What contributes to locavorism as a consumer ideology?

Purpose – In this study the authors aim to explore the factors that contribute to the formation of locavorism as a form of consumer ideology. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the authors adopt an inductive approach by preselecting locavore consumers and conducting 43 semi-structured interviews, following the prescriptions of narrative- enquiry research. Findings – The authors reveal that individual-level (i.e. values, beliefs and experiences) and social-level (i.e. groups, local communities and society) influences and exogenous factors can affect the formation of locavorism. Furthermore, the authors’ findings corroborate the concept advanced by prior studies that reinforcing loops exist among the three belief dimensions of locavorism. Practical implications – Food producers can use these findings to shape their marketing strategies more effectively to target locavore consumers and/or stimulate the consumption of local food. Social implications – Identifying the influences of social- and individual-level factors on the formation of locavorism can contribute to the understanding of demand shifts towards local food consumption. Additionally, by revealing the modes of thought that formulate the ideologies of locavore consumers, the authors offer guidance in the development of policies that can safeguard local economies and traditions and reduce transport pollution and food waste in favour of sustainable local consumption. Originality/value – In the present article the authors explore the psychological and contextual mechanisms that contribute to the formation of locavorism

Why genes overlap in viruses

The genomes of most virus species have overlapping genes\u2014two or more proteins coded for by the same nucleotide sequence. Several explanations have been proposed for the evolution of this phenomenon, and we test these by comparing the amount of gene overlap in all known virus species. We conclude that gene overlap is unlikely to have evolved as a way of compressing the genome in response to the harmful effect of mutation because RNA viruses, despite having generally higher mutation rates, have less gene overlap on average than DNA viruses of comparable genome length. However, we do find a negative relationship between overlap proportion and genome length among viruses with icosahedral capsids, but not among those with other capsid types that we consider easier to enlarge in size. Our interpretation is that a physical constraint on genome length by the capsid has led to gene overlap evolving as a mechanism for producing more proteins from the same genome length. We consider that these patterns cannot be explained by other factors, namely the possible roles of overlap in transcription regulation, generating more divergent proteins and the relationship between gene length and genome length

Waiting as probation: selecting self-disciplining asylum seekers

This article diagnoses and critiques a type of governmentality associated with waiting during protracted asylum appeal procedures by drawing upon data from a multi-methodological study of asylum adjudication in Europe. Focusing on Austria, Germany and Italy, we explore the use of integration-related considerations in asylum appeal processes by looking at the ways in which these considerations permeate judges’ decision-making, particularly, but not exclusively, on the granting of national, non-EU harmonised protection statuses. Building on insights from the literature on conditional integration we question the implicit socio-political biases and moral assumptions that underpin this permeation. We show that the use of integration-related considerations in asylum appeals transforms migrant waiting into a period of probation during which rejected asylum seekers’ conducts are governed and tested in relation to the use of time. More than simply waiting patiently, rejected asylum seekers are expected to wait productively, whereby productivity is assessed through the neoliberal imperatives of entrepreneurship, autonomy and self-improvement. We thus contribute to scholarship on migrant waiting by showing how time is capitalised by state authorities even when–and actually because–it offers opportunities for migrants

The Implementation of the Hotspot Approach in Italy. CONDISOBS Policy Paper No. 2

This policy paper is based on the findings of the H2020 project CONDISOBS, which was conducted by Lorenzo Vianelli at the University of Luxembourg, thanks to funding received from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 838722. CONDISOBS explored the governance of the mobility of asylum seekers in the European Union through a multi-sited qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with state officials, representatives of international organisations and non-governmental organisations, lawyers, members of advocacy groups, social workers and activists. Interview material was integrated by an extensive review of academic literature, policy documents and institutional and non-governmental reports. Data was collected between October 2020 and June 2021. This policy paper is part of a series on the hotspot approach, which also includes a policy paper on the features of this mechanism in a broad sense and one on its implementation in Greece. All policy papers, as well as other research outputs, are freely accessible on the project website

The Implementation of the Hotspot Approach in Italy. CONDISOBS Policy Paper No. 2

This policy paper is based on the findings of the H2020 project CONDISOBS, which was conducted by Lorenzo Vianelli at the University of Luxembourg, thanks to funding received from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 838722. CONDISOBS explored the governance of the mobility of asylum seekers in the European Union through a multi-sited qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with state officials, representatives of international organisations and non-governmental organisations, lawyers, members of advocacy groups, social workers and activists. Interview material was integrated by an extensive review of academic literature, policy documents and institutional and non-governmental reports. Data was collected between October 2020 and June 2021. This policy paper is part of a series on the hotspot approach, which also includes a policy paper on the features of this mechanism in a broad sense and one on its implementation in Greece. All policy papers, as well as other research outputs, are freely accessible on the project website

The Hotspot Approach. CONDISOBS Policy Paper No. 1

This policy paper is based on the findings of the H2020 project CONDISOBS, which was conducted by Lorenzo Vianelli at the University of Luxembourg, thanks to funding received from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 838722. CONDISOBS explored the governance of the mobility of asylum seekers in the European Union through a multi-sited qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with state officials, representatives of international organisations and non-governmental organisations, lawyers, members of advocacy groups, social workers and activists. Interview material was integrated by an extensive review of academic literature, policy documents and institutional and non-governmental reports. Data was collected between October 2020 and June 2021. This policy paper is part of a series on the hotspot approach, which also includes a policy paper on the implementation of the approach in Greece and another one on its implementation in Italy. All policy papers, as well as other research outputs, are freely accessible on the project website

Observation of different charge transport regimes and large magnetoresistance in graphene oxide layers

We report a systematic study on charge transport properties of thermally reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layers, from room temperature to 2 K and in presence of magnetic fields up to 7 T. The most conductive rGO sheets follow different transport regimes: at room temperature they show an Arrhenius-like behavior. At lower temperature they exhibits a thermally activated behavior with resistance R following a R = R0exp(T0/T)p law with p = 1/3, consistently with 2D Mott Variable Range Hopping (VRH) transport mechanism. Below a given temperature Tc, we observe a crossover from VHR to another regime, probably due to a shortening of the characteristic lengths of the disordered 2D system. The temperature Tc depends on the reduction grade of the rGO. Magnetoresistance DR/R of our rGO films shows as well a crossover between positive and negative and below liquid He temperature DR/R reaches values larger than 60%, surprisingly high for a \u2013 nominally \u2013 non magnetic material

Competenze per ripensare l\u2019alleanza Scuola \u2013 Universit\ue0. Cosa si aspetta l\u2019Universit\ue0 ai fini del successo formativo.

L\u2019obiettivo dell'intervento \ue8 quello di evidenziare quali possono essere i punti di forza dei Licei Economico Sociali nell\u2019ottica dell\u2019orientamento verso gli studi universitari, con la prospettiva di un successivo inserimento nel mercato del lavoro.Proprio analizzando questo aspetto, apriamo una breve parentesi sulle attivit\ue0 svolte dall\u2019Ufficio Placement di Ateneo, che consentir\ue0 di portare alcuni spunti di riflessione sugli sbocchi del Liceo Economico Sociale