REPRESENTATIONS OF STRANGER AND NON-STRANGER HOMICIDE: A QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CANADIAN NEWS MEDIA

The news media play a significant role in shaping public narratives about homicide by the particular incidents that journalists choose to report – or not report – on. Newspapers, in particular, lack the benefit of constant imagery, special effects, and live-action reporting that T.V. news reports have, and, as a result, forces newspapers to construct sensational and newsworthy homicide stories in order to be competitive and gain readership. To achieve this, newspapers often disproportionately report on bizarre and atypical homicide incidents, which most frequently involve a stranger or unknown assailant. While there is substantive literature surrounding the newsworthiness of homicide incidents in the United States and elsewhere, an accurate and comprehensive understanding of how the news media portray incidents of stranger homicide compared to non-stranger homicide in Canadian newspapers is lacking. In this research project, I address this gap by coding 359 Canadian newspaper articles on reported homicide incidents and analyzing this data to identify key themes, which will be used to contextualize larger systemic issues in society, and provide suggestions for future research. This research project used media constructions of crime to inform its analysis of the three major themes: the demonization of offenders, gendered blame of female victims and offenders, and the intersection between culture, class, and crime. The results of this data collection and my subsequent analysis of the themes revealed three unique findings which contribute to the literature. First, an analysis of the demonization of offenders revealed the ‘devaluing of rehabilitation’ as a prominent theme surrounding the construction of stranger offenders. This was an interesting and unique finding that was not previously found in the literature. This suggests that additional research needs to be conducted to reveal the implications of news media’s framing of violent crime and the ensuing punishment and punitive attitudes towards crime from the public. In addition, many of the articles analyzed in this study used gendered discourse to construct the female victims and offenders in homicide cases. Most research on media constructions of female victims and offenders discuss the imbalance between portrayals of women and men in news media discourse and highlight the obscuring of men’s violence towards women while simultaneously blaming females for their own victimization. This research confirms this notion and also introduces the responsibilization of women other than the primary victim or offender as a distinct finding. Lastly, I present and discuss the intersection between social class and crime in the news media. Analysis of the data collected in this study illustrated that the news media construct crime as emerging from ‘deviant’ cultures as opposed to rooting crime in the social conditions from which they manifest. This results in further marginalization of particular individuals and groups in society who are already discriminated against (e.g., racial minorities, the lower-class, etc.). Overall, the present study attempts to expand general knowledge and understanding of news media constructions of stranger homicide compared to non-stranger homicide, and the impact such framing could potentially have on public discourse surrounding certain marginalized individuals and groups in society, particularly visible minorities and victims of domestic violence

Coalizione e sciopero in Italia fra mutuo soccorso e associazionismo operaio: il codice Zanardelli

Il contributo mira a ricostruire il contesto italiano dell’associazionismo operaio in cui matura l’introduzione del Codice penale Zanardelli (1889). L’A. mette in evidenza la reale portata della libertà di sciopero e di coalizione che esso, solo formalmente, sancisce

Portfólios e a avaliação do conhecimento sobre natureza da ciência em um contexto histórico

Analisamos os portfólios elaborados por uma licencianda durante sua participação em um curso de formação inicial de professores de química, cuja temática central era Natureza da Ciência (NC). Avaliamos o conhecimento sobre NC da licencianda a partir de suas reflexões sobre sua vivência em um estudo de caso envolvendo uma controvérsia sobre um fato histórico (julgamento da outorga do prêmio Nobel de Química de 1918 a Fritz Haber pela síntese da amônia em escala industrial). A análise aponta que o caso histórico contribuiu para a compreensão de características sobre ciência, e o portfólio permitiu uma avaliação contextualizada e detalhada desses conhecimentos

Chemical characterization and antioxidant properties of products and by‐products from Olea europaea L.

The products and by-products of Olea europaea L.: olive fruits (primary agricultural product), oils (primary agro-industrial product), pomaces (agro-industrial processing by-product), and leaves (agricultural practices by-product), are promising sources of bioactive compounds. In the present study, qualitative and quantitative analyses of selected bioactive components in olive fruits, oils, and pomaces were performed. Total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity were analyzed in all samples (humid pomaces 2015: TPP, 26.0 ± 1.5–43.7 ± 3.0 g(GAEq)/kg DW; TEAC/ABTS, 189.5 ± 3.7–388.1 ± 12.0 mmol(Trx)kg DW). Radical (DPPH) quenching potential was analyzed via photometric and EPR methods, obtaining Vis/EPR signal ratio by 1.05 ± 0.45 and 1.66 ± 0.39 for fruits and pomaces, respectively. Through HPLC-UV and HPLC-MS/MS techniques, oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol, as well as selected hydroxycinnamic acids and flavonoids, were identified and quantified in olive fruits and pomaces. The main components were rutin, luteolin, and chlorogenic acid. Cytotoxic assay on fibroblast cells revealed toxic effects for selected extracts at highest tested concentrations (5%)

Synthesis of temporin L hydroxamate-based peptides and evaluation of their coordination properties with iron (III)

Ferric iron is an essential nutrient for bacterial growth. Pathogenic bacteria synthesize iron-chelating entities known as siderophores to sequestrate ferric iron from host organisms in order to colonize and replicate. The development of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) conjugated to iron chelators represents a promising strategy for reducing iron availability, inducing bacterial death, and enhancing simultaneously the efficacy of AMPs. Here we designed, synthesized, and characterized three hydroxamate-based peptides Pep-cyc1, Pep-cyc2, and Pep-cyc3, derived from a cyclic temporin L peptide (Pep-cyc) developed previously by some of us. The Fe3+ complex formation of each ligand was characterized by UVvisible spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, IR, and NMR spectroscopies. In addition, the effect of Fe3+ on the stabilization of -helix conformation of hydroxamate-based peptides and the cotton effect were examined by CD spectroscopy. Moreover, the antimicrobial results obtained in vitro on some Gram-negative strains (K. Pneumoniae and E. coli) showed the ability of each peptide to chelate efficaciously Fe3+ obtaining a reduction of MIC values in comparison to their parent peptide Pepcyc. Our results demonstrated that siderophore conjugation could increase the efficacy and selectivity of AMPs used for the treatment of infectious diseases caused by Gram-negative pathogens

Valorization of clinical trials from the Italian National Health Service perspective: definition and first application of a model to estimate avoided costs

Introduction: From the perspective of healthcare organizations and public health care systems, the value of a clinical trial can be assessed from a clinical and economical perspective. However, to date, there is no standardized model for systematically capturing the economic value of clinical trials at organizational and system levels. The aim of this study was to develop and test a methodology for estimating the avoided costs deriving from the management of patients as part of a clinical trial. Methods: Our methodology is based on the assumption that the economic value of a clinical trial derives from 1) the funding received by the experimental site from a trial's sponsor, and from 2) the cost avoided by the experimental site with the treatment of patients within a study and not according to standard care by the experimental site. Results: By applying the methodology to onco-hematological clinical trials conducted in two academic hospitals from 2011 to 2016, we demonstrate that savings between 2 million and 4 million euros were achieved over a five-year period. Thus, for every 1,000 euros invested by the pharmaceutical company into the clinical studies conducted at these hospitals, the hospitals saved on average 2,200 euros due to costs not incurred as a result of the trials. Conclusions: The study has proposed and tested a methodology for estimating the economic value of clinical trials by taking into account avoided costs deriving from the treatment of patients enrolled in sponsored trials. The study has proposed a management tool for healthcare institutions to govern clinical trials

Habitats Directive in northern Italy: a series of proposals for habitat definition improvement

Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) is the cornerstone of nature conservation in Europe and is at the core of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. There is room, however, for its improvement, at least for northern Italy, where ambiguities in the definition of habitat types of Annex I of the Habitats Directive are not novel and interpretation difficulties have been highlighted. Sharpening the characterization of habitat types represents an opportunity for lowering classification uncertainties and improving conservation success. With the aim to refine the definitions of habitat types and associated typical species of the Habitats Directive, a group of vegetation scientists of the Italian Society of Vegetation Science based in northern Italy made the exercise of finding viable proposals for those habitat types having a problematic interpretation in the Alpine biogeographical region of Italy. Such proposals arise from group discussions among scientists, and professionals, thus offering a shared view. We prepared 9 habitat proposals important for this geographic area. They include new habitat types at the European level, new subtypes within pre-existing habitat types, including some adjustments of the recently proposed subtypes with respect to northern Italy, and recognition of priority criteria for a pre-existing habitat type. With a vision of tailored conservation, our proposals represent a starting point in view of a future update of Annex I. Furthermore, the list of typical species could be useful for preparing expert systems for automatic classification. Irrespective of legally binding solutions in place, we caution these proposals represent relevant baseline conservation indications that local and regional administrations of the Alpine Arch should consider

Tavola rotonda “Le declinazioni della formazione nella sicurezza organizzata”

Convegno "La cultura della sicurezza fra organizzazione e formazione" Bari 20 novembre 2015 Tavola rotonda: “Le declinazioni della formazione nella sicurezza organizzata

Therapy with high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) in previously untreated patients affected by idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura: a GIMEMA experience

Abstract In idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), corticosteroids have been widely recognized as the most appropriate first-line treatment, even if the best therapeutic approach is still a matter of debate. Recently, a single high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) course was administered as first-line therapy in adult patients with ITP. In this paper we show the results of 2 prospective pilot studies (monocentric and multicentric, respectively) concerning the use of repeated pulses of HD-DXM in untreated ITP patients. In the monocenter study, 37 patients with severe ITP, age at least 20 years and no more than 65 years, were enrolled. HD-DXM was given in 4-day pulses every 28 days, for 6 cycles. Response rate was 89.2%; relapse-free survival (RFS) was 90% at 15 months; long-term responses, lasting for a median time of 26 months (range 6-77 months) were 25 of 37 (67.6%). In the multicenter study, 95 patients with severe ITP, age at least 2 years and no more than 70 years, were enrolled. HD-DXM was given in 4-day pulses every 14 days, for 4 cycles; 90 patients completed 4 cycles. Response rate (85.6%) was similar in patients classified by age (< 18 years, 36 of 42 = 85.7%; ≥ 18 years, 41 of 48 = 85.4%, P = not significant), with a statistically significant difference between the second and third cycle (75.8% vs 89%, P = .018). RFS at 15 months 81%; long-term responses, lasting for a median time of 8 months (range 4-24 months) were 67 of 90 (74.4%). In both studies, therapy was well tolerated. A schedule of 3 cycles of HD-DXM pulses will be compared with standard prednisone therapy (eg, 1 mg/kg per day) in the next randomized Gruppo Italiano Malattie EMatologiche dell'Adulto (GIMEMA) trial