Physical Disability in Literature: Osteogenesis Imperfecta Representations in Young Adult Romance Novels

openAncora oggi, agli inizi del ventunesimo secolo, il concetto di “disabilità” è visto come un tabù, come qualcosa di cui avere paura e da evitare. Le persone che non ne sono direttamente interessante fingono che non le riguardi. Ciò che la maggior parte della nostra società non comprende, è che la disabilità può potenzialmente concernere chiunque. Rinnegarla significa cancellare gli anni di lotte delle persone disabili per i diritti civili e gli sforzi dei singoli per affermare la propria identità. Inoltre, questa minoranza ha influenzato la cultura di massa più frequentemente di ciò che la gente realizzi. Dalla letteratura ai film e alla televisione, le rappresentazioni delle persone con disabilità sono state impiegate per generazioni. È interessante non solo analizzare come immagini stereotipate abbiano spesso contribuito alla diffusione di luoghi comuni riguardo a questo gruppo, ma anche come sono state recentemente utilizzate per capovolgere queste congetture. Oltretutto, è degno di nota che ci si sia serviti così ripetutamente di rappresentazioni della disabilità al punto che anche una condizione rara come l’Osteogenesi Imperfetta sia presente in un genere di nicchia come i romanzi romantici per giovani adulti.Even at this moment in time, at the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of “disability” is regarded as a taboo, as something to be feared and avoided. People that are not directly affected by it pretend it does not concern them. What the vast majority of our society does not realize is that disability can potentially impact everyone. Rejecting it means erasing the years of fights of the disability community for civil rights and the struggles of its members to claim their identity. Moreover, this minority has influenced popular culture more often than people conceive. From literature to films and television, representations of disabled people have been used for generations. It is thought-provoking not only to analyze how stereotypical images have frequently contributed to spreading the misconceptions about this group but also how they have recently been employed to challenge these assumptions. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that depictions of disability have been so frequent that even a rare condition such as Osteogenesis Imperfecta is present in a niche genre like young adult romance novels

Towards a polyphonic urban score

Background: By drawing on literature from various disciplinary fields, in particular branches of geography, philosophy, urban design and planning, the article investigates the deep spatial transformations affecting cities and territories. As this variety of reading seems to point out, we increasingly encounter space that is replacing the sharpness of figures of definite boundaries, the hierarchies and regularity, the oneness and coherence with a tangled, vibrant territoriality that is continuously shifting and difficult to map out following the criteria by which we have been used to giving order to the world. Space made up of different situations in which the old dichotomies centre/edge, city/country, local/global, nearness/distance, inside/out, public/private and real/virtual disappear and disintegrate, and in which the invisible and the immaterial return to populate the world. Methods: Starting with an acknowledgement of these deep changes and the sense of bewilderment they arouse in us, the article invites us not to take refuge in horizons already known or to try to recompose by creating simulacra the members of a dead body of a city and territory that no longer exist. It proposes instead new explorative methods with which to investigate and above all give expression to the materials, needs, the urgency and qualities that characterise this new widespread urban condition belonging to us. It invites us not to consider the territory like a white board upon which to impose forms, but to pay attention to memories, strengths and energies that cannot be seen but which work uninterruptedly to produce change. Results: It is indeed by starting from an acknowledgement of these qualities that produce different kinds of territoriality and cannot be standardised on a single plane, that the article suggests it is possible to give shape to an original composition, able to "artistically" express a new urban culture. Conclusions: By taking inspiration from the concept of polyphony, borrowed from music, it invites us not to standardise these diversities in a single time or on a single plane, but to use them to give life, through "weaving" and "mending" tasks, to an original composition: a polyphonic composition, in which the different qualities of the parts, though developing autonomously, can play simultaneously, so as to produce an unprecedented urban sound. A sound in which it is the contraction and expansion of spaces, the alternation of full and empty elements, the flights and refrains, deserted places and high intensity nodes that will determine the rhythmic course of the form

Rimettere in moto e lavorare il tempo per prendersi cura dei territori contemporanei

Il saggio intende problematizzare e argomentare l’idea che le sopravvivenze del passato presenti nei territori contemporanei non debbano essere trattate come immagini e simulacri di un tempo che non è più, ma piuttosto come dei sintomi, dei segnali, degli inciampi di tempo che possono aiutarci a comprendere e ad avere cura del nostro presente. Un presente che non è una terra desolata e priva di qualità, ma piuttosto un mare che contiene abissi, grovigli vortici in cui si mescolano diverse temporalità. In questo senso il passato, contenuto nel territorio, può essere inteso come una sorta di grande inconscio con cui fare i conti per avviare un lavoro di smontaggio, attraverso cui sciogliere quei grovigli che bloccano il nostro presente, ma anche come un lavoro di scavo che potrebbe aiutarci a portare alla luce perle inabissate, liberare energie sepolte, profezie di futuro dimenticate che potrebbero contribuire a ripensare il nostro presente. E' partendo da questo presupposto che si vuole introdurre il tema della cura. L’idea attorno a cui si intende lavorare è quella di esplorare questo concetto partendo dal presupposto che sia proprio attraverso questo lavoro complesso di erosione e di scavo in profondità che occorra ripartire per stabilire relazioni profonde e significanti con il territorio. Un territorio che non può più essere inteso come una superficie a cui sovrapporre qualsiasi contenuto, ma piuttosto semmai come un “campo di energie” che contiene placente d’ombra, latenze, memorie che entrano in collisione col presente.Peer Reviewe

Percorsi e terre di mezzo: dai cammini degli antenati ai luoghi dell'incontro e della festa contemporanei: il museo mater di Mamoiada

Il saggio intende raccontare l’esperienza svolta insieme a Studio Azzurro nella progettazione del Museo di archeologia e del territorio di Mamoiada. In questa esperienza attraverso l’uso di strumenti multimediali e interattivi si è lavorato per costruire non un luogo contemplativo, ma una vera e propria centrale “centrale di produzione di conoscenza memoriale e immaginativa”. Nel raccontare alcuni aspetti della storia di questo territorio, per individuare una possibile chiave interpretativa, siamo partiti dalle peculiarità di questo contesto e in particolare dal suo essere terra di confine e di frontiera, e in quanto tale, anche luogo di incontro e di scambio. Questa particolare identità di confine è diventata la chiave per rileggere la presenza di particolari luoghi "sacri" preistorici e contemporanei che popolano questo contesto. Si è scelto di narrare questo peculiare aspetto della storia del territorio utilizzando fonti documentarie e orali, messe insieme non con un andamento lineare e continuo, ma lavorando piuttosto, attraverso immagini poetiche e metaforiche per frammenti, montaggi, accostamenti delicati che, nel rompere ogni associazione sistematica, si richiamano l'un l'altro, più attraverso analogie che sequenze logiche. Abbiamo pensato di costruire un percorso che diventasse capace di mostrare più che di dire, di far lavorare l'immaginazione attraverso l'accostamento inusuale tra epoche differenti, tra l'arcaico e il contemporaneo; di aprire domande e di mettere sul tavolo questioni insolute anziché costruire teorie da difendere.Peer Reviewe

Re-visiting the nutrition of dairy sheep grazing Mediterranean pastures

In the light of recent findings in sheep nutrition and behaviour, the diets of grazing dairy sheep should be based on forages encompassing a variety of complementary nutritional values and containing moderate levels of complementary plant secondary metabolites, until recently regarded as "anti-nutritional". In lactating sheep, pastures of tannin-containing legumes like sulla (Hedysarum coronarium) and chicory (Cichorium intybus) can be integrated with annual grasses for establishing sustainable artificial pastures under rainfed conditions. Diets based on these forages, while ensuring high milking performance, can mitigate the unbalance of CP to energy ratio of grazing sheep. By grazing sulla and annual or Italian ryegrass (50:50 by area) as spatially conterminal monocultures or in timely sequence (complementary grazing) sheep eat more and perform better than by grazing the ryegrass pasture only. Concentrate supplementation of lactating sheep should be preferably based on fibrous sources (soyhulls or beet pulps), particularly from mid-lactation onwards and when supplementation levels are high. Milk urea concentration is confirmedly a useful monitoring tool to balance protein nutrition and curb the waste of N at animal and system level

Effect of different pastures on CLA content in milk and sheep cheese

It is known that milk composition included conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is affected by animal feeding system (Cabiddu et al., 2001). In Sardinia dairy sheep feeding is mainly based on pastures. Most of them are characterised by self-regenerating species, like annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaudin) and burr medic (Medicago polymorpha L.). Non conventional species belonging to the Compositae family such as (Chrysanthemum coronarium L.) seem interesting for sheep feeding when other herbages decrease in quality (late spring- early summer). It was observed that C. coronarium establishes rapidly, can be grazed early in the growing season and persist where other pasture species may disappear; for these reasons it can be considered a valuable source of food. Moreover a preliminary study with dairy sheep fed fresh forage of C. coronarium showed relatively high levels of CLA in milk (Molle G. pers. com.) The aim of the present work was to study the influence of different pastures on milk composition, with particular reference to CLA and its precursors

Studio della variabilità genetica nel Grifone Sardo (<i>Gyps fulvus</i>) attraverso l’analisi del DNA mitocondriale

In Italy, the Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) lives and nests exclusively in Sardinia. During the last century it has suffered the consequences of a drastic decline and currently there are only thirty territorial couples. It is therefore included in the category of Critically Endangered (CR) species. The aim of this work was to increase the understanding of genetic and evolutionary history of the Sardinian Griffon Vulture, useful to the preservation of this species. The first step was to obtain the complete sequence of Gyps fulvus mtDNA, so far known only for the 25%. Phylogenetic results from D-loop sequences analysis indicated the presence of a unique cluster, split into two groups, characterized by a high statistical support. Additional analysis were performed to validate the structure of the obtained tree, in order to identify the number and the diversity of haplotypes (Hap), pairwise differences and, by using Bayesian model-based clustering, a possible genetic structure. Our results indicate the presence of three different Hap within the sampled Gyps fulvus which are probably typical of the Mediterranean area. Phylogenetic analysis were also performed according to the molecular clock theory and divergence times were estimated by using the ND2 aminoacid sequences. The extant genetic diversity within Gyps resulted from a rapid adaptive radiation at about 1.62 million years ago (MYA), whereas the split G. fulvus/G. tenuirostris-G. indicus-G. coprotheres was dated at 0.54 MYA

Ripensare ‘la società dell’azione’ e ricominciare a ‘guardare il cielo’: la montagna come ‘controambiente del sublime’ in una inedita partitura urbana

Recalled the role that places of silence have had during other crisis in the history of humanity, the paper enquires into the role that mountains and inland areas, ‘discarded’ by modernity, might have today, when even our development model looks weary, in reconfiguring the very idea of city. Analysing many clues revealing how swarms of nomads, in flight from the consolidated city, are shifting towards the mountains in search of new places, capable of offering a geography alternative to the high-speed, dense, noisy metropolitan spaces, the author argues that, as in remote times, such ‘discarded’ territories might indeed acquire a new meaning within a wider-ranging territorial dimension. And turn into cornerstones to start from in order to create a new city apt to return space to the deepest dimensions of humanity. A city no longer conceived as a confined and bounded agglomeration, but as a complex musical score in which, alternating full and empty spaces, density and interludes, adagios and fast tempos, deserted places and high-intensity nodes, silence too could finally be heard.A partire da una evocazione del ruolo che i luoghi del silenzio hanno avuto in altri periodi di crisi nella storia dell’uomo, il saggio si interroga sul ruolo che le montagne e i luoghi interni, ‘scartati‘ dalla modernità, potrebbero avere oggi, in un momento in cui anche il nostro modello di sviluppo sembra mostrare crepe profonde, nel riconfigurare la stessa idea di città. Nell’analizzare una serie di indizi che rivelano come già uno sciame di nomadi, in esodo dalla città consolidata, si muova verso la montagna alla ricerca di luoghi nuovi, capaci di offrire una geografia alternativa ai velocissimi densi e rumorosi spazi metropolitani, l’autrice sostiene che, come in tempi lontanissimi, questi territori ‘di scarto’ potrebbero acquisire un significato nuovo all’interno di una più ampia dimensione territoriale. E diventare le pietre angolari da cui partire per costruire una città rinnovata capace di ridare spazio alle dimensioni più profonde dell’umano. Una città intesa non più come agglomerato delimitato e circoscritto, ma come una partitura complessa di situazioni diversificate in cui, in un accostarsi di pieni e di vuoti, di addensamenti e di pause, di adagi e di veloci, di luoghi deserti e di nodi a forte intensità, anche il silenzio possa essere finalmente ascoltato

Family Experiences of Homelessness in Massachusetts: The Case for Family-Centered Care

The number of families experiencing homelessness in the United States has increased from one to 37 percent of the overall homeless population over the past 30 years; Massachusetts is among the top states in the country with the greatest increases in homelessness. Families are at the center of the issue of homelessness. As such, their experience and input must be central to the solution. Over two decades ago, providers came together to form Homes for Families (HFF), as a means to increase the voices of families in advocacy efforts to end family homelessness in Massachusetts. HFF has a long history of engaging families in the development of policy recommendations and in influencing systems change. Before Family-Centered Care (FCC) was a recognized service model in most human service fields, HFF intentionally and actively placed the family voice at the center of its work, promoting provider-policymaker-family partnerships in advocacy and policy making. Over the last 20 years, Family-Centered Care (FCC) has taken hold in the medical community and is now recognized as a core component of working effectively with children and families. However, FCC has yet to truly take hold when addressing service delivery for family homelessness. What has been their lived experience of homelessness? What services are needed for families experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts? What do families say they need most? This study sought to answer these questions and complement the ongoing work of HFF in sharing the voice of parents with policy makers. In 2015 and 2016, Homes for Families asked 117 families experiencing homelessness in Greater Boston and western Massachusetts about their experiences with housing and support services. By listening to families, they identified places where families' needs and the emergency shelter (EA) family homeless service system were aligned, as well as five critical gaps in service needs. Family input to the future design of the emergency assistance (EA) system in Massachusetts is essential to improve the system's overall effectiveness. With the goal of ending family homelessness by 2020, and Massachusetts' efforts to end motel use to house families, the results of this study provide valuable insights about what service users need most to inform the system's development

Situazione attuale e tendenze future del settore idrico con un focus sul caso dell’acquedotto pugliese spa

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