1924; in 1927 he transferred to the newly-founded State University of Milan and retired in 1938. In this paper I explore the early years of Patroni’s scientific activity, when as a convinced Mediterraneanist, he opposed Pigorini’s ideas. I discuss his publications during the period he worked at the University of Pavia and the development of his ideas concerning the Terramare, with particular attention to the excavations at Cella Dati, Castellaro del Vhò di Piadena and San Pietro in Mendicate. I also discuss his famous reactionary description of the life of the inhabitants of the Terramare, which betrays his rather unsavoury political views but also throws light on his formation in the idealist environment of late nineteenth-century Naples
Experimental validation of non-linear multi-body railroad vehicle system algorithms
No full textThe current trend in railroad industry is the development of reliable non-linear computational dynamic algorithms that can be used in the simulations of vehicle behaviour under different operating conditions. Of similar importance, is the development of experimental models that can be used in the validation of the proposed numerical algorithms. The objective of this investigation is to examine the accuracy of the results obtained using different multi-body contact formulations by comparing these results with experimental results. The numerical results are obtained using two different multibody contact formulations: the embedded constraint contact formulation and the quasi-elastic contact formulation; both are implemented in general purpose multi-body computer programs. The numerical results obtained using these two different methods are analysed and compared. These results are also compared with the test results of a bogie prototype that can be used with a roller rig built at Turin Polytechnic. The roller rig, which is designed to be used with full scale or reduced scale models, provides an efficient and economic way to validate the results of the computer algorithms. This roller rig, which can also be used to perform tests on bogies with different rail gauge and wheel base, has been designed using the Jaschinski’s scaling method. A bogie computer model based on the same dimensions and material properties of the Turin roller rig was developed using two different general purpose multibody computer programs that employ the two different nonlinear wheel/rail contact formulations and two different numerical algorithms for the automatic generation and solution of the system equations of motion. The results of the two different multibody formulations used in this study show a good agreement. Furthermore, the results show that the bogie critical speed predicted using the computer simulations is very close to the one obtained using the roller rig
Recording cortico-cortical evoked potentials of the human arcuate fasciculus under general anaesthesia
No full textObjective
We examined the feasibility of using cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEPs) to monitor the major cortical white matter tract involved in language, the arcuate fasciculus (AF), during surgery under general anaesthesia.
Methods
We prospectively recruited nine patients undergoing surgery for lesions in the left peri-sylvian cortex, for whom awake surgery was not indicated. High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) tractography was used to localise frontal and temporal AF terminations, which guided intraoperative cortical strip placement.
Results
CCEPs were successfully evoked in 5/9 patients, showing a positive potential (P1) at 12 ms and a negative component (N1) at 21 ms when stimulating from the frontal lobe and recording in the temporal lobe. CCEP responses peaked in the posterior middle temporal gyrus. No CCEPs were evoked when stimulating temporal sites and recording from frontal contacts.
Conclusion
For the first time, we show that CCEPs can be evoked from the peri-sylvian cortices also in adult patients who are not candidates for awake procedures. Our results are akin to those described in the awake setting and suggest the recorded activity is conveyed by the arcuate fasciculus.
Significance
This intraoperative approach may have promising implications in reducing deficits in patients that require surgery in language areas under general anesthesia
Thalamic and neocortical differences in the relationship between the time course of delta and sigma power during NREM sleep in humans
No full textSleep spindles and slow waves are the hallmarks of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and are produced by the dynamic interplay between thalamic and cortical regions. Several studies in both human and animal models have focused their attention on the relationship between electroencephalographic (EEG) spindles and slow waves during NREM, using the power in the sigma and delta bands as a surrogate for the production of spindles and slow waves. A typical report is an overall inverse relationship between the time course of sigma and delta power as measured by a single correlation coefficient both within and across NREM episodes. Here we analysed stereotactically implanted intracerebral electrode (Stereo-EEG [SEEG]) recordings during NREM simultaneously acquired from thalamic and from several neocortical sites in six neurosurgical patients. We investigated the relationship between the time course of delta and sigma power and found that, although at the cortical level it shows the expected inverse relationship, these two frequency bands follow a parallel time course at the thalamic level. Both these observations were consistent across patients and across different cortical as well as thalamic regions. These different temporal dynamics at the neocortical and thalamic level are discussed, considering classical as well as more recent interpretations of the neurophysiological determinants of sleep spindles and slow waves. These findings may also help understanding the regulatory mechanisms of these fundamental sleep EEG graphoelements across different brain compartments
Recording cortico-cortical evoked potentials of the human arcuate fasciculus under general anaesthesia
No full textObjective: We examined the feasibility of using cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEPs) to monitor the major cortical white matter tract involved in language, the arcuate fasciculus (AF), during surgery under general anaesthesia. Methods: We prospectively recruited nine patients undergoing surgery for lesions in the left peri-sylvian cortex, for whom awake surgery was not indicated. High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) tractography was used to localise frontal and temporal AF terminations, which guided intraoperative cortical strip placement. Results: CCEPs were successfully evoked in 5/9 patients, showing a positive potential (P1) at 12 ms and a negative component (N1) at 21 ms when stimulating from the frontal lobe and recording in the temporal lobe. CCEP responses peaked in the posterior middle temporal gyrus. No CCEPs were evoked when stimulating temporal sites and recording from frontal contacts. Conclusion: For the first time, we show that CCEPs can be evoked from the peri-sylvian cortices also in adult patients who are not candidates for awake procedures. Our results are akin to those described in the awake setting and suggest the recorded activity is conveyed by the arcuate fasciculus. Significance: This intraoperative approach may have promising implications in reducing deficits in patients that require surgery in language areas under general anesthesia
Evaluation of the response to chemotherapy in patients affected with small cell lung cancer using discriminant analysis: a preliminary report
No full textSparse multivariate autoregressive models with exogenous inputs for modeling intracerebral responses to direct electrical stimulation of the human brain
No full textThe self-connected group lasso is used to estimate sparse multivariable autoregressive with exogenous (MVARX) input models of the cortical interactions excited by direct current stimulation of the cortex. The group lasso criterion introduces a direct network connection between two sites only if the presence of the connection significantly reduces the mean-squared error of the model. This method is applied to intracranial recordings of the human brain to direct electrical stimulation. Excellent agreement between measured and model-predicted average responses across all data sets is obtained. One-step prediction of the recordings is also used to demonstrate that the model describes the dynamics in individual responses. We study the similarity of network models for a given set of channels when the electrical stimulation is applied at different locations in both wakefulness and nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep to identify common network characteristics
Tra dilettantismo e scienza: la proto-etnografia di Caterina Pigorini Beri in Costumi e superstizioni dell’Appennino marchigiano
No full textL’opera Costumi e superstizioni dell’Appennino marchigiano di Caterina Pigorini Beri (1845-1924) non è solo un documento di preziosa importanza archivistica e storica sugli usi dell’entroterra marchigiano di fine Ottocento, ma apre una finestra di riflessione su altre due questioni importanti: la prima è la condizione della donna intellettuale che, in assenza di una formazione specifica, conduce le sue ricerche in maniera autonoma e pionieristica. La contrapposizione che emerge è quella tra dilettantismo, legata alla sfera del femminile, e scienza, campo del dominio maschile. Poiché indipendente da una disciplina specifica e da un metodo di lavoro scientificamente strutturato l’opera di Pigorini Beri sin pone in un terreno d’incrocio tra il taccuino di viaggio, il bozzetto impressionistico, la descrizione etno-antropologica. Tuttavia, le intuizioni contenute nell’opera (si veda l’accezione di “paganità” attribuita alle manifestazioni folkloristiche locali), il lavoro di raccolta delle informazioni, la postura dell’autrice (dentro e fuori il mondo raccontato), introducono a un livello primitivo e ancora da sviluppare, quegli elementi di metodo che caratterizzeranno nel Novecento lo studio etnografico e antropologico di De Martino. La seconda questione riguarda il senso complessivo che l’autrice affida al suo racconto, in polemica con il “positivismo invadente” dell’epoca in cui vive. Da tale prospettiva l’opera sembra affondare le sue ragioni nelle posizioni “antimoderniste” di fine XIX secolo, per cui salvare dall’oblio la cultura delle realtà locali non è solo un’operazione di valore intellettuale, ma una condizione necessaria per la conoscenza del mondo.The work Costumi e superstizioni dell’Appennino marchigiano by Caterina Pigorini Beri is not only a document of precious archival and historical importance on the uses of the Marche hinterland of the late nineteenth century, but also opens a window for reflection on two other important issues: the first is the condition of the intellectual woman who, in the absence of specific training, conducts her research in an autonomous and pioneering manner. The work highlights an emerging contrast between amateurism, linked to the sphere of the feminine, and science, the field of male domination. Since Pigorini Beri\u27s work is independent of a specific discipline and a scientifically structured working method, it is placed in a crossroad between the travel notebook, the impressionistic sketch, and the ethno-anthropological description. However, the insights contained in the work (see the meaning of "paganity" attributed to local folkloristic manifestations), the work of gathering information, the posture of the author (inside and outside the narrated world), introduce at a primitive and developing level those elements of methodology that will characterize De Martino\u27s ethnographic and anthropological study in the twentieth century.The second question concerns the overall meaning that the author entrusts to her story, in controversy with the "intrusive positivism" of the era she is living. From this perspective the work seems to have its reasons rooted in the "anti-modernist" positions of the late nineteenth century, where saving the culture of local realities from oblivion is not only an operation of intellectual value, but a necessary condition for acquiring knowledge of the world
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