Perceptions and imaginaries about the fourth industrial revolution between geographies of opportunity and discontent: Some reflections on the Italian case

The pervasiveness of advanced technologies and their disruptive impact on society have spurred the debate on the emergence of a new industrial revolution and on its positive and negative effects, both at an individual and spatial level. This paper aims to contribute to this debate, focusing attention on the perception of changes related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and exploring new methods of analysis of the manifestations of both techno-enthusiasm and opposition to it. Starting from the extensive literature in this field, the work adopts two research perspectives: the study of imaginaries and narratives developed around the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which convey different messages from social groups and places; the geographies of opportunity and discontent, which address the resentment expressed by some localities towards advanced technological models and growing inequalities. In this work the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not interpreted through data about the technological variables or interviews to protagonists of the phenomenon; rather, emphasis is on the points of view of non-institutional subjects and, in particular, the opinions expressed by people on the Web. For this reason, the sentiment analysis has been adopted to identify both positive and negative polarities and the relevance of specific feelings through the selection of key words related to the notion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The empirical analysis based on this methodology focuses on the Italian case in a specific period (first and second phase of the pandemic, from January 2020 to September 2021) and, at a local level, on the comparison between four medium-sized cities (Pisa, Lecce, Taranto and Terni). This paper also tries to extend recent contributions through the provision of new perspectives for the definition of policies designed with the involvement of the population and places regarding both the processes of technological change and the definition of new socio-spatial models

Dynamics and spectrum of the Cesàro operator on C-infinity(R+)

[EN] The spectrum and point spectrum of the Cesaro averaging operator C acting on the Frechet space C-infinity(R+) of all C-infinity functions on the interval [0, infinity) are determined. We employ an approach via C-0-semigroup theory for linear operators. A spectral mapping theorem for the resolvent of a closed operator acting on a locally convex space is established; it constitutes a useful tool needed to establish the main result. The dynamical behaviour of C is also investigated.The research of the first two authors was partially supported by the projects MTM2013-43540-P, GVA Prometeo II/2013/013 and GVA ACOMP/2015/186 (Spain).Albanese, AA.; Bonet Solves, JA.; Ricker, WJ. (2016). Dynamics and spectrum of the Cesàro operator on C-infinity(R+). Monatshefte für Mathematik. 181:267-283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00605-015-0863-zS267283181Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Mean ergodic operators in Fréchet spaces. Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn. Math. 34, 401–436 (2009)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Mean ergodic semigroups of operators. Rev. R. Acad. Cien. Serie A Mat. RACSAM 106, 299–319 (2012)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Montel resolvents and uniformly mean ergodic semigroups of linear operators. Quaest. Math. 36, 253–290 (2013)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Convergence of arithmetic means of operators in Fréchet spaces. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 401, 160–173 (2013)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: Uniform mean ergodicity of $$C_0$$ C 0 -semigroups in a class of in Fréchet spaces. Funct. Approx. Comment. Math. 50, 307–349 (2014)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: On the continuous Cesàro operator in certain function spaces. Positivity 19, 659–679 (2015)Albanese, A.A., Bonet, J., Ricker, W.J.: The Cesàro operator in the Fréchet spaces $$\ell ^{p+}$$ ℓ p + and $$L^{p-}$$ L p - . Glasgow Math. J. (accepted)Arendt, W.: Gaussian estimates and interpolation of the spectrum in $$L^p$$ L p . Diff. Int. Equ. 7, 1153–1168 (1994)Bayart, F., Matheron, E.: Dynamics of linear operators. Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics, vol. 179. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2009)Boyd, D.W.: The spectrum of the Cesàro operator. Acta Sci. Math. (Szeged) 29, 31–34 (1968)Grosse-Erdmann, K.G., Manguillot, A.P.: Linear chaos. Universitext, Springer Verlag, London (2011)Hille, E.: Remarks on ergodic theorems. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 57, 246–269 (1945)Jarchow, H.: Locally convex spaces. Teubner, Stuttgart (1981)Komura, T.: Semigroups of operators in locally convex spaces. J. Funct. Anal. 2, 258–296 (1968)Lin, M.: On the uniform ergodic theorem. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 43, 337–340 (1974)Malgrange, B.: Idéaux de fonctions différentiables et division des distributions. Distributions, Editions École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, pp. 1–21 (2003)Meise, R., Vogt, D.: Introduction to functional analysis. Oxford Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 2. The Clarendon Press. Oxford University Press, New York (1997)Seeley, R.T.: Extension of $$C^\infty$$ C ∞ functions defined in a half space. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 15, 625–626 (1964)Siskakis, A.G.: Composition semigroups and the Cesàro operator. J. London Math. Soc. (2) 36, 153–164 (1987)Yosida, K.: Functional analysis. Springer, New York, Berlin, Heidelberg (1980)Valdivia, M.: Topics in locally convex spaces. North-Holland Math. Stud. 67, North-Holland, Amsterdam (1982

Adjoint bi-continuous semigroups and semigroups on the space of measures

For a given bi-continuous semigroup T on a Banach space X we define its adjoint on an appropriate closed subspace X^o of the norm dual X'. Under some abstract conditions this adjoint semigroup is again bi-continuous with respect to the weak topology (X^o,X). An application is the following: For K a Polish space we consider operator semigroups on the space C(K) of bounded, continuous functions (endowed with the compact-open topology) and on the space M(K) of bounded Baire measures (endowed with the weak*-topology). We show that bi-continuous semigroups on M(K) are precisely those that are adjoints of a bi-continuous semigroups on C(K). We also prove that the class of bi-continuous semigroups on C(K) with respect to the compact-open topology coincides with the class of equicontinuous semigroups with respect to the strict topology. In general, if K is not Polish space this is not the case

Metagenomes in the Borderline Ecosystems of the Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Communities.

Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities are microbial ecosystems dwelling inside rocks of the Antarctic desert. We present the first 18 shotgun metagenomes from these communities to further characterize their composition, biodiversity, functionality, and adaptation. Future studies will integrate taxonomic and functional annotations to examine the pathways necessary for life to evolve in the extremes

Potential preferences for alternative forms of sustainable tourism: The case of rural and intergenerational tourism.

This chapter gives a social-psychological analysis of tourists’ preferences and experiences concerning alternative (more sustainable) forms of tourism. After a discussion of the principles and definitions of sustainable tourism, the literature on tourists’ preferences for sustainable tourism will be reviewed and the potentialities of alternative forms of tourism for tourism sustainability will be highlighted. Subsequently, two examples of alternative tourism experiences will be introduced and critically discussed in the light of such literature: the case of rural tourism and that of intergenerational tourism. The former is considered to be promising form of tourism able to improve the culture and the economy of rural areas and agricultural production. An interesting case is that of China. During the last 20 years, thanks to a policy of governmental incentives, some Chinese rural areas have seen the birth and progressive growth of various models of rural tourism. These combine the tourists-citizens needs to experience a style of simple life and the enhancement of agriculture. This chapter will present and analyse the framework and the characteristics of that type of sustainable tourism. The second kind of alternative tourism (intergenerational tourism) refers to the tourism experiences ideated by the Italian Laboratory for Intergenerational Meetings and implemented over the past twenty years in various Italian cities. In a time when relationships among generational groups are mostly superficial or non-existent, the Laboratory has proposed a series of research/experimentations of tourism activities aimed at reducing the distance between groups of different generations. An interconnected set of activities combining indoor (e.g., computer lab, theatrical performances) and outdoor (e.g., explorations of historic and natural trails) experiences have been devised to foster communication among participants of different ages and to strengthen their relationships by reducing reciprocal prejudices and stereotypes. The chapter will sum up the results of the investigations carried out during the many research/experimentations that have taken place over the years

Transparency, Civic Capital and Political Accountability: A Virtuous Relation?

Our paper investigates the intertwined relation among transparency, civic capital and political accountability in a large sample of Italian municipalities using a new indicator of institutional transparency. Firstly, we test the hypothesis that civic capital affects transparency of public administrations; secondly, we verify whether in municipalities where civic capital is high, citizens’ attention toward government accountability is also high, making it politically unfeasible to disregard the demand for transparency. We find that civic capital positively affects transparency and the latter, in turn, is politically rewarding for the local administrators only conditional to the level of civic capital. Our findings are robust to different samples and endogeneity concerns

On the flux phase conjecture at half-filling: an improved proof

We present a simplification of Lieb's proof of the flux phase conjecture for interacting fermion systems -- such as the Hubbard model --, at half filling on a general class of graphs. The main ingredient is a procedure which transforms a class of fermionic Hamiltonians into reflection positive form. The method can also be applied to other problems, which we briefly illustrate with two examples concerning the $t-V$ model and an extended Falicov-Kimball model.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, uses epsf.sty to include 3 eps figures, to appear in J. Stat. Phys., Dec. 199

PMMA-based bone cements and the problem of joint arthroplasty infections: Status and new perspectives

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)-based bone cement is a biomaterial that has been used over the last 50 years to stabilize hip and knee implants or as a bone filler. Although PMMA-based bone cement is widely used and allows a fast-primary fixation to the bone, it does not guarantee a mechanically and biologically stable interface with bone, and most of all it is prone to bacteria adhesion and infection development. In the 1970s, antibiotic-loaded bone cements were introduced to reduce the infection rate in arthroplasty; however, the eciency of antibiotic-containing bone cement is still a debated issue. For these reasons, in recent years, the scientific community has investigated new approaches to impart antibacterial properties to PMMA bone cement. The aim of this review is to summarize the current status regarding antibiotic-loaded PMMA-based bone cements, fill the gap regarding the lack of data on antibacterial bone cement, and explore the progress of antibacterial bone cement formulations, focusing attention on the new perspectives. In particular, this review highlights the innovative study of composite bone cements containing inorganic antibacterial and bioactive phases, which are a fascinating alternative that can impart both osteointegration and antibacterial properties to PMMA-based bone cement