Research funding is essential to promote the scientific activity of researchers and the dissemination of their results. Simplifying, funding schemes can be classified in two categories—
competitive
...and
non-competitive
—with several corresponding advantages and shortcomings, which are widely discussed in the scientific literature. The researchers of Politecnico di Torino (i.e., one of the major Italian technical universities) have recently been funded through a non-competitive research funding, consisting of 14k€ for every single researcher in each of the last three years (i.e., from 2017 to 2019), for a total of 42k€. This somewhat unusual initiative—also called “diffused funding” (DF)—represents an important opportunity to investigate the effects of the relatively large allocation of non-competitive funding to single researchers. In this regard, this paper investigates the effects of the DF on the researchers’ scientific output, according to four dimensions of analysis:
publishing productivity
,
publishing diffusion/impact
,
journal reputation
, and
international research relations
. Preliminary results do not indicate any improvement in the publication output, at least in the short term.
L’articolo offre la descrizione dei manoscritti petrarcheschi conservati presso la Biblioteca Reale di Torino, istituzione fondata da Carlo Alberto di Savoia nel 1831. Si tratta di sette testimoni ...contenenti opere di Francesco Petrarca, cinque dei quali quattrocenteschi (Varia 100, 104, 108, 132 e 269) e due settecenteschi (Vernazza 51.22 e 51.24), a cui sono stati aggiunti altri cinque documenti risalenti ai secoli XVIII-XX che contengono materiali petrarcheschi diversi (saggi critici sulle opere di Petrarca, riproduzioni di autografi e di epigrafi). The paper offers a description of Petrarch manuscripts kept at the Royal Library of Turin, an institution established by Charles Albert of Savoy in 1831. These are seven codices containing works by Francesco Petrarca, five of the XV century (Varia 100, 104, 108, 132 and 269) and two of the XVIII (Vernazza 51.22 and 51.24); in addition there are five other documents, dating back to the XVIII-XX centuries, containing materials about Petrarch (critical essays on his works, reproductions of autographs and epigraphs).
The role of the acid–base equilibria and the sequential proton loss electron transfer mechanism (SPLET) on the free radical scavenging activity of six melatonin-related compounds was investigated ...using the density functional theory. It was found that this chemical route is particularly important for about half of the studied compounds. Some of their pKa values are reported here for the first time. In addition, our results also indicate that anionic species, presenting the phenolate moiety, may be crucial to scavenge peroxyl radicals albeit their populations are relatively low at physiological pH. The key number to consider in this context should be the product of the molar fraction of the reacting compound, at the pH of interest, by the corresponding rate constant.
The study aimed to obtain optometric findings of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in different stages of the disease, and to determine the relation between ocular data and ALS-related ...features; that is, functional and cognitive impairment and staging.
The optometric protocol included tests of the ocular motility broad-H test and Northeastern State University College of Optometry (NSUCO) test, near point of convergence (NPC), error refraction, best-corrected visual acuity, and binocular visual alignment, and an ocular symptoms questionnaire. The functional measures included the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-revised (ALSFRS-r) and Milano-Torino staging (MiToS), and cognitive impairment was assessed using the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS). Demographic and clinical features were also collected, including whether the patients used an eye-tracking communication device (ETCD).
Two-hundred consecutive ALS patients (median age of 64 years, 118 males and 82 females) in different stages of disease were recruited. Nearly 70% of patients reported at least one ocular symptom, and the use of an ETCD was found to be significantly related to the presence of most symptoms. Moreover, the severely symptomatic group was characterized by significantly lower ALSFRS-r total and subscale scores, and higher MiToS. Abnormal NPC values were significantly related to lower ALSFRS-r total and bulbar-subscale scores. Patients with acceptable NSUCO test values exhibited significantly higher ECAS scores.
The presence of ocular alteration in patients in different stages of ALS supports the idea that this is a multisystem disorder and emphasizes the importance of optometric evaluations in multidisciplinary assessments to address ocular impairment early in the disease process.
Die aus 16 Bänden bestehenden, wohl aus Süddeutschland stammenden Turiner Tabulaturen (I-Tn, Mss. Raccolta Giordano 1–8, Raccolta Foà 1–8, abgekürzt Tor G1–8 bzw. Tor F1–8) bilden eine geschlossene ......
Here we explored the performance of M06, M06-L, M11, and M11-L Minnesota functionals on predicting core-level 1
s
binding energies (BEs) and BE shifts (ΔBEs) for a set of 20 organic molecules ...containing main-group elements C → F (39 core levels in total). The broadly used Hartree–Fock (HF) and Becke–Lee–Yang–Parr (B3LYP) methods have also been studied for comparison. A statistical analysis comparing with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) experimental values shows that overall BEs estimations only deviate a small percentage from the experimental values, yet the absolute deviations are generally too large, with the different methods over/underestimating the reported values. However, taking the contribution of relativistic effects of BEs into account leads to larger differences. Overall, the performance of the explored Minnesota functionals is not satisfactory, with errors of up to 1 eV, except for the M06-L meta-GGA functional. In this case, the mean absolute deviation is below 0.1 eV and thus within XPS chemical resolution. Hence, M06-L poses itself as a rather accurate and computational expense-wise method for estimating BEs of organic molecules. Nevertheless, the observed deviations almost cancel when considering ΔBEs with respect to some arbitrary reference, with errors within 0.2–0.3 eV, indicating that these are largely systematic, which in turn implies that the corresponding methods have room for improvement.
In this work, we show that various quantum interaction radial potential models used for describing diatomic molecules are particular cases of an exactly solvable multiparameter exponential-type ...potential. This feature is exploited to find the conditions that potentials should fulfill to be considered as equivalent. As an example of the usefulness of the proposal, the obtained requirements are applied to some of the most common diatomic potential models. Specifically, we have shown the equivalence among the radial potentials of Manning–Rosen, Deng–Fang, Schiöberg, Badawi–Bessis–Bessis, Tietz, Wie, Sun, the negative of the Williams–Poulios and the Möbius square potentials. The proposal to obtain equivalent radial potentials is general and can be directly applied to other interaction models as well as in the study of relativistic molecular physics.
Hydroxyapatite HA, Ca
10
(PO
4
)
6
(OH)
2
, the main constituent of bones and teeth enamels, is a widely studied and employed biomaterial. Its applications span from dental to orthopedic implants, ...including bone tissue engineering scaffolds, coating, filler and many others. Previous theoretical and experimental studies have already characterized the physical–chemical foundations of water adsorption on a number of HA surfaces, an essential step in the mechanism of biomaterial integration. Here, we extend such knowledge by simulating, at a hybrid DFT level of theory, different HA surface terminations, both stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric, as free and in interaction with water. Such a goal is achieved at an unprecedented accuracy, with a large all-electron basis set and including dispersion forces contributions. The calculated results are then compared with experimental micro-calorimetric data, showing a good agreement in the loading trend of the (010) surfaces. More generally, this theoretical approach is confirmed to be an efficient tool to analyze these biomaterials, giving the possibility to investigate the HA behavior toward more complex molecules, from amino acids to collagen, at the here-presented level of theory, to shed some light on the complex biomineralization process of human bones and teeth.
Only Connect Shearman, John K.G
08/2019, Letnik:
5578
eBook
John Shearman makes the plea for a more engaged reading of art works of the Italian Renaissance, one that will recognize the presuppositions of Renaissance artists about their viewers. His book is ...the first attempt to construct a history of those Renaissance paintings and sculptures that are by design completed outside themselves in or by the spectator, that embrace the spectator into their narrative plot or aesthetic functioning, and that reposition the spectator imaginatively or in time and space. He takes the lead from texts and artists of the period, for these artists reveal themselves as spectators. Among modern historiographical techniques, Reception Theory is closest to the author's method, but Shearman's concern is mostly with anterior relationships with the viewer--that is, relationships conceived and constructed as part of the work's design, making, and positioning. Shearman proposes unconventional ways in which works of art may be distinguished one from another, and in which spectators may be distinguished, too, and enlarges the accepted field of artistic invention. Furthermore, His argument reflects on the Renaissance itself. What is created in this period tends to be regarded as conventional, or inherent in the nature of painting and sculpture: he maintains that this is a careless, disengaged view that has overlooked the process of discovery by immensely inventive and visually intelllectual artists. John Shearman is William Door Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University. Among his works areMannerism (Hardmondsworth/Penguin), Raphael's Cartoons in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen and the Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel (Phaidon), The Early Italian Paintings in teh Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (Cambridge). and Funzione e Illusione (il Saggiatore). The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1988 Bollingen Series XXXV: 37
Originally Publsihed in 1992
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