Recognition and reception. On Pizzorno, identity and the mask

The paper considers Alessandro Pizzorno\u2019s theory of identity building as recognition looking in particular at his last works. The metaphor of the mask helps us to understand the mechanisms of identity constitution, the dialectic of hiding and revealing, and with it the ambivalences of modern subjectivity. For Pizzorno, in modern societies, individuals must represent themselves as a function of the expression of a deep identity; they must create their own masks and make them recognizable. The process of reception and the circles of recognition wherein identities are embedded are the proper object of sociological analysis as it is through them that identities get entrenched

Trust and food : a theoretical discussion

The goal of this paper is to help develop a comprehensive theoretical basis for the empirical study of \u2018trust\u2019 and \u2018distrust\u2019 in food, by relating concepts such as routines, reflexivity and risk perception, which are crucial in the literature about food consumption. It is part of a larger strategy which includes also a wider discussion of the project, its methodology and its scope. Taken together these facilitate the development of a conceptual model that encompasses the various dimensions and relations of trust to be deployed in our project. This format itself reflects a view which has often been discussed among the partners in the project: both trust and distrust could be seen as constructions \u2013 historically grounded, concerted, and contested \u2013 which might facilitate better social worlds. To be sure, the project takes off from the recognition that trust has gained prominence in research concerned with risk management, especially in terms of how to cope with what is called a \u201ccrisis of confidence\u201d (Stirling 1998). However it aims to consider both trust and distrust critically \u2013 that is in relation to their social determinants as grounded in specific social and institutional histories as well as in their positive and negative implications. We aim to provide an understanding of the conceptual dimension of trust in food, its relevance and its cross-cultural variation while offering some means to evaluate the possible ways forward for ameliorating European food systems and policies. In this sense, the question arises as to whether we should have a certain level of distrust in society or, in other terms: does (a measure of) distrust lead to better, safer and more democratic societies? In Europe the interest in the democratic management of risk has meant that food crises and trust deficit are no longer seen as social anomalies. Food issues, together with the application of technology to life and biology , are the dominant themes of contemporary public debates. According to one study, they represent more than 45% of the public debates taking place in the Western world (Marris and Joly 1999). This partly reflects the need to govern and control risk perception and trust mechanisms, but it is also arguably linked to the growing need to take seriously the different perspectives of the different actors involved

Wikistudents : teaching consumption through production

This paper describes and reflects on a fascinating teaching experience that we developed for the unit Consumer Culture in Academic Year 2014-5, a subject examining the history, theory and politics of consumption, and which was taught at the University of Milan within the Master of Arts Program in Corporate Communication. A collaborative teamwork workshop was set up to complement the main textbook (Sassatelli 2007) and to reflect more critically on the complexities of the commodity circuit as it goes through the so called \u201csign economy\u201d (Baudrillard 1981) and the increasing engagement of consumers qua producers. The workshop began by providing the class with a general introduction to the notion of \u201cprosumption\u201d (Fuchs 2013; Humphreys & Grayson 2008; Ritzer & Jurgenson 2010). Prosumption, a term coined by Alvin Toffler (1980), identifies the trend in late capitalism toward putting consumers to work (at the fast-food outlet or at the ATM machine, shopping on line or animating a brand community). Prosumption, by rejecting any sharp division between the production and the consumption sphere, is a concept that allows the co-creation of value and the dynamics of exploitation and control under regimes of unpaid labor and post-scarcity markets. Within this new \u201cwikinomic\u201d model, and the development of Web 2.0 in particular, consumers are increasingly asked to contribute to the production of both the symbolic value of commodities (fan communities, for example; see Cova, Kozinets & Shankar 2012; Van Zoonen 2014) and, notably, the production of knowledge about commodities and the world more generally. The ways consumers contribute to the generation of value in the sign economy include the production of knowledge, via, for example, reviews of films and books on Amazon and reviews of travel hotels on Booking.com. More specifically, consumers can become producers contributing to the construction of a common base of knowledge in Wikipedia, the online open-access encyclopedia based on an openly editable content and the collaboration of thousands of anonymous contributors who write for free. Wikipedia is well-known to university students worldwide as a source of information. Founded in 2001, Wikipedia can be understood as a kind of \u201ccommons\u201d; ideally, it will provide well written, balanced entries containing comprehensive and verifiable (via clear quotations) knowledge. The challenge was to involve students into writing and editing entries, thus critically appreciating the way it engages \u201cconsumers\u201d in the production process

Second-line chemotherapy in advanced pancreatic cancer patients before nab-paclitaxel introduction. Retrospective study in Reggio Emilia Clinical Cancer Centre

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Sliding and abrasive wear behaviour of HVOF- and HVAF-sprayed Cr3C2-NiCr hardmetal coatings

This paper provides a comprehensive characterisation of HVOF- and HVAF-sprayed Cr3C2-25 wt.% NiCr hardmetal coatings. One commercial powder composition with two different particle size distributions was processed using five HVOF and HVAF thermal spray systems. All coatings contain less Cr3C2 than the feedstock powder, possibly due to the rebound of some Cr3C2-rich particles during high-velocity impact onto the substrate. Dry sand-rubber wheel abrasive wear testing causes both grooving and pull-out of splat fragments. Mass losses depend on inter- and intra-lamellar cohesion, being higher (≥70 mg after a wear distance of 5904 m) for the coatings deposited with the coarser feedstock powder or with one type of HVAF torch. Sliding wear at room temperature against alumina involves shallower abrasive grooving, small-scale delamination and carbide pull-outs, and it is controlled by intra-lamellar cohesion. The coatings obtained from the fine feedstock powder exhibit the lowest wear rates (≈5×10-6 mm3/(Nm)). At 400 °C, abrasive grooving dominates the sliding wear behaviour; wear rates increase by one order of magnitude but friction coefficients decrease from ≈0.7 to ≈0.5. The thermal expansion coefficient of the coatings (11.08×10-6 °C-1 in the 30-400 °C range) is sufficiently close to that of the steel substrate (14.23×10-6 °C-1) to avoid macro-cracking

Management of duodenal stump fistula after gastrectomy for malignant disease: A systematic review of the literature

Background: Duodenal stump fistula (DSF) remains one of the most serious complications following subtotal or total gastrectomy, as it endangers patient's life. DSF is related to high mortality (16-20%) and morbidity (75%) rates. DSF-related morbidity always leads to longer hospitalization times due to medical and surgical complications such as wound infections, intra-abdominal abscesses, intra-abdominal bleeding, acute pancreatitis, acute cholecystitis, severe malnutrition, fluids and electrolytes disorders, diffuse peritonitis, and pneumonia. Our systematic review aimed at improving our understanding of such surgical complication, focusing on nonsurgical and surgical DSF management in patients undergoing gastric resection for gastric cancer. Methods: We performed a systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases were used to search all related literature. Results: The 20 included articles covered an approximately 40 years-study period (1979-2017), with a total 294 patient population. DSF diagnosis occurred between the fifth and tenth postoperative day. Main DSF-related complications were sepsis, abdominal abscess, wound infection, pneumonia, and intra-abdominal bleeding. DSF treatment was divided into four categories: conservative (101 cases), endoscopic (4 cases), percutaneous (82 cases), and surgical (157 cases). Length of hospitalization was 21-39 days, ranging from 1 to 1035 days. Healing time was 19-63 days, ranging from 1 to 1035 days. DSF-related mortality rate recorded 18.7%. Conclusions: DSF is a rare but potentially lethal complication after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Early DSF diagnosis is crucial in reducing DSF-related morbidity and mortality. Conservative and/or endoscopic/percutaneous treatments is/are the first choice. However, if the patient clinical condition worsens, surgery becomes mandatory and duodenostomy appears to be the most effective surgical procedure

Tribology of HVOF- and HVAF-sprayed WC-10Co4Cr hardmetal coatings: A comparative assessment

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the sliding and abrasive wear behaviour of WC-10Co4Cr hardmetal coatings, representative of the existing state-of-the-art. A commercial feedstock powder with two different particle size distributions was sprayed onto carbon steel substrates using two HVOF and two HVAF spray processes. Mild wear rates of <10-7mm3/(Nm) and friction coefficients of 480.5 were obtained for all samples in ball-on-disk sliding wear tests at room temperature against Al2O3 counterparts. WC-10Co4Cr coatings definitely outperform a reference electrolytic hard chromium coating under these test conditions. Their wear mechanisms include extrusion and removal of the binder matrix, with the formation of a wavy surface morphology, and brittle cracking. The balance of such phenomena is closely related to intra-lamellar features, and rather independent of those properties (e.g. indentation fracture toughness, elastic modulus) which mainly reflect large-scale inter-lamellar cohesion, as quantitatively confirmed by a principal component analysis. Intra-lamellar dissolution of WC into the matrix indeed increases the incidence of brittle cracking, resulting in slightly higher wear rates. At 400\ub0C, some of the hardmetal coatings fail because of the superposition between tensile residual stresses and thermal expansion mismatch stresses (due to the difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of the steel substrate and of the hardmetal coating). Those which do not fail, on account of lower residual stresses, exhibit higher wear rates than at room temperature, due to oxidation of the WC grains.The resistance of the coatings against abrasive wear, assessed by dry sand-rubber wheel testing, is related to inter-lamellar cohesion, as proven by a principal component analysis of the collected dataset. Therefore, coatings deposited from coarse feedstock powders suffer higher wear loss than those obtained from fine powders, as brittle inter-lamellar detachment is caused by their weaker interparticle cohesion, witnessed by their systematically lower fracture toughness as well

Driven to excess? Linking calling, character and the (mis)behaviour of marketers

We are presently at a point of unique circumstantial convergence where recession, an increased emphasis on business ethics, and marketer’s reluctance to accept shifting social agendas have combined to identify the need for a new approach to marketing. Using concepts from the human resources, marketing and psychology literatures, and especially Erich Fromm’s ideas concerning economic character, this paper posits that marketers – as a professional community – are driven to promote consumerist outcomes; victims of an automaton amalgam of calling and character. The analysis suggests the vulnerability of both marketer and consumer are mutually reinforcing and that we need, somehow, to break this damaging cycle of dependence. We know little, however, about how marketers think and feel about their discipline, so this paper also promotes an agenda for marketer behaviour research, as a countervailing balance to a currently disproportionate focus on the consumer