Four unpublished letters from Nicolas Fatio de Duillier to Isaac Newton: Networks and alchemical knowledge

This article analyses four unpublished draft letters from Nicolas Fatio de Duiller to Isaac Newton, dating from June to August 1693, and held in the Special Collections in the Universiteitsbibliotheek in Leiden. Overall, these letters enrich our knowledge of Fatio-Newton's alchemical correspondence in June 1693, a phase which likely represents the peak of the two natural philosophers' alchemical collaboration. By scrutinising the content of the letters, and situating them in relation to primary and secondary sources, the article will place Newton and Fatio's epistolary exchange in relation to the social and historical background of late seventeenth-century London, bringing to light so far undisclosed aspects of the networks, alchemical practices, and expertise of the two natural philosophers

Pansharpening techniques to detect mass monument damaging in Iraq

The recent mass destructions of monuments in Iraq cannot be monitored with the terrestrial survey methodologies, for obvious reasons of safety. For the same reasons, it’s not advisable the use of classical aerial photogrammetry, so it was obvious to think to the use of multispectral Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. Nowadays VHR satellite images resolutions are very near airborne photogrammetrical images and usually they are acquired in multispectral mode. The combination of the various bands of the images is called pan-sharpening and it can be carried on using different algorithms and strategies. The correct pansharpening methodology, for a specific image, must be chosen considering the specific multispectral characteristics of the satellite used and the particular application. In this paper a first definition of guidelines for the use of VHR multispectral imagery to detect monument destruction in unsafe area, is reported. The proposed methodology, agreed with UNESCO and soon to be used in Libya for the coastal area, has produced a first report delivered to the Iraqi authorities. Some of the most evident examples are reported to show the possible capabilities of identification of damages using VHR images

“Materialising political economy: olive oil, patronage and science in eighteenth-century Rome”, Diciottesimo secolo, Vol. 5 (2020), pp. 97-115.

The present article will explore some significant moments of the patronage bond between the Piarist Bartolomeo Gandolfi and Prince Andrea Doria Pamphilj Landi, patron of arts and science and one of the most powerful members of the Papal States’ landed aristocracy in the 1790s. Chair in Philosophy, Mathematics and Theology at the Collegio Nazareno (1780s), Gandolfi had worked as tutor to the children of Prince Andrea, developing a relationship of mutual trust with the Doria Pamphilj Landi family and carrying out land surveys to increase their grain and olive oil productions. This article will focus on Gandolfi’s scholarly identity and scientific endeavours and on his agronomic collaboration with the Doria Pamphilj Landi family as a lens to enquire into the function of patronage practices and improvement in the concrete realisation of political economic reforms in the Papal States under Pius VI

Set of twenty-four wax models of apples, made for the Botanical Institute of the Royal University of Turin, Italian, c. 1850 Wh.6267 (pp.96-97)

This short piece recounts the history of a set of wax apples held at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science

Public Health in Milan

Public health (salute pubblica) in Renaissance Milan encompassed ideas as well as practices of how to maintain the health of the metaphorical (and physical) body of the community during epidemic and non-epidemic times. The term salute pubblica has a long lineage: it connects to the Roman and Ciceronian origins of the salus publica, and thus to political theories surrounding the preservation and protection of the body politic and the attainment of public wellbeing, the epitome of civic humanism. Salus publica also appears in relation to the term sanitas, which indicates, more prosaically, a state of physical health. The Milanese Health Board, founded in 1534 (supposedly one of the first permanent institutions of this kind) was entrusted, as a state institution, with preserving both salute pubblica and sanitas. It had a very well-organized administrative and pyramidal hierarchical structure. Its functioning relied on specific officials, each of them entrusted with specific tasks. At the top of the pyramid stood a senator and a secretary; at the bottom, the so-called keepers, members of the College of Physicians who were in charge of reporting potential threats to public health to the senator and secretary, and various functionaries, who surveyed urban spaces. Through the help of a clerk, the health board recorded its activities, from official quarantines to the number of deaths, to petitions and court cases. Most importantly, even though its foundation followed a plague epidemic, the health board in Milan did not deal exclusively with epidemic containment measures, but also with more mundane and sometimes environmental questions, such as the management of water, the disposal of organic waste, and the cleanliness of streets and dwellings. The health board’s overall goal was to preserve public good (bene pubblico) and maintain the integrity of the community. It is through an examination of these moments of historical normality, rather than of epidemic emergencies, that we can develop a clear idea of what public health was as a system of everyday practices involving an organic combination of legislative, administrative, and enforcement initiatives

Creatività e Cultura. Patrimoni nascosti nel settore tessile manifatturiero

A debate as to whether fashion should be considered as a creative or a cultural industry has been raging in fashion studies for several years. If we were to enter this discussion, which involves scholars of various extraction, we could say that fashion, whilst expressing the productive side of the textile and clothing sector, is “a creative and cultural industry of its own kind”. The cultural dimension and the creative dimension lead to the designing of clothes that in time will “write” a designer's story. They mark out an identity. They provide narratives of weaves, styles, colours, volumes and experimentations. They particularly reveal the dialogue between fashion designers and others involved in the process: weavers, artisans, pattern makers and embroiderers, but also chemists, engineers and mathematicians. Over time, these connections become a historical asset to be protected and enhanced.Italian fashion is created and built on the many connections between designers and companies. One interesting case is the relationship between Gianfranco Ferré and "Ricami Laura". It is a cultural and creative exchange based on knowledge and technique. It deals in drawings, letters, faxes, strips of fabric, sketches and designs. These materials now enable us to reveal the thought processes behind the style choices of one of Made in Italy's biggest designers and the masterful skill of embroiderers steeped in the Italian tradition

Il mare come metodo? Suggestioni dall’Oceano Indiano

Le caratteristiche di movimento, fluidità, indeterminatezza si presentano come espressione della materialità del mare e al tempo stesso come serbatoio immaginativo con il quale ripensare logiche binarie, terrestri, cristallizzate. In questo contributo si ripercorrono alcuni studi che guardano alla materialità del mare nella sua dimensione perturbativa e immaginativa, con l’intento di metterli in dialogo con la letteratura che pensa l’Oceano Indiano come continuum culturale svelando la preponderanza del contesto oceanico e delle sue caratteristiche intrinseche nel connettere e plasmare saperi, culture, immaginari. Dall’Oceano Indiano si vuole quindi pensare il mare come (anti-) metodo, soffermandosi su quelle caratteristiche di movimento, fluidità, disordine quali assiomi con cuiThe features of movement, fluidity, indeterminacy arise as an expression of the materiality of the sea and at the same time as an imaginative tank with which to rethink binary, terrestrial, crystallised logics. This contribution traces several approaches that look at the materiality of the sea in its perturbative and imaginative dimension, in order to put them in dialogue with the literature that looks at the Indian Ocean as a cultural continuum; the aim is to disclose the preponderance of the oceanic context and its intrinsic traits in connecting and shaping knowledge, cultures and imaginaries. From the Indian Ocean, the intention is therefore to think of the sea as an (anti-) method, dwelling on those characteristics of movement, fluidity, disorder as axioms with which to reinterpret the unforeseeability of encounters, hybridisations, as well as historical and cultural processe

Chimie : un vecteur vert

National audienceLes faits, longtemps sujets à discussion, sont désormais là. Le cinquième rapport du GIEC (2013) qualifie d'« extrêmement probable » un lien entre les dérèglements climatiques observés depuis 1950 et les variations de la composition de l'atmosphère terrestre provoqués par l'augmentation forte et récente des activités anthropiques. L'implication directe des gaz à effet de serre dans les phénomènes climatiques, et en particulier du dioxyde de carbone dont la concentration a augmenté de 40 % depuis l'époque préindustrielle, est toute aussi probable..

Inhibition of in-stent stenosis by oral administration of bindarit in porcine coronary arteries

<p><b>Objective:</b> We have previously demonstrated that bindarit, a selective inhibitor of monocyte chemotactic proteins (MCPs), is effective in reducing neointimal formation in rodent models of vascular injury by reducing smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration and neointimal macrophage content, effects associated with the inhibition of MCP-1/CCL2 production. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of bindarit on in-stent stenosis in the preclinical porcine coronary stent model.</p> <p><b>Methods and Results:</b> One or 2 bare metal stents (Multi-Link Vision, 3.5 mm) were deployed (1:1.2 oversize ratio) in the coronary arteries of 42 pigs (20 bindarit versus 22 controls). Bindarit (50 mg/kg per day) was administered orally from 2 days before stenting until the time of euthanasia at 7 and 28 days. Bindarit caused a significant reduction in neointimal area (39.4%, P<0.001, n=9 group), neointimal thickness (51%, P<0.001), stenosis area (37%, P<0.001), and inflammatory score (40%, P<0.001) compared with control animals, whereas there was no significant difference in the injury score between the 2 groups. Moreover, treatment with bindarit significantly reduced the number of proliferating cells (by 45%, P<0.05; n=6 group) and monocyte/macrophage content (by 55%, P<0.01; n=5–6 group) in stented arteries at day 7 and 28, respectively. These effects were associated with a significant (P<0.05) reduction of MCP-1 plasma levels at day 28. In vitro data showed that bindarit (10–300 micromol/L) reduced tumor necrosis factor-alpha (50 ng/mL)–induced pig coronary artery smooth muscle cell proliferation and inhibited MCP-1 production.</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> Our results show the efficacy of bindarit in the prevention of porcine in-stent stenosis and support further investigation for clinical application of this compound.</p&gt