El ciclo serrano de Mario Vargas Llosa: Historia de Mayta y Lituma en los Andes

El ciclo serrano de Mario Vargas Llosa es el resultado de una investigación de años que se centra en el análisis textual de las dos «novelas serranas», Historia de Maytay Lituma en los Andes. La profesora Mercedes López-Baralt (Universidad de Puerto Rico), reconocida peruanista, firma el prólogo. Al examen detallado de las dos novelas se dedica específicamente el capítulo IV y último, con diferencia el más largo. En los anteriores, Piazza se ocupa de dibujar un detallado perfil literario de Vargas Llosa (I), del estudio del espacio de la cordillera (II), y del concepto de «doble barbarie» en la narrativa de Vargas Llosa y en otras novelas americanas anteriores (III). El dominio y rigor metodológico de quien conoce un tema a fondo y la variedad de enfoques garantizan el valor y la precisión de esta nueva incursión en la obra del Nobel, que aún ofrece territorios por explorar

Una parodia feroz en Historia de Mayta, de Mario Vargas Llosa

The essay revisits Mario Vargas Llosa’s novel Historia de Mayta, not from a political point of view, but from a Cervantine perspective, as it becomes feasible to identify convergent literary themes and techniques with Cervante’s top masterpiece, Don Quijote de la Mancha. The “fiction” theme, the main character’s parody, multiple narrators, and the metafictional component link both literary works in a very particular way.El ensayo revisita la novela Historia de Mayta, de Mario Vargas Llosa, ya no desde su cariz político, sino desde una perspectiva cervantina, al detectar temas y técnicas literarias convergentes con la obra cumbre de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha. El tema de la ficción, la parodia a sus protagonistas, el narrador plural y la metaficción vincula ambas obras de manera muy particular

La voz "testimonial" de la esclava María de Regla en Cecilia Valdés de Cirilo Villaverde

The essay proposes an analysis of the narrative voice of the slave María de Regla in Cecilia Valdés (1882), work of Cuban author Cirilo Villaverde, from the point of view of what John Beverley defines as "testimonio "-a struggle weapon to defend herself—and from Gayatrik Spivak's proposals in her essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?", who argues the legitimacy of testimonies due to the dependence on the intellectual to express the subaltern's condition. A forum has been conceded to María de Regla to expose her version of the events; her testimony seems, in certain ways, to match some features of the "new" testimonial genre, enabling various approaches to her discourse. The white and intellectual narrator who organizes the text becomes an implicit accomplice in the task of repression when he manipulates the authenticity of the slave's narrative, transforming it in a sort of "spectacle”.El ensayo asedia la voz narrativa de la esclava María de Regla, en la obra Cecilia Valdés (1 882), del cubano Cirilo Villaverde, des de la perspectiva de lo que John Beverley define como "testimonio" -un "arma" de lucha para revelarse y defenderse- y desde las propuestas de Gayatrik Spivak, en su ensayo "Can the Subaltern Speak?", en el que se argumenta la legitimidad de los mismos debido a la dependencia del intelectual para decir la condición del subalterno. A la negra esclava se le ha concedido un "foro" en el cual exponer su versión de los hechos, y su "testimonio" parece resistir el cotejo de algunas características del "nuevo” género testimonial, lo que nos permite diversas entradas a su discurso. El narrador "blanco" e "intelectual”, que organiza el texto, se convierte en cómplice implícito en la labor de represión, al manipular la autenticidad del relato de la esclava, transformándolo en una suerte de "espectáculo”

Risultato di valorizzazione applicativa: progettazione e realizzazione di un prototipo di sensore wireless per il monitoraggio di carichi elettrici in ambiente Smart Building

Oggetto del presente lavoro è stata la progettazione e realizzazione di un prototipo di sensore wireless a basso costo per il monitoraggio di carichi elettrici in ambiente Smart Building, capace di inviare dati ad un sistema remoto (ad esempio un EMS) mediante una comune connessione WiFi. L’attività si inquadra nell’ambito di una collaborazione scientifica tra l’Istituto di Studi sui Sistemi Intelligenti per l’Automazione (ISSIA) del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) e il Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica (DMI) dell’Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA). Il prototipo è stato realizzato interfacciando opportunamente alcuni dispositivi hardware commerciali, aggiungendo gli opportuni circuiti per il condizionamento dei segnali da acquisire e scrivendo il codice per l’implementazione del firmware del sensore wireless (per l’invio dei dati) e del client remoto (per la ricezione dei dati)

Modeling and performance assessment of the split-pi used as a storage converter in all the possible dc microgrid scenarios. Part II: Simulation and experimental results

Bidirectional DC/DC converters such as the Split-pi can be used to integrate an energy storage system (ESS) into a DC microgrid providing manifold benefits. However, this integration deserves careful design because the ESS converter must behave like a stiff voltage generator, a non-stiff voltage generator, or a current generator depending on the microgrid configuration. Part I of this work presented a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the Split-pi used as an ESS converter in all the possible DC microgrid scenarios. Five typical microgrid scenarios were identified. Each of them required a specific state-space model of the Split-pi and a suitable control scheme. The present paper completes the study validating the theoretical analysis based on simulations and experimental tests. The chosen case study encompassed a 48 V, 750 W storage system interfaced with a 180 V DC microgrid using a Split-pi converter. It can represent a reduced-power prototype of terrestrial and marine microgrids. A prototypal Split-pi converter was realized in the lab, and several experimental tests were performed to assess the performance in each scenario. The results obtained from the experimental tests were coherent with the simulations and validated the study

Modeling and performance assessment of the split-pi used as a storage converter in all the possible dc microgrid scenarios. Part i: Theoretical analysis

The integration of an electrical storage system (ESS) into a DC microgrid using a bidirectional DC/DC converter provides substantial benefits but requires careful design. Among such converter topologies, the Split-pi converter presents several merits at the cost of non-isolated operation. However, the few works in the literature on the Split-pi presented only closed-loop control with a single control loop; furthermore, they neglected the reactive components’ parasitic resistances and did not perform any experimental validation. This work aimed at investigating the use of the Split-pi converter as a power interface between an ESS and a DC microgrid. Five typical microgrid scenarios are presented, where each of which requires a specific state-space model and a suitable control scheme for the converter to obtain high performance. In this study, two different state-space models of the converter that consider the parasitic elements are presented, the control schemes are discussed, and criteria for designing the controllers are also given. Several simulations, as well as experimental tests on a prototype realized in the lab, were performed to validate the study. Both the simulation and experimental results will be presented in part II of this work. The proposed approach has general validity and can also be followed when other bidirectional DC/DC converter topologies are employed to interface an ESS with a DC microgrid

Modeling and Experimental Validation of a Voltage-Controlled Split-Pi Converter Interfacing a High-Voltage ESS with a DC Microgrid

The Split-pi converter can suitably interface an energy storage system (ESS) with a DC microgrid when galvanic isolation is not needed. Usually, the ESS voltage is lower than the grid-side voltage. However, limitations in terms of the ESS current make the use of a high-voltage ESS unavoidable when high power levels are required. In such cases, the ESS voltage can be higher than the microgrid voltage, especially with low microgrid voltages such as 48 V. Despite its bidirectionality and symmetry, the Split-pi exhibits a completely different dynamic behavior if its input and output ports are exchanged. Thus, the present work aims to model the Split-pi converter operating with an ESS voltage higher than the grid-side voltage in three typical microgrid scenarios where the controlled variable is the converter's output voltage. The devised state-space model considers the parasitic elements and the correct load model for each scenario. Furthermore, it is shown that the presence of the input LC filter can make the design of the loop controllers more complicated than in the case of a lower ESS voltage than the grid-side voltage. Finally, the study is validated through simulations and experimental tests on a lab prototype, and a robustness analysis is performed

Immune response to tick-borne hemoparasites: Host adaptive immune response mechanisms as potential targets for therapies and vaccines

Tick-transmitted pathogens cause infectious diseases in both humans and animals. Different types of adaptive immune mechanisms could be induced in hosts by these microorganisms, triggered either directly by pathogen antigens or indirectly through soluble factors, such as cytokines and/or chemokines, secreted by host cells as response. Adaptive immunity effectors, such as antibody secretion and cytotoxic and/or T helper cell responses, are mainly involved in the late and long-lasting protective immune response. Proteins and/or epitopes derived from pathogens and tick vectors have been isolated and characterized for the immune response induced in different hosts. This review was focused on the interactions between tick-borne pathogenic hemoparasites and different host effector mechanisms of T-and/or B cell-mediated adaptive immunity, describing the efforts to define immunodominant proteins or epitopes for vaccine development and/or immunotherapeutic purposes. A better understanding of these mechanisms of host immunity could lead to the assessment of possible new immunotherapies for these pathogens as well as to the prediction of possible new candidate vaccine antigens

New holomorphically closed subalgebras of C∗C^*-algebras of hyperbolic groups

We construct dense, unconditional subalgebras of the reduced group $C^*$-algebra of a word-hyperbolic group, which are closed under holomorphic functional calculus and possess many bounded traces. Applications to the cyclic cohomology of group $C^*$-algebras and to delocalized $L^2$-invariants of negatively curved manifolds are given