93 research outputs found
Il barone rampante di Italo Calvino: una lettura “didattica”
Il barone rampante di Italo Calvino non è semplicemente una fiaba, ma un testo composito
che si presta a varie interpretazioni e appare ricco di implicazioni di natura “formativa”. In
questo intervento, pur facendo cenno a molte possibili chiavi di lettura dell’opera, se ne propone
un approccio finalizzato alla discussione del problema della ribellione adolescenziale e
giovanile, partendo dalla riflessione sul significato pedagogico che l’atto di ribellione di Cosimo
può assumere. L’opera di Calvino infatti appare adatta ad affrontare, nel vivo del contesto
scolastico ma in forma mediata, una delle questioni che si presentano costantemente
quasi in ogni classe e in ogni livello di scuola, quella del rifiuto, da parte di uno o più allievi,
dello studio, dell’istituzione scolastica, delle istituzioni in genere.Not a mere fable, Calvino’s The Baron in the Trees is a multifaceted text which may have various interpretations and many implications for its “formative” nature. While touching on the many possible readings of Calvino’s novel, this essay aims, above all, to highlight and discuss the issue of youth rebellion, as exemplified by an analysis of Cosimo’s act of rebellion and its pedagogical meaning. Thus, Calvino’s novel can be seen as an ideal medium for tackling one of the more common issues found in schools at almost every stage within the school system, that is, students’ refusal of schooling, educational systems and institutions
Shaping space. A conceptual framework on the connections between organised crime groups and territories
This paper, which is the introduction to this special issue on ‘Spaces of Organised Crime’, aims to analyse the nexus between organised crime groups and territories. Such groups are able to exploit resources that circulate within territorial contexts in which they are embedded. They also operate concretely as entities that can take part to the transformation of spaces into places. Accordingly, we will lay out an analytical model about the processes through which organised crime groups contribute to create and shape territories. We show how these processes link with the main types of organised crime groups on a differentiated basis. In the last section of this introduction, we present the papers included in the special issue and the logic connecting them to one another
#SurvivedAndPunished: Survivor Defense as Abolitionist Praxis
Curatorial note from Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: #SurvivedAndPunished is a collection of tools, tips, lessons, and resources for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Sexuality’s pleasures and dangers intimately touch the lives of our students, ourselves, and others. Violence is pervasive. This resource shows how activist communities help us understand and combat sexual and gendered violence online and off-line and includes activities that teachers can bring directly into the classroom. The twenty-nine-page online toolkit begins by contextualizing the movement’s investment in prison abolition through explanations of gender justice, criminalization, and systems of incarceration. It then dives into pointed lessons on supporting immigrant and transgender survivors, letter writing to incarcerated people, working with lawyers, event planning, crowdfunding, and cultivating an online presence. As much as the toolkit gathers functional applications for survivors and students of sexual violence, it also archives the movement’s work which is led by Black women, women of color, immigrants, and trans and queer people
vrille, Pdp1, and dClock Form a Second Feedback Loop in the Drosophila Circadian Clock
AbstractThe Drosophila circadian clock consists of two interlocked transcriptional feedback loops. In one loop, dCLOCK/CYCLE activates period expression, and PERIOD protein then inhibits dCLOCK/CYCLE activity. dClock is also rhythmically transcribed, but its regulators are unknown. vrille (vri) and Par Domain Protein 1 (Pdp1) encode related transcription factors whose expression is directly activated by dCLOCK/CYCLE. We show here that VRI and PDP1 proteins feed back and directly regulate dClock expression. Repression of dClock by VRI is separated from activation by PDP1 since VRI levels peak 3-6 hours before PDP1. Rhythmic vri transcription is required for molecular rhythms, and here we show that the clock stops in a Pdp1 null mutant, identifying Pdp1 as an essential clock gene. Thus, VRI and PDP1, together with dClock itself, comprise a second feedback loop in the Drosophila clock that gives rhythmic expression of dClock, and probably of other genes, to generate accurate circadian rhythms
Association of COVID-19 Vaccinations With Intensive Care Unit Admissions and Outcome of Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia in Lombardy, Italy
IMPORTANCE Data on the association of COVID-19 vaccination with intensive care unit (ICU) admission and outcomes of patients with SARS-CoV-2-related pneumonia are scarce. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether COVID-19 vaccination is associated with preventing ICU admission for COVID-19 pneumonia and to compare baseline characteristics and outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients admitted to an ICU. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective cohort study on regional data sets reports: (1) daily number of administered vaccines and (2) data of all consecutive patients admitted to an ICU in Lombardy, Italy, from August 1 to December 15, 2021 (Delta variant predominant). Vaccinated patients received either mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273) or adenoviral vector vaccines (ChAdOx1-S or Ad26.COV2). Incident rate ratios (IRRs) were computed from August 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022; ICU and baseline characteristics and outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients admitted to an ICU were analyzed from August 1 to December 15, 2021. EXPOSURES COVID-19 vaccination status (no vaccination, mRNA vaccine, adenoviral vector vaccine). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The incidence IRR of ICU admission was evaluated, comparing vaccinated people with unvaccinated, adjusted for age and sex. The baseline characteristics at ICU admission of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients were investigated. The association between vaccination status at ICU admission and mortality at ICU and hospital discharge were also studied, adjusting for possible confounders. RESULTS Among the 10 107 674 inhabitants of Lombardy, Italy, at the time of this study, the median [IQR] agewas 48 [28-64] years and 5 154 914 (51.0%) were female. Of the 7 863 417 individuals who were vaccinated (median [IQR] age: 53 [33-68] years; 4 010 343 [51.4%] female), 6 251 417 (79.5%) received an mRNA vaccine, 550 439 (7.0%) received an adenoviral vector vaccine, and 1 061 561 (13.5%) received a mix of vaccines and 4 497 875 (57.2%) were boosted. Compared with unvaccinated people, IRR of individuals who received an mRNA vaccine within 120 days from the last dosewas 0.03 (95% CI, 0.03-0.04; P <.001), whereas IRR of individuals who received an adenoviral vector vaccine after 120 days was 0.21 (95% CI, 0.19-0.24; P <.001). There were 553 patients admitted to an ICU for COVID-19 pneumonia during the study period: 139 patients (25.1%) were vaccinated and 414 (74.9%) were unvaccinated. Compared with unvaccinated patients, vaccinated patients were older (median [IQR]: 72 [66-76] vs 60 [51-69] years; P <.001), primarily male individuals (110 patients [ 79.1%] vs 252 patients [60.9%]; P <.001), with more comorbidities (median [IQR]: 2 [1-3] vs 0 [0-1] comorbidities; P <.001) and had higher ratio of arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and fraction of inspiratory oxygen (FiO(2)) at ICU admission (median [IQR]: 138 [100-180] vs 120 [90-158] mm Hg; P =.007). Factors associated with ICU and hospital mortality were higher age, premorbid heart disease, lower PaO2/FiO(2) at ICU admission, and female sex (this factor only for ICU mortality). ICU and hospital mortality were similar between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this cohort study, mRNA and adenoviral vector vaccines were associated with significantly lower risk of ICU admission for COVID-19 pneumonia. ICU and hospital mortality were not associated with vaccinated status.These findings suggest a substantial reduction of the risk of developing COVID-19-related severe acute respiratory failure requiring ICU admission among vaccinated people
Impact of a twelve-year rotavirus vaccine program on acute diarrhea mortality and hospitalization in Brazil
Background
Monitoring the impact of vaccine programs is necessary to identify changes in vaccine efficacy. We report the impact of the 12-year rotavirus vaccine program on diarrhea mortality and hospitalizations and their correlation to socioeconomic indicators.
Methods
this ecological study describes diarrhea hospitalizations and deaths from 2006 to 2018 in Brazil and correlates rotavirus vaccine coverage, hospitalizations and deaths to socioeconomic indicators and social vulnerability index (SVI) by state and region. Hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccine coverage trends were analyzed using Joinpoint regression models. Associations between hospitalizations, mortality and rotavirus vaccination coverage and socioeconomic and SVI indicators were established using Ordinary Least Square regressions.
Results
Rotavirus vaccine coverage remained stable between 2006 and 2018 (annual percentage changes (APC) [95%CI]: 4.4% [−0.3%, 9.2%]). Diarrhea hospitalization rates decreased 52.5% (−5.7% [−7.5%, −3.8%]), from 68.4 to 32.5 hospitalizations per 10,000 children <5 years-old between 2006 and 2018, with significant decreases in diarrhea mortality (−9.8% [−11.2%, −8.5%]). The Northeast region experienced the largest reductions (−13.9% [−15.7%, −12.2%]). Vaccination coverage and diarrhea-mortality were inversely correlated with the SVI.
Conclusion
The burden of childhood diarrhea has decreased over an extended period. States with high SVI, but high vaccination coverage had the largest reductions in hospitalizations and deaths
Review of Rural Development Instruments: DG Agri project 2006-G4-10. Final Report
The aim of the study was to review the policy instruments under the framework of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), 2007-13, by:
• reviewing intervention rationales and instruments and their use against the objectives, priorities and key actions in the EU Strategic Guidelines;
• assessing whether and how RD rationales and instruments should be adapted to deliver these more effectively.
The study involved 8 tasks, grouped into 3 themes of analysis:
1) the targeting of EU-27 rural development expenditure, 2000-13, including the development of databases of EU-27 rural area characteristics and ‘indicators of need’
for RD;
2) consideration of the adequacy of the current EAFRD framework, based upon an evaluation of instruments’ cost-effectiveness; the a priori development of a typology
of RD interventions and catalogue of instruments; an analysis of delivery mechanisms; and assessment of instruments in ‘fiches’;
3) conclusions and recommendations.
In the event, progress in finalising national and/or regional RDPs 2007-13 was delayed,over the study period. Thus, the approach was modified to incorporate more qualitative analysis and the expenditure analysis was made using incomplete figures (July 2007), so 4% of total EAFRD planned expenditure was missing
- …