[Camillo Benso Ballabio (1912 - 1984)].

The author commemorates, in the 20th year since his death, Camillo Benso Ballabio, unforgettable figure of rheumatologist, renowned clinician, man of great culture. The most important stages of his life are described, by adding to the biographical sketches some quotations that confirm the intellectual depth of such a protagonist of the history of the Italian rheumatology

A Biased Resistor Network Model for Electromigration Failure and Related Phenomena in Metallic Lines

Electromigration phenomena in metallic lines are studied by using a biased resistor network model. The void formation induced by the electron wind is simulated by a stochastic process of resistor breaking, while the growth of mechanical stress inside the line is described by an antagonist process of recovery of the broken resistors. The model accounts for the existence of temperature gradients due to current crowding and Joule heating. Alloying effects are also accounted for. Monte Carlo simulations allow the study within a unified theoretical framework of a variety of relevant features related to the electromigration. The predictions of the model are in excellent agreement with the experiments and in particular with the degradation towards electrical breakdown of stressed Al-Cu thin metallic lines. Detailed investigations refer to the damage pattern, the distribution of the times to failure (TTFs), the generalized Black's law, the time evolution of the resistance, including the early-stage change due to alloying effects and the electromigration saturation appearing at low current densities or for short line lengths. The dependence of the TTFs on the length and width of the metallic line is also well reproduced. Finally, the model successfully describes the resistance noise properties under steady state conditions.Comment: 39 pages + 17 figure

Arthroscopic synovectomy in chronic inflammatory rheumatism: clinical and functional aspects

By now many authors regard arthroscopic synovectomy an integral part of therapeutic treatment of many rheumatic diseases with favourable results on post operating course and clinical picture in the long term. The pathologic synovial tissue during articular inflammatory rheumatism is well known to have a damaging effect responsible of early cartilage injury, as well as symptomatic action (e.g. articular stiffness, effusion, pain, functional limitation). Therefore to value the removal of such a tissue you should think of the secondary prevention of cartilage injury, besides the symptomatic point of view. Since 1996 we performed 190 arthroscopic synovectomy, the adopted criteria of judgement were: pain (spontaneous, during active and passive movements), effusion or swelling presence, articular range and cartilage state (evaluated during arthroscopy according to Outerbridg's classification). 70% of the cases showed good results and six years later the beginning of this activity we retain arthroscopic synovectomy as a valid help in articular inflammatory rheumatism treatment

KNOWLEDGE AND DOCUMENTATION OF RENAISSANCE WORKS OF ART: THE REPLICA OF THE “ANNUNCIATION” BY BEATO ANGELICO

The Annunciation by Guido di Pietro from Mugello, known as Beato Angelico, is a wide tempera painting with some fine gold foil placed on a wooden support, today hosted at the Museum of the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in San Giovanni Valdarno. On the occasion of the exhibition “Masaccio e Angelico. Dialogo sulla verità nella pittura”, the museum asked to the Department of Architecture at the University of Bologna to develop a digital high-resolution surrogate to favour deep investigations, to plan restoration and to simply tell the stories behind the artwork. Two tasks were accomplished: to let visitors discover the secrets in the painting and to let scholars study the artwork, to better understand the masterpiece. This paper introduces the outcomes of the research developed to digitize the Annunciation, following a dedicated pipeline developed to improve the fruition of its digital replica, originated from different input sources, and surrogating the user experience on the real object. This work presents a method for the 3D reconstruction of the surfaces based on different techniques for elements with different depth resolutions (i.e., the painting and the wooden frame) which combine photogrammetry and photometric stereo exploiting both procedures and pushing forward the boundaries of Gigapixel Imaging and photogrammetric-based 3D model representation

THE MIDDLE TRIASSIC OF THE BREMBANA VALLEY: PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE ESINO PLATFORM (Bergamasc Alps)

The stratigraphy and paleogeography of the ladinian Esino Limestone outcropping in Valle Brembana-Valle Parina, have been integrated with the biostratigraphic analysis of cephalopod fauna. A complex internal structure of the upper anisian-ladinian Esino carbonate platform has been identified. Six different lithozones have been recognized, they record the stratigraphic-paleogeographic evolution of the Esino Limestone. This carbonate platform developed through three stages: 1) construction of a lower edifice (Late Anisian-? Early Ladinian) representing the first phase of carbonate piatform diffusion on structural highs, which were already the site of carbonate deposition during the Middle Anisian (peritidal dolomites of the Angolo Limestone); 2) buildup of the carbonate complex (main edifice). In this second phase (Early Ladinian-Late Ladinian p.p.) the most important one, the platform growth took place by prevalent aggradation; 3) development of the upper edifice and progradation of the piatform in the Late Ladinian. In this third phase, inner plarform facies with diagenetic caps at the top of peritidal cycles are common. The buildup developed in the second phase yields bioclastic packstones with ammonoids, gastropods, echinoderms, and bivalves clustered within lithozone 4 and in the proximity of the southern margin of the platform in Val Parina. Studies in progress of ammonoids and gastropods allowed for the recognition of different fossil assemblages which date from Early Ladinian to Late Ladinian. A few problematic ammonoid assemblage of probably Early Ladinian age, has been found in a stratigraphic level above the base of the Esino Limestone

Generative design of 3D printed hands-free door handles for reduction of contagion risk in public buildings

During the emergency caused by COVID 19 evidence has been provided about the risk of easily getting the virus by touching contaminated surfaces and then by touching eyes, mouth, or nose with infected hands. In view of the restarting of daily activities in presence, it is paramount to put in place any strategy that, in addition to social distancing, is capable to positively impact on the safety levels in public buildings by reducing such risk. The main aim of this paper is to conceive a design methodology, based on a digital, flawless, and sustainable procedure, for producing human-building interfacing solutions that allow anybody to interact in a safer and more comfortable way. Such solutions are focused on the adaptation of existing buildings features and are thought to be an alternative to sensor based touchless technology when this is not applicable due to economic or time constraints. The process is based on the integration of digital technologies such as 3D Scanning, Generative Design and Additive Manufacturing and is optimised to be intuitive and to be adaptive, hence, to be replicable on different kinds of surfaces. The design concept is finalised to generate automatically different products that meet geometry fitting requirements and therefore adapt to the specific geometries of existing handles. A specific case on Hands Free Door Handles is presented and the results of manufacturing and preliminary validation process are provided and discussed

FROM THE GENERAL DOCUMENTATION OF HADRIAN'S VILLA TO DESIGN ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX CUPOLAS: A PROCEDURAL APPROACH

Abstract. The paper illustrates the progress of Hadrian's Villa digital documentation with special emphasis on a series of modelling issues emerged while studying vaults and cupolas of the site. Together with the more general problem of giving scientific coherence to both active and passive sensor outputs – systematically gathered from 2013 – a methodological problem concerning data interpretation of complex opus caementicium vaults have become dramatically important for the interdisciplinary research team. A methodology for improving the understanding the original shapes of Hadrianic cupolas was designed to provide scholars and professionals operating at the Villa with reliable and easy to use outputs, for interpretation, restoration, maintenance practice. Sensors integration played a fundamental role since allowed researchers a global understanding of intrados and extrados surfaces using reverse modelling applications. Features and 2D primitives extracted from high-resolution models were analysed in order to create flexible procedural models of reconstruction hypothesis/completion of cupolas. Due to the very nature of these shapes (apparently irregular), but with a solid geometric conception, we applied the last achievements of Catmull-Clark bicubic surfaces in combination with Visual Programming Language (VPL).</p

Heron’s Legacy: An Example of Ancient Calculations Applied to Roman Imperial Architecture

Heron of Alexandria is a well-known author in the field of mathematics and engineering, but his work is of great interest for understanding ancient construction problems related to architecture. The formulas translated and commented on by Heiberg (1914a, b) are analyzed through geometric diagrams and applied to famous Roman domed architecture

The Role of Gut Microbiota Biomodulators on Mucosal Immunity and Intestinal Inflammation

Alterations of the gut microbiota may cause dysregulated mucosal immune responses leading to the onset of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in genetically susceptible hosts. Restoring immune homeostasis through the normalization of the gut microbiota is now considered a valuable therapeutic approach to treat IBD patients. The customization of microbe-targeted therapies, including antibiotics, prebiotics, live biotherapeutics and faecal microbiota transplantation, is therefore considered to support current therapies in IBD management. In this review, we will discuss recent advancements in the understanding of host-microbe interactions in IBD and the basis to promote homeostatic immune responses through microbe-targeted therapies. By considering gut microbiota dysbiosis as a key feature for the establishment of chronic inflammatory events, in the near future it will be suitable to design new cost-effective, physiologic, and patient-oriented therapeutic strategies for the treatment of IBD that can be applied in a personalized manner