Construction of political image on social media: trends and the role of traditional mass media

La difusión de los nuevos medios que el web 2.0 pone a disposición representa una posibilidad muy importante para los políticos que quieran modificar las reglas de la comunicación con los ciudadanos y trasmitir una propia imagen que no sea mediada por la televisión, los periódicos y otros medios de comunicación tradicionales. A través de un análisis de los perfiles de Twitter de algunos políticos italianos, podemos observar como ellos intenten difundir una “autopresentación” más espontánea y directa, aunque al origen de esta presentación haya una clara estrategia que mira a una propaganda personal.The new instruments made available by the web 2.0 represent an important opportunity for politicians who aim to change communication rules with citizens and to transmit a self-image not mediated by television, newspapers and other traditional mass media. Through an analysis of the Twitter profiles of a number of Italian politicians, we can observe their attempt to disseminate a more direct and spontaneous “presentation of self”, although behind it there is a clear strategy pursuing a personal propaganda

Gli anglicismi nella comunicazione politica su Twitter

This work investigates the use of anglicisisms in Italian political communication as developed in the microblogging website Twitter. After having briefly outlined a theoretical framework, referring to grounded studies in the field of language contact and language imperialism, we present an analysis which is divided into three main parts. The first part presents some quantitative results and evaluates the incidence of anglicisisms on the entire corpus we have gathered, specifying their grammatical and semantic characteristics: the general incidence of 1,13% and a clear prevalence of nouns and adjectives confirm the trends already observed in many previous studies about the use of anglicisisms in the Italian language. The second part focuses on neologisms, which play a rather significant role: more than 30% of English loans is represented by words that have not been included in the most recent Italian dictionaries (2014), proving how these terms can rapidly enter everyday language without having achieved any official acknowledgement or gone through a standardization process. Finally, in the third part we try to identify some peculiar and innovative traits in the use of anglicisisms: for instance, there is a number of cases in which they are used to express key elements of political communication as slogans, titles and announcements, which also confirms the fact that Italian speakers attribute a highly stylistic and pragmatic value to English loans. Novelty, freshness and cosmopolitanism are then often considered to be more important than other aspects of communication, namely transparency and the possibility for the addressee to fully understand the message

Nuovi anglicismi nel discorso politico su Twitter

This work aims at investigating the use of anglicisms in Italian political communication on the microblogging website Twitter. In particular, it focuses on neologisms, which play a rather significant role: more than 30% of the English loans detected in the analysed corpus is represented by words that have not been included in the most recent Italian dictionaries (2014), proving how these terms can rapidly enter everyday language without having achieved any official acknowledgement or gone through a standardization process. Although the main ascertained tendencies involving the process of lexical borrowing are mostly respected, it has also been possible to identify some peculiar and innovative traits in the use of anglicisms, not only from a strictly grammatical point of view but also as far as pragmatics is concerned. For instance, in a number of cases English loans are used to express key elements of political communication such as slogans, titles and announcements, which also confirms the fact that Italian speakers attribute a highly stylistic and pragmatic value to these adopted words. Novelty, freshness and cosmopolitanism are then often considered to be more important than other aspects of communication, namely transparency and the possibility for the addressee to fully understand the message.In questo articolo viene indagato l’uso degli anglicismi nella comunicazione politica sul sito di microblogging Twitter. In particolare, ci si concentra sulla produttività neologica presente nel corpus, che risulta piuttosto alta: ci sono infatti numerosi termini inglesi (più del 30%) che non sono presenti in nessuno dei due vocabolari più aggiornati della lingua italiana. Nonostante la tradizione legata al fenomeno linguistico del prestito venga per lo più rispettata sia da un punto di vista squisitamente grammaticale, sia per quanto riguarda le caratteristiche semantiche e pragmatiche dei termini, con abbondanza di tecnicismi e termini che non trovano un corrispettivo nella lingua d’arrivo, è stato comunque possibile individuare alcuni caratteri peculiari ed in parte innovativi dell’uso dell’inglese nella comunicazione politica: sono diversi i casi in cui alcuni elementi chiave come gli slogan, i titoli e gli annunci sono infatti espressi attraverso tale lingua, considerata evidentemente più efficace dal punto di vista pragmatico. Si osserva dunque una sempre maggiore propensione dei politici a rincorrere gli effetti di innovatività, sensazionalità ed originalità, sacrificando spesso comprensibilità e trasparenza

Gli anglicismi nella comunicazione politica su Twitter

This work investigates the use of anglicisisms in Italian political communication as developed in the microblogging website Twitter. After having briefly outlined a theoretical framework, referring to grounded studies in the field of language contact and language imperialism, we present an analysis which is divided into three main parts. The first part presents some quantitative results and evaluates the incidence of anglicisisms on the entire corpus we have gathered, specifying their grammatical and semantic characteristics: the general incidence of 1,13% and a clear prevalence of nouns and adjectives confirm the trends already observed in many previous studies about the use of anglicisisms in the Italian language. The second part focuses on neologisms, which play a rather significant role: more than 30% of English loans is represented by words that have not been included in the most recent Italian dictionaries (2014), proving how these terms can rapidly enter everyday language without having achieved any official acknowledgement or gone through a standardization process. Finally, in the third part we try to identify some peculiar and innovative traits in the use of anglicisisms: for instance, there is a number of cases in which they are used to express key elements of political communication as slogans, titles and announcements, which also confirms the fact that Italian speakers attribute a highly stylistic and pragmatic value to English loans. Novelty, freshness and cosmopolitanism are then often considered to be more important than other aspects of communication, namely transparency and the possibility for the addressee to fully understand the message

Interactions colloïdales dans les liquides ioniques

Les liquides ioniques (LIs) sont des nouveaux solvants ioniques, de plus en plus utilisés dans des systèmes à base de nanoparticules (NP) pour plusieurs applications industrielles et technologiques. Pourtant, à présent nous ne sommes pas en mesure de maîtriser l'état de dispersion ou agrégation des NP dans ces solvants, et les lois classiques sur la stabilité colloïdale, telles que la DLVO, ne sont pas adaptées à cet effet. La difficulté se retrouve notamment dans la description des interactions électrostatiques dans ces milieux ioniques. Dans ce travail, nous essayons de mieux comprendre les interactions colloïdales dans les LIs à travers deux systèmes bien caractérisés séparément : les nanoparticules magnétiques de maghémite, dont la surface est bien contrôlée dans l'eau, et le liquide ionique nitrate d'éthylammonium (NEA), qui est connu pour sa ressemblance avec l'eau. Les deux systèmes sont mélangés et étudiés aux niveaux macroscopique et microscopique. Nous effectuons des caractérisations à travers plusieurs techniques : absorption atomique de flamme, microscopie optique sous champ magnétique, diffusion de rayonnement (neutrons, rayons X et lumière), biréfringence magnéto-optique. Nous découvrons l'importance d'avoir une surface de NP chargée pour obtenir des dispersions stables de maghémite dans le NEA. En particulier, la meilleure stabilité colloïdale est atteinte en adsorbant des molécules de citrate sur la surface des NP. Nous étudions ensuite l'effet de la taille et concentration des NP, du contreion cationique qui compense la charge du citrate, du contenu d'eau. Enfin, nous transférons nos protocoles à la réalisation de dispersions dans des LI biocompatibles.Ionic liquids (ILs) are a novel class of ionic solvents, which are being used more and more often in chemical systems based on nanoparticles (NP) for several industrial and technological applications. However, at present we are unable to master the state of dispersion or aggregation of NP in these solvents, and the classic theories applied to colloidal stability, such as the DLVO, cannot be applied. In particular, the difficulty is found in the description of the electrostatic interactions in these ionic media. In this work, we try to better understand colloidal interactions in ILs through two systems that have been thoroughly characterized separately: magnetic maghemite nanoparticles, whose surface is well controlled in water, and the ionic liquid ethylammonium nitrate (EAN), known for its resemblance to water. These two systems are finally mixed together and studied at both the macroscopic and microscopic levels. We perform characterizations through several techniques: flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, optical microscopy under magnetic field, scattering methods (neutrons, X-rays and light), magneto-optic birefringence. We discover the importance of having a charged NP surface in order to obtain stable maghemite dispersions in EAN. In particular, the best colloidal stability is reached by adsorbing citrate molecules on the NP surface. We further investigate the effect of the NP's size and concentration, of the cationic counterion used to compensate the charge of citrate, of water content. Finally, we transfer our acquired knowledge to the realization of dispersions in biocompatible ILs.PARIS-JUSSIEU-Bib.électronique (751059901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Rational Design of Sustainable Liquid Microcapsules for Spontaneous Fragrance Encapsulation

The high volatility, water-immiscibility, and light/oxygen-sensitivity of most aroma compounds represent a challenge to their incorporation in liquid consumer products. Current encapsulation methods entail the use of petroleum-based materials, initiators, and crosslinkers as well as mixing, heating, and purification steps. Hence, more efficient and eco-friendly approaches to encapsulation must be sought. Herein, we propose a simple method by making use of a pre-formed amphiphilic polymer and employing the Hansen Solubility Parameters approach to determine which fragrances could be encapsulated by spontaneous coacervation in water. The coacervates do not precipitate as solids but they remain suspended as colloidally stable liquid microcapsules, as demonstrated by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The effective encapsulation of fragrance is proven through confocal Raman spectroscopy, while the structure of the capsules is investigated by means of cryo FIB/SEM, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering

Rational Design of Sustainable Liquid Microcapsules for Spontaneous Fragrance Encapsulation

The high volatility, water-immiscibility, and light/oxygen-sensitivity of most aroma compounds represent a challenge to their incorporation in liquid consumer products. Current encapsulation methods entail the use of petroleum-based materials, initiators, and crosslinkers as well as mixing, heating, and purification steps. Hence, more efficient and eco-friendly approaches to encapsulation must be sought. Herein, we propose a simple method by making use of a pre-formed amphiphilic polymer and employing the Hansen Solubility Parameters approach to determine which fragrances could be encapsulated by spontaneous coacervation in water. The coacervates do not precipitate as solids but they remain suspended as colloidally stable liquid microcapsules, as demonstrated by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The effective encapsulation of fragrance is proven through confocal Raman spectroscopy, while the structure of the capsules is investigated by means of cryo FIB/SEM, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering

[BMIm][BARF] imidazolium salt solutions in alkyl carbonate solvents: Structure and interactions

Solutions of weakly coordinating ionic liquids (ILs) in alkyl carbonates are gaining growing attention, as the latter are "green" solvents with high solvation power, but the phase behavior and structure of ILs in organic polar solvents are still poorly understood. Here, we study the interactions and nanoscale structure of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate, [BMIm][BARF], in three symmetrical alkyl carbonate solvents with increasing alkyl chain-length. Electrical conductivity and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements showed that [BMIm][BARF] was mostly undissociated in these solvents, especially at lower IL concentration. Small angle X-ray scattering patterns evidenced the presence of rod-like nanostructures in the IL/solvent mixtures. At higher IL concentration, [BMIm][BARF] is increasingly more dissociated in solvents with lower dielectric constant, as confirmed by analysis of the solvents' carbonyl stretching band via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. This trend is opposite to that exhibited by BMIm ILs with less bulky counterions. The bulky BARF(-) is weakly coordinating and has no ability to give strong H-bonding, thus short-range anisotropic van der Waals forces are likely key in the interaction of the ion pairs. The slower self-diffusion of the ions in alkyl carbonates with lower dielectric constants might partially hinder close contact needed for self-assembly into local nano-sized structures. Overall, our results shed light on interactions and self-organization in imidazolium salt-alkyl carbonate mixtures, with potential impact in applicative fields spanning from batteries, catalysis and extraction, up to bio-applications (antimicrobial and bioengineering)

Cationic liposomal vectors incorporating a bolaamphiphile for oligonucleotide antimicrobials

Antibacterial resistance has become a serious crisis for world health over the last few decades, so that new therapeutic approaches are strongly needed to face the threat of resistant infections. Transcription factor decoys (TFD) are a promising new class of antimicrobial oligonucleotides with proven in vivo activity when combined with a bolaamphiphilic cationic molecule, 12-bis-THA. These two molecular species form stable nanoplexes which, however, present very scarce colloidal stability in physiological media, which poses the challenge of drug formulation and delivery. In this work, we reformulated the 12-bis-THA/TFD nanoplexes in a liposomal carrier, which retains the ability to protect the oligonucleotide therapeutic from degradation and deliver it across the bacterial cell wall. We performed a physical-chemical study to investigate how the incorporation of 12-bis-THA and TFD affects the structure of POPC- and POPC/DOPE liposomes. Analysis was performed using dynamic light scattering (DLS), ζ-potential measurements, small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy to better understand the structure of the liposomal formulations containing the 12-bis-THA/TFD complexes. Oligonucleotide delivery to model Escherichia coli bacteria was assessed by means of confocal scanning laser microscopy (CLSM), evidencing the requirement of a fusogenic helper lipid for transfection. Preliminary biological assessments suggested the necessity of further development by modulation of 12-bis-THA concentration in order to optimize its therapeutic index, i.e. the ratio of antibacterial activity to the observed cytotoxicity. In summary, POPC/DOPE/12-bis-THA liposomes appear as promising formulations for TFD delivery