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Elemental interactions in soil and their impact on soil fertility under the influence of treated wastewater and biosolid
No full textTreated wastewater and biosolids are increasingly used in agriculture as alternatives to well irrigation water and as organic fertilizers. While these practices offer benefits, they also present challenges. Both treated wastewater and biosolids contain essential plant nutrients and heavy metals, which vary based on their source. When applied to soil, these elements interact with each other and with soil properties, potentially affecting soil fertility. To investigate these interactions, a greenhouse pot experiment was conducted using a simulated soil, based on a randomized block design with 12 treatment combinations, four replications, and 48 pots. The goal was to examine how heavy metals, nutrients and soil properties such as pH, clay content, organic matter, and electrical conductivity influence soil fertility when treated with wastewater and biosolids. The interactions were classified into six groups, and their nutrient contributions were analyzed using regression analysis. The study found several significant interactions, with the highest contributions observed in macronutrients, particularly from the interactions between “soil properties x macronutrients” and “micronutrients x macronutrients.” Significant contributions included nitrate (1016.05 mg/kg), potassium (783.07 mg/kg), calcium (4014.52 mg/kg), magnesium (475.46 mg/kg), and micronutrients like boron (2.02 mg/kg), zinc (11.98 mg/kg), copper (16.78 mg/kg), and iron (29.76 mg/kg). The present study offers new insights into how elemental interactions affect soil fertility, under the influence of treated wastewater and biosolids. It highlights the importance of understanding these interactions for the effective management of the interactively contributed plant nutrients in the presence of the applied wastewater and biosolids
Soil morphological and physico-chemical characteristics of Zygophyllum fabago L. populations in the Ili-Balkhash Region of Kazakhstan
No full textThe present study investigates the morphological, physical, and chemical properties of soils in natural habitats of Zygophyllum fabago L. across three ecologically distinct populations in the Ile-Balkhash region of Kazakhstan. Soil samples were collected in August–September 2024 near Topar, Bakanas, and Miyaly villages, representing desert sandy and alluvial environments. Standard field profile descriptions and laboratory analyses were conducted following national GOST and classical pedological methods. Soils in all sites were characterized as weakly humus sandy or loamy sands with alkaline pH levels (8.4–8.9) and low organic carbon content (0.24–1.08%). Granulometric composition varied from sandy (Pop. 1) to loamy sand (Pop. 2 and 3), with moisture contents ranging from 3.9% to 7.6%. Mobile nutrients were present in low to moderate quantities, with potassium being relatively higher in Pop. 3. Heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb) were within permissible limits across all sites; however, cadmium (Cd) exceeded thresholds in total forms in Populations 2 and 3. Salt analysis revealed non-saline to moderately saline conditions, with increased salinity in surface horizons of Population 3. The results provide important baseline data for understanding the ecological amplitude of Z.fabago and assessing soil-plant interactions in arid ecosystems of Central Asia
Il Fondo Giorgio Bert nella Biblioteca dell’ISS: una raccolta per la medicina narrativa, a cura di Vittorio Ponzani, catalogo a cura di Maria Alessandra Falcone, Ornella Ferrari, Paola Ferrari, Maria Salvatorina Graziani, Roma, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 2024
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What Do We Have in Common? A Venture into Taxonomy of Participatory Art Practices in the Postdigital Era
No full textDigital technologies have profoundly influenced collaborative practices, highlighting both their potential and inherent contradictions. Convergence culture encourages widespread engagement in content creation and circulation. However, growing disenchantment with shared practices, often co-opted by private interests and stripped of their conflict-driven essence, has led to "participation burnout". This situation underscores the urgent need for a refined vocabulary to evaluate participation models and power dynamics. The current research aims to distinguish between the descriptive and aspirational dimensions of participatory culture, shifting the focus from aspirational dynamics to the structural and functional features of art practices. By integrating Manuela Naveau's taxonomy of invitation-reception dynamics with Pietro Montani's theory of "rule-making creativity", the article analyzes the aesthetic autonomy of participatory projects and their capacity to embed open-endedness and generate new knowledge. Additionally, the paper includes a comparative analysis of two contrasting case studies – The Game by Trickster-p and A Social Gym by Didymos – illustrating the application of the suggested theoretical framework. The proposed methodology seeks to demystify appropriation and deception within collaborative practices, identifying the conditions necessary to foster radical equality and unpredictability.Le tecnologie digitali hanno profondamente influenzato le pratiche collaborative, mettendone in luce tanto il potenziale quanto le contraddizioni intrinseche. La cultura della convergenza incoraggia un'ampia partecipazione alla creazione e alla circolazione dei contenuti. Tuttavia, il crescente disincanto verso pratiche condivise – spesso cooptate da interessi privati e svuotate della loro dimensione conflittuale – ha portato a un fenomeno di "esaurimento da partecipazione". Questa situazione evidenzia l’urgenza di sviluppare un vocabolario più articolato per valutare i modelli partecipativi e le dinamiche di potere che li attraversano. La presente ricerca mira a distinguere tra le dimensioni descrittive e aspirazionali della cultura partecipativa, spostando l’attenzione dalle dinamiche ideali verso le caratteristiche strutturali e funzionali delle pratiche artistiche. Integrando la tassonomia di Manuela Naveau sulle dinamiche di invito e ricezione con la teoria della "rule-making creativity" di Pietro Montani, l’articolo analizza l’autonomia estetica dei progetti partecipativi e la loro capacità di incorporare indeterminatezza e generare nuova conoscenza. Inoltre, il saggio include un’analisi comparativa di due casi studio – The Game di Trickster-p e A Social Gym di Didymos – che illustrano l’applicazione del quadro teorico proposto. La metodologia qui delineata intende smascherare i meccanismi di appropriazione e inganno all’interno delle pratiche collaborative, individuando le condizioni necessarie a favorire un’uguaglianza radicale e a riconoscere l’imprevedibilità come risorsa politica e poetica
Showcasing U.S. History in Iran and American Public Diplomacy’s Limitations, 1950–1965
No full textThis article reflects on American actors’ use of the United States’ history and heritage to engage with Iranian audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. In focusing on the United States Information Education and Exchange (USIE) during the 1951–1953 Anglo-Iranian Oil Crisis and the Smithsonian’s initial mid-1960s exhibits in the country, the paper makes three key claims. First, how factors beyond a desire to use American history as a vehicle to promote norms, values, and ideas persuaded USIE and Smithsonian officials towards these types of schemes. Second, the limited and problematic nature of the historical narratives peddled. Finally, how policies attempting to showcase American history and heritage highlights American public diplomacy in Iran’s wider failings
Decomposing Light into Spectra: Nineteenth-Century Spectroscopy as a Cultural Technique
No full textIn addition to its phantasmatic meaning of ectoplasmic presence, the term spectrum refers to a harmonic composition of a variable quantity over time, whose initial field of study was Newtonian optics and the related experiments on visible light. From Newton to the present day, spectroscopic, -graphic, and -metric practices have been established in many scientific areas, ranging from astronomical to chemical and medical studies. Such fecundity cannot be limited to the field of scientific observation alone but also affects numerous other fields of knowledge and culture. Within this stratified tradition, my contribution intends to focus on a decisive historical moment for spectroscopy—the second half of the 19th century—marked by a theoretical and experimental ferment that follows and justifies the production of the first spectroscopic devices, including those of Fraunhofer (1814) and Kirchhoff-Bunsen (1861). Looking at the rich variety of instruments and applications by leading scientific figures such as Wollaston, Brewster, Talbot, and Janssen, one can note the impact that similar researches had on the manufacture of optical equipment, with particular attention to the dialogue with the instances coming from the photographic world. From this discursive and techno-experimental network spectral images seem to assume the role of mediated articulation of the real, in a manner similar to those doors and grids that Bernard Siegert conceives as cultural techniques. In the case of spectroscopy, such technique is structured along an operation of mediation of the gaze that breaks down and recomposes a harmonious subject, the light, in the attempt to bring out from this fractionating process not an augmentation of the visible, but rather the possible cognitive gaps we have on it
Immaginario partenopeo. Lucia Di Girolamo, Visioni a Sud. La narrazione audiovisiva della Campania: sguardi turistici e idee di sostenibilità, Liguori, Napoli 2024
No full textThe Constitutionalization of the Right to Abortion from Different Understandings of Autonomy: A Review of the Jurisprudence of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice
No full textThis article explores the constitutionalization of abortion in Mexico within the broader framework of Latin American constitutionalism. It highlights the pivotal institutional reforms of 1994 and 2011 that redefined the role of the Mexican Supreme Court and elevated international human rights instruments to constitutional status. These reforms opened new legal avenues for feminist advocacy, enabling the recognition of reproductive rights. The article conceptualizes three jurisprudential approaches to abortion: (1) unjustified paternalism, often manifest under causal regulatory frameworks; (2) a negative liberal theory of autonomy, characteristic of decriminalization arguments; and (3) relational autonomy, which emphasizes contextual and substantive equality considerations. By examining key Supreme Court cases, the author identifies a progressive shift toward recognizing abortion as a fundamental right, which allows for the construction of reasons in favour of a narrative based on the relational conception of autonomy and substantive equality. The article aims to contribute to feminist legal strategies by clarifying the argumentative frameworks surrounding reproductive autonomy in constitutional adjudication