264 research outputs found
Il punto sulla crisi
La tavola rotonda su âGli studi classici nel terzo millennioâ (Roma, 16 marzo 2015) ha offerto lâopportunitĂ di un confronto sulla crisi degli studi umanistici e del modello educativo fondato su di essi. Tre sono i principali spunti di riflessione emersi dalla discussione: le cause della crisi, che alcuni attribuiscono ad attacchi esterni, altri a una sorta di esaurimento interno; le prospettive future, per molti tuttâaltro che incoraggianti, per altri viceversa ricche di opportunitĂ grazie soprattutto alle tecnologie digitali; le possibili risposte sul piano didattico: un tema, questâultimo, che ha visto i relatori divisi tra coloro che sostengono la necessitĂ di continuare a insegnare il greco e il latino con rigore in tutti i loro aspetti e coloro che propongono al contrario di adottare nuovi metodi e di rinunciare contestualmente a quanto puĂČ apparire troppo complesso per lâattuale livello degli studenti
Esse y sta: selecciĂłn de auxiliar en el dialecto del Aquila
This paper presents data on auxiliary selection in Aquilan dialect. It focuses on the two auxiliary verbs esse and sta, which respectively express a permanent and temporary property that holds for a given predicate. The goals of the paper are twofold. A first goal is to offer data on the distribution of these auxiliary verbs, filling an empirical void in the literature. A second goal is to offer a formal syntactic and semantic treatment of these two auxiliaries. This treatment is shown to make several predictions on the properties of these auxiliaries, and their interaction with other parts of speech.En este trabajo se presentan datos sobre la selecciĂłn de auxiliar en el dialecto del Aquila. Se centra en los dos verbos auxiliares esse y esta, que respectivamente expresan una caracterĂstica permanente y temporal que se mantiene para un predicado dado. Los objetivos del artĂculo son dos. El primero es ofrecer datos sobre la distribuciĂłn de estos verbos auxiliares, llenando un vacĂo empĂrico en la bibliografĂa. El segundo es ofrecer un tratamiento formal de carĂĄcter sintĂĄctico y semĂĄntico de estos dos auxiliares. Este tratamiento permite hacer varias predicciones sobre las propiedades de estos auxiliares y su interacciĂłn con otras partes del discurso
On the syntax and semantics of Italian spatial Ps
This paper offers a unified approach to Italian spatial prepositions, such as di fronte a âin front ofâ, verso âtowardsâ, in âinâ, dietro a âbehindâ, and nel mezzo di âin the middle ofâ. Three assumptions play a key role. First, Italian spatial prepositions can differ sensibly in their morphological structure, but share the same syntactic properties. Second, their sentential distribution is in part context-sensitive, thus based on the categories with which they combine. Third, their semantic contribution is âlayeredâ, in the sense that it includes the meaning dimensions of both aspectual boundedness and specificity. The main result is a generalised theory on the structure and semantic interpretation of these prepositions
The NuSTAR view of the Seyfert Galaxy HE 0436-4717
We present the multi epoch spectral analysis of HE 0436-4717, a bright
Seyfert 1 galaxy serendipitously observed by the high energy satellite NuSTAR
four times between December 2014 and December 2015. The source flux shows
modest variability within each pointing and among the four observations.
Spectra are well modelled in terms of a weakly variable primary power law with
constant photon index (=2.010.08). A constant narrow \ion{Fe}
K emission line suggests that this feature has an origin far from the
central black hole, while a broad relativistic component is not required by the
data. The Compton reflection component is also constant in flux with a
corresponding reflection fraction R=0.7. The iron abundance is
compatible with being Solar (A=1.2), and a lower limit
for the high energy cut-off E>280 keV is obtained. Adopting a
self-consistent model accounting for a primary Comptonized continuum, we obtain
a lower limit for the hot corona electron temperature kT>65 keV and a
corresponding upper limit for the coronal optical depth of <1.3. The
results of the present analysis are consistent with the locus of local Seyfert
galaxies in the kT- and temperature-compactness diagrams.Comment: accepted for publication in A&
Swift/XRT- NuSTAR spectra of type 1 AGN]{Swift/XRT- NuSTAR spectra of type 1 AGN: confirming INTEGRAL results on the high energy cut-off
We present the 0.5 - 78 keV spectral analysis of 18 broad line AGN belonging
to the INTEGRAL complete sample. Using simultaneous Swift-XRT and NuSTAR
observations and employing a simple phenomenological model to fit the data, we
measure with a good constraint the high energy cut-off in 13 sources, while we
place lower limits on 5 objects. We found a mean high-energy cut-off of 111 keV
(standard deviation = 45 keV) for the whole sample, in perfect agreement with
what found in our previous work using non simultaneous observations and with
what recently published using NuSTAR data. This work suggests that simultaneity
of the observations in the soft and hard X-ray band is important but not always
essential, especially if flux and spectral variability are properly accounted
for. A lesser agreement is found when we compare our cut-off measurements with
the ones obtained by Ricci et al. (2017) using Swift-BAT high energy data,
finding that their values are systematically higher than ours. We have
investigated whether a linear correlation exists between photon index and the
cut-off and found a weak one, probably to be ascribed to the non perfect
modelling of the soft part of the spectra, due to the poor statistical quality
of the 2-10 keV X-ray data. No correlation is also found between the Eddington
ratio and the cut-off, suggesting that only using high statistical quality
broad-band spectra is it possible to verify the theoretical predictions and
study the physical characteristics of the hot corona and its geometry.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Societ
Le "Metamorfosi" di Ovidio come poema dellâ«indistinzione», dellâ«illusione» e dellâ«incertezza»
This paper discusses three very influential contributions to contemporary Ovidian criticism: Italo Calvinoâs "Ovid and Universal Contiguity" (1979) and "Six Memos for the Next Millennium" (1988), Gianpiero Rosatiâs "Narciso e Pigmalione" (1983) and Nicola Gardiniâs "Con Ovidio" (2017). Within the essays of these three Italian critics and authors emerges an idea of the "Metamorphoses" as a grandiose depiction of the precarious and deceptive nature of reality: an idea which is not, of course, the only interpretive option from a critical point of view, but is doubtless the best suited to the "Zeitgeist" in the «Age of Uncertainty»
Which Side are You On? The Worlds of Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a key figure among the first wave of authors of the so-called British Generation (Sandifer and Eklund). The works of the other two creators, Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, have been the basis for a wealth of scholarly research within the field of comics studies and whole constellations of literary scholarship (Sandifer and Eklund; Sanders; Krueger and Shaeffer; Millidge). Morrison\u27s fictional worlds, however, remain understudied, despite the fact that, as Marc Singer observes, Morrison\u27s work and career seem to be evenly distributed along a continuum ranging from the alternative Vertigo material to the mainstream superhero comics (Singer 10-30). Furthermore, what should be of interest to comics scholars is the peculiar character of Morrison\u27s method, which seems to lie in his unique approach to the creative process. A chaos magician, shrewd comic entrepreneur, self-proclaimed geek and a closet workaholic, Morrison has always juggled several projects at once, often transferring ideas and concepts across series as a result, using subtle references to Borges and Calvino together with obscure mentions of silver age characters of DC comics, as for instance Buddy Baker/Animal Man (Callahan; Shapira). Since Morrison has spread his intense commitment to artistic production over a vast continuum of work, the net result is that the boundaries between mainstream and alternative productions have become thin
Investigating the X-ray polarization of lamp-post coronae in BHXRB
High-sensitivity X-ray polarimetric observations of black hole X-ray
binaries, which will soon become available with the launches of space-borne
X-ray observatories with sensitive X-ray polarimeters, will be able to put
independent constraints on the black hole as well as the accretion flow, and
possibly break degeneracies that cannot be resolved by spectral/timing
observations alone. In this work we perform a series of general relativistic
Monte-Carlo radiative transfer simulations to study the expected polarization
properties of X-ray radiation emerging from lamp-post coronae in black hole
X-ray binaries. We find that the polarization degree of the coronal emission of
black hole X-ray binaries is sensitive to the spin of the black hole, the
height of the corona, and the dynamics of the corona.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Location-Dependent Human Osteoarthritis Cartilage Response to Realistic Cyclic Loading: Ex-Vivo Analysis on Different Knee Compartments
Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifactorial musculoskeletal disorder affecting mostly weight-bearing joints. Chondrocyte response to load is modulated by inflammatory mediators and factors involved in extracellular cartilage matrix (ECM) maintenance, but regulatory mechanisms are not fully clarified yet. By using a recently proposed experimental model combining biomechanical data with cartilage molecular information, basally and following ex-vivo load application, we aimed at improving the understanding of human cartilage response to cyclic mechanical compressive stimuli by including cartilage original anatomical position and OA degree as independent factors. Methods: 19 mono-compartmental Knee OA patients undergoing total knee replacement were recruited. Cartilage explants from four different femoral condyles zones and with different degeneration levels were collected. The response of cartilage samples, pooled according to OA score and anatomical position was tested ex-vivo in a bioreactor. Mechanical stimulation was obtained via a 3-MPa 1-Hz sinusoidal compressive load for 45-min to replicate average knee loading during normal walking. Samples were analysed for chondrocyte gene expression and ECM factor release. Results: Non parametric univariate and multivariate (generalized linear mixed model) analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of compression and IL-1ÎČ stimulation in relationship to the anatomical position, local disease severity and clinical parameters with a level of significance set at 0.05. We observed an anti-inflammatory effect of compression inducing a significant downmodulation of IL-6 and IL-8 levels correlated to the anatomical regions, but not to OA score. Moreover, ADAMTS5, PIICP, COMP and CS were upregulated by compression, whereas COL-2CAV was downmodulated, all in relationship to the anatomical position and to the OA degree. Conclusion: While unconfined compression testing may not be fully representative of the in-vivo biomechanical situation, this study demonstrates the importance to consider the original cartilage anatomical position for a reliable biomolecular analysis of knee OA metabolism following mechanical stimulation
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