Overstretched:Financial Distress and Intimate Partner Violence in the U.S.

This study examines how financial distress within households affects intimate partner violence (IPV) in the United States. By leveraging the timing of bank closures and fixed wage payment schedules, we identify months when households are likely forced to stretch their finances due to changes in their regular payment schedules. Using monthly records from the National Crime Victimization Survey, we find that these relatively minor shocks significantly increase the likelihood of women experiencing IPV. We further present evidence of worsened financial conditions during these periods by documenting changes in household behavior, in terms of expenditures and time use

Flood risk assessment of environmental pollution hotspots

The potential spread of pollutants stored in environmental hotspots such as wastewater treatment plants, waste handling facilities, contaminated sites, etc., is among the adverse consequences of floods. This aspect has been rarely examined with a risk-based approach, although required by the European legislation. In this study, a method for estimating flood risk caused by environmental hotspots is developed. Risk includes flood hazard, hotspots exposure, and the expected severity of the environmental impacts, obtained as the combination of vulnerability of the surrounding environment and pollution potential of the hotspots. The assessment is performed at catchment scale on a geographical basis, using open data, available from databases of public bodies and environmental agencies. Risk maps obtained by the application of the developed method are produced for the Arno river catchment in Tuscany (central Italy). The area hosts approximately 1750 environmental pollution hotspots among which 5-10% have been classified at high risk

Durability of lightweight geopolymers for passive fire protection: steel corrosion behavior in chloride-rich environment

Different technologies are currently developed as promising passive fire protective coatings, due to the fact that fire protection of steel structures is an important requirement for structural components for several civil and industrial applications. Among the others, geopolymers have attracted lot of attention as promising materials suitable for high temperature applications. An optimized mix-design makes their amorphous structure more stable, when exposed to direct fire or heating from high temperatures, compared to ordinary Portland cement-based materials (OPC). However, the durability of a fire protective coating strongly depends on its adhesion on steel and its ability to prevent and/or mitigate steel corrosion phenomena. For these reasons, the understanding of the corrosion behavior of steel coated with geopolymer-based fireproofing coatings is necessary for ensuring the service life of the structure. This study aims at characterizing the corrosion behavior of carbon steel coated by different geopolymeric mortars applied as passive fire protection systems. In particular, fly ash-based geopolymeric mortars were applied as coatings on carbon steel plates. They were lightened by the combination of lightweight aggregates, e.g. expanded perlite, and chemical foaming agents, such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), in order to ensure good properties at high temperatures. In addition, geopolymeric paste and mortar containing quartz aggregate were also prepared as reference samples. The corrosion process was evaluated using an electrochemical approach. The samples have been tested by accelerated ageing methods, such as exposure to salt spray chamber to simulate a chloride-rich environment, such as marine aerosol. The monitoring process has been done applying non-destructive techniques and it is still ongoing. In particular, open circuit potential (OCP) and linear polarization resistance (LPR) have been recorded during the exposure. In parallel, polarization curves have also been carried out at different stages of the ageing exposure to better characterize the corrosion condition of the steel substrates. In addition, adhesion between the different geopolymeric coatings and the carbon steel plates has been evaluated before and after the artificial ageing in the salt spray chamber. Finally, density and porosity measurements were also carried out to better characterize the physical properties of the geopolymers. In this contribute, preliminary results are reported about short-term exposure. They show that in absence of any aggressive species, fly ash-based geopolymeric mortars provide a highly alkaline environment in the early curing time, enabling the passivation of carbon steel. Finally, steel corrosion behavior has been analyzed as a function of the pore structure of the geopolymeric matrix

Fly ash-based one-part alkali activated mortars cured at room temperature: Effect of precursor pre-treatments

One-part or “just add water” alkali activated materials (AAMs) have attracted a lot of attention thanks to the use of solid alkaline activators that makes these materials more suitable to commercialization compared to conventional AAMs (two-part). This is mainly because large quantities of caustic solutions should be handled for producing conventional AAMs. So, one-part AAMs have a great potential for in-situ applications. However, heat curing (<100 ◦C) has been demonstrated to be the best condition to obtain optimized performances of one-part AAMs. This study investigates how to obtain high strength one-part alkali mortars cured at room temperature, considering a newly developed mix design, precursor pre-treatments and curing time. The mechanical performances (i.e., elasticity modulus, compressive and flexural strength) of the developed materials were reported, as well as physical properties, in terms of water absorption, open porosity and pore size distribution and microstructure (by means of FEG-SEM observations coupled with elemental analysis by EDS and FT-IR measurements). Class F fly ash have been activated by potassium hydroxide (KOH) and anhydrous sodium metasilicate. It was found that high strength one-part AAMs can be achieved by activating coal fly ash with a mix of KOH and anhydrous sodium metasilicate at room temperature. In particular, room temperature-cured one-part mortars obtained by pre-treated fly ash exhibited mechanical performance similar to those obtained by heat-cured mortars (at 70 ◦C, tested after 7 days), reaching a compressive strength (Rc) greater than 60 MPa at 28 days of curing when mechanochemical activation of fly ash was applied

POxy 5267 riconsiderato: alcune osservazioni

Some textual observations about Pol., Hist. XXVIII 2.5-7 are offered on the basis of POxy LXXXI 5267

NO scavenging through reductive nitrosylation of ferric Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Homo sapiens nitrobindins

Ferric nitrobindins (Nbs) selectively bind NO and catalyze the conversion of peroxynitrite to nitrate. In this study, we show that NO scavenging occurs through the reductive nitrosylation of ferric Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Homo sapiens nitrobindins (Mt-Nb(III) and Hs-Nb(III), respectively). The conversion of Mt-Nb(III) and Hs-Nb(III) to Mt-Nb(II)-NO and Hs-Nb(II)-NO, respectively, is a monophasic process, suggesting that over the explored NO concentration range (between 2.5 × 10-5 and 1.0 × 10-3 M), NO binding is lost in the mixing time (i.e., NOkon ≥ 1.0 × 106 M-1 s-1). The pseudo-first-order rate constant for the reductive nitrosylation of Mt-Nb(III) and Hs-Nb(III) (i.e., k) is not linearly dependent on the NO concentration but tends to level off, with a rate-limiting step (i.e., klim) whose values increase linearly with [OH-]. This indicates that the conversion of Mt-Nb(III) and Hs-Nb(III) to Mt-Nb(II)-NO and Hs-Nb(II)-NO, respectively, is limited by the OH--based catalysis. From the dependence of klim on [OH-], the values of the second-order rate constant kOH- for the reductive nitrosylation of Mt-Nb(III)-NO and Hs-Nb(III)-NO were obtained (4.9 (±0.5) × 103 M-1 s-1 and 6.9 (±0.8) × 103 M-1 s-1, respectively). This process leads to the inactivation of two NO molecules: one being converted to HNO2 and another being tightly bound to the ferrous heme-Fe(II) atom

La collaborazione tra ricerca e pratiche professionali per l’innovazione sociale: i laboratori territoriali nella prospettiva della Teoria dell’Attività

Social innovation, one of the main references of contemporary European policies, is a tool to design and implement new organizational and institutional models to contrast poverty andvulnerability and to promote practices of inclusion and active participation of citizens in the construction of new social policies. The literature on the subject underlines the need for theconnection between research, practice, and policy making in the production of effective social innovation. In this perspective, research is conceived not as a process that “uses” professionalpractices to elaborate its own theories, but as a participatory learning path that produces an impact that is concrete and appropriate to the needs of the context.The activity theory is a particularly effective framework to analyze this process, addressing the issues of community, professional cultures and artifacts, also seen in the dynamic perspective oflearning and changing the patterns of meaning and practices of the actors and institutions involved.The article discusses the risks associated with a neoliberal conception of social innovation, placing the burden entirely on intermediate bodies, and describes the practice of Territorial Laboratories (LabT) born as a development of the P.I.P.P.I. ministerial program, proposing to use the Theory of Activity as a theoretical framework to understanding the relationships betweenresearch, practice and policy making. L’innovazione sociale, uno dei principali riferimenti delle politiche europee contemporanee, è uno strumento per progettare e implementare nuovi modelli organizzativi e istituzionali di contrasto alle povertà e alle vulnerabilità e per promuovere pratiche di inclusione e partecipazione attiva dei cittadini nella costruzione di nuove politiche sociali. La letteratura sul tema sottolinea la necessità della connessione tra ricerca, pratica, e policy making nella produzione di effettiva innovazione sociale. In questa prospettiva, la ricerca è pensata non come un processo che “utilizza” le pratiche professionali per elaborare proprie teorie, ma come percorso partecipato di apprendimento che produce un impatto concreto e adeguato ai bisogni della realtà in cui si colloca.La teoria dell’attività risulta una cornice particolarmente efficace per leggere questo tipo di percorso, mettendo in gioco i temi della comunità, delle culture professionali e degli artefatti, visti anche nella prospettiva dinamica dell’apprendimento e del cambiamento degli schemi di significato e delle prassi degli attori e delle istituzioni coinvolte. L’articolo discute i rischi connessi con una concezione neoliberale dell’innovazione sociale, centrata sulla delega ai corpi intermedi, e descrive la pratica dei Laboratori Territoriali (LabT) nati come sviluppo del programma ministerialeP.I.P.P.I., proponendo la Teoria dell’Attività come chiave di lettura teorica delle relazioni tra ricerca, pratica e policy making

Le città visibili: la ricerca trasformativa nei Laboratori territoriali

Il testo presenta un'analisi dei laboratori territoriali nel lavoro con bambini e famiglie in situazioni di vulnberabilità nei territori che aderisono al modulo avanzato del programma ministeriale P.I.P.P.I. (Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche sociali). l'apprendimento organizzativo che operatori e ricercatori realizzano durante il processo di trasformazione del Programma nazionale all'interno dei contesti locali che definiscono il lavoro negli ambiti territorial