Creative Activism and Tactical Urbanism: Social Change in Milan through Colourful Squares

It is becoming clearer nowadays how space and time in the contemporary city still are designed, organized and governed mainly according to the needs of an ideal type of inhabitant: adult, male, healthy, rich, educated and self-provided. This archetype, however, is as dominant as poorly representative of the real communities living in the cities. Therefore, it is time to recognize the dysfunctionality of the conventional urban planning rules and procedures, and the urgent need to rethink the role of urban design, which has to become a tool for citizens’ self-determination. The leading role of every inhabitant has to rise, especially the ones that are usually harder to involve in the discussion, like women, elderly, children, people with disabilities and marginalized communities. Learning from the experience of the most disadvantaged will lead to the inspiration and empowerment of a new generation of engaged citizens, new key actors in the transformation of their communities. This process demands re-making the city by micro-transforming and taking care of the spaces and services located below people's homes, on a neighbourhood scale. Consequently, in this socio-cultural context, urban art and acts play a key role. Creative Activism and the so-called Tactical Urbanism have positive outcomes because they take “small” efforts in terms of expenses and completion time, and yet are able to unleash virtuous mechanisms, and reactivate the potential inherent in the social interaction, creating a wide wave of positive change towards safety and integration. Considering the temporary and reversible nature of these actions, they are continuously subjected to evaluation by the citizens themselves, establishing a real social and viable impact, consequently leading to decisions on what to make effectively permanent. Participatory art has the ability to transform the living environment, regardless of whether it is a small town in the suburbs or a neighbourhood in a large metropolis. Looking at case studies such as “Mural activism: Breaking the walls of gender inequality” a project by the UN Women Organization, or the “Favela Painting” by Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, it’s easy to understand how these artistic practices improved the living conditions of undeveloped or underdeveloped areas. In this paper we want to highlight how Tactical Urbanism methods can have a big impact even in highly developed realities, focusing our attention on the city of Milan, in Italy. The municipality has given life to experimental interventions of urban requalification, through initiatives put in place by citizens and associations, like the projects "Piazze Aperte", or “TréntaMi in Verde”, reviving busy public spaces, taking space away from the dominance of cars, creating new open street meeting places for youths and increasing security for pedestrians and cyclists. Case studies like the regeneration of the area outside Parco Trotter, the newly designed Piazza Dergano, or the No.Lo. neighbourhood are perfect to highlight how creative activism is effective in transforming areas traditionally considered problematic, through short-term, community-based projects, that have the power to drive lasting improvements in the city

PPAR-α Contributes to the Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Verbascoside in a Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Mice

The previous results suggest that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPAR)-α, an intracellular transcription factor activated by fatty acids, plays a role in control of inflammation. There is persuasive epidemiological and experimental evidence that dietary polyphenols have anti-inflammatory activity. In this regard, it has been demonstrated that verbascoside (VB) functions as intracellular radical scavenger and reduces the microscopic and macroscopic signs of experimental colitis. With the aim to characterize the role of PPAR-α in VB-mediated anti-inflammatory activity, we tested the efficacy of VB in an experimental model of inflammatory bowel disease induced by dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid, comparing mice lacking PPAR-α (PPAR-αKO) with wild type (WT) mice. Results indicate that VB-mediated anti-inflammatory activity is weakened in PPAR-αKO mice, compared to WT controls, especially in the inhibition of neutrophil infiltration, intestinal permeability and colon injury. These results indicate that PPAR-α can contribute to the anti-inflammatory activity of VB in inflammatory bowel disease

Art, Urban Commons and Social Change

The discussions of urban commons involve us in breaking up the totalizing notion of those dominated by power as passive consumers and reconsidering how urban life is made as creative production, constantly appropriating and reappropriating the products, messages, and spaces for expression. The common acts of engagement and reorganization are based on re-appropriations and redeployments of the dominant image economy and hierarchical distribution of space experienced in the city. Hence, they are also a part of the struggle for the reclamation of public space wherein wrongly privatized space is returned to its rightful owners. The special issue “Art, Urban Commons and Social Change” discusses how art in the urban space creates unmediated spaces and instances of emancipated subjects. The authors analyze various forms of art within economic, cultural, and social urban contexts to shed light on the complexity of modern urban life and struggles for urban commons. They delve into the issue of urban commons and social change both in the role of urban social struggles and creating urban communities. Some questions that the contributors seek answers are: Under what conditions could art become effective in reclaiming democratic citizenship? What kind of public should artistic creativity in the urban space try to constitute and what kind of public spaces are needed to that effect? What can we learn from urban art about visual resistance in the interplay with political power structures?info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Techno-economic feasibility study of the integration of a commercial small-scale ORC in a real case study

The ORC certainly represents a promising solution for recovering low-grade waste heat in industries. However, the efficiency of commercial small-scale ORC solutions is still too low in comparison with the high initial costs of the machine and the lack of simulation models specifically developed for commercial ORC systems prevents industries from defining an accurate business model to correctly evaluate the ORC integration in real industrial processes. This paper presents a techno-economic feasibility analysis of the integration of a small-scale commercial ORC in a real case study, represented by a highly-efficient industrial distillery. The integration is aimed at maximizing the electricity auto-production by exploiting the heat produced by an internal combustion engine, already partially recovered in internal thermal processes. To analyze the influence of the ORC integration on the industrial processes, a semi-empirical steadystate model of the commercial small scale ORC was created. The model made it possible to simulate the performance of the commercial ORC within a hypothetical scenario involving the use of the heat from the cooling water and from the exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine. A detailed thermo-dynamic analysis has been carried out to study the effects of the ORC integration on the plant\u2019s energy system with particular focus on the two processes directly affected by ORC integration, namely vapor production and the drying process of the grape marc. The analysis highlighted the great importance in the business model of considering not only the direct costs (unit costs, engineering, etc.), but mainly the indirect ones and hence the need of an appropriate business model, based on the simulation of the commercial ORC behavior, to evaluate its introduction in real industrial processes. In particular, in the specific case of a highly-efficient distillery plant, the ORC integration resulted to cause an increase in inner fuel consumption, represented by dried grape marc, with a consequent economic loss not offset by a significant increase in electricity auto-production. As a consequence, the ORC integration was not economically feasible in the considered case study due to the great value in the market of the dried grape marc

Extracts obtained from hoodia gordonii cells lines, their preparation and use

The present invention refers to the preparation and use of the extracts for nutritional, pharmacological and cosmetic purposes. Said extracts are obtained from cell cultures of Hoodia gordonii IRB HGORD 42 having accession number DSMZ: DMS 17433. Furthermore, the present invention concerns the preparation and use of said extracts, for the production of drugs or nutritional or cosmetic substances, such extracts possessing appetite suppressant properties

Lavorare a scuola con gli insegnanti di sostegno: un'esperienza di counselling di gruppo.

Lavorare a scuola con gli insegnanti di sostegno: un\u2019esperienza di counselling di grupp

Correlation between hip osteoarthritis and proximal femoral fracture site: could it be protective for intracapsular neck fractures? A retrospective study on 320 cases

Summary: Proximal femoral fractures affect elderly people, showing high morbidity and mortality incidence resulting in a major economic burden on national healthcare systems. Understanding the causes of these injuries is of paramount importance to prevent the serious consequences of these fractures. Introduction: Hip osteoarthritis and proximal femoral fractures mainly affect elderly patients. Several authors, in their studies, tried to document a correlation between these conditions, but the results are conflicting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between hip osteoarthritis and the fracture site. Secondly, to evaluate if the grade of osteoarthritis could influence the fracture pattern. Methods: A retrospective study on 320 patients admitted for hip fracture between June 2015 and December 2016 was carried on. Radiographic images were evaluated, assessing the type of fracture, presence and grade of osteoarthritis according to Kellgren-Lawrence and T\uf6nnis classifications, and their correlations. Results: Osteoarthritis was found to affect the fracture site showing a higher prevalence among subjects with extracapsular than those with intracapsular fractures (p < 0.00001). Patients with radiographic signs of arthritis had mainly trochanteric fracture. Conversely, patients without arthritis more frequently presented a femoral neck fracture. This correlation was even more significant as the severity of the OA increased. Conclusions: Results support the hypothesis that hip osteoarthritis could represent a protective factor for intracapsular fractures and a risk factor for trochanteric ones. The severity of arthritis is also associated with the fracture pattern