A Geography of \u201cIdentity\u201d Trust in Italy

The chapter addresses the definition of the concept of trust, proposing two interpretations: trust as \u201ccalculation\u201d, based on an assessment of the risk involved in trust, and trust as \u201cidentity\u201d, understood as faith in the unknown other. Two aspects of the concept which connect well with the two main conceptions of social capital: social capital as an individual resource \u2013 \ue0 la Bourdieu (1980) \u2013 and social capital as a collective resource (civicness) \u2013 \ue0 la Putnam (1993) \u2013 with its connotations of bridging and bonding. After addressing the problem of empirical observation of the two faces of trust, the paper focuses on an analysis of \u201cidentitary\u201d trust in Italy, by means of a cross-national and cross-regional comparative analysis over an extended period. The main results highlight the deficit of trust characterising Italy as against the principal European countries and the steady levelling out \u2013 in relation to previous analyses (Putnam 1993) \u2013 of the differences between the various regions of Italy

A Novel Simplified Protocol for Pre-Processing Whole Wood Samples for Stable Isotope Analysis in Tree Rings

In the context of climate change, the stable isotope analysis of tree rings may play a crucial role in deciphering the eco-physiological mechanisms underlying forest decline and dieback phenomena. However, this technique is often considered expensive, time-consuming, and with several methodological constraints. Specifically, milling and transferring the material from jars to vials during the different steps of sample preparation involve risk of contamination among samples and loss of sample material. When dealing with declining trees (i.e., trees affected by loss of vitality with strong percentage of defoliation and reduction in growth) and trees subjected to extreme events or negative pointer years (characterized by extremely narrow ring) the sample preparation is particularly difficult because of scarce amount of wood material. In such a case, pooling rings from several years to achieve the minimum weight of wood is often necessary, thus losing information at the annual resolution. In order to overcome such limitations, we developed a novel protocol for quick and accurate whole-wood pre-processing, testing it on oak tree rings of different widths taken from living trees. The main novelty introduced by our protocol was freezing tree-ring samples at -80 degrees C and milling multiple samples at a time by using a 24-tube plate. The results showed that our novel simplified protocol significantly reduced the pre-processing time with respect to the standard protocol (12 vs. 284 sec/sample), while achieving the same wood particle size, limiting the loss of wood material and reducing the risk of contamination among samples

Signs of Anxiety and Salivary Copeptin Levels in Dogs Diagnosed with Separation-Related Problems in a Short Separation Test

The need for faster diagnosis and more accurate treatment decisions in separation-related problems (SRPs) in dogs is urgent, and a more precise behavioral phenotyping and the development of biomarkers may be of great value. Vasopressin could be a potential non-invasive biomarker of anxiety in dogs with SRPs, but reliable measurement of its concentration is challenging. Here, we compared the behavior and salivary concentrations of copeptin, an arginine vasopressin surrogate, in dogs with SRPs (Case group, n = 13) and with no problems (Control group, n = 15) as they were introduced to a novel environment and subjected to a short episode of separation and reunion with the owner. Dogs in the Case group had greater odds of showing locomotory or oral behaviors during the pre- and post-separation than Controls, while the odds were significantly lower during separation. They also had greater odds of being persistent in seeking attention and proximity from the stranger during reunion. Overall, dogs with SRPs were more likely to express an anxiety-like state during the entire test than Controls, with separation from the owner, and even its anticipation, possibly accounting for this group difference. Although salivary copeptin concentrations did not differ between the two groups, a different trend was detected in Cases and Controls that is worth exploring in further validation studies involving a larger sample