Assessment of construction cost reduction of nearly zero energy dwellings in a life cycle perspective

Concerning Nearly Zero Energy Buildings, it is important to guarantee energy efficiency, thermal comfort and indoor environmental quality, while keeping construction and operational costs low. In this framework, this paper explores the efficacy of applying different scenarios, for reducing construction costs of new nearly zero energy multi-family houses in a life cycle perspective. Conversely to the standard cost-optimal approach, a real Italian case study building was chosen. Alternative and unconventional combinations of solutions for envelope and technical systems were adopted. Calculations were performed in two Italian cities (Rome and Turin). Three types of analysis were developed thermal comfort, energy performance and financial calculation. Results of the thermal analysis show that the installation of active cooling to prevent summer overheating can be avoided by applying low-cost passive strategies. All the proposed low-cost scenarios (4 alternative scenarios in Rome and 5 in Turin)reached the highest grade of energy performance, with a reduction of the non-renewable primary energy consumption up to 46% compared to the base case in Rome and 18% in Turin. From the economic perspective, all the scenarios in the two climate zones allow both reductions in the construction costs, up to 26% in Rome and 15% in Turin, and a Net Present Value after 50 years up to 163 €/m2 in Rome and 158 €/m2 in Turin

ICTs in national and transnational mobilizations

This article deals with the use of ICTs in national and transnational mobilizations. The case study under investigation is the Euro Mayday Parade (EMP) against precarity, which occurred at both the national and transnational level. The articles focus on three aspects of social movement activities. First, organizational processes in which ICTs are used at both the national and transnational level of the EMP in combination with face-to-face interactions, which play an important role in sustaining protest planning. Second, identification processes in which ICTs have a more important impact at the transnational level than at the national level of the EMP. Third, ICTs are not only seen as opportunities but also as challenges that activist groups involved in the EMP had to deal with in the preparation of the EMP. In presenting these results, the article suggests that a comparison between the national and transnational level of the same protest campaign could highlight new aspects in the use of ICTs, which deserve further investigation

La traducción de poesía francesa en la Argentina : dos hitos del siglo XX

El artículo aborda la cuestión de la traducción de poesía a partir de dos ejemplos, en los cuales se analizan las circunstancias que rodearon la selección de los textos, los modos en que se tradujeron y los públicos a los que hipotéticamente se dirigían. Se trata de dos muestras de poesía francesa contemporánea editadas en la Argentina, una en 1947, la otra en 1974, cuyas diferencias indicarían también los cambios estéticos del campo literario local entre ambos momentos históricos. La importancia de los traductores en cuestión como escritores originales en el ámbito local permitió establecer también ciertas relaciones entre modos de traducir y determinadas posiciones estéticas. Aunque el objetivo del artículo no sea comparar las dos publicaciones, se logran advertir distancias significativas que abren la posibilidad de pensar el proceso histórico de la poesía como género en el siglo XX en la Argentina, además de la considerable importancia para dicho proceso de las traducciones en general.This article discusses the question of poetry translation by focusing on two examples, analysing the circumstances surrounding the choice of texts, the ways in which they were translated and their supposed target readership. Both are examples of contemporary French poetry published in Argentina, one in 1947 and the other in 1974. The differences between the texts are also indicative of aesthetic shifts in the local literary scene between these two historical moments. Moreover, the status of the translators in question as original authors in the local context makes it possible to establish a correlation between certain aesthetic stances and approaches to translation. While the aim of the article is not to compare the two publications, it does point up significant differences which provide food for thought concerning the historical process of poetry as a genre in the 20th century in Argentina, as well as the considerable importance for that process of translations in general

Serpica Naro and the Others. The Media Sociali Experience in Italian Struggles Against Precarity

Social movements are also producers of symbolic resources, since they construct new collective identities and provide alternative system of meanings to societies. This was particularly significant with regard to recent struggles against work insecurity in Italy. There, in a discursive context dominated by the so-called ‘flexibility political mantra’, activists raised their voice in order to identify a novel social problem, precarity, and a novel social subject, precarious workers. The paper starts from these premises in order to investigate the so-called media sociali, a particular kind of media practice that had been developed by Italian activists involved in the long protest campaign against precarity, namely the Euro Mayday Parade (EMP). Probably, the media sociali are the most evident attempt to construct a fresh imagery based on precarious workers living and working conditions and to provide an alternative cultural grammar able to speak about precarity. The paper gives back the most important mechanism on which the media sociali rests through the living voices of activists involved in their elaboration: the mechanism of political socialization and social networking as well as the mechanism of diffusion and mutual recognition. Moreover, the paper proposes further reflections about the way in which those activists involved in the EMP perceived the media sociali. In doing so, the paper presents different ways of interpreting political conflict in contemporary Italian social movements and argues that the media sociali are an interesting attempt to overcome both mainstream and independent media in the construction of precarious workers’ imagery and political socialization. Interviews with activists and social movement generated documents are the main data source, investigated according to a qualitative analysis approach

Macedonio Fernández: an Incessant Impossibility

El siguiente ensayo se propone leer algunos poemas centrales en la obra de Macedonio Fernández, procurando relacionarlos con ciertas ideas estéticas del autor, expresadas en ensayos referidos a las formas de la literatura. Igualmente, se plantearán las paradojas y consistencias que existen entre el pensamiento filosófico de Macedonio Fernández –su original “empirismo de lo irreal”, por así decir–, sus especulaciones estéticas y su escritura poética.The following essay proposes to read some central poems in the work of Macedonio Fernández, trying to relate them to certain aesthetic ideas of the author, expressed in essays referred to the forms of the literature. Also, there will appear the paradoxes and consistency that exist between the philosophical thought of Macedonio Fernández –his original "empiricism of the unreal thing", so to speak–, his aesthetic speculations and his poetical writing

From Data Extraction to Data Leaking. Data-activism in Italian and Spanish anti-corruption campaigns

This article investigates how activists employ Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and engage with data-activism in grassroots struggles against corruption. Based on a comparative research design that triangulates three qualitative data sources — in-depth interviews, movements' documents and participatory platforms — the article analyses two campaigns: Riparte il Futuro in Italy and 15MpaRato in Spain. In so doing, the article casts light on how activists engage with digital data, revealing how their employment is connected to and consistent with the type of organizational structure and communication strategy of the campaign. Moreover, the article evaluates how activists engage with three specific digital data-related practices — digital data creation, data usage and data transformation. Finally, the article illustrates that grasping the features of digital data-related practices also reflects how activists perceive and enact distinct ideas of active citizenship and data transparency in their fight against corruption