Interventions, Productions and Collaborations:the relationship between RAI and visual artists

On 17 May 1952, before RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana Studios began their regular broadcast from Milan, the Spatialist painter and sculptor Lucio Fontana broadcast his own experimental 'artwork' on Italian television, beginning a fruitful relationship between RAI and visual artists. For some, such as the painter Mario Sasso and the Arte Povera artist Pino Pascali, it provided careers as designers and art directors. For others, such as Carlo Quartucci and Gianni Toti, who were given unique access to RAI's television apparatus, it was an opportunity to explore their own artistic experimentations with an expensive and exclusive medium. RAI also hosted seminal artists' performances on-screen including John Cage and Fabio Mauri. This article, based on documents and interviews collected during the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project REWINDItalia, discusses these and other seminal cases as well as tracing and assessing the history of this fruitful and complex exchange between RAI and visual artists

Interdisciplinary Research Methodology for Secondary Level Social Studies: A Teaching Unit Concerning the Holy Shroud of Turin

In the past decade, numerous educational leaders have been critical of the quality of achievement of the educational system of the United States. Declining scores on standardized tests and the Scholastic Aptitude Test, illiteracy and the inequality of educational opportunities for America\u27s youth were a few of the concerns documented by educational leaders. In an effort to correct some of the existing problems, reform measures have been delineated by various commissions and educational authorities. The use of interdisciplinary curriculum, particularly in Social Studies, was among the suggestions for improving the quality of education. The purpose of this study was to present historical research concerning the Holy Shroud of Turin which could be used to demonstrate the development of an interdisciplinary curriculum approach suitable for use by instructors of secondary level Social Studies. An historical methodology research design was chosen to indicate the techniques utilized in gathering data concerning the Shroud of Turin. Data for the teaching unit concerning the Holy Shroud was acquired from a variety of sources. Public, university and college libraries were contacted for pertinent materials and the investigator\u27s personal library and files also contained materials related to the Holy Shroud. Written and oral communications with renowned sindonologists yielded invaluable information for this study. Individuals whose Religious Orders, had, at one time, housed the Holy Shroud also proved to be valuable sources of information. As a result of this extensive research, an interdisciplinary teaching unit concerning the Holy Shroud of Turin was presented. Further, the techniques, skills, tools, and information necessary for use by educational practitioners who wish to integrate interdisciplinary learning into their classrooms were presented. In conclusion, recommendations were made for consideration by educators as a means of improving the curriculum, particularly in relationship to secondary level Social Studies

European Acquisitions in the United States:Re-examining Olivetti-Underwood Fifty Years Later

While Italy's catch-up in the course of the 20th century has been nothing short of extraordinary, it has failed to produce a large number of global business players. Nonetheless, half a century ago an Italian company concluded what was at the time the largest-ever foreign takeover of a US company. The paper analyzes the Olivetti's acquisition of Underwood and frames it in the broader picture of the literature on the management and performance of foreign companies in the United States. We provide a historical narrative focused on three main issues: 1) head office control and subsidiary autonomy; 2) Olivetti's adaptation to the American business system; 3) the development of internal knowledge resources within the subsidiary. Lessons and implications are relevant for business historians and management scholars in general.FDI, acquisition, control, adaptation, knowledge resources, Olivetti, Underwood

The bees of Greater Puerto Rico (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)

The bee fauna of the Greater Puerto Rico area was studied. A review of the previous relevant studies is presented. An annotated catalog and information about the origin and distributional patterns are also provided. Thirty-nine species of bees occur in Puerto Rico and adjacent islands. This fauna is composed of four elements: exclusive Puerto Rican endemics (26.5%); Antillean endemics occurring on multiple islands (76.5%); continental species that have also colonized the Antilles (23.5%); and species introduced through human activity (12.8%). The bee fauna was both low in its diversity and showed the highest level of disharmony in relation to other faunas of the Greater Antilles. A lectotype is here designated for Agapostemon krugii Wolcott, 1936

REVISTING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BROADBAND DIFFUSION AND REGIONAL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT: A PRIMER

As they create generative conditions for socioeconomic development ICTs and broadband technology, can be understood as an innovation kernel for system evolution. Whereas for a regional system (a local area), technological progress may at certain times be regarded as exogenous, information endowments and expected level of functionalities are not. An innovation kernel, in fact, cannot exist outside the organization of the regional/local system which it belongs to. To grow and deploy its potentials, a fertile environment capable to adapt pro-actively to the changes it produces is needed. In this paper the conceptual underpinnings of an innovation kernel are overviewed and their relationships with those conventionally addressed in regional science studies briefly discussed. Bbuilding upon the IRES research undertaken as a part of the Piedmont ICT Observatory activities, an effort is made to pinpoint the determinants and processes of regional development on which an innovation kernel would encroach. A conceptual framework is outlined which makes it possible to elicit some main relationships between ICTs, broadband and developmental processes in a regional system.

Reviews

Stories About Stories: Fantasy and the Remaking of Myth. Brian Attebery. Reviewed by David Bratman. The Body in Tolkien\u27s Legendarium: Essays on Middle-earth Corporeality. Edited by Christopher Vaccaro. Reviewed by Janet Brennan Croft. Critical Essays on Lord Dunsany. S.T. Joshi, ed. Lanham MD. Reviewed by Tiffany Brooke Martin. History, Guilt, and Habit. Owen Barfield. Reviewed by Bradford Lee Eden. In the Nameless Wood: Explorations in the Philological Hinterland of Tolkien\u27s Literary Creations. J.S. Ryan. Edited by Peter Buchs. Reviewed by Andrew Higgins. The Letters of Ruth Pitter: Silent Music. Edited by Don W. King. Reviewed by Joe R. Christopher