The neoliberal workings of The Family Meal campaign: Unfortunate others, European citizens, and the branding of the EU

Due to increased privatization of development assistance, humanitarian communication is usually considered to be the domain of non-governmental organizations. However, (inter)governmental and (supra)national institutions still play an important role in development assistance. Notably, the European Union has become a leading development actor globally – and also actively brands itself as such. In this process of branding, the European Union not only celebrates its empathic recognition of vulnerable non-European Others, but also aims to promote a sense of European citizenship. In this article, we examine this process in the context of The Family Meal, a 2014 awareness campaign on food assistance led by the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department of the European Commission. We argue that the campaign reflects both the logic of neoliberal humanitarianism and the quest for European citizenship. To develop our argument, we will assess The Family Meal in three steps. First, we discuss how the campaign mimicked post-humanitarian tendencies in non-governmental campaigns aimed at raising funds. Second, we demonstrate how The Family Meal not only reported on (helping) non-European Others, but also, and importantly, promoted a sense of European belonging. Finally, we introduce the concept of successional campaigns – that is, campaigns that follow up on the action taken rather than preceding it – to show that The Family Meal largely appeared as the result of the neoliberal trend toward administering accountability and branding organizations. Altogether, we consider the campaign, with the neoliberal branding of the European Union and its citizens at its center, as emblematic for humanitarian communication within the rise of New Public Management in the 21st century

Improved Thermal Transmittance Measurement with HFM Technique on Building Envelopes in the Mediterranean Area

Abstract Although the designed theoretical value of U can be derived from the thermal parameters of layers composing an opaque element, according to ISO 6946:2007, measurements are necessary to confirm the expected behaviour. Currently, the measurements of thermal transmittance based on Heat Flow Meter method (HFM) and according to standard ISO 9869-1:2014 are widely accepted. Anyway, some issues related to difficulties in measurements are present: the roughness of wall surfaces, the proper contact between the heat flow plate and the temperature probes with wall surfaces, undesired changes in weather conditions. This work presents the results obtained in thermal transmittance measurements with a modified HFM method, widely described in this paper. Differences between U-values obtained with the modified HFM method and theoretical ones were in the range 0.6 - 6.5 %. Moreover, the modified HFM method provided a result closer to the theoretical one, when compared to that obtained with standard HFM method (discrepancy with theoretical value were 0.6% and 16.4%, respectively)

O BALANCING TEST COMO TÉCNICA DE PONDERAÇÃO NAS QUESTÕES DE LIMITAÇÃO DA LIBERDADE DE EXPRESSÃO DO PENSAMENTO DO TRABALHADOR

O tema deste artigo é a liberdade de expressão do pensamento, com recorte na limitação deste direito na esfera trabalhista e a validade dessa limitação a partir da técnica do balancing test. O problema consiste em estabelecer parâmetros a partir da análise de casos concretos pela técnica do balancing test, verificando a validade ou não da limitação, decorrente da relação de trabalho, do direito à liberdade de expressão do pensamento. A pesquisa será estruturada em três capítulos por meio de aprofundamento investigativo, através de pesquisa descritivo-explicativa do tipo documental-bibliográfica, em doutrinas e apelo em jurisprudências, com viés indutivo

Resurrecting taboo policies? Explaining collective regularisations for unauthorised immigrants during the Covid-19 pandemic in Southern Europe

Collective regularisation programmes providing legal status to unauthorised immigrants were frequently used by European countries until the late 2000s, when they fell out of fashion. In 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, some European governments made use of collective regularisations again, breaking this “taboo”, while others did not. Why this variation in response? We compare policy-making in three Southern European countries that have frequently resorted to collective regularisations in the past, but which took divergent paths during the Covid-19 pandemic despite facing similar health and economic-related pressures: a collective regularisation in Portugal, a targeted regularisation in Italy, and no regularisation in Greece. Informed by a theoretical model that builds on existing explanatory frameworks on migration policy, we use expert interviews, legal and policy documents, parliamentary debates, and press coverage to explain variation in policy outputs. Our findings point to the importance of three conditions: (1) the balance of liberalising versus restrictionist pressures, (2) government ideology, and (3) the scope and implementation of pre-existing regularisation mechanisms. We show that the Covid-19 pandemic worked as a catalyst for the return of policies that were previously considered “taboo” only when policy changes were considered to be cost-free. We argue that, despite functional pressures and discursive opportunities created by the pandemic, the regulation of the status of unauthorised migrants is characterised by continuity and incremental change rather than by sudden ruptures

PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING: AN ASSOCIATION WITH ALEXITHYMIA, PERSONALITY DISORDERS AND CLINICAL SYNDROMES

Pathological gambling (PG) is a disorder recently conceptualized as a behavioural addiction, because of its neurobiological, neurophysiological and psychological features (American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders - 5th ed., 2013; Potenza et al., 2012). PG represents both a social and a sanitary cost, in terms of pharmacological and psychological therapies. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between personality disorders, clinical syndromes and alexithymia levels in a group of pathological gamblers. Furthermore this study aimed at highlighting a relationship between PG and alexithymia, over and above the relationship between personality disorders, clinical syndromes and PG. Sixty treatment- seeking pathological gamblers and 60 healthy controls were included in the study. Psychological assessment included the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Pathological gamblers displayed Axis I disorders, such as anxiety, somatoform symptoms, bipolar symptoms, dysthymia, thought disorders and major depression, as well as Axis II disorders such as depressive, antisocial, sadistic, passive-aggressive, self-defeating and paranoid disorders, and greater alexithymia levels. Alexithymia was detected in PG independently from the presence of other psychiatric disorders. Our data show that comorbid psychiatric disorders have been evidentiated in PG. Interestingly alexithymia is related to PG indipendently from other psychopathological disorders, representing a relevant feature, helpful for assessing PG diagnosis and for orienting to the correct therapeutical strategy. REFERENCES American Psychiatric Association. 2013. American Psychiatric Publishing Potenza et al.,2012Psychoph219(2):469-49

Bilateral Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Prefrontal Cortex Reduces Cocaine Intake: A Pilot Study

Background: Chronic cocaine consumption is associated with a decrease in mesolim- bic dopamine transmission that maintains drug intake. transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is gaining reliability, a useful therapeutic tool in drug addiction, since it can modu- late cortico-limbic activity resulting in reduction of drug craving. Aims: In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of bilateral TMS of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in reducing cocaine intake, in a sample of treatment-seeking patients with current cocaine use disorder (DSM-V). Methods: Ten cocaine addicts (DSM-V) were randomly assigned to the active or sham stimulation protocol in a double-blind experimental design. Twelve repetitive TMS (rTMS) sessions were administered three times a week for 4 weeks at 100% of motor threshold, over bilateral PFC. Cocaine intake (ng/mg) was assessed by hair analysis at baseline (before treatment, T0), after 1 month (end of treatment, T1), 3 (T2), and 6 (T3) months later. All subjects received psychological support weekly. Results: The two-way ANOVA for repeated measures did not show a signi cant effect of the interaction between time and treatment (F4,32 = 0.35; p = 0.87). Despite that result indicated no difference in the effect of the two conditions (active vs. sham) along time, a decreasing trend in cocaine consumption in active TMS group (F3,23 = 3.42; p = 0.04) vs. sham (F3,15 = 1.88; p = 0.20) was observed when we performed exploratory analysis with time as factor. Indeed, Post hoc comparisons showed a signi cant reduction in the amount of cocaine detected from the onset to 3 months later (T0–T2; p = 0.02) and to the end of treatment (T0–T3; p = 0.01) in addicts from the active group. Conclusion: Bilateral rTMS of PFC at 10 Hz did not show a signi cant effect on cocaine intake compared to sham. However, a long-term reduction on cocaine intake in active TMS-treated patients was observed when we considered the time as factor. Further studies are required to con rm these encouraging but preliminary ndings, in order to consolidate rTMS as a valid tool to treat cocaine addiction

Malvidin and cyanidin derivatives from açai fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) counteract UV-A-induced oxidative stress in immortalized fibroblasts

UV-A radiations are known to induce cellular oxidative stress, leading to premature skin aging. Consumption of açai fruit (Euterpe oleracea Martius) is known to have many health benefits due to its high level of antioxidants. Herein, we analyzed the ability of phenolic compounds extracted from this fruit to attenuate UV-A-induced oxidative stress in immortalized fibroblast. A methanol/water açai extract was fractionated by HPLC and each fraction tested for anti-oxidant stress activity. Immortalized fibroblasts were pre-incubated with açai fractions and then exposed to UV-A radiations. Açai extract was found to be able to strongly protect cells from oxidative stress. In particular, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, GSH depletion, lipid peroxidation and no increase in the phosphorylation levels of proteins involved in the oxidative stress pathway was observed in cells pre-incubated with the extract and then irradiated by UV-A. Mass spectrometry analyses of HPLC fractionated extract led us to the identification of malvidin and cyanidin derivatives as the most active molecules able to counteract the negative effects induced by UV-A irradiation. Our results indicate, for the first time, that açai fruit is a valuable natural source for malvidin and cyanidin to be used as anti-stress molecules and represent good candidates for dietary intervention in the prevention of age related skin damage

Antioxidant and Hypolipidemic Activity of Açai Fruit Makes It a Valuable Functional Food

Several plant extracts are acquiring increasing value because of their antioxidant activity and hypolipidemic properties. Among them, great interest has been recently paid to acai fruit as a functional food. The aim of this study was to test the ability of acai extract in reducing oxidative stress and modulating lipid metabolism in vitro using different cell models and different types of stress. In fact, lipid peroxidation as evaluated in a HepG2 model was reduced five-fold when using 0.25 mu g/mL of extract, and it was further reduced (20-fold) with the concentration increase up to 2.5 mu g/mL. With the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)in vitro model, all concentrations tested showed at least a two-fold reduced fat deposit. In addition, primary adipocytes challenged with TNF-alpha under hypoxic conditions to mimic the persistent subcutaneous fat, treated with acai extract showed an approximately 40% reduction of fat deposit. Overall, our results show that acai is able to counteract oxidative states in all the cell models analysed and to prevent the accumulation of lipid droplets. No toxic effects and high stability overtime were highlighted at the concentrations tested. Therefore, acai can be considered a suitable support in the prevention of different alterations of lipid and oxidative metabolism responsible for fat deposition and metabolic pathological conditions

devices for mechanical circulatory support and strategies for their management in cardiogenic shock

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