Unmaking capitalism through community empowerment: Findings from Italian agricultural experiences

Capitalism – in the theorizations of sustainability transformation – has been largely taken for granted for its misleadingly assumed stability and homogeneity, thus limiting the scope for defining alternative futures, policy options and strategies for transformative change. Theorizations regarding sustainable transformative pathways have often overshadowed a nuanced landscape of normative and ontological pluralism thus contributing to generating techno-centric and top-down responses to issues such as access to food, farmers' control over the food-chain and global environmental change. The expansion of capital, under a mechanism of production-reproduction, with a constant attempt to subsume different forms of production into the global market, generates manifold temporal frictions that, on the one hand, contribute to the consolidation of the capitalist model and, on the other hand, give rise to conflicting elements and re-orientation of modernity in a process of “unmaking” of capitalism. This article, drawing upon empirical work conducted in Northern Italy, presents two experiences emerging from the scenario of local food networks, namely the “C’è Campo” Participatory Guarantee System and the “Ortazzo” Community Supported Agriculture project. These show elements and mechanisms of local community empowerment for unmaking capitalism from the inside, as steps for a sustainable and bottom-up transformation which do not necessarily imply the generation of socio-economic novelties ex-nihilo. The “conventionalization” of organic agriculture has pushed those actors who participate in local food networks to reconfigure their self-regulation towards a “bottom-up” approach driven by the adoption of PGS or CSA instruments as an attempt to secure or reacquire control over the market and the construction of quality. Convivial tools, in particular, are crucial for understanding - and finding responses to - the social, economic, cultural and environmental crisis that contemporary society is now facing

Transient phrenic nerve paralysis associated with status asthmaticus

Phrenic nerve paralysis is a condition typically occurring after invasive procedures in the chest and neck. Here we describe a case of transient unilateral diaphragmatic paralysis in a child with status asthmaticus complicated by complete right lung atelectasis. Common causes of this disorder and possible implications for our case are discussed

Educare alla cooperazione e alla cittadinanza attiva attraverso un´esperienza di alternanza scuola-lavoro: un esempio in provincia di Trento.

Qual è il valore sociale dell’alternanza scuola lavoro? Può un progetto di alternanza scuola lavoro promuovere i valori del movimento cooperativo? Questo articolo propone una parziale risposta a queste domande partendo da un progetto di alternanza sviluppato in provincia di Trento. La proposta formativa ha offerto una introduzione sulla cooperazione e sulla realizzazione di video dall’altra; successivamente è stata proposta la realizzazione di video-interviste ad anziani cooperatori del territorio; infine, i giovani hanno effettuato il montaggio di una decina di video. Al termine del progetto, durato un anno scolastico, sono stati intervistati tre in-segnanti e dodici ragazzi e ragazze andando ad indagare la loro percezione dell’esperienza di alternanza, il cambiamento di prospettiva rispetto al movimento cooperativo, i valori che hanno identificato attraverso l’esperienza e come questa abbia influito sul loro essere attivi nella società. Dai risultati emerge come l’alternanza scuola lavoro possa essere una modalità per trasmettere valori condivisi

L’agricoltura supportata dalla comunità in Italia: timide pratiche di consumerismo politico.

A fronte della diffusione del populismo autoritario e sovranista nelle zone rurali europee, le esperienze di agricoltura supportata dalla comunità (CSA), in Italia, si delineano come recenti e timide pratiche di consumerismo politico nell’ambito dei movimenti di promozione di comunità sostenibili e di esperienze di economia sociale e solidale. Sono nate in Giappone negli anni ’70, arrivate in Europa intorno agli anni ’80 e ’90 e più recentemente comparse in tutti i contesti europei. Questo studio propone una prima analisi e riflessione sulle esperienze di CSA in Italia all’interno del contesto internazionale, quali pratiche di promozione di un’agricoltura di relazione, guidata da logiche solidaristiche, basate sulla reciprocità. L’elemento che scardina la prospettiva populista autoritaria sovranista è un accordo innovativo tra agricoltore-produttore e consumatore-cittadino, caratterizzato dalla condivisione del rischio di produzione.L’analisi rileva il potenziale relazionale generato dalle CSA che si caratterizzano quindi come promotrici di nuove relazioni di capitale sociale: un ruolo particolarmente significativo nel contrastare la diffusione del populismo autoritario, specialmente in quei territori caratterizzati da maggiore fragilità

Analysis of peel and shear strains in cracked lap shear specimens subjected to fatigue loading using digital image correlation

Adhesive bonding presents many advantages, such as efficient manufacturing and improved structural performance [1]. However, in structures subjected to fatigue, cracks might initiate and propagate in joints, leading to in-service failure [2]. Most adhesively bonded joints are subjected to combination of peel and shear loads, so mixed I+II mode loading conditions are present [3]. In this work, Cracked Lap Shear specimens, which feature mixed I+II mode loading conditions, were tested under fatigue loading. During tests, crack growth was monitored using Visual Testing and Digital Image Correlation. With Digital Image Correlation, opening and sliding displacements in the bondline were extracted from the substrates’ displacement fields and compared against a Finite Element Model, revealing a highly strained process zone ahead of the crack tip. Results highlight the usefulness of DIC in capturing the deformation behaviour of adhesive joints under mixed mode loading conditions

Anti-biofim and antibacterial effect of essential oils and their major compounds

Essential oils are plant secondary metabolites commonly used in traditional medicine to treat infectious diseases. Along with their compounds, oils can contribute to development of new antimicrobial/antibiofilm products. Our study evaluated antibacterial activity of essential oils and their major compounds on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus planktonic cells and anti-biofilm activity. The effect of essential oils and their major compounds on biofilm and planktonic cells was assessed by quantifying the number of viable cells (CFU). Biomass quantification (absorbance=OD570nm) was also performed to evaluate anti-biofilm activity. Planktonic cells were more susceptible to the action of agents. Escherichia coli was reduced by 100\% with cinnamon and palmarosa oil. The treatment showed an interesting anti-biofilm activity, whereas green tea essential oil and its major compound, terpinen-4-ol, yielded less effective results. Reduction of viable cells in biofilm biomass was significant. Although our research is one of the first experiments in anti-biofilm activity of essential oils and their compounds against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, pharmacological data confirm that the materials used in the trial do not pose health risk. Thus, essential oils and their compounds can be safely used in research to identify new antibacterial and anti-biofilm products against pathogenic bacteria.The authors thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the first author’s scholarship, the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) for the financial support, the Foundation for Science and Technology and European Community fund European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), in the ambit of the Project PTDC/SAUESA/ 6460912006/ FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-00748