1,436 research outputs found
Watching (through) the Watchmen: Representation and Deconstruction of the Controlling Gaze in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman
Get PDFTwo of the most widely represented and recognisable cultural examples of the gaze that spies are the supernatural and/or divine eye, which in religious, mythical and tragic narratives seeks and punishes those who misbehave, and on the other hand the controlling, pervasive gaze of technological surveillance, which is typical of modern institutional apparatuses. This essay aims to analyse the ways in which a highly sophisticated, postmodern graphic novel, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (1989), elaborates precise representational strategies in order to blend, metaphorize and then deconstruct the aforementioned narratives of control; in the 2000-page fantasy bildungsroman, mythological, pagan and literary elements are combined to shape the Eumenides, a tripartite deity of vengeance which is represented as pure, abstract gaze, and whose inescapable duty is to punish those who act against nature; however, a complex articulation of the concepts of agency and responsibility manages to undermine the ideological foundation of such essentialism, in order to negotiate forms of resistance against vigilance which revolve around the very necessity of the gaze. Michael Foucault’s works about Panopticism, and especially the relationship between power and control provide the theoretical background for such examinations
London Epic: Compulsory Environment
Get PDFLondon Epic: Compulsory Environment
A conversation with Enrico Masi
(1st August 2013
Holy Terror, Batman! Frank Miller’s Dark Knight and the Superhero as Hardboiled Terrorist
Get PDFConceived in the late thirties as “bold humanist response to Depression-era fears of runaway scientific advance and soulless industrialism” (Morrison 2012, 6), the superhero has flourished as one of the most resilient archetypes of American popular culture. This essay analyses the literary and cultural contaminations that have engendered an unprecedented revision of the paradigm since the 1980s. In particular, it will take into account three graphic novels by American cartoonist Frank Miller (1957 - ), one of leading figures of the mainstream comics renaissance, whose ideas have indelibly influenced the artistic development of both medium and genre. The Dark Knight Returns (1986), The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2002) and Holy Terror (2011) constitute an ideal Batman trilogy that charts the character’s evolution as political counterpoint to the perceived crisis of American identity. In this regard, Reaganism and 9/11 are polarized as historical discontinuities triggering the need for a new kind of a criminal (super)hero. It will be in fact demonstrated how the novels hybridise the latent generic links to hardboiled pulp novels (R. Chandler, D. Hammet) with narrative and aesthetics elements appropriated from the culturally-received concepts of terrorism and terrorists. This fruitful contamination on the one hand “play[s] with reader assumptions about genre” (Baetens and Frey 2015, 46), while on the other hand deconstructs the ideological underpinnings of the archetype, as the moral dichotomy and the alienation of justice from the law
Intuizione e calcolo nella progettazione dell strutture. C - D PREVENZIONE DEI DISSESTI E CONSOLIDAMENTO (Cerone M. coll)
No full text(Cerone M coll) 450 p 24x31,5
Globalization and public administration: a complex relationship
Get PDFThe paper examines the relationship between globalization and public administration through economic theory principles and an example. Starting from the consideration of early concerns about globalization, it argues that although the size of government has rarely declined, its power has been eroded, making room on the one hand to the quest for global public goods, while on the other hand urging for more local public goods and decentralization. University education, mainly publicly supplied in Italy as well as in many European countries, exemplifies the awkwardness of introducing best practices in a context of asymmetric information with many idiosyncratic features.globalization,university education,public goods,public administration
Politiche innovative per una logistica urbana sostenibile
No full textLa logistica urbana delle merci rappresenta un fattore decisivo per la competitività delle aree urbane. Il benessere e il grado di sviluppo delle città infatti dipende direttamente dall’ampiezza e dall’efficienza della circolazione delle merci al suo interno (McKinnon A., Cullinane S., Browne M., Whiteing A., 2010). Le aree urbane infatti, necessitano di una logistica urbana che sia allo stesso tempo efficiente ed efficace, in grado cioè di soddisfare le esigenze del cliente garantendo che venga consegnata la giusta quantità di merce, nel posto esatto, nei tempi richiesti e con le caratteristiche di qualità inalterate.
Le aree urbane sono tuttavia anche gli ambiti territoriali in cui si manifestano con maggiore forza gli impatti ambientali e sociali legati alla distribuzione delle merci, in primo luogo legati alla congestione, all’inquinamento dell’aria e acustico, ai conflitti nella gestione e nell’utilizzo alternativo di spazi (Croci E., Grasso D., 2014).
Secondo le più recenti statistiche europee, i volumi di merci movimentati nelle aree urbane sono cresciuti più velocemente di quanto abbiano fatto le attività economiche in generale. Infatti i veicoli merci rappresentano oggi tra l'8 ed il 15% del flusso totale di traffico all’interno delle aree urbane europee e “contribuiscono in modo sproporzionato alla congestione urbana e all’aumento delle emissioni acustiche associate nella maggior parte dei casi alle attività di ricerca di un’area per la sosta per le attività di consegna e ritiro” (Commissione Europea, 2015).
Questi dati evidenziano la centralità e l’importanza del tema della logistica urbana sostenibile nella definizione di politiche pubbliche finalizzate al miglioramento del benessere e della salute nelle aree urbane. Le inefficienze del settore logistico infatti, soprattutto nelle attività di ultimo miglio, sono ancora molte, con margini di intervento e di miglioramento ampi e ancora in parte da esplorare
Optimizing the position of bike sharing stations. The Milan case.
No full textBike Sharing systems are rapidly spreading around in European cities. Bike sharing is a new type of public transportation based on the use of public bikes to cover relatively short distances in urban areas. It is used both in conjunction with traditional public transport to complete the ???last mile???, or in alternative for its flexibility. Usage fees are usually very low, compared to other means of transport, as costs of service are often covered by advertising. In this work we will focus on the case of Milan where the bike sharing system, called "BikeMi", was introduced in 2008 and has already reached over 200 stations and 3.000 bikes with 1.8 million travels in 2013. The aim of the paper is to assess which attractors influence the use of bike sharing stations. The paper also examines the different effect of proximity and visibility of bike sharing stations from attractors. An econometric analysis is performed, based on the data set of use of the system and on GIS information on the position of bike sharing stations and attractors. The main results suggest that the presence of metro and train stations, universities, museums, cinema and restricted traffic areas in correspondence of bike sharing stations significantly increase use. On the other hand the presence of tram and bus stops and theatres does not and has an opposite influence. With respect to visibility, there is a positive effect for tram, bus and metro stops, theatres and cinemas. On the other hand, universities and museums show a negative correlation. The results appear robust to the inclusion of time and other possible confounding variables, such as weather conditions. The analysis supports the relevance of the role of urban planning for the best positioning of bike sharing stations and the need to carefully consider the features of surrounding environment to optimise the distribution of bike sharing stations in a territory
Corporate Raiders, Performance and Governance in Europe
No full text"I analyse 136 block purchases made by corporate raiders in Europe between 1990 and 2001. Contrary to the hypothesis that these investors expropriate the target companies, there is a positive market reaction to the first public announcement of these purchases. In the long-run, raiders earn an abnormal profit when they sell their stakes. When they still held their positions at the end of the sample period, abnormal returns were insignificant. Raiders' activities do not improve operating performance. The findings are consistent with superior stock picking ability among these investors, but do not support the hypothesis that raiders are governance champions." Copyright 2007 The Author Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
D-ribose acts as trojan horse equilibrating K+ into cancer cells.
No full textCancer cells have a glycolysis enhancement even in the presence of available oxygen. The “aerobic glycolysis” is known as the Warburg effect and it considered a fundamental metabolic alteration during malignant transformation. The up-regulation of glycolysis in tumour cells is well known and it is the rationale of F18-FDG PET diagnostic technique. This propriety is strictly link to the increase of sugar transporters GLUT in most tumours. Also SGLT family transporters, which include the sodium-glucose symporters, are deregulated in many tumours. The influx of Na+ into tumour cells leads to a change into ions equilibrium, with particular reference to K+ intracellular concentration. We demonstrate that the synergic action of potassium bicarbonate and D-ribose (K:D-Rib) has a cytostatic effect on human cancer cell line (HTB-126), reducing by 30% the doubling population time of treated cancer cells respect to the control, after fourteen days of treatment. The clonogenic assay shows that the colonies formed during the incubation with 5 mM K:D-Rib, are significantly less respect to control but not if fructose is used instead of D-ribose.
Cell membranes are permeable to D-ribose that is a carbon source but in contrast to glucose without sodium symport. In addition a significant increase in K+ channel expression, K+ current and /or K+ efflux, can be correlated with tumorigenesis and proliferation. We show that the re-equilibrium of potassium intracellular concentration could be one of the key point to control cancer cell proliferation. Results also report the correlation between morphological cell changes and K+ ion intracellular concentration
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