Collective housing as a good way to reduce city fragmentation

Today the study of the fragmentation represents an important occasion to meditate on the city and on the evolution of the relational strategies of settlements. If we analyse in a critical way our contemporary cities, we can see several interventions of the last decades, that brought, more or less consciously, to discontinuity and isolation (gated communities to the new ghettos). In this situation the individual becomes part of a small community; but how long does it can go on? Are the public and sharing spaces, in which we can open ourselves to the city and in the same time we can develop a sense of identity and belonging, well designed? Are they at human scale? A tendency, that can be observed in the modern western cities, is the intervention as collective living and cohousing that are producing urban continuities and community relations trying to institute relationships with the outside, always keeping their own differences and identities. Anyway the architectonic results don’t seem already innovative and the general quality of the interventions remains of low level. The innovative examples for collective living can certainly be considered positive for what deals with functions, topics and sense of community: spaces where liveability increases and where a rediscovered relation between Man and Environment is at the centre of the project, have been designed. So the lacking passage to completely solve, thanks to the cohousing projects, the fragmentation of the city, deals with the architectural aspect. Architects must underline the importance of the architectonical results in terms of language and spatiality to increase the integration capability of the intervention. In this case the design of architecture has a fundamental role for the next development of the city and for solving all the fragmented and inclusive situation

Indicators for urban quality evaluation at district scale and relationships with health and wellness perception

The paper is related with a research that was aimed to better define urban quality and sustainability at a district scale (4000-10000 inhabitants), specifically referred to European towns and settlements. An innovative set of indicators (72) has been developed, starting from and taking into consideration also existing literature, both in terms of indicators and sets of indicators (OECD, UN, Agenda 21, and existing European databases as CRISP), four “thematic” areas have been defined dealing with architectural quality, accessibility, environment and services. Within each of these areas some macroindicators and micro-indicators have been defined. The aim is to translate something that is usually considered subjective into something “objective” and finally defined with a number (0-100). Microindicators and macro-indicators are weighted thanks to a mathematical method based on symmetrical matrixes, so that there is a correct balance between different areas. Indicators are both qualitative and quantitative, so they are not just referred to urban planning procedures. The research has been already successfully applied to some Italian districts in towns as Lodi, Genova and Milano. The set of indicators was needed also to work within a multi disciplinary team that has already included engineers, architects, planners as well as doctors and physicians. As a matter of fact the results in terms of urban quality have been compared with medical results concerning health and wellness perception (using SF-36 international recognized questionnaires) by users (inhabitants), finding (non linear) relationships between urban quality and well being perception by inhabitants. The results of this research can be used to: better define design strategies (by designers) accordingly to users wellness, or evaluate ex-post the results of design activities (by municipalities or public authorities)

A comparison between different urban analysis methods: the case study of Rubattino-Ortica district in Milan

The paper deals with urban studies focused on historical districts named Rubattino and Ortica set in the east part of Milan. It represents a focus on urban morphology’s analysis and it deals with the comparison of different urban analysis’ methods. The given site of Rubattino and Ortica districts in Milan is characterized by very different urban morphologies and building typologies, even if it represents a kind of big urban “cluster” in between railways and highways: the historical settlements with their monuments, the industrial era with productive spaces, the post-war expansion with housing districts, the post-industrial era with large dismissing and new speculations, the recent developments due to cultural events and activities. It is very difficult to find out just one architectural theory that fits this “hybrid” of urban morphologies, but more than one theory can partially describe its features. The aim of the study is to deal with urban analysis accordingly to pre-assigned morphological approaches, showing that they are complementary and not alternative. The approaches have been chosen accordingly to a deep preliminary urban analysis, finding out feasible ways of describing the site with clear urban indicators. Two of the chosen approaches seem more appropriate to describe site’s morphology: one is based on the idea of ‘urban islands’ or ‘clusters’ that describes cities as a unity of different and independent parts. The other one is based on the idea of city as ‘layers’, showing also the interference of different functions and ‘systems’. Describing the same site through different theory-based urban analysis’ approaches represents the chance for a comparative study of theories themselve

Smart Urban Farm

Il fenomeno dell’agricoltura urbana grazie all’importante e attuale fase di crescita sta portando all’implementazione di innovative applicazioni che ne aumentano i benefici ambientali, sociali ed economici. Grazie a queste sinergie anche la presenza di attività di ridotte dimensioni viene messa a sistema per creare le condizioni di una interazione che coinvolga abitanti e ambiente urbano. La creazione della Smart City passa attraverso lo sfruttamento delle potenzialità delle Urban Farm che diventano luogo di vera sostenibilità

O e-learning no ensino superior: as práticas e as atitudes dos docentes na Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa

Este artigo procura focalizar e contextualizar o crescente aumento da interactividade associada à integração das tecnologias nos contextos educativos, bem como os acentuados movimentos de implementação de novos modelos de web-based education (EaD) no ensino superior, sinalizando os mesmos como meios eficientes no suprimir das limitações que actualmente emergem das práticas e sistemas tradicionais instituídos. Este artigo assume como pano de fundo a realidade da Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, seleccionando como objecto as competências digitais dos seus docentes, com a finalidade de tentar compreender e explorar a associação entre motivações e necessidades na área da utilização das tecnologias no ensino, centrando-nos especificamente, nas opiniões destes acerca das plataformas de e-Learning e a sua implementação no ensino superior

Ricerca parassitologica in roditori e insettivori : status e prospettive dell'attivit\ue0 in Italia

Roditori e insettivori risultano essere ospiti di un esteso numero di organismi parassiti (dai virus a parassiti metazoi). Ci\uf2 \ue8 legato all' ampio numero di specie coinvolte e alla elevata plasticit\ue0 ambientale di molte specie. Inoltre \ue8 certamente influenzata anche da alcune caratteristiche biologiche legate alla piccole dimensioni corporee delle specie ospite, quali l'elevato metabolismo, le elevate densit\ue0 di individui talora raggiunte, e l'elevato turn-over della popolazione. Questo gran numero di specie parassita prospetta delle ripercussioni, immediate per quanto riguarda aspetti medico-sanitari e indirette relative a diversi aspetti biologici. Nella fattispecie gli aspetti sanitari ricoprono un interesse fondamentale dal momento che, per esempio, i soli roditori sono reservoirs di 175 infezioni a carattere zoonosico, ricoprendo pi\uf9 del 25% delle infezioni trasmissibili dagli animali all'uomo. Altre infezioni senza diretta ricaduta sanitarie risultano comunque d'interesse epidemiologico per alcune caratteristiche biologiche di questi piccoli mammiferi che ne fanno degli ottimi modelli di studio per l'indagine sui meccanismi di dinamica di trasmissione delle infezioni (da trasferirsi ad altre specie ospite). D'altro canto circoscrivere l'interesse della ricerca parassitologica ai soli aspetti medico-sanitari pu\uf2 risultare riduttivo dal momento che la natura dell'interazione ospite-parassita pu\uf2 fornire interessanti approfondimenti in diversi aspetti della biologia delle specie ospite. Nei muridi \ue8 stato per esempio evidenziato come alcune specie parassita possano rispecchiare la radiazione evolutiva dei taxa ospiti, oppure come l'isolamento demografico cui alcune popolazioni insulari possa rispecchiarsi nella composizione della comunit\ue0 parassita. Ulteriori aspetti di ricerca possono riguardare l' ecologia dei parassiti, intesi come una comunit\ue0 di organismi in relazione con il proprio ambiente, costituito in questo caso dalla specie ospite. Nonostante queste premesse evidenzino le diverse ripercussioni della ricerca parassitologica, l'analisi della produzione scientifica italiana dal 1997 ad oggi, evidenzia come con 73 lavori solo il 14% delle indagini ecopatologiche condotte sugli animali selvatici ha come oggetto delle specie ospite roditori e insettivori. Di queste il 41% \ue8 indirizzato ad aspetti per lo pi\uf9 medico sanitari, il 28% descrive, in diverso dettaglio, la composizione della comunit\ue0 parassita, il 17% analizza aspetti legati all'ecologia e dinamica di trasmissione e solo il 7% considera gli aspetti legati alla biologia dell'ospite. Relativamente all'approccio investigativo, il 56% dei lavori risulta essere ancora di natura prettamente descrittivo/catalogativo, non affrontando invece quegli ulteriori aspetti che permettono una maggior introspezione nella biologia delle specie ospite o l' ecologia del parassita. Di riflesso alla maggiore attenzione per gli aspetti sanitari risulta come il 67% dei lavori sia intrapresa da colleghi provenienti da settori disciplinari afferenti al mondo medico/sanitario. Tale limitato interesse dei microteriologi per la parassitologia determina la perdita di opportunit\ue0, sia per quanto riguarda il puro interesse scientifico e sia per le possibilit\ue0 di finanziamento alla ricerca che l'attenzione a questi temi possono aprire

A Requirements-Led Approach for Specifying QoS-Aware Service Choreographies: An Experience Report.

[Context and motivation] Choreographies are a form of service composition in which partner services interact in a global scenario without a single point of control. The absence of an explicitly specified orchestration requires changes to requirements practices to recognize the need to optimize software services choreography and monitoring for satisfaction with system requirements. [Question/problem] We developed a requirements-led approach that aims to provide tools and processes to transform requirements expressed on service-based systems to QoS-aware choreography specifications. [Principal ideas/results] The approach is used by domain experts to specify natural language requirements on a service-based system, and by choreography designers to adapt their models to satisfy requirements more effectively. Non-functional requirements are mapped to BPMN choreography diagrams as quality properties, using the Q4BPMN notation, that support analysis and monitoring facilities. [Contribution] We report the new integrated approach and provide lessons learned from applying it to a real-world example of dynamic taxi management

Disease, invasions and conservation : no evidence of squirrelpox virus in grey squirrels introduced to Italy

Native red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris in Great Britain and Ireland are threatened by alien grey squirrels S. carolinensis through exploitation competition and spillover of squirrelpox virus (SQPV). By accelerating the replacement of red squirrels by the invader, SQPV represents a fundamental factor to consider when planning management and conservation strategies. In mainland Europe, grey squirrels introduced to Italy threaten the survival of the whole continental red squirrel population, but no extensive surveys for SQPV presence have been carried out in the region. We therefore investigated SQPV infection in north Italian grey squirrel populations through a combination of serological and molecular methods. Firstly, we analysed sera from 285 individuals through an enzyme\u2010linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies against SQPV. Secondly, a PCR designed to amplify a segment of the G8R SQPV gene was carried out on DNA extracted from swabs and skin tissue samples from a second set of 66 grey squirrels. ELISA tests identified four reactors (1.4%), but the subsequent PCR survey did not detect any SQPV DNA. Based on the low prevalence observed and on PCR results, we believe that the four suspected positives were the result of an ELISA cross\u2010reaction following exposure to another pox virus. Considering sample size and performances of the two methods, confidence of freedom from SQPV resulted above 99.9%. However, because of the severe impact of SQPV on red squirrels, we recommend the implementation of a passive surveillance plan for the early detection of an SQPV emergence in continental Europe