Public and Private Stances in Economic Policies. General Historical Notes on Social Services and the Specific Case of Italy in the first half of the XX Century

During the first half of the XX century, both in Europe and North America, a profound dissatisfaction with the numerous different social insurance, unemployment, health and old age insurance systems began to make itself felt. The essay deals with the attitudes of the Western world, and in particular with the Italian one. As regards the United States, debate has spread since the second half of the XIX century on the so-called welfare work, and on welfare capitalism. In Europe social security systems began with their establishment by Bismarck’s German government. In the second half of the 19th century the role played by local administrations augmented in several countries. Unfair distribution was considered to be the condition of the system that made it impossible to abolish need. In Italy assistance indicates a vast system of coordinated activities aimed at reforms that may contextualize arising social questions and define policies to solve them. The Italian regime basically followed the German model of welfare state, implementing social insurance in order to integrate and control the country. The solutions sprang from philanthropy and religious motivations, and also from the fear of the poor as potential criminals or rebels. After World War I legislation was issued predominantly on assistance to the disabled and on accident insurance. In the interwar period the solutions were strictly linked to the corporativistic-authoritarian formulation of the Fascist political system. In the immediate post-second WW period politicians and economists were inspired by the principle of universal social security and public services, and favoured interdependence among people in society.History of political economy; History of economic policy; Social services; William Beveridge; Francesco Vito.

Interactions between Reflection and Praxis in the History of Economic Thought. The Case of the Franciscan Circles from XIII Century Assisi to the Present

Daniela Parisi analyses the impact of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, from the perspective of the history of economic thought. By referring in particular to the attention given in Franciscan circles to the signs of times, the author draws the path from Saint Francis’s life to the life of the Order until the present, and reveals the origins of the Franciscan movement as an attempt for social and religious reformation. First, the article presents St. Francis’s life of a “voluntary material poverty” in the context of the social and economic changes that took place in the XIII century, with the rise of the commercial society. Then, the author explains how St. Francis’ proposal grew into an Order. Finally, the article aims at illuminating the aspects in which the Franciscan Order can be still considered a sign of the times by living the commitment to poverty and minority, eliminating the superfluous from our lives and living close to the Gospel.Daniela Parisi analiza el impacto de la vida de San F rancisco de Asís desde la perspectiva de la historia del pensamiento económico. Haciendo referencia particularmente a la atención otorgada en los círculos franciscanos a los signos de los tiempos, la autora traza el camino desde la vida de San Francisco, pasando por la vida de la Orden hasta el presente, y revela los orígenes del movimiento franciscano como un intento de reforma social y religiosa. En primer lugar, el artículo presenta la vida que llevó San Francisco como una “pobreza material voluntaria” en el contexto de los cambios socio-económicos que tuvieron lugar en el siglo XIII, con el advenimiento de la sociedad comercial. Luego, explica cómo la propuesta de San Francisco creció hasta convertirse en una orden religiosa. Finalmente, el artículo intenta iluminar aquellos aspectos en que la Orden Franciscana puede todavía considerarse un signo de los tiempos a través de una existencia comprometida con la pobreza, eliminando lo superfluo de nuestra vida y viviendo en consonancia con el Evangelio

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

The Big Roof for a Theory of Design through the Permutation of the Big Formal and Structural Types

The topic of the large centrally planned hall is one of the oldest ones in Building History; with different techniques and since Pre-Christian times, builders have always aimed at imagining and realizing a centrally-planned space surmounted by a big roof. Such ambition has never disappeared and today the projects focusing on this topic are innumerable also thanks to the advancements in the construction techniques and to better materials. Do all of these buildings, both the recent and the less recent ones, share features and rules that make them belong to a same family of structural forms? The work we carried out is not meant only to prove that the “genealogical lines” that unite different planning experiences do exist, it aims for something more. Indeed we suppose and then prove that entire families of architectures are referable to formal and structural geometry rules from which we can abstract planning codes that allow modern planners to operate through the permutation of such original types

Labor Taxes and Wages: Evidence from Italy

We study the empirical relationship between labor taxation and pretax wages in Italy. We find that higher tax progressivity increases pretax wages. To explain this result, we introduce in an informal way a relative wage effect and argue that the combination of this effect with the labor supply effect dominates the wage moderation effect. We find also evidence that changes in payroll taxes are not fully absorbed by offsetting changes in the pretax wage and affect labor costs and employment. The evidence on the effect of the average income tax rate on pretax wages is more mixed, but it also points to the presence of some degree of real wage resistance. Finally, we find significant differences in the relationship between labor taxes and pretax wages by age group but not by skill or region of residence.progressive taxation, wage determination, Italy

Multiple polarization orange and red laser emissions with Pr:BaY₂F₈.

We investigated the polarization of continuous-wave laser emission in the orange region, at 607 nm, and in the red region, at 639 nm and 643 nm, from a Pr:BaY2F8 (Pr:BYF) crystal, pumped by a 445 nm laser diode. We achieved linearly polarized emission along two optic axes of the crystal by changing its orientation with respect to the pump. Simultaneous emission of two orthogonal linear polarizations was observed in the orange region, at the same wavelength, and in the red region, with concurrent emission from the two separate lines. (C) 2014 Optical Society of Americ

Sailing the Atlantic to study Economics. Rockefeller philanthropy and pioneering of specialization in the Usa.

This paper is part of a wider interest that contemporary historiography devotes to the role North American economic literature played for Italian researchers in the first half of the XX century

The ascidian Styela plicata hemocytes as a potential biomarker of marine pollution: In vitro effects of seawater and organic mercury

Toxic metals, such as mercury, contribute substantially to anthropogenic pollution in many estuarine environments. Animals living in those environments, particularly invertebrate filter feeders like tunicates, can be used as bioindicators. In an attempt to identify cellular markers for revealing pollution, this study examined in vitro the effects of different concentrations of methyl mercury on Styela plicata hemocytes. The harvested hemocytes from S. plicata that were exposed to the metal had a significant mortality, cellular count and morphometric alterations. These findings provided evidence of MeHg immunotoxic effects on S. plicata, resulting in hemocyte death and morphological changes induced by cytoskeleton alterations. Thus, a morphometric cellular parameter, such as spreading ability, was used as a complementary method for differentiation between hemocytes treated with a marine solution (as a negative control) and hemocytes incubated with methylmercury and/or Sicilian seawater samples

Yellow laser performance of Dy3+^{3+} in co-doped Dy,Tb:LiLuF4_4

We present laser results obtained from a Dy$^{3+}$-Tb$^{3+}$ co-doped LiLuF$_{4}$ crystal, pumped by a blue emitting InGaN laser diode, aiming for the generation of a compact 578 nm source. We exploit the yellow Dy$^{3+}$ transition $^{4}$F$_{9/2}$ $\Longrightarrow$ $^{6}$H$_{13/2}$ to generate yellow laser emission. The lifetime of the lower laser level is quenched via energy transfer to co-doped Tb$^{3+}$ ions in the fluoride crystal. We report the growth technique, spectroscopic study and room temperature continuous wave (cw) laser results in a hemispherical cavity at 574 nm and with a highly reflective output coupler at 578 nm. A yellow laser at 578 nm is very relevant for metrological applications, in particular for pumping of the forbidden $^{1}$S$_{0} \Longrightarrow ^{3}$P$_{0}$ Ytterbium clock transition, which is recommended as a secondary representation of the second in the international system (SI) of units. This paper was published in Optics Letters and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.39.006628. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure