535 research outputs found
Concrete shells. Discovering Dante Bini
No full textThe process of defining and reconstructing architectural history, but also history in general, is neither linear nor univocal, and of course hardly neutral. Dante Bini is one of those figures who, for various and not always easily identifiable reasons, have not been acknowledged in the landscape of 1960s and 1970s architecture. Dante Bini is the inventor of the Binishell, a technique patented in the early 1960s that uses air pressure to make spherically shaped reinforced concrete constructions. The 1960s were years of great ferment in the Italian political, social, and cultural debate; the world of architecture was going through a phase of revision aimed at renewing traditional building systems, moving towards technological innovation. The conference investigate the practice of Dante Bini, together with Bini himself and the architect and journalist Giulia Ricci. The conference was part of the public program made in collaboration with MAMbo Bologna and the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council program (12th edition, 2023)
Some Remarks on Calabi-Yau Manifolds
No full textThe article under review can be regarded as an announcement of or supplement to results in forthcoming papers of the author and his collaborators concerning quintic threefolds, the Dwork pencil, and its natural generalization to higher dimensions [G. Bini, "Quotients of hypersurfaces in weighted projective space'', preprint, arxiv.org/abs/0905.2099, Adv. Geom., to appear; G. Bini, B. van Geemen and T. L. Kelly, "Mirror quintics, discrete symmetries and Shioda maps'', preprint, arxiv.org/abs/0809.1791, J. Algebraic Geom., to appear; G. Bini and A. Garbagnati, "The geometry of the generalized Dwork pencil and its quotients'', in preparation]
Lighten Up! On Biology and Time exhibition
No full textCo-curator of Lighten Up! On Biology and Time exhibition
International art exhibition at EPFL Pavilions, Lausanne (23 March to 30 July 2023) 19 artworks exhibited (including by Olafur Eliasson, James Carpenter, Liliane Lijn), 7’000 visitors (80% from outside EPFL)
other curators: Prof. em. Anna Wirz-Justice (University of Basel), Prof. Sarah Kenderdine and Dr. Giulia Bini (EPFL)LIPIDCDH-EPFL-PAVILION
The evaluation of heat vulnerability in Friuli Venezia Giulia
No full textHeat waves are leading cause of weather-related illness and death, in a context where their frequency, intensity and impact are expected to surge due to rising climate change, growing urbanisation and population ageing. This work develops a Heat Vulnerability Index by means of the composite indicator methodology with the aimto depict heat vulnerability in Friuli Venezia Giulia atthe census tract level. The results show that heat vulnerability follows a spatial pattern with highest hazard in urban areas, lower risk in rural areas and lowest danger in mountainous areas. The performance interval approach is exploited to validate the Index
Italian Science Fiction, Nuclear Technologies: Narrative Strategies between the “Two Cultures” (1950s-1970s)
No full textThis essay critically investigates how science fiction interacted with, and contributed to the development of a collective imagery related to nuclear energy in Italy between the 1950s and the 1970s, within a context characterized by a difficult relationship between the “two cultures”. To do this, it takes into account the theme of nuclear technologies in science fiction genre narratives, and its treatment on the part of non-genre Italian writers. An initial enthusiasm toward nuclear energy is interpreted as part of new hopes connected to an unprecedented modernization in the peninsula and a new centrality of techno-science – of which science fiction was an apt expression. e hostility toward both nuclear technologies and science fiction on the part of the Italian cultural elite during subsequent decades is read as two di erent sides of the same “malaise of modernity”
Scienziati e guerra fredda. Tra collaborazione e diritti umani
No full textQuale fu il ruolo degli scienziati nel corso delle diverse fasi della guerra fredda? In che modo riuscirono a mettere in discussione le divisioni proprie di quel lungo periodo sulla base della libertà scientifica? Quale ruolo rivestirono nel promuovere la difesa dei diritti umani a livello globale e nel porre fine al conflitto bipolare L’analisi di documentazione quasi interamente inedita fa emergere casi-studio del tutto originali. Il volume ricostruisce così le forme di internazionalismo scientifico costituitesi nel corso del secondo dopoguerra tra ricercatori del blocco occidentale, del blocco orientale e del Terzo mondo, concentrandosi sulla capacità degli scienziati di creare network e istituzioni transnazionali in grado di superare la divisione in blocchi contrapposti e le gerarchie tra Nord e Sud del mondo
The Indivisibles: A Travel in Time and Space from Archimedes to Cavalieri = es indivisibles: un voyage dans le temps et l'espace d’Archimède à Cavalieri
No full textThis paper presents a teaching experiment that brings together the history of mathematics and mathematics laboratory of three-dimensional Euclidean geometry, with the use of artefacts and physical experiences. It has been realized with a class group of 24 high school students (12th grade), who were encouraged to become time
traveller historians and mathematicians, investigating analogies and differences between Archimedes’ and Cavalieri’s methods to estimate volumes. The project had a double goal: from a research point of view, it pointed at evaluating the effectiveness of an historical inspired activity to update students’ common culture about mathematics,
while from a didactical point of view, the aim of this experience was exploiting the feeling of personal discovery that epitomizes hands-on activities as a pivot to promote a critical attitude towards Euclidean geometry as well as to endorse a historical approach to calculus.Cet article présente une expérience pédagogique associant le laboratoire
d’histoire des mathématiques et de la géométrie euclidienne tridimensionnelle à
l’utilisation d’objets et d’expériences physiques. Il a été réalisé avec un groupe de
classe de 24 lycéens (12e année), qui ont été encouragés à devenir des historiens et des
mathématiciens voyageant dans le temps, en recherchant des analogies et des
différences entre les méthodes d’Archimedes et de Cavalieri pour estimer les volumes.
Le projet avait un double objectif: du point de vue de la recherche, il visait à évaluer
l’efficacité d’une activité inspirée par l’histoire pour actualiser la culture commune
des élèves en mathématiques, alors que d’un point de vue didactique, le but de cette
expérience était de sentiment de découverte personnelle qui incarne les activités
pratiques comme un pivot pour promouvoir une attitude critique à l'égard de la
géométrie euclidienne ainsi que pour approuver une approche historique du calcul
A non-euclidean clockwork orange: from reality to mathematics and back
No full textThis paper presents a teaching experience in non-Euclidean geometry
involving the use of artefacts and physical experiences. The teaching practice was set up for a group of 25 4th-year high-school students. The aim of this activity was to encourage the “process of translation from ‘reality’ to mathematics and back”.
Further, the students were stimulated to evaluate the authenticity of the proposed context, which was designed for learning about spherical geometry and its value in helping students understand and organise the abstract key facts of the topic. The overall aim was to shift back to the starting point and apply the acquired theoretical knowledge in order to interpret a real-world problem.Cet article présente une expérience pédagogique dans la géométrie non-
euclidienne impliquant l'utilisation d'artefacts et d'expériences réelles. La pratique
pédagogique a été mise en place pour un groupe de 25 élèves du quatrième année de
l’école secondaire. Le but de cette activité était d'encourager le “processus de
traduction de la ‘réalité’ aux mathématiques et retour”. En plus, les étudiants ont été
stimulés à évaluer l'authenticité du contexte proposé, conçu pour apprendre la
géométrie sphérique et sa valeur pour aider les élèves à comprendre et à organiser les
faits clés abstrait du sujet. L'objectif général était de revenir au point de départ et
d'appliquer les connaissances théoriques acquises afin d'interpréter un problème réel
- …
