The virus and the glocal: tracing semiopolitical interactions

This work explores the reactions that the sudden appearance of COVID-19 has caused. More precisely, it is an attempt to grasp the re-articulation of the semio- political relations in the first two months of the spread of the virus (or at least of awareness of its circulation). At the heart of this process are the states. We will analyse how some of them managed the unpredictable and the risk represented by the virus. At the same time, we will see how this has brought into play not only the interactions between states, and the interaction between them and the planetary dimension, but also how it has redefined (within each individual state) the form of the collective, that is to say the relationship between rulers and governed, between central government and territories etc. What results is the need for abandoning static definitions of the local and the global in order to trace the multiple glocal relationships that constitute the fabric of our reality

Poetiche Contemporanee: sensibilità, pratiche e forme semiotiche ai tempi della quotidianità mediatizzata

L’articolo parte da una ricognizione teorica sul rapporto fra “vita” e “testi”, pratiche e rappresentazioni, mondo della vita quotidiana e mondo offertoci dai media, per mostrare come il “reale” si costituisca attraverso una continua correlazione e traduzione di testi, linguaggi e forme semiotiche. Focalizzando sul rapporto fra vita-romanzo-televisione, indagando l’utilizzo delle nuove tecnologie, sottolineando la pervasività della pratica del riprendere e dell’essere ripresi, l’articolo ipotizza la presenza di uno spazio inter-medio (e inter-mediale) che nutre e dà forma alla nostra sensibilità contemporaneaThe article starts with a theoretical exploration of the relation between “life” and “texts”, practices and representations, everyday life’s world and media worlds, to show how the “real” constitutes itself through a continuous mechanism of correlation and translation of texts, languages and semiotic forms. Focusing on examples concerning the relation between life-novel-television, investigating the uses of new technologies of communication, underlying the deep diffusion of the practice of taking and being taken (with videocameras, mobile phones etc.), the article argues that our sensibility is nourished and shaped by the space between media we inevitably inhabit nowadays

La memoria e i suoi eventi

Anche la memoria non è più ciò che era solita essere. Nessuno di noi oggi si limiterebbe infatti a pensarla come qualcosa di legato obbligatoriamente al ricordo e alla reminiscenza, né a concepirla come un puro deposito del passato che ogni individuo si porta appresso in modo automatico e scontato. Oggi più che mai siamo consapevoli che la memoria è il campo di una lotta continua – che in essa e attraverso essa prendono forma desideri e passioni, ideali e identità – anche se non sempre e non necessariamente siamo consapevoli di come e quando questa lotta si sviluppi. Il saggio cerca proprio di indagare alcune di queste implicazioni semiotiche, sociali e politiche nella definizione contemporanea della memoria

Using Virtual Reality to Rehabilitate Neglect

Purpose: Virtual Reality (VR) platforms gained a lot of attention in the rehabilitation field due to their ability to engage patients and the opportunity they offer to use real world scenarios. As neglect is characterized by an impairment in exploring space that greatly affects daily living, VR could be a powerful tool compared to classical paper and pencil tasks and computer training. Nevertheless, available platforms are costly and obstructive. Here we describe a low cost platform for neglect rehabilitation, that using consumer equipments allows the patient to train at home in an intensive fashion. Method: We tested the platform on IB, a chronic neglect patient, who did not benefit from classical rehabilitation. Results: Our results show that IB improved both in terms of neglect and attention. Importantly, these ameliorations lasted at a follow up evaluation 5 months after the last treatment session and generalized to everyday life activities. Conclusions: VR platforms built using equipment technology and following theoretical principles on brain functioning may induce greater ameliorations in visuo-spatial deficits than classical paradigms possibly thanks to the real world scenarios in association with the "visual feedback" of the patient's own body operating in the virtual environmen

Trapped vortex cell for aeronautical applications: flow analysis through PIV and Wavelet transform tools.

Abstract Results of the application of a trapped vortex cell to an airfoil with the aim of improving the aerodynamic performances are presented for two complementary experiments arranged at CIRA and at Politecnico di Torino. In the CIRA experiments, PIV measurements on a simplified configuration were carried out to characterize the trapped vortical structure and its effect on the separating flow downstream of the cell. In the experimental investigation at Politecnico di Torino, static pressure distributions were measured around a complete airfoil model, to yield lift and pitching moment coefficients. Wake surveys were also carried out to measure the drag. To study the unsteady phenomena inside the cavity pressure fluctuations signals were also investigated using Kulite sensors. In both experiments, the angle of attack of the airfoil and the Reynolds number were varied. It is shown that the flow inside the cell is highly unsteady with significant shedding of flow structures downstream. This phenomenon results in a large region of separated flow, in higher drag and lower lift. By contrast, the cell flow is considerably stabilized and regularized by applying distributed suction over the cell wall. As a result, the flow downstream of the cell reattaches and lower drag and larger lift are observed

From mining wastes to mineral sources - investigating the REE-bearing occurrences in the Arburèse District (SW Sardinia)

In recent years, the search for possible sources of REE minerals in Europe involved numerous old mine areas with high volumes of mining wastes that may offer significant amounts of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs). In some cases, strong evidence of CRMs anomalous concentrations arises from environmental characterization of wastes, so that an interesting problem is that of finding their sources, i.e., the original CRMs - rich mineral phases in the residual ore. An excellent example is provided by the Arburèse district of SW Sardinia, for about 150 years a major Pb-Zn source in Italy, now an area under study for remediation of its severe environmental problems, including >10 Mt of waste deposits. The district exploited a large system (>10 km) of low-temperature polymetallic veins hosted in Lower Paleozoic siliciclastic rocks belonging to the Variscan Nappe zone, arranged in two main geometrical trends relative to the late Variscan Arbus pluton: “peripheral” and “intersecting”. Recent investigations in the Montevecchio mine area discovered high Zn (up to 2.65 wt.%) and Pb (1.23 wt.%) grades in stratified tailing materials belonging to the Sanna old processing plant. Remarkably, ICP-MS analyses on the same materials revealed total REE+ Y contents attaining about 600 ppm. XRD studies confirmed a tailing composition essentially made of gangue minerals (quartz, siderite and micas) with goethite, baryte and traces of Zn carbonates and Pb sulfates. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns are coherent with the hydrothermal character of the source: however, both the REE mineralogical host(s) in tailings and in the Montevecchio ore are still undetermined. In the search of REE-bearing phases in the ores, some relevant insights are provided by studies on the southern branch of the Arburèse system, where the veins of “peripheral” system are hosted in late Ordovician-Silurian sedimentary sequences. In this part of the district the polymetallic veins assume the character of five-elements (Ni-Co-As-Bi-Ag) veins, with a rich Ni-Co-Fe arsenide – quartz association (1) overprinted by a Zn-Pb-Cu sulfide – siderite – quartz association (2), very similar to that dominating in Montevecchio. Investigations in the Pira Inferida mine sector highlighted the presence of LREE fluorocarbonates (synchysite-Ce and bastnaesite-Ce) and phosphates (monazite) associated with rutile and apatite. LREE minerals have been detected by SEM-EDS as tiny crystals in the quartz-sericitic gangue of the Montevecchio-type (2) mineral association. The same minerals are found in millimetric aggregates in the oxide zone of the veins, sporadically reported by mineral collectors in other mine sites of the same system. Overall, these occurrences, similar to those found in other low-temperature vein systems of Sardinia (e.g., Silius vein system), appear reliable mineral REE sources for Montevecchio mine wastes; they may be therefore used as proxies for REE exploration and assessment in the district

FOOD SAFETY AND PROCESS HYGIENE CRITERIONS ON SHEEP CARCASSES

The hygienic status and the presence of some pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes e Salmonella spp.) at slaughterhouses was evaluated in different matrix of sheep and lambs (carcass surface, faeces, fleeces and mesenteric lymph nodes) according to the Com. Reg. (EC) No 2073/2005. The 48% of sheep and 68.9% of lamb sampled carcasses resulted allocated into the marginal category for Aerobic colony count, while the 28% and 42.2% respectively were allocated into unacceptable category for Enterobacteriaceae. S.aureus was isolated more frequently in fleeces (11.5%), carcasses (12.6%) of lambs than sheep. L. monocytogenes was found in fleeces and carcass of two sheep and in faeces of four lambs, while Salmonella spp. was detected only in sheep carcasses of a single plant