Laboratorio di matematica in classe: due nuove macchine per problemi nel continuo e nel discreto

In this work we will introduce two mathematical machines (originally invented by the authors) that can be useful in class during laboratorial activities. We decided to introduce them together because they appeared us complementary about the subtended contents, in fact one of them solves a discrete problem (diophantine equations) involving concepts as integers, divisibility, and in general discrete math, while the other machine (solving differential equations in a grapho-mechanical way) involves the complementary concepts of continuous math: curves, tangents, derivatives. In this paper we will just present the machines, deepening the ideas and the subtended mathematical contents, but we will…

Metafora ed Analogia in Didattica della Matematica

This paper is a report that concerns two experiments that I proposed in nine secondary school classes (pupils from fourteen to eighteen years old) in order to test some hypotesis concerning the use of metaphor during teaching-learning processes. I begin by analyzing the different significances of the concepts of metaphor and analogy that can be found in literature. Then I try to frame these concepts within the framework of semiotic mediation. I show some excerpts taken from the experimentations, and I try to interpret some of pupil’s utterances (words, gestures) as metaphors which offer to the teacher a possible way (by analogies) to introduce mathematical contents. I conclude with some ope…

La Metafora nel processo di insegnamento-apprendimento della matematica: una indagine teorica e sperimentale

Reduction of Cardiac Fibrosis by Interference With YAP-Dependent Transactivation

Background: Conversion of cardiac stromal cells into myofibroblasts is typically associated with hypoxia conditions, metabolic insults, and/or inflammation, all of which are predisposing factors to cardiac fibrosis and heart failure. We hypothesized that this conversion could be also mediated by response of these cells to mechanical cues through activation of the Hippo transcriptional pathway. The objective of the present study was to assess the role of cellular/nuclear straining forces acting in myofibroblast differentiation of cardiac stromal cells under the control of YAP (yes-associated protein) transcription factor and to validate this finding using a pharmacological agent that interf…