689 research outputs found
REINFORCED CONCRETE IN RESTORATION WORKS OF MONUMENTAL BUILDINGS Study of the Interventions Conducted among Central Italy and Southern Part of United States in the Twentieth Century
No full textThe historical built heritage of the present day constitutes the result of the continuous modifications from the past. The development of theories, the discoveries of materials, the alternations of natural and human events flowed into what it is the actual form of this heritage. In this overview, an important role, if not primary, is employed by the restoration works, which handed down this legacy to the present day. After the first theorizations and applications which characterized the 18th century, in the last century the restoration had considerably increased its primary role in architecture, with its development, thanks to the new theories, the international debates, and also the new materials from the technological growth. As the restoration theories and their applications, also the modern means found in the same period their most important developments and experimentations. One of these means is the reinforced concrete, which strongly characterized the field of architecture, interesting not only the new constructions , with the applications pursued by the most important architect in the history of the time, but also the field of preservation. In this last case the conducted research intends to focus on.
The use of reinforced concrete pursued in the restoration of historic and monumental buildings represents a specific approach to the existing which characterized large part of the last century, in which the necessity of preservation increased its role in the society. Inducted by the natural events, such as earthquakes, human factors and also the decay conditions of the built heritage, the efforts of preservation of the last century found in the ruled used of the modern materials, together with also their quick and easy applications, the possibility of reinforcement and recovery. The research had been conducted among different areas, aiming to identity common aspects related to the application of the modern means: Italy and United States (focusing on the central Italian areas of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria, and the southern area of the US as Texas and California (thanks also to the research conducted at The University of Texas at San Antonio).
In this overview, the research intended to provide a broad analysis of the interventions in the specific areas, aiming to identify the theories, the elements and the approaches pursued; the realization of synthesis forms, which are reported in the appendix of the dissertation, constituted the starting target of the research, thanks to which it had been possible to proceed with the other analysis and studies. The related study of the historical development, with the theories, and the detailed analysis of some interventions let to understand the development during the entire century, until the present day. In particular, the analysis also of the structural impacts of the interventions constitutes another key point, aiming to individuate the peculiarities of the interventions relatively to the form and the architecture, as much to the structural field. in this way, the thesis aims to individuates some critical evaluations, both on the formal impact of the applications than to the structural effects due to the alterations of the built organisms
La Vestale 'incesta'
No full textMarcello Salvadore: La Vestale incesta.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Pliny the Younger and Plutarch are the sources
of a detailed account of Vestalis incesta’s punishment: they say that she was
sentenced to death. Dionysius adds that there was no after death ritual.
Modern scholars generally accept what the three authors assert. In this article
the author surmises that the Vestalis incesta, together with the parricida, was
not condemned to death: both of them were sentenced to a particular kind
of banishment from the Society
De Lope a Celano: la adaptación italiana de "Los tres diamantes"
No full textAbstract
This paper explores an Italian adaptation of Lope de Vega’s play Los tres diamantes, written in the
second part of the seventeenth century. Its author, Carlo Celano, was a famous writer of opere regie,
i.e., adaptations of Spanish comedies of situation. The analysis focuses on the way in which the
adaptation of the Aristotelian units of space and time leads to a reduction of the characters and a
simplification of the situation, although this is compensated by enriching its ludic component. This
last trait can be also observed in a previous re-elaboration of Lope’s comedy, the scenario of the
Commedia dell’arte titled Il cavaliere dai tre gigli d’oro
Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of exhaled leukotriene B<sub>4 </sub>in asthmatic children
No full textAbstract Background The role of leukotriene (LT) B4, a potent inflammatory mediator, in atopic asthmatic and atopic nonasthmatic children is largely unknown. The lack of a gold standard technique for measuring LTB4 in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) has hampered its quantitative assessment in this biological fluid. We sought to measure LTB4 in EBC in atopic asthmatic children and atopic nonasthmatic children. Exhaled nitric oxide (NO) was measured as an independent marker of airway inflammation. Methods Fifteen healthy children, 20 atopic nonasthmatic children, 25 steroid-naïve atopic asthmatic children, and 22 atopic asthmatic children receiving inhaled corticosteroids were studied. The study design was of cross-sectional type. Exhaled LTB4 concentrations were measured using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Exhaled NO was measured by chemiluminescence with a single breath on-line method. LTB4 values were expressed as the total amount (in pg) of eicosanoid expired in the 15-minute breath test. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare groups. Results Compared with healthy children [87.5 (82.5–102.5) pg, median and interquartile range], exhaled LTB4 was increased in steroid-naïve atopic asthmatic [255.1 (175.0–314.7) pg, p 4 than steroid-naïve asthmatics [125.0 (25.0–245.0) pg vs 255.1 (175.0–314.7) pg, p Conclusion In contrast to exhaled NO concentrations, exhaled LTB4 values are selectively elevated in steroid-naïve atopic asthmatic children, but not in atopic nonasthmatic children. Although placebo control studies are warranted, inhaled corticosteroids seem to reduce exhaled LTB4 in asthmatic children. LC/MS/MS analysis of exhaled LTB4 might provide a non-invasive, sensitive, and quantitative method for airway inflammation assessment in asthmatic children.</p
Due note critiche
No full textMarcello Garzaniti
Answers to Criticism
The author answers to the critics of M. Capaldo and A.Giambelluca Kossova with the aim to bring the different proposed questions back into the sphere of scientifi c dialogue
UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for direct analysis of drugs of abuse in oral fluid for DUID assessment
No full textAn ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–
electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry method for
the direct analysis in oral fluid (OF) of several abused drugs and
metabolites in a single chromatographic run was set up and
validated. Amphetamine, methamphetamine, morphine, O-6-
monoacetylmorphine, cocaine, codeine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine
(MDMA), methylenedioxyethylamphetamine,
methylenedioxyamphetamine, methadone,
benzoylecgonine (BEG), Ä9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),
ketamine, and cocaethylene were determined in a single
chromatographic run with no sample pretreatment, after
addition of the respective deuterated internal standards. The
method was designed to perform a confirmation analysis on
the residual OF samples after the preliminary on-site screening
test, and it was applied on preservative buffers from different
devices (Mavand Rapidstat, Concateno DDS, and Greiner
Bio-One) or on neat OF samples. The method was suitable to
be applied to the small amounts of sample available for the
confirmatory analysis after the preliminary on-site screening
or on undiluted OF samples. Limits of detection varied from 5
(morphine) to 0.2 ng/mL (methamphetamine, MDMA, BEG,
and cocaethylene). The method was linear for all the
substances involved, giving quadratic correlation coefficients
of >0.99 in all the different preservative buffers checked. In addition, repeatability and accuracy were satisfactory for the
majority of the substances, except for a few cases. The
developed method was subsequently applied to 466 residual
samples from on-site screening performed by police officers.
Of these samples, 74 showed the presence of cocaine and
metabolites; THC was detected in 49 samples. Two samples
showed codeine and morphine while MDMA was detected in
11 samples and ketamine in four samples
Reverse shoulder arthroplasty in older patients: is it worth it? A subjective functional outcome and quality of life survey
No full textBACKGROUND: Reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) use has largely spread in the last decade. Doubts still exist, however, about its use in the elder population, because of high risk of complications and possibly limited cost-efficiency of the procedure.
AIMS: Our work was aimed at defining the subjective outcome, complication and satisfaction rate, and perceived recovery of individual autonomy and quality of life after RSA, in a cohort of patients 79 or more years old at the time of surgery.
METHODS: Between 2007 and 2012, 52 patients 79 years old or older received a RSA. In the setting of this study, 27 patients (31 shoulders) were available for clinical evaluation. The ASES score was used for subjective outcome evaluation, while the health-related quality of life was studied with the SF-12 form. An ad hoc questionnaire was used in order to evaluate the satisfaction rate and the recovery in individual autonomy.
RESULTS: At 59,3 months mean follow-up, only one patient required revision due to periprosthetic fracture. ASES score attested at 78.2, and SF-12 scores showed values similar to the general age-matched population. Sensible improvement in perceived quality of life was described by 24 patients. When present, comorbidities were associated with lower results.
DISCUSSION: RSA outcomes in the elderly are good in terms of function, satisfaction and quality of life recovery. Complications appear primarily linked to age-related conditions and comorbidities show critical association with lower results.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that RSA represents a useful solution for end-stage shoulder disease also in the advanced age population
Insights into the Redox Behavior of Pr0.5Ba0.5MnO3-Derived Perovskites for CO2Valorization Technologies
No full textIn situ temperature-programmed (TP) analyses in a multianalytical approach including X-ray diffractometry (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), thermogravimetry (TGA), near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS) are used to study the relationship between redox properties and structural changes in Pr0.5Ba0.5MnO3 (m-PBM), PrBaMn2O5+ (r-PBM), and PrBaMn2O6- (o-PBM) when exposed to reduction/oxidation cycles. TP-XRD analysis shows that under reducing conditions, between 300 and 850 °C, the biphase perovskite m-PBM turns into the monolayered perovskite r-PBM. Stabilization of the latter phase at room temperature requires early oxidation in air at a high temperature (850 °C) to avoid segregation, resulting in the formation of the oxidized layered phase (o-PBM). The o-PBM layered perovskite is characterized by the H2-TPR profile, showing two reduction peaks at temperatures below 500 °C. TP-NEXAFS characterization reveals the copresence of Mn(IV) (60%), Mn(III) (30%), and Mn(II) (10%) and helps to interpret the reduction profile: Mn(IV) converts to Mn(III) at 300 °C (I pk), Mn(III) to Mn(II) at 450 °C (II pk). The TGA characterization confirms the reversibility of the o-PBM r-PBM process at 800 °C; in addition, it shows that the r-PBM can be oxidized almost completely (99%) also by CO2 without accumulation of carbonates. This study sheds light on the peculiar redox behavior of PBM-based materials and paves the way for their application as oxygen carriers and catalytic promoters in different CO2 enhancement technologies. Here, we discuss the results obtained to develop versatile and redox-resistant electrodes for solid oxide electrochemical cell/solid oxide fuel cell applications
A snapshot of workplace drug testing in Italy
No full textThe Italian Decree on Health and Safety at Work (81/08) prescribes mandatory drug tests for jobs which pose safety hazards to others. Workplace drug testing is performed in accordance with the Provision of the Government-Regions Conference, 2008. The aim of our survey was to examine the prevalence of drug use and the main drug findings in a sample of Italian workers performing hazardous jobs. From September 2009 to February 2011, 551 urine samples were collected in 42 Italian companies. Sample collection was carried out at the workplace by qualified laboratory personnel sent from the Institute of Occupational Medicine of the Catholic University (UCSC) of Rome. The workers to be tested were informed the day before, as the law requires. The samples were checked for adulteration, coded, and sent immediately to the laboratory of the UCSC Forensic Toxicology Analytical Unit. The screening test was an immunoassay. The positive samples proceeded to the confirmatory analysis with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The urine samples were analyzed for cannabis, opiates, amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine, methadone, and MDMA. Out of 16 samples .9% screened positive; only 4 of them (0.7%) were confirmed with the LC-MS/MS. Confirmed results included cocaine (2 samples), cannabis (1 sample), both cocaine and cannabis (1 sample). The prevalence of positive samples was lower than expected. Such finding cannot be explained by a low reliability of the testing procedure but could be due to test scheduling. More positive cases might be found performing short-notice random testing
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