Dante's Afterlife in Argentina

In the 1890s, Bartolomé Mitre (President of Argentina from 1862-1868) published a Spanish translation of the Divine Comedy that was as key to the diffusion of Dante in the Río de la Plata as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s English translation (1867) was in the U.S. This article examines Mitre’s motives for dedicating a decade of his life to the translation, as well as his mission to bring European (and specifically Italian) high culture to his fledgling nation. I have found Mitre’s reading of Dante to have important resonances with the readings of Risorgimento Italians such as Mazzini, who associated Dante with political unity, morality, and high culture. This study also examines Mitre’s role as an advocate of Italian immigration to Argentina

Fabrication and characterization of nickel contacts for magnesium silicide based thermoelectric generators

AbstractMagnesium silicide based solid solutions are highly attractive materials for thermoelectric energy harvesting due to their abundance and excellent thermoelectric properties. Identification and testing of suitable contacts is – besides material optimization – the major challenge in the development of thermoelectric modules. We have applied Ni contacts on doped Mg2Si samples using a simple one-step sintering technique. These contacts were analyzed by combining microstructural analysis with spatially resolved and temperature dependent contact resistance measurements. We observe very good adhesion, homogeneous and low contact resistances <10μΩcm2. as well as good stability with temperature. Three different approaches for determining the contact resistances are compared and the respective errors are discussed

Functional Energetics of CD4+-Cellular Immunity in Monoclonal Antibody-Associated Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy in Autoimmune Disorders

BACKGROUND: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is an opportunistic central nervous system- (CNS-) infection that typically occurs in a subset of immunocompromised individuals. An increasing incidence of PML has recently been reported in patients receiving monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, particularly those treated with natalizumab, efalizumab and rituximab. Intracellular CD4(+)-ATP-concentration (iATP) functionally reflects cellular immunocompetence and inversely correlates with risk of infections during immunosuppressive therapy. We investigated whether iATP may assist in individualized risk stratification for opportunistic infections during mAb-treatment. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: iATP in PHA-stimulated, immunoselected CD4(+)-cells was analyzed using an FDA-approved assay. iATP of mAb-associated PML (natalizumab (n = 8), rituximab (n = 2), efalizumab (n = 1)), or other cases of opportunistic CNS-infections (HIV-associated PML (n = 2), spontaneous PML, PML in a psoriasis patient under fumaric acids, natalizumab-associated herpes simplex encephalitis (n = 1 each)) was reduced by 59% (194.5±29 ng/ml, mean±SEM) in comparison to healthy controls (HC, 479.9±19.8 ng/ml, p<0.0001). iATP in 14 of these 16 patients was at or below 3(rd) percentile of healthy controls, similar to HIV-patients (n = 18). In contrast, CD4(+)-cell numbers were reduced in only 7 of 15 patients, for whom cell counts were available. iATP correlated with mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨ(m)) (iATP/ΔΨ(m)-correlation:tau = 0.49, p = 0.03). Whereas mean iATP of cross-sectionally analysed natalizumab-treated patients was unaltered (448.7±12 ng/ml, n = 150), iATP was moderately decreased (316.2±26.1 ng/ml, p = 0.04) in patients (n = 7) who had been treated already during the pivotal phase III trials and had received natalizumab for more than 6 years. 2/92 (2%) patients with less than 24 months natalizumab treatment revealed very low iATP at or below the 3(rd) percentile of HC, whereas 10/58 (17%) of the patients treated for more than 24 months had such low iATP-concentrations. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that bioenergetic parameters such as iATP may assist in risk stratification under mAb-immunotherapy of autoimmune disorders

The Crowd and Manzoni’s Conception of Cultural Unification

Not only is Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi considered to be one of the greatest books in the history of Italian Literature, it could also be said to be the work which most contributed to the rise of Italian nationalism leading to unification. Manzoni’s role in forging an Italian national conscious is undeniable, his socio-political ideas transmitted through the novel having produced historically significant ideological codes. Critics have since scoured the pages of Manzoni’s writings in attempt to determine the ideological biases underlying the novel’s conception. Of these biases or determinants, the one that has received the most attention, ever since Antonio Gramsci’s comments on I Promessi Sposi, regards Manzoni’s “aristocratic” attitude towards the lower classes. What Manzoni describes as an animalesque mob is not strictly synonymous with members of the lower classes, but with crowds in general. His irascible, unpredictable, and irrational Milanese masses demonstrate his profound understanding of mass psychology and exemplify the key characteristics of crowds as defined in Gustave Le Bon’s book, The Crowd. Comparing this self-proclaimed scientific work with Manzoni’s literary work, my paper analyzes the episodes in I Promessi Sposi in which the Milanese (which Manzoni had previously established to be “buoni figliuoli, nominati per la bontà in tutto il mondo”) suddenly “imbestialì”[1], in order to thereby determine how Manzoni’s ideas regarding crowds informed his conception of unification. [1] Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi, ed. Isabella Gherarducci and Enrico Ghidetti, (Florence: La Nuova Italia Editrice, 1990), 278

Dante's Afterlife in Argentina

In the 1890s, Bartolomé Mitre (President of Argentina from 1862-1868) published a Spanish translation of the Divine Comedy that was as key to the diffusion of Dante in the Río de la Plata as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s English translation (1867) was in the U.S. This article examines Mitre’s motives for dedicating a decade of his life to the translation, as well as his mission to bring European (and specifically Italian) high culture to his fledgling nation. I have found Mitre’s reading of Dante to have important resonances with the readings of Risorgimento Italians such as Mazzini, who associated Dante with political unity, morality, and high culture. This study also examines Mitre’s role as an advocate of Italian immigration to Argentina

The Crowd and Manzoni’s Conception of Cultural Unification

Not only is Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi considered to be one of the greatest books in the history of Italian Literature, it could also be said to be the work which most contributed to the rise of Italian nationalism leading to unification. Manzoni’s role in forging an Italian national conscious is undeniable, his socio-political ideas transmitted through the novel having produced historically significant ideological codes. Critics have since scoured the pages of Manzoni’s writings in attempt to determine the ideological biases underlying the novel’s conception. Of these biases or determinants, the one that has received the most attention, ever since Antonio Gramsci’s comments on I Promessi Sposi, regards Manzoni’s “aristocratic” attitude towards the lower classes. What Manzoni describes as an animalesque mob is not strictly synonymous with members of the lower classes, but with crowds in general. His irascible, unpredictable, and irrational Milanese masses demonstrate his profound understanding of mass psychology and exemplify the key characteristics of crowds as defined in Gustave Le Bon’s book, The Crowd. Comparing this self-proclaimed scientific work with Manzoni’s literary work, my paper analyzes the episodes in I Promessi Sposi in which the Milanese (which Manzoni had previously established to be “buoni figliuoli, nominati per la bontà in tutto il mondo”) suddenly “imbestialì”[1], in order to thereby determine how Manzoni’s ideas regarding crowds informed his conception of unification. [1] Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi, ed. Isabella Gherarducci and Enrico Ghidetti, (Florence: La Nuova Italia Editrice, 1990), 278

Excess and Antagonism in Giordano Bruno’s Il candelaio

Giordano Bruno’s powers of memory and his provocative ideas about the infinity of the universe gained him notoriety as an unorthodox thinker throughout the highest intellectual circles of 16th century Europe and inevitably attracted the attention of the Inquisition, which had him burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600. Bruno valiantly defended his ideas and his right to maintain them to the very end. His name, even at a distance of four centuries still creates controversy among scholars.While recent historical assessments have shed new light on Bruno’s scientific and philosophical works, which are undeniably provocative, can the same be said of his literary works? I intend to explore the radical tendencies evident in his erudite comedy Il candelaio, which is often considered the end of the genre. Among critics there is a general consensus that the work is excessively enigmatic, offensive, and obscene. But the stylistic and thematic excesses that have so aggravated critics are entirely intentional. By including an exasperating number of prologues and an overkill of obscenity, cupidity, false learning, pedantry, and related motifs, Bruno pushed the genre to its ultimate capacities and made a mockery of its “rules”. A quintessential example of his aesthetic philosophy of the extreme and his attitude of antagonism, Il candelaio is entirely in keeping with the workings of Bruno’s mind in general, as evidenced by his other intellectual endeavors which made him a martyr to intellectual freedom

Excess and Antagonism in Giordano Bruno’s Il candelaio

Giordano Bruno’s powers of memory and his provocative ideas about the infinity of the universe gained him notoriety as an unorthodox thinker throughout the highest intellectual circles of 16th century Europe and inevitably attracted the attention of the Inquisition, which had him burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600. Bruno valiantly defended his ideas and his right to maintain them to the very end. His name, even at a distance of four centuries still creates controversy among scholars.While recent historical assessments have shed new light on Bruno’s scientific and philosophical works, which are undeniably provocative, can the same be said of his literary works? I intend to explore the radical tendencies evident in his erudite comedy Il candelaio, which is often considered the end of the genre. Among critics there is a general consensus that the work is excessively enigmatic, offensive, and obscene. But the stylistic and thematic excesses that have so aggravated critics are entirely intentional. By including an exasperating number of prologues and an overkill of obscenity, cupidity, false learning, pedantry, and related motifs, Bruno pushed the genre to its ultimate capacities and made a mockery of its “rules”. A quintessential example of his aesthetic philosophy of the extreme and his attitude of antagonism, Il candelaio is entirely in keeping with the workings of Bruno’s mind in general, as evidenced by his other intellectual endeavors which made him a martyr to intellectual freedom

Marinetti's Metaphorical Break with Tradition

In “La tecnica della nuova poesia,” Marinetti openly attacks his predecessors, ridiculing their aesthetics, and proposing instead an unprecedented idea of poetry based on a new way of viewing the universe. In order for a new poetic language to be created, the old must be destroyed. In the 1912 Manifesto tecnico della letteratura futurista Marinetti calls for the abolition from language of “tutto ciò che essa contiene in fatto d’immagini stereotipate, di metafore scolorite, e cioè quasi tutto. While Marinetti identifies no substantial difference between the verse of Homer and that of D’Annunzio, he considers his own revolutionary precisely because of its “spaventosa potenza di analogia." But does Marinetti’s actual use of metaphor entirely break free of tradition? Are his analogies as revolutionary as he claims? This article explores a sprinkling of metaphors from three of Marinetti’s works written at different periods of his literary career: "Le Bataille de Tripoli" (1911), "8 anime in una bomba" (1919), and "L’areopoema del Golfo della Spezia" (1935). Although these works appertain to different literary genres, (a journalistic account, a self-proclaimed “romanzo esplosivo” and an “areopoema,” respectively) all three treat the same topic, which is Marinetti’s favorite topic—war. The purpose of my analysis is to determine the degree to which his use of metaphor departs from tradition in different genres and at different stages of his poetic development. More importantly, if Marinetti’s use of metaphor is as revolutionary as he claims, how are we to go about understanding it? Perhaps the traditional models of metaphorical analysis are insufficient. I therefore intend to incorporate into my argument various philosophical perspectives on metaphor, some of which are considered as revolutionary as Marinetti’s poetry itself