Passeurs: Narratives of Border Crossing in the Western Alps

This article focuses on representations of passeurs: migrant smugglers across the French-Italian and Swiss-Italian borders. I analyze a heterogeneous corpus of novels, films, and essays published between 1990-2017 that refer to different waves of migration, from World War II to the contemporary migration crisis. I argue that these texts complicate and help question the current criminalization of migrant smugglers most often found in the media and political discourses. In particular, I claim that these discourses confuse or dismiss migrants’ experience of border crossing, as they neglect important ethical and legal differences between smuggling and trafficking, humanitarian actors and professional smugglers. The texts I analyze insist on these nuances, enriching our understanding of the human stakes of “illegal” migrations. Through the analysis of literature and film, I present figures of migrant smugglers who have operated illegally to facilitate migrants, but who must not be confused with human traffickers. For example, in his bio-fiction Il vuoto alle spalle (1999), journalist Marco A. Ferrari gives an uplifting, idealized portrayal of Ettore Castiglioni, an Anti-Fascist Alpinist active during World War II, who smuggled Italian Jews and political opponents to the Fascist regime to Switzerland, including the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. Francesco Biamonti, who lived at the French-Italian border and was a prolific novelist in the 1980s and 1990s, insists on the professionalism of smugglers who have been traditionally present in the Western Alps. In particular, Biamonti stresses that good passeurs are those who never put the life of their clients (migrants) at risk. Novels such as Vento largo (1991) and Le parole la notte (1994) not only point at the negative effects of globalization in Liguria (Italy), but also lament Europeans’ lack of attention to and understanding of increasing migratory flows, well before the media started talking about a migrant “crisis.” Lastly, I present the work of journalists who occasionally performed the role of “humanitarian smugglers” and later reported their experience in written or cinematic form: Io sto con la sposa, by Gabriele del Grande, Khaled Soliman Al Nassiry, and Antonio Augugliaro (2014); Passeur, by Raphaël Krafft (2017). These works express the authors’ need to reconnect with the professional and anti-Fascist tradition of passeurs in the Western Alps, at a time when there is no alternative to “illegal” border crossing for too many migrants. 

A reproducible approach with R markdown to automatic classification of medical certificates in French

In this paper, we report the ongoing developments of our first participation to the Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) eHealth Task 1: “Multilingual Information Extraction - ICD10 coding” (Névéol et al., 2017). The task consists in labelling death certificates, in French with international standard codes. In particular, we wanted to accomplish the goal of the ‘Replication track’ of this Task which promotes the sharing of tools and the dissemination of solid, reproducible results.In questo articolo presentiamo gli sviluppi del lavoro iniziato con la partecipazione al Laboratorio CrossLanguage Evaluation Forum (CLEF) eHealth denominato: “Multilingual Information Extraction - ICD10 coding” (Névéol et al., 2017) che ha come obiettivo quello di classificare certificati di morte in lingua francese con dei codici standard internazionali. In particolare, abbiamo come obiettivo quello proposto dalla ‘Replication track’ di questo Task, che promuove la condivisione di strumenti e la diffusione di risultati riproducibili

An interactive two-dimensional approach to query aspects rewriting in systematic reviews. IMS unipd at CLEF eHealth task 2

International audienc

A lexicon based approach to classification of ICD10 codes. IMS unipd at CLEF eHealth task 1

International audienc

A Hybrid Drift Diffusion Model: Derivation, Weak Steady State Solutions and Simulations

In this paper we derive a new hybrid model for drift di usion equations. This model provides a description of the quantum phenomena in the parts of the device where they are relevant, and degenerates to a semiclassical model where quantum e ects are negligible, so that the system can be considered classically. The study of quantum correction to the equation of state of an electron gas in a semiconductor with the assumption of localized quantum e ects leads to a further condition on the classical-quantum interface. Moreover, we prove the existence of weak solutions for our hybrid model. Finally, we present numerical results for di erent devices, by means of Colsys software

Female participation in African agricultural research and higher education: New insights

Female farmers play a vital role in African agriculture, accounting for the majority of the agricultural workforce. However, agricultural research and higher education are disproportionately led by men. There is an urgent need for greater representation of women in the field of agricultural science and technology (S&T) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Female scientists, professors, and senior managers offer different insights and perspectives to help research institutes to more fully address the unique and pressing challenges of both female and male farmers in the region. Gender-disaggregated data on S&T capacity are scarce, often lack sufficient detail, and focus more generally on S&T rather than on agriculture specifically. Data are not always comparable due to different methodologies and coverage. The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative and the CGIAR Gender & Diversity (G&D) Program partnered together to address this information gap. This report presents the results of an in-depth benchmarking survey on gender-disaggregated capacity indicators, covering 125 agricultural research and higher education agencies in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the first study of its kind to present detailed human resources data on female participation in agricultural science, the main findings of which include the following: • Total capacity in terms of the professional staff employed at the agricultural research and higher education agencies included in this study increased by 20 percent between 2000/01 and 2007/08, and women constituted almost half of this capacity increase. The female population of professional staff grew by eight percent per year on average, which is four times higher than the comparable rate of increase for the male population, indicating that the gender gap in African agricultural sciences is closing. • The proportion of female professional staff employed at the sample agricultural research and higher education agencies increased from 18 percent in 2000/01 to 24 percent in 2007/08, but fewer women have advanced degrees compared to their male colleagues. In 2007/08, for example, 27 percent of the sample’s professional women held PhD degrees compared with 37 percent of the sample’s professional men. • Of concern, about two-thirds of the overall (female and male) capacity increase comprised staff holding only BSc degrees, indicating that the overall quality of capacity in agricultural research and higher education is declining in some Sub-Saharan African countries. Notably, the total number of male professional staff trained to the MSc level declined between 2000/01 and 2007/08; however, more in-depth analysis is needed to explain the underlying causes of these shifts and to what degree they represent structural changes. • Levels of female participation in agricultural research and higher education among the sample agencies were particularly low in Ethiopia (6 percent), Togo (9 percent), Niger (10 percent), and Burkina Faso (12 percent). Shares of female professional staff were much higher in South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana (32, 35, and 41 percent, respectively). • The female share of students enrolled in higher agricultural education was higher than the female shares of professional staff employed at the agricultural research and higher education agencies in most cases, but a significant proportion of the female students concerned were undertaking only BSc-level studies (83 percent). • Only 14 percent of the management positions were held by women, which is considerably lower than the share of female professional staff employed at the sample’s agricultural research and higher education agencies (24 percent). • The pool of female staff is much younger on average than the pool of male staff. • The prevalence of female professional staff is comparatively higher in fields related to life and social sciences, and comparatively lower in fields involving areas traditionally thought of as “hard science”, such as engineering.agricultural R&D, Sub-Saharan Africa, female participation, S&T capacity, agricultural higher education,

Problem of the Integration of the Tools of Environmental Politics, VAS (Ex Directive 2001/42/CE), EMAS (Rule 761/2001/CE), and New Model of Industrial Sustainable Area

The study deepens the problem list in the application of the VAS and the new procedures relative EMAS II° to industrial areas e/o territorial organizations, and it analyzes some cases of study. The cases of study analyzed are those of the district of Solofra and the area ASI in Trapani in south Italy, and Prato in centre Italy, The objective principals of the project are integral part of the project LIFE-SIAM 2005: to define to analyze the degree of vertical integration (from the directive UEs to the local actions) and horizontal (from the partenariato for the governance to the forums of AG21L) of the principles of the sustainability and the governance in the territory beginning from the location and management of the industrial areas; the analysis of the methods experimented of shared territorial planning of the development, based on an approach multidisciplinary, comprendente partenariato, planning, evaluation and monitoring; the analysis of the levels of know managerial how and necessary planning development of a collaborative climate and of effective relationships among the Local Authorities, the citizens, the productive system, the experts and the scientific world; the analysis of the necessary professional dimensions and applications with the purpose to form new subject responsible and figures professional able to plan and to manage the governance and the sustainable development beginning from the industrial areas. The project as defined a new Model of Industrial Sustainable Area. These objectives of analysis will be pursued through the verification on the field of the state of application, the adaptation and the integration of different community tools of environmental politics, what the Evaluation Environmental Strategy (VAS), ex Directive 2001/42/CE and the EMAS, ex Rule 761/2001/CE, in the procedures of governance effected on the territory. The study intends to give a contribution to show the difficulties attuative in to integrate different voluntary community tools inside models as the governance, or of policy as the sustainable development, and to allow one innovative approach of theirs, how much more possible inserted in the planning and territorial management. The study as experimented the application of the Model in the case study.

Le fratture multifocali di omero

Le fratture multifocali di omero possono interessare l'epifisi prossimale e la diafisi, punti diversi della diafisi, epifisi distale e diafisi. In questa tesi abbiamo confrontato i nostri dati con quelli presenti in letteratura

Cefazolin in dog: preliminary results for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters

Cefazolin, a first generation cephalosporin, is commonly used in small Cefazolin, a first generation cephalosporin, is commonly used in small animal surgery to avoid post-operative infections. The aims of the study were 1) assess cefazolin pharmacokinetics (PK) in dogs undergoing gonadectomy, 2) correlate PK and pharmacodynamics (PD) parameters and 3) attest the efficacy of dosage regimen through a PK/PD approach. Thirty minutes before surgery, 25 mg/kg of cefazolin were administrated intravenously (IV) to 9 dogs (weight 22±7.5 kg; age 1.3±0.7 years). Blood samples were taken at prefixed times from 0 to 8 h. Quantification of cefazolin concentrations was performed through a validate HPLC method with UV detection (Kunicki, 2012). A two-compartmental model best described the PK profile of cefazolin. Literature MIC50 against canine Pasteurella spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Streptococcus spp. ranged from 0.25 to 0.5 μg/mL (Goldstein, 2012). Distribution and elimination half-lives were 0.3 ± 0.2 h and 3 ± 1.6 h, respectively; area under the curve was 182.3±50.6 h*μg/mL; volume of distribution and clearance at steady state were 383.5±58.1 mL/kg and 150.2±49.8 mL/h/kg, respectively. The PK/PD index for cephalosporins efficacy is time above MIC (T>MIC) for 60% of dosing interval with values 4 times higher the MIC50. Our values of T>MIC, calculated with MIC 0.5 mg/mL, was for 100 % of the observation period from 2 to 6 times higher than MIC. Preliminary results showed a good efficacy of cefazolin against all the bacterial strains evaluated. Therefore, a dosage regimen of 25 mg/kg IV every 8h might represent a valid tool in order to prevent surgical infections in small animal practice