Public investments in R&D as a tool for regional economic development: under which circumstances do the European Union’s Structural Funds investments on research achieve their objective to contribute to economic convergence of regions?

In the last decade the endogenous growth theory has been said to have found into the difference of endowment of knowledge that different regions possess both an explanation of semi permanent differences in prosperity levels and, consequently, a recipe for eliminating the gaps. The theory had significant policy consequences and the impact was particularly large on the European Commission when it was decided to drastically increase the share of structural funds – the money meant to produce economic convergence of regions – into R&D. However, statistical data show a weak correlation between R&D expenditure and economic growth acceleration, and more specifically, the correlation becomes even weaker if applied to EU poorer regions. More precisely, the evidence suggests that R&D programmes can display different returns. This work wants to be contribution to better understand the reasons that lie behind these differences. The research tests an hypothesis described through a framework that we called innovation value chain. The result is that better performing innovation strategies are associated to: a more concentrated allocation of available resources and a higher capability of the initial public investments to stimulate further private investments; a clearer distribution of responsibilities for decision making over structural funds programmes and independence from policy making of the implementation processes of the programmes; a presence of partnerships amongst business, universities, government and public opinions that pre exist the implementation of the programmes and are based on specific per projects objectives. The analysis is carried out through case studies that compare similar OB 1 programmes in regions that were similarly endowed as far as R&D assets at the beginning of the 2000 – 2006 programming period and that, yet, showed opposite results and patterns of economic growth

L'arresto in flagranza di reato

La mia testi affronta il tema dell'arresto in flagranza di reato che nel diritto processuale penale italiano,è un provvedimento provvisorio limitativo della libertà personale - cd. misure precautelari - la cui disciplina legislativa è prevista dal Titolo VI del Libro V del codice procedura penale italiano. Al primo capitolo ho affrontato la disciplina costituzionale della libertà personale, analizzando dettagliatamente l'art 13, comma 3 della nostra Carta Costituzionale. Nel secondo capitolo invece, ho analizzato l'arresto obbligatorio e l'arresto facoltativo. L'arresto in flagranza è obbligatorio nei casi previsti dall'art. 380 c.p.p.. In particolare l'arresto va eseguito obbligatoriamente: - nei confronti di chiunque è colto in flagranza di un delitto non colposo, tentato o consumato, per il quale la legge prevede la pena dell'ergastolo o della reclusione non inferiore nel minimo a 5 anni e nel massimo a 20 anni; - nei confronti di chiunque è colto in flagranza di uno dei delitti non colposi, consumati o tentati, specificatamente elencati dall'art. 380, comma 2 c.p.p.. L'arresto obbligatorio in flagranza è disciplinato dall'art 380 c.p.p.: « 1. Gli ufficiali e gli agenti di polizia giudiziaria (57) procedono all'arresto di chiunque è colto in flagranza (382) di un delitto non colposo, consumato o tentato, per il quale la legge stabilisce la pena dell'ergastolo o della reclusione non inferiore nel minimo a tre anni e nel massimo a venti anni. 2. Anche fuori dei casi previsti dal comma 1, gli ufficiali e gli agenti di polizia giudiziaria procedono all'arresto di chiunque è colto in flagranza di uno dei seguenti delitti non colposi, consumati o tentati: a) delitti contro la personalità dello Stato previsti nel Titolo I del Libro II del Codice Penale per i quali è stabilita la pena della reclusione non inferiore nel minimo a cinque anni o nel massimo a dieci anni; b) delitto di devastazione e saccheggio previsto dall'art. 419 c.p.; c) delitti contro l'incolumità pubblica previsti nel Titolo VI del Libro II del Codice Penale per i quali è stabilita la pena della reclusione non inferiore nel minimo a tre anni o nel massimo a dieci anni; d) delitto di riduzione in schiavitù previsto dall'art. 600 c.p.; e) delitto di furto, quando ricorre la circostanza aggravante prevista dall'art. 4 della L. 8 agosto 1977 n. 533 o quella prevista dall'articolo 625, primo comma, numero 2), prima ipotesi, del codice penale, salvo che, in quest'ultimo caso, ricorra la circostanza attenuante di cui all'articolo 62, primo comma, numero 4), del codice penale[119]; e-bis) delitti di furto previsti dall'articolo 624-bis del codice penale, salvo che ricorra la circostanza attenuante di cui all'articolo 62, primo comma, numero 4), del codice penale[120]; f) delitto di rapina previsto dall'art. 628 c.p. e di estorsione previsto dall'art. 629 c.p.; g) delitti di illegale fabbricazione, introduzione nello Stato, messa in vendita, cessione, detenzione e porto in luogo pubblico o aperto al pubblico di armi da guerra o tipo guerra o parti di esse, di esplosivi, di armi clandestine nonché di più armi comuni da sparo escluse quelle previste dall'art. 2, comma terzo, della L. 18 aprile 1975, n. 110; h) delitti concernenti sostanze stupefacenti o psicotrope puniti a norma dell'art. 73 del Testo Unico approvato con D.P.R. 9 ottobre 1990, n. 309, salvo che ricorra la circostanza prevista dal comma 5 del medesimo articolo; i) delitti commessi per finalità di terrorismo anche internazionale o di eversione dell'ordine costituzionale per i quali la legge stabilisce la pena della reclusione non inferiore nel minimo a cinque anni o nel massimo a dieci anni [121]; l) delitti di promozione, costituzione, direzione e organizzazione delle associazioni segrete previste dall'art. 1 della L. 25 gennaio 1982 n. 17, delle associazioni di carattere militare previste dall'art. 1 della L. 17 aprile 1956 n. 561, delle associazioni dei movimenti o dei gruppi previsti dagli artt. 1 e 2 della L. 20 giugno 1952 n. 645, delle organizzazioni, associazioni, movimenti o gruppi di cui all'art. 3, comma 3 della L. 13 ottobre 1975, n. 654; l-bis) delitti di partecipazione, promozione, direzione e organizzazione della associazione di tipo mafioso prevista dall'art. 416 bis c.p.; m) delitti di promozione, direzione, costituzione e organizzazione della associazione per delinquere prevista dall'art. 416 commi 1 e 3 c.p., se l'associazione è diretta alla commissione di più delitti fra quelli previsti dai comma l o dalle lett. a), b), c) d), f), g), i) del presente comma. 3. Se si tratta di delitto perseguibile a querela (120 c.p.), l'arresto in flagranza è eseguito se la querela viene proposta, anche con dichiarazione resa oralmente (337) all'ufficiale o all'agente di polizia giudiziaria presente nel luogo. Se l'avente diritto dichiara di rimettere la querela (340), l'arrestato è posto immediatamente in libertà (389). » (art.380 c.p.p.) Al terzo e ultimo capitolo ho affrontato l'udienza di convalida, gli adempimento della polizia giudiziaria e del pubblico ministero, trattando infine le decisioni del giudice sulla convalida e le relative impugnazioni di chi da queste decisioni ne subisce le conseguenze

Hero of Alexandria's Automata: a critical edition and translation, including a commentary on Book One

This thesis is a critical edition, with introduction, translation and partial commentary, of the Automata, a two-book mechanical treatise written by Hero of Alexandria (first century CE). It provides the first commentary on BOOK ONE, dealing with the construction of a mobile, as opposed to a stationary, automaton. The preface summarises the significance, aims and limitations of the work. The opening section gives a summary of some of the conventions and abbreviations used in the thesis, and is followed by a list of figures. The introduction provides a context for an informed reading of the text. It consists of six parts. Part One discusses the ‘Heronian question’, with particular attention to the chronology of the Automata and the Pneumatica. Part Two evaluates previous editions and translations, and summarises the main novelties of this study. Part Three assesses the manuscript tradition, including a stemmatic analysis of a large number of manuscripts. Part Four mainly discusses the various forms of the title of the treatise, which is reconstructed as Περὶ αὐτομάτων (On Automata). Greater uncertainty surrounds the heading of BOOK TWO, Περὶ στατῶν αὐτομάτων (On Stationary Automata), which may have been derived from Hero’s source, Philo of Byzantium (third-century BCE). Part Five focuses on the work itself. It starts with an overview of the structure of the text, with remarks on previous editorial practices. This is followed by a critical description of the contents of the treatise and by a discussion of the historical, literary and cultural background. This, in turn, allows for consideration of the performative context of Hero’s automata. Attention is then paid to the purpose and intended audience of the treatise, followed by an exploration of Hero’s relationship with his sources. A stylistic comparison with the Pneumatica sheds new light on Hero’s degree of originality, removing suspicions of interpolation. Finally, discussion turns to the status of the text. Internal inconsistencies are best explained as the result of incomplete authorial editing. Part Six addresses the principles of the edition. The text, apparatus criticus and translation form the centre of the thesis. To maximise readability, the layout of the English translation mirrors the layout of the Greek text. The elucidation of the manuscript sigla and abbreviations used in the apparatus criticus precedes the text. The commentary is mainly philological and text-critical in nature. However, it also addresses stylistic, interpretive and reconstructive issues, without failing to consider the oldest manuscript diagrams. Following the commentary are six appendixes: (1) a concordance of editions; (2) addenda et corrigenda to Schmidt’s edition; (3) three stemmata codicum; (4) illustrations; (5) a review of Masià (2015); (6) an index of technical terms. Appendix (4) includes manuscript diagrams and reconstruction drawings of the mobile automaton. The thesis closes with a bibliography

Too many Metrodoruses? The compiler of the ἀριθμητικά from <i>AP</i> XIV

This article deals with the identity of Metrodorus, the compiler of AP XIV 2f., 6f., 116-146, and perhaps also 11-13, showing that the two most commonly accepted identifications no longer hold. One of these identifications depends on a conflation of two homonymous (pseudo-)historical figures. This conflated identity has been distorted in transmission, leading to a multiplication of homonyms and to further overlaps and conflations. The unpacking of said conflation discloses new possibilities of identification

Socrates (AP 14.1[-64]): a Pythagorising Middle Platonist?

This article aims to investigate the identity of Socrates, the compiler of AP 14.1-64 (arithmetic problems and riddles). Leaving aside the traditional, but very uncertain, identification with Socrates the epigrammatist (D.L. 2.47), it is shown that the chronological conjecture by Carcopino 1926 (late 1st century BC-2nd century AD) no longer holds. A wider time frame is established (1st-4th centuries AD), although evidence from the (fairly) securely attributable poem (AP 14.1) seems to point to the mid-2nd century AD as the most plausible period of the poet’s activity. It is suggested that Socrates was a Pythagorising Middle Platonist associated with the philosopher Calvenus Taurus, even if his relationship with the Neo-Pythagorean and Middle Platonic traditions remains difficult to define precisely. The article also considers some of the relationships that have been shown to exist between diverging directions in Pythagoreanism (Delatte 1922), offering corrections for future attempts at Quellenforschung

An Efficiency-Based Power Management Strategy for an Isolated Microgrid Project

The microgrids design for remote locations represents one of the most important and critical applications of the microgrid concept. It requires the correct sizing and the proper utilization of the different sources to guarantee the economical feasibility and the reliability of the supply. This study illustrates an efficiency-based power management strategy, designed for an undergoing microgrid project, where the sizing process of the resources (diesel generators, battery energy storage system, and PV plant) is obtained using a mixed-integer optimization algorithm. The proposed power management strategy guarantees the efficient exploitation of the power sources, which is one of the key elements of the optimal sizing process, being naturally included in the definition of the energy cost functions. The effectiveness of the power control strategy is validated by means of quasi-dynamic simulations on the complete microgrid model, where sources are defined by the optimal problem solution, while the cabling (size and length) and the main switchboards location reflect the expected system layout. Results obtained from the simulation of the microgrid electrical system include losses, and allow to verify and to highlight the desired quantities, such as the quality of supply at each busbar (voltage magnitude), and the state of charge of the energy storage system

A fuzzy method for RNA-Seq differential expression analysis in presence of multireads

Background: When the reads obtained from high-throughput RNA sequencing are mapped against a reference database, a significant proportion of them - known as multireads - can map to more than one reference sequence. These multireads originate from gene duplications, repetitive regions or overlapping genes. Removing the multireads from the mapping results, in RNA-Seq analyses, causes an underestimation of the read counts, while estimating the real read count can lead to false positives during the detection of differentially expressed sequences. Results: We present an innovative approach to deal with multireads and evaluate differential expression events, entirely based on fuzzy set theory. Since multireads cause uncertainty in the estimation of read counts during gene expression computation, they can also influence the reliability of differential expression analysis results, by producing false positives. Our method manages the uncertainty in gene expression estimation by defining the fuzzy read counts and evaluates the possibility of a gene to be differentially expressed with three fuzzy concepts: over-expression, same-expression and under-expression. The output of the method is a list of differentially expressed genes enriched with information about the uncertainty of the results due to the multiread presence. We have tested the method on RNA-Seq data designed for case-control studies and we have compared the obtained results with other existing tools for read count estimation and differential expression analysis. Conclusions: The management of multireads with the use of fuzzy sets allows to obtain a list of differential expression events which takes in account the uncertainty in the results caused by the presence of multireads. Such additional information can be used by the biologists when they have to select the most relevant differential expression events to validate with laboratory assays. Our method can be used to compute reliable differential expression events and to highlight possible false positives in the lists of differentially expressed genes computed with other tools

Una strada parco per la "Città Pontina"

Nel volume è presentato un progetto di parco lineare innervato sulla realizzazione di una pista ciclabile che sfrutta il tracciato ferroviario dismesso della tratta Velletri Terracina. Il parco include aree agricole, siti archeologici e di interesse storico e naturalistico ed una serie di cave dismesse di cui si progetta la rinaturalizzazioned il riuso per servizi del parco. Il progetto prevede inoltre risalite meccaniche ai centri antichi sulla Pedemontana Setina.In this volume is presented a draft innervated linear park on the creation of a bike path that takes advantage of the disused railway line is of Velletri Terracina. The park includes agricultural areas, and archaeological sites of historical and natural interest and a series of disused quarries where you plan to reuse the rinaturalizzazioned for park services. The project also includes the ski lifts to the ancient centers on the foothills Setina

Segnalazioni faunistiche di Geometridi e Nottuidi per l’Italia settentrionale e centrale (Lepidoptera)

NEW RECORDS OF GEOMETRIDAE AND NOCTUIDAE IN CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ITALY (LEPIDOPTERA) Collection data on Geometridae and Noctuidae of central and northern Italy are reported. The most interesting ones regard Epirrhöe pupillata, was collected for the first time in Italy; Eupithecia extremata and Compsoptera argentaria where already collected in the Island but not in continental Italy; Rhodostrophia sicanaria and Leucochlaena seposita known before only for southern Italy and Sicily. Key words: Macrolepidoptera, new reports, faunistic.  Sono riportati dati di cattura di Geometridi e Nottuidi relativi a regioni dell’Italia settentrionale e centrale. Di particolare interesse Epirrhöe pupillata, nuova per la fauna italiana; Eupithecia extremata e Compsoptera argentaria che erano note per le isole ma non per l’Italia continentale; Rhodostrophia sicanaria e Leucochlaena seposita note in precedenza solo per l’Italia meridionale e la Sicilia