Una nuova Germania per una nuova Europa? Le elezioni per il Bundestag del 24 settembre 2017 tra riassetto politico interno e necessario riequilibrio europeo

Il voto parlamentare del 24 settembre 2017 è stato definito come un momento di passaggio, una cesura tra un’epoca storica ed un’altra. Secondo alcuni, dalle urne sarebbe uscita una Germania inedita rispetto al passato, con equilibri partitici, politici, istituzionali e forse persino culturali diversi da quelli finora conosciuti. E’ innegabile che il risultato delle elezioni per il Bundestag contenga elementi di assoluta novità, sia da un punto di vista quantitativo che qualitativo, ed è altrettanto palese che dal giorno successivo al voto gli esponenti politici tedeschi, a cominciare dalla pur riconfermata Cancelliera Angela Merkel, dovranno affrontare un contesto completamente diverso da quello nel quale avevano operato fino al giorno prima. Al tempo stesso, gli attori politici della RFT saranno impegnati nelle prossime settimane a verificare quali possibilità sussistano per formare un nuovo Esecutivo, possibilmente in grado di guidare il Paese per tutta la legislatura, fornendo risposte adeguate alle tante domande che il voto parlamentare ha sollevato. Il presente lavoro si articola in sei parti: nella prima e nella seconda si darà conto l’esito della consultazione elettorale, evidenziando nel dettaglio i risultati conseguiti da ciascun partito e quali possibili alleanze politiche si profilano per la formazione del prossimo Gabinetto di Governo, ed analizzando le condizioni in cui versano le singole formazioni politiche all’indomani del voto, e come ciascuna di esse potrà profilarsi nel dibattito politico ed istituzionale che verrà; nella terza parte verranno descritti i temi che maggiormente hanno condizionato le scelte degli elettori nella consultazione; nella quarta si analizzeranno le caratteristiche del voto per il partito di estrema destra xenofoba Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), mentre nella quinta parte si verificheranno le ragioni che hanno determinato la composizione in termini numerici del futuro Bundestag; nella sesta ed ultima parte, infine, si descriveranno quali influenze potrà produrre l’esito della consultazione sulle posizioni e le strategie che la Germania adotterà in ambito nazionale, europeo ed internazionale nei mesi a venire.The parliamentary vote of 24 September 2017 was defined as a passing moment, a break between a historical era and another. According to some, the odds would leave an unprecedented Germany respect to the past, with political, institutional, and perhaps even cultural equilibriums different from those so far known. It is undeniable that the outcome of the Bundestag elections contains elements of absolute novelty, both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, and it is equally obvious that from the day following the vote German political exponents, beginning with the re-affirmed Chancellor Angela Merkel, will have to to face a completely different context from what they had been up to the day before. At the same time, the RFT political actors will be engaged in the coming weeks to see which Possibilities exist to form a new Executive, possibly able to drive the country for throughout the legislature, providing adequate answers to the many questions raised by the parliamentary vote

Le elezioni regionali in Schleswig-Holstein e in Nordreno-Vestfalia. Tra contingenze regionali, “Effetto Merkel” e suggestioni europee

Nel periodo tra il 7 ed il 14 maggio 2017 in Germania si sono tenute due consultazioni per il rinnovo dei parlamenti regionali, rispettivamente in Schleswig-Holstein e in Nordreno-Vestfalia. Nel caso di questo ultimo Land oltre 13 milioni di cittadini sono stati chiamati alle urne per il rinnovo del parlamento regionale (Landtag) della regione più popolosa e una delle economicamente più forti della Germania. I due appuntamenti rivestivano una rilevanza ancora maggiore del solito, in quanto rappresentavano i due ultimi test elettorali previsti in Germania prima delle elezioni del Bundestag del prossimo 24 settembre. In queste ultime, i tedeschi si troveranno di fronte all’alternativa se rinnovare la fiducia ad nuovo governo guidato dalla cancelliera uscente, Angela Merkel (Unione Cristiano-Democratica – CDU), o dal suo principale sfidante, l’ex presidente del Parlamento europeo, Martin Schulz (Partito Socialdemocratico Tedesco – SPD). Inoltre, insieme alle omologhe elezioni regionali celebrate nella Saar lo scorso 26 marzo, queste elezioni offrivano l’opportunità di verificare la tenuta delle diverse coalizioni di governo formatesi nelle precedenti legislature nei tre Länder, e più in generale di esaminare in quale misura le tematiche locali e quelle di portata nazionale ed europea abbiano effettivamente inciso sugli orientamenti degli elettori nell’occasione

Isotope Exchange in Disulfur Monoxide-Water Charged Complexes: A Mass Spectrometric and Computational Study

A hitherto unknown, isotope-exchange reaction is studied in ionized gaseous mixtures containing disulfur monoxide and water. The kinetics, mechanism, and intermediate of the reaction are investigated by experimental and theoretical methods. The reactivity of the S2O˙+ cation with water is investigated under a wide range of pressures ranging from 10−7 to 10−4 Torr, by FT-ICR, TQ, and high-resolution CAD mass spectrometry. In the high-pressure limit the reaction proves to be a route to strongly bound sulfur-containing species

Analysis of Two Novel Midgut-Specific Promoters Driving Transgene Expression in Anopheles stephensi Mosquitoes

Background: Tissue-specific promoters controlling the expression of transgenes in Anopheles mosquitoes represent a valuable tool both for studying the interaction between these malaria vectors and the Plasmodium parasites they transmit and for novel malaria control strategies based on developing Plasmodium-refractory mosquitoes by expressing anti-parasitic genes. With this aim we have studied the promoter regions of two genes from the most important malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae, whose expression is strongly induced upon blood feeding. Results: We analysed the A. gambiae Antryp1 and G12 genes, which we have shown to be midgut-specific and maximally expressed at 24 hours post-bloodmeal (PBM). Antryp1, required for bloodmeal digestion, encodes one member of a family of 7 trypsin genes. The G12 gene, of unknown function, was previously identified in our laboratory in a screen for genes induced in response to a bloodmeal. We fused 1.1 kb of the upstream regions containing the putative promoter of these genes to reporter genes and transformed these into the Indian malaria vector A. stephensi to see if we could recapitulate the expression pattern of the endogenous genes. Both the Antryp1 and G12 upstream regions were able to drive femalepredominant, midgut-specific expression in transgenic mosquitoes. Expression of the Antryp1-driven reporter in transgenic A. stephensi lines was low, undetectable by northern blot analysis, and failed to fully match the induction kinetics of the endogenous Antryp1 gene in A. gambiae. This incomplete conservation of expression suggests either subtle differences i

MISTRAL and its KIDs

The MIllimetric Sardinia radio Telescope Receiver based on Array of Lumped elements KIDs, MISTRAL, is a cryogenic W-band (77–103 GH) LEKID camera which will be integrated at the Gregorian focus of the 64 m aperture Sardinia Radio Telescope, in Italy, in Autumn 2022. This instrument, thanks to its high angular resolution (∼13arcsec) and the wide instantaneous field of view (∼4arcmin), will allow continuum surveys of the mm-wave sky with a variety of scientific targets, spanning from extragalactic astrophysics to solar system science. In this contribution, we will describe the design of the MISTRAL camera, with a particular focus on the optimisation and test of a prototype of the focal plane

High angular resolution Sunyaev Zel’dovich observations: The case of MISTRAL

The MIllimeter Sardinia radio Telescope Receiver based on Array of Lumped elements kids, MISTRAL, is a millimetric (≃ 90GHz) multipixel camera being built for the Sardinia Radio Telescope. It is going to be a facility instrument and will sample the sky with 12 arcsec angular resolution, 4 arcmin field of view, through 408 Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs). The construction and the beginning of commissioning is planned to be in 2022. MISTRAL will allow the scientific community to propose a wide variety of scientific cases including protoplanetary discs study, star forming regions, galaxies radial profiles, and high angular resolution measurements of the Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) effect with the investigation of the morphology of galaxy cluster and the search for the Cosmic Web

PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission): A White Paper on the Ultimate Polarimetric Spectro-Imaging of the Microwave and Far-Infrared Sky

PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) was proposed to ESA in response to the Call for White Papers for the definition of the L2 and L3 Missions in the ESA Science Programme. PRISM would have two instruments: (1) an imager with a 3.5m mirror (cooled to 4K for high performance in the far-infrared---that is, in the Wien part of the CMB blackbody spectrum), and (2) an Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) somewhat like the COBE FIRAS instrument but over three orders of magnitude more sensitive. Highlights of the new science (beyond the obvious target of B-modes from gravity waves generated during inflation) made possible by these two instruments working in tandem include: (1) the ultimate galaxy cluster survey gathering 10e6 clusters extending to large redshift and measuring their peculiar velocities and temperatures (through the kSZ effect and relativistic corrections to the classic y-distortion spectrum, respectively) (2) a detailed investigation into the nature of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) consisting of at present unresolved dusty high-z galaxies, where most of the star formation in the universe took place, (3) searching for distortions from the perfect CMB blackbody spectrum, which will probe a large number of otherwise inaccessible effects (e.g., energy release through decaying dark matter, the primordial power spectrum on very small scales where measurements today are impossible due to erasure from Silk damping and contamination from non-linear cascading of power from larger length scales). These are but a few of the highlights of the new science that will be made possible with PRISM.Comment: 20 pages Late

Exploring Cosmic Origins with CORE: Cosmological Parameters

We forecast the main cosmological parameter constraints achievable with theCORE space mission which is dedicated to mapping the polarisation of the CosmicMicrowave Background (CMB). CORE was recently submitted in response to ESA'sfifth call for medium-sized mission proposals (M5). Here we report the resultsfrom our pre-submission study of the impact of various instrumental options, inparticular the telescope size and sensitivity level, and review the great,transformative potential of the mission as proposed. Specifically, we assessthe impact on a broad range of fundamental parameters of our Universe as afunction of the expected CMB characteristics, with other papers in the seriesfocusing on controlling astrophysical and instrumental residual systematics. Inthis paper, we assume that only a few central CORE frequency channels areusable for our purpose, all others being devoted to the cleaning ofastrophysical contaminants. On the theoretical side, we assume LCDM as ourgeneral framework and quantify the improvement provided by CORE over thecurrent constraints from the Planck 2015 release. We also study the jointsensitivity of CORE and of future Baryon Acoustic Oscillation and Large ScaleStructure experiments like DESI and Euclid. Specific constraints on the physicsof inflation are presented in another paper of the series. In addition to thesix parameters of the base LCDM, which describe the matter content of aspatially flat universe with adiabatic and scalar primordial fluctuations frominflation, we derive the precision achievable on parameters like thosedescribing curvature, neutrino physics, extra light relics, primordial heliumabundance, dark matter annihilation, recombination physics, variation offundamental constants, dark energy, modified gravity, reionization and cosmicbirefringence. (ABRIDGED

Detection chain and electronic readout of the QUBIC instrument

The Q and U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) Technical Demonstrator (TD) aiming to shows the feasibility of the combination of interferometry and bolometric detection. The electronic readout system is based on an array of 128 NbSi Transition Edge Sensors cooled at 350mK readout with 128 SQUIDs at 1K controlled and amplified by an Application Specific Integrated Circuit at 40K. This readout design allows a 128:1 Time Domain Multiplexing. We report the design and the performance of the detection chain in this paper. The technological demonstrator unwent a campaign of test in the lab. Evaluation of the QUBIC bolometers and readout electronics includes the measurement of I-V curves, time constant and the Noise Equivalent Power. Currently the mean Noise Equivalent Power is ~ 2 x 10⁻¹⁶ W/√Hz