Re-imagining Australian citizenship: Australian values and allegiance to Australia

This paper explores how Australian values have been incorporated in the recently enacted Allegiance to Australia Act. It focuses on the discursive shifts that have refigured the concept of Australian values as a way of defining disloyalty and treason among particular migrants who threaten the Australian way of life. Originally popularised by the Howard government as a way to define Australian identity and replace multiculturalism, Australian values are today presented in legislation as a mechanism that can combat youth radicalisation and counter terrorist activities. Through a genealogy of how the debate around Australian values has evolved over the past decade, this paper suggests that such notions are not fixed. An exploration of the transformation of Australian values culminating in their inclusion in allegiance legislation allows us to become conscious of the myths that surround the notion of a unique national Australian identity. It highlights the need to ‘denaturalise’ these values so that they can be reimagined in other ways which are inclusive of all citizens

Crime and urban configuration: An evaluation of property prices and welfare under a general equilibrium approach for the city of Buenos Aires

Insecurity is one of the scourges that most concern the inhabitants of Latin America, where violence and lack of security make it one of the most insecure regions in the world. Buenos Aires (Argentina) is not an exception to this phenomenon, given that its recent statistics show a growing trend of crimes against people. Poverty can provoke a greater virulence of crime, but the latter also entails social and economic costs that negatively impact welfare and poverty. This paper addresses this second relationship based on the study of changes in the urban configuration and its consequent impact on the welfare of households and firms due to the increase in crime in the city of Buenos Aires.Antecedentes: la inseguridad es uno de los flagelos que mayormente preocupan a los habitantes de Latinoamérica, una de las regiones más inseguras del mundo, debido a la violencia y a la falta de seguridad. Buenos Aires (Argentina) no es ajena a este fenómeno, dado que sus estadísticas recientes muestran una tendencia creciente de delitos contra las personas. La pobreza puede provocar una mayor virulencia del crimen; sin embargo, este último también acarrea costos sociales y económicos que impactan negativamente sobre el bienestar y la pobreza. Este trabajo aborda esa segunda relación a partir del estudio de los cambios en la configuración urbana y su consecuente impacto sobre el bienestar de los hogares y las firmas debido al incremento del crimen en la ciudad de Buenos Aries. Metodología: se desarrolló un modelo de equilibrio general computado (egc) con características urbanas para Argentina en 2011, con el fin de medir los cambios de bienestar generados por el crimen y los costos que éste produce sobre el mercado inmobiliario. Se tomaron los precios de los inmuebles como el mecanismo de transmisión entre el crimen y el bienestar y, con base en esto, se estimaron elasticidades entre el crimen y el precio de la vivienda a partir de un modelo econométrico hedónico.Resultados: frente a un incremento de la tasa de crimen de 10%, los precios de los inmuebles en la zona norte de la ciudad, relativamente más rica, pueden caer hasta 4%, mientras que en la región sur caen menos de 1%. El efecto neto es una caída significativa del valor promedio de los inmuebles en la ciudad, dado que en el norte se concentra la mayor parte de los inmuebles y de mayor valor. Estos resultados asimétricos entre zonas de la ciudad también se observan en los resultados de bienestar de los hogares, se reduce 8% en el norte y 1% en el sur. Dichos resultados sobre los precios de los inmuebles y del bienestar de los hogares inducen la relocalización de los hogares hacia el sur y de las firmas hacia el norte, lo que altera la configuración urbana inicial. Los resultados coinciden con los hallazgos para otras ciudades de América del Sur.Conclusiones: un aumento en el crimen en la ciudad de Buenos Aires genera costos de bienestar no desdeñables para las familias, produce incentivos para la reloca-lización, no sólo de las familias sino también de las firmas. En consecuencia, el crimen no resulta neutral para la configuración urbana y regional, dadas las interacciones entre la ciudad de Buenos Aires y el resto del país. Tanto las conclu-siones como los resultados cuantitativos resultan útiles para el diseño de políticas públicas relativas a la seguridad y su impacto sobre la configuración urbana.Fil: Chisari, Omar Osvaldo. Universidad Argentina de la Empresa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Ramos, Maria Priscila. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Economía; Argentina. Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Information Internationale; Francia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Leon, Sonia Mabel. Universidad Argentina de la Empresa; Argentin

Behavioral aspects in children's brothers affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders

Introduction: Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a permanent and complex disability arising within the first three years of life characterized by a socio-communicative disorder and by fixed interests and repetitive behaviors. The present pilot study aims to evaluate behavioral aspects in a small population of siblings of ASD children. Material and methods: Population: 5 school-aged children (2 males, 3 females) (mean age 9.235 ± 2.041) were enrolled, as siblings of ASD children, and for comparison, 12 healthy (7 males, 5 females) children (average age 9,528 ± 3,351). All subjects underwent evaluation of the behavioral with Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scale. Results: The two groups were statistically comparable by age (p = 0.86) and gender distribution (p = 0.87). From the behavioral point of view evaluated with the CBCL scale, siblings of ASD have a higher degree of overall problem (Total problems) compared to control children (p=0.003), in addition they have significantly higher scores in the subscales of behavior examined (Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints, Social, Thought, Attention, Delinquent, Aggressive) as well as a greater share of disturbances both internalizing (p=0.004) and externalizing (p = 0.007) (Table 1). Conclusions: The present preliminary data confirm the need for a global management of the entire family structure for the correct management of Autistic Disorders

Inclusive STEM Teaching from a Language Perspective: Teacher Learning in a Professional Development Program

Worldwide, pupils with migrant backgrounds do not participate in school STEM subjects as successfully as their peers. Migrant pupils’ subject-specific language proficiency lags behind, which hinders participation and learning. Primary teachers experience difficulty in teaching STEM as well as promoting required language development. This study investigates how a professional development program (PDP) focusing on inclusive STEM teaching can promote teacher learning of language-promoting strategies (promoting interaction, scaffolding language and using multilingual resources). Participants were five case study teachers in multilingual schools in the Netherlands (N = 2), Sweden (N = 1) and Norway (N = 2), who taught in primary classrooms with migrant pupils. The PDP focused on three STEM units (sound, maintenance, plant growth) and language-promoting strategies. To trace teachers’ learning, three interviews were conducted with each of the five teachers (one after each unit). The teachers also filled in digital logs (one after each unit). The interviews showed positive changes in teachers’ awareness, beliefs and attitudes towards language-supporting strategies. However, changes in practice and intentions for practice were reported to a lesser extent. This study shows that a PDP can be an effective starting point for teacher learning regarding inclusive STEM teaching. It also illuminates possible enablers (e.g., fostering language awareness) or hinderers (e.g., teachers’ limited STEM knowledge) to be considered in future PDP design

Clinical effectiveness of different natalizumab interval dosing schedules in a large Italian population of patients with multiple sclerosis

Introduction Natalizumab (NTZ) is one of the most effective treatment options for multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment. Our study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of NTZ when administered according to the extended dosing strategy compared with standard 4-weekly administration in a large Italian MS population. Materials and methods This retrospective multicentre study included patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) who received NTZ administrations between the 1 June 2012 and the 15 May 2018 and were followed by the ’Italian MS Register’. All patients with MS were stratified into two groups based on NTZ administration schedule: standard interval dosing (SID) patients who received infusions on average from 28 to 32 days (median 30) and extended interval dosing (EID) including patients who have been infused with interval between 33 and 49 days (median 43). Clinical data were assessed at baseline (before starting NTZ), after 12 (T1) and 24 months (T2) of treatment. Results Out of 5231 patients with RR-MS screened, 2092 (mean age 43.2±12.0, 60.6% women) were enrolled. A total of 1254 (59.9%) received NTZ according to SID, and 838 (40.1%) according to EID. At 12 and 24 months, no differences in terms of annualised relapse rate and disability status were found between the two groups. Progression index and confirmed disability worsening were similar between the two groups. Discussion The use of NTZ with an extended interval schedule showed similar effectiveness compared with SID. Unchanged clinical efficacy of EID schedule may raise the question of a possible advantage in terms of tolerability and safety

KiDS+GAMA:Intrinsic alignment model constraints for current and future weak lensing cosmology

We directly constrain the non-linear alignment (NLA) model of intrinsic galaxy alignments, analysing the most representative and complete flux-limited sample of spectroscopic galaxies available for cosmic shear surveys. We measure the projected galaxy position-intrinsic shear correlations and the projected galaxy clustering signal using high-resolution imaging from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) overlapping with the GAMA spectroscopic survey, and data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Separating samples by colour, we make no significant detection of blue galaxy alignments, constraining the blue galaxy NLA amplitude $A_{\textrm{IA}}^{\textrm{B}}=0.21^{+0.37}_{-0.36}$ to be consistent with zero. We make robust detections ($\sim9\sigma$) for red galaxies, with $A_{\textrm{IA}}^{\textrm{R}}=3.18^{+0.47}_{-0.46}$, corresponding to a net radial alignment with the galaxy density field, and we find no evidence for any scaling of alignments with galaxy luminosity. We provide informative priors for current and future weak lensing surveys, an improvement over de facto wide priors that allow for unrealistic levels of intrinsic alignment contamination. For a colour-split cosmic shear analysis of the final KiDS survey area, we forecast that our priors will improve the constraining power on $S_{8}$ and the dark energy equation of state $w_{0}$, by up to $62\%$ and $51\%$, respectively. Our results indicate, however, that the modelling of red/blue-split galaxy alignments may be insufficient to describe samples with variable central/satellite galaxy fractions.Comment: 27 pages (incl. 7 appendix pages), 10 figures, accepted by A&

Patients with paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis are at higher risk of cognitive impairment in adulthood: an Italian collaborative study

Background: Patients with paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) could be at an increased risk for cognitive impairment (CI), given the potential harmful effects of disease activity in neurodevelopment. However, there is scarce information on their long-term cognitive outcomes. Objective: To compare the prevalence and profile of CI between adults with a history of POMS and those with classic, adult-onset multiple sclerosis (AOMS). Methods: Cognitive performance was assessed through the Brief Repeatable Battery (BRB) and the Stroop Test in consecutive patients referred to six Italian MS centres. CI was defined as impairment in ⩾2 cognitive domains. Results: In all, 119 patients with POMS and 712 with AOMS were included in this analysis. The prevalence of CI was 48.0% in AOMS, 44.5% in POMS; with similar neuropsychological profile between the two groups. However, when adjusting for current age, we found a significantly increased risk for CI (odds ratio (OR) = 1.71; p = 0.02) and for impairment in information processing speed (OR = 1.86; p < 0.01) in patients with POMS. A higher Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was also identified in POMS (p = 0.03) compared with AOMS patients.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This study was in part financed through an FISM (Italian Federation of Multiple Sclerosis) research grant

Which Climate Change Mitigation Policy-mix to Latin American countries? A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis to Argentina

Climate change (CC) has become a widespread global concern. Hence, governments have taken international commitments and begun to implement policies to reduce their national Green House Gases (GHG). Although the carbon tax appears as a generalized applied policy, structural socio-economic constraints of Latin American countries become this instrument costly and less effective than a tailor-made policy-mix. By developing a multi-sector recursive dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model which accounts for main structural characteristics of Latin American countries (inequality, unemployment, persistent macroeconomic deficits, etc.) and with a detailed modelling for GHG-intensive sectors (energy, agriculture and (de)forestry), we analyze the environmental, social and (macro- and sector) economic performance of a set of CC mitigation policies for thesecountries. We apply this analysis to Argentina whose results suggest that a policy-mix that combines the elimination of fossil fuels subsidies and a carbon tax on land-intensive sectors would be both, environmentally and socio-economic preferable than a generalized carbon tax which may be extremely damaging to the industrial sectors. CC policy recommendations also hold to other Latina American countries similar to Argentina.Fil: Jacquet, Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Ojeda, María Laura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Economía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Ramos, Maria Priscila. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Economía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mercatante, Juan Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Chisari, Omar Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Carlos Adrián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Economía; ArgentinaLVI Reunión Anual Asociación Argentina de Economía PolíticaBuenos AiresArgentinaAsociación Argentina de Economía PolíticaConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; Argentin