Il testo si propone presentare i significati che il concetto di “hipster” dischiude nel contesto storico-sociale contemporaneo. Riferito a formazioni (sub)culturali e a stili di vita alternativi che si insediano in ambienti urbani specifici (quartieri hipster), ma al contempo veicolo di estetiche diffuse su scala globale, l’hipsterismo contemporaneo viene studiato qui per la prima volta con un approccio empirico, che si propone di andare al di là della comune accezione negativa del termine. Per questo sono stati pertanto interpellati i diretti interessati. Nella ricerca si indaga da un lato il rapporto fra i giovani hipster e l’etichetta che spesso li descrive (o scredita), usando il caso dell’hipsterismo per riflettere sul tema più generale del rifiuto delle etichette nei processi di identificazione e riconoscimento contemporanei, in un’atmosfera culturale dove la promozione del soggetto spesso è a rischio di derive individualistiche. Dall’altro mi sono proposto di esplorare i contenuti espressi nella cultura materiale, nelle pratiche sociali e nello stile di vita dei giovani hipster. In particolare, ho messo in relazione questo fenomeno socioculturale con il tema della crisi dell’Occidente contemporaneo: una crisi che è stata di natura economica ma anche culturale, e ho posto l’accento sulle risposte che, attraverso il citazionismo espressivo, le pratiche di riuso e la sensibilità al tema della sostenibilità valorizzano - non senza evidenti contraddizioni - atteggiamenti orientati alla sobrietà all’interno dei quartieri hipster. / The text aims to present the meaning that the concept of "hipster" has in a contemporary historical and social context. Referring to (sub) cultural formations and alternative lifestyles that settled in specific urban environments (hipster neighborhoods), but at the same time looking at widespread aesthetics, contemporary hipsterism is studied here for the first time with an empirical approach, which aims to go beyond the common negative meaning of the term. For this reason, there are interviews with actual hipsters. The research investigates on the one hand the relationship between young hipsters and the label that often describes them (or discredits them), using the case of hipsterism to reflect on the more general topic of refusing labels in contemporary identification and recognition processes, in a cultural atmosphere where the promotion of the subject is often at the risk of individualistic drifts. On the other hand, it explores material culture, social practices, and the lifestyles of young hipsters. In particular, I related this socio-cultural phenomenon to the theme of the crisis of the contemporary West: a crisis that was economic but also cultural. I underlined the responses that enhance, not without contradictions, attitudes oriented to sobriety within the hipster neighborhoods, through “expressive quotationism”, practices of reuse and sensitivity to the theme of sustainability.

Lo scopo della ricerca è stato comprendere il ruolo dei coordinatori nei Servizi Tutela Minori lombardi. Questi middle managers sono il primo riferimento organizzativo e metodologico per gli assistenti sociali, ma allo stesso tempo hanno una responsabilità nei confronti del top management e delle comunità rispetto al buon andamento di questi Servizi. Attualmente la conoscenza scientifica prodotta sul ruolo è scarsa e sembra che esso abbia preso forma prevalentemente nella pratica. Lo studio ha avuto una duplice finalità, sia descrittiva che esplorativa: la prima parte della ricerca ha infatti indagato le caratteristiche socio-demografiche, la qualifica e la carriera dei managers, mentre la seconda ha esplorato la loro opinione sul loro ruolo in termini di competenze richieste, bisogni e risorse. La ricerca ha previsto un'indagine preliminare sui Servizi Tutela Minori lombardi, un questionario on-line indirizzato a tutti i coordinatori attivi in Lombardia, nonchè interviste semistrutturate indirizzate ad un campione di questi managers (18). Due approcci teorici hanno fatto da cornice agli approfondimenti, ovvero gli studi culturali delle organizzazioni e del management (Alvesson e Berg, 1993; Mintzberg, 1980, 2010; Gagliardi e Monaci, 2011) e il Relational Social Work (Folgheraiter, 1998, 2011, 2017). L’integrazione tra queste teorie e i dati raccolti dai managers hanno permesso di delineare le caratteristiche specifiche che il ruolo di coordinatore tutela minori assume nel sistema di Child Protection lombardo e di far emergere la prospettiva dei coordinatori sul proprio lavoro. / The aim of this study was to understand better the role of middle managers in lombard Child Protection services. This managers are the first organizational and methodological reference for social workers, but at the same time they have a responsability towards top management (and communities) in terms of a good service trend. There isn’t so much knowledge about their work and it seems that they have built their role in practice. The study explored the current characterization of managers that are active in lombard Child Protection system and collected their opinions about the role. The study consisted in a preliminary investigation about Child Protection services in Lombardy After this first investigation, the first step was a survey on-line addressed to all the managers that actually works in Lombardy; the second step consisted in semistructured interviews addressed to a sample of these managers (18). The aim of the first part of the research was descriptive (socio-demographic characteristics, qualification and career of the managers) while that of the second part was exploratory (managers opinion about their role in terms of competences requested, needs and resources). The research has combined two theoretical approaches, cultural studies of organizations/management (Alvesson e Berg, 1993; Mintzberg, 1980, 2010; Gagliardi e Monaci, 2011) and Relational Social Work (Folgheraiter, 1998, 2011, 2017): the integration of them allowed the identification of specific characteristics of child protection middle managers and their point of view about their job.

Un des défis pour les futurs projets en physique basé sur les accélérateurs de particules est le besoin de faisceaux à hautes intensités. Les effets collectifs sont cependant une limitation majeure qui peuvent détériorer la qualité du faisceau ou limiter l'intensité maximale à cause des pertes. Le CERN SPS, qui est le dernier injecteur pour le LHC, n'est actuellement pas en mesure de délivrer les faisceaux requis pour les futurs projets à cause des instabilités longitudinales.Les nombreux équipements dans la machine (les cavités RF accélératrices, les aimants d'injection et d'extraction, les brides de vide, etc.) entrainent des variations dans la géométrie et les matériaux de la chambre dans laquelle le faisceau transite. Les interactions électromagnétiques internes au faisceau (charge d'espace) et du faisceau avec son environnement sont représentées par une impédance de couplage qui affectent le mouvement des particules et mènent à des instabilités pour des intensités élevées de faisceau. Par conséquent, les sources d'impédance critiques doivent être identifiées et des solutions évaluées. Pour avoir un modèle d'impédance fiable d'un accélérateur, les contributions de tous les équipements dans l'anneau doivent être évaluées à partir de simulations et de mesures électromagnétiques. Dans cette thèse, le faisceau lui-même est utilisé comme une sonde de l'impédance de la machine en mesurant le déplacement de la fréquence synchrotronique avec l'intensité et la longueur du paquet, ainsi que la modulation de longs paquets injectés avec la tension RF éteinte. Ces mesures sont comparées avec des simulations par macroparticules en utilisant le modèle d'impédance du SPS existant, et les déviations sont étudiées pour identifier les sources d'impédance manquantes pour raffiner le modèle.L'étape suivante consiste à reproduire en simulations les instabilités mesurées pour un paquet unique durant l'accélération. Grâce à l'amélioration du modèle d'impédance, une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes de l'instabilité est rendue possible pour les faisceaux de protons et d'ions. Finalement, le modèle pour les simulations étant digne de confiance, il est utilisé pour estimer les caractéristiques du faisceau après les améliorations prévues du SPS pour le projet High Luminosity-LHC au CERN. / One of the main challenges of future physics projects based on particle accelerators is the need for high intensity beams. However, collective effects are a major limitation which can deteriorate the beam quality or limit the maximum intensity due to losses. The CERN SPS, which is the last injector for the LHC, is currently unable to deliver the beams required for future projects due to longitudinal instabilities.The numerous devices in the machine (accelerating RF cavities, injection and extraction magnets, vacuum flanges, etc.) lead to variations in the geometry and material of the chamber through which the beam is travelling. The electromagnetic interaction within the beam (space charge) and of the beam with its environment are described by a coupling impedance which affects the motion of the particles and leads to instabilities for high beam intensities. Consequently, the critical impedance sources should be identified and solutions assessed. To have a reliable impedance model of an accelerator, the contributions of all the devices in the ring should be evaluated from electromagnetic simulations and measurements.In this thesis, the beam itself is used to probe the machine impedance by measuring the synchrotron frequency shift with intensity and bunch length, as well as the line density modulation of long bunches injected with the RF voltage switched off. These measurements are compared with macroparticle simulations using the existing SPS impedance model, and the deviations are studied to identify missing impedance sources and to refine the model.The next important step is to reproduce in simulations the measured single bunch instabilities during acceleration, in single and double RF system operation. Thanks to the improved impedance model, a better understanding of instability mechanisms is achieved for both proton and ion beams.Finally, as the simulation model was shown to be trustworthy, it is used to estimate the beam characteristics after the foreseen SPS upgrades the High Luminosity-LHC project at CERN.

Dagli anni '80 lo sviluppo del sistema agro-alimentare globale ha subito un processo di progressiva globalizzazione che ha interessato sia il complesso della produzione che i modelli di consumo. Questa tendenza ha innanzitutto portato a una crescente integrazione verticale dei produttori agricoli sui mercati globali. La loro azione è stata reciprocamente vincolata all'azione di altri attori specializzati operanti sui mercati di input e output. Allo stesso modo, le recenti trasformazioni dei comportamenti dei consumatori nei cosiddetti paesi occidentalizzati, hanno avuto un impatto su territoriali diversi da quelli che li hanno innescati, contribuendo così a rimodellare le modalità e le pratiche di produzione in quei complessi che entrano nel mercato al fine di soddisfare una nuova domanda agroalimentare diversificata. L'orientamento verso nuovi prodotti, come prodotti biologici, alimenti funzionali o prodotti "esotici" ricchi di proprietà nutrizionali, che fino a poco tempo fa appartenevano esclusivamente a nicchie di mercato specifiche, segna oggi il profilo dell'offerta sui grandi canali di distribuzione. L'evoluzione delle preferenze di consumo ha avuto, e continua ad avere, un'influenza decisiva nell'incorporare nuovi territori e gruppi di produttori nelle catene globali. Tuttavia questa integrazione non è esente da meccanismi deterritorializzazione del prodotto e rimodellamento del tessuto sociale agrario. La tesi, dopo aver descritto tale scenario in relazione al suo impatto generale sulle economie rurali latinoamericane, si concentra su un caso studio specifico riguardante l'evoluzione dell'economia contadina nell'Altiplano boliviano in seguito al boom internazionale della quinoa. Questa evoluzione viene analizzata alla luce dei cambiamenti nel sistema di accesso alla terra, nell'organizzazione del lavoro agricolo e nella sfera della sicurezza alimentare. Il contributo si basa su una ricerca empirica condotta in tre municiplaità rurali dell’altopiano meridionale boliviano attraverso una metodologia quali-quantitativa comprendente l'uso di interviste semi-strutturate, metodologie standardizzate specifiche per la valutazione del livello di sicurezza alimentare (FCS, ELCSA ) e la somministrazione di un questionario. I dati sono stati interpretati attraverso la lente di un complesso quadro teorico che coinvolge il pensiero marxista, la teoria Chayanoviana sull'economia contadina, l'istituzionalismo polanyiano e i recenti contributi della scuola di sociologia rurale di Wgeningen. Partendo dall'analisi del modo tradizionale in cui le comunità andine si sono organizzate storicamente per fornire alle famiglie contadine l'accesso sufficiente alla terra e al lavoro, la tesi segue presentando l'impatto sociale del quinoa-boom. Il lavoro evidenzia nuovi meccanismi di accaparramento e concentrazione della terra ed erosione dell'azione comunitaria, elementi i quali pongono l'economia contadina locale in un processo di erosione e differenziazione di fronte a emergenti conflitti sociali e vulnerabilità nell'ambito della sicurezza alimentare. / Since the 1980s the development of the global agro-food system has undergone a process of progressive globalization which has affected both complex of production and patterns of consumption. This trend has firstly resulted in a growing vertical integration of the agricultural producers on global markets. Their action has been mutually bound to the action of others specialized actors (e.g. input suppliers, intermediaries, marketers etc.) operating on the input and output markets. In the same way, the recent transformations of consumer behaviors, in the so-called westernized countries, have impacted on spatial and territorial contests different from the ones that have triggered them, thus contributing to reshape modes and practices of production in those complexes that enter the market in order to meet a new diversified agro-food demand. The orientation towards new products, such as organic products, functional foods, or “exotic” products rich in nutritional properties, that until recently belonged exclusively to specific market niches, marks today the profile of the supply on the large distribution channels. The evolution of the consumption preferences has had, and still continues to have, a decisive influence in incorporating new territories and groups of producers into the global value chain from which they had remained excluded during the previous Fordist period. Nonetheless, the integration into the global market has proceeded in connection to a process of commodification of the production cycle that, on the one hand, has detached the product from the territories of origin and (fetishization), on the other hand, has restructured the agrarian ground. This thesis after describing the above scenario in relation to its impact on the Latin American agrarian context, moves to focus on a specific case study regarding the evolution of the peasant economy in the Bolivian Altiplano sur under the international quinoa boom. This evolution is analyzed in the light of the changes in the land access system, agricultural labour organization and food security. The contribution is based on an empirical research carried out in three rural municipalities of the Bolivian Southern Highlands through a quali-quantitative methodology comprising the use of semi-structured interviews, specific standardized methodologies for the assessment of the food security level (FCS, ELCSA), and the administration of a questionnaire to a sample of local quinoa producers. Data have been interpreted through the lenses of a complex theoretical framework entailing the Marxist thought, the Chayanovian theorization on the peasant economy, the Polanyian institutionalism and the recent contributions of the Wgeningen Rural Sociology School. By starting from the analysis of the traditional way through which the Andean communities have historically organized themselves in order to provide the peasant households with the sufficient access to land and labour as to satisfy their reproduction needs, the thesis moves to present the social impact of the export boom. It shows new land-grabbing mechanisms, concentration of access to land and erosion of the community action which are now placing the local peasant economy in a pathway of erosion and differentiation in front of emerging social conflicts and vulnerabilities in the sphere of food security.

Studiens syfte var att få en fördjupad förståelse för hur högkänsliga personer upplever att personlighetsdraget påverkar olika relationer och sociala situationer i dagens sociala samhälle. Data samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio personer som definierar sig som högkänsliga. Informanternas svar analyserades sedan i en tematisk analys för att få fram en överblick över deras upplevelser. Resultatet indikerar att personlighetsdraget påverkar relationerna med andra på många olika sätt, bland annat genom högkänsligas förmåga att läsa av andra, deras djupa bearbetning och deras behov av att undvika överstimulering. Det framkom även att högkänsligas egenskaper inte alltid accepteras eller förstås av omgivningen. / The aim of this study was to get an immersed understanding of how highly sensitive people experience that the personality trait affects various relationships and social situations in today’s social society. Data were collected through semi structured interviews with nine people defining themselves as HSP. The answers from the informants were thereafter analyzed using thematic content analysis to get an overview of their experiences. The result indicates that the personality trait affects the relationships with others in various ways, for example by the ability of the highly sensitive to understand others, their deep processing and their need to avoid overstimulation. It also emerged that the characteristics of the highly sensitive people were not always accepted or understood by the surroundings.

The use of continuous improvement programs is a widespread practice present in many organizations throughout the world. CI-programs are mostly associated with Lean production and substantial focus in literature and research are on the applicable tools and methods. This focus has led to the lack of attention to the softer areas of CI such as implementation. The reason explaining this might be due to the difficulties of measuring success in these areas. In order to investigate production deviations within a company that uses CI a study was performed at the bus chassis assembly at Scania. The deviation handling process and all activities related to it is highly influenced by Scania’s Production System. The studies were conducted at an assembly area with observations and interviews taking place as well as an internal benchmarking performed at the engine assembly. The conclusion is that the area studied at Scania has the tools and methods needed (although with the need of adjustments) but the implementation part is lacking. This area will come to play a big part in taking SPS one step further. As a recommendation to the area studied in Scania a group of suggestions has been presented in this paper in order to improve the implementation of SPS. The managerial contribution of this paper is a group of important suggestions. The theoretical contribution of this paper can be seen as a case study that could create an increase insight in the complexity of this topic but also to increase the attention to the importance of it. / Ständiga förbättringar är ett världsomfattande fenomen som används inom flera organisationer. Oftast associerar man ständiga förbättringar med Lean och litteraturen kring ämnet beskriver för det mesta bara verktygen och metoderna som tillämpas. Detta focus har lett till att väldigt lite uppmärksamhet har riktats mot de mjukare delarna så som implementering. En orsak till detta kan vara svårigheten att mäta framgång inom området. För att undersöka avvikelser inom ett företag som arbetar med ständiga förbättringar så gjordes en studie på Scanias buss chassi montering. Avvikelsehanteringsprocessen påverkas väldigt mycket utav Scanias produktions system. Studier utfördes på ett monteringområde där man bland annat observerade, intervjuade samt utförde en benchmark på motormonteringen. Slutsatsen är att monteringsområdet där studien ägde rum på Scania har verktygen och metoderna som behövs (med behovet av mindre justeringar) men implementeringen har brister. Just implementeringen kommer spela en stor roll i att ta SPS ett steg längre. Som en rekommendation till monteringsområdet som undersöktes så har ett flertal förslag som kan förbättra SPS presenterats i denna rapport. Bidraget till lokala ledningen är ett antal viktiga förslag. Det teoretiska bidraget i denna rapport kan ses som en case studie som kan förbättra förståelsen för det komplexa ämnet samt att belysa det ytterligare och konstatera dess betydelse.

Nursing homes are complex healthcare settings that take care of older adults with sever cognitive and physical impairments. Given the conditions of the patients, nursing homes can be considered end-of-life contexts. There, the care work that aim to mitigate and treat the conditions of the patients it is the result of the collaboration between the care professionals and the relatives of the patients. Indeed, when the patients are very old adults in a end-of-life situation, the provision of care often involves a family caregiver as the main point of contact for the healthcare service. However, caring for institutionalized older adults is known to be a complex issue both for the families of the older adults and the care professionals. Over the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in this topic primarily due to a growing older population and, hence, a heightened need of research contributions in this area. Previous studies on caregiving for older adults living in nursing homes recognize the necessity to support professionals’ work practices to ameliorate their working conditions, and decrease the risk of burnout and job dissatisfaction, as well as to relieve the families of the patients from the burden of caring for their loved ones. Yet, the literature shows a lack of solutions in terms of technologies for this kind of environments. In this thesis we report an extensive study and analysis we performed within a network of six and nursing homes located in the northern Italy.We investigated the practice of caregiving within the nursing homes. In particular, we focused on the work practices of care professionals, and on the relational issues between the care professionals and the families of the patients. We conducted, first, an exploratory study to comprehend the nature of our research context. Afterwards, we carried out a series of participatory design sessions and validation workshops to elicit the requirements for the development of a new technology platform to support the collaboration between care professionals and relatives of older patients. The outcomes of this work shed new light on the opportunities of using ICT solutions to improve relations and information sharing among caregivers. Indeed, our findings state that the organizational and relational complexity of nursing homes emphasize how poor communication practices hinder the collaboration and the mutual understanding between the relatives of the patients and the care professional. As a result, we deliver a series of functional requirements for the development of a technology platform that aims to support relationships, communication, and coordination among care professionals, and between care professionals and families of the patients.

New and non-territorial minorities in Europe do not find adequate protection within the territorial autonomy model. After a compared analysis of contemporary millet systems (Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq), the dissertation focuses on Eruopean instruments for protecting non-territorial minorities in terms of personal autonomy, cultural autonomy, and political representation. Europe is progressively adopting non-territorial means of minority protection, which leads to the reconsideration of the nation-State model. First, personal autnomy implies legal pluralism; secondly cultural autnomy and political representation require the progressive inclusion of diverse groups in teh decision-making processes.

As life expectancy increases, grandparents spend a longer part of their life with grandchildren, which opens opportunities for sharing time, resources, and affection. The present dissertation aims at investigating the content of the grandparent-grandchild relationship and, at the same time, the consequences that becoming a grandmother could have on mid-life women’s labour market participation. It revolves around three main contributions. First, it approaches grandparenting from a stratification perspective, putting forward that grandparents could perform different activities with grandchildren according to their educational levels. Second, it investigates grandmothers’ transition to retirement as driven by the institutional context, which shapes both the extent to which grandparental childcare is needed as support for the younger generations (measured through the availability of childcare services) and the extent to which it is easy and attractive to withdraw early from the labour force for old-age individuals (measured through the generosity of the pension system). Finally, it considers grandmothers’ labour market withdrawal as enabled, or constrained, by women’s previous work history, with two case-studies: England and Italy. In fact, decisions taken earlier in life on work-family reconciliation, on the one hand, could be reproduced in late-life upon the grandchild’s birth; on the other hand, years worked, and kind of job held open different routes for retirement. Taken together, the present dissertation unveils that grandparenthood is a multifaceted phenomenon, which must be studied in a multi-generational framework and by considering demographic, social, and institutional trends of current European societies.

Current fossil fuel based energy sources have a huge shortcoming when one discusses their efficiency. The conversion efficiency of fossil fuel-based technologies is less than 40% in best cases. Therefore, until the renewable energy section is mature enough to handle all the energy demand one has to research and develop the technologies available to harvest the energy from the waste heat generated in fossil fuel-based supply sources. One of these emerging technologies is the use of thermoelectric (TE) devices to achieve this goal, which are solid-state devices capable of directly interconverting between heat and electrical energy. In the past decade there has been a significant scientific and financial investment within the field to enhance their properties and result in time/energy efficient fabrication processes of TE materials and devices for a more sustainable environment. In this thesis with use of chemical synthesis routes for nanostructured bulk thermoelectric materials iron antimonide (FeSb2), skutterudites (based on general formula of RzMxCo1-xSb3-yNy) and copper selenide (Cu2Se) are developed. These materials are promising candidates for use in thermoelectric generators (TEG) or for sensing applications. Using chemical synthesis routes such as chemical co-precipitation, salt melting in marginal solvents and thermolysis, fabrication of these TE materials with good performance can be performed with high degree of reproducibility, in a much shorter time, and easily scalable manner for industrial processes. The TE figure of merit ZT of these materials is comparable to, or better than their conventional method counterparts to ensure the applicability of these processes in industrial scale. Finally, through thorough investigation, optimized consolidation parameters were generated for compaction of each family of materials using Spark Plasma Sintering technique (SPS). As each family of TE nanomaterial investigated in this thesis had little to no prior consolidation literature available, specific parameters had to be studied and generated. The aim of studies on compaction parameters were to focus on preservation of the nanostructured features of the powder while reaching a high compaction density to have positive effects on the materials TE figure of merit. / Dagens fossilbränslebaserade energikällor har en enorm brist gällande effektivitet. Effektiviteten av fossilbränslebaserade teknologiers omvandling är mindre än 40 % i bästa fall. Därför tills förnybar energi är mogen nog att hantera alla energibehov, måste man forska och utveckla teknik för att skörda energi från spillvärme i fossilbränslebaserade försörjningskällor. En av dessa nya tekniker är tillämpning av termoelektriska (TE) material för att uppnå målet. Nämnde material är Soldi-State materialer som kan transformera mellan värme och elektrisk energi. Under det senaste decenniet har det pågått en stor vetenskaplig och ekonomisk investering inom området för att förbättra termoelektriska materials egenskaper. Dessutom ville man ta fram tid/energieffektiva TE material och komponenter för en mer hållbar miljö. I denna avhandling utvecklades och producerades termoelektriska material såsom järn antimonid (FeSb2), skutterudit (baserat på allmänna formeln RzMxCo1-xSb3-YNY) och koppar selenid (Cu2Se) med hjälp av kemiska syntesmetoder. Genom att Använda kemiska syntesmetoder som kemisk samutfällning, salt smältning i marginella lösningsmedel och termolys, kan material med hög grad av reproducerbarhet och ställbar för industriella processer tillverkas.   Termoelektrisk omvandling effektivitet hos uppnådde material är betydligt högre än resultat av andra studier. I och med detta kan man säga att materialet kan användas inom industri. Slutligen, genom en grundlig undersökning optimerades packningsparametrar som genererades för packning av varje materialgrupp med hjälp av Spark Plasma Sintring teknik (SPS). Eftersom ingen relevant studie finns för varje grupp av termoelektriska nanomaterial som undersökts i denna avhandling, studerades och genererades dessa specifika parametrar. Syftet med studien är att fokusera på bevarande av nanostrukturerade egenskaperna hos pulvret och att samtidigt nå en hög packningstäthet för att ha positiva effekter på materialens termoelektriska omvandlingseffektivitet. / <p>QC 20160503</p> / NEXTEC / SCALTEG