303 research outputs found
Introduction
No full textThis proposed edited volume will be organized in two main sections, one devoted to the most relevant drivers and broader issues, the second one focusing on single Countries and Actors. These two sections will be introduced by a long critical introduction on the role of the Mediterranean region, within the changing international system as well as the existing literature and perspectives, moving from an historical and cultural approach in order to analyze the current geopolitical trends
States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean. Perspectives on the New Centrality in a Changing Region
No full textThe book tend to study the changes in the diffusion of power within the international system towards the Asian macro-continent, new commercial initiatives such as the Road and Belt Initiative and China’s growing role in the Mediterranean are forging a new centrality of the Mediterranean also from a geo-economic and maritime economy perspectives. The book aims to analyze this new, critical centrality in the global scenario and to uncover the interactions and intertwining of those trends and dynamics offering a historical holistic perspective in order to understand the current geopolitical, social and economic challenges which involved the Mediterranean as well as all the international system. The volume is organized in two main sections, one devoted to the most relevant drivers and broader issues, the second one focusing on single Countries and Actors. These two sections will be introduced by a long critical introduction on the role of the Mediterranean region, within the changing international system as well as the existing literature and perspectives, moving from an historical and cultural approach in order to analyze the current geopolitical trends
To Feel, to Understand, to Act. Sustainability on Display
No full textThis essay describes the exhibition project Sostenibilart promoted by CYLAND MediaArtLab and the Centre for Studies in Russian Art (CSAR). Starting from an analysis of what is normally described with the term ‘sustainability’, we will examine how this concept is developed by the artists identified as ambassadors of sustainability. Their reflection on the theme is also expressed through the answers to three questions posed by the Author that allow a transversal reading of the project. The text will therefore consider the ideas that emerged in this interrelated exchange. Finally, we will consider participation in contemporary art to verify the significance of the contribution of the artists-ambassadors of sustainability to stimulate in the public a reflection – and eventually action – on the issues
Gender and Economics in Mediterranean: Looking for New Opportunities for North African Women
No full textSince the 1950s and the 1960s, the MENA region has made important
progress toward the improvement of women’s rights. The rates of
maternal mortality and fertility have decreased dramatically, meeting the
objectives set by the UN Millennium Goals with regard to improving
maternal health and reducing child mortality.1 Women’s education, access
to the labor market and political and social participation have improved
as well. Although these positive trends slowed down at the end of the1980s, socio-economic indicators concerning women’s empowerment
have continued to improve, and the rate of female schooling has been
rising very fast. In the 2000s, the MENA region succeeded in bringing
the ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education up to 0.96,
and in significantly increasing the ratio of young women attending university.
Nonetheless, women still constitute the least educated segment of the
population in several of the region’s countries. According to the World
Bank collection of development indicators, in Morocco, for instance, 35%
of women above 15 years of age are still illiterate, with the majority of
them concentrated in the country’s rural areas
My Boyfriend Came Back From The War: una narrazione visiva di Olia Lialina
No full textThe contribution proposes the analysis of Net Art’s world-famous masterpiece
of one of its founders: My Boyfriend Came Back from the War (1996) by Olia Lialina.
Combining black and white images and words, it evokes the encounter of two lovers who
have been separated so long by the war. With her work, Lialina shows us the potential for
interaction of the new screen – that of the computer. She experiments with a non-linear
narration, where users edit the story frames thanks to hypermedia platform, resulting in
a new relationship between author and public. Considering such operations, the paper
aims to highlight the work’s ludic connotation beside the impact of filmic narrative on
the web
Solid-fluid Transition in Granular Flows: MPM Simulations with a New Constitutive Approach
No full textMany natural phenomena (rock or snow avalanches, and debris flows) as well as industrial processes are characterized by the flow of solid particles. A key issue in the development of a numerical tool for the study of this problem is the implementation of a suitable constitutive model, capable of capturing the complex rheological behaviour of the granular material in a wide range of strain rates. At the micro-scale level, the grains interacts by enduring frictional contacts or by nearly instantaneous collisions. The first mechanism prevails at low shear rates, when the material behaves like a solid (quasi-static conditions); the latter prevails at high shear rates, when it behaves like a fluid or a granular gas (collisional conditions). This paper presents a new constitutive model able to describe the behaviour of granular materials from quasi-static to collisional conditions and the transition in between. The stress tensor is assumed to be the sum of a quasi-static and a collisional contribution: the former one is modelled by adopting an elasto-plastic model incorporating the critical state concept, whereas the latter stems from the kinetic theory of granular gases. The features of the constitutive model are illustrated with a volume element test; moreover the model has been implemented in the MPM code Anura3D and applied to the simulation of triaxial tests
MPM simulations of granular column collapse with a new constitutive model for the solid-fluid transition
No full textDry granular flows are very common both in many natural phenomena (flow-like landslides) as well as in industrial processes. To model granular flows in the
framework of continuum mechanics, a key issue is the formulation of a suitable constitutive model, capable of capturing the complex rheological behaviour of the
granular material in a wide range of strain rates. In this contribution, a physically based model capable of reproducing the behaviour of granular materials in different
flow regimes is briefly summarized. Both the stress tensor and the dissipated energy are calculated as the sum of a quasi-static and a collisional contribution: the former
one is modelled by employing an elasto-plastic model incorporating the critical state
concept, whereas the latter stems from the kinetic theory of granular gases. The constitutive model has been implemented in the MPM research code Anura3D and applied to the simulation of the collapse of a dry granular column. The results show that the model can deal with the phase transition between the solid- and the fluid-like behaviour. The evolution of the state variables, the state of stress and the energy contributions is investigated in details
Impact forces of granular flows on rigid structures: Comparison between discontinuous (DEM) and continuous (MPM) numerical approaches
No full textThe evaluation of forces due to the impact of flow-slides against structures is essential for both risk assessment and protection structure design. However, the impact process is very complex and not fully understood yet. Peak forces are in fact commonly evaluated by simplified empirical methods whose reliability is questionable. In this paper, the impact process is numerically investigated by comparing the results obtained from software based on a discontinuous Discrete Element Method (DEM) and a continuous Material Point Method (MPM). The impact process and its key features are highlighted and the principal parameters influencing the peak force value are identified. This study focuses on the impact phase, rather than on the propagation phase. The soil mass is initially positioned in front of the wall with a prescribed uniform velocity and the evolution of the impact force is monitored
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