An international review of cultural consumption research

Despite the effects of the crisis, several studies show that there has been an increase in cultural production in all the most important western countries over the last twenty years. Nevertheless, the dimensions of the flows of demand are changing: the lowering of the threshold of perceived accessibility to the cultural contents on offer is resulting in new population segments using them. The modalities of cultural product consumption are also changing, and are increasingly influenced by the direct involvement of the consumer in the creative processes. On the other side, the competition to conquer consumersÕ free time has intensified because more figures are now involved, both from the cultural industry and outside. The cultural offer has multiplied and become more differentiated. But while this consumption is changing dimensions and modality, a gap is emerging in the information and knowledge of cultural consumption behaviour, mainly due to a lack of innovative official statistical measurements. The present paper wants to understand how academic literature reacted to the need for information on cultural consumption, that became widespread during 2000. Our main objective is to offer an initial overview of scientific literature of the fist decade of the twenty-first century, while trying to understand the future research trends. The analysis showed that great attention is still dedicated to the segmentation of cultural demand, but the analysis of motivations underlying cultural consumption is significantly acquiring more importance. Moreover, we identified vast research areas in which cultural consumption has only been partially studied, such as: social consumption, studies on individual businesses, methodological triangulation, and the operative implications for business management.Cultural consumption; Marketing research; Segmentation; Motivations

Competition in Imperfect Markets: Does it Help California's Medicaid Mothers?

Poor and uneducated patients may not know what health care is desirable and, if fully insured, have little incentive to minimize the costs of their care. Partly in response to these concerns, most states have moved a substantial portion of their Medicaid caseloads out of traditional competitive fee-for-service (FFS) care, and into mandatory managed care (MMC) plans that severely restrict the choice of provider. We use a unique longitudinal data base of California births in order to examine the impact of this policy on pregnant women and infants. California phased in MMC creating variation in the timing of MMC. We identify the effects of MMC using changes in the regime faced by individual mothers between births. Some counties adopted single-carrier plans, while others adopted regimes with at least two carriers. Hence, we also ask whether competition between at least two carriers improved MMC outcomes. We find that MMC reduced the quality of prenatal care and increased low birth weight, prematurity, and neonatal death. Our results suggest that the competitive FFS system provided better care than the new MMC system, and that requiring the participation of at least two plans did not improve matters.

Piano Urbano del Traffico del Comune di Peschiera Borromeo

Piano Urbano del Traffico del Comune di Peschiera Borromeo - Convenzione di consulenza tra il Politecnico di Milano e l’Amministrazione Comunale di Peschiera Borrome

Smartphone e tablet: il ruolo delle nuove tecnologie per il GIS nel piano di ricostruzione del Comune di Arsita (TE)

Le nuove tecnologie digitali stanno cambiando il nostro modo di pensare e agire e il loro uso sta rivoluzionando interi settori. Se fino ad oggi il personal computer è stato l’attore principale della rivoluzione digitale, ora i nuovi smartphone, tablet e smartwatch sono e saranno i motori di una profonda trasformazione della nostra vita. Questi nuovi strumenti, semplici e leggeri sono straordinari nel lavoro quotidiano. Trovarsi nel luogo di studio direttamente con un tablet e/o uno smartphone con software sviluppati ad hoc, seguendo un preciso metodo di lavoro messo a punto in precedenza ha permesso di ottimizzare i tempi e ridurre in maniera rilevante gli errori fornendo risposte molto più accurate e veloci

Epidemiology and costs of hospital care for COPD in Puglia

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently the 5(th )cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world and represents a substantial economic and social burden. The aim of this study is to report on hospital admissions and related costs of hospital treatment for COPD in the Puglia Region of Italy in the years 2005-2007. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were selected who were hospitalized between 01/01/2005 and 31/12/2007 with ICD-9-CM code: 490.xx: bronchitis not specified as acute or chronic; 491.xx: chronic bronchitis; 492.xx: emphysema; 493.xx: asthma; 494.xx: bronchiectasis; 496.xx: chronic airway obstruction not elsewhere classified; 518.81: acute respiratory failure as principal or secondary diagnosis. RESULTS: In the period 2005-2007, there were 73,721 hospital admissions for COPD registered in Puglia (25,690 in 2005; 24,153 in 2006 and 23,878 in 2007) of which 34.3% were women, with no significant variation in the three years. There appears to be a negative trend in hospitalisations in Puglia for chronic bronchitis with ratios decreasing from 359.4 per 100,000 population in 2005 to 307.9 per 100,000 in 2007. The overall cost of COPD for Apulian hospital trusts was €272,293,182.85 over the 3-year period. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the data for hospital care, its costs and performance may be an important indicator of the efficacy of community care. In particular, the lack of reduction in admissions for COPD should lead decision makers to question both the appropriateness and quality of the care given

Cardiac Meets Skeletal: What's New in Microfluidic Models for Muscle Tissue Engineering

In the last few years microfluidics and microfabrication technique principles have been extensively exploited for biomedical applications. In this framework, organs-on-a-chip represent promising tools to reproduce key features of functional tissue units within microscale culture chambers. These systems offer the possibility to investigate the effects of biochemical, mechanical, and electrical stimulations, which are usually applied to enhance the functionality of the engineered tissues. Since the functionality of muscle tissues relies on the 3D organization and on the perfect coupling between electrochemical stimulation and mechanical contraction, great efforts have been devoted to generate biomimetic skeletal and cardiac systems to allow high-throughput pathophysiological studies and drug screening. This review critically analyzes microfluidic platforms that were designed for skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue engineering. Our aim is to highlight which specific features of the engineered systems promoted a typical reorganization of the engineered construct and to discuss how promising design solutions exploited for skeletal muscle models could be applied to improve cardiac tissue models and vice versa

A screening proposal in ADHD diagnosis

My doctorate thesis focuses on screening proposals in diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). To diagnose such a disorder I propose some computerized tools, based on the main manuals of disorder classification, and I suggest to use a battery of tests evaluating specific linguistic skills in children aged 4 to 12. I focus my attention on data about children and adolescents with ADHD diagnosis, sent to four Child Psychiatry centres for observation

Strategies of signalization of pork quality to final consumer

A suinocultura destaca-se na economia brasileira. Contudo, avaliando-se o consumo interno da carne suína in natura, observa-se uma estagnação em patamares baixos. O artigo tem como objetivo analisar as principais iniciativas adotadas pelo Sistema Agroindustrial (SAG) da carne suína no Brasil visando sinalizar qualidade aos consumidores. Devido à marcante assimetria de informações, ressalta-se a importância da organização da cadeia produtiva, melhor direcionando esforços para a expansão do mercado interno. Este trabalho sugere ações visando aprimorar a coordenação deste SAG com vistas à melhoria na qualidade da carne ao consumidor e à redução da informalidade.Swine production plays an important role in Brazilian economy. Nevertheless, internal pork meat consumption shows a tendency to maintain low levels. The present article analyses the key initiatives of the Pork Agro-Industrial Chain in signaling quality to the consumers. The presence of significant information asymmetry highlights the importance of organizing the productive chain through a vertical association, better guiding the efforts towards internal market expansion. This paper suggests different actions aiming a better coordination of this productive chain to assure higher levels of meat quality to consumer and the reduction of informality

I.S.Mu.L.T. Achilles Tendon Ruptures Guidelines

This work provides easily accessible guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of Achilles tendon ruptures. These guidelines could be considered as recommendations for good clinical practice developed through a process of systematic review of the literature and expert opinion, to improve the quality of care for the individual patient and rationalize the use of resources. This work is divided into two sessions: 1) questions about hot topics; 2) answers to the questions following Evidence Based Medicine principles. Despite the frequency of the pathology andthe high level of satisfaction achieved in treatment of Achilles tendon ruptures, a global consensus is lacking. In fact, there is not a uniform treatment and rehabilitation protocol used for Achilles tendon ruptures

Osservatorio sulla componentistica automotive italiana 2021

Nel 2021 il mondo ha dovuto fare i conti per il secondo anno di fila con la crisi sanitaria ed economica determinata dalla diffusione del virus COVID-19. Per l’industria dell’auto la crisi ha prodotto una serie di effetti sia sull’offerta sia sulla domanda, tra cui la crisi dei semiconduttori, l’incertezza economica legata alla crisi sanitaria, e la decisa accelerazione, a trazione EU, della transizione verso la mobilità elettrica. Per la filiera automotive italiana, ulteriori incognite sono legate alla formazione di Stellantis e il conseguente spostamento del baricentro decisionale fuori dall’Italia. Il quadro che emerge dal rapporto 2021 dell’Osservatorio è quello di una filiera i cui risultati in termini di fatturato, produzione ed export continuano ad essere in contrazione, e che necessita con urgenza dell’avvio di un programma di investimenti pubblici per sostenere l’attrattività di investimenti privati in Italia, e del rilancio dei poli italiani di eccellenza attraverso nuovi investimenti in ricerca e sviluppo, struttura manageriale, risorse finanziarie e una rinnovata capacità di ‘fare rete’