La adulación entre modelos clásicos y desengaño

La adulación, según observa Starobinski, es una noción que permite examinar unos aspectos de la vida social del punto de vista psicológico, pero, al mismo tiempo, de considerar según la perspectiva social ciertos aspectos de la psicología. En este trabajo se analiza la fenomenología de la adulación / lisonja en varios contextos de la obra, en verso y en prosa, de Quevedo. Retomando el hilo de la tradición clásica, del neoestoicismo y de la crítica cristiana en contra del mundano deseo de bienes terrenales, Quevedo explora el abanico semántico de la noción de lisonja y su fenomenología bajo el perfil social y psicológico. According to Starobinski, the concept of adulation allows to treat from a psychological point of view some aspects of social life and to face as well some aspects of psychological life from a social point of view. This article examines several passages of Quevedo’s work, poetry as well as prose, in which the author explores thoroughly, in both respects, the semantic configuration of «lisonja» deriving his approach from the classical tradition and from the Christian thought as well as from his personal experience

Disinvestment in healthcare: An overview of HTA agencies and organizations activities at European level

Background: In an era of a growing economic pressure for all health systems, the interest for "disinvestment" in healthcare increased. In this context, evidence based approaches such as Health Technology Assessment (HTA) are needed both to invest and to disinvest in health technologies. In order to investigate the extent of application of HTA in this field, methodological projects/frameworks, case studies, dissemination initiatives on disinvestment released by HTA agencies and organizations located in Europe were searched. Methods: In July 2015, the websites of HTA agencies and organizations belonging to the European network for HTA (EUnetHTA) and the International Network of Agencies for HTA (INAHTA) were accessed and searched through the use of the term "disinvestment". Retrieved deliverables were considered eligible if they reported methodological projects/frameworks, case studies and dissemination initiatives focused on disinvestment in healthcare. Results: 62 HTA agencies/organizations were accessed and eight methodological projects/frameworks, one case study and one dissemination initiative were found starting from 2007. With respect to methodological projects/frameworks, two were delivered in Austria, one in Italy, two in Spain and three in U.K. As for the case study and the dissemination initiative, both came from U.K. The majority of deliverables were aimed at making an overview of existing disinvestment approaches and at identifying challenges in their introduction. Conclusions: Today, in a healthcare context characterized by resource scarcity and increasing service demand, "disinvestment" from low-value services and reinvestment in high-value ones is a key strategy that may be supported by HTA. The lack of evaluation of technologies in use, in particular at the end of their lifecycle, may be due to the scant availability of frameworks and guidelines for identification and assessment of obsolete technologies that was shown by our work. Although several projects were carried out in different countries, most remain constrained to the field of research. Disinvestment is a relatively new concept in HTA that could pose challenges also from a methodological point of view. To tackle these challenges, it is necessary to construct experiences at international level with the aim to develop new methodological approaches to produce and grow evidence on disinvestment policies and practices

Extreme learning machine collocation for the numerical solution of elliptic PDEs with sharp gradients

We address a new numerical method based on machine learning and in particular based on the concept of the so-called Extreme Learning Machines, to approximate the solution of linear elliptic partial differential equations with collocation. We show that a feedforward neural network with a single hidden layer and sigmoidal transfer functions and fixed, random, internal weights and biases can be used to compute accurately enough a collocated solution for such problems. We discuss how one can set the range of values for both the weights between the input and hidden layer and the biases of the hidden layer in order to obtain a good underlying approximating subspace, and we explore the required number of collocation points. We demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method with several one-dimensional diffusion–advection–reaction benchmark problems that exhibit steep behaviors, such as boundary layers. We point out that there is no need of iterative training of the network, as the proposed numerical approach results to a linear problem that can be easily solved using least-squares and regularization. Numerical results show that the proposed machine learning method achieves a good numerical accuracy, outperforming central Finite Differences, thus bypassing the time-consuming training phase of other machine learning approaches

The role of camouflage in the management of skin damages in oncologic patients

Neoplastic disease and its therapeutic options have a huge impact on the patient's quality of life from both the emotional and the working point of view. Sociological research has revealed that gender also plays an important role in the emotional reaction to the disease. When faced with a neoplastic disease, men and women show significantly different reactions: women, as wives and mothers, are more subject and vulnerable to stress and they can have major psychological implications for the severe impact on body image. In 2002, at the Dermatological Clinic of the University of Naples "Federico II", Corrective Dermacosmetological Laboratory was activated to teach the most suitable techniques in order to disguise skin imperfections by means of an easily reproducible maquillage. Since 2010 the Laboratory is activating to help oncologic patients learn the best way of hiding temporary or permanent skin damages that cause serious discomfort because of the aesthetic modifications of their image. The corrective dermacosmetological camouflage is a technique aiming to learn to oncologic patients the best way of hiding temporary or permanent skin damages related to chemotherapy and radiotherapy: it is also important to contain any cicatricial results. At the laboratories of Naples 36 patients have been treated, 31 women and 5 men, aged between 19 and 72 years. The camouflage technique depends basically on the use of a number of opaque covering non irritant, hypoallergenic creams and powders of superior duration if compared to standard cosmetics. Results were supported by photos showing the excellent results achieved with this technique. Furthermore, an improvement in psychological problems caused by skin damages related to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery therapy was observed in all patients

Comparative analysis of the SOL plasma in DEMO using EDGE2D/EIRENE and TECXY codes

In this contribution a benchmark of the 2D edge codes TECXY and EDGE2D-EIRENE is presented. A conventional DEMO scenario is considered by assuming a simplified geometry, with the target plates perpendicular to the separatrix, and a pure Deuterium plasma. Despite the different models adopted in the two codes, mainly related to the description of the neutral dynamics and to the different boundary conditions, the results show a good match both in terms of power load profiles on the outer target and predicted trends for global quantities. A scan in density and in diffusion coefficients is performed in order to identify the characteristic conditions and the different regimes of the SOL. Comparable values and similar dependency of the global quantities as a function of the power decay length is also observed. Keywords: EDGE2D, EIRENE, TECXY, DEMO, Diverto

Fostering the Rapprochement of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies: The Encounter of an Italian Anthropologist with Kaupapa Māori Research

This chapter considers the issue of decolonization and suggests two major implications for the decolonization of an anthropological practice premised on collaboration with indigenous actors, scholars and communities. The collaboration between indigenous actors and anthropologists also helped in fostering the process of both formation and visibility of many indigenous intellectuals in different academic and non-academic settings. Different proposals of collaboration and cooperation in research practice and writing emerged from these critiques. Ever since the 1960s collaboration in different academic settings has highlighted its interdisciplinary mode of dialogue and conversation that anthropologists entertain across disciplines with scientists, historians, sociologists, philosophers, cultural studies scholars, students in order to elaborate new perspectives on the fast changing cultural and social landscapes. The collaboration between engaged anthropology and indigenous studies can produce a multi-textual hermeneutics, where the multi-textuality is a way of interpreting and representing the complex and multifaceted aspects of a given situation

The Global Warrior. Māori, rugby, and diasporic Indigeneity

Many Māori men today follow a career in rugby union to achieve a good life, tracing their trajectories as athletes and as men in a dynamic scenario of global mobility. Historically, Māori men have played a significant role in the illustrious New Zealand rugby. Their game has also contributed to restoring Māori’s “depleted manhood”. In Māori settings, rugby has come to be associated with mana “spiritual prestige or authority,” which makes players responsible towards their communities, and has become a privileged site for men to achieve recognition and leadership. In 1995, the professionalization of international rugby added opportunities for socioeconomic progress. Māori masculinities share the colonial construct of the noble (yet violent) warrior with other Indigenous masculinities. Moreover, the warrior conjures an effort to withstand cultural, social, and political vulnerability, which characterizes the Indigenous condition as much as struggle does

Once were Warriors, now are Rugby Players? Control and Agency in the Historical Trajectory of the Māori Formulations of Masculinity in Rugby

In Māori society rugby has come to be viewed as a platform to maintain an indigenous model of masculinity as well as one of the main sites for the achievement of prestige. National and international representations of the Māori man as a rugby player—a present-day version of the Māori warrior—apparently corroborate the indigenous experience of rugby. This is the result of the more than one-century-long Māori negotiation with rugby, a practice where they were allowed to occupy a space. However, this phenomenon is made of multiple nuances, ambiguities and tensions, which reflect the constraints framing the indigenisation of rugby and major changes such as the urbanisation of Māori and the introduction of professionalism in rugby. This paper will explore the Māori formulations of masculinity in rugby, problematising the dominant axiomatic Māori warrior-rugby player and viewing the phenomenon as historical, contemporary and now taking new directions

Encountering Indigenous Knowledge. The journey of an Italian anthropologist researching Mäori and rugby

How can researchers coming from non-Indigenous realities and disciplines engage with Indigenous research and researchers? How can these encounters benefit Indigenous communities and knowl- edges (and those of the non-Indigenous researchers)? These are the questions elicited by my experience as an Italian doctoral student in anthropology engaging with cultural and academic communities that were not my own and happened to be Indigenous – specifically, Mäori. I set out to investigate the relationship between Mäori and rugby and located myself within Mäori studies, trying to understand and integrate Kaupapa Mäori research. Both the intricacy of the context and the multifacetedness of my own self-identifications and scientific background created a complex scenario. The historical connivance of anthropology with colonialism and the apparent non-urgency of the rugby topic further raised questions. This paper will elaborate on this journey, observing the potentialities of Indigenous approaches from an “external” perspective while purporting the possibility of a cross-cultural and cross- disciplinary approach to Indigenous research