450 research outputs found

    ‘If it is not too expensive, then you can send me sugar’: money matters among migrants and their families

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    © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Discussions about money among migrants and their families have long been a financial and emotional concern. Earning money, or more money, and securing a family’s present and future well-being were significant factors when men and women made the decision to immigrate abroad over the twentieth century. With postal services globally systemized, literally tons of letters crossed oceans and continents for migrants, their families, and others to remain in touch. Letters, as historians and other scholars note, provide a plethora of information and insight on the lives and experiences of migrants and non-migrants. These micro-narratives set against the backdrop of national and local macro-narratives, contribute to understanding the state of mind and the state of heart of correspondents whose reason for writing was directly linked to migration. In this paper, we examine issues that relate to money and its emotional underpinnings as conveyed by a number of migrants and their more sedentary families over the first half of the twentieth century. The letters we examine in our paper are part of the Digitizing Immigrant Letters Project collection housed at the University of Minnesota’s Immigration History Research Center (archives.ihrc.umn.edu/dil/index.html). The letters, originally written in Italian, Ukrainian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, and Latvian, were translated into English as part of the Digitizing Immigrant Letters Project. Here, we examine migrant family letters using an interdisciplinary, comparative approach drawn from economic theory, social history and migration history. Some of the questions we explore are: What kind of monetary issues mattered and to whom? In what ways did these issues impact migrants and their families? How did money and familial intimacy intervene with processes of migration? What are some of the prominent links between money, family and migration discussed in migrant correspondence

    Helicobacter pylori-derived neutrophil-activating protein increases the lifespan of monocytes and neutrophils

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    P>An invariable feature of Helicobacter pylori-infected gastric mucosa is the persistent infiltration of inflammatory cells. The neutrophil-activating protein (HP-NAP) has a pivotal role in triggering and orchestrating the phlogistic process associated with H. pylori infection. Aim of this study was to address whether HP-NAP might further contribute to the inflammation by increasing the lifespan of inflammatory cells. We report that HP-NAP is able to prolong the lifespan of monocytes, in parallel with the induction of the anti-apoptotic proteins A1, Mcl-1, Bcl-2 and Bcl-X(L). This effect does not result from a direct action on the apoptotic machinery, but rather it requires the release of endogenous pro-survival factors, such as interleukin-1 beta, which probably acts in synergy with other unidentified mediators. We also report that HP-NAP promotes the survival of Ficoll-purified neutrophils in a monocyte-dependent fashion: indeed, mononuclear cell depletion of Ficoll-purified neutrophils completely abolished the pro-survival effect by HP-NAP. In conclusion, our data reinforce the notion that HP-NAP has a pivotal role in sustaining a prolonged activation of myeloid cells

    Grape yield and must composition of "Cabernet Sauvignon" grapevines with organic compost and urea fertilization.

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    Urea and organic compost are applied as a nitrogen (N) source in vineyards. The aim of this study was to evaluate the yield, total N content in the leaves and the must composition in grapevines with the application of organic compost and urea. ?Cabernet Sauvignon? grapevines, in the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 crop seasons were subjected to the application of 40 kg N ha-1 in the form of organic compost and urea; but there were also unfertilized grapevines. In both crop seasons, leaves were collected at the stages of full flowering and at the change in color of the berries, and the total N content were analyzed; grape yield was evaluated and enological attributes were determined in the must. The application of organic compost and urea did not affect the N content in the leaf nor the grape yield in the second crop season evaluated. However, in the first crop season, grape yield was greater in the grapevines with application of organic compost to the soil. The addition of N sources did not affect the total nutrient content in the must but, in the second crop season, the grape must from the grapevines with the addition of organic compost had a lower soluble solids concentration and a higher total acidity value, as well as tartaric and malic acid values. KEYWORDS: nitrogen, leaf analysis, Vitis vinifera L

    Multi-store Competition: Market Segmentation or Interlacing

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    This paper develops a model for multi-store competition between firms. Using the fact that different firms have different outlets and produce horizontally differentiated goods, we obtain a pure strategy equilibrium where firms choose a different location for each outlet and firms' locations are interlaced. The location decisions of multi-store firms are completely independent of each other. Firms choose locations that minimize transportation costs of consumers. Moreover, generically, the subgame perfect equilibrium is unique and when the firms have an equal number of outlets, prices are independent of the number of outlets

    2000-15 Taxes and Marriage: A Two-Sided Search Analysis

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    Fil: Chade, Héctor. Universidad de San Andrés. Departamento de Economía; Argentina.Fil: Ventura, Gustavo. Universidad de San Andrés. Departamento de Economía; Argentina

    Burden on family carers and care-related financial strain at the end of life : a cross-national population-based study

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    Background: The rising number of deaths from cancer and other life-limiting illnesses is accompanied by a growing number of family carers who provide long-lasting care, including end-of-life care. This population-based epidemiological study aimed to describe and compare in four European countries the prevalence of and factors associated with physical or emotional overburden and difficulties in covering care-related costs among family carers of people at the end of life. Methods: A cross-national retrospective study was conducted via nationwide representative sentinel networks of general practitioners (GPs). Using a standardized form, GPs in Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain recorded information on the last 3 months of life of every deceased adult practice patient (1 January 2009-31 December 2010). Sudden deaths were excluded. Results: We studied 4466 deaths. GPs judged family carers of 28% (Belgium), 30% (The Netherlands), 35% (Spain) and 71% (Italy) of patients as physically/emotionally overburdened (P < 0.001). For 8% (Spain), 14% (Belgium), 36% (The Netherlands) and 43% (Italy) patients, GPs reported difficulties in covering care-related costs (P < 0.001). Patients < 85 years of age (Belgium, Italy) had higher odds of having physically/emotionally overburdened family carers and financial burden. Death from non-malignant illness (vs. cancer) (Belgium and Italy) and dying at home compared with other locations (The Netherlands and Italy) were associated with higher odds of difficulties in covering care-related costs. Conclusion: In all countries studied, and particularly in Italy, GPs observed a considerable extent of physical/emotional overburden as well as difficulties in covering care-related costs among family carers of people at the end of life. Implications for health-and social care policies are discussed

    Human dimensions of climate change: the vulnerability of small farmers in the Amazon

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    This paper argues for a twofold perspective on human adaptation to climate change in the Amazon. First, we need to understand the processes that mediate perceptions of environmental change and the behavioural responses at the levels of the individual and the local population. Second, we should take into account the process of production and dissemination of global and national climate information and models to regional and local populations, especially small farmers. We discuss the sociocultural and environmental diversity of small farmers in the Amazon and their susceptibility to climate change associated with drought, flooding and accidental fire. Using survey, ethnographic and archival data from study areas in the state of Pará, we discuss farmers' sources of knowledge and long-term memory of climatic events, drought and accidental fire; their sources of climate information; their responses to drought and fire events and the impact of changing rainfall patterns on land use. We highlight the challenges of adaptation to climate change created by the influence of migration and family turnover on collective action and memory, the mismatch of scales used to monitor and disseminate climate data and the lack of extension services to translate large-scale forecasts to local needs. We found that for most farmers, memories of extended drought tend to decrease significantly after 3 years. Over 50% of the farmers interviewed in 2002 did not remember as significant the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) drought of 1997/1998. This helps explain why approximately 40% of the farmers have not changed their land-use behaviours in the face of the strongest ENSO event of the twentieth century
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