Universita Degli Studi Research Articles

Infrastructure and Convergence in the EU: Introduction

This Special Issue of Transition Studies Review on ‘‘Infrastructure, convergence and investment decisions in the EU’’, is a collection of selected papers presented at the VIII Milan European Economy Workshop (11 and 12 June 2009) in the context of the EIBURS project on ‘‘Public investment under budgetary constraints in new member states’’, funded by the European Investment Bank. The Department of Economics, Business and Statistics, DEAS (Universita degli Studi, di Milano, Italy), in partnership with CERGE-EI (Charles University, Prague), with a network of international experts in the EU Member States, has addressed issues related to public investment in infrastructure by a combination of theoretical and empirical analysis, with a particular attention given to offering recommendations to bodies in charge of budgetary and investment decisions. The research papers included in this Special Issue aim at analyzing public investment in the European Union, with an explicit focus on the New Member States in the presence of financial constraints (for the related papers see Florio 2011). The contributions address important issues related to infrastructure public investment by adopting different perspectives and techniques. The main conclusions relate to the choice of methods of funding and to the evaluation of different projects and schemes in the presence of fiscal constraints, an issue of paramount importance for the EU New Member States and offer a novel perspective on the growth potential of public investment in regional and national European economies. Below I briefly summarise the papers and then conclude by providing some personal remarks.

In ricordo del Professor Paolo Talamucci

Abstract: Paolo Talamucci, Full Professor of Range Management at the Universita degli Studi in Florence from 1975 to 2001, passed away on 27th November 2009, after a brief and unrelenting illness. Professor Talamucci spent many long years in the field of research, in both Mediterranean and Alpine regions. His research, profoundly rooted in the territory he was studying, holistic in its approach and rigorously scientific, was characterized by a strong interdisciplinary element, seeking always to take into account the totality of the components of the ecosystem. Professor Talamucci was one of the first scholars of the pastoral system to highlight the problems related to the abandonment of traditional animal husbandry in mountainous zones and to look for ways to counteract the undesirable transformation of the landscape and the consequent loss of biodiversity. His curriculum and his numerous scientific publications bear testimony not only to the prestigious research institutes, world-wide, with which he was associated, but also to the important international dimension of his research.

An Evaluation of Nanolime Carbonation Process as Applied to pre-Hispanic Mayan Mural Paintings

For over a decade, a nano-lime known commercially as Nanorestore® —which is synthetised by el Consorzio Interuniversatario per lo Sviluppo del Sistemi a Grande Interfase ([CSGI], Centre for Colloid and Surface Science, Universita degli Studi di Firenze [UNIFI], Florence University, Italy)— has been used in Mexico for the consolidation of pre-Hispanic mural paintings with a pictorial layer that suffers from disaggregation and dustiness. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of this nano-material depends on a series of variables that are oftentimes ignored. This RESEARCH evaluates the intrinsic and extrinsic factors innate to mural paintings that bear upon the carbonation process of Nanorestore® with the purpose of leading future treatments towards optimal results.

16 PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTOR OF HBV INFECTION AMONG 4959 IMMIGRANTS FROM NON EU COUNTRIES IN ITALY

16 PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTOR OF HBV INFECTION AMONG 4959 IMMIGRANTS FROM NON EU COUNTRIES IN ITALY

Soft Magnetic Materials 19 Conference Co-Chairs' Foreword

HE 19th “Soft Magnetic Materials” Conference (SMM 19) was held from September 6–9, 2009 in Torino, Italy. The conference was organized by INRIM, the Italian Institute for Research in Metrology, in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino and Universita degli Studi di Torino. The Soft Magnetic Materials Conference, first established in 1973, provides a forum for discussion on properties and applications of soft magnets through a broad range of topics. It is the ideal environment for the presentation of the latest developments in the properties and applications of soft magnetic materials. Torino, the first capital of the unified Italian kingdom, is an important cultural and technological center, renowned for its baroque architecture, universities and research institutions, museums, winter sport facilities, superb wines, and cuisine. The Conference was held in the Torino Incontra Convention Center, centrally located in Torino and surrounded by the major historical and cultural attractions of the city. The conference dinner was held in the historical building of the University Rectorate, close to where notable men of science such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Friederich Nietzsche, J. L. Lagrange, Amedeo Avogadro, Giuseppe Peano, and Galileo Ferraris, among others, spent part of their life, advancing human knowledge into new unexplored realms of science and philosophy. Despite the widespread global economic downturn, the Conference was quite successful. We received more than 490 abstracts, with 360 accepted for presentation at the Conference. The Conference attracted more than 350 registered delegates from 33 countries, of which nearly 90 delegates were students. This makes SMM 19 the largest SMM conference ever. The large participation and in particular the remarkably high number of students confirm that the area of soft magnetic materials remains vital, with much potential for the future. There were twelve invited talks delivered from participants from university and industry; twenty shorter oral contributions and about 330 posters were presented. This issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS contains the conference-related papers that were accepted for publication after careful review carried out according to the usual IEEE standards. On Tuesday, September 8, a special oral session was held that featured the Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecture on spintronics by Hideo Ohno of Tohoku University, Japan, as well as a lecture about philosophical and historical aspects of magnetism presented by Vittorio Marchis, Politecnico di Torino. Both lectures were extremely interesting and very well received. This was a good service to the Magnetics Society, as more than 300 scientists from all over the world could discover and appreciate the value of the Distinguished Lecturer program. During the closing session on Wednesday, September 9, Ryusuke Hasegawa of Metglas presented a most stimulating general overview of the SMM 19 technical program. After the announcement of the three best student presentation awards, it was announced that the next Soft Magnetic Materials conference, SMM 20, will be organized in Athens, Greece, in 2011. Our best wishes to the organizers of SMM 20 for a most successful conference. The success of SMM 19 has been the result of the joint effort and dedication of all the researchers and students of the magnetics research group in Torino, and of the INRIM logistic and administrative support staff. Without their invaluable assistance it would not be possible to host a successful SMM 19 Conference. Our most sincere thanks to all of them.

Breaking news for the fifth year of Internal and Emergency Medicine

With this first issue of 2010 IEM is entering its fifth year of publication, and this is the fourth issue I have the honor to sign as Editor-in-Chief. As you can see, the Editorial Board has been renewed. Significant changes were introduced both in the composition and in the more general organization. First of all, we introduced a new Board in addition to the existing Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine ones. The reason of this reorganization is to take advantage of a wider panel of experts in a broader range of subdisciplines of Internal Medicine. The new Board deals with Clinical Evidence and Health Technology Assessment and will be chaired by the past Editor-in-Chief, Gian Franco Gensini. He will be supported by the Deputy Editor Lorenzo Moja and the joining members. I wish these colleagues success achievements in their new endeavor. Significant changes have also been introduced in the composition of the Editorial Board of Emergency Medicine, with the introduction of new European and American members, and in that of Internal Medicine. Finally, the International Advisory Board has been reintroduced and includes past and new collaborators of our journal. I wish to thank the past President of the Italian Society of Internal Medicine (SIMI), Giuseppe Licata, the new President Francesco Violi, and all the members of past and new SIMI Council for providing me their support. A special thank goes to the Co-Editor Peter Rosen for his continuous and precious job in leading the Emergency Section of the journal. Good news from the Publisher! Usage of IEM articles increased five times from 2007 to 2008. Moreover, in the period January–September, the 2009 growth ratio of full-text downloads reached 27%. PubMed linkouts number represents the number of links from PubMed to SpringerLink full-texts; this tool helps to increase the visibility and content’s dissemination of our journal. Comparing the data related to the period January– August, PubMed linkouts increased by 46% from 2008 to 2009. During 2009 we received about 250 submissions which is a good result for a relatively new journal. Thomson Reuters-ISI will assign a 2009 Impact Factor. Unfortunately, a technical problem due to a late official communication, did not allow us to receive an Impact factor already in 2008. We will receive the official 2009 communication next summer. This will represent an important starting point for planning future development of the journal. A new section edited by Peter Rosen and named Medical Illustration, started in the second half of 2009. It gathered the interest of the readers and several papers have already been received over the last months, carefully selected by the Co-Editor. I wish to remind you to consult author instructions which have been changed over 2009 and to prepare manuscripts strictly following the instructions on the journal website (http://www.springer.com/medicine/internal/ journal/11739). Please note that review articles are usually prepared by invited experts but also unsolicited high quality Reviews can be considered for publication. The journal accepts D. Prisco (&) Editor-in-Chief, Internal and Emergency Medicine, Dipartimento di Area Critica Medico Chirurgica, Universita degli Studi di Firenze, Viale Morgagni 85, 50134 Florence, Italy e-mail: priscod@aou-careggi.toscana.it

Pre-school children's attitudes to dogs in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom

University of Edinburgh, Edinbugh, United Kingdom; UNITEC New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand; Universita degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy; University of Edinburgh, Edinbugh, United Kingdom. Email: nelly.lakestani@ed.ac.uk The aim of this study was to assess young children’s attitudes to dogs in different European countries. Since exchange of information between the European countries is increasing, investigating differences in cultures is important for creating an effective European dog bite prevention program. A short questionnaire composed of 12 items was created to measure children’s attitudes to dogs. This was administered to 107 nursery school children (mean age = 4.5 years old) in Milan, Barcelona and Edinburgh. Parents were asked to fill in a form which included questions on pet ownership and whether the child had been bitten by a dog in the past. This study was carried out as part of a larger study measuring children’s ability to interpret dog behaviour. Reliability testing of the questionnaire yielded a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.77, suggesting that the questionnaire reliably measures preschool children’s attitudes to dogs. Children who owned dogs were found to have a more positive attitude to dogs than children who didn’t own dogs (U=1347, p<0.001). No significant differences in attitudes to dogs were found between: the different countries, dog bite victims and non-victims, boys and girls. Overall, children’s attitudes to dogs were positive. In addition, no correlation was found between children’s ability to interpret the behaviour of dogs and their attitudes to dogs. These results suggest that it is possible to measure very young children’s attitudes to dogs and that attitudes are positive across the three European cities tested. It will therefore be possible to use a single dog bite prevention programme for Italy, Spain and the UK, rather than having to modify it to suit different cultures.

British Aestheticism and Ancient Greece: Hellenism, Reception, Gods in Exile by Stefano Evangelista

846 Reviews of individual corpora and authorship within the fertile economy of sociable and artistic exchange which characterized late eighteenth-century literary elites in ge neral, and women's intellectual circles inparticular, is at the heart of Smith's choice to inventory and describe such a plethora of non-autograph material (transcripts, autograph books, commonplace books, epistolary references, portraits, tokens, and memorabilia), which makes a significant contribution to themultifaceted canvas of this book. In so doing, he conveys suggestive and intriguing information about the actual extent and variety ofMore's literary production, the innerworkings of her creative imagination, and 'the contemporary circulation and reception history of her writings' (p. xxiv). In line with his stated objectives, Smith identifies a wealth of undocumented autographs and transcripts of letters and poetic and prose fragments by More. He also charts, and this makes indeed for compelling reading for literary and cultural historians alike, themultiple migration' routes of her previously largely unfathomed epistolary and literarymanuscripts, tracing them back to public and private repositories in ninety-five British and North American locations and providing exhaustive and richly detailed records according to a template which improves on the Index ofEnglish LiteraryManuscripts and Letters, 4 vols (London: Mansell, 1980-93) (p. xxiv). Equally fascinating are the sections devoted to the other main objectives of Smith's work, namely, 'to undertake a preliminary reconstruction of her personal library [...], to offer a survey of her iconography that draws on unpublished manuscript sources, and to collect relics and forgotten anecdotes relating toMore' (p. xxiv), which he lists in a section called 'Moriana\ An 'indispensable reference work', as is claimed in the back matter, 'not only forMore scholars but for those researching the careers ofmany of her contem poraries', thiswell-researched and captivating book is a compelling example of theway inwhich meticulous and passionate archival investigation can rewardingly cross-fertilize more conventional 'literary' approaches to theworks of authors par ticipating in the still vibrant manuscript culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Universita degli Studi di Milano Lidia De Michelis British Aestheticism and Ancient Greece: Hellenism, Reception, Gods inExile. By Stefano Evangelista. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2009. xi+203 pp. ?50. ISBN 978-0-230-54711-7. Stefano Evangelistas 'contention is that the experience of ancient Greece stands at the very heart of literary aestheticism in its polemical and counter-cultural identities' (p. 2). The claim is,perhaps, scarcely contentious, but his tracing of the intertextual dialogue whereby Victorian aesthetes evoked aHellenic world for their own purposes succeeds in throwing fresh lighton something taken forgranted. The enabling influence of Winckelmann haunts British Aestheticism and Ancient Greece MLR, 105.3, 2010 847 throughout as Evangelista explores theways inwhich the eighteenth-century Hel lenophiles imaginative espousal of ancient Greek 'simplicity and grandeur (p. 26) inspiredWalter Pater and his followers first,tomount a 'counter-cultural' challenge to the prevailing ethos of austere, philologically based Greek scholarship within theAcademy, and thereafter to develop a fuller appreciation of theGreek past by returning to a primitive, Dionysian phase of its culture beyond the boundaries of Arnoldian sweetness and light. It is stimulating to discover less familiar writers on a par and in contention with canonical figures as, with sensitivity and insight, Evangelista charts the evolution ofHellenic debate in thework of Pater, Vernon Lee, 'Michael Field' (Edith Cooper and her aunt, Katharine Bradley), Wilde, and JohnAddington Symonds. What is less in evidence are detailed and precise indications of themanner inwhich their radicalism engaged with and endeavoured to subvert the conservative forces of late Victorian culture. Allusions to 'Victorian values' (p. 74), 'theVictorian double-standard' (p. 97), for example, leave one wanting more, and on a broader frontnot all references toHegel are as clear as theymight be. It is useful to point out the backward-looking, Greek provenance of Pater's famous 'Conclusion* to The Renaissance as a corrective to our seeing it as some type of proto-modernist manifesto, but what immediately strikes the reader is how its insistence on life's transience sets itselfagainst Christian norms. Itwould be unfair, however, to criti cize Evangelista for the book he did not intend towrite, but acknowledged pressure of space hardly excuses the brief reference to Wilde's 'The...

Milton and the Victorians by Erik Gray

MLR, 105.2, 2010 537 impairing literary historical periodization' (pp. 168-69). It is a fact that literary history is habitually organized by authors' birth dates, whereas itwould look ra dically different iforganized by authors' death dates' (p. 169).To give an example: JaneAusten (1775-1817) andWalter Scott (1771-1832) would come before Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) and Fanny Burney (1752-1840). In pursuit of her purpose, after a very richly textured introduction, Looser dedi cates a chapter to Frances Burney and Maria Edgeworth, and then single chapters to Catharine Macauley, to JaneAusten, to Hester Lynch Piozzi, to Anna Letitia Barbauld, and to JanePorter: all of them, except JaneAusten, lived to considerable and even advanced old age (between sixty-one and eighty-eight), which brings the reader towonder in the firstplace why a chapter should be dedicated toAusten, who lived only to be forty-two: in this case Looser definitely turns her interest to narrative characters, and precisely to old maids, whose peculiar plight, however, is contained within quite loose age-brackets, not necessarily definable as belonging to old age'. This uncertainty of a theoretical scheme does not mean that Looser does not supply interesting observations on JaneAusten's old maids, characters such as Emmas Miss Bates, 'her [Austen's] most visible old maid' (p. 77), and Persuasions Anne Elliot (both not really old at all, but simply as yet unmarried); from these Looser takes her lead to communicate to us her many findings in publications concerning old maids, such as the periodical The Old Maid (thirty-seven issues in 1755-56, written by Frances Brookes) or The Philosophical Historical and Moral Essay on Old Maids, published in 1785 byWilliam Hayley. Although Looser's assumptions may not be shared by every reader, the book is so well informed and ends with such a vast bibliography that everyone stands to learn by it. Universita degli Studi di Milano Marialuisa Bignami Milton and theVictorians. By Erik Gray. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2009. ix+183 pp. ?21.95. ISBN 978-0-8014-4680-1. This book belongs in the traditions ofAndrew Elfenbein's Byron and theVictorians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) and Adrian Poole's Shakespeare and theVictorians (London: Arden, 2004), and in that ofHarold Bloom, The Anxi etyofInfluence: A Theory ofPoetry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), which, of course, posited Milton as theRomantics' major precursor. While being tentative about themeaning of influence, Erik Gray startswith the stark difference between theVictorians and theway that the Romantics needed Milton and rewrote him: the detail about the rifling ofMilton's coffin in 1790, as told in a contemporary pamphlet by Philip Neve, A Narrative of theDisinterment of Milton s Coffin, is a fascinating reminder of a baroque appeal within Romanticism; Gray refers to the pamphlet, perhaps underplaying its significances. He uses, for theRomantics' dual Milton, Lucy Newlyn's 'Paradise Lost' and theRomantic Reader (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993): theRomantics sawMilton doubly, as both authoritarian and a figure of negative capability (p. 8). In contrast, theVictorians used Milton, and cited him, 538 Reviews much more diffusely. Immediately the point is stated, it seems right:where Milton is cited byVictorian poets, it isoften in latent form, among many other Renaissance poets. Itdoes not seem possible to see the same degree of unmistakable influence, a point which Gray keeps returning to, in thisvery gentle and scholarly book, which gives plenty of space to readingMilton without coming to a definite conclusion why it should be so, and leaves it, therefore, as an issue to be developed further: how did modernism's reaction toVictorian poetry include a relationship toMilton? Milton in thenineteenth century gains a new lifeas a result of the discovery, and publication, in translation out of Latin, of Christian Doctrine (1825), which gener atesMacaulay's defence ofMilton in theEdinburgh Review. There are chapters on 'theVictorian Milton', and onMilton as Classic andMilton as Bible, which includes work on Christina Rossetti ('Milton I cannot warm towards', p. 45), and Hopkins, who, disliking Milton fiercelyforhis theology and views on marriage, defines him as a classic, in that it seems that everything in the poetry necessitates everything else, making a firstreading of the poem impossible, because it seems to have been heard...

Direct and indirect utilitarianism in Bentham’s theory of adjudication

Download this article . Francesco Ferraro graduated in Philosophy at Universita degli Studi di Pisa and received a PhD in Analytical Legal Philosophy and Jurisprudence at Universita degli Studi di Milano, where he currently holds a post-doc position. His doctoral thesis focused on Bentham's theory of adjudication and the role of the judges. A book developing this thesis is due to be published this year, with the title Il giudice utilitarista. Flessibilita e tutela della aspettative nel pensiero giuridico di Jeremy Bentham ('The Utilitarian Judge. Flexibility and Protection of Expectations in Jeremy Bentham's Legal Thought').

News, Announcements, and IASP

The 13th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour (ESSSB), entitled “Integrating Knowledge for an Interdisciplinary Approach to Suicidology and Suicide Prevention,” is taking place September 1–4, 2010, in Rome, Italy. The 13th ESSSB aims at investigating possible modalities and paths of communication, favoring aggregation and interplay at a more complex level of structurization of suicidology, with the ulimative scope of harmonizing its articulate development. This symposium is organized by the Universita degli Studi del Molise and is held under auspices of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP).

IL RILIEVO INTEGRATO: OCCASIONE DI APPROFONDIMENTO ED AGGIORNAMENTO PROFESSIONALE

La richiesta di aggiornamento sulle piu recenti tecnologie di rilievo ed acquisizione di dati tridimensionali ha indotto il Laboratorio di Geomatica del Dipartimento di Costruzioni e Restauro dell’Universita degli Studi di Firenze ad organizzare il Primo Corso di Perfezionamento in “Geomatica per la Conservazione dei Beni Culturali”. Geomatics research group of DiCR Geomatics research group of DiCR – Department of Costruction and Restoration of University of Florence, held a Postgraduate Course in “Geomatics for Cultural Heritage Conservation” that ran from January to April 2010. Course contents was: Measure and Architecture, 3D Scanning Systems, Laser Scanning and 3D Modelling, Digital Close Range Photogrammetry, Termography and Metric Survey at Urban Scale and Digital Cartography. In addition to lectures, there was laboratories on data acquisition, evaluation and processing. Final workshop took place in Villa Demidoff at Pratolino, with regard of cooperation agreement between DiCR and Florence Provincial Council. Survey concerned the Paggeria exterior and facade and the Chapel by Buontalenti. Survey project was briefed to make as effective as possible the use of all different acquisition and 3D data processing techniques studied during lectures. The course will be replied on 2011.

Some remarks on PM2.5

Since 1970, the General Physics Department of «Universita degli Studi di Torino» has carried out a project research, on inorganic solid particulate matter. The special issue of Annals of Geophysics, published for Professor Giorgio Fiocco?s 70th birthday, gives us the possibility to make some important remarks on this topic, focusing on PM2.5. This has been possible using all the old and new experimental data of the measures made by the authors of this paper since 1970.

The Reform of Contract in France: Projects and Perspectives Foggia 9 - 10 October 2009 (La Réforme du Droit des Contrats en France: Projets et Perspectives Foggia, 9 - 10 Octobre 2009)

University of Foggia (Universita degli Studi di Foggia - Facolta di Giurisprudenza) in collaboration with the PhD program in legal general theory hosted, from 9th to 10th October 2009, the Bilateral Conference The Reform of Contract in France: Projects and Perspectives.In reaction to the European debate on the harmonisation of contract law and in attempting to strengthen the prestige of the Civil Code, to be considered as a possible model, French scholars are intensively working on the reform of Title III of Book III on Obligations. From 2006 until now, three main projects have been submitted for public debate. However, now, it has been left to the Ministry of Justice to elaborate the most recent version and give effect to the reforms. different proposals aim to offer alternative rules to the existing regime, taking, most of all, into consideration the major innovations enhanced by the Cour de Cassation's case law and the implementation of EU legislation, bearing in mind the solutions adopted in the most important comparative studies concerning the harmonisation of European contract.This paper gives a general summary of the main issues raised on the origins, the evolutions and the tools of this historical reform, by enriching the dialogue between Italian and French eminent scholars. Moving from a presentation of the general principles that have been declared as principes directeurs of contract law, the conference discussion firstly touched upon the major concern regarding the actual role of the cause and its perspectives. Alongside this, it was illustrated that the different projects present mitigated solutions concerning the introduction of the imprevision, traditionally rejected by courts and the legislator, and seem to take into account, in some circumstances, the imbalance of the contract. Finally, the evolution of the impact of reforms on the external effects of contract, having regard to other such as interdependent contracts and to effects on third parties, was discussed. As a consequence, the main doubt raised was whether or not it can be taken that the reforms are simply trying to tout changer pour que rien ne bouge…Therefore, in closing the working sessions, Prof. Iudica argued that the reform movement witnessed in France corresponds to a broader apprehension at the European level on the process of harmonisation of contract law. Regarding this phenomenon, with some scepticism, he wondered if, ultimately, a reform of existing contract law must really be seen as an impelling requirement at the national and European level, in view of the concrete expectations of those who are actually addressed by these set rules.

Reflections on the Revision of the IASB Framework by EAA Academics

The paper has been developed as part of the deliberations of the European Accounting Association Financial Reporting Standards Committee (EAA FRSC) on the IASB Conceptual Framework project. Members of the EAA FRSC are—in alphabetical order—Graeme Dean (The University of Sydney), Lisa Evans (University of Stirling), Gunther Gebhardt (Chair, Goethe Universitat Frankfurt am Main), Martin Hoogendoorn (RSM Erasmus-University), Jan Marton (Goteborg University), Ken Peasnell (Lancaster University), Roberto Di Pietra (Universita degli Studi di Siena), Araceli Mora (Universidad de Valencia), Frank Thinggard (Aalborg University) and Alfred Wagenhofer (Karl-Franzens-Universitat Graz).

Focused-ion beam fabrication of nanometer orifices for leak detection

The leak devices most frequently used to calibrate leak-detection instruments are permeation leaks. These devices are very sensitive to temperature and can only be used with helium. The physical-leak types that could overcome this limits are prone to clog and their minimum size (about 1 μm) limits their applicability in the lowest flow range. Here, the authors propose a fabrication technique by means of focused-ion beam with which, in suitable materials, they are able to produce nanometer orifices. These devices [Università degli Studi di Genova, Italian Patent No., TO2008A000683 (18 September 2008)] work in the molecular-flow regime up to atmospheric pressure and do not clog. Other advantageous characteristics are the possibility of obtaining leak rates in the range equal to those of the permeation type and the linear dependence of the throughput on the inlet pressure.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension

In Internal and Emergency Medicine, Wu and coworkers [1] review the topic of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Overall, their article is sound and pertinent; however, some issues deserve comments. First, the value of chest radiography in the diagnostic process is somewhat overlooked. As pointed out by the authors, a prominent pulmonary artery trunk, or enlargement of the right heart cavities are strongly suggestive of pulmonary arterial hypertension. However, chest radiography also provides valuable information as regards chronic left heart failure, which is often associated with elevated pulmonary artery pressure. Chronic left heart failure is manifested on the chest radiograph by enlargement of the left heart cavities, dilated upper lobe vessels, and interstitial edema [2]. Therefore, chest radiography should be firmly incorporated in the diagnostic workup of suspected pulmonary arterial hypertension for it offers important clues to differentiate precapillary from post-capillary pulmonary hypertension. Transthoracic echocardiography is often inaccurate in estimating pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP). This is clearly borne out by a recent prospective study of 65 patients, suspected of having pulmonary arterial hypertension, who underwent Doppler echocardiography (DE) and right heart catheterization (RHC) within 1 h of the other test [3]. In that study, estimates of PASP by DE are considered ‘‘accurate’’ if they fall within 10 mmHg of the value measured by RHC. In the study, echocardiographic estimates of PASP could be rated accurately in only 48% of the patients, underestimation occurring in 25%, and overestimation in 27% [3]. There was a significant, positive correlation between DE estimates and actual measurements of PASP at RHC, with a correlation coefficient of 0.66. Nevertheless, the correlation coefficient is simply a measure of an association between two variables, and not of the agreement between two methods of measuring a given variable [4]. Failure to understand this, may lead to serious misconception of the value of any diagnostic method in clinical practice [4]. The inaccuracy of DE in estimating PASP is often due to a poor visualization of the tricuspid regurgitation jet, or because of an unreliable estimation of the right atrial pressure from the compressibility of the inferior vena cava [3]. Thus, even though echocardiography is a useful noninvasive screening tool, physicians should not be overly reliant on DE estimates of PASP in their approach to patients with suspected pulmonary arterial hypertension, or in assessing changes of PASP in response to therapy. Escalation therapy with dual or multimodal medication regimens is considered standard of care by current treatment guidelines for pulmonary hypertension [1]. In a recent cohort study, 821 patients with established pulmonary arterial hypertension received bosentan as the initial treatment, and were followed up to 3 years [5]. Of the 190 patients who died during follow-up, only 21 (11%) had been escalated to prostanoid therapy. The fact that 89% of the patients who expired did so without being escalated to prostanoids is of concern. Possible explanations of such an unexpected finding are: (a) inadequate characterization of patients at inclusion; (b) insufficient knowledge of treatment options by the prescribing physicians; (c) reluctance to adhere to treatment guidelines M. Miniati (&) Dipartimento di Area Critica Medico Chirurgica, Universita degli Studi di Firenze, Viale Morgagni 85, 50134 Florence, Italy e-mail: Massimo.Miniati@unifi.it

Experiments of Formation Control With Multirobot Systems Using the Null-Space-Based Behavioral Control

In this paper, the experimental validation of a behavior-based technique for multirobot systems (MRSs), namely, the Null-Space-based Behavioral (NSB) control, is presented. The NSB strategy, inherited from the singularity-robust task-priority inverse kinematics for industrial manipulators, has been recently proposed for the execution of different formation-control missions with MRSs. In this paper, focusing on the experimental details, the validation of the approach is achieved by performing different experimental missions, in presence of static and dynamic obstacles, with a team of grounded mobile robots available at the Laboratorio di Automazione Industriale of the Universita degli Studi di Cassino.

Extended endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal approach for residual or recurrent craniopharyngiomas

The management of recurrent or residual craniopharyngiomas remains controversial. Although possible, revision surgery is more challenging than primary surgery, and more often results in incomplete resection and an increased risk of death and complications. The extended (also called expanded) endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal approach through the planum sphenoidale has been proposed over the past decade as an alternative surgical route for removal of various suprasellar tumors including craniopharyngiomas. In this study, the authors describe the feasibility and advantages of this technique in recurrent or symptomatic residual craniopharyngiomas. Between January 2004 and June 2008, 22 patients underwent surgery via the extended endoscopic transsphenoidal approach for the treatment of recurrent or residual symptomatic craniopharyngiomas at either the University of Pittsburgh or the Universita degli Studi di Napoli. The lesions included 12 purely suprasellar craniopharyngiomas, 9 with both intra- and suprasellar extensions, and 1 arising from a remnant in the Meckel cave. To better evaluate the features of the extended endonasal approach for recurrent or residual craniopharyngiomas, each patient was assigned to 1 of 3 subgroups depending on the original surgical treatment: transcranial pterional route (13 patients), transphenoidal approach (3 patients; 2 microsurgically and 1 with the standard endoscopic technique), or extended endonasal endoscopic approach (6 patients). Total removal was achieved in 9 patients (40.9%), and in 8 patients (36.4%) near-total removal (defined as >95% removal) was possible. Subtotal removal (>70%) was attained in 4 patients (18.2%), and tumor removal was partial (<50%) in only 1 case (4.5%). There were no deaths or major complications, including behavior changes. Postoperative CSF leaks developed in 2 patients in the transcranial subgroup, and 1 in the transsphenoidal subgroup (overall rate 13.6%), requiring early successful endoscopic revision surgery for the cranial base defect. Most of the advantages of the endoscopic endonasal technique were noted during tumor dissection from the inferior aspect of the chiasm, the infundibulum, the third ventricle, and/or the retro- and parasellar areas. These benefits were best appreciated in patients who had originally undergone transcranial surgery, since in such cases the authors' endoscopic endonasal approach was a virgin route. However, the extended endoscopic endonasal technique can also be safely used in patients who originally underwent transsphenoidal surgery. The endoscopic endonasal technique should be considered as a therapeutic option in selected cases of recurrent or symptomatic residual craniopharyngiomas.

Demicheleite-(Cl), BiSCl, a new mineral from La Fossa crater, Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy

Demicheleite, ideally BiSBr, is the first natural bismuth sulfohalogenide so far discovered. It is identical with the corresponding and analogous synthetic compound and is one of the very few minerals where bromine is an essential component. It was found in an active high-temperature fumarole at the rim of La Fossa crater, Vulcano Island, Aeolian archipelago, Sicily, Italy. The mineral occurs as prismatic translucent crystals up to 0.5 mm in size in an altered pyroclastic breccia, together with pseudocotunnite, bismoclite, bismuthinite, cotunnite, and challacolloite. The mineral is orthorhombic, space group Pnam , with a = 8.0424(9), b = 9.8511(11), and c = 4.0328(5) A, V = 319.50(6) A3, Z = 4 (from single crystal); the habit is prismatic with {110} and {210} as prevailing forms, terminated by minor faces of another prism {011}, a pinacoid {010}, and a bipyramid {111}.The color is dark red to black; the streak is red; the luster submetallic. Non-fluorescent. Tenacity: brittle. Cleavage and fracture: not observed. The calculated density is 6.312 g/cm3. The chemical analysis obtained by EDS microprobe gave (wt%) Bi 67.6(4), Br 17.4(7), Cl 4.1(4), I 0.6(1), S 10.1(1), total 99.8, corresponding to the empirical formula (based on 3 apfu): Bi0.99S0.97(Br0.67Cl0.35I0.02)∑=1.04 The crystal structure has been refined to a final R index of 0.037 and contains Bi in sevenfold coordination at the center of a monocapped trigonal prism. By sharing the triangular bases, such polyhedra form rows extending along [001]. These rows are connected to symmetry-related rows by sharing S-S edges of the pyramidal caps; these double rows are connected to each other by sharing Br/Cl atoms. The bond lengths are close to those of the synthetic counterparts BiSBr and BiSCl, with Bi-S bonds 2.593(3) and 2.720(2) A long and Bi-Br/Cl bonds 3.009(1) and 3.488(2) A long. The strongest 6 lines in the X-ray powder diffraction pattern [ d obs(A) ( I ) hkl ] are: 4.220 (68) (120), 3.740 (62) (210), 2.909 (100) (121), 2.036 (47) (321), 1.865 (63) (022), and 1.774 (88) (411). The mineral is named after Vincenzo de Michele (b. 1936), former curator of the Section of Mineralogy of the Museo di Storia Naturale, Milano, Italy. Both the mineral and the mineral name have been approved by the IMA Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (IMA 2007-022). The type specimen is deposited (no. 2007-1) in the Reference Collection of Dipartimento di Chimica Strutturale e Stereochimica Inorganica of Universita degli Studi di Milano.