La contabilità a partita doppia e la "razionalità " economica occidentale: Max Weber e Jack Goody

In una prospettiva più sequenziale di quanto a volte non si sia immaginato, già nei suoi scritti sull'etica protestante, Weber aveva osservato che con i calvinisti inglesi "la vecchia immagine medievale (già presente nell'antichità) della tenuta dei conti da parte di Dio, arrivava . . . fino al caratteristico cattivo gusto di paragonare il rapporto del peccatore con Dio al rapporto di un cliente con lo 'shopkeeper', il padrone di una bottega: una volta che uno si è indebitato, potrà con l'importo di tutti i suoi guadagni, pagare, al massimo, gli interessi decorrenti, ma mai la somma principale dovuta". Stabilita questa rapida messa a fuoco, sembra di poter affermare che la problematica impostata da Goody intorno alla nozione di "razionalità occidentale" a suo dire rintracciabile negli scritti weberiani, appare interamente fondata tanto su una lettura affrettata del magma testuale weberiano quanto su una concettualizzazione di "razionalità" economica ben difficile, in se stessa, da accettare. Più dell'affermazione del fatto che il nesso fra religione ed affari non fu una esclusività dell'Occidente europeo, e che, per esempio, lo si rintraccia benissimo anche nell'Egitto medievale, sembrerebbe di maggior significato l'individuazione dei percorsi specificamente storici, dei vocabolari tecnici in grado di restituirei spiegandocela, l'interazione rituale e politico-religiosa, dunque culturalmente particolare, fra persone e istituzioni europee o non europee, impegnate dall'azione economica o dalla previsione finanziaria o dalla memorizzazione contabile

Gestione dei beni pubblici e amministrazione dei patrimoni privati. Il mercato cristiano come spazio di sacralizzazione della ricchezza familiare

Una característica de la tradición jurídica, canonística y teológica cristiana europea de los siglos VI al X está constituida por la progresiva definición de bienes de la iglesia como bienes públicos, es decir pertinentes a la administración del soberano, y contemporáneamente de bienes públicos como sagrados. La superposición de las nociones de público y sagrado entonces, desde la antiguedad tardía cristiana, implicó una relectura de patrimonios familiares en términos de posibles sacralizaciónes de aquellos patrimonios cuyas estrategias de crecimiento se entretejieron con aquellas de entes sacros. Resultado de este recurso político y lingüístico fue, a fines del medioevo, la posibilidad de codificar como público y también sagrado decisiones económicas familiares que podrían entenderse y representarse como relevantes políticamente y funcionales a la construcción del bonum commune. Una caratteristica della tradizione giuridica, canonistica e teologica cristiana europea dal sesto al decimo secolo è costituita dalla progressiva definizione dei beni delle chiese come beni pubblici, ossia pertinenti all’amministrazione del sovrano, e contemporaneamente dei beni pubblici come sacri. La sovrapposizione delle nozioni di pubblico e sacro ha poi, sin dalla tarda antichità cristiana, implicato una rilettura dei patrimoni familiari in termini di possibile sacralizzazione di quei patrimoni le cui strategie di accrescimento si intrecciassero quen quelle degli Enti sacri. Un risultato di questo percorso politico e linguistico è stata, alla fine del medioevo, la possibilità di docificare come pubbliche e quindi sacre le scelte economiche familiari che potessero essere intese e rappresentate come rilevanti politicamente e funzionali alla costruzione del bonum commune.

Etica economica, storia

A reconstruction of the discussion on issues of economic ethics in the Talmud, in Islamic religious, juridical and philosophical literalture, in Medieval literature, and in Reformed casuistry

Thermal mapping as a valuable tool for road weather forecast and winter road maintenance: an example from the Italian Alps

During the winter period ice is likely to form on roads, making pavement surfaces slippery and increasing accident risk. Road surface temperature (RST) is one of the most important parameters in ice formation. The LIFE+ “CLEANROADS” project aims to forecast RSTs in advance in order to support road maintenance services in the timely and effective preparation of preventive anti-icing measures. This support is provided through a novel MDSS (Maintenance Decision Support System). The final goal of the project is to quantitatively demonstrate that the implemented MDSS is capable to minimize the consumption of chemical anti-icing reagents (e.g. sodium chloride) and the associated environmental (water and air) impact while maintaining the current high levels of road safety. In the CLEAN-ROADS system RSTs have been forecast by applying the numerical model METRo (Model of the Environment and Temperature of Roads) to a network of RWIS (Road Weather Information System) stations installed on a test route in the Adige Valley (Italy). This forecast is however local and does not take into account typical peculiarities along road network, such as the presence of road sections that are particularly prone to ice formation. Thermal mapping, i.e. the acquisition of mobile RST measurements through infrared thermometry, permits to (i) identify and map those sections, and (ii) extend the forecast from a RWIS station to adjacent areas. The processing of thermal mapping signals is however challenging because of random variations in the road surface emissivity. To overcome this we have acquired several thermal mapping traces along the test route during winter seasons 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. We have then defined a “characteristic” thermal fingerprint as a function of all its historical thermal mapping signals, and used it to spatialize local METRo forecasts. Preliminary results suggest the high potential of such a technique for winter road applications

Outcomes of pregnancies after kidney transplantation: lessons learned from CKD. A comparison of transplanted, nontransplanted chronic kidney disease patients and low-risk pregnancies: a multicenter nationwide analysis.

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation (KT) may restore fertility in CKD. The reasons why materno-foetal outcomes are still inferior to the overall population are only partially known. Comparison with the CKD population may offer some useful insights for management and counselling.Aim of this study was to analyse the outcomes of pregnancy after KT, compared with a large population of non-transplanted CKD patients and with low-risk control pregnancies, observed in Italy the new millennium. METHODS: We selected 121 live-born singletons after KT (Italian study group of kidney in pregnancy, national coverage about 75%), 610 live-born singletons in CKD and 1418 low-risk controls recruited in 2 large Italian Units, in the same period (2000-2014). The following outcomes were considered: maternal and foetal death; malformations; preterm delivery; small for gestational age baby (SGA); need for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); doubling of serum creatinine or increase in CKD stage. Data were analysed according to kidney diseases, renal function (staging according to CKD-EPI), hypertension, maternal age, partity, ethnicity. RESULTS: Materno-foetal outcomes are less favourable in CKD and KT as compared with the low-risk population. CKD stage and hypertension are important determinants of results. KT patients with e-GFR >90 have worse outcomes compared with CKD stage 1 patients; the differences level off when only CKD patients affected by glomerulonephritis or systemic diseases ('progressive CKD') are compared with KT. In the multivariate analysis, risk for preterm and early-preterm delivery was linked to CKD stage (2-5 versus 1: RR 3.42 and 3.78) and hypertension (RR 3.68 and 3.16) while no difference was associated with being a KT or a CKD patient. CONCLUSIONS: The materno-foetal outcomes in patients with kidney transplantation are comparable with those of nontransplanted CKD patients with similar levels of kidney function impairment and progressive and/or immunologic kidney diseas

Present eternity : quests of temporality in the literary production of the "extrême contemporain" in France (The Writings of Dominique Fourcade and Emmanuel Hocquard)

The term \uab extr\ueame contemporain \ubb is an expression currently used by scholars to indicate the French literary production of the last 20 years. This term was used in a work of literature for the first time by the French poet Dominique Fourcade in 1986 (\uc9l\ue9gie L apostrophe E.C.) in reference to an epoch, but also to a new sense of experiencing time and space in the so-called \uab age of digital reproducibility \ubb. The aim of this paper is to consider how the change in temporal protocols due to the triumph of Big Optics (Paul Virilio) affects the sense of teleology (destiny) and the quest for experience in French contemporary poetry (in particular, in the genre of the elegy). Including both memory and anticipation, the \uab extr\ueame contemporain \ubb production seems to prefer the \u201ctime of now\u201d, Jetz-zeit in Benjamin\u2019s words, to past or testimony, and speaks to the present, whose responsibility is to give voice to a space where everything is simply allowed to happen

Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use in early acute respiratory distress syndrome : Insights from the LUNG SAFE study

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background: Concerns exist regarding the prevalence and impact of unnecessary oxygen use in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We examined this issue in patients with ARDS enrolled in the Large observational study to UNderstand the Global impact of Severe Acute respiratory FailurE (LUNG SAFE) study. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the LUNG SAFE study, we wished to determine the prevalence and the outcomes associated with hyperoxemia on day 1, sustained hyperoxemia, and excessive oxygen use in patients with early ARDS. Patients who fulfilled criteria of ARDS on day 1 and day 2 of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure were categorized based on the presence of hyperoxemia (PaO2 > 100 mmHg) on day 1, sustained (i.e., present on day 1 and day 2) hyperoxemia, or excessive oxygen use (FIO2 ≥ 0.60 during hyperoxemia). Results: Of 2005 patients that met the inclusion criteria, 131 (6.5%) were hypoxemic (PaO2 < 55 mmHg), 607 (30%) had hyperoxemia on day 1, and 250 (12%) had sustained hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use occurred in 400 (66%) out of 607 patients with hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use decreased from day 1 to day 2 of ARDS, with most hyperoxemic patients on day 2 receiving relatively low FIO2. Multivariate analyses found no independent relationship between day 1 hyperoxemia, sustained hyperoxemia, or excess FIO2 use and adverse clinical outcomes. Mortality was 42% in patients with excess FIO2 use, compared to 39% in a propensity-matched sample of normoxemic (PaO2 55-100 mmHg) patients (P = 0.47). Conclusions: Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use are both prevalent in early ARDS but are most often non-sustained. No relationship was found between hyperoxemia or excessive oxygen use and patient outcome in this cohort. Trial registration: LUNG-SAFE is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02010073publishersversionPeer reviewe

Identifying associations between diabetes and acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure: an analysis of the LUNG SAFE database

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a common co-existing disease in the critically ill. Diabetes mellitus may reduce the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), but data from previous studies are conflicting. The objective of this study was to evaluate associations between pre-existing diabetes mellitus and ARDS in critically ill patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF). Methods: An ancillary analysis of a global, multi-centre prospective observational study (LUNG SAFE) was undertaken. LUNG SAFE evaluated all patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) over a 4-week period, that required mechanical ventilation and met AHRF criteria. Patients who had their AHRF fully explained by cardiac failure were excluded. Important clinical characteristics were included in a stepwise selection approach (forward and backward selection combined with a significance level of 0.05) to identify a set of independent variables associated with having ARDS at any time, developing ARDS (defined as ARDS occurring after day 2 from meeting AHRF criteria) and with hospital mortality. Furthermore, propensity score analysis was undertaken to account for the differences in baseline characteristics between patients with and without diabetes mellitus, and the association between diabetes mellitus and outcomes of interest was assessed on matched samples. Results: Of the 4107 patients with AHRF included in this study, 3022 (73.6%) patients fulfilled ARDS criteria at admission or developed ARDS during their ICU stay. Diabetes mellitus was a pre-existing co-morbidity in 913 patients (22.2% of patients with AHRF). In multivariable analysis, there was no association between diabetes mellitus and having ARDS (OR 0.93 (0.78-1.11); p = 0.39), developing ARDS late (OR 0.79 (0.54-1.15); p = 0.22), or hospital mortality in patients with ARDS (1.15 (0.93-1.42); p = 0.19). In a matched sample of patients, there was no association between diabetes mellitus and outcomes of interest. Conclusions: In a large, global observational study of patients with AHRF, no association was found between diabetes mellitus and having ARDS, developing ARDS, or outcomes from ARDS. Trial registration: NCT02010073. Registered on 12 December 2013

Mercato medievale e razionalità economica moderna

Nel Trecento e Quattrocento, la riflessione teologica ed etico-economica fondata sui concetti di bonum commune, di interesse, di mercato (sviluppata soprattutto dai francescani) arriva gradatamente a definirsi come un "sistema" economico cittadino