Symbolic Policies and Citizenship: The Case of Naples

Drawing on the theoretical framework of territorial and urban governance, this paper focuses on changes in urban policies in Naples. Based on the analysis of three policies, it argues that: 1) the City government uses the rhetoric of urban change in the city to build political consensus; 2) the construction of such rhetoric is based on the involvement of the citizens through various tools and forms of participation, in order to create legitimacy around the work of the local administration; 3) the weight of citizens’ participation in the governance networks and the substantive effects of this participation is minimal; 4) the shift from the rhetoric of the announcements to the implementation of the projects and measures leads to symbolic policies that do not improve the conditions of life of the population. Three urban policies will be compared. The first policy (the Bagnoli district) was started more than twenty years ago; the second (Historical Centre) started about fifteen years ago; the third (Free Trade Zone) never started but has fuelled a very lively and interesting public debate. These are three of the most important policies adopted by the City Council, and they have all had the same outcome: a difficult implementation that has thwarted their potentiality to contribute substantially to urban change

La città di Stoccolma e i Patti per l’impiego nell’Unione Europea

L'articolo analizza gli esiti di un Patto per l'Occupazione promosso dalla città di Stoccolma. Esso rielabora alcune osservazioni e riflessioni fatte durante un soggiorno presso lo Score (Stockholm Center of Organizational Research)

Il Porto di Napoli e la politica di riforma. Attori, logiche di azione ed esiti.

The Port of Naples and Policy Reform. Actors, Logics of Action and Outcomes The debate on the state of liberalization and privatization has further flourished during the recent financial crises, when the negative performance of the Italian economy leads to reflect on the necessity of reforms in certain strategic sectors for the market. The paper addresses the issue of the Italian port reform and, through the analysis of the results produced by a research on its implementation, shows the difficulties and opportunities that arise in a specific context. The focus is on the role of the private and public actors in building a new model of territorial governance. Specifically, the attention is on a group of private actors who already have economic interests in the Neapolitan port and on the ways they attempt to counteract the aim of the reform – the liberalization – to avoid the entrance of new players in the competition for the management of public services

Percorsi di sviluppo locale in Italia ed in Inghilterra

L'articolo analizza due diversi modelli di regolazione dell'economia e due differenti impostazioni di politica economica: quella inglese e quella italiana

Le attuali politiche di sviluppo per il Mezzogiorno: i Patti Territoriali e le istituzioni locali

Nell'articolo si discutono i risultati preliminari di un'indagine sui Patti Territoriali in Campania. L'indagine è parte di un più vasto lavoro di ricerca sul tema dei processi di sviluppo locale nel Mezzogiorno

I molti volti del Sud. Fra imprenditorialità diffusa, azione pubblica e società locale

L'articolo analizza le conseguenze sociali ed economiche seguite alla fine dell'Intervento Straordinario nel Mezzogiorno d'Italia. Inoltre l'interesse è rivolto alle caratteristiche della neo-imprenditorialità emergente in alcuni territori meridionali

Tra mercato e istituzioni: Un caso di sviluppo locale nel Mezzogiorno

L'articolo deriva da un lavoro di ricerca sul tema dei processi di innovazione sociale nel Mezzogiorno d'Italia. La ricerca ha combinato tecniche di rilevazione e di analisi dei dati qualitative e quantitative

Le reti di impresa nella politica industriale. I contratti di rete e i contratti di sviluppo.

Le reti di impresa si sono affermate come un modello organizzativo e competitivo compiutamente alternativo sia al mercato sia alla gerarchia, superando una visione teorica che tendeva a confinarle come modello imperfetto o immaturo del capitalismo. I contributi raccolti nel volume, frutto di un lavoro di ricerca multidisciplinare, analizzano i presupposti teorici delle reti e si concentrano su due principali strumenti di politica industriale – i contratti di rete e i contratti di sviluppo – avvalendosi dei risultati emersi dai percorsi di attuazione di casi selezionati in quattro regioni italiane

Acid hydrolysis of spent coffee grounds: effects on possible prebiotic activity of oligosaccharides

Abstract Background Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are a promising source of natural by-products which can be used for different purposes. In this work, a possible use of oligosaccharides isolated from SCG as functional ingredients was investigated. SCGs were treated with an acid hydrolysis at high temperature (200 °C) in a closed reactor setting reaction time of 30, 60 and 90 s depending on the sample (original or defatted). A comprehensive study of the resulted water-soluble hydrolysate using a high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis was performed. Additionally, the growth of four Lactobacillus strains was tested to assess the prebiotic potential of the hydrolysate. Results Oligosaccharide chains formed by hexoses with a degree of polymerization ranging from 3 to 6 were identified and characterized. Regardless of the composition and the reaction time of hydrolysis, the bacterial activity of SCG extracts exhibited significantly higher values than the well-known versatile carbohydrate used by food industry, i.e., inulin. Conclusions The results pave the way toward the use of hydrolysate SCG as an innovative ingredient intended to fortify food formulations. The diversity in coffee oligosaccharides composition suggests their selective prebiotic activity for specific bacterial strains. Graphical Abstrac

Posttraumatic stress disorder and accelerated aging: PTSD and leukocyte telomere length in a sample of civilian women.

BACKGROUND: Studies in male combat veterans have suggested posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with shorter telomere length (TL). We examined the cross-sectional association of PTSD with TL in women exposed to traumas common in civilian life. METHODS: Data are from a substudy of the Nurses' Health Study II (N = 116). PTSD and subclinical PTSD were assessed in trauma-exposed women using diagnostic interviews. An array of health behaviors and conditions were assessed. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes (collected 1996-1999). Telomere repeat copy number to single gene copy number (T/S) was determined by quantitative real-time PCR telomere assay. We used linear regression models to assess associations and examine whether a range of important health behaviors (e.g., cigarette smoking) and medical conditions (e.g., hypertension) previously associated with TL might explain a PTSD-TL association. We further examined whether type of trauma exposure (e.g., interpersonal violence) was associated with TL and whether trauma type might explain a PTSD-TL association. RESULTS: Relative to not having PTSD, women with a PTSD diagnosis had shorter log-transformed TL (β = -.112, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.196, -0.028). Adjustment for health behaviors and medical conditions did not attenuate this association. Trauma type was not associated with TL and did not account for the association of PTSD with TL. CONCLUSIONS: Our results add to growing evidence that PTSD may be associated with more rapid cellular aging as measured by telomere erosion. Moreover, the association could not be explained by health behaviors and medical conditions assessed in this study, nor by type of trauma exposure