The Art of Philologist in 15 Points (for use by young newcomers to the discipline)

The reader of this note will find a series of short arguments that summarize the characteristics which I consider essential to a philologist’s work. The range of typologies and methods of philological approach to literary texts in the vernacular is so wide that its boundaries cannot be easily defined. Moreover, in philology, each case is a case in and of itself that is to be dealt with and solved in specific and particular ways each time; nothing or almost nothing can be generalized.The reader of this note will find a series of short arguments that summarize the characteristics which I consider essential to a philologist’s work. The range of typologies and methods of philological approach to literary texts in the vernacular is so wide that its boundaries cannot be easily defined. Moreover, in philology, each case is a case in and of itself that is to be dealt with and solved in specific and particular ways each time; nothing or almost nothing can be generalized

Urokinase signaling through its receptor protects against anoikis by increasing BCL-xL expression levels.

The acquired capabilities of resistance to apoptotic cell death and tissue invasion are considered to be obligate steps in tumor progression. The binding of the serine protease urokinase (uPA) to its receptor (uPAR) plays a central role in the molecular events coordinating tumor cell adhesion, migration, and invasion. Here we investigate whether uPAR signaling may also prevent apoptosis following loss of anchorage (anoikis) or DNA damage. If nontransformed human retinal pigment epithelial cells are pre-exposed to uPA or to its noncatalytic amino-terminal region (residues 1-135), they exhibit a markedly reduced susceptibility to anoikis as well as to UV-induced apoptosis. This anti-apoptotic effect is retained by a uPA-derived synthetic peptide corresponding to the receptor binding domain and is inhibited by anti-uPAR polyclonal antibodies. Furthermore, the stable reduction of uPA or uPAR expression by RNA interference leads to an increased susceptibility to UV-, cisplatin-, and detachment-induced apoptosis. In particular, the level of uPAR expression positively correlates with cell resistance to anoikis. The protective ability of uPA is prevented by UO126, LY294002, by an MAPK targeting small interference RNA, and by a dominant negative Akt variant. Accordingly, incubation of retinal pigment epithelial cells with uPA elicits a time-dependent enhancement of MAPK and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activities as well as the transcriptional activation of Bcl-xL anti-apoptotic factor. Vice versa, the silencing of Bcl-xL expression prevents uPA protection from anoikis. In conclusion, the data show that ligand engagement of uPAR promotes cell survival by activating Bcl-xL transcription through the MEK/ERK- and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt-dependent pathways

L’arte del filologo in 15 punti (a uso dei giovani adepti)

The reader of this note will find a series of short arguments that summarize the characteristics which can be considered essential to a philologist’s work. The range of typologies and methods of philological approach to literary texts in the vernacular is so wide that its boundaries cannot be easily defined. Moreover, in philology, each case is a case in and of itself that is to be dealt with and solved in specific and particular ways each time; nothing or almost nothing can be generalized. Nevertheless, the function of a philologist, and in particular of a philologist-editor, is always and in any case to provide mediation between the author and the reader.Il lettore di questa nota troverà sintetizzati in una serie di brevi argomenti le caratteristiche ritenute essenziali del lavoro del filologo. Il ventaglio delle tipologie e delle modalità di approccio filologico ai testi letterari volgari è talmente ampio da avere confini non facilmente definibili. Per di più in filologia ogni caso è un caso a sé, da affrontare e risolvere con modalità ogni volta specifiche, nulla o quasi è generalizzabile. E tuttavia la funzione del filologo, e in particolare del filologo-editore, è in ogni caso sempre di mediazione fra l’autore e il lettore

Riaffiorano gli abbozzi de 'L’infinito'. Sono davvero dei falsi?

The authors' papers, as long as they remain available to private collectors, are like karst rivers that disappear and reappear. This article concerns two already known drafts of 'L'infinito', one in verse, the other in prose, nowadays other in prose, today unanimously considered to be fakes. Dr Fabio Massimo Bertolo, director of Finarte, has informed me that the auction house has in custody the original paper of those sketches and has put at my disposal the reproduction, that with his permission I publish here at the end of the article. I am dealing with it because it seems to me to be a good case to be investigated with the tools of philology.Le carte degli autori, finché restano nella disponibilità del collezionismo privato, sono come fiumi carsici che scompaiono e ricompaiono. Questo articolo riguarda due abbozzi già noti de 'L’infinito', uno in versi l’altro in prosa, oggi ritenuti concordemente dei falsi. Il dott. Fabio Massimo Bertolo, direttore di Finarte, mi ha informato che la casa d’aste ha in affidamento la carta originale di quegli abbozzi e me ne ha messo a disposizione la riproduzione, che col suo permesso pubblico qui in fondo all’articolo. Me ne occupo perché mi sembra un bel caso da investigare con gli strumenti propri della filologia

Topographic and mixed layer submesoscale currents in the Carribean Sea

Advancements in observation and modeling techniques have revealed submesoscale structures and processes in the upper ocean with small horizontal scales, characterized by Rossby and Richardson numbers of order one. These submesoscale phenomena exhibit distinct dynamics compared to mesoscale and small-scale processes, enabling energy transfer between them. They contribute significantly to vertical mass, buoyancy, and tracer fluxes, altering upper-ocean stratification and mixed-layer structure on a timescale of days. The objective of this thesis is to investigate submesoscale dynamics in the Caribbean Sea using a high-resolution model, SURF, based on NEMO. Simulations with boundary conditions set to CMEMS for the period of February 2021 allow for the observation of submesoscale features. Dynamical downscaling is employed to reduce computing costs. The study focuses on the distribution and strength of submesoscale surface layer fronts, filaments, and coherent vortices formed by mixed layer baroclinic energy conversion and topographic drag. Various variables, including mixed layer depth, relative vorticity, velocities, kinetic energy, Brunt-Väisälä frequency, Laplacian of sea surface temperature, vertical velocity field, and horizontal Reynolds stress field, are analyzed. The Chibcha channel, characterized by equatorial closeness and boundary drag, exhibits the generation of submesoscale coherent vortices with high Rossby numbers. Conversions of mean to eddy kinetic energy indicate barotropic instability in submesoscale topographic wakes. Sensitivity experiments are conducted to analyze different bathymetric and topographic configurations

Studio dell'innalzamento del livello marino nella regione del sud-est asiatico tramite dati da satellite

L’innalzamento del livello marino globale è un indicatore dell’attuale cambiamento climatico, causato da fattori naturali e antropogenici, e rappresenta una minaccia per le fragili comunità costiere, le città e le isole. Scopo di questa tesi è analizzare il trend di crescita del livello marino tramite l’uso di dati osservativi satellitari disponibili per il periodo 1993-2018, ponendo un particolare focus sull’area del Sud-Est Asiatico. I risultati ottenuti dall’analisi sono stati infine confrontati con i trend relativi di crescita del livello del mare calcolati a partire da osservazioni in-situ di stazioni mareografiche sulla costa

Nuove osservazioni sugli abbozzi de L’infinito

«Nella nota precedente, pubblicata su PEML il 3 luglio u.s., auspicavo che altri studiosi intervenissero sull’argomento in modo da contribuire a fare chiarezza sul documento in oggetto. Ebbene, dopo la pausa di agosto ho sollecitato Antonio Ciaralli, docente di paleografia all’Università di Perugia, ad analizzare i testi trascritti sulla carta ora in deposito presso Finarte.

Static self-gravitating elastic bodies in Einstein gravity

We prove that given a stress-free elastic body there exists, for sufficiently small values of the gravitational constant, a unique static solution of the Einstein equations coupled to the equations of relativistic elasticity. The solution constructed is a small deformation of the relaxed configuration. This result yields the first proof of existence of static solutions of the Einstein equations without symmetries.Comment: 29 pages. Updated to conform with published version, typos fixe

Relativistic Elastostatics I: Bodies in Rigid Rotation

We consider elastic bodies in rigid rotation, both nonrelativistically and in special relativity. Assuming a body to be in its natural state in the absence of rotation, we prove the existence of solutions to the elastic field equations for small angular velocity.Comment: 25 page

The receptor-binding sequence of urokinase. A biological function for the growth-factor module of proteases.

Previous studies have shown that the region of human urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) responsible for receptor binding resides in the amino-terminal fragment (ATF, residues 1-135) (Stoppelli, M.P., Corti, A., Soffientini, A., Cassani, G., Blasi, F., and Assoian, R.K. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. A. 82, 4939-4943). The area within ATF responsible for specific receptor binding has now been identified by the ability of different synthetic peptides corresponding to different regions of the amino terminus of uPA to inhibit receptor binding of 125I-labeled ATF. A peptide corresponding to human [Ala19]uPA-(12-32) resulted in 50% inhibition of ATF binding at 100 nM. Peptides uPA-(18-32) and [Ala13]uPA-(9-20) inhibit at 100 and 2000 microM, respectively. The human peptide uPA-(1-14) and the mouse peptide [Ala20]uPA-(13-33) have no effect on ATF receptor binding. This region of uPA is referred to as the growth factor module since it shares partial amino acid sequence homology (residues 14-33) to epidermal growth factor (EGF). Furthermore, this region of EGF is responsible for binding of EGF to its receptor (Komoriya, A. Hortsch, M., Meyers, C., Smith, M., Kanety, H., and Schlessinger, J. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 1351-1355). However, EGF does not inhibit ATF receptor binding. Comparison of the sequences responsible for receptor binding of uPA and EGF indicate that the region of highest homology is between residues 13-19 and 14-20 of human uPA and EGF, respectively. In addition, there is a conservation of the spacings of four cysteines in this module whereas there is no homology between residues 20-30 and 21-33 of uPA and EGF. Thus, residues 20-30 of uPA apparently confer receptor binding specificity, and residues 13-19 provide the proper conformation to the adjacent binding region