L'immagine del potere fascista nella scultura futurista degli anni Trenta

L'articolo intende valutare quanto ed in che modo la scultura futurista abbia contribuito alla creazione e alla comunicazione dell'immagine ufficiale del potere fascista nel corso degli anni Trenta, attraverso l'esame di un certo numero di opere realizzate da alcuni degli scultori futuristi più attivi del decennio (Rosso, Thayaht, Regina, Di Bosso, Peschi, Bot, Delle Site). In particolare, l'analisi procede attraverso la lettura delle soluzioni plastiche attraverso le quali tali scultori hanno illustrato alcuni temi di particolare rilevanza dal punto di vista propagandistico (la ritrattistica mussoliniana, il tema aviatorio, il tema imperiale, il tema della religione cattolica), e si conclude con un'ipotesi di correlazione tra l'oscillante consenso di cui il regime gode nei differenti momenti del decennio e la frequenza con cui i temi considerati compaiono nell'opera futurista.The article wants to analyze what and how futurist sculpture contributed to the creation and communication of the official image of fascism during the Thirties, through the examination of a number of works by some of the most active futurist sculptors of the decade (Rosso, Thayaht, Regina, Di Bosso, Peschi, Bot, Delle Site). Particularly, the examination proceeds by analyzing the plastic solutions by which these sculptors presented some issues of particular relevance in terms of propaganda (Mussolini's portraiture, the aviation's theme, the imperial theme, the catholic religion's theme), and concludes with a hypothesis of correlation between the oscillating consent enjoyed by fascist system in the different moments of the decade and the frequency of the considered themes' appearance in futurist sculptures

First Investigation on the Shelf life of Mediterranean Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) on the Basis of Their Volatiles Profiles

Volatiles are critical for real and perceived quality of mussels. In the present study, we determined, for the very first time, the characteristic volatiles of fresh Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and their variation during 4 days of storage at 6.0 ± 0.5 °C. During this time, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were monitored using SPME-GC-MS. Twenty-seven VOCs were identified in mussel meat: eight esters, seven alcohols, three acids, three aldehydes, three ketons, one phenol, one sulfide, and one polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. While the molecular fingerprint of the fresh mussel was very simple, during storage, there was the onset of reliable shelf life markers. Two of them, namely 1-octen-3-ol and 2-nonanone, appeared after 1.5 days and increased during chilled storage up to the fourth day. Other seven compounds (three free acids, four esters, and one phenol derivative) were found only after 4 days. Shelf life markers monitoring enables correct transport and storing conditions and prevention of the distribution of stale mussels

Locus coeruleus complex of the family Delphinidae

The locus coeruleus (LC) is the largest catecholaminergic nucleus and extensively projects to widespread areas of the brain and spinal cord. The LC is the largest source of noradrenaline in the brain. To date, the only examined Delphinidae species for the LC has been a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). In our experimental series including different Delphinidae species, the LC was composed of five subdivisions: A6d, A6v, A7, A5, and A4. The examined animals had the A4 subdivision, which had not been previously described in the only Delphinidae in which this nucleus was investigated. Moreover, the neurons had a large amount of neuromelanin in the interior of their perikarya, making this nucleus highly similar to that of humans and non-human primates. This report also presents the first description of neuromelanin in the cetaceans' LC complex, as well as in the cetaceans' brain

Decompression vs. decomposition : distribution, amount, and gas composition of bubbles in stranded marine mammals

© The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Frontiers in Physiology 3 (2012): 177, doi:10.3389/fphys.2012.00177.Gas embolic lesions linked to military sonar have been described in stranded cetaceans including beaked whales. These descriptions suggest that gas bubbles in marine mammal tissues may be more common than previously thought. In this study we have analyzed gas amount (by gas score) and gas composition within different decomposition codes using a standardized methodology. This broad study has allowed us to explore species-specific variability in bubble prevalence, amount, distribution, and composition, as well as masking of bubble content by putrefaction gases. Bubbles detected within the cardiovascular system and other tissues related to both pre- and port-mortem processes are a common finding on necropsy of stranded cetaceans. To minimize masking by putrefaction gases, necropsy, and gas sampling must be performed as soon as possible. Before 24 h post mortem is recommended but preferably within 12 h post mortem. At necropsy, amount of bubbles (gas score) in decomposition code 2 in stranded cetaceans was found to be more important than merely presence vs. absence of bubbles from a pathological point of view. Deep divers presented higher abundance of gas bubbles, mainly composed of 70% nitrogen and 30% CO2, suggesting a higher predisposition of these species to suffer from decompression-related gas embolism.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with two research projects: (AGL 2005-07947) and (CGL 2009/12663), as well as the Government of Canary Islands (DG Medio Natural). The Spanish Ministry of Education contributed with personal financial support (the University Professor Formation fellowship). The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Marine Mammal Centre and Wick and Sloan Simmons provided funding for the latest stage of this work

Health technology assessment of pathogen reduction technologies applied to plasma for clinical use

Although existing clinical evidence shows that the transfusion of blood components is becoming increasingly safe, the risk of transmission of known and unknown pathogens, new pathogens or re-emerging pathogens still persists. Pathogen reduction technologies may offer a new approach to increase blood safety. The study is the output of collaboration between the Italian National Blood Centre and the Post-Graduate School of Health Economics and Management, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. A large, multidisciplinary team was created and divided into six groups, each of which addressed one or more HTA domains.Plasma treated with amotosalen + UV light, riboflavin + UV light, methylene blue or a solvent/detergent process was compared to fresh-frozen plasma with regards to current use, technical features, effectiveness, safety, economic and organisational impact, and ethical, social and legal implications. The available evidence is not sufficient to state which of the techniques compared is superior in terms of efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness. Evidence on efficacy is only available for the solvent/detergent method, which proved to be non-inferior to untreated fresh-frozen plasma in the treatment of a wide range of congenital and acquired bleeding disorders. With regards to safety, the solvent/detergent technique apparently has the most favourable risk-benefit profile. Further research is needed to provide a comprehensive overview of the cost-effectiveness profile of the different pathogen-reduction techniques. The wide heterogeneity of results and the lack of comparative evidence are reasons why more comparative studies need to be performed

Prioritization of high-cost new drugs for HCV: making sustainability ethical

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major health problem worldwide. Chronic HCV infection may in the long run cause cirrhosis, hepatic decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma, with an ultimate disease burden of at least 350,000 deaths per year worldwide. The new generation of highly effective direct acting antivirals (DAA) to treat HCV infection brings major promises to infected patients in terms of exceedingly high rates of sustained virological response (SVR) but also of tolerability, allowing even the sickest patients to be treated. Even in the face of the excellent safety and efficacy and wide theoretical applicability of these regimens, their introduction is currently facing cost and access issues denying their use to many patients in need. Health systems in all countries are facing a huge problem of distributive justice, since while they should guarantee individual rights, among which the right to health in its broader sense, therefore not limited to healing, but extended to quality of life, they must also grant equal access to the healthcare resources and keep the distribution system sustainable. In the face of a disease with a relatively unpredictable course, where many but not of all chronically infected will eventually die of liver disease, selective allocation of this costly resource is debatable. In most countries the favorite solution has been a stratification of patients for prioritization of treatment, which means allowing Interferon-free DAA treatment only in patients with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis, while keeping on hold persons with lesser stages of liver disease. In this report, we will perform an ethical assessment addressing the issues linked to access to new therapies, prioritization and eligibility criteria, analyzing the meaning of the term “distributive justice” and the different approaches that can guide us (individualistic libertarianism, social utilitarianism and egalitarianism) on this specific matter. Even if over time the price of new DAA will be reduced through competition and eventual patent expiration, the phenomenon of high drug costs will go on in the next decades and we need adequate tools to face the problems of distributive justice that come with it

The development of PubMed search strategies for patient preferences for treatment outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The importance of respecting patients' preferences when making treatment decisions is increasingly recognized. Efficiently retrieving papers from the scientific literature reporting on the presence and nature of such preferences can help to achieve this goal. The objective of this study was to create a search filter for PubMed to help retrieve evidence on patient preferences for treatment outcomes. METHODS: A total of 27 journals were hand-searched for articles on patient preferences for treatment outcomes published in 2011. Selected articles served as a reference set. To develop optimal search strategies to retrieve this set, all articles in the reference set were randomly split into a development and a validation set. MeSH-terms and keywords retrieved using PubReMiner were tested individually and as combinations in PubMed and evaluated for retrieval performance (e.g. sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp)). RESULTS: Of 8238 articles, 22 were considered to report empirical evidence on patient preferences for specific treatment outcomes. The best search filters reached Se of 100 % [95 % CI 100-100] with Sp of 95 % [94-95 %] and Sp of 97 % [97-98 %] with 75 % Se [74-76 %]. In the validation set these queries reached values of Se of 90 % [89-91 %] with Sp 94 % [93-95 %] and Se of 80 % [79-81 %] with Sp of 97 % [96-96 %], respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Narrow and broad search queries were developed which can help in retrieving literature on patient preferences for treatment outcomes. Identifying such evidence may in turn enhance the incorporation of patient preferences in clinical decision making and health technology assessment

Ethical analysis in HTA of complex health interventions

Background: In the field of health technology assessment (HTA), there are several approaches that can be used for ethical analysis. However, there is a scarcity of literature that critically evaluates and compares the strength and weaknesses of these approaches when they are applied in practice. In this paper, we analyse the applicability of some selected approaches for addressing ethical issues in HTA in the field of complex health interventions. Complex health interventions have been the focus of methodological attention in HTA. However, the potential methodological challenges for ethical analysis are as yet unknown. Methods: Six of the most frequently described and applied ethical approaches in HTA were critically assessed against a set of five characteristics of complex health interventions: multiple and changing perspectives, indeterminate phenomena, uncertain causality, unpredictable outcomes, and ethical complexity. The assessments are based on literature and the authors’ experiences of developing, applying and assessing the approaches. Results: The Interactive, participatory HTA approach is by its nature and flexibility, applicable across most complexity characteristics. Wide Reflective Equilibrium is also flexible and its openness to different perspectives makes it better suited for complex health interventions than more rigid conventional approaches, such as Principlism and Casuistry. Approaches developed for HTA purposes are fairly applicable for complex health interventions, which one could expect because they include various ethical perspectives, such as the HTA Core Model® and the Socratic approach. Conclusion: This study shows how the applicability for addressing ethical issues in HTA of complex health interventions differs between the selected ethical approaches. Knowledge about these differences may be helpful when choosing and applying an approach for ethical analyses in HTA. We believe that the study contributes to increasing awareness and interest of the ethical aspects of complex health interventions in general

Analysis and compensation of friction in the TWIN lower-limb exoskeleton : a model-based approach

LAUREA MAGISTRALEGli esoscheletri sono dei device sempre più popolari nel campo della riabilitazione delle funzioni motorie. Per avere però un effettivo beneficio clinico, l’assistenza al paziente dovrebbe essere fornita sulla base del livello di compromissione dell’arto e l’esoscheletro dovrebbe assecondare gli sforzi del paziente. Il robot deve quindi essere il più trasparente e compliante possibile e deve raggiungere un compromesso ottimale tra assistenza e trasparenza. Un controllo in trasparenza è una delle maggiori sfide per chi progetta un esoscheletro ed esistono diverse modalità di compensazione dei disturbi. Questo progetto di tesi mira alla creazione di un modello di compensazione degli attriti per aumentare la trasparenza nei giunti di TWIN, un esoscheletro di arto inferiore. Dopo aver eseguito dei test di carico sui giunti di TWIN, che costituiscono gli attuatori dell’intera struttura, sono stati analizzati i contributi di coppia agenti sui giunti e sono stati creati dei modelli rappresentativi delle coppie dovute agli attriti. Questi modelli poi sono stati utilizzati per implementare all’interno del giunto un controllo in coppia. Dai test effettuati utilizzando questi modelli e il controllo in coppia, i giunti risultano trasparenti, con movimenti fluidi e controllati. Inoltre questo studio offre un design preliminare di un controllo in impedenza, necessario al giorno d’oggi negli esoscheletri riabilitativi, ponendo le basi per lo sviluppo di una modalità di assistenza attiva del paziente che promuova quindi l’intenzionalità di quest’ultimo e migliora il percorso riabilitativo.Exoskeletons are increasingly popular devices in the field of motor rehabilitation. However, in order to have an effective clinical benefit, patient assistance should be provided based on the level of limb impairment and the exoskeleton should accommodate the patient's efforts. Therefore, the robot has to be as transparent and compliant as possible and achieve an optimal compromise between assistance and transparency. Transparent control is one of the biggest challenges for exoskeleton designers and there are several ways to compensate disturbances. This thesis project aims to create a friction compensation model to increase transparency in the joints of TWIN, a lower limb exoskeleton. After performing load tests on the joints of TWIN, which are the actuators of the entire structure, the torque contributions acting on the joints were analyzed and representative models of the friction torques were built. The models were then used to implement torque control within the joint. From the tests conducted employing these models and torque control, the joints appear to be transparent, with smooth and controlled motions. In addition, this study offers a preliminary design of an impedance control, which is necessary today in rehabilitation exoskeletons, laying the groundwork for the development of an active patient assistance modality that promotes patient intentionality and improves the rehabilitation process

Acceleration by the ARC approach of reactive flow simulations in CFD aerospace applications

LAUREA MAGISTRALELa comunità industriale ha accresciuto recentemente l’interesse nell’implementazione e nell’ottimizzazione degli algoritmi per la Fluidodinamica Computazionale (CFD). Questo elaborato investiga l’uso dell’approccio Ana- litically Reduced Chemistry (ARC) per trovare una soluzione rapida ai problemi con fluidi reattivi in casi Aerospaziali, preservando un’accuratezza accettabile dei risultati. L’approssimazione Quasi-Steady State (QSS) è stata implementata e testata per trattare le specie con un basso ciclo vita e concentrazioni come steady state. Le specie QSS sono state selezionate anche grazie ad un coefficiente di sensibilità secondo un approccio chiam- ato Level of Importance (LOI), per poi includere nella lista QSS le specie con un lungo ciclo vita ma bassa sensibilità. Un sistema algebrico di equazioni aggiorna la concentrazione delle specie QSS riducendo il costo dell’integrazione delle ODE. Questo aiuta a ridurre la stiffness del sistema del sistema di ODE della chimica, promuovendo un’accelerazione della sua soluzione. L’uso del metodo di eliminazione (DAC) accelera maggior- mente le simulazioni dei meccanismi chimici. La validazione è stata effettuata su due casi. Le simulazioni sono state condotte tramite il software CFD OpenFOAMà. Sono stati considerati due modelli di combustione: l’Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) e il Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR). Le soluzioni sono state validate con i risultati sperimentali presenti in letteratura.The industrial community has recently risen the interest in the devel- opment and optimization of fast and reliable algorithms for Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations. This work investigates the use of the Analitically Reduced Chemistry (ARC) approach to quickly solve reactive flow problems in the Aerospace field while preserving an acceptable accuracy of the results. The Quasi-Steady State (QSS) approximation treats the species with the smallest life- time and concentration as steady state. The selection of the QSS species is done by means of a sensitivity coefficient, via the Level of Importance (LOI) approach, so as to include in the QSS-list the species with long lifetime but small sensitivity. An algebraic system of equations updates the concentration of the QSS species reducing the cost of ODE integration. That also helps to reduce the stiffness of the chemical ODE system, promoting an acceleration in its solution. The use of an elimination method (DAC) further accelerates the detailed-chemistry simulations. Testing is performed on two cases. Simulations are conducted via the CFD soft- ware OpenFOAMà. Two combustion models are accounted: the Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) and the Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR). Solutions are validated against experimental results available in the literature