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Arbitration and Emotions: An Introduction
No full textThe chapter explores the often-overlooked role of emotions in international arbitration, situating arbitral decision-making within broader insights from psychology and the interdisciplinary field of “law and emotions.” While arbitral scholarship has increasingly acknowledged cognitive heuristics and biases as sources of error, emotions have traditionally been treated as deviations from rationality to be suppressed. Challenging this view, the chapter argues that emotions are not antithetical to reason but are integral to human cognition and decision-making. Drawing on empirical research and legal theory, it demonstrates that certain emotions (particularly the so-called background and epistemic emotions such as curiosity, doubt, confidence, and engagement) play a constructive role in guiding attention, motivating deliberation, and supporting rational judgment. The chapter further examines how emotions influence persuasion in adversarial settings, highlighting the dual cognitive routes through which arbitrators process information and the importance of emotional attunement and empathy in evaluating narratives, credibility, and legitimacy. Ultimately, the contribution calls for a more nuanced understanding of emotions in arbitration, recognizing them not merely as risks to neutrality, but as indispensable components of effective, legitimate, and human decision-making
The Persuasive Power of Signals: How Narratives, Fundraising Model, and Number of Borrowers Drive Success in Lending-Based Prosocial Crowdfunding
No full textCrowdfunding has emerged as a significant alternative financing source, drawing the attention of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. This study examines the success factors in lending-based prosocial crowdfunding (LBPSC), a model that integrates economic objectives with social impact. Drawing on signaling theory, we examine how the interplay of multiple signals, narrative framing, fundraising models, and borrower counts influences the success of campaigns. Our analysis of the Kiva platform provides empirical support for our theoretical claims and deepens understanding of the LBPSC phenomenon. Our findings also provide practical guidance for entrepreneurs and policymakers to design more effective crowdfunding campaigns
From quality to ideology: Italian governmental policies on primary school history textbooks (1923–1928) and the international debate on cosmopolitan history teaching
No full textAbstract
Purpose – This article aims to analyse Italian governmental policies on primary school history textbooks
between 1923 and 1928, positioning them within the broader international discourse on cosmopolitan history
teaching post-First World War. It investigates how an initial focus on pedagogical quality under the Gentile
reform progressively shifted, with the Fascist regime transforming textbook selection into a tool for nationalist
and ideological indoctrination. The study highlights Italy’s divergence from internationalist ideals and the cooption
of educational quality control mechanisms for political ends.
Design/methodology/approach – This study employs a historical analysis, examining primary sources such as
Italian governmental decrees and reports from the Central Textbook Examination Commissions. It also
integrates Italy’s engagement with international forums, including the League of Nations, the Third
International Congress of Moral Education, the Carnegie Endowment’s investigation, and the 1928 Report on
Nationalism in History Textbooks. The methodology involves comparing Italian policy developments with
international initiatives to reveal their contrasting trajectories regarding history education.
Findings – The findings reveal that while early Fascist educational reforms initially emphasised pedagogical
quality, the regime swiftly instrumentalised textbook selection and approval processes to propagate nationalist
and Fascist ideology. Italy increasingly diverged from international efforts advocating for cosmopolitan and
peaceful history teaching, exemplified by critical reports from Italian textbook commissions contrasting with
international ideals. This culminated in the adoption of state-mandated textbooks, ensuring complete ideological
conformity and demonstrating the regime’s co-option of educational control.
Research limitations/implications – A limitation is the specific focus on primary school history textbooks and
a defined timeframe (1923–1928), which may limit broader generalisations about the entire Italian education
system or longer historical periods. Future research could extend this analysis to secondary education or
examine the long-term impact of these policies. The implications include highlighting how political shifts can
rapidly commandeer educational systems, underscoring the constant need for vigilance against ideological
manipulation in curriculum development.
Practical implications – This research offers practical insights for contemporary educational policymakers and
curriculum developers. It demonstrates the critical importance of safeguarding educational autonomy and
pedagogical integrity against political interference. Understanding historical instances where education was coopted
for ideological purposes can inform strategies to ensure that history teaching fosters critical thinking,
balanced perspectives, and international understanding rather than narrow nationalism or partisan
indoctrination. It reinforces the need for transparent and academically driven textbook review processes.
Social implications – The article underscores the profound social implications of history education, particularly its
capacity to shape national identity and inter-group relations. The Fascist regime’s use of textbooks to instil nationalist and
militaristic values showcases how education can be leveraged to foster division and prejudice. Conversely, the
international efforts for cosmopolitan history teaching highlight education’s potential to promote peace, solidarity and
mutual understanding among diverse populations, emphasising its crucial role in societal cohesion and global citizenship.
Originality/value – The originality of this article lies in its dual focus: it reconstructs the internal evolution of Italian
educational policies – moving from the pedagogical concerns of the Gentile Reform to Fascist ideological
indoctrination – while simultaneously placing these events within the broader international debate on ’cosmopolitan’
history teaching. By analyzing the reports of the Central Textbook Examination Commissions alongside the activities
of international bodies like the Carnegie Endowment and the Foreningen Norden, the study reveals how the Fascist
regime strategically co-opted quality-control mechanisms to serve political ends. This comparative approach provides
a unique perspective on the failure of transnational educational reforms to influence domestic policy during the 1920s
Missing the forest for the trees: what road freight decarbonisation research overlooks
No full textDecarbonising road freight transport is a critical priority for achieving global climate targets. This paper investigates how academic research conceptualises and addresses decarbonisation pathways in road freight transport. It applies a two-step literature review, combining aggregate and disaggregate search strategies, distinguishing between road freight transport and city logistics. Using the Avoid–Shift–Improve framework as an analytical benchmark, findings show that most studies focus on isolated technological solutions, while demand-reduction and modal-shift strategies receive comparatively less attention. Crucially, only a marginal subset of the literature explicitly adopts a structured, integrated, and multidimensional perspective; the majority conducts fragmented and narrowly scoped analyses, limiting the capacity to inform systemic and potentially effective policy strategies. This paper identifies this critical research gap and advocates for a paradigm shift in academic inquiry. Future studies should employ conceptual frameworks that capture the interdependencies among policy measures, thereby supporting the design and implementation of successful freight transport decarbonisation pathways
Analysis of the vulnerability of the coastal areas of Lazio through three-dimensional land surveys and GIS modelling
No full textThe rise in sea levels and oceanic climate changes pose a significant threat, leading to salinization, flooding, and coastal erosion which directly impact both anthropic and ecological systems. These effects have a chain of consequences on various areas, including public health, cultural heritage, biodiversity, agriculture, fishing, and other crucial ecosystem services for environmental sustainability. In particular, the Mediterranean basin is identified as extremely vulnerable due to the risk of sea level rise, especially in coastal areas and alluvial plains.
Current research focuses on the detailed analysis of the impacts of coastal erosion and rising sea levels along the Lazio coastline, aiming to fully understand the repercussions of these phenomena on ecosystem services and the natural and cultural heritage of the Mediterranean. In the pilot area, highly urbanized stretches alternate with protected areas such as the Circeo National Park and military zones between Nettuno and Torre Astura. Circeo National Park features a coastal dune, brackish coastal lakes connected to the sea by canals, and river mouths of drainage canals. The territory is diverse, with various soil types, and harbors significant archaeological sites.
The objectives are: i) the creation of a multidisciplinary analysis model for studying the impacts of climate change on the coastal areas of the western Mediterranean; ii) the identification of interactions between natural phenomena (coastal erosion, sea level rise) and socio-economic, cultural, and environmental components; iii) the implementation of a geodatabase containing environmental, urban, landscape, and climatic data; iv) the development of GIS tools for the analysis and spatial representation of coastal transformations; v) the integration of LiDAR surveys, aerial photogrammetry, satellite data, and digital models for a more detailed analysis of coastal morphology; vi) the experimentation with advanced techniques for 3D modeling and the analysis of changes over time. Finally, the research results will be disseminated through open-source platforms to ensure accessibility to a wide range of interested users
Energy, uncertainty and geopolitics: A SHAP-based tail analysis of spot and futures uranium markets
No full textThis paper investigates the mechanisms through which macroeconomic and geopolitical shocks influence the volatility of spot and futures uranium markets. The analysis employs gradient boosting and Shapley Additive explanations (SHAP) values and introduces a novel rolling Extreme SHAP Impact Index (ESII) designed to capture periods of abrupt changes in feature importance.
The study adopts a dual-price approach, using the Global Price of Uranium as a spot proxy and the Uranium Futures Contract, along with the Global Price of Energy Index. Risk and uncertainty are measured by the Geopolitical Risk Index (GPR), the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index (GEPU) and the GDP-weighted World Uncertainty Index (WUI).
Our results show divergent behaviors in the spot and futures markets, with different volatility drivers. The findings highlight structural limitations and vulnerabilities in the uranium market, offering guidance for regulators and policymakers to support market stability and global energy security
Scenario analysis for smart microgrids towards a holistic decarbonization of energy systems by using local energy sources
No full textThis paper presents a technical-economic analysis of a microgrid system that incorporates distributed energy resources (DER) such as a photovoltaic (PV) system, battery energy storage system (BESS) and emergency generator, aimed at providing energy reliability and cost optimization in islanded or difficult-to-access areas such as the proximity of the Danube Delta from Romania. The study is centered on peak shaving, load shifting and battery management strategies enabled by BESS, which are essential for reducing energy costs during peak demand and optimizing energy usage by storing excess renewable energy and its utilization during high-demand periods and considering large market energy prices, that can vary. In other to better study the interactions between the different energy management strategies a microgrid system consisting of a renewable energy source, an energy community, a generator and BESS system was simulated using a number of possible scenarios.The analysis highlights the benefits of BESS in managing renewable energy variability, stabilizing grid frequency, and improving system resilience. Furthermore, the paper presents how software tools like Ignition, Grafana, and MariaDB are used together to monitor and manage data flow within the microgrid system, this data can be used in order to improve the algorithm
Boosting the Entity-Relationship Model for Document-Oriented Databases
No full textThe growing adoption of NoSQL document-oriented databases, such as MongoDB, has introduced new paradigms for managing data with flexibility and scalability. These characteristics make document models suitable for applications that involve heterogeneous data sources and evolving information needs. Current design methodologies often lack formal support, covering only a subset of Entity-Relationship (ER) constructs or relying on general-purpose notations like UML, which are not optimized for database design. In this work, we propose ERd, a revised version of the ER model to support the conceptual design of document-oriented databases. ERd extends the classical ER framework to capture the hierarchical and flexible nature of document structures, enabling a more accurate and semantically rich representation of data. We define a set of translation rules that map conceptual constructs into typical document patterns like embedding, referencing, and polymorphism