Thoughts on Pain. Friedrich Nietzsche and Human Suffering

In Nietzsche the autobiographical theme of disease has at its core the philosophical problem of pain. While he reflects daily on the actual condition of the ill person, Nietzsche oscillates the man like a pendulum. He defines him as 'the most melancholic and most happy animal who suffers so profoundly that he must invent laughter', as 'the ill animal' but also 'the most courageous and most used to pain'. Nietzsche seems to be entertained no end by playing around with these definitions, almost as if he is making fun of Aristotle./n It is in fact these two later quotations from the Genealogy that go on to construct the tracks on which his reflections on badness and suffering will move, marking out the area in which the decisive 'match' of the health of humanity is discussed. The first displays a Nietzsche who is always tranchant and blazing in its ability to conjure up the humanity of humans in few words. The highlight of the determinate article is original ('the ill animal') and shows that man is a unique animal who can define himself as being ill. The second suggests the image of a human being who tolerates pain with courage, arriving, just thanks to this journey of pain, to embark on a voyage leading to internal transformation./n Nietzsche's lifelong illness was what prompted him to develop the philosophical problem of pain and its relationship with thought. Taking advantage of his condition as a constant sufferer, Nietzsche strived to understand which directions human thought is able to take whenever it is 'subjected to the pressure of evil'. The first is a hypocritical direction, represented by man's attempts to remove pain from his life. Nietzsche denounces all justifications made for the purpose of providing at all costs a meaning for suffering, and which converge with the modern welfare society that dares to fashion mankind 'without evil'. The other direction, however, is that of those who are not afraid to listen to suffering. Reflecting on his own personal situation, Nietzsche outlines the traits of human beings who reach out towards the mystery of existence and, shaken by the experience of pain, come to abandon their certainties and adopt a more critical view of themselves./n 'Every man is a medical history', recites a posthumous fragment. Certainly, Nietzsche himself is the first to notice 'his own story is the story of an illness and also of a healing' – and this is not only true for him but for everyone who experiences suffering up close. This experience of pain – so intimate that it seems difficult to express in words – does not cause one to be locked up inside of oneself but rather serves to introduce a discussion on one's subjectivity and as an occasion for a moral adventure into the profundities of one's existence.En la filosofía de Friedrich Nietzsche es inseparable el tema autobiográfico de la enfermedad del problema filosófico del dolor. A la vez que reflexiona sobre la condición de la persona enferma, Nietzsche hace que el hombre oscile como un péndulo: lo define como el animal enfermo, como el más melancólico de los animales, pero también como el más bravo y más habituado al dolor, y como el animal más feliz, que sufre tan profundamente que debe inventar la risa. De modo paralelo a estos escritos antropológicos, Nietzsche denuncia enfáticamente los intentos desesperados, públicos y privados, que hace el hombe para remover el dolor de su propia existencia o para vivir como si nunca hubiese existido. Las hipócritas justificaciones, religiosas o seculares, de aquellos que encuentran un sentido absurdo en el sufrimiento, se encuentran con el comfort de la sociedad moderna (ciencia, política, religion), donde desesperadamente se toman riesgos para modelar una sociedad sin mal. Al cosiderar como crucial su experiencia personal con el dolor, Nietzsche desea experimentar hasta el punto en que resista el pensamiento y en la dirección que éste tome cada vez que se encuentra bajo la presión del mal. Sus investigaciones muestran cómo es imposible eliminar lo negativo de la existencia, pues constituye un necesario ingrediente sin el que las lágrimas significarían demasiada alegría y nunca se llegaría a la risa

Vita e storia. Nietzsche in Essere e Tempo

Ridare vita alle ombre esangui del passato", che torna a vivere nel presente facendosinuovamente "carne e sangue". Le citazioni di Dilthey e von Wartenburg delimitano ilcampo in cui, per l'Heidegger di Sein und Zeit, si gioca la partita decisiva della storicità delDasein. Per affondare il colpo, egli trova la stoccata vincente nelle frecciate che Nietzschescaglia contro lo storicismo nella seconda delle Considerazioni inattuali – Vom Nutzen undNachtheil der Historie für das Leben –. In lui, Heidegger intravede un autorevole alleato perinstaurare un rapporto autentico con la storia. Essa non dovrà più essere confinata in unpassato museale, tanto grazioso quanto improduttivo per la vita: uscire dalla paralisi dellatradizione vuol dire scrollarsi di dosso il peso del passato e sbloccare il presente e ilfuturo. Solo così l'uomo sarà libero e la storicità recupererà il suo senso più elevato, alservizio della vita. Al di là delle differenze d'intento e di registro ermeneutico-stilistico, laricostruzione di un dialogo a distanza tra i passi di Sein und Zeit e le considerazioninietzscheane offrirà spunti interessanti per pensare alla storia e al suo rapporto, semprein bilico tra il vitale e il patologico, con l'esistenza umana

Enfermedad, sufrimiento, pensamiento. Nietzsche y la existencia humana

Thomas Mann asserts that Nietzsche also has another name: illness. In fact, when you look at life of philosopher of Röcken, it’s impossible not to come across his pathology: beyond the delirious madness that marks the last decade, the whole his existence appears indelibly marked by illness. And in Nietzsche the autobiographical theme of illness is inseparable from the philosophical problem of suffering. By considering his personal experience of illness as crucial, Nietzsche desires to experiment up to the point thought can resist and in which direction it takes whenever it is under the pressure of evil. His sharp investigation shows how the negative cannot be eliminated from existence, nor justified, but it constitutes a necessary ingredient: without tears, man would signify too much joy and one would never arrive at the laughter.Thomas Mann afirma que Nietzsche tiene también otro nombre: enfermedad. De hecho, cuando se mira a la vida del filósofo de Röcken, es imposible no toparse con su patología: más allá de la locura delirante que marca la última década, toda su existencia aparece indeleblemente marcada por la enfermedad. Y en Nietzsche el tema autobiográfico de la enfermedad es inseparable del problema filosófico del sufrimiento. Aprovechando su experiencia como eterno enfermo, Nietzsche desea experimentar hasta qué punto el pensamiento puede resistir y qué dirección toma cada vez que está sometido a la presión del mal. Sus reflexiones mordaces muestran cómo lo negativo no puede ser erradicado de la existencia, mucho menos justificado, pero constituye un ingrediente necesario: sin lágrimas, el hombre perdería demasiadas alegrías y nunca llegaría a reírse

Modelling and Validation of Cavitating Orifice Flow in Hydraulic Systems

Cavitation can occur at the inlet of hydraulic pumps or in hydraulic valves; this phenomenon should be always avoided because it can generate abnormal wear and noise in fluid power components. Numerical modeling of the cavitation is widely used in research, and it allows the regions where it occurs more to be predicted. For this reason, two different approaches to the study of gas and vapor cavitation were presented in this paper. In particular, a model was developed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with particular attention to the dynamic modeling of both gaseous and vapor cavitation. A further lumped parameter model was made, where the fluid density varies as the pressure decreases due to the release of air and the formation of vapor. Furthermore, the lumped parameter model highlights the need to also know the speed of sound in the vena contracta, since it is essential for the correct calculation of the mass flow during vaporization. A test bench for the study of cavitation with an orifice was set up; cavitation was induced by increasing the speed of the fluid on the restricted section thanks to a pump located downstream of the orifice. The experimental data were compared with those predicted by CFD and lumped parameter models

Vita e storia. Nietzsche in Essere e Tempo

Ridare vita alle ombre esangui del passato”, che torna a vivere nel presente facendosinuovamente “carne e sangue”. Le citazioni di Dilthey e von Wartenburg delimitano ilcampo in cui, per l’Heidegger di Sein und Zeit, si gioca la partita decisiva della storicità delDasein. Per affondare il colpo, egli trova la stoccata vincente nelle frecciate che Nietzschescaglia contro lo storicismo nella seconda delle Considerazioni inattuali – Vom Nutzen undNachtheil der Historie für das Leben –. In lui, Heidegger intravede un autorevole alleato perinstaurare un rapporto autentico con la storia. Essa non dovrà più essere confinata in unpassato museale, tanto grazioso quanto improduttivo per la vita: uscire dalla paralisi dellatradizione vuol dire scrollarsi di dosso il peso del passato e sbloccare il presente e ilfuturo. Solo così l’uomo sarà libero e la storicità recupererà il suo senso più elevato, alservizio della vita. Al di là delle differenze d’intento e di registro ermeneutico-stilistico, laricostruzione di un dialogo a distanza tra i passi di Sein und Zeit e le considerazioninietzscheane offrirà spunti interessanti per pensare alla storia e al suo rapporto, semprein bilico tra il vitale e il patologico, con l’esistenza umana

dynamic modelling of the swash plate of a hydraulic axial piston pump for condition monitoring applications

Abstract In the last years Prognostic and Health Management (PHM) has become one of the challenging topic in the engineering field. In particular, model-based approach for diagnostic relies on the development of a mathematical model of the system representing its flawless status. Once the model has been developed and carefully calibrated on experimental data referred to flawless pump condition the comparison between the model output and the real system output leads to the residual analysis, which gives a diagnosis of the component health. This paper presents the mathematical model of a hydraulic axial piston pump developed in order to replicate the dynamic behavior of the swash plate for PHM applications. The model has been developed on the basis of simplified hypotheses, a friction model between swash plate and bearings has been introduced. A detailed experimental activity was carried out to calibrate and validate the model with step tests and sweep tests. The comparison between numerical and experimental results shows a satisfying agreement and highlights the model capability to reproduce the swash plate dynamics. Future works will include tests with the pump in faulty conditions to evaluate the pump health state through the residual analysis of the swash plate position

CFD Analyses of Textured Surfaces for Tribological Improvements in Hydraulic Pumps

In any hydraulic machine there are lubricated couplings that could become critical beyond certain operating conditions. This paper presents the simulation results concerning textured surfaces with the aim of improving the performance of lubricated couplings in relative motion. The texturing design requires much care to obtain good improvements, and it is essential to analyze both the geometric features of the dimples and the characteristics of the coupled surfaces, like the sliding velocity and gap height. For this purpose, several CFD simulations have been performed to study the behavior of the fluid bounded in the coupling, considering dimples with different shapes, size, and spatial distribution. The simulations consider the onset of gaseous cavitation to evaluate the influence of this phenomenon on the pressure distribution generated by the textured surface. The analyses have pointed out that it is critical to correctly predict the behavior of the textured surface in the presence of local cavitation, in fact, when cavitation occurs, the characteristic time of the transient in which the phase of the fluid change is very rapid and it is comparable to the time taken by the fluid to move from one dimple to the next

Manifestazioni renali in corso di rene policistico autosomico dominante (ADPKD)

Abstract non disponibil

Sex and the single embryo: early deveopment in the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In embryos the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MTZ) integrates post-transcriptional regulation of maternal transcripts with transcriptional activation of the zygotic genome. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying this event are being clarified in <it>Drosophila melanogaster</it>, little is know about the embryogenic processes in other insect species. The recent publication of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from embryos of the global pest species <it>Ceratitis capitata </it>(medfly) has enabled the investigation of embryogenesis in this species and has allowed a comparison of the embryogenic processes in these two related dipteran species, <it>C. capitata </it>and <it>D. melanogaster</it>, that shared a common ancestor 80-100 mya.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using a novel PCR-based sexing method, which takes advantage of a putative LTR retrotransposon MITE insertion on the medfly Y chromosome, the transcriptomes of individual early male and female embryos were analysed using RT-PCR. This study is focused on two crucial aspects of the onset of embryonic development: sex determination and cellular blastoderm formation. Together with the three known medfly genes (<it>Cctransformer</it>, <it>Cctransformer2 </it>and <it>Ccdoublesex</it>), the expression patterns of other medfly genes that are similar to the <it>D. melanogaster </it>sex-determination genes (<it>sisterlessA, groucho, deadpan, Sex-lethal, female lethal d, sans fille </it>and <it>intersex</it>) and four cellular blastoderm formation genes (<it>Rho1, spaghetti squash, slow-as-molasses </it>and <it>serendipity-α</it>) were analyzed, allowing us to sketch a preliminary outline of the embryonic process in the medfly. Furthermore, a putative homologue of the <it>Zelda </it>gene has been considered, which in <it>D. melanogaster </it>encodes a DNA-binding factor responsible for the maternal-to-zygotic transition.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our novel sexing method facilitates the study of i) when the MTZ transition occurs in males and females of <it>C. capitata</it>, ii) when and how the maternal information of "female-development" is reprogrammed in the embryos and iii) similarities and differences in the regulation of gene expression in <it>C. capitata </it>and <it>D. melanogaster</it>. We suggest a new model for the onset of the sex determination cascade in the medfly: the maternally inherited <it>Cctra </it>transcripts in the female embryos are insufficient to produce enough active protein to inhibit the male mode of <it>Cctra </it>splicing. The slow rate of development and the inefficiency of the splicing mechanism in the pre-cellular blastoderm facilitates the male-determining factor (M) activity, which probably acts by inhibiting CcTRA protein activity.</p