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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the levels of access to healthcare available to undocumented migrants in the Italian and British health systems through a comparative analysis of health policies for this population in these two national health systems.

It builds on textual and legal analysis to explore the different meanings that the principle of universal access to healthcare might have according to literature and legal documents in the field, especially those from the human rights domain. Then, the concept of universal access, in theory, is contrasted with actual health policies in each of the selected countries to establish its meaning in practice and according to the social context. The analysis relies on policy papers, data on health expenditure, legal statutes and administrative regulations and is informed by one research question: What background conditions better explain more universal and comprehensive health systems for undocumented migrants?

By answering this research question the paper concludes that the Italian health system is more comprehensive than the British health system insofar it guarantees access free of charge to different levels of care, including primary, emergency, preventive and maternity care, while the rule in the British health system is the recovering of charges for the provision of services, with few exceptions. One possible legal explanation for the differences in access between Italy and UK is the fact that the right to health is not recognised as a fundamental constitutional right in the latter as it is in the former.

The paper contributes to ongoing debates on Universal Health Coverage and migration, and dialogues with recent discussions on social justice and welfare state typologies.

To evaluate the corrosion performance and nano‐mechanical behaviour of a brass substrate covered by different thick SiO₂ layers deposited by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technique.

The comparison between laboratory and “industrial” objects revealed a very good corrosion behaviour and good mechanical performance of both of them: in particular it was possible to modulate the surface treatment to solve various problems from the industrial point of view.

It was possible to reduce the Cu migration into the SiO₂ coating during the PECVD deposition at a negligible level and to control it by the deposition; further, the nano‐indentation tests revealed the great utility of the coating annealing in obtaining a significant improvement of the mechanical properties of the coated objects.

Even if some industrial problems were solved (minimization of the presence of the coating defects and transparency of the coatings), some on the layer hardness (anti‐wear behaviour of the industrial objects) has to be better investigated and possibly solved.

The work reports a deposition process that is carried out industrially over a two year period.

This research reports a PECVD process realized on industrial objects: the originality is in the reached corrosion and mechanical performances that made it possible to realize a satisfactory industrial deposition.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on the theoretical framework based on grassroots social innovation niches to analyse how and to what extent participation in consumer groups helps to foster food-related sustainability changes (both at individual, niche and potentially regime levels).

The data have been collected via two online questionnaires: 204 consumer groups (named GAS, from the acronym of Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale) and 1,658 families belonging to the same groups participated in the research.

The findings reveal that participation in GAS not only makes individuals more responsible towards their consumption choices and lifestyles, but also makes consumers more willing to collaborate with others, more interested in politics (especially local politics) and increases their sense of social effectiveness.

The paper shows how collective consumption can represent a way to increase and foster sustainable behaviours, with the potential to modify socio-economic regimes. Interesting implications are advanced on the relationship between consumers and mainly local and small-scale food producers and on local public governments’ policies.

Due to the very high number of respondents, this research represents a unique opportunity to observe a phenomenon which is difficult to study with surveys and questionnaires because of its informal nature. Understanding the mechanisms and processes that give rise and sustain such forms of collective action is highly relevant for finding ways to promote grassroots initiatives and community actions, which are an often neglected area of system-changing innovation towards sustainability.

This chapter suggests a further step in the development of a representation capable to grasp food systems' complexity. Food systems are neither fully consistent structures resulting from an overall planning, nor stable along time. The transition towards more sustainable and less vulnerable food systems capable to pursue food and nutrition security (FNS) goals in a changing environment needs organizing the diversity of food models that coexist within a territory. These models are based on different conventions and configurations (Fournier & Touzard, 2014; Reardon & Timmer, 2012) which involve different actors and evolve over time according to their changing needs, objectives and capabilities. Understanding this picture requires a shift from a systemic to an ‘assemblage’ approach (DeLanda, 2006), where actors engage themselves in different configurations, on the base of their different agendas. The assemblage approach also shows that linked components retain their autonomy, as attachment to one assemblage normally does not imply total involvement in it. As a consequence, this approach provides space to analyze actors making part of more than one assemblage. Four levels at which assemblage processes can occur are identified in the chapter: assemblages around a firm, a function, a town or a region. It is within these assemblages that the activity of small players and their contribution to sustainable FNS can be effectively identified and possibly promoted.