From Government to Regulatory Governance: Privatization and the Residual Role of the State

This paper reviews the state of thinking on the governance role of public ownership and control. We argue that the transfer of operational control over productive assets to the private sector represents the most desirable governance, due to the inherent difficulty for citizens to constrain political abuse relative to the ability of governments to regulate private activity. However in weak institutional environments the process needs to be structured so as to avoid capture of the regulatory process. The speed of transfer should be timed on the progress in developing a strong regulatory governance system, to which certain residual rights of intervention must be vested. After all, what are “institutions” if not governance mechanisms with some degree of autonomy from both political and private interests? The gradual creation of institutions partially autonomous from political power must become central to the development of an optimal mode of regulatory governance. We advance some suggestions about creating accountability in regulatory governance, in particular creating an internal control system based on a rotating board representative of users, producers and civil society, to be elected by a process involving frequent reporting and disclosure.Regulatory Governance, Privatization

Mechanical performance of glass-based geopolymer matrix composites reinforced with cellulose fibers

Glass-based geopolymers, incorporating fly ash and borosilicate glass, were processed in conditions of high alkalinity (NaOH 10-13 M). Different formulations (fly ash and borosilicate in mixtures of 70-30 wt% and 30-70 wt%, respectively) and physical conditions (soaking time and relative humidity) were adopted. Flexural strength and fracture toughness were assessed for samples processed in optimized conditions by three-point bending and chevron notch testing, respectively. SEM was used to evaluate the fracture micromechanisms. Results showed that the geopolymerization efficiency is strongly influenced by the SiO2/Al2O3 ratio and the curing conditions, especially the air humidity. The mechanical performances of the geopolymer samples were compared with those of cellulose fiber-geopolymer matrix composites with different fiber contents (1 wt%, 2 wt%, and 3 wt%). The composites exhibited higher strength and fracture resilience, with the maximum effect observed for the fiber content of 2 wt%. A chemical modification of the cellulose fiber surface was also observe

Functional glass-ceramic foams from \u2018inorganic gel casting\u2019 and sintering of glass/slag mixtures

The here described investigation was essentially aimed at exploring the chemical stabilization and reutilization of iron-rich slag from copper metallurgy, by the manufacturing of glass-ceramic foams. The foams were developed according to a new method, recently reported for pure recycled soda-lime glass. Mixtures of soda-lime glass/slag powders (with slag content ranging from 10 to 30\u202fwt%), suspended in alkaline aqueous solution, underwent progressive low temperature (80\u202f\ub0C) hardening, owing to the formation of hydrated calcium silicate compounds (CSH). Before complete setting, an extensive foaming could be achieved by vigorous mechanical stirring, with the help of a surfactant. After foaming, glass/slag mixtures could be sintered at 800\u20131000\u202f\ub0C; the mutual interaction caused an extensive crystallization, with precipitation of CaFe silicates and iron oxides (hematite and magnetite), promoting the mechanical properties (up to 4.4\u202fMPa, with a porosity of about 80%). Leaching test confirmed the stabilization of pollutants, from the slag, in the final ceramics. Owing to the separation of iron oxides, particularly magnetite, the newly obtained foams exhibited a ferrimagnetic behavior, that could be exploited in electromagnetic shielding applications

Monocular tracking of the human arm in 3D: real-time implementation and experiments

We have developed a system capable of tracking a human arm in 3D and in real time. The system is based on a previously developed algorithm for 3D tracking which requires only a monocular view and no special markers on the body. In this paper we describe our real-time system and the insights gained from real-time experimentation

Soft Theorems For Shift-Symmetric Cosmologies

We derive soft theorems for single-clock cosmologies that enjoy a shift symmetry. These so-called consistency conditions arise from a combination of a large diffeomorphism and the internal shift-symmetry and fix the squeezed limit of all correlators with a soft scalar mode. As an application, we show that our results reproduce the squeezed bispectrum for Ultra-slow-roll inflation, a particular shift-symmetric, non-attractor model which is known to violate Maldacena's consistency relation. Similar results have been previously obtained by Mooij and Palma using background-wave methods. Our results shed new light on the infrared structure of single-clock cosmological spacetimes.Comment: 4 pages, v2: citation added, v3: citations added and edited in accordance with published versio

Recycling of inorganic waste in monolithic and cellular glass-based materials for structural and functional applications

The stabilization of inorganic waste of various nature and origin, in glasses, has been a key strategy for environmental protection for the last decades. When properly formulated, glasses may retain many inorganic contaminants permanently, but it must be acknowledged that some criticism remains, mainly concerning costs and energy use. As a consequence, the sustainability of vitrification largely relies on the conversion of waste glasses into new, usable and marketable glass-based materials, in the form of monolithic and cellular glass-ceramics. The effective conversion in turn depends on the simultaneous control of both starting materials and manufacturing processes. While silica-rich waste favours the obtainment of glass, iron-rich wastes affect the functionalities, influencing the porosity in cellular glass-based materials as well as catalytic, magnetic, optical and electrical properties. Engineered formulations may lead to important reductions of processing times and temperatures, in the transformation of waste-derived glasses into glass-ceramics, or even bring interesting shortcuts. Direct sintering of wastes, combined with recycled glasses, as an example, has been proven as a valid low-cost alternative for glass-ceramic manufacturing, for wastes with limited hazardousness. The present paper is aimed at providing an up-to-date overview of the correlation between formulations, manufacturing technologies and properties of most recent waste-derived, glass-based materials

From Government to RegulatoryGovernance: Privatization and theResidual Role of the State

This article reviews the state of thinking on the governance role of public ownership and control. Optimal governance systems depend on the path of institutional development. Nevertheless, the transfer of operational control over productive assets to the private sector often yields a desirable governance system, because it may be more difficult for citizens to constrain political abuse than for governments to regulate private activity. In weak institutional environments, however, the process needs to be structured to avoid capture of the regulatory process. The speed of transfer should be matched to progress in developing a strong regulatory governance system, to which certain residual rights of intervention must be vested. After all, “institutions” are simply governance mechanisms with some degree of autonomy from both political and private interests. The gradual creation of institutions partially shielded from political power must become central to the development of an optimal mode of regulatory governance. The article presents suggestions for establishing accountability in regulatory governance, in particular by creating an internal control system based on a rotating board with representatives of users, producers, and civil society, in a process involving frequent reporting and disclosure

Porous glass-ceramics from alkali activation and sinter-crystallization of mixtures of waste glass and residues from plasma processing of municipal solid waste

Alkali-activated aqueous slurries of fine glass powders, mostly deriving from the plasma processing of municipal solid waste ('Plasmastone'), were found to undergo progressive hardening at low temperature (75 degrees C) owing to the formation of C-S-H (calcium silicate hydrate) gels. Before complete setting, slurries could be easily foamed by vigorous mechanical stirring, with the help of a surfactant; finally, the resulting open-celled structure could be 'frozen' by a subsequent sintering treatment, with crystallization of Ca-Fe silicates. The densification of the struts upon firing was enhanced by mixing Plasmastone with up to 30 wt% recycled glasses and increasing the firing temperature from 800 to 1000 degrees C. A total porosity exceeding 75 vol%, comprising both well-interconnected macro- and micro-sized pores on cell walls, was accompanied by good compressive strength, well above 1 MPa. The stabilization of pollutants generally increased with increasing firing temperature and glass content, with some exceptions; no practical leaching was observed from samples deriving from Plasmastone combined with 30 wt% boro-aluminosilicate glass from the recycling of pharmaceutical vials

Cordierite ceramics from silicone resins containing nano-sized oxide particle fillers

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Maximum Entropy Approach for the Prediction of Urban Mobility Patterns

The science of cities is a relatively new and interdisciplinary topic. It borrows techniques from agent-based modeling, stochastic processes, and partial differential equations. However, how the cities rise and fall, how they evolve, and the mechanisms responsible for these phenomena are still open questions. Scientists have only recently started to develop forecasting tools, despite their importance in urban planning, transportation planning, and epidemic spreading modeling. Here, we build a fully interpretable statistical model that, incorporating only the minimum number of constraints, can predict different phenomena arising in the city. Using data on the movements of car-sharing vehicles in different Italian cities, we infer a model using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) principle. With it, we describe the activity in different city zones and apply it to activity forecasting and anomaly detection (e.g., strikes, and bad weather conditions). We compare our method with different models explicitly made for forecasting: SARIMA models and Deep Learning Models. We find that MaxEnt models are highly predictive, outperforming SARIMAs and having similar results as a Neural Network. These results show how relevant statistical inference can be in building a robust and general model describing urban systems phenomena. This article identifies the significant observables for processes happening in the city, with the perspective of a deeper understanding of the fundamental forces driving its dynamics.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure