Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi di Pavia
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‘... Memory, montage and the political imagination ...’ Nadia Bertolino on Cameron McEwan’s Analogical City
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Taxation and the Circular Economy: perspectives and pitfalls with a specific focus on the Italian experience.
No full textThere is a broad and long-lasting consensus regarding the relevant role of fiscal policy and the tax system for promoting environmental protection and sustainable development. More recently, specific attention is given to ‘circular taxation’, i.e. the use of taxes and other levies to reduce material consumption and the related embodied emissions. This last dimension, however, is less explored, and, to our knowledge, no in-depth investigation is available for Italy on the interconnections between environmental taxation and circular taxation.
Our study focuses on three main goals. Firstly, it aims at briefly discussing the concept of Circular economy (CE) within the wider perspective of environmental sustainability, trying to highlight synergies and possible trade-offs. Secondly, the role of pricing instruments to incentivize sustainable behaviour by producers, users, and consumers is critically assessed, underlining if and how, in practice, the concept of circular taxation overlaps with that of environmental taxation. Thirdly, we focus on the Italian experience, presenting the different types of taxes/charges implemented across the product lifecycle to promote activities consistent with a circular economy.
Results show how, from an environmental point of view, taxes are often unevenly applied, with the predominance of taxes on energy and transport, while less attention is given to externalities generated at the beginning and at the end of the value chain. Moreover, the Italian fiscal system heavily relies on labour taxes, thus penalizing a fully renewable and circular resource. Finally, an opaque and relevant amount of tax expenditures detrimental to the environment contributes in several cases to creating unsustainable effects that contradict the CE objectives.
All in all, even if the concept of circular taxation shares many contents and targets with that of environmental taxation, we argue that its valorisation can help to address some environmental issues less considered or almost neglected (aggregate extraction, water abstraction, waste disposal, land use, etc.), preventing, or at least reducing, trade-offs and ‘problem shifting’ currently largely encountered
Renewable energy and 20th-century architecture: mixed-methods research through documentary investigation, case-based inquiry, and expert consultation
No full textThe integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into 20th-century Architecture presents a complex challenge at the intersection of energy transition, technological innovation, and heritage preservation. Modern design paradigms (rationalism, spatial fluidity, modularity, biophilic intent, natural lighting and ventilation) often resulted in lower energy performance compared to pre-industrial buildings. Trust in industrialization and technological advancement led to early RES experiments but also contributed to the progressive degradation of materials and systems, exacerbated by limited knowledge of mass-customized material and techniques. These distinctive characteristics require tailored RES integration criteria, as current guidelines still equate them to traditional heritage buildings. This study addresses this critical gap through mixed-methods research that integrates documentary investigation, case-based inquiry, and structured expert consultation to comprehensively examine both technical constraints and cultural values. The methodology reconstructs the energy challenges and transition of 20th-century Architecture, maps 133 international RES interventions, and incorporates the perspectives of 26 experts through interviews, working tables, and focus groups. This framework enables the identification of recurrent barriers, context-sensitive strategies, and differences with historical examples. The findings culminate in a set of multidisciplinary criteria for RES integration, considering cultural significance, aesthetic compatibility, structural and hygrothermal performance, electrical safety, environmental impact, and system reversibility. It also defines three strategic approaches (visual concealment, mimetic adaptation, tailored design) to guide context-sensitive implementations. Beyond offering a replicable approach, the study reframes RES integration as an opportunity to reinterpret the legacy of 20th-century Architecture through the lens of sustainability, resilience, and cultural continuity
Misleading messages from the web: professional medical counselling and public datasets versus online health information in IVF
No full textCapturing Scales of Heterogeneity in Models of Fluvial Geothermal Reservoirs: Grid Resolution, Upscaling Strategies, and Hierarchies of Sedimentary Architecture
No full textIs it time to abandon night-before laxative bowel preparation for small-bowel capsule endoscopy?
No full textDiabetes - brain axis: association between metabolic biomarkers and recognition memory in two experimental preclinical models
No full textFrom Experience to Meaning: The Role of Linguistic and Perceptual Priors in Semantic Memory
No full textHuman semantic memory emerges from the continuous interplay between linguistic and sensorimotor
experiences. This thesis investigates how experiential priors derived from language, vision, and touch
jointly shape conceptual knowledge, mainly relying on the application of computational models as
proxies for experience, and behavioral experiments across sighted and blind individuals. Three main
research lines are presented. First, we show that the absence of visual experience enhances sensitivity
to linguistic distributional patterns, suggesting that language compensates for missing perceptual
traces. Second, we found evidence for notation-dependent differences in symbolic numerical
processing, which can be explained in light of subtle differences between the corresponding linguistic
priors. Third, we examine the domain of continuous magnitudes, showing that linguistic, visual, and
tactile inputs flexibly converge in the organization of size representations – with language
compensating the absence of perceptual priors (as in the case of blind individuals), and tactile
experience modulating the informativeness of the other modalities. Across these studies,
computational models provided approximations of experiential history, allowing us to test how
meaning arises from multimodal sources with a data-driven approach. Collectively, the findings
support an integrated, experience-based account of semantic memory, in which linguistic and
perceptual inputs dynamically interact to scaffold human understanding.Human semantic memory emerges from the continuous interplay between linguistic and sensorimotor
experiences. This thesis investigates how experiential priors derived from language, vision, and touch
jointly shape conceptual knowledge, mainly relying on the application of computational models as
proxies for experience, and behavioral experiments across sighted and blind individuals. Three main
research lines are presented. First, we show that the absence of visual experience enhances sensitivity
to linguistic distributional patterns, suggesting that language compensates for missing perceptual
traces. Second, we found evidence for notation-dependent differences in symbolic numerical
processing, which can be explained in light of subtle differences between the corresponding linguistic
priors. Third, we examine the domain of continuous magnitudes, showing that linguistic, visual, and
tactile inputs flexibly converge in the organization of size representations – with language
compensating the absence of perceptual priors (as in the case of blind individuals), and tactile
experience modulating the informativeness of the other modalities. Across these studies,
computational models provided approximations of experiential history, allowing us to test how
meaning arises from multimodal sources with a data-driven approach. Collectively, the findings
support an integrated, experience-based account of semantic memory, in which linguistic and
perceptual inputs dynamically interact to scaffold human understanding