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The objective of this paper is to show how a completely virtual optimization approach is useful to design new geometries in order to improve the performance of industrial components, like valves. The standard approach for optimization of an industrial component, as a valve, is mainly performed with trials and errors and is based on the experience and knowledge of the engineer involved in the study. Unfortunately, this approach is time consuming and often not affordable for the industrial time-to-market. The introduction of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools significantly helped reducing time to market; on the other hand, the process to identify the best configuration still depends on the personal sensitivity of the engineer. Here a more general, faster and reliable approach is described, which uses a CFD code directly linked to an optimization tool. CAESES® associated with SimericsMP+® allows us to easily study many different geometrical variants and work out a design of experiments (DOE) sequence that gives evidence of the most impactful aspects of a design. Moreover, the result can be further optimized to obtain the best possible solution in terms of the constraints defined.

According to the constructivist approach to nationalism, mass education systems not only constitute a key marker of modern stateness, but also perform a crucial function within the nation-building process itself. Namely, state education is the apparatus through which a state’s societal culture is inculcated into the new generations of citizens. The teaching of history in schools, in this respect, takes up the vital task of disseminating a state’s national, or official, history. An eloquent illustration is that of the ‘new’ countries emerged from the dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation. Here, the willingness to do away with the socialist legacy, and the need to construct ‘new’ national memories to uphold each country’s engagement in the nation-building process, have resulted in deep changes in the content of education. In particular, the contents of history teaching – that is, what is written in the text-books – have been rearranged according to markedly ethno-centric perspectives, through both the retrieval and reformulation of past events in a new national narrative and the endorsement of stereotyping. As a result, history teaching is very likely to promote intolerance and foster animosity between national groups. Remarkably, such phenomenon has found marked disapproval within the human rights discourse. International documents articulating the right to education, in fact, ascribe to the educational enterprise the fundamental task of promoting tolerance and mutual understanding among peoples and nations. Drawing on this principle, the international community has carried out a number of initiatives aiming at reforming history education in the region of South Eastern Europe, in particular through the revision of the textbooks.

One hundred years after the 'ten days that shook the world' (to use John Reed's famous phrase), the October Revolution is still the subject of intense intellectual and popular debate, holding a unique place in our collective imagination. Whether celebratory, apologetic or critical, public attitudes towards the value and legacy of the October Revolution form an evolving memoryscape (Muzaini and Yeoh 2016) in which the historical memory of the event is constantly de- and re-contextualized to articulate contingent demands and concerns (see Heer et al. 2008). In this paper, we seek to outline the distinct trajectory of the October Revolution memoryscape in the Italian context from a critical discourse-analytical perspective. Focusing on the opinion articles published in three major Italian newspapers in conjunction with key anniversaries (1977, 1987, 1997, 2007 and 2017), we examine the ways in which the memory and history of the Revolution were re-framed and embedded in specific argumentative topoi, and how these were employed to support different, and often conflicting, viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are border walls and fences becoming an increasingly accepted and legitimate way of coping with the challenges of the refugee crisis and mass migration in Europe? The article addresses this question by examining how Serbian and Croatian public intellectuals reacted to the dramatic impact of Hungary's decision to fortify its southern border in September 2015. The analysis of salient argumentative strategies reveals how their criticism of wall building was embedded in specific discourses of values, historical narratives, and the topos of “Fortress Europe.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, queer has grown into an established critical approach to social science. Correspondingly, the term queer has emerged as a recognised brand in the language of academia. This paper examines the potential risks that such linguistic institutionalisation poses for queer as a critical and emancipatory endeavour. Building on Michael Billig's argument that the bias towards 'big nouns' in academic discourse tends to further entrench the power of academic elites, I draw a parallel between queer and CDA (critical discourse analysis) as two emerging academic brands in order to determine whether queer is one such big noun and how this may affect the very capacity of queer scholars to commit themselves to critique and self-critique. I conclude by outlining a modest proposal to ensure that the term queer remains available to be appropriated by whoever shares the premises and the aspirations underlying the queer project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews an abuse of dominance decision against the incumbent do-mestic airline in South Africa (SAA) taken in 2010 and upheld on appeal in 2011. This case placed significant emphasis on the economic impact of the abusive conduct, and it represents a clear example of the adoption of an effects-based approach to assess exclusionary behavior by a dominant firm. As this article sets out, given the features of SAA's conduct and of the relevant market context, it is also possible to identify a coherent economic framework that can explain why SAA's rivals could not profitably match its incentive schemes and were therefore foreclosed. The conceptual issues raised by the SAA case are similar to the ones at stake in the landmark judgments on British Airways. The lessons from this case are therefore relevant to the ongoing antitrust debate on loyalty discounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys, from an economic perspective, the recent application of merger control in the European energy sector. It considers ten significant transactions in the energy sector: the eight largest energy transactions assessed by the European Commission since 2004, as well as two major gas-electricity mergers in Spain over roughly the same period. Merger decisions in the energy sector have been characterized by a significant concern for potential horizontal unilateral effects, even in situations where the merging parties accounted for a limited combined share of the market, or where one of the parties was only a small competitor. A variety of non-horizontal concerns have also been considered by the competition authorities, including effects flowing from the increasing use of gas for electricity generation or from limited ownership unbundling of network assets. Remedy packages have typically included extensive structural divestments to remove competition concerns. Given the nature of competition in energy markets, particularly effective remedies are those that involve the sale of price-setting generation plants, network assets, and controlling stakes in merging parties' competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new approach to loyalty discounts has been proposed in the 2009 Guidance Paper issued by the European Commission, but the test proposed in that paper to assess the legality of such rebates raises practical difficulties which undermine its validity as the primary tool to detect exclusionary conduct. Even if the test is satisfied, the theories of consumer harm applicable to rebates need to be articulated and verified against the characteristics of the market to embrace an economically sound approach to loyalty discounts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]