Movimenti che disturbano lo spazio della narrazione. Micro-diario di un viaggio (im)possibile

Il movimento converte lo spazio in narrazione, scrive Giuliana Bruno nel suo Atlante (Bruno 2006). Viceversa, come si inventa lo spazio narrativo di corpi continuamente controllati, bloccati e anestetizzati nel loro movimento? O il movimento è altro e dovremmo cominciare a distinguerlo dalla mobilità (Cresswell 2006)? Prima scena. È il 2 settembre 2015. Ho un biglietto in mano per un treno fantasma. Un cordone di agenti della polizia circonda la maestosa stazione Keleti di Budapest e, amareggiata, penso che sarà impossibile entrare per chiunque. Tanto meno prendere il mio treno per Vienna. Ricordate il 2 settembre 2015? Le televisioni d’Europa gracchiavano all’unisono: una grande sollevazione da parte di coloro che vengono chiamati “migranti” o, se più fortunati, “rifugiati” perché i flussi dall’Ungheria verso l’Austria e la Germania erano stati interrotti. Intere famiglie siriane, afgane, pakistane avevano investito centinaia di euro per comprare i biglietti di quel treno della speranza, Budapest-Vienna, che alla fine ho dovuto prendere da sola. Per il mio passaporto. Ecco la mobilità, ecco l’immobilità: faccia a faccia. Seconda scena. Nella video installazione di Zanny Begg e Oliver Ressler, intitolata “The right of Passage” (2013), gli artisti propongono interviste con rifugiati e migranti, nonché intellettuali alla Toni Negri, Sandro Mezzadra e Arielle Azoulay. Il flusso del filmato è scandito da alcune parole-chiave: polis, città, cosmopolitismo, mondo in movimento. Alcune figure animate si muovono intanto tra le pagine dei passaporti mostrate dagli interlocutori e negano, attraverso i loro movimenti e le loro fughe nei buchi immaginari creati nelle pagine, la realtà e la validità dell’ordine espresso da quei documenti. C’est le mouvement. Questo intervento vuole porsi come un micro-diario: annotazioni distratte, piccoli abbagli teorici e contrappunti visuali di quella convulsa giornata in cui la barbara certezza che il movimento è un privilegio, non un diritto, o meglio che movimento e mobilità non possono più coincidere, si è depositata, come un residuo, sulla pelle di quei corpi interrotti e ancor più vigliaccamente sulla mia

Terraqueous Necropolitics: Unfolding the Low-operational, Forensic, and Evocative Mapping of Mediterranean Sea Crossings in the Age of Lethal Borders

Over the last years, the European Union (EU)\u2019s anti-immigration policy has shifted the imagery of the Mediterranean Sea from a lifeworld into a deathworld. The ensuing media attention on migration across the sea has resulted in the dramatic proliferation of images exhibiting human suffering and death. These images include maps, which have been barely discussed by critical scholars. This paper narrows this gap by examining the relationship between the lethal policies affecting the Central Mediterranean Migration Route and its maps. It introduces the terraqueous necropolitics as a new framework of analysis, by acknowledging the power to kill that EU is exerting over an amphibious space, that is, through the blocking of migrants on the firm land and the intentional inaction in sea rescues. This power is also perpetrated by the media representation of migrants as quasi-objects. On the other hand, due to the multivocal relations of cartography with marine territoriality and what I call \u201cthe geometry of the unliving,\u201d I draw on three case studies on mapping and migration to explore the modes through which maps produce, expose or evoke the necropolitics of the Mediterranean Sea. I frame these \u201cmapshots\u201d through three interpretive categories: low-operational, forensic and evocative mapping. These visual and spatial regimes of investigation require interdisciplinary attention on the distinctiveness among cartographic events and the configuration of the terraqueous border they enact

Maps In/Out Of Place. Charting alternative ways of looking and experimenting with cartography and GIS

Nowadays, new speculative and experimental ferments on analog and digital mapping are variously infusing both \u201cinsiders\u201d (geographers, cartographers, urban planners, GIS scientists) and \u201coutsiders\u201d (Art historians and creative practitioners)\u2019 work. To properly evidence and discuss the excitement of mapping that is emerging through a wide range of visual and aesthetical contributions, it is important to contextualize and compare such unconventional practices of map-making in terms of reflexivity and transitivity of geographic knowledge production. This means respectively to distinguish different roles assumed by geographers, cartographers and GIS scientists in the interpretation and application of new theories and practices of mapping, but also to take seriously into consideration the creative mapping culture which is becoming visible outside of their discipline, for example in the artistic domain. In this report, I focus on the \u201creflexive\u201d stance, by giving a personal, thus not exhaustive, overview of the creative trajectories on mapping currently explored in carto/geography. After emplacing the theory and experimentation on maps and geospatial data within the context of academic geographic production, I discuss three projects where geographers and GISscientists are at the forefront of the concurrent rethinking of the map as a deforming and multidimensional tool for spatial analysis

On the Migritude of Maps

Recognizing the multiple emotional inclinations and political scripts performed by cartographic imaginings and objects in the (anti-)immigration discourse, this paper explores the diverse cartographic expressions of migration that emerged within the crisis generated at the outer and inner borders of Europe. Referring to the several ways that migrants, policy actors, journalists, writers, film-makers, artists, and activists relied on mapping and map-like objects to navigate, represent, touch and commemorate the forms of social, cultural, and physical im/mobilisation that characterise the present age of migration, the migritude of maps is unravelled through reflections on the transitude, that is, the ephemeral and materially transient range of mappings that facilitate the passage across the alpine route; the digitude, the portable and often reliable mobility offered by mobile mapping devices to migrants during their terraqueous journey across the desert and the sea; and the tragic finitude of many clandestine journeys, which is evoked by necrotic symbols, acts and materials signalling deaths on maps

(Un)exhausted Cartographies. Re-living the visuality, aesthetics and politics in contemporary mapping theories and practices

This thesis is concerned with examining the life and deadliness of the map trope in contemporary Human Geography and the various ways maps and mapping have been re-theorized over the past twenty five years. Arguing that there is presently a feeling of exhaustion and disinterest amongst many human geographers in the use of maps given a shift to postmodern and poststructural approaches that decentre maps and mistrust their supposed objectivity, their representational qualities, and use by institutions to justify certain political actions, it tries to relive the attention in the ubiquity and flourishing of contemporary mapping practices by promoting a re-worked post-representational perspective. Mixing ideas from Cultural Geography, Cartography and Visual Culture Studies, it explores the creation and work of maps through ethnographic fieldwork and a case study of artist engagements with maps and mapping migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. It does so by distinguishing between a figural, operational and forensic cartography which suggest the idea to multiply forms of mapping, not simply revive 'dead' cartography, moving from geographers' discussions of mapping to interdisciplinary experimentation

Genetic variability in tench (Tinca tinca L.) as revealed by PCR-RFLP analysis of mitochondrial DNA

Four mitochondrial DNA segments, ND1, ND6, cyt b and D-loop, were analysed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment lenght polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 14 tench (Tinca tinca L.) populations located in Europe and Asia; also data on five Italian populations previously analysed for the same mtDNA segments were included in the study. All the considered segments were polymorphic and originated a total of 9 composite haplotypes, which were clustered into two haplogroups, A and B, possibly corresponding to the Western and Eastern phylogroups previously described in tench. Nine out of 19 populations showed polymorphism, with haplotype diversity ranging from 0.246 to 0.643 and nucleotide diversity from 0.009 to 0.078. Seventy-five percent of the pairwise comparisons were significant, indicating a high between-population variability. The Neighbour-Joining tree revealed the presence of three clusters, including purepopulations, with only A or B haplogroup, and mixedpopulations, with both haplogroups. The possibility of identifying populations with different haplotypes has practical implications for both conservation and supportive stocking

Chloride-binding in organic–water mixtures: the powerful synergy of C–H donor groups within a bowl-shaped cavity

2,3,4,5-Tetrafluorobenzyl and imidazolium groups within an open-chain receptor allow for the effective binding of chloride in organic–water solution

On the role of data quality in experimental charge-density studies.

High-resolution X-ray diffraction data were collected at T = 19 K from two similar spherical crystals of the fungal metabolite citrinin, C13H14O5. The two data sets were of markedly different quality, one data set (MQ, medium quality) comprising a single octant of the reciprocal lattice and including reflections with obviously peculiar intensity profiles while the second (HQ, high quality) comprised a hemisphere of reflections and showed no flawed profiles. Parallel multipolar refinements were carried out for both. While most of the resulting geometric parameters, including bond lengths and angles, were in close agreement (the standard uncertainties were approximately twice as large for the MQ data, reflecting the smaller number of observations), the agreement is noticeably worse for electronic properties such as electron densities and their Laplacians at the bond and ring critical points. These latter features are especially sensitive to the quality of the low-angle (and strong) intensities, which was not high for the MQ data. By contrast, the magnitudes of the molecular dipole moment from the two experiments are the same within 1 standard uncertainty, with an angle of about 13° between the two vectors. It is concluded that only true high-quality data allow a fully significant and quantitative analysis of the details of the experimental electron density ρexp, while high-resolution medium-quality data, measured at very low temperature and adequately processed, can still be used for a qualitative analysis, or for the derivation of overall electronic properties

Rolling resistance contribution to a road pavement life cycle carbon footprint analysis

Purpose Although the impact of road pavement surface condition on rolling resistance has been included in the life cycle assessment (LCA) framework of several studies in the last years, there is still a high level of uncertainty concerning the methodological assumptions and the parameters that can affect the results. In order to adopt pavement carbon footprint/LCA as a decision-making tool, it is necessary to explore the impact of the chosen methods and assumptions on the LCA results. Methods This paper provides a review of the main models describing the impact of the pavement surface properties on vehicle fuel consumption and analyses the influence of the methodological assumptions related to the rolling resistance on the LCA results. It compares the CO2 emissions, calculated with two different rolling resistance models existing in literature, and performs a sensitivity test on some specific input variables (pavement deterioration rate, traffic growth, and emission factors/fuel efficiency improvement). Results and discussion The model used to calculate the impact of the pavement surface condition on fuel consumption significantly affects the LCA results. The pavement deterioration rate influences the calculation in both models, while traffic growth and fuel efficiency improvement have a limited impact on the vehicle CO2 emissions resulting from the pavement condition contribution to rolling resistance. Conclusions and recommendations Existing models linking pavement condition to rolling resistance and hence vehicle emissions are not broadly applicable to the use phase of road pavement LCA and further research is necessary before a widely-used methodology can be defined. The methods of modelling and the methodological assumptions need to be transparent in the analysis of the impact of the pavement surface condition on fuel consumption, in order to be interpreted by decision makers and implemented in an LCA framework. This will be necessary before product category rules (PCR) for pavement LCA can be extended to include the use phase

Health professionals who have worked in COVID-19 immunization centers suffer the effects of violence

BackgroundThe phenomenon violence against health professionals has received increasing attention in recent years because of its frequency and significant impact on victims’ mental health and disruption of health services. Despite this attention, little is known about the incidence of workplace violence in the highly politicized immunization services. Therefore, we decided to examine the prevalence of workplace violence in the COVID-19 immunization campaign, the risk and protective factors, and the impact on victims’ mental health.MethodsBetween March and April 2022, we conducted an anonymous online survey among health professionals working in COVID-19 vaccination centers in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region (Italy). We used the Questionnaire for Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings and the Impact of Event Scale–Revised.ResultsOf the 200 participants, 93 (46.5%) reported being victims of an act of violence during the vaccination campaign, 60 of them verbally and 7 physically. In 35.5% of cases, the IES score indicated a possible post-traumatic stress reaction in the victim. Opinions on measures to prevent violence and support workers in the workplace differed according to the sex of the health professional, with women emphasizing the need for self-defense training and improvement of security arrangements (p < 0.001).ConclusionOne-third of health professionals involved in the COVID-19 immunization campaign reported that their mental health was affected by workplace violence. Public health professionals dealing with politicized and debated issues such as immunization should receive more attention, as should the implementation of a more structured and multidisciplinary approach to the problem within healthcare organizations