#exploreART: il labirinto di A. Pomodoro e i bambini. Un progetto di fruizione condivisa con percorsi sensoriali partecipati

The contribution presents a research project conducted by Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro to formulate, design and create, together with children and teachers, and to evaluate – with the help of the University – a different approach to the experience of contemporary art. This project has been implemented thanks to co-funding provided by Fondazione Cariplo. The initial hypothesis, after many years of experimentation on the part of Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro in the field of art education, and in the various temporary and permanent exhibitions organized by the foundation, was to explore a series of new possibilities that underline the value of participation, in which the soundscape can also become part of a meaningful experience

The Many Manifestations of Downsizing: Hierarchical Galaxy Formation Models confront Observations

[abridged] It has been widely claimed that several lines of observational evidence point towards a "downsizing" (DS) of the process of galaxy formation over cosmic time. This behavior is sometimes termed "anti-hierarchical", and contrasted with the "bottom-up" assembly of the dark matter structures in Cold Dark Matter models. In this paper we address three different kinds of observational evidence that have been described as DS: the stellar mass assembly, star formation rate and the ages of the stellar populations in local galaxies. We compare a broad compilation of available data-sets with the predictions of three different semi-analytic models of galaxy formation within the Lambda-CDM framework. In the data, we see only weak evidence at best of DS in stellar mass and in star formation rate. We find that, when observational errors on stellar mass and SFR are taken into account, the models acceptably reproduce the evolution of massive galaxies, over the entire redshift range that we consider. However, lower mass galaxies are formed too early in the models and are too passive at late times. Thus, the models do not correctly reproduce the DS trend in stellar mass or the archaeological DS, while they qualitatively reproduce the mass-dependent evolution of the SFR. We demonstrate that these discrepancies are not solely due to a poor treatment of satellite galaxies but are mainly connected to the excessively efficient formation of central galaxies in high-redshift haloes with circular velocities ~100-200 km/s. [abridged]Comment: MNRAS accepted, 16 pages, 10 figure

Laboratory-scale photomineralization of n

Kinetics of photocatalytic oxidation of methane, ethane, and n-heptane, to yield intermediates, and photomineralization of intermediates, to yield carbon dioxide and water, was studied in the gaseous phase, at 308±2 K, by a laboratory-scale photoreactor and photocatalytic membranes immobilizing 30±3 wt.% of TiO2, in the presence of aerosolized stoichiometric hydrogen peroxide as oxygen donor, and at a relative humidity close to 100%. The whole volume of irradiated solution was 4.000±0.005 L, the ratio between this volume and the geometrical apparent surface of the irradiated side of the photocatalytic membrane was 3.8±0.1 cm, and the absorbed power was 0.30 W/cm (cylindrical geometry). The pinetic parameters of the present work substantially coincide with those of the same molecules previously studied in aqueous solution, within the limits of experimental uncertainty. Photocatalytic processes thus appear to be controlled by interface phenomena, which are ruled kinetically, and apparently also thermodynamically, by concentration gradients, independently on diffusion and other processes in the aqueous or gaseous bulk, if turbulence in these phases is adequately assured

Crude incidence in two-phase designs in the presence of competing risks.

BackgroundIn many studies, some information might not be available for the whole cohort, some covariates, or even the outcome, might be ascertained in selected subsamples. These studies are part of a broad category termed two-phase studies. Common examples include the nested case-control and the case-cohort designs. For two-phase studies, appropriate weighted survival estimates have been derived; however, no estimator of cumulative incidence accounting for competing events has been proposed. This is relevant in the presence of multiple types of events, where estimation of event type specific quantities are needed for evaluating outcome.MethodsWe develop a non parametric estimator of the cumulative incidence function of events accounting for possible competing events. It handles a general sampling design by weights derived from the sampling probabilities. The variance is derived from the influence function of the subdistribution hazard.ResultsThe proposed method shows good performance in simulations. It is applied to estimate the crude incidence of relapse in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in groups defined by a genotype not available for everyone in a cohort of nearly 2000 patients, where death due to toxicity acted as a competing event. In a second example the aim was to estimate engagement in care of a cohort of HIV patients in resource limited setting, where for some patients the outcome itself was missing due to lost to follow-up. A sampling based approach was used to identify outcome in a subsample of lost patients and to obtain a valid estimate of connection to care.ConclusionsA valid estimator for cumulative incidence of events accounting for competing risks under a general sampling design from an infinite target population is derived

Laboratory-scale photomineralization of n-alkanes in gaseous phase by photocatalytic membranes immobilizing titanium dioxide

Kinetics of photocatalytic oxidation of methane, ethane, and n-heptane, to yield intermediates, and photomineralization of intermediates, to yield carbon dioxide and water, was studied in the gaseous phase, at 308 ± 2 K, by a laboratory-scale photoreactor and photocatalytic membranes immobilizing 30 ± 3 wt.% of TiO 2 , in the presence of aerosolized stoichiometric hydrogen peroxide as oxygen donor, and at a relative humidity close to 100%. The whole volume of irradiated solution was 4.000 ± 0.005 L, the ratio between this volume and the geometrical apparent surface of the irradiated side of the photocatalytic membrane was 3.8±0.1 cm, and the absorbed power was 0.30 W/cm (cylindrical geometry). The pinetic parameters of the present work substantially coincide with those of the same molecules previously studied in aqueous solution, within the limits of experimental uncertainty. Photocatalytic processes thus appear to be controlled by interface phenomena, which are ruled kinetically, and apparently also thermodynamically, by concentration gradients, independently on diffusion and other processes in the aqueous or gaseous bulk, if turbulence in these phases is adequately assured

Association of Genetic Markers with CSF Oligoclonal Bands in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Objective:to explore the association between genetic markers and Oligoclonal Bands (OCB) in the Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF) of Italian Multiple Sclerosis patients.Methods:We genotyped 1115 Italian patients for HLA-DRB1*15 and HLA-A*02. In a subset of 925 patients we tested association with 52 non-HLA SNPs associated with MS susceptibility and we calculated a weighted Genetic Risk Score. Finally, we performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) with OCB status on a subset of 562 patients. The best associated SNPs of the Italian GWAS were replicated in silico in Scandinavian and Belgian populations, and meta-analyzed.Results:HLA-DRB1*15 is associated with OCB+: p = 0.03, Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.6, 95% Confidence Limits (CL) = 1.1-2.4. None of the 52 non-HLA MS susceptibility loci was associated with OCB, except one SNP (rs2546890) near IL12B gene (OR: 1.45; 1.09-1.92). The weighted Genetic Risk Score mean was significantly (p = 0.0008) higher in OCB+ (7.668) than in OCB- (7.412) patients. After meta-analysis on the three datasets (Italian, Scandinavian and Belgian) for the best associated signals resulted from the Italian GWAS, the strongest signal was a SNP (rs9320598) on chromosome 6q (p = 9.4×10-7) outside the HLA region (65 Mb).Discussion:genetic factors predispose to the development of OCB