La Nuova Destra dalla Francia all'Italia 1974-2000

Il progetto di ricerca, dal titolo La Nuova destra dalla Francia all'Italia, prende come oggetto di studio specifico quel fenomeno politico, emerso in Italia verso la metà degli anni Settanta, che si originò in seno agli ambienti politici della destra radicale, noto con la definizione di Nuova Destra (ND), sul modello dell’omologa e più matura corrente francese il cui nucleo principale ruotava attorno all’associazione culturale GRECE (Groupement de recherche et d’études sur la civilisation européenne). Dal livello avanzato della ricerca sviluppata in questi anni, si è potuto notare che questo soggetto culturale ed ideologico è stato scarsamente studiato nel panorama scientifico italiano dove la maggior parte delle indagini ad esso dedicate sono state svolte da politologi, o comunque risultano riconducibili agli ambienti accademici delle Facoltà di Scienze Politiche, mentre pochissimi sono i lavori che si sono accostati alla ND con le armi specifiche della ricerca storica. Al contrario in Francia il fenomeno è stato oggetto di numerose ricerche da parte di autorevoli studiosi e ha dato avvio ad un florido dibattito ideologico. L’obiettivo principale a cui questa ricerca di dottorato tenta di rispondere è, quindi, quello di ricostruire le vicende storiche della ND italiana, sia attraverso i suoi rapporti con il Movimento sociale italiano (MSI), dalle cui sezioni giovanili essa nacque e si sviluppò per poi distaccarsene, sia tramite l’analisi delle sue evoluzioni politiche e concettuali, sia, infine, cercando di porre in evidenza i lasciti, le influenze e gli stretti legami, che intercorsero fra l’Italia e la più matura esperienza della Nouvelle Droite francese, ed in particolare con il pensiero politico e filosofico di Alain de Benoist, il suo maggiore esponente.

Percorsi di gender performance: fotografia tra arte e moda dagli anni Novanta ad oggi

My project explores and compares different forms of gender performance in contemporary art and visual culture according to a perspective centered on photography. Thanks to its attesting power this medium can work as a ready-made. In fact during the 20th century it played a key role in the cultural emancipation of the body which (using a Michel Foucault’s expression) has now become «the zero point of the world». Through performance the body proves to be a living material of expression and communication while photography ensures the recording of any ephemeral event that happens in time and space. My questioning approach considers the gender constructed imagery from the 1990s to the present in order to investigate how photography’s strong aura of realism promotes and allows fantasies of transformation. The contemporary fascination with gender (especially for art and fashion) represents a crucial issue in the global context of postmodernity and is manifested in a variety of visual media, from photography to video and film. Moreover the internet along with its digital transmission of images has deeply affected our world (from culture to everyday life) leading to a postmodern preference for performativity over the more traditional and linear forms of narrativity. As a consequence individual borders get redefined by the skin itself which (dissected through instant vision) turns into a ductile material of mutation and hybridation in the service of identity. My critical assumptions are taken from the most relevant changes occurred in philosophy during the last two decades as a result of the contributions by Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze who developed a cross-disciplinary and comparative approach to interpret the crisis of modernity. They have profoundly influenced feminist studies so that the category of gender has been reassessed in contrast with sex (as a biological connotation) and in relation to history, culture, society. The ideal starting point of my research is the year 1990. I chose it as the approximate historical moment when the intersection of race, class and gender were placed at the forefront of international artistic production concerned with identity, diversity and globalization. Such issues had been explored throughout the 1970s but it was only from the mid-1980s onward that they began to be articulated more consistently. Published in 1990, the book "Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity" by Judith Butler marked an important breakthrough by linking gender to performance as well as investigating the intricate connections between theory and practice, embodiment and representation. It inspired subsequent research in a variety of disciplines, art history included. In the same year Teresa de Lauretis launched the definition of queer theory to challenge the academic perspective in gay and lesbian studies. In the meantime the rise of Third Wave Feminism in the US introduced a racially and sexually inclusive vision over the global situation in order to reflect on subjectivity, new technologies and popular culture in connection with gender representation. These conceptual tools have enabled prolific readings of contemporary cultural production whether fine arts or mass media. After discussing the appropriate framework of my project and taking into account the postmodern globalization of the visual, I have turned to photography to map gender representation both in art and in fashion. Therefore I have been creating an archive of images around specific topics. I decided to include fashion photography because in the 1990s this genre moved away from the paradigm of an idealized and classical beauty toward a new vernacular allied with lifestyles, art practices, pop and youth culture; as one might expect the dominant narrative modes in fashion photography are now mainly influenced by cinema and snapshot. These strategies originate story lines and interrupted narratives using models’ performance to convey a particular imagery where identity issues emerge as an essential part of fashion spectacle. Focusing on the intersections of gender identities with socially and culturally produced identities, my approach intends to underline how the fashion world has turned to current trends in art photography and in some case turned to the artists themselves. The growing fluidity of the categories that distinguish art from fashion photography represents a particularly fruitful moment of visual exchange. Varying over time the dialogue between these two fields has always been vital; nowadays it can be studied as a result of this close relationship between contemporary art world and consumer culture. Due to the saturation of postmodern imagery the feedback between art and fashion has become much more immediate and then increasingly significant for anyone who wants to investigate the construction of gender identity through performance. In addition to that a lot of magazines founded in the 1990s bridged the worlds of art and fashion because some of their designers and even editors were art-school graduates encouraging innovation. The inclusion of art within such magazines aimed at validating them as a form of art in themselves supporting a dynamic intersection for music, fashion, design and youth culture: an intersection that also contributed to create and spread different gender stereotypes. This general interest in fashion produced many exhibitions of and about fashion itself at major international venues such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Since then this celebrated success of fashion has been regarded as a typical element of postmodern culture. Owing to that I have also based my analysis on some important exhibitions dealing with gender performance like "Féminin-Masculin" at the Centre Pompidou of Paris (1995), "Rrose is a Rrose is a Rrose. Gender performance in photography" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of New York (1997), "Global Feminisms" at the Brooklyn Museum (2007), "Female Trouble" at the Pinakothek der Moderne in München together with the workshops dedicated to "Performance: gender and identity" in June 2005 at the Tate Modern of London. Since 2003 in Italy we have had Gender Bender - an international festival held annually in Bologna - to explore the gender imagery stemming from contemporary culture. In few days this festival offers a series of events ranging from visual arts, performance, cinema, literature to conferences and music. Being aware that any method of research is neither race nor gender neutral I have traced these critical paths to question gender identity in a multicultural perspective taking account of the political implications too. In fact, if visibility may be equated with exposure, we can also read these images as points of intersection of visibility with social power. Since gender assignations rely so heavily on the visual, the postmodern dismantling of gender certainty through performance has wide-ranging effects that need to be analyzed. In some sense this practice can even contest the dominance of visual within postmodernism. My visual map in contemporary art and fashion photography includes artists like Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Hellen van Meene, Rineke Dijkstra, Ed Templeton, Ryan McGinley, Anne Daems, Miwa Yanagi, Tracey Moffat, Catherine Opie, Tomoko Sawada, Vanessa Beecroft, Yasumasa Morimura, Collier Schorr among others.

Arte e commercio dell'arte. Le origini delle collezioni della cassa di risparmio in Bologna e il fondo di incisioni carraccesche della raccolta Casati

La ricerca ha mirato a ricostruire storicamente quali furono le motivazioni che, tra la fine del XIX e gli inizi del XX secolo, portarono gli amministratori della Cassa Risparmio in Bologna a progettare la creazione di un Museo d’arte e di Storia della città, delineandone quelli che furono i principali responsabili e protagonisti. Dall’analisi dei documenti conservati presso l’Archivio della Cassa di Risparmio è emerso uno studio approfondito dei protagonisti della politica artistica e culturale dell’Istituto, oltre che dei legami e delle relazioni intessute con le principali istituzioni cittadine. Lo studio si è progressivamente focalizzato su un particolare momento della storia di Bologna, quando, in seguito all’approvazione del Piano Regolatore del 1889, la città fu per oltre un trentennio sottoposta a radicali trasformazioni urbanistiche che ne cambiarono completamente l’aspetto. Tra i personaggi finora ignoti di questa storia è emerso il nome dell’ingegnere Giambattista Comelli, consigliere e vice segretario della banca alla fine del XIX secolo, che per primo, nel 1896, avanzò la proposta di creare un museo dell’Istituto. A differenza di quanto ritenuto sino ad oggi, questo avrebbe dovuto avere, nelle intenzioni originarie, esclusivamente funzione di riunire e mostrare oggetti e documenti inerenti la nascita e lo sviluppo della Cassa di Risparmio. Un museo, dunque, che ne celebrasse l’attività, mostrando alla città come la banca avesse saputo rispondere prontamente e efficacemente, anche nei momenti più critici, alle esigenze dei bolognesi. Personaggio oggi dimenticato, Comelli fu in realtà figura piuttosto nota in ambito cittadino, inserita nei principali sodalizi culturali dell’epoca, tra cui la Regia Deputazione di Storia Patria e il Comitato per Bologna Storico Artistica, assieme a quei Rubbiani, Cavazza e Zucchini, che tanta influenza ebbero, come vedremo in seguito, sugli orientamenti Si dovettero tuttavia aspettare almeno due decenni, affinché l’idea originaria di fondare un Museo della Cassa di Risparmio si evolvesse in un senso più complesso e programmatico. Le ricerche hanno infatti evidenziato che le Raccolte d’Arte della Cassa di Risparmio non avrebbero acquistato l’importanza e la consistenza che oggi ci è dato constatare senza l’intervento decisivo di un personaggio noto fino ad oggi soltanto per i suoi indubbi meriti artistici: Alfredo Baruffi. Impiegato come ragioniere della Cassa fin dai diciotto anni, il Baruffi divenne, una volta pensionato, il “conservatore” delle Collezioni della Cassa di Risparmio. Fu lui a imprimere un nuovo corso all’originaria idea di Comelli, investendo tutte le proprie energie nella raccolta di dipinti, disegni, incisioni, libri, incunaboli, autografi, fotografie e oggetti d’uso quotidiano, col proposito di creare un museo che raccontasse la storia di Bologna e delle sue ultime grandi trasformazioni urbanistiche. Attraverso l’attenta analisi dei documenti cartacei e il raffronto con le opere in collezione è stato quindi possibile ricostruire passo dopo passo la nascita di un progetto culturale di ampia portata. La formazione della raccolta fu fortemente influenzata dalle teorie neomedievaliste di Alfonso Rubbiani, oltre che dalla volontà di salvaguardare, almeno a livello documentario, la memoria storica della Bologna medievale che in quegli anni stava per essere irrimediabilmente cancellata. Le scelte che orientarono la raccolta dei materiali, recentemente confluiti per la maggior parte nelle Collezioni della Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, acquistano, con questo studio una nuova valenza grazie alla scoperta degli stretti rapporti che Baruffi intrattenne coi principali rappresentanti della cerchia rubbianesca, tra cui Francesco Cavazza, Guido Zucchini e Albano Sorbelli. Con essi Baruffi partecipò infatti a numerosi sodalizi e iniziative quali il Comitato per Bologna Storico Artistica, la “Mostra Bologna che fu” e la società Francesco Francia, che segnarono profondamente l’ambiente culturale cittadino. La portata e la qualità delle scelte condotte da Baruffi nell’acquisto e raccolta dei materiali si rivela ancora oggi, a distanza di quasi un secolo, attenta e mirata per il ruolo documentario che le Raccolte avevano e hanno assunto quali preziose e spesso uniche testimonianze del recente passato cittadino. Esaminata tutta la documentazione inerente la nascita delle Raccolte, la ricerca si è ha successivamente concentrata sulla vicenda di acquisto del fondo delle incisioni carraccesche della collezione Casati. La prima parte del lavoro è consistita nel repertoriare e trascrivere tutti i documenti relativi alla transazione d’acquisto, avvenuta nel 1937, vicenda che per la sua complessità impegnò per molti mesi, in un fitto carteggio, Baruffi, la direzione della Cassa e l’antiquario milanese Cesare Fasella. Il raffronto tra documenti d’archivio, inventari e materiale grafico ha permesso di ricostituire, seppur con qualche margine di incertezza, l’intera collezione Casati, individuando quasi 700 incisioni e 22 dei 23 disegni che la componevano. L’ultima fase di studio ha visto l’inventariazione e la catalogazione delle 700 incisioni. Il catalogo è stato suddiviso per autori, partendo dalle incisioni attribuite con certezza ad Agostino e ai suoi copisti, per poi passare ad Annibale e a Ludovico e ai loro copisti. Le incisioni studiate si sono rivelate tutte di grande qualità. Alcuni esemplari sono inoltre particolarmente significativi dal punto di vista storico-critico, perché mai citati nei tre principali e più recenti repertori di stampe carraccesche. Lo studio si conclude con l’individuazione di una stretta correlazione tra il pensiero e della pratica operatività in qualità di archivista, museografo e opinionista, di un altrettanto decisivo protagonista della ricerca, lo storico dell’arte Corrado Ricci, la cui influenza esercitata nell’ambiente culturale bolognese di quegli anni è già sottolineata nel primo capitolo. La conclusione approfondisce i possibili raporti e legami tra Baruffi e Corrado Ricci i cui interventi attorno alla questione della tutela e della salvaguardia del patrimonio storico, artistico, e paesaggistico italiano furono fondamentali per la nascita di una coscienza artistica e ambientale comune e per il conseguente sviluppo di leggi ad hoc. Numerose furono infatti le occasioni d’incontro tra Baruffi e Ricci. Qesti fu socio onorario del Comitato per Bologna Storico Artistica, nonché, quando era già Direttore Generale delle Belle Arti, presidente della storica mostra “Bologna che fu”. Sia Ricci che Baruffi fecero inoltre parte di quelle iniziative volte alla difesa e alla valorizzazione del paesaggio naturale, inteso anche in un ottica di promozione turistica, che videro la nascita proprio in Emilia Romagna: nel 1889 nasce l’Associazione Pro Montibus et silvis, del 1906 è l’Associazione nazionale per i paesaggi e monumenti pittoreschi, del 1912 è la Lega Nazionale per la protezione dei monumenti naturali. Queste iniziative si concretizzarono con la fondazione a Milano nel 1913 del Comitato Nazionale per la difesa del paesaggio e i monumenti italici, costituitosi presso la sede del Touring Club Italiano. Quelle occasioni d’incontro, come pure gli scritti di Ricci, trovarono certamente un terreno fertile in Baruffi conservatore, che nella formazione delle Collezioni, come pure nelle sua attività di “promotore culturale”, ci appare oggi guidato dalle teorie e dall’esempio pratico dei due numi tutelari: Alfonso Rubbiani e Corrado Ricci. La ricerca di documentazione all’interno di archivi e biblioteche cittadine, ha infine rivelato che il ruolo svolto da Baruffi come “operatore culturale” non fu quello di semplice sodale, ma di vero protagonista della scena bolognese. Soprattutto a partire dal secondo decennio del Novecento, quando fors’anche a seguito della morte del “maestro” Rubbiani, egli divenne uno tra i personaggi più impegnati in iniziative di tutela e promozione del patrimonio artistico cittadino, antico e moderno che fosse, intese a condizionare la progettualità politica e culturale della città. In tale contesto si può ben arguire il ruolo che avrebbero assunto le Collezioni storico artistiche numismatiche, popolaresche, della Cassa di Risparmio, cui Baruffi dedicò tutta la sua carriera successiva.

Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS): An evaluation of success factors in the agricultural sector. The case of Italy's Emilia Romagna region.

Different tools have been used to set up and adopt the model for the fulfillment of the objective of this research. 1. The Model The base model that has been used is the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) adapted with the aim to perform a Benefit Cost Analysis. The AHP developed by Thomas Saaty is a multicriteria decision - making technique which decomposes a complex problem into a hierarchy. It is used to derive ratio scales from both discreet and continuous paired comparisons in multilevel hierarchic structures. These comparisons may be taken from actual measurements or from a fundamental scale that reflects the relative strength of preferences and feelings. 2. Tools and methods 2.1. The Expert Choice Software The software Expert Choice is a tool that allows each operator to easily implement the AHP model in every stage of the problem. 2.2. Personal Interviews to the farms For this research, the farms of the region Emilia Romagna certified EMAS have been detected. Information has been given by EMAS center in Wien. Personal interviews have been carried out to each farm in order to have a complete and realistic judgment of each criteria of the hierarchy. 2.3. Questionnaire A supporting questionnaire has also been delivered and used for the interviews . 3. Elaboration of the data After data collection, the data elaboration has taken place. The software support Expert Choice has been used . 4. Results of the Analysis The result of the figures above (vedere altro documento) gives a series of numbers which are fractions of the unit. This has to be interpreted as the relative contribution of each element to the fulfillment of the relative objective. So calculating the Benefits/costs ratio for each alternative the following will be obtained: Alternative One: Implement EMAS Benefits ratio: 0, 877 Costs ratio: 0, 815 Benfit/Cost ratio: 0,877/0,815=1,08 Alternative Two: Not Implement EMAS Benefits ratio: 0,123 Costs ration: 0,185 Benefit/Cost ratio: 0,123/0,185=0,66 As stated above, the alternative with the highest ratio will be the best solution for the organization. This means that the research carried out and the model implemented suggests that EMAS adoption in the agricultural sector is the best alternative. It has to be noted that the ratio is 1,08 which is a relatively low positive value. This shows the fragility of this conclusion and suggests a careful exam of the benefits and costs for each farm before adopting the scheme. On the other part, the result needs to be taken in consideration by the policy makers in order to enhance their intervention regarding the scheme adoption on the agricultural sector. According to the AHP elaboration of judgments we have the following main considerations on Benefits: - Legal compliance seems to be the most important benefit for the agricultural sector since its rank is 0,471 - The next two most important benefits are Improved internal organization (ranking 0,230) followed by Competitive advantage (ranking 0, 221) mostly due to the sub-element Improved image (ranking 0,743) Finally, even though Incentives are not ranked among the most important elements, the financial ones seem to have been decisive on the decision making process. According to the AHP elaboration of judgments we have the following main considerations on Costs: - External costs seem to be largely more important than the internal ones (ranking 0, 857 over 0,143) suggesting that Emas costs over consultancy and verification remain the biggest obstacle. - The implementation of the EMS is the most challenging element regarding the internal costs (ranking 0,750).

La musa bambina. 1911-2011: un secolo di letteratura mitologica per ragazzi in Italia tra storia, educazione e narrazione

Questa ricerca mostra l’evoluzione della letteratura mitologica per ragazzi in Italia. Il primo libro italiano di mitologia per bambini è stato pubblicato nel 1911 (lo stesso anno di un’importante e violenta guerra coloniale tra l’Italia e la Libia): la scrittrice italiana Laura Orvieto pubblicò allora “Storie della storia del mondo”, in cui riunì antichi racconti greci per giovani lettori. Queste storie erano ispirate al libro mitologico per bambini “Il libro delle meraviglie” di Hawthorne (titolo originale “A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys”). In seguito molti scrittori italiani scrissero libri mitologici per giovani lettori: serie importanti di libri di mitologia per bambini furono pubblicate durante il regime mussoliniano – talvolta per diffondere l’ideologia fascista della superiorità romana. Durante questo periodo, i libri mitologici spesso mostravano uno stile letterario solenne. Dopo la seconda guerra mondiale, la letteratura mitologica per bambini cambiò lentamente prospettiva: gli scrittori italiani cominciarono ad usare il mito per parlare di problemi sociali (p.e. Gianni Rodari descriveva re Mida come un capitalista) e per spiegare le diverse condizioni umane (p.e. Beatrice Masini fa riferimento alle dee e alle eroine greche per descrivere la condizione femminile). La ricerca analizza anche la relazione tra mito e scuola in Italia: i racconti mitologici hanno sempre fatto parte dei programmi scolastici italiani per bambini dagli 8 agli 11 anni. Le riforme scolastiche – deliberate negli anni ’20 e ’40 – fissarono pratiche didattiche sui miti ancora oggi in uso. I racconti mitologici erano soprattutto un supporto per gli studi storici e letterari. Tuttavia, negli ultimi decenni, i miti sono divenuti un importante aiuto per gli insegnamenti scientifici e artistici.

Calibrazione di modelli idrologici con algoritmi multiobiettivo

Traditional procedures for rainfall-runoff model calibration are generally based on the fit of the individual values of simulated and observed hydrographs. It is used here an alternative option that is carried out by matching, in the optimisation process, a set of statistics of the river flow. Such approach has the additional, significant advantage to allow also a straightforward regional calibration of the model parameters, based on the regionalisation of the selected statistics. The minimisation of the set of objective functions is carried out by using the AMALGAM algorithm, leading to the identification of behavioural parameter sets. The procedure is applied to a set of river basins located in central Italy: the basins are treated alternatively as gauged and ungauged and, as a term of comparison, the results obtained with a traditional time-domain calibration is also presented. The results show that a suitable choice of the statistics to be optimised leads to interesting results in real world case studies as far as the reproduction of the different flow regimes is concerned.

Studio di metodi di preparazione e caratterizzazione di nanostrutture per la funzionalizzazione di materiali ceramici

This thesis was carried out in the context of a co-tutoring program between Centro Ceramico Bologna (Italy) and Instituto di Tecnologia Ceramica, Castellón de la Plana (Spain). The subject of the thesis is the synthesis of silver nanoparticles and at their likely decorative application in the productive process of porcelain ceramic tiles. Silver nanoparticles were chosen as a case study, because metal nanoparticles are thermally stable, and they have non-linear optical properties when nano-structured, and therefore they develop saturated colours. The nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical reduction in aqueous solution, a method chosen because of its reduced working steps and energy costs. Besides such a synthesis method uses non-expensive and non-toxic raw material. By adopting this synthesis technique, it was also possible to control the dimension and the final shape of the nanoparticles. Several syntheses were carried out during the research work, modifying the molecular weight of the reducing agent and/or the firing temperature, in order to evaluate the influence such parameters have on the Ag-nanoparticles formation. The syntheses were monitored with the use of UV-Vis spectroscopy and the average dimension as well as the morphology of the nanoparticles was analysed by SEM. From the spectroscopic data obtained from each synthesis, a kinetic study was completed, relating the progress of the reaction to the two variables (ie temperature and molecular weight of the reducing agent). The aim was finding equations that allow the establishing of a relationship between the operating conditions during the synthesis and the characteristics of the final product. The next step was finding the best method of synthesis for the decorative application. For such a purpose the amount of nanoparticles, their average particle size, the shape and the agglomeration are considered. An aqueous suspension containing the nanoparticles is then sprayed over the fired ceramic tiles and they are subsequently thermally treated in conditions similar to the industrial one. The colorimetric parameters of the obtained ceramic tiles were studied and the method proved successful, giving the ceramic tiles stable and intense colours.

Detailed study of the seismotectonic setting in the Lucanian Apennines and surrounding areas (Southern Italy)

In this research work I analyzed the instrumental seismicity of Southern Italy in the area including the Lucanian Apennines and Bradano foredeep, making use of the most recent seismological database available so far. I examined the seismicity occurred during the period between 2001 and 2006, considering 514 events with magnitudes M ≥ 2.0. In the first part of the work, P- and S-wave arrival times, recorded by the Italian National Seismic Network (RSNC) operated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), were re-picked along with those of the SAPTEX temporary array (2001–2004). For some events located in the Upper Val d'Agri, I also used data from the Eni-Agip oil company seismic network. I computed the VP/VS ratio obtaining a value of 1.83 and I carried out an analysis for the one-dimensional (1D) velocity model that approximates the seismic structure of the study area. After this preliminary analysis, making use of the records obtained in the SeSCAL experiment, I incremented the database by handpicking new arrival times. My final dataset consists of 15,666 P- and 9228 S-arrival times associated to 1047 earthquakes with magnitude ML ≥ 1.5. I computed 162 fault-plane solutions and composite focal mechanisms for closely located events. I investigated stress field orientation inverting focal mechanism belonging to the Lucanian Apennine and the Pollino Range, both areas characterized by more concentrated background seismicity. Moreover, I applied the double difference technique (DD) to improve the earthquake locations. Considering these results and different datasets available in the literature, I carried out a detailed analysis of single sub-areas and of a swarm (November 2008) recorded by SeSCAL array. The relocated seismicity appears more concentrated within the upper crust and it is mostly clustered along the Lucanian Apennine chain. In particular, two well-defined clusters were located in the Potentino and in the Abriola-Pietrapertosa sector (central Lucanian region). Their hypocentral depths are slightly deeper than those observed beneath the chain. I suggest that these two seismic features are representative of the transition from the inner portion of the chain with NE-SW extension to the external margin characterized by dextral strike-slip kinematics. In the easternmost part of the study area, below the Bradano foredeep and the Apulia foreland, the seismicity is generally deeper and more scattered and is associated to the Murge uplift and to the small structures present in the area. I also observed a small structure NE-SW oriented in the Abriola-Pietrapertosa area (activated with a swarm in November 2008) that could be considered to act as a barrier to the propagation of a potential rupture of an active NW-SE striking faults system. Focal mechanisms computed in this study are in large part normal and strike-slip solutions and their tensional axes (T-axes) have a generalized NE-SW orientation. Thanks to denser coverage of seismic stations and the detailed analysis, this study is a further contribution to the comprehension of the seismogenesis and state of stress of the Southern Apennines region, giving important contributions to seismotectonic zoning and seismic hazard assessment.

Finite element models of coseismic deformation due to the 2009 L'Aquila (Italy) and 2008 Wenchuan(China) earthquakes

The topic of my Ph.D. thesis is the finite element modeling of coseismic deformation imaged by DInSAR and GPS data. I developed a method to calculate synthetic Green functions with finite element models (FEMs) and then use linear inversion methods to determine the slip distribution on the fault plane. The method is applied to the 2009 L’Aquila Earthquake (Italy) and to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (China). I focus on the influence of rheological features of the earth's crust by implementing seismic tomographic data and the influence of topography by implementing Digital Elevation Models (DEM) layers on the FEMs. Results for the L’Aquila earthquake highlight the non-negligible influence of the medium structure: homogeneous and heterogeneous models show discrepancies up to 20% in the fault slip distribution values. Furthermore, in the heterogeneous models a new area of slip appears above the hypocenter. Regarding the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the very steep topographic relief of Longmen Shan Range is implemented in my FE model. A large number of DEM layers corresponding to East China is used to achieve the complete coverage of the FE model. My objective was to explore the influence of the topography on the retrieved coseismic slip distribution. The inversion results reveals significant differences between the flat and topographic model. Thus, the flat models frequently adopted are inappropriate to represent the earth surface topographic features and especially in the case of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.

Magma injections and destabilization of basaltic volcanoes: a numerical study. Application to La Reunion (Indian ocean, France) and Stromboli (Tyrrhenian sea, Italy)

Most basaltic volcanoes are affected by recurrent lateral instabilities during their evolution. Numerous factors have been shown to be involved in the process of flank destabilization occurring over long periods of time or by instantaneous failures. However, the role of these factors on the mechanical behaviour and stability of volcanic edifices is poorly-constrained as lateral failure usually results from the combined effects of several parameters. Our study focuses on the morphological and structural comparison of two end-member basaltic systems, La Reunion (Indian ocean, France) and Stromboli (southern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy). We showed that despite major differences on their volumes and geodynamic settings, both systems present some similarities as they are characterized by an intense intrusive activity along well-developed rift zones and recurrent phenomena of flank collapse during their evolution. Among the factors of instability, the examples of la Reunion and Stromboli evidence the major contribution of intrusive complexes to volcano growth and destruction as attested by field observations and the monitoring of these active volcanoes. Classical models consider the relationship between vertical intrusions of magma and flank movements along a preexisting sliding surface. A set of published and new field data from Piton des Neiges volcano (La Reunion) allowed us to recognize the role of subhorizontal intrusions in the process of flank instability and to characterize the geometry of both subvertical and subhorizontal intrusions within basaltic edifices. This study compares the results of numerical modelling of the displacements associated with high-angle and low-angle intrusions within basaltic volcanoes. We use a Mixed Boundary Element Method to investigate the mechanical response of an edifice to the injection of magmatic intrusions in different stress fields. Our results indicate that the anisotropy of the stress field favours the slip along the intrusions due to cointrusive shear stress, generating flank-scale displacements of the edifice, especially in the case of subhorizontal intrusions, capable of triggering large-scale flank collapses on basaltic volcanoes. Applications of our theoretical results to real cases of flank displacements on basaltic volcanoes (such as the 2007 eruptive crisis at La Reunion and Stromboli) revealed that the previous model of subvertical intrusions-related collapse is a likely mechanism affecting small-scale steeply-sloping basaltic volcanoes like Stromboli. Furthermore, our field study combined to modelling results confirms the importance of shallow-dipping intrusions in the morpho-structural evolution of large gently-sloping basaltic volcanoes like Piton de la Fournaise, Etna and Kilauea, with particular regards to flank instability, which can cause catastrophic tsunamis.

Oltre il limite invalicabile. Procedure, piani, progetti sostenibili per le aree militari dismissibili di Piacenza

The research project concerns the restoration of military real estate, starting from the procedures in progress in Italy related to dismission, with particular emphasis for Piacenza and the case study of Caserme Bixio and Nicolai (Comparto Nord/San Sisto-Cittadella). The work is aimed at defining the relationship between urban planning and rehabilitation of dismissed military areas, in order to create a synergic effort capable to face the transformation of these sites and their integration into the urban tissue. The results obtained from the various recordings performed in Italy and in USA during the preparation of this thesis may help to find a new possible scenario for the Comparto Nord and its historic buildings.

La nutrizione-idratazione artificiale è terapia? All'interfaccia tra scienza, diritto e bioetica, il fine vita in Italia, secondo una prospettiva di comunicazione della scienza post-accademica e Science&Technologies Studies (STS)

The question “artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) is therapy or not?” is one of the key point of end-of-life issues in Italy, since it was (and it is also nowadays) a strategic and crucial point of the Italian Bioethics discussion about the last phases of human life: determining if ANH is therapy implies the possibility of being included in the list of treatments that could be mentioned for refusal within the living will document. But who is entitled to decide and judge if ANH is a therapy or not? Scientists? The Legislator? Judges? Patients? This issue at first sight seems just a matter of science, but at stake there is more than a scientific definition. According to several scholars, we are in the era of post-academic Science, in which Science broaden discussion, production, negotation and decision to other social groups that are not just the scientific communities. In this process, called co-production, on one hand scientific knowledge derives from the interaction between scientists and society at large. On the other hand, science is functional to co-production of social order. The continuous negotation on which science has to be used in social decisions is just the evidence of the mirroring negotation for different way to structure and interpret society. Thus, in the interaction between Science and Law, deciding what kind of Science could be suitable for a specific kind of Law, envisages a well defined idea of society behind this choice. I have analysed both the legislative path (still in progress) in the living will act production in Italy and Eluana Englaro’s judicial case (that somehow collapsed in the living will act negotiation), using official documents (hearings, texts of the official conference, committees comments and ruling texts) and interviewing key actors in the two processes from the science communication point of view (who talks in the name of science? Who defines what is a therapy? And how do they do?), finding support on the theoretical framework of the Science&Technologies Studies (S&TS).

Spectral-Element and Adjoint 3D Full-Wave Tomography for the Lithosphere of Central Italy

The primary objective of this thesis is to obtain a better understanding of the 3D velocity structure of the lithosphere in central Italy. To this end, I adopted the Spectral-Element Method to perform accurate numerical simulations of the complex wavefields generated by the 2009 Mw 6.3 L’Aquila event and by its foreshocks and aftershocks together with some additional events within our target region. For the mainshock, the source was represented by a finite fault and different models for central Italy, both 1D and 3D, were tested. Surface topography, attenuation and Moho discontinuity were also accounted for. Three-component synthetic waveforms were compared to the corresponding recorded data. The results of these analyses show that 3D models, including all the known structural heterogeneities in the region, are essential to accurately reproduce waveform propagation. They allow to capture features of the seismograms, mainly related to topography or to low wavespeed areas, and, combined with a finite fault model, result into a favorable match between data and synthetics for frequencies up to ~0.5 Hz. We also obtained peak ground velocity maps, that provide valuable information for seismic hazard assessment. The remaining differences between data and synthetics led us to take advantage of SEM combined with an adjoint method to iteratively improve the available 3D structure model for central Italy. A total of 63 events and 52 stations in the region were considered. We performed five iterations of the tomographic inversion, by calculating the misfit function gradient - necessary for the model update - from adjoint sensitivity kernels, constructed using only two simulations for each event. Our last updated model features a reduced traveltime misfit function and improved agreement between data and synthetics, although further iterations, as well as refined source solutions, are necessary to obtain a new reference 3D model for central Italy tomography.