Macrostrutture formali della canzone napoletana nell'Ottocento

The classic Neapolitan song represented a model for many coeval and later similar genres, such as the “Salon” romance, the tango and the modern Italian song. Of course his influence was favoured by the action of a young and efficient cultural industry, able to construct an international success around songs like Funiculì Funiculà (1880) or ‘O sole mio (1898, on the habanera rhythm). But the wide circulation of this repertoire was also due to artistic factors, to poetic and musical forms brought to perfection in the late 19th century. The verse-and-refrain song form first of all, a macro-structural scheme that was not unknown to the pre-classical Neapolitan songs (for example the famous Io te voglio bene assaje, 1835 ca.); but it became popular only since the 1880s, when it was constantly adopted by authors for the first time professionals, such as Luigi Denza Enrico De Leva, Mario Costa and Salvatore Di Giacomo. These composers and poets, also looking at the cultured tradition, raised the Neapolitan song to a very high stylistic level and developed the verse-and-refrain form, the same that would be afterwards imposed in other repertoires of song

INVESTIGATION OF INSTALLATION TORQUE AND TORQUE-TO-CAPACITY RELATIONSHIP OF SCREW-PILES AND HELICAL ANCHORS

Installation torque has been used in the design of helical anchors (Screw-Piles) since the late 1960s. KT factors released by the manufacturer relating ultimate capacity of Screw-Piles to installation torque allow engineers to calculate a design installation torque which is necessary to achieve the design capacity in the field. These KT factors have been based on shaft geometry alone (Hoyt and Clemence 1989). Recent full-scale uplift tests in both clay and sand have shown that the traditional methods of analysis for estimating uplift capacity based on microscale tests are not representative of macroscale behavior. A soil wedge does not fully develop in many cases and failure is a result of local bearing capacity in the soil immediately above the lead helix and side resistance along the pipe shaft. The relative contribution of these two components to the uplift capacity depends on the specific geometry of the Screw-Pile, not only the shaft geometry, but also the configuration of the helices, the soil type, and depth of embedment of the helical plate (Lutenegger 2015). Full-scale installations and load tests were performed on anchors of varying lead section geometry, shaft geometry, number of helices, soil type, and depth of embedment. Both direct (TORQ-PIN and Chance Digital Indicator) and indirect (hydraulic pressure) methods were used to monitor torque during installation. The direct methods were used to evaluate the reliability of hydraulic pressure readings and how different combinations of machine, torque head, and operator can affect the torque during installation. This paper will investigate how these factors affect KT and also determine the factors that affect the accuracy of torque measurement in the field

B-spline ADC: many-body ab initio theory for electron dynamics in strong laser fields

This thesis is focused on the development of an efficient first-principles theoretical and numerical method based on the many-electron algebraic diagrammatic construction [ADC(n)] schemes, in order to describe the correlated ionisation dynamics in atomic and molecular systems interacting with perturbative and non-perturbative laser fields. The first line of research has focused on the calculation of total singlephoton photoionisation cross-sections, applying the Stieltjes-Imaging theory to Lanczos pseudospectra of the ADC Hamiltonian in Gaussian basis. We have established the accuracy of this technique by comparing the ADCLanczos-Stieltjes ground-state cross-sections obtained using different levels of many-body theory to the experimental ones for a series of organic molecules. We have extended this method to excited states cross-sections showing that a theoretical modelling of photoionisation from excited states requires an intrinsically double excitation theory. However, above 80 eV photon energy all three methods lead to inaccurate results due to the limitations of the Gaussian basis to describe continuum wave-functions of ionised electrons. The second, main line of research, has therefore been dedicated to constructing and computationally optimising the first implementation of the single [ADC(1)] and double excitations [ADC(2)] schemes in the B-spline basis, which is able to accurately describe the strongly oscillating continuum orbitals. As first application of this new method, we have calculated the photoionisation cross-sections of noble gas atoms showing that the features that pose a challenge for the GTO calculations are reproduced in a very good agreement with the experiment. We also have developed a time-dependent version with which we have calculated the HHG spectra of Ar, reproducing the effect of the Cooper minimum, and CO2, quantitatively investigating the multi-channel effects on its dynamical minimum. Finally we have provided a numerical answer to the highly topical question of coherence and ionic wavepacket formation in short pulse photoionisation.Open Acces

L'accompagnement d'une personne souffrant de la maladie d'Alzheimer par un-e assistant-e social-e

Ce travail de recherche se penche non seulement sur le vécu et les difficultés des personnes confrontées à une démence telle que la maladie d’Alzheimer (proches aidants et malades) mais aussi et surtout sur la pratique professionnelle des assistants sociaux les accompagnant durant cette étape douloureuse de leur vie. Au cours de cette recherche, j’ai pu, au travers de mes rencontres et de mes lectures, appréhender les effets de cette maladie sur la personne qui en souffre mais aussi sur ses aidants naturels. Face aux conséquences et aux questionnements qui découlent de cette maladie, certains professionnels peuvent proposer des solutions adaptées à ces usagers. C’est le cas des assistants sociaux. Il est donc question ici de saisir comment ces travailleurs sociaux interviennent dans ce type de situations et quels sont les bénéfices de leur action. Pour ce faire, j’ai comparé les méthodes d’intervention utilisées par plusieurs assistants sociaux de la fondation Pro Senectute Valais travaillant dans différentes régions du canton. Ces entretiens m’ont permis de mettre en lumière certaines pratiques et certains outils utilisés mais aussi les difficultés auxquelles les assistants sociaux doivent faire face lorsqu’ils accompagnent ces usagers. Il ressort de cette analyse que ces professionnels peuvent agir à plusieurs niveaux que ce soit pour une aide administrative, financière ou encore psychosociale

Development and validation of a luminescence-based, medium-throughput assay for drug screening in Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosomiasis, one of the world's greatest neglected tropical diseases, is responsible for over 280,000 human deaths per annum. Praziquantel, developed in the 1970s, has high efficacy, excellent tolerability, few and transient side effects, simple administration procedures and competitive cost and it is currently the only recommended drug for treatment of human schistosomiasis. The use of a single drug to treat a population of over 200 million infected people appears particularly alarming when considering the threat of drug resistance. Quantitative, objective and validated methods for the screening of compound collections are needed for the discovery of novel anti-schistosomal drugs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The present work describes the development and validation of a luminescence-based, medium-throughput assay for the detection of schistosomula viability through quantitation of ATP, a good indicator of metabolically active cells in culture. This validated method is demonstrated to be fast, highly reliable, sensitive and automation-friendly. The optimized assay was used for the screening of a small compound library on S. mansoni schistosomula, showing that the proposed method is suitable for a medium-throughput semi-automated screening. Interestingly, the pilot screening identified hits previously reported to have some anti-parasitic activity, further supporting the validity of this assay for anthelminthic drug discovery. CONCLUSIONS: The developed and validated schistosomula viability luminescence-based assay was shown to be successful and suitable for the identification of novel compounds potentially exploitable in future schistosomiasis therapies

Th.o.m.a.s.: An exploratory assessment of Theory of Mind in schizophrenic subjects

A large body of literature agrees that persons with schizophrenia suffer from a Theory of Mind (ToM) deficit. However, most empirical studies have focused on third-person, egocentric ToM, underestimating other facets of this complex cognitive skill. Aim of this research is to examine the ToM of schizophrenic persons considering its various aspects (first vs. second order, first vs. third person, egocentric vs. allocentric, beliefs vs. desires vs. positive emotions vs. negative emotions and how each of these mental state types may be dealt with), to determine whether some components are more impaired than others. We developed a Theory of Mind Assessment Scale (Th.o.m.a.s.) and administered it to 22 persons with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia and a matching control group. Th.o.m.a.s. is a semi-structured interview which allows a multi-component measurement of ToM. Both groups were also administered a few existing ToM tasks and the schizophrenic subjects were administered the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale and the WAIS-R. The schizophrenic persons performed worse than control at all the ToM measurements; however, these deficits appeared to be differently distributed among different components of ToM. Our conclusion is that ToM deficits are not unitary in schizophrenia, which also testifies to the importance of a complete and articulated investigation of ToM