F Sessa, N Campagnola, M Marini, I Toniolo and C Cremonese
Italy has recently become a country of net immigration, posing new challenges for health care, particularly psychiatry. Previous studies on migration and mental health have…
Abstract
Italy has recently become a country of net immigration, posing new challenges for health care, particularly psychiatry. Previous studies on migration and mental health have focused predominantly on individual psychopathologies or individual immigrant populations. The aim of this work is to determine the demand by foreign citizens for intervention at Padova‐based psychiatric services and to assess any differences in presentation of psychopathological symptoms in the various immigrant groups, with a view to developing adequate organisational and clinical responses. We reviewed 3,385 psychiatric consultations with Italian and immigrant patients, conducted between 2003 and 2004. Eleven per cent of these consultations were for immigrants, who were younger than their Italian counterparts. The most common geographical area of origin was Eastern Europe. North African immigrants were mainly male, while Eastern Europeans and Americans were chiefly female. Eastern European immigrants had a similar psychopathological pattern to Italians; North and Sub‐Saharan African and Asian patients presented more psychotic symptoms. The results of this study may contribute to planning treatment and prevention of psychotic disorders and to improving management of somatoform disorders by strengthening access to psychiatric treatment in the community.
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Jari Eloranta, Svetlozar Andreev and Pavel Osinsky
Did the expansion of democratic institutions play a role in determining central government spending behavior in the 19th and 20th centuries? The link between democracy and…
Abstract
Did the expansion of democratic institutions play a role in determining central government spending behavior in the 19th and 20th centuries? The link between democracy and increased central government spending is well established for the post-Second World War period, but has never been explored during the first “wave of democracy” and its subsequent reversal, that is 1870–1938. The main contribution of this paper is the compilation of a dataset covering 24 countries over this period to begin to address this question. Utilizing various descriptive techniques, including panel data regressions, we explore correlations between central government spending and the institutional characteristics of regimes. We find that the data are consistent with the hypothesis that democracies have a broader need for legitimization than autocracies as various measures of democracy are associated with higher central government spending. Our results indicate that the extension of franchise had a slight positive impact on central government spending levels, as did a few of the other democracy variables. We also find that early liberal democracies spent less and monarchies more than other regimes; debt increases spending; and participation in the Gold Standard reduced government spending substantially.
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M. Yuvaraj, R. Jothi Basu, B.V. Prabhu, Satish Babu Boppana and C. Ganesh Kumar
The four pillars of food security are availability, accessibility, utilization and stability. In order to facilitate food security, an attempt is made to design a fruit supply…
Abstract
Purpose
The four pillars of food security are availability, accessibility, utilization and stability. In order to facilitate food security, an attempt is made to design a fruit supply chain network (FSCN) considering multi-compartment reefer trucks (MCRT) to reduce total supply chain costs. This in turn increases affordability, decreases food loss and increases availability, which further helps in improving food security.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed integer non-linear programming (MNILP) model is developed to minimize the overall cost considering MCRT and the same is solved by a heuristic approach. A real-world case study is conducted to test the robustness of the model.
Findings
There is a considerable cost saving with the new proposed model (MCRT). The number of trucks used is drastically reduced when the dedicated truck is replaced with MCRT. Overall, the design of the FSCN not only improves food security by lowering the total supply chain cost but also shows a high impact on sustainability. Since the proposed model is a mathematical formulation, the same model can be applied to other perishable commodities like vegetables.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed FSCN still requires more intermediaries to be added for more practicality. The model will be suitable for emerging markets mainly because the food supply chain sector is not completely organized.
Originality/value
This study is one of the initial studies in the context of facility location and FSCN optimization, specifically focusing on the inclusion of capacitated DCs. This study has the potential to assist supply chain managers in achieving sustainability by optimizing location decisions, inventory levels and movement between facilities. This study provides a valuable contribution towards the sustainable development goal of zero hunger (food security) by increasing affordability for low-income people.
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This paper presents the first estimates of Spanish infrastructure stock and investment for the period 1845–1935. Several sources and techniques have been used in the estimation…
Abstract
This paper presents the first estimates of Spanish infrastructure stock and investment for the period 1845–1935. Several sources and techniques have been used in the estimation, and the new series are reasonably reliable to the standards of historical statistics. Two distinct periods may be distinguished in the series: the years before 1895 (characterized by the prominence of railroads) and the period 1895–1935 (when most investment was addressed to other assets). The new series allow a preliminary comparison of the Spanish infrastructure endowment with that of the most advanced countries, showing a gradual process of convergence before 1936.
The murders of Black people at the hands of police in 2020 have led to global protests that have called on public officials to defund or abolish the police. What has been drowned…
Abstract
Purpose
The murders of Black people at the hands of police in 2020 have led to global protests that have called on public officials to defund or abolish the police. What has been drowned out in these conversations, however, is the traumatizing aftereffects of anti-Black police violence as a public health crisis. In this paper, I argue that the racial terrorism of anti-Black police violence is a deeply felt wound in Black communities that extends beyond the individuals who directly experience it and that this type of collective trauma must be understood as an urgent public health crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
Using published studies and online commentaries on anti-Black police violence and its mental health impacts in Canada and the United States, this paper examines the mental health impacts of anti-Black police violence at both the individual and community levels.
Findings
A public health response to the traumatizing aftereffects of anti-Black police violence and other forms of state violence must highlight important policy imperatives, such as policies of action focused on improving the public health system. It must also encompass a recognition that the public health crisis of anti-Black police violence is not solvable solely by public health agencies alone. Rather, strategic opportunities to address this crisis arise at every level of governmental interaction, including law enforcement, health care, employment, business, education and the media.
Originality/value
While the impact of anti-Black police violence on the mental health of Black individuals has been emerging in the literature over the last several years, what has been less focused on and what I address in this paper is how the threat of that violence lingers in Black communities long after the protestors have packed up their megaphones, resulting in collective trauma in Black communities.
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Sebastiano Benasso and Valentina Cuzzocrea
Several contradictions emerge in the ways in which Generation Z in Italy is, on the one hand, represented in public arenas and common sense and, on the other, when we look to the…
Abstract
Several contradictions emerge in the ways in which Generation Z in Italy is, on the one hand, represented in public arenas and common sense and, on the other, when we look to the issues they face in confronting the socio-economic structure around them. This chapter specifically situates these emerging representations within the socio-economic scenario Generation Z lives in. We do this by interrogating statistical data – mainly ISTAT and Instituto Toniolo dataset. The overall picture sees Generation Z as not sharply different from the Millennials: it is a generation for which some structural constraints have been revealed already, but in respect to which they will face sharper conditions. Overall, we argue that statistical sources suggest that Generation Z is less worried about its future than it could be. The impact of the relative protective shell in which young people of this age find themselves has a role in this: one that is very much embedded in Italian culture and tradition. We conclude the chapter by conveying the idea that current Generation Z seems to be living in a soap bubble. By this we mean that the protection they enjoy and the somewhat positiveness with which they look at their future are due to disappear once they are constrained to deal with their responsibility outside of the family protection, in private life and in the labour market. Therefore the bubble that we see is specifically a soap bubble, given that it is likely to dissolve itself soon.
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Andrea Devecchi, Simona Bo, Luca De Carli, Erik Breda, Valentina Ponzo and Andrea Pezzana
The Mediterranean diet (MD) is a sustainable and healthy diet. However, compliance to the MD is still poor. Given this, the authors created a Web app to promote the MD. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The Mediterranean diet (MD) is a sustainable and healthy diet. However, compliance to the MD is still poor. Given this, the authors created a Web app to promote the MD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Web app YourPappa in terms of adherence to the MD.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a Web app, YourPappa, with the aim of encouraging virtuous dietary habits through a reward mechanism. After that, a randomized controlled study was conducted. All participants were given written advice on correct nutrition. Moreover, the case group was trained on the use of the app. The MD adherence was evaluated by a validated questionnaire (Medi-Lite).
Findings
Cases found an average increase in the Medi-Lite scores of +7.1%, whereas controls showed an increase of +0.7% (p = 0.06; effect size 0.60). For most of the users, the Web app helped them to think about what they were buying and to promote the MD.
Research limitations/implications
Obesity and related diseases are a topical problem. New strategies are needed to counter it. This study showed interesting and encouraging results, which need further research and insight to be validated and supported.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that has evaluated the use of a Web app to stimulate the adoption of the MD through a reward mechanism.
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Giancarlo Graziola, Carlo D'Adda, Lorenza Belfiori and Stefania Tomasini