Lean Maintanence, Repair and Overhaul

The objective of this report is to consider whether lean manufacturing concepts are appropriate for the MRO environment and, if they are, how they could be adapted to address the special characteristics of the MRO operations

Well-being, Landscape and Sustainability of Communication

AbstractThe paper deals with the concept of well-being and its relationship with landscape and agriculture.According to the literature, well-being is a multidimensional and subjective concept, it is related to happiness but it does not depend on mere economic welfare. In fact, the bond between material wealth and well-being is not causal: GDP is not the optimum way of assessing the level of well-being.On the contrary, there is a strict relationship between well-being, agriculture and rural development. The man/farmer, transforming the rural landscape, creates modifications that reverberate first on natural landscape, then on the whole territory, and finally back to the man itself. In this context, the generative communication arises as a model that best interprets the need to represent and promote the circular nature of the relationships between man and land. By doing this, it enhances and protects cultural diversity, social and natural environment of the territory itself. Hence, it strengthens the well-being of those who work and constantly transforms this landscape.The paper closes with the analysis of two case-studies, the “Comunicazione generativa per il Programma di Sviluppo Rurale 2014-2020 della Regione Toscana” project (in english: Generative Communication for the Tuscany Rural Development Programme, RDP, 2014-2020) and the “San Casciano Smart Place” project, both developed by the Communication Strategies Lab.The methodology used for the development of the projects is the generative communication (Toschi, 2011), with its recent specification towards the concept of sustainable communication

Nuevos superhéroes. La relación mediática entre los jóvenes y los médicos

The article introduces an ongoing research realized by the Lab Center for Generative Communication (CfGC), directed by Luca Toschi. The aim of this study is to define the impact of media in the evolution of imagery of children and young people regarding doctors. Today, in relation to COVID-19 emergency, doctors appear - through media exposition - as heroic figures, with peculiar characteristics in comparison to the classic superhero: from the various information and awareness campaigns to the streetBanksy’s art, in the media an idea of abstract super-heroism is abandoned, preferring a more concrete and real doctor-hero model. The first results that emerge from this study show how doctors were represented across the years: when medicine was still an uncertain science, the arrival of the doctor at home represented an unusual moment and, at the same time, crucial for the survival of the youngest and most fragile people. The seriousness and respectability of his role was often represented in pictures and illustrations in the late Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries and it changes progressively. In fact, later the doctor starts to show a nuance of attitudes between the vulnerable and the swindler and he relates to young people in precarious health conditions and leaves from their presence/absence in pictures - such as "The Doctor" by Luke Fildes (1891) or "The Sick Girl" by Edvard Munch (1885-1927) - to its uselessness in critical situations such as in Carlo Collodi’s "The Adventures of Pinocchio" (1881-1883). In more recent times, the figure of the doctor seems to come out of the juvenile imagery, given the scientific advances that have taken place over the years and that have allowed us to eradicate lethal diseases. While there were serious problems related to the health of young people and the limited availability of health professionals, the presence of the doctor was seen as an unusual event and, in the solution of a serious health problem, his intervention left indelible marks in children's perception. Therefore, the study will explore the ways in which, from the last century to the present, doctors are always more “human” and show empathy, changing the role of young patients and their families. Finally, the research introduces some information about the impact of COVID-19 in the perception of doctors, who become heroes in the imagery of children and young people.El artículo presenta una investigación en curso con la que el Center for Generative Communication (CfGC) de la Universidad de Florencia y el Lab CfGC - director: Luca Toschi - reconstruye el cambio en el imaginario infantil y juvenil en cuanto a la relación de los jóvenes con la figura del médico, determinado por la pandemia de COVID19. Hoy en día, el médico se presenta como una figura heroica, aunque con características peculiares en comparación con el superhéroe clásico: desde las diversas campañas de información y concienciación hasta el street-art de Banksy, en los medios de comunicación se abandona una idea de super-heroísmo abstracto, prefiriendo un modelo de médico-héroe más concreto y real. Los datos que surgen del trabajo de los investigadores del CfGC muestran una redefinición del estándar: a diferencia de la situación actual, de hecho, cuando la medicina aún era una ciencia incierta, la llegada del médico a casa representaba un momento inusual y, al mismo tiempo, crucial para la supervivencia de las personas más jóvenes y frágiles. La seriedad con la que se recibía al médico y su importancia crucial está bien representada por los productos mediáticos de finales del siglo XIX y XX. En estos productos el médico, mostrando un matiz de actitudes entre el vulnerable y el estafador, se relaciona con los jóvenes en condiciones de salud precarias, y se va desde su presencia / ausencia en cuadros - como "El doctor" de Luke Fildes (1891) o "La niña enferma" de Edvard Munch (1885-1927) - hasta su inutilidad en situaciones críticas como en "Las aventuras de Pinocho" de Carlo Collodi (1881-1883). En épocas más recientes, la figura del médico parece salir del imaginario juvenil, dados los avances científicos que se han ido produciendo a lo largo de los años y que nos han permitido erradicar enfermedades letales. Mientras estaban graves problemas relacionados con la salud de los jóvenes y la escasa disponibilidad de profesionales sanitarios, la presencia del médico se vislumbraba como un hecho insólito y, en la solución de un grave problema de salud, su intervención dejaba marcas imborrables en el imaginario de niños y chicos. La investigación, por tanto, pretende reconstruir las formas en las que, desde el siglo pasado hasta la actualidad, se formó el imaginario de los niños y jóvenes hacia la profesión médica y la relación con los profesionales de la salud. Resaltando cómo el COVID-19 ha contribuido a redefinir este imaginario

Benessere, paesaggio e comunicazione. La comunicazione generativa nel PSR ‘14-‘20 della Regione Toscana

This essay deals with the concepts of wellness and landscape, analyzing the role of landscape in defining the life quality of rural areas inhabitants on the base of the results of the “Scientific collaboration between Communication Strategies Lab (CSL) of the University of Florence and Tuscany Region for the introduction of generative communication in the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020”. The scientific collaboration represented a valuable opportunity to study and test communication strategies in order to improve life quality in rural areas, and to confirm the generative communication paradigm (Toschi 2011) as an operative model that is able to promote circular relations between man and its territory.This essay deals with the concepts of wellness and landscape, analyzing the role of landscape in defining the life quality of rural areas inhabitants on the base of the results of the “Scientific collaboration between Communication Strategies Lab (CSL) of the University of Florence and Tuscany Region for the introduction of generative communication in the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020”. The scientific collaboration represented a valuable opportunity to study and test communication strategies in order to improve life quality in rural areas, and to confirm the generative communication paradigm (Toschi 2011) as an operative model that is able to promote circular relations between man and its territory

The effect of inflammation and its reduction on brain plasticity in multiple sclerosis: MRI evidence

Brain plasticity is the basis for systems-level functional reorganization that promotes recovery in multiple sclerosis (MS). As inflammation interferes with plasticity, its pharmacological modulation may restore plasticity by promoting desired patterns of functional reorganization. Here, we tested the hypothesis that brain plasticity probed by a visuomotor adaptation task is impaired with MS inflammation and that pharmacological reduction of inflammation facilitates its restoration. MS patients were assessed twice before (sessions 1 and 2) and once after (session 3) the beginning of Interferon beta (IFN-beta), using behavioural and structural MRI measures. During each session, 2 functional MRI runs of a visuomotor task, separated by 25-minutes of task practice, were performed. Within-session between-run change in task-related functional signal was our imaging marker of plasticity. During session 1, patients were compared with healthy controls. Comparison of patients’ sessions 2 and 3 tested the effect of reduced inflammation on our imaging marker of plasticity. The proportion of patients with gadolinium-enhancing lesions reduced significantly during IFN beta. In session 1, patients demonstrated a greater between-run difference in functional MRI activity of secondary visual areas and cerebellum than controls. This abnormally large practice-induced signal change in visual areas, and in functionally connected posterior parietal and motor cortices, was reduced in patients in session 3 compared with 2. Our results suggest that MS inflammation alters short-term plasticity underlying motor practice. Reduction of inflammation with IFN-beta is associated with a restoration of this plasticity, suggesting that modulation of inflammation may enhance recovery-oriented strategies that rely on patients’ brain plasticity

Cooperative Binding of the Cationic Porphyrin Tris-T4 Enhances Catalytic Activity of 20S Proteasome Unveiling a Complex Distribution of Functional States

The present study provides new evidence that cationic porphyrins may be considered as tunable platforms to interfere with the structural "key code" present on the 20S proteasome α-rings and, by consequence, with its catalytic activity. Here, we describe the functional and conformational effects on the 20S proteasome induced by the cooperative binding of the tri-cationic 5-(phenyl)-10,15,20-(tri N-methyl-4-pyridyl) porphyrin (Tris-T4). Our integrated kinetic, NMR, and in silico analysis allowed us to disclose a complex effect on the 20S catalytic activity depending on substrate/porphyrin concentration. The analysis of the kinetic data shows that Tris-T4 shifts the relative populations of the multiple interconverting 20S proteasome conformations leading to an increase in substrate hydrolysis by an allosteric pathway. Based on our Tris-T4/h20S interaction model, Tris-T4 is able to affect gating dynamics and substrate hydrolysis by binding to an array of negatively charged and hydrophobic residues present on the protein surface involved in the 20S molecular activation by the regulatory proteins (RPs). Accordingly, despite the fact that Tris-T4 also binds to the α3ΔN mutant, allosteric modulation is not observed since the molecular mechanism connecting gate dynamics with substrate hydrolysis is impaired. We envisage that the dynamic view of the 20S conformational equilibria, activated through cooperative Tris-T4 binding, may work as a simplified model for a better understanding of the intricate network of 20S conformational/functional states that may be mobilized by exogenous ligands, paving the way for the development of a new generation of proteasome allosteric modulators