380 research outputs found
Higher Education Interdisciplinarity: Addressing the Complexity of Sustainable Energies and the Green Economy
No full textUniversities play a strategic role towards a sustainable future, as they address the complex scientific research on green transition and enable students from diverse backgrounds to acquire different skills, integrate multiple perspectives, and handle the sustainability of the ongoing and future renewable energy sector. In this paper, we describe a collaborative project between multiple HEIs (European and African) and local institutions, which promotes an interdisciplinary approach to address climate change and green energy transitions in the curricula of universities, used in the context of the ERASMUS+ program (DALILA-Development of new Academic curricuLa on sustaInabLe energies and green economy in Africa). The project recognizes and values different kinds of knowledge in renewable energy and green economy to address the energy transition in higher education in African countries as a prerequisite for climate change mitigation and sustainable development
AN UPDATE ON SECESSION AS THE "ULTIMATE RIGHT": FOR A LIMINAL LEGALITY
No full textLIMINAL LEGALITY AS A NEW FORM OF LEGALITY FOR SECESSION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW. THE AUTHOR PROPOSE A NEW LEGAL THEORY OF SECESSION
Portrait of Costanza Bonarelli and the Two Biographies of Bernini
No full textP(論文)It is well known that the biography of Bernini written by Filippo Baldinucci and another by his son, Domenico Bernini, are the most important sources for studies on Bernini. In recent years, the interests in these two biographies have grown tremendously and scholars have carefully studied them from various angles. Domenico's biography of Bernini translated to English by Franco Mormando, and the collection of critical essays
on Bernini's biographies edited by Maarten Delbeke and others, are the most significant results of these studies.
In this essay, the author discusses characteristics of the two biographies, centered around Portrait of Costanza Bonarelli. First, the author translates the notable documents concerning the scandal of Bernini and Costanza Bonarelli into Japanese, and sums the historical facts. Then the author introduces Costanza’s early life and her whereabouts after the scandal, based on the study published by Sarah McPhee on Costanza Bonarelli.
Taking into consideration of all the historical facts and descriptions of the scandal by Baldinucci and Domenico, the author discusses intentions and characteristics of two biographies and their authors. Baldinucci was well informed about the scandal but did not mention it, whereas, Domenico wrote in details tying to his father’s honor in the form of Pope’s pardon. The difference in these descriptions reveals characteristics of each
of the biographies.departmental bulletin pape
The Aussie value innovation. How Australia escaped the Red Queen of the global wine business
No full textThe Aussie value innovation. How Australia escaped the Red Queen of the global wine business - Using the Australian wine industry as a case study, the Author provides a possible reading of the undergone transformations of the global wine business in the last few decades. From Europe-centred to world-wide, the wine business has assisted to the enlargement of its boundaries and the rise of new features and dynamics, as well as new competition rules. The Author’s contribution is to provide a broad picture of the global wine business evolution in the light of the value innovation interpretative framework. Usually regarded at the firm level, here the Author considers that value innovation may be implemented at a country level as well, through broad planning activities and the adoption of collective strategies, facilitated by both industry and environmental factors.Value innovation, market-driving strategies, country-level strategies wine business, Australia
Ecocritical Hues in Christy Lefteri’s “Songbirds”: The Dissolution of the Human/Nonhuman Distinction
No full textThe human/nonhuman distinction is a significant theme in ecocriticism, which tries to undermine this dichotomy and make us rethink the human relationship with nature and other creatures. This paper argues that Christy Lefteri’s latest novel Songbirds (2021) dispels this hierarchical dualism through the portrayal of a golden mouflon ovis, a wild sheep native to the Caspian region and an extremely meaningful animal in the story: it comes to represent nature and eventually leads to the assimilation of the human and nonhuman spheres. By comparing the description of the mouflon ovis with the hedgehog in “The Mower” (1979) by Philip Larkin, I will attempt to bring to the foreground the similarities between both animal representations and the strong ecocritical hues in Lefteri’s description. Furthermore, the paper aims to show how the author depicts an interspecies and inter-elemental community – in which not only the animate dimension, but also the inanimate sphere is given value and importance – through the representation of the mouflon ovis, the motif of gold and specific passages in the novel.</jats:p
Design and characterization of a small-scale solar sail deployed by NiTi Shape Memory actuators
No full textAbstractSolar sails exploit the radiation pressure as propulsion system for the exploration of the solar system. Sunlight is used to propel space vehicles by reflecting solar photons from a large and light-weight material, so that no propellant is required for primary propulsion. Kapton seems to be the most suitable material for the sail production and in the space missions till now activated booms as deployment systems have always been used. In this work a self deploying system based on NiTi Shape Memory wires has been designed and manufactured in a small-scale prototype. As kapton has always been employed with a thin Al coating on one or both surfaces of the sail, for the first experiments commercial pure Al thin sheets have been used in order to simulate the sail. In the small-scale prototype manufactured, three different configurations have been studied for bending the sail while two different Nitinol wires have been used as active materials for the self-deployment of the sail. Infrared lamps have been employed in order to warm the solar sail and obtain the activation of the shape memory active elements
Platinum catalysts for the sustainable oxidation of biomass related compounds
No full textThe project described in this thesis is concerned with the platinum catalysed aerobic oxidation of biomass related model compounds, to explore new clean catalytic routes for the production of relevant intermediates in the field of fine chemicals and materials. This work started with the optimisation of mesoporous and hierarchical TLCT SBA-15 structures through systematic variation of their textural properties, including pore diameter, surface area and metal loading. The successful synthesis has been validated via extensive characterisation of the materials. Pore-expanded mesoporous and macro-mesoporous Pt-TLCT SBA-15 materials have been subsequently applied to the aerobic oxidation of dodecanal. The attentive choice of the type of support architecture conferred significant advantages in terms of internal diffusion and catalytic activity, evidencing the elimination of mass-transport barriers inherent to SBA-15 materials. Furthermore, a green and sustainable alternative for the selective synthesis of cinnamic acid from cinnamaldehyde has been investigated, as cinnamic acid is a promising compound to be developed in the medical field. The complex reaction mechanism has been studied, to identify the optimal conditions that favour the formation of cinnamic acid while minimising the production of benzaldehyde, the main by-product of this reaction. Air as oxidative agent together with a Pt-SiO2 catalyst decreased the activity of the oxidative cleavage mechanism that promotes the formation of benzaldehyde, rendering the reaction more selective towards cinnamic acid. Finally, the aerobic oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural has been explored with platinum nanoparticles dispersed over fumed silica, a non-porous acidic support that has not been extensively investigated in previous scientific literature, to assess the importance of the solid support in this reaction. A comprehensive study to investigate the catalytic abilities of Pt-SiO2 has been conducted, exploring the effect of different temperatures, pressures and amount of base. The employed catalysts have been prepared with two platinum precursors, in order to examine if different precursors had a remarkable impact on the catalysis. The obtained results led to the conclusion that, between the two precursors used, hydrogen hexachloroplatinate (IV) hexahydrate represents the most suitable one for HMF aerobic oxidation, since it allowed smaller nanoparticle size, which in turn afforded higher platinum content located on the surface of the catalyst, where the reaction occurred
Per una teoria giuridica e "amorale" della secessione
No full textFor a legal and amoral theory of secession Political philosophers, addressing the question of how to justify the secessionist phenomenon in the international order, reduced secession to a «moral question», considering necessary to first accept the morality of secession in order to face its legal profile. In this essay, the author believes that it is not necessary to accept the morality of secession in order to adress legally and politically the phenomenon of separatism. Therefore, to support the amorality of secession is necessary to face the question and to propose a legal theory of secession
I giudici statunitensi di fronte alla schiavitù
No full textThe author analyzes some aspects of the current American theories of constitutional interpretation through the issue of slavery. The protagonists of the late debate (second half of the 1970s) over the judiciary attitude towards slavery have been mainly Robert Cover, Ronald Dworkin and John Mackie. A century after the abolition of slavery, these authors have discussed the position of the best-known judges of the American Supreme Court, during the thirty years before the Civil War, in the best-known cases concerning the «fugitive slave» Acts. The theories of interpretation have stated that the judges decided the cases in favor of slavery because they used the wrong principle of interpretation in their decisions. The a. claims that these cases have represented a real legal battle «over the structure of federalism»
The economics of return migration
No full textThis dissertation focuses on the importance of return migration for the sending and the receiving economies. Although an extensive literature has analyzed immigration, much less is known about the immigrants who choose to leave the host country and to return to their home country. Who are these returnees? What is the impact of this outflow of migrants on the host country labor market equilibrium? Using a dataset constructed from the Annual Reports of the Immigration and Naturalization Services, Chapter 2 studies the outflow of migrants from the U.S. between 1908 and 1957, and the impact of international labor movements on the U.S. labor market. Between 1900 and 1930 the outmigrants were primarily low skilled workers, although in the subsequent decades the outmigrants are progressively drawn from skilled occupations. This outflow is counter-cyclical, and partially reduces the labor market impact of the inflow of migrants. The third chapter analyzes the importance of self-selectivity in return migration from both the host country and the source country perspective. I study the nature of the selection process in return migration and in labor force participation of persons born in Puerto Rico (source economy) who return from the U.S. mainland (destination economy). Return migrants are negatively selected both in terms of observable and unobservable traits. Therefore, selective return migration persistently causes an underestimation of the wage process of the stayers in the U.S. The findings suggest that Puerto Ricans are able to sort across alternative locations based on their comparative advantage in each market. The fourth chapter studies the return choice of a cross-section of Mexican immigrants. In particular, it asks what would the immigrant wage distribution be in the absence of return migration. The overarching problem of this chapter is the development of a consistent estimator for this wage distribution. A semiparametric procedure is proposed. Mexican returnees are found to be middle to high wage earners, and return seem therefore to happen once individuals have reached their desired goals in the host country. In the absence of return migration the immigrant-native wage gap would be closing.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Costanza Biavasch
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