Sikh Religious Music in a Migrating Context: The Role of Media

The aim of this article is to provide an initial study of the relationship between music and media in the Sikh communities in migration. It is easy to notice the great connection between Sikhs all over the world and the homeland: social media, television, Internet, and web radio greatly help Sikhs to create networks and to preserve a strong religious identity. Technologies also allow musical tendencies from India to be gathered and reproduced in the migratory context. Music is a fundamental aspect in the Sikh religion: it is necessary for the religious rites, but also takes on a dominant role in cultural transmission. Based on field research conducted in Sikhs communities in Northern Italy, this article offers practical and concrete examples of how social media and Internet are employed by musicians in the construction and definition of a musical Sikh identity abroad. This can help to develop a more comprehensive view of the music functions in such a complex diaspora community.The aim of this article is to provide an initial study of the relationship between music and media in the Sikh communities in migration. It is easy to notice the great connection between Sikhs all over the world and the homeland: social media, television, Internet, and web radio greatly help Sikhs to create networks and to preserve a strong religious identity. Technologies also allow musical tendencies from India to be gathered and reproduced in the migratory context. Music is a fundamental aspect in the Sikh religion: it is necessary for the religious rites, but also takes on a dominant role in cultural transmission. Based on field research conducted in Sikhs communities in Northern Italy, this article offers practical and concrete examples of how social media and Internet are employed by musicians in the construction and definition of a musical Sikh identity abroad. This can help to develop a more comprehensive view of the music functions in such a complex diaspora community

Periodic Variability During the X-ray Decline of 4U 1636-53

We report the onset of a large amplitude, statistically significant periodicity (~46 d) in the RXTE/ASM data of the prototype X-ray burster 4U 1636-53, the X-ray flux of which has been gradually declining over the last four years. This behaviour is remarkably similar to that observed in the neutron star LMXB KS 1731-260, which is a long-term transient. We also report on an INTEGRAL/IBIS observation of 4U 1636-53 during its decline phase, and find that the hard X-ray flux (20-100 keV) indicates an apparent anti-correlation with soft X-rays (2-12 keV). We argue that 4U 1636-53 is transiting from activity to quiescence, as occurred in KS 1731-260. We also suggest that the variability during the X-ray decline is the result of an accretion rate variability related to the X-ray irradiation of the disc.Comment: 6 pages. Accepted by MNRA

Novel chemical hazard characterisation approaches

There is a fundamental change in thinking within the regulatory community due to a better understanding of the underlying biology of adverse effects to human health and the environment. The development of alternatives to use laboratory animals has become a priority. In addition, technological progress is impacting greatly on the amount of data available and on the ways to process and analyse it. Topics, such as identification of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) and modes of action (MoA), together with integrated assessment and testing approaches (IATAs), represent fundamental tools for hazard identification and characterisation of a chemical. Complex endpoints cannot be predicted by a single standalone non-animal test; thus, a major challenge is the complex nature of biological systems. Microphysiological systems (MPS) will enable more complex in vitro human models that better simulate the organ's biology and function by combining different cell types in a specific three-dimensional configuration that simulates functional organs. The process of validation of new approaches needs to be considered in terms of efficiency and length. Regulators might still not have enough confidence to adopt and apply these new approaches: this phase is very challenging and the activities performed by assay developers are not yet addressing the regulatory requirements needs sufficiently. The IATAs provide a framework to consistently evaluate new approach data and could assist in understanding their relevance for specific endpoints. The data need to be reproducible, understandable and statistically sound: indeed, a major issue lies in the interpretation and integration of the results based on subjective assessment, which relies on expert judgement. A well-defined mechanistic characterisation is proposed as a way forward to ensure the relevance of new cell-based test systems

International STakeholder NETwork (ISTNET): creating a developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) testing road map for regulatory purposes

A major problem in developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) risk assessment is the lack of toxicological hazard information for most compounds. Therefore, new approaches are being considered to provide adequate experimental data that allow regulatory decisions. This process requires a matching of regulatory needs on the one hand and the opportunities provided by new test systems and methods on the other hand. Alignment of academically and industrially-driven assay development with regulatory needs in the field of DNT is a core mission of the International STakeholder NETwork (ISNET) in DNT testing. The first meeting of ISTNET was held in Zurich on 23-24 January 2014 in order to explore the concept of adverse outcome pathway (AOP) to practical DNT testing. AOPs were considered promising tools to promote test systems development according to regulatory needs. Moreover, the AOP concept was identified as an important guiding principle to assemble predictive integrated testing strategies (ITSs) for DNT. The recommendations on a roadmap towards AOP-based DNT testing is considered a stepwise approach, operating initially with incomplete AOPs for compound grouping, and focussing on key events of neurodevelopment. Next steps to be considered in follow-up activities are the use of case studies to further apply the AOP concept in regulatory DNT testing, making use of AOP intersections (common key events) for economic development of screening assays, and addressing the transition from qualitative descriptions to quantitative network modelling.JRC.I.5-Systems Toxicolog

International STakeholder NETwork (ISTNET): creating a developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) testing road map for regulatory purposes

A major problem in developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) risk assessment is the lack of toxicological hazard information for most compounds. Therefore, new approaches are being considered to provide adequate experimental data that allow regulatory decisions. This process requires a matching of regulatory needs on the one hand and the opportunities provided by new test systems and methods on the other hand. Alignment of academically and industrially driven assay development with regulatory needs in the field of DNT is a core mission of the International STakeholder NETwork (ISTNET) in DNT testing. The first meeting of ISTNET was held in Zurich on 23-24 January 2014 in order to explore the concept of adverse outcome pathway (AOP) to practical DNT testing. AOPs were considered promising tools to promote test systems development according to regulatory needs. Moreover, the AOP concept was identified as an important guiding principle to assemble predictive integrated testing strategies (ITSs) for DNT. The recommendations on a road map towards AOP-based DNT testing is considered a stepwise approach, operating initially with incomplete AOPs for compound grouping, and focussing on key events of neurodevelopment. Next steps to be considered in follow-up activities are the use of case studies to further apply the AOP concept in regulatory DNT testing, making use of AOP intersections (common key events) for economic development of screening assays, and addressing the transition from qualitative descriptions to quantitative network modelling

The Costume Collection, The Globe Theatre, London

Twenty-five complete outfits available as a public research resource at the Globe Theatre, London The twenty-five complete outfits made for productions at the Globe Theatre by Tiramani, currently available as a public research resource at the Globe Theatre, are the outcome of ten years of research and development by Tiramani on the history and methods of construction of Tudor clothing, and have been used in eight Globe productions since 2001, including a production of ‘Twelfth Night’ in 2002 that won an Olivier Award for Costume Design. Tiramani was Director of Theatre Design at the Globe between 2002-05, previously Master of Clothing at the Globe, and has worked closely with Mark Rylance, the Globe’s first Director, to produce a unique body of work in which the development of theatre costume is founded on historical research into the material culture of clothing. Her research has shown that this methodology is particularly relevant to the Shakespearean Theatre, where actor’s costumes were regularly donated as gifts from the nobility. The specific demands of theatre production at the Globe has also necessitated a distinct approach to costume construction, where a traditional notion of silhouette is replaced by attention to detail and to the weight, texture and character of the original. This method of working has required extensive primary research on remaining examples of Elizabethan clothing at the V&A. Tiramani’s research is discussed in the V&A documentary ‘400 Years of Fashion: Anatomy of a Collection’ and has led to a commission to write a series of pattern books of the V&A dress collections. On 14 June 2007, Tiramani’s research was recognised as a crucial element of the approach to theatre production established by The Globe, when Tiramani, Mark Rylance and composer Claire Van Kempen were jointly awarded the Sam Wannamaker Prize in recognition of their achievements during the founding years of the Globe Theatre

The Big Secret Live: 'I am Shakespeare' Webcam Daytime Chatroom Show

In this production Tiramani works reflexively with her existing body of work at Shakespeare's Globe, her research on questions of attribution and identity in Shakespeare studies, and her long-standing collaboration with Mark Rylance, to address the relationship between the bid for authenticity in modern productions of Shakespeare plays, and long-standing debate on the authenticity of 'William Shakespeare' as the author of those plays. In this production, Tiramani's costume work returns to a recurrent theme of her research, namely that attention to the contemporary character of clothing, and is relationship to class and status, is the best approach to addressing the 'authenticity' of costume. In this production, the use of anachronism and the mixing of modern and Shakespearean costume is used to dramatise the research process itself, with its bid to establish firm boundaries between academic probity, conspiracy theory and popular opinion. Tiramani's use of costume is aligned with the mingling of traditional theatre techniques, new technologies and audience interaction in this production, which fields the Shakespeare authorship question as a public debate that is continued in webcast material contextualising the production. Tiramani used primary evidence from surviving documents in the archives of four figures from the Elizabethan period (William Shakespeare, Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford, Francis Bacon and Mary Sidney Countess of Pembroke) to construct their wardrobes on stage. 'I am Shakespeare'has been widely reviewed, and is both unique and controversial in aiming to engage and include theatre audiences, academics and the wider public within a discourse on research sources in Shakespeare. A forty-five minute discussion on the set of 'I am Shakespeare' on 8th September 2007, included contributions from Mark Rylance and Dr William Leahy, Head of English at Brunel University and Director of the first MA in Shakespeare Authorship Studies

The Sanders Portrait

This peer-reviewed article was developed from Tiramani’s presentation at the ‘Picturing Shakespeare’ conference at the University of Toronto in 2002. At this conference, Tiramani and Susan North, Dress Curator at the V&A, were invited to give presentations on the clothing worn by the sitter in ‘The Sanders Portrait’, a painting of 1603 reputed to be a portrait of Shakespeare. In her article in Costume, Tiramani provides a framework for addressing the identity of the sitter, through an analysis of how the qualities of costume indicate class and status in ‘The Sanders Portrait’ and other works of the same period. In conducting this analysis, Tiramani draws on her extensive primary research on clothing of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and her experience as Director of Theatre Design and Master of Clothing at the Globe Theatre, London. One method she adopts in the article is to use sixteenth century accounts of how to render the differing qualities of costume in paint, as a means to test her own reading of costume details in the portrait. This allows Tiramani to confirm issues of social status in the portrait, particularly the possibility that the sitter may have been celebrating a rise in status. Tiramani uses a firmly established dating of 1603 for ‘The Sanders Portrait’ (established by the Canadian Conservation Institute) to marshall the available evidence for Shakespeare’s social status at that date, including the letters patent issued by James I in 1603, authorizing Shakespeare and his company to perform plays throughout the realm. Her conclusion is that ‘The Sanders Portrait’, rather than being identifiably a portrait of Shakespeare, instead presents a man appearing exactly as Shakespeare ‘might have chosen to be painted’ at that date, showing how analysis of the material culture of clothing can assist research on Shakespeare and Shakespearean Theatre

Dispositivi di protezione individuale nella valutazione del rischio da antiparassitari: definizione, ruolo, armonizzazione

Summary The authorisation for plant protection products at European level is regulated by directive 91/414/EEC. To this aim the toxicological profile of an active substance is discussed in relation to different contexts, such as human toxicity (operators and consumers), ecotoxicity and environmental fate. As for the operator exposure, the exposure assessment is performed through the use of predictive models or field studies. The models are a collection of field studies, performed in different conditions of use. Through the elaboration according to mathematical algorithms, the introduction of selected parameters leads to estimated exposure outcomes. Estimated exposures are faced to Acceptable Operator Exposure Levels (AOELs) which represent health-based trigger values, derived from the assessment of a complete toxicological dossier. The toxicological end point relevant to human exposure (operator exposed to pesticides) is selected. By the application of an assessment factor (in general 100, accounting for intra- and interspecies differences), the AOEL is established. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is in charge with this activity since 2002.In the predictive models currently used, exposure reduction factors can be applied as a measure to reduce estimated exposures, mimicking the real conditions of use of personal protective equipments. They are derived from field studies and laboratory measurements. The application of such reduction factors is in many cases a key point for the refinement of the estimated exposures below the AOEL, leading to the so called safe MSummaryrtainties characterise this activity: * The models aThe authorisation for plant protection products at European level is regulated by directive 91/414/EEC. * They do not cover all the possible To this aim the toxicological profile of an active substance is discussed in relation to different contexts, such as human toxicity (operators and consumers), ecotoxicity and environmental fate