Visitors’ satisfaction and perceived affective qualities towards museums: the impact of recreational areas

Questo studio indaga il ruolo svolto dai fattori ambientali sulla valutazione di una visita al museo da parte degli utenti. È stata condotta un’indagine empirica per rilevare la soddisfazione dei visitatori e la valutazione dell'esperienza museale, con un'attenzione particolare alle aree ricreative (negozio di souvenir e ristorante/bar). Un campione di 160 visitatori di due musei di Roma (50% italiani e 50% madrelingua inglese) ha completato un questionario comprendente scale sulle qualità affettive dei luoghi (Russell & Pratt, 1980), sulla soddisfazione e sulle motivazioni della visita. I risultati hanno mostrato che le aree ricreative, in particolare il negozio di souvenir, facilitano la creazione di una relazione positiva tra il visitatore e l'ambiente museale. La valutazione degli utenti è stata anche associata a differenze linguistiche e relative alle motivazioni alla base della visita.This study investigates the role played by environmental factors on users’ evaluation of a museum visit. An empirical research was carried out to detect visitors’ satisfaction and assessment of museum experience, with a special focus onto its recreational areas (i.e., gift shop and restaurant/cafeteria). A sample of 160 visitors of two museums of Rome (50% Italians and 50% English mother tongue) completed a questionnaire including scales on affective qualities of places (Russell & Pratt, 1980), satisfaction towards the visit, and motives for the visit. Results showed the relevance of recreational areas, especially the gift shop, in facilitating the creation of a positive relationship between the visitor and the museum environment. Users’ assessment was also associated to differences in visitors’ mother tongue, age, educational level and motives underlying the visit

Astroenvironmentalism as SF

The New Space Age is awash with discourses about space colonization and resource exploitation, and these happily coexist with the age-old and curiosity-driven question, “Are we alone in the universe?” Astrobiology addresses this question and, at the same time, codifies knowledge useful for protecting our planet and other celestial bodies from harmful contamination. This article critically examines astroenvironmentalism as discussed within astrobiology and attempts to rescue it from becoming a principle of border creation in otherworldly ecologies. To do so, it merges astrobiology with visions and images from feminist postcolonial and decolonial theory, STS, and science fiction, and reflects on the enduring colonial tropes that provide the building blocks of current knowledge on outer space. The same colonial cartographic imagination at play in the much-debated frontier narrative animates the concept of planetary parks. These have gained increased popularity as a mechanism of environmental protection in space, but it is important to note how they entertain a settler future in outer space and legitimize claims to territorial property and extraction. In a dialogue that is contrapuntal to the codification of this form of transplanetary environmentalism, this article traces how Lynn Margulis’s cosmic symbiosis, Donna Haraway’s sympoiesis, and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World Is Forest (1976) intersect with concerns of astrobiological knowledge. Crucially, they enable the blurring of three types of borders: between science and fiction; planetary inside and outside; life and matter. This border-crossing can be generative of a process of creating more-than-human relationalities beyond Earth-centric geographies

Reazioni avverse ai farmaci in pazienti anziani che accedono in Pronto Soccorso: focus sulle interazioni potenziali e sulle loro conseguenza cliniche.

Lo studio ha valutato i dati raccolti nell'ambito di un programma di supporto farmacologico per i pazienti anziani in Pronto Soccorso, dove un farmacologo e un geriatra hanno cooperato con i medici del Pronto Soccorso per identificare gli accessi correlabili alla terapia farmacologica (considerando anche le interazioni farmacologiche)

Evoluzione della rete italiana delle autostrade del mare

Le Autostrade del Mare sono dei servizi di trasporto marittimo a corto raggio (Short Sea Shipping) che hanno fondamentalmente i seguenti obiettivi: costituire una valida alternativa al trasporto di tipo “tuttostrada”; ed integrare i trasporti terrestri, in particolare quando esistono dei vincoli geografici. In questa nota, dopo alcune osservazioni sulla competitività dei servizi di trasporto intermodale basati sulle Autostrade del Mare, rispetto ai servizi di trasporto “tutto-strada”, si analizza lo sviluppo delle rotte da e per i porti italiani. Lo studio mette in evidenza che le rotte delle Autostrade del Mare, fra coppie di porti italiani sulla penisola, non rappresentano, almeno attualmente, un’alternativa efficace al trasporto “tutto-strada”; anche se vi sono dei segni di una inversione di tendenza. Le rotte nazionali delle Autostrade del Mare infatti integrano i collegamenti fra la penisola e le isole; le rotte internazionali delle Autostrade del Mare collegano, fondamentalmente, i porti adriatici con porti della penisola balcanica, in particolare quelli posti sull’altra sponda dell’Adriatico, e i porti tirrenici con i porti, europei e nord africani, del Mediterraneo Occidentale. La nota mette infine in evidenza l’evoluzione delle caratteristiche dei servizi delle Autostrade del Mare negli anni 2008, 2010 e 2012. Seguono alcune considerazioni: sulla competitività del traspoto intermodale, basato su Autostrade del Mare, rispetto al tutto-strada ed sulle azioni relative ad azioni di policy volte a migliorare questa competitività

Attachment and problematic Facebook use in adolescents: the mediating role of metacognitions

Background and aims: Recent research used attachment theory and the metacognitive tenet as frameworks to explain problematic Facebook use (PFU). This study aims to test, in a single model, the role of different attachment styles and metacognitions in PFU among adolescents. Methods: Two separate studies were conducted in order to establish the link between security (Study 1) and insecurity (Study 2), metacognitions, and PFU. A total of 369 and 442 Italian adolescents (age: 14–20 years old) participated in Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. Results: Path analyses revealed the relative importance of different attachment dimensions with mother and father in predicting PFU and the mediating role of metacognitions between attachment styles and PFU. Discussion and conclusion: In conclusion, since attachment styles and PFU may significantly affect adolescents’ development and well-being, the results of this study may provide some practical indications for researchers and practitioners

“Can you tell me about the future?” A narrative of the goal-setting process in family business

By relying on the taxonomy introduced by Kotlar and De Massis (2013), the present study proposes to investigate the dynamics and the set of goals perceived by the family members strategic for the future growth of their family business. Using an interview approach, the researchers recorded the professional stories of 15 family firm owners and managers. Through the interpretation of the narrative material emerged that the interviewees never mentioned the role that family-centred non-economic goals (i.e., ‘family harmony’, the ‘family social status’ and ‘the family identity’) plays in the performance of the family firms. Contrary, non-family non-economic goals, such as innovation and internationalisation, are considered two keys growth drivers. In particular, if both innovation and internationalisation have equal importance amongst the current goals, internationalisation assumes a greater importance in relation to the future goals of growth.   Keywords: Goal setting process; Family business; Growth Strategy; Narrative analysi

Centring Environmentalism in Space Governance: Interrogating Dominance and Authority Through a Critical Legal Geography of Outer Space

This article brings into conversation scholarship in law and the social studies of outer space around the question of the “uses” of outer space, the shortcomings of existing legal instruments, and the possibility to reform them to place environmental concerns at their core. Starting from the Outer Space Treaty (OST), and using legal geography and an environmental lens, we highlight the interconnections between de-territorializing outer space, the image of the province of (hu)mankind, and the seemingly consequent egalitarian principle of benefit sharing. By reading this language of the OST against its historical context, we note that these seemingly egalitarian clauses mask the persisting hegemony of older space powers in access to and benefits from outer space. In this context, environmental protection clauses originally proposed by Japan, which were marginalized in the drafting of the OST, remain marginal to many governance mechanisms. Even when we decentre the OST and look at multiple legal and governance frameworks of outer space, from Planetary Protection to the International Telecommunications Union, these different approaches reiterate a utilitarian view of space environments that ties them to their usefulness to exploration and exploitation. These mechanisms, while useful for de-homogenizing outer space, do not go far enough in proposing that environmental protection underpins all principles of space governance. One of the effects of this failure is that more technically able nations keep crowding the orbits with megaconstellations. We propose an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complex interrelation between space governance, geopolitics, and concerns about the future of outer space environments. A critical legal geography of outer space provides us with a possibility to examine the role of the law in relation to both geographical imaginaries and historical contexts and advance discussions on the role and responsibilities of humans beyond the planet we inhabit

Ansiedade e consumo de ansiolíticos entre estudantes de enfermagem de uma universidade pública

Trata-se de estudo transversal, descritivo, de abordagem quantitativa realizado em uma escola pública de enfermagem do estado de São Paulo, que avaliou a incidência de ansiedade entre os estudantes, seu conhecimento sobre os ansiolíticos e o padrão de consumo destes medicamentos. Dos 308 estudantes, 16% estavam utilizando ansiolíticos no período em que a pesquisa foi realizada ou já usaram em algum momento de suas vidas; destes, 35% apresentaram ansiedade severa, de acordo com a aplicação do Inventário de Ansiedade de Beck. Mesmo tendo recebido orientação, a maioria dos usuários referiram possuir dúvidas, especialmente no que diz respeito à interação com outros fármacos, efeitos colaterais e seu potencial para causar dependência. Destaca-se a importância do reconhecimento e tratamento da ansiedade entre os estudantes, uma vez que sua presença, quando em níveis mais altos, pode afetar de forma significativa a formação da identidade do estudante e sua qualidade de vida

Vulnerable Narcissism and Problematic Social Networking Sites Use: Focusing the Lens on Specific Motivations for Social Networking Sites Use

Research highlighted that Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) and vulnerable narcissism are associated. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are still unclear. The present study aimed to test the mediating role of motives for social networking sites (SNSs) use between vulnerable narcissism and five symptoms of PSNSU (i.e., preference for online social interactions, mood regulation, cognitive preoccupation, compulsive use, and negative outcomes) in a sole model. Self-report questionnaires were completed by 344 SNSs users in the age range of 18–30 years (76.5% females; mean age = 23.80 years, standard deviation = 2.30 years). Vulnerable narcissism, three motives to use SNSs (coping, conformity, enhancement), and symptoms of PSNSU were assessed. Structural equation modeling was used to test for mediation. The results indicate that both motives with positive (i.e., enhancement) and negative (i.e., coping and conformity) valence partially mediated the association between vulnerable narcissism and different symptoms of PSNSU. We conclude that individuals with vulnerable narcissism may develop PSNSU not only as a compensatory strategy to cope with psychosocial difficulties but also as a result of a gratification-seeking process

improved solubility and increased biological activity of neosol rcl40 a novel red clover isoflavone aglycones extract preparation

Abstract Red clover (Trifolium pratense L., Fabaceae; RCL), a perennial plant rich in isoflavones, is a natural alternative for menopausal symptoms, as well as antiaging and antioxidant. Isoflavone preparations usually contain aglycones and β-glycosides. Aglycones, the active moieties, are absorbed slowly and unevenly due to reduced water solubility and biotransformation from β-glycosides. NeoSol™RCL40 is a novel RCL isoflavone aglycones preparation based on active solubilization technologies. In the present study, NeoSol™RCL40 was shown to induce solubilization of isoflavones and to increase estrogenic and antioxidative effects in comparison to a standard RCL extract (RCLE). NeoSol™RCL40 was prepared from RCLE using as host molecules either 2-pyrrolidone, 1-ethenyl homopolymer (PVP), γ-cyclodextrin, or maltodextrin. Solubilisation assays, performed by means of HPLC-UV, showed that solubilization of isoflavone aglycones was highest with RCLE processed with PVP, which was therefore selected for functional assays. In comparison to RCLE, NeoSol™RCL40 containing the same amount of isoflavone aglycones displayed 3.4 times higher estrogenicity in MCF-7 cell, 1.9–2.0 higher antioxidant activity in the DPPH and in the FRAP assay, and was cytoprotective in PC12 cells. As a whole, results support the ability of NeoSol™RCL40 to promote isoflavones solubilization leading to increased biological activity. NeoSol™RCL40 is therefore an interesting novel preparation providing improved availability of active isoflavones aglycones