Suchergebnisse

"The idea behind this volume is to offer a new theoretical approach to the analysis of the law/revenge binary. The volume attempts to dismantle the common idea of revenge as lacking in any legal or moral content or rationality. In fact, the book depicts a complex system of justice, that we name 'vindicatory,' wherein vendetta is performed as authorized revenge". - Preface

This volume offers a new theoretical approach to the analysis of the law/revenge binary, and attempts to dismantle the common idea of revenge as lacking any legal, moral or rational dimension. In contrast, the book puts forward a model of a complex system of justice—which it terms 'vindicatory'—wherein vendetta constitutes an authorized action, the core of which does not (just) lie in vengeance but also in settlement procedures for peace—or 'composition.' The first part of the book ("Vindicatory Justice: Conceptual Analyses and Forerunners") seeks to identify the nature of vindicatory justice and to shed light on the structure of so-called vindicatory systems. In turn, the second part ("Mapping Vindicatory Justice") illustrates, using examples gathered from a range of sociolegal contexts, the dynamic relationship between composition and authorized revenge in vindicatory systems. Taken as a whole, the volume shows that applying a longue durée historical perspective to the study of revenge systems allows us to clearly recognize composition and authorized revenge as features of the same legal system, even though one of them may seem predominant (or more eye-catching) than the other in certain cultural settings.

Large scientific attention has been devoted to the role of cultural and artistic practices in the society, the impact they can have on social groups, their function to help, empower, advocate for, transform and change both minority groups and the mainstream. While endeavoring to have such practices recognized as socially impactful, scholars warn against considering everything as being socially engaged. The core of this debate lies in the tension between the concepts of "art for art's sake" and "art for non-artistic outcomes". This tension is evident in different instances that we will highlight and discuss in this paper. It is the case of artistic performances or art pieces that are considered to be socially engaged and meet the criteria of different forms of social action, but were not intended to be such by the artist. Similarly, those practitioners (eg : professional artists, art teachers, facilitators, or trainers) who provide the structural and relational means and conditions for creative processes to take place, are also often identified as socially engaged. The assignation of a social intention is even more common in the case of artists and creators who are members of minority groups or have strong ties with a specific local community and geographic locality. As such, these artists are often assumed to be activists in support of a cause for their group and/or place. In all these instances, cultural and artistic practices are considered as political acts. These categorizations warrant further investigation. In this paper we will explore the utility of the theoretical underpinnings/definitions of what constitutes social action through the arts when it comes to accidental activists. We propose this category to identify art practitioners who did not intend for their work to have a specific social impact and political function. We will employ examples of music artists with a migrant background or from specific urban settings in order to better understand the role of artistic intention in the categorization of socio-political activism. ; Peer reviewed

Neapolitan neomelodica music is popular among listeners in Southern Italy and abroad. Its contents and aesthetic qualities are depicted as a sign of cultural degradation or as an expression of the criminal culture characterising, as the cliché would have it, Naples' marginalised underclass. The dominant paradigm in journalistic and criminological analyses describes its scene as mostly unprofessional and largely embedded in a mafia-run entertainment circuit through which Camorra members reinforce their popular consensus and economic domination over local communities. The aim of this article is to deconstruct this dominant view by using an ethnographic approach to analyse several case studies of neomelodica music. The pre-existing literature mostly criticises moral and cultural aspects of the phenomenon, while the public debate tends to misinterpretate and underestimate the real dimensions of neomelodica music as a professionally organised and structured cultural business. The unrecognised status of neomelodica music complicates a more articulated view of its political-economic modes of functioning and on the role played by dominant criminal actors in the field. This article concludes that, rather than being a product of an endogenous degenerate local political economy, the informal and illicit aspects of the neomelodica business can be read as the consequence of its marginalisation in the Italian cultural landscape and entertainment industry.The aim of this article is to deconstruct this dominant view by using an ethnographic approach to analyse several case studies of neomelodica music. The pre-existing literature mostly criticises moral and cultural aspects of the phenomenon, while the public debate tends to misinterpretate and underestimate the real dimensions of neomelodica music as a professionally organised and structured cultural business. The unrecognised status of neomelodica music complicates a more articulated view of its political-economic modes of functioning and on the role played by dominant criminal actors in the field. This article concludes that, rather than being a product of an endogenous degenerate local political economy, the informal and illicit aspects of the neomelodica business can be read as the consequence of its marginalisation in the Italian cultural landscape and entertainment industry. ; Peer reviewed

El recorrido histórico del Partido Socialista en Argentina muestra algunos elementos comunes a las experiencias -y tensiones- que transitó la socialdemocracia en América Latina: cómo posicionarse frente a las experiencias populistas sin dejarse absorber por un republicanismo democrático genérico, que desdibuja todo perfil socialista. Eso lleva a repensar a quiénes les hablan los socialistas y a (re)construir conexiones con el mundo popular y de los movimientos sociales, así como con otras corrientes de la izquierda actual. (Nueva Soc/GIGA)

AbstractThe well‐known generalized assignment problem (GAP) involves the identification of a minimum‐cost assignment of tasks to agents when each agent is constrained by a resource in limited supply. The multi‐resource generalized assignment problem (MRGAP) is the generalization of the GAP in which there are a number of different potentially constraining resources associated with each agent. This paper explores heuristic procedures for the MRGAP. We first define a three‐phase heuristic which seeks to construct a feasible solution to MRGAP and then systematically attempts to improve the solution. We then propose a modification of the heuristic for the MRGAP defined previously by Gavish and Pirkul. The third procedure is a hybrid heuristic that combines the first two heuristics, thus capturing their relative strengths. We discuss extensive computational experience with the heuristics. The hybrid procedure is seen to be extremely effective in solving MRGAPs, generating feasible solutions to more than 99% of the test problems and consistently producing near‐optimal solutions. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 48: 468–483, 2001

Known as manna ashes, some local varieties of Fraxinus ornus L. and F. angustifolia Vahl (Oleaceae) are cultivated for extracting the manna, a product rich in mannose which is useful under both pharmaceutical and nutraceutical aspects. As wild plants in Sicily these ashes participate in diversifying evergreen and deciduous oak woods as well as other forest communities at the watercourse borders, together with several species of Salix, Populus and Ulmus, particularly in the hills. Cultivation of manna dates back to ancient times in Sicily and elsewhere and ash groves were increasingly spread up to the half of last century. Then, the culture had a progressive decline due to the abandonment of land and its gradual replacement by other crops. Most of the surface formerly occupied by ashes is now uncultivated and therefore also exposed to recurrent fires. As a consequence even the rich varietal heritage, documented by detailed monographs, went partially lost, although recently have not missed a revival of the local scientific community.In the face of the many thousands hectares occupied by these crops in the past, now residual plantations are confined in just a few hundred hectares in the territories of Castelbuono and Pollina (province of Palermo), in the northern side of the Madonie mountains. In this area the plant landscape had been strongly characterized by the ash groves, that besides acted an efficacious hydrogeological protection. At present, despite the progressive loss, the cultivation of manna ashes could still play an important role in the local economy. Therefore, in order to preserve all social, cultural and even biological values as well the landscape, it was proposed to establish a natural reserve of the manna ashes some decades ago; but that suggestion was later abandoned after the Madonie natural Park was estasblished. Nevertheless the Park has not, over the years, affected concretely the further abandonment of ash groves and the protection and conservation of the related landscape. Recently, the Sicilian Regional government has adopted some measures aimed at supporting farmers for replanting ash groves: these are active conservation initiatives for the produc- tion of manna. Here we find it useful to propose even passive measures such as reforestation like those implemented elsewhere in the province of Palermo with good results for the envi- ronment and landscape. Other initiatives, that could not be postponed, concern vocational training as well as research and conservation of ash varieties germplasm to be grown in specific arboretums such as those already implanted in the fields of the agricultural schools at Castelbuono (Palermo) and Mussomeli (Caltanissetta) and in the experimental plantations at Sparacia (Caltanissetta), SAF Department of the Palermo University.

Pipeline damage by dropped objects from crane activities is a significant hazard for offshore platform installations. In this paper a probabilistic methodology is utilized for the estimation of the pipeline impact and rupture frequencies; this information is obtained both for the overall pipeline section exposed to the hazard and for a number of critical locations along the pipeline route. The presented algorithm has been implemented in a computer program that allows the analysis of a large number of possible drop points and pipeline target point locations. This methodology may be used in common risk analysis studies for evaluating the risk for platform personnel from dropped objects; however, the proposed technique may also be useful for other applications where engineering judgment has so far been the main driving criterion. In particular, two sample cases have been analyzed. The first one is the problem of selecting the best approaching route to a platform. By analyzing different route alternatives, a reduction of the impact frequency and therefore of the risk for the platform personnel may be achieved. The second application deals with the selection of the location for a safety valve at the riser base. The analysis may give useful information, such as the highest impact frequency location and the rupture frequencies upstream and downstream of the valve as a function of the valve position; this information, together with the transported medium inventory upstream of the valve, may give the designer a documented and justifiable rationale for selecting the best location for the valve from a safety point of view.