Maternal love as nurturing. Devices, myths and ideologies

Maternal love is one of the myths founding ideologies about motherhood. Ideologies about motherhood change over time depending on the social and economic system of which they are devices. \u201cIntensive motherhood\u201d, the ideology that has appeared since the eighties, creates the figure of the good mother as responsible for the healthy mental and physical development of their children. Specularly to this figure emerges mother blame, a discursive device around mothers considered responsible for disorders and deviant behaviour and conduct of their children. In this paper, we analyse how in an individualised and neo-liberal society, mother blame finds a privileged operating territory in food. Nourishment, which has always been considered one of the cornerstones of maternal love, in food modernity, characterised by gastro-anomie indeed takes on very relevant meanings

Carbon-based antiviral nanomaterials: graphene, C-dots, and fullerenes. A perspective

The appearance of new and lethal viruses and their potential threat urgently requires innovative antiviral systems

Il lavoro in biblioteca? Non è mai una questione di «ordinaria amministrazione». Conversazione con Anna Maria Giorgetti Vichi

Il testo rappresenta la stesura in forma di intervista dei principali temi affrontati in una conversazione con Anna Maria Giorgetti Vichi, che è stata bibliotecaria, ispettrice centrale, direttrice della biblioteca Angelica e delle due biblioteche nazionali centrali di Firenze e di Roma. L’articolo, dopo la formazione e le fasi iniziali della sua carriera, ripercorre le tappe principali del suo lungo percorso professionale a cominciare dalla direzione alla biblioteca Angelica, cui seguirà nel 1970 la nomina a direttrice della BNCF – in un momento particolarmente delicato della biblioteca, ancora impegnata nel recupero dopo l’alluvione del 1966 e le dimissioni di Emanuele Casamassima che l’aveva salvata nell’emergenza. Degli anni fiorentini vengono approfondite questioni ancora dibattute come lo stile di gestione della Biblioteca, le relazioni con il personale e i sindacati, le idee sulla conservazione e la distanza rispetto alle tecniche di restauro sperimentate a Firenze dopo l’alluvione del 1966, i rapporti con il Ministero e con la città. In conclusione si ricorda il ritorno da ispettrice a Roma alla fine del mandato in BNCF e l’ultimo impegno come direttrice della BNCR. Il contributo è corredato da una nota biografica e dalla bibliografia degli scritti.The paper originates from an interview with Anna Maria Giorgetti Vichi, former librarian, ministerial supervisor, and director of the Angelica library and of the two National central libraries of Florence (BNCF) and Rome (BNCR). It recollects the main stages of her professional life from the successful experience at the Angelica library and the following role of director of BNCF in critical circumstances – when the library was still recovering after the flood of 1966. A few controversial issues concerning the Florentine years – such as her management style, her relationships with staff and unions, her ideas about conservation and preservation of library materials etc. – are discussed and clarified. The contribution is accompanied by a biographical and bibliographical note

Hydroxylated boron nitride materials: from structures to functional applications

Abstract Functionalization of boron nitride (BN) materials with hydroxyls has attracted great attention to accomplish better performances at micro- and nanoscale. BN surface hydroxylation, in fact, induces a change in properties and allows expanding the fields of application. In this review, we have summarized the state-of-the-art in developing hydroxylated bulk and nanoscale BN materials. The different synthesis routes to develop hydroxyl BN have been critically discussed. What emerges is the great variety of possible strategies to achieve BN hydroxylation, which, in turn, represents one of the most suitable methods to improve the solubility of BN nanomaterials. The improved stability of BN solutions creates conditions for producing high-quality nanocomposites. Furthermore, new interesting optical and electronic properties may arise from the functionalization by OH groups as displayed by a wide range of both theoretical and experimental studies. After the presentation of the most significant systems and methodologies, we question of future perspective and important trends of the next generation BN materials as well as the possible areas of advanced research. Graphical abstract Hydroxyl functionalization of boron nitride materials is a key method to control and enhance the properties and design new functional applications

Optical and structural characterization of metal oxides and carbon nitride compounds for the development of organic/inorganic hybrid systems

Metal oxides (MOs) play a key role in many areas of chemistry, physics and materials science. They are characterized by a wide variety of high technological interest compounds (e.g. TiO2, Fe3O4, Fe2O3, Y2O3, ZnO). The still increasing interest for this class of materials is mainly due to the ability to take advantage of their diversity to find new important applications in several research field. Their applicability, strengthened by the low cost, safety, ease of synthesis, ranges from (photo)catalysis to microelectronics and in vivo biological studies. Most of the MOs-based devices present outstanding performance derived from their reduced dimensions. To date, the research on nanostructured MOs is highly active in order to deeper gain knowledge about surface states and their influence on chemical and physical properties, motivating an always more multidisciplinary approach. However, some characteristics of oxides can limit their use, e.g. high band gap with almost negligible absorption in the visible, lack of optical response (luminescence) or conduction band edge not sufficiently negative to promote proton reduction (limited photocatalytic activity). The introduction of doping elements in the MO matrix to reduce these limitations can have the drawbacks of the new defects generation at the surface and/or in the bulk. Other limitations can be overcome by creating hybrid materials, such as organic and inorganic systems. In such scenario, it is necessary a detailed study aimed to characterize the properties of organic material and the means of implementation of the hybrid system. In the first part of the present thesis, we examine the stability of some exemplar metal oxides systems. The aim of this work is to extend the comprehension of nanostructured MOs phase transformation and to analyse the conditions for which the transformation takes place. The second part presents a study on carbon nitride (CN) based molecular materials performed with spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction experiments. Our characterizations reveal that CN materials present high chemical and physical stability and good control of the optical properties. Finally, we propose a structural and optical characterization of some carbon-nitride/ metal oxides hybrids. Firstly, we focus on Tb3+ doped Y2O3 system, a good candidate for nanosized phosphors, where organic passivation of the surfaces by melamine (C3H6N6) has the dual role of replacing species for hydroxides quenchers and activators of Tb by energy transfer mechanism. Then, we conclude with TiO2/CN hybrids for photocatalysis applications, realized by chemical methods and atomic layer deposition, stressing the importance of functional and terminating groups of molecular systems

Consumo di lusso e construal level theory. L'identificazione di attributi, benefici e valori tramite la tecnica del laddering.

Gli obiettivi di questo elaborato sono essenzialmente due: la generazione, tramite la tecnica del laddering, delle catene mezzi-fini che il consumatore associa all'acquisto di un particolare prodotto ossia un borsone da viaggio di un famoso brand del lusso, e lo sviluppo di un insieme di parole da associare al concetto di brand lifestyle e a quello di brand non lifestyle. Si ritiene infatti che esista una connessione tra la distanza psicologica, focus della construal level teory e il lifestyle positioning. Il conseguimento di tali obiettivi ha portato ad avvalerci di alcune tecniche di ricerca qualitativa, tra le quali: le interviste one to one, il focus group e il test di Zaltman