Working with parents to support their disabled children’s social and school inclusion. An exploratory counseling study

This article synthesizes the long-lasting counseling process of a family with a child suffering from a chronic illness. The provided intervention model draws on a series of principles from various theoretical approaches, namely systemic, psychodynamic, and resiliency. Family functioning and support is considered a catalytic parameter in assisting children with disabilities to fully develop their potential. This project is based on a family and child-centered integrative counseling model adopting the nonmedical conception of disability. Through the presentation of a case study of a couple who faced a critical situation in the life of their child, this article briefly describes the way the family dynamics were readdressed through this intervention counseling model. In addition, this work attempts to give a picture of the complex and confusing emotional states parents may go through when dealing with physical and psychological health-threatening situations and present guidelines for integrated counseling models. © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LL

Promoting sustainability culture among citizens: a system dynamic analysis of the role of schools

This paper concerns the issue of how to promote sustainable behaviours among citizens and consumers, that is increasingly viewed as crucial to tackle global social and environmental problems. More in detail, it investigates the potential role of schools at all levels, from kinder garden to unive rsity, in their relation to (mainly) local stakeholders. The study aims at shedding light on potential diffusion dynamics of sustainable behaviour among individuals when schools, universities and other stakeholders are involved. To do so, we develop a simp le system dynamics model, that is an approach that is well suited to model non - linear dynamics, interdependencies, and time lags typical of human decision processes and behaviour. The model proposed is a first preliminary attempt to highlight the system ef fects that could be triggered by active sustainability projects in schools. The variables included in the model and the data are taken from an action - research project \u2018Sustainability Labs\u2019 that is being carried out in a set of schools in the Milan (Italy) area. Results suggest that taking advantage of the school - university - local stakeholder triad is able to reach many people and in quite an engaging way that is likely to have interesting results in terms of behavioural change

Polymer Crystallization Waves

We prove the existence of travelling wave solutions for a polymer crystallization model. The mathematical problem governing the process consists in a system of two coupled first order PDE, the heat equation with a source term for the temperature and the isokinetic law, involving an order parameter $\psi \in$ [0, 1], whose extreme values correspond to pure phases

Does the Sustainability of Food Products Influence Consumer Choices? The Case of Italy

In this paper we analyse if there is a diffuesed interest among consumers about the environmental impacts of their food choices, and try to capture the different types of attitudes of Italian consumers with respect to environmental sustainability of food products. The analysis builds on a survey based on vis-a-vis interviews with 240 consumers in Milan, and on a cluster analysis. The results highlight a high level of stated concern about environmental issues and about possible impacts of personal food consumption choices on the environment. Nevertheless, when investigating their actions during everyday shopping we have identified four groups of consumers: (1) those who take into consideration the environmental information on labels do not require additional information; (2) those for which environmental information on labels does not have a great effect on purchase, but would like to receive more information; (3) those for which the presence of environmental information directs product selection and would also like to receive more; (4) those that do not take into account environmental issues when purchasing and are not interested in receiving more information about the impacts of the products

Does the Sustainability of Food Products Influence Consumer Choices? The Case of Italy

In this paper we analyse if there is a diffuesed interest among consumers about the environmental impacts of their food choices, and try to capture the different types of attitudes of Italian consumers with respect to environmental sustainability of food products. The analysis builds on a survey based on vis-a-vis interviews with 240 consumers in Milan, and on a cluster analysis. The results highlight a high level of stated concern about environmental issues and about possible impacts of personal food consumption choices on the environment. Nevertheless, when investigating their actions during everyday shopping we have identified four groups of consumers: (1) those who take into consideration the environmental information on labels do not require additional information; (2) those for which environmental information on labels does not have a great effect on purchase, but would like to receive more information; (3) those for which the presence of environmental information directs product selection and would also like to receive more; (4) those that do not take into account environmental issues when purchasing and are not interested in receiving more information about the impacts of the products

Does the Sustainability of Food Products Influence Consumer Choices? The Case of Italy

In this paper we analyse if there is a diffused interest among consumers about the environmental impacts of their food choices, and try to capture the different types of attitudes of Italian consumers with respect to environmental sustainability of food products. The analysis builds on a survey based on vis-a-vis interviews with 240 consumers in Milan, and on a cluster analysis. The results highlight a high level of stated concern about environmental issues and about possible impacts of personal food consumption choices on the environment. Nevertheless, when investigating their actions during everyday shopping we have identified four groups of consumers: (1) those who take into consideration the environmental information on labels and do not require additional information; (2) those for which environmental information on labels does not have a great effect on purchase, but would like to receive more information; (3) those for which the presence of environmental information directs product selection and would also like to receive more; (4) those that do not take into account environmental issues when purchasing and are not interested in receiving more information about the impacts of the products

New sulfurated derivatives of cinnamic acids and rosmaricine as inhibitors of STAT3 and NF-kappa B transcription factors

A set of new sulfurated drug hybrids, mainly derived from caffeic and ferulic acids and rosmaricine, has been synthesized and their ability to inhibit both STAT3 and NF-kappa B transcription factors have been evaluated. Results showed that most of the new hybrid compounds were able to strongly and selectively bind to STAT3, whereas the parent drugs were devoid of this ability at the tested concentrations. Some of them were also able to inhibit the NF-kappa B transcriptional activity in HCT-116 cell line and inhibited HCT-116 cell proliferation in vitro with IC50 in micromolar range, thus suggesting a potential anticancer activity. Taken together, our study described the identification of new derivatives with dual STAT3/NF-kappa B inhibitory activity, which may represent hit compounds for developing multi-target anticancer agents

Food labelled Information: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Preferences

This paper aims at analysing which kinds of currently labelled information are of interest and actually used by consumers, and which additional kinds could improve consumer choices. We investigate the attitude of consumers with respect to innovative strategies for the diffusion of product information, as smart-labels for mobile-phones. The empirical analysis was organised in focus groups followed by a survey on 240 consumers. Results show that the most important nutritional claims are vitamins, energy and fat content. Consumers show a high interest in the origin of the products, GMOs, environmental impact, animal welfare and type of breeding

Food labelled Information: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Preferences

features. Nevertheless, the space available on packaging is limited and some indications are not used by consumers. This paper aims at analysing which kinds of currently labelled information are of interest and actually used by consumers, and which additional kinds could improve consumer choices. Moreover, we investigate the attitude of consumers with respect to innovative strategies for the diffusion of product information, considering in particular the development of a smart label for mobile phones. The empirical analysis is organised in two phases: first, three focus groups have been carried out and, second, a survey on 240 consumers was conducted on the basis of an ad hoc questionnaire. The results showed that, among nutritional claims, those more important to consumers are vitamins, energy and fat content, whereas sodium received a low score. Moreover, consumers show a high interest in the origin of the products and GMOs. Among the types of information that are currently scarcely available on food products, the major interest was received by the environmental impact, animal welfare and type of breeding