Problematiche psicopedagogiche ed oltre...: considerazioni conclusive

Senza entrare in specifico nelle diverse analisi che sono state condotte nella presente ricerca per un quadro della scuola media superiore nella provincia di Sassari, sembra importante rilevare in questa sede che il disagio studentesco nel suo complesso appare forse inferiore a quanto ci si sarebbe potuti aspettare; infatti, nonostante tutto, la scuola funziona e va avanti pur con tutte le carenze che lamenta, gli studenti in fondo continuano a crederci, gli insegnanti ancora sarebbero disposti a rifare la stessa professione e paiono in genere propensi ad aggiornare la loro preparazione. Tuttavia, traspare ad una lettura psicologica il rischio che agli occhi dei suoi utenti diretti la percezione della scuola diventi sempre più connotata come un momento da sopportare, piuttosto che una dimensione a cui si aspira e in cui si crede realmente

Trasparenze virgiliane in Milton: l'Eneide e il Paradiso perduto

Il poeta inglese non trascura la grande lezione epica offertagli dai classici ed in particolare da Virgilio, dal quale mutua spesso, come si mostra nel corso del presente lavoro, immagini, situazioni, echi, atmosfera poetica e, talora, il carattere dei personaggi, adattandoli, naturalmente, alle varie situazioni della sua narrazione e mai sovrapponendoli ad essa. La poesia epica tradizionale, quella di Omero e di Virgilio, continua a vivere nel Paradise Lost perché Milton accoglie la grande lezione poetica offertagli dai classici e la riecheggia attraverso immagini e riferimenti, talora velati, quelli stessi che Giorgio Paquali ha efficacemente definito come «arte allusiva»

Sull'"Eneide" di Dryden

In 'Dryden and The Art of Translation' William Frost afferma che le traduzioni costituiscono due terzi della produzione letteraria di John Dryden. Fra le traduzioni in Inglese di Dryden da Omero, Teocrito, Lucrezio, Virgilio, Orazio, Ovidio, Giovenale, Persio, Boccaccio quella dell"Eneide' di Virgilio del 1697 è certamente per noi la più interessante. Secondo Pope essa costituisce "the most noble and spirited translation in any language", così come per Earl Miner questa fatica di Dryden risulta "the great remaining traet of Dryden's studies that need exploration". Se si eccettuano tre valide opere, rispettivamente di Leslie Proudfoot, William Frost e Douglas Taylor Corse, il poema virgiliano tradotto da Dryden non ha suscitato grande attenzione nella critica letteraria. Nel presente lavoro mi propongo di illustrare le caratteristiche peculiari della traduzione di Dryden, mettendola a confronto con quelle moderne di C. Day Lewis, Rolphe Humphries, Frank O. Copley, Allen Mandelbaum e Robert Fitzgerald e, allo stesso tempo, di illustrare l'influsso che i grandi poeti epici inglesi -in particolare Spenser e Milton- esercitarono su Dryden, sia per quel che riguarda la sua traduzione di Virgilio, sia per quanto concerne, più in generale, la sua intera produzione

Quantum Effects of the Conformal Anomaly in a 2D Model of Gravitational Collapse

The macroscopic effects of the quantum conformal anomaly are evaluated in a simplified two-dimensional model of gravitational collapse. The effective action and stress tensor of the anomaly can be expressed in a local quadratic form by the introduction of a scalar conformalon field which satisfies a linear wave equation. A wide class of non-vacuum initial state conditions is generated by different solutions of this equation. An interesting subclass of solutions corresponds to initial states that give rise to an arbitrarily large semi-classical stress tensor on the future horizon of the black hole formed in classical collapse. These lead to modification and suppression of Hawking radiation at late times after the collapse, and potentially large backreaction effects on the horizon scale due to the conformal anomaly. The probability of non-vacuum initial conditions large enough to produce these effects is estimated from the Gaussian vacuum wave functional in the Schrodinger representation and shown to be of order 1. These results indicate that quantum effects of the conformal anomaly in non-vacuum states are relevant for gravitational collapse in the effective theory of gravity in four dimensions as well.Comment: 40 pages, 5 figure

The role of two families of bacterial enzymes in putrescine synthesis from agmatine via agmatine deiminase

Putrescine, one of the main biogenic amines associated to microbial food spoilage, can be formed by bacteriafrom arginine via ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), or from agmatine via agmatine deiminase (AgDI). This study aims to correlate putrescine production from agmatine to the pathway involving N-carbamoylputrescine formation via AdDI (the aguAproduct) and N-carbamoylputrescine amidohydrolase (the aguB product), or putrescine carbamoyltransferase (the ptcA product) in bacteria. PCR methods were developed to detect the two genes involved in putrescine production from agmatine.Putrescine production from agmatine could be linked to the  aguA and  ptcA genes in  Lactobacillus hilgardii X1B,Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 11700, and Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579. By contrast Lactobacillus sakei 23K was unable toproduce putrescine, and although a fragment of DNA corresponding to the gene aguA was amplified, no amplification wasobserved for the ptcA gene. Pseudomonasaeruginosa PAO1 produces putrescine and is reported to harbour aguA and aguBgenes, responsible for agmatine deiminase and N-carbamoylputrescine amidohydrolase activities. The enzyme from P. aeruginosa PAO1 that converts N-carbamoylputrescine to putrescine (the aguB product) is different from other microorganismsstudied (the ptcA product). Therefore, the aguB gene from P. aeruginosa PAO1 could not be amplified with ptcA specificprimers. The aguB and ptcA genes have frequently been erroneously annotated in the past, as in fact these two enzymes areneither homologous nor analogous. Furthermore, the aguA, aguB and ptcA sequences available from GenBank were subjected to phylogenetic analysis, revealing that gram-positive bacteria harboured ptcA, whereas gram-negative bacteria harbouraguB. This paper also discusses the role of the agmatine deiminase system (AgDS) in acid stress resistance.&nbsp

Distributed situation awareness in nuclear, chemical, and maritime domains

The increase in size, automation and complexity of modern sociotechnical systems changed the dynamics of work environments and calls for new methodologies and metaphors towards safety of complex systems. Chemical, nuclear, and transportation (i.e. road, maritime, and aviation) industries are composed of various nested sub-systems where smooth coordination and communication are essential features to achieve continuous and safe operations. Even though such sub-systems exist since the industrial revolution, fewer studies have been conducted in these domains: to understand the work as it is done (rather than it is imagined), which is the only way to shed light about the variability in work performance and how these subsystems can combine to generate dangerous and unexpected outcomes. The theoretical framework of Distributed Situation Awareness provides a firm background to investigate the sub-systems that constitute the chemical, nuclear, and maritime industries/domains. This paper unfolds the key sub-systems (e.g., operators, human-computer interfaces, communication tools, and distant/different locations) that play a critical role in normal and abnormal situations in these industries. The complex interconnections among various artifacts are explained and their significance is assessed

Lumped Capacitance Thermal Modelling Approaches for Different Cylindrical Batteries

Received: 3 November 2023. Revised: 15 November 2023. Accepted: 8 December 2023. Available online: 29 December 2023.In the pursuit of optimal energy storage solutions, rechargeable batteries have gained significant attention for their applications in electric vehicles, aircraft, and satellites. This research focuses on the thermal management of lithium manganese dioxide and nickelcadmium batteries, utilizing the lumped capacitance thermal modelling technique in the preliminary stage of analysis. The study focuses on the general lumped capacitance thermal equation to estimate battery temperature through analytical and numerical methods. The numerical approach employs the fourth order Runge-Kutta's method, which involved less computational cost, relatively stable and accurate to estimate the temperature with a variable internal resistance, a crucial factor in thermal behaviour analysis. In contrast, the analytical approach assumes a uniform temperature distribution across the battery's surface, simplifying the gradual variance between internal conductive and external convective thermal resistances. A comparative analysis against experimental data using error criterion techniques reveals that the numerical model, considering dynamic changes in internal resistance, aligns more closely with experimental findings and offers a statistically superior fit compared to the analytical model assuming constant internal resistance. This study underscores the effectiveness of the lumped capacitance thermal modelling technique in battery thermal management, emphasizing the importance for dynamic internal resistance for analysis of thermal behaviour

Tissue resonance interaction accurately detects colon lesions: a double-blind pilot study

AIM: To investigated the performance of the tissue resonance interaction method (TRIM) for the non-invasive detection of colon lesions. METHODS: We performed a prospective single-center blinded pilot study of consecutive adults undergoing colonoscopy at the University Hospital in Sassari, Italy. Before patients underwent colonoscopy, they were examined by the TRIMprobe which detects differences in electromagnetic properties between pathological and normal tissues. All patients had completed the polyethylene glycol-containing bowel prep for the colonoscopy procedure before being screened. During the procedure the subjects remained fully dressed. A hand-held probe was moved over the abdomen and variations in electromagnetic signals were recorded for 3 spectral lines (462-465 MHz, 930 MHz, and 1395 MHz). A single investigator, blind to any clinical information, performed the test using the TRIMprob system. Abnormal signals were identified and recorded as malignant or benign (adenoma or hyperplastic polyps). Findings were compared with those from colonoscopy with histologic confirmation. Statistical analysis was performed by χ2 test. RESULTS: A total of 305 consecutive patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled over a period of 12 months. The most frequent indication for colonoscopy was abdominal pain (33%). The TRIMprob was well accepted by all patients; none spontaneously complained about the procedure, and no adverse effects were observed. TRIM proved inaccurate for polyp detection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and they were excluded leaving 281 subjects (mean age 59 ± 13 years; 107 males). The TRIM detected and accurately characterized all 12 adenocarcinomas and 135/137 polyps (98.5%) including 64 adenomatous (100%) found. The method identified cancers and polyps with 98.7% sensitivity, 96.2% specificity, and 97.5% diagnostic accuracy, compared to colonoscopy and histology analyses. The positive predictive value was 96.7% and the negative predictive value 98.4%. Among the 281 non-IBD subjects, there were 7 cases with discordant results (2.5%) between TRIMprob and the reference standard including 5 false positive results (1.8%) and 2 false negative (0.7%) results. The main limitation of the TRIMprob system is the need for trained operators. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed that TRIM provides rapid, accurate, convenient and noninvasive means to identify individuals most likely to benefit from colonoscopy