Prospettive per uno studio storico sulla corruzione tra politica ed economia nella cultura mediterranea. Il caso italiano e il caso spagnolo nel seennio 2014-2020

Starting from an organization of the major scientific studies developed in the field of corruption and a series of considerations on the major historical events of Italian and Spanish corruption, the article aims to investigate the social dynamics through which the political and economic systems interact with the phenomenon of corruption, both in Italy and in Spain. The possibility of conducting a comparative analysis of the phenomenon had as a premise the belonging of these two countries to the same cultural model, defined as mediterranean. The political and the economy systems, always considered the majors responsables for the onset of the phenomenon of corruption, have been observed in a comparative way between the two countries. Ultimate objective is to propose a reflection on the weaknesses that the current European geopolitical system, and in particular the mediterranean system, have in the management of the phenomenon and in the consequent possibility of aligning with the 2014-2020 europeans development programs

Effective methodologies to derive strategic decisions from ESA technology roadmaps

Top priorities in future international space exploration missions regard the achievement of the necessary matura-tion of enabling technologies, thereby allowing Europe to play a role commensurate with its industrial, operational and scientific capabilities. As part of the actions derived from this commitment, ESA Technology Roadmaps for Exploration represent a powerful tool to prioritise R&D activities in technologies for space exploration and support the preparation of a consistent procurement plan for space exploration technologies in Europe. The roadmaps illus-trate not only the technology procurement (to TRL-8) paths for specific missions envisaged in the present timeframe, but also the achievement for Europe of technological milestones enabling operational capabilities and building blocks, essential for current and future Exploration missions. Coordination of requirements and funding sources among all European stakeholders (ESA, EU, National, Industry) is one of the objectives of these roadmaps, that show also possible application of the technologies beyond space exploration, both at ESA and outside. The present paper describes the activity that supports the work on-going at ESA on the elaboration and update of these roadmaps and related tools, in order to criticise the followed approach and to suggest methodologies of assessment of the Roadmaps, and to derive strategic decision for the advancement of Space Exploration in Europe. After a review of Technology Areas, Missions/Programmes and related building blocks (architectures) and operational capabilities, technology applicability analyses are presented. The aim is to identify if a specific technology is required, applicable or potentially a demonstrator in the building blocks of the proposed mission concepts. In this way, for each technology it is possible to outline one or more specific plans to increase TRL up to the required level. In practice, this translates into two possible solutions: on the one hand, approved mission concepts will be complemented with the required technologies if the latter can be considered as applicable or demo; on the other, if they are neither applicable nor demo, new missions, i.e. technology demonstrators based on multidisciplinary grouping of key technologies, shall be evaluated, so as to proceed through incremental steps. Finally, techniques to determine priorities in technology procurement are identified, and methodologies to rank the required technologies are proposed. In addition, a tool that estimates the percentage of technologies required for the final destination that are implementable in each intermediate destination of the incremental approach is presented

Investigating the antiparasitic potential of the marine sesquiterpene avarone, its reduced form avarol, and the novel semisynthetic thiazinoquinone analogue thiazoavarone

The chemical analysis of the sponge Dysidea avara afforded the known sesquiterpene quinone avarone, along with its reduced form avarol. To further explore the role of the thiazinoquinone scaffold as an antiplasmodial, antileishmanial and antischistosomal agent, we converted the quinone avarone into the thiazinoquinone derivative thiazoavarone. The semisynthetic compound, as well as the natural metabolites avarone and avarol, were pharmacologically investigated in order to assess their antiparasitic properties against sexual and asexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum, larval and adult developmental stages of Schistosomamansoni (eggs included), and also against promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania infantum and Leishmania tropica. Furthermore, in depth computational studies including density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed. A toxic semiquinone radical species which can be produced starting both from quinone- and hydroquinone-based compounds could mediate the anti-parasitic effects of the tested compounds

La tangente: corruzione, economia e politica in Italia e Spagna

Bribing culture is a concept that has never been elaborated previously with respect to its importance in the society and the dynamics of corruption. The article outlines in the first place a conception of corruption that defines in a complete way the players involved in the bribery practices and we can then look at this phenomenon in relation to the political system and the economic one. The proposed research examines specifically the role of the tangent in the trading of corruption, the way it is perceived by society and the degree of presence in the Italian and Spanish economy and politics. The role of the bribe as a factor of economic growth or aggression to the system of financial and business development, is analyzed firstly in terms of comparison between the countries considered and then related to the political system

Space systems engineering tools for technology roadmapping activities: TrIS, technology roadmapping strategy, and HyDaT, database on hypersonic transportation systems

A technology roadmap is the output of the technology roadmapping process, a complex and continuously evolving process, which aims at selecting technologies, mission concepts, capabilities and building blocks to pursue incremental paths to increase the Technology Readiness Level, according to specific strategic plans. Technology roadmaps are crucial not only to illustrate the technologies' procurement plan for specific missions in the future, but also the achievement for Europe of technological milestones enabling operational capabilities, essential for current and future space missions. Coordination of requirements and funding sources among all European stakeholders (ESA, EU, National Agencies, Industries) is one of the objectives of technology roadmaps. The paper presents the results of a research activity carried out by Politecnico di Torino in support to the work on-going at ESA to elaborate technology roadmaps for the hypersonic and (re-)entry space transportation systems' domain. Traditionally the approach has always been based on workshops and brainstorming. The idea at the basis of the research activity has been the development of a flexible and rational methodology to generate technology roadmaps to better support strategic decisions in combination with traditional methods. The research activity thus focuses on the development of an innovative methodology to derive, track and manage the technology roadmaps' basic pillars (Technology Areas, Operational Capabilities, Mission Concepts and Building Blocks) and on the implementation of the methodology itself into two ad-hoc tools: TRIS, Technology Roadmapping Strategy, and HYDAT, Database on Hypersonic and (re-entry) transportation systems. TRIS is a versatile software tool that implements the objective methodology for technology roadmaps' derivation and update. HYDAT is a smart database, able to collect, categorize and analyze data to support technology roadmaps for (re-)entry missions and reusability applications. In addition, HYDAT can support hypersonic and (re-)entry conceptual design activities. First, the paper describes the main settings of the database that manages all relevant initiatives for technological development of hypersonic and (re-)entry systems, categorizing them according to the roadmap pillars. Secondly, the paper presents TRIS, the tool used to derive, track and manage the pillars and consequently to generate the technology roadmaps. Eventually, the paper presents and discusses the results obtained by the application of HYDAT and TRIS to IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle), analysing main activities expected in the near and far future to enhance hypersonic and (re-)entry technologies and proposing a TRL increase path in terms of missions and activities to perform, and in which schedule to carry out them

Experimental Characterization of a 5 N Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster Prototype

In the framework of the LET-SME program funded by the European Space Agency, ALTA S.p.A. (Italy) and DELTACAT Ltd. (United Kingdom) jointly investigated the use of advanced catalytic beds on ceramic supports as a cost-effective alternative to metal screen reactors for the decomposition of high-concentration hydrogen peroxide in small monopropellant rockets. To this purpose ALTA S.p.A. designed and realized a reconfigurable test bench for the characterization of the operation and propulsive performance of small rocket thrusters. The present paper illustrates the experimental campaign carried out on a 5 N thruster prototype operating with two platinum catalysts on g− alumina supporting spheres, especially developed by ALTA in collaboration with the Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry Department of Pisa University, Italy. The results indicated that Pt/Al2 O3 is an effective catalyst combination for the decomposition of 87.5% propellant grade hydrogen peroxide, with good stability and performance comparable to silver screen beds of equal geometric envelope and operational conditions. Incomplete hydrogen peroxide decomposition and the onset of flow oscillations in the reactor were observed at the tested levels of bed loading, residence time and flow pressure. Thermal stresses due to the large temperature gradients occurring during the decomposition of high grade hydrogen peroxide (87.5% by weight) caused the ceramic pellets to break and the progressive occlusion of the bed. Based on the analysis of the test results, several ways to overcome these problems in future investigations have been tentatively identified, together with the necessary modifications to the present experimental set-up