"Institutional Prerequisites of Financial Fragility within Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis: A Proposal in Terms of 'Institutional Fragility'"

The relevancy of Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis (FIH) in the current (and still unfolding) crisis has been clearly acknowledged by both economists and regulators. While most papers focus on discussing to what extent the FIH or Minsky's Big Bank/Big Government interpretation is appropriate to explain and sort out the crisis, some authors have also emphasized the need to consider the institutional foundations of Minsky's work (Whalen 2007, Wray 2008, Dimsky 2010). The importance of institutions within the FIH was strongly emphasized by Minsky himself, who assigned them the function of constraining the development of financial fragility. Yet only limited literature has focused on the institutional aspects on Minsky's FIH. The reason for this may be that they were mainly dealt with by Minsky in his latest papers, and they have remained, to some extent, incomplete, unclear, and even ambiguous. In our view, a synthesis of Minsky's proposals, along with a clarification and theoretical justification, remains to be done. Our objective in this paper is to contribute to this theoretical project. It leads us to propose that the notion of "institutional fragility" can constitute a useful perspective to complement and justify the endogenous development of financial fragility within the FIH. Eventually, this view may contribute to the debate about international financial governance.Financial Crisis; Financial Fragility; Institutional Fragility; International Financial Governance

Le vécu de la grossesse chez les femmes ayant une histoire de troubles du comportement alimentaire

Aim: Women suffering from an actual eating disorder (ED) or women with a past history of ED can more and more easily access to motherhood. Due to the increasing rate of ED in our occidental countries and the possibility to access to assisted reproductive technologies: perinatality practitioners, thus in first place midwives, will have to deal with pregnant women with ED. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of an actual or past ED on the experience of motherhood, and to determine if the pregnancy can be responsible of a resurgence of a past ED. We studied the experience of physical and eating changes during pregnancy and the need for support of women with a, actual or past, history of ED. We compared them to a group of women without any history of ED. Methods: The SCOFF-F was employed to identify women who were likely to have an actual or past ED. When it was positive, women were interviewed. The semi-structured interview helped us to determine the presence of an actual or past ED and to explore their experience of motherhood. After the interview, two groups were created: the ED group (n=9) and the control group (n=20). We used the method of thematic analysis to study the interview.Results and Discussion: The qualitative analysis of the speeches showed us a continuity between the ED group and the control group. Yet, women with ED are more emotionally unsettled by changes induced by pregnancy and require more psychological support. Women with past ED seem to employ similar defense mechanisms that they used during puberty. However, our results are not enoughly consistent to affirm a recrudescence of an eating pathology. Further studies are necessary on this topic. Conclusion: Women with ED have a bad experience of pregnancy changes and require support from health practitioners. Midwives have an important role in the detection of actual and past ED and in the organization to help these women.Objectif : Les femmes ayant un TCA actuel ou un vécu passé de TCA peuvent de plus en plus facilement accéder à la maternité. Etant donné l’augmentation de l’incidence des TCA et la facilité du recours aux techniques de procréation médicalement assistée, il s’agit d’une problématique à laquelle les professionnels de la périnatalité, avec les sages-femmes en première ligne, seront confrontés. Le but de cette étude était d’évaluer l’impact d’un TCA actuel ou passé sur le vécu de la grossesse, et de savoir si la grossesse pouvait favoriser une recrudescence du trouble chez des femmes ayant présenté des troubles par le passé. Nous nous sommes particulièrement intéressés au vécu des changements corporels et alimentaires, ainsi qu’au besoin de soutien des femmes TCA en les comparant à un groupe de témoins.Matériel et méthodes : Le SCOFF-F a été employé pour recruter des femmes enceintes susceptibles d’avoir un TCA actuel ou passé. Lorsqu’il était positif, les femmes étaient vues en entretien. L’entretien, semi-directif, permettait de confirmer ou non l’existence d’un TCA et d’explorer le vécu de la grossesse. À l’issue de l’entretien, deux groupes ont été constitués : groupe TCA (n=9) et groupe témoin (n=20). Une analyse thématique du contenu des entretiens a été réalisée.Résultats et Discussion: Il existe une continuité entre le discours des femmes TCA et celui des femmes témoins. Cependant, les femmes TCA sont plus déstabilisées par les changements de la grossesse, qu’elles vivent avec plus de difficultés, et sont davantage demandeuses de soutien psychologique. Pour les femmes ayant un TCA passé, des mécanismes défensifs similaires à ceux développés à l’adolescence semblent se remettre en place. Toutefois, les résultats ne sont pas suffisants pour affirmer avec certitude la reviviscence du trouble. Des études supplémentaires sont nécessaires sur ce sujet.Conclusion : Les femmes TCA vivent avec difficulté les remaniements de la grossesse et demandent plus de soutien auprès des professionnels de santé. Les sages-femmes ont un rôle indéniable dans le dépistage de TCA actuels ou passés et dans la mise en place d’une aide pour ces femmes

The Graham Bank: hydrographic features and safety of navigation

To ensure safety of navigation, the monitoring of high-risk seabed areas is one of the primary tasks of the hydrographic activity. Monitoring of these areas also provides insights into environmental and scientific applications. The Graham Bank (Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea) has been monitored by the Italian Hydrographic Institute (IIM) for over a century. This article describes the IIM monitoring of the Graham Bank by conducting surveys using techniques and technologies available at each time and integrating all of the data into a modern bathymetric database. Based on the outcomes of this case study, the IIM proposes ways to minimize the risk to vessels passing close to the Graham Bank.Para garantizar la seguridad de la navegación, la supervisión de las zonas de los fondos marinos de alto riesgo es una de las tareas principales de la actividad hidrográfica. La supervisión de estas áreas también proporciona percepciones relativas a las aplicaciones ambientales y científicas. El Banco Graham (Estrecho de Sicilia en el mar Mediterráneo) ha sido supervisado por el Instituto Hidrográfico Italiano (IIM) durante más de un siglo. Este artículo describe la supervisión por parte del IIM del Banco Graham mediante la realización de levantamientos, utilizando las técnicas y tecnologías dispnibles en cada momento e integrando todos los datos en una base de datos batimétricos moderna. Basándose en los resultados de este estudio de caso, el IIM propone modos de minimizar el riesgo para los buques que pasan cerca del Banco Graham.Afin d'assurer la sécurité de la navigation, la surveillance des zones de fonds marins à haut risque est l'une des tâches principales de l'activité hydrographique. Surveiller ces zones permet également d'avoir un aperçu des enjeux environnementaux et scientifiques. Le Banc de Graham (Canal de Sicile, Mer Méditerranée) est surveillé par le Service hydrographique italien (IIM) depuis plus d'un siècle. Cet article décrit la surveillance du Banc de Graham par l'IIM qui s'appuie sur des levés effectués à l'aide des différentes techniques et technologies disponibles à chaque époque et sur l'intégration de toutes les données dans une base de données bathymétriques moderne. Sur la base des résultats de cette étude de cas, l'IIM propose des solutions afin de minimiser les risques pour des navires qui croisent à proximité du Banc de Graham

A morphometric model of the Aeolian Islands (Italy)

A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the Aeolian Islands (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) is presented, with a 5 m horizontal resolution, derived from photograms at a relative medium scale of 1:35000, collected during an aerophotogrammetric flight in 1994-5. The seada tacome from ah ydrographic survey (1996-1997) of the seabed topography, carried out in accordance with present international standards. The sounding density of the bathymetric survey varies: it is more accurate near the coasts and in areas of structural interest. Previous bathymetric surveys, when available, were limited to small areas. The present DEM is enclosed in arecta ngle with limits of longitude 14◦16�'32"-15◦22'51"E and latitude 38◦20'55"-38◦53'50"N. The DEM of the islands and of the seabed, merged together, is presented here for the first time. The shadowed raster images of the DEM clearly outline the structural and volcanological features of the archipelago

Tidal inlet seafloor changes induced by recently built hard structures

Tidal inlets are extremely dynamic environments that are often strongly modified by anthropogenic intervention. In this study, we describe the rapid evolution of a highly humanimpacted tidal inlet, studied through repeated high-resolution multibeam surveys and geomorphometric analysis. We document the rapid change induced by new hard coastal structures built to protect the historical city of Venice (Italy). A new breakwater erected between 2011 and 2013 induced the formation of large scour holes with the consequent erosion of about 170 x 103 ± 15.6% m3 of sediment until 2016. The construction of a new island in the middle of the inlet and the restriction of the inlet channel caused a general change of the inlet sedimentary regime from depositional to erosive with a net sediment loss of about 612 x 103 ± 42.7% m3, a reduction of the dune field area by more than 50% in about five years, and a coarsening in the sediment distribution. Our results give new insight on the tidal inlet resilience to changes, distinguishing two different phases in its recent evolution: (i) a very rapid response (from 2011 to 2013) of the seafloor morphology with scour-hole erosion at the new breakwater tips at a rate of about 45x103 m3/year and the disappearing of dune fields at a rate of 104x103 m2/year; and (ii) a general slowdown of the erosive processes from 2013 to 2016. Nevertheless, the erosion continues at the breakwater, though at a reduced rate, possibly representing a threat to the hard structure. In view of global mean sea level rise and consequent proliferation of hard structures along the coast all over the world, the combined use of very high resolution multibeam surveys and repeatable geomorphometric analysis proposed in this study will be crucial for the monitoring and future management of coastal environments

Sailing for Science: on board experiences for transferring knowledge on Historical Oceanography for Future Innovation

Smart, sustainable and inclusive Blue Growth means also knowing past technology and the paths followed by ancients in order to understand and monitor marine environments. In general, history of Science is a matter that is not enough explored and explained or promoted in high schools or university official programmes, and, usually, scientist do not consider it as an important part of their curricula. However, bad or good ideas, abandoned or forgotten beliefs, concepts, opinions, do still have a great potential for inspiring present and future scientists, no matter in which historical period they may have been formulated: they should be always be taken into consideration, critically examined and observed by a very close point of view, not just as part of the intellectual framework of some obsolete ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ with limited access except for the chosen few. Moreover, history of Science should be transmitted in a more practical way, with hands-on labs showing the limits and challenges that prior generations of ocean explorers, investigators and seafarers had to face in order to answer to crucial questions as self-orientation in open sea, understanding main currents and waves, predicting meteorological conditions for a safe navigation. Oceanography is a relatively young branch of science, and still needs further approvals and knowledge (National Science Foundation, 2000). The Scientific Dissemination Group (SDG) “La Spezia Gulf of Science” – made up by Research Centres, Schools and Cultural associations located in La Spezia (Liguria, Italy) - has a decadal experience in initiatives aimed at people and groups of people of all ages, who are keen on science or who can be guided in any case to take an interest in scientific matters (Locritani et al., 2015). Amongst the SDG activities, the tight relationship with the Historical Oceanography Society, the Italian Navy and the Naval Technical Museum (that collects a rich heritage of civilization, technology and culture witnesses, related to the naval history of seamanship from the origins up to nowadays), allowed the creation of a special educational format based on Historical Oceanography, for university and high school students as an integration for their curriculum. The Historical Oceanography Society has provided the major knowledges included in the ancient volumes of its archive, thanks to the availability of its members that also held theoretical and practical lessons during the course. The present paper will describe the one-week special course (about 60 hours of theory and practice with technical visits to Research centres and Museums) that has been planned to be carried out on board of the Italian Training Navy Ship (A. Vespucci) and has been organized in order to give the hints about on board life, as well as theoretical lessons on modern and historical oceanography, hands-on labs on oceanographic instruments from public and private collections, physiology of diving techniques and astronomy. The general aim of this course has been, hence, to give to excellent students all those technological but also creative and imaginative features of our past.PublishedVienna1TM. Formazion