Un plan abierto. Continuidad espacial y social en la arquitectura escolar: experiencias y propuestas para espacios educativos innovadores en áreas críticas

The architectural space is a proactive part of the social construction of individuals, being at the same time product and promoter of human actions. Its quality therefore plays a significant role in the public sphere, and it is particularly relevant in the educational dimension. The school is a built environment that affects the way people experience the world and the social relationships since childhood. Its space must be designed considering socialization development, as well as the cultural processes activated by the architectural quality. Italy has historically heavily invested in adapting educational spaces to innovative pedagogical premises. These orientations, based on the experience of Professor Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) in Reggio Emilia, have led to the construction of important references at the international level. However, these experiences are mainly located in the North of the Country, while the school architecture of the southern regions has been following with a dramatic delay and unsatisfying results. Southern schools, according to recent reports, lack constructive adequacy and architectural innovation. At the same time, a dissolution of the public space of aggregation is taking place in many areas of southern territory. Architectural degradation is particularly evident in marginal districts, affected by urban segregation and, thus, excluded from cultural and economic life. This research starts from a personal experience as a teacher in Sicily and it’s based on the direct observation of its social emergencies, its public space dissolution and the impoverishment of its educational spaces. In its approach, this work aims to demonstrate the need of schools open to context, extended to the community, by serving as public spaces. This principle, extensible to any social environment, becomes a priority in marginal contexts, where the need for appropriation and identification is more urgent. This work is also based on the conviction that space appropriation processes are more effective when the community is involved in the definition of objectives and requirements, through participatory design practices. For this reason, this work explores international proposals in search of benchmarks that, through different forms of participation, have exploited the educational architecture as a resource for social and cultural activation in critical contexts. This research includes an experimental phase of participatory design with children from a Sicilian school. The results of this experience, developed with the Design Thinking method, are compared to the architectural principles of a best practice, identified among the reference projects. This comparison provides coincidences that outline concepts that can be considered transferable if they are adapted to each contextL'espai arquitectònic és part proactiva de la construcció social de l'individu, esdevenint alhora producte i propulsor de les accions humanes. La seva qualitat exerceix, per tant, una tasca significativa en l'àmbit públic, essent especialment rellevant en la dimensió educativa. L'escola és un entorn construït que incideix, ja des de la infantesa, en la nostra manera d'experimentar el món i les relacions socials. Cal pensar el seu espai en consideració del desenvolupament de la socialització, així com dels processos culturals que activa la qualitat arquitectònica. Itàlia ha invertit molt, històricament, en l'adequació dels espais educatius a premisses pedagògiques innovadores. Aquestes orientacions, a partir de l'experiència de l'professor Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) a Reggio Emilia, han conduït a la construcció d'importants referents a escala internacional. Es tracta, amb tot, d'intervencions realitzades al nord del país, mentre que el sud i les illes pateixen des de sempre un evident endarreriment en l'arquitectura escolar. Les escoles meridionals, segons informes recents, manquen d'una adequació constructiva i d'innovació arquitectònica. Paral·lelament, en moltes àrees del seu territori, assistim a una dissolució de l'espai públic d'agregació. La degradació arquitectònica es fa especialment palesa als barris marginals, urbanísticament segregats i en conseqüència exclosos de la vida cultural i econòmica. Aquesta investigació sorgeix d'una experiència personal com a docent a Sicília, i de la constatació directa de les seves emergències socials, de la dissolució local de l'espai públic i de l'empobriment de l'espai educatiu. En el seu plantejament, aquest treball busca demostrar la necessitat d'escoles obertes al context, que s'estenguin a la comunitat proposant-se com a espais públics. Aquest principi, aplicable a qualsevol entorn, es considera prioritari en contextos marginals en els quals la necessitat d'apropiació i d'identificació són urgents. Aquest treball, a més, parteix de la consideració que els processos apropiatius de l'espai resulten més efectius quan la comunitat s'involucra en la definició d'objectius i requisits mitjançant pràctiques de disseny participatiu. Per això s'estudien propostes internacionals, a la recerca de referents que, a través de formes de participació, hagin emprat l'arquitectura educativa com a recurs d'activació social i cultural en contexts crítics. Aquesta investigació inclou una fase experimental de co-disseny amb nenes i nens d'una escola siciliana. Els resultats d'aquesta experiència, desenvolupada amb el mètode del Design Thinking, són comparats amb els principis arquitectònics d'un best practice, identificat entre els projectes de referència. Aquesta comparació ens aporta coincidències que permetin delinear conceptes que puguin considerar-se transferibles, sempre que siguin adaptats a cada contex

Two case reports of bowel leiomyomas and review of literature.

Gynecol Endocrinol. 2010 Dec;26(12):894-6. Epub 2010 Jun 1. Two case reports of bowel leiomyomas and review of literature. Pezzuto A, Serboli G, Ceccaroni M, Ferrari B, Nardelli GB, Minelli LL. SourceDepartment of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology, Centre for Reproductive Medicine, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. [email protected] Abstract We report two cases of two women underwent laparoscopic hysterectomy and myomectomy. During surgery, three myomas were identified as completely detached from the uterus, and attached to the bowel. Patients's history revealed a laparoscopic myomectomy. Our first hypothesis therefore was that these were lost myomas of the first surgery. However, only one leyomyoma was removed in both patients. Therefore, we can assume that these myomas were not certainly not lost-myomas and we may conclude that it could be either as residues of previous morcellation or they were pedunculated-myomas that have been spontaneously detached from the uterus and re-implanted onto the bowel

Laparoscopic ileocecal resection for bowel endometriosis.

Ileocecal endometriosis is a very rare entity, and its diagnosis is usually made during surgery for other endometriosis sites or, rarely, because of direct complications of ileal involvement. This study was designed to analyze perioperative and long-term outcomes after bowel resection for ileocecal endometriosis.All patients who underwent surgery for ileocecal endometriosis between October 2004 and January 2008 were prospectively collected and analyzed.Thirty-one women (median age, 34 (range, 25-40) years) were identified. Ileocecal endometriosis was diagnosed during surgery in all patients, and it was associated with colorectal endometriosis in 29 patients (94\%). All patients underwent laparoscopic ileocecal resection with no laparotomic conversion. Rectosigmoid or rectal resections was associated in 28 patients (90\%) and nodulectomy for sigmoid endometriosis in 1 patient. Median duration of surgery was 301 (range, 90-480) min. Other associated surgical procedures included total hysterectomy (n = 3, 14\%), ureterolysis (n = 7, 23\%), excision of vesical (n = 4, 13\%), vaginal (n = 8, 26\%), and parametrial (n = 3, 14\%) nodules. There was no mortality. Four patients (13\%) required blood transfusions and one a reoperation for bleeding. In a patient who performed ureterolysis, a ureteral fistula occurred. The median hospital stay was 7 (range, 5-18) days. Long-term (>12 months) follow-up data were available for 18 patients. After a median follow-up of 27 months, in 12 of 18 patients (67\%) defecation after surgery was normal. Only one patient developed recurrence, which is under medical treatment.Laparoscopic ileocecal resection is safe and feasible and should be considered as part of surgery for endometriosis with radical intent

Comparison of different optimization techniques in microstrip filter design

Recently there is an increasing attention on some novel techniques among Evolutionary Optimization algorithms, such as Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO), Differential Evolution (DE), Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) and Stud Genetic Algorithm (SGA). The design of a microwave microstrip pass-band filter is here addressed considering different recently developed evolutionary optimization algorithms, in order to compare their performances on a benchmark EM optimization problem. Results show that some techniques (DE, BBO, SGA) are particularly effective in dealing with this kind of complex EM problem