“Their Need Was Great”: Émigrés and Anglo-American Intelligence Operations in the Early Cold War

Covert action during the Cold War has been the subject of much historiography. This research, however, is based for the most part on primary sources, specifically on the records declassified in the United States in 2007 as a consequence of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. The majority of the historiography on this topic either predates or neglects these records. The study of covert operations inside the Iron Curtain during the early Cold War, sponsored by Western states using émigré agents, usually ends with the conclusion that these operations were a failure, both in operational terms and from the point of view of the intelligence gathered. I will challenge this conclusion, showing that not only the operations gathered a significant amount of intelligence, but also that the intelligence obtained was considered valuable by policymakers and had an impact in the planning and policymaking strategies of the early Cold War. The focus on primary sources also allowed a detailed description of the practical aspects of the operations, leading to a more coherent and solid analysis of their development and consequences. This study focuses on American operations, due to the abundance of records available. British operations have also been considered and assessed in the best way the author found possible. Two case studies have been selected, based on the nationality of the émigré agents used: White Russians and Ukrainians. The intelligence outcome from these operations has been carefully analysed, and their influence on policymaking assessed in the wider context of the Cold War. The conclusion is a complete re-evaluation of the importance and value of Western Human intelligence in the late 1940s and 1950s

Performing new identities: the community language of post-crisis Italian migrants in London

After the 2008 global crisis, Italy has experienced a relevant resumption of emigration. Tens of thousands of young Italians have chosen London as their favourite destination, giving rise to a new Italian community in the city. This article focuses on the transformation of migrants’ national identity and on a distinctive device of identity expression: language. Sample cases, extracted from a dataset collected for an original doctoral project, are used to explain how the insertion of English elements in speakers’ native language become the expression of the loss of pure national identity and of the renegotiation of transnational and migratory identities

Influence of machining parameters on part geometrical error in abrasive waterjet offset-mode turning

Geometrical error in abrasive waterjet turned parts is an important challenge toward the commercialization of abrasive waterjet turning process. A systematic study has not been done yet to investigate the effects of process parameters on geometrical error in abrasive waterjet offset-mode turning. In this article, a comprehensive study has been performed to investigate the influence of several machining parameters on the geometrical error (part diameter percent error) in turning AA2011-T4 aluminum alloy round bars. Water pressure, cutting head traverse speed, workpiece rotational speed, abrasive mass flow rate and depth of cut were considered as the main machining parameters in a five-level statistical experimental design. Based on central composite rotatable design, a total of 52 experiments were carried out. The main effects of the parameters and interactions among them were analyzed based on the analysis of variance technique, and the response contours for the part geometrical error were obtained using a quadratic regression model (i.e. response surface methodology). The model predictions were found to be in good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, among the significant parameters, water pressure, depth of cut and traverse speed are the most influential parameters, with percent contribution of almost 25% each. Abrasive mass flow rate is the least influential parameter with a percent contribution of 4%

Experimental investigation of two-side heat transfer in spacer-filled channels

In Membrane Distillation (MD), spacers support the membranes and promote mixing, thus reducing temperature polarization. Their efficient design requires a knowledge of the distribution of the local heat transfer coefficient h and of its dependence on Reynolds number, spacer geometry and flow-spacer relative orientation. In previous work, we applied Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (TLC) and digital image processing to the measurement of h distributions for different spacer configurations; data were used to validate CFD simulations and select turbulence models. For constructive reasons, the test section allowed only one-side heat transfer, while in most MD configurations (e.g. spiral-wound modules) heat transfer occurs from both sides of the feed water channels. Analytical and numerical solutions show that changing from one-side to two-side heat transfer deeply affects h values. This motivated the design and construction of an improved test section in which a hot channel is sandwiched between two cold channels, and twin cameras and lighting equipment allow the simultaneous acquisition of TLC images on both walls. This paper describes this new test section and the experimental technique, discusses measurement uncertainty, and presents preliminary results

A review of the association between congestive heart failure and cognitive impairment.

Heart failure is a growing epidemic with an estimated 5 million Americans suffering from this condition. Several clinical trials have demonstrated a high correlation between congestive heart failure (CHF) and cognitive impairment. The severity of cognitive impairment correlates positively with the degree of CHF. The underlying mechanism for cognitive impairment remains unclear but appears to be related to cerebral hypoperfusion and impaired cerebral reactivity with selective impairment of verbal memory and attention domains. Furthermore, cognitive dysfunction represents one aspect of frailty, a novel concept that encompasses a range of clinical conditions that results in functional impairment in patients with heart failure. In addition, frailty independently predicts mortality in CHF patients. Cognitive impairment is a common and predictable effect of CHF that contributes with social and behavioral problems to decreased compliance to prescribed therapy and increased hospital readmissions. A multidisciplinary approach is necessary to deal with the complexity of this clinical syndrome

Chagas disease at the crossroad of international migration and public health policies: why a national screening might not be enough

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Changes in Macrozoobenthos Community after Aquatic Plant Restoration in the Northern Venice Lagoon (IT)

Responses of the macrozoobenthic community to an ecological restoration activity in the northern Venice lagoon were studied, within the scope of the project LIFE SEagrass RESTOration aimed at recreating aquatic phanerogam meadows largely reduced in recent decades. Transplants were successful in almost all project areas. Macrozoobenthos was sampled in eight stations before (2014) and after (2015, 2016, 2017) transplanting activities. An increase in abundance and fluctuations in richness and univariate ecological indices (Shannon’s, Margalef’s, Pielou’s indices) resulted during the years. Comparing non-vegetated and vegetated samples in 2017, every index except Pielou’s increased in the latter. Multivariate analysis (hierarchical cluster analysis, MDS, PERMDISP, SIMPER) grouped samples by localization rather than years, with differences between stations due to the abundance of common species. In 2017, results were also grouped by the presence or absence of aquatic plants, with differences in the abundance of grazer and filter-feeding species. Results of ecological index M-AMBI depicted conditions from moderate to good ecological status (sensu Dir.2000/60/EC) with similar fluctuations, as presented by univariate indices from 2014 to 2017. Responses of the macrozoobenthic community were more evident when comparing vegetated and non-vegetated samples, with the vegetated areas sustaining communities with greater abundance and diversity than non-vegetated samples, thus demonstrating the supporting function of aquatic plants to benthic communities

Keratin 7 expression as an early marker of reflux-related columnar mucosa without intestinal metaplasia in the esophagus

BACKGROUND: The role of Barrett esophagus in carcinogenesis is widely accepted, but the significance of esophageal columnar mucosa without histological intestinal metaplasia, known as columnar-lined esophagus, is debated. MATERIAL/METHODS: We studied 128 patients free of Helicobacter pylori with reflux-related symptoms and columnar mucosa in the esophagus at endoscopy, 106 patients with Barrett esophagus (referred to as the Barrett group) and 22 patients without intestinal metaplasia (columnar group). Samples from 20 subjects free of H. pylori were used as controls. Immunostaining for keratin 7 (KRT7), keratin 20 (KRT20), caudal type homeobox 2 (CDX2), mucin 2, oligomeric mucus/gel-forming (MUC2), and tumor protein p53 (TP53) was assessed. RESULTS: Samples taken 1 cm above the gastroesophageal junction showed KRT7 staining in all cases in the Barrett and columnar groups and none in the control group. Immunostaining for TP53 was absent in the control group, and more frequent in the columnar group (7, 31.8%) compared with the Barrett group (14, 13.2%, P=0.033). In the columnar group, low grade dysplasia and TP53 expression was seen in 7 of 22 biopsy specimens (31.8%) at baseline and in 4 additional specimens after 2 years, for a total of 11 specimens (50.0%). CONCLUSIONS: The expression of KRT7 might help to explain the pathological, reflux-related nature of columnar-lined esophagus, as aberrant expression in a very early stage of the multistep Barrett esophagus progression. Expression of KRT7 may occur in basal glandular cells as a result of their multipotentiality and susceptibility to immunophenotype changes induced by reflux

Pathology of autoimmune hepatitis

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a relatively rare non-resolving chronic liver disease, which mainly affects women. It is characterized by hypergammaglobulinemia, circulating autoantibodies, interface hepatitis on liver histology and a favourable response to immunosuppression. The putative mechanism for the development of autoimmune hepatitis is thought to be the interaction between genetic predisposition, environmental triggers and failure of the native immune system. AIH still remains a major diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, mainly because it is a very heterogeneous disease. Prompt and timely diagnosis is crucial since, if left untreated, AIH has a high mortality rate. Histological demonstration of hepatitis is required for the diagnosis of AIH and, therefore, liver biopsy is mandatory in the initial diagnostic work-up, before treatment. In this review, we summarize the histological features of AIH with the main aim of highlighting the most important clinical-pathological hallmarks useful in the routine diagnostic practice

Balance between the reliability of classification and sampling effort: A multi-approach for thewater Framework Directive (WFD) ecological status applied to the Venice Lagoon (Italy)

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires Member States to assess the ecological status of water bodies and provide an estimation of the classification confidence and precision. This study tackles the issue of the uncertainty in the classification, due to the spatial variability within each water body, proposing an analysis of the reliability of classification, using the results of macrophyte WFD monitoring in the Venice Lagoon as case study. The level of classification confidence, assessed for each water body, was also used as reference to optimize the sampling effort for the subsequent monitorings. The ecological status of macrophytes was calculated by the Macrophyte Quality Index at 114 stations located in 11 water bodies. At water body scale, the level of classification confidence ranges from 54% to 100%. After application of the multi-approach (inferential statistics, spatial analyses, and expert judgment), the optimization of the sampling effort resulted in a reduction of the number of stations from 114 to 84. The decrease of sampling effort was validated by assessing the reliability of classification after the optimization process (54-99%) and by spatial interpolation of data (Kernel standard error of 22.75%). The multi-approach proposed in this study could be easily applied to any other water body and biological quality element