The rapid proliferation of North-South preferential trade agreements (PTAs) during the last quarter century has had broad implications for developing and emerging economies. As a result of North-South power asymmetries and the aggressive trade policy that has been characterized as ‘competitive liberalization,’ it has been argued that these agreements have produced asymmetric results in favor of Northern countries. This thesis advances a novel approach in the assessment of North-South preferential trade relations that goes beyond the simplistic interpretation of North-South trade politics as a phenomenon largely dominated by North-South power asymmetries. By acknowledging that not all North-South PTAs have the same characteristics, this thesis divides North-South PTAs into two sequential categories: first-order, i.e., Southern countries’ first North-South PTAs and second-order, i.e., Southern countries’ subsequent North-South PTAs. The thesis argues that, while first-order North-South PTA negotiations can produce asymmetric outcomes in favor of Northern countries because they have the ability to exert discriminative pressure on Southern countries, second-order North-South PTA negotiations follow a different logic. Having secured preferential access to Northern markets through first-order PTAs, Southern countries become immune to competitive pressures and can themselves exert discriminative pressure on Northern countries during second-order negotiations. The thesis examines the North-South PTA negotiations of Mexico, Chile, Korea, Colombia, and Peru, five countries of the Global South that have been especially active in North-South preferential trade. Based on the author’s personal interviews with EU and US trade officials and primary and secondary sources, this thesis conducts process tracing to account for the process of the five Southern countries’ first-order and second-order North-South PTA negotiations and reveal the impact of first-order North-South PTAs on the bargaining powers of Southern countries in second-order negotiations and hence the outcomes of second-order agreements. The thesis concludes that, albeit to varying extents, first-order agreements improve the bargaining powers of Southern countries in second-order North-South trade negotiations.

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The notion of “convenance” has only recently attracted the attention of Montesquieu scholars, who have repeatedly stated its centrality to the author's thought, as well as a certain inherent ambiguity. This thesis firstly explores the history of the concept, starting from some existing studies that have laid the foundations for a research in this direction. In its Latin version (“convenientia”), the concept’s first philosophical appearance is due to Cicero, as a translation of certain notions from Stoic philosophy. The notion acquires then a non-secondary place in scholastic thought, finding application in different fields, from logic to theology and morality. In the Modern Age, the concept of “convenientia” becomes of great relevance in the moral and legal spheres: among others, Grotius, Pufendorf, Malebranche or Leibniz develop or rework differently the scholastic and stoic traditions where it was employed. Through these channels the notion of “convenientia” can reach the young author of the Persian Letters, who employs it in his ambiguous definition of justice as a “rapport de convenance” (letter 81). The study of the sources and the analysis of the major issues linked to this definition of justice singularly benefit from this retrospective look at the possible philosophical traditions where this notion of “convenance” is employed. On the basis of this examination of the texts, the thesis advanced is that the expression “rapport de convenance” denotes only the a priori or formal aspect of justice, which elsewhere the author designates as “rapport d’équité”. If “convenance” designates the universal and invariable aspect of justice, a study of its content, which is variable and relative, must lead to the various orders of law: natural, civil, political. The investigation thus crosses a second axis of relevance of the concept of “convenance” in Montesquieu’s work, namely the question of the relativity or “convenance” of laws to the people for whom they are established, on which the entire structure of the Spirit of Laws rests. This second (and very much Aristotelian) axis is the subject of a classification in the thesis. Human laws and institutions can be understood according to different planes of “convenance”: general, structural, local. Pivotal concepts in Montesquieu’s work, such as political freedom, moderation, “esprit général”, nature and principle of government, can then be understood in this articulation between “convenance à la société” in general and “convenance à chaque société” in particular, according to a structural or typological logic or according to a singular and local one. The scholastic usages inherited and reworked by the moderns include one that some french scholars have recently designated as the “argument de convenance”, i.e. the idea that God works in the simplest ways and always chooses the best. The thesis investigates the presence of this argument in Montesquieu, suggesting that the author conceives it above all as a principle of the “economy of nature”. Moreover, it is argued that this principle, while secularizing the traditional “argument de convenance”, acquires a fundamentally political significance: the art of legislation exiges to govern men by economising on violent means, that is, without doing violence to the natural inclinations of citizens and their freedom. In general, the study of Montesquieu’s thought through the lens of the notion of “convenance” allows one to better grasp the connection between the method of the art of legislation and the political and ideological objectives of his work, first and foremost the opposition to a despotic exercise of power.

No / The paper presents a 2-D large eddy simulation (LES) modelling approach to investigate the properties of the plunging waves. The numerical model is based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. SPH is a mesh-free Lagrangian particle approach which is capable of tracking the free surfaces of large deformation in an easy and accurate way. The Smagorinsky model is used as the turbulence model due to its simplicity and effectiveness. The proposed 2-D SPH-LES model is applied to a cnoidal wave breaking and plunging over a mild slope. The computations are in good agreement with the documented data. Especially the computed turbulence quantities under the breaking waves agree better with the experiments as compared with the numerical results obtained by using the k- model. The sensitivity analyses of the SPH-LES computations indicate that both the turbulence model and the spatial resolution play an important role in the model predictions and the contributions from the sub-particle scale (SPS) turbulence decrease with the particle size refinement.

La tesi di dottorato “Costituzione e Repubblica a Roma 1848-1849” si occupa di offrire una ricostruzione del retroterra ideologico che condusse tra l’autunno del Quarantotto e la primavera del Quarantanove a instaurare a Roma un sistema politico e istituzionale di tipo repubblicano, confermato poi, a posteriori, anche da una Costituzione-bandiera che tale sistema intendeva consegnare alla storia come simbolo della libertà della penisola da ogni condizionamento imposto dall’alto da potenze straniere, sia reazionarie come l’impero austriaco sia anche liberali come la Francia del 1848. Al netto di qualunque valutazione teologica, la ricostruzione degli eventi dall’ascesa al soglio pontificio di Pio IX nel 1846 al crollo della Repubblica romana nel luglio del 1849 si inserisce in una lettura dell’esperienza del tornante Quarantotto-Quarantanove sotto la lente delle aspettative, dei progetti e delle idee che animavano l’opinione pubblica di quei mesi e prova a seguire le suggestioni provenienti dalla più aggiornata storiografia sul Risorgimento. L’obiettivo è quello di comprendere in quale misura il progetto democratico fosse stato elaborato e abbracciato dai rivoluzionari romani in quanto intimamente convinti della necessità di abbattere lo Stato costituzionale inaugurato con lo Statuto fondamentale di Pio IX e valutare la caratura repubblicana di coloro che, effettivamente, la Repubblica a Roma finirono per fondarla. Infatti, proprio all’interno del contesto di instabilità scaturito dal vuoto di potere determinato dalla fuga del Papa a seguito dell’assassinio del ministro dell’Interno Pellegrino Rossi nel novembre 1848, la classe dirigente moderata lasciata acefala e in balia di un crescente malcontento che sarebbe potuto sfociare in anarchia, dovette farsi democratica e repubblicana. Per questa ragione la tesi introduce le categorie di ‘democratici d’occasione’ e ‘repubblicani per necessità’: i protagonisti della vicenda romana dovettero adeguarsi alla nuova situazione politica venuta a crearsi dall’assenza del capo dello Stato. Con questa lettura della vicenda costituzionale e istituzionale della Repubblica romana la presente tesi intenderebbe integrare e aggiornare la letteratura sul tema che si è sviluppata su vari filoni, storiografici e ideologici diversi ma lasciando quasi sempre in ombra gli aspetti istituzionali e costituzionali. Dall’analisi dei dibattiti in Assemblea, infatti, è stato possibile ricostruire le traiettorie lungo le quali i costituenti si mossero nel governare l’emergenza, nel tentativo di normalizzarla ma guardando comunque con nostalgia all’ordinamento precedente, di cui tentarono di ibridare le forme all’interno della nuova Repubblica.

A fundamental requirement in agricultural trade is that imported products are safe, and do not pose a risk to human, animal and plant health. To address this issue, all countries maintain measures to ensure that imported food is safe for consumers, and to prevent the spread of disease among animals and plants. These measures, by their nature, can affect competitiveness by increasing the costs of imports or prohibiting them altogether. To ensure that these measures are used for their intended purpose and not as protectionist measures, WTO member countries signed the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures. A growing number of studies attempt to quantify the effects of SPS regulations on international trade flows. However, precious little research is dedicated to determining the effects of specific phytosanitary regulations on trade flows and, more importantly, questions regarding SPS regulations and their impact as "trade barriers" or "trade catalysts" remain to be settled. This thesis contributes to existing literature in two ways. First, a comprehensive and user friendly database on specific phytosanitary regulations faced by U.S. exports of onions, peas, walnuts, apples, cherries, grapes, peaches/nectarines, oranges and strawberries to 176 countries is developed for the period 1999-2009. Second, this database is used for an empirical investigation to determine how existing SPS regulations affect U.S. fruit and vegetable exports. The results indicate that initially, phytosanitary treatments act as "barriers" to trade. However, as exporters' experience grows, the negative impact of treatments is reduced and eventually eliminated. / Master of Science

Nanostructured ferritic alloy and silicon carbide composite materials (NFA-SiC) were sintered with spark plasma sintering (SPS) method and systematically investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as density and Vickers hardness tests. Pure NFA, pure SiC, and their composites NFA-SiC with different compositions (2.5 vol% NFA-97.5 vol% SiC, 5 vol% NFA-95 vol% SiC, 97.5 vol% NFA-2.5 vol% SiC, and 95 vol% NFA-5 vol% SiC) were successfully sintered through SPS. In the high-NFA samples, pure NFA and NFA-SiC, minor gamma-Fe phase formation from the main alfa-Fe matrix occurred in pure NFA 950 degree C and 1000 degree C. The densities of the pure NFA and NFA-SiC composites increased with sintering temperature but decreased with SiC content. The Vickers hardness of the pure NFA and NFA-SiC composites was related to density and phase composition. In the high-SiC samples, NFA addition of 2.5 vol% can achieve full densification for the NFA-SiC samples at relative low temperatures. With the increase in sintering temperature, the Vickers hardness of the pure SiC and NFA-SiC composite samples were enhanced. However, the NFA-SiC composites had relative lower hardness than the pure SiC samples. A carbon layer was introduced in the NFA particles to prevent the reaction between NFA and SiC. Results indicated that the carbon layer was effective up to 1050 degree C sintering temperature. Green samples of gradient-structured NFA-SiC composites were successfully fabricated through slip casting of an NFA-SiC co-suspension. / Master of Science

Darknet markets have emerged due to technological advancements, decreasing the likelihood of violence by facilitating remote purchasing interactions. However, the absence of traditional legal frameworks makes maintaining order in these illegal online markets challenging. Without a legitimate state to enforce property rights or quality standards, sustaining order becomes increasingly complex. Despite its illicit nature and the absence of a legitimate state to protect market transactions, the darknet market has proven to be a resilient environment where user satisfaction rivals that of traditional e-commerce platforms such as eBay. How is this possible? Howcan social order emerge in such a context? Existing studies have primarily approached the issue from neo-institutionalist and social network perspectives, examining the emergence of social order through informal institutions and repeated interactions. A notable gap remains in understanding the cognitive aspects shaping decision-making processes in these illicit markets. This dissertation aims to fill this gap by examining the role of social influence in establishing the social order of the market in the absence of legal safeguards from a socio-cognitive lean.

This thesis investigates the characteristics of a close proximity underwater explosion and its effect on a ship-like structure. Finite element model tests are conducted to verify and validate the propagation of a pressure wave generated by an underwater explosion through a fluid medium, and the transmission of the pressure wave in the fluid to a structure using the Multi-Material Arbitrary Lagrangian/Eulerian method. A one dimensional case modeling the detonation of a spherical TNT charge underwater is investigated. Three dimensional cases modeling the detonation of an underwater spherical TNT charge, and US Navy Blast Test cases modeling a shape charge and a circular steel plate, and a shape charge and a Sandwich Plate System (SPS) are also investigated. This thesis provides evidence that existing tools and methodologies have some capability for predicting early-time/close proximity underwater explosion effects, but are insufficient for analyses beyond the arrival of the initial shock wave. This thesis shows that a true infinite boundary condition, a modified Gruneisen equation of state near the charge, and the ability to capture shock without a very small element size is needed in order to provide a sufficient means for predicting early-time/close proximity underwater explosion effects beyond the arrival of the initial shock wave. / Master of Science