A comparative analysis of different business ethics in the perspective of the Common Good

The paper concerns the connection between different tipologies of business ethics (kantian, utilitarian, aristotelic) and the alternative vision of economic development, company’s organizational and managerial context together with interest in Common Good more or less associated to profit to which they have given rise. In this comparison virtue ethics stands out for its capacity of creating, specially through the business virtue of generosity, social capital so precious to economic development at every level, for its capability of increasing people’s well-being, and for its capacity to make the production of relational goods (among which Common Good), on which people’s happiness depends, easier. Gift’s paradigm recovery can also be helpful to prevent other financial and economic crisis like the actual one which has had, like less striking but deepest cause, the triumph of avarice’s vice on the virtues of giving (generosity and justice).Business Ethics, Gift’s Economy, Generosity, Charity, Mercy, Social Capital, Relational Goods, Common Good

Mediterranean Models of Welfare Towards Families and Women

After an historical Excursus on Malta's history, society, culture and institutions with their effects on female condition and on family structure and concept, the paper gives a survey of most recent Malta's economic and demographic trends with special attention to families and women, based on statistical data of the National Institute of Statistics and on the results of a sample research. After drawing this scenario, the paper makes a short History of Malta's Welfare State specially concerning family and women. In this treatment a deeper investigation is devoted to the latest "Action Plan", the national social plan in its general lines of intervention towards family and women. The strategic lines (public, private, non profit) of welfare mix are examined in relation to their amounts, results and to the coherence with the moving social context. Finally the paper develops a comparison between different european models of welfare towards family, more specifically between Malta and Italy.

Mediterranean models of Welfare towards families and women

After tracing a Malta’s short historical excursus with its effects on female condition, family’s structure and concept, organizational model of non profit sector, the paper gives a survey of the most recent economic and demographic trends with special attention to families’ well-being and women’s working and social conditions, based not only on statistical data of Malta’s National Institute of Statistics and of Eurostat, but also on the results of some empirical studies based on some surveys carried out into the archipelago. The main islands’ social problems are outlined with the indication of the principal sources of aid to face peoples’ different needs (first of all family, followed by the State, while the Third Sector, with its strong component of foundations, heritage of English culture, is not pre-eminent yet). The paper also shows that the same citizens’ expectations of satisfaction of social needs are still mainly placed in the State, according to the collective image. After drawing this scenario, the paper makes a short history of Malta’s Welfare State specially considering legislation concerning families and women. In addition to the description of the legislative measures, a deeper investigation is also devoted to other programs realized at european and national level: Equal Program (2004-2006) and Malta’s latest “Action Plan”, alias the National Social Plan in its general lines of policy towards families and women. Besides the illustration of the services provided to families by the Ministry of Family and Social Solidarity in the context of the National Action Plan, three other articulations of the Plan are briefly examined: Gender Equity National Action Plan (2003-2004), National Action Plan on Poverty and Social Exclusion (2004-2006), National Action Plan for Employment (2004). The correlative institutional framework is also reviewed: the National Family Commission established in 2001 and the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality for Men and Women considered by the “Equality for Men and Women Act” of 2003. Finally the paper classifies Malta’s Welfare State among the Mediterranean models of social assistance for its specific characteristics though, differently from the evolutive tendencies of these last ones, the passage from Welfare State to Welfare Mix is still problematic and slow in Malta. In spite of the increasing forms of collaboration between public and non profit organizations, Malta’s Third Sector has still a too weak role, in comparison with family and State, in supporting people’s life on both factual and symbolic dimension. In this missing transition, specially as regards elderly care, Malta can not see yet the growth, inside Welfare Mix, of the more informal components formed by immigrated women to detriment of the services offered by private or non profit organizations (“care drain” phenomenon), which is very strongly in course in other Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Greece).Family and Social Policy, Social Segregation, Poverty

Politiche orientate al bene comune e politiche attive del lavoro

La gravità della crisi economica che ha duramente colpito anche il nostro paese con pesanti ricadute sul versante della perdita di posti di lavoro (-380.000 occupati ed un tasso di disoccupazione che nel 2010 è salito all’8,8%) impone di ripensare le politiche del lavoro italiane, sia quelle passive che attive, per un recupero della loro incisività. Un mercato del lavoro che realizzi, tramite un mix appropriato di politiche passive ed attive, un’allocazione efficiente ed equa delle forze di lavoro può essere legittimamente considerato come una componente centrale del “bene comune” proponibile per un certo territorio ad un certo tempo, se il “bene comune” viene inteso come il complesso delle condizioni che consentono il perfezionamento dei singoli e della collettività. A questo scopo il paper si propone in primis di delineare quali sono in generale i requisiti in base ai quali un politica può essere considerata al servizio del «bene comune», tentando quindi di verificare se l’attuale configurazione giuridico-economica delle politiche attive italiane del lavoro (e, più in particolare, di quelle umbre) sia rispondente o meno a suddetti requisiti. Il vantaggio di questa analisi può essere duplice. Infatti, sia i problemi strutturali del mercato del lavoro italiano (ed umbro) sia le criticità che emergono dalla valutazione delle politiche attive del lavoro richiedono interventi correttivi che appaiono in linea proprio con i presupposti attribuibili ad un approccio orientato al bene comune. Inoltre, assumere coscientemente la prospettiva del bene comune con riferimento al mercato del lavoro (che dovrebbe diventare, per tale motivo, a maggior ragione più efficiente ed equo) può essere altrettanto importante in quanto favorisce l’acquisizione della consapevolezza del comune beneficio che ne deriva ai cittadini, nonché dello spessore etico richiesto in corrispondenza.Bene comune, Politiche attive del lavoro

Mediterranean Models of Welfare Towards Families and Women

After an historical Excursus on Malta's history, society, culture and institutions with their effects on female condition and on family structure and concept, the paper gives a survey of most recent Malta's economic and demographic trends with special attention to families and women, based on statistical data of the National Institute of Statistics and on the results of a sample research. After drawing this scenario, the paper makes a short History of Malta's Welfare State specially concerning family and women. In this treatment a deeper investigation is devoted to the latest "Action Plan", the national social plan in its general lines of intervention towards family and women. The strategic lines (public, private, non profit) of welfare mix are examined in relation to their amounts, results and to the coherence with the moving social context. Finally the paper develops a comparison between different european models of welfare towards family, more specifically between Malta and Italy

L’interpretazione dello spirito del dono

Il paper è una sintesi di una ricerca empirica interdisciplinare, finanziata nel 2007 dall’Assessorato alle Politiche Sociali della Regione dell’Umbria, che ha avuto come primo obiettivo quello di verificare quale è la interpretazione del dono attualmente prevalente tra un gruppo di giovani studenti e neolaureati in discipline economiche della regione Umbria. Il secondo obiettivo della ricerca è stato quello di analizzare, attraverso il contributo della Psicologia, i tratti di personalità degli intervistati in relazione, più o meno coerente, alla loro rappresentazione mentale del dono. Praticamente ciò è consistito nel verificare quali livelli di energia, amicalità, coscienziosità, stabilità emotiva, apertura mentale fossero corrispondenti alla concezione di dono prevalentemente riscontrata tra gli individui oggetto di indagine e se tali livelli fossero concordanti con essa per intensità e tipologia. Quindi si è proceduto ad individuare l’influenza che altre variabili, di natura non personologica, possono aver esercitato sull’affermazione, nell’universo investigato, di una determinata concezione del dono. Infine la ricerca si è posto il problema di verificare l’entità dei doni effettuati (suddividendoli per tipologia: doni in famiglia, doni agli amici, doni agli estranei), quale misura, seppur approssimata, del capitale sociale della comunità (dato che il dono crea/rafforza il legame sociale) e di accertare la eventuale congruenza tra la concezione prevalente di dono ed i comportamenti donativi concretamente posti in essere dai giovani intervistati. In questo quadro si è anche esaminata l’influenza che alcune variabili (appartenenza di genere, età, legami personali, modalità di vita, condizione professionale), in aggiunta al loro particolare background formativo, esplicano sulla effettuazione delle varie categorie di doni da parte dei giovani formulando al riguardo anche delle indicazioni di policy, sia dal punto di vista didattico che operativo.Gift, Reciprocity, relational goods

FOOT: a new experiment to measure nuclear fragmentation at intermediate energies

Summary: Charged particle therapy exploits proton or 12C beams to treat deep-seated solid tumors. Due to the advantageous characteristics of charged particles energy deposition in matter, the maximum of the dose is released to the tumor at the end of the beam range, in the Bragg peak region. However, the beam nuclear interactions with the patient tissues induces fragmentation both of projectile and target nuclei and needs to be carefully taken into account. In proton treatments, target fragmentation produces low energy, short range fragments along all the beam range, which deposit a non negligible dose in the entry channel. In 12C treatments the main concern is represented by long range fragments due to beam fragmentation that release their dose in the healthy tissues beyond the tumor. The FOOT experiment (FragmentatiOn Of Target) of INFN is designed to study these processes, in order to improve the nuclear fragmentation description in next generation Treatment Planning Systems and the treatment plans quality. Target (16O and 12C nuclei) fragmentation induced by –proton beams at therapeutic energies will be studied via an inverse kinematic approach, where 16O and 12C therapeutic beams impinge on graphite and hydrocarbon targets to provide the nuclear fragmentation cross section on hydrogen. Projectile fragmentation of 16O and 12C beams will be explored as well. The FOOT detector includes a magnetic spectrometer for the fragments momentum measurement, a plastic scintillator for ΔE and time of flight measurements and a crystal calorimeter to measure the fragments kinetic energy. These measurements will be combined in order to make an accurate fragment charge and isotopic identification. Keywords: Hadrontherapy, Nuclear fragmentation cross sections, Tracking detectors, Scintillating detector

Dylemat Samarytanina

The paper tries to answer to some questions concerning the efficacy of international aid and the reason of its failures, which have made different scholars and institutions question on its validity (The Samaritan’s dilemma). The actual dissent on international aid together with the lessons learnt on the ground of its implementation and with the lessons derived from economic history of some developing countries should foster a deep reform in foreign aid management. Some proposals of reforms will be illustrated starting from the evidence of some data concerning Official Development Assistance and taking into consideration the results of the scientific debate and the recommendations of the High Level Fora on Aid Effectiveness.Artykuł stanowi próbę odpowiedzi na pytania dotyczące skuteczności pomocy międzynarodowej oraz powodów jej niepowodznia, co spowodowało, że niektórzy badacze oraz instytucje zakwestionowali jej ważność (dylemat Samarytanina). Faktyczny sprzeciw wobec pomocy międzynarodowej wraz z wnioskami wynikającymi z niepowodzeń w jej niesieniu oraz wnioskami wynikającymi z historii gospodarczej niektórych krajów rozwijających się powinny sprzyjać głębokiej reformie zarządzania pomocą międzynarodową. Niektóre propozycje reform zostaną przedstawione przy wykorzystaniu danych dotyczących Oficjalnej Pomocy Rozwojowej oraz z uwzględnieniem wyników debaty naukowej i rekomendacji Forum Wysokiego Szczebla na temat skuteczności pomocy