Global Politics and the Evolving EU-US-China Triangle: An Opportunity for EU Leadership? College of Europe Policy Brief #10.17, November 2017

Executive Summary > A changing global order requires actors aiming at global leadership to develop a flexible foreign policy approach to interdependence. > Given their material pre-eminence, it is particularly crucial to analyse how the US, China and the EU have been responding to the fluidity of the global system. > The structural primacy of the United States makes it hostile to reforming global governance, and the current Administration is veering towards a more withdrawn, unilateral approach to global issues which risks creating a ‘power vacuum’. > China has been greatly stepping up its global engagement, displaying pragmatic flexibility and promoting reform via inclusive, ‘horizontal’ leadership on many issues. > The EU, despite internal constraints, has been making important steps forward towards strategic pragmatism, especially via its 2016 Global Strategy. > In light of US disengagement, the EU’s effectiveness and legitimacy as a global actor could greatly benefit from co-leadership with an increasingly proactive China in a number of domains, especially those pertaining to the sustainable management of the global commons

Mogherini’s first 100 days: Not the quiet diplomat. CEPS Commentary, 12 February 2015

To mark the passage of 100 days since Federica Mogherini took up the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission HR/VP, Steven Blockmans and Francesco Saverio Montesano reflect in a new CEPS Commentary on her early achievements and assess the efficacy of new approaches and working methods she has brought to EU foreign policy-making

The full shape of the large-scale galaxy power spectrum: modelling and cosmological implications

Dark energy, which constitutes about 73% of the total energy density and causes the Universe expansion to accelerate, is one of the most important open problems in physics. The nature of dark energy can be inferred from its effects on the evolution of the Universe and the growth of structures as it influences the distribution of galaxies and gas at cosmological scales at low and intermediate redshifts. To extract unbiased information from the large scale galaxy power spectrum, accurate models, encoding the distortions due to non-linear evolution, bias and redshift space distortions, are needed. In this thesis I present a model for the full shape of the power spectrum and test its validity against a suite of 50 large volume, moderate resolution N-body dark matter simulations. My results indicate that this simple model provides an accurate description of the full shape of the dark matter and halo power spectrum, both in real and redshift space, for k<0.15 h/Mpc. Even though its application is restricted to large scales, this prescription can provide tighter constraints on the dark energy equation of state parameter w_{DE} than those obtained by modelling the baryonic acoustic oscillations signal only, where the information of the broad-band shape of the power spectrum is discarded. I then apply this model to a measurement of the power spectrum of the distribution of about 90000 luminous red galaxies (LRGs) across 7646 deg^2 in the Northern Galactic Cap from the seventh data release of the Sloan Sky Digital Survey. The errors and mode correlations are estimated from the 160 LasDamas mock catalogues, created in order to simulate the LRG galaxies and the survey geometry. Using the galaxy distribution, in combination with the latest measurement of the temperature and polarisation anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background, the luminosity-distance relation from the largest available type 1a supernovae dataset and a precise determination of the local Hubble parameter, I obtain cosmological constraints for five different parameter spaces. The analysis performed in this thesis shows that the Universe is geometrically flat and composed by about 4% of baryons, 23% of cold dark matter and 73% of dark energy. I measure w_{DE} to be -1.025+-0.065 without any evidence of time dependence, which is compatible with a cosmological constant. In the next years new experiments will allow to measure the clustering of galaxies with a precision much higher than today, and models like the one used here will provide valuable tools in order to achieve the full potentials of the observations and obtain unbiased constraints on the cosmological parameters

Global Goals for Sustainability Integration?: The role of ideas, norms and institutions

In the Anthropocene, the interplay between human and natural systems has become deeper and more complex than ever. This has increased the normative urgency of sustainability integration, exposing two main gaps. First, a knowledge gap between the new context and the conceptual frameworks available to understand its impact on how we perceive and deal with sustainability integration as a response to those changes. Second, an institutional gap between the structure and aims of current institutions – which include the Sustainable Development Goals - and the demands and challenges of the new Anthropocenic context. This thesis begins by developing a conceptual framework to investigate whether and how change towards sustainability integration is happening at the ideational, normative, and institutional level. It then puts the framework to the test and addresses three main research questions. First, how can we study and explain which models of sustainability integration are prevalent in the Anthropocene? Second, which models of sustainability integration are prevalent and why? Third, how do institutions such as the SDGs influence the prevalence of different models of sustainability integration? The results show a generalised prevalence of the balanced model of integration over the ecocentric model. The ambiguous relationship observed between the SDGs and different models of integration is also likely to affect their ability to fulfil their ambitious claims

Green bean biofortification for Si through soilless cultivation: Plant response and Si bioaccessibility in pods

Food plants biofortification for micronutrients is a tool for the nutritional value improvement of food. Soilless cultivation systems, with the optimal control of plant nutrition, represent a potential effective technique to increase the beneficial element content in plant tissues. Silicon (Si), which proper intake is recently recommended for its beneficial effects on bone health, presents good absorption in intestinal tract from green bean, a high-value vegetable crop. In this study we aimed to obtain Si biofortified green bean pods by using a Si-enriched nutrient solution in soilless system conditions, and to assess the influence of boiling and steaming cooking methods on Si content, color parameters and Si bioaccessibility (by using an in vitro digestion process) of pods. The Si concentration of pods was almost tripled as a result of the biofortification process, while the overall crop performance was not negatively influenced. The Si content of biofortified pods was higher than unbiofortified also after cooking, despite the cooking method used. Silicon bioaccessibility in cooked pods was more than tripled as a result of biofortification, while the process did not affect the visual quality of the product. Our results demonstrated that soilless cultivation can be successfully used for green bean Si biofortification

Supplementary Far-Red Light Did Not Affect Tomato Plant Growth or Yield under Mediterranean Greenhouse Conditions

In the Mediterranean region, tomato plants are often cultivated in two short cycles per year to avoid the heat of summer and the low solar radiation of winter. Supplementary light (SL) makes it possible to cultivate during the dark season. In this experiment, a tomato F1 hybrid cultivar DRW7723 was cultivated in a greenhouse for a fall-winter cycle. After transplant, light emitting diode (LED) interlighting, with two light spectra (red + blue vs. red + blue + far-red) was applied as SL. Plant growth, yield, gas exchange, nutrient solution (NS) consumption, and fruit quality were analyzed. In general, the eects of adding far-red radiation were not visible on the parameters analyzed, although the yield was 27% higher in plants grown with SL than those grown without. Tomatoes had the same average fresh weight between SL treatments, but the plants grown with SL produced 16% more fruits than control. Fruit quality, gas exchange and NS uptake were not influenced by the addition of far-red light. Interlighting is, therefore, a valid technique to increase fruit production in winter but at our latitude the eects of adding far-red radiation are mitigated by available sunlight

Biodiversity of vegetable crops, a living heritage

Biodiversity is the natural heritage of the planet and is one of the key factors of sustainable development, due to its importance not only for the environmental aspects of sustainability but also for the social and economic ones. The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish high-quality research papers addressing recent progress and perspectives while focusing on different aspects related to the biodiversity of vegetable crops. Original, high-quality contributions that have not yet been published, or that are not currently under review by other journals, have been gathered. A broad range of aspects such as genetic, crop production, environments, customs and traditions were covered. All contributions are of significant relevance and could stimulate further research in this area

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: mock galaxy catalogues for the low-redshift sample

We present one thousand mock galaxy catalogues for the analysis of the Low Redshift Sample (LOWZ, effective redshift z ~ 10.32) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Releases 10 and 11. These mocks have been created following the PTHalos method of Manera13 et al. (2013) revised to include new developments. The main improvement is the introduction of a redshift dependence in the Halo Occupation Distribution in order to account for the change of the galaxy number density with redshift. These mock catalogues are used in the analyses of the LOWZ galaxy clustering by the BOSS collaboration.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Analisi di una proposta inclusiva per soggetti BES attraverso la pratica sportiva di squadra

The inclusion is a phenomenon that involves contemporary society. The school inclusion, in particular, is confronted with the educational emergencies that require appropriate teaching responses that must be developed in suitable learning environments. The purpose of the research was to promote inclusive relationships between SEN subjects and all the other students, so that the school can promote the right that a person is considered equal to others but different at the same time along with the other, through an act motor nature trail to favor group collaborative activities with the game of basketball.L’inclusione è un fenomeno che investe la società contemporanea. L’inclusione scolastica, in particolare, si deve confrontare con le emergenze educative che necessitano di adeguate risposte didattiche che devono essere sviluppate in idonei ambienti di apprendimento. Lo scopo della ricerca è stato quello di favorire le relazioni inclusive tra i soggetti BES e tutti gli altri allievi, affinchè la scuola possa promuovere il diritto che un soggetto venga considerato uguale agli altrima allo stesso tempo diverso insieme agli altri, attraverso un percorso didattico motorio atto a favorire le attività collaborative di gruppo con il gioco della pallacanestro