Improving SEA prodedures within Italian regions: Towards a more effective evaluation of urban sustainability

Sustainable urban development, a major issue at global scale, will become more relevant according to population growth predictions in developed and developing countries. Societal and international recognition of sustainability concerns led to the development of specific tools and procedures, known as sustainability assessments/appraisals (SA). Their effectiveness however, considering that global quality life indicators have worsened since their introduction, has promoted a re-thinking of SA instruments. More precisely, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), – a tool introduced in the European context to evaluate policies, plans, and programmes (PPPs), – is being reconsidered because of several features that seem to limit its effectiveness. Over time, SEA has evolved in response to external and internal factors dealing with technical, procedural, planning and governance systems thus involving a shift of paradigm from EIA-based SEAs (first generation protocols) towards more integrated approaches (second generation ones). Changes affecting SEA are formalised through legislation in each Member State, to guide institutions at regional and local level. Defining SEA effectiveness is quite difficult. Its’ capacity-building process appears quite far from its conclusion, even if any definitive version can be conceptualized. In this paper, we consider some European nations with different planning systems and SA traditions. After the identification of some analytical criteria, a multi-dimensional cluster analysis is developed on some case studies, to outline current weaknesses.

Lung cancer risk of airborne particles for Italian population

Airborne particles, including both ultrafine and supermicrometric particles, contain various carcinogens. Exposure and risk-assessment studies regularly use particle mass concentration as dosimetry parameter, therefore neglecting the potential impact of ultrafine particles due to their negligible mass compared to supermicrometric particles. The main purpose of this study was the characterization of lung cancer risk due to exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and some heavy metals associated with particle inhalation by Italian non-smoking people. A risk-assessment scheme, modified from an existing risk model, was applied to estimate the cancer risk contribution from both ultrafine and supermicrometric particles. Exposure assessment was carried out on the basis of particle number distributions measured in 25 smoke-free microenvironments in Italy. The predicted lung cancer risk was then compared to the cancer incidence rate in Italy to assess the number of lung cancer cases attributed to airborne particle inhalation, which represents one of the main causes of lung cancer, apart from smoking. Ultrafine particles are associated with a much higher risk than supermicrometric particles, and the modified risk-assessment scheme provided a more accurate estimate than the conventional scheme. Great attention has to be paid to indoor microenvironments and, in particular, to cooking and eating times, which represent the major contributors to lung cancer incidence in the Italian population. The modified risk assessment scheme can serve as a tool for assessing environmental quality, as well as setting up exposure standards for particulate matter.

Indoor Air Quality in Naturally Ventilated Italian Classrooms

Characterization of indoor air quality in school classrooms is crucial to children’s health and performance. The present study was undertaken to characterize the indoor air quality in six naturally ventilated classrooms of three schools in Cassino (Italy). Indoor particle number, mass, black carbon, CO2 and radon concentrations, as well as outdoor particle number were measured within school hours during the winter and spring season. The study found the concentrations of indoor particle number were influenced by the concentrations in the outdoors; highest BC values were detected in classrooms during peak traffic time. The effect of different seasons’ airing mode on the indoor air quality was also detected. The ratio between indoor and outdoor particles was of 0.85 ± 0.10 in winter, under airing conditions of short opening window periods, and 1.00 ± 0.15 in spring when the windows were opened for longer periods. This was associated to a higher degree of penetration of outdoor particles due to longer period of window opening. Lower CO2 levels were found in classrooms in spring (908 ppm) than in winter (2206 ppm). Additionally, a greater reduction in radon concentrations was found in spring. In addition, high PM10 levels were found in classrooms during break time due to re-suspension of coarse particles. Keywords: classroom; Ni/Nout ratio; airing by opening windows; particle number

Feminism and identity in the work of contemporary Iranian female artists

This practice-led project focuses on the Iranian context and the role of female Iranian artists using digital mediums to influence the social, political and environmental life of Iranian women. The exegetical component presents a discussion on the intersection between three theoretical areas of artistic practice in Iran; feminism, cross-cultural practice and digital image making. Particular concern to this study is the growing role of female Iranian artists in challenging the social status quo. This is conducted through an investigation of a number of Iranian female artists in the form of case studies and interviews and a discussion on the impacts of their work on the resulting creative practice portion of this study.

Public history, private memories: Historical imagination in the new Italian cinema 1988-1999

The concern with the following arguments started during a study of national and international cinemas, from the desire to account for a cinema that internationally was doing well, but was undervalued domestically. The aims were to account for the renewal of Italian filmmaking from 1988, the New Italian cinema, and understand the conditions behind this renewal. The thesis identifies in the historical theme and in the recurrence of features from Italian cinema history elements of coherence with previous cinema production. The first consideration that emerges is that a triangulation between a new generation of filmmakers, their audience and recent history shaped the recovery of Italian cinema from 1988. A second consideration is that no discussion of Italian cinema can be separated from a discussion of that which it represents: Italian society and politics. This representation has not only addressed questions of identity for a cohort of spectators, but on occasions has captured the attention of the international audience. Thus the thesis follows a methodologic approach that positions texts in relation to certain traditions in Italian filmmaking and to the context by taking into consideration also industrial factors and social and historical changes. By drawing upon a range of disciplines, from political history to socio-psychological studies, the thesis has focussed on representation of history and memory in two periods of Italian film history: the first and the last decade of twentieth century. The concern has been not so much to interpret the films, but to understand the processes that made the films and how spectarors have applied their knowledge structures to make meaning of the films. Thus the thesis abstains from ascribing implicit meanings to films, but acknowledges how films project cultural contingencies. This is beacause film is shaped by production conditions and cultural and historical circumstances that make the film intelligible. As Bordwell stated in Making Meaning, "One can do other things with films besides 'reading' them" (1989, p. xiii). Within this framework, the thesis proposes a project that understands history films with the norms that govern Italian filmic output, those norms that regulate conditions of production and consumption and the relation between films from various traditions.

Hyperferritinemia -cataract syndrome: Long-term ophthalmic observations in an Italian family

Background Hyperferritinemia-cataract syndrome (HCS) is a rare Mendelian condition characterized by bilateral cataract and high levels of serum ferritin in the absence of iron overload. Methods HCS was diagnosed in three adult siblings. In two of them it was possible to assess lens changes initially in 1995 and again in 2013. Serum ferritin, iron, transferrin concentrations and transferrin saturation percentage were also measured, and the Iron Responsive Element (IRE) region of the L-ferritin gene (FTL) was studied. Results Serum ferritin concentrations were considerably elevated while serum iron, transferrin and transferrin saturation levels were within the normal range in each sibling. Cataract changes in our patients were consistent with those previously reported in the literature. Progression of the cataract, an aspect of few studies in this syndrome, appeared to be quite limited in extent. The heterozygous +32G to T (-168G>T) substitution in the IRE of the FTL gene was detected in this family. Conclusions Ophthalmic and biochemical studies together with genetic testing confirmed HCS in three family members. Although the disorder has been extensively described in recent years, little is known regarding cataract evolution over time. In our cases, lens evaluations encompassed many years, identified bilateral cataract of typical morphology and supported the hypothesis that this unique clinical feature of the disease tends to be slowly progressive in nature, at least in adults.

15 Artists 2014

15 Artists 2014 was a group exhibition of 2D and 3D works held at the Redcliffe City Art Gallery between October 23 - December 6, 2014. My contribution to the group show was a collective series of 10 soft sculptures entitled Organs Without Bodies. These works were composed of latex, plaster, wool, thread, wax and rosin. I seek through my art practice to transform bodily affect into concrete knowledge. My primary motivation can be described as a relational and ethical attempt to find balance between the erotic and the aggressive. These objects are outcomes from an ongoing creative meditation of the simultaneity of dichotomies: inside and outside, cognition and emotion, past and present, connection and differentiation, the erotic and the aggressive. Each of these can be perceived separately with a penetrating focus of attention, yet all are contained within the 'space' of an expansive bodily-felt sense of awareness.

Romano-British wall-painting fragments: a spectroscopic analysis

Raman spectroscopic analyses of fragmented wall-painting specimens from a Romano-British villa dating from ca. 200 AD are reported. The predominant pigment is red haematite, to which carbon, chalk and sand have been added to produce colour variations, applied to a typical Roman limewash putty composition. Other pigment colours are identified as white chalk, yellow (goethite), grey (soot/chalk mixture) and violet. The latter pigment is ascribed to caput mortuum, a rare form of haematite, to which kaolinite (possibly from Cornwall) has been added, presumably in an effort to increase the adhesive properties of the pigment to the substratum. This is the first time that kaolinite has been reported in this context and could indicate the successful application of an ancient technology discovered by the Romano-British artists. Supporting evidence for the Raman data is provided by X-ray diffraction and SEM-EDAX analyses of the purple pigment.

here/there/then/now

here/there/then/now was a practice-led research project that brought together 10 independent artists in dance, music, theatre and visual/media arts to create a site-specific program within the walls of the Brisbane Powerhouse. The purpose was to explore how to best conceive flexible performance platforms, theatricalise site-specific work and engage new audiences through forms of promenade experience that could provide open choices on how and where to view it. The sold out season of 6 performances, which took place 14-19 May 2002, presented three discrete performance installations set in intimate parts of the building, each with their own aesthetic and communicative intention, culminating in a fourth in-theatre installation, where memories of the first three coalesced and were reinterrogated. Each site thereby investigated meaning-making via the moving body and its critical relationship with space and objects, in a dramatic re-contextualisation of traditional solo dance forms, now re-articulated through interdisciplinary practices. The benefit of this approach was the creation of a layered and multimodal experience that could be both shared and subsequently critiqued by performers and audience alike.

Calling Home

Through the exhibition implicit conceptions of home held by the participating artists and those viewing the exhibition were externalized. Represented as images, the conceptions conveyed different as well as shared understandings categorized as physical, cognitive, emotional, instrumental and existential. Unlike written papers on the meaning of home, the exhibition enabled access to a richer understanding of home as facilitating a way of being-in-the-world.

Fallen Awake

Photo from process: David Megarrity, albury 2007 - example of convergence of writing/design/perfomance/video RESEARCH COMPONENT Fallen Awake was a practice-led research process that opened the development process to the influence of collaborative authorship across artforms. The project focused on of how multiple artforms and artists converge their vision into a singular text, in the context of collaborative authorship. The work also uncovered new questions relating to the dream-life of children. The stimulus for the work was a selection of verbal statements by three-year-olds, raising complex ethical questions as the project progressed about the child’s voice, mediated by the adult artist, for the eventual presentation to a child audience. With the text emergent and open to influence, this project raised other questions related to the lived experience of children, dreaming, creative play and the development of consciousness. It pushed the creative process to experiment with associative, rather then causal narratives, and to negotiate the challenges this raises for traditional story structures and the development processes that usually shape them. It led to the consideration of each artforms and artist as equal contributors in the development of story: traditionally the province of the sole author. The outcomes appeared in various artforms, none of which was live-performance based. An ‘artist’s book’ by the designer, a ‘video treatment’ - a DVD capturing the approach to the performance and a script for an innovative large-scale performance. Fallen Awake was developed with the assistance of Strut & Fret Production House, Arts Queensland, and HotHouse Theatre, Albury Wodonga, through their ‘Month in the Country’ initiative.

The lens of ludic engagement : evaluating participation in interactive art installations

Designers and artists have integrated recent advances in interactive, tangible and ubiquitous computing technologies to create new forms of interactive environments in the domains of work, recreation, culture and leisure. Many designs of technology systems begin with the workplace in mind, and with function, ease of use, and efficiency high on the list of priorities. [1] These priorities do not fit well with works designed for an interactive art environment, where the aims are many, and where the focus on utility and functionality is to support a playful, ambiguous or even experimental experience for the participants. To evaluate such works requires an integration of art-criticism techniques with more recent Human Computer Interaction (HCI) methods, and an understanding of the different nature of engagement in these environments. This paper begins a process of mapping a set of priorities for amplifying engagement in interactive art installations. I first define the concept of ludic engagement and its usefulness as a lens for both design and evaluation in these settings. I then detail two fieldwork evaluations I conducted within two exhibitions of interactive artworks, and discuss their outcomes and the future directions of this research.

Microwave International Media Art Festival

An international festival that champions a pioneer role in promoting media/digital art in Hong Kong. Apart from organising international video screenings in which the latest media art with the most recent trend and development being introduced, a series of artist-in-resident workshops, exhibitions, seminars and symposiums were also hosted with a view to enhancing culture exchange and stimulating media art creation among overseas and local artists

Open City, Rossellini and neorealism : sixty years on

For Bakhtin, it is always important to know from where one speaks. The place from which I speak is that of a person who grew up in Italy during the economic miracle (pre-1968) in a working class family, watching film matinees on television during school holidays. All sort of films and genres were shown: from film noir to westerns, to Jean Renoir's films, German expressionism, Italian neorealism and Italian comedy. Cinema has come to represent over time a sort of memory extension that supplements lived memory of events, and one which, especially, mediates the intersection of many cultural discourses. When later in life I moved to Australia and started teaching in film studies, my choice of a film that was emblematic of neorealism went naturally to Roma città aperta (Open city hereafter) by Roberto Rossellini (1945), and not to Paisan or Sciuscà or Bicycle Thieves. My choice was certainly grounded in my personal memory - especially those aspects transmitted to me by my parents, who lived through the war and maintained that Open City had truly made them cry. With a mother who voted for the Christian Democratic Party and a father who was a unionist, I thought that this was normal in Italian families and society. In the early 1960s, the Resistance still offered a narrative of suffering and redemption, shared by Catholics or Communists. This construction of psychological realism is what I believe Open City continues to offer in time.