Al confine tra muro e arte

  This interdisciplinary analysis addresses the case study Prototypes, that is the artist C. Büchel's proposal to consider the US/Mexico border wall prototypes as national monuments. Through the theoretical tools guaranteed by border studies, by analytical philosophy and by history of contemporary art, an interpretation of this project in terms of contemporary 'difficult heritage' is advanced. Moreover, the text brings some inedite and significant marginal notes to Prototypes by highlighting its main interpretative levels.      Attraverso un’analisi interdisciplinare, il testo affronta il caso studio Prototypes, consistente nella proposta dell’artista C. Büchel di considerare i prototipi di muro di confine tra USA e Messico dei monumenti nazionali. Tramite gli strumenti teorici garantiti dai border studies, dalla filosofia analitica e dalla storia dell’arte contemporanea, lo studio avanza un’interpretazione dell’oggetto d’analisi in termini di difficult heritage (MacDonald 2008) contemporaneo e apporta alcune inedite e significative note a margine, riportando l’attenzione sui diversi livelli di lettura della vicenda

Supporting Triple-Play Communications with TDuCSMA and First Experiments

This work addresses the implications of using the Time-Division Unbalanced Carrier Sense Multiple Access (TDuCSMA) coordination function to support triple-play services. Firstly, the theoretical background of TDuCSMA is reported, presenting its advantages and discussing its full compliance with the IEEE 802.11 standard. Secondly, a prototype of TDuCSMA is discussed in details. Then, a set of experiments with the prototype implementation of TDuCSMA is presented, showing for the first time the advantages of TDuCSMA in a realistic setting with audio, video and elastic data applications. Experimental results show the superiority of TDuCSMA over the legacy 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) in terms of both channel utilization and Quality of Experience (QoE) as measured at the application leve

Combination of pharmacotherapy and lidocaine analgesic block of the peripheral trigeminal branches for trigeminal neuralgia: a pilot study

Classical trigeminal neuralgia (CTN) is treated predominantly by pharmacotherapy but side effects and unsuccessful occurs. The current study was carried out to evaluate the therapeutic effect of combination of pharmacotherapy and lidocaine block. Thirteen patients with CTN managed with pharmacotherapy were recruited and assigned either to no additional treatment (Group I) or to additional analgesic block (Group II). The primary endpoint was the reduction in the frequency of pain episodes in a month assessed at 30 and 90 days. Comparisons of measurements of pain, general health and depression scales were secondary endpoints. The results from the follow-up visits at 30 and 90 days showed the Group II to have larger reduction in the frequency of pain and exhibited a bigger improvement in the scores of the pain, general health and depression scales. The results from this preliminary study suggest a clinical benefit of the combination of pharmacotherapy and lidocaine block

New Active Magnetic Bearing Requirements for Compressors in API 617 Eighth Edition

TutorialActive magnetic bearings (AMBs) are being used for an increasing number of compressors in the oil and gas industry. The applications include cryogenic compressor-expanders, subsea processing, pipeline and other process compressors. The use of AMBs allows totally sealed machines, reduced maintenance, elimination of the lube oil system, enhanced monitoring and diagnostic capability, and provides extremely high levels of reliability. Over the past several decades, these bearings have gone from unique, one-of-a-kind demonstrations to being the bearing of choice in an increasing number of applications. To address the more widespread use of AMB supported rotors, the eighth edition of API 617 includes a new annex which, for the first time, presents an extensive set of specifications that AMB supported compressors and compressor/expanders must meet for API service. The requirements of this annex cover basic design issues, rotordynamics, testing, and auxiliary bearings. This tutorial presents an overview of the new requirements and their rationale, resulting from a joint effort and balance of AMB manufacturers, turbo machinery OEMs and end user experience. Special considerations related to the unique requirements and issues related to rotordynamics are presented. Several examples will be discussed

Full Load Testing Of A 12.5 MW Vertical High Speed Subsea Motorcompressor

Lecturepg. 79-92In late 2006 Authors’ company was awarded a contract for the motorcompressor for the Ormen Lange Subsea Compression Pilot. This Pilot represents the first subsea motorcompressor unit ever built in a fully marinized version and tested in a water pit, which was developed specifically for the project at the customer’s site (Nhyamna, Norway). The prototype unit is a 12.5MW (16763HP) integrated motorcompressor, which runs up to 10.5krpm in a vertical configuration with the following features: Single casing; High-speed motor rigidly coupled to a multistage centrifugal compressor (3 journal bearings shaft line); Canned Active Magnetic Bearings (AMBs); Process gas used as cooling fluid for the Electric Motor; Internal separation system (to protect the bearings and the electric motor from the intrusion of solid and liquid materials); Fully marinized AMBs control system; The design and validation plan for this complex equipment were developed through a four years program where many challenging milestones were achieved. The Ormen Lange Subsea Compression Pilot motorcompressor has successfully completed an intensive full load testing campaign in the Authors’ Company plant including the following: Static-dynamic tuning of the AMBs; Mechanical Running Test; Compressor Performance Test (ASME PTC-10 Type 2 + Full Load test); Electric Motor Performance Test; Overall cooling system check; Landing test (partial landing and full speed delevitation test). The test campaign has fully demonstrated the functionality of this prototype unit capable of operation in the service conditions. The Next step will be the shipment to the costumer site where the submerged testing will be conducted. This paper will provide a detailed description of the main test results of the subsea motorcompressor covering all aspects of the test program including rotordynamic behaviour, compressor thermodynamic performance, axial load variation versus operating conditions (monitored thanks to the thrust AMB), electric motor cooling system behaviour, electric motor performance, AMBs and control system operability. Of special interest is the rotor delevitation test from full speed consisting in the two ton rotor running at 10.5krpm dropping onto the mechanical emergency bearings until the machine reached a complete stop condition. This test, which was repeated 5 times, provided a full-scale verification of the landing numerical simulation developed by the authors (Ransom et al., 2009)

taly physical activity country profile: results from the first set of country cards of the Global Observatory for Physical Activity-GoPA!

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Quick identification of the risk of psychosis: the Italian version of the prodromal questionnaire-brief

Background: Diagnosing people during the prodromal phase of an incipient psychosis can improve the chance of better outcome. In busy clinical settings, the ideal tool is a brief, easy-to-complete self-report questionnaire. Objective: To test the psychometric properties of the Italian version of one of the most used screening tools for the identification of the risk of psychosis, the Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief (PQ-B). Methods: Cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of college students was enrolled via snowball procedure (n=243; men: 45%). After understanding and signing the consent form, the participants received a booklet containing the following questionnaires: the 21-item Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief (PQ-B); the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), and the 74-item Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess the capacity of the PQ-B to identify individuals at risk of psychosis as independently defined based on the combination of GHQ-12 and SPQ thresholds. Results: The Italian version of the PQ-B revealed good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and adequate convergent and divergent validity. The Youden method retrieved a cut-off = 7 for the PQ-B frequency score and a cut-off = 22 for the PQ-B distress score. Both PQ-B scores had a perfect (99%) negative predictive value. Conclusion: The PQ-B is a promising screening tool in two-stage protocols. The major advantage of the PQ-B is to exclude cases that are unlikely to be at risk of psychosis

Treatment with embryonic stem-like cells into osteochondral defects in sheep femoral condyles

Background Articular cartilage has poor intrinsic capacity for regeneration because of its avascularity and very slow cellular turnover. Defects deriving from trauma or joint disease tend to be repaired with fibrocartilage rather than hyaline cartilage. Consequent degenerative processes are related to the width and depth of the defect. Since mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) deriving from patients affected by osteoarthritis have a lower proliferative and chondrogenic activity, the systemic or local delivery of heterologous cells may enhance regeneration or inhibit the progressive loss of joint tissue. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are very promising, since they can self-renew for prolonged periods without differentiation and can differentiate into tissues from all the 3 germ layers. To date only a few experiments have used ESCs for the study of the cartilage regeneration in animal models and most of them used laboratory animals. Sheep, due to their anatomical, physiological and immunological similarity to humans, represent a valid model for translational studies. This experiment aimed to evaluate if the local delivery of male sheep embryonic stem-like (ES-like) cells into osteochondral defects in the femoral condyles of adult sheep can enhance the regeneration of articular cartilage. Twenty-two ewes were divided into 5 groups (1, 2, 6, 12 and 24 months after surgery). Newly formed tissue was evaluated by macroscopic, histological, immunohistochemical (collagen type II) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assays. Results Regenerated tissue was ultimately evaluated on 17 sheep. Samples engrafted with ES-like cells had significantly better histologic evidence of regeneration with respect to empty defects, used as controls, at all time periods. Conclusions Histological assessments demonstrated that the local delivery of ES-like cells into osteochondral defects in sheep femoral condyles enhances the regeneration of the articular hyaline cartilage, without signs of immune rejection or teratoma for 24 months after engraftment.</br