Mediatic Handology?

A chirocentric model of thinking, an alternative to the notorious oculocentric line which is widely questioned today, appeared in philosophy from the very beginning. The idea of the hand as our major instrument of thinking comes from Anaxagoras and reaches Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, who reconfigured the philosophical agenda around this organ’s qualities. The theme of image making is crucial in this trend of thought, while artists from all ages and cultures have always expressed their sheer fascination for the motif of the hand as the conditioning agent of their creative activity. In the twentieth century, Walter Benjamin set up a philosophy of visual media which did not rely upon the optic qualities of the moving images, but on their haptic ones. The hand, after all, took central stage in the imaginary throughout the previous century: hands in X-rays, palms in modern chiromancy, fingers in the newly born chirognomonie, imprints in art, disembodied hands featuring autonomous characters in cinema. Together with these images, another idea of the thinking hand emerged, not only connected with the sense of touch or with craftmanship, but also with expressive gestures, conveying affect, desire as well as imaginative power. Do we need a handology to survey the many lives of the hand in our culture and fully understand the digital turn within the so-called deep time of the media

Anisotropic strain variations during the confined growth of Au nanowires

The electrochemical growth of Au nanowires in a template of nano-porous anodic aluminum oxide was investigated in situ by means of grazing-incidence transmission small- and wide-angle x-ray scattering (GTSAXS and GTWAXS), x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and 2-dimensional surface optical reflectance (2D-SOR). The XRF and the overall intensity of the GTWAXS patterns as a function of time were used to monitor the progress of the electrodeposition. Furthermore, we extracted powder diffraction patterns in the direction of growth and in the direction of confinement to follow the evolution of the direction-dependent strain. Quite rapidly after the beginning of the electrodeposition, the strain became tensile in the vertical direction and compressive in the horizontal direction, which showed that the lattice deformation of the nanostructures can be artificially varied by an appropriate choice of the deposition time. By alternating sequences of electrodeposition to sequences of rest, we observed fluctuations of the lattice parameter in the direction of growth, attributed to stress caused by electromigration.. Furthermore, the porous domain size calculated from the GTSAXS patterns was used to monitor how homogeneously the pores were filled.Comment: Short communication manuscript. Four figure

In situ\textit{In situ} hydride breathing during the template-assisted electrodeposition of Pd nanowires

We investigated the structural evolution of electrochemically fabricated Pd nanowires $\textit{in situ}$ by means of grazing-incidence transmission small- and wide-angle x-ray scattering (GTSAXS and GTWAXS), x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and 2-dimensional surface optical reflectance (2D-SOR). This shows how electrodeposition and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) compete and interact during Pd electrodepositon. During the bottom-up growth of the nanowires, we show that $\beta$-phase Pd hydride is formed. Suspending the electrodeposition then leads to a phase transition from $\beta$- to $\alpha$-phase Pd hydride. Additionally, we find that grain coalescence later hinders the incorporation of hydrogen in the Pd unit cell. GTSAXS and 2D-SOR provide complementary information on the volume fraction of the pores occupied by Pd, while XRF was used to monitor the amount of Pd electrodeposited.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 4 appendice

Transcriptomic Analysis of Single Isolated Myofibers Identifies miR-27a-3p and miR-142-3p as Regulators of Metabolism in Skeletal Muscle

Summary: Skeletal muscle is composed of different myofiber types that preferentially use glucose or lipids for ATP production. How fuel preference is regulated in these post-mitotic cells is largely unknown, making this issue a key question in the fields of muscle and whole-body metabolism. Here, we show that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a role in defining myofiber metabolic profiles. mRNA and miRNA signatures of all myofiber types obtained at the single-cell level unveiled fiber-specific regulatory networks and identified two master miRNAs that coordinately control myofiber fuel preference and mitochondrial morphology. Our work provides a complete and integrated mouse myofiber type-specific catalog of gene and miRNA expression and establishes miR-27a-3p and miR-142-3p as regulators of lipid use in skeletal muscle. : Chemello et al. characterize coding mRNAs and non-coding microRNAs expressed by myofibers of hindlimb mouse muscles, identifying complex interactions between these molecules that modulate mitochondrial functions and muscle metabolism. They demonstrate that specific short non-coding RNAs influence the contractile fiber composition of skeletal muscles by modulating muscle metabolism. Keywords: single myofiber, skeletal muscle metabolism, mitochondria, miRNAs, lipid

Un’esplorazione del modello Job Demands-Resources nel settore non-profit italiano: i primi passi del percorso di validazione

Introduzione. La letteratura sul modello Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) è vastissima e copre moltissimi settori imprenditoriali. Nonostante ciò, gli studi che hanno provato a testare questo modello nel settore non-profit risultano pochissimi ed ancora meno in contesto italiano. Obiettivi. Il presente poster si propone di investigare le proprietà psicometriche delle scale create per l’ambito profit e adattate in questo lavoro per lo studio del modello JD-R nel settore non-profit italiano. In particolare tra le domande sono stati studiati costrutti quali ad esempio le domande cognitive ed emotive, technostress, conflitto lavoro-vita privata; tra le risorse l’autonomia, il significato del lavoro, i valori organizzativi, il supporto dei colleghi e del supervisore; come mediatori e variabili di esito la motivazione ed il job crafting, il turn over, l’esaurimento emotivo, il work engagement, la soddisfazione e la performance. Metodo. Abbiamo raccolto dati da survey su un campione di 742 impiegati in 13 organizzazioni no-profit in Italia. Il 67% dei partecipanti era di sesso femminile e il 41% lavorava per la propria organizzazione da meno di 5 anni. Risultati. Il modello di misurazione dei costrutti esaminati dimostra un buon adattamento ai dati (predittori: 2 (1758) = 3398, CFI = .92, RMSEA = .04; mediatori e outcomes: 2 (934) = 2734, CFI = .90, RMSEA = .08) e buone caratteristiche psicometriche, risultando anche invariante rispetto ad alcune variabili socio demografiche come il sesso. Limiti. I nostri risultati vanno interpretati alla luce di alcune limitazioni. I dati sono stati raccolti in uno studio cross-sectional, e i nostri risultati potrebbero non essere generalizzabili ad altre realtà no-profit. Aspetti innovativi. Il presente studio sembra rappresentare il primo tentativo, almeno in contesto italiano di taratura di strumenti di misura per l’analisi del modello JD-R nel settore non-profit ed in particolare in contesto italiano

Synchrotron-based near ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical studies of passivation behavior of N- and V-containing martensitic stainless steel

Passivation behavior of a N- and V-containing martensite stainless steel was studied by synchrotron-based near ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electrochemical analyses, and thermodynamic calculation. The passive film consists of Cr3+, Fe(2, 3)+, and V(2, 3, 4)+ oxides as inner layer, and Cr3+ and Fe3+ hydroxides as outer layer. Austenitization at 1080 oC (rather than 1010 oC) and anodic polarization facilitate transformation of CrN to Cr2O3 leading to further enrichment of Cr3+ oxide in the passive film. Whereas higher Cl- concentration promotes film dissolution leading to higher level of point defects and higher fraction of remaining V oxides in the passive film

In situ quantitative analysis of electrochemical oxide film development on metal surfaces using ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy : Industrial alloys

Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy combined with an electrochemical setup is used to study, in situ, the electrochemical oxide growth on an industrial Ni-Cr-Mo alloy. The native oxide film was characterized in vacuum and in water vapor at 17 mbar, and was found to be 11.4 Å thick and rich in Cr3+. In 0.1 M NaCl electrolyte, anodic growth of the oxide film at potentials up to 700 mV vs Ag/AgCl nearly doubled the thickness of the oxide film. Moreover, a transformation of the oxide composition occurred, as the oxide became enriched in Mo6+ with a chemical fingerprint more like that of pure MoO3. Both thermodynamics and kinetics of the oxidation of the alloying elements dictate the oxide film growth and composition. Furthermore, we develop the quantitative analysis of oxide composition and thickness to take into account the attenuation through the liquid water and the water vapor atmosphere. Finally, we discuss the differences between ex situ, UHV, in situ, and operando measurements. Our approach is robust, fast, simple, and suitable for systematically probing metal surfaces after aqueous exposure and electrochemical polarization, which promises wide applications for studies of solid–liquid interfaces in corrosion, batteries, fuel cells, and electrocatalysis

Au–Pd Barcode Nanowires with Tailored Lattice Parameters and Segment Lengths for Catalytic Applications

In this study, we present a systematic investigation of the controlled fabrication of Au–Pd barcode nanowires within nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (NP-AAO) templates. By using a combination of in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD), focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we elucidate the influence of template preparation methods on the resulting nanowire properties. The template treatment, involving either pore widening or barrier layer thinning, significantly impacts nanowire growth. Through the analysis of the XRD data, we observe sequential deposition of Au and Pd segments with lattice parameter variations and strain effects. Particularly, the lattice parameters of Au and Pd segments display intricate temporal dependencies, influenced by interfacial effects and strain caused by growth under confinement. FIB-SEM imaging reveals uniform and reproducible nanowire lengths in the template treated with pore widening. Furthermore, TEM analysis confirms the presence of distinct Au and Pd segments, while scanning TEM–energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed minor evidence of interdiffusion between the first and the second electrodeposited segments. Our findings emphasize the potential of the electrodeposition process within nanoporous templates for producing barcode nanowires with precise segmental properties. The combination of in situ XRD and electron microscopy offers valuable insights into the growth dynamics and structural characteristics of the fabricated Au–Pd barcode nanowires. This controlled fabrication strategy opens doors to tailoring nanowire properties for diverse applications, particularly in catalysis