Ipotesi sul ciclo in stucco di palazzo Altieri a Roma.

Il saggio contestualizza un ciclo significativo della produzione a stucco della Roma della seconda metà del 17. secolo

Condotte compulsive in paziente con sindrome di Aicardi. agenesia del corpo calloso

The corpus callosum, which is the largest white matter structure in the brain of all placental mammals, connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres. An alteration in its morphology, hypoconnectivity or hyperconnectivity is a common marker of various neuropsychiatric pathologies. One of these is Aicardi syndrome, which is characterized by a triad of callosal agenesis, infantile spasms and chorioretinal lacunae. Patients affected by Aicardi syndrome frequently display other malformations together with congenital defects of the eyes, ribs and vertebrae. Based on the current clinical knowledge, this syndrome is now recognized as a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that includes neurological and constitutional symptoms. However, literature data have not yet defined the presence of a particular set of symptoms in psychiatric patients with this condition. The present case is the first report in which an on-going compulsive behaviour focused on the insistence to order objects has been observed in Aicardi syndrom

Dissociative symptoms in female patients with mood and anxiety disorders: a psychopathological and temperamental investigation.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: Dissociative symptoms are frequent among psychiatric patients and may considerably affect patients' psychopathological condition and treatment outcomes. The objectives of the study are to assess the presence of dissociative symptoms in female patients with mood and anxiety disorders, to investigate their correlation with the clinical severity of the disorders and to investigate those personality traits that are more frequent in patients with high levels of dissociation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 50 Caucasian females were enrolled in the study. Patients were assessed through the Self-Report Symptom Check-List, the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and rating scales for Depression and Anxiety. RESULTS: The mean DES score in the overall sample was 16.6. 32% of patients had a DES score > 20. Depressive symptoms positively correlated with the DES total scores. Dissociator patients presented some significantly different temperamental characteristics in comparison with non dissociator patients. CONCLUSIONS: Dissociative symptoms are highly present in patients with mood and anxiety disorders and correlate with the severity of depressive symptoms. Specific personality traits more frequently observed in dissociator people may represent predisposing factors; their early identification could be clinically relevant

Attracted Diffusion-Limited Aggregation

In this paper, we present results of extensive Monte Carlo simulations of diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) with a seed placed on an attractive plane as a simple model in connection with the electrical double layers. We compute the fractal dimension of the aggregated patterns as a function of the attraction strength \alpha. For the patterns grown in both two and three dimensions, the fractal dimension shows a significant dependence on the attraction strength for small values of \alpha, and approaches to that of the ordinary two-dimensional (2D) DLA in the limit of large \alpha. For non-attracting case with \alpha=1, our results in three dimensions reproduce the patterns of 3D ordinary DLA, while in two dimensions our model leads to formation of a compact cluster with dimension two. For intermediate \alpha, the 3D clusters have quasi-2D structure with a fractal dimension very close to that of the ordinary 2D-DLA. This allows one to control morphology of a growing cluster by tuning a single external parameter \alpha.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E (2012

Phase separation and rotor self-assembly in active particle suspensions

Adding a non-adsorbing polymer to passive colloids induces an attraction between the particles via the `depletion' mechanism. High enough polymer concentrations lead to phase separation. We combine experiments, theory and simulations to demonstrate that using active colloids (such as motile bacteria) dramatically changes the physics of such mixtures. First, significantly stronger inter-particle attraction is needed to cause phase separation. Secondly, the finite size aggregates formed at lower inter-particle attraction show unidirectional rotation. These micro-rotors demonstrate the self assembly of functional structures using active particles. The angular speed of the rotating clusters scales approximately as the inverse of their size, which may be understood theoretically by assuming that the torques exerted by the outermost bacteria in a cluster add up randomly. Our simulations suggest that both the suppression of phase separation and the self assembly of rotors are generic features of aggregating swimmers, and should therefore occur in a variety of biological and synthetic active particle systems.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 5 figures. Supplementary information: 5 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary movies available from httP://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1116334109/-/DCSupplementa

A parameter-free, solid-angle based, nearest-neighbor algorithm

We propose a parameter-free algorithm for the identification of nearest neighbors. The algorithm is very easy to use and has a number of advantages over existing algorithms to identify nearest- neighbors. This solid-angle based nearest-neighbor algorithm (SANN) attributes to each possible neighbor a solid angle and determines the cutoff radius by the requirement that the sum of the solid angles is 4{\pi}. The algorithm can be used to analyze 3D images, both from experiments as well as theory, and as the algorithm has a low computational cost, it can also be used "on the fly" in simulations. In this paper, we describe the SANN algorithm, discuss its properties, and compare it to both a fixed-distance cutoff algorithm and to a Voronoi construction by analyzing its behavior in bulk phases of systems of carbon atoms, Lennard-Jones particles and hard spheres as well as in Lennard-Jones systems with liquid-crystal and liquid-vapor interfaces

Forward Flux Sampling for rare event simulations

Rare events are ubiquitous in many different fields, yet they are notoriously difficult to simulate because few, if any, events are observed in a conventiona l simulation run. Over the past several decades, specialised simulation methods have been developed to overcome this problem. We review one recently-developed class of such methods, known as Forward Flux Sampling. Forward Flux Sampling uses a series of interfaces between the initial and final states to calculate rate constants and generate transition paths, for rare events in equilibrium or nonequilibrium systems with stochastic dynamics. This review draws together a number of recent advances, summarizes several applications of the method and highlights challenges that remain to be overcome.Comment: minor typos in the manuscript. J.Phys.:Condensed Matter (accepted for publication