The Economic Crisis as a Trigger of Convergence? Short-time work in Italy, Germany and Austria

In all European countries, emergency policy measures have been introduced in order to counteract the employment consequences of the economic crisis. In the context of variously composed anticrisis packages, many European countries have used Short-Time Work (STW) schemes, that is measures to subsidize a temporary reduction in working time intended to maintain an employment relationship. Countries which already had STW schemes, such as Kurzarbeit in Germany and Austria and the Cassa Integrazione Guadagni (CIG) in Italy, have loosened the eligibility requirements and extended their maximum duration. This paper focuses on the issue whether the economic crisis has spurred any convergence in the use of STW in these three social-insurance countries - Austria, Germany and Italy - or whether policy change has rather occurred in a path-dependent fashion. In order to do so, the paper also adopts a systemic approach, focusing on relationships of complementarity or functional substitution and equivalence among the various schemes comprising income maintenance systems to tackle the risks of partial or total unemployment. In addition to shedding light on a rather under-researched province of contemporary welfare states such as STW, this article also aims to contribute to the debate on the analytical levels in the study of social policy by showing the relevance and potential of adopting an intermediate level of analysis between a regime-centred and a programme-centred approach.short time work; unemployment compensation; social protection; convergence; path dependence

Micromagnetic study of inertial spin waves in ferromagnetic nanodots

Here we report the possibility to excite ultra-short spin waves in ferromagnetic thin-films by using time-harmonic electromagnetic fields with terahertz frequency. Such ultra-fast excitation requires to include inertial effects in the description of magnetization dynamics. In this respect, we consider the inertial Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (iLLG) equation and develop analytical theory for exchange-dominated inertial spin waves. The theory predicts a finite limit for inertial spin wave propagation velocity, as well as spin wave spatial decay and lifetime as function of material parameters. Then, guided by the theory, we perform numerical micromagnetic simulations that demonstrate the excitation of ultra-short inertial spin waves (20 nm long) propagating at finite speed in a confined magnetic nanodot. The results are in agreement with the theory and provide the order of magnitude of quantities observable in realistic ultra-fast dynamics experiments.Comment: The following article has been accepted by Physical Review B. After it is published, it will be found at https://journals.aps.org/prb/. Revised version, 9 pages, 6 figures. Changes made in v2: added some references, minor edits and correction

Anti-reflection coating design for metallic terahertz meta-materials

We demonstrate a silicon-based, single-layer anti-reflection coating that suppresses the reflectivity of metals at near-infrared frequencies, enabling optical probing of nano-scale structures embedded in highly reflective surroundings. Our design does not a ect the interaction of terahertz radiation with metallic structures that can be used to achieve terahertz near-field enhancement. We have verified the functionality of the design by calculating and measuring the reflectivity of both infrared and terahertz radiation from a silicon/gold double layer as a function of the silicon thickness. We have also fabricated the unit cell of a terahertz meta-material, a dipole antenna comprising two 20-nm thick extended gold plates separated by a 2 µm gap, where the terahertz field is locally enhanced. We used the time-domain finite element method to demonstrate that such near-field enhancement is preserved in the presence of the anti-reflection coating. Finally, we performed magneto-optical Kerr e ect measurements on a single 3-nm thick, 1-µm wide magnetic wire placed in the gap of such a dipole antenna. The wire only occupies 2% of the area probed by the laser beam, but its magneto-optical response can be clearly detected. Our design paves the way for ultrafast time-resolved studies, using table-top femtosecond near-infrared lasers, of dynamics in nano-structures driven by strong terahertz radiation

Nonlinear Magnetization Dynamics Driven by Strong Terahertz Fields

We present a comprehensive experimental and numerical study of magnetization dynamics triggered in a thin metallic film by single-cycle terahertz pulses of $\sim20$ MV/m electric field amplitude and $\sim1$ ps duration. The experimental dynamics is probed using the femtosecond magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE), and it is reproduced numerically using macrospin simulations. The magnetization dynamics can be decomposed in three distinct processes: a coherent precession of the magnetization around the terahertz magnetic field, an ultrafast demagnetization that suddenly changes the anisotropy of the film, and a uniform precession around the equilibrium effective field that is relaxed on the nanosecond time scale, consistent with a Gilbert damping process. Macrospin simulations quantitatively reproduce the observed dynamics, and allow us to predict that novel nonlinear magnetization dynamics regimes can be attained with existing table-top terahertz sources.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Survey of the main causal agents of fusarium head blight of durum wheat around Bologna, northern Italy

Several Fusarium species and Microdochium nivale are involved in fusarium head blight (FHB), which in Italy has been constantly present on wheat since 1995. This study was carried out from 1995 to 2007 on FHB-infected durum wheat heads collected in the Bologna countryside, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. The most frequent Fusarium species found were: Fusarium graminearum (32.1%), F. culmorum (25.2%) and F. poae (17.8%), while F. avenaceum and M. nivale occurred discontinuously. Other Fusarium species were also found, but only sporadically. It is important to identify and characterize the main species involved in the FHB syndrome for this will help us to establish control strategies that will contain the disease and the content of mycotoxins in food and animal feed

Evidence of extreme domain wall speeds under ultrafast optical excitation

Time-resolved ultrafast EUV magnetic scattering was used to test a recent prediction of >10 km/s domain wall speeds by optically exciting a magnetic sample with a nanoscale labyrinthine domain pattern. Ultrafast distortion of the diffraction pattern was observed at markedly different timescales compared to the magnetization quenching. The diffraction pattern distortion shows a threshold-dependence with laser fluence, not seen for magnetization quenching, consistent with a picture of domain wall motion with pinning sites. Supported by simulations, we show that a speed of $\approx$ 66 km/s for highly curved domain walls can explain the experimental data. While our data agree with the prediction of extreme, non-equilibrium wall speeds locally, it differs from the details of the theory, suggesting that additional mechanisms are required to fully understand these effects.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; Supplemental Material: 8 pages, 9 figure

Building Information Modeling (BIM) per infrastrutture stradali: il caso della SP 46 Rho-Monza

La seguente tesi si propone di indagare le potenzialità della metodologia Building Information Modeling (BIM) nell’ambito del progetto delle infrastrutture stradali, analizzando i cambiamenti significativi che sta introducendo e confrontandola con i metodi di progettazione tradizionale. Dopo una descrizione su cosa è il BIM e quali sono le sue caratteristiche, ci si sofferma sui concetti chiave di interoperabilità, scambio dati e livelli di sviluppo. La gestione di progetti a vasta scala, come possono essere quelli legati al territorio e alle infrastrutture in modalità BIM, infatti, non sono di facile gestione. Si deve tener conto di opere che si estendono per diversi chilometri, in maniera georeferenziata e comprendenti anche rilievi territoriali. Secondo questo criterio si utilizza un unico modello virtuale capace di racchiudere in se molte delle possibili informazioni inerenti ai diversi aspetti del progetto. I vari dati possono essere utilizzati per migliorare la cooperazione tra tutti i soggetti coinvolti. Per valutare le potenzialità del BIM nel progetto di un’infrastruttura stradale è stato preso in considerazione un caso di studio reale, ossia il progetto di riqualifica della S.P. 46 Rho-Monza. È stata sviluppata la progettazione stradale relativa allo studio planoaltimetrico di due delle viabilità complanari di progetto, integrata con la progettazione del sistema di smaltimento delle acque di piattaforma. Allo stesso tempo, sono stati realizzati i collegamenti con la viabilità originale, attraverso la modellazione di tre intersezioni a raso a rotatoria e di una delle viabilità interferite con la rete stradale locale. Il confronto con il progetto secondo le modalità tradizionali ha consentito di comprendere la concreta ed effettiva potenzialità che la nuova metodologia di progettazione basata sul Building Information Modeling può apportare nel settore dell’ingegneria e delle costruzioni