6. Book Reviews

Reviews of Muzzarelli (ed.), Riferire all’autorità. Denuncia e delazione tra Medioevo ed Età Moderna, Viella 2020; Thomas & Chiffoleau, L’istituzione della natura, ed. by M. Spanò, Quodlibet 2020; Wolfe, La philosophie de la biologie avant la biologie. Une histoire du vitalisme, Classiques Garnier 2019; Omodeo, Amerigo Vespucci: The Historical Context of His Explorations and Scientific Contribution, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari 2020

Yan Thomas, Jacques Chiffoleau, L’istituzione della natura

At the beginning of Woody Allen’s Love and Death, just before being executed, the protagonist remembers his boyhood at the summer house where, among many other characters, were “Old Gregor and his son Young Gregor. Oddly enough, Young Gregor was older than Old Gregor. Nobody could figure out how that happened”. Such an inversion, which belongs in the first place to the sphere of logic and its paradoxes, represents, if transferred in the context of the history of law and of its use of the conc..

Clinical use of parnaparin in major and minor orthopedic sugery: a review

Patients undergoing arthroplasty or other orthopedic surgery show a high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), involving mortality, morbidity, and social costs; however, the risk for VTE in minor orthopedic surgery should not be underestimated and antithrombotic prophylaxis may be required. According to the literature, low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) are more effective in preventing VTE than unfractionated heparins (UFHs) or vitamin K antagonists, and have a lower hemorrhagic risk. By comparing different prophylactic regimens, it has been shown that starting the prophylaxis near the time of the operation is the most critical point for efficacy, whether or not the first dose is administered pre- or post-operatively. Moreover, most thromboembolic complications are observed after discharge and, therefore, many clinicians advocate continuing prophylaxis for longer times (6–8 weeks) in order to further reduce the rate for VTE. The literature on parnaparin, a new LMWH, in VTE prophylaxis was reviewed. Parnaparin is equally effective as UFH, but it offers the advantages of a once-daily administration and improved tolerability, thus allowing the home management of patients with no need for laboratory coagulation tests

Energy consumption of parallel algorithms for solving linear systems on HPC architecture

Modern High-Performance Computing HPC systems are gradually increasing in size and complexity due to the correspondent demand of larger simulations requiring more complicated tasks and higher accuracy. However, as side effects of the Dennard’s scaling approaching its ultimate power limit, the efficiency of software plays also an important role in increasing the overall performance of a computation. Tools to measure application performance in these increasingly complex environments provide insights into the intricate ways in which software and hardware interact. The monitoring of the power consumption in order to save energy is possible through processors interfaces like Intel Running Average Power Limit RAPL. Given the low level of these interfaces, they are often paired with an application-level tool like Performance Application Programming Interface PAPI. Since several problems in many heterogeneous fields can be represented as a complex linear system, an optimized and scalable linear system solver algorithm can decrease significantly the time spent to compute its resolution. One of the most widely used algorithms deployed for the resolution of large simulation is the Gaussian Elimination, which has its most popular implementation for HPC systems in the Scalable Linear Algebra PACKage ScaLAPACK library. However, another relevant algorithm, which is increasing in popularity in the academic field, is the Inhibition Method. This thesis compares the energy consumption of the Inhibition Method and Gaussian Elimination from ScaLAPACK to profile their execution during the resolution of linear systems above the HPC architecture offered by CINECA. Moreover, it also collates the energy and power values for different ranks, nodes, and sockets configurations. The monitoring tools employed to track the energy consumption of these algorithms are PAPI and RAPL, that will be integrated with the parallel execution of the algorithms managed with the Message Passing Interface MPI

Laugier-Hunziker Syndrome: An Uncommon Cause of Oral Pigmentation and a Review of the Literature

Laugier-Hunziker syndrome is a rare benign condition characterized by diffuse oral hyperpigmentation associated with pigmentation of the nails. The syndrome must be included in the differential diagnosis of diffuse oral pigmentation to exclude other conditions with systemic implications. We describe a 43-year-old white woman with the clinical and histological features of Laugier-Hunziker syndrome associated with toenail pigmentation. The correct clinical identification avoids the need for detailed investigations and treatment. We also review the potential causes of oral pigmentation

Por dentro da rede : um estudo das dinâmicas e interações de redes transnacionais de advocacy : o caso dos projetos Polonoroeste e Planafloro no estado de Rondônia

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Relações Internacionais, 2015.Este trabalho tem por finalidade o estudo do ativismo transnacional e, mais especificadamente, das redes de advocacy formadas em torno dos projetos de desenvolvimento regional em Rondônia, o POLONOROESTE (1981-1989) e o PLANAFLORO (1992-2002). Com a importância crescente atribuída aos atores da sociedade civil no cenário internacional, as redes de advocacy têm tido uma participação cada vez mais ativa nesse espaço, inclusive, operando nos processos de definição das normas internacionais. Devido à complexidade de suas problemáticas, as questões ambientais têm recebido especial atenção desses atores. As campanhas socioambientais que iremos abordar ao longo desse trabalho se inserem no contexto mais abrangente de mobilização global iniciada por organizações não governamentais (ONGs) ambientalistas junto aos Bancos Multilaterais de Desenvolvimentos (BMDs), na década de 1980, com o objetivo primário de promover reformas de cunho social e ambiental nessas instituições. O objetivo central dessa pesquisa consiste em descrever e analisar as dinâmicas e interações das redes de advocacy formadas em torno desses dois projetos, ressaltando como a dimensão transnacional interferiu nessas relações. A principal contribuição desse trabalho consiste em evidenciar, através da análise desses casos, alguns dos processos inerentes a essa via de participação da sociedade civil na governança internacional, apontando os desafios e as possibilidades que envolvem a formação de coalizões transnacionais. Utilizamos a abordagem das Redes Transnacionais como marco analítico e procuramos responder as problemáticas de pesquisa através do processo de inferência descritiva.This research aims the study of transnational activism, and in particular the advocacy networks formed around the two regional development projects in Rondonia – POLONOROESTE (1981-1989) and PLANAFLORO (1992-2002). Through the increasing importance of civil society actors on the international arena, the advocacy networks participation have become progressively active in this space, including their activities in setting international norms. Because of their complexity, environmental issues have received special attention of these actors. The social-environmental campaigns that we will address in this work are inserted in a broader context of global mobilization, started in the 1980s by environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) against the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), with the primary purpose to promote social and environmental reforms in these institutions. The central purpose of this research is to describe and analyze the dynamics and interactions of advocacy networks formed around the two projects mentioned above, highlighting the influence of the transnational dimension on these relations. Through the analysis of these cases, the present study emphasizes some of the process involved in civil society participation in international governance, pointing out the inherent challenges and possibilities in the formation of transnational coalitions. We used the Transnational Network approach as analytical framework and tried to answer the research questions by the process of descriptive inference

Comparison of Cytogenetic and Static Cytometry Procedures in the Evaluation of Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions

Gross genomic damage or specific chromosomal alterations have been revealed by different laboratory procedures in potentially malignant oral lesions, but two or more procedures have never been applied at the same time to the same cell population. In the present study we considered cell suspensions obtained from 34 oral lesions at risk of malignancy to see whether they might harbour genetic alterations and whether a correlation exists between the results obtained by two different methods of assessing DNA aberrations. Each suspension underwent DNA-content assessment by static cytometry, and cytogenetic G-banding analysis of short-term primary cultures. DNA content was determined in a minimum of 1000 cells on a Fairfield ploidy analyser and results expressed as percent of aneuploid cells in the S-phase; cytogenetic analysis was carried out according to standard procedures on in situ G-banding metaphases, and results expressed as percent of metaphases with chromosomal alterations. The results showed that the percentage of metaphases with chromosomal alterations was significantly correlated with the percentage of aneuploid cells in the S-phase. In conclusion, genetic alterations can be revealed in the same oral specimen either by procedures studying DNA content in fixed cells or by procedures investigating chromosomal alterations in cultured and proliferating cells

The First Very Long Baseline Interferometric SETI Experiment

The first Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) conducted with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is presented. By consideration of the basic principles of interferometry, we show that VLBI is efficient at discriminating between SETI signals and human generated radio frequency interference (RFI). The target for this study was the star Gliese 581, thought to have two planets within its habitable zone. On 2007 June 19, Gliese 581 was observed for 8 hours at 1230-1544 with the Australian Long Baseline Array. The dataset was searched for signals appearing on all interferometer baselines above five times the noise limit. A total of 222 potential SETI signals were detected and by using automated data analysis techniques, were ruled out as originating from the Gliese 581 system. From our results we place an upper limit of 7 MW/Hz on the power output of any isotropic emitter located in the Gliese 581 system, within this frequency range. This study shows that VLBI is ideal for targeted SETI, including follow-up observations. The techniques presented are equally applicable to next-generation interferometers, such as the long baselines of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted on 25/05/2012 for publication in The Astronomical Journa