Embedded surfaces of arbitrary genus minimizing the Willmore energy under isoperimetric constraint

The isoperimetric ratio of an embedded surface in $R^3$ is defined as the ratio of the area of the surface to power three to the squared enclosed volume. The aim of the present work is to study the minimization of the Willmore energy under fixed isoperimetric ratio when the underlying abstract surface has fixed genus $g\geq 0$. The corresponding problem in the case of spherical surfaces, i.e. $g=0$, was recently solved by Schygulla with different methods.Comment: 38 page

Before Art as Experience: Dewey’s theory of perception and qualitative thought between aesthetic and linguistic practices

In this paper I will present a fragment of a wider research project aimed at reconstructing John Dewey’s aesthetic theory of perception using and correlating writings spanning the end of the 19th and the first three decades of the 20th century, before the publication of Art as Experience. Specifically, I will analyze relevant aspects of the 1930 essay Qualitative Thought emphasizing aspects that bring to the fore Dewey’s interest in the relationship between aesthetic and linguistic practices through the lens of the core concept of ‘familiarity’

L∞ estimates and integrability by compensation in Besov-Morrey spaces and applications

estimates in the integrability by compensation result of H. Wente fail in dimension larger than two when Sobolev spaces are replaced by the ad-hoc Morrey spaces (in dimension ). However, in this paper we prove that estimates hold in arbitrary dimension when Morrey spaces are replaced by their Littlewood-Paley counterparts: Besov-Morrey spaces. As an application we prove the existence of conservation laws for solutions of elliptic systems of the form where is antisymmetric and both and belong to these Besov-Morrey spaces for which the system is critica

On the representation of semantic and motor knowledge. Evidence from brain damaged patients

When we think of an apple, do we actually feel the same as when we eat it? The central theme of this work is to understand whether the permanent representation of an object corresponds to a reactivation of sensations we perceived when we actually had it in our hands. A recent debate in cognitive neuroscience, in fact, is concerned with the possibility that the neural systems that mediate overt action and sensory experience are causally involved in the neural representation of actions and real objects. On the other hand, more classical models postulate a relative separation between the how system and the what system, the former being more related to action, the latter more related to visual and semantic object representation. Such a classical view does not deny that the two streams normally have a close interaction but, based on neuropsychological and behavioral evidence, it holds that they can work separately in the case of selective brain damage or in particular experimental conditions. In this thesis I will explore the possible role of the motor processes in understanding objects and actions by studying brain damaged patients performing a series of action- and object-related tasks. In Chapter I, I will briefly introduce the literature on the relationship between actions and concepts of both healthy and brain damaged subjects. Chapter II reports a study on a group of 37 stroke patients who have been tested for their ability to recognize and use objects, as well as to recognize and imitate actions. In this group I found double dissociations suggesting that these tasks depend on separable cognitive processes. In Chapter III, I will describe a double dissociation study in which we compared the performance of two patients with apraxia with that of two patients with semantic impairment, and I will show how the object knowledge of the latter patients decline in time although they maintained relatively good ability to use objects. Finally, in Chapter IV I will analyze the performance of a new series of apraxic patients on a set of tasks aimed at testing a computational model which accounts for the errors that apraxic patients make when using objects. The results will not completely fit with the embodied theories of knowledge. Rather, they are compatible with \u201cdisembodied\u201d models that postulate a separation between the object conceptual knowledge and the sensory-motor input and output systems

L∞L^{\infty} estimates and integrability by compensation in Besov-Morrey spaces and applications

$L^{\infty}$ estimates in the integrability by compensation result of H. Wente fail in dimension larger than two when Sobolev spaces are replaced by the ad-hoc Morrey spaces. However, in this paper we prove that $L^{\infty}$ estimates hold in arbitrary dimension when Morrey spaces are replaced by their Littlewood Paley counterparts: Besov-Morrey spaces. As an application we prove the existence of conservation laws to solution of elliptic systems of the form $-\Delta u= \Omega \cdot \nabla u$ where $\Omega$ is antisymmetric and both $\nabla u$ and $\Omega$ belong to these Besov-Morrey spaces for which the system is critical.Comment: 37 page

Modes of Experience: Everyday Aesthetics Between Erlebnis, Erfahrung, and Lebenswelt

This paper focuses on the notion of experience, whose conceptual analysis seems to be often neglected or at least not sufficiently made explicit in the current discourse on Everyday Aesthetics. In our investigation this notion will be tackled, in particular, through the lens of such concepts as Erlebnis, Erfahrung, and Lebenswelt, which are drawn from the continental philosophical tradition. Purpose of the paper is to present a provisional framework aimed at clarifying that a more accurate conceptualization of experience allows for a better contemporary reflection on the aesthetics of everyday life

Book Forum on Estetica e natura umana: Questions by Simona Chiodo, Roberta Dreon, Shaun Gallagher, Tonino Griffero, Jerrold Levinson, Claudio Paolucci, Richard Shusterman: Replies by Giovanni Matteucci

Giovanni Matteucci\u2019s recent book 'Estetica e natura umana. La mente estesa tra percezione, emozione ed espressione' (Carocci editore, Roma 2019) ambitiously aims to bring together on the same ground \u2013 namely, a study on human nature \u2013 the tenets of two fields of research, aesthetics and the philosophy of mind. The path outlined in the book 'Estetica e natura umana' and some recent articles by Matteucci is aimed at re-establishing the continuity that exists between various aspects and modalities connoting human experience: a continuity, the latter, that according to Matteucci has been undermined by a centuries-long dualistic philosophical attitude towards human nature as such. On this basis, we thought it stimulating for scholars of philosophy, for readers of \u201cMeta\u201d and for the author himself, to put his original philosophical conception to the test, so to speak, by planning and organizing a book forum with some questions asked by distinguished philosophers of our time working on both aesthetics and the philosophy of mind, and with the detailed replies provided by Matteucci. The complexity underlying Matteucci\u2019s recent philosophical research is thus attested, beside his writings, by the wide-ranging questions raised by the discussants involved in this Forum: Simona Chiodo, Roberta Dreon, Shaun Gallagher, Tonino Griffero, Jerrold Levinson, Claudio Paolucci, Richard Shusterman. The topics and problems called into question by each of them, according to their specific competence, span from the relation to the traditions of pragmatism and phenomenology to enactivism, from the question of aesthetic properties to the role of the body in aesthetic experience, from the relation between perception and language to technology, just to mention a few of them. In our view, as editors of this book forum, the discussants\u2019 questions and the replies provided by the author ultimately prove how flourishing, rich and full of potential, also for further discussion, this field of research currently is

Municipality of Naples: Parco metropolitano delle Colline di Napoli - Case Studies

The area included in the “Parco Metropolitano delle Colline di Napoli” is not exclusively devoted to production, but also affected by an agricultural activity whose conservation has the safeguard and the restoration of the land as their main purposes. In fact, this area is interested by transformations aimed to the development of semi-natural ecosystems. The area is mainly characterized by steep slopes and rough tracts: the hydrogeological stability of these lands has been possible thanks to the terracing technique; nevertheless, this stability is often threaten by the building expansion. The farmed lands are often bordering on the residential areas or, conversely, some buildings arise from areas devoted to the agriculture. Some remains of the past agricultural activities still present agricultural systems of remarkable importance, both historical and ecological. The progressive isolation of these lands, effectively involved the conservation of traditional factors, such as the cultivated species and the farming techniques. The urban farms, characterized by a subsistence agriculture of the family run and scarce plots, are considered as valuable sources of biodiversity, with a high ecological importance. Therefore, archaic techniques of farming are easy to be found in these rural areas, which produced some varieties of trees nowadays considered in extinction or superseded by industrial cultivars. Apart from the agricultural use, the areas less suitable for farming are characterized by chestnut coppices, maquis vegetation and spontaneous intercropping. The whole set represents a complex environmental system; besides, the abandoned quarries nearby, which used to cause discontinuity in the agricultural landscape, nowadays represent an evocative scenario, together with the cultivated lands

Changes in the near edge X-ray absorption fine structure of hybrid organic-inorganic resists upon exposure

We report on the near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy of hybrid organic-inorganic resists. These materials are nonchemically amplified systems based on Si, Zr, and Ti oxides, synthesized from organically modified precursors and transition metal alkoxides by a sol-gel route and designed for ultraviolet, extreme ultraviolet and electron beam lithography. The experiments were conducted using a scanning transmission X-ray microscope (STXM) which combines high spatial-resolution microscopy and NEXAFS spectroscopy. The absorption spectra were collected in the proximity of the carbon edge (~ 290 eV) before and after in situ exposure, enabling the measurement of a significant photo-induced degradation of the organic group (phenyl or methyl methacrylate, respectively), the degree of which depends on the configuration of the ligand. Photo-induced degradation was more efficient in the resist synthesized with pendant phenyl substituents than it was in the case of systems based on bridging phenyl groups. The degradation of the methyl methacrylate group was relatively efficient, with about half of the initial ligands dissociated upon exposure. Our data reveal that the such dissociation can produce different outcomes, depending on the structural configuration. While all the organic groups were expected to detach and desorb from the resist in their entirety, a sizeable amount of them remain and form undesired byproducts such as alkene chains. In the framework of the materials synthesis and engineering through specific building blocks, these results provide a deeper insight into the photochemistry of resists, in particular for extreme ultraviolet lithography

Cysticercosis by Taenia pisiformis in Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) in\ua0Northern Italy: Epidemiologic and pathologic features

In Northern Italy, a hastening of hare population decline was noticeable from 2008. In the same year hunters reported a sudden increase of hares infected by Taenia sp. larvae, whose morphology was consistent with T. pisiformis cysticerci. The aim of the survey was: i)to identify the parasites through morphological features and molecular techniques; ii)to quantify the prevalence and abundance of cysticerci in hunted hares; iii)to describe pathological aspects of parasite-induced lesions; iv)to evaluate the short-term trend of the infection comparing two different hunting seasons; v)to highlight possible relationship between T. pisiformis infection and hare-related variables. In 2013, 2015 the viscera of 54 and 61 hares legally hunted in agro-ecosystems of the Po Plain were collected. Peritoneum, liver and lungs were examined for cysticercosis; abundance was estimated counting superficial parasites in liver; parasites were microscopically identified by shape and measure of both large and small hooks. One cysticercus from each hare was analized by a PCR targeting Taeniid species and then sequenced. Frozen liver, lungs and gastrointestinal peritoneum were macroscopically observed and, after thawing, representative samples from the available organs were collected for histologic examination to verify parasitic cysts and the subsequent damage of the involved organs. Sex, weight and age class of the animals were recorded. Generalized linear models were used for statistical analysis. T. pisiformis was isolated in 8 hares in 2013 (prevalence 14.8%; abundance range: 0-400; mean abundance 17.8) and in 2 hares in 2015 (prevalence 3.28%; abundance range: 0-180; mean abundance 3.22). Identification was confirmed morphologically and by PCR. The DNA sequencing confirmed T. pisiformis in all samples. The sequences were all identical each-other. Infection was significantly related with adult age class, sampling year and low full-weight. Epidemiological and pathological pattern suggest both a possible role on host population health and a tendency toward host-parasite equilibrium