Between the point of view and the point of being: the space of the stereoscopic tours

One of the most interesting features of the travel stereoviews series is not the three-dimensional effect but rather the intertwined outcome of realism and \u201cbeing-thereness\u201d for the early-20th-century armchair traveler\u2019s experience. On the set of Italy through the Stereoscope, the viewer\u2019s \u201cpath of the gaze\u201d was a novelty compared to with 2D photographs and stereoviews. The Underwood & Underwood publishing company created a stereoscopic multimodal tour to improve the impression of realism with a proprioceptive perception of the scene. The procedure of textual d\ue9brayage, the description of the experience as it is happening here and now, the direction of the viewer\u2019s gaze with a narrative itinerary, the changing of the visual convergence along with the variation of the points of attention: All of these elements fostered a synesthesia for the spectator. The result is immersion in an explorable space between the \u201cpoint of view\u201d (2D images) and the \u201cpoint of being\u201d (virtual reality)

Guardare Venezia: la citt\ue0 come dispositivo visuale

This essay develops a previous paper (Parmeggiani, 2010) with the issues of Venice as a visual apparatus (Foucault, 1980), of the tourists as fl\ue2neurs (Benjamin, 1991), of their sightseeing and dynamic gazing at the urban landscape, and of their searching for the backstage (Goffman, 1959) and looking for icons to achieve cultural capital (Bourdieu, 2011). It analyzes how tourists relate to icons of a globalized visual culture where Venice has produced many other simulacra (Baudrillard, 1994), and it focuses on how social activists have tried to remediate (Bolter & Grusin, 1999) some icons of Venice to protest against the mass tourism and the loss of local identity . The identity of the city, as represented by tourist images, is the result of a long cultural process that has taken place since the Renaissance and continues to exert its effects even today. The author uses visual sociology to analyze both a corpus of mass media images (photographs on websites, postcards, brochures, stock photography) and a visual documentation of the practices of tourists visiting Venice. Following this methodology, the article describes how pictures of the city have become one of the key drivers of mass tourism there, which is considered unsustainable by a portion of the resident community. The first part of this approach (analysis of the images) concerns the urban icons, those that become standard generative models for other visual representations. Some pictures are used to describe the genesis of the icons as well as their reproduction, distribution, and remediation throughout time. The second part of the methodology (analysis with the images) concerns some documentation (photographs and videos) observing the performances of tourists in Venice. Mass tourism is described by its social practices of looking, gazing, photographing, and acquiring images. The focus is on the cycle of the production and consumption of cultural capital and icons through visual practices. The article uses a selection of photographs as an integral part of research. Photographs, postcards, and artwork that have influenced the process of creating Venetian icons help in the investigation of the tourists\u2019 relationships with the urban space and its residents, and they also help to explain the visual identity of the Serenissima in our collective imagination

3D Negative Space Beyond Stereoscopy: Immersion into the Urban Space of Venice

This paper investigates the relationship between photography, stereoviews and visual icons in Venice, and proposes an experimental video that integrates stereoscopic representations with ambient sounds. The article opens with a historical analysis of the stereoviews made in Venice, highlighting the repertoire of subjects, technology and stylistic choices adopted by the most relevant photographers of the late nineteenth century. The second section proposes an experimental project that attempts to replace the Venetian iconic touristic photographs and stereoviews. The aim is to investigate how to help the viewer focus on depth and negative spaces in a virtual space by walking him/her through different parts of the urban layout. The author discusses which of the main features are adopted to create an immersive experience through a digital combination of stereoscopic photography and binaural ambient sounds. The result indicates that it is possible to capture the essence of the 3D experience of a typical touristic sightseeing tour by applying specific digital transformations to a stereoscopic kinematic flow

Dynamic correlation functions and Boltzmann Langevin approach for driven one dimensional lattice gas

We study the dynamics of the totally asymmetric exclusion process with open boundaries by phenomenological theories complemented by extensive Monte-Carlo simulations. Upon combining domain wall theory with a kinetic approach known as Boltzmann-Langevin theory we are able to give a complete qualitative picture of the dynamics in the low and high density regime and at the corresponding phase boundary. At the coexistence line between high and low density phases we observe a time scale separation between local density fluctuations and collective domain wall motion, which are well accounted for by the Boltzmann-Langevin and domain wall theory, respectively. We present Monte-Carlo data for the correlation functions and power spectra in the full parameter range of the model.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Healthcare workers and health care-associated infections: knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in emergency departments in Italy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This survey assessed knowledge, attitudes, and compliance regarding standard precautions about health care-associated infections (HAIs) and the associated determinants among healthcare workers (HCWs) in emergency departments in Italy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An anonymous questionnaire, self-administered by all HCWs in eight randomly selected non-academic acute general public hospitals, comprised questions on demographic and occupational characteristics; knowledge about the risks of acquiring and/or transmitting HAIs from/to a patient and standard precautions; attitudes toward guidelines and risk perceived of acquiring a HAI; practice of standard precautions; and sources of information.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HCWs who know the risk of acquiring Hepatitis C (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) from a patient were in practice from less years, worked fewer hours per week, knew that a HCW can transmit HCV and HIV to a patient, knew that HCV and HIV infections can be serious, and have received information from educational courses and scientific journals. Those who know that gloves, mask, protective eyewear, and hands hygiene after removing gloves are control measures were nurses, provided care to fewer patients, knew that HCWs' hands are vehicle for transmission of nosocomial pathogens, did not know that a HCW can transmit HCV and HIV to a patient, and have received information from educational courses and scientific journals. Being a nurse, knowing that HCWs' hands are vehicle for transmission of nosocomial pathogens, obtaining information from educational courses and scientific journals, and needing information were associated with a higher perceived risk of acquiring a HAI. HCWs who often or always used gloves and performed hands hygiene measures after removing gloves were nurses, provided care to fewer patients, and knew that hands hygiene after removing gloves was a control measure.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HCWs have high knowledge, positive attitudes, but low compliance concerning standard precautions. Nurses had higher knowledge, perceived risk, and appropriate HAIs' control measures than physicians and HCWs answered correctly and used appropriately control measures if have received information from educational courses and scientific journals.</p

Candidate biomarkers from the integration of methylation and gene expression in discordant autistic sibling pairs

While the genetics of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been intensively studied, resulting in the identification of over 100 putative risk genes, the epigenetics of ASD has received less attention, and results have been inconsistent across studies. We aimed to investigate the contribution of DNA methylation (DNAm) to the risk of ASD and identify candidate biomarkers arising from the interaction of epigenetic mechanisms with genotype, gene expression, and cellular proportions. We performed DNAm differential analysis using whole blood samples from 75 discordant sibling pairs of the Italian Autism Network collection and estimated their cellular composition. We studied the correlation between DNAm and gene expression accounting for the potential effects of different genotypes on DNAm. We showed that the proportion of NK cells was significantly reduced in ASD siblings suggesting an imbalance in their immune system. We identified differentially methylated regions (DMRs) involved in neurogenesis and synaptic organization. Among candidate loci for ASD, we detected a DMR mapping to CLEC11A (neighboring SHANK1) where DNAm and gene expression were significantly and negatively correlated, independently from genotype effects. As reported in previous studies, we confirmed the involvement of immune functions in the pathophysiology of ASD. Notwithstanding the complexity of the disorder, suitable biomarkers such as CLEC11A and its neighbor SHANK1 can be discovered using integrative analyses even with peripheral tissues

Suono e Spettacolo. Athanasius Kircher, un percorso nelle Immagini sonore.

The Society of Jesus made great propaganda efforts throughout the seventeenth century and chose the images and the play as a privileged means to communicate and persuade. Athanasius Kircher, a key figure of the seventeenth century, he decided to dominate the wild nature of sound through Phonurgia Nova, which includes a gallery of powerful symbolic images for Baroque aesthetics. The essay, through the grant of the images from the Library of the Department of Mathematics "Guido Castelnuovo" Sapienza University of Rome, aims to understand, through the pictures offered by Kircher, the sound phenomenon and the spectacle that this produces. In Phonurgia Nova a process of dramatization sound effects takes place, often through machines and "visions" applied to the theatrical reality, as experimental and astonishing environment beloved in baroque. Kircher illustrates the sound through explanatory figures, so to dominate the sound through the eyes. Sound is seen, admired and represented: its spectacle not only takes place through the implementation of sound machines or the "wonders" applied to the theater, but even through images, creating create a sense of wonder in in the erudite person of the seventeenth century