For a history of effects: Hume and German anti-rationalism

L'articolo analizza la ricezione del pensiero di Hume da parte di quello che I. Berlin ha definito l'anti-razionalismo tedesco, in pensatori come Hamann e, in particolare, H.F. Jacobi. E' anche attraverso tale ricezione infatti che si è annunciato lo spirito del grande movimento romantico. Di qui l'importanza di questi autori che sono stati protagonisti di una vera svolta d'epoca

Foreword

A “trust in youth” challenge In their rationale for “Young Shakespeare”, the 2015 Conference of Société Française Shakespeare, Dominique Goy-Blanquet and François Laroque called Shakespeare’s works “a ‘trust in youth’ challenge.” The speakers met the challenge with papers (gathered here in their revised versions) tackling various meanings of the relation between Shakespeare and youth: the playwright’s own young age when he wrote some of his plays, but also the age of his younger characters, ..

THE EUROPEAN AIRLINES TRANSFORMATION: HYPERCOMPETITIVE AND LONG TAIL EFFECTS

This paper focuses on technological and organizational levers as strategic determinants of innovation and transformation of airlines, considering the high rate of technological and organizational change (Barrett S., 2000) occurred in airlines market since 2004. The European airlines evolution will be especially examined on the basis of the hyper-competition phenomenon. European airlines industry appears as a paradox both from an organizational and a technological point of view. By an organizational perspective, classical competition theory (Porter 1979, 1980, 1985) opposes low cost and differentiation as two mutually exclusive “generic strategies”. Not choosing between these strategies dooms firms to “stuck in the middle”. However, this static model does not seem to explain the behaviour of firms in hyper-competitive (Volberda, 1999) and turbulence environments characterized by high and frequent changes. In airlines industry the coexistence of “low-cost” and “networks” airlines seems to be an illustration of Porter’s dualist model. If low cost and differentiation can coexist, does it mean that Porter’s duality is still valid in hyper-competition? We argue here that a close analysis shows that both types of companies practice cost reduction and differentiation. Moreover, there are some “hybrid airlines”, like Meridiana, that operate in the same time as low cost and network airlines. On technological standpoint, the main effect of the Internet channel is supposed to deliver more consumer surplus than cost reduction, according to the Long tail theory. An inclusive analysis of Internet performance into European airlines is usually perceived to be cost reduction and differentiation. Therefore, this paper suggests moving beyond the “airline paradox” in Europe

Per un'ontologia della vita: Hans Jonas e Michel Henry

L'articolo pone a confronto il pensiero di Hans Jonas con la sua ontologia della vita con la fenomenologia della vita come radicale immanenza, svolta da Michel Henry, al fine di mostrare la ostanziale convergenza tra i due pensatori contemporanei. Convergenza tanto più significativa, data la diversità dei presupposti di partenza

Gender mainstreaming active inclusion policies

The aim of this report therefore is to inform and help develop gender mainstreaming in active inclusion policies. In order to do this, the report at first reviews gender differences and inequalities in the risks of poverty and social exclusion and it provides a close look at the connections between active inclusion policies and gender equality strategies (Chapters 2 and 3). It then analyses examples of concrete gender mainstreaming in each of the three pillars of active inclusion, i.e. income support (Chapter 4), labour inclusion (Chapter 5) and access to services (Chapter 6). Under each heading, the report summarises available information on the actual policy developments and looks at the results of the policies in terms of gender equality. Finally, Chapter 7 draws some conclusions. The information in this report is mainly provided by the national experts of the EGGSI network of experts in gender equality, social inclusion, healthcare and long-term care and covers 30 European countries (the EU-27 Member States) and the three EEA–EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway)

State-insensitive bichromatic optical trapping

We propose a scheme for state-insensitive trapping of neutral atoms by using light with two independent wavelengths. In particular, we describe the use of trapping and control lasers to minimize the variance of the potential experienced by a trapped Rb atom in ground and excited states. We present calculated values of wavelength pairs for which the 5s and 5p_{3/2} levels have the same ac Stark shifts in the presence of two laser fields.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Shigellosis: An Old Disease in New Clothes?

Sansonetti discusses a "landmark" study of the epidemiology of shigellosis, involving over 600,000 people of all ages in six Asian countries

Learning Tolerance while Fighting Ignorance

Research on microbe-host interactions focuses principally on pathogens, yet our immune system must deal with the huge number of beneficial commensal bacteria in our gut. It is becoming clear that the host immune system must reach a delicate balance between destroying dangerous bacterial pathogens while preserving the beneficial gut microbiota

Helium 2 3S - 2 1S metrology at 1557 nm

An experiment is proposed to excite the 'forbidden' 1s2s 3S1 - 1s2s 1S0 magnetic dipole (M1) transition at 1557 nm in a collimated and slow atomic beam of metastable helium atoms. It is demonstrated that an excitation rate of 5000 /s can be realised with the beam of a 2W narrowband telecom fiber laser intersecting the atomic beam perpendicularly. A Doppler-limited sub-MHz spectroscopic linewidth is anticipated. Doppler-free excitation of 2% of trapped and cooled atoms may be realised in a one-dimensional optical lattice geometry, using the 2W laser both for trapping and spectroscopy. The very small (8 Hz) natural linewidth of this transition presents an opportunity for accurate tests of atomic structure calculations of the helium atom. A measurement of the 3He - 4He isotope shift allows for accurate determination of the difference in nuclear charge radius of both isotopes.Comment: accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter