1,826 research outputs found

    Characterization of an Arundo donax-based composite: A solution to improve indoor comfort

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    ABSTRACT: Arundo donax (giant reed or giant cane) is a widely available, perennial, invasive, non-food crop, present worldwide and employed for several uses, including building practices. Considering the increasing demand for sustainable building materials, A. donax can be an efficient solution. This study investigated its properties as a bio-aggregate mixed with a sodium silicate solution as an adhesive. A horizontal analysis that provided a general characterization of the composite was carried out. The results showed that the A. donax-based composite had an apparent density of 517 kg/m³, thermal conductivity of 0.128 W/(m.K), and high hygroscopicity, with a moisture buffering value of 4.33 g/(m² %RH), property that could be both an advantage for indoor comfort and a drawback. The uncommon sound absorption behaviour can be comparable to granular materials, with the highest sound absorption coefficient values, α, between 600 Hz and 700 Hz. Due to the range and the shape of the acoustic absorption property, this material may be helpful in acoustic treatments for speech noise. The mechanical tests defined flexural and compressive strength, respectively, 0.35 N/mm² and 0.9 N/mm², ensuring applicability. Above all, these tests opened new possible solutions for A. donax-based composite production either alone or in combination with other agro-industrial wastes and justified further tests, such as fire resistance and bio-susceptibility.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Investigating the learning potential of the Second Quantum Revolution: development of an approach for secondary school students

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    In recent years we have witnessed important changes: the Second Quantum Revolution is in the spotlight of many countries, and it is creating a new generation of technologies. To unlock the potential of the Second Quantum Revolution, several countries have launched strategic plans and research programs that finance and set the pace of research and development of these new technologies (like the Quantum Flagship, the National Quantum Initiative Act and so on). The increasing pace of technological changes is also challenging science education and institutional systems, requiring them to help to prepare new generations of experts. This work is placed within physics education research and contributes to the challenge by developing an approach and a course about the Second Quantum Revolution. The aims are to promote quantum literacy and, in particular, to value from a cultural and educational perspective the Second Revolution. The dissertation is articulated in two parts. In the first, we unpack the Second Quantum Revolution from a cultural perspective and shed light on the main revolutionary aspects that are elevated to the rank of principles implemented in the design of a course for secondary school students, prospective and in-service teachers. The design process and the educational reconstruction of the activities are presented as well as the results of a pilot study conducted to investigate the impact of the approach on students' understanding and to gather feedback to refine and improve the instructional materials. The second part consists of the exploration of the Second Quantum Revolution as a context to introduce some basic concepts of quantum physics. We present the results of an implementation with secondary school students to investigate if and to what extent external representations could play any role to promote students’ understanding and acceptance of quantum physics as a personal reliable description of the world

    Comparing the production of a formula with the development of L2 competence

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    This pilot study investigates the production of a formula with the development of L2 competence over proficiency levels of a spoken learner corpus. The results show that the formula in beginner production data is likely being recalled holistically from learners’ phonological memory rather than generated online, identifiable by virtue of its fluent production in absence of any other surface structure evidence of the formula’s syntactic properties. As learners’ L2 competence increases, the formula becomes sensitive to modifications which show structural conformity at each proficiency level. The transparency between the formula’s modification and learners’ corresponding L2 surface structure realisations suggest that it is the independent development of L2 competence which integrates the formula into compositional language, and ultimately drives the SLA process forward

    Cyber Conflict and Just War Theory

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    Early-onset catatonia associated with SHANK3 mutations: looking at the autism spectrum through the prism of psychomotor phenomena

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    BackgroundIndividuals with Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) present with a wide range of diagnoses: autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, or schizophrenia. Differences in the genetic background could explain these different neurodevelopmental trajectories. However, a more parsimonious hypothesis is to consider that they may be the same phenotypic entity. Catatonic disturbances occasionally reported from adolescence onwards in PMS prompts exploration of the hypothesis that this clinical entity may be an early-onset form of catatonia. The largest cohort of children with childhood catatonia was studied by the Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard school (WKL school), which regards catatonia as a collection of qualitative abnormalities of psychomotricity that predominantly affecting involuntary motricity (reactive and expressive). The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of psychomotor signs in three young adults carrying a mutation or intragenic deletion of the SHANK3 gene through the prism of the WKL school conception of catatonia.MethodsThis study was designed as an exploratory case study. Current and childhood psychomotor phenomena were investigated through semi-structured interviews with the parents, direct interaction with the participants, and the study of documents reporting observations of the participants at school or by other healthcare professionals.ResultsThe findings show catatonic manifestations from childhood that evolved into a chronic form, with possible phases of sub-acute exacerbations starting from adolescence.ConclusionThe presence of catatonic symptoms from childhood associated with autistic traits leads us to consider that this singular entity fundamentally related to SHANK3 mutations could be a form of early-onset catatonia. Further case studies are needed to confirm our observations

    New perspectives on A.I. in sentencing. Human decision-making between risk assessment tools and protection of humans rights.

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    The aim of this thesis is to investigate a field that until a few years ago was foreign to and distant from the penal system. The purpose of this undertaking is to account for the role that technology could plays in the Italian Criminal Law system. More specifically, this thesis attempts to scrutinize a very intricate phase of adjudication. After deciding on the type of an individual's liability, a judge must decide on the severity of the penalty. This type of decision implies a prognostic assessment that looks to the future. It is precisely in this field and in prognostic assessments that, as has already been anticipated in the United, instruments and processes are inserted in the pre-trial but also in the decision-making phase. In this contribution, we attempt to describe the current state of this field, trying, as a matter of method, to select the most relevant or most used tools. Using comparative and qualitative methods, the uses of some of these instruments in the supranational legal system are analyzed. Focusing attention on the Italian system, an attempt was made to investigate the nature of the element of an individual's ‘social dangerousness’ (pericolosità sociale) and capacity to commit offences, types of assessments that are fundamental in our system because they are part of various types of decisions, including the choice of the best sanctioning treatment. It was decided to turn our attention to this latter field because it is believed that the judge does not always have the time, the means and the ability to assess all the elements of a subject and identify the best 'individualizing' treatment in order to fully realize the function of Article 27, paragraph 3 of the Constitution

    The Public Performance Of Sanctions In Insolvency Cases: The Dark, Humiliating, And Ridiculous Side Of The Law Of Debt In The Italian Experience. A Historical Overview Of Shaming Practices

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    This study provides a diachronic comparative overview of how the law of debt has been applied by certain institutions in Italy. Specifically, it offers historical and comparative insights into the public performance of sanctions for insolvency through shaming and customary practices in Roman Imperial Law, in the Middle Ages, and in later periods. The first part of the essay focuses on the Roman bonorum cessio culo nudo super lapidem and on the medieval customary institution called pietra della vergogna (stone of shame), which originates from the Roman model. The second part of the essay analyzes the social function of the zecca and the pittima Veneziana during the Republic of Venice, and of the practice of lu soldate a castighe (no translation is possible). The author uses a functionalist approach to apply some arguments and concepts from the current context to this historical analysis of ancient institutions that we would now consider ridiculous. The article shows that the customary norms that play a crucial regulatory role in online interactions today can also be applied to the public square in the past. One of these tools is shaming. As is the case in contemporary online settings, in the public square in historic periods, shaming practices were used to enforce the rules of civility in a given community. Such practices can be seen as virtuous when they are intended for use as a tool to pursue positive change in forces entrenched in the culture, and thus to address social wrongs considered outside the reach of the law, or to address human rights abuses

    Política lingüística en Luxemburgo y en la Comunidad germanófona de Bélgica: Ideologías lingüísticas

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    The language policy discourses of Luxembourg and the German-speaking Community of Belgium (GC) exhibit fundamental differences, yet interesting similarities that so far have not been subject to a discourse analysis from a mixed framework of linguistic anthropology and discourse linguistics (Diskurslinguistik). On the basis of a corpus consisting of current language policy texts and semi-structured interviews with key actors involved in current policy design and implementation, this research aims to answer the question regarding the interplay of ideology and discourse in the design and implementation of the language policy of Luxembourg and the GC. The bulk of the analysis is made up of three layers for each case. Starting point of the analysis is a historical overview that identifies ideologies and language policy discourses that emerged, predominated, and transformed from the 19th century until the 21st century in each case. The second layer is a discourse analysis of current language policy texts with a focus on the ideologies informing current discourses about Luxembourgish in Luxembourg and German in the GC. Finally, the third layer is a discourse analysis of interview extracts with equal focus on ideologies. Through a combined thematic and discourse analysis based on the social semiotics of language, this research provides a description of the discursive patterns of the linguistic structure of passages of each text and interview with the aim of linking these patterns to the identified ideologies that inform the policy discourses. It was found that the connecting node between Luxembourg and the GC lies in the tension between the two themes of standardization and multilingualism. It is shown that standardization and multilingualism are thematic centers from which discourses about language, identity, and nation emanate in these two cases. Through the combination of the historical overview and the meticulous analysis of discursive patterns identified in the linguistic structure of language policy texts and interview extracts, it is not only shown how ideology informs current language policy discourses in Luxembourg and the GC, but also why language policy discourses transform or sediment through time

    The Quality of Democracy Embedded into Political Culture - A Comparative Study of Luxembourg, Hungary, and the United Kingdom

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    The thesis focuses on three main questions: the quality of democracy, democratic backsliding, political culture, and the relationship among them. The theoretical basis of the thesis starts with the quality of democracy model of Larry Diamond and Leonardo Morlino. The theoretical purpose of the research is to reconceptualise the quality of democracy and embed it into political culture to find answers to democratic stagnation and backsliding experienced in European states today. To achieve this objective, the thesis offers a four-level model of political culture that provides a foundation for explaining the links among different aspects of political culture and factors of democratic quality. Additionally, the thesis proposes a two-fold hierarchical interpretation of the factors of the quality of democracy to define the deficiency needs of democratic functioning. The main hypotheses cover the connections among the three factors mentioned above. The first hypothesis focuses on the continuity and fragmentation of political culture as explanatory factors that play a crucial role in the thesis. The second hypothesis examines the ‘citizen dimension’ of democratic quality and its impact on democratic stability through factors such as the citizens’ interest in the political dynamics of their own country, their perceptions of their democracy, and their confidence in democratic institutions. The third hypothesis investigates the potential reasons and levels of democratic stagnation and backsliding in democracies, arguing that political culture and the weakening of the rule of law are the main influencing factors, as the latter serves as the basis and guarantee for the other factors of the quality of democracy. The empirical research is based on a comparative analysis of the quality of democracy in three European countries with fundamentally different democratic systems and traditions of democratic evolution: Luxembourg, the UK, and Hungary. The methodology used is based on the most-different cases with similar results model
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