CROCE, GRAMSCI E A “AUTONOMIA DA POLÍTICA”

Within the reflections that Gramsci developed in his Quaderni del carcere, the theme of the autonomyof the political occupies a key position. It was on the basis of these reflections that Gramsci carriedout his research regarding politics and the possibility of a Political Science. According to BenedettoCroce, Nicolas Machiavel can be credited as the first theorist to have asserted the autonomy ofpolitics. For Croce, it is this autonomy that makes it possible to establish a radical distinction betweenethics and politics and between “political philosophy” and the “empirical science of politics”. Gramscimakes critical use of Croce’s reflections as his point of departure in his reading of Machiavel.Recognition of the autonomy of the political implies that the the latter cannot be reduced to religionnor ethics. As fields of knowledge and as activities, Political Science and politics had their own rules,distinguishing themselves from other forms of knowledge and human activity. Yet for the Sardinian Marxist, “autonomy” was not meant to imply a radical separation between politics and morality.Dans la réflexion que Gramsci présente dans les Quaderni del carcere, le thème de l’autonomie dela politique prend une place importante. C’est sur cette réflexion que Gramsci a mené sa rechercheconcernant la politique et la possibilitié d’une science politique. Selon Benedetto Croce, il revient àNicolas Machiavel le mérite d’avoir affirmé pour la première fois l’autonomie de la politique. PourCroce, cette autonomie permettait d’établir une distinction radicale entre éthique et politique et entre« philosophie de la politique » et « science empirique de la politique ». Gramsci a critiquement utiliséla réflexion de Croce, point de départ de sa lecture de Machiavel. La reconnaissance de l’autonomie de la politique impliquait que celle-ci ne saurait se réduire à la religion ou à l’éthique. En tant quedomaine de connaissance et en tant qu’activités, la Science Politique et la politique avaient leurspropres règles, ce qui les différenciaient d’autres formes de connaissance et d’activité humaine.Néanmoins cette « autonomie » ne signifiait pas pour le marxiste sarde une séparation radicale entrepolitique et morale. C’est pour cette raison que Gramsci trouvait chez Machiavel un précurseur de laphilosophie de la praxis à plein sens, c’est-à-dire le créateur d’une « science-action-révolutionaire ».Na reflexão que Gramsci desenvolveu nos Quaderni del carcere, o tema da autonomia da política ocupa umaimportante posição. Foi com base nessa reflexão que Gramsci desenvolveu sua pesquisa a respeito depolítica e da possibilidade de uma ciência política. Segundo Benedetto Croce, cabia a Nicolau Maquiavelo mérito de ter afirmado pela primeira vez a autonomia da política. Para Croce, essa autonomia permitiaestabelecer uma distinção radical entre ética e política e entre “filosofia da política” e “ciência empíricada política”. Gramsci tomou criticamente a reflexão croceana como ponto de partida de sua leitura deMaquiavel. O reconhecimento da autonomia da política implicava que esta não poderia ser reduzida àreligião ou à ética. Como campo do conhecimento e como atividade, a ciência política e a política tinhamregras próprias, que as distinguiam de outras formas do conhecimento e da atividade humana. Mas tal“autonomia” não implicava, para o marxista sardo, uma separação radical entre política e moral. Por essarazão, Gramsci encontrava em Maquiavel um precursor da filosofia da práxis em sentido pleno, ou seja, ocriador de uma “ciência-ação revolucionária”

Apresentação

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Business process management heuristics in IT service management: a case study for incident management

This research aims to understand how Business process management (BPM) can be applied for the improvement of Information Technology service management (ITSM) processes. A case study is conducted for the improvement of the time performance of the incident management process, since it is pointed as a quick win for ITSM. The results obtained identified three best practices—activity automation, activity elimination and integral technology—as the best suited for the improvement of the time performance of the incident management process. Using a simulation tool for business processes, it was revealed that the employment of these best practices in the analysed incident management process eliminates the effort required in the 1st support level and reduces in 10.7% the average processing time in the 2nd support level

Assembly of Polyiodide Networks with Cu(II) Complexes of Pyridinol-Based Tetraaza Macrocycles

Polyiodide networks are currently of great practical interest for the preparation of new electronic materials. The participation of metals in the formation of these networks is believed to improve their mechanical performance and thermal stability. Here we report the results on the construction of polyiodide networks obtained using Cu(II) complexes of a series of pyridinol-based tetraazacyclophanes as countercations. The assembly of these crystalline polyiodides takes place from aqueous solutions on the basis of similar structural elements, the [CuL]2+ and [Cu(H-1L)]+ (L = L2, L2-Me, L2-Me3) complex cations, so that the peculiarities induced by the increase of N-methylation of ligands, the structural variable of ligands, can be highlighted. First, solution equilibria involving ligands and complexes were analyzed (potentiometry, NMR, UV-vis, ITC). Then, the appropriate conditions could be selected to prepare polyiodides based on the above complex cations. Single-crystal XRD analysis showed that the coordination of pyridinol units to two metal ions is a prime feature of these ligands, leading to polymeric coordination chains of general formula {[Cu(H-1L)]}nn+ (L = L2-Me, L2-Me3). In the presence of the I-/I2 couple, the polymerization tendency stops with the formation of [(CuL)(CuH-1L)]3+ (L = L2-Me, L2-Me3) dimers which are surrounded by polyiodide networks. Moreover, coordination of the pyridinol group to two metal ions transforms the surface charge of the ring from negative to markedly positive, generating a suitable environment for the assembly of polyiodide anions, while N-methylation shifts the directional control of the assembly from H-bonds to I···I interactions. In fact, an extended concatenation of iodine atoms occurs around the complex dimeric cations, the supramolecular I···I interactions become shorter and shorter, fading into stronger forces dominated by the orbital overlap, which is promising for effective electronic materials

Amyloid Peptide Induced Neuroinflammation Increases the P2X7 Receptor Expression in Microglial Cells, Impacting on Its Functionality

Alzheimer disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the presence of senile plaques composed of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, neurofibrillary tangles, neuronal loss and neuroinflammation. Previous works have revealed that extracellular ATP, through its selective receptor P2X7 (P2X7R), is essential to neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity induced by Aβ. P2X7R is upregulated on microglial cells around the senile plaques. This upregulation progressively rises with age and is parallel with an accumulation of senile plaques and also correlates with the synaptic toxicity detected both in animal models reproducing AD and human patients of AD. Furthermore, the late onset of the first AD-associated symptoms suggests that aging associated-changes may be relevant to the disease progression. Thus, microglia motility and its capacity to respond to exogenous ATP stimulus decrease with aging. To evaluate whether the P2X7R age related-changes on microglia cells may be relevant to the AD progression, we generated a new transgenic mouse model crossing an Aβ peptide mouse model, J20 mice and the P2X7R reporter mice P2X7REGFP. Our results indicate that neuroinflammation induced by Aβ peptide causes changes in the P2X7R distribution pattern, increasing it s expression in microglial cells at advanced and late stages, when microgliosis occurs, but not in the early stages, in the absence of microgliosis. In addition, we found that P2X7R activation promotes microglial cells migration to senile plaques but decreases their phagocytic capacity. Moreover, we found a significant reduction of P2X7R transcription on neuronal cells at the early and advanced stages, but not at the late stages. Since previous studies have reported that either pharmacological inhibition or selective downregulation of P2X7R significantly improve behavioral alterations and reduce the incidence and size of senile plaques in the early and advanced stages of AD, the results presented here provide new evidence, indicating that this therapeutic approach could be also efficient in the late stages of the disease

P2X7 receptor blockade reduces tau induced toxicity, therapeutic implications in tauopathies

Tauopathies are neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the presence of aberrant intraneuronal aggregates of hyperphosphorylated Tau protein. Recent studies suggest that associated chronic neuroinflammation may contribute to the pathological Tau dissemination. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Since purinergic P2X7 receptors (P2X7) can sense the rise of extracellular ATP levels associated with neuroinflammation, its involvement in neurodegeneration-associated inflammation was suggested. We found a P2X7 upregulation in patients diagnosed with different tauopathies and in a tauopathy mouse model, P301S mice. In vivo pharmacological or genetic blockade of P2X7 reverted microglial activation in P301S mice leading to a reduction in microglial migratory, secretory, and proliferative capacities, and promoting phagocytic function. Furthermore, it reduced the intraneuronal phosphorylated Tau levels in a GSK3-dependent way and increased extracellular phosphorylated Tau levels by reducing the expression of ectoenzyme TNAP. Accordingly, pharmacological or genetic blockade of P2X7 improved the cellular survival, motor and memory deficits and anxiolytic profile in P301S mice. Contrary, P2X7 overexpression caused a significant worsening of Tauinduced toxicity and aggravated the deteriorated motor and memory deficits in P301S mice. Our results indicate that P2X7 plays a deleterious role in tauopathies and suggest that its blockade may be a promising approach to treat Tauopathies

Advanced Data Chain Technologies for the Next Generation of Earth Observation Satellites Supporting On-Board Processing for Rapid Civil Alerts

The growing number of planned Earth Observation (EO) satellites, together with the increase in payload resolution and swath, brings to the fore the generation of unprecedented volumes of data that needs to be downloaded, processed and distributed with low latency. This creates a severe bottleneck problem, which overloads ground infrastructure, communications to ground, and hampers the provision of EO products to the End User with the required performances. The European H2020 EO-ALERT project (http://eo-alert-h2020.eu/), proposes the definition of next-generation EO missions by developing an on-board high speed EO data processing chain, based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves optimised key EO data processing elements from the ground segment to on-board the satellite. EO-ALERT achieves, globally, latencies below five minutes for EO products delivery, reaching latencies below 1 minute in some scenarios. The proposed architecture solves the above challenges through a combination of innovations in the on-board elements of the data chain and the communications link. Namely, the architecture introduces innovative technological solutions, including on-board reconfigurable data handling, on-board image generation and processing for generation of alerts (EO products) using Artificial Intelligence (AI), high-speed on-board avionics, on-board data compression and encryption using AI and reconfigurable high data rate communication links to ground including a separate chain for alerts with minimum latency and global coverage. Those key technologies have been studied, developed, implemented in software/hardware (SW/HW) and verified against previously established technologies requirements to meet the identified user needs. The paper presents an overview of the development of the innovative solutions defined during the project for each of the above mentioned technological areas and the results of the testing campaign of the individual SW/HW implementations within the context of two operational scenarios: ship detection and extreme weather observation (nowcasting), both requiring a high responsiveness to events to reduce the response time to few hours, or even to minutes, after an emergency situation arises. The technologies have been experimentally evaluated during the project using relevant EO historical sensor data. The results demonstrate the maturity of the technologies, having now reached TRL 4-5. Generally, the results show that, when implemented using COTS components and available communication links, the proposed architecture can generate and delivery globally EO products/alerts with a latency lower than five minutes, which demonstrates the viability of the EO-ALERT concept. The paper also discusses the implementation on an Avionic Test Bench (ATB) for the validation of the integrated technologies chain

An Integrated Approach for the Early Detection of Endometrial and Ovarian Cancers (Screenwide Study): Rationale, Study Design and Pilot Study

Screenwide is a case-control study (2017-2021) including women with incident endometrial and ovarian cancers (EC and OC), BRCA1/2 and MMR pathogenic variant carriers, and age-matched controls from three centers in Spain. Participants completed a personal interview on their sociodemographic factors, occupational exposure, medication, lifestyle, and medical history. We collected biological specimens, including blood samples, self-collected vaginal specimens, cervical pap-brush samples, uterine specimens, and, when available, tumor samples. The planned analyses included evaluation of the potential risk factors for EC/OC; evaluation of molecular biomarkers in minimally invasive samples; evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of molecular tests; and the generation of predictive scores to integrate different epidemiologic, clinical, and molecular factors. Overall, 182 EC, 69 OC, 98 BRCA pathogenic variant carriers, 104 MMR pathogenic variant carriers, and 385 controls were enrolled. The overall participation rate was 85.7%. The pilot study using 61 samples from nine EC cases and four controls showed that genetic variants at the variant allele fraction > 5% found in tumors (n = 61 variants across the nine tumors) were detected in paired endometrial aspirates, clinician-collected cervical samples, and vaginal self-samples with detection rates of 90% (55/61), 79% (48/61), and 72% (44/61) by duplex sequencing, respectively. Among the controls, only one somatic mutation was detected in a cervical sample. We enrolled more than 800 women to evaluate new early detection strategies. The preliminary data suggest that our methodological approach could be useful for the early detection of gynecological cancers

Six hundred years of South American tree rings reveal an increase in severe hydroclimatic events since mid-20th century

South American (SA) societies are highly vulnerable to droughts and pluvials, but lack of long-term climate observations severely limits our understanding of the global processes driving climatic variability in the region. The number and quality of SA climate-sensitive tree ring chronologies have significantly increased in recent decades, now providing a robust network of 286 records for characterizing hydroclimate variability since 1400 CE. We combine this network with a self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) dataset to derive the South American Drought Atlas (SADA) over the continent south of 12°S. The gridded annual reconstruction of austral summer scPDSI is the most spatially complete estimate of SA hydroclimate to date, and well matches past historical dry/wet events. Relating the SADA to the Australia–New Zealand Drought Atlas, sea surface temperatures and atmospheric pressure fields, we determine that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) are strongly associated with spatially extended droughts and pluvials over the SADA domain during the past several centuries. SADA also exhibits more extended severe droughts and extreme pluvials since the mid-20th century. Extensive droughts are consistent with the observed 20th-century trend toward positive SAM anomalies concomitant with the weakening of midlatitude Westerlies, while low-level moisture transport intensified by global warming has favored extreme rainfall across the subtropics. The SADA thus provides a long-term context for observed hydroclimatic changes and for 21st-century Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections that suggest SA will experience more frequent/severe droughts and rainfall events as a consequence of increasing greenhouse gas emissions