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The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the nonconservative instability of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) with an added mass through nonlocal theories. The governing equations are discretized by means of the differential quadrature (DQ) rules, as introduced by Bellman and Casti. DQ rules have been largely used in engineering and applied sciences. Recently, they were applied to enhance some numerical schemes, such as step-by-step integration schemes and Picard-like numerical schemes.

In the present paper, the DQ rules are used to investigate the nonconservative instability of a SWCNT through nonlocal theories.

To show the sensitivity of the SWCNT to the values of added mass and the influence of nonlocal parameter on the fundamental frequencies values, some numerical examples have been performed and discussed. Yet, the effect of the different boundary conditions on the instability behaviour has been investigated. The validity of the present model has been confirmed by comparing some results against the ones available in literature.

Applying the nonlocal elasticity theory, this paper presents a re-formulation of Hamilton’s principle for the free vibration analysis of a uniform Euler–Bernoulli nanobeam. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the free vibration response of an SWCNT with attached mass and for various values of small scale effects.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the change in the Italian and Spanish wage polarization degree in a time of economic crisis, taking into account the factors affecting labor force heterogeneity. Gender differences in the evolution of social fractures are considered by carrying out the analysis separately for males and females.

The approach by Palacios-Gonzánlez and García-Fernández (2012) on polarization is applied to the microdata provided by the EU Living Conditions Surveys (2007, 2010 and 2012). According to Palacios-Gonzánlez and García-Fernández’s approach, polarization is generated by two tendencies that contribute to the generation of social tension: the homogeneity or cohesion within group and the heterogeneity between groups. The following labor force characteristics are considered: gender, level of education, type of contract, occupational status and job status.

The results for Italy reveal a higher increase of polarization for women than for men from the perspective of the type of contract. In Spain, the wage polarization of women also increases more intensively compared to men from the perspectives of level of education, job status and occupational status, while in Italy the reduction of the wage polarization index by level of education can be related, above all, to an increase in overqualification of women.

While the empirical literature on polarization has made considerable investigation into employment and job polarization, this paper explores the rather less explored matter of wage polarization. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to the impact on polarization of the Great Recession.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

The paper aims to define a dashboard of indicators to assess the quality performance of higher education institutions (HEI). The instrument is termed SMART-QUAL.

Two sources were used in order to explore potential indicators. In the first step, information disclosed in official websites or institutional documentation of 36 selected HEIs was analyzed. This first step also included in depth structured high managers’ interviews. A total of 223 indicators emerged. In a second step, recent specialized literature was revised searching for indicators, capturing additional 302 indicators.

Each one of the 525 total indicators was classified according to some attributes and distributed into 94 intermediate groups. These groups feed a debugging, prioritization and selection process, which ended up in the SMART-QUAL instrument: a set of 56 key performance indicators, which are grouped in 15 standards, and, in turn, classified into the 3 HEI missions. A basic model and an extended model are also proposed.

The paper provides a useful measure of quality performance of HEIs, showing a holistic view to monitor HEI quality from three fundamental missions. This instrument might assist HEI managers for both assessing and benchmarking purposes. The paper ends with recommendations for university managers and public administration authorities.

In last year, the innovations in shipbuilding and logistics have opened the walled towns of Mediterranean port cities to cruise tourism and other culture-led regeneration strategies. Thus, walled towns in Mediterranean port cities have a particular development potential which questions about the opportunities and risks connected to any comprehensive regeneration strategy with a cultural and tourist purpose, especially for fortified systems whose continuity has been undermined. The paper aims to provide some guidelines for policy-makers and planners in port cities which have decided or are deciding to develop a comprehensive strategy and a knowledge framework for the walled town similar to those already adopted for fortified sites in the World Heritage List.

The paper investigates on the opportunities and risks connected to any comprehensive regeneration strategy with a cultural and tourist purpose for the walled towns through a comparative analysis of four Mediterranean seaport cities, selected as case studies. Cities which have developed an integrated strategy to inscribe their walled towns to the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

On the base of the case studies’ analysis, the paper proposes a critical reflection upon the management strategies for the UNESCO’s walled towns and supports a better understating of context factors as a way to strengthen the HUL approach when applied to Mediterranean seaport cities.

The paper sheds light on the application of the historic urban landscape approach to the walled towns of Mediterranean seaport cities. The paper is original because it provides: guidelines for policy-makers and planners in walled towns of Mediterranean seaport cities which have decided or are deciding to develop a comprehensive regeneration strategy for the city centre in line with those adopted in UNESCO’s fortified sites; a critical reflection upon the context factors which can strengthen the HUL approach when applied to Mediterranean seaport cities; criteria to update the HUL approach by UNESCO in analysing the conservation state, the managerial aspects, the participation and social aspects of walled towns.

Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference works, histories, themes, theory and criticism and articles in journals.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

The aim of this paper is to discuss how ISO 26000 fits within two predominant corporate social responsibility (CSR) instruments, GRI and UNGC. The past two decades have witnessed considerable changes in the CSR field with the introduction of new voluntary CSR instruments. Organizations adopting such tools may perceive some of the existing and emerging CSR instruments as redundant or complementary.

The relationships between the CSR instruments analysed are treated through the lenses of institutional entrepreneurship and coopetition theories. The analysis presented is based on secondary data such as literature reviews, publications and online resources and databases from the UNGC, GRI and ISO as well as personal communications with representatives of ISO, GRI and UNGC.

The paper shows that from the users’ perspective, CSR instruments should not be treated as separate alternatives, but rather as complementary to each other. At the same time, organizations that set up CSR instruments have to strengthen their existing collaboration as a network, in order to contribute more effectively to sustainable development.

The use of secondary data to discuss some of the ISO 26000 diffusion trends might provide an incomplete picture but still offer interesting insights.

This study allows to better understand the linkages, overlaps and differences between three CSR instruments: UNGC, GRI and ISO 26000. At first sight, some of these instruments may appear as redundant but our analysis points out that they complement each other. They have different goals and are useful in different parts of one organization’s CSR infrastructure. These instruments help organizations to implement different CSR tools at different stages of integrating sustainability issues into their strategies and operations.

CSR instruments have mainly been examined separately by scholars. In contrast, this study analyses ISO 26000, UNGC and GRI as a collaborative mechanism and predicts the fit of ISO 26000 within these well-established CSR instruments. The main contribution of this study is an in-depth analysis of the relationships between organizations that are developing and promoting prominent CSR instruments. In addition, we apply organizational theories to our analysis as a novel perspective. This study contributes to institutional entrepreneurship theory by showing how organizations playing the role of institutional entrepreneurs may encourage the early adoption of a new CSR instrument. It also contributes to the coopetition theory by applying this approach outside the traditional business setting.

The research is based on the analysis of recent experiences of participative processes in the reuse and maintenance of contexts considered as “urban waste,” focusing on their role in smart sustainable development processes. The recognition of discarded urban spaces/buildings as regeneration opportunities opens up new perspectives on the communities’ commitments and responsibilities, in new governance models. These experiences, better known as “commons,” highlight the active role of communities in establishing new unconventional forms of value creation and production based on circular processes and interdependences between city and communities. Circularization and synergies are the fundamental precondition for smart sustainable development. Assuming the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach as general framework, the phenomenon of commons represents an opportunity to make it operational through an integrated methodology based on the recovery of the environment built according to an inclusive and hybrid approach, configured by culture and shared with local communities. In this perspective, this contribution proposes an evaluation framework not only to monitor the results and impacts produced by these experiences, but also to stimulate and improve awareness, self-learning and self-evaluation processes of the actors involved in regeneration processes toward a smart sustainable development.