Village People: critical reflections on a gay-branded space of leisure in Rome

Gay Village is a three-month-long summertime festival, organised in the capital of Italy: Rome. It was created in 2002, after the success of the 2000 World Pride, and has quickly turned into a key event in Rome’s summertime entertainment. Ethnographic work at the Gay Village 2017 edition revealed a significant presence of heteronormed cisgender young men among the festival crowd; their experience of and practices throughout the dancing nights often turned into forms of aggressive spatial appropriation, which easily produced a sense of discomfort and lack of safety among women and queer subjectivities. The case study aims at understanding how this form of heteronormed colonisation has come about, in an effort to revive the intellectual debate on gay-branded spaces of consumption. While scholarly work has thoroughly investigated the progressive ‘straightening’ of mainstream gay-connoted venues, Rome’s Gay Village appears to be an urban artefact that not only does not convincingly challenge spatial heteronormativity, but to a certain extent also fails to successfully replicate a classic paradigm of ‘urban gay-friendliness through consumption’. And this happens in a metropolitan context that is fully integrated within the common notion of ‘West’. Consequently, Rome’s Gay Village challenges, from within, assumptions on the uniformity of the geopolitical construct of ‘West’ in terms of gender and sexual matters, while also echoing the scholarly problematisation of urban models attempting to conjugate queer liberation with capital accumulation

Ecological factors affecting Alpine chamois population recruitment: remote sensing can support adaptive management

The analysis of ecological factors able to affect the life history traits of ungulates is important to reveal key information on population dynamics of wild herbivores. As regard to bovids, it is often crucial for juveniles and yearlings to gain quickly body size and mass, as such growths primarily increase chance to reach re- productive maturity (i.e., an increase in the survival probability). Accordingly, we modeled a set of ecological factors accounting for the variation of Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) population recruitment through three indexes: i) the ratio kids/adult females (NK/NF), ii) the ratio yearlings/adult females (NY/NF), and iii) the yearlings eviscerated body mass (YBM). These indexes were derived respectively from block count census and from hunting records in the last 45 years in different ecological contexts in the South-West Trento province. These indexes were associated to forage quality/quantity, winter harshness, and local chamois density. In detail, we considered NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) as a proxy for the quality of Alpine meadows used by chamois in spring and summer and snow cover data belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- ministration (NASA) remote sensing dataset (TERRA-MODIS). The reproductive success of these populations was strongly influenced both by the quality of meadows during births period (May) and by the space-time pattern of growth and maturation of Alpine pastures in spring and summer periods. Even winter harshness played an important role in this process. In particular, i) the NK/NF was positively influenced by the average quality of the grazing season previous to the births period and by the maximum NDVI value recorded in May (i.e., births period); ii) the NY/NF was negatively affected by the extent of snow cover in the first winter of kids and positively related to the average quality of the pasture in the subsequent spring and summer (i.e., the feed intake period in which individuals had to recover weight loss derived from previous winter); and iii) the YBM revealed a negative trend during the study period suggesting a difficult adaptation to climate and environmental changes taking place. Contrary to our expectations, local density was not able to influence these variables. This result may suggest that local density are not exceedingly high in the study area and therefore are not able to promote density dependent phenomena. In conclusion, these results contribute to increase the knowledge of the mechanisms underlying Alpine chamois population dynamics and give insights to plan adaptive management and conservation of this species

Basin scale assessment of landslides geomorphological setting by advanced InSAR analysis

An extensive investigation of more than 90 landslides affecting a small river basin in Central Italy was performed by combining field surveys and remote sensing techniques. We thus defined the geomorphological setting of slope instability processes. Basic information, such as landslides mapping and landslides type definition, have been acquired thanks to geomorphological field investigations and multi-temporal aerial photos interpretation, while satellite SAR archive data (acquired by ERS and Envisat from 1992 to 2010) have been analyzed by means of A-DInSAR (Advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) techniques to evaluate landslides past displacements patterns. Multi-temporal assessment of landslides state of activity has been performed basing on geomorphological evidence criteria and past ground displacement measurements obtained by A-DInSAR. This step has been performed by means of an activity matrix derived from information achieved thanks to double orbital geometry. Thanks to this approach we also achieved more detailed knowledge about the landslides kinematics in time and space

A methodology for evaluating land suitability for medicinal plants at a regional level

Before introducing a new crop in an area, such as medicinal plant species, crop-land suitability analysis is a prerequisite to achieve an optimum exploitation of the available land resources for a sustainable agricultural production. To evaluate the land suitability it is important to take into account the habitats of the plant species. Moreover, agronomic, logistic and product quality aspects have to be considered. The importance of these aspects changes according to the stakeholders: the local government is more involved in supporting environmental suitability and production sustainability, farmers need areas which satisfy agronomic and logistic requirements, while industry is interested in the quality of production. A methodology was developed and implemented to create suitability maps for medicinal plants. Because of the generally limited information about medicinal plant adaptation, a simple methodology, based on a priori information has been developed, based on three different criteria: i) environmental suitability (point of view of local government); ii) agronomic, productivity and logistic suitability (point of view of the farmer); iii) quality suitability (point of view of industry). For each of the three criteria, a specific macro-indicator, based on land characteristics, was calculated using membership functions. Here, a methodology to create maps for the introduction of such species was developed and implemented. This methodology can be repeated by command scripts in an easy-to-use freeware GIS. The structure of the evaluation model can be easily adapted to consider more detailed land information like climate and soil. The methodology (implemented by scripts in a freeware GIS), can be easily repeated and adapted for other situations

Regularized lattice Boltzmann Multicomponent models for low Capillary and Reynolds microfluidics flows

We present a regularized version of the color gradient lattice Boltzmann (LB) scheme for the simulation of droplet formation in microfluidic devices of experimental relevance. The regularized version is shown to provide computationally efficient access to Capillary number regimes relevant to droplet generation via microfluidic devices, such as flow-focusers and the more recent microfluidic step emulsifier devices.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Customer ratings as a vector for discrimination in employment relations? Pathways and pitfalls for legal remedies

The use of customer ratings to evaluate worker performance is increasingly worrisome because of its widespread use in the gig-economy. As scholars in computer and social sciences denounce, this practice entails the risk of producing discriminatory outcomes, by reproducing biases existing in society. By drawing an analogy with discriminatory practices adopted by an employer to satisfy its customers' preferences, we propose a legal analysis of this phenomenon grounded in EU non-discrimination law. Thus, we first analyse the issues related to the application of non-discrimination law to (alleged) self-employed workers. Then, we address the lack of access for the individual worker to the data regarding customers' ratings. We conclude by arguing that the use of customer ratings should be considered as a suspect criterion, while the current (EU) non-discrimination laws should be modernised through a clearer inclusion of (alleged) self-employed workers.Series: ohne Reih

Standards and infrastructure for managing experimental metadata

*See also the "related presentation":http://precedings.nature.com/documents/3145/version/1*

We present an infrastructure that leverages synergistic reporting standards and ontologies^1,2,3,4,5^ to create a common structured representation and storage mechanism for experimental metadata from biological and biomedical investigations ranging from simple single-assay studies to complex, methodologically diverse multi-assay studies. 

The infrastructure’s components include: a data capture and editing tool (_ISAcreator_); validator (_ISAvalidator_); database (_BioInvestigation Index_); and converter (_ISAconverter_); and a BioConductor analysis package (_R-ISApackage_). The components are designed for local installation, and can work independently, or as unified system.

View the "public instance":http://www.ebi.ac.uk/bioinvindex running at EBI and/or "download the components":http://isatab.sf.net for your local use.

*References*
1. Taylor CF, Field D, Sansone SA,… Rocca-Serra P et al. (2008) The MIBBI Project. _Nature Biotechnology_ Aug;26(8):889-896. "http://www.mibbi.org":http://www.mibbi.org

2. Smith B, Ashburner M, Rosse C,… Rocca-Serra P, …Sansone SA et al. (2007) The OBO Foundry. _Nature Biotechnology_ Nov;25(11):1251-5. "http://www.obofoundry.org":http://www.obofoundry.org

3. Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI) "http://obi-ontology.org":http://obi-ontology.org 

4. Sansone SA, Rocca-Serra P, Brandizi M,… Taylor CF et al. (2008) The First MGED RSBI (ISA-TAB) Workshop. _OMICS_. Jun;12(2):143-9. "http://isatab.sf.net":http://isatab.sf.net

5. Jones AR, Miller M, Aebersold R,… Sansone SA et al. (2007) The Functional Genomics Experiment model (FuGE). _Nature Biotechnology_ Oct;25(10):1127-1133. "http://fuge.sf.net":http://fuge.sf.ne

Robot-assisted rehabilitation of people with breast cancer developing upper limb lymphedema: protocol of a randomized controlled trial with a 6-month follow‐up

Upper limb lymphedema (ULLy) is an external (and/or internal) manifestation of lymphatic system insufficiency and deranged lymph transport for more than 3 months and frequently affects people as a consequence of breast cancer (BC). ULLy is often underestimated despite diminished motor skills, mood, and cognitive-behavioral complaints negatively condition the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of persons. BC can also metastasize to the jawbone, further impacting on the HRQoL. In time, the implementation of robot-assisted rehabilitation (RR) for neurological diseases has grown to improve HRQoL and pain. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a RR program in the treatment of individuals who develop an ULLy; as a further analysis, the study will assess the effectiveness of the same program in people with jawbone metastases from BC who will also develop ULLy. A randomized, parallel-group superiority-controlled trial will be conducted. 44 participants will be randomly allocated to either the experimental (receiving a RR program) or the control group (regular rehabilitation). Both groups will follow individual-based programs three times a week for 10 weeks. The main outcome measure will be the Lymphedema Quality of Life Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes will be a pain intensity numerical rating scale and the Cranio-Facial Pain Disability Inventory. Evaluations are before and after training and 6 months later. Findings may provide evidence on the effectiveness of a RR program on inducing improvements in the HRQoL and pain of individuals with ULLy due to BC. People with ULLy and jawbone metastases from BC are expected for similar or higher improvements as per the same comparisons above. This trial might contribute towards defining guidelines for good clinical rehabilitation routines and might be used as a basis for health authorities' endorsements.Trial registration OSF REGISTRIES, osf-registrations-jz7ax-v1 . Registered on 26 June 2023

Higher-Order Permanent Scatterers Analysis

The permanent scatterers (PS) technique is a multi-interferogram algorithm for DInSAR analyses developed in the late nineties to overcome the difficulties related to the conventional approach, namely, phase decorrelation and atmospheric effects. The successful application of this technology to many geophysical studies is now pushing toward further improvements and optimizations. A possible strategy to increase the number of radar targets that can be exploited for surface deformation monitoring is the adoption of parametric super-resolution algorithms that can cope with multiple scattering centres within the same resolution cell. In fact, since a PS is usually modelled as a single pointwise scatterer dominating the background clutter, radar targets having cross-range dimension exceeding a few meters can be lost (at least in C-band datasets), due to geometrical decorrelation phenomena induced in the high normal baseline interferograms of the dataset. In this paper, the mathematical framework related to higher-order SAR interferometry is presented as well as preliminary results obtained on simulated and real data. It is shown how the PS density can be increased at the price of a higher computational load