Long Walk to Freedom: un autoritratto policromatico del Mandela uomo e leader politico.

Il presente elaborato si propone l’obiettivo di analizzare e comprendere a tutto tondo la figura di Nelson Mandela, ultima grande icona di pace nel panorama mondiale moderno. Il titolo della tesi, che rimanda alla varietà dei colori, si associa perfettamente all’idea di “Nazione Arcobaleno” proposta da Mandela come sigillo finale di una riconciliazione - precedentemente impossibile - al termine del regime segregazionista dell’apartheid. Occorre quindi ripercorrere tutto il percorso di vita del carismatico leader sudafricano, dalle sue origini umili e periferiche alla “gloria” raggiunta nelle vesti di uomo pubblico attivo a Johannesburg e nei quartieri più devastati dal regime per coglierne appieno l’essenza; soltanto seguendo l’eredità lasciataci per mezzo del suo testo autobiografico, si possono infatti ammirare tutta la determinazione e il coraggio dimostrati da Madiba (questo il nome con cui era affettuosamente chiamato dai suoi compagni) lungo tutto il cammino verso la libertà. Un simbolo, quindi, ma non un santo: un excursus a contatto con tutte le sfaccettature mandeliane svelateci nel tempo, dagli spaccati intimi e personali a quelli politici e più noti, con omaggi cinematografici e musicali di tutto il mondo fino al momento della sua scomparsa (e anche oltre)

Righe spettrali: formazione, shift e allargamento

Tutte le informazioni riguardanti le proprietà fisiche delle stelle derivano più o meno direttamente dallo studio dei loro spettri. La luce, infatti, contiene informazioni estremamente dettagliate sulla sorgente da cui è stata prodotta. In particolare, lo studio dell’intensità delle righe spettrali di assorbimento permette di ricavare informazioni su composizione, temperatura, abbondanze chimiche, movimenti, pressione e campi ma- gnetici delle stelle. La forma delle righe, inoltre, contiene informazioni sui processi che avvengono nelle atmosfere stellari. L’elaborato è suddiviso in tre sezioni: nel primo capitolo verranno descritti i meccanismi di interazione radiazione-materia alla base della formazione delle righe spettrali. Nel secondo capitolo sarà analizzato il fenomeno dello shift che caratterizza gli spettri stellari. Nel terzo capitolo, infine, si tratterà di tutti quei processi che contribuiscono all’allargamento delle righe spettrali

Enhanced osteogenic differentiation in zoledronate-treated osteoporotic patients

Bisphosphonates are well known inhibitors of osteoclast activity and thus may be employed to influence osteoblast activity. The present study was designed to evaluate the in vivo effects of zoledronic acid (ZA) on the proliferation and osteoblastic commitment of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in osteoporotic patients. We studied 22 postmenopausal osteoporotic patients. Densitometric, biochemical, cellular and molecular data were collected before as well as after 6 and 12 months of ZA treatment. Peripheral blood MSC-like cells were quantified by colony-forming unit fibroblastic assay; their osteogenic differentiation potential was evaluated after 3 and 7 days of induction, respectively. Circulating MSCs showed significantly increased expression levels of osteoblastic marker genes such as Runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), and Osteonectin (SPARC) during the 12 months of monitoring time. Lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) variation and SPARC gene expression correlated positively. Bone turnover marker levels were significantly lowered after ZA treatment; the effect was more pronounced for C terminal telopeptide (CTX) than for Procollagen Type 1 N-Terminal Propeptide (P1NP) and bone alkaline phosphatase (bALP). Our findings suggest a discrete anabolic activity supported by osteogenic commitment of MSCs, consequent to ZA treatment. We confirm its anabolic effects in vivo on osteogenic precursors

Relación entre gestión del personal y carga procesal en los juzgados de investigación preparatoria de la Corte Superior de Justicia de Ucayali, 2018

La tesis titulada Relación entre gestión del personal y carga procesal en los juzgados de investigación preparatoria de la Corte Superior de Justicia de Ucayali, 2018, tuvo como objetivo determinar la relación existente entre las variables gestión del personal y carga procesal. El estudio fue de tipo no experimental de diseño correlacional; la población fue 20 trabajadores, considerados entre empleados de la sede donde se llevó a cabo la investigación; además, la técnica empleada fue la encuesta y los instrumentos de recolección de datos fueron dos cuestionarios, el de gestión del personal tuvo 34 reactivos, y el cuestionario para recolectar información sobre la carga procesal tuvo 18 reactivos. Se concluyó que existe relación significativa entre la gestión del personal y la carga procesal en la percepción de los trabajadores de esta sede judicial; lo cual indica que, a mejor gestión del personal, mejor manejo de la carga procesal

Public Engagement Provides First Insights on Po Plain Ant Communities and Reveals the Ubiquity of the Cryptic Species Tetramorium immigrans (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Ants are considered a useful model for biodiversity monitoring and several of their characteristics make them promising for citizen science (CS) projects. Involving a wide range of public figures into collecting valuable data on the effect of human impact on ant biodiversity, the School of Ants (SoA) project represents one of the very few attempts to explore the potential of these insects in CS. Through the collaboration with the "BioBlitz Lombardia" project, we tested the SoA protocol on 12 Northern Italy parks, ranging from urban green to subalpine protected sites. As a result, we obtained some of the very first quantitative data characterizing the ants of this region, recording 30 species and highlighting some interesting ecological patterns. These data revealed the ubiquitous presence of the recently taxonomically defined cryptic species Tetramorium immigrans, which appears to be probably introduced in the region. We also discuss advantages and criticisms encountered applying the SoA protocol, originally intended for schools, to new categories of volunteers, from BioBlitz participants to park operators, suggesting best practices based on our experience

A soft supernumerary hand for rehabilitation in sub-acute stroke: a pilot study

: In patients with subacute stroke, task specific training (TST) has been shown to accelerate functional recovery of the upper limb. However, many patients do not have sufficient active extension of the fingers to perform this treatment. In these patients, here we propose a new rehabilitation technique in which TST is performed through a soft robotic hand (SoftHand-X). In short, the extension of the robotic fingers is controlled by the patient through his residual, albeit minimal, active extension of the fingers or wrist, while the patient was required to relax the muscles to achieve full flexion of the robotic fingers. TST with SoftHand-X was attempted in 27 subacute stroke patients unable to perform TST due to insufficient active extension of the fingers. Four patients (14.8%) were able to perform the proposed treatment (10 daily sessions of 60 min each). They reported an excellent level of participation. After the treatment, both clinical score of spasticity and its electromyographic correlate (stretch reflex) decreased. In subacute stroke patients, TST using SoftHand-X is a well-accepted treatment, resulting in a decrease of spasticity. At present, it can be applied only in a small proportion of the patients who cannot perform conventional TST, though extensions are possible

HW-Flow-Fusion: Inter-Layer Scheduling for Convolutional Neural Network Accelerators with Dataflow Architectures

Energy and throughput efficient acceleration of convolutional neural networks (CNN) on devices with a strict power budget is achieved by leveraging different scheduling techniques to minimize data movement and maximize data reuse. Several dataflow mapping frameworks have been developed to explore the optimal scheduling of CNN layers on reconfigurable accelerators. However, previous works usually optimize each layer singularly, without leveraging the data reuse between the layers of CNNs. In this work, we present an analytical model to achieve efficient data reuse by searching for efficient scheduling of communication and computation across layers. We call this inter-layer scheduling framework HW-Flow-Fusion, as we explore the fused map-space of multiple layers sharing the available resources of the same accelerator, investigating the constraints and trade-offs of mapping the execution of multiple workloads with data dependencies. We propose a memory-efficient data reuse model, tiling, and resource partitioning strategies to fuse multiple layers without recomputation. Compared to standard single-layer scheduling, inter-layer scheduling can reduce the communication volume by 51% and 53% for selected VGG16-E and ResNet18 layers on a spatial array accelerator, and reduce the latency by 39% and 34% respectively, while also increasing the computation to communication ratio which improves the memory bandwidth efficiency

Social Parasite Ants in the Alps: a New Site of the Vulnerable Myrmica myrmicoxena and New Uppermost Altitudinal Limit for M. microrubra

We conducted a survey on the Alpine fauna of one of the largest Natural Park of the Italian Alps (Stelvio National Park) in the framework of a broad ecological monitoring of Alpine biodiversity. A two-years standardized sampling employing pitfall traps along a 1200 m altitudinal gradient led to the discovery of two interesting inquiline social parasite ants of the genus Myrmica: M. myrmicoxena Forel, 1895 and M. microrubra Seifert, 1993. Myrmica myrmicoxena, which is classified as Vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List, was so far known from only three sites across a narrow geographic range between Italy and Switzerland. Our data support the previous hypothesis over its ecology and host association. Myrmica microrubra is considered an incipient species of high evolutionary interest, sometimes regarded as an intraspecific form of M. rubra. While having a wide distribution in Europe, its presence in Italy was hitherto known only from a single site, and our record extends its altitudinal distribution limit in Europe upwards by about 600 m

Influencia del campo magnético en el crecimiento de semillas de Phaseolus vulgaris. Distrito de Valera 2021

El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar la influencia del campo magnético en el crecimiento de semillas de Phaseolus vulgaris (frijol pinto), distrito de Valera 2021. La metodología fue realizada mediante un experimento de arreglo bifactorial (intensidad x tiempo), el factor A: Intensidad de campo Magnético (0 mT, 20mT, 50 mT) y factor B: tiempo (5 h y permanente). Para la realización del experimento se utilizó suelo agrícola humedecido con 50 ml de agua destilada, colocándose 3 semillas de frijol pinto en cada recipiente y luego fue recubierto con una capa de suelo agrícola y humedecido con 10 ml de agua destilada y las 24 horas fue colocado en la cara norte de los imanes, evaluándose a los 15 días de instalar el experimento. Se verificó el cumplimiento de los supuestos de normalidad y homogeneidad de los datos. Luego se realizó el análisis de varianza (ANOVA) y las medias fueron comparadas mediante la prueba de Tukey. Para analizar los datos se utilizó el programa estadístico Minitab 2019. Los resultados obtenidos indican diferencias significativas tanto para el crecimiento de raíz y longitud de tallo para los tratamientos con un valor de 50 mT y con un tiempo de exposición de 5h, mientras que para el número de brotes y número de hojas no hubo diferencias significativas. Finalmente, se concluye que los campos magnéticos influyen en las diferentes variables que intervienen en el desarrollo y crecimiento de las plántulas