Communications and relationships: changing with new technologies. An explorative study on a thematic facebook group.

oai:ojs.www.jpsjournal.org:article/7With new technologies, new relational spaces have been configured. Virtual communications, characterized by exchange mediated by virtual devices, have given rise to modern forms of communication, also creating new social contexts. The latest ISTAT survey (2015) shows that web is an important tool for social interaction; for more than half of Internet users (56,1%) it’s mediated from social networks.This work wants to open a reflection about communication and online relationships mediated from facebook groups. In particular, an ethnographic observation of a thematic facebook group has been realized.

Earth stabilisation by plant-derived urease enzyme for building applications

The present work investigates the hygro-mechanical performance of compacted earth as an alternative to conventional energy-intensive building materials. Cement and lime have been widely employed as stabilisers to improve the strength and durability of compacted earth for building applications. Nevertheless, the use of these chemical binders partly compromises the energy efficiency of earthen materials while increasing their carbon footprint. This has recently led to the study of alternative stabilisation methods that are equally effective in improving the properties of earthen materials without however compromising their green credentials. The present work adopts a recently proposed method for the manufacturing of earth bricks. The method is based on the application of high compaction pressures up to 100 MPa (hypercompaction) to increase the density of the earth and hence to obtain mechanical properties that are similar to those of traditional construction materials such as fired bricks, concrete blocks and stabilised earth. A wide campaign of laboratory tests was performed on samples made of different earth mixes that were hyper-compacted at their respective optimum water contents. Stiffness and strength were measured by unconfined and triaxial compression tests while vapour adsorption/desorption was assessed by measuring moisture buffering value (MBV). Durability to water erosion was also evaluated by performing suction, immersion and drip tests according to the norms DIN 18945 (2013) and NZS 4298 (1998), respectively. Results showed that hyper-compaction largely improves the mechanical performance of compacted earth but that a marked increase in ambient humidity can produce a considerable reduction of strength. Compacted earth is also characterised by an excellent capacity of adsorbing/releasing ambient moisture, which increases the hygro-thermal inertia of the material. Nevertheless, durability tests highlighted that the unstabilised compacted earth cannot be employed for the construction of structures exposed to natural weathering. The experiments also demonstrated the dependency of strength, stiffness, moisture buffering capacity and water durability on particle grading. In particular, it was shown that a fine and well-graded earth mix exhibits higher levels of strength, stiffness, moisture buffering capacity and durability than a coarse and poorly-graded one. This suggests that careful selection of the soil is necessary to optimise the manufacture of earth bricks. One important challenge lies in the improvement of the earth durability against water erosion by adopting novel stabilisation techniques which exhibit small environmental impacts while preserving the advantageous properties of compacted earth in terms of mechanical and moisture buffering behaviour. In this work, the exploitation of knowledge at the interface between physics, biology and chemistry has led to the development of an original stabilisation method based on the utilisation of plant extracts. The method is consistent with the principles of Enzymatic Induced Calcite Precipitation (EICP), which utilises the action of the urease enzyme to catalyse the hydrolysis of urea. This reaction produces carbonate ions, which then react with the calcium ions dissolved in the pore water to produce the precipitation of calcium carbonate (i.e. calcite), thus binding the soil together. The urease enzyme is a widely occurring hexameric protein that is the product of the metabolism of microbes and is also found in the tissues of many plants. The novelty of the present work resides in the utilisation of crude plant-derived urease enzyme instead of pure reagent-grade products available from chemical suppliers, which reduces environmental and financial costs. In particular, the urease enzyme was obtained from a liquid soybeans extract, inside which the urea and calcium chloride were subsequently dissolved to induce the precipitation of calcite. A fundamental study of the relevant microbiological and biochemical processes pointed out that the concentrations of urea and calcium chloride play an important role in the activity of the urease enzyme and on the amount of precipitated calcite. Measurements of pH, electrical conductivity and precipitation ratio indicated that the optimum equimolar concentration of urea and calcium chloride (leading to the largest precipitation of calcite) is 2.5 mol/L. An experimental campaign was finally undertaken to implement the proposed biostabilisation method into the manufacture of compressed earth bricks. The efficiency of the treatment was initially assessed by means of water immersion tests to quantify the improvement of the material water durability. The most promising versions of the proposed bio-stabilisation method were also the object of further investigation to assess the hygromechanical behaviour of the stabilised earth by means of unconfined compression and moisture buffering value tests. The findings, although preliminary, suggest that a noticeable improvement of strength and water durability can be achieved by the proposed stabilisation protocol, in spite of the difficulty in replicating exactly quantitative results. Further tests are still necessary to make the proposed treatment competitive with conventional stabilisation techniques based on the use of cement and lime

“Il mestiere impossibile”: Un’esperienza di formazione nei contesti scolastici.

L’insegnante vive tutte le difficoltà della contemporaneità, tentando di adeguare il proprio ruolo, la propria professionalità e la propria soggettività, alle richieste dell’altro. Questo contributo descrive un lavoro di formazione, realizzato da un team di psicologi e psicoterapeuti, rivolto a gruppi di docenti di diversi istituti scolastici italiani, che ha aperto una riflessione sulla funzione dell’insegnante di oggi, alle prese con un sistema relazionale ampio. Il valore aggiunto a questo processo formativo è stato il coniugare la teoria psicoanalitica e quella sistemico-relazionale come strumenti trasformativi, applicati ad un contesto istituzionale differente dai classici contesti di cura. Elevato è stato l’interesse degli insegnanti all’approccio proposto che, più che fornire risposte o soluzioni, ha costruito e fatto emergere domande. Abstract Inglese This work describes a training experience, carried out by a team of psychologists and psychotherapists, addressed to groups of teachers in various Italian schools. The idea of this training, proposed by Collegio Europeo di Scienze Psicosociali – ECOPSYS and titled “Il mestiere impossibile. Insegnare nella contemporaneità” (The impossible profession. Teaching in contemporaneity) was born from a reflection on the role of teachers today. They live all the difficulties of contemporaneity, trying to adapt their roles, their professionalisms and their subjectivities, to the demands of the other.The teacher's interest in the proposed approach was high: 99 of them taken part to training, in three different Italian regions. The course tried to built and emerge questions instead to give answers or solutions. The added value to this training process was to combine psychoanalytic and systemic theories as transformative tools applied to an institutional context, different from the care contexts

Optimization of a Sustainable Protocol for the Extraction of Anthocyanins as Textile Dyes from Plant Materials

Anthocyanins are the largest group of polyphenolic pigments in the plant kingdom. These non-toxic, water-soluble compounds are responsible for the pink, red, purple, violet, and blue colors of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Anthocyanins are widely used in the production of food, cosmetic and textile products, in the latter case to replace synthetic dyes with natural and sustainable alternatives. Here, we describe an environmentally benign method for the extraction of anthocyanins from red chicory and their characterization by HPLC-DAD and UPLC-MS. The protocol does not require hazardous solvents or chemicals and relies on a simple and scalable procedure that can be applied to red chicory waste streams for anthocyanin extraction. The extracted anthocyanins were characterized for stability over time and for their textile dyeing properties, achieving good values for washing fastness and, as expected, a pink-to-green color change that is reversible and can therefore be exploited in the fashion industry

A major qtl for resistance to fusarium head blight and Crown rot of wheat on Thinopyrum elongatum chromosome 7e: cytogenetic mapping and assembling into bread wheat with valuable genes from Th. Ponticum

Among wheat relatives, the Thinopyrum genus represents one of the richest sources of valuable genes/QTL for wheat improvement. One notable and still unexploited trait is the exceptionally effective resistance to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) originating from a diploid member of the genus, Thinopyrum elongatum. Up to date, the resistance was only associated to the long arm of Th. elongatum chromosome 7E (7EL), while detailed genetic mapping of the responsible gene/QTL was still lacking. We targeted the transfer of the temporarily designated Fhb- 7EL locus into bread wheat, by pyramiding it with other valuable genes/QTL (Lr19 for leaf rust resistance, yield-related traits) and included in a Th. ponticum 7el1L segment, stably inserted into the wheat 7DL arm of line T4. Mapping of the Fhb-7EL QTL was here based on a bioassay with Fusarium graminearum, the main causal agent of FHB, of different 7EL-7el1L bread wheat recombinant lines. Nine such recombinant types were successfully obtained without resorting to any genetic pairing promotion, but relying on the 7EL-7el1L close homoeology. Pairing between the two critical arms was in fact observed by Genomic In Situ Hybridization (GISH) at meiotic metaphase I of F1 plants between the 7E(7D) substitution line and the translocation line T4 (70% distal 7el1L on 7DL), which resulted in 14% 7EL-7el1L recombination frequency. The Fhb-7EL locus was mapped to the telomeric portion of 7EL, associated with marker loci XBE405003 Xsdauk66 and Xcfa2240. FHB resistant recombinants, with useful combinations of more proximally located 7el1L genes/QTL, could be selected. The transferred Fhb-7EL locus was shown to reduce disease severity at the spike level and fungal biomass in the grains of infected recombinants by over 95%. The same Fhb-7EL QTL was, for the first time, proved to be effective also against F. culmorum and F. pseudograminearum, predominant agents of Fusarium Crown Rot (FCR). Yield performance in preliminary field tests of the pre-breeding lines possessing a suitable 7EL-7el1L gene/QTL assembly showed to be very promising. Given the expected inheritance as a unit of the composite Thinopyrum segment in cross progeny with wheat, either of the several co-dominant PCR-based markers identified in the course of the work will enable easy tracking of the novel gene/QTL assembly in transfer programs into adapted cultivars

The role of live supervision in the systemic psychotherapy training: a qualitative research

This paper explores the role of live supervision on the professional skills of young systemic psychotherapists. The Ecopsys Institute of systemic psychotherapy training considers the live supervision an essential experience of the training process. Each student joins the therapeutic session with the supervisor supported by the training group following behind the mirror (Loriedo C., 1989) through a closed-circuit audiovisual system, and then draws up a report, a tool for reflection on clinical thinking and acting. To investigate some aspects of the live supervision experience, a sample of 35 reports have been collected and analyzed with the T-Lab qualitative software, describing the emotional features of the first live consultation by students enrolled to different years and training groups. The textual analysis made it possible to point up the theoretical and clinical peculiarities of the Ecopsys Institute supervision model, focused on the emergence of emotional dimensions experienced by the supervisor-trainee dyad during live supervision.Sono descritti e commentati i dati preliminari della ricerca che ha indagato il ruolo della supervisione diretta per la formazione e la crescita professionale dei giovani terapeuti. La Scuola di Specializzazione Ecopsys considera imprescindibile la partecipazione attiva alle sedute terapeutiche dei propri allievi, parte integrante del modello formativo. L’allievo, che entra in seduta col didatta, supportato dal gruppo di formazione che segue dietro lo specchio (Loriedo C., 1989) attraverso un sistema audiovisivo a circuito chiuso, redige poi un resoconto, strumento di riflessione sul pensare e l’agire clinico. Dei resoconti clinici raccolti negli anni ne sono qui analizzati 35, con il software qualitativo T-Lab, che descrivono l’ingresso in prima seduta degli allievi appartenenti a differenti anni e gruppi di formazione. L’analisi testuale ha consentito di sottolineare gli aspetti teorici e tecnici del modello terapeutico di Ecopsys e in particolare ha permesso l’emergere di quelle dimensioni emotive che accompagnano i giovani terapeuti agli esordi della professione

Earth stabilisation by plant-derived urease enzyme for building application

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Diventare sé stessi: storia di un’adolescente in terapia

Systemic individual therapy is defined by a precise relational setting, a place where the subject can create bridges between the contexts to which he belongs, between the relationships that connote his spatial spaces and his mental space, using a different dialogue, in another relationship: the therapeutic one. Therapy can become the individual space of today, of yesterday and tomorrow: it is a space for two, characterized by the ability to accommodate and manage the complexity of the individual. This specific setting appears particularly advantageous in working with adolescents, with whom it can sometimes be difficult to relate in a space defined by multiple relationships, such as that of family therapy. The article takes its cue from the consideration of this relationship space for two, to describe the clinical case of Fabiola, a teenager struggling with the process of identification from her family, through the construction of her identity.La terapia individuale di matrice sistemica è definita da un preciso setting relazionale. Questo appare particolarmente vantaggioso nel lavoro con gli adolescenti, con i quali può risultare complicato accettare di partecipare ad un incontro insieme a tutta la famiglia. Il lavoro qui presentato prende le mosse dalla considerazione di questo specifico setting di lavoro per descrivere il caso di Fabiola, un’adolescente alle prese con il processo di individuazione. La definizione che questa giovane dà di sé è delineata da sintomi ossessivi che la avvicinano a sua madre. La trasformazione della sua sintomatologia segna, nel setting duale, i passaggi della propria costruzione identitaria

Earth stabilisation by plant-derived urease enzyme for building application

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

STABILISATION DE LA TERRE PAR UNE ENZYME D’UREASE D’ORIGINE VEGETALE POUR DES APPLICATIONS DANS LE BATIMENT

The present work investigates the hygro-mechanical performance of compacted earth as an alternative to conventional energy-intensive building materials. Earth bricks were manufactured by applying high compaction pressures up to 100 MPa (hyper-compaction) to increase the density of the earth and hence to obtain mechanical properties that are similar to those of traditional construction materials such as fired bricks, concrete blocks and stabilised earth. A wide campaign of laboratory tests was performed on samples made of different earth mixes that were hyper-compacted at their respective optimum water contents. Stiffness and strength were measured by unconfined and triaxial compression tests while vapour adsorption/desorption was assessed by measuring moisture buffering value (MBV). Durability to water erosion was also evaluated by performing suction, immersion and drip tests according to the norms DIN 18945 (2013) and NZS 4298 (1998), respectively. Results showed that hyper-compaction largely improved the mechanical performance of compacted earth but that a marked increase in ambient humidity could produce a considerable reduction of strength. Durability tests highlighted that the unstabilised compacted earth could not be employed for the construction of structures exposed to natural weathering. The experiments also demonstrated the dependency of strength, stiffness, moisture buffering capacity and water durability on particle grading. In particular, it was shown that a fine and well-graded earth mix exhibited higher levels of strength, stiffness, moisture buffering capacity and durability than a coarse and poorly-graded one. One important challenge lied in the improvement of the earth durability against water erosion by adopting novel stabilisation techniques, which led to the development of an original stabilisation method based on the utilisation of plant extracts. The method was consistent with the principles of Enzymatic Induced Calcite Precipitation (EICP), which utilises the action of the urease enzyme to catalyse the hydrolysis of urea. This reaction produces carbonate ions, which then react with the calcium ions dissolved in the pore water to produce the precipitation of calcium carbonate (i.e. calcite), thus binding the soil together. The novelty of the present work resides in the utilisation of crude plant-derived urease enzyme instead of pure reagent-grade products available from chemical suppliers, which reduces environmental and financial costs. In particular, the urease enzyme was obtained from a liquid soybeans extract, inside which the urea and calcium chloride were subsequently dissolved to induce the precipitation of calcite. Measurements of pH, electrical conductivity and precipitation ratio indicated that the optimum equimolar concentration of urea and calcium chloride (leading to the largest precipitation of calcite) was 2.5 mol/L. An experimental campaign was finally undertaken to implement the proposed bio-stabilisation method into the manufacture of compressed earth bricks. The most promising versions of the proposed bio-stabilisation method were also the object of further investigation to assess the hygro-mechanical behaviour of the stabilised earth by means of unconfined compression and moisture buffering value tests. The findings, although preliminary, suggested that a noticeable improvement of strength and water durability could be achieved by the proposed stabilisation protocol, in spite of the difficulty in replicating exactly quantitative results.Cette étude se concentre sur les performances hygro-mécaniques de la terre crue compactée comme matériau de construction alternatif aux matériaux de construction classiques à forte empreinte énergétique. Les briques en terre ont été fabriquées en appliquant des pressions de compactage élevées (jusqu’à 100 MPa, d’où la dénomination d’hyper-compactage) pour augmenter la densité du matériau et ainsi obtenir des propriétés mécaniques similaires à celles des matériaux de construction traditionnels tels que les briques cuites, les blocs de béton et la terre stabilisée. Une vaste campagne expérimentale a été menée sur des échantillons constitués de différents mélanges hyper-compactés de terres à leur teneur en eau optimale respective. La rigidité et la résistance mécanique ont été mesurées par des essais de compression non confinés et triaxiaux, tandis que l’adsorption/désorption de vapeur a été évaluée par la valeur de MBV (Moisture Buffering Value). La durabilité à l'érosion hydrique a été étudiée en effectuant des tests de adsorption capillaire, d'immersion et de goutte-à-goutte conformément aux normes DIN 18945 (2013) et NZS 4298 (1998). Les résultats ont confirmé que l'hyper-compactage améliore les performances mécaniques de la terre crue compactée, mais qu'une augmentation sensible de l'humidité ambiante pouvait entraîner une réduction considérable de la résistance. Néanmoins, les tests de durabilité ont révélé que la terre compactée non stabilisée ne pouvait pas être utilisée pour la construction des parties de structures exposées aux intempéries naturelles en raison de sa sensibilité vis-à-vis de l’eau liquide. Les expériences ont démontré la dépendance de la résistance, de la rigidité, du comportement hydrique, de la sensibilité à l’eau liquide et de la durabilité à la taille des particules. En particulier, il a été observé qu'un mélange de terre à faible granulométrie et calibrées présentait des caractéristiques pour les propriétés susmentionnées supérieures à celle d’un sol à la granulométrie grossière et non maîtrisée. Un défi important a été l'amélioration de la durabilité de la terre crue à l'érosion hydrique en adoptant de techniques de stabilisation à faibles impacts environnementaux, ce qui a conduit à la mise au point d’une méthode originale de stabilisation basée sur l’utilisation d’extraits de plantes. Cette méthode était conforme à la précipitation de calcite induite par voie enzymatique via l'action de l'enzyme uréase pour catalyser l'hydrolyse de l'urée. Cette réaction produit des ions carbonates, qui réagissent ensuite avec les ions calcium du sol dissout dans l’eau interstitielle pour précipiter sous forme de carbonate de calcium, liant ainsi les particules du sol