Alessandro Gandini – författare

The progressive dwindling of fossil resources, coupled with the drastic increase in oil prices, have sparked a feverish activity in search of alternatives based on renewable resources for the production of energy.

Given the predominance of petroleum- and carbon-based chemistry for the manufacture of organic chemical commodities, a similar preoccupation has recently generated numerous initiatives aimed at replacing these fossil sources with renewable counterparts. In particular, major efforts are being conducted in the field of polymer science and technology to prepare macromolecular materials based on renewable resources. The concept of the bio-refinery, viz. the rational exploitation of the vegetable biomass in terms of the separation of its components and their utilisation as such, or after suitable chemical modifications, is thus gaining momentum and considerable financial backing from both the public and private sectors.

This collection of chapters, each one written by internationally recognised experts in the corresponding field, covers in a comprehensive fashion all the major aspects related to the synthesis, characterization and properties of macromolecular materials prepared using renewable resources as such, or after appropriate modifications. Thus, monomers such as terpenes and furans, oligomers like rosin and tannins, and polymers ranging from cellulose to proteins and including macromolecules synthesized by microbes, are discussed with the purpose of showing the extraordinary variety of materials that can be prepared from their intelligent exploitation.

Particular emphasis has been placed on recent advances and imminent perspectives, given the incessantly growing interest that this area is experiencing in both the scientific and technological realms.

Discusses bio-refining with explicit application to materials Replete with examples of applications of the concept of sustainable development Presents an impressive variety of novel macromolecular materials

This book offers a unique methodological guide for social and marketing scholars interested in understanding and using digital methods to explore the processes of platformisation of consumer culture unfolding on digital media. The book introduces the reader to key digital methods concepts, strategies, and techniques through a set of ad hoc case studies focused on the most prominent digital platforms (such as Facebook, Spotify, or TripAdvisor) as well as emerging trends in digital consumer culture (such as, the consumption of nostalgia, the radicalisation of taste, or ephemeral consumption).

Unique state-of-the-art book on an important topic in renewable materialsThe purpose of this monograph is to provide a thorough outlook on the topic related to the synthesis and characterization of original macromolecular materials derived from plant oils, an important part of the broader steadily growing discipline of polymers from renewable resources. The interest in vegetable oils as sources of biodiesel and materials has witnessed a remarkable growth of scientific and industrial interest since the beginning of the third millennium responding to the pressing drive to implement sustainability in the energy and materials sectors.The book highlights the most relevant strategies being pursued to elaborate polymers derived from a variety of common oils, by direct activation or through chemical modifications yielding novel monomers. Because glycerol is the main byproduct of biodiesel production, it is treated here as the other logical source of macromolecular synthesis. Each of the different approaches is illustrated by an introductory layout of the underlying chemical mechanisms, followed by examples of notable achievements in terms of the properties and potential applications of the ensuing materials, which span a wide range of structures and performances. In particular, original pathways involving click-chemistry reactions as thiol-ene and Diels-Alder couplings and metathesis polymerizations are discussed and shown to reflect the involvement of a growing number of research programs worldwide.

FURAN POLYMERS AND THEIR REACTIONS Understand furan polymers and their roles in industrial production Furans are platform chemicals from biomass which have a range of functions in the production of solvents, biofuels, and monomers for industrial polymer synthesis. As the search for sustainable industrial processes makes biomass resources ever more vital, a more detailed understanding of these compounds and their industrial uses has never been more critical. Furan Polymers and their Reactions surveys these crucial compounds and their contributions to polymer synthesis. It discusses the biorefinery of furans, identifies furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural as the key furan monomer precursors for different polymer synthetic processes, and analyzes all the major reactions furans undergo during these processes and the structures, properties and applications of the ensuing materials. The results are a vital contribution to the growing field of renewable industry. Furan Polymers and their Reactions readers will also find: Detailed analysis of key polymerization reactions such as the Diels-Adler reaction, chain-growth and step-growth polymerizations, as well as the chemical modifications of some of these polymers.An authorial team with decades of combined experience in furan chemistry and polymer synthesisFuran Polymers and their Reactions is an essential resource for researchers and professionals in industrial engineering, polymer science, and biotechnology, as well as for any industry professionals working with platform chemicals or polymer synthesis.

Exploringthe new professional scenes in digital and freelance knowledge, thisinnovative book provides an account of the subjects and cultures that pertainto knowledge work in the aftermath of the creative class frenzy.

This book offers a toolkit of methods and technologies to undertake qualitative research on digital spaces. Unlike commonly used traditional methodological strategies, which are ‘retrofitted’ to digital spaces, Qualitative Research in Digital Environments offers researchers a set of ‘digitally native’ tools that are designed for online social environments.Thanks to a broad range of cases including Louis Vuitton, YouTube and the concept of ‘hipsterism’, this text illustrates the practical applications of techniques and tools over the most popular social media environments.This book will be a valuable guide to qualitative research for marketing students, researchers and practitioners, as well as a central reference point for tutors in the growing field of Digital Sociology.

This book offers a toolkit of methods and technologies to undertake qualitative research on digital spaces. Unlike commonly used traditional methodological strategies, which are ‘retrofitted’ to digital spaces, Qualitative Research in Digital Environments offers researchers a set of ‘digitally native’ tools that are designed for online social environments.Thanks to a broad range of cases including Louis Vuitton, YouTube and the concept of ‘hipsterism’, this text illustrates the practical applications of techniques and tools over the most popular social media environments.This book will be a valuable guide to qualitative research for marketing students, researchers and practitioners, as well as a central reference point for tutors in the growing field of Digital Sociology.

We live an age of nostalgia, incarnated by populist fantasies of “taking back control” and making nations “great again". In the long aftermath of the 2007-08 economic crisis, nostalgia has been established as the cultural zeitgeist of Western society. Populist fantasies of nostalgia represent a cry for help against the demise of the societal model of the postwar era, based on stable employment and mass consumption. The promise of an impossible return to the 'good life' of the 20th century, Gandini contends, particularly appeals to the older generations, who are incapable of making sense of the evolution of Western societies after decades of globalization and neoliberal policies. The younger generations, in the meantime, are instead trying to build a new 'good life' based on another form of return, this time to old practices of craft production and consumption.

In recent years research into creative labour and cultural work has usually addressed the politics of production in these fields, but the sociotechnical and aesthetic dimensions of collaborative creative work have been somewhat overlooked.This book aims to address this gap. Through case studies that range from TV showrunning to independent publishing, from the film industry to social media platforms such as Tumblr and Wattpad, this collection develops a critical understanding of the integral role collaboration plays in contemporary media and culture. It draws attention to diverse kinds of creative collaboration afforded via the intermediation of digital platforms and networked publics. It considers how these are incorporated into emergent market paradigms and investigates the complicated forms of subjectivity that develop as a consequence. But it also acknowledges historical continuities, not least in terms of the continued exploitation of ‘support personnel’ and of resulting artistic conflicts but also of alternative models that resist the precarious nature of contemporary cultural work.Finally, this volume attempts to situate creative collaboration in broader social and economic contexts, where the experience and outcomes of such work have proved more problematic than the rich potential of their promise would lead us to expect.The Editors: James Graham is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, Middlesex University, London. Alessandro Gandini is Lecturer in Digital Media Management and Innovation in the Department of Digital Humanities, Kings College, London.