Chapter Personal weaknesses recognized by high school students in the North-West of Italy

This study is part of a project aimed at supporting the weaknesses of young people who are experiencing, or are at risk of reaching, NEET condition (Not in Education, Employment or Training; aged between 15 and 29 or 34, according to different definitions). The first signs of the extreme discomfort caused by Neet condition were sought by investigating signs of weakness in high school students in the Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta and Liguria regions. Of course students as such are not Neets and the anonymity required for a survey dealing with very personal issues does not allow a longitudinal study to be carried out on the same individuals. However, the construction of a comparison base referring to a generic population, relative to the incidence of certain states of weakness (or some of their combinations), will allow for a subsequent comparison with the incidence of the same difficulties in school age for those who find themselves in a Neet situation. A survey questionnaire was administered to 931 students, an operator being present in the classrooms, shortly before the start of the pandemic. Collected results will therefore be more directly linked to school activities "in presence", even if discontinuities in teaching methods and characteristics caused by the pandemic might have brought in alterations that will need to be monitored over time

Bibliometric analysis of Islamic finance

Islamic finance and Islamic banking have been the subject of central scientific interest, as demonstrated by the significant increase in publications on the subject in recent years. In the present paper, the use of the bibliometric analytical technique is proposed to examine the research on Islamic finance. The objective of the study consists in carrying out a bibliometric analysis of all the publications on Scopus relative to Islamic finance. The parameters used include the type of document (article), the language of publication (English). Among other things, the author, the publication models, the distribution of the thematic category, the distribution of the author's key words, the country of publication and the most frequently cited article are analyzed. The different rankings reinforce the fact that bibliometric understanding of scientific impact is a multidimensional construct. However, the bibliometric analysis does not take place in an institutional and political vacuum. The institutional context of quality evaluation of public and private research increasingly determines which metrics are applied, with consequent effects on performance evaluation. Through analysis, citation rates are proposed, and the impact factors of journals are quantitative and objective indicators directly linked to published science. The objective of this paper is to identify the future trend of research in the field of Islamic finance

The Human Perspective in Consumer Ethics and Animal Welfare Issues: Envisioning a Future for Change

Animal welfare has been a subject of interest for the European Union since the 1970s, with the definition of animal protection guidelines during international transport, on farms and for slaughter. However, the Legislator’s concern found its highest expression in the Animal Welfare Protocol of the Treaty of Amsterdam, where animals are defined as sentient beings, therefore worthy of attention in the policies developed by the European Union and its Member States. Nowadays, the interpretation of the animal welfare concept as an element that contributes to increasing profitability is also integrated by respect for the animal’s feelings and, consequently, the related different biological manifestations. Food scandals and diseases, on the one hand, and the emergence of a new approach to consumer ethics, on the other, have also strongly sensitized the European population about the importance of protecting animal welfare. Based on the above considerations, this study provides a framework to understand whether animal welfare should merely be considered as a product of EU strategies dedicated to the economic and competitive performance of agricultural and agro-industrial enterprises or whether it can also be assessed as a useful tool to minimize the environmental impact, through breeding practices and food habits, and therefore encourage more sustainable development

The Management of Unsold Food in Outdoor Market Areas: Food Operators’ Behaviour and Attitudes

Food wastage has been widely discussed and investigated from different perspectives in literature. The EU-28 produces about 88 million tonnes of food wastage every year, making the awareness of this phenomenon a vital matter. This paper focuses on the outdoor-market operators’ perception and behaviour towards the food waste phenomenon in a particular phase of the agro-food supply chain. It assesses the different approaches used to manage unsold produce and its destination. A sample of 214 market retailers in the Greater Torino market areas of Italy were identified, to whom a questionnaire was administered by interview to analyze the main actors involved in the food-wastage process and profile them according to their perception, behaviour, and attitude. The results show that there are three distinct kinds of market operators, i.e., farmers, peddlers, and hybrids. Their attitudes and behaviour towards unsold food differ, as does their inclination towards a sustainable approach, which depends on their personal experience and role in the supply chain. Moreover, the results provide some relevant elements that may contribute to improving the management of the food-waste phenomenon. Moreover, they bring some useful evidence to light that could lay the basis of more effective tools to be put at the disposal of various institutions