38,457 research outputs found
On human dignity and State sovereignty: The Italian Constitutional Court's 238/2014 judgment on State immunity for international crimes
Judgment 238/2014 of the Italian Constitutional Court has flatly contravened the decision of the ICJ on Jurisdictional Immunity of States (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening) of 2012, ruling that the customary norm on State immunity from civil suits before a foreign court as ascertained in the ICJ decision never entered the domestic legal order, because it is incompatible with core principles of the Italian Constitution. In execution of the Constitutional Court ruling, in 2015, some Italian tribunals have condemned Germany to pay damages to former Italian military internees victim of international crimes during World War II, thus integrating an international wrongful act on the part of Italy. The 238/2014 judgment has been criticised from many angles. Much criticism was addressed to its alleged dualist approach that seemed to insulate Italy. The paper argues that the 2014 judgment of the Italian court is rather a reasoned response to the ICJ decision, grounded on principles common to the Italian and the international law, and a call for a consistent application of State obligations concerning the effective implementation of human rights. From this perspective it constitutes a valuable contribution towards a principled and open-minded debate over the structure and function of international la
Bigmen and Wantoks: Social Capital and Group Behaviour in Papua New Guinea
The concept of social capital has received a lot of attention in the social sciences in the last few years. It has come to be seen as an important factor in promoting socio-economic development. Despite the diversity of definitions available and the lack of clarity surrounding the concept, it is claimed that the level of trust, and the presence of the norms and networks that constitute social capital play an important role in enhancing economic efficiency and promoting government effectiveness. These claims, however, need to be properly qualified, as the nature and scope of social capital is much more ambiguous than is often suggested. High stocks of social capital can stifle development efforts in close-knit communities, and can be used to achieve objectives that may have negative effects on the wider community. More generally, the attempt to subsume a theory of institutions and a theory of group behaviour under the unifying label of social capital may not be very enlightening. Nevertheless, the social capital approach can provide useful insights for the study of group behaviour, related to the importance of looking at the characteristics of cooperation within groups and to state-society relations as important factors in determining the outcome of group functioning. Some characteristics of social organisation in Papua New Guinea demonstrate these points quite clearly. The existence in Papua New Guinea of a complex web of reciprocity obligations based mostly on ethnic identity (the wantok system) shows how existing social capital based on trust and cooperation within groups can have both positive and negative overall effects on group functioning. Moreover, the nature and structure of state-society relations, based on the country's colonial history and its institutional framework, influence group behaviour in a way that seems to promote vertical linkages of patronage and reinforce the negative effects of the wantok system.
The cosmic microwave background: observing directly the early universe
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a relict of the early universe. Its
perfect 2.725K blackbody spectrum demonstrates that the universe underwent a
hot, ionized early phase; its anisotropy (about 80 \mu K rms) provides strong
evidence for the presence of photon-matter oscillations in the primeval plasma,
shaping the initial phase of the formation of structures; its polarization
state (about 3 \mu K rms), and in particular its rotational component (less
than 0.1 \mu K rms) might allow to study the inflation process in the very
early universe, and the physics of extremely high energies, impossible to reach
with accelerators. The CMB is observed by means of microwave and mm-wave
telescopes, and its measurements drove the development of ultra-sensitive
bolometric detectors, sophisticated modulators, and advanced cryogenic and
space technologies. Here we focus on the new frontiers of CMB research: the
precision measurements of its linear polarization state, at large and
intermediate angular scales, and the measurement of the inverse-Compton effect
of CMB photons crossing clusters of Galaxies. In this framework, we will
describe the formidable experimental challenges faced by ground-based,
near-space and space experiments, using large arrays of detectors. We will show
that sensitivity and mapping speed improvement obtained with these arrays must
be accompanied by a corresponding reduction of systematic effects (especially
for CMB polarimeters), and by improved knowledge of foreground emission, to
fully exploit the huge scientific potential of these missions.Comment: In press. Plenary talk. Copyright 2012 Society of Photo-Optical
Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for
personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of
any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or
modification of the content of the paper are prohibite
On some modules of covariants for a reflection group
Let be a simple Lie algebra with Cartan subalgebra and Weyl group . We build up a graded map of
-modules, where
is the space of -harmonics. In this way we prove an enhanced
form of a conjecture of Reeder for the adjoint representation.
New version with different title. Various improvements. New section 7.Comment: 18 Page
Energy Transition and Urban Planning for Local Development. A Critical Review of the Evolution of Integrated Spatial and Energy Planning
The aim of the article is to analyse the evolution of spatial and energy planning integration, seen as a mean to foster local development, from the birth of the theme to the current prospects of shared sustainability and Decentralised Energy System (DES) solutions. The paper is a review of the evolution of the spatial and energy planning integration, exploring weaknesses
and future opportunities. After an initial period of intense theoretical elaboration, the relationship between energy and city physical-functional organization and planning is still far from finding an implementation. The article explains this lack of integration through the analyses of significant steps in the last 50 years with the aim to outline current obstacles in achieving a more comprehensive vision of energy and spatial planning. The experiences selected highlight critical aspects concerning
the trend towards the divergence of energy planning from systemic urban and spatial planning, also due to the low consideration of energy as a factor for local development. From the processes of decentralization and energy localism, some perspectives emerge which converge on the eco-energy district as a projection of the local energy community and which seem to enhance a more systemic and strategic dimension of planning
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