Islam and Women's Literature in Europe : Reading Leila Aboulela and Ingy Mubiayi

L\u2019articolo analizza il rapporto tra Islam e condizione delle donne attraverso gli scritti letterari di Leila Aboulela e Ingy Mubiayi

Islam, gender and transnational belongings: narratives of young Muslim women of Egyptian origin in Italy

The article analyzes the multiple belongings of Italian Muslim young women of Egyptian origin

Dynamic Image-Based Modelling of Kidney Branching Morphogenesis

Kidney branching morphogenesis has been studied extensively, but the mechanism that defines the branch points is still elusive. Here we obtained a 2D movie of kidney branching morphogenesis in culture to test different models of branching morphogenesis with physiological growth dynamics. We carried out image segmentation and calculated the displacement fields between the frames. The models were subsequently solved on the 2D domain, that was extracted from the movie. We find that Turing patterns are sensitive to the initial conditions when solved on the epithelial shapes. A previously proposed diffusion-dependent geometry effect allowed us to reproduce the growth fields reasonably well, both for an inhibitor of branching that was produced in the epithelium, and for an inducer of branching that was produced in the mesenchyme. The latter could be represented by Glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), which is expressed in the mesenchyme and induces outgrowth of ureteric branches. Considering that the Turing model represents the interaction between the GDNF and its receptor RET very well and that the model reproduces the relevant expression patterns in developing wildtype and mutant kidneys, it is well possible that a combination of the Turing mechanism and the geometry effect control branching morphogenesis

Branch Mode Selection during Early Lung Development

Many organs of higher organisms, such as the vascular system, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver and glands, are heavily branched structures. The branching process during lung development has been studied in great detail and is remarkably stereotyped. The branched tree is generated by the sequential, non-random use of three geometrically simple modes of branching (domain branching, planar and orthogonal bifurcation). While many regulatory components and local interactions have been defined an integrated understanding of the regulatory network that controls the branching process is lacking. We have developed a deterministic, spatio-temporal differential-equation based model of the core signaling network that governs lung branching morphogenesis. The model focuses on the two key signaling factors that have been identified in experiments, fibroblast growth factor (FGF10) and sonic hedgehog (SHH) as well as the SHH receptor patched (Ptc). We show that the reported biochemical interactions give rise to a Schnakenberg-type Turing patterning mechanisms that allows us to reproduce experimental observations in wildtype and mutant mice. The kinetic parameters as well as the domain shape are based on experimental data where available. The developed model is robust to small absolute and large relative changes in the parameter values. At the same time there is a strong regulatory potential in that the switching between branching modes can be achieved by targeted changes in the parameter values. We note that the sequence of different branching events may also be the result of different growth speeds: fast growth triggers lateral branching while slow growth favours bifurcations in our model. We conclude that the FGF10-SHH-Ptc1 module is sufficient to generate pattern that correspond to the observed branching modesComment: Initially published at PLoS Comput Bio

Genere e generazioni in transizione: il movimento delle donne in Marocco dall’indipendenza al post-rivolte arabe

Il saggio ripercorre la storia del movimento delle donne in Marocc

STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING AND TEACHING PROCESS: TWO LECLESSES PLANS WITH PROCEDURES AND IMPLEMENTATION MODES

Drawing from the Routledge International Handbook of Student-centered Learning and Teaching (2021) and Bari’s Convention on Academic Didactic Innovation (2018), while bearing in mind the most relevant theories of modern pedagogy along with the consequent practical implementations of glottodidactics, this article focuses on the objectives of the EU program ET 2020.Great relevance is granted to the learning-teaching approach and the new roles of students and teachers, exemplified through a “lecless” sample plan with objectives, times, number and role of students involved, procedures and assessment. Some works presented by university students during their English classes are finally included