Deontic Modality in Rationality and Reasoning

Deontic Modality in Rationality and Reasoning Lay Summary Alessandra Marra The present dissertation investigates certain facets of the logical structure of oughts – where “ought” is used as a noun, roughly meaning obligation. I do so by following two lines of inquiry. The first part of the thesis places oughts in the context of practical rationality. The second part of the thesis concerns the inference rules governing arguments about oughts, and specifically the inference rule of Reasoning by Cases. These two lines of inquiry, together, aim to expound upon oughts in rationality and reasoning. The methodology used in this dissertation is the one of philosophical logic, in which logical, qualitative models are developed to support and foster conceptual analysis. The dissertation consists of four main chapters. The first two chapters are devoted to the role of oughts in practical rationality. I focus on the so-called Enkratic principle of rationality, which – in its most general formulation – requires that if an agent believes sincerely and with conviction that she ought to do X, then she intends to X. I develop a logical framework to investigate the (static and dynamic) relation between those oughts believed by the agent and her intentions. It is shown that, under certain minimal assumptions, the Enkratic principle of rationality is a principle of limited validity. The following two chapters of the dissertation constitute a study of the classical inference rule of Reasoning by Cases, which – in its simplest form – moves from the premises “A or B”, “if A then C” and “if B then C” to the conclusion “C”. Recent literature has called the validity of Reasoning by Cases into question, with the most influential counterexample being the so-called Miners’ Puzzle – an instance of Reasoning by Cases where “C” involves oughts. I provide a unifying explanation of why the Miners’ Puzzle emerges. It is shown that, within specific boundaries, Reasoning by Cases is a valid inference rule

Molecular pathogenesis of NASH

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the main cause of chronic liver disease in the Western world and a major health problem, owing to its close association with obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome. NASH progression results from numerous events originating within the liver, as well as from signals derived from the adipose tissue and the gastrointestinal tract. In a fraction of NASH patients, disease may progress, eventually leading to advanced fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Understanding the mechanisms leading to NASH and its evolution to cirrhosis is critical to identifying effective approaches for the treatment of this condition. In this review, we focus on some of the most recent data reported on the pathogenesis of NASH and its fibrogenic progression, highlighting potential targets for treatment or identification of biomarkers of disease progression

Innovative treatments for resource recovery from waste electrical and electronic equipment

2015 - 2016The ever-expanding population, the increasing consumption of resources and the shortage of primary raw materials have addressed the transition of waste management strategies from the linear model based on the “wear and tear” on a circular approach aiming at preventing waste and recycling materials. In this view, the attention has been focused on the use of anthropogenic stock resources in place of virgin materials as promoted by the concept of “urban mining”. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is regarded as the backbone stream in urban mining. It represents the waste stream characterized by the highest grow rate per year (3-5%) and by the most wide-ranging source of materials, since WEEE can contain more than 1000 different substances, including base, precious and critical metals. The recovery of metals defined critical raw materials as rare earth elements from electronic waste appears, thus, an important opportunity both in economic and environmental terms. However, the recycling of WEEE is challenged by the complex nature of such waste stream which, beside valuable materials, includes hazardous substances as well. The presence of these toxic components has raised great concern especially in developing countries where the informal recycling sector is still widespread, handling WEEE with unsafe and inadequate practices as a result of a lack of legislation. In high-income countries, separate collection is the first step of a system pursuing the WEEE sustainable management; mechanical processes are then applied to separate the different materials, including metals which are destined to further recycling by means of metallurgical processes. The metallurgical treatments currently used for metal recovery from WEEE are, however, claimed to have severe impacts on the environment due to the generation of secondary pollutants. Moreover, the industry of WEEE recycling is still in its early stage, especially if referred to the recovery of rare earth elements. All these reasons have contributed to increase the interest of both scientific and industrial research in addressing a cost-effective and environmental friendly treatment of end-of-life electrical and electronic products. In this background the present research work aimed to: the characterization of WEEE in terms of base and critical metal contents, in order to identify and quantify the valuable materials and the hazardous substances for addressing a sustainable recycling strategy; the assessment of critical metal fate during the conventional mechanical treatments of WEEE with reference to the sorting effectiveness and the recycling potential; the evaluation of the feasible application of innovative treatments in the field of hydro- and bio-metallurgy for the recovery of valuable and critical metals from WEEE. To this end, the experimental activity was developed in three main steps, matching the specific objectives of the research project: the first phase was focused on the characterization of WEEE in terms of base and critical metals. Representative samples were collected over the treatment chain of a full scale mechanical treatment plant operating in South Italy and analysed by their metal content; the data obtained from the metal characterization were, thus, used in the second phase to carry out a mass flow analysis in order to investigate the fate of metals, particularly the critical ones, during the conventional mechanical treatments; the third phase focused on hydro- and bio-metallurgical tests for the recovery of valuable and critical metals from WEEE. As the results from the previous phase pointed out that after the conventional mechanical treatments significant concentrations of precious metals and rare earth elements were gathered in dust stream originating from process air cleaning, dust was used as secondary source of critical metals and tested for the treatments proposed. Both chemical agents, including a non-conventional one as thiourea, and biological species were used to perform leaching processes. The use of dust, actually destined to landfill disposal, as well as the treatments investigated for the recovery of critical metals marked the novelty of the research. The first two phases were carried out at the Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division (SEED) of Salerno University. The hydrometallurgical tests included in the third phase were performed at SEED laboratory as well, whereas the biometallurgical tests were conducted at the laboratory facility of the Institute for water education Unesco-IHE in Delft (Netherlands). Results of the experimental activity showed that rare earth elements contained in WEEE at trace concentrations do not enter the recovery chain as around 80% in mass were lost in dust streams during the conventional mechanical treatments. Similarly, 24% of precious metals entering the mechanical treatments were conveyed in the dust fraction. Therefore, this matrix appears a potential secondary source of valuable and critical metals to be further processed for metal recovery. Chemical and biological leaching processes proved their great potential in extracting up to 99% of the critical metals contained in the dust. These promising outcomes suggested that both hydro- and biometallurgical processes can be regarded as a suitable option for the management of the dust fractions, which currently represents a cost for the treatment plant. The treatment of dust through these processes provides, indeed, a way to reintroduce this matrix, actually sent to landfill, in the “loop” of product lifecycle, thus limiting the losses of resources in accordance with the new circular economy approach. Moreover, the results of this study are of relevant interest as they highlighted the potential of recovering valuable and critical metals from waste streams using low-cost and environmentally friendly processes in the filed of biometallurgy as an effective alternative to both pyrometallurgical and conventional chemical processes, especially for treating low grade materials as WEEE. [edited by author]La popolazione in continua espansione, il crescente sfruttamento delle risorse e la conseguente carenza di materie prime hanno orientato negli ultimi anni le strategie di gestione dei rifiuti da un approccio lineare basato sul modello del “estrai-produci-usa-getta” verso una visione circolare in cui i rifiuti di un’attività diventano materie prime per un’altra. L’attenzione è stata, pertanto, sempre più incentrata sulla possibilità di utilizzare i residui delle attività antropiche come scorte di materie secondarie in sostituzione di materiali vergini, così come promosso dal noto concetto dell’ “urban mining” o “miniere urbane”. In tale contesto, i rifiuti di apparecchiature elettriche ed elettroniche (RAEE) costituiscono ad oggi delle vere e proprie miniere urbane. Tale flusso di rifiuti è caratterizzato dai maggiori tassi di crescita per anno (35%) e dalla più varia composizione di materiali dal momento che i RAEE possono contenere più di 1000 differenti sostanze, tra cui metalli di base, metalli preziosi e metalli critici. La possibilità di recuperare dunque “materie prime critiche”, quali le terre rare presenti all’interno dei rifiuti elettronici, si configura come una importante opportunità sia in termini economici che ambientali. Tuttavia, il riciclaggio dei RAEE è ostacolato dalla loro complessa natura che, accanto a materiali di valore, prevede anche sostanze pericolose. La presenza, difatti, di componenti tossiche è motivo di grande preoccupazione specialmente in riferimento ai paesi in via di sviluppo dove il “canale informale” è ancora ampiamente diffuso ed i RAEE vengono gestiti in maniera inadeguata in conseguenza di una mancanza di riferimenti normativi. Nei paesi sviluppati, la raccolta differenziata è il primo step di un sistema che mira a perseguire una gestione sostenibile dei RAEE; processi di trattamento meccanico sono poi implementati per separare i metalli dai restanti materiali per il loro successivo recupero mediante processi metallurgici. I trattamenti metallurgici attualmente utilizzati per il recupero dei metalli dai RAEE hanno tuttavia gravi impatti sull’ambiente a causa della produzione di rifiuti secondari. Inoltre, l’industria del riciclo dei RAEE è ad oggi ancora nella sua fase iniziale soprattutto in riferimento al recupero delle terre rare. Tutte queste ragioni hanno contribuito ad accrescere l’interesse sia del mondo scientifico che di quello industriale verso lo sviluppo di tecnologie a basso costo e minor impatto per il trattamento dei RAEE. In tale contesto, il presente progetto di ricerca è stato mirato a: caratterizzare i RAEE in termini di metalli di base e metalli critici, in modo tale da identificare e quantificare il contenuto di materiali di valore e sostanze pericolose per sviluppare una valida e sostenibile strategia di trattamento; valutare il destino dei metalli critici nel corso dei convenzionali trattamenti meccanici dei RAEE con particolare riferimento all’efficienza di selezione e al potenziale di recupero; investigare la fattibilità dell’applicazione di trattamenti innovativi nel campo dell’idro- e della bio-metallurgia per il recupero dei metalli critici e di valore dai RAEE. A tale scopo, l’attività sperimentale è stata sviluppata secondo tre fasi principali, funzionali al raggiungimento degli obiettivi specifici del progetto di ricerca: la prima fase è stata incentrata sulla caratterizzazione dei RAEE in termini di metalli di base e metalli critici. Campioni rappresentativi di RAEE sono stati prelevati presso un impianto di trattamento a scala reale localizzato nel Sud Italia e analizzati nel loro contenuto di metalli; i dati ottenuti dalla caratterizzazione sono stati quindi utilizzati nella seconda fase dell’attività, al fine di condurre un bilancio di massa per investigare il destino dei metalli, in particolare di quelli critici, durante i convenzionali trattamenti meccanici; la terza e ultima fase è stata focalizzata sull’applicazione dei processi idro- e bio-metallurgici per il recupero dei metalli critici e di valore dai RAEE. Dal momento che i risultati della fase precedente hanno evidenziato che a seguito dei convenzionali trattamenti meccanici significative concentrazioni di metalli preziosi e terre rare vengono raccolte nelle polveri originate dal processo di trattamento dell’aria, tale matrice è stata utilizzata come fonte secondaria di metalli critici per testare i trattamenti proposti. Sia agenti chimici, tra cui un agente non convenzionale come la tiourea, che agenti biologici sono stati utilizzati per eseguire le prove di lisciviazione. L’uso della polvere, al momento destinate a smaltimento a discarica, ed i trattamenti proposti per il recupero dei metalli critici hanno segnato l’innovazione della ricerca. Le prime due fasi sono state svolte presso la Divisione di Ingegneria Sanitaria Ambientale (SEED) dell’Università degli studi di Salerno. Le prove idrometallurgiche incluse nella terza fase dell’attività sperimentale sono state anch’esse condotte presso il laboratorio SEED mentre le prove biometallurgiche sono state svolte presso il laboratiorio dell’Istituto Unesco-IHE di Delf (Paesi Bassi). I risultati dell’attività sperimentale condotta hanno mostrato che le terre rare presenti in tracce all’interno dei RAEE non entrano nella catena di recupero, dal momento che circa l’80% in massa risulta concentrato in flussi, quali le polveri, non destinati al successivo recupero. In maniera analoga, il 24% dei metalli preziosi contenuti nei RAEE in ingresso al trattamento meccanico sono raccolti all’interno di tale frazione. Le polveri si configurano, pertanto, come una potenziale fonte secondaria di materiali critici e di valore da essere sottoposta a successivo recupero. I processi idro- e biometallurgici applicati hanno mostrato il loro grande potenziale nel recupare fino al 99% dei metalli critici concentrati nelle polveri. Tali promettenti risultati hanno evidenziato che i processi idro-e biometallurgici possono essere considerati come una valida opzione di gestione delle polveri derivanti dal trattamento meccanico dei RAEE che attualmente rappresentano un costo di smaltimento per l’impianto. Il trattamento delle polveri mediante tali processi fornisce una strategia per reintrodurre tale matrice, al momento smaltita in discarica, nella spirale del ciclo di vita dei prodotti, limitando la perdita delle risorse in essa contenute in accordo con l’approccio promosso dall’economia circolare. Inoltre, i risultati del presente studio sono di rilevante interesse dal momento che hanno mostrato, in particolare, il potenziale di recupero di metalli critici e di valore dai RAEE mediante processi a basso costo e basso impatto nel campo della biometallurgia, come valida alternativa ai convenzionali trattamenti piromentallurgici ed idrometallurgici. [a cura dell'autore]XV n.

COMUNITÀ ENERGETICHE RINNOVABILI A PROVA DI BIODIVERSITÀ. UN MODELLO A SUPPORTO DELLA PIANIFICAZIONE URBANISTICA NELLE AREE INTERNE

Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) represent an important tool for decarbonising urban areas and reducing energy poverty, as well as a potential lever to combat demographic desertification in inner areas. In-depth knowledge of areas unsuitable for the installation of energy plants from renewable sources is essential for orienting urban planning towards sustainable choices, which promote RECs spatial configurations that respect cultural, naturalistic, ecological, landscape and environmental resources, particularly rich in inner areas. This work focuses on the protection of biodiversity, an aspect scarcely investigated in the scientific literature on the topic of RECs in urban planning. To this end, a fast method is proposed to build the Map of Ecological Connectivity on an urban scale, starting from the data available from the early stages of the planning process. The model is applied to the municipal territory of Roccabascerana, belonging to the inner areas of Campania Region (Italy), in the context of studies and research for the formation of the Municipal Urban Plan

El primer paso hacia una diplomacia feminista

En el presente artículo se busca demostrar que para llevar adelante políticas exteriores emancipatorias, es necesario contar con un cuerpo diplomático consciente de la opresión generada por el orden de género establecido. Así, se parte de afirmar que la potencialidad del personal diplomático, en ese sentido, no ha sido suficientemente explorada y analizada debido a que pertenece a estructuras estatales que son, por lo general, opresivas. Por ese motivo, se construyó el marco teórico a partir de conceptos elaborados por autoras como Alda Facio (metodologías feministas en lo legal), Silvina Álvarez (autonomía relacional), Miranda Fricker (injusticia epistémica), Nancy Fraser (reconocimiento como status) y Diana Maffía (redes de exclusión), entre otras, a fin de describir los procesos de invisibilización y la falta de reconocimiento y de opciones relevantes, como así también la creación de espacios epistémicos negativos que afectan a las mujeres y diversidades diplomáticas en sus trayectorias. Por último, se destaca la posibilidad que abre el status de outsider within, para repensar tanto el Estado como las relaciones de dominación existentes en el sistema internacional

Je (ne) suis (pas) charlie: Changing perceptions of freedom of the pres in a post Charlie Hebdo world

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

An investigation of the self- and inter-incompatibility of the olive cultivars 'Arbequina' and 'Koroneiki' in the Mediterranean climate of Sicily

In this investigation, the self-(in)compatibility of the Spanish cultivar Arbequina and the Greek cultivar Koroneiki was studied for the first time in Sicily, where these low vigour cultivars were recently introduced in super-intensive olive groves. Self- (S.P.) and openpollination (O.P.) tests, observation of fruit set and paternity test of seeds with microsatellite (SSR) markers, were performed to ascertain whether these cultivars were self-fertile and/or inter-compatible. For S.P. tests, branches with flowers at the balloon stage were bagged. For the O.P. tests, flowers were left to pollinate under natural conditions. Fruits from S.P. and O.P. were collected in November and fruit set was calculated. Genomic DNA was extracted from seeds. None of the 'Arbequina' seeds studied in either the S.P. or O.P. tests originated from self-fertilization. In addition, none of these seeds had 'Koroneiki' as the pollen parent. In contrast, 'Koroneiki' was found to be predominantly self-compatible in self-bagged branches, with 70% of the seeds originating from selffertilization. However, the incidence of self-fertilization was low (11%) in seeds from the O.P. test. Low levels of inter-compatibility were found between 'Arbequina' and 'Koroneiki', while many local cultivars were found to be good pollinators. The information presented here will be useful to growers for planning their orchards with suitable pollinators and for our breeding program aiming at obtaining new low vigour olive genotypes. In addition, our results suggested that the recent model of attribution of S-alleles and the prediction of suitable pollinizers for a given variety should be more cautious and always based on controlled crosses and paternity testing of seed from those crosses

The H+-ATPase purified from maize root plasma membranes retains fusicoccin in vivo activation

AbstractThe activity of ‘P-type’ ATPases is modulated through the C-terminal autoinhibitory domain. The molecular bases of this regulation are unknown. Their understanding demands functional and structural studies on the activated purified enzyme. In this paper the plasma membrane H+-ATPase from maize roots activated in vivo by fusicoccin was solubilised and fractionated by anion-exchange HPLC. Results showed that the H+-ATPase separated from fusicoccin receptors retained fusicoccin activation and that it was more evident after enzyme insertion into liposomes. These data suggest that fusicoccin stimulation does not depend on a direct action of the fusicoccin receptor on the H+-ATPase, but rather, fusicoccin brings about a permanent modification of the H+-ATPase which very likely represents a general regulatory mechanism for ‘P-type’ ATPases