Constitutional and Historical Vicissitudes of The Reign of James I as A Multi-Layered Shakespearean Drama

The essay aims to demonstrate that the historical conditions and the constitutional order that characterized the reign of James I permit to institute a comparison between them and some of the events narrated in the plays Shakespeare wrote during the late Elizabethan and the Jacobean period. The Bard’s historical dramas stage the gradual and tortuous passage from a «descendant» model of sovereignty to an «ascendant» model, but in every play there are multiple keys of interpretation, offering a multi – layered structure, in which multiple strands intersect to create a baroque drama - machinery. The literary research is thus combined with the political and legal definition of sovereignty and legitimacy. The first part of the work deals with the parallelism between James’ accession to the throne and the plot of Hamlet, focusing also on the influence that the king’s “historical presence” exerted on the fictional character of the Prince of Denmark. The second part, taking into account James’ ‘divine right of the kings theory’, analyses how the ancient doctrine of “The King’s Two Bodies”, that it is to find also in Richard II, influenced the constitutional conceptualization of the royal prerogatives. The third part illustrates the (failed) attempts in building a national identity after the personal union of the Crowns of England and Scotland and the ambiguities in interpreting King Lear, tragedy traditionally linked with the union issue. So historical events, law and literature converge in drawing a period in which ancient and new elements are struggling, and the advent of the modern State is going to reshape the medieval order.The essay aims to demonstrate that the historical conditions and the constitutional order that characterized the reign of James I permit to institute a comparison between them and some of the events narrated in the plays Shakespeare wrote during the late Elizabethan and the Jacobean period. The Bard’s historical dramas stage the gradual and tortuous passage from a «descendant» model of sovereignty to an «ascendant» model, but in every play there are multiple keys of interpretation, offering a multi – layered structure, in which multiple strands intersect to create a baroque drama - machinery. The literary research is thus combined with the political and legal definition of sovereignty and legitimacy. The first part of the work deals with the parallelism between James’ accession to the throne and the plot of Hamlet, focusing also on the influence that the king’s “historical presence” exerted on the fictional character of the Prince of Denmark. The second part, taking into account James’ ‘divine right of the kings theory’, analyses how the ancient doctrine of “The King’s Two Bodies”, that it is to find also in Richard II, influenced the constitutional conceptualization of the royal prerogatives. The third part illustrates the (failed) attempts in building a national identity after the personal union of the Crowns of England and Scotland and the ambiguities in interpreting King Lear, tragedy traditionally linked with the union issue. So historical events, law and literature converge in drawing a period in which ancient and new elements are struggling, and the advent of the modern State is going to reshape the medieval order

The Italian Case and the Challenges of Migration Theories through an Analysis of Female Migration

This article argues that female migratory flows in Italy can be considered as a gender-based method of female empowerment and social mobility of women (both within society and the family structure). In Italy, in the last three decades, the migration flow has changed in terms of magnitude, the subjects involved and the migration methods, making the difference between forced and voluntary migration slippery and confused. In spite of the overwhelming presence of women in migration flows, until recently the general assumption drew the international migrants as young, economically motivated men, totally neglecting the role of women. This article argues that by paying attention to the existing relationship between the women’s social position and migration we can better understand aspects of the process of migration previously neglected. Moreover, this article aims to bridge the gap between the macro analysis (an almost exclusive focus on the structural causes of migration) and the micro dimension (a focus on the migrant as a rational subject). Finally, it aims to underline how deceptively and confused are the no-natural categorises of regular and irregular migrant. In this context, the article analyses the two main entering channels of female migrations in Italy: a specific aspect of the sex industry, namely trafficking for sexual exploitation, and the private care market

Contractual Limits to the Right to Strike in the Era of Crisis. The Italian Case with some Comparative Reliefs (France and the U.K.)*. WP CSDLE “Massimo D’Antona”.INT – 125/2015

The economic crisis, the outsourcing of production, and globalization have produced significant changes in industrial relations and trade unions. Because of these changes, dissent – which is usually manifested through the exercise of the right to strike and the spontaneous actions – faces certain limitations set by trade union clauses, which have been recently introduced to govern industrial relations (e.g. industrial peace clauses and enforceability ones). In order to deal with the foregoing questions, the present paper provides an analysis of the notion of strike through supranational sources (Introduction, Silvia Donà, Università di Roma La Sapienza), followed by an examination of what is meant by “holding the right to strike” in Italy. The paper goes on to investigate the way this right is exercised (Section 1, Lilli Carollo, Università di Roma La Sapienza) and the clauses which have been devised to narrow down its exercise through the years (Section 2, Anna Rota, Università di Bologna), and concludes with an overview of the consequences arising from the violations of these clauses (Section 3, Marianna Russo, Università di Roma La Sapienza). With a view of better understanding the peculiarities of the Italian rules concerning the right to strike, a comparison will be provided with France and the UK (Marta Filippi, Università di Roma La Sapienza)

A Method to Contrast the Impact of Extreme Precipitation. A case study from Central Italy

Climate change, which is affecting all over the world, leads to different impacts on the environment and therefore on human life. One of the most important impact is the increasing of extreme precipitation. Increases in heavy precipitation may not always lead to an increase in total precipitation, over a season or over the year. Heavy precipitations increasing has also been documented even when mean total precipitation decreases. This may occur when the probability of precipitation (the number of events) decreases, or if the shape of the precipitation distribution changes, but this latter situation is less. Some climate models forecast a decrease in moderate rainfall, and an increase in the length of dry periods, which offsets the increased precipitation falling during heavy events. Climate impacts are compounded by urban development, which removes the vegetation and soil that slow and filter water, coming from rainfall. Urban sprawl also increases impervious surfaces, which move water over the land and put them, directly, into receiving lakes, rivers and estuaries. To contrast these negative impacts, a solution may be to limit the use of non-permeable surfaces, like concrete, in the urban areas. In this regard, the authors, as researchers of "Sapienza University of Rome", are studying the possibility of using, in the parking areas of a central Italian city (Rieti), pavement with "green infrastructure", that can reduce runoff and flood risks during storms. The construction of the pavement with "green infrastructure", can first mitigate the effect of exceptional rains, secondly reduce the soil consumption. Permeable, or pervious, pavements reduce runoff by allowing rain and melting snow to infiltrate. A first study of the materials, that can be used as parking paving, has led to estimate a permeability coefficient of 2,70 s10-5 m.s-1. In the case study, object of this paper, the authors have first calculated the area, in square meters, of the municipal parking areas of Rieti city. Secondly, they have valuated the possibility of change the concrete pavement, today present in this areas, with a "green infrastructure" pavement, and they have estimated volumes of water that will be infiltrate, in case of extreme precipitations. This estimation was made through the real precipitations data of the last 7 years, measured by the National Hydrographic Service of Italy

The Foreign Language Effect on Tolerance of Ambiguity

Previous research has shown that bilingual speakers may be more tolerant to ambiguity, they might perceive situations of ambiguity more interesting, challenging and desirable (e.g., Dewaele & Li, 2013). To our knowledge, no data is available addressing the question whether the language in use can have an effect on the personality trait of tolerance of ambiguity (ToA). This study investigated whether and how reading statements in a second language (L2), as opposed to the native language (L1), affects ToA. 387 Italian/English bilingual adults completed a questionnaire measuring levels of ToA either in English or Italian. Results revealed that processing information in L2 promoted higher scores of ToA overall and in sentences that were related to challenging perspectives and change. Age, gender and L2 proficiency were significant predictors of higher ToA scores. This study offers new evidence that processing information in a L2 can affect tolerance of ambiguous situations

Magnesium as Environmental Tracer for Karst Spring Baseflow/Overflow Assessment—A Case Study of the Pertuso Karst Spring (Latium Region, Italy)

Following a previous research carried out on the same site, this paper presents the update of the Mg2+ based method for the estimation of Pertuso Spring discharge, located in Central Italy. New collected data confirmed the validity of the proposed model and the conservative behaviour of Mg2+ for groundwater related to the Pertuso Spring aquifer. Further analysis allowed to obtain a local linear relationship between magnesium concentration and total spring discharge (including exploitation rate), regardless of the mixing model proposed with the Aniene River. As regards two samples which fall out of the linear relationship and could have been detected as “outliers”, more in-depth data processing and sensitivity analyses revealed that the lowering in magnesium, at equal discharges, is determined by the appearance of the quick-flow component, less mineralized and related to storm events. Results showed that under specific conditions, related to the absence or presence of previous intense rainfall events, Mg2+ could be effectively a useful tracer for separating spring conduit flow (overflow) from diffuse flow (baseflow) within the karst aquif

White Matter Microstructure Breakdown in the Motor Neuron Disease Spectrum: Recent Advances Using Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Motor neuron disease (MND) is a fatal progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the breakdown of the motor system. The clinical spectrum of MND encompasses different phenotypes classified according to the relative involvement of the upper or lower motor neurons (LMN) and the presence of genetic or cognitive alterations, with clear prognostic implications. However, the pathophysiological differences of these phenotypes remain largely unknown. Recently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been recognized as a helpful in-vivo MND biomarker. An increasing number of studies is applying advanced neuroimaging techniques in order to elucidate the pathophysiological processes and to identify quantitative outcomes to be used in clinical trials. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a non-invasive method to detect white matter alterations involving the upper motor neuron and extra-motor white matter tracts. According to this background, the aim of this review is to highlight the key role of MRI and especially DTI, summarizing cross-sectional and longitudinal results of different approaches applied in MND. Current literature suggests that DTI is a promising tool in order to define anatomical “signatures” of the different phenotypes of MND and to track in vivo the progressive spread of pathological proteins aggregates