La reflexión ética-económica medieval: una reflexión actual

In relation to recent socio-economic events that have interested our society, the purpose of this work is to make a brief comparison between some of the issues of medieval ethical economical reflection and considerations on similar themes emerged in recent times. Indeed, in the new ethical–economic debate, which appears to have emerged recently, medieval considerations are absolute presents, constituting a precedent which must be confronted.En relación a los recientes acontecimientos socio-económicos que han interesado a nuestra sociedad, el propósito de este trabajo es realizar una rápida confrontación entre algunos de los temas centrales de las reflexiones ético-económicas medievales y consideraciones sobre temas parecidos surgidos en los últimos tiempos. En efecto, en la nueva discusión ético-económica que parece haber surgido recientemente, las consideraciones medievales resultan de absoluta actualidad, constituyendo un precedente imprescindible con el que confrontarse

La reflexión ética-económica medieval : una reflexión actual

En relación a los recientes acontecimientos socio-económicos que han interesado a nuestra sociedad, el propósito de este trabajo es realizar una rápida confrontación entre algunos de los temas centrales de las reflexiones éticas-económicas medievales y consideraciones sobre temas parecidos surgidos en los últimos tiempos. En efecto, en la nueva discusión ético-económica que parece haber surgido recientemente, las consideraciones medievales resultan de absoluta actualidad, constituyendo un precedente imprescindible con el que confrontarse.In relation to recent socio-economic events that have interested our society, the purpose of this work is to make a brief comparison between some of the issues at the center of medieval ethical economical reflection and considerations on similar themes emerged in recent times. Indeed, in the new ethical-economic debate, which appears to have emerged recently, medieval considerations are absolute presents, constituting a precedent which must be confronted

Ressenyes

Obra resenyada: Paolo EVANGELISTI, Francesc EIXIMENIS, Il Dodicesimo libro del Cristiano. Capp. 139- 152 e 193-197. Lo statuto della moneta negli scritti di un frate Minore del secolo XIV. Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2013

Thermal Energy Storage as a Way to Improve Transcritical CO2 Heat Pump Performance by Means of Heat Recovery Cycles

Electrification of the heating sector is a major target of energy transition towards a more sustainable, efficient, and less polluted future. Heat pumps are considered more suitable than electrical heaters or fossil-fueled boilers; however, common refrigerants cause ozone layer depletion, which exacerbates the greenhouse effect. Natural refrigerants, such as CO2, perform comparably and even better than hydrofluorocarbons while minimizing the negative aspects. This study presents a model of a water-heater CO2 transcritical heat pump in a configuration that increases the overall coefficient of performance (COP) by introducing thermal energy storage (TES). The thermodynamic cycle was divided into two separate phases. After heating the TES (charging), warm water was used as the heating fluid in the evaporator to increase the evaporation temperature and pressure of CO2, which reduced the work of the compressor. As the water temperature decreased progressively, the discharge cycles improved the total COP. The case study focuses on dairy processes and suggests a more straightforward and cheaper method to improve cycle efficiency than the current processes, such as ejector-expansion systems or double compression

Advances in the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis - Critical appraisal of fingolimod

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system, traditionally considered to be an autoimmune, demyelinating disease. Based on this understanding, initial therapeutic strategies were directed at immune modulation and inflammation control. At present, there are five licensed first-line disease-modifying drugs for MS in Europe, and two second-line treatments. Currently available MS therapies have shown significant efficacy throughout many trials, but they produce different side effects. Despite disease-modifying drugs being well known and safe, they require regular and frequent parenteral administration and are associated with limited long-term treatment adherence. Therefore, the development of new therapeutic strategies is warranted. Several oral compounds are in late stages of development for treating MS. fingolimod is an oral sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulator that has demonstrated superior efficacy compared with placebo and interferon β-1a in phase III studies. It has already been approved in the treatment of MS. This review focuses on advances in current and novel oral treatment approaches in MS. We summarily review the oral compounds in this study, focusing on the recent development, approval, and the clinical experience with fingolimod

Glycocalyx and sepsis-induced alterations in vascular permeability

Endothelial cells line the inner portion of the heart, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels; a basal membrane of extracellular matrix lines the extraluminal side of endothelial cells. The apical side of endothelial cells is the site for the glycocalyx, which is a complex network of macromolecules, including cell-bound proteoglycans and sialoproteins. Sepsis-associated alterations of this structure may compromise endothelial permeability with associated interstitial fluid shift and generalized edema. Indeed, in sepsis, the glycocalyx acts as a target for inflammatory mediators and leukocytes, and its ubiquitous nature explains the damage of tissues that occurs distant from the original site of infection. Inflammatory-mediated injury to glycocalyx can be responsible for a number of specific clinical effects of sepsis, including acute kidney injury, respiratory failure, and hepatic dysfunction. Moreover, some markers of glycocalyx degradation, such as circulating levels of syndecan or selectins, may be used as markers of endothelial dysfunction and sepsis severity. Although a great deal of experimental evidence shows that alteration of glycocalyx is widely involved in endothelial damage caused by sepsis, therapeutic strategies aiming at preserving its integrity did not significantly improve the outcome of these patients

Pattern-based design applied to cultural heritage knowledge graphs

Ontology Design Patterns (ODPs) have become an established and recognised practice for guaranteeing good quality ontology engineering. There are several ODP repositories where ODPs are shared as well as ontology design methodologies recommending their reuse. Performing rigorous testing is recommended as well for supporting ontology maintenance and validating the resulting resource against its motivating requirements. Nevertheless, it is less than straightforward to find guidelines on how to apply such methodologies for developing domain-specific knowledge graphs. ArCo is the knowledge graph of Italian Cultural Heritage and has been developed by using eXtreme Design (XD), an ODP- and test-driven methodology. During its development, XD has been adapted to the need of the CH domain e.g. gathering requirements from an open, diverse community of consumers, a new ODP has been defined and many have been specialised to address specific CH requirements. This paper presents ArCo and describes how to apply XD to the development and validation of a CH knowledge graph, also detailing the (intellectual) process implemented for matching the encountered modelling problems to ODPs. Relevant contributions also include a novel web tool for supporting unit-testing of knowledge graphs, a rigorous evaluation of ArCo, and a discussion of methodological lessons learned during ArCo development