L'origine moderna del principio di autodeterminazione. Riflessioni critiche sul pensiero giuridico – politico di John Locke

Spesso inconscio, si fa tuttavia sempre più lampante il balzo logico che dalla teorizzazione dei diritti conduce al consenso, quindi all'autodeterminazione. Le ascendenze di detto modus cogitandi possono rinvenirsi anche in John Locke. In quello che è definito uno dei padri del costituzionalismo moderno si rinvengono infatti la tensione tra lo Stato ed il singolo, una tensione che origina da una certa ipostatizzazione della volontà, finendo per spalancare orizzonti nichilisti

Integrated nonlinear modelling strategies for the seismic analysis of masonry structures

In the last decades, significant interest has raised in modelling and analysing the structural response of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. This aims at conceiving and designing effective interventions to reduce the vulnerability towards seismic actions. Studies based on costly structural testing are often limited to few benchmark cases, making numerical modelling an excellent option to extend experimental results and a valid solution for understanding URM structural behaviour. Advanced discrete models are widely employed among the available numerical strategies to predict the URM dynamic response, thanks to their ability to account for the heterogeneous nature of masonry and to simulate its behaviour up to the complete collapse. If, on the one hand, the low degree of idealisation of discrete models allows their employment for the extension of experimental tests, on the other hand, they require expert users, the definition of a large number of mechanical parameters and a high computational effort. This last drawback often limits the use of advanced discontinuum models in the engineering practice or for seismic risk studies, which require the execution of multiple analyses. In this work, a modelling approach, based on the Applied Element Method (AEM), was combined with more simplified models to exploit the discrete model potential and overcome its limits. To this aim, the AEM was employed as a benchmark to calibrate/validate simplified modelling strategies, improving their reliability when compared to advanced model outcomes. In this context, AEM models were used as a reference to enhance the Equivalent Frame Model (e.g. the presence of irregular distribution of openings) and to validate a new strength criterion associated with the failure mechanism encountered in a new masonry typology. In the absence of a large suite of experimental tests exploring all the possible setup or configurations, the AEM can provide precious information. On the other hand, the AEM can help to investigate situations requiring a higher level of detail, such as the design of the timber retrofitting system analysed in this work. The ability of the AEM to simulate the structural behaviour up to the complete collapse was also used to investigate the effect of different percentages of ground floor opening on the dynamic response of Dutch terraced houses, performing benchmark analyses to calibrate SDOF models employed for the development of fragility functions associated with the different layouts. Finally, AEM models were employed for substructuring façade models of masonry buildings whose global response was effectively studied by equivalent frame models. The aim of the study was to predict the debris extent involved in the collapse of URM façades in case of earthquake loadings. Such an integrated numerical procedure allowed considering a large suite of seismic inputs, overcoming the time-consuming issue

A review of wildland fire spread modelling, 1990-present, 1: Physical and quasi-physical models

In recent years, advances in computational power and spatial data analysis (GIS, remote sensing, etc) have led to an increase in attempts to model the spread and behaviour of wildland fires across the landscape. This series of review papers endeavours to critically and comprehensively review all types of surface fire spread models developed since 1990. This paper reviews models of a physical or quasi-physical nature. These models are based on the fundamental chemistry and/or physics of combustion and fire spread. Other papers in the series review models of an empirical or quasi-empirical nature, and mathematical analogues and simulation models. Many models are extensions or refinements of models developed before 1990. Where this is the case, these models are also discussed but much less comprehensively.Comment: 31 pages + 8 pages references + 2 figures + 5 tables. Submitted to International Journal of Wildland Fir

Rediscovery of Sanderia malayensis and remarks on Rhopilema nomadica record in Pakistan (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)

In this report, we record the rediscovery of Sanderia malayensis in Pakistani waters since the John Murray Expedition (1933‑34) who collected two small specimens off-Karachi, Pakistan. The specimens were described and we discuss the shape of gastric pouches contour. We also comment upon the newly recorded Rhopilema nomadica jellyfish from the region, and assume it to be previously recorded as Rhopilema hispidum

Searching iron sensors in plants by exploring the link among 2′-OG-dependent dioxygenases, the iron deficiency response and metabolic adjustments occurring under iron deficiency

Knowledge accumulated on the regulation of iron (Fe) homeostasis, its intracellular trafficking and transport across various cellular compartments and organs in plants; storage proteins, transporters and transcription factors involved in Fe metabolism have been analyzed in detail in recent years. However, the key sensor(s) of cellular plant “Fe status” triggering the long-distance shoot–root signaling and leading to the root Fe deficiency responses is (are) still unknown. Local Fe sensing is also a major task for roots, for adjusting the internal Fe requirements to external Fe availability: how such sensing is achieved and how it leads to metabolic adjustments in case of nutrient shortage, is mostly unknown. Two proteins belonging to the 2′-OG-dependent dioxygenases family accumulate several folds in Fe-deficient Arabidopsis roots. Such proteins require Fe(II) as enzymatic cofactor; one of their subgroups, the HIF-P4H (hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl 4-hydroxylase), is an effective oxygen sensor in animal cells. We envisage here the possibility that some members of the 2′-OG dioxygenase family may be involved in the Fe deficiency response and in the metabolic adjustments to Fe deficiency or even in sensing Fe, in plant cells