Cultural Heritage in the Frame of European Funding Programmes: Challenges and Opportunities

Tangible and intangible CH is constituted by a multifaceted set of expressions, encompassing not only acknowledged creative forms such as works of art and monuments, but also other cultural manifestations such as folk songs, narratives of the oral tradition or manmade landscapes. CH plays a crucial role at the European level, representing an invaluable asset for all its citizens, and at the same time being a potential source on which to invest both from a social and economic perspective. The commitment towards its creative and cultural richness is grounded in the constitutional basis of Europe, the Treaty of Lisbon, stating that “[the Union] shall ensure that Europe’s cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced

I finanziamenti europei alla ricerca in università e enti pubblici di ricerca: aspetti organizzativi e informativi per il supporto al ciclo di vita del progetto

I finanziamenti europei alla ricerca pongono oggi una serie di sfide organizzative e richiedono strumenti appropriati di gestione dell’informazione. Servizi di supporto alla ricerca sono stati attivati negli atenei, dove sono presenti al 90% come Uffici Ricerca, e negli enti pubblici di Ricerca, spesso strutturati come Uffici Relazioni Internazionali. Una recente indagine del Convegno permanente dei Direttori Amministrativi e Dirigenti delle Università Italiane – CODAU identifica come attività ritenute dal personale della ricerca a maggiore valore aggiunto e più innovative proprio quelle che concorrono al supporto all’intero ciclo di vita del progetto. Il supporto alla ricerca risulta quindi “un’importante area di integrazione di culture diverse - scientifiche, giuridico/amministrative, economico/gestionali, di marketing, ecc. - e un banco di prova di nuove linee di management e di nuovi approcci gestionali” [Bardi and Schiavone, 2008; Croatto, 2009]. La legge 168 del 1989, nel riconoscere l’autonomia finanziaria e contabile degli atenei, e il processo di valutazione della ricerca (VTR 2001-2003 e VQR 2004-2010) hanno rappresentato due grandi input per la definizione di piattaforme che si spostassero dal piano strettamente amministrativo a quello più informativo. L’integrazione dei sistemi informativi e gestionali è divenuta una necessità e un obiettivo chiaro per molti atenei ed enti pubblici di ricerca. Si sono venuti così a creare applicativi di gestione che siano di supporto all’intero ciclo di vita del progetto. La richiesta da parte della Commissione Europea di tracciare il tempo produttivo dei professori attraverso un time sheet integrato, ad esempio, ha portato in alcuni casi all’integrazione degli applicativi che gestiscono la didattica con quelli dedicati ai progetti di ricerca. Allo stesso modo la richiesta di attribuire a uno specifico progetto le pubblicazioni che ne scaturiscono ha fatto nascere l’esigenza di integrare l’anagrafe delle pubblicazioni e gli applicativi di gestione progetti. Si sono, quindi, diffusi repository istituzionali di pubblicazioni e i CRIS - Current Research Information System, per l’“Anagrafe della ricerca”. Il presente lavoro illustra alcune considerazioni tratte dallo stato dell’arte e presenta i risultati di un’indagine realizzata ad hoc presso atenei ed enti di ricerca in Italia, sugli assetti organizzativi per la promozione e la gestione dei progetti europei nonché sulle caratteristiche dei sistemi informativi a supporto del ciclo di vita del progetto

The Italian Draft Law on the \u2018Provisions Concerning the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage\u2019

Intangible cultural heritage in Italy is still in need of a unified approach, capable of providing reliable criteria for identifying its assets and for indicating timescales and means by which they should be safeguarded. In the continued absence of up-to-date, ad hoc state legislation (since the content of those laws which do implement international Conventions is too generic in nature to be sufficiently effective), the Regions have proceeded to act in a somewhat scattered manner, giving rise to an extremely fragmented and very disorderly regulatory framework. The draft law N. 4486, "Provisions Concerning the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage", presented on 12th May 2017 at the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic - as the result of the work of an interdisciplinary and inter-university research team coordinated by Marco Giampieretti, who has drafted the final text with the collaboration of Simona Pinton - seeks to fill the serious void that exists in Italian legal system by aligning it to the principles of international and European law, by redirecting the relevant State and Regional legislation, and by satisfying the fundamental requirements of the national community

Research support services in Italian Higher Education and Research Institutions: approaches, tools and trends

Delivered at the CRIS2014 Conference in Rome; published in Procedia Computer Science 33 (Jul 2014).Contains conference paper (6 pages) and presentation (18 slides).Which are the trends that are transforming research management and how do research organizations respond to these changes? What are the available services to support research during EC projects' life-cycles? Are there research information systems in use and to which extent are they integrated? The paper is structured as follows: a survey conducted over a sample of universities and research centers in Italy is presented in section 2. Section 3 describes significant case studies. Section 4 illustrates mobility figures and trends in EU funded projects. Section 5 concludes with considerations about trends and suggestions for improvement

Home telemonitoring for patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Although a number of studies have suggested that the use of Telemonitoring (TM) in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) can be useful and efficacious, its real utility in detecting Acute Exacerbation (AE) signaling the need for prompt treatment is not entirely clear. The current study aimed to investigate the benefits of a TM system in managing AE in advanced-stage COPD patients to improve their Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) and to reduce utilization of healthcare services. METHODS: A 12-month Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted in the Veneto region (Italy). Adult patients diagnosed with Class III-IV COPD in accordance with the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) classification were recruited and provided a TM system to alert the clinical staff via a trained operator whenever variations in respiratory parameters fell beyond the individual's normal range. The study's primary endpoint was HRQL, measured by the Italian version of the two Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF36v2). Its secondary endpoints were: scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); the number and duration of hospitalizations; the number of readmissions; the number of appointments with a pulmonary specialist; the number of visits to the emergency department; and the number of deaths. RESULTS: Three hundred thirty-four patients were enrolled and randomized into two groups for a 1 year period. At its conclusion, changes in the SF36 Physical and Mental Component Summary scores did not significantly differ between the TM and control groups [(-2.07 (8.98) vs -1.91 (7.75); p\u2009=\u20090.889 and -1.08 (11.30) vs -1.92 (10.92); p\u2009=\u20090.5754, respectively]. Variations in HADS were not significantly different between the two groups [0.85 (3.68) vs 0.62 (3.6); p\u2009=\u20090.65 and 0.50 (4.3) vs 0.72 (4.5); p\u2009=\u20090.71]. The hospitalization rate for AECOPD and/or for any cause was not significantly different in the two groups [IRR\u2009=\u20090.89 (95% CI 0.79-1,04); p\u2009=\u20090.16 and IRR\u2009=\u20090.91 (95% CI 0,75 - 1.04); p\u2009=\u20090.16, respectively]. The readmission rate for AECOPD and/or any cause was, however, significantly lower in the TM group with respect to the control one [IRR\u2009=\u20090.43 (95% CI 0.19-0.98); p\u2009=\u20090.01 and 0.46 (95% CI 0.24-0.89); p\u2009=\u20090.01, respectively]. CONCLUSION: Study results showed that in areas where medical services are well established, TM does not significantly improve HRQL in patients with COPD who develop AE. Although not effective in reducing hospitalizations, TM can nevertheless facilitate continuity of care during hospital-to-home transition by reducing the need for early readmission