Search

En el presente trabajo se estudió la remoción de iones divalentes en solución acuosa utilizando un residuo agroindustrial como material adsorbente. Los metales en estudio fueron Cu (II), Zn (II) y Ni (II), mientras que las cáscaras de maní fueron la biomasa utilizada. Para su uso como adsorbente, las cáscaras se secaron a 100°C, se molieron y se separaron por tamaño de partícula descartando aquellas mayores a 1000 μm. Luego fueron analizadas mediante diversas técnicas para determinar sus características fisicoquímicas y ambientales: SEM-EDS, XRD, FTIR, pH, SBET, entre otras. Las pruebas de adsorción se llevaron a cabo en batch, colocando 100 ml de solución de concentración conocida de los metales, preparada en laboratorio, en contacto con la biomasa. Las cáscaras con el metal retenido se utilizaron como material formador de poros en matrices cerámicas, buscando de esta manera inmovilizar los metales retenidos. Los valores de las experiencias de adsorción, que presentan la máxima remoción, son: para el cobre 30.2%, para el cinc 75.4%, y para el níquel 65.9%. Los resultados de este estudio muestran que las cáscaras de maní pueden ser utilizadas como un material biosorbente efectivo, ecológico y de bajo costo para eliminar los iones de cobre, cinc y níquel, en solución acuosa. También muestran que, a elevadas concentraciones, como el caso del cobre, aparentemente se produce la saturación de la biomasa en metal, mientras que, a concentraciones más bajas, se alcanza el equilibrio de adsorción. Los productos cerámicos obtenidos a partir de arcilla, y de mezclas de arcilla con 10% de cáscaras de maní con los diferentes metales, presentan propiedades similares.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the outcomes of a children's asthma management education program delivered through a community-university partnership. DESIGN Quasi-experimental pretest/posttest. SAMPLE Convenience sample of 50 children with asthma, grades 2-5, and their parent/caregiver from nine elementary schools in New York State. MEASUREMENTS Child Asthma Management Self-Efficacy Survey, Child Asthma Control Test© , Parent Asthma Knowledge Test. INTERVENTION Nursing students certified as Open Airways for Schools facilitators administered the program once weekly for 5 weeks. Parent handouts were sent home after each session. Pre/posttests for all measures were completed prior to Open Airways and at completion. RESULTS Improved asthma management self-efficacy (p

Objective This study was conducted to explore if environmental factors co-occur in areas with high asthma rates in Head Start (HS) children. Design Descriptive. Sample Convenience sample of 56 children with asthma enrolled in HS, ages 3-5 years. Measurements Geographic Information Systems using ArcGIS 10.4 was used to geocode and map aggregated address data at the census tract level through vector map analysis. Location, race, economic status, pollution remediation sites, age of housing, and blood lead levels were assessed for areas with high asthma concentration. Results Most children with asthma resided in one census tract, which was 1% of the total service area. Fifty-six percent of housing was built before 1960 with only 10% after 1990, suggesting deteriorating conditions. Pollution remediation sites were found in the vicinity of asthma cases. Elevated lead levels were found in 22% of all HS children; specific values for the children with asthma were not available. Conclusion Several co-occurring factors were identified. The need for proactive interventions to decrease asthma risk/poor asthma outcomes with HS is evident. GIS locates children with high susceptibility to asthma. This allows public health nurses to target interventions and educate and empower families about environmental exposures and asthma risk factors.

In search to identify extremely stable materials to perform the collimation function of the 7-TeV proton beam halo at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), oxide dispersion strengthened (DS) copper alloys were explored. These internally oxidized copper alloys known as GlidCop are also leading candidates for high heat flux applications in fusion reactors and as divertor and first wall structure in ITER. These considerations have led to an extensive body of research on neutron-induced changes in the microstructure and physio-mechanical properties. This study focused primarily on the damage induced by 200 MeV protons on as wrought and cold-worked GlidCop Al15 DS copper ally selected as a candidate material of the LHC beam collimation structure to damage levels up to ∼10 displacements-per-atom (dpa) and irradiation temperatures up to ∼600 °C. For reference, low dose spallation neutron damage at sub-zero irradiation temperature was included in the study. Proton irradiation effects on dimensional stability, mechanical behavior, electrical resistivity and X-ray diffraction-based microstructural changes are presented in the paper. GlidCop Al15 exhibited excellent thermal stability and superior to pure Cu resistance to conductivity loss. Proton irradiation-induced hardening and embrittlement at distinct irradiation temperature regimes were shown to follow similar trends to what was reported under neutron exposure to even higher dpa damage. At T$_{\tt{irr}}$ ∼600 ± 20 °C the cold-worked DS copper alloy exhibited softening accompanied by elongation reduction while at T$_{\tt{irr}}$ ∼200 ± 10 °C the as-wrought experienced hardening with elongation increase. High resolution X-ray diffraction revealed that even low-dose neutron irradiation has a strong influence on the size and distribution of dispersed Al$_2$O$_3$ particles.

Carbon fiber composites (CFC) are, among other applications, already in use as low-impedance collimating elements for intercepting TeV-level protons machines, like the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Towards a comprehensive understanding of these materials’ properties and behavior, a series of radiation damage campaigns have been undertaken in order to quantitively investigate the response of AC-150 K CFC to high proton fluences. The CFCs dimensional changes, stability, micro-structural evolution, and structural integrity below and above 5 × 1020 p/cm2 fluence threshold were studied. The irradiating particles were protons of kinetic energies in the range of 130–200 MeV. The effects of the irradiation temperature (~90–180 °C and 280–500 °C) combined with the proton fluence on the dimensional stability and the microstructural evolution of this anisotropic two-dimensional composite structure were studied using precision dilatometry and X-ray diffraction. Our results shed light on the fluence-based limitations for these composite materials. Furthermore, we compare these results with reference unirradiated graphite, and we discuss the similarities and differences in the dimensional changes and post-irradiation annealing properties.

The High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) has prompted the investigation of novel materials for beam-intercepting devices, and in particular for the collimators responsible for protecting the machine from beam losses. The HL-LHC collimation system will inevitably experience increased levels of radiation damage and undergo changes in their crucial physio-mechanical properties. Graphite-matrix composite materials containing molybdenum carbide particles, along with small amounts of titanium carbide, were developed with the objective of enhanced in-beam performance and tested under proton irradiation. The physical degradation observed in early grades of molybdenum carbide compounds, even after modest proton fluences, has prompted the development of advanced compounds. In this work, we examine the effects of proton irradiation on the microstructural and thermophysical properties of new grades of Molybdenum-carbide-graphite compounds up to fluences of ~2 × 1020 p/cm2. We employ a combination of precision dilatometry and high-energy X-ray diffraction to quantify the dimensional stability and crystallographic phase evolution both pre- and post-irradiation. Our results reveal that these new compounds exhibit superior resilience to radiation damage than their predecessors.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is built to collide intense proton beams with an unprecedented energy of 7 TeV. The design stored energy per beam of 362 MJ makes the LHC beams highly destructive, so that any beam losses risk to cause quenches of superconducting magnets or damage to accelerator components. Collimators are installed to protect the machine and they define a minimum normalized aperture, below which no other element is allowed. This imposes a limit on the achievable luminosity, since when squeezing β*β* (the β-function at the collision point) to smaller values for increased luminosity, the β -function in the final focusing system increases. This leads to a smaller normalized aperture that risks to go below the allowed collimation aperture. In the first run of the LHC, this was the main limitation on β*β*, which was constrained to values above the design specification. In this article, we show through theoretical and experimental studies how tighter collimator openings and a new optics with specific phase-advance constraints allows a β*β* as small as 40 cm, a factor 2 smaller than β*β*=80 cm used in 2015 and significantly below the design value β*β*=55 cm, in spite of a lower beam energy. The proposed configuration with β*β*=40 cm has been successfully put into operation and has been used throughout 2016 as the LHC baseline. The decrease in β*β* compared to 2015 has been an essential contribution to reaching and surpassing, in 2016, the LHC design luminosity for the first time, and to accumulating a record-high integrated luminosity of around 40 fb−1 in one year, in spite of using less bunches than in the design.

Ten million children in the United States have asthma. Since children are in school about 6 hr a day, school nurses are positioned to intervene and influence asthma outcomes. A descriptive correlational study was designed to investigate performance of school nurses’ asthma management behaviors in relationship to asthma knowledge, asthma attitude, asthma self-efficacy, and rating of importance of asthma management behaviors. Results indicated that asthma attitude, asthma self-efficacy, and rating of importance of asthma management behaviors were associated with performance of asthma management behaviors. The higher the rating of importance of asthma management behaviors, the more likely school nurses were to perform the behaviors ( p < .05). Higher levels of asthma self-efficacy were associated with performance of asthma management behaviors, indicating the importance of strengthening school nurses’ asthma self-efficacy in asthma management. By understanding factors influencing performance of asthma management behaviors by school nurses, interventions can be implemented to increase asthma management behaviors, leading to improved outcomes for students with asthma.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to understand how self-management behaviors of the adolescent with asthma are influenced by the perceived expectations (normative beliefs/subjective norms) for self-management behaviors from healthcare providers, school nurses, teachers, family and friends. SAMPLE: Seven rural adolescents (five males and two females with an age range of 13-17 years) METHOD: Focus groups were conducted with analysis for common themes influencing management behaviors. RESULTS: The majority of participants perceived provider and parental expectations for asthma management as only consisting of medication compliance. The students did not report any perceived expectations from the school nurse except independent inhaler use. There was no expectation to report use to the school nurse. The participants felt that their teachers were not aware of their asthma diagnosis; therefore, no expectations were noted. Expectations from peers had no influence on self-management behaviors. CONCLUSION: The results from this study demonstrate the influence of the expectations for asthma self-management by significant people in the adolescents’ life. The adolescents in this study were unable to identify what behaviors they needed to perform in order to control their asthma. Except for taking their prescribed medications, no other behaviors were addressed by their health care provider, parents, friends or school nurse. The lack of expectation for other self-management behaviors that are essential for asthma control, such as knowledge of asthma symptoms, trigger avoidance and when to seek help during an asthma attack may be a leading contributor for uncontrolled asthma. Asthma action plans, if consistently used by health care providers, parents and schools, can reinforce the expectation for behaviors that will result in good asthma outcomes.KEYWORDS: Asthma, Adolescent, Self-management, Theory of Planned Behavior, PolicyDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v14i2.281

A comprehensive study on the effects of energetic protons on carbon-fiber composites and compounds under consideration for use as low-Z pion production targets in future high-power accelerators and low-impedance collimating elements for intercepting TeV-level protons at the Large Hadron Collider has been undertaken addressing two key areas, namely, thermal shock absorption and resistance to irradiation damage., Comment: 20 pp

High temperature refractory materials and alloys including Mo and TZM have been considered and studied to assess their applicability in fusion reactor applications in addition to spallation targets in particle accelerators. The impacts of neutron, proton and ion irradiation on the properties and microstructure of pure Mo and its combination TZM have been evaluated through illumination damage studies. Cold-worked molybdenum (CW half), described by a microstructure comprising of non-consistently extended grains, has been considered for use in the Large Hadron Collider 7 TeV shaft halo cleaning framework has incited the present investigation. To assess the degradation of key physio-mechanical properties of the cold-worked structure following protracted exposure to proton irradiation as well as the impact of the irradiation temperature on the degradation irradiations with 200 MeV protons at 960°C to fluencies $\sim 2 \times 10^{21}$ p/cm$^{2}$ and with 28 MeV at below 600°C to fluency of $\sim 6 \times 10^{20}$ p/cm$^{2}$ were performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory. High energy X-rays at the NSLS and NSLS II synchrotrons were utilized in the post-irradiation evaluation (PIE) to assess the evolution of the microstructure. It was revealed that the cold-worked Mo and in agreement with neutron irradiation studies at high temperatures, suffers serious reduction in tensile strength due to the evolution of defects into dislocation networks. Further, irradiation at temperatures near the full re-crystallization temperature of the cold-worked structure removes the texture of the microstructure induced by cold working.

The crystal structures of 8-phenoxycarbonyl-1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-enium chloride, C16H21N2O2+·Cl−, (I), and 8-methoxycarbonyl-1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-enium chloride monohydrate, C11H19N2O2+·Cl−·H2O, (II), recently reported by Carafa, Mesto & Quaranta [Eur. J. Org. Chem.(2011), pp. 2458–2465], are analysed and discussed with a focus on crystal interaction assembly. Both compounds crystallize in the space groupP21/c. The crystal packings are characterized by dimers linked through π–π stacking interactions and intermolecular nonclassical hydrogen bonds, respectively. Additional intermolecular C—H...Cl interactions [in (I) and (II)] and classical O—H...Cl hydrogen bonds [in (II)] are also evident and contribute to generating three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded networks.

Asthma rates are increasing in children. School nurses have opportunities to care for children with asthma but need to overcome barriers impacting their ability to manage asthma in the school setting. This study (a) assessed barriers present in the school setting, (b) determined the impact of barriers on performance of asthma management behaviors, and (c) determined the impact of barriers on importance ratings of asthma management behaviors, asthma self-efficacy, and asthma attitudes (N = 537). Results revealed 72% of the nurses reported at least one barrier. As numbers of barriers increased, performance of asthma management behaviors decreased. Significant relationships were found between specific asthma management behaviors and specific barriers. No significant relationships were found between barriers and asthma self-efficacy, asthma attitude, or importance ratings of asthma management behaviors. Removing barriers may allow the nurse to perform at greatest effectiveness, enhancing the positive outcomes that result from appropriate asthma management.

In conjunction with a community partnership with the American Lung Association, the Broome County Health Department, the Asthma Coalition of the Southern Tier, and the Decker School of Nursing, the American Lung Association’s Open Airways for Schools program was integrated into a nursing curriculum and implemented by nursing students in several local elementary schools. Analysis of pretest/posttest data demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in asthma self-management for the students enrolled in the program. Improvements included knowing when to take medicine, ability to determine when they might start to wheeze or cough, ability to identify asthma triggers at home or at school, ability to remember the steps to take when having asthma symptoms, ability to stay calm during an asthma episode, ability to talk with their teacher about asthma and classroom triggers, ability to determine when to go to school with asthma symptoms, and ability to know when to contact the doctor or go to the emergency room ( P < .05). Feelings about having asthma also demonstrated improvement ( P < .05). No significant findings were found for knowing how much asthma medicine to take or being able to tell an adult that they are having asthma symptoms. Results of this study suggest that a collaborative partnership with a school of nursing has the potential to affect the health status of the community and provide sustainability for those activities that created the positive change. Integrating Open Airways into a nursing curriculum addresses a well-documented need for increased asthma management education for the student with asthma.

The CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is designed to collide proton beams of unprecedented energy, in order to extend the frontiers of high-energy particle physics. During the first very successful running period in 2010-2013, the LHC was routinely storing protons at 3.5-4 TeV with a total beam energy of up to 146 MJ, and even higher stored energies are foreseen in the future. This puts extraordinary demands on the control of beam losses. An uncontrolled loss of even a tiny fraction of the beam could cause a superconducting magnet to undergo a transition into a normal-conducting state, or in the worst case cause material damage. Hence a multistage collimation system has been installed in order to safely intercept high-amplitude beam protons before they are lost elsewhere. To guarantee adequate protection from the collimators, a detailed theoretical understanding is needed. This article presents results of numerical simulations of the distribution of beam losses around the LHC that have leaked out of the collimation system. The studies include tracking of protons through the fields of more than 5000 magnets in the 27 km LHC ring over hundreds of revolutions, and Monte Carlo simulations of particle-matter interactions both in collimators and machine elements being hit by escaping particles. The simulation results agree typically within a factor 2 with measurements of beam loss distributions from the previous LHC run. Considering the complex simulation, which must account for a very large number of unknown imperfections, and in view of the total losses around the ring spanning over 7 orders of magnitude, we consider this an excellent agreement. Our results give confidence in the simulation tools, which are used also for the design of future accelerators., peer-reviewed

Background: There is little information on the incidence of AIDS-defining events which have been reported in the literature to be associated with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation. These events include tuberculosis, mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), cryptococcosis and candidiasis. Methods: We identified individuals in the HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration, which includes data from six European countries and the US, who were HIV-positive between 1996 and 2013, antiretroviral therapy naive, aged at least 18 years, hadCD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA measurements and had been AIDS-free for at least 1 month between those measurements and the start of follow-up. For each AIDS-defining event, we estimated the hazard ratio for no cART versus less than 3 and at least 3 months since cART initiation, adjusting for time-varying CD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA via inverse probability weighting. Results: Out of 96 562 eligible individuals (78% men) with median (interquantile range) follow-up of 31 [13,65] months, 55 144 initiated cART. The number of cases varied between 898 for tuberculosis and 113 for PML. Compared with non-cART initiation, the hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals) up to 3 months after cART initiation were 1.21 (0.90-1.63) for tuberculosis, 2.61 (1.05-6.49) for MAC, 1.17 (0.34-4.08) for CMV retinitis, 1.18 (0.62-2.26) for PML, 1.21 (0.83-1.75) for HSV, 1.18 (0.87-1.58) for Kaposi sarcoma, 1.56 (0.82-2.95) for NHL, 1.11 (0.56-2.18) for cryptococcosis and 0.77 (0.40-1.49) for candidiasis. Conclusion: With the potential exception of mycobacterial infections, unmasking IRIS does not appear to be a common complication of cART initiation in high-income countries. © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Recovery from flue gases is a technology that can contribute to the mitigation of carbon dioxide pollution. In this paper we discuss the present status and future trends of the utilization of carbon dioxide, an option for the end use of the recovered gas.

The sol-gel route was employed to obtain three different powders with the stoichiometric composition corresponding to mullite (3 Al2O3.2SiO2): (i) commercial alumina and silica from sol-gel, (ii) alumina and silica by alkoxide partial hydrolysis, (iii) alumina and silica by alkoxide simultaneous hydrolysis. Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and aluminium tri-sec-butoxide were used as alkoxide precursor. Moreover, 5 wt% of barium, incorporated to precursor solutions as Ba-acetilacetonate, was used as additive to study its influence on densification and mullite phase formation. The precursor powders were pressed uniaxially to form green compacts, after that all samples were heated to 1350 °C for 2 hours to obtain densified pellets. X-ray diffration patterns of powders, obtained by milling of sintering compacts, showed important differences. In barium doped samples a higher grade of densification and a greater glassy phase formation were observed.O método sol-gel foi usado para obter pós com 3 composições estequiométricas correspondente a mulita (3 Al2O3.2SiO2): (i) alumina comercial e sílica por sol-gel, (ii) alumina e sílica por hidrólise parcial de alcóxido, (iii) alumina e sílica por hidrólise simultânea de alcóxido. Tetroetiloctosiliceto (teos) e tri-sec-butóxido de alumínio foram usados como precursores alcóxidos. Além disso, 5% em peso de bário, adicionado nas soluções precursoras como acetilacetonato de bário foi usado como aditivo para estudar sua influência na densificação e formação da fase mulita. Os pós precursores foram prensados uniaxialmente para formar compactos a verde, e posterior aquecimento a 1350°C por 2 h para obter corpos densificados. A difração raios X dos pós, preparados por moagem dos compactos sinterizados, mostrou diferenças importantes. Foram observadas maior densificação e formação de fase vítrea nas amostras dopadas com bário.

The sol-gel route was employed to obtain three different powders with the stoichiometric composition corresponding to mullite (3 Al2O3.2SiO2): (i) commercial alumina and silica from sol-gel, (ii) alumina and silica by alkoxide partial hydrolysis, (iii) alumina and silica by alkoxide simultaneous hydrolysis. Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and aluminium tri-sec-butoxide were used as alkoxide precursor. Moreover, 5 wt% of barium, incorporated to precursor solutions as Ba-acetilacetonate, was used as additive to study its influence on densification and mullite phase formation. The precursor powders were pressed uniaxially to form green compacts, after that all samples were heated to 1350 °C for 2 hours to obtain densified pellets. X-ray diffration patterns of powders, obtained by milling of sintering compacts, showed important differences. In barium doped samples a higher grade of densification and a greater glassy phase formation were observed. O método sol-gel foi usado para obter pós com 3 composições estequiométricas correspondente a mulita (3 Al2O3.2SiO2): (i) alumina comercial e sílica por sol-gel, (ii) alumina e sílica por hidrólise parcial de alcóxido, (iii) alumina e sílica por hidrólise simultânea de alcóxido. Tetroetiloctosiliceto (teos) e tri-sec-butóxido de alumínio foram usados como precursores alcóxidos. Além disso, 5% em peso de bário, adicionado nas soluções precursoras como acetilacetonato de bário foi usado como aditivo para estudar sua influência na densificação e formação da fase mulita. Os pós precursores foram prensados uniaxialmente para formar compactos a verde, e posterior aquecimento a 1350°C por 2 h para obter corpos densificados. A difração raios X dos pós, preparados por moagem dos compactos sinterizados, mostrou diferenças importantes. Foram observadas maior densificação e formação de fase vítrea nas amostras dopadas com bário.

Background. Cognitive decline that occurs frequently in impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) may be largely due to endothelial dysfunction. We assessed: (i) the relationships between impact of urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), as marker of generalized endothelial dysfunction, and cognition; (ii) if cognitive decline could be explained by arterial stiffening using pulse wave velocity (PWV). Methods. One hundred forty older patients (age range 70‐85 years) with IGT and no dementia were selected. Patients were classified according to 24-hour UAER: normoalbuminuric (NA) (UAER , 20 lg/min) or microalbuminuric (MA) (UAER between 20 and 199 lg/min). Cognitive abilities were assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and a composite score of executive and attention functioning (CCS) at baseline and after 12 months of follow-up. Results. In MA patients (n ¼ 80), increased UAERs correlated with intimal media thickness (IMT) (r ¼ 0.268; p ¼ .02) and PWV (r ¼ 0.310; p ¼ .004). In the same group, increased UAERs were correlated with MMSE and CCS even after adjusting for age and mean arterial blood pressure (MABP). After adding PWV, the associations among UAERs, MMSE, and CCS were no longer significant. In MA patients, PWV correlated with IMT, MMSE, and CCS. In NA patients, no significant correlations were found among UAERs, MMSE, and CCS. At follow-up, baseline UAERs predicted an approximately 20% risk of poor cognition (according to MMSE and CCS) after adjusting for confounders. After adding PWV, UAERs no longer predicted cognitive performance. Conclusions. MA older persons with IGT showed a decline in cognition performance that may be partially explained by arterial stiffness.

Oxygen chemisorption was measured on V 2 O 5 within the range of 473 to 723 K at O 2 pressures of 5000 to 11,000 Pa, using a conventional volumetric method. Experimental data were treated according to classic kinetic models, Elovich's model being the most adequate for these data. There are two different and successive adsorption processes which can be attributed to sites either energetically or structurally different. Estimated activation energies were 3.9 and 9.3 kcal/mol. Furthermore, for times longer than 70 min, at temperatures higher than 573 K a diffusion mechanism of reticular vacancies appears to control the global kinetics. Diffusion coefficients and activation energy were calculated for the process. The activation energy was 15 kcal/mol.

In view of the diverse synthetic utility of the direct carbonation reaction, the catalytic conversion of styrene in the presence of some Rh(I) complexes, and the synthesis of 1,3-benzodioxol-2-one from styrene, dioxygen and carbon dioxide are reported.

The paper presents an analytical inverse method for the identification of the distance and the entity of impulsive contaminations of rivers, based on the temporal moments of the concentration measured in a cross-section. The proposed method is benchmarked with reference to several small to large rivers and tested against the uncertainty of the governing parameters and the presence of noise in the measures. In most of the considered applications, the method provides reliable solutions at a very limited computational cost.

We present and discuss a late-nineteenth century clinical case described by Professor Taruffi in a scientific paper titled “Scheletro con prosopoectasia e tredici vertebre dorsali” (Skeleton with prosopoectasia and thirteen thoracic vertebrae). Taruffi could not explain the disproportionate skeletal and visceral growth, and the case could therefore be considered an unrecognized case of acromegaly. The anatomopathological specimens and the wax model cited in the paper are currently hosted at the “Luigi Cattaneo” Anatomical Wax Collection of Bologna University; however, some inaccuracies and uncertainties as to their attribution to the same case have remained to this day. The skeletal remains were examined macroscopically to investigate any structural abnormalities and pathological changes. In addition, thanks to archival, museum inventory and literature research, we documented the systematic relationship between the paper and the samples and were able to ascribe the abnormally dilated dried stomach, currently displayed in a different showcase, to the same case. This is, to our knowledge, the first case of acromegaly in the history of medical literature which also includes a visceral specimen. As far as we know, there are no reports of the occurrence of severe gastromegaly in patients with acromegaly. In view of this rare association and, to date, endocrinological research, we hypothesize a further pathogenic mechanism by which acromegaly could have induced this massive dilatation. Taruffi’s work represents an immensely valuable scientific/artistic heritage and is still cited in contemporary endocrinological literature, demonstrating its relevant contribution to the historical evolution of the disease through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Già sul finire degli anni ‘80 una serie di studi sulle possibili evoluzioni delle forme organizzative (il programma di ricerca Management in the ‘90’s del MIT) aveva affermato la necessità di studiare le traiettorie di cambiamento delle forme organizzative in risposta sia alla maggiore complessità dell’ambiente e della competizione, sia alla disponibilità di tecnologie dell’informazione. In particolare, si era riscontrata la presenza di alcuni tratti di fondo che accomunano gli scenari prospettati dalle nuove forme organizzative, e cioè il bisogno crescente del management di fronteggiare i contorni sfumati dell’autorità e del processo decisionale, l’incremento diffuso delle competenze richieste ai lavoratori ad ogni livello gerarchico, la crescente diffusione del lavoro di gruppo, la necessità di modifica dei sistemi di misurazione delle performance, i cambiamenti nel processo di pianificazione (Baskerville R. e Smithson S. 1995). La ricerca organizzativa ha messo in luce come i modelli tradizionali di organizzazione possano entrare in crisi quando si misurano con ambienti competitivi iperturbolenti come quelli del settore ICT

Nel paper viene sviluppato il tema della sicurezza come dimensione del benessere organizzativo e della qualità del lavoro dalla prospettiva dell’organizzazione aziendale ed in particolare del comportamento organizzativo. Partendo dall’evoluzione dal concetto di salute e sicurezza nelle organizzazioni aziendali e da una rassegna dei relativi provvedimenti legislativi, in una prospettiva neo istituzionalista, si fa riferimento ai principali adeguamenti organizzativi e gestionali considerandoli come strumento di salvaguardia della sicurezza e salute dei lavoratori, ma anche come strumento di razionalizzazione nell’uso delle risorse e miglioramento delle performance aziendali. Il lavoro si conclude con l’analisi di alcuni casi aziendali, che presentano come elemento rilevante lo sviluppo di una “cultura”della sicurezza e l’attenzione alle condizioni e benessere dei lavoratori.