From the Mind to the Brain: An Unusual Pathway

One of the most unrecognized aspects of Golgi's life was his deep interest in neuropsychiatry. From 1865 to 1868 he attended the Clinica per le Malattie Nervose e Mentali in Pavia directed by Cesare Lombroso, the founder of modern criminology. Golgi was involved in research on the etiology of psychiatric ailments. During this short period of time he produced significant theoretic advances in clinical psychiatry. However, very soon he started to criticize the conceptual approach as well as the nosological system proposed by his academic mentor. In July 1868 he left Lombroso's school in search for a more rational method of studying brain functions and diseases. In spite of his anatomical approach to the central nervous system, he always maintained curiosity in the phenomenology of functional and organic mental disorders. This predisposition is witnessed by his capability to relate clinical observations to neuropathological findings.     

Camillo Golgi's Scientific Biography

Born in Corteno, a tiny village in the province of Brescia, Camillo Golgi studied at the University of Pavia where he graduated in medicine in 1865 under the guidance of the psychiatrist Cesare Lombroso who sparked his vocation to study the brain. Golgi then began to learn histological techniques under the direction of the pathologist Giulio Bizzozero. In 1872 he moved to Abbiategrasso as chief of a hospital for chronic diseases. In a rudimentary laboratory he developed the silver-bichromate staining technique, the ‘black reaction’, which was a breakthrough for nervous tissue structure research. While in Abbiategrasso Golgi demonstrated the branching of the axons, and observed striatal and cortical lesions in a case of chorea. He returned to Pavia as Professor of Histology and General Pathology, and made a series of important discoveries that still bear his name: the Golgi tendon organ, the Golgi-Mazzoni corpuscles, another Golgi method to stain nerve cells based on the use of potassium dichromate and mercuric chloride, the canaliculi of the parietal cells of the gastric glands (Müller-Golgi tubules), the Golgi-Rezzonico myelin's annular apparatus (or Golgi-Rezzonico horny funnels), the cycle of malarian parasites (Golgi cycle), the relationship between recurrent malarian fever bouts and the multiplication of the Plasmodium in the blood (Golgi law), the relationship between the vascular pole of the Malpighian glomerulus and the distal tubule, the Golgi's pericellular nets and finally, and most importantly, the cytoplasmic ‘internal reticular apparatus’ (Golgi apparatus). In 1906 Golgi was awarded the Nobel prize for Medicine or Physiology. He died in Pavia on 21 January 1921.     

Relative Displacement Floor Spectra for Seismic Design of Non Structural Elements

Relative displacement floor spectra represent a powerful tool to evaluate the seismic displacement requirements of non-structural elements relative to their attachment points and can be used for displacement-based design of ductile components.

This article examines the displacement floor spectra on single-degree of freedom systems subject to accelerograms of varying intensity. A new method is proposed to predict floor spectra on single degree of freedom supporting structures. The results of nonlinear time-history analyses of a series of case-study structures indicate that the new methodology provides good results.

Future research will aim to validate this approach for multi-degrees of freedom supporting structures.     

Numerical Assessment of Frictional Heating in Sliding Bearings for Seismic Isolation

This article proposes a numerical investigation of the frictional heating developed in sliding bearings under high velocities and the influence of the relevant temperature rise on the mechanical characteristics of the device. A three-dimensional finite element model of the bearing is created and frictional heat generation is modelled through a thermal source inserted at the sliding surface of the bearing, with intensity dependent on the coefficient of friction, the contact pressure and the velocity. The friction value is adjusted step-by-step on surface temperature and velocity and used to update the thermal flux and the resisting force developed by the bearing. The numerical predictions of temperature histories and force–displacement loops are compared with the results of laboratory tests to validate the numerical approach. The procedure can help in preliminary studies for the selection of bearing materials accounting for their thermal stability and for the estimation of change of design properties of sliding isolation bearings due to frictional heating.     

Conceptual Mediation: Philosophy between the History of Physiology and Contemporary Neuroscience

Summary

In the 1780s the anatomist Vincenzo Malacarne discussed the possibility of testing experimentally whether experience can induce significant changes in the brain. Malacarne imagined taking two littermate animals and giving intensive training to one while the other received none, then dissecting their brains to see whether the trained animal had more folds in the cerebellum than the untrained one. This experimental design somewhat anticipated one used 180 years later by Mark R. Rosenzweig at the University of California, Berkeley. This paper explores some methodological aspects of the case study just outlined by pointing out that our grounds for being interested in it are neither merely neuroscientific (for, strictly speaking, Malacarne's proposal was false) nor narrowly historical (for there is no causal chain linking Malacarne's ideas to Rosenzweig's experiment). Rather, the really interesting point here is to what extent Malacarne's ideas are similar to Rosenzweig's, a point that we can better investigate by employing certain conceptual tools borrowed typically (but not exclusively) from (a certain kind of) philosophy. If we do not handle the analogy with care, we run the risk of ‘discovering’ nothing but void platitudes or anachronistically misleading common features.     

Transjordan During the Nineteenth Century: Reconsidering the Relation Between Arab Tribes and Christian Religious Communities

The article aims to reconsider the history of Ottoman Transjordan during the second half of the nineteenth century. Istanbul's decision to impose its direct control over this province triggered a process of evolution and change within local political spaces. The traditional balance of power was altered and tribes were forced to accept the authority of the Ottoman Empire. States and tribes were not the only political actors. Christian religious institutions also participated in the dynamics of change. The article reconsiders the history of a Christian village of Transjordan, Madaba, to describe the complex relationship between tribes and Christian religious communities during this period of change and evolution. The section Karak highlights the main aspects that characterized the refoundation of Madaba. In the section The Exodus and the Rebirth of Madaba, the exodus of several Christian tribes from Karak to Madaba is analyzed to explain the overlap and intertwinement between the different cultural horizons and sociopolitical logics of the two actors. The section The Village of Madaba analyzes some episodes of daily life in Madaba to detail the consequences of the interaction between tribes and religious communities. Finally, the functioning of the local sociopolitical space on which the Hashemite emirate was later founded is explained. The religious community‐tribe dyad was, in fact, part of the transition from “the tribe to the state.”     

Admiral: a 19th‐century Tyne‐built paddle tug

This paper reports on the discovery in the Thames Estuary and the partial recovery and recording of the remains of a 19th‐century Tyne‐built paddle tug. The wreck is believed to be that of Admiral built in Newcastle in 1870 and sunk following a collision in the estuary in 1872. This unexpected discovery provided a rare opportunity to examine the archaeological assemblage of one these once‐familiar working vessels and revealed the continuities and innovations of a specific type of engine used on paddle tugs.     

Monitoring of Two Great Venetian Cathedrals: San Marco and Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari

Two examples of monitoring systems of great Venetian Cathedrals, are presented. The first, concerning the Basilica of San Marco, is an example of a long-term monitoring system for a structure that has not undergone any strengthening intervention. The criteria for interpreting this monitoring system data are illustrated. The second example, concerning the Basilica of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, is a clear example of the use of monitoring during the execution of strengthening intervention. This study illustrates the interventions that were carried out on the supporting structures: consolidation of the soil foundation of the bell tower by using the soil-fracturing technique and creation of a structural joint between the bell tower and the Basilica. Through the observational method, this monitoring system was able to check the structural behavior during all the phases of the interventions, thus becoming a precious design tool able to guarantee the safety of the structure and to modify the design solutions during the strengthening intervention, according to the real deformation behavior observed through the monitoring system.