Sulla geograficità della ecologia storica: contributi di Massimo Quaini

Author(s):  
Roberta Cevasco ◽  
Diego Moreno

The paper identifies the main contributions of Massimo Quaini to the problems of historical ecology in its South-European developments and to the definition of geographic-historical microanalysis within geography. It is on this ground that the work of the naturalists/ecologists has most dialogued with his geographical epistemology, starting from the dissatisfaction with the macro-categories of the global scale, the decontextualization of geographic facts and the problems of the “second biologization of the environment”, and drawing new perspectives for geographical action starting from the interpretation of rural and historical-environmental heritage.

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (6476) ◽  
pp. 397-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie B. Zimmerman ◽  
Paul T. Anastas ◽  
Hanno C. Erythropel ◽  
Walter Leitner

The material basis of a sustainable society will depend on chemical products and processes that are designed following principles that make them conducive to life. Important inherent properties of molecules need to be considered from the earliest stage—the design stage—to address whether compounds and processes are depleting versus renewable, toxic versus benign, and persistent versus readily degradable. Products, feedstocks, and manufacturing processes will need to integrate the principles of green chemistry and green engineering under an expanded definition of performance that includes sustainability considerations. This transformation will require the best of the traditions of science and innovation coupled with new emerging systems thinking and systems design that begins at the molecular level and results in a positive impact on the global scale.


2020 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 01025
Author(s):  
Daniela Pfeiferová ◽  
Ivana Kuchařová

In the context of globalization, international institutional investors have taken over a significant proportion of global investment assets. Among this group also belong to collective investment undertakings whose primary motive is regulated by collecting funds from indeterminate group of natural persons and legal persons for the purpose of doing business on a global scale. As part of their reporting obligations, these entities are required to report on the risks associated with the investment and how to eliminate them. Investment firms must use risk management methods that allow these risks to be identified at any time. The main risks associated with investments in collective investment funds include global financial risks: interest rate risk, currency risk, equity risk, credit risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and political risk. This article deals with the definition of specific investment risks and the options for their elimination for collective investment entities. The main goal of the article is to recommend the elimination of these risks based on the identified risks associated with collective investment.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 173 (1) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolan He ◽  
David Glenny ◽  
Lars Söderström ◽  
Anders Hagborg ◽  
Matt Von Konrat

The family Schistochilaceae Buch (1928: 9) consists of approximately 80 extant species. More than two-thirds of its diversity occurs in temperate to subantarctic South America and Australasia, and nearly one third in the tropical mountain forests of Southeast Asia and the western Pacific Islands. The plants of Schistochilaceae are usually robust and form a prominent component of the ground layer of cool temperate forests or upper montane tropical forests, commonly forests in which Nothofagus is a dominant genus.  The first species of the family, published as Jungermannia appendiculata Hooker (1818: tab. 15), Jungermannia glaucescens Hooker (1818: tab. 39), Jungermannia lamellata Hooker (1818: tab. 49), Jungermannia nobilis Hooker (1818: tab. 11), Jungermannia sphagnoides Schwägrichen (1814: 23) and Jungermannia thouarsii Hooker (1818: tab. 48), were described during 1814–1818. Dumortier established the genus Schistochila Dumortier (1835: 15) to accommodate the above mentioned species except Jungermannia glaucescens and Jungermannia sphagnoides, but he also added one new species, Schistochila pinnatifolia Dumortier (1835: 15) nom. inval. (ICN Art. 38.1(a); no description; McNeill et al. 2012). The definition of Schistochilaceae has remained largely unchanged since it was separated from Scapaniaceae Migula (1904: 479) by Buch (1928) and then later Balantiopsaceae Buch (1955: 23). The presence of magenta rhizoids, winged and complicate-bilobed leaves with smaller dorsal lobes, a shoot calyptra elaborated into a well-developed coelocaule, and a cylindrical sporophyte capsule with straight valves generally defines the family. These features, to a great extent, isolate Schistochilaceae from the rest of the leafy liverworts. Therefore, taxonomic rearrangements or revisions, based on morphological investigations, have mostly been at generic level or below (Grolle 1966, 1968, Hässel 1973, Schuster 1971a, Schuster & Engel 1977, 1985). So far, taxonomic revisions have only been done at regional scales, a study at global scale is under way (Glenny et al., unpublished).


2020 ◽  
pp. 184-199
Author(s):  
Yurii Kostenko

Abstract. The article highlights the history of radiological weapons ban negotiations. In 1948, the United Nations Commission on Conventional Armaments identified radiological weapons as WMD. Since as early as the 1960s, some states have put forward proposals to ban radiological weapons at the international level as potentially threatening human lives and the environment. In 1977 to 1979, a treaty banning radiological weapons was approved on the basis of a draft developed at bilateral Soviet-American negotiations in Geneva, which could have become an important impetus for further actions in limiting the arms race. The careful preparation of the text of the future treaty by the USSR and US delegations raised expectations that its finalisation by the Disarmament Commission would not take much time. The reality, however, was far different. In December 1979, the Afghan war broke out. In response to the Soviet aggression against Afghanistan, the United States took a whole set of measures, including the refusal to continue bilateral talks on the prohibition of radiological weapons. The author notes that control over radioactive materials was strengthened at the national level, without waiting for an international legal definition of radiological weapons. Political ambitions of a number of countries have prevented the Conference on Disarmament from achieving positive results. The author emphasises that today nuclear terrorism is regarded by world leaders as an urgent global-scale security threat, as confirmed by the international Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. in 2016, attended by delegations from over 50 countries. The author states that the issue of the radiological weapons prohibition remains pending. Keywords: radiological weapons, Conference on Disarmament, Ukrainian diplomatic history, USA, Geneva, USSR.


2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 02002
Author(s):  
Ilaria Marotta ◽  
Francesco Guarino ◽  
Maurizio Cellura ◽  
Sonia Longo

Since the building sector is responsible for 40% of the world’s electricity demand, it is essential to act on it in order to reduce emissions of climate change gases on a global scale, as expressed also in the latest directive on the energy performance of buildings. A design approach that focuses on the energy flexibility of buildings can contribute to the improvement of its energy-environmental performances. In this context, the objective of the study is the analysis of the energy performance of a residential building in Sicily and the definition of strategies aimed at increasing its energy flexibility. In particular, the case study is a 631 m2 single-family house, modeled and simulated in TRNSYS environment. The approach involves the development of scenarios to reduce operating costs and CO2 emissions during the use phase of the building. Rule Based Control algorithms are implemented. The flexible control reacts to a price or emission signal, by modulating the heating set-point accordingly. The results highlighted significant increases in energy flexibility. The economic algorithm achieves savings of 21.46%, accompanied by a 15% reduction in emissions. The environmental algorithm allows to reduce CO2 emissions by about 30%. The economic impact is positive, with a 17.58% reduction in costs.


At the present stage of the development of literature the “pure” genre disappears, giving way to different entities that combine characteristic features of two or more genres. One of these relatively “new” literary phenomena is fantasy, ongoing discussions keep going around. The increased interest in it by literary critics may be explained by the constant dynamics of fantasy, which leads to the expansion of its thematic varieties, and hence to the expansion of the reader’s circle (it covers readers of different age groups and different social status). Fantasy naturally formed into an independent branch within the limits of speculative fiction in the second half of the twentieth century. In fact, it has origins in the centuries-old tradition of the fantastic (mythical folklore tradition, Medieval, baroque, traditions of the Gothic novel, romanticism and modernism), where it borrowed various ways of reproduction of reality. Despite the large quantity of studies devoted to various aspects and problems of the study of fantasy (S. Dreier, N. Fredrickson, E. Lugovaya, T. Markova, V. Tolkachova, T. Khoruzhenko etc.), there is no clear definition of this concept. Most literary scholars call fantasy a genre, outlining the persistent components of its content (mythological basis, adventure intrigue, the division of the heroes into possessing superpowers, the presence of magical artefacts, opposition to the evil on a global scale). We believe that fantasy is a meta-genre that has its own stable structure of modeling the world and brings together a diverse array of genres in literature and other arts as a common object of artistic representation. However, today to assert that fantasy is a meta-genre, lacks one important component ‑ the preservation of the structural semantic nucleus over several eras. Although we can assert that fantasy elements have already been clearly depicted in modernism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. P. Malecki ◽  
Marta Kowal ◽  
Małgorzata Dobrowolska ◽  
Piotr Sorokowski

According to a view widely held in the media and in public discourse more generally, online hating is a social problem on a global scale. However, thus far there has been little scientific literature on the subject, and, to our best knowledge, there is even no established scholarly definition of online hating and online haters in the first place. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a new perspective on online hating by, first, distinguishing online hating from the phenomena it is often confused with, such as trolling, cyberstalking, and online hate speech, and, second, by proposing an operational definition of online hating and online haters based on ethnographic interviews and surveys of the existing scholarly literature.


2021 ◽  
pp. 151-160
Author(s):  
Olha Psarova ◽  

Medical tourism is a rapidly growing industry on a global scale. There is a growing tendency for citizens of more developed countries to seek medical services in developing countries. This is connected not only with the pricing policy, which is more loyal, but also with the insurance system, with the presence of waiting lists, with the legislative framework, and religion. The high level of service delivery and the competitiveness of the state is the result of an effective state policy. The article gives the definition of the concept, the terminology of medical tourism, considers the types and directions of medical tourism development, the legislative framework of Ukraine for the provision of certain types of medical services. Risks and negative sides, problems faced by tourists, global challenges of the industry and prospects for overcoming them are considered.


2021 ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Valeriia Polych

Problem setting. The problem of environmental security has gone beyond national borders and acquired a planetary character. If before the issue of ensuring the environmental security of countries was solely their internal affair, over time, state borders from an environmental point of view gradually lost their importance, became transparent. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The study of theoretical or some practical aspects of the legal nature of environmental safety were engaged in domestic and foreign scientists, among which are the works of: A.P. Hetman, H.V. Anisimova, G.I. Balyuk, S.A. Bogolyubova, M.M. Brinchuk, I.I. Karakash, T.G. Kovalchuk, V.V. Kostytsky and others. Target of research is to determine the essence and features of environmental safety as a legal category in terms of international law. Article’s main body. The article examines the definition of «environmental security» as a legal category. Its legal nature and its connection to international security are being established. In particular, environmental security as a legal category is considered from two points of view, as a certain state of protection of a person from threats caused by an thropogenic impact on natural objects, and as a system of legal instruments regulating the use of natural resources for their protection, as well as prevention and counteraction to threats that have a detrimental effect on the environment. Through the analysis of international legal acts, modern approaches of the international community to ensuring environmental security are determined. The international mechanism for environmental security is constantly evolving, it should be recognized that it is unfortunately not perfect and is not able to fully solve today's environmental problems, as well as to prevent an environmental catastrophe on a global scale. By concluding international agreements alone, it is impossible to ensure effective protection of all elements of the natural environment. Conclusions and prospects for the development. Therefore, it is important to consolidate the efforts of all participants in international communication in developing common approaches to solving this problem and actively using numerous international treaties and soft law instruments, best national practices, and involving civil society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (07) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
Aygün İlham qızı Əliyeva ◽  

The article deals with the reasons for the need of studing creativity of Nizami Ganjavi on a global scale, analyzes the ideas and thoughts that cover all areas of life, that are relevant for all periods in his poems. Beginning from the first information described in the work of “Oriental Library”, which was written by Bartelemy d`Herbelo in the XVII century, the author investigated and analyzed the researches and works related to Nizami Ganjavi`s creativity such as translation of “Seven Beauties” by Clerombl in 1741, Silvestr de Sasi in the XIX century, Lucien Buva, Alfons Russo, Henry Masse, Louis Aragon in the XX century and commented on their studies. Key words: Nizami Ganjavi “Khamsa”, Definition of the Prophet, The Miraj of the Prophet Muhammed, Voltaire, Henri Masse, P. L.Krua, François- Bernard Charmoy


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