The last ten years of research at Tarquinia

The Centro di Ricerca Coordinata ‘ProgettoTarquinia’ of the Università degli Studi di Milano is a LERU (League of European Research Universities) exemplary interdisciplinary research project that involves groups from the Università Statale di Milano (Archaeology, Information and Communication Technologies, Geoarchaeology, Palaeoanthropology), the Politecnico di Milano (Architecture and Topography) and bridges the gap between soft and hard sciences. This project stems from the ‘Progetto Tarquinia’ conceived by Maria Bonghi Jovino in 1982. During the last ten years, our integrated system of tools and services, supported by ICTs (ArchMatrix), through which multidisciplinary domain experts can examine all the typologies of data of a given culture, has made it possible to concentrate on the links between data-sources focusing on the recurrence of association rates within different aspects of material evidence and phenomena. The fields of application of our methodology in the domain of archaeology and epigraphy are multifaceted as regards the inside and outside connections of the Tarquinian heritage, whose necropolis with the famous painted tombs is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Research includes areas of the Civita plateau: the ‘monumental complex’, the Ara della Regina sanctuary, fortifications, and archaeological sites previously explored. In the past ten years, research in the necropolis (roughly 6,000 tombs, of which 400 are painted) and in the surrounding territory has also been implemented and has produced the complete corpus of the painted tombs of Tarquinia. Our holistic approach encompasses archaeological analysis of small (mobile finds), medium (archaeological contexts) and large scale (territory and landscape) architectural analysis and applications for integrated solutions for the cultural heritage, including the first bilingual Virtual Museum dedicated to an Etruscan city

El endeudamiento de las empresas argentinas en una economía en crisis (1983-1991)

The significant number of banking credits granted to the Argentinean firms during the period 1983-1991 makes it necessary to study the causes of this serious debt. This article analyses the weakness of the self-financing rate and the effect of external support, as well as the effects related with the economic environment that encouraged this debt. Agency and information theories, at the macroeconomic level, are used to fulfil this objective.Argentinean firms, indebtedness, economic crisis, autofinancing

Correctional nursing in Liguria, Italy: examining the ethical challenges

Introduction: Correctional nursing can involve significant ethical difficulties. This study examined ethical challenges encountered by correctional nurses in the Italian region of Liguria. Empirical data were analyzed in relation to relevant ethical standards. The former involved a study of 75 nurses and managers in the Ligurian correctional system, while the latter involved an analysis of the Italian Code of Ethics for Nurses and related standards for correctional practice. Methods: Quantitative and qualitative methods were used for the empirical study. Questionnaires were administered to collect data on participants' characteristics and care settings. The Measure of Job Satisfaction (MJS) was also administered. Five focus groups were conducted. Results: Quantitative Data: Respondents identified factors that mostly impacted on recruitment and retention. Unfavourable factors included: structural, organizational, and relational factors. Favourable factors included: nursing consultation, continuing education activities, and peer support. MJS results were equal to 'unsatisfied'. Qualitative Data: five themes were identified through thematic analysis of focus group data: Health needs of incarcerated persons; Negotiation of the boundaries between care and custody; Job satisfaction related to nursing in a correctional setting; Barriers to providing good care; and Security needs. Ten categories of norms were identified in the Code as areas of ethical standards relevant for the empirical data. Conclusions: Our empirical findings demonstrate that these nursing standards can be systematically compromised in correctional settings. Nurses feel compelled to provide ethically-problematic nursing services, with situations of moral distress. This research informs the development of needed policy, educational, and practice changes for nurses in correctional settings

GPCALMA: a Grid Approach to Mammographic Screening

The next generation of High Energy Physics experiments requires a GRID approach to a distributed computing system and the associated data management: the key concept is the "Virtual Organisation" (VO), a group of geographycally distributed users with a common goal and the will to share their resources. A similar approach is being applied to a group of Hospitals which joined the GPCALMA project (Grid Platform for Computer Assisted Library for MAmmography), which will allow common screening programs for early diagnosis of breast and, in the future, lung cancer. HEP techniques come into play in writing the application code, which makes use of neural networks for the image analysis and shows performances similar to radiologists in the diagnosis. GRID technologies will allow remote image analysis and interactive online diagnosis, with a relevant reduction of the delays presently associated to screening programs.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; to appear in the Proceedings of Frontier Detectors For Frontier Physics, 9th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors, 25-31 May 2003, La Biodola, Isola d'Elba, Ital

Pneumococcal vaccination in adults: rationale, state of the art and perspectives

Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) is a leading cause of morbid- ity and mortality worldwide. Despite the availability, since the early 1980s, of a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23), its recommendation and increased use in the last decades, and the indirect benefits against invasive pneumococcal diseases following the pediatric immunization strategies with the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7), pneumoccal diseases, particularly Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP), still remain a substantial burden among older adults in Western countries. The recent availability on the market of a second generation of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, with an enlarged spectrum ofprotection against some serotypes not included in the PCV7 (i.e., the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ? PCV13), opens new interesting perspectives for improving the control of this sig- nificant health-care issue among the entire population. The most interesting and up-dated epidemiological data regard- ing the impact of SP in adults and the elderly in Western countries, together with the available evidence concerning the efficacy and effectiveness of the PPV23 in the same population, are reported and discussed below. The full article is free available on www.jpmh.or

Accidental falls in hospitalized children: an analysis of the vulnerabilities linked to the presence of caregivers

Introduction. This study stemmed from the data gathered by a research conducted by the coordinator of the Department of Healthcare Services and a group of nurses involved in a research on accidental falls in hospitalized children at the ?G. Gaslini? Children?s Hospital and Scientific Research Institute in Genoa, Italy. The first retrospective study evaluated the accidental falls in hospitalized children referred to the three-year period 2003- 2006, while the second perspective study, referred to the trimester March-May 2007, found that the main cause of falls in children was parent?s distraction. Methods. The method adopted in the first phase of our study was a proactive risk analysis (The Basics of Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis), identified in the first place by the VA National Centre for Patient Safety and applied to the ?Child and parent hospital admission process?. This proactive risk analysis has proven to be very effective in preventing the risk of accidental falls in hospitalized children through effective communication and educational interventions. The second phase of our study consisted of two Focus Groups for accidental traumatic events. Results. The analysis of the results of the study showed how effective communication is instrumental, not only to have a better awareness of the children and their parents during their stay in hospital, but also to implement educational sessions on prevention to reduce the risk of accidental traumatic events. Conclusions. The present study contributes to improve safety and the quality of care by motivating nurses to keep their attention high on falls in hospitalized children, by monitoring and the development of new risk assessment tools

Past&Present at Tarchna&Tarquinia: a flexible approach to make visible the invisible

This contribution falls within the topic of the “development of guidelines and best practices” and deals with the study case of the ancient Etruscan city of Tarchna (Tarquinia, central Italy). The “Tarquinia Project” started here in 1982 with the investigations carried out by the Università degli Studi di Milano in two sacred areas and along the fortifications. The Project was endowed since its beginnings with the collaboration of several experts in disciplines other than Archaeology which number has increased in the past years. Their aim is to find out as much as possible about the material aspects of Archaeology to decode their relationship with the invisibility of ancient life. This contribution aims at presenting our approach addressed to put scholars in the condition to handle data according to their own procedures, within the same environment, through an ecosystem of benchmarks and references in ways close to the individual practices, supported by ICTs. This is meant to avoid the use of predetermined terminologies and categories, enhancing the proper methods of every single discipline involved in a multidisciplinary environment, beyond the current work of every individual scholar. We propose a radical change of perspective, starting from the collection of raw data in several fields (material aspects of Archaeology, Geoarchaeology, Architecture, Topography) to grasp the underlining model, thanks to the assessment of recurrent associations among different categories of evidence, instead of starting from preconceived theoretic models and using data to confirm them. Distinct small, medium and large scale investigation methods are integrated for the first time to produce a significant interdisciplinary cognitive tool to shift from the materiality of the leftovers of Ancient Past, to its integrity, to what lies behind at a metaphysical level and is, therefore, invisible to us. This is related to the materiality of rituals, based on the recurrence of cultic practices in the above-mentioned sacred areas, whose gestures might also be revealed by sediments and organic remains, in addition to other archaeological and epigraphic issues. Tarquinia strongly challenges researchers to be open to unconventional and unexploited issues due to the complexity of the site. It is the ideal place to create awareness among the general public about the results of Archaeological research and to disseminate and make visible its acquirements, according to the European Charter for Researchers. The support of Environmental Psychologists helps to ensuring outreach entails initiatives directed to the local population, in order to introduce them to an equilibrated connection between their invisible Past and the local present culture. In this framework students from high school are involved in the Archaeological field activities, since 2012. Our best practices are therefore addressed to give back to the ancient Etruscan city its value of prominent cultural and natural landmark in the Past, to make it possible for the modern community to assess it in the same way. According to current theories of “place identity” and "place attachment" the modern community is in the condition to feeling and experiencing the continuity between past, present and future

Analysis of influenza vaccination coverage among the elderly in Genoa (Italy) based on a deprivation index, 2009-2013

Introduction. The elderly suffer the most influenza-related complications, and 90%of deaths due to influenza occur in older subjects. Consequently, the elderly are among the main targets of influenza vaccination campaigns. The use of deprivation indexes can help to identify subgroups with lower vaccination uptake. This study analyzed influenza vaccination coverage in elderly persons living in Genoa (Italy) in relation to a local Index of Socio-Economic and Health Deprivation (SEHDI) in order to identify population subgroups needing specific intervention to improve vaccination coverage. Methods. The study targeted subjects aged 65 65 years living in Genoa in the period 2009-2013. Information on vaccination coverage was provided by general practitioners and Local Health Units. A combination of linear regression, factor analysis and cluster analysis was used to construct the SEHDI at Census Tract (CT) level, on the basis of data from the 2011 Italian census. Results. In 2011, people aged 65 65 years accounted for the 27.7%of the population of Genoa. Most elderly subjects were assigned to either the medium (45.3%) or medium-high (32%) deprivation groups, while the percentages in the extreme tails were low (3.6%high deprivation; 1.3%low deprivation). Significant, nonlinear (p < 0.05 NL) relationships were observed in both sexes with regard to mortality due to all respiratory diseases (RD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with the highest Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR) values in women in the high deprivation group of women (1.81, p < 0.05 RD; 1.79, p < 0.05 COPD). The SMRs for influenza and pneumonia showed a positive linear trend in women (p < 0.05) with the highest value in the high deprivation group (1.97, p < 0.05), while in men the trend was NL (p < 0.05). A positive linear trend (p < 0.05) was found with regard to vaccination coverage, which grew weakly as deprivation increased, up to the medium-high deprived group (from 34.6%to 44.4%). However, the high deprivation group showed the lowest value (33.3%). Conclusions. The results revealed a relationship between deprivation and influenza vaccination coverage in the elderly. This finding should be taken into account in the organization of vaccination campaigns and should prompt differentiated intervention in each local area