La crisi del modello maggioritario tra sistemi elettorali e forme di governo

The starting point of the analysis is the crisis of representation and participation that hits the modern democracies, causing the separation of broad grass roots from institutions and politics. In particular, the status of the model of majoritarian democracy is examined, on one side, for a theoretical reason, since it has been taken as a reference point to imitate, especially in Italy in the last twenty-five years, and on the other side for a practical reason, due to the application of original Westminster model to various continental European countries, though with various adaptations. The five countries taken into consideration (Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain) are significant experiences and are assimilated because the political elections were held in the last two years. The first element to note is the crisis of bipolar political systems (in France and in Italy), of the two-party tendencies systems, based on government coalitions with a hegemonic party (Germany), and of single-party governments supported by minor parties (Spain) which have moved towards multiparty structures. Only the United Kingdom seems to go in the opposite direction, thanks to the strongly two-party result of the 2017 elections, which, however, didn’t produce an absolute mono party majority. In the new political framework, selective electoral systems no longer guarantee the existence of certain majorities and the formation of stable governments. This is true for the correct proportional systems tested in Italy (where in the last twenty-five years four different electoral laws were approved, two of which were partially declared unconstitutional), and for those applied in Germany (with the formation of the Government of the Great Coalition at six months away from the vote) and in Spain (where a minority government was formed). About the majority electoral systems, the English one had a selective but not decisive effect, as evidenced by the occurrence of the hung parliament hypothesis for the second time in the last three legislatures, while the French one was decisive (also thanks to the effect of dragging on the parliamentary elections determined by the popular election of the President of the Republic), but it has not been selective determining a multipartitism that calls into question some pillars of the majority model (left-right bipolarism and no influence of a center party). The greater political weakness of the governments doesn’t lead to a strengthening of the Parliament, but pushes the executives to use the mechanisms, that allow them to impose their political will. This is evident in Italy, but there are similar signs in the other parliamentary systems and especially in France, where the traditional state of subjection of the Parliament is genetic after the reforms of 2000/01 (reduction to five years of presidential term and postponement of the parliamentary elections to the presidential elections) and this is confirmed by the first acts adopted by the government appointed by Macron. Finally, there is also a crisis of the leader’s role, subject to a strong load of questions and expectations, that must be quickly disappointed with the consequent collapse of its popularity. In conclusion, the majority is no longer a model to be adopted and indeed the political and social complexity of many democracies dissuades the simplification inherent in the adoption of majority mechanisms

The emergent city. Interactive relational systems between public administration and citizen to foster sustainable processes of urban development

The widespread of Information and Communication Technologies and the consequently redefinition of roles in the usage and management of the city brought along new systems of relationships and interactions that produce an auto-organisation of territories or communities, showed also through temporary transformation of the environment. In effect, cities are continuously redefined by emergent properties that may, both be originated and then impact on social, political, cultural, and economical people practices. On the other hand, through the arrangement of its patterns the city shapes the social and connective relations occurring among people. So, the city can be regarded as a complex system, that in the last years has been expanded by the widespread of communication devices and sensors connected to the Internet. In this context, the design of new patterns of interactions that focuses on the new relationship opportunities, in part offered by the Information and Communication Technologies, but not limited to them, may significantly affect sustainable processes of urban development. This paper focuses on the civic aspect of the so-called smart cities, and, in details, on the relation between citizens and Public Administration. Some existing interaction patterns are illustrated in order to support the visualisation of the dynamic relationships between citizens and Public Administration, while new possible relations derived by the interaction with the urban space are supposed

Defining a meta-design framework for knitting the emergent city elements

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Investigation of Yb-doped LiLuF4 single crystals for optical cooling

Optical cooling of solids, relying on annihilation of lattice phonons via anti-Stokes fluorescence, is an emerging technology that is rapidly advancing. The development of high-quality Yb-doped fluoride single crystals definitely led to cryogenic and sub-100-K operations, and the potential for further improvements has not been exhausted by far. Among fluorides, so far the best results have been achieved with Yb-doped LiYF4 (YLF) single crystals, with a record cooling to 91 K of a stand-alone YLF:10%Yb. We report on preliminary investigation of optical cooling of an LiLuF4 (LLF) single crystal, an isomorph of YLF where yttrium is replaced by lutetium. Different samples of 5% Yb-doped LLF single crystals have been grown and optically characterized. Optical cooling was observed by exciting the Yb transition in single-pass at 1025 nm and the cooling efficiency curve has been measured detecting the heating/cooling temperature change as a function of pumping laser frequency

Tm-doped Crystals for mid-IR Optical Cryocoolers and Radiation Balanced Lasers

We report the complete characterization of various cooling grade Tm-doped crystals including the first demonstration of optical refrigeration in Tm:YLF crystals. Room temperature laser cooling efficiencies of 1% and 2% (mol) Tm:YLF, and 1% Tm:BYF crystals at different excitation polarizations are measured and their external quantum efficiency and background absorption are extracted. By performing detailed low-temperature spectroscopic analysis of the samples, global minimum achievable temperatures of 160 K to 110 K are estimated. The potential of Tm-doped crystals to realize mid-IR optical cryocoolers and radiation balanced lasers (RBLs) in the eye-safe region of the spectrum is discussed, and a promising 2-tone RBL in a tandem structure of Tm:YLF and Ho:YLF crystals is proposed.Comment: References were updated. (4 pages, 5 figures

The ACTyourCHANGE study protocol: promoting a healthy lifestyle in patients with obesity with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundAs treatment of choice in promoting psychological flexibility, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was found to be effective in several conditions, and among different populations, including weight management in individuals with obesity. However, the mechanism of action of psychological flexibility is less known. The aim of the present study is, within the context of a brief ACT intervention for behavioral change and behavioral maintenance of a healthy lifestyle in a sample of inpatients with obesity, to explore the effect of each subcomponent of the psychological flexibility model on treatment processes and outcomes.MethodsA randomized controlled trial will be conducted. Ninety Italian adult inpatients with obesity attending a rehabilitation program for weight loss will be randomly allocated into three experimental conditions targeting respectively each subcomponent of the psychological flexibility model: group Engage focused on values-oriented behaviors, group Openness focused on acceptance and cognitive defusion, and group Awareness focused on being present and aware of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors at every moment. Weight, BMI (kg/m(2)), the Psychological General Well-Being Inventory (PGWBI), the Outcome Questionnaire-45.2 (OQ-45.2), the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Dutch Eating Behaviors Questionnaire (DEBQ), the Brief Values Inventory (BVI), the Committed Action Questionnaire (CAQ), the Italian-Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (I-CFQ), the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II) will be assessed at the beginning (time 0), at the end of psychological intervention (time 1), and after 3 (time 2) and 6months (time 3) and 9months (time 4) from discharge. During the following month after discharge, outpatients will be monitored in their adherence to a healthy lifestyle, using a wearable device.To assess the effectiveness of the intervention, mixed between-within 3 (conditions) x4 (times) repeated measure ANOVAs will be conducted to examine changes from time 0 to time 1, 2, 3, and 4 in means of weight, BMI, and means of scores PGWBI, OQ-45.2, DASS, DERS, DEBQ, AAQ-II, BVI, CAQ, I-CFQ, and FFMQ, between three groups.DiscussionThis study will contribute to clarify the mechanism of action of each subcomponent of the psychological flexibility model and understand its impact on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.govNCT04474509. Registered on July 4, 202

Testing seed germination from herbaria: Application of seed quality enhancement techniques and implication for plant resurrection and conservation

Herbaria are an important source of data and material useful in many fields, including plant conservation. Seeds preserved in herbarium specimens may have the potential to germinate, although few studies focused on this topic. Here, the first systematic assessment of six techniques, including priming techniques and melatonin application, aimed at improving the germination of seeds from herbarium specimens is presented. Seed germination of 26 species common in Europe, some of which congeneric to extinct species, collected in herbaria and in the wild (20,549 seeds in total, including 19,509 from 297 herbarium specimens from 8 different herbaria) was tested with the following treatments: exogenous melatonin addition to the germination medium, priming with melatonin, osmopriming, hydropriming for 24 and 48 hours, standard soil, heat sterilization and gibberellins addition. More than 85% of the fresh seeds and 1% of the seeds collected in herbaria germinated, including seeds older than 50 years. Data show that treatment with exogenous melatonin had a positive effect on the germination of fresh seeds, but a negative effect on the germination of herbarium-derived seeds. Furthermore, osmopriming treatment had a slightly positive effect on the germination of herbarium-derived seeds. Osmopriming and exogenous melatonin addition seem to be promising techniques that need further investigation and improvement and might be useful for the development of an optimal germination protocol for old and herbarium-derived seeds. The germination of seeds from herbaria could be an important tool in plant conservation, with the aim of reversing the extinction trend of many species through de-extinction, safeguarding biodiversity, and genetic variability. This study provides preliminary data for the development of germination protocols, especially for old seeds of species of conservation interest, to maximise the chance of recovering lost genetic diversity and leading to the first de-extinction ever

Unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer: could durvalumab be safe and effective in real-life clinical scenarios? Results of a single-center experience

IntroductionThe standard of care for patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by consolidation durvalumab as shown in the PACIFIC trial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes and toxicities regarding the use of durvalumab in a real clinical scenario. MethodsA single-center retrospective study was conducted on patients with a diagnosis of unresectable stage III NSCLC who underwent radical CRT followed or not by durvalumab. Tumor response after CRT, pattern of relapse, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and toxicity profile were investigated. ResultsEighty-five patients met the inclusion criteria. The median age was 67 years (range 45-82 years). Fifty-two patients (61.2%) started sequential therapy with durvalumab. The main reason for excluding patients from the durvalumab treatment was the expression of PD-L1 < 1%. Only two patients presented a grade 4 or 5 pneumonitis. A median follow-up (FU) of 20 months has been reached. Forty-five patients (52.9%) had disease progression, and 21 (24.7%) had a distant progression. The addition of maintenance immunotherapy confirmed a clinical benefit in terms of OS and PFS. Two-year OS and PFS were respectively 69.4% and 54.4% in the durvalumab group and 47.9% and 24.2% in the no-durvalumab group (p = 0.015, p = 0.007). ConclusionIn this real-world study, patients treated with CRT plus durvalumab showed clinical outcomes and toxicities similar to the PACIFIC results. Maintenance immunotherapy after CRT has been shown to be safe and has increased the survival of patients in clinical practice