623 research outputs found

    Food poverty, food waste and the consensus frame on charitable food redistribution in Italy

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    Food poverty and food waste are two major contemporary food system problems, which have (re)gained prominence amongst both scholars and policy-makers, due to recent economic and environmental concerns. In this context, the culturally dominant perspective portrays charitable food redistribution as a “win–win solution” to confront food poverty and food waste in affluent societies, although this view is contested by many scholars. This paper applies the notions of framings and flat/sharp keyings to unpack the different narratives entailed by public discourses on food waste and food poverty in Italy. The aim is to problematize the representation of the recent anti-waste/pro-donations law as the optimal policy measure to effectively rectify both food poverty and food waste. The paper argues that the widespread public support for the law reflects the interpretation of charitable food redistribution as a consensus frame, standing for the convergence between flat positions and is reinforced by confusion on terms and responsibilities. Indeed, the strength of the law lies in the capacity to reconcile different positions and bring actors together around a short-term objective, whose foundations have deep roots in the common ethics. However, if the debate is to be moved forward, trade-offs between different framings of problems at stake should be explicitly navigated when designing policy instruments

    Food policy integration in small cities: The case of intermunicipal governance in Lucca, Italy

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    Food and food security are not areas where municipalities have roles prescribed by law; nonetheless, they are responsible for a range of overlapping services and functions related to food. Competences for policymaking are divided across many different departments, local authorities, and agencies whose functions involve multiple actors, and both scholars and policymakers have called for a more integrated approach to food policies and for cities to play a prominent role in addressing food system challenges through new, place-based, and carefully crafted governance systems. In this study, we examined a unique case study and process that led to the establishment and further development of the first intermunicipal food policy (IFP) in Italy, called Piana del Cibo (literally “Plain of Food”), a governance arrangement through which five municipalities within the province of Lucca (in the Tuscany region, central Italy) reach out beyond their administrative and functional boundaries. Despite the food policy agenda in Lucca being currently underway, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the possible pathways of policy integration and of the implications of such processes in small cities, highlighting potential enablers and obstacles to integration. The findings indicate that the governance structure currently tested is an institutional unicum in the Italian food policy landscape and is shaped as joint management of food policy functions (gestione associata) combined with an elaborate structure of participatory governance. The presented case study illustrates how a process of (food) policy integration should be understood as processes entailing different and mutually interacting dimensions. It also showcases a set of factors that can reveal potential enablers and obstacles in such processes

    Application of the tying force method in the design of alternative load paths in post-and-beam timber structures: A case building

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    This work aims to present an application of the tying force method recently proposed in the literature to a mid-rise post-and-beam timber building. Internal and edge column loss scenarios are analysed. A steel-to-timber connection is proposed and extensively evaluated as a potential solution to ensure the robustness of the structure, thereby satisfying the requirements imposed by the tying force method and effectively minimizing the risk of progressive collapse of the structure. Finally, a parametric analysis evaluating the variation of the tying force as a function of the chord rotation and different beam span lengths is carried out. The results obtained show that the tying force method represents a promising and rapid strategy for designing robust post-and-beam timber buildings falling in low and medium consequence classes

    Opioid-induced hyperalgesia after rapid titration with intravenous morphine: Switching and re-titration to intravenous methadone

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    Rapid titration with intravenous morphine (IV-MO) provides fast and efficient pain relief in cancer patients with severe-excruciating pain. However, some patients, after an initially favourable response, can develop an hyperexcitated state unrelieved or worsened by further dose increments

    Digital assisted soft tissue sculpturing (DASS) technique for immediate loading pink free complete arch implant prosthesis

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    Purpose: To introduce a digitally assisted technique to achieve the ideal soft and bone tissue interface for anatomic-driven pink free implant supported fixed prosthesis, and prefabricate an interim prosthesis to be used the day of the surgery as a prosthetic scaffold to condition the healing Methods: The digital assisted soft tissue sculpturing (DASS) technique allows the previsualization of the ideal soft and bone tissue interface and fabricate a computer aided design computer aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) anatomic-driven pink free complete arch interim prosthesis for the immediate loading. Bone and soft tissue interface as well as the interim prosthesis design are performed in a segmented multiple standard tessellation language (STL) file embedding the bone anatomy, the intraoral surface anatomy (dental and soft tissue), the digital wax-up and the implant positioning. The interim prosthesis is used as a prosthetic scaffold to guide the soft and bone tissue surgical sculpturing and regeneration.Conclusions: The DASS technique is a predictable integrated digital workflow that simplifies the achievement of a scalloped tissue interface for pink free fixed implant prosthesis, reestablishing the mucosal dimension required for the protection of underlying bone while maintaining tissue health. The surgical sculpturing and maturation of the soft and bone tissue is driven and enhanced by the xenogeneic collagen matrix grafting and prosthetic scaffold effect of the digitally prefabricated interim prosthesis delivered the day of the surgery

    Is There an App for That? Apps for Post-Secondary Students With Attention Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

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    We compiled a comprehensive list of apps related to coping with academic work by post-secondary students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by examining 23 recent sources. Most of these were based on the opinion of single individuals, including persons with ADHD and experts. To discover relatively common apps, we summed the number of sources that mentioned each app and then checked with the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store to ensure availability in the summer of 2020. In the process it became apparent that while most apps directly supported schoolwork (e.g., calendars, timers, reminders) there were a variety of apps that, while not directly related to schoolwork, were apps that can support academic achievement by dealing with daily life demands (not ADHD therapy or assessment). We categorized apps related to both schoolwork as well as to aspects of daily life demands that can make academic work easier. Here we present the 20 most frequently mentioned schoolwork related apps and the eight most frequently mentioned daily life demands apps. Our findings suggest that if access coordinators, campus disability service providers, ADHD coaches and students with ADHD focus solely on schoolwork related apps, they will be missing an important part of the equation. They need to broaden their scope to ensure that students also have the help they need to structure and manage their daily life responsibilities, rather than simply focusing on doing schoolwork

    A Review of Ten Years of the Symposium on Search-Based Software Engineering

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    The year 2018 marked the tenth anniversary of the Symposium on Search Based Software Engineering (SSBSE). In order to better understand the characteristics and evolution of papers published in SSBSE, this work reports results from a mapping study targeting the ten proceedings of SSBSE. Our goal is to identify and to analyze authorship collaborations, the impact and relevance of SSBSE in terms of citations, the software engineering areas commonly studied as well as the new problems recently solved, the computational intelligence techniques preferred by authors and the rigour of experiments conducted in the papers. Besides this analysis, we list some recommendations to new authors who envisage to publish their work in SSBSE. Despite of existing mapping studies on SBSE, our contribution in this work is to provide information to researchers and practitioners willing to enter the SBSE field, being a source of information to strengthen the symposium, guide new studies, and motivate new collaboration among research groups
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