FDI in Business Services has general TFP effects : evidence from Italy

This paper studies the effect of FDI in business services on Total Factor Productivity of Italian manufacturing firms, over the period 2003-2008. More precisely, the paper tests the impact of forward inter industry linkages at local level. Our results, robust to different specifications, show that foreign capital infl ows improve the performance of domestic manufacturing firms. This relationship is particularly strong in the case of high tech sectors, such as mechanics and machinery. Traditional sectors, on the other hand, seem to be less sensitive to the availability of foreign business services in the same location.

Children's literature in Latin America: gender identity in the education

This essay explores the notion of gender identity as a dynamic process modelled by socio-cultural relationships, in the context of education in Latin America. The historical construction of schooling in recent decades is discussed through some documents of UNESCO. As an example of gender inequality within educational proposals, some texts from children’s literature will be analysed to highlight the gender stereotypes that still exist in the editorial industry today

Fast automated scanning of OPERA emulsion films

The use of nuclear emulsions to record tracks of charged particles with an accuracy of better than 1 micron is possible in large physics experiments thanks to the recent improvements in the industrial production of emulsions and to the development of fast automated microscopes. The European Scanning System (ESS) is a fast automatic system developed for the mass scanning of the emulsions of the OPERA experiment, which requires microscopes with scanning speeds of about 20 cm$^2$/h. Recent improvements in the technique and measurements with ESS are reported.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, presented at the 10th Topical Seminar on Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors, 1-5 October 2006, Siena, Ital

Optical modelling of a Si-based DBR laser source using a nanocrystal Si-sensitized Er-doped silica rib waveguide in the C-band

The availability of reliable silicon-based laser sources is at the basis of the integration of photonic and microelectronic devices on a single chip with consequent development of wavelength division multiplexing telecommunication systems. A high efficiency Si-based laser source with good stability at room temperature would encourage and push the large scale of integration of electronic and photonic devices within a single chip. Several techniques have been proposed for generating light with an internal quantum efficiency some order of magnitude greater than that typical of silicon (10-6) by using either electrical or optical pumping. Among them we mention the improvement of some fabrication process steps, reduction of the channels of non-radiative recombination, quantum confinement, the use of silicon nanocrystals (Si-ncs) incorporated in a silica matrix. This last technique is used in combination with Er3+ doping to generate light emission around 1500 nm in silicon, since Er-doped Si-ncs behave as electron-hole pairs trap, and the presence of Er shifts the emission peak to around 1500 nm. In this paper we have pointed out the optical model of a Si-based DBR laser including a Si-ncs Er-doped SiO2 rib waveguide, working at a wavelength in C-band. In particular, after a brief description of the structural and optical properties of the silicon crystals, we report on the model and design of the Er:Si-nc/SiO2 rib waveguide, of the optical cavity and of the Bragg mirrors. Numerical results are in good agreement with the literature

Narrare per immagini

Riassunto: Lo scopo di questo saggio è quello di indagare la dimensione educativa coinvolta nel processo narrativo. Seguendo l’approccio fornito da Husserl e Bruner, la narrazione sarà definita quale dispositivo metodologico in cui le componenti strutturali dell’oggetto di apprendimento si coniugano con i valori significativi che investono l’universo della soggettività personale. Abstract: The aim of this essay is to investigate the educational dimension involved in the narrative process. Following the approach provided by Husserl and Bruner, narration will be as a methodological device in which the structural components of the object of learning are combined with the significant values that invest the universe of personal subjectivity. Parole chiave: Dimensione educativa, Bruner, Husserl, processo narrativo. Keywords: Educational dimension, Bruner, Husserl, narrative process

Diethyl 1-benzyl-2,2-dioxo-4-phenyl-3,4,6,7,8,8a-hexa­hydro-1H-pyrrolo­[2,1-c][1,4]thia­zine-1,3-dicarboxyl­ate

In the title compound, C26H31NO6S, the five-membered pyrrolidine ring adopts an envelope conformation and the six-membered thia­zine ring is in a distorted chair conformation. The crystal packing is stabilized through an inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­action, generating inversion-related R 2 2(10) ring motifs

design of passive ring resonators to be used for sensing applications

In this paper we report on the effects of two optical beams counterpropagating in a passive ring resonator that is the building block of a lot of sensing applications. By using the transfer matrix method in combination with the coupled mode theory, the analytical expressions of the power transfer functions for drop and through port configurations are derived in both cases of single beam and double beams inside the ring. The implemented model has shown some improvements in the resonator performance, such as the increase of the transmission power and the reduction of the linewidth, when the interaction between the two beams is considered, with respect to the single beam ring resonator configuration

Luoghi d' «essere» dell'educazione per le giovani donne. Dal Rinascimento all'Età Moderna

Attraverso la disamina della vita quotidiana delle donne a partire dal tardo fino all’età Moderna si è inteso rilevare i “luoghi d’essere” dell’educazione, entro cui poter rinvenire le relazioni educative dirette a ri- descrivere l’identità di genere. Infatti, mediante alcune comparazioni tra modelli educativi indirizzati alle donne, scelte a campione, è possibile gettare le fondamenta dei presupposti ideologici per delineare attraverso la comparazione delle regole, dei precetti e delle ammonizioni i luoghi “abitati dalla donna” passando dal luogo “fisico” al luogo “d’essere”

Three-dimensional modelling of scattering loss in InGaAsP/InP and silica-on-silicon bent waveguides

A three-dimensional (3D) method for the estimation of scattering loss due to sidewalls roughness in bent optical waveguides is proposed and validated. The approach, based on Volume Current Method (VCM), has been pointed out to accurately calculate the scattering loss as dependent on curvature radius and wavelength. An exponential model has been employed to analytically describe the sidewalls roughness and a 3D mode solver based on mode-matching method has been used to calculate optical field distribution in the bent waveguide cross-section. Scattering loss suffered by two low index contrast waveguides has been investigated by the developed algorithm. For a buried InGaAsP/InP waveguide and a 6 μm x 6 μm Silica-on-Silicon guiding structure scattering loss dependence on bending radius, wavelength, roughness, correlation length and standard deviation has been investigated and discussed. Because of the different index contrast values, InGaAsP/InP waveguide exhibits a scattering loss which is quite six times larger than in Silica-on-Silicon. For both guiding structures, quasi-TM mode shows a larger scattering loss than quasi-TE one

Environmentally Sustainable Design of Innovative Chemical Processes and Synthetic Methods Focused on the Synthesis of Novel Molecular Libraries

Questa tesi è mirata ad essere un lavoro che racchiude alcuni dei vari aspetti rilevanti che collegano la Green Chemistry alla sostenibilità ambientale. La tesi riguarda lo sviluppo sostenibile attraverso capitoli che concorrono alla progettazione di processi chimici eco-compatibili innovativi e approcci verdi per ridurre al minimo e/o rimediare l'inquinamento ambientale. In questo contesto, il mio progetto di dottorato ha affrontato tre temi principali: 1. Progettazione, sintesi e caratterizzazione di nuove molecole di tensioattivo che impiegano materie prime rinnovabili, acido itaconico e ammine lipofile, come materiali di partenza; il Capitolo 2 descrive questo argomento. 2. Sviluppo di una procedura sostenibile finalizzata alla sintesi multicomponente a cascata di biarilcalconi in acqua pura o in condizioni di catalisi micellare; in quest'ultimo caso, uno dei tensioattivi precedentemente sintetizzati è stato ampiamente impiegato; il Capitolo 5 descrive questo argomento. Capitolo 3 e Capitolo 4 descrivono il contesto scientifico e le innovazioni più importanti che hanno aperto la strada a i risultati conseguiti durante il 2 ° anno del corso di dottorato; il primo è una panoramica sull'uso dell'acqua come solvente per reazioni organiche; il secondo è una panoramica sulle reazioni di cross-coupling e lo sfruttamento in questo contesto della catalisi micellare. 3. Progettazione, sintesi e impiego di ligandi di tipo fenantrolinico deuterati per l'ossidazione aerobica palladio catalizzata del metil-glucoside, consentendo un elevato miglioramento della prestazione in questa reazione impegnativa; il Capitolo 7 raccoglie i risultati ottenuti, mentre il capitolo 6 riassume i più importanti progressi ottenuti negli ultimi anni nelle ossidazioni aerobiche di alcoli palladio-catalizzate.This thesis is intended to be a work that encompasses some of the various relevant aspects linking the Green Chemistry practice to environmental sustainability. The thesis covers sustainable development through chapters that contribute to the design of novel environmentally benign chemical processes and green approaches to minimize and/or remediate environmental pollution. In this context, my PhD project has faced three main topics: 1. Design, synthesis and characterization of new surfactant molecules employing renewable feedstocks, itaconic acid and fatty amines, as starting materials; Chapter 2 describes this topic. 2. Development of a sustainable procedure aimed to the multicomponent cascade synthesis of biaryl-based chalcones in pure water or under micellar catalysis conditions; in the latter case, one of the surfactants previously synthesized has been widely employed; Chapter 5 describes this topic. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 describe the scientific context and the most important innovations that have paved the way to the results achieved during the 2nd year of PhD course; the former is an overview on the use of water as solvent for organic reactions; the latter is an overview on cross-coupling reactions and the exploitation in this context of micellar catalysis. 3. Design, synthesis and exploitation of deuterated phenanthroline-type ligands for the aerobic palladium-catalyzed oxidation of methyl glucoside, allowing a high performance improvement in this challenging reaction; Chapter 7 collects the obtained results, while Chapter 6 summarizes the most important advances obtained in the last years in the palladium-catalyzed aerobic oxidations of alcohols