1,721,018 research outputs found
Convivere con l’alterità: i legami, gli spazi e il lockdown
No full textIn exploring a project named Vesta, which aims at giving a temporary ‘home’ to the unaccompanied minors migrants involving committed Italian families, we shed light on the ideas and representations of ‘living together’ by autochthonous and migrants. Yet, considering the current pandemic measures of containment – social distancing and isolation at home – we analysed how the lockdown challenged the cohabitation among young migrants and their recipient’s families. Observing domestic spaces and family ideas we investigated how the lockdown and sickness representations contributed to mould and re-elaborate symbolic and social meanings given to ‘the living together’
“I told you the Invisible can kill you”: Engaging Anthropology as a response in the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy
No full textItaly has been the European country first struck and most heavily affected by COVID-19. Exploring the outbreak’s impact on the migration reception system in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna region, we show how anthropological tools have been applied to mitigate public health misunderstandings and the effects of legislative measures among vulnerable mothers, asylum seekers, and refugees. Following a description of the legal horizon and migrant reception systems, we explore the gaps in representations of COVID-19 containment measures. By observing the underlying structures of social inequality and the relationship between individual/social/political bodies, this essay offers an ethnographically grounded analysis. It investigates how the outbreak has been experienced and represented by vulnerable migrants—diseased adult men, sex trafficked, and mothers migrants—living in reception structures. Although their experiences differ with gender, age, and material conditions, they all show what is at stake: the cultural diffraction of disease representations and symbolic meanings according to a visible/invisible conceptualization in particular institutional forms. Monitoring the social pandemic and local response to COVID-19, we shed light on the reconfiguring of sociocultural beliefs and people’s lived experience of containment measures, quarantine, and prescribed behaviors
Closing the loop for perovskite solar modules
No full textPerovskite solar cell modules are expected to enter the market in the near future, but their implications in terms of sustainability compared to other photovoltaic devices are still debated. Now a study lays the groundwork for their eco-design
The evolution of the dye sensitized solar cells from Grätzel prototype to up-scaled solar applications: A life cycle assessment approach
No full textEmerging photovoltaics has gathered much attention in the last years. Among the innovative technologies developed in order to decrease the costs and broaden the applicability of photovoltaics, the dye sensitized solar cells have gained a flourishing interest for their potential as an economically and environmentally viable alternative to traditional devices. With the aim to increase the efficiency, stability and lifetime of dye sensitized solar cells, the research and development activity has been very productive in order to find the proper set of materials and the best architectures. This present paper aims to trace the progress of dye sensitized solar cells from a life cycle assessment perspective in order to draw the environmental profile of this technology for assessing its potential for eco-friendly innovation in the energy sector. The analysis is performed with a cradle-to-gate approach on three different levels: the synthesis of the solar cell main components, the fabrication of modules with different configurations and, finally, the operational phase of a roof-top photovoltaic system. The comprehensive ReCiPe impact assessment method along with the Cumulative Energy Demand, Global Warming Potential and Energy Payback Time indicators were employed to calculate the photovoltaic performances in comparison with other more mature and best-established thin film technologies. Major outcomes, presented along with a statistical analysis, show that dye sensitized solar cells compare similarly and sometimes better than inorganic devices, even for a far-from-optimum industrial fabrication procedure. Such investigation allows pointing out the usefulness of the life cycle assessment methodology to highlight benefits and drawbacks associated with different technical options that have been proposed for the development of the dye sensitized solar cells technology so fa
Migrating Alone, Living Together. Reframing Unaccompanied Minors in Italy across Local Bologna Policies and Citizenship
No full textIl saggio dopo aver discusso il dibattito antropologico sui minori migranti e brevemente le modifiche delle norme di tutela in campo italiano ed europeo, propone l'analisi di dati etnografici sulla vita di minori migranti che convivono con famiglie italiane trattando anche come il COVID19 abbia avuto un impatto sulle vite dei minori
Material and social deprivation among one-person households: the role of gender
Full text linkWe explore whether gender has a statistically significant impact on material and social deprivation of single adults after accounting for other characteristics. We use data from the 2022 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey for six European countries. By assuming deprivation as an individual latent trait and by treating different deprivation levels as ranked categories, we estimate a proportional odds model separately by country. Our findings suggest a clear role for gender, i.e., the risk of being materially and socially deprived is relatively higher for women everywhere. The novelty is that facing "unexpected expenses" is the worst trouble for women, clearly coming from relative financial and economic fragility. Individual characteristics play a more important role than more aggregate indicators at explaining the risk of material and social deprivation. Finally, the estimated gender gap is robust to a large set of changes in model specification and assumptions
Data analysis of atmospheric emission from geothermal power plants in Italy
Full text linkElectric production from geothermal energy is still little exploited compared to its large potential and to the World renewable energy production from other sources. Some countries have exploited this energy source in order to enhance their transition to renewables. Today the largest geothermal energy producers in the world are New Zealand, U.S.A, Mexico, Philippines, Italy, Iceland, and, more recently, Turkey (Geothermal, 2012). Differently from other renewable sources, geothermal energy produces impacts on the environment that are very site-specific because of the nature of the resource and its geological characteristics Bravi et al.,2010; Parisi et al.,2013. In the same way, the atmospheric emissions associated to the activity of geothermal power plants for electric or heat production (mainly CO2, H2S, NH3, Hg, CH4) are also site-specific. In fact, due to technological and geographical differences among the geothermal installations operating all over the World, it is quite impossible to identify and attribute typical emission patterns, to perform forecasts valid for multiple sites or to collect universal data. Furthermore, it is virtually impossible the comparison among technologies located in different regions or countries. Definitively, inventories of primary data, as accurate and complete as possible, are essential to correctly evaluate the peculiarities of geo-thermoelectric energy production Parisi et al.,2018. Data reported here try to fill the gap in respect to the Italian situation. To this end, a complete survey of the atmospheric emissions from all the geothermal power plants in operation in the Tuscany Region is performed. In addition to data reporting, also some statistical analysis is performed to process data and to operate a further level of simplification which averages the emissions on the basis of geothermal sub-areas. The data collected is related to the research article “Life cycle assessment of atmospheric emission profiles of the Italian geothermal power plants” Parisi et al.,2019
Social exclusion and financial distress: evidence from Italy and Spain
Full text linkThis paper analyzes the phenomenon of severe material deprivation (SMD) in relation to socio-economic characteristics of Italian and Spanish households. Italy and Spain have registered very different shares of severe material deprivation (households that cannot afford a minimum acceptable way of life, which is a social exclusion problem) since the 2008–2009 economic crisis, despite having similar experiences of poverty as measured in monetary terms. The analysis divides SMD into low-severe (basic or secondary or financial deprivations), medium-severe (when household suffer of two categories of deprivation) and acute-severe (when households suffer from all deprivations) and finds many interesting features associated with these categories. For example, temporary work does not shield a household from acute SMD, especially in the south of both countries, and maximum work intensity does not protect against financial distress in Italy and the Spanish South. These findings should stimulate policymakers, as local policies are needed to alleviate social exclusion
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