Il lavoro a termine verso la liberalizzazione?

L’emanazione del decreto legge 20 marzo 2014, n. 34, convertito, con modificazioni, dalla legge 16 maggio 2014, n. 78 ci costringe a ritornare sull’argomento a breve distanza di tempo dal commento alle modifiche normative in materia di contratto a tempo determinato apportate nel 2013 dal governo Letta, che, a sua volta, seguivano a breve distanza quelle di cui alla riforma Fornero del 2012. Sia consentito, a tal proposito, osservare come il continuo rimaneggiamento di un istituto contrattuale è già di per sé un elemento negativo. A prescindere, cioè, dal merito dei recenti interventi succedutisi in materia dobbiamo ancora una volta evidenziare come siffatto modo di legiferare, per successive stratificazioni, e di regolare una fattispecie contrattuale così importante quale quella qui in esame con frequenti adattamenti che risentono dei diversi “umori” delle varie fasi storico-politiche nei quali sono adottati e rispondono ad obiettivi economico-sociali e di politica del diritto spesso tra loro contrastanti, non contribuisce di certo alla creazione di un sistema normativo chiaro, unitario e coerente, di cui da tempo, ormai, si sente il bisogno

In attesa della nuova riforma: una rilettura del lavoro a termine

Ad un primo esame, la norma della legge n. 92/2012 che si occupa del contratto a termine, frutto di diverse modifiche “in corsa”, seppure aiuta a sciogliere alcuni nodi della disciplina in materia, dovuti anche allo scombinato sovrapporsi degli interventi legislativi del 2001, del 2003, del 2007 e del 2010, appare ulteriormente foriera di difficoltà interpretative. Si renderà, quindi, ancora una volta necessario il consueto costruttivo impegno della dottrina giuslavoristica, storicamente fornito per la ricomposizione di un quadro normativo di complessa esegesi, avendo come obiettivo quello di coniugare diritti e tutele dei lavoratori ed esigenze delle imprese, legate alle profonde modificazioni in atto delle modalità della produzione e dell’organizzazione del lavoro. A prescindere da ogni giudizio sull'opportunità di un nuovo intervento legislativo, posto che, come ricordato, secondo molti osservatori la riforma del 2001 aveva già correttamente disciplinato la materia ai sensi della direttiva comunitaria, e tralasciando il fatto che il legislatore continua «nella tragica scelta di aggiungere norme a norme, contribuendo non poco alla creazione di una selva infernale spesso incomprensibile e destinata ad aumentare ancora il contenzioso» ( ) e ancora lasciando da parte il dibattito (i.e. le polemiche) in ordine alla (mancata) “concertazione” e persino “dialogo sociale” in proposito ( ), occorre, anzitutto, osservare come il legislatore, con operazione non facilmente spiegabile, abbia coniato una nuova formulazione del comma 01 dell’art. 1 del decreto legislativo del 2001, che oggi, appunto, in sostituzione della precedente («il contratto di lavoro subordinato è stipulato di regola a tempo indeterminato»), così recita: «il contratto di lavoro subordinato a tempo indeterminato costituisce la forma comune di rapporto di lavoro». Ci si deve, dunque, anzitutto, interrogare sul significato e sull’effettiva portata della predetta nuova formulazione

“Pacchetto lavoro” e assenza di contenuti previdenziali

Con il recente “Pacchetto Lavoro” varato con d.l. 28 giugno 2013, n. 76, conv. con modif. dalla l. 9 agosto 2013, n. 99 il legislatore interviene ancora sul mercato del lavoro, secondo una prospettiva di affannosa ri-cerca di quella ideale configurazione dello stesso in grado di accompagnare, in modo più efficace, la ripresa economica e la crescita dell’occupazione. Detto della consueta difficoltà di lettura del testo legislativo nel suo complesso considerato, testo, peraltro, ancora una volta infarcito di continui rinvii ad altri testi normati-vi già per loro conto strutturalmente complessi, nel presente scritto si tenta un primo rapido esame di quel-le disposizioni che più direttamente interessano l’ambito previdenziale. Il reticolato normativo costituito dal d.l. n. 76 del 2013, come convertito dalla l. n. 99 del 2013, oltre ad avere come suo “entroterra” legislativo necessitato la difficile situazione economico-sociale che attraversa il nostro Paese, contempla anche, per l’individuazione della ratio a esso sottesa, il complessivo quadro di riferimento del mercato del lavoro, nella sua configurazione attuale come delineato dagli ultimi interventi legislativi sulla materia. Per queste ragioni, dunque, il contributo muove dalla complessa odierna fase congiunturale e dalle ragioni dell’intervento legi-slativo qui in esame, per poi giungere, dopo alcune brevi considerazioni generali sulle misure adottate dal Governo, nel loro complesso considerate, alla individuazione dei caratteri “previdenziali” delle misure stes-se (e, soprattutto, di quello che, sotto tale profilo, è ancora una volta assente)

Nature-derived compounds modulating Wnt/β-catenin pathway: a preventive and therapeutic opportunity in neoplastic diseases

Abstract The Wnt/β-catenin signaling is a conserved pathway that has a crucial role in embryonic and adult life. Dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been associated with diseases including cancer, and components of the signaling have been proposed as innovative therapeutic targets, mainly for cancer therapy. The attention of the worldwide researchers paid to this issue is increasing, also in view of the therapeutic potential of these agents in diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), for which no cure is existing today. Much evidence indicates that abnormal Wnt/β-catenin signaling is involved in tumor immunology and the targeting of Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been also proposed as an attractive strategy to potentiate cancer immunotherapy. During the last decade, several products, including naturally occurring dietary agents as well as a wide variety of products from plant sources, including curcunim, quercetin, berberin, and ginsenosides, have been identified as potent modulators of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling and have gained interest as promising candidates for the development of chemopreventive or therapeutic drugs for cancer. In this review we make an overview of the nature-derived compounds reported to have antitumor activity by modulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling, also focusing on extraction methods, chemical features, and bio-activity assays used for the screening of these compounds

Combined specular and off-specular reflectometry: elucidating the complex structure of soft buried interfaces

Neutron specular reflectometry (SR) and off-specular scattering (OSS) are non\uaddestructive techniques which, through deuteration, give a high contrast even among chemically identical species and are therefore highly suitable for investigations of soft-matter thin films. Through a combination of these two techniques, the former yielding a density profile in the direction normal to the sample surface and the latter yielding a depth-resolved in-plane lateral structure, one can obtain quite detailed information on buried morphology on length scales ranging from the order of \ue5ngstr\uf6ms to ∼10 \ub5m. This is illustrated via quantitative evaluation of data on SR and OSS collected in time-of-flight (ToF) measurements of a set of films composed of immiscible polymer layers, protonated poly(methyl methacrylate) and deuterated polystyrene, undergoing a decomposition process upon annealing. Joint SR and OSS data analysis was performed by the use of a quick and robust originally developed algorithm including a common absolute-scale normalization of both types of scattering, which are intricately linked, constraining the model to a high degree. This, particularly, makes it possible to distinguish readily between different dewetting scenarios driven either by the nucleation and growth of defects (holes, protrusions etc.) or by thermal fluctuations in the buried interface between layers. Finally, the 2D OSS maps of particular cases are presented in different spaces and qualitative differences are explained, allowing also the qualitative differentiation of the in-plane structure of long-range order, the correlated roughness and bulk defects by a simple inspection of the scattering maps prior to quantitative fit

A symmetric polymer blend confined into a film with antisymmetric surfaces: interplay between wetting behavior and phase diagram

We study the phase behavior of a symmetric binary polymer blend which is confined into a thin film. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short range potentials. We calculate the phase behavior within the self-consistent field theory of Gaussian chains. Over a wide range of parameters we find strong first order wetting transitions for the semi-infinite system, and the interplay between the wetting/prewetting behavior and the phase diagram in confined geometry is investigated. Antisymmetric boundaries, where one surface attracts the A component with the same strength than the opposite surface attracts the B component, are applied. The phase transition does not occur close to the bulk critical temperature but in the vicinity of the wetting transition. For very thin films or weak surface fields one finds a single critical point at $\phi_c=1/2$. For thicker films or stronger surface fields the phase diagram exhibits two critical points and two concomitant coexistence regions. Only below a triple point there is a single two phase coexistence region. When we increase the film thickness the two coexistence regions become the prewetting lines of the semi-infinite system, while the triple temperature converges towards the wetting transition temperature from above. The behavior close to the tricritical point, which separates phase diagrams with one and two critical points, is studied in the framework of a Ginzburg-Landau ansatz. Two-dimensional profiles of the interface between the laterally coexisting phases are calculated, and the interfacial and line tensions analyzed. The effect of fluctuations and corrections to the self-consistent field theory are discussed.Comment: Phys.Rev.E in prin

TM6SF2 rs58542926 is not associated with steatosis and fibrosis in largecohort of patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C

Background & Aims: We tested the putative association of the rs58542926 variant of TM6SF2, a recently described genetic determinant of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, with steatosis and fibrosis in genotype 1(G1) chronic hepatitis C(CHC) patients. Methods: A total of 694 consecutively biopsied Caucasian G1 CHC patients were genotyped for TM6SF2 rs58542926, IL28B rs12979860 and PNPLA3 rs738409. Steatosis was classified as absent (<5%), mild-moderate(5-29%) and severe( 6530%), Fibrosis was considered severe if=F3-F4. Results: Carriers of TM6SF2 rs58542926 (6.3% of patients) exhibited lower serum levels of cholesterol (P=0.04) and triglycerides (P=0.01), but a similar distribution of steatosis severity (P=0.63), compared to noncarriers. Prevalence and severity of steatosis were reduced in IL28B C allele carriers (P=0.005) and elevated in PNPLA3G allele carriers (P<0.001). After adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and homoeostasis model assessment score, steatosis severity was independently associated with IL28B rs12979860 (odds ratio [OR] 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-0.86, P=0.001) and PNPLA3 rs738409 (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.46-2.83, P<0.001), but not TM6SF2 rs58542926 (OR 1.48, 95% CI 0.82-2.69, P=0.19). Variants of TM6SF2 (30.9% vs. 25%, P=0.40), IL28B and PNPLA3 were not directly associated with fibrosis severity, although variants of IL28B and PNPLA3 promoted steatosis (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.06-1.75, P=0.01) that in turn is associated with severe fibrosis. Conclusions: In G1 CHC patients, TM6SF2 rs58542926 does not affect the histological severity of liver damage. However, IL28B rs12979860 and PNPLA3 rs738409 modify steatosis

Interface localisation-delocalisation transition in a symmetric polymer blend: a finite-size scaling Monte Carlo study

Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations we study the phase diagram of a symmetric binary (AB) polymer blend confined into a thin film as a function of the film thickness D. The monomer-wall interactions are short ranged and antisymmetric, i.e, the left wall attracts the A-component of the mixture with the same strength as the right wall the B-component, and give rise to a first order wetting transition in a semi-infinite geometry. The phase diagram and the crossover between different critical behaviors is explored. For large film thicknesses we find a first order interface localisation/delocalisation transition and the phase diagram comprises two critical points, which are the finite film width analogies of the prewetting critical point. Using finite size scaling techniques we locate these critical points and present evidence of 2D Ising critical behavior. When we reduce the film width the two critical points approach the symmetry axis $\phi=1/2$ of the phase diagram and for $D \approx 2 R_g$ we encounter a tricritical point. For even smaller film thickness the interface localisation/delocalisation transition is second order and we find a single critical point at $\phi=1/2$. Measuring the probability distribution of the interface position we determine the effective interaction between the wall and the interface. This effective interface potential depends on the lateral system size even away from the critical points. Its system size dependence stems from the large but finite correlation length of capillary waves. This finding gives direct evidence for a renormalization of the interface potential by capillary waves in the framework of a microscopic model.Comment: Phys.Rev.