13 research outputs found
Il verde nella casa dell’uomo “compendio di gioie essenziali” / Nature in Homes, a “compendium of essential joys”
No full textNel 1950 Luigi Figini pubblica L’elemento “verde” e l’abitazione: il contributo più rilevante e più appassionato sul rapporto tra costruito, natura, modi di vivere, da parte di un architetto del razionalismo italiano. Guardando alla storia e pensando al presente, egli sviluppa le riflessioni maturate nel periodo tra le due guerre e traccia un itinerario originale tra il verde e il progetto moderno; ne identifica le componenti, illustra esempi e propone soluzioni, lasciando un messaggio di grande significato e attualità per la cultura architettonica: allora come oggi.
Il libro è riproposto in edizione anastatica per rispettare non solo il testo, ma anche le scelte grafiche di Figini, ed è arricchito da un’introduzione di Ornella Selvafolta (in italiano e inglese) che ne spiega l’origine in rapporto alle esperienze architettoniche, culturali e artistiche dell’autore.
In 1950 Luigi Figini published the book L’elemento “verde” e l’abitazione (The element of ‘Nature’ and Dwellings: the most important and most fervent contribution about the relationship between architecture and nature, by an architect of the Italian Rationalism. Linking history to the present, he brings to maturity ideas and experiences of the Thirties and traces an original route between green, home, and modern architecture, showing examples and proposing solutions, thus leaving a message of great significance and relevance for architectural culture and practice: then and now.
The book is presented in a facsimile edition to meet not only the text, but also the graphical choices by Figini, and is introduced by an essay of Ornella Selvafolta that explains its origin in relation to the architectural experiences and culture of the author
Le fabbriche di Figini e Pollini: da Olivetti alla Manifattura Ceramica Pozzi
No full textOne of the most emblematic moment in the Figini and Pollini’s career as architects
is the meeting with Adriano Olivetti, director of the homonymous factory in Ivrea
and author of what can be considered the main stage in the evolution of the relationship between architecture and the industrial sector. A connection characterized by him with a more humanistic attitude, aimed at protecting the natural environment and improving the well-being of workers and of the whole society as well.
The first originates from Milan, the second born in Rovereto, they fulfill and complement each other. An indivisible couple starting from the youth projects culminated
in the ‘Electric house’ designed for the Triennale in Monza in 1930 as an authentic manifesto of a new architecture.
During the V Triennale the three met for the first time, sharing from the beginning the need to go back to a rational and tradition path after the delirium of the war, which is just ended. Both the part support the spiritual value of creation, looking with hope at what is already happening in the ‘new world’, the United States.
Thus, while Olivetti develops a program to renovate and valorize the industry from a political and social point of view, Figini and Pollini give shape to his ideas, transforming a workplace into the ideal community project for contemporary civilization.
An ideal civilization that a few years later they will try to settle in the south of the country too, taking part in the Sparanise conversion project – a small village close to Caserta – from an agricultural area into an industrial site thanks to the establishment of the Manifattura Ceramica Pozzi. A project that, even if failed in its attempt to last, allows the two of them to see the vision of an ‘anti-city’, previously matured along their research, achieved. Made real here, through a factory conceived as an ideal harmonic dimension, marked by the search for a constant dialogue with nature, such as extension of the architecture itself
The Construction of Field in Science Popularization Stories
Get PDFSystemic Functional Linguistics proposes a model of language that views texts as context-situated social activities. Context is modeled into two levels: context of culture which accounts for variation according to genre, and context of situation which accounts for variations according to three dimensions: field, tenor and mode. The register variable field, understood as the way in which a particular domain of experience is construed and organized through ideational meanings, is explored in a corpus of science popularization stories. The aim is to understand how science as a social activity is represented in these texts and to gain insights on how this approach can be useful in English as a Foreign Language reading courses in university environments. The data collected From a corpus of 60 popularization articles from the science popularization website Science Daily, including 30 stories extracted from the subsection Fitness in the Health section and 30 from the Chemistry Section, we randomly selected 10 stories from each field. One component of the Rhetorical Structure (Presentation of the Popularized Research) is selected to identify entities, activities and qualities through an analysis of Transitivity. Taxonomies are constructed related to the following entities: researchers, institutions, research reports, and research. The results show how the fields of doing science and reporting science are construed in this component through the description of those entities and the activities they are involved in. Pedagogical implications are suggested in relation to the design of pedagogical materials in EFL university reading courses
The construction of field in science popularization stories and their source research articles: implications for reading courses at university level.
No full textThis research was conducted under the premise that the development of advanced scientific literacy, a major concern at university education, is fundamentally related to the reading of scientific texts, and therefore, it should be included as one of the objectives in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading courses of disciplinary texts. Science popularization articles directly sourced from research articles may be an appealing resource for combining the development of EFL reading strategies and the construction of scientific knowledge. The purpose of this work was to analyze a corpus of science popularization stories published under the topic Fitness in the Science Daily website (sub-corpus 1) and their source research articles (sub-corpus 2) in order to identify different degrees of complexity in the construction of the field, understood as “the domain of experience the text relates to” (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014). Each sub-corpus was analyzed in search of 1) the lexical units which introduce and realize participants in the clauses of the Title and Abstract of each article and 2) the lexical chains that enable participants to be tracked, construed by the resources of repetition, synonymy, hyponymy and meronymy. Our hypothesis is that research articles will be more complex as regards number of participants presented in the Title and Abstract and the semantic density of the lexical units that realize them, but science popularization texts may present more instances of synonymy –rather than lexical repetition- as a resource to track participants, which may make them more lexically complex for nonnative readers. Considering the possible use of these texts as reading materials and taking into account the relevance of lexis in reading comprehension processes (e.g. Grabe and Stoller 2002), this study aims to unveil difficulties inherent to the reading of each of these genres that should be addressed in reading comprehension courses
Periferie d'autore. Il quartiere Feltre a Milano 1961-2019
No full textLAUREA MAGISTRALE-Over the past two years the City of Milan has demonstrated an increasing interest as regards the suburbs, reaching in 2017 the definition of a specific plan, Piano Periferie, located in five areas within the City, then become ambiti prioritari PP of the latest and wider Piano Quartieri, developed in 2018. Given the presence of multiple diverse factors, we assumed as necessary to explore these delicate sites, going over the concept of suburbs through time and afterwards pointing out 20th century author architecture and neighborhoods, making the intersection of these examples with the boundaries defined by the urban planning. This phase led to the creation of the Periferie d’autore map, using a geographic information system GIS, that enabled to gather and classify data and documentary materials concerning each of the indicated architecture and neighborhoods. The outcomes of this large-scale study proved to be useful for identifying the specific case study, Quartiere Ina-Casa in via Feltre, designed between 1957 and 1961 thanks to the cooperation of many teamworks featuring famous architects such as Gino Pollini (coordinator) and Luigi Figini, Ignazio Gardella, Luciano Baldessari, Giancarlo De Carlo, Vittorio Gregotti, Mario Terzaghi and Augusto Magnaghi, Mario Bacciocchi, Angelo Mangiarotti and Bruno Morassutti, Tito Varisco Bassanesi, Gianluigi Giordani and Pier Italo Trolli. The residential complex analysis was structured into several way, starting from the examination of the unique achitecture features, the techniques and materials used in the construction phase, considering published and unpublished sources. Meanwhile we proceeded to on-site research, facing with the population through qualitative interviews, showing the current conservation status and retracing the visible transformations referred to the elevations of the buildings. We decided ideed to bring attention to the outside areas since the existing environmental constraint doesn’t seem to have accomplished the intended effects, according to the multiple modifications that have been occurred despite the activation of the protection measure in 2008. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the constraint and reactivate the neighborhood context, we proposed several guidelines referring to a multidisciplinary and different scale based method, which brought to the development of an integrated project. This approach, focused on the interaction of an integrated logic and a uniform direction, that involves citizens and the local authority, could be proposed as a model for future operations within author suburbs areas
The factory for workers. Olivetti in Spain
No full textAdriano Olivetti, the “Italian Rathenau”, was the author of an ambitious industrial plan that had no equals in the productive scenario of the country, managing to balance between the scientific organization of the work, proposed by the models of Fordism and Taylorism, and the social issues that focused primarily on the working class conditions. A new conception of production spaces, an original configuration for the underdeveloped Italian context, was crucial for the fulfilment of Adriano’s plan: he conceived a factory as a cosy place which was able to accommodate the arrangement of new assembly lines, experimented by the company located in Ivrea near Turin, and to guarantee at the same time comfortable and suitable spaces for the workers. With a view to subverting the mechanistic alienation induced by the Taylorism, well stigmatized by Chaplin in his movie “Modern Times”, Adriano assigned a key role to architecture and in particular to the proposals of Modern Movement, that could support the conception and the development of a new form of factory.
These are the reasons that led to the construction of the new complex in Ivrea designed by Figini and Pollini in the early 1930s, followed by other realisations a few years later, like the big factory in Barcelona, designed by Italo Lauro and Josep Soteras i Mauri. The Spanish industries, built for the new company branch Hispano Olivetti, were innovative buildings, designed with environmental parameters and equipped not only with systems and work spaces, but also with canteens, sport facilities and other services for workers, that certainly improve their work-life in this urban microcosm. The same arrangement was followed for the other industries involved in the great expansion plan directed by Adriano Olivetti that led to the construction of several factories beyond the borders of Italy, like the industries built in Argentina and Brasil after the second world war with the projects of Marco Zanuso.
The contribution retraces the history of Hispano Olivetti, trying to focus on the differences and the similarities between Italian and Spanish factories built by the Piedmontese company, in order to understand how corporate policies inspired and guided the project of meaningful modern architectures, developed far from the well-known epicentres of the Modern Movement, but still used nowadays in their cities, after the abandonment and the reconversion of the buildings due to the intense downsizing of the company in 1990s
TORBEAM 2.0, a paraxial beam tracing code for electron-cyclotron beams in fusion plasmas for extended physics applications
Get PDFThe paraxial WKB code TORBEAM (Poli, 2001) is widely used for the description of electron-cyclotron waves in fusion plasmas, retaining diffraction effects through the solution of a set of ordinary differential equations. With respect to its original form, the code has undergone significant transformations and extensions, in terms of both the physical model and the spectrum of applications. The code has been rewritten in Fortran 90 and transformed into a library, which can be called from within different (not necessarily Fortran-based) workflows. The models for both absorption and current drive have been extended, including e.g. fully-relativistic calculation of the absorption coefficient, momentum conservation in electron–electron collisions and the contribution of more than one harmonic to current drive. The code can be run also for reflectometry applications, with relativistic corrections for the electron mass. Formulas that provide the coupling between the reflected beam and the receiver have been developed. Accelerated versions of the code are available, with the reduced physics goal of inferring the location of maximum absorption (including or not the total driven current) for a given setting of the launcher mirrors. Optionally, plasma volumes within given flux surfaces and corresponding values of minimum and maximum magnetic field can be provided externally to speed up the calculation of full driven-current profiles. These can be employed in real-time control algorithms or for fast data analysis.</p
Safety and anti-tumour activity of the IgE antibody MOv18 in patients with advanced solid tumours expressing folate receptor-alpha: a phase I trial
Get PDF\ua9 2023, The Author(s).All antibodies approved for cancer therapy are monoclonal IgGs but the biology of IgE, supported by comparative preclinical data, offers the potential for enhanced effector cell potency. Here we report a Phase I dose escalation trial (NCT02546921) with the primary objective of exploring the safety and tolerability of MOv18 IgE, a chimeric first-in-class IgE antibody, in patients with tumours expressing the relevant antigen, folate receptor-alpha. The trial incorporated skin prick and basophil activation tests (BAT) to select patients at lowest risk of allergic toxicity. Secondary objectives were exploration of anti-tumour activity, recommended Phase II dose, and pharmacokinetics. Dose escalation ranged from 70 μg–12 mg. The most common toxicity of MOv18 IgE is transient urticaria. A single patient experienced anaphylaxis, likely explained by detection of circulating basophils at baseline that could be activated by MOv18 IgE. The BAT assay was used to avoid enrolling further patients with reactive basophils. The safety profile is tolerable and maximum tolerated dose has not been reached, with evidence of anti-tumour activity observed in a patient with ovarian cancer. These results demonstrate the potential of IgE therapy for cancer
Opportunity costs of trade-related capacity development in Sub-Saharan Africa
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Recent studies have documented the impact of institutions and infrastructure development on trade flows. This paper studies these issues in the context 010n90in9 trade-related capacity building initiatives and evaluates the opportunity cost of different trade-related capacity building policy mixes. Trade-related technical assistance and capacity building was recognized in 2001 by the World Trade Organisation Doha Ministerial Declaration as a core element of the development dimension of the multilateral trading system and commitments were set out in those areas. The extentof trade-related technical assistance and capacity building to help developing and least developed countries participate more efficiently in international trade has increased by 50% between 2001 and 2004. The purpose of this thesis is to address the question of whether the weights assigned to different components of trade-related capacity building in existing trade-related capacity building programmes are economically justified. To do this the paper evaluates the opportunity costsof different trade-related capacity building policy mixes with specific reference to Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. We use a number of variables from both theoretical and empirical literature to come up with composite indicators for trade-related institutions, infrastructure and human capital. The analysis is also informed by interviews with trade experts in Geneva as well as a review of relevant background documents. In the empirical analysis we use 2005 trade patterns for a data set of 117 countries of which 24 are in sub-Saharan Africa. Making use ofa gravity equation augmented with trade-related capacity building variables we run a series of Heckman's two-step selection regressions and estimate the marginal impacts of these trade-related capacity building indicators on trade as measured by value of total exports. To evaluate opportunity costs. we do policy simulations and estimate how much trade flows will be increased under various policy scenarios with respect to improved trade-related capacity building indicators in Sub-Saharan Africa. We examine scenarios that focus on improved institutions. infrastructure and human capital as they move in the direction of comparability with the rest of the world. The world's average level is used as the baseline for each of these composite indicators in the policy simulations. The results show that trade flows exhibit different levels of sensitivity to different trade-related capacity building policy options with the exporter's infrastructure being the most significant with an average elasticity of approximately 3.0. The findings also suggest that complementing improvements in the quality of human capital and infrastructure will provide the greatest bilateral trade flow benefit to Sub-Saharan Africa; while non-Sub-Saharan Africa countries gain the most from complementing infrastructure and institutions. Such a finding contradicts the current focus of ongoing TReB programmes that put emphasis on human capital development only. Building on both Grossman and Helpman (1991),s trade model and Barro (1990) s' growth model, the paper argues that the theoretical propositions are inadequate to address the dynamics associated with trade-related capacity building policy. The paper further argues that analyzing the impact of rReB using these standard frameworks underestimates the impact since policy dynamics are not addressed in that framework. This could contribute to explaining why there has not been consensus in the trade-growth empirical literature, with some authors finding a positive and significant impact of trade on growth, while others argue that the impact is not significant Hence, the paper proposes improvements in the specification of the standard growth model to take into account policy dynamics, specifically assumptions regarding substitutability among TRee investments
