Looking for EU identities: communicating the EU job market

The blow dealt in 2005 by the outcome of the French and Dutch referendums to European constitutional process triggered a dramatic review of European institutional communication. The idea that the gap between Brussels and European citizens was related to ineffective communication models was already clearly stated by the European Commission Vice – President Margot Wallström in 2004: We need to explain what exactly it is we do. We want to reach out ... We will use images and faces of real people who can explain in language that is not full of Eurojargon. There are so many problems that can’t be solved by the nation- state. We have not been good at saying that (interview to Herald Tribune, December 22, 2004). In June 2005, the European Council declared the start a ‘period of reflection’, during which a broad debate on Europe took place in each European country, involving citizens, civil society, social partners, national Parliaments and political parties. Since then, a properly conceived communication policy has become an essential element to the creation of a distinctive European identity. The goal of this paper is to extend the scope of other scholarly investigations on European communication strategies (e.g. Valentini-Nesti 2010) to the way in which European institutions represent the job market. This paper will be focused on Social Agenda, a traditional quarterly paper magazine published by the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (in French, German and English) since 2002 and virtually addressed to all European citizens in working age

“A Pandemic within the Pandemic”: A CDA of Social Media Comments on Domestic Violence during COVID-19

Abstract Violence against women is a ubiquitous phenomenon, characterised by a series of psychological, physical, sexual, and persecutory acts that cause harm and suffering of various kinds to the victim. The issue, already declared a pandemic by the UN Secretary General in 2008, became a worrying pandemic within the pandemic with the outbreak of the epidemiological emergency from COVID-19 in the early 2020s. From the beginning, the media and specialised services spoke of a possible increased risk of adverse outcomes for the health and well-being of those already living in vulnerable situations before the onset of COVID-19. The threat was due to forced confinement (lockdown) and the difficulties for victims living with the abuser to report and turn to support services. A vital role in the rethinking and reorganisation of services and in the networking that has underpinned social work in the emergency period is represented by the use of technology and the modification of information flows that followed. A strong propensity emerges for the widespread use of digital tools, of the net in the widest sense, up to the use of social media, both to intercept beneficiaries and for the provision of services and their communication. The present study investigates user-generated discourse about domestic violence during COVID-19 by examining the replies to a Facebook post by the World Health Organization (WHO) (on 24 June 2021) reporting the increased risk for women during the pandemic. Critical Discourse Analysis represents a valid framework to investigate social media communication as expressing ideological meanings and sustaining hierarchically gendered social orders. In particular, the study seeks to identify the discursive means employed by online users to frame domestic abuse and express their position. It has also uncovered how the users exploit the topic to convey their views on other issues related to COVID-19 (e.g. vaccines, government policies)

Una storia, tanti modi di raccontarla. Una nuova proposta di definizione dell’heritage marketing mix / One story, so many ways to narrate it. A new proposal for the definition of the heritage marketing mix

L’obiettivo del lavoro è proporre una precisa categorizzazione dei molteplici strumenti utilizzabili, nell’ambito di una strategia di heritage marketing, per gestire in termini manageriali la narrazione della storia dell’impresa e dei suoi prodotti e/o marchi. A tal fine, è stata realizzata una multiple case study research su 20 imprese ultracentenarie italiane che si sono distinte per le attività di valorizzazione del proprio patrimonio storico. Secondo un approccio qualitativo di tipo narrativo, ciascun caso è stato costruito integrando fonti orali (interviste), testuali (materiale aziendale) e visive (visite e osservazione diretta). In base alla diversa natura della narrazione, viene proposta una declinazione dell’heritage marketing mix in quattro categorie di strumenti, il cui utilizzo integrato e contestuale può offrire un contributo fondamentale alla valorizzazione dell’identità racchiusa nel patrimonio storico aziendale, con particolare riferimento alle imprese del settore agroalimentare. Il lavoro costituisce un “follow up” di un precedente contributo pubblicato su questa Rivista, e mira a correggere la prospettiva d’analisi che era stata allora utilizzata, alla luce degli sviluppi più recenti di un percorso di ricerca che non si è mai interrotto e che risulta tuttora incompiuto. A conoscenza degli autori, si tratta della più dettagliata declinazione dell’heritage marketing mix presente in letteratura. The aim of the paper is to propose a precise categorization of the multiple tools that can be used, as part of a heritage marketing strategy, to manage the narration of the history of the company and its products and/or its brands according to a strategic perspective. To this aim, a multiple case study research has been carried out on 20 Italian companies that have distinguished themselves for the enhancement of their historical heritage. According to a qualitative narrative approach, each case was built by integrating oral (interviews), textual (company material) and visual (visits and direct observation) sources. Based on the different nature of the narrative used, a definition of the heritage marketing mix is proposed, consisting in four categories of tools, whose integrated and contextual use can offer a fundamental contribution to the enhancement of the identity embedded in the company’s historical heritage, with particular reference to companies operating in the food and beverage industries. This paper is a “follow up” of a previous contribution published in this Journal, and aims to correct the analysis perspective that was then used, in light of the most recent developments of a research path that has never been interrupted and which is still unfinished. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most detailed definition of the heritage marketing mix that it is possible to find in the literature.

Applying critical discourse analysis to explore the Italian Universities. Orientation towards the entrepreneurial model

This paper is aimed to discuss the actual commitment of Italian universities towards their third mission of economic and social development, providing an innovative perspective of analysis. We apply Critical Discourse Analysis to assess how Italian universities engagement with the stakeholder community is interpreted, implemented, communicated and disseminated within and outside the academic organizations. One of the most significant points in the evolution of organizational studies is the growing interest in language, whose construction is a key, alternative to traditional, to understand the organizational and inter-organizational phenomena. Critical Discourse Analysis is based on the assumption that language is not neutral with respect to organizational and inter-organizational dynamics, but it contributes to their production. In management studies, discourse analysis is a new heuristic strategy for those who are interested in the processes of social construction of organizational phenomena that have as their central element the text. Critical Discourse Analysis tries to unite, and determines the relationship between, three levels of analysis: (a) the actual text; (b) the discursive practices; and (c) the larger social context that bears upon the text and the discursive practices. We made our survey focusing on the texts published by each one of the 84 Italian universities on their websites. The first level of analysis was a lexical-statistical study of the texts with the main aim of observing the adopted terminology (vocabulary). At a second level, and on the basis of the previously performed analysis, we employed multidimensional statistic techniques, in order to study the discursive practices. Discourse study starts from concordances analysis, that deals with the identification of some local contexts containing word-types of specific interest. The final result is the reconstruction of the major sense behavior models. At a macro level, an exploratory study of the social context has been realized in order to link the texts and the discursive practices to the background conditions. Such analysis partially contributed to fill a gap in the literature, that is the study of the entrepreneurial university model from the discursive profile in the specific Italian context

Resveratrol-based benzoselenophenes with an enhanced antioxidant and chain breaking capacity

The structural modification of the resveratrol scaffold is currently an active issue in the quest for more potent and versatile antioxidant derivatives for biomedical applications. Disclosed herein is an expedient and efficient entry to a novel class of resveratrol derivatives featuring an unprecedented 2-phenylbenzoselenophene skeleton. The new compounds were obtained in good yields by direct selenenylation of resveratrol with Se(0) and SO2Cl2 in dry THF. Varying the [Se:SO2Cl2:resveratrol] ratio resulted in the formation of the parent benzoselenophene (1) and/or mono (2) and/or dichloro (3) benzoselenophene derivatives. All the benzoselenophene derivatives proved to be more efficient than resveratrol in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, with 1 showing an activity nearly comparable to that of Trolox. 1-3 also proved to be more efficient inhibitors than the parent resveratrol in kinetic experiments of styrene autoxidation. DFT calculations of the O-H bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) revealed that the introduction of the Se-atom causes a significant decrease of the BDE of 3-OH and 5-OH, with just a small increase of the 4′-OH BDE. Compounds 1-3 showed no cytotoxicity at 5 μM concentrations on human keratinocyte (HaCaT) and intestinal (CaCo-2) cell line

Assessment of Acute and Chronic Pharmacological Effects on Energy Expenditure and Macronutrient Oxidation in Humans: Responses to Ephedrine

Evidence of active brown adipose tissue in human adults suggests that this may become a pharmacological target to induce negative energy balance. We have explored whole-body indirect calorimetry to detect the metabolic effects of thermogenic drugs through administration of ephedrine hydrochloride and have assessed ephedrine's merits as a comparator compound in the evaluation of novel thermogenic agents. Volunteers randomly given ephedrine hydrochloride 15 mg QID (n = 8) or placebo (n = 6) were studied at baseline and after 1-2 and 14-15 days of treatment. We demonstrate that overnight or 23-hour, 2% energy expenditure (EE) and 5% fat (FO) or CHO oxidation effects are detectable both acutely and over 14 days. Compared to placebo, ephedrine increased EE and FO rates overnight (EE 63 kJ day 2, EE 105 kJ, FO 190 kJ, day 14), but not over 23 h. We conclude that modest energy expenditure and fat oxidation responses to pharmacological interventions can be confidently detected by calorimetry in small groups. Ephedrine should provide reliable data against which to compare novel thermogenic compounds

Enhanced Arteriogenesis and Wound Repair in Dystrophin-Deficient <i>mdx</i> Mice

Background— The absence of functional dystrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients and in mdx mice results in progressive muscle degeneration associated with necrosis, fibrosis, and inflammation. Because vascular supply plays a key role in tissue repair, we examined whether new blood vessel development was altered in mdx mice. Methods and Results— In a model of hindlimb ischemia on femoral artery dissection, hindlimb perfusion, measured by laser Doppler imaging, was higher in mdx mice (0.67±0.26) than in wild-type (WT) mice (0.33±0.18, P <0.03). In keeping with these data, a significant increase in arteriole length density was found in mdx mice (13.6±8.4 mm/mm 3 ) compared with WT mice (7.8±4.6 mm/mm 3 , P <0.03). Conversely, no difference was observed in capillary density between mice of the 2 genotypes. The enhanced regenerative response was not limited to ischemic skeletal muscle, because in a wound-healing assay, mdx mice showed an accelerated wound closure rate compared with WT mice. Moreover, a vascularization assay in Matrigel plugs containing basic fibroblast growth factor injected subcutaneously revealed an increased length density of arterioles in mdx (46.9±14.7 mm/mm 3 ) versus WT mice (19.5±5.8 mm/mm 3 , P <0.001). Finally, serum derived from mdx mice sustained formation of endothelium-derived tubular structures in vitro more efficiently than WT serum. Conclusions— These results demonstrate that arteriogenesis is enhanced in mdx mice both after ischemia and skin wounding and in response to growth factors

NADP+-dependent dehydrogenase activity of carbonyl reductase on glutathionylhydroxynonanal as a new pathway for hydroxynonenal detoxification.

A NADP+ dependent dehydrogenase activity on 3-glutathionyl-4-hydroxynonanal (GSHNE) was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from a line of human astrocytoma cells (ADF). Proteomic analysis identified this enzymatic activity as associated with carbonyl reductase 1 (E.C. 1.1.1.184). The enzyme is highly efficient at catalyzing the oxidation of GSHNE (KM33 µM,kcat.405 min-1), as it is practically inactive towards trans-4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) and other HNE-addicted thiol-containing amino acid derivatives. Combined mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis of the reaction products revealed that carbonyl reductase oxidizes the hydroxyl group of GSHNE in its hemiacetal form, with the formation of the corresponding 3-glutathionyl-nonanoic-δ-lactone. The relevance of this new reaction catalyzed by carbonyl reductase 1 is discussed in terms of HNE detoxification and the recovery of reducing power

Rays sting: the acute cellular effects of ionizing radiation exposure

High-precision radiation therapy is a clinical approach that uses the targeted delivery of ionizing radiation, and the subsequent formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in high proliferative, radiation sensitive cancers. In particular, in thoracic cancer ratdiation treatments, can not avoid a certain amount of cardiac toxicity. Given the low proliferative rate of cardiac myocytes, research has looked at the effect of radiation on endothelial cells and consequent coronary heart disease as the mechanism of ratdiation induced cardiotoxicity. In fact, little is known concerning the direct effect of radiation on mitochondria dynamis in cardiomyocyte. The main effect of ionizing radiation is the production of ROS and recent works have uncovered that they directly participates to pivotal cell function like mitochondrial quality control. In particular ROS seems to act as check point within the cell to promote either mitochondrial biogenesis and survival or mitochondrial damage and apoptosis. Thus, it appears evident that the functional state of the cell, as well as the expression patterns of molecules involved in mitochondrial metabolism may differently modulate mitochondrial fate in response to radiation induced ROS responses. Different molecules have been described to localize to mitochondria and regulate ROS production in response to stress, in particular GRK2. In this review we will discuss the evidences on the cardiac toxicity induced by X ray radiation on cardiomyocytes with emphasis on the role played by mitochondria dynamism