Geography in Italian Licei

Following a rapid description of the evolution of the teaching of geography in Italian secondary schools from the Unification of Italy to the end of the nineteenth century, the article focusses on the latest change, brought about with the Gelmini reform, which entered into force with the 2010-2011 school year. In particular, the relationships between history and geography are analysed (two subjects penalised by the new structure and which cannot express all their potential to their best) and some possible solutions are envisaged

Unequal Geographies

Three documents with international distribution– and very different in their origin, dimensions,features and spatial and temporal implications – have recently been published. These documents are listed here below inchronological order: - 23 May 2015: Encyclical letter Laudato Si’of the Holy Father Francis on Care for ourCommon Home [Encyc.]. - 25 September 2015: Transforming ourworld: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [2030 Ag.]. - 18 October 2015 (on the occasion of EXPO2015, the day of the handing over of theMilan Charter to Ban Ki-Moon on the WorldFood Day): The Milan Charter [Milan Ch.]. However, in all their diversity they do have a number of converging elements: those three documents focus on present day issues (examined also in a future intergenerational perspective), which are of great interest for research and geography didactic

Remote sensing and interdisciplinary approach for studying Dubai’s urban context and development

Outlining the different phases and features of the urban and socio-economic development of Dubai, this work is aimed at highlighting the potential of remote sensing and the interdisciplinary approach for the study of cities characterised by overwhelming growth processes. In this way Dubai represents an ideal laboratory since the processes that have been triggered in the last decades have radically modified the previous balances and layouts. Thus the image of a mirage city has been gradually diffused, a city where ambitious objectives can be achieved, targets reached that are difficult to pursue elsewhere, frenetic development processes realised, in a nevertheless increasingly delicate territorial-environmental fabric onto which such phenomena are grafted. The analysis of various remote sensed images, gathered over different periods of times, highlights a number of important aspects from the geological point of view, of the physical geography, the urban development and the direct growth in all directions, with a series of artificial islands and much publicised anthropic works

La campagna romana nell’ottocento

È interessante osservare come sia narrata la Campagna Romana dell’Ottocento, comparando le percezioni di un poeta, come Belli, con le descrizioni tratte da una guida turistica pubblicata qualche anno dopo, nel 1852. Non è del tutto inutile riferirsi a quali fossero i limiti del territorio compreso nell’espressione Campagna Romana; la letteratura storico-geografica a tal proposito è abbondante, anche se non univoca nei risultati. Al coronimo “Campagna di Roma” non ha corrisposto infatti un territorio ben individuato e delimitato; a complicare la questione molte altre denominazioni si sono affiancate, confondendosi e sovrapponendosi tra loro, come, per esempio, Agro Romano, Territorio di Roma, Distretto di Roma, Provincia di Roma, Comarca di Roma

Use of Natriuretic Peptides as a Guidance for Treating Patients with Chronic Heart Failure: Unresolved Issues and Novel Insights

Abstract: Serial measurements of natriuretic peptides (NPs), i.e. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) or amino-terminal fragment of pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP), may serve as an objective guide to modulate the intensity of drug treatment for individuals with chronic heart failure (CHF). However, considerable uncertainty remains about the alleged useful role of NP-guided therapy in this context. Particularly, which NP level should be assumed as optimal target level for therapy is still matter of debate. Actually, a too low predetermined cut off is encumbered with the risk of inducing a dose escalation perhaps not founded on solid rationale but provided with the potential of propitiating adverse medication effects that may be associated with higher doses. Conversely, a too high predetermined level for NP would entail a poor sensitivity, with the potential of excluding from higher doses of medications, that are proven to increase survival, just the patients who above all would have benefitted from this uptitration. Another much debated issue is constituted by possible age-related differences concerning the effects on clinical endpoints of NP-guided therapy. In addition, some Authors dispute about the possible advantages for the cardiovascular system arising from the functional activation of NPs in CHF patients, so denying that their increased levels have to be per se blamed for hemodynamic upheaval, especially in elder CHF patients. After outlining the main RCTs carried out so far, the Authors stress the above reported issues and discuss the sometime contradictory results of the RCTs exploring NPs use as a guidance for therapy

The re-settling of the horizontal limit: the construction of place in Alberto Lleras Camargo building of Los Andes University, designed by Guillermo Bermúdez and Daniel Bermúdez, Bogotá, 1989

IlustracionesEsta Tesis de Maestría replantea la utilidad del suelo en la arquitectura por medio de una crítica a su definición subsidiaria frente a los demás elementos arquetípicos, lo cual desvela, por el contrario, el papel fundamental que juega en el proceso de implantación. La investigación parte de la idea de que el acto de implantar reside en la definición arquitectónica del límite horizontal y que éste, en cuanto tal, comporta la escisión inaugural entre el plano artificial y el sitio. En tal lógica, el papel del suelo como la herramienta esencial del emplazamiento consiste en reconstituir el encuentro entre el hombre y la Tierra, en un rito que reafirme su centralidad orientadora frente a la línea del horizonte. La práctica de fundar un lugar encuentra su sentido en esa separación original, por lo que el suelo es el elemento fundacional de la arquitectura ya que tiene la doble virtud de establecer la estructura primaria del límite horizontal, necesario para la vida, y de orientar el rito en el espacio y en el tiempo, pues le dota de una posición precisa en el Universo. La dialéctica entre el suelo y el terreno natural es analizada en tres instancias: la instancia del elemento como hecho arquitectónico particular, vista en un proyecto ejemplar, el edificio Alberto Lleras Camargo de la Universidad de Los Andes; la instancia del elemento como lógica relacional general, revisada en un repertorio histórico razonado; y la instancia del elemento como base procedimental en la arquitectura, examinada según la capacidad del plano horizontal, la técnica que lo convierte en un límite material y el rito que lo vincula con el mundo. (texto tomado de la fuente)This Master's Thesis reframes the utility of the ground in architecture by means of criticizing its subsidiary rank within the other archetypal elements, which, on the contrary, reveals the fundamental role it plays in the process of emplacement. The research is based on the idea that the act of implanting resides in the architectural definition of the horizontal limit and that it, as such a limit, entails the original split between the artificial plane and the site. In such logic, the role of the ground as the main tool of emplacement consists in reconstituting the encounter between man and the Earth, in a rite that shall reaffirm his orientating centrality within the line of the horizon. The practice of founding a place finds its meaning in that original separation, for the ground is the foundational element of architecture since it has the double virtue of establishing the primary structure of the horizontal limit, necessary for life, and of orientating the rite in space and time, as it endows it with a precise position in the Universe. The dialectic between the ground and the natural terrain is analyzed in three instances: the instance of the element as a particular architectural fact, seen in an exemplary project, the Alberto Lleras Camargo building, located in Los Andes University; the instance of the element as a general relational logic, reviewed in a reasoned historical repertoire; and the instance of the element as a procedural basis in architecture, examined according to the capacity of the horizontal plane, the technique that turns it into a material limit and the rite that links it to the world.MaestríaMagíster en Arquitectur

Biomechanical function in knee osteoarthritis and post-total knee replacement: comparing subjective and objective outcomes and predicting gait function post-total knee arthroplasty

Patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) have been widely utilised to evaluate the TKR outcome and to predict it. Although PROMs inform on the patient’s perception of function, they are mostly influenced by pain levels, and relate poorly to what patients can achieve objectively. For this reason, both subjective and objective function should be measured to comprehensively quantify the impairments pre-TKR, the improvement post-TKR and to aid in TKR outcome prediction. However, there is no gold standard to measure function objectively. This research aimed to advance the application of the Cardiff classifier, a measure of gait biomechanics, to subjects with severe knee OA and post-TKR, to compare the Classifier to similar measures of gait biomechanics, identify factors predictive of the gait biomechanics post-TKR, and investigate the relationship between biomechanics, patient-reported outcomes and physical performance pre- and post-TKR. 3D gait analysis was performed in two cohorts of non-pathological subjects (NPs) and patients pre and one-year post-TKR (Cardiff and Karolinska cohorts). The Cardiff classifier’s Belief of OA (BOA), Gait Deviation Index (GDI) and the GDI-kinetics were utilised to evaluate patients’ objective gait function at each time point in both cohorts. The BOA had a large responsiveness to change, which was greater than the GDI and GDI-kinetic in 39 patients from the UK and 29 from Sweden. While the correlation between BOA-GDI and BOA-GDI-kinetic was moderate pre-TKR in both cohorts, the two gait indexes and their change pre to post-TKR showed poor or mixed agreement with the BOA post-TKR or its change score. By comparing the outputs of the classifiers developed from each cohort, it was found that about 55% of the highest-ranking gait features discriminating patients pre-TKR to their references were the same or similar between Cardiff and Karolinska patients. Gait biomechanics improved in both patients’ groups but mostly did not return to normal one-year post-TKR. In the Cardiff cohort mentioned above, it was demonstrated that when comparing the patients gait function to NPs of similar age (NP50 classifier), the BOA was significantly lower (=better gait) pre- and one-year post-TKR versus comparing patients to a younger group of NPs (mixed-age classifier), but the change in gait function was comparable between the NP50 and mixed-age classifiers one-year post-surgery. Pre-surgical and surgical factors did not correlate to the change in BOA one-year post-TKR (NP50 classifier). A regression model revealed that the objective gait function pre-TKR, sex and BMI explained 56% of the variance of the gait function one-year post-TKR; there was a significant association between a worse gait function pre-surgery and a worse gait biomechanics one-year post-TKR, irrespective of sex and BMI. A patient sub-group analysis also showed that a greater knee ROM pre-TKR was associated with a better gait function post-TKR. 3D gait analysis data, performance-based tests (PBTs) (timed-up and go, 40m fast-paced walk test, stair climb test and 30s chair test), Oxford Knee Score and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score were collected from patients pre, three and six months post-TKR. It was found that trunk kinematics in the frontal, sagittal and transverse planes were not relevant in aiding in the discrimination of gait biomechanics between 9 NPs (n = 18 knees) and 18 subjects with late-stage OA (n = 20 knees) within the Cardiff classifier. Results showed a correlation, or trends of association, between gait biomechanics and the core PBTs suggested by OARSI (40m fast-paced walk test, stair climb test and 30s chair test), pre, three and six months post-TKR. However, no correlation, nor a trend of association, could be found between PROMs and gait biomechanics or between PROMs and PBTs pre- or three, six and approximately twelve months post-TKR. Employing the Cardiff classifier to assess in vivo knee kinematics during a step-up motion showed an 83.8% accuracy in discriminating between severe knee OA (n = 18) and NP knee function (n = 19). The novel application of the Cardiff classifier to knee kinematics data collected via single-plane fluoroscopy showed that two years post-TKR, the knee function improved but was not comparable to NPs. The level of classification uncertainty was higher than previous studies employing the classifier, suggesting the need to include additional knee arthrokinematics features. Additionally, the results showed that knee kinematics was not associated with the OKS pre- or post-TKR or satisfaction, nor the patient’s perception of their knee “feeling like a normal knee” two years post-TKR. This work aided in expanding the application of the Cardiff classifier beyond the assessment of gait biomechanics, supported the use of PBTs for the assessment of function, reinforced the evidence that objective measures of function and PROMs measure different constructs and should be utilised together in evaluating OA or TKR outcomes

Additive Manufacturing: Opportunities and Challenges for Functional Magnetic Materials

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is transforming manufacturing due to a highly digital approach, the ability to near-net shape manufacture highly complex internal and external shapes of nearly any material, and targeted pore and grain microstructure (thus, properties)

Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitors Improve Clinical Outcomes, Exercise Capacity and Pulmonary Hemodynamics in Patients With Heart Failure With Reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction: A Meta-Analysis

Several studies have compared the use of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors sildenafil or udenafil with the placebo in patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to left chronic heart failure (CHF), corresponding to group 2 (PH due to left heart disease) of the PH classification (according to 2015 ESC/ERS guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of PH). The results of the use of PDE5 inhibitors in the PH due to left heart disease were inconsistent and heterogeneous. Therefore, we carried out a meta-analysis to assess the effect of PDE5 inhibitors in this clinical setting, i.e., patients with left CHF