Un'accademia milanese di fine Quattrocento. Incontri tra letterati e dinamiche culturali all'ombra della domus di Gaspare Ambrogio Visconti

The essay focuses on Gaspare Ambrogio Visconti’s literary and artistic circle as the centre of the vulgar literature development in Renaissance Milan. Bringing together historical and literary sources, it reconstructs the birth of a so-called ‘Accademia’ that was established at the end of the XVth century and revolved around Visconti. The essay describes the group’s characteristics of this Accademia, that involved both Milanese and foreign poets or artists such as Lancino Curti, Antonietto Campofregoso, Bernardo Bellincioni, Donato Bramante, Leonardo da Vinci, etc. By tracing the biography of those who belong to this group, a specific attention is dedicated to Antonio Pelotti from Pisa, close friend of Marsilio Ficino and promoter of Neoplatonism, as well as to the Abruzzese bibliophile Giacomo Alfieri, who introduced the Bella mano from Giusto de’ Conti in Milan, and, finally, to the unknow poets and soldiers Angelo da Lavello and Giacomo Sanseverino dell’Abbazia.   Il saggio si concentra sul circolo artistico e letterario promosso da Gaspare Ambrogio Visconti a Milano sul finire del Quattrocento. Ricorrendo a fonti storiche e letterarie, s’intende ricostruire la nascita della cosiddetta ‘Accademia’ che prese forma attorno alla personalità del Visconti, raggruppando poeti e artisti milanesi e stranieri (tra cui Lancino Curti, Antonietto Campofregoso, Bernardo Bellincioni, Donato Bramante, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.) e determinando in modo decisivo lo sviluppo di una letteratura in volgare nel ducato. Lo scavo prosopografico sulle differenti personalità che formano il gruppo concentra in particolare l’attenzione su quattro personaggi stranieri che, con le loro diverse caratteristiche, permettono di tracciare in modo approfondito la fisionomia dell’Accademia e dell’intera società culturale milanese dell’epoca: il pisano Antonio Pelotti, amico e sodale di Marsilio Ficino, che ha un ruolo nella diffusione del Neoplatonismo a Milano; il bibliofilo abruzzese Giacomo Alfieri, che introduce a Milano la Bella mano di Giusto de’ Conti; e, infine, gli sconosciuti poeti-soldato Angelo da Lavello e Giacomo Sanseverino dell’Abbazia

Dendritic Computation through Exploiting Resistive Memory as both Delays and Weights

Biological neurons can detect complex spatio-temporal features in spiking patterns via their synapses spread across their dendritic branches. This is achieved by modulating the efficacy of the individual synapses, and by exploiting the temporal delays of their response to input spikes, depending on their position on the dendrite. Inspired by this mechanism, we propose a neuromorphic hardware architecture equipped with multiscale dendrites, each of which has synapses with tunable weight and delay elements. Weights and delays are both implemented using Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM). We exploit the variability in the high resistance state of RRAM to implement a distribution of delays in the millisecond range for enabling spatio-temporal detection of sensory signals. We demonstrate the validity of the approach followed with a RRAM-aware simulation of a heartbeat anomaly detection task. In particular we show that, by incorporating delays directly into the network, the network's power and memory footprint can be reduced by up to 100x compared to equivalent state-of-the-art spiking recurrent networks with no delays

Long-term continuous monitoring of the preterm brain with diffuse optical tomography and electroencephalography: A technical note on cap manufacturing

open12noDiffuse optical tomography (DOT) has recently proved useful for detecting whole-brain oxygenation changes in preterm and term newborns' brains. The data recording phase in prior explorations was limited up to a maximum of a couple of hours, a time dictated by the need to minimize skin damage caused by the protracted contact with optode holders and interference with concomitant clinical/nursing procedures. In an attempt to extend the data recording phase, we developed a new custom-made cap for multimodal DOT and electroencephalography acquisitions for the neonatal population. The cap was tested on a preterm neonate (28 weeks gestation) for a 7-day continuous monitoring period. The cap was well tolerated by the neonate, who did not suffer any evident discomfort and/or skin damage. Montage and data acquisition using our cap was operated by an attending nurse with no difficulty. DOT data quality was remarkable, with an average of 92% of reliable channels, characterized by the clear presence of the heartbeat in most of them.openopenAlfonso Galderisi; Sabrina Brigadoi; Simone Cutini; Sara Basso Moro; Elisabetta Lolli; Federica Meconi; Silvia Benavides-Varela; Eugenio Baraldi; Piero Amodio; Claudio Cobelli; Daniele Trevisanuto; Roberto Dell'AcquaGalderisi, Alfonso; Brigadoi, Sabrina; Cutini, Simone; BASSO MORO, Sara; Lolli, Elisabetta; Meconi, Federica; Silvia, Benavides-Varela; Baraldi, Eugenio; Amodio, Piero; Cobelli, Claudio; Trevisanuto, Daniele; Dell'Acqua, Robert

Proposta para o ensino da Educação Ambiental na Educação Básica: a revitalização de Jardins com materiais recicláveis

Anais do 35º Seminário de Extensão Universitária da Região Sul - Área temática: Meio AmbienteEducação Ambiental pode ser entendida como um processo onde o indivíduo e o coletivo estabelecem valores sociais, conhecimentos, capacidades, atitudes e aptidões voltadas para a conservação do meio ambiente. Sendo assim, a Educação Ambiental envolve o entendimento da educação cidadã, tornando-se fundamental sua abordagem no ensino básico. O trabalho teve por objetivo a revitalização de um espaço externo em uma Escola Municipal, para tornar o ambiente propício ao ensino de Educação Ambiental. Este trabalho foi desenvolvido, no município de São Vicente do Sul/RS na Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental Coqueiros, por acadêmicas do Curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas do Instituto Federal Farroupilha Câmpus São Vicente do Sul/RS e bolsistas do Programa de Educação Tutorial (PET-Biologia), tendo embasamento fundamental a revitalização dos jardins desta mesma escola, com a utilização de materiais recicláveis como, garrafa pet e madeira. O trabalho foi desenvolvido juntamente com a professora de Ciências da escola, com turmas de sétimo e oitavo ano do Ensino Fundamental. A atividade desenvolvida foi a construção de dois jardins verticais utilizando materiais recicláveis, e mudas de plantas para a ornamentação, onde estas foram doadas pelo setor de jardinocultura do IFFar- São Vicente do Sul. O processo de desenvolvimento deste projeto contribuiu na formação acadêmica dos discentes que desenvolveram o trabalho, pois através deste, foi possível adquirir experiência na Educação Básica, durante a formação inicial, bem como para a escola e os alunos da mesma colaborando para a abordagem deste tema transversal nas aulas de Ciências, facilitando o entendimento dos alunos sobre Educação Ambiental. Conclui-se que, atividades práticas sobre Educação Ambiental são fundamentais para a sensibilização dos alunos e comunidade escolar sobre a preservação do meio ambiente, reciclagem e reutilização dos resíduos produzidos nas residências bem como na escol

Motor versus body awareness: Voxel-based lesion analysis in anosognosia for hemiplegia and somatoparaphrenia following right hemisphere stroke

This is the accepted manuscript version of the following article: Valentina Moro, Simone Pernigo, Manos Tsakiris, Renato Avesani, Nicola M. J. Edelstyn, Paul M. Jenkinson, and Aikaterini Fotopoulou, ‘Motor versus body awareness: Voxel-based lesion analysis in anosognosia for hemiplegia and somatoparaphrenia following right hemisphere stroke’, Cortex, Vol 83, pp. 62-77, first published online 15 Jul 2016. The version of record is available online at doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.07.001 Published by Elsevier. © Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Anosognosia for hemiplegia (AHP) is informative about the neurocognitive basis of motor awareness. However, it is frequently associated with concomitant symptoms, such as hemispatial neglect and disturbances in the sense of body ownership (DSO). Although double dissociations between these symptoms have been reported, there is ongoing debate about whether they are manifestations of independent abnormalities, or a single neuro- cognitive deficit. We aimed to investigate the specificity of lesions associated with AHP by surpassing four, existing methodological limitations: (a) recruit a relatively large sample of patients (total N 1⁄4 70) in a multi-centre study; (b) identify lesions associated with AHP in grey and white matter using voxel-based methods; (c) take into account the duration of AHP and concomitant neglect symptoms; and (d) compare lesions against a control hemiplegic group, patients suffering from AHP and DSO, and a few, rare patients with selective DSO. Results indicated that acute AHP is associated with a wide network, mainly including: (1) the Rolandic operculum, (2) the insula and (3) the superior temporal gyri. Subcortically, damage mainly involved the basal ganglia and white matter, mostly the superior corona radiate, arcuate fasciculus and the part of the ventral, superior longitu- dinal fasciculus. Persistent symptoms were linked with wider damage involving fronto- temporal cortex and long white matter tracts. A shift in the latero-medial direction (mainly involving the basal ganglia and surrounding white matter) emerged when DSO was taken accounted for. These results suggest that while bodily awareness is processed by areas widely distributed across the brain, intact subcortical structures and white matter tracts may be necessary to support basic feelings of owning and controlling contralateral body parts. An accurate and ‘up-to-date’ awareness of our motor abilities, however, may rely also on intact processing in cortical areas which presumably allow higher-order in- ferences about the current state of the body.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Speckle statistics in adaptive optics images at visible wavelengths

Residual speckles in adaptive optics (AO) images represent a well-known limitation on the achievement of the contrast needed for faint source detection. Speckles in AO imagery can be the result of either residual atmospheric aberrations, not corrected by the AO, or slowly evolving aberrations induced by the optical system. We take advantage of the high temporal cadence (1 ms) of the data acquired by the System for Coronagraphy with High-order Adaptive Optics from R to K bands-VIS forerunner experiment at the Large Binocular Telescope to characterize the AO residual speckles at visible wavelengths. An accurate knowledge of the speckle pattern and its dynamics is of paramount importance for the application of methods aimed at their mitigation. By means of both an automatic identification software and information theory, we study the main statistical properties of AO residuals and their dynamics. We therefore provide a speckle characterization that can be incorporated into numerical simulations to increase their realism and to optimize the performances of both real-time and postprocessing techniques aimed at the reduction of the speckle noise

DenRAM: Neuromorphic Dendritic Architecture with RRAM for Efficient Temporal Processing with Delays

An increasing number of neuroscience studies are highlighting the importance of spatial dendritic branching in pyramidal neurons in the brain for supporting non-linear computation through localized synaptic integration. In particular, dendritic branches play a key role in temporal signal processing and feature detection, using coincidence detection (CD) mechanisms, made possible by the presence of synaptic delays that align temporally disparate inputs for effective integration. Computational studies on spiking neural networks further highlight the significance of delays for CD operations, enabling spatio-temporal pattern recognition within feed-forward neural networks without the need for recurrent architectures. In this work, we present DenRAM, the first realization of a spiking neural network with analog dendritic circuits, integrated into a 130nm technology node coupled with resistive memory (RRAM) technology. DenRAM's dendritic circuits use the RRAM devices to implement both delays and synaptic weights in the network. By configuring the RRAM devices to reproduce bio-realistic timescales, and through exploiting their heterogeneity, we experimentally demonstrate DenRAM's capability to replicate synaptic delay profiles, and efficiently implement CD for spatio-temporal pattern recognition. To validate the architecture, we conduct comprehensive system-level simulations on two representative temporal benchmarks, highlighting DenRAM's resilience to analog hardware noise, and its superior accuracy compared to recurrent architectures with an equivalent number of parameters. DenRAM not only brings rich temporal processing capabilities to neuromorphic architectures, but also reduces the memory footprint of edge devices, provides high accuracy on temporal benchmarks, and represents a significant step-forward in low-power real-time signal processing technologies

Risk perception, knowledge about SARS-CoV-2, and perception towards preventive measures in Italy: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Introduction: After COVID-19 outbreak, governments adopted several containment measures. Risk perception and knowledge may play a crucial role since they can affect compliance with preventive measures. This study aimed to explore the extent and the associated factors of risk perception, knowledge regarding SARS-CoV2, and perception towards preventive measures among the Italian population. Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional study involving adults was conducted in April-May 2021: an online survey was distributed through social media. The outcomes were: Knowledge Score (KS) (0 to 100%: higher scores correspond to higher COVID-19-related knowledge); Risk Perception Score (RPS) (1 to 4: higher values indicate higher concern); Preventive measures Perception Score (PPS) (1 to 4: higher values indicate higher confidence). Multivariable regression models were performed. Results: A total of 1120 participants were included. Median KS was 79.5%  (IQR=72.7%-86.4%). Lower education and poor economic conditions were negatively associated with the KS.  Median RPS was 2.8 (IQR=2.4-3.2). Female gender, sharing house with a fragile person, suffering from a chronic disease, having a family member/close friend who contracted SARS-CoV-2 infection were positively associated with the RPS. Median PPS was 3.1 (IQR=2.8-3.4). Lower educational level was negatively associated with the PPS. Vaccine hesitancy was negatively associated with all three outcomes. The three scores were positively associated with each other. Conclusions: Fair levels of knowledge, risk perception and perception towards preventive measures were reported. Reciprocal relationships between the outcomes and a relevant relationship with vaccine hesitancy were highlighted. Further investigations should be focused on studying underlying determinants and consequences

A função do produtor gráfico em agências de publicidade e propaganda. Análise das agências de Joaçaba e Herval d’Oeste

Analisa-se aqui a função do produtor gráfico nas agências de publicidade de Joaçaba e Herval d’Oeste, SC. A análise foi feita por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica com consulta aos principais autores da área, e pesquisa qualitativa, realizada com pelo menos um profissional de cada agência de publicidade das cidades. De acordo com os autores, muitas vezes o produtor gráfico não é reconhecido como parte da agência, mas da gráfica, além de muitas vezes esta função ser exercida pelo diretor de arte da agência. Também foi feita uma análise dos conhecimentos dos profissionais em relação à finalização de arquivos, às etapas de impressão, bem como ao relacionamento destes profissionais com os demais setores da agência, também fornecedores regionais e às necessidades de fornecedores de grandes centros, além, ainda, da capacitação de cada um, e outras funções realizadas na agência. Palavras-chave: Agência de publicidade e propaganda. Gráficas. Herval d’Oeste. Joaçaba. Produtor gráfico

HT-SuMD: making molecular dynamics simulations suitable for fragment-based screening. A comparative study with NMR

Fragment-based lead discovery (FBLD) is one of the most efficient methods to develop new drugs. We present here a new computational protocol called High-Throughput Supervised Molecular Dynamics (HT-SuMD), which makes it possible to automatically screen up to thousands of fragments, representing therefore a new valuable resource to prioritise fragments in FBLD campaigns. The protocol was applied to Bcl-XL, an oncological protein target involved in the regulation of apoptosis through protein-protein interactions. Initially, HT-SuMD performances were validated against a robust NMR-based screening, using the same set of 100 fragments. These independent results showed a remarkable agreement between the two methods. Then, a virtual screening on a larger library of additional 300 fragments was carried out and the best hits were validated by NMR. Remarkably, all the in silico selected fragments were confirmed as Bcl-XL binders. This represents, to date, the largest computational fragments screening entirely based on MD