Transported Art: 19th-Century Italian Sculptures Across Continents and Cultures

The international identity of 19th-century sculpture has been neglected for several years, and, as a result, artistic literature and research have almost completely ignored the fact that most 19th-century Italian sculpture is now spread all over the world. The purpose of this essay is to illustrate and document peculiar aspects of the diffusion of Italian sculpture in America between the mid-19th and early 20th century. Along with the flux of artwork, materials, and Italian sculptors to the Americas, over the decades straddling these two centuries there was an inverse movement of American artists (interested in Italian sculpture) to Rome, Florence, Genoa, Naples, and so on. Thanks to that double exchange, Italian sculpture became a strong, recognized influence worldwide. The aim of this paper is to establish an interdisciplinary context for sculpture, clarifying the connections with social, economic, and cultural factors.Le caractère international de la sculpture du 19e siècle a été négligé durant plusieurs années et, par conséquent, la recherche et les écrits du domaine de l’art ont presque totalement ignoré le fait que la plupart des sculptures italiennes du 19e siècle sont à présent répandues dans le monde entier. Cet article a pour but d’illustrer et de documenter des aspects spécifiques de la diffusion de la sculpture italienne en Amérique entre le milieu du 19e siècle et le début du 20e siècle. Parallèlement à ce flux d’œuvres d’art, de matériaux et de sculpteurs italiens en direction des Amériques, au cours des décennies chevauchant ces deux siècles, il y eut un mouvement inverse d’artistes américains s’intéressant à la sculpture italienne qui se rendaient à Rome, Florence, Gênes, Naples, etc. Grâce à ce double échange, la sculpture italienne obtint une forte influence et reconnaissance dans le monde entier. Cet article a également pour objectif d’instaurer un contexte interdisciplinaire pour la sculpture, afin de clarifier les connexions entre les facteurs sociaux, économiques et culturels

Between tradition and innovation: A preliminary survey on the artistic heritage of the University of Genoa, Italy

Złożone i różnorodne dziedzictwo uniwersytetu w Genui ma ogromną wartość dla wielu narodów. W jego skład wchodzą stare arystokratyczne pałace, muzea naukowe i etnograficzne, ogrody botaniczne, kolekcje sztuki, archiwa historyczne i biblioteki. Spuścizna ta odzwierciedla zarówno akademicką tradycję Genui, jak i strategiczne położenie miasta między obszarem śródziemnomorskim a pozostałą częścią Europy. Ukazuje intensywne strumienie kulturowych, społecznych i handlowych wymian pomiędzy tymi obszarami, które następowały od okresu późnego średniowiecza. Tak jak w wielu europejskich uniwersytetach, również na uniwersytecie w Genui tradycja współistnieje z nowoczesnością. Archiwum Sztuki Współczesnej znajduje się w jednym z najstarszych budynków, ostatnio wpisanym na listę światowego dziedzictwa UNESCO. Casa Paganini stanowi natomiast centrum prezentujące eksperymentalną zbieżność badań naukowych, technologicznych i artystycznych. Ośrodek ten mieści się w klasztorze Santa Maria delle Grazie la Nuova. Podczas gdy znacząca część dziedzictwa uniwersytetu w Genui znajduje się w budynkach mieszczących poszczególne wydziały, kolekcje i muzea potrzebują nowatorskich strategii dla ich promocji i reklamy. Artykuł ten jest krótkim i wstępnym przeglądem artystycznego i historycznego dziedzictwa uniwersytetu w Genui. Ma na celu określenie głównych cech tej spuścizny i jej odrębności, a także zamierzeń związanych z jej szeroko pojętą prezentacją

Estimating Muscle Power of the Lower Limbs through the 5-Sit-to-Stand Test: A Comparison of Field vs. Laboratory Method

The 5-Sit-to-stand test (5STS) is used for lower limb muscle power (MP) determination in field/clinical setting. From the time taken to perform five standing movements and three partially verified assumptions (vertical displacement, mean concentric time, and mean force), MP is estimated as the body's vertical velocity x force. By comparison with a gold standard, laboratory approach (motion capture system and force plate), we aimed to: (1) verify the assumptions; (2) assess the accuracy of the field-estimated MP (MPfield); (3) develop and validate an optimized estimation (MPfield-opt). In 63 older adults (67 +/- 6 years), we compared: (i) estimated and measured assumptions (2-WAY RM ANOVA), (ii) MPfield and MPfield-opt with the reference/laboratory method (MPlab) (2-WAY RM ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), Bland-Altman analysis). There was a significant difference between estimated and measured assumptions (p < 0.001). Following the implementation of the optimized assumptions, MPfield-opt (205.1 +/- 55.3 W) was not significantly different from M-lab (199.5 +/- 57.9 W), with a high correlation (r = 0.86, p < 0.001) and a non-significant bias (5.64 W, p = 0.537). Provided that corrected assumptions are used, 5STS field test is confirmed a valid time- and cost-effective field method for the monitoring of lower limbs MP, a valuable index of health status in aging

Parameter estimation approach to the thermal characterization of intumescent fire retardant paints

Intumescent paints are widely used as passive fire retardant materials in the building sector. They swell on heating to form a highly insulating char, protecting steel members. Intumescent coatings for use in buildings are typically certified according to the standard cellulosic fire resistance test. This test is expensive, often non-representative of realistic fire conditions, and not enough versatile to gather detailed performance information on the response of reactive coatings. A promising approach, that could offer a helpful tool to the engineering community involved in fire safety, is found in the modelling of the behaviour of the intumescent coating. Under this approach, the knowledge of the equivalent thermal conductivity of the intumescent material is a fundamental issue, since it represents the main parameter that allows predicting the thermal protecting capability of the layer. The purpose of this paper is to optimize an estimation procedure intended to the restoration of the equivalent thermal conductivity of intumescent layers. The thermal stress is activated by the action of a cone calorimetric apparatus, while the estimation procedure is based on the inverse heat conduction problem approach under steady state assumption, where the temperature values measured at some locations inside the layer during the expansion process are used as input known data. This procedure was successfully applied to steel samples protected with an intumescent paint; the estimated equivalent thermal conductivity of the layer results to temperature dependent while the initial thickness of the paint does not seem to have a great effect

Protein content in the diet influences growth and diarrhea in weaning piglets

The aim of this research has been to assess the effect of the dietary protein level on piglet growth and post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) incidence. Piglet fecal microbiota and feces composition were also assessed. The experiment was carried out on 144 weaned piglets (Duroc × Large White; 72 piglets per treatment) and lasted from weaning (at 25 days of age) until the end of the post-weaning phase (at 95 days). Two dietary protein levels were compared: high (HP; 17.5% crude protein on average, during the experiment) and low (LP; 15.5% on average). Lower (p < 0.01) average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were observed in LP piglets in the first growth phase. However, at the end of the post-weaning period, the growth parameters were not significantly different in the two diets. Diarrhea scores were lower in piglets fed LP diets than in piglets fed HP diets (28.6% of the total vs. 71.4% in the HP piglets). Fibrobacteres, Proteobacteria, and Spirochaetes were more abundant in the feces of the piglets fed LP diets. Feces nitrogen content was lower in piglets fed LP diets. In conclusion, low protein levels in the diet can reduce the incidence of PWD while only marginally affecting growth parameters

Living supramolecular polymerization of fluorinated cyclohexanes

The development of powerful methods for living covalent polymerization has been a key driver of progress in organic materials science. While there have been remarkable reports on living supramolecular polymerization recently, the scope of monomers is still narrow and a simple solution to the problem is elusive. Here we report a minimalistic molecular platform for living supramolecular polymerization that is based on the unique structure of all-cis 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexafluorocyclohexane, the most polar aliphatic compound reported to date. We use this large dipole moment (6.2 Debye) not only to thermodynamically drive the self-assembly of supramolecular polymers, but also to generate kinetically trapped monomeric states. Upon addition of well-defined seeds, we observed that the dormant monomers engage in a kinetically controlled supramolecular polymerization. The obtained nanofibers have an unusual double helical structure and their length can be controlled by the ratio between seeds and monomers. The successful preparation of supramolecular block copolymers demonstrates the versatility of the approach

Emotion Dysregulation and Conspiracy Beliefs about COVID-19: The Moderating Role of Critical Social Media Use

As COVID-19 has spread worldwide, conspiracy theories have proliferated rapidly on social media platforms, adversely affecting public health. For this reason, media literacy interventions have been highly recommended, although the impact of critical social media use on the development of COVID-19 conspiracy theories has not yet been empirically studied. Moreover, emotional dysregulation may play another crucial role in the development of such theories, as they are often associated with stress, anxiety, lack of control, and other negative emotions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that emotion dysregulation would be positively associated with conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 and that critical use of social media would attenuate this association. Data from 930 Italian participants (339 men and 591 women) were collected online during the third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. A moderated model was tested using the PROCESS Macro for SPSS. Results showed that: (1) emotion dysregulation and critical social media use accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19; and (2) critical social media use moderated the effect of emotion dysregulation on conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19. Implications for preventing the spread of conspiracy theories are discussed

Road traffic pollution and childhood leukemia: a nationwide case-control study in Italy

Background The association of childhood leukemia with traffic pollution was considered in a number of studies from 1989 onwards, with results not entirely consistent and little information regarding subtypes. Aim of the study We used the data of the Italian SETIL case-control on childhood leukemia to explore the risk by leukemia subtypes associated to exposure to vehicular traffic. Methods We included in the analyses 648 cases of childhood leukemia (565 Acute lymphoblastic–ALL and 80 Acute non lymphoblastic-AnLL) and 980 controls. Information on traffic exposure was collected from questionnaire interviews and from the geocoding of house addresses, for all periods of life of the children. Results We observed an increase in risk for AnLL, and at a lower extent for ALL, with indicators of exposure to traffic pollutants. In particular, the risk was associated to the report of closeness of the house to traffic lights and to the passage of trucks (OR: 1.76; 95% CI 1.03–3.01 for ALL and 6.35; 95% CI 2.59–15.6 for AnLL). The association was shown also in the analyses limited to AML and in the stratified analyses and in respect to the house in different period of life. Conclusions Results from the SETIL study provide some support to the association of traffic related exposure and risk for AnLL, but at a lesser extent for ALL. Our conclusion highlights the need for leukemia type specific analyses in future studies. Results support the need of controlling exposure from traffic pollution, even if knowledge is not complete