Rileggendo oggi “Lettera a una professoressa”

The article reports the unpublished report held by Professor Riccardo Massa in 1989 as part of a conference entitled "Don Milani and teacher training. Massa wondered about the relevance of Don Milani's thought and how "Letter to a Professor" is placed in the pedagogy of contestation in relation to both the Marxist and Catholic strands. The text is introduced by a rich note by Professor of Pedagogy Jole Orsenigo.L’articolo riporta la relazione inedita tenuta dal professore Riccardo Massa nel 1989 nell’ambito di un convegno intitolato “Don Milani e la formazione docente”. Massa si interrogava sull’attualità del pensiero di don Milani e su come “Lettera a una professoressa” si collocasse nella pedagogia della contestazione relativamente sia al filone marxista sia a quello cattolico. Il testo è introdotto da una ricca nota di Jole Orsenigo, professoressa di pedagogia generale e sociale presso l’Università di Milano-Bicocca

An Efficient Spiking Neural Network for Recognizing Gestures with a DVS Camera on the Loihi Neuromorphic Processor

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), the third generation NNs, have come under the spotlight for machine learning based applications due to their biological plausibility and reduced complexity compared to traditional artificial Deep Neural Networks (DNNs). These SNNs can be implemented with extreme energy efficiency on neuromorphic processors like the Intel Loihi research chip, and fed by event-based sensors, such as DVS cameras. However, DNNs with many layers can achieve relatively high accuracy on image classification and recognition tasks, as the research on learning rules for SNNs for real-world applications is still not mature. The accuracy results for SNNs are typically obtained either by converting the trained DNNs into SNNs, or by directly designing and training SNNs in the spiking domain. Towards the conversion from a DNN to an SNN, we perform a comprehensive analysis of such process, specifically designed for Intel Loihi, showing our methodology for the design of an SNN that achieves nearly the same accuracy results as its corresponding DNN. Towards the usage of the event-based sensors, we design a pre-processing method, evaluated for the DvsGesture dataset, which makes it possible to be used in the DNN domain. Hence, based on the outcome of the first analysis, we train a DNN for the pre-processed DvsGesture dataset, and convert it into the spike domain for its deployment on Intel Loihi, which enables real-time gesture recognition. The results show that our SNN achieves 89.64% classification accuracy and occupies only 37 Loihi cores

Banco Tensore d'Inerzia

Nella presente relazione si descrive il Banco Tensore d'Inerzia realizzato presso il Dipartimento al fine di soddisfare la richiesta, avanzata in particolar modo dalle aziende del settore automotive, di disporre della misura dei parametri d'inerzia di interi veicoli o di suoi componenti. Dopo aver descritto il principio di funzionamento, si illustreranno le procedure di prova e le tecniche adottate per la calibrazione

Role of Nutrition in Pediatric Patients with Cancer

: Children with cancer are at high risk for developing short-term and long-term nutritional problems related to their underlying disease and side effects of multimodal treatments. Nutritional status (NS) can influence several clinical outcomes, such as overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS), treatment tolerance, risk of developing infections and quality of life (QoL). However, the importance of nutrition in children with cancer is still underestimated. This review focuses on alterations of NS that occurs in children during cancer treatment. In particular, we reviewed the pathogenesis of undernutrition in oncological children, as well as how NS affects treatment tolerance and response, the immune system and the risk of infections of children with cancer. Thanks to recent advances in all types of supportive therapy and to the progress of knowledge on this topic, it has been realized that NS is a modifiable prognostic factor that can be intervened upon to improve the outcome of these patients. Currently, there is a lack of a systematic approach and standard recommendations for nutritional care in the pediatric cancer population. Literature analysis showed that it is essential to define the NS and treat any alterations in a timely manner ensuring proper growth and development. Nutritional follow-up should become an integral part of the care pathway. Regular nutritional monitoring should be performed at diagnosis, during treatment and during follow-up. A close collaboration and sharing of expertise between pediatric oncologists and nutrition specialists, combined with careful and participatory sharing of the feeding experience with the family and the child (after age 6 years), is strongly required

Low-dose radiotherapy for extranodal marginal zone B lymphoma of the lip: Case report and literature review

Abstract Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) of the lip is extremely rare. It is usually indolent and in early stages a local approach is often indicated. We present a case report of a patient with extranodal NHL of the lip treated with chemotherapy and low-dose radiation treatment (RT). The patient was affected by B-cell NHL of the marginal zone, Stage IAE. After a few months of observation with progressive disease, the patient was submitted to two cycles of chemotherapy with no response. Therefore, he was treated with very low-dose RT consisting of two fractions of 2 Gy. Complete response was observed and after 1-year follow-up, persistent complete response was recorded. In cases of localized disease, especially in patients with comorbidities of poor performance status (PS), low-dose RT can be an appropriate approach with excellent outcomes in terms of effectiveness and low risk of toxicity

Left and right atrioventricular coupling index in patients with beta-thalassemia major

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship of left atrioventricular coupling index (LACI) and right atrioventricular coupling index (RACI) with demographics, clinical data, cardiovascular magnetic resonance fndings, and cardiac complications (heart failure, arrhythmias, and pulmonary hypertension) in a cohort of patients with beta-thalassemia major (β-TM). We evaluated 292 β-TM patients (151 females, 36.72±11.76 years) consecutively enrolled in the Extension-Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia (E-MIOT) project. Moreover, we assessed 32 sex- and agematched healthy controls (12 females, mean age 40.78±14.35 years). LACI was determined by calculating the ratio of the left atrium end-diastolic volume to the left ventricle end-diastolic volume, while RACI was defned by calculating the ratio of the right atrium end-diastolic volume to the right ventricle end-diastolic volume. Compared to healthy control, β-TM demonstrated increased LACI (22.99±13.58% vs. 16.05±5.28%; p<0.0001) and RACI (27.84±10.30% vs. 17.06±5.03%; p<0.0001). Aging, diabetes, splenectomy, and the presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) showed a signifcant positive association with both LACI and RACI. In stepwise regression analysis, the presence of LGE was found to be an independent predictor of both impaired LACI and RACI (β coefcient=0.244, p<0.0001 and β coefcient=0.218, p=0.003; respectively). LACI and RACI were not correlated with myocardial iron overload. Patients with cardiac complications had signifcantly higher LACI and RACI than patients without cardiac complications. In patients with β-TM, LACI and RACI were signifcantly associated with the presence of LV LGE. In addition, patients with cardiac complications had impaired LACI and RACI

Geometrical tools for the analysis of x-ray polarimetric signals

SPIE grants to authors (and their employers) of papers, posters, and presentation recordings published in SPIE Proceedings or SPIE Journals on the SPIE Digital Library (hereinafter "publications") the right to post an author-prepared version or an official version (preferred version) of the publication on an internal or external server controlled exclusively by the author/employer or the entity funding the research, provided that (a) such posting is noncommercial in nature and the publication is made available to users without charge; (b) an appropriate copyright notice and citation appear with the publication; and (c) a link to SPIE's official online version of the publication is provided using the item's DOI. This authorization does not extend to third-party web sites not owned and maintained by the author/employer such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, YouTube, etc.X-ray polarimetric measurements are based on the study of distributions of the directions of scattered photons or photoelectrons and the search of a sinusoidal modulation with a period of π. We present a new simple tool based on a scatter plot of the modulation curve in which the counts in each angular bin are reported after a shifting by 1/4 of the period. The sinusoidal pattern is thus transformed in a circular plot whose radius is equal to the amplitude of the modulation, while for a not polarized radiation the scatter plot is reduced to a random point distribution centred at the mean frequency value. The advantage of this tool is that one can easily evaluate the statistical significance of the polarimetric detection and can obtain useful information on the quality of the measurement