Convenio sobre el trabajo marítimo 2006 (MLC, 2006)

The essay analyses 2006 Convention on maritime work, and it highlights its original characteristics within ILO sources: firstly, the Convention systemises the fragmented scenario of conventions and recommendations on maritime workers’ rights. Secondly, it is characterised by a strong effectiveness, especially having regard to repatriation and to Flag State and Port State controls, not limited to ships flying a flag of a ratifying State. In any case, some weaknesses persist, such as the lack of recognition of the right to strike and a very generic regulation of shore leave.El ensayo analiza el Convenio sobre trabajo marítimo de 2006, y pone de manifiesto su originalidad dentro del marco de las fuentes de la OIT: en primer lugar, el Convenio sistematiza el entonces fragmentado panorama de convenios y recomendaciones sobre derechos de los trabajadores marítimos. Además, la intervención normativa de 2006 se caracteriza por su efectividad, sobre todo en lo que se refiere al derecho a la repatriación y a los controles por parte del Estado del Puerto y del Estado del Pabellón, no limitados a los buques que enarbolen bandera de un Estado ratificador. De todas formas, algunas criticidades siguen persistiendo, como la falta de reconocimiento del derecho de huelga y la genericidad del derecho al shore leave

Preliminary investigations on indirect competition among Italian employers\u2019 associations, and the relevant effects on collective bargaining

Le associazioni dei datori di lavoro sono attori importanti per il sistema delle relazioni industriali e della contrattazione collettiva. I datori di lavoro e i sindacati in genere negoziano gli standard di lavoro in termini di salari e condizioni di lavoro per conto rispettivamente delle aziende associate e dei dipendenti. Sebbene la maggior parte della letteratura sulle relazioni industriali si sia concentrata principalmente sulla forza associativa e sulla densit\ue0 associativa delle associazioni dei datori di lavoro, in questa pubblicazione a cura di Michele Faioli e Silvio Bologna, gli autori si discostano da questa prospettiva e si concentrano sul funzionamento e sulla governance, ovvero sul loro ruolo che le associazioni hanno nelle attivit\ue0 di rappresentanza e coordinamento, e di condivisione delle informazioni per promuovere un migliore coordinamento e una migliore offerta di formazione. Le associazioni dei datori di lavoro devono quindi perseguire due obiettivi distinti ma complementari: il primo \ue8 quello di ampliare il pi\uf9 possibile la propria base associativa al fine di ottenere risorse per gestire l'associazione e per fornire una serie di servizi; il secondo ha una portata pi\uf9 ampia, avendo a che fare con la necessit\ue0 di influenzare il processo decisionale, fare pressioni per contributi o sussidi e ottenere riconoscimenti nei confronti di altre organizzazioni. A questo proposito, il funzionamento delle associazioni dei datori di lavoro italiane rappresenta un caso studio interessante. Considerando che in Italia il numero di associazioni dei datori di lavoro \ue8 aumentato vertiginosamente negli ultimi anni, raggiungendo un totale di 900, la stragrande maggioranza delle quali ha solo poche aziende affiliate. In questo scenario di frammentazione delle parti sociali e delle pratiche di relazioni industriali, gli autori indagano su come si sono evoluti gli obiettivi e la governance delle associazioni dei datori di lavoro. L'approccio metodologico applicato \ue8 di natura multidisciplinare, e basato sull'interazione tra struttura delle associazioni di datori di lavoro (\u201canalisi statica\u201d), e performance delle stesse (\u201canalisi dinamica\u201d).The current work deals, under an industrial relations perspective, on collective bargaining and representation of employers' associations in Italy. The work highlights the fragmented scenario of representation of employers' interests, and the role of the above-mentioned associations in policy making. In terms of method, the paper is based on the interaction among the structure of the employers' assocations (static analysis) and their performance (dynamic analysis)

The low-frequency radio catalog of flat spectrum sources

A well known property of the gamma-ray sources detected by COS-B in the 1970s, by the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory in the 1990s and recently by the Fermi observations is the presence of radio counterparts, in particular for those associated to extragalactic objects. This observational evidence is the basis of the radio-gamma-ray connection established for the class of active galactic nuclei known as blazars. In particular, the main spectral property of the radio counterparts associated with gamma-ray blazars is that they show a flat spectrum in the GHz frequency range. Our recent analysis dedicated to search blazar-like candidates as potential counterparts for the unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs) allowed us to extend the radio-gamma-ray connection in the MHz regime. We also showed that below 1 GHz blazars maintain flat radio spectra. Thus on the basis of these new results, we assembled a low-frequency radio catalog of flat spectrum sources built by combining the radio observations of the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) and of the Westerbork in the southern hemisphere (WISH) catalog with those of the NRAO Very Large Array Sky survey (NVSS). This could be used in the future to search for new, unknown blazar-like counterparts of the gamma-ray sources. First we found NVSS counterparts of WSRT radio sources and then we selected flat spectrum radio sources according to a new spectral criterion specifically defined for radio observations performed below 1 GHz. We also described the main properties of the catalog listing 28358 radio sources and their logN-logS distributions. Finally a comparison with with the Green Bank 6-cm radio source catalog has been performed to investigate the spectral shape of the low-frequency flat spectrum radio sources at higher frequencies.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, ApJS published in 2014 (pre-proof version uploaded

Integrating Dynamics and Wear Modelling to Predict Railway Wheel Profile Evolution

The aim of the work described was to predict wheel profile evolution by integrating multi-body dynamics simulations of a wheelset with a wear model. The wear modelling approach is based on a wear index commonly used in rail wear predictions. This assumes wear is proportional to Tγ, where T is tractive force and γ is slip at the wheel/rail interface. Twin disc testing of rail and wheel materials was carried out to generate wear coefficients for use in the model. The modelling code is interfaced with ADAMS/Rail, which produces multi-body dynamics simulations of a railway wheelset and contact conditions at the wheel/rail interface. Simplified theory of rolling contact is used to discretise the contact patches produced by ADAMS/Rail and calculate traction and slip within each. The wear model combines the simplified theory of rolling contact, ADAMS/Rail output and the wear coefficients to predict the wear and hence the change of wheel profile for given track layouts

Rural–urban gradient and land use in a millenary metropolis: how urbanization affects avian functional groups and the role of old villas in bird assemblage patterning

Abstract. Urbanization generally leads to a complex environmental gradient, ranging from almost undisturbed natural areas to highly modified urban landscapes. Here we analyse the effects of a rural–urban gradient on breeding bird communities and functional species groups in remnant natural and semi-natural areas of Rome. A total of 69 breeding bird species were found in the study area. Species richness decreased with increasing urbanization at two spatial scales: the point count station and the landscape scales. Evenness showed a negative trend from periphery to city centre, whereas for dominant species the opposite was true. Functional species groups responded to the urbanization gradient with functional group-specific patterns. Those groups linked to open habitats (nesting and habitat functional groups) decreased in abundance along the rural–urban gradient, whereas those associated with forests exhibited a mixed trend. Generalist species' occurrence increased with urbanization. As for predators and granivorous species, we found a negative relationship with urbanization whereas for omnivorous species the opposite trend was true. The distribution of old villas (large-sized remnant green areas) in the inner city areas influenced species composition along the studied gradient, usually showing higher species richness than surrounding fragments. Agricultural areas hosted richer and better balanced bird assemblages in respect to those found in urban and forested areas. Our findings proved that an urban gradient plays a major role in structuring bird communities, although the extent and distribution of land use categories was another factor that influenced avian assemblages. The presence of historical villas also influenced bird assemblages, making it possible to preserve high bird diversity even in inner city-areas

Optical spectroscopic observations of blazars and gamma-ray blazar candidates in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Nine

We present an analysis of the optical spectra available in the Sloan Digital Sky survey data release nine (SDSS DR9) for the blazars listed in the ROMA-BZCAT and for the gamma-ray blazar candidates selected according to their IR colors. First, we adopt a statistical approach based on MonteCarlo simulations to find the optical counterparts of the blazarslisted in the ROMA-BZCAT catalog. Then we crossmatched the SDSS spectroscopic catalog with our selected samples of blazars and gamma-ray blazar candidates searching for those with optical spectra available to classify our blazar-like sources and, whenever possible, to confirm their redshifts. Our main objectives are determining the classification of uncertain blazars listed in the ROMA-BZCAT and discovering new gamma-ray blazars. For the ROMA-BZCAT sources we investigated a sample of 84 blazars confirming the classification for 20 of them and obtaining 18 new redshift estimates. For the gamma-ray blazars, indicated as potential counterparts of unassociated Fermi sources or with uncertain nature, we established the blazar-like nature of 8 out the 27 sources analyzed and confirmed 14 classifications.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables, AJ published in 2014 (pre-proof version