I Would if I Could: Precarious Employment and Childbearing Intentions in Italy

This paper carries out an investigation into the socio-economic determinants of childbearing decisions made by couples in Italy. The analysis accounts for the characteristics of both possible parents. Our results do not support established theoretical predictions according to which the increase in the opportunity cost of motherhood connected to higher female labour participation is responsible for the fall in fertility. On the contrary, the instability of women’s work status (i.e. having occasional, precarious, and low-paid positions) is revealed as a significant dissuasive factor in the decision to have children. Couples in which there is an unemployed woman are less likely to plan childbearing as well. Other relevant explanatory variables are women’s age, men’s work status and education, women’s citizenship, marital status and perceived economic wellbeing.Fertility, family planning, parenthood, childbearing, participation, job instability, precarious employment, Italy.

I Would if I Could: Precarious Employment and Childbearing Intentions in Italy

This paper carries out an investigation into the socio-economic determinants of childbearing decisions made by couples in Italy. The analysis accounts for the characteristics of both possible parents. Our results do not support established theoretical predictions according to which the increase in the opportunity cost of motherhood connected to higher female labour participation is responsible for the fall in fertility. On the contrary, the instability of women’s work status (i.e. having occasional, precarious, and low-paid positions) is revealed as a significant dissuasive factor in the decision to have children. Couples in which there is an unemployed woman are less likely to plan childbearing as well. Other relevant explanatory variables are women’s age, men’s work status and education, women’s citizenship, marital status and perceived economic well-being.Fertility, family planning, parenthood, childbearing, participation, job instability, precarious employment, Italy

Economic insecurity and fertility intentions: the case of Italy

We aim to provide an explanation for the combination of the relatively low female participation rates and lowest-low fertility levels in Italy. Starting from the assumption that childbearing decisions also depend on uncertainty about future employment, income, and wealth, we empirically assess how fertility intentions are affected by: 1) the deprivation of a quality job, which may severely compromise the employability of workers and is likely to provoke feelings of insecurity about future employment; 2) conditions of economic disadvantage in terms of household income and wealth, which may imply insufficient means to deal with potential adverse future events, thereby generating in the household feelings of anxiety and economic insecurity. We show that the instability of women’s work status (i.e. the holding of occasional and precarious employment positions) significantly discourages the decision to have a first child. Low levels of household wealth significantly and positively influence the decision to postpone, or even decide against, having a first child. The chances of further childbirth are significantly and negatively influenced by household income insecurity.economic insecurity, income, wealth, fertility, childbearing, , employment instability, precarious employment, Italy

Deconstructing Homelessness: Alternative Narratives on and by Marginalized and Homeless Groups in the City of Bologna

The paper addresses the political and cultural problem underpinning mainstream narratives on homelessness. The absence of data, in conjunction with the misconceptions associated with homelessness, translate into the criminalization and stigmatization of homelessness, both at the local level and in fragmented policies at national and international levels. Section one presents an overview of homelessness as a cultural and political problem; section two then introduces the Italian situation and Bologna as a case study. After a presentation of the method followed in section three, sections four and five describe and then discuss two projects initiated by a political collective in the city of Bologna that directly involve homeless people in the deconstruction of imageries and narratives around homelessness. Finally, section six draws conclusions about the need to generate new narratives capable of accounting for the intersectional and complex nature of the phenomenon of homelessness: new narratives capable of restoring to the homeless their articulate human identity

Cerebellar Atrophy in Congenital Fibrosis of the Extraocular Muscles Type 1

We described a family with a molecularly confirmed form of CFEOM1 and a late-onset cerebellar syndrome. Brain MRI showed vermis atrophy in two older family members, who also manifested gait impairment, whereas both neurological examination and neuroimaging findings were normal in a younger relative who harbored the same mutation

Kinetic Study of Laboratory Mutants of NDM-1 Metallo-beta-Lactamase and the Importance of an Isoleucine at Position 35.

peer reviewedTwo laboratory mutants of NDM-1 were generated by replacing the isoleucine at position 35 with threonine and serine residues: the NDM-1(I35T)and NDM-1(I35S)enzymes. These mutants were well characterized, and their kinetic parameters were compared with those of the NDM-1 wild type. Thekcat,Km, andkcat/Kmvalues calculated for the two mutants were slightly different from those of the wild-type enzyme. Interestingly, thekcat/Kmof NDM-1(I35S)for loracarbef was about 14-fold higher than that of NDM-1. Far-UV circular dichroism (CD) spectra of NDM-1 and NDM-1(I35T)and NDM-1(I35S)enzymes suggest local structural rearrangements in the secondary structure with a marked reduction of alpha-helix content in the mutants

Fixing two points in primitive solvable groups

Consider a finite primitive solvable group. We observe that a result of Y. Yang implies that there exist two points whose pointwise stabilizer has derived length at most $9$. We show that, if the group has odd cardinality, then there exist two points whose pointwise stabilizer is abelian.Comment: 6 pages, Added reference to Yang's pape

How did Adriano Olivetti influence John Ruskin?

The aim of this paper is to interpret Ruskin’s thought through the lens of contemporary political economy and cultural policymaking. The first section focuses upon Ruskin’s critical thoughts on industrial economy and technical reproducibility, which mirror new sustainable paradigms of production and consumption: economies of scale and competition are exchanged with unique crafting and personal interactions. The second section focuses on labour and education: Ruskin identified expressive freedom as a criterion of artistic quality opposed to mechanic perfection, anticipating the relationship between skills, knowledge management and the working environment in the experiences of contemporary creative industries. The third section focuses on arts and society: Ruskin championed a crucial role for art and beauty in society, which not only contemporary philosophers but also advanced companies trust as a powerful driver of growth. Today, Ruskin’s theories on heritage, creativity and cultural activities reveal challenging implications for cultural management and policymaking. In conclusion Ruskin’s theories effectively suit the challenges of our century, while his value system proves a pioneering weltanschauung for our world

Finite groups with large abelian quotients

A finite group is weakly-top if the order of every abelian section is bounded by the order of the abelianization. In particular, it is top if equality is not achieved by any proper abelian section. In this article, we prove that every weakly-top group is the direct product of weakly-top $p$-groups, but there exist weakly-top groups of arbitrarily large nilpotency class. Furthermore, we show that the properties of being weakly-top and top are invariant under isoclinism. Some generalizations concerning solvable and nilpotent quotients are also considered.Comment: 6 page