Does Culture Make a Better Citizen? Exploring the Relationship Between Cultural and Civic Participation in Italy

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Towards a ‘benchmarking raster’: A selection of indicators to measure and assess policies for cultural and creative industries

Research has devoted considerable attention to the contribution of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) to economic growth and innovation. Measuring and evaluative tools have played an increasingly important role in meeting the demand for the accountability of public money supporting this sector. Nevertheless, creativity remains an elusive subject for policy-makers. One of the major obstacles in adopting CCI policies is the difficulty in apprehending the value of support actions for cultural and creative enterprises. The present research is a first attempt to create a harmonised and simple set of indicators (the ‘benchmarking raster’) to assess local policies targeting economic development of CCIs. It has been completed in the framework of the INTERREG-funded CREA.RE network with the aim to encourage the authorities of small and medium-sized cities and regions to further invest Structural Funds in CCIs. It is also expected to contribute to CCI-focused economic development strategies (or Smart Specialisation Strategies)

The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor: 2017 Edition

This first edition of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor shows how well 168 selected cities in 30 European countries perform on a range of measures describing the ‘Cultural Vibrancy’, the ‘Creative Economy’ and the ‘Enabling Environment’ of a city. The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor is designed to help national, regional and municipal policy makers identify local strengths and opportunities and benchmark their cities against similar urban centres using both quantitative and qualitative data. The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor is thus an instrument to promote mutual exchange and learning between cities. For researchers, the pool of comparable data is expected to generate new questions and insights into the role of culture and creativity in cities’ social and economic wellbeing. The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor supports the European Commission’s efforts to put culture at the heart of its policy agenda. It provides a common evidence base at city level that illuminates the importance of culture and creativity and their contribution to improving socio-economic perspectives and resilience.JRC.I.1-Modelling, Indicators and Impact Evaluatio

Are capitals the leading cultural and creative cities in Europe?

The cultural and creative sectors are one of the most dynamic branches of the EU economy, fostering innovation, growth and job creation as well as social cohesion. But which cities do perform best in culture and creativity? Does the population size determine their performance? Can small and medium-sized cities be as cultural and creative as capital cities? The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor - a new tool developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission to monitor and assess the performance of 168 ‘Cultural and Creative Cities’ in Europe vis-à-vis their peers based on a set of 29 carefully selected indicators - tries to fill into this information gap. The first edition of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor, officially released in July 2017, essentially shows a ‘multi-centric’ map of Europe with culture and creativity to be found across many and diverse cities.JRC.I.1-Modelling, Indicators and Impact Evaluatio

Fasciocutaneous free flaps for reconstruction of hypopharyngeal defects

Different reconstructive options are available for defects following total laryngectomy (TL) and circumferential (CH) or partial hypopharyngectomy (PH). We evaluated the flap success, pharyngocutaneous fistula, and pharyngoesophageal stenosis rates in two groups of patients treated by different policies

Decreti onorari da Efeso per atleti vincitori in agoni panellenici

Un blocco marmoreo rinvenuto a Efeso riporta tre decreti onorari risalenti circa al 300 a.C. Con essi, il consiglio concede la cittadinanza efesina e premi in denaro ad alcuni giovani atleti che si distinsero in prestigiosi giochi panellenici. Il protagonista della seconda iscrizione, Athenodoros, meteco a Efeso, dove godeva dell’ἰσοτελία prima del conferimento della cittadinanza, è noto anche da I.Ephesos 2005: il suo talento gli valse una sovvenzione da parte della città. Lo stesso provvedimento potrebbe essere decretato per un altro promettente atleta, Timonax, nella terza iscrizione

The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor: 2019 Edition

This second edition of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor shows how well 190 cities in 30 European countries perform on a range of measures describing the ‘Cultural Vibrancy’, the ‘Creative Economy’ and the ‘Enabling Environment’ of a city. In 2018, Madrid, Geneva and Győr used the Monitor to pursue different objectives, such as analysing investment needs and re-designing creative industries’ strategies. A paper was also published in a top-level journal in the field of urban studies (Cities) to offer policy insights to the scholarly community. As one of the 65 actions of the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage, the Monitor wants to support the European Commission’s efforts to put culture at the heart of its policy agenda through evidence and success stories in cities.JRC.I.1-Monitoring, Indicators & Impact Evaluatio

Prospective evaluation of hepatic steatosis in HIV-infected patients with or without hepatitis C virus co-infection

SummaryBackgroundLimited data are available on hepatic steatosis (HS) in HIV patients who are not infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of HS and its risk factors in HIV patients with and without HCV infection, and to evaluate whether HS correlates with advanced liver fibrosis and/or cardiovascular disease risk.MethodsFifty-seven HIV mono-infected and 61 HIV/HCV co-infected patients were enrolled consecutively. All patients underwent liver ultrasound and transient elastography. The main parameters of liver function, HIV and HCV viral loads, CD4+ cell counts, and data on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) were recorded. Cardiovascular disease risk was evaluated using the 10-year Framingham risk score.ResultsHS prevalence in the whole HIV population was 53% (54% in mono-infected patients and 51% in co-infected patients). HS was associated with lipodystrophy and triglyceride values (p1 year (p<0.01). By multivariate analysis, only triglyceride levels (p<0.02) and Framingham risk score (p<0.05) were independently associated with HS in both HIV groups. No correlation was observed between HS and advanced liver fibrosis, measured by transient elastography.ConclusionsHS was common in HIV patients, occurring in about half of the population. HS was found to be linked with the Framingham risk score, but was not correlated with advanced liver fibrosis. We suggest that in our HIV population with HS, the burden of cardiovascular disease risk is greater than that of liver disease progression

Validation of TESS exoplanet candidates orbiting solar analogues in the all-sky PLATO input catalogue

Funding: G.M. acknowledges the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and of the doctoral grant funded by the University of Padova and by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). G.M. is also grateful to the Centre for Exoplanet Science, University of St Andrews (StA-CES) for hospitality and computing resources. GPi, LBo, VNa, and FZM acknowledge the funding support from Italian Space Agency (ASI) regulated by ‘Accordo ASI-INAF n. 2013-016-R.0 del 9 luglio 2013 e integrazione del 9 luglio 2015 CHEOPS Fasi A/B/C’. We acknowledge the support of PLATO ASI-INAF agreements n.2015-019-R0-2015 and n. 2015-019-R.1-2018. T.G.W. and A.C.C. acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant number ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant ST/R003203/1.The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is focusing on relatively bright stars and has found thousands of planet candidates. However, mainly because of the low spatial resolution of its cameras (≈ 21 arcsec/pixel), TESS is expected to detect several false positives (FPs); hence, vetting needs to be done. Here, we present a follow-up program of TESS candidates orbiting solar-analogue stars that are in the all-sky PLATO input catalogue. Using Gaia photometry and astrometry we built an absolute colour-magnitude diagram and isolated solar-analogue candidates’ hosts. We performed a probabilistic validation of each candidate using the vespa software and produced a prioritized list of objects that have the highest probability of being genuine transiting planets. Following this procedure, we eliminated the majority of FPs and statistically vetted 23 candidates. For this remaining set, we performed a stellar neighbourhood analysis using Gaia Early Data Release 3 and centroid motion tests, greatly enhancing the on-target probability of 12 of them. We then used publicly available high-resolution imaging data to confirm their transit source and found five new, fully validated planets. For the remaining candidates, we propose on-off photometry to further refine the list of genuine candidates and prepare for the subsequent radial velocity follow-up.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

JRC Statistical Audit of Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2018

Eradicating poverty is one of the global challenges defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, this goal cannot be achieved without reducing the gap between the rich and the poor. Development Finance International and Oxfam have developed an international monitoring framework — the Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) index — that measures the commitment of 157 countries to reducing inequality through the fiscal policies (public spending and taxes) and labour market policies implemented by their governments. The CRI index builds on three pillars: progressivity of spending, progressivity of tax, and progressivity of labour policy. These pillars are used to organise and aggregate nine indicators into a single summary measure. This framework involves both conceptual and practical challenges. The statistical audit presented here was performed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, and it aims to contribute to ensuring the transparency and reliability of the CRI index 2018. It should enable policymakers to derive more accurate and meaningful conclusions, and to potentially guide choices on priority setting and policy formulation. Overall, the main conclusions of the present audit can be summarised as follows: the CRI index 2018 is representative of a plurality of scenarios, is reliable and has a statistically coherent framework. The uncertainty analysis shows that country ranks are robust for most countries. For a number of countries, in particular countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), ranks should be analysed within their expected confidence intervals instead of being taken at face value. The statistical assessment also shows that the CRI index has a good statistical reliability and measures one single latent phenomenon capturing the main components of the index: the ‘progressivity of labour policies’, and the interaction between the ‘progressivity of tax’ and the ‘progressivity of spending’. Notwithstanding the good statistical properties of the CRI index, some suggestions are made for possible refinements of the CRI index in future editions.JRC.I.1-Modelling, Indicators and Impact Evaluatio