Creating the cultures of the future: cultural strategy, policy and institutions in Gramsci. Part three: Is there a theory of cultural policy in Gramsci’s prison notebooks?

In this article, I argue that Gramsci’s prison notes on questions of cultural strategy, policy and institutions, which have so far been largely overlooked by scholars, provide further analytical insights to those offered by his more general concepts. Together they enrich the theoretical underpinnings for critical frameworks of analysis as well as for radical practices of cultural strategy, cultural policy-making and cultural organisation. On the basis of a detailed analysis of these notes, I then answer the question of whether they amount to a theory of cultural policy

A hybrid solid-liquid polymer photodiode for the bioenvironment

We demonstrate that a prototypical semiconducting polymer, poly[2-methoxy-5-( 2′ -ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) maintains unaltered its optoelectronic properties throughout the various steps for neural preparation. Films of MEH-PPV, after prolonged immersion in water or buffer solution, are characterized by linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy. Based on this result, we introduce a hybrid solid-liquid photodiode based on MEH-PPV, in which we use culturing media as liquid, ionic cathodes. The hybrid device is proposed as an active interface between living tissue and conducting polymers for cell diagnostic and neural implants

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Parent-absent begging in barn swallow broods : causes of individual variation and effects on sibling interactions and food allocation

Altricial offspring solicit parental care using complex begging displays. Although such solicitations are mainly performed towards parents, nestlings of several birds often beg when parents are not at the nest. This parent-absent begging (PAB) has been interpreted as a mistake in correctly detecting parental arrival, but it may also reliably signal individual need to nest mates, potentially affecting intra-brood competition for food. Here, we focused on the proximate factors that may determine frequency and intensity of PAB, including brood size and sex ratio, as well as individual age, sex and body mass, in natural barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) broods, under conditions of normal and experimentally reduced food intake. We also investigated the relationship between PAB and begging intensity at parental arrival and food intake in the two different experimental conditions. The frequency of PAB was larger after food deprivation than before, indicating that PAB reliably reflects hunger level. In addition, nestlings increased their own begging intensity upon parental arrival after performing PAB. Concomitantly, siblings decreased begging effort, irrespective of sex or body mass, but this occurred only when nestlings were normally fed, suggesting that PAB diminishes scrambling for food by nest mates. Finally, such a reciprocal begging modulation resulted in a larger chance of obtaining food at the subsequent feeding event for nestlings performing PAB under normal food provisioning. Within-brood signalling in the absence of parents can therefore play an important role in determining competitive strategies among siblings and affecting parental decisions on food allocation in altricial broods

Innovative Approach for Interstitial Cystitis: Vaginal Pessaries Loaded Diazepam—A Preliminary Study

Bladder pain is a characteristic disorder of interstitial cystitis. Diazepam is well known for its antispasmodic activity in the treatment of muscular hypertonus. The aim of this work was to develop and characterize vaginal pessaries as an intravaginal delivery system of diazepam for the treatment of interstitial cystitis. In particular, the performance of two types of formulations, with and without beta-glucan, was compared. In particular, the preparation of pessaries, according to the modified Pharmacopeia protocol, the setup of the analytical method to determine diazepam, pH evaluation, dissolution profile, and photostability assay were reported. Results showed that the modified protocol permitted obtaining optimal vaginal pessaries, without air bubbles, with good consistency and handling and with good pH profiles. In order to determine the diazepam amount, calibration curves with good correlation coefficients were obtained, by the spectrophotometric method, using placebo pessaries as matrix with the addition of diazepam standard solution. This method was demonstrated sensible and accurate to determine the amount of drug in batches. Dissolution profiles showed a complete diazepam release just after 15 minutes, even if beta-glucan pessaries released drug more gradually. Finally, a possible drug photodegradation after exacerbated UV-visible exposition was evaluated

Diet heteogeneity and antioxidant defence in Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica nestlings

Populations of several farmland bird species have suffered sharp declines linked to increased environmental homogeneity and reduced biodiversity, particularly of insects, upon which several farmland birds feed. Diet, in turn, has a crucial role in organism fitness. Antioxidants acquired through diet, in particular, help by protecting the organisms against the effects of Reactive Oxygen Species, which originate as a natural by-product of metabolism. Here we investigated the relationships among environmental heterogeneity, diet composition, and oxidative status by using Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) nestling as a model. By analysing chitin fragments extracted from faecal sacs, we found that nestlings\u2019 diet was mainly composed by four insect families: Formicidae (Hymenoptera), Aphodidae (Coleoptera), Tabanidae and Syrphidae (Diptera). We also observed body parts of Diabrotica virgifera, the most important insect pest of maize (Zea mais) in the world. Nestling diet composition varied with environmental heterogeneity in the foraging range of adult Barn Swallow (i.e. 200 m from each colony). The antioxidant capacity (AOC) of nestlings, which was assessed using the OXY-Adsorbent test on blood plasma samples, peaked at intermediate values of diet diversity, suggesting that it can be mediated by the composition of the nestlings\u2019 diet. Heterogeneous environments may offer a wide array of pray, and this may allow foraging Barn Swallow to feed their nestling with selected prey that may enhance their oxidative status. Similar mechanisms may act for a wide array of farmland birds, thus shading light on the mechanisms that link habitat homogenization and bird population declines