Understanding Trends in Poverty in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area

In 2010, about one in eight residents (12.1 percent, or 280,000 people) in the Pittsburgh region had incomes below the poverty level, an increase of 8.5 percent since the Great Recession started in 2007. Although demographic factors such as the arrival of new immigrants and more single-parent households contributed to the growing number of people living at or near poverty, the economy was the driving force in changing poverty rates. What does this mean for our region and for the future of our nonprofit sector

Measuring Racial-Ethnic Diversity in California's Nonprofit Sector

Presents survey findings on the racial/ethnic diversity of the state's nonprofit boards, executive directors, and staff and on the characteristics of racially/ethnically diverse organizations including size, field of activity, location, and budget

Who Helps Public Schools? Public Education Support Organizations in 2010

There were more than 19,000 nonprofit organizations devoted to supporting public education in the United States in 2007. These organizations include booster clubs, parent-teacher groups, public education funds, scholarship funds, high school alumni associations, and others. While most of these organizations are small, together they spent roughly $4.3 billion in support of public education in 2007.This report assesses the current status of education support organizations in the United States; provides details on the activities, capacities, and resources of public education funds; and compares Public Education Network (PEN) member organizations with other types of education funds. On the basis of a survey of public education funds and an analysis of the latest data available from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, the report identifies key similarities and differences among the groups.Public education funds are dedicated to assisting public schools and school districts by raising money to support programs for teacher training and support, after-school programs, and school supplies and by promoting community support for public schools. The project was commissioned by PEN in Washington, D.C

Education and Work in movements for different economies: new envisaged scenarios and grass-roots political practices

Lo studio che presentiamo approfondisce il dibattito sulle dimensioni educative dei movimenti delle “economie diverse” (Reti di Economia Solidale, Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale, Movimento della decrescita, ecc.). Queste realtà hanno sviluppato delle proprie pratiche e valori promuovendo nuovi stili di vita e nuovi modelli di lavoro. Questi movimenti rappresentano contesti informali per l’educazione degli adulti e ambienti di sviluppo per l’autoeducazione alla cittadinanza e all’impegno politico. Essi testimoniano la creazione di pratiche che mostrano una passione per l’apprendimento, la partecipazione, la giustizia e la responsabilità, operando una critica al modello neoliberista. Questo studio ha impiegato la metodologia qualitativa basandosi su Casi studio e Grounded Theory. I risultati mostrano che i lavoratori (in transizione) delle realtà di economie diverse stanno sperimentando nuove modalità educative e di lavoro in cui gruppi e singoli sono coinvolti in processi di auto-educazione.We present a study that pertains to the discussion about the educational dimensions of different economies (Solidarity Economy Networks, Solidarity Purchasing Groups, the Degrowth movement, etc.). These organisations have developed their own practices and values that have given rise to new ways of living and new models of work. In terms of adult education, we ask under which conditions these informal contexts can be environments for self-education in citizenship and political engagement. Within these contexts, against a backdrop characterised by the rejection of the prevailing neo-liberal model, new practices have arisen that demonstrate an enthusiasm for learning, participation, justice and responsibility. This study employed a qualitative methodology based on Case Studies and Grounded Theory. The results reveal that workers (in transition) in different economies are experiencing new types of education and work in which the group involved, and the processes of self-education in question, all have a pivotal role to play

Le imprese femminili in Italia: i risultati di un'indagine esplorativa

Entrepreneurship has usually been considered a male-dominated activity. In 2012, however, 224mout of 400mentrepreneurs worldwide were women (GEM 2012).Female entrepreneurship therefore clearly represents an important component of the business sector at global level. To date, however, the scope of research on such a relevant topic is still confined to the US and Anglo-Saxon countries. Also, academic research on Italian female entrepreneurship is very limited, despite Italy has the highest number of female-owned firms in Europe (Eurostat, 2013). This paper thus contributes to fill this research gap by investigating the characteristics, the main problems and motivations of 310 Italian female-owned firms

Creep modelling of 316H stainless steel over a wide range of stress

Abstract Investigation of material creep behaviour in the diffusion controlled creep regime is often unfeasible because of the long duration associated with low stress levels. On the other side, extrapolation from higher creep rates usually provides inaccurate results because of the sharp change in the data trend as a result of the change in the governing deformation mechanism from dislocation to diffusion type controlled creep. Similarly, extrapolation based on creep models, which have been formulated and validated mainly for dislocation type creep (such power law creep with the creep exponent ranging from 6 to 9), underestimates the actual creep rate significantly. Recently, Bonora and Esposito (2010) developed a mechanism-based model (BE model) capable to account for deformation and damage mechanism occurring in creep. In this work the BE model was applied to AISI 316H stainless steel for which considerable creep data in both dislocation and diffusion temperature/stress controlled regime were available. Using the same data set, the predictive capabilities of several models were compared

Healthcare and economic burden of ANCA-associated vasculitis in Italy: an integrated analysis from clinical and administrative databases

ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV) comprise a group of systemic vasculitides characterized by inflammation of small-sized blood vessels leading to multi-organ involvement. The worldwide annual incidence of AAV ranges from 1.2 to 3.3 cases per 100 000 individuals with a prevalence of 4.6\u201342.1 cases per 100 000 individuals. The prevalence of AAV is geographically heterogeneous; therefore, regional epidemiological studies can be more informative to improve health care systems. Even though clinicians are aware that the healthcare burden and the risk of hospitalization of AAV appear high, data on hospitalization and cost of illness due to AAV are still scarce or even lacking. This study aims to characterize the economic burden of AAV in Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), Italy. Thus, a retrospective study was conducted through the integration of many administrative health databases of the FVG as the source of information. From data integration, we estimated that more than two-thirds of AAV patients showed at least one hospitalization in their medical history, most frequently caused by the disease itself or superimposed infections. Around 10% of patients developed end-stage renal disease. In an 8-year follow-up, the overall healthcare cost was \u20ac 1,215,078, corresponding to \u20ac 6,168 patient-year. ANCA-positive patients showed much higher costs than ANCA-negative patients did. Overall, AAV are rare diseases, but imply very high healthcare costs. Early diagnosis and optimal treatment probably still remain unmet needs for AAV

New Ground-Breaking Strategies in Bone Regeneration—In Memory of Nerio Ceroni

This editorial article is dedicated to the memory of the Nerio Ceroni, the grandfather of the first author. Nerio Ceroni suffered from bone metastases and passed away in January 2022

Rituximab induction and maintenance in ANCA-associated vasculitis: State of the art and future perspectives

Antineutrophil cytoplasmatic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a group of rare autoimmune diseases characterized by inflammation of the vascular wall. The pathogenesis of AAV is strongly associated with B cell-derived ANCAs; thus, Rituximab (RTX) has become a promising drug in the induction and maintenance treatment of AAV. The purpose of this review is to describe the efficacy and safety of RTX in the induction of remission and maintenance therapy of AAV. Herein, we summarize the randomized controlled trials that have contributed to the refinement of the use of RTX in AAV in the past decades. RTX has been proven to be effective both in new-onset disease and in relapsing disease. Although the optimal duration of AAV maintenance therapy remains unknown, the ANCAs and the B-cell repopulation may offer support for the administration of further RTX cycles (or not). The safety of RTX is comparable with cyclophosphamide, with the advantage of a low risk of malignancy and no concern for fertility. In conclusion, RTX now plays an important role in the induction and maintenance therapy of AAV. Optimizing RTX-based treatment strategies in AAV is one of the main goals of the current research in AAV