I camini di Serlio e le finestre di Koolhaas. Composizione non-composizione

Starting with a consideration on the Vitruvian dispositio, characterized in architectural treatises by a unified vision of Architecture as a discipline, and aimed to the transmission of knowledge in relation to its practice, the essay analyses the changes which have occurred in Architecture since the 18th century, in order to reflect upon the design and disciplinary role of some of the architectural tools (both compositional and non-compositional) typical of postmodernity. The framework is a sort of reasoning through the language and about architecture in general, starting from the two poles of Enlightenment and post-modern – the latter meant as the post-modern condition of thought.A partire dalla rilettura della dispositio vitruviana in stretta relazione con quella visione unitaria della disciplina che si inscrive nel solco della trattatistica e mira alla trasmissibilità del sapere in funzione della sua applicazione pratica, il saggio esamina i cambiamenti occorsi nella pratica architettonica dal Settecento in avanti per riflettere sul ruolo progettuale e disciplinare di alcuni dei dispositivi architettonici – compositivi e non-compositivi – caratteristici della postmodernità, collocandoli all’interno di una sorta di ragionamento sul linguaggio, e da qui sull’architettura in generale, a partire dai due poli dell’illuminismo e del postmoderno, quest’ultimo inteso nel senso della condizione postmoderna del pensiero

Alice in Wonderland: «Art exists because reality is neither real nor significant»

What are the contaminations between art and architecture in today’s world? In the relationship with the architectural and urban space, what role does art play whenever art and architecture come into contact? Quoting James Ballard, the title of the present essay represents a sort of provocation, especially in case of association with Canaletto’s famed Capriccio palladiano and to the in some ways inappropriate usage that Aldo Rossi made of it. Starting from the observation that the composition made by Canaletto is, in a certain way, truer than Venice itself, one might wonder about the role of art in the construction of the architectural and urban image and, through some examples, affirm that in the present time art is a kind of seismograph that pushes architects to look beyond, to investigate the field of the unspoken or the unthinkable and it is used, in many cases, as a device to substantiate architecture itself and its outcomes. How and through which instruments? The answer lies in the works as mere instruments used to go back to the (implicit or explicit) canons and codes used, or perhaps to get to admit that, conversely, they often fade into a hermeneutic of the indeterminate, in relation to which identifying limits and boundaries seems increasingly difficult. Who makes what, between art and architecture? Ballard explains it masterfully and some artists show it clearly. The whole complex of these experiences is bound to the (solid) architecture and its theoretical corpus together with the desire to reflect on processes, procedures, transcriptions, and metamorphoses capable of feeding architecture and its languages.What are the contaminations between art and architecture in today’s world? In the relationship with the architectural and urban space, what role does art play whenever art and architecture come into contact? Quoting James Ballard, the title of the present essay represents a sort of provocation, especially in case of association with Canaletto’s famed Capriccio palladiano and to the in some ways inappropriate usage that Aldo Rossi made of it. Starting from the observation that the composition made by Canaletto is, in a certain way, truer than Venice itself, one might wonder about the role of art in the construction of the architectural and urban image and, through some examples, affirm that in the present time art is a kind of seismograph that pushes architects to look beyond, to investigate the field of the unspoken or the unthinkable and it is used, in many cases, as a device to substantiate architecture itself and its outcomes. How and through which instruments? The answer lies in the works as mere instruments used to go back to the (implicit or explicit) canons and codes used, or perhaps to get to admit that, conversely, they often fade into a hermeneutic of the indeterminate, in relation to which identifying limits and boundaries seems increasingly difficult. Who makes what, between art and architecture? Ballard explains it masterfully and some artists show it clearly. The whole complex of these experiences is bound to the (solid) architecture and its theoretical corpus together with the desire to reflect on processes, procedures, transcriptions, and metamorphoses capable of feeding architecture and its languages

Descrizioni di descrizioni. Esercizi (interrotti) di architettura scritta

Since its pre-classical antecedents, the whole history of architectural thought has been characterised by a descriptive literary form. Though not exhaustive in defining the role and cognitive task of the discipline, the description – as an analytical device –  is one of the favourite operative tools of architecture and this is true not just nowadays, at the time of storytelling, but has always been so since ancestral times. A long tradition can definitely be traced, whom only recently a name has been given to, perhaps on the wave of that predisposition to self-reflection of architecture on herself, inaugurated with the century of Enlightenment, specified in the Short Twentieth Century and become today way of thinking.L’intera storia del pensiero architettonico, fin dagli antecedenti preclassici, è percorsa dalla forma letteraria della descrizione. La descrizione, in quanto dispositivo analitico, seppure non esaurisca il ruolo e il compito conoscitivo della disciplina, ne è uno degli strumenti operativi e questo, non solo ora, all’epoca dello storytelling, ma fin dall’antichità.Si può infatti rintracciare una lunga tradizione, a cui solo recentemente è stato dato un nome, forse sull’onda di quella predisposizione all’autoriflessione dell’architettura su se stessa, inauguratasi con il secolo dei Lumi, specificatasi nel Secolo breve e divenuta oggi way of thinking

Exact direct correlations in the near critical region of CO2

Environmental concerns led to Green Chemistry principles, advocating for greener yet efficient solvents. Supercritical CO2 (scCO2) is a promising candidate due to its non-toxicity and potential for reusing CO2 emissions. It also offers a versatile range of properties, finely tunable by pressure adjustments. This adaptability is exploited in chemical industry processes (separation, extraction). Developing greener processes using scCO2 requires an efficient predictive tool for the solvation properties under different conditions. Existing parametric equations for solubility predictions depend on known experimental data, while molecular dynamics (MD) simulations remain expensive for studying various conditions. Both methods are unsuitable for novel technologies. Liquid-state theories offer a promising compromise, combining the microscopic modelling of MD with faster calculations. Among them, MDFT permits an accurate modelling of solvation properties if provided with correct correlation functions of the bulk solvent. Such bulk correlation functions can be exactly calculated from expensive MD simulations or from faster but less accurate bulk liquid-state theories. The construction of an accurate bulk liquid-state theory is paramount for the development of MDFT for scCO2. In this perspective, this paper presents a comparison of the exact bulk correlation functions in scCO2 obtained from MD with the predictions of the molecular hypernetted chain approximation (HNC), recently extended to include the molecular nature of CO2. If HNC fails to get the correct thermodynamics, it succeeds to reproduce the short-range structure. These results will prepare the development of MDFT as a perfect tool for investigating a wide range of solutes under various conditions

Endothelin-1 Drives Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition In Hypertensive Nephroangiosclerosis

BACKGROUND: Tubulointerstitial fibrosis, the final outcome of most kidney diseases, involves activation of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT). Endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) activates EMT in cancer cells, but it is not known whether it drives EMT in the kidney. We therefore tested the hypothesis that tubulointerstitial fibrosis involves EMT driven by ET‐1. METHODS AND RESULTS: Transgenic TG[mRen2]27 (TGRen2) rats developing fulminant angiotensin II–dependent hypertension with prominent cardiovascular and renal damage were submitted to drug treatments targeted to ET‐1 and/or angiotensin II receptor or left untreated (controls). Expressional changes of E‐cadherin and α‐smooth muscle actin (αSMA) were examined as markers of renal EMT. In human kidney HK‐2 proximal tubular cells expressing the ET(B) receptor subtype, the effects of ET‐1 with or without ET‐1 antagonists were also investigated. The occurrence of renal fibrosis was associated with EMT in control TGRen2 rats, as evidenced by decreased E‐cadherin and increased αSMA expression. Irbesartan and the mixed ET‐1 receptor antagonist bosentan prevented these changes in a blood pressure–independent fashion (P < 0.001 for both versus controls). In HK‐2 cells ET‐1 blunted E‐cadherin expression, increased αSMA expression (both P < 0.01), collagen synthesis, and metalloproteinase activity (P < 0.005, all versus untreated cells). All changes were prevented by the selective ET(B) receptor antagonist BQ‐788. Evidence for involvement of the Rho‐kinase signaling pathway and dephosphorylation of Yes‐associated protein in EMT was also found. CONCLUSIONS: In angiotensin II–dependent hypertension, ET‐1 acting via ET(B) receptors and the Rho‐kinase and Yes‐associated protein induces EMT and thereby renal fibrosis

Measurement error in occupational coding: an analysis on SHARE data

This article studies the potential measurement errors when coding occupational data. The quality of occupational data is important but often neglected. We recoded open-ended questions on occupation for last and current job in the Dutch SHARE data, using the CASCOT ex-post coding software. The disagreement rate, defined as the percentage of observations coded differently in SHARE and CASCOT, is high even when compared at ISCO 1-digit level (33.7% for last job and 40% for current job). This finding is striking, considering our conservative approach to exclude vague and incomplete answers. The level of miscoding should thus be considered as a lower bound of the “true” miscoding. This highlights the complexity of occupational coding and suggests that measurement error due to miscoding should be taken into account when making statistical analysis or writing econometric models. We tested whether the measurement error is random or correlated to individual or job-related characteristics, and we found that the measurement error is indeed more evident in ISCO-88 groups 1 and 3 and is more pronounced for higher educated individuals and males. These groups may be sorted in occupations that are intrinsically more difficult to be classified, or education and gender may affect the way people describe their jobs

Measuring and Detecting Errors in Occupational Coding: an Analysis of SHARE Data

This article studies coding errors in occupational data, as the quality of this data is important but often neglected. In particular, we recoded open-ended questions on occupation for last and current job in the Dutch sample of the “Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe” (SHARE) using a high-quality software program for ex-post coding (CASCOT software). Taking CASCOT coding as our benchmark, our results suggest that the incidence of coding errors in SHARE is high, even when the comparison is made at the level of one-digit occupational codes (28% for last job and 30% for current job). This finding highlights the complexity of occupational coding and suggests that processing errors due to miscoding should be taken into account when undertaking statistical analyses or writing econometric models. Our analysis suggests strategies to alleviate such coding errors, and we propose a set of equations that can predict error. These equations may complement coding software and improve the quality of occupational coding.This article studies coding errors in occupational data, as the quality of this data is important but often neglected. In particular, we recoded open-ended questions on occupation for last and current job in the Dutch sample of the "Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe" (SHARE) using a high-quality software program for ex-post coding (CASCOT software). Taking CASCOT coding as our benchmark, our results suggest that the incidence of coding errors in SHARE is high, even when the comparison is made at the level of one-digit occupational codes (28% for last job and 30% for current job). This finding highlights the complexity of occupational coding and suggests that processing errors due to miscoding should be taken into account when undertaking statistical analyses or writing econometric models. Our analysis suggests strategies to alleviate such coding errors, and we propose a set of equations that can predict error. These equations may complement coding software and improve the quality of occupational coding