Controversies around educational projects for gender equality in Italy

This study explores the controversial arguments that took place around the “teoria del gender” and its perceived impact on education in Italy, particularly between 2013 and 2016. An investigation of newspaper articles, media campaigns and declarations of Catholic Church representatives shows how the “anti-gender” movements have influenced public opinion to oppose gender equality and sexuality education in schools. Through an analysis of educational projects in the municipality of Cagliari, the author highlights the main obstacles the actors of these projects had to face: a widespread lack of awareness on gender equality issues; contrasting political dynamics and interests; strong misinformation campaigns led by a mostly Catholic opposition. This study intends to provide a foundation for further research and for the development of new strategies to respond to these challenges. Education is here understood as a fundamental means to achieve gender equality, because of its potential for the deconstruction of traditional gender norms and for the development of critical thinking

Second-order boundary estimates for solutions to singular elliptic equations in borderline cases

Let \Omega \subsetR^N be a bounded smooth domain. We investigate the effect of the mean curvature of the boundary \partial \Omega on the behaviour of the solution to the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary value problem for the equation \Delta u + f(u) = 0. Under appropriate growth conditions on f(t) as t approaches zero, we find asymptotic expansions up to the second order of the solution in terms of the distance from x to the boundary \partial \Omega

Steiner symmetry in the minimization of the first eigenvalue in problems involving the p-Laplacian

Let Ω ⊂ ℝN be an open bounded connected set. We consider the eigenvalue problem −Δpu = λρ|u|p−2u in Ω with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition, where Δp is the p-Laplacian operator and ρ is an arbitrary function that takes only two given values 0 < α < β and that is subject to the constraint ∫Ω ρdx = αγ +β(|Ω|−γ) for a fixed 0 < γ < |Ω|. The optimization of the map ρ ↦ λ1(ρ), where λ1 is the first eigenvalue, has been studied by Cuccu, Emamizadeh and Porru. In this paper we consider a Steiner symmetric domain Ω and we show that the minimizers inherit the same symmetry

Symmetry and regularity of an optimization problem related to a nonlinear BVP

We consider the functional where uf is the unique nontrivial weak solution of the boundary-value problem where Ω ⊂ Rn is a bounded smooth domain. We prove a result of Steiner symmetry preservation and, if n = 2, we show the regularity of the level sets of minimizers

effective linewidth in raman spectra of titanium dioxide nanocrystals

Raman spectra of nanocrystals titanium dioxide are discussed and the correlation between the band shape of the allowed A1g Raman mode and the crystals dimensions is discussed. Data on Raman spectra are reconsidered in the frame- work of a modified "hard confinement" model (MHC). The proposed model is based on the idea of using an effective linewidth parameter, which is a function of the effective dimension of the nanostructure, in spite of the intrinsic Raman band linewidth. The comparison with standard hard confinement model reveals better agreement with the experimental results for the MHC model up to 6 nm. Moreover, the analysis permits to improve the knowledge of the phonon dispersion curve as well as the intrinsic Raman bulk parameters. An analytical form of the size-dependent peak-position in nanocrystals, useful for an approximated size estimation, has been explicated. The general structure of the model permits to extended the MHC to other nano-sized materials