A Miraculous Materialism: Lines of Flight in We Have a Pope and Corpo Celeste

This article considers Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam, 2011) and Alice Rohrwacher's Corpo Celeste (2011) via the notion of lines of flight as developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. We argue that, in spite of stylistic and thematic differences, the two films present clear similarities since they highlight and address conflicts and tensions existing within the contemporary Catholic religious order. Both films present cracks and horizons of becoming within the institutionalised Catholic Church, tracing possible paths of transformation for viewers aligning with and following the two main characters. We argue, concurrently, that Corpo Celeste – because of specific formal and conceptual choices – engenders a complete reimagining of the transcendent realm within a miraculous or animist materialist and immanent paradigm

Olmi and Pasolini: Industrialisation, the underdog and ‘ecological eschatology’ in Manon finestra 2 (1956) and Grigio (1957)

This article focuses on the collaboration between Ermanno Olmi and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Two key figures of the Italian cinematic tradition, Olmi and Pasolini have joined efforts on two occasions, as the Bergamasque director asked Pasolini to provide a commentary for his short films Manon finestra 2 (1956) and Grigio (1957). Two very different products, the two shorts offer a very compelling take on the process of industrialisation taking place in Italy in the 1950s. While Manon presents a slightly more positive view of the transition that Italy has undergone, Grigio is unequivocal in its condemnation, putting forward an alarming thesis: in order for this new society to exist, differences must be erased, communities are to disappear and the least advantaged will be left behind. However, this proposition also has a more optimistic counterpart; namely, the idea that these very communities remain the roots and the true point of reference of our civilisation

Still Banned After All These Years- Retracing the Journey of Cavani’s ‘Revolutionary’ Galileo (1968)

“Revolutionary” and “scandalous” are adjectives the late Ettore Bernabei, General Director of Italian State Television (RAI) from 1961 to 1974, used to describe Liliana Cavani’s Galileo (1968) in a 2005 interview for Corriere della Sera. Such harsh judgment reflects the undiminished hostility of a significant branch of Italian Catholicism toward the film. The fact that almost 50 years after its release Galileo has yet to be broadcast on public television despite being commissioned by it unequivocally confirms this hostility. Based on primary sources such as press articles and archival sources, this article chronicles Galileo’s incredible journey through the labyrinth of censorship and Catholic reception, revealing the complexities and mechanisms that regulate religious, political, and cultural life in Italy as well as the splintered nature of Italian Catholicism

The Ultimate Freedom? Suicide as ‘Exit Strategy’ in Marco Bellocchio’s Il regista di matrimoni (2006) and Sorelle Mai (2010)

This article examines the portrayal of suicide in two films by Marco Bellocchio, Il regista di matrimoni (2006) and Sorelle Mai (2010). I first suggest that voluntary death represents in Bellocchio's work an ‘exit strategy' that allows his characters to overcome an existential and ideological deadlock. I then turn to the implications of such a radical gesture, situating it within the millennia-old debates surrounding the topic of suicide. Finally, I examine the two case studies, teasing out their cultural, social, and political significance. In Il regista di matrimoni, the character's suicide is targeted at disrupting the clientelist system governing Italian cultural life. In Sorelle Mai, the suicidal character opts instead for a spectacular self-sacrifice, for an ending that is also a return to his origins. Overall, in Bellocchio’s films, suicide comes to be a locus of tension and resolution, a marriage of opposite impulses marked by ambiguity and undecidability

Confirmations That Were Not Meant to Be: Religion, Violence and the Female Body in Un poison violent (2010), Corpo celeste (2011), and Kreuzweg (2014)

This article considers the representation of the adolescent female body and the relevance of corporeality in Catholicism in three Western European films, which have at their centre the religious confirmation. These are: Un poison violent (Love Like Poison, 2010, Katell Quilléveré), Corpo celeste (Heavenly Body, 2011, Alice Rohrwacher), and Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross, 2014, Dietrich Brüggemann). The sacrament of confirmation as portrayed in the three films becomes the axis around which the dynamics of adolescence (i.e., changing body, blossoming sexuality, family conflicts) unfold, opening up a space for the analysis of the interplay between female subjectivities and Catholicism’s regulatory role. We look at the often-subtle violence exerted by Catholicism in an attempt to tame the female body and the ways female adolescents (re)negotiate their identity against the backdrop of religious authority. Our contention is that, in the films, the female protagonists’ subtraction from the confirmation becomes a way to distance themselves from the Catholic obedient body and reaffirm their individual, embodied subjectivity. To this end, we engage with the complex relationship between Catholicism, women, and women’s bodies, exploring the dichotomy between the Catholic ideal, unchangeable body and the continually-changing, desiring female bodies

IN VITRO ENTRAPMENT AND RELEASE STUDIES OF LEVOFLOXACIN USING EPICHLOROHYDRIN-CROSSLINKED HYDROGEL

Objective: This study aimed to optimize and evaluate the controlled release rate, ocular irritancy, and in vitro antimicrobial properties of levofloxacinentrapped in the epichlorohydrin-crosslinked hydrogel of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (NaCMC) and gelatin.Materials and Methods: Various parameters such as polymer ratio, amount of crosslinker, temperature, reaction time, swelling capacity, and percentdrug loading were considered in Optimized levofloxacin hydrogel. Hydrogel preparations with higher amount of drug loaded were further analyzedto determine its in vitro drug release rate, ocular irritancy on New Zealand rabbits, and antimicrobial activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosaand Staphylococcus aureus. Optimized levofloxacin hydrogel (OLH) was then subjected to 3-month stability testing at 40 ± 2°C and 75 ± 5% relativehumidity in which samples were withdrawn at the end of each month for analysis.Results: Polymer groups with higher concentrations of NaCMC have higher swelling and drug loading capacities than those with higher gelatinconcentrations. Meanwhile, qualitative analysis using differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanningelectron microscopy verified the presence of levofloxacin in the epichlorohydrin-cross-linked hydrogel. Among the four polymer ratio, F3 was theoptimized hydrogel with drug-loaded concentration of 99.50%, which was within the acceptable assay limit of 0.5% levofloxacin solution based onUnited States Pharmacopeia monograph. It followed the Higuchi kinetic model with a drug release mechanism of super case 2 transport indicatinghydrogel swelling as a key factor for its controlled drug release. In vitro, antibacterial test against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus was sensitive to optimizedlevofloxacin hydrogel (OLH) with inhibitory diameter zones of 31.68 and 37.05 mm, respectively. Ocular irritancy test also showed that the OLH isnon-irritating on installation in the cul-de-sac of New Zealand rabbits.Conclusion: Optimized levofloxacin hydrogel was effective, non-irritating, and stable, which can be used as an alternative to conventional 0.5%levofloxacin ophthalmic solution

Consensus for nonlinear monotone networks with unilateral interactions

This paper deals with an extended framework of the distributed asymptotic agreement problem by allowing the presence of unilateral interactions (optimistic or pessimistic) in place of bilateral ones, for a large class of nonlinear monotone time-varying networks. In this original setup we firstly introduce notions of unilateral optimistic and/or pessimistic interaction, of associated bicolored edge in the interaction graph and a suitable graph-theoretical connectedness property. Secondly, we formulate a new assumption of integral connectivity and show that it is sufficient to guarantee exponential convergence towards the agreement subspace. Finally, we remark that the proposed conditions are also necessary for consensuability. Theoretical advances are emphasized through illustrative examples given both to support the discussion and to highlight how the proposed framework extends all existing conditions for consensus of monotone networks

A Jeziorski-Monkhorst fully uncontracted Multi-Reference perturbative treatment I: principles, second-order versions and tests on ground state potential energy curves

The present paper introduces a new multi-reference perturbation approach developed at second order, based on a Jeziorsky-Mokhorst expansion using individual Slater determinants as perturbers. Thanks to this choice of perturbers, an effective Hamiltonian may be built, allowing for the dressing of the Hamiltonian matrix within the reference space, assumed here to be a CAS-CI. Such a formulation accounts then for the coupling between the static and dynamic correlation effects. With our new definition of zeroth-order energies, these two approaches are strictly size-extensive provided that local orbitals are used, as numerically illustrated here and formally demonstrated in the appendix. Also, the present formalism allows for the factorization of all double excitation operators, just as in internally contracted approaches, strongly reducing the computational cost of these two approaches with respect to other determinant-based perturbation theories. The accuracy of these methods has been investigated on ground-state potential curves up to full dissociation limits for a set of six molecules involving single, double and triple bond breaking. The spectroscopic constants obtained with the present methods are found to be in very good agreement with the full configuration interaction (FCI) results. As the present formalism does not use any parameter or numerically unstable operation, the curves obtained with the two methods are smooth all along the dissociation path.Comment: 4 figures, 18 page

Bistability of cell-matrix adhesions resulting from non-linear receptor-ligand dynamics

Bistability is a major mechanism for cellular decision making and usually results from positive feedback in biochemical control systems. Here we show theoretically that bistability between unbound and bound states of adhesion clusters results from positive feedback mediated by structural rather than biochemical processes, namely by receptor-ligand dissociation and association dynamics which depend non-linearly on mechanical force and receptor-ligand separation. For small cell-matrix adhesions, we find rapid switching between unbound and bound states, which in the initial stages of adhesion allows the cell to explore its environment through many transient adhesions.Comment: Revtex, 3 pages, 3 postscript figures included, to appear in Biophysical Journal as Biophysical Lette

Catholicism in Italian cinema in the age of ‘the new secularisation’ (1958-1978)

This thesis explores the portrayal of Italian Catholicism in five feature films: E venne un uomo (A Man Named John, dir. Ermanno Olmi, 1965), Galileo (1968, dir. Liliana Cavani), Teorema (Theorem, 1968, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini), Nel nome del padre (In the Name of the Father, 1972, dir. Marco Bellocchio) and Fratello sole, sorella luna (Brother Sun, Sister Moon, 1972, dir. Franco Zeffirelli). Challenging the notion of Italian Catholicism as a monolithic and unified system of thought, this investigation brings out its fragmented quality, thereby validating Antonio Gramsci’s claim of the coexistence of a plurality of religious tendencies in the country. The study focuses on a twenty-year period between 1958 and 1978, as it is during this period—referred to as “the new secularisation”—that the fragmentation underlying Italian Catholicism emerged with clarity. Within this context, the five chosen films offer ideal case studies to assess the plurality of attitudes towards Catholicism in that period: not only do they employ a large repertoire of narratives, persons, symbols, iconography, quotes, rituals and places of Catholic tradition, but they also reimagine this repertoire in either orthodox or provocative ways, effectively upholding or critiquing Catholicism as a belief system, Catholicism as practiced by the faithful and the Catholic Church as an institution. Analysis of the films is organised across the four areas suggested by Melanie J. Wright, namely narrative, style, cultural and religious context, and reception, with a focus on reception amongst Catholics. Analysis of these elements uncovers the five directors’ personal and unique approaches to religion, ultimately attesting not only to the immense cultural and social legacy of Catholicism in the country, but also to the existence of a multiplicity of religious sensitivities