Children, Libraries and Multimedia Resources in Italy: A Fact or a Possible Future?

The literature which was found mainly concerned CD-Roms, website and Internet services to young users (usually, in the age range of 8-14): a gap in the literature was observed with regard to the role and opinions of library staff on presence and use of electronic resources in children’s libraries. Two research fields could be identified: 1.to analyse and to evaluate how the professional literature deals with electronic services and resources to children;2.to explore the resources offered by children’s libraries and the extent of the service and level of its funding support. An aspect you don’t have to forget is ergonomics: if we, as librarians, know the importance of encouraging children to use computers (Guidelines for children’s services), it’s important to remember that most workstations are built with adults in mind and that, for a child to use the computer in a comfortable way, adjustments need to be made. In addition, it would be interesting to make a survey of Italian web sites for children: to identify who their developers are and how and how many times libraries are quoted

An autoethnography of becoming a kindergarden teacher: from self-awareness to nonviolent social change

Abstract. This study seek to represent my educational journey from childhood to the present. It aspires at answering two main research questions that I faced over my time working as a kindergarten teacher in a local school in Verona, Italy. They are: what have been the principal factors (life events and knowledge gained) to lead my educative journey? What has been the impact nonviolent communication had on my educative practice? Embracing the view of transmissional theorists which see education as tool to change socio-cultural values, I reflect on the perspective nonviolent thinkers have on the western modern culture. I take on different disciplines, such as anthropology, linguistic and neurosciences, to address the importance of transmitting nonviolent values through education, in order to possibly overcome the violent paradigm spread within the contemporary society. I approach nonviolent communication as a strategy to bring such a change. The main research questions are considered under the autoethnographic approach which makes the study a highly personal account. The results of this work demonstrate that the factors determining my choice of being an educator have been influenced by both my personality, my schooling experience and the knowledge I matured throughout my life and my working experience. Finally, I state that to enact a social change through an educational practice, good will is not enough. Personal, cultural, anthropological and neuroscientific awareness on the role education, have been crucial in order to shape my profession, as well as myself as a person. At present, I acknowledge that through my educative performance, I can contribute to change a predominant violent cultural paradigm into a nonviolent one

A Scalable Multiple Description Scheme for 3D Video Coding Based on the Interlayer Prediction Structure

The most recent literature indicates multiple description coding (MDC) as a promising coding approach to handle the problem of video transmission over unreliable networks with different quality and bandwidth constraints. Furthermore, following recent commercial availability of autostereoscopic 3D displays that allow 3D visual data to be viewed without the use of special headgear or glasses, it is anticipated that the applications of 3D video will increase rapidly in the near future. Moving from the concept of spatial MDC, in this paper we introduce some efficient algorithms to obtain 3D substreams that also exploit some form of scalability. These algorithms are then applied to both coded stereo sequences and to depth image-based rendering (DIBR). In these algorithms, we first generate four 3D subsequences by subsampling, and then two of these subsequences are jointly used to form each of the two descriptions. For each description, one of the original subsequences is predicted from the other one via some scalable algorithms, focusing on the inter layer prediction scheme. The proposed algorithms can be implemented as pre- and postprocessing of the standard H.264/SVC coder that remains fully compatible with any standard coder. The experimental results presented show that these algorithms provide excellent results

Uncertainties in lava flow hazard maps derived from numerical simulations: the case study of Mount Etna

The procedure for the derivation of a hazard map for lava flows at Mount Etna through lava flow simulations is critically reviewed. The DOWNFLOW code is then used to explore the sensitivity of the hazard map with respect to input settings. Three parameters are varied within ranges close to values recently applied to derive similar hazard maps: (i) the spacing between computational vents; (ii) the spatial probability density function (PDF) for future vent opening; and (iii) the expected length of future lava flows. The effect of increasing the spacing between computational vents tends to be compensated at the lower elevations, and a vent spacing smaller than about 500 m warrants an overall difference with respect to a reference map which is smaller than 6–8%. A random subsampling of the elements used to obtain the input vent opening PDF (−20%, −40% and −60%) originates significant but drastically smaller differences in the obtained map with respect to the reference one (~10%, ~12.5% and ~17% respectively, on average). In contrast, our results show that changes in the expected flow length originate, by far, the highest changes in the obtained hazard map, with overall differences ranging between ~20% and ~65%, and between ~30% and ~95% if computed only over inhabited areas. The simulations collected are further processed to derive maps of the confluence/diffluence index,which quantifies the error introduced, locally, when the position of the vent is misplaced by a given distance

Defining Disability in the EU Non-Discrimination Legislation: Judicial Activism and Legislative Restraints

To date EU anti-discrimination legislation, particularly the Employment Equality Directive (Directive 2000/78/EC), does not provide any clear definition of disability as a ground of discrimination. In the last few years, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has attempted to fill this gap and discussed the concept of disability in several decisions, in the attempt to provide a definition of the ground of disability. The ratification by the European Union of the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), has led to a clear overruling in the case law: the Court shifted from the medical model to the social model of disability. The UNCRPD now represents a milestone for the CJEU, which recognised that a duty arises to define disability in line with the social model, under the principle of consistent interpretation. Against this background, this article discusses CJEU case law, and compares and contrasts the judicial activism of the Court with the cautious approach adopted by the European Commission in the proposal for a new non-discrimination directive

Time dilation of quantum clocks in a Newtonian gravitational field

We consider two non-relativistic quantum clocks interacting with a Newtonian gravitational field produced by a spherical mass. In the framework of Page and Wootters approach, we derive a time dilation for the time states of the clocks. The delay is in agreement up to first order with the gravitational time dilation obtained from the Schwarzschild metric. This result can be extended by considering the relativistic gravitational potential: in this case we obtain the agreement with the exact Schwarzschild solution.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Defining Disability in the EU Non-Discrimination Legislation: Judicial Activism and Legislative Restraints

To date EU anti-discrimination legislation, particularly the Employment Equality Directive (Directive 2000/78/EC), does not provide any clear definition of disability as a ground of discrimination. In the last few years, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has attempted to fill this gap and discussed the concept of disability in several decisions, in the attempt to provide a definition of the ground of disability. The ratification by the European Union of the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), has led to a clear overruling in the case law: the Court shifted from the medical model to the social model of disability. The UNCRPD now represents a milestone for the CJEU, which recognised that a duty arises to define disability in line with the social model, under the principle of consistent interpretation. Against this background, this article discusses CJEU case law, and compares and contrasts the judicial activism of the Court with the cautious approach adopted by the European Commission in the proposal for a new non-discrimination directive