157 research outputs found
Where do foreign firms locate in transition countries?An empirical investigation
No full textFirm-level data sets on foreign manufacturing plants in four Central and Eastern European Countries are used in this paper, to trace their location and estimate the determinants of their choice processes. A nested logit model as developed by McFadden (1974) is used in the analysis. A central focus of the analysis is foreign direct investment (FDI) which is a good indicator of where location of foreign investments is made. Several reasons explain the need for mapping the location of FDI. First of all, it facilitates understanding the real competitiveness of regions and countries in
providing location advantages able to complement multi-national enterprises’ (MNE) specific advantages. Secondly, it directly shows the distribution of the benefits usually associated with FDI. Finally, an understanding of FDI location decisions is important
for policy makers who believe that MNEs may offer a positive contribution to the economic development of disadvantaged areas and thus correct potential regional imbalances. The main results show that sector specific factors affect the choice of the final location. These unobserved characteristics influence both the determinants and the structure of MNEs location choice process
Recensione a F. Pusterla, Una goccia di splendore. Riflessioni sulla scuola, nonostante tutto, Bellinzona, Casagrande, 2008
No full textLa recensione tocca alcuni punti nevralgici del problema della didattica della letteratura oggi, sulla scorta delle riflessioni di Fabio Pusterla
Eco-Pusterla: a semantic-stylistic analysis of Bocksten
No full textEco-Pusterla: a semantic-stylistic analysis of Bocksten
The relationship between humans and the environment is crucial within and beyond the contemporary space. The environmental discourse has been articulated in several transdisciplinary studies, and foregrounds many academic, political, and activist agendas. In this paper, I argue that poetry, through its rhythmical and figurative qualities, can add to our understanding of the environmental discourse and contribute to a more fluid and less hierarchical interpretation of the relationship between human and non-human. In particular, I discuss the poetry of the Swiss italophone author Fabio Pusterla as a case study, highlighting the progressively intensifying emergence of an ecocentric intention in his work. In a first section, I explore recent scholarly trajectories in ecopoetics and ecocriticism. This framework is then allowed to interact with three key-concepts that are pivotal to Pusterla’s ecopoetic action: receptivity, intertextuality, and translation. In a second section, I perform an analysis of Bocksten, Pusterla’s second poetry collection, published for the first time in 1989 and re-published in 2003. The textual analysis is oriented towards rhythmical and figurative aspects, and it highlights the clustering of polyphonic structures and transitional imagery in the collection. As a whole, this paper aims to dialogue with the body of scholarship that investigates the process of radicalisation of relational and anti-anthropocentric views in contemporary poetics, both within and beyond the italophone field. It also aims to foreground the potential of poetry in mobilising the conventional binary conceptualisation of human and not human, and, as such, in contributing to reimagine the world as a more equitable, interconnected, and inclusive space.
Eco-Pusterla. Un’analisi semantico-stilistica di Bocksten
La relazione tra uomo e ambiente rappresenta uno snodo fondamentale nello scenario contemporaneo. Il discorso sull’ambiente è stato articolato in diverse discipline e rappresenta un punto cruciale di molte agende accademiche, politiche e militanti.In questo articolo propongo una riflessione su come la poesia, nelle sue qualità di linguaggio ritmico ed immaginativo, possa supportare una visione fluida e non gerarchica del mondo e contribuire una riconcentualizzazione anti-antropocentrica della relazione fra umano e non-umano. L’articolo riflette su questi temi attraverso un esame del percorso poetico dell’autore Svizzero italofono Fabio Pusterla e della sua raccolta Bocksten, apparsa in prima edizione nel 1989 e ripubblicata senza sostanziali varianti nel 2003.
In una prima parte, teorica, il contributo si concentra sul concetto di ecopoesia e si addentra nell’esame di tre nozioni che nutrono la riflessione ecocentrica di Pusterla, cioè ricettività, intertestualità, traduzione. In una seconda parte, propone una lettura delle dinamiche ecopoetiche attive nella tessitura testuale di Bocksten, soprattutto a livello ritmico e figurativo. Complessivamente, questo lavoro si propone di dialogare con gli studi che discutono il processo di radicalizzazione delle poetiche contemporanee in direzione ecologica e relazionale, e si muove pertanto anche al di fuori della tradizione italofona, nel tentativo di riconoscere le caratteristiche di un movimento translocale basato su contatto e interconnessione
Ageing of reticulate Si-SiC foams in porous burners
No full textSi-SiC open cell foams with porosity >87% and high pore sizes (4-7 mm) are commonly employed as active zone in porous burners for heat radiation applications. In a porous burner, the solid porous body let the heat recirculate from the hot combustion products to the incoming reactants. The result is that the flame is confined within the foam, meaning high thermomechanical loadings on its constituent material. A set of commercial Si-SiC foams from the same production batch was aged with flat porous burners. Thermal cycles ramp-up, dwell and cooling, as well as burner set-up (power: 15 kW, fuel/air ratio: 1.5), were chosen based on previous experience. Before aging, each foam was first cut in bars ready for bending tests, reassembled into the burner foam configuration and operated. As produced and aged samples were physically, mechanically and chemically analysed and results compare
TLR4-mediated skin carcinogenesis is dependent on immune and radioresistant cells
No full textSkin cancers are the most commonly diagnosed cancers. Understanding what are the factors contributing to skin tumour development can be instrumental to identify preventive therapies. The myeloid differentiation primary response gene (MyD)88, the downstream adaptor protein of most Toll-like receptors (TLR), has been shown to be involved in several mouse tumourigenesis models. We show here that TLR4, but not TLR2 or TLR9, is upstream of MyD88 in skin tumourigenesis. TLR4 triggering is not dependent on lipopolysaccharide associated to skin-colonizing bacteria, but on the high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1), an endogenous ligand of TLR4. HMGB1 is released by necrotic keratinocytes and is required for the recruitment of inflammatory cells and for the initiation of inflammation. The expression of TLR4 on both bone marrow-derived and radioresistant cells is necessary for carcinogenesis. Consistently, a human tissue microarray analysis showed that melanoma and colon cancer display an over-expression of TLR4 and its downstream adaptor protein MyD88 within tumours. Together, our results suggest that the initial release of HMGB1 triggers a TLR4-dependent inflammatory response that leads to tumour development
Identification of a conserved hydrophobic cluster in partially folded bovine beta-Lactoglobulin at pH 2
No full textBackground: NMR studies of denaturated states, both fully unfolded and partially folded, give insight into the conformations and interactions formed during folding. Although the complete structural characterization of partially folded proteins is a very difficult task, the identification of structured subsets, such as hydrophobic clusters, is of value in understanding the structural organization of such states. Here, we report the NMR characterization, in acidic conditions (pH 2), of a well-defined hydrophobic cluster localized in the core of bovine beta-lactoglobulin.
Results: The existence of a small hydrophobic cluster present in the lipocalin protein family has been assessed on the basis of structural alignment and NMR data obtained for the partially folded bovine beta-lactoglobulin. The presence of the cluster had been predicted identifying those residues that are highly conserved in most members of the family. An NMR study conducted at pH 2, where the protein exhibits a very stable beta-core together with disordered regions, reveals the presence of NOEs among sidechains of 11 hydrophobic residues centered around Trp19 and pointing towards the interior of the protein. This buried cluster is found to be unusually stable at pH 2, not only at room temperature but also at 323K. Furthermore, conserved hydrophobic residues pointing towards the surface of the protein define a hydrophobic surface patch located in a groove between the strands and the helix.
Conclusions: The detected buried cluster most likely plays an important role in bovine beta-lactoglobulin stability. The analysis of five structurally related proteins reveals that the same extended cluster is present in these structures. We propose that the buried cluster may represent the internal binding site as well and that the hydrophobic surface patch is involved in a second external binding site
- …
