La “crescita controllata” dell’ecumenismo cattolico sotto la Santa Sede di Pio XII: da Amsterdam 1948 all’istruzione Ecclesia Catholica

2025): S. Marotta, La “crescita controllata” dell’ecumenismo cattolico sotto la Santa Sede di Pio XII: da Amsterdam 1948 all’istruzione Ecclesia Catholica, in: A. Melloni (dir.), L’unità dei cristiani. Storia di un desiderio. XIX-XXI secolo, vol. 2, Il Mulino

On (Some) European Ways of Waging War and Making Peace

The history of Europe is as much about violence and divisions as it is about shared cultural, social, and economic accomplishments. War has been a constant feature of Europe’s history, shaping a shared European space. However, efforts to reduce the destructiveness of war, leading to the development of Jus ad bellum and international law, have also been key to defining Europe. The authors explore some European ways of conceiving of war and peace from the early eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, showing how these debates helped shape the concept of ‘Europe’

Effect of dynamical electron correlations on the tunnelling magnetoresistance of Fe/MgO/Fe(001) junctions

We present a computational framework that combines dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) with density functional theory (DFT) and the nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) technique to study the steady-state transport properties of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). The objective of our calculations is then to understand the impact of dynamical electron correlations on the Fe 3⁢d orbitals of an Fe/MgO/Fe system. By applying the rigid shift approximation, we study both the zero- and finite-bias properties in a simple and computationally efficient manner, obtaining the bias-dependent electronic structure, the current-versus-voltage characteristic curve in both the parallel and antiparallel configurations, and consequently, the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio. We find that dynamical electron correlation manifests as a reduction in the spin splitting of the Fe 3⁢dz2 state compared to DFT predictions and introduces a finite relaxation time. The impact of these effects on transport, however, varies significantly between magnetic configurations and applied bias voltages. In the parallel configuration, the characteristic curves obtained with DFT and DMFT are similar up to large biases, as the transport is mostly due to the coherent transmission of spin-up electrons through the MgO barrier. Conversely, in the antiparallel configuration, correlation effects become more significant as the bias increases, with DMFT predicting a sharp current increase due to bias-driven inelastic electron-electron scattering. At zero bias, both DMFT and DFT similarly overestimate the TMR ratio compared to experiments. However, at finite bias, DMFT predicts a lower bias threshold for the suppression of the TMR relative to DFT, improving the agreement with experimental data and underscoring the importance of dynamical correlation effects on finite-bias behavior. While these conclusions are specific to Fe/MgO/Fe MTJs, our computational approach can be applied to other MTJs as well, thereby advancing the use of DMFT in spintronics

Novel red mud waste-derived magnetic geopolymer spheres, made without the addition of any extra iron compounds, for the removal of wastewater contaminants

In this work, and for the first time, the production of waste-based magnetic geopolymer spheres by a simple heat treatment under a reductive atmosphere is reported. Upon heat treatment, the iron oxide present in bauxite wastes (red mud), used as a solid precursor, is reduced to magnetite, thus producing magnetic spheres without the need for the addition of any secondary magnetic materials. The magnetisation of these mm-size materials reached 5.34 A m2 kg−1, suggesting they contain up to 6 wt% magnetite. This was demonstrated to be sufficient for their magnetic separation/removal, without the need for the addition of any extra magnetic iron oxides to the waste material. The magnetic spheres were then evaluated as sorbent materials for the removal of lead from water, selected as a model pollutant compound. These porous bulk-type sorbents showed high metal removal efficiency reaching an uptake value of 19 mg/g at pH 5 after 24 h of contact time. These promising results, and the easy post-treatment recovery of the waste-based magnetic spheres by the use of inexpensive permanent magnets, demonstrate the potential of the proposed strategy to address environmental concerns

A transdisciplinary, comparative analysis reveals key risks from Arctic permafrost thaw

Permafrost thaw poses diverse risks to Arctic environments and livelihoods. Understanding the effects of permafrost thaw is vital for informed policymaking and adaptation efforts. Here, we present the consolidated findings of a risk analysis spanning four study regions: Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), the Avannaata municipality (Greenland), the Beaufort Sea region and the Mackenzie River Delta (Canada) and the Bulunskiy District of the Sakha Republic (Russia). Local stakeholders’ and scientists’ perceptions shaped our understanding of the risks as dynamic, socionatural phenomena involving physical processes, key hazards, and societal consequences. Through an inter- and transdisciplinary risk analysis based on multidirectional knowledge exchanges and thematic network analysis, we identified five key hazards of permafrost thaw. These include infrastructure failure, disruption of mobility and supplies, decreased water quality, challenges for food security, and exposure to diseases and contaminants. The study’s novelty resides in the comparative approach spanning different disciplines, environmental and societal contexts, and the transdisciplinary synthesis considering various risk perceptions

OVOSE: Open-Vocabulary Semantic Segmentation in Event-Based Cameras

Event cameras, known for low-latency operation and superior performance in challenging lighting conditions, are suitable for sensitive computer vision tasks such as semantic segmentation in autonomous driving. However, challenges arise due to limited event-based data and the absence of large-scale segmentation benchmarks. Current works are confined to closed-set semantic segmentation, limiting their adaptability to other applications. In this paper, we introduce OVOSE, the first Open-Vocabulary Semantic Segmentation algorithm for Event cameras. OVOSE leverages synthetic event data and knowledge distillation from a pre-trained image-based foundation model to an event-based counterpart, effectively preserving spatial context and transferring open-vocabulary semantic segmentation capabilities. We evaluate the performance of OVOSE on two driving semantic segmentation datasets DDD17, and DSEC-Semantic, comparing it with existing conventional image open-vocabulary models adapted for event-based data. Similarly, we compare OVOSE with state-of-the-art methods designed for closed-set settings in unsupervised domain adaptation for event-based semantic segmentation. OVOSE demonstrates superior performance, showcasing its potential for real-world applications. The code is available at https://github.com/ram95d/OVOSE

"Come dono prezioso": Verucchio per l'archeologia italica. Scritti offerti a Patrizia von Eles

Il volume riunisce scritti di archeologia che approfondiscono vari momenti della protostoria soprattutto medio-adriatica, proponendo anche nuovi dati. Tali contributi sono dedicati alla studiosa Patrizia von Eles come riconoscimento della sua attività scientifica, che ha rappresentato un “dono prezioso” per la ricerca, per i ricercatori che hanno lavorato al suo fianco e per le comunità in cui ha operato. I suoi studi hanno costituito infatti un caposaldo per la conoscenza della Romagna dell’età del Ferro, per la metodologia dell’indagine archeologica e per le prospettive di valorizzazione rivolte al pubblico

A Celestial Prodigy. Leopoldo de’ Medici and the Lunar Eclipse of 16 June 1666

On 16 June 1666 a rare celestial event occurred: a horizontal eclipse, also known as a selenelion, in which the Sun and Moon are aligned at 180 degrees on opposite sides of the Earth and are both briefly visible at the same time. The eyes of all Europe’s astronomers were gazing skywards on that day but adverse weather conditions prevented nearly everybody from observing the phenomenon. The only one who succeeded was the young mathematician Donato Rossetti, sent by Leopoldo de’ Medici to the isle of Gorgona in the Tuscan archipelago. Drawing on a new source, this article retraces the history of that observation and highlights the pivotal role Leopoldo played, initially as promoter of observations in different places and later as reference point of the subsequent debate

The social value of information uncertainty

We analyze the welfare implication of information acquisition uncertainty in a Grossman– Stiglitz economy with endowment shocks. Investors make optimal probabilistic information acquisition choices subject to an increasing and convex monetary cost. This uncertainty gives rise to an anticipatory benefit so that informed trading can improve social welfare. Although informed trading distorts risk-sharing and destroys trading opportunities, the welfare improvement can be significant when investors have weak risk-sharing incentives, the endowment shocks are small and less informative about the aggregate endowment, and the risky payoff information is more noisy. Moreover, with heterogeneous endowments, there can be a continuum of Pareto optimal information-acquisition equilibria. Therefore, regulations aiming to level the playing field must be exercised with caution