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Impact of a Regulatory Target and External Factors on the Waste Efficiency of Italian Municipalities
No full textDue to increasing consumption and urbanisation, urban waste management and recycling are a primary concern in Italy. Italian waste collection underwent significant reform with the introduction of a sorted collection target of 65% of total collected waste in Legislative Decree No. 152/2006. In this article, we analyse the effect of this regulatory target on the efficiency of waste collection in 275 Italian municipalities in the years 2016–2019. We estimate the coefficients of the cost efficiencies of the sorted and unsorted waste without assuming functional forms for the efficient frontier or the distribution of efficiency. Our findings suggest that municipalities that met the 65% sorted waste target demonstrated higher efficiency as costs increased, whereas those that failed to meet the target demonstrated higher inefficiency as costs increased. Strong effects emerged for population and urban economic development on the success of waste collection, whereas only marginal effects were observed for population density and city size. To improve the situation of municipalities that are not meeting the 65% target, we propose several policy measures, including ‘neighbourhood solidarity’
Room temperature electron beam sensitive viscoplastic response of ultra-ductile amorphous olivine films
No full textThe mechanical properties of amorphous olivine (a-olivine) deformed at room temperature are investigated in situ in a TEM under uniaxial tension using a Push-to-Pull (PTP) device. Thin films of a-olivine were produced by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). With or without electron irradiation, a-olivine films deform plastically, with a gradual transition that makes impossible the determination of a precise threshold. The strength attains values up to 2.5 GPa. The increasing strain-rate in load control results in an apparent softening with stress drop. The fracture strain reaches values close to 30 % without e-beam irradiation. Under electron illumination at 200 kV, the strength is lower, around 1.7 GPa, while higher elongations close to 36 % are obtained. Alternating beam-off and beam-on sequences lead to exceptionally large fracture strains equal to 68 % at 200 kV and 139 % at 80 kV. EELS measurements were performed to characterize the interaction between the electron beam and a-olivine. At a voltage of 80 kV, radiolysis accompanied by oxygen release dominates whereas at high voltage (300 kV) the interaction is dominated by knock-on type defects. Radiolysis is also the main interaction mechanism at 200 kV with low exposition which corresponds to most of our in situ TEM deformation experiments. To interpret the mechanical data, a simple 1D model has been developed to rationalize the load transfer between the PTP device and the specimen. The strain-rate sensitivity is 6 to 10 times higher when a-olivine is deformed under electron irradiation
Existential Quest Scale (EQS)
No full textThe 9-item Existential Quest Scale (EQS) measures flexibility in one’s own existential beliefs and worldviews by questioning, valuing doubt on, and being open to change them. The measure applies to all people, independently of the specific content of their existential beliefs and worldviews. It has successfully been used in research across 17 countries of various religious, including secular, heritage and has thus been translated into 13 languages. Beyond its psychometric qualities (reliability, unidimensionality, item response theory analysis) and cross-cultural validity, accumulated research reviewed or meta-analyzed here offers solid evidence of interest for the construct and predictive validity of the measure. Indeed, the EQS is mostly independent from religiosity/spirituality and is related but not reduced to several indicators of cognitive open-mindedness, liberalism in sociomoral attitudes, and flexibility in group identity. In addition, existential quest, as measured by the EQS, reflects humility, other-oriented disposition, and tolerance, but also prevention regulatory focus and some negative emotionality impacting life satisfaction. As focusing on flexibility specifically in the existential domain, the EQS has unique power, beyond the effects of sociomoral liberalism and low religiosity, in predicting low scores on fundamentalism, prejudice, and moral opposition to issues such as abortion, euthanasia, or same-sex parenting. Finally, research indicates that existential questers are open to various types of mindfulness interventions (secular or spiritual) and are receptive of the positive effects of mindfulness interventions
The Civil Service in Belgium between Fragmentation and Common Principles
No full textThis chapter discusses how the Belgian civil service has evolved under the twin influences of federalisation and europeanisation
Une chercheuse juriste auprès des tribunaux de l’application des peines belges : Réflexions sur les relations entre empirie, pratique judiciaire et interdisciplinarité
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Explaining International Trends in Mortality on Hemodialysis Through Changes in Hemodialysis Practices in the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS)
No full textCase-mix adjusted hemodialysis mortality has decreased since 1998. Many factors that influence mortality may have contributed to this trend, and these associations may differ by continental region. We studied changes in hemodialysis facility practices over time and their potential role in mediating changes in patient survival
Orphaned Language as Means of Narrating Trauma in Ahmadou Kourouma’s Allah n’est pas obligé
No full textImposed by the colonizer, the French language in sub-Saharan Africa was subverted and reconstituted by its new speakers in order to reverse the metropolitan power over it and to reflect their own sociocultural experience. In literary texts, this language became the tool of narrating postcolonial trauma by blending oral tradition and written literary techniques. The paper focuses on how multilingualism inherent in postcolonial literature nourishes narrative capable of conveying traumatic experience beyond the Western paradigm. The analysis is carried out on the basis of Allah n’est pas obligé (Allah Is Not Obliged, 2000) by Ivorian writer Ahmadou Kourouma, where the main character is an orphan forced to become a child soldier. His suffering is expressed through deviation from the literary norm, which produces a narrative consisting of abrupt sentences punctuated by loanwords, calques, relexified lexemes and coinages. Pain and rage are unleashed through grotesque and sarcasm. Multilingual lexicographic elements deployed in an unusual context mediate the narrator’s estrangement from all of the languages he evokes. Only this orphaned language allows him to speak about the unspeakable. Multilingualism is also perceived through text organization, which involves cohesion mechanisms and rhetorical devices nurtured by orality
Do agroecological practices control "Ralstonia solanacearum" wilt on solanaceous crops? A meta‐analysis
No full textThe effectiveness of agroecological management strategies (AEMS) in controlling bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) remains a critical question. A quantitative review was conducted based on publications reporting agroecological bacterial wilt management practices under on-station or on-farm field conditions in electronic libraries, without geographical restrictions, on tomato, pepper, eggplant and potato. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 48 papers were retained, resulting in 644 and 146 observations of bacterial wilt incidence (BWI) and yield, respectively. The effectiveness of AEMS for each crop was evaluated based on BWI and crop yield. The effect size was calculated as the natural logarithm of the response ratio, and confidence intervals were determined by bootstrapping. Varietal control, biological control (used of biological control agents) and combinations of many AEMS were the most reported practices, both under on-station and on-farm conditions. The use of plant extracts (Thymus spp., Crotalaria spp.), grafting, solarization, soil amendments (manure, compost) and crop rotations (with maize, beans) were also reported. All AEMS significantly reduced bacterial wilt incidence and increased yields compared to the untreated plots. Grafting, combinations of control methods, varietal control and biological control were the most effective agroecological practices in reducing BWI and increasing yield in tomato and eggplant. Varietal control was the most effective compared to biological control on pepper. The effectiveness of AEMS also varied with crop susceptibility and origin, climatic zone and soil acidity. This study highlights the potential of AEMS in reducing BWI and increasing crop yield in infested soils
Convergence analysis and applicability of a domain decomposition method with nonlocal interface boundary conditions
No full textIn the past, the domain decomposition method was developed successfully for solving large-scale linear systems. However, the problems with significant nonlocal effect remain a major challenger for applying the method efficiently. In order to sort out the problem, a non-overlapping domain decomposition method with nonlocal interface boundary conditions was recently proposed and studied both theoretically and numerically. This paper is the report on the further development of the method, aiming to provide a comprehensive convergence analysis of the method, with supplementary numerical tests to support the theoretical result. The nonlocal effect of the problem is found to be reflected in both the governing equation and boundary conditions, and the effect of the latter was never taken into account, although playing a significant role in affecting the convergence. In addition, the paper extends the applicability of the analysis result drawn from the Poisson's equation to more complicated problems by examining the symbols of the Steklov-Poincar\'e operators. The extended application includes a model equation arising from fluid dynamics and the high performance of the domain decomposition method in solving this equation is better elaborated