Intergenerational Education for Social Inclusion and Solidarity: The Case Study of the EU Funded Project "Connecting Generations"

This paper reflects on lessons learned from a validated model of international collaboration based on research and practice. During the European Year for Active Ageing, a partnership of seven organizations from the European Union plus Turkey implemented the Lifelong Learning Programme partnership “Connecting Generations‘ which involved universities, non-governmental organizations, third age Universities and municipalities in collaboration with local communities. Reckoning that Europe has dramatically changed in its demographic composition and is facing brand new challenges regarding intergenerational and intercultural solidarity, each partner formulated and tested innovative and creative practices that could enhance better collaboration and mutual understanding between youth and senior citizens, toward a more inclusive Europe for all. Several innovative local practices have experimented, attentively systematized and peer-valuated among the partners. On the basis of a shared theoretical framework coherent with EU and Europe and Training 2020 Strategy, an action-research approach was adopted throughout the project in order to understand common features that have been replicated and scaled up since today

Formal specification of requirements for analytical redundancy-based fault -tolerant flight control systems

Flight control systems are undergoing a rapid process of automation. The use of Fly-By-Wire digital flight control systems in commercial aviation (Airbus 320 and Boeing FBW-B777) is a clear sign of this trend. The increased automation goes in parallel with an increased complexity of flight control systems with obvious consequences on reliability and safety. Flight control systems must meet strict fault-tolerance requirements. The standard solution to achieving fault tolerance capability relies on multi-string architectures. On the other hand, multi-string architectures further increase the complexity of the system inducing a reduction of overall reliability.;In the past two decades a variety of techniques based on analytical redundancy have been suggested for fault diagnosis purposes. While research on analytical redundancy has obtained desirable results, a design methodology involving requirements specification and feasibility analysis of analytical redundancy based fault tolerant flight control systems is missing.;The main objective of this research work is to describe within a formal framework the implications of adopting analytical redundancy as a basis to achieve fault tolerance. The research activity involves analysis of the analytical redundancy approach, analysis of flight control system informal requirements, and re-engineering (modeling and specification) of the fault tolerance requirements. The USAF military specification MIL-F-9490D and supporting documents are adopted as source for the flight control informal requirements. The De Havilland DHC-2 general aviation aircraft equipped with standard autopilot control functions is adopted as pilot application. Relational algebra is adopted as formal framework for the specification of the requirements.;The detailed analysis and formalization of the requirements resulted in a better definition of the fault tolerance problem in the framework of analytical redundancy. Fault tolerance requirements and related certification procedures turned out to be considerably more demanding than those typically adopted in the literature. Furthermore, the research work brought up to light important issues in all fields involved in the specification process, namely flight control system requirements, analytical redundancy, and requirements engineering

Lighting a Spark, Playing with Fire: Feminism, Emotions, and the Legal Imagination of Campus Sexual Violence

Feminist law and policymakers have been inspired by collectively generated experiences of emotion that help to shape what counts as justice and injustice in campus sexual violence cases. Focusing on events surrounding the Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry in 2014–2015, this article explains how emotional incitements in the case contributed to an infrastructure that supported formal and specifically carceral responses to campus sexual violence. Correspondingly, this article explains why alternative modes of legal and political formation that challenged the premises of the formal law, including restorative justice, were misread by some commentators as a form of “weak justice” and therefore outside the bounds of feminist action. The central claim of the article is not that particular emotional reactions are right or wrong, but that feminist law and policymakers should reflect on and assess their political force. Considering the ways that emotions are mobilized reveals the benefits and drawbacks of engaging with law in ways that feel emotionally gratifying and therefore politically necessary, but which can lead to harmful consequences that contradict feminist goals. Les législateurs et les décideurs politiques féministes ont été collectivement inspirés par les expériences émotives qui contribuent à façonner ce qui compte comme justice et injustice dans les cas de violence sexuelle sur les campus universitaires. En se concentrant sur les événements entourant la faculté de médecine dentaire de l’Université Dalhousie en 2014–2015, nous expliquons dans cet article comment les incitations émotionnelles dans l’affaire ont contribué à une infrastructure qui a soutenu des réponses formelles et spécifiquement carcérales à la violence sexuelle sur le campus. Corrélativement, nous expliquons pourquoi les modes alternatifs de formation juridique et politique qui remettent en cause les prémisses du droit formel, y compris la justice réparatrice, ont été interprétés à tort par certains commentateurs comme une forme de « justice faible » et donc en dehors des limites de l’action féministe. L’affirmation au cœur de notre article n’est pas que des réactions émotionnelles particulières sont bonnes ou mauvaises, mais que les législateurs et les décideurs politiques féministes devraient réfléchir à leur force politique et l’évaluer. L’examen des façons dont les émotions sont mobilisées révèle les avantages et les inconvénients de s’engager dans le droit d’une manière qui semble émotionnellement gratifiante et donc politiquement nécessaire, mais qui peut conduire à des conséquences néfastes qui contredisent les objectifs féministes

Educazione attraverso l’arte per il dialogo interculturale: verso un ecosistema di apprendimento inclusivo

Is it possible to create intercultural and inclusive learning environments based on education through art? Can art enhance competences to foster inclusion of children with migrant background and/or belonging to minority groups? These are the core questions of “META - Minority Education Through Art”, an Erasmus Plus KA3 Project (2015-2018). The central hypothesis, based on previous researches and experiences, considered arts capable to foster inclusion in primary school intercultural contexts. META adopted a holistic and transformative paradigm to approach the problem and consistent multi-methods strategy and mixed-methods research techniques. Main output are a tested competence framework for building inclusive learning environments and recommendations for a methodology centred on innovation in teaching, as key for genuine valuing of richnessand potentiality of different cultures, discovered through artistic experience. In this work, we present research outcomes as elements of reflection indicating a transition from schooling to open learning environments. In doing so, arts become an important methodological tool to foster integration of formal, non-formal and informal education.È possibile creare ambienti di apprendimento interculturali e inclusivi basati sull’educazione attraverso l’arte? L’arte può migliorare le competenze per favorire l’inclusione di bambini con background migrante e/o appartenenti a gruppi minoritari? Queste sono le domande chiave di “META - Minority Education Through Art”, un progetto Erasmus Plus KA3 (2015-2018). L’ipotesi centrale, basata su precedenti ricerche ed esperienze, considerava le arti capaci di favorire l’inclusione nei contesti interculturali della scuola primaria. META ha adottato un paradigma olistico e trasformativo per affrontare il problema di ricerca, una strategia multi-metodi coerente e tecniche di indagine miste. I risultati principali sono un quadro di competenze testato per la creazione di ambienti di apprendimento inclusivi e raccomandazioni per una metodologia di insegnamento innovativa, come elementi chiave per la valorizzazione della ricchezza e della potenzialità delle culture attraverso l’esperienza artistica. In questo lavoro presentiamo i risultati della ricerca quali elementi di riflessione che indicano una transizione dalla scuola verso ambienti di apprendimentoaperti. Le arti così diventano un importante strumento metodologico per favorire l’integrazione dell’istruzione formale, non formale e informale

Factor analysis, knowledge management and value creation

When companies face with the effort to comply with customer needs, their prior necessity is to acquire knowledge about the most sensitive variables that can condition customer satisfaction perceptions better than others. However the analysis of the firm-customer relationships seem to be very complex, given the high number of variables that potentially influence customer satisfaction, and hence the stability of their relationship with the company. Through a case study this paper describes a process to generate explicit knowledge about the main strategic customer satisfaction\u2019s value drivers. This process can be considered as a knowledge management tool to support the planning of specific actions about strategic resources and competencies supposed to improve customer satisfaction. The paper discusses about contributions of the study, as well as managerial implications, findings, limitations, and directions for further research

Open data governance: civic hacking movement, topics and opinions in digital space

AbstractThe expression 'open data' relates to a system of informative and freely accessible databases that public administrations make generally available online in order to develop an informative network between institutions, enterprises and citizens. On this topic, using the semantic network analysis method, the research aims to investigate the communication structure and the governance of open data in the Twitter conversational environment. In particular, the research questions are: (1) Who are the main actors in the Italian open data infrastructure? (2) What are the main conversation topics online? (3) What are the pros and cons of the development and use (reuse) of open data in Italy? To answer these questions, we went through three research phases: (1) analysing the communication network, we found who are the main influencers; (2) once we found who were the main actors, we analysed the online content in the Twittersphere to detect the semantic areas; (3) then, through an online focus group with the main open data influencers, we explored the characteristics of Italian open data governance. Through the research, it has been shown that: (1) there is an Italian open data governance strategy; (2) the Italian civic hacker community plays an important role as an influencer; but (3) there are weaknesses in governance and in practical reuse