Nathan il saggio - Lessing

Analisi dell'opera "Nathan il Saggio" di Lessin

"L'arte di leggere le immagini". L'abicì della guerra di Bertolt Brecht

Il contributo propone un'analisi della raccolta di fototesti brechtiani alla luce delle problematiche relative ai concetti di realismo e straniamento. Testo poetico e fotografia sono poste da Brecht in un rapporto dialettico, capace di drammatizzare l'immagine in modo conforme alle teorie teatrali dell'autore

«Vivere da soldato senza essere tale». Gli scritti di guerra di Thomas Mann

This essay examines the semantic area linked to military activity and in particular the conditions of the soldier in the essays written by Thomas Mann during the First World War. These reconstructions of a historical theme intermix with contributions about current public affairs, and have as their object the events linked to Germany’s entering the war and the general favour with which this was received. Moreover, warlike metaphors tend to slip comfortably into the profound core of Mann’s writing, since they lend themselves rather effectively to descriptions of the artist’s actual aptitudes and duties

“Io scrivo ciò che vedo”: “Einmal” di Wim Wenders tra “immagini autocelebrative” e “priorità del racconto”

Like many of Wenders’ films, the book Una volta (Einmal. Bilder und Geschichten, 1994; Once: Pictures and Stories) is the result of a fruitful encounter between different arts.  Wenders now takes on the role of photographer and narrator, while never completely abandoning the more usual role of director. The beginning of every short composition in Einmal, associated with one or more images, is the usual one of fairy tales. However, the word “once” that precedes as a title most of the compositions is not just an intertextual reference to the genre of children’s literature. It is more a sort of declaration of poetics, the choice of a specific stylistic register, as well as an attempt to adhere to a certain way of knowing and experiencing existence. It is the same way of knowing characteristic of children, says Wenders, connected—like the photographer’s shot—to the moment, without any care or regard for the past or the future. The stories that follow one another do not, at least not always, serve as captions for the images, nor do they necessarily offer the reader clarifications regarding the photographs placed next to them or the circumstances in which the they were shot. In this book Wenders works “spontaneously,” choosing for each shot the first story that “comes to his mind.” The point of connection between writing and image, as well as the fulcrum of the aesthetics of Wenders’ phototext, is undoubtedly the concept of Disposition (Einstellung), which is a privileged place of observation from which the photographer’s eye chooses to look, but also the narrative engine of the whole story, as well as, again, the centre from which the different threads of the story radiate and then return to converge. The object of my contribution will be precisely this idea of Einstellung, with the aim of highlighting its implications and potential.Like many of Wenders’ films, the book Una volta (Einmal. Bilder und Geschichten, 1994; Once: Pictures and Stories) is the result of a fruitful encounter between different arts.  Wenders now takes on the role of photographer and narrator, while never completely abandoning the more usual role of director. The beginning of every short composition in Einmal, associated with one or more images, is the usual one of fairy tales. However, the word “once” that precedes as a title most of the compositions is not just an intertextual reference to the genre of children’s literature. It is more a sort of declaration of poetics, the choice of a specific stylistic register, as well as an attempt to adhere to a certain way of knowing and experiencing existence. It is the same way of knowing characteristic of children, says Wenders, connected—like the photographer’s shot—to the moment, without any care or regard for the past or the future. The stories that follow one another do not, at least not always, serve as captions for the images, nor do they necessarily offer the reader clarifications regarding the photographs placed next to them or the circumstances in which the they were shot. In this book Wenders works “spontaneously,” choosing for each shot the first story that “comes to his mind.” The point of connection between writing and image, as well as the fulcrum of the aesthetics of Wenders’ phototext, is undoubtedly the concept of Disposition (Einstellung), which is a privileged place of observation from which the photographer’s eye chooses to look, but also the narrative engine of the whole story, as well as, again, the centre from which the different threads of the story radiate and then return to converge. The object of my contribution will be precisely this idea of Einstellung, with the aim of highlighting its implications and potential

A point-of-care test for facing the burden of undiagnosed celiac disease in the Mediterranean area: a pragmatic design study

BACKGROUND: We aimed at assessing the factors that can influence results of the dissemination of an already validated, new generation commercial Point-of-Care Test (POCT) for detecting celiac disease (CD), in the Mediterranean area, when used in settings where it was designed to be administered, especially in countries with poor resources. METHODS: Pragmatic study design. Family pediatricians at their offices in Italy, nurses and pediatricians in Slovenia and Turkey at pediatricians', schools and university primary care centers looked for CD in 3,559 (1-14 yrs), 1,480 (14-23 yrs) and 771 (1-18 yrs) asymptomatic subjects, respectively. A new generation POCT detecting IgA-tissue antitransglutaminase antibodies and IgA deficiency in a finger-tip blood drop was used. Subjects who tested positive and those suspected of having CD were referred to a Celiac Centre to undergo further investigations in order to confirm CD diagnosis. POCT Positive Predictive Value (PPV) at tertiary care (with Negative Predictive Value) and in primary care settings, and POCT and CD rates per thousand in primary care were estimated. RESULTS: At tertiary care setting, PPV of the POCT and 95% CI were 89.5 (81.3-94.3) and 90 (56-98.5) with Negative Predictive Value 98.5 (94.2-99.6) and 98.7% (92-99.8) in children and adults, respectively. In primary care settings of different countries where POCT was performed by a different number of personnel, PPV ranged from 16 to 33% and the CD and POCT rates per thousand ranged from 4.77 to 1.3 and from 31.18 to 2.59, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Interpretation of POCT results by different personnel may influence the performance of POC but dissemination of POCT is an urgent priority to be implemented among people of countries with limited resources, such as rural populations and school children

Accretion of Planetary Material onto Host Stars

Accretion of planetary material onto host stars may occur throughout a star's life. Especially prone to accretion, extrasolar planets in short-period orbits, while relatively rare, constitute a significant fraction of the known population, and these planets are subject to dynamical and atmospheric influences that can drive significant mass loss. Theoretical models frame expectations regarding the rates and extent of this planetary accretion. For instance, tidal interactions between planets and stars may drive complete orbital decay during the main sequence. Many planets that survive their stars' main sequence lifetime will still be engulfed when the host stars become red giant stars. There is some observational evidence supporting these predictions, such as a dearth of close-in planets around fast stellar rotators, which is consistent with tidal spin-up and planet accretion. There remains no clear chemical evidence for pollution of the atmospheres of main sequence or red giant stars by planetary materials, but a wealth of evidence points to active accretion by white dwarfs. In this article, we review the current understanding of accretion of planetary material, from the pre- to the post-main sequence and beyond. The review begins with the astrophysical framework for that process and then considers accretion during various phases of a host star's life, during which the details of accretion vary, and the observational evidence for accretion during these phases.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures (with some redacted), invited revie

Population Change and International and Internal Migration in Italy, 2002-2017: Ravenstein Revisited

In 1885, Ravenstein formulated his "laws" of migration, based on the experience of the British Isles. In a further 1889 paper, he extended his analysis as a tour d’horizon of migration and population changes in other nations, including Italy. Even if social and economic processes including globalisation and rising mobility have changed the world since then, Ravenstein's "laws" remain a point of reference today. Harnessing theoretical and methodological advances made since the 19th century, this paper describes and seeks to explain the role of international and internal migration in regional population change in Italy from 2002-2017. This paper provides the first geographically detailed migration analysis for the country's 611 Local Labour Market Areas (LLMAs), using register-based migration and population data. Our contribution focuses on several of Ravenstein's "laws" relating to gender (differences between men and women), natives and non-natives (differences between the Italian and the foreign population), distance migrated from origin to destination, and the role of the economy in shaping push and pull factors of migration. The results show that international migration is more prominent among men than women. In the case of internal moves, the rates of migration among men and women are similar, and internal migration is more prominent among the foreign than the native Italian population. Overall, international migration gains contribute substantially more to population change than internal migration gains and losses do. In Italy, the effects of persistent economic imbalances and of distance on migration patterns are not in line with Ravenstein's hypotheses: not all areas with high unemployment show an effect of dispersion, nor does distance always act as a deterrent to migration. The geographically detailed analysis presented here illustrates the temporal and spatial coexistence of diverse international and internal migration processes depending on local characteristics, as well as the importance of the economic or administrative centres as the driving force behind national patterns. Our results show that, even 130 years after their formulation, Ravenstein’s migration "laws" (more accurately called "hypotheses" today) are still a valuable starting point in assessing and understanding migration processes and their role in regional population change