Tradire Brandi / La tradición de Brandi / The Brandi tradition

Accogliendo l’idea avanzata da Giulio Carlo Argan, che identifica la trasparenza quale strumento compositivo e di lettura dei testi di Cesare Brandi, il saggio intende applicare, a partire dalla voce “Restauro” dell’Enciclopedia Universale dell’Arte, tradotta in castigliano su questo numero di Conversaciones, una lettura in trasparenza degli altri suoi testi sul restauro, cercando talvolta conforto anche negli scritti più propriamente di riflessione estetica. Attraverso tale metodologia, due coppie di temi sembrano emergere in modo evidente: la reintegrazione e, in trasparenza, l’unità potenziale dell’opera d’arte; il rapporto tra discipline umanistiche e discipline scientifiche e, in trasparenza, la possibilità di fondazione di una teoria del restauro. Il tema della trasparenza, infine, apre a una riflessione sullo spazio, o meglio, sugli spazi, e, ancora in trasparenza, sugli oggetti. Proprio questo ultimo approdo costituisce l’elemento per una possibile via di fuga, di uscita dal lavoro di Cesare Brandi, per continuare a praticare, però, la tradizione di Cesare Brandi

AgriLOVE: Agriculture, land-use and technical change in an evolutionary, agent-based model

This paper presents a dynamic agent-based model of land use and agricultural production under environmental boundaries, finite available resources and endogenous technical change. In particular, we model a spatially explicit smallholder farming system populated by boundedly-rational agents competing and innovating to fulfill an exogenous demand for food, while coping with a changing environment shaped by their production choices. Given the strong technological and environmental uncertainty, agents learn and adaptively employ heuristics which guide their decisions on engaging in innovation and imitation activities, hiring workers, acquiring new farms, deforesting virgin areas and abandoning unproductive lands. Such activities in turn impact farm productivity, food production, food prices and land use. We firstly show that the model can replicate key stylized facts of the agricultural sector. We then extensively explore its properties across several scenarios featuring different institutional and behavioral settings. Finally, we simulate the model across different applications considering deforestation and land abandonment; human-induced soil degradation; and climate impacts. AgriLOVE offers a flexible simulation environment to study the endogenous emergence of different agricultural production regimes from the interaction of spatially dispersed farms subject to resource constraints, spatial influence and climate change

Cat LCA-CRX model, homozygous for an antimorphic mutation has a unique phenotype

PURPOSE: Mutations in the CRX transcription factor are associated with dominant retinopathies often with more severe macular changes. The CRX-mutant cat (Rdy-A182d2) is the only animal model with the equivalent of the critical retinal region for high-acuity vision, the macula. Heterozygous cats (CRXRdy/+) have a severe phenotype modeling Leber congenital amaurosis. This study reports the distinct ocular phenotype of homozygous cats (CRXRdy/Rdy). METHODS: Gene expression changes were assessed at both mRNA and protein levels. Changes in globe morphology and retinal structure were analyzed. RESULTS: CRXRdy/Rdy cats had high levels of mutant CRX mRNA and protein. The expression of photoreceptor target genes was severely impaired although there were variable effects on the expression of other transcription factors. The photoreceptor cells remained immature and failed to elaborate outer segments consistent with the lack of retinal function. The retinal layers displayed a progressive remodeling with cell loss but maintained overall retinal thickness due to gliosis. Rapid photoreceptor loss largely occurred in the macula-equivalent retinal region. The homozygous cats developed markedly increased ocular globe length. CONCLUSIONS: The phenotype of CRXRdy/Rdy cats was more severe compared to CRXRdy/+ cats by several metrics. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: The CRX-mutant cat is the only model for CRX-retinopathies with a macula-equivalent region. A prominent feature of the CRXRdy/Rdy cat phenotype not detectable in homozygous mouse models was the rapid degeneration of the macula-equivalent retinal region highlighting the value of this large animal model and its future importance in the testing of translational therapies aiming to restore vision

CrxRdy cat: A large animal model for CRX-associated Leber congenital amaurosis

PURPOSE: Mutations in the retinal transcription factor cone-rod homeobox (CRX) gene result in severe dominant retinopathies. A large animal model, the Rdy cat, carrying a spontaneous frameshift mutation in Crx, was reported previously. The present study aimed to further understand pathogenesis in this model by thoroughly characterizing the Rdy retina. METHODS: Structural and functional changes were found in a comparison between the retinas of Crx(Rdy/+) kittens and those of wild-type littermates and were determined at various ages by fundus examination, electroretinography (ERG), optical coherence tomography, and histologic analyses. RNA and protein expression changes of Crx and key target genes were analyzed using quantitative reverse-transcribed PCR, Western blot analysis, and immunohistochemistry. Transcription activity of the mutant Crx was measured by a dual-luciferase transactivation assay. RESULTS: Crx(Rdy/+) kittens had no recordable cone ERGs. Rod responses were delayed in development and markedly reduced at young ages and lost by 20 weeks. Photoreceptor outer segment development was incomplete and was followed by progressive outer retinal thinning starting in the cone-rich area centralis. Expression of cone and rod Crx target genes was significantly down-regulated. The mutant Crx allele was overexpressed, leading to high levels of the mutant protein lacking transactivation activity. CONCLUSIONS: The Crx(Rdy) mutation exerts a dominant negative effect on wild-type Crx by overexpressing mutant protein. These findings, consistent with those of studies in a mouse model, support a conserved pathogenic mechanism for CRX frameshift mutations. The similarities between the feline eye and the human eye with the presence of a central region of high cone density makes the Crx(Rdy/+) cat a valuable model for preclinical testing of therapies for dominant CRX diseases

Control of sucker growth on Vitis vinifera cv. Merlot with NAA derivatives

Six NAA esters (three known, three newly synthesized) were tested for the grapevine sucker control. Good results were achieved by E4, E5, E9 (8 % concentration) but E3 presented solubility problems. Suckering was reduced also in the second year, without repeating the treatment

Cuestionarios virtuales en la evaluación formativa: una experiencia en la enseñanza de la Física en el Nivel Medio

A partir de la primera mitad del siglo veinte se han ido superando los distintos problemas vinculados a la alfabetización, la masiva concurrencia de los niños a las escuelas, la gratuidad del sistema educativo, el crecimiento de las ciudades y de su infraestructura de transporte, han aproximado a la sociedad al viejo anhelo de la alfabetización de los ciudadanos. Nuestros jóvenes en general saben leer, escribir, sumar y restar. Paradójicamente en el mismo siglo veinte, donde se ha producido el más grande avance científico y tecnológico en la historia de la humanidad, se ha profundizado una enorme brecha entre el conocimiento científico y el conocimiento incorporado por la sociedad, lo que algunos denominan “analfabetismo científico”.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Cuestionarios virtuales en la evaluación formativa: una experiencia en la enseñanza de la Física en el Nivel Medio

A partir de la primera mitad del siglo veinte se han ido superando los distintos problemas vinculados a la alfabetización, la masiva concurrencia de los niños a las escuelas, la gratuidad del sistema educativo, el crecimiento de las ciudades y de su infraestructura de transporte, han aproximado a la sociedad al viejo anhelo de la alfabetización de los ciudadanos. Nuestros jóvenes en general saben leer, escribir, sumar y restar. Paradójicamente en el mismo siglo veinte, donde se ha producido el más grande avance científico y tecnológico en la historia de la humanidad, se ha profundizado una enorme brecha entre el conocimiento científico y el conocimiento incorporado por la sociedad, lo que algunos denominan “analfabetismo científico”.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Cuestionarios virtuales para el aprendizaje de conceptos epistemológicos en un curso de ingreso universitario

El ciclo de ingreso universitario a las Carreras de Ingeniería, Geología y Biología, incluye en su currículo la asignatura Ambientación Universitaria; una de cuyas temáticas centrales es la introducción al pensamiento científico. Con el objetivo de potenciar la comprensión de los contenidos epistemológicos desarrollados se incorporó en esta asignatura, suplementando el desarrollo presencial, una herramienta virtual montada en plataforma Moodle. Consistió en un cuestionario cerrado de siete preguntas con cinco opciones de respuesta cada una, y retroalimentaciones explicativas para cada respuesta. Los estudiantes pudieron contestar sin límites cada pregunta y leer los comentarios explicativos para cada opción rectificando o ratificando su respuesta. A fin de evaluar la innovación, se estudió una muestra de 42 alumnos que fueron asignados aleatoriamente a "grupo tratamiento" (utilizó la herramienta) y "grupo control" (no la utilizó). En ambos grupos se aplicó un pretest al comenzar el curso y un postest en la última clase. Los resultados sugieren que la incorporación de evaluaciones y retroalimentaciones mediadas por TIC pueden favorecer la comprensión de contenidos epistemológicos clave. La importancia de este trabajo radica en ilustrar un caso concreto de implementación de herramientas virtuales, que vincula evaluaciones formativa y sumativa en orden a mejorar el rendimiento. Asimismo, resalta la necesidad de profundizar la investigación en esta línea.Trabajos del área Ciencias NaturalesDepartamento de Ciencias Exactas y Naturale