Thesis (Revise). / Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-231).

Thesis (Revise). / Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-231).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1972. / Photocopy of typescript: Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1981, c1973. 21 cm. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 212-222).

No description available.

The subject of this thesis is The Romance of Ferrara which includes the majority of prosaic work of Giorgio Bassani, one of the most outstanding Italian writers of 20th century. The introduction shows historical and social context of the period in which Bassani grew up and that gave rise to his life philosophy. Without this experience he would never have become a writer and his moral obligation to take down all the truth is based on this fact. The jewish origin of Bassani plays also an important role in his oeuvre; the judaism includes a sense of exceptionality and marginalisation at the same time. This ambivalent feeling is characteristic for majority of Bassani's heroes. The central part of the thesis outlines the thematic and stylistic site of The Romance of Ferrara. We will map even the relationship between the narrator and the author himself, between fiction and reality. The last two chapters concern Ferrara, symbology of the space (vertical and horizontal as well) and the location of characters on the stage of this microcosmos. We will follow characters on their way through Ferrara and will study which role different places are playing within the Bassani's work.

Il 29 maggio 1453, dopo un assedio di circa otto settimane, Costantinopoli fu conquistata dal sultano ottomano Mehmed II. La caduta della città fu un duro colpo per la cristianità occidentale, che non era riuscita a valutare la gravità della sua situazione e aveva mandato, nonostante molte promesse, un aiuto del tutto insufficiente. Le polemiche sui mancati soccorsi coinvolsero principalmente il pontefice Niccolò V, il re di Napoli Alfonso d'Aragona e Venezia. La decadenza dell'impero bizantino era tuttavia cominciata da lungo tempo, era stata accelerata dalle funeste conseguenze della quarta crociata ed era divenuta irreversibile allorché i Turchi, impadronitisi dell'intera Asia Minore, avevano attaccato e sistematicamente occupato i territori bizantini in Grecia e nell'Europa orientale. I sovrani della dinastia paleologa si convinsero che solo da Occidente sarebbe potuto giungere a Bisanzio un soccorso efficace e, per ottenerlo, si rivolsero ai papi, all'imperatore, ai sovrani dei principali stati europei, alle repubbliche e ai principati italiani. Condizione irrinunciabile posta dall'Occidente per l'invio di adeguati soccorsi era l'unione delle Chiese greca e latina, che i Bizantini sostenvano dovesse essere ricercata solo attraverso un concilio ecumenico. Il Papato, dopo la conclusione del Grande Scisma e il ristabilimento dell'unità nella Chiesa romana, dovette affrontare la sfida del movimento conciliare; esso la vinse, grazie anche al successo conseguito nel 1439 a Firenze, dove fu proclamata solennemente l'unione di cattolici e ortodossi. Eugenio IV, dopo una lunga contrapposizione con il concilio di Basilea, aveva trasferito il sinodo in Italia, dove, nella prima metà del Quattrocento, si stava assistendo alla graduale formazione di entità statali territoriali: alcune di esse, le repubbliche di Venezia e Genova in particolare, avevano svolto per secoli un ruolo politico-economico di primo piano nell'Oriente bizantino. / On 29 May 1453, after a siege of some eight weeks, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman sultan, Mehmed II. The fall of the city came as a bitter shock to Western Christendom, which had failed to see its plight and had, in spite of promises, sent it negligible help. Bitter controversies followed, involving mainly pope Nicholas V, the king of Naples, Alfonso of Aragona, and Venice. The long decline of the Byzantine Empire, which had been quickened by the outcome of the fourth crusade, became irreversible as the Turks conquered the whole of Asia Minor and occupied the Byzantine territories of Greece and Eastern Europe. The Palaelogan emperors were persuaded that Byzantium could be saved only by Western help; to obtain it, they addressed popes, the Western emperor, European Kings and Italian states. The main condition for proper aid from the West was the union of Greek and Latin Churches; in Byzantine opinion, however, it might be attained exclusively through an oecumenical council. Papacy, after the vicissitudes of the Great Schism, had to face the challenge of the conciliar movement, which it won thanks to the successful, even if ephemeral, result of the council of Florence as well. There, in July 1439, the union between Catholic and Orthodox Churches was solemnly celebrated. The synod had been moved by pope Eugenius IV, after harsh quarrels with the council of Basel to Italy, where, in the first half of fifteenth century, bigger territorial states were forming. Some of them had been long time playing an important political and economical part in the Byzantine East.

Zugl.: Hagen, Fernuniv., Diss., 2006

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Virginia, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-246).

This work aims to improve the predictability of asphericity and average keratometry in keratoconus patients after implantation of intrastromal corneal ring segments (ICRS) by creating computational models based on machine learning, using tomographic data of the cornea. This study included 209 eyes of 160 keratoconus (grades I, II and III) implanted with ICRS. The Ferrara ICRS with 160 degrees of arch was implanted in all patients. The ICRS thickness varied from 150 to 250 micra. One or two segments were implanted. The base was composed of corneal tomography Pentacam® (Oculus, Wetzlar, Alemanha) parameters, clinical data and Ferrara ring data totaling 39 parameters. To create the models, neural network algorithms type multlayer perceptron (MLP) and linear regression were used. This study was conducted in four phases: (1) Preparation of the database and setting the values to be predicted mean keratometry and asphericity; (2) Calculation of the variation mean keratometry and asphericity and the nomogram calculation error; (3) Application of machine learning algorithms and attribute selection; (4) Mean keratometry and asphericity variation calculation provided for comparing algorithm with the variation of the preoperative and postoperative calculation of the algorithm and of the error. As a result, the best mean absolute error value found for asphericity was 0.19 and mean keratometry was 1.18. Comparing the mean absolute error values of the nomogram and the average absolute error of the algorithm, there was an improvement of 0.11 to asphericity and 0.09 to mean keratometry in relation to the current nomogram, confirming that the use of computational models can achieve more accurate results may contribute to surgical decision in an attempt to improve the quality of vision of keratoconus patients. / O presente trabalho destina-se a melhorar a previsibilidade da asfericidade e da ceratometria média no pós-operatório de implante de anel intraestromal (SAIC) em pacientes com ceratocone por meio da criação de modelos computacionais baseados em aprendizagem de máquina, utilizando dados tomográficos da córnea. Foram incluídos 209 olhos de 160 pacientes com graus I, II e III de ceratocone submetidos a cirurgia com implante de SAIC. Em todos os pacientes foi implantado anel de Ferrara com 160o de arco com variação de espessura entre 150 e 250 µm e presença de 1 ou 2 segmentos. A base foi composta por parâmetros da tomografia de córnea pentacam®, dados clínicos e dados do anel de Ferrara totalizando 39 parâmetros. Para criação dos modelos, foram utilizados os algoritmos Rede Neural do tipo multlayer perceptron (MLP) e regressão linear. Este estudo foi desenvolvido em 4 fases distintas: (1) Preparação da base de dados e definição dos valores a serem preditos de ceratometria média e asfericidade; (2) Cálculo da variação da ceratometria média e asfericidade e cálculo do erro do nomograma; (3) Aplicação dos algoritmos de aprendizagem de máquina e seleção de atributos; (4) Cálculo da variação da ceratometria média e da asfericidade prevista pelo algoritmo comparando com a variação do pré e pós operatório e cálculo do erro do algoritmo. Como resultado, o melhor valor do erro absoluto médio encontrado para asfericidade foi 0.19 e para ceratometria média foi 1.18. Comparando os valores do erro médio do nomograma e o erro médio do algoritmo, houve uma melhora de 0.11 para asfericidade e 0.09 para ceratometria média em relação ao nomograma atual, confirmando que a utilização de modelos computacionais é capaz de alcançar resultados mais precisos podendo contribuir para decisão cirúrgica na tentativa de melhorar a qualidade de visão de pacientes com ceratocone.

This dissertation presents a previously unedited text by one of the most distinguished- yet neglected-Latin writers of the Italian Renaissance, Ercole Strozzi (1471-1508), a poet and administrator in the court of Ferrara. Under the Este Dukes, Ferrara became a major center of literary and artistic patronage. The Latin literary output of the court, however, has received insufficient scholarly scrutiny. The text is a verse funeral elegy of Eleonora of Aragon (1450-1493), the first Duchess of Ferrara. Eleonora was a remarkable woman whose talents and indefatigable efforts on behalf of her husband, her children, and her state, won her accolades both at home and abroad. She also served as a prototype for the remarkable careers of her two daughters, Isabella d'Este, and Beatrice d'Este, who are celebrated for their erudition and patronage of arts and letters. The text is a mirror of the Estense court and reveals to us how its members no doubt saw themselves, at the very peak of its temporal power and the height of its prestige as a center of cultural creativity. It is also important for the striking portrait it presents of Eleonora. Ercole Strozzi chose to call his poem an epicedium, an ancient minor literary genre that had received attention in the two decades prior to its composition, due to the discovery and printing of the silver age Roman poet Statius, whose text includes several epicedia. Strozzi deftly adapts and transcends both his ancient and contemporary models (especially Poliziano), and in the process, creates a new Latin literary genre, the Renaissance epicedium. It is a fine poem, full of both erudition and creativity, and as such is the first fruits of what would be Ercole Strozzi's illustrious poetic career. The work is genuinely worthy of study on both esthetic and historical grounds.