The urban governance of asylum as a “battleground”: policies of exclusion and efforts of inclusion in Italian towns

The article asserts that the governance of immigration, especially at local level, can be considered a \u201cbattleground\u201d involving diverse actors. Beyond the idea of a \u201cnegotiated order\u201d as the result of the interaction among actors (mainly institutional) in the multilevel governance framework, the management of asylum at a local level is the output of conflict and cooperation, of alternative views and political actions, of official policies and practical help, of formal statements and informal practices. The practical governance of immigration and asylum is not only determined at an institutional level; it is also influenced by this mobilization on the part of civil society. In order to reconstruct the dynamics of this \u201cbattleground, the article analyses in first place the different attitudes of Italian municipalities to asylum seekers, and in particular the mobilization of local governments against refugees\u2019 reception. In second place, it shows by contrast how civil society actors mobilize in favour of the reception of refugees and immigrants with dubious legal status, or against them. Third, among civil society\u2019s actors, it focuses in particular on \u201csupporters\u201d acting in favour of asylum seekers in various ways, for moral, political or religious reasons, and on the issue of their political engagement

Body posture differentially impacts on visual attention towards tool, graspable, and non-graspable objects.

Viewed objects have been shown to afford suitable actions, even in the absence of any intention to act. However, little is known as to whether gaze behavior (i.e., the way we simply look at objects) is sensitive to action afforded by the seen object and how our actual motor possibilities affect this behavior. We recorded participants’ eye movements during the observation of tools, graspable and ungraspable objects, while their hands were either freely resting on the table or tied behind their back. The effects of the observed object and hand posture on gaze behavior were measured by comparing the actual fixation distribution with that predicted by 2 widely supported models of visual attention, namely the Graph-Based Visual Saliency and the Adaptive Whitening Salience models. Results showed that saliency models did not accurately predict participants’ fixation distributions for tools. Indeed, participants mostly fixated the action-related, functional part of the tools, regardless of its visual saliency. Critically, the restriction of the participants’ action possibility led to a significant reduction of this effect and significantly improved the model prediction of the participants’ gaze behavior. We suggest, first, that action-relevant object information at least in part guides gaze behavior. Second, postural information interacts with visual information to the generation of priority maps of fixation behavior. We support the view that the kind of information we access from the environment is constrained by our readiness to act

Looking ahead: anticipatory gaze and motor ability in infancy

The present study asks when infants are able to selectively anticipate the goals of observed actions, and how this ability relates to infants' own abilities to produce those specific actions. Using eye-tracking technology to measure on-line anticipation, 6-, 8- and 10-month-old infants and a control group of adults were tested while observing an adult reach with a whole hand grasp, a precision grasp or a closed fist towards one of two different sized objects. The same infants were also given a comparable action production task. All infants showed proactive gaze to the whole hand grasps, with increased degrees of proactivity in the older groups. Gaze proactivity to the precision grasps, however, was present from 8 months of age. Moreover, the infants' ability in performing precision grasping strongly predicted their ability in using the actor's hand shape cues to differentially anticipate the goal of the observed action, even when age was partialled out. The results are discussed in terms of the specificity of action anticipation, and the fine-grained relationship between action production and action perception

Hadronic centrality dependence in nuclear collisions

The kaon number density in nucleus+nucleus and p+p reactions is investigated for the first time as a function of the initial energy density $\epsilon$ and is found to exhibit a discontinuity around $\epsilon$=1.3 GeV/fm$^3$. This suggests a higher degree of chemical equilibrium for $\epsilon >$ 1.3 GeV/fm$^3$. It can also be interpreted as reflection of the same discontinuity, appearing in the chemical freeze out temperature (T) as a function of $\epsilon$. The $N^{\alpha \sim 1}$ dependence of (u,d,s) hadrons, whith N the number of participating nucleons, also indicates a high degree of chemical equilibrium and T saturation, reached at $\epsilon >$1.3 GeV/fm$^3$. Assuming that the intermediate mass region (IMR) dimuon enhancement seen by NA50 is due to open charm ($D \bar{D}$), the following observation can be made: a) Charm is not equilibrated. b) $J/\Psi/D \bar{D}$ suppression -unlike $J/\Psi/DY$- appears also in S+A collisions, above $\epsilon$ $\sim$1 GeV/fm$^3$. c) Both charm and strangeness show a discontinuity near the same $\epsilon$. d) $J/\Psi$ could be formed mainly through $c \bar{c}$ coalescence. e) The enhancement factors of hadrons with u,d,s,c quarks may be connected in a simple way to the mass gain of these particles if they are produced out of a quark gluon plasma (QGP). We discuss these results as possible evidence for the QCD phase transition occuring near $\epsilon \sim$1.3 GeV/fm$^3$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of Vth International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter, 20-25 July 2000, Berkeley, California. To appear in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Online search trends and word-related emotional response during COVID- 19 lockdown in Italy: a cross-sectional online study

Background. The strong and long lockdown adopted by the Italian government to limit COVID-19 spreading represents the first threat-related mass isolation in history that can be studied in depth by scientists to understand individuals' emotional response to a pandemic. Methods. We investigated the effects on individuals' mental wellbeing of this long-term isolation by means of an online survey on 71 Italian volunteers. They completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and Fear of COVID-19 Scale and judged valence, arousal, and dominance of words either related or unrelated to COVID-19, as identified by Google search trends. Results. Emotional judgments changes from normative data varied depending on word type and individuals' emotional state, revealing early signals of individuals' mental distress to COVID-19 confinement. All individuals judged COVID-19-related words to be less positive and dominant. However, individuals with more negative feelings and COVID-19 fear also judged COVID-19-unrelated words to be less positive and dominant. Moreover, arousal ratings increased for all words among individuals with more negative feelings and COVID-19 fear but decreased among individuals with less negative feelings and COVID-19 fear. Discussion. Our results show a rich picture of emotional reactions of Italians to tight and 2-month long confinement, identifying early signals of mental health distress. They are an alert to the need for intervention strategies and psychological assessment of individuals potentially needing mental health support following the COVID-19 situation

No grammatical gender effect on affective ratings: evidence from Italian and German languages

In this study, we tested the linguistic relativity hypothesis by studying the effect of grammatical gender (feminine vs. masculine) on affective judgments of conceptual representation in Italian and German. In particular, we examined the within- and cross-language grammatical gender effect and its interaction with participants’ demographic characteristics (such as, the raters’ age and sex) on semantic differential scales (affective ratings of valence, arousal and dominance) in Italian and German speakers. We selected the stimuli and the relative affective measures from Italian and German adaptations of the ANEW (Affective Norms for English Words). Bayesian and frequentist analyses yielded evidence for the absence of within- and cross-languages effects of grammatical gender and sex- and age-dependent interactions. These results suggest that grammatical gender does not affect judgments of affective features of semantic representation in Italian and German speakers, since an overt coding of word grammar is not required. Although further research is recommended to refine the impact of the grammatical gender on properties of semantic representation, these results have implications for any strong view of the linguistic relativity hypothesis

A high-fat, high-glycaemic index, low-fibre dietary pattern is prospectively associated with type 2 diabetes in a British birth cohort

The combined association of dietary fat, glycaemic index (GI) and fibre with type 2 diabetes has rarely been investigated. The objective was to examine the relationship between a high-fat, high-GI, low-fibre dietary pattern across adult life and type 2 diabetes risk using reduced rank regression. Data were from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development. Repeated measures of dietary intake estimated using 5-d diet diaries were available at the age of 36, 43 and 53 years for 1180 study members. Associations between dietary pattern scores at each age, as well as longitudinal changes in dietary pattern z-scores, and type 2 diabetes incidence (n 106) from 53 to 60-64 years were analysed. The high-fat, high-GI, low-fibre dietary pattern was characterised by low intakes of fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole-grain cereals, and high intakes of white bread, fried potatoes, processed meat and animal fats. There was an increasing trend in OR for type 2 diabetes with increasing quintile of dietary pattern z-scores at the age of 43 years among women but not among men. Women in the highest z-score quintile at the age of 43 years had an OR for type 2 diabetes of 5·45 (95 % CI 2·01, 14·79). Long-term increases in this dietary pattern, independently of BMI and waist circumference, were also detrimental among women: for each 1 sd unit increase in dietary pattern z-score between 36 and 53 years, the OR for type 2 diabetes was 1·67 (95 % CI 1·20, 2·43) independently of changes in BMI and waist circumference in the same periods. A high-fat, high-GI, low-fibre dietary pattern was associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk in middle-aged British women but not in men

Europe: no migrant's land?

This Report, edited by Maurizio Ambrosini, offers a complete and encompassing analysis of the current state of play of migration flows across the Mediterranean and policy responses by EU countries. Attention is specifically devoted to ongoing debates about the management of mixed migration, the peculiar profile and needs of asylum seekers, migrants\u2019 labour market access, and integration policies in Europe. Introduction, Paolo Magri 1. Current Patterns of Migration Flows. The Challenge of Migration and Asylum in Europe, Catherine Wihtol de Wenden 2. Governing Irregular Migration: Transnational Networks and National Borders, Anna Triandafyllidou 3. Needed, but not Welcomed: Immigrants in the European Labour Markets, Emilio Reyneri 4. After Multiculturalism: Neo\u2013Assimilationist Policies in Europe?, Christian Joppke 5. Inclusion, Exclusion, and Citizenship: European Practices, T. Faist, K. Schmidt, C. Ulbricht Conclusions, Maurizio Ambrosin

The imaginary invasion: as the discourse on the “refugee crisis” has impacted on Italian politics and society

Italy is a significant case in the European landscape of refugee policies for two main reasons. First, it has faced the so-called \u201crefugee crisis\u201d with growing difficulties and anxiety. The establishment of the \u201chotspots\u201d, as required by the EU has been a turning point, also because the enactment of tighter controls at the Alpine borders by the neighbouring states followed the new regulation. The Italian government was compelled to abandon its traditional, albeit implicit, policy of allowing the transit of the asylum seekers towards North-Western Europe. The second aspect concerns the cultural and political consequences of this unexpected entanglement in the refugee issue. Most Italians were convinced that they were being invaded by asylum seekers coming from Africa by sea. Anti-establishment and xenophobic political forces reached a wide audience, spreading fears and accusations against asylum seekers, the NGOs rescuing them, and the cooperatives providing reception services. This hardening of asylum policies appears to be supported by the majority of Italian citizens at present, according to several polls. The xenophobic League, after shifting to a far-right position, experienced a sharp increase in virtual preferences by the interviewees (more than 30 per cent at present), and its leader Mr. Salvini enjoys much popularity, even if he recently lost the Ministry of Home Affairs. This trend, however, does not go without opposition. Civil society is at the forefront, developing manifold activities in favour of refugees, ranging from political protest to the provision of services. The restrictions enacted by the State indeed are giving more space to alternative providers of services. Furthermore, the radicalisation of the struggle on asylum and migration policies is giving a political meaning also to ordinary actions of help and support

Cittadinanza formale e cittadinanza dal basso : un rapporto dinamico

The permanent settlement of immigrants of foreign origin, and then the formation of the second and third generations, has long contributed to re-launching the debate on the content and limits of the institution of citizenship, bringing into question the close connection with the national states. The increasing number and the growing diversity of the legal status of foreigners residing in the territory of sovereign states blurs the dividing lines between insiders and outsiders. Therefore this raises questions about the criteria and ways of participation of residents in the community of citizens, with all the obligations and benefits that derive from it. After having considered the citizenship \u2018from above\u2019, that is in terms of the type of rights granted to foreign residents, their extent, timing and modes of access, the article presents a more recent branch of studies that starts \u2018from below\u2019, i.e. from the point of view of actual practices to access and use, re-interpretations and negotiations of the contents of citizenship: processes in which migrants and refugees take active roles at various levels and in different ways, both individual and collective