Developmental effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wildlife and humans.

Large numbers and large quantities of endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been released into the environment since World War II. Many of these chemicals can disturb development of the endocrine system and of the organs that respond to endocrine signals in organisms indirectly exposed during prenatal and/or early postnatal life; effects of exposure during development are permanent and irreversible. The risk to the developing organism can also stem from direct exposure of the offspring after birth or hatching. In addition, transgenerational exposure can result from the exposure of the mother to a chemical at any time throughout her life before producing offspring due to persistence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in body fat, which is mobilized during egg laying or pregnancy and lactation. Mechanisms underlying the disruption of the development of vital systems, such as the endocrine, reproductive, and immune systems, are discussed with reference to wildlife, laboratory animals, and humans

Routes to sustainability in public food procurement: An investigation of different models in primary school catering

Increasingly, policymakers are setting ambitious goals for sustainability in public procurement, integrated across different pillars. Such ambitions are apparent in public catering services, where procurement models have been shifting towards greater localisation of supply chains and purchasing of more organically grown food. To date however, few studies have examined empirically what the impacts of different procurement models are across these multiple pillars of sustainability. This research aimed to fill the gap, by measuring and comparing the environmental, economic and nutritional outcomes of different models of school meals procurement. Case studies were undertaken of ten primary school meals services in five European countries, capturing different procurement model types. Results showed carbon emissions ranged from 0.95 kgs CO2e per meal in the lowest case to 2.41 kgs CO2e in the highest case, with adoption of low carbon food waste disposal methods and reduction of the amount of ruminant meat in the menus being the most important actions for lowering emissions. In terms of economic impact, local economic multiplier ratios ranged from 1.59 to 2.46, and although the level of local food sourcing contributed to these ratios, the effect was eclipsed, in some cases, by investment in local catering staff. Meanwhile, implementation of a robust standards regime and improving canteen environment and supervision were the most important actions for nutritional quality and intake. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for integrated, sustainable models of food procurement

Empirical test of an agricultural landscape model: the importance of farmer preference for risk aversion and crop complexity

Developing models to predict the effects of social and economic change on agricultural landscapes is an important challenge. Model development often involves making decisions about which aspects of the system require detailed description and which are reasonably insensitive to the assumptions. However, important components of the system are often left out because parameter estimates are unavailable. In particular, measurements of the relative influence of different objectives, such as risk, environmental management, on farmer decision making, have proven difficult to quantify. We describe a model that can make predictions of land use on the basis of profit alone or with the inclusion of explicit additional objectives. Importantly, our model is specifically designed to use parameter estimates for additional objectives obtained via farmer interviews. By statistically comparing the outputs of this model with a large farm-level land-use data set, we show that cropping patterns in the United Kingdom contain a significant contribution from farmer’s preference for objectives other than profit. In particular, we found that risk aversion had an effect on the accuracy of model predictions, whereas preference for a particular number of crops grown was less important. While nonprofit objectives have frequently been identified as factors in farmers’ decision making, our results take this analysis further by demonstrating the relationship between these preferences and actual cropping patterns

Istruzioni per diventare disabile. Un’analisi narrativa del progetto sul corpo transabile

Attraverso una metodologia narrativa viene introdotto il fenomeno della transabilità, un progetto sul corpo che aspira all’acquisizione di una disabilità. Inquadrando la disabilità come oggetto del desiderio, la comunità transabile ribalta la caratterizzazione valoriale dominante della disabilità e si rende necessario comprende con quali strategie narrative un simile desiderio viene reso significativo, attraverso quali pratiche viene vissuto, con quali posizionamenti politici si presenta nello spazio pubblico, e come si relaziona con altre comunità e identità. [ENG] Transability – a body project aimed at acquiring a disability - is here presented using a narrative methodology. Framing disability as an object of desire, the transabled community reverses the dominant characterization of disability. It is thus necessary to understand what kind of narratives strategies are used to make sense of such a desire, the practices by means of which it is lived, its political standpoints within the public sphere, and its relationships with other communities and identities

Comunità del gusto e filiere di qualità

Il settore enogastronomico di qualità è ormai fondamentale nel (e per il) nostro Paese, così come la sua rilevanza sociale e culturale e non solo economica è ormai acquisita. Al suo consolidamento hanno contribuito diverse iniziative provenienti sia dai consumatori e dall’associazionismo, sia dalle istituzioni pubbliche. La letteratura sul tema sta sempre più facendo interagire la tematica del gusto e della sua formazione a opera di intermediari culturali con quella della mobilitazione sociale e della sfera pubblica, sottolineando il ruolo culturale e politico delle comunità del gusto che si costituiscono attorno alla ricerca di buon cibo. A partire dalla rete costituitasi attorno all’iniziativa DegustiBO, l’indagine da cui trae spunto questo intervento intende sondare il potenziale di sviluppo di comunità del gusto che consolidino e rafforzino l’identità territoriale enogastronomica bolognese nel settore delle filiere di qualità

La influencia española en el reformismo de la monarquía austriaca del setecientos

The changes introduced in the Austrian monarchy with the establishing of the Council of Spain and the offices of Secretary of State and of Despacho are studied in relation to the liberalisation leading to the reforms established in the middle of the 18th century. Thus an analysis is made of how the new institutional dynamics stimulated the theoretical formulation of new forms of government from the doctrinal position of the Marquis of Rialp and the Count of Amor de Soria. ln their writings, solutions of French origin are accepted for improving government and strengthening the power of the monarch.Los cambios que se introducen en la monarquía austriaca con la constitución del Consejo de España y la Secretaría de Estado y del Despacho son estudiados en relación con la apertura hacia las reformas verificadas a mediados del siglo XVIII. Se analiza así cómo la nueva dinámica institucional estimula la formulación teórica de nuevas formas de gobierno desde la posición doctrinal del Marqués de Rialp y el Conde de Amor de Soria. En sus escritos se aceptan soluciones de origen francés para mejorar gobierno y fortalecer el poder del monarca

EU Food Quality Policy: Geographical Indications

Over the past decades, the EU Common Agricultural Policy has increasingly shifted away from being production support focused towards being market and consumer driven. The EU food quality policy fits within this new paradigm and aims to provide farmers with instruments to compete under conditions of increasing market liberalisation. This chapter focuses on the EU policy for the protection of Geographical Indications in the food sector, an integral part of the EU food quality policy. A brief historical recollection of the steps that have led to the current EU food quality policy is followed by a description of the current policy framework for Geographical Indications in the EU and their treatment in multilateral agreements

A PMP model for the impact assessment of the Common Agricultural Policy reform 2014-2020 on the Italian tomato sector

The recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) establishes a new payment model mainly divided into a basic component and a greening component. This paper focuses on the effect of the convergence of direct payments and the three greening requirements: crop diversification, maintenance of permanent grassland and establishment of the ecological focus areas. The aim is to evaluate the effect of different proposals for the CAP Post-2013 on Italian farms, particularly on the processing tomato sector. Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) is used to simulate different hypotheses of convergence and greening as proposed by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. Commission proposals are shown to have different impacts compared to the other two. Commission proposals would significantly influence the regional production plan, leading to big reductions in cereal production and farm income. Parliament and Council two proposals would have lower impact on arable crop dynamics. In terms of land use, the tomato sector is relatively unaffected by the reform, but the payment convergence process significantly reduces tomato farm income