The new public corruption: Old questions for new challenges

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd This paper focuses on corruption in public procurement. It describes the contemporary face of corruption by investigating the role of public accountability in the fight against corruption. The paper describes a specific episode of corruption relative to the awarding of government contracts for big events, such as the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. Relying on the philosophical insights of Rousseau, Popper, Kant and others, the study suggests the need for enabling a democratic control and constructing a public ethics for the common good

Smart cities: Utopia or neoliberal ideology?

This paper develops a critical understanding of the smart city by investigating the values and ideas that underpin this concept and how they are translated into practice. It suggests that, despite private companies and municipalities promoting the smart city as a revolutionary utopia, this utopia is, on the contrary, an expression of the neoliberal ideology. The case study of the Italian city of Genoa shows that the smart city utopia acts as a generator of a collective imaginary while promoting the interests of business elites and diverting the attention away from urgent urban problems, such as urbanization. The neoliberal ideology influences the framing of these problems by favoring business-led technological solutions rather than political and long-term urban planning. The study suggests that this business-led utopia has important implications in terms of accountability of the actors involved

Designing CIGS solar cells with front-side point contacts

In this work we show how 2D numerical simulations can be used to design and optimize front-side point contacts in surface-passivated CIGS cells. Detailed analysis of the combinations of passivation thickness, point contact size and pitch can help identifying solutions able to boost the performance of otherwise surface-limited cells: efficiencies close to those of cells with ideal (i.e., trap-free) CdS/CIGS interface can be achieved by the optimization of point contact features in the low nm range. The effect of varying the CIGS and CdS doping densities on the cell performance has also been analyzed

Band gap widening at random CIGS grain boundary detected by valence electron energy loss spectroscopy

Cu(In,Ga) Se₂ (CIGS) thin film solar cells have demonstrated very high efficiencies, but still the role of nanoscale inhomogeneities in CIGS and their impact on the solar cell performance are not yet clearly understood. Due to the polycrystalline structure of CIGS, grain boundaries are very common structural defects that are also accompanied by compositional variations. In this work, we apply valence electron energy loss spectroscopy in scanning transmission electron microscopy to study the local band gap energy at a grain boundary in the CIGS absorber layer. Based on this example, we demonstrate the capabilities of a 2nd generation monochromator that provides a very high energy resolution and allows for directly relating the chemical composition and the band gap energy across the grain boundary. A band gap widening of about 20 meV is observed at the grain boundary. Furthermore, the compositional analysis by core-loss EELS reveals an enrichment of In together with a Cu, Ga and Se depletion at the same area. The experimentally obtained results can therefore be well explained by the presence of a valence band barrier at the grain boundary

“We ought to eat in order to work, not vice versa”: MacIntyre, practices, and the best work for humankind.

This paper draws a distinction between ‘right MacIntyreans’ who are relatively optimistic that MacIntyre’s vision of ethics can be realised in capitalist society, and ‘left MacIntyreans’ who are sceptical about this possibility, and aims to show that the ‘left MacIntyrean’ position is a promising perspective available to business ethicists. It does so by arguing for a distinction between ‘community-focused’ practices and ‘excellence-focused’ practices. The latter concept fulfils the promise of practices to provide us with an understanding of the best work for humankind and highlights the affinities between MacIntyre’s concept of a practice and Marx’s conception of good work as free, creative activity. The paper concludes with a suggestion that we reflect on the best forms of work so that we can strive to ensure the very best activities, those most consonant with our flourishing, one day become available to all

Corpi (dis)organizzati. Etica, lavoro e organizzare femminista.

Il libro analizza i sistemi etico-filosofici che sottendono i vari femminismi interrogandosi su come questi femminismi possano aiutarci a sviluppare una diversa comprensione del lavoro e della sua organizzazione. Il libro si interroga sulle molteplici valorizzazioni dell’individuo, del lavoro, della differenza, della vita, del mondo, enfatizzando la distinzione tra valore (economico) e valori (morali). L’esplorazione della relazione tra femminismi, lavoro e organizzazioni così solleva importanti questioni etiche su cosa sia il valore e a chi/cosa viene riconosciuto/negato

Breast

A review of the art exhibition 'Breast', curated by Carolina Pasti, made its debut during the opening of the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, held from April 18 to November 24, 2024

Social accounting in supply chain management. A pragmatic constructivist perspectiveA Research Project

This study explores the role of accounting in the human rights management within the supply chain.Our interest for this issue arises from the recognition of significant changes occurred in the last decades. In today's global economy, “the competition has shifted more and more from an inter-firm to an inter-supply-chain level” (Gold et al., 2010) and many organizations are part of one or more supply chains (Samaranayake, 2005). As a result, “management processes now quite frequently transcend legal organizational boundaries” (Hopwood, 1996), as well as production processes. The financial crisis has emphasized the shift of power from nation states to transnational corporations at the centre of global value chains. These powerful actors are increasingly challenged by human rights violations occurring in the socio-political contexts in which they operate (Ruggie, 2007), especially where national law does not provide adequate protection. In these growing network systems, the main difficulty for a focal company is to exercise management control on suppliers over which it has no ownership, but for the behaviour of which it is held accountable (Andersen and Skjoett-Larsen, 2009). Indeed, in 2011, for the first time in the history, the UN Special Representative, John G. Ruggie, declared that corporations have direct human rights responsibilities, either through their own activities or as a result of their business relationships with other parties

The Cinder and the Furrow on the Sand: Deconstructing Organizing for an Ethics of Survivance

Deconstruction has been a long-standing method used for analysing texts within the framework of a narratological tradition that underscores its discursive and linguistic nature. In contrast, we propose to understand deconstruction as a therapeutic endeavour for the ongoing revelation of repressed elements characterising organisational life, such as materiality, bodies, and Otherness. This perspective acknowledges the character of the trace as an archetypal model of textuality, a fusion of materiality and ideal that discourse analysis can only partially capture. In the organising realm, silence becomes a trace, alongside bodies, artefacts and the entirety of materiality. Viewing deconstruction as a therapeutic process also allows for exploring the repressed in terms of a différance which reveals existential interdependence. Through the process of deconstruction, we unveil the inherent and fundamental unity within differences and oppositions, thereby acknowledging our shared existence with the Other. Processing individual and collective suppressed elements inherent to organising thus lays the groundwork for an ethics of survivance finding its ideal momentum in the mortal encounter with the limits and finiteness of others