The trajectories of eugenics

Introduzione al numero monografico di Contemporanea intitolato "Present days-eugenics"

Eugenetica in democrazia. Uomini e topi: il discorso di Mariella Mehr all’Università di Basilea

Eugenics in democracy. Of mice and men: the discourse of Mariella Mehr at the Basel University From 1924 to 1973 a Swiss federal agency provided a eugenic project of national re-education of gypsies people, which was considered degenerated and dangerous for national community. Almost 6000 children were taken from their families, given in adoption, with the annulment of any relationship to their families, arriving in many cases at the reclusion in prison or psychiatric clinic, with the use of sterilization as the definitive disciplinary measure. This long standing eugenic project started to be criticized at the beginning of the Seventies, even by the public action of the poetess and writer Mariella Mehr, whose life has been harshly marked by this project. Twenty years later she received an honoury degree as a public recognition of giving voice to people who suffered the brutality of this project. That lectio magistralis, published here integrally for the first time, discusses with implacable and lucid words the role of knowledge and public institutions in conceiving and organizing this project and the persistence of eugenics and racist interpretations of gypsies, which had and still have deeply and resistant roots in the savants community, even after the fall of totalitarian regimes and in democratic contexts

A phenomenological model for predicting the early development of the flame kernel in spark-ignition engines

This work presents a simple and effective phenomenological model for the prediction of the early growth of the flame kernel in SI engines, including its initiation as a result of the electrical breakdown of the fuel/air mixture between the spark plug electrodes. The present model aims to provide an improved description of the ignition-affected early phases of flame kernel development compared to the majority of models currently available in literature. In particular, these models focus on electrical energy supply and turbulence, whereas the stretch-induced kernel growth slowdown is quantified with linear models that are inconsistent with the small kernel radius. For the flame kernel initiation, this model replaces the current methods that rely on 1D heat diffusion within a plasma column with a more consistent analysis of post-breakdown conditions. Concerning the kernel growth, the present model couples the mass and energy conservation equations of a spherical kernel with the species and temperature profiles outside of it. This combination leads to a non-linear description of the flame stretch, according to which the kernel development is controlled by the Lewis-number-dependent balance between the heat gained via combustion and the heat lost via thermal diffusion. As a result, the kernel temperature differs from the adiabatic flame temperature, causing the laminar flame speed to change from its adiabatic value and ultimately affecting the overall kernel development. Kernel growth predictions are conducted for laminar flames and compared to literature data, showing a satisfactory agreement and highlighting the ability to describe the stretch-induced kernel slowdown, up to its possible extinction. A good agreement with literature data is also obtained for kernel expansions under moderately turbulent conditions, typical of internal combustion engines. The simple formulation of the present model enables swift integration into phenomenological combustion models for spark-ignition engines, while simultaneously offering useful insight into the early kernel development even for CFD-based approaches

Odour profiling of apple cultivars and correlation with volatile compounds

We are using a trained sensory panel to define the sensory attributes profile of a wide number of apple commercial cultivars and new selections under evaluation at FEM (Fondazione Edmund Mach). The same fruit are evaluated through instrumental determinations as well. Here we present the correlations found between perceived odours (by trained panel) and volatile compounds (by SPME‐GC‐MS) in 18 apple cultivars. It is known that perceived odours are mainly the result of mixture of odorants (more than 300 compounds that can contribute to apple odour and flavour have been identified) and the single components of a mixture may lose their individual identity and a new mixture with a specific odour quality could emerge. Thus the correlations between odours and volatile compounds in apples were investigated by a multivariate approach. Regression models allowed the identification of compounds highly contributing to the odours arising from the complex mixture of volatile compounds released by apples. For example acetate esters strongly contribute to different fruity attributes and the results suggest that perceived odours are due to the relative proportions among esters rather than their presence/absence. In conclusion, sensory and instrumental profiling in combination with appropriate chemometric analyses can help to elucidate the relationships between the perceived odours in real food and the complex mixture of released volatile compounds

The effect of different medium compositions and LAB strains on fermentation Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) analysed by Proton Transfer Reaction-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS)

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation is a viable approach for producing plant-based flavour compounds; however, little is understood about the impact of different LAB strains and medium compositions on the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This study investigated the impact of the addition of individual amino acids (AAs) (L-leucine, L-isoleucine, L-phenylalanine, L-glutamic acid, L-aspartic acid, L-threonine, or L-methionine) to a defined medium (DM) on the generation of VOCs (after 0, 7, and 14 days) by one of three LAB strains (Levilactobacillus brevis WLP672 (LB672), Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LP100 (LP100), and Pediococcus pentosaceus PP100 (PP100)), using proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS). The concentration of m/z 45.031 (t.i. acetaldehyde) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher after 7 days of fermentation by LP100 in the DM supplemented with threonine compared to all other media fermented by all three strains. The concentrations of m/z 49.012 (t.i. methanethiol) and m/z 95.000 (t.i. dimethyl disulfide) were significantly (p < 0.05) higher after 7 days of fermentation by either LP100, PP100, or LB672 in the DM supplemented with methionine compared to all other media. Information on the role of individual AAs on VOCs generation by different LAB strains will help to guide flavour development from the fermentation of plant-based substrate

The role of radiative losses in the late evolution of pulse-heated coronal loops/strands

Radiative losses from optically thin plasma are an important ingredient for modeling plasma confined in the solar corona. Spectral models are continuously updated to include the emission from more spectral lines, with significant effects on radiative losses, especially around 1 MK. We investigate the effect of changing the radiative losses temperature dependence due to upgrading of spectral codes on predictions obtained from modeling plasma confined in the solar corona. The hydrodynamic simulation of a pulse-heated loop strand is revisited comparing results using an old and a recent radiative losses function. We find significant changes in the plasma evolution during the late phases of plasma cooling: when the recent radiative loss curve is used, the plasma cooling rate increases significantly when temperatures reach 1-2 MK. Such more rapid cooling occurs when the plasma density is larger than a threshold value, and therefore in impulsive heating models that cause the loop plasma to become overdense. The fast cooling has the effect of steepening the slope of the emission measure distribution of coronal plasmas with temperature at temperatures lower than ~2 MK. The effects of changes in the radiative losses curves can be important for modeling the late phases of the evolution of pulse-heated coronal loops, and, more in general, of thermally unstable optically thin plasmas.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publicatio

Emotionotopy in the human right temporo-parietal cortex

AbstractHumans use emotions to decipher complex cascades of internal events. However, which mechanisms link descriptions of affective states to brain activity is unclear, with evidence supporting either local or distributed processing. A biologically favorable alternative is provided by the notion of gradient, which postulates the isomorphism between functional representations of stimulus features and cortical distance. Here, we use fMRI activity evoked by an emotionally charged movie and continuous ratings of the perceived emotion intensity to reveal the topographic organization of affective states. Results show that three orthogonal and spatially overlapping gradients encode the polarity, complexity and intensity of emotional experiences in right temporo-parietal territories. The spatial arrangement of these gradients allows the brain to map a variety of affective states within a single patch of cortex. As this organization resembles how sensory regions represent psychophysical properties (e.g., retinotopy), we propose emotionotopy as a principle of emotion coding