Street(icono)clashes. Blu vs Genus Bononiae: un caso di iconoclastia urbana

Adottando un approccio collocabile principalmente in una prospettiva di semiotica della cultura, l\u2019articolo si propone di ricostruire e analizzare gli eventi che hanno ac- compagnato la mostra Bansky & Co: arte allo stato urbano, ospitata dal museo Genus Bononiae di Bologna, con particolare riferimento alla risposta dello street artist Blu, concretizzatasi in un\u2019azione di cancellazione di tutte le sue opere a Bologna. Discorso del museo e discorso \u201cdella strada\u201d sono dunque analizzati in chiave comparativa e contrastiva, nel tentativo di comprendere alcuni meccanismi di interazione tra diversi spazi discorsivi della citt\ue0 in relazione alle diverse valorizzazioni delle espressioni di creativit\ue0 urbana

La forma e l'impronta del dolore. Percorsi nella fotografia della sofferenza.

L'articolo discute l'uso dell imagine da part di alcune ONG nei logo website e gallery. Oggi, infatti, le ONG sono diventate uno dei soggetti principali di enunciazione del discorso dei diritti umani e della sua retorica. Questa retorica risulta strettamente connessa ad un'esperienza visiva delle atrocità e ad una rappresentazione "concerned" della sofferenza umana. L'espressione “concerned photography” si riferisce così a tutte quelle immagini che ritraggono le violazioni dei diritti umani attraverso una messa in scena del dolore e della sofferenza. Per quanto riguarda l'uso di fotografie "concerned" da parte delle ONG, queste immagini rappresentano una sorta di "genere" che assolve principalmente a tre obiettivi: "far conoscere" al mondo le sofferenze degli altri (livello cognitivo), "far sentire" il loro dolore (livello passionale) e "far agire" (livello pragmatico). Il nostro contributo si focalizza in particolare su un aspetto di questo complesso "genere testuale" (la relazione tra "ritratti della sofferenza" e paesaggio) e su due casi studio (una fotografia di 3 bambini pachistani scattata durante l'inondazione del 2010 e le immagini delle vittime di Srebrenica)

Introduction. Traces of Terror, Signs of Trauma

The article introduces a collection of articles about the spatialization processes of memory of war in contemporary Europe. It is divided in three parts. The first part proposes a transdisciplinary perspective, which includes semiotics, to tackle the relations between space, heritage and cultural memory and to analyse memory narratives conveyed by places. An approach based on the investigation of "terrorscapes" (places with a high density of traces) is proposed. The second part delves on the notion of terrorscapes, focusing on the meaning of "terror" and on the shift of paradigm in European politics of memory after 1989. The third part deals with the European space of memory, questioning the possibility of construction of a shared European memory narrative on XX centuries wars. Last paragraph summarizes the contributions of the volume

Indocyanine Green Nanoparticles : Are They Compelling for Cancer Treatment?

Indocyanine green (ICG) is a Food and Drug Administration\u2013approved near-infrared fluorescent dye, employed as an imaging agent for different clinical applications due to its attractive physicochemical properties, high sensitivity, and safety. However, free ICG suffers from some drawbacks, such as relatively short circulation half-life, concentration-dependent aggregation, and rapid clearance from the body, which would confine its feasible application in oncology. Here, we aim to discuss encapsulation of ICG within a nanoparticle formulation as a strategy to overcome some of its current limitations and to enlarge its possible applications in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Our purpose is to provide a short but exhaustive overview of clinical outcomes that these nanocomposites would provide, discussing opportunities, limitations, and possible impacts with regard to the main clinical needs in oncology

Mapping the Lyman-Alpha Emission Around a z~6.6 QSO with MUSE: Extended Emission and a Companion at Close Separation

We utilize the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to search for extended Lyman-Alpha emission around the z~6.6 QSO J0305-3150. After carefully subtracting the point-spread-function, we reach a nominal 5-sigma surface brightness limit of SB = 1.9x10$^{-18}$ erg/s/cm$^2$/arcsec$^2$ over a 1 arcsec$^2$ aperture, collapsing 5 wavelength slices centered at the expected location of the redshifted Lyman-Alpha emission (i.e. at 9256 Ang.). Current data suggest the presence (5-sigma, accounting for systematics) of a Lyman-Alpha nebula that extends for 9 kpc around the QSO. This emission is displaced and redshifted by 155 km/s with respect to the location of the QSO host galaxy traced by the [CII] emission line. The total luminosity is L = 3.0x10$^{42}$ erg/s. Our analysis suggests that this emission is unlikely to rise from optically thick clouds illuminated by the ionizing radiation of the QSO. It is more plausible that the Lyman-Alpha emission is due to fluorescence of the highly ionized optically thin gas. This scenario implies a high hydrogen volume density of n$_H$ ~ 6 cm$^{-3}$. In addition, we detect a Lyman-Alpha emitter (LAE) in the immediate vicinity of the QSO: i.e., with a projected separation of 12.5 kpc and a line-of-sight velocity difference of 560 km/s. The luminosity of the LAE is L = 2.1x10$^{42}$ erg/s and its inferred star-formation-rate is SFR ~ 1.3 M$_\odot$/yr. The probability of finding such a close LAE is one order of magnitude above the expectations based on the QSO-galaxy cross-correlation function. This discovery is in agreement with a scenario where dissipative interactions favour the rapid build-up of super-massive black holes at early Cosmic times.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Mapping the Lyman-Alpha Emission Around a z~6.6 QSO with MUSE: Extended Emission and a Companion at Close Separation

We utilize the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to search for extended Lyman-Alpha emission around the z~6.6 QSO J0305-3150. After carefully subtracting the point-spread-function, we reach a nominal 5-sigma surface brightness limit of SB = 1.9x10$^{-18}$ erg/s/cm$^2$/arcsec$^2$ over a 1 arcsec$^2$ aperture, collapsing 5 wavelength slices centered at the expected location of the redshifted Lyman-Alpha emission (i.e. at 9256 Ang.). Current data suggest the presence (5-sigma, accounting for systematics) of a Lyman-Alpha nebula that extends for 9 kpc around the QSO. This emission is displaced and redshifted by 155 km/s with respect to the location of the QSO host galaxy traced by the [CII] emission line. The total luminosity is L = 3.0x10$^{42}$ erg/s. Our analysis suggests that this emission is unlikely to rise from optically thick clouds illuminated by the ionizing radiation of the QSO. It is more plausible that the Lyman-Alpha emission is due to fluorescence of the highly ionized optically thin gas. This scenario implies a high hydrogen volume density of n$_H$ ~ 6 cm$^{-3}$. In addition, we detect a Lyman-Alpha emitter (LAE) in the immediate vicinity of the QSO: i.e., with a projected separation of 12.5 kpc and a line-of-sight velocity difference of 560 km/s. The luminosity of the LAE is L = 2.1x10$^{42}$ erg/s and its inferred star-formation-rate is SFR ~ 1.3 M$_\odot$/yr. The probability of finding such a close LAE is one order of magnitude above the expectations based on the QSO-galaxy cross-correlation function. This discovery is in agreement with a scenario where dissipative interactions favour the rapid build-up of super-massive black holes at early Cosmic times.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

A metal-poor damped Ly-alpha system at redshift 6.4

We identify a strong Ly-alpha damping wing profile in the spectrum of the quasar P183+05 at z=6.4386. Given the detection of several narrow metal absorption lines at z=6.40392, the most likely explanation for the absorption profile is that it is due to a damped Ly-alpha system. However, in order to match the data a contribution of an intergalactic medium 5-38% neutral or additional weaker absorbers near the quasar is also required. The absorption system presented here is the most distant damped Ly-alpha system currently known. We estimate an HI column density ($10^{20.68\pm0.25}\,$cm$^{-2}$), metallicity ([O/H]$=-2.92\pm 0.32$), and relative chemical abundances of a system consistent with a low-mass galaxy during the first Gyr of the universe. This object is among the most metal-poor damped Ly-alpha systems known and, even though it is observed only ~850 Myr after the big bang, its relative abundances do not show signatures of chemical enrichment by Population III stars.Comment: Updated to match published versio