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This dissertation presents essays on two questions that have been receiving constantly increasing attention in economics over the last decades: (1) What is the role of psychological, emotional, social and cognitive factors in economic decisions? (2) How can economics incorporate social phenomena such as social norms and conventions, cultural identities and stereotypes, peer and neighborhood effects into its models? Chapter 1 presents a game theoretic market model that studies the potential influence of psychological attribute salience on consumer choice and market supply in competitive retail markets. Our essay shows that, in equilibrium, retailers strategically manipulate the attribute salience of their products in order to sell naive consumers a more profitable product than the consumer intended to buy when entering the store. Depending on parameter values, the retailer either sells a more expensive product of higher quality ("up-selling") or a cheaper product of lower quality ("down-selling"). In both cases, the retailer exploits comparisons with seemingly irrelevant products ("decoys") in order to increase the salience of the advantageous attribute (quality or price) of the product it aims to sell. The result holds under perfect retailer competition, is robust to the existence of sophisticated and rational consumers, and resonates with anecdotal evidence on psychological "marketing tricks" of retailers as well as with the experimental literature on so-called "context-effects." Chapter 2 explores the phenomenon of "spontaneous discrimination". Spontaneous discrimination refers to inefficient equilibria in dynamic matching games that are characterized by the seemingly arbitrary coordination of tolerant individuals on a group norm that generates reputational rewards for group members who restrict their interactions to partners of a certain color. To sustain such a norm, information about the color of immediate as well as historical partners has to be revealed to other members of the group. Only then do the reputational mechanisms bite. Chapter 2 develops a theoretical framework to study incentives for information disclosure and analyzes the circumstances in which individuals themselves reveal the color of partners (self-reports) and those in which observers do so (observer-reports). The essay shows that disclosure incentives depend on whether the market for partners is competitive. While incentives for disclosure do not exist in the non-competitive environment of the benchmark model, they can be created by extending the model to include competition. Competition results in one group benefiting from the discrimination of the other group. Individuals disclose information strategically to gain access to the group that benefits as well as to exclude others from it. Competition also generates incentives for groups to coordinate on a discriminatory norm in the first place. The model can rationalize the observation that individuals sometimes seek group status through discrimination and stigmatization and that groups frequently call for discriminatory rules against outsiders to secure its members access to profitable partnerships (e.g., jobs). Chapter 3 presents the results of an online-experiment on the question of whether electoral corruption undermines people's willingness to follow democratically elected rules of conduct. Rules concern the redistribution of income. We implement elections in which 100 participants ballot on whether there should exist a rule that asks for the sharing of private (experimental) income or a rule that asks for the opposite. After the election we observe participants' voluntary compliance with the elected rule. The study compares the number of subjects who comply with the rule after an unbiased election with the number of subjects who comply when, during the election, (1) subjects were asked to pay for their vote, (2) subjects were offered money for voting differently, (3) subjects with low household income were excluded from the ballot. In all three cases the data shows a strong and significant reduction in compliance with rules that ask for redistribution. We find no such effect with regard to compliance with the opposite rule ("don't redistribute"). The result suggests that compliance with prosocial rules is affected to a larger extent by corruption than compliance with antisocial rules. Earlier experiments could already demonstrate pure democracy effects in prosocial behavior, but did not deal with either corruption effects or antisocial rules. The study also examines the psychological mechanisms underlying the observed behavior: Treatment effects seem to be driven by intrinsic concerns about procedural aspects of the electoral mechanism, and are particularly prevalent among individuals who express high value for democratic institutions and low value for bribing and (political) lobbying in the real world. ; Diese Dissertation legt Aufsätze zu zwei Fragen vor, die in den letzten Jahrzehnten immer mehr Beachtung in der Volkswirtschaftslehre gefunden haben: (1) Welche Rolle spielen psychologische, emotionale, soziale und kognitive Faktoren in ökonomischen Entscheidungen? (2) Wie kann die Volkswirtschaftslehre soziale Phänomene wie soziale Normen und Konventionen, kulturelle Identitäten und Stereotypen, Peer-Group- und Nachbarschaftseffekte in ihre Modelle einbeziehen? Kapitel 1 untersucht, mithilfe eines spieltheoretischen Marktmodells, den möglichen Einfluss von psychologischer Attributsalienz auf das Kaufverhalten von Konsumenten und das Angebot von Einzelhändlern in kompetitiven Endkonsumentenmärkten. Der Aufsatz zeigt, dass im Gleichgewicht Händler die Attributsalienz ihrer Produkte strategisch manipulieren, um naiven Konsumenten nach Eintritt in das Geschäft ein profitableres als das vom Konsumenten ursprünglich bevorzugte Produkt zu verkaufen. Je nach Parameterwerten verkauft der Händler entweder ein qualitativ höherwertiges, jedoch teureres Produkt ("up-selling"), oder ein billigeres, jedoch qualitativ minderwertigeres Produkt ("down-selling"). In beiden Fällen nutzt der Händler den Vergleich zu scheinbar irrelevanten Produkten ("Decoys"), um die Salienz des vorteilhaften Attributs (Qualität oder Preis) des zu verkaufenden Produkts zu erhöhen. Das Ergebnis hät im perfekten Wettbewerb, ist robust gegenüber der Existenz nicht-naiver und rationaler Konsumenten, und ist im Einklang mit qualitativer Evidenz zu psychologischen "Marketingtricks" von Einzelhändlern, sowie mit der experimentellen Literatur zu sogenannten "Kontexteffekten." Kapitel 2 beschäftigt sich mit dem Phänomen der "spontanen Diskriminierung". Das Phänomen bezieht sich auf Gleichgewichte in dynamischen Matching-Spielen, die durch die scheinbar willkürliche Koordination von toleranten Individuen auf eine diskriminierende Gruppennorm gekennzeichnet sind, welche mittels endogener Reputationseffekte die ausschließliche Interaktion mit Partnern einer bestimmten Farbe belohnt. Um eine solche Norm aufrechtzuerhalten, muss die Farbe von unmittelbaren und historischen Partnern anderen Mitgliedern der Gruppe offenbart werden. Nur dann greifen die Reputationsmechanismen. Kapitel 2 entwickelt einen theoretischen Rahmen, um Anreize für die Offenlegung solcher Information zu untersuchen, und analysiert, unter welchen Umständen Individuen selbst die Farbe ihrer Partner offenlegen (Selbstberichte) und unter welchen Umständen Beobachter dies tun (Beobachterberichte). Der Aufsatz zeigt, dass Offenlegungsanreize davon abhängen, ob der Markt für Partner kompetitiv ist. Während im nicht-kompetitiven Markt des Benchmark-Modells keine Anreize zur Offenlegung existieren, können diese durch eine Erweiterung des Modells um Wettbewerb geschaffen werden. Wettbewerb führt dazu, dass eine Gruppe von der Diskriminierung der anderen Gruppe profitiert. Individuen nutzen die Informationsweitergabe in diesem Fall strategisch, um einerseits selbst Zugang zu der bevorzugten Gruppe zu erhalten, und andererseits, um andere aus dieser Gruppe auszuschließen. Auf Gruppenebene schafft Wettbewerb zudem Anreize, sich von vornherein auf eine diskriminierende Norm zu koordinieren. Das Modell kann die Beobachtung rationalisieren, dass Individuen manchmal versuchen, durch Diskriminierung und Stigmatisierung die Zugehörigkeit zu einer Gruppe zu signalisieren, und dass Gruppen häufig diskriminierende Regeln gegen Außenstehende fordern, um ihren Mitgliedern den Zugang zu profitablen Partnerschaften (z.B. Arbeitsplätzen) zu sichern. Kapitel 3 präsentiert die Ergebnisse eines Online-Experiment zu der Frage, ob Wahlkorruption die Bereitschaft im Volk untergräbt, demokratisch gewählten Verhaltensregeln zu folgen. Die im Experiment untersuchten Verhaltensregeln betreffen die Umverteilung von Einkommen. Wir implementieren Wahlen, in denen jeweils 100 Teilnehmer abstimmen, ob es eine Verhaltensregel geben soll, die dazu auffordert, privates (experimentelles) Einkommen mit anderen zu teilen, oder ob es eine Regel geben soll, die das Gegenteil fordert. Nach der Wahl beobachten wir die freiwillige Einhaltung der gewählten Regel. Die Studie vergleicht die Anzahl an Personen, die sich nach einer unbeeinflussten Wahl an die Regel halten mit der Anzahl an Personen, die sich an die Regel halten, wenn während der Wahl (1) Teilnehmer dazu aufgefordert wurden, Geld für ihre Stimme zu zahlen, (2) Teilnehmer Geld angeboten bekamen, um ihre Stimme zu ändern, (3) Teilnehmer mit einem geringen Haushaltseinkommen von der Wahl ausgeschlossen wurden. Die Daten zeigen in allen drei Fällen einen starken, signifikanten Rückgang bei der Einhaltung von Regeln, die eine Umverteilung fordern. Die Einhaltung der gegenteiligen Regel ("verteile nicht um") ist von diesem Effekt nicht betroffen. Das Ergebnis deutet darauf hin, dass die Einhaltung von prosozialen Regeln stärker von Korruptionseffekten beeinflusst ist als die Einhaltung von nicht-prosozialen Regeln. Frühere experimentelle Studien konnten bereits reine Demokratieeffekte bei prosozialem Verhalten nachweisen, beschäftigten sich jedoch weder mit Korruptionseffekten noch mit nicht-prosozialem Verhalten. Die Studie untersucht auch die dem beobachteten Verhalten zugrundeliegenden psychologischen Mechanismen: Die Treatmenteffekte scheinen von intrinsischen Bedenken hinsichtlich der prozeduralen Aspekte des Wahlmechanismus getrieben zu sein und finden sich vor allem bei Individuen, die demokratische Institutionen hoch sowie Bestechungsversuche und (politische) Lobbyarbeit in der realen Welt gering schätzen.

When we started our preparation for this project only a year ago, our prime concerns were the deepening of the social and economic asymmetries between the North and the South under the impact of the financial crisis, with Germany and Italy providing an example of existential importance for the EU as a whole. Both of us had resided in the two countries for prolonged periods in the past, and we had never witnessed such a surge in antagonistic feelings on both sides of the Alps as occurred during the Euro crisis. This can even be measured: while it had been common in Germany, at the beginning of the crisis, to talk about the PIIGS states (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), with Italy figuring among them as an important member, the percentage of Italians having a positive image of Germany crashed only from 75 to 65 per cent during the immediate crisis period, and now the majority of the Italians thinks that Germany has too much influence in Europe and that it uses this influence at the expense of Southern Member States. While our application for funding was still pending, we witnessed two crucial events that increased the pertinence of our project way beyond our expectations. First, on the 24 September 2017, for the first time in post-war German history, a far right party entered the German Bundestag with a landslide victory, receiving 14 per cent of the popular vote and 100 parliamentary seats. Second, only five months later in Italy, the far-right Lega party and the Movimento Cinque Stelle emerged as the big winners from the Italian federal elections of the 4th of March 2018. Forming a previously unthinkable coalition between right-wing and left-wing populism, they entered into government. We are not so naïve as to believe that the variety of Europe's crises could be understood and adequately analysed as though these were isolated events. The course of Italy's economic and social policy has so obviously been affected by the migration burdens that Italy has had to shoulder and the lack of European solidarity; the bitter disappointment could be turned into populist critique of the constraints that European rule imposes upon national policies and the public announcement of disobedience by members of the Italian government. In a similar vein, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany had been founded as an anti-Euro rescue party, which catalysed quickly through the immigration crisis of 2015 into a xenophobic far-right populist party, sharing many positions with the Italian Lega. While the parties and alliances in both countries had capitalised very much upon the antagonisms between Italy and Germany and their positions during the Euro crisis by building on nationalist sentiments, today we have reached a true anti-climax when one observes that the intensification of tensions are accompanied by the founding of new alliances and a contagion towards formerly non-populist and non-far right parties in both countries: "Europe does not want migrants, it wants our money" (Luigi Di Maio); "Migration is the Mother of all problems" (Horst Seehofer). Both the AfD in Germany and the Lega in Italy share two major targets against which they direct their rage: European integration, especially in the economic realm, and immigration. We refrain, however, from attempting to disentangle all these interdependencies, but hope that our study of the two exemplary cases of Italy and Germany will provide us with some answers to the question of what led us down this road. We believe that the approach which we have pursued in our design of this project provides illuminating insights of lasting importance. ; Acknowledgements 6 ;Introductory Explanations 6; Contributors 20; A) The Political Economy of Germany and Italy;The German Political Economy under the Euro – and a Comparison to the "Southern Model" - Philip Manow 27; The Political Economy of Public Sector Wage-setting in Germany and Italy - Donato Di Carlo 48;Geo-Politics of Exporting Too Much: Contrasting Trajectories of Germany and Japan - Margarita Estévez-Abe 63; Ideational Differences between Italian and German Governments during the Crisis -Frederico Bruno 74; A Cultural Political Economy Approach to the European Crisis - Josef Hien 80; B) Sectors of the Political Economy of Italy and Germany;Worlds Apart: The Divergence of Southern-European Housing-Construction Economies and Northern European Export Economies - Sebastian Kohl & Alexander Spielau 99;Banking Crisis Interventions in Germany and Italy: the Unpleasant Case of the New European Bank Resolution Framework -Frederik Traut 108;Comparing the German and Italian Approaches to Banking Union - Lucia Quaglia 120; Maternal employment, attitudes toward gender equality and work-family policies. German-Italian Discrepancies? - Agnes Blome 129;C) German and Italian Perceptions, Differences and Misgivings;Italy and Germany during the Crisis: Support for the EU and Reciprocal Views - Alessandro Pellegata 140;The Political Space in Italy and Germany during the Crisis: Italian and German Populism Compared - Hanspeter Kriesi148;The political economy of recovery in Southern Europe - Manos Matsaganis 157;Accommodating EU's influence vs protecting national sovereignty. - Ilaria Madama and Matteo Jessoula 162; European Integration and Political Ownership: Fiction and Reality behind Structural Reforms and Risk-Sharing - Filippo Taddei 170;D) The Legacy of the Welfare State in Europe;An Alternative to the Constitution of the EU's Single Market? - Florian Rödl 176; Industrial Relations and Labour Law in the EU Economic Governance Mechanisms:The Cases of Italy and Germany - Francesco Costamagna 182; What to expect from Germany for the European Pillar of Social Rights and beyond? - Marcel Hadeed 188; The EU Political Culture of Total Optimism is not Dead: Reflections on the European Pillar of Social Rights - Vladimir Bogoeski 196;A 'more political' leadership for the President of the Commission? A mixed-methods language-based analysis -Pamela Pansardi 201;E) The Demise of Law; The EU as "Honest Broker"? German and Italian Perspectives on an Adminstrative Body -Anna Katharina Mangold 215; Integration-through-crisis as a distinct integrative mode: Placing expediency ahead of democracy? - Nicole Scicluna 220; Should the Specifics of National Political Cultures be Characterised as "Democratic Acquis" and Can they be Defended by Law? Beyond the Nostalgia-Controversy between JÜrgen Habermas and Wolfgang Streeck -Christian Joerges 229; The End of the Universality of Norms as a Model for Europe: The Error of "Seeing like a State" (J.S. Scott) in the Postmodern Condition - Karl-Heinz Ladeur 237; F) Justice Deficits and Solidarity; Is the EU Unjust? - Glyn Morgan 244; A European Minister of Economy and Finance:Assessing the Commission's proposal and Comparing the Positions of Germany and Italy - Tiziano Zgaga 253; Re-solidarizing Europe and Defusing the Crisis - Maurizio Ferrera and Carlo Burelli 263; Summarising Comments; Concluding Remarks: Economic Cultures and the Politics of Interdependence - Visnja Vukov 269; Two Annexes; Order in the Eurozone: Maurizio Ferrera and Claus Offe in Conversation - Maurizio Ferrera and Claus Offe 278; Germany is Quietly Rebalancing its Economy – But This will not Fix the Eurozone's Flaws - Donato Di Carlo 282;

Di era otonomi daerah, yang diawali dengan UU RI No. 22 Tahun 1999, yang diamandemen dengan UU RI No. 32 Tahun 2004 tentang pemerintah lokal, telah memberikan kesempatan bagi otonomi daerah dan kesempatan-kesempatan untuk mengoptimalkan sumber daya-sumber daya yang ada di daerah guna kemakmuran dan kesejahteraan masyarakat, kemudian untuk merencanakan pembangunan sebagaimana diatur dalam UU No. 25 Tahun 2004 tentang sistem perencanaan pembangunan nasional. Produk hukum tersebut sekali lagi mengubah deadlock paradigm pembangunan dari atas ke bawah ke pembangunan berbasis masyarakat dari bawah ke atas, yang mana merupakan model dari pola pembangunan partisipatoris yang diterapkan di Kabupaten Sijunjung, yang melibatkan masyarakat dalam semua proses pembangunan. The purposes of the research conducted by the author are: 1) untuk mengetahui bagaimana program tersebut diimplementasikan di Desa Kunangan Parik Rantang, Kecamatan Kamang Baru, Kabupaten Sijunjung selama periode 2 tahun. 2) untuk menentukan bagaimana level pemerintahan Desa Kunangan Parik Rantang pada setiap pembangunan yang dilakukan melalui program partisipatoris. 3) untuk mengetahui bagaimana efektivitas program partisipatoris di Desa Kunangan Parik Rantang dalam upaya untuk meningkatkan program-program swadaya yang diterapkan melalui partisipatoris. Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan penelitian deskriptif dengan pendekatan kualitatif yang mana peneliti mencoba untuk menggambarkan seluruh gejala, kejadian, dan fenomena apa adanya dalam kaitannya dengan data dan informasi yang telah diperoleh dari responden (sumber data). Hal ini dilakukan secara konstan merujuk pada pembahasan isu-isu yang yang telah ditentukan sebelumnyya. Menurut Moloeng "penelitian kualitatif adalah prosedur penelitian yang memproduksi data dalam bentuk kata-kata – tertulis atau kata-kata yang diucapkan oleh orang – orang dan perilaku yang dapat diamati". Studi ini menunjukkan bahwa program pembangunan partisipatoris adalah program yang sangat efektif untuk meningkatkan kesadaran organisasi-organisasi pemerintahan akan pembangunan, karena program tersebut tidak hanya melibatkan masyarakat dalaam perencanaan, implementasi, dan monitoring pembangunan tetapi juga melibatkan masyarakat dalam pembiayaan pembangunan, dengan pola pembiayaan 30% dibebankan kepada masyarakat dan 70% kepada pemerintah, dalam rangka meningkatkan rasa memiliki dari publik atas hasil-hasil pembangunan, yang pada akhirnya tanpa perintah, masyarakat akan berkontribusi pada hasil-hasil pembangunan tersebut. Program ini juga merupakan salah satu solusi bagi pemerintah daerah Sijunjung dalam mengatasi kurangnya dana yang tersedia untuk pembangunan di anggaran Kabupaten Sijunjung, oleh karena pola partisipatifnya bila dibandingkan dengan apa yang tender atau kontraktor lakukan akan mampu menyediakan dana sebesar 30,32% untuk pelaksanaanpembangunan. Sayangnya, program ini tampak kurang mendapat dukungan dari kelompok elit – elit dan pemangku kepentingan di Kabupaten Sijunjung, dibuktikan dengan rendahnya dana yang dianggarkan oleh pemerintah lokal, yang hanya berkisar antara 0,5% dan 0,7% setiap tahunnya dari keseluruhan Anggaran dan Pengeluaran Kabupaten Sijunjung. Pemerintah maupun dewan di Sijunjung harus memiliki komitmen dan hasrat yang kuat untuk meningkatkan alokasi dana partisipatoris setiap tahun sebesar 1,5-2,0%, dari total anggaran Kabupaten Sijunjung, yang sebesar 14-15 milyar rupiah per tahun. Komposisi pembiayaan pembangunan partisipatoris yang saat ini dibagi menjadi 70% pemerintah dan 30% kelompok masyarakat perlu dirubah menjadi 85% pemerintah lokal dan 15& kelompok masyarakat, sehingga komposisi penbiayaan partisipatif tidak terlalu membebani kelompok pengusul yang secara ekonomi lemah, dan mereka diharapkan untuk dapat langsung mengimplementasikan pengembangan ini melalui pola-pola partisipatoris.Kata kunci: program partisipatif, kabupaten Sijunjung, masyarakatAbstractIn the era of regional autonomy, which starts from the regulations of Law Number 22 of 1999 as amended by Act Number 32 of 2004 concerning local government, has provided an opportunity for local autonomy and opportunities to optimize existing resources in the region for the prosperity and welfare of the people, then to plan the development of regulated law No. 25 Year 2004 concerning the system of national development planning, regulatory legal product is once again paved the deadlock top-down development paradigm into a folk-based development of bottom-up, the main approach to bottom-up models which is the model of participatory development patterns in Sijunjung Regency involving the community in the whole process of development. The purpose of the research conducted by the author are: 1) To find out how the program is implemented in village of Kunangan Parik Rantang, District of Kamang Baru, Sijunjung within a period of 2 Years. 2) To determine how the level of Governmental village of Kunangan Parik Rantang in every development is carried out through a participatory program. 3) To know how Participatory Program Effectiveness in villages Kunangan Parik Rantang in an effort to improve the non-governmental development programs implemented through participatory. This study is a descriptive research method with qualitative approach, where researchers try to describe all the symptoms, events or phenomena as it is in accordance with the data and information that has been obtained from the respondents (data source), this is done by constantly referring to the discussion of issues that have been determined in advance, according Moloeng "qualitative research is a research procedure that produces a data description form of words - written or spoken words of people - people and behaviors that can be observed". This study shows that participatory development program is a program that is very effective in raising the awareness and governmental organizations to development, because the program does not only involve the community in the planning, implementation and monitoring of development, but also involving communities in development financing, with the pattern of charging 30% community, and 70% of Government, so as to increase the sense of public ownership of the results of development, which in the end without command will always keep the public with the results of such development. The program also is one of the solutions for local government Sijunjung, in overcoming the lack of funds available for development in the district budget Sijunjung, because the participative pattern when compared with the pattern of the tender or contractors did Sijunjung local governments, will be able to save funds to the implementation of a development of 30.32%. Unfortunately, this program seems less a place in the hearts of the elite - the elite and stakeholders in Sijunjung Regency, evidenced by the lack of funds budgeted by the local government, which is only 0.5% to 0.7% annually of the total Budget and Expenditure of Sijunjung, to the District Government of Sijunjung together with parliament of Sijunjung must have a strong commitment and desire, to increase the allocation of funds participatory, every year to 1.5% up to 2.0%, of the total budget Sijunjung, which Range between 14 to 15 billion annually. Participatory development funding composition, currently borne by the local government 70%, and community groups proposer of 30%, should be changed to 85% of local government - and community groups proposing 15%, so that the composition of participative funding, not overly burden the proposer group, which the economically weak, and they are expected to eventually be able to implement this development through participatory patterns.

The aim of the study. Scientific research traces the genesis of amateur cultural unions of the Ukrainian SSR Volyn region during 1988–1991 against the background of the festival movement. During this period, in the environment of democratization reforms of perestroika, amateur artistic groups were formed, which subsequently became politicized and replenished Ukrainian anti-communist parties and public associations. It's activities has not yet been sufficiently studied in such an important aspect of restoration in Ukraine state independence, as the initial processes of the national culture revival at the stage of perestroika. Therefore, the purpose of a scientific article is on the background of the festival movement birth to explore the chronicle of the informal environment transformation of the Volyn region in the anti-communist liberation struggle. Such communities included educational, ethnographic, vocal, choreographic, theatrical and stage groups, which were formed as informal, consequently they were not controlled by the communist government. It has intensified the national renaissance, one of the manifestations of which was the emergence of a large number of festivals, although latent, but positioned itself as anti-Soviet. Its number significantly grew up in 1988, which was the result of the XIX All-Union Party Conference, which initiated a political reform in the USSR and made possible the country democratic innovations in the cultural environment. Participation in festivals often took amateur performers, who were not members of the Soviet unions culture, and therefore went beyond the official doctrine of the communist art development. Therefore, the development of the festival movement in the rift of national revival in many respects allowed the regeneration of the region in habitants patriotic self-awareness. Understanding that non-formals went beyond socialist realism, and thus were oppositional, the local communist government favored them only formally. In fact, the party structures obstructed and tried to subordinate amateur unions and put it on the communist side. However, the rapid deployment of the national liberation movement in the West Ukrainian lands not only consolidated informal organizations, but also politicized it transforming it into the Ukraine's sovereignty restoration supporters. Methodology. The method of scientific work is a problem-chronological method, which is a determinative in the process of historical retrospective events reconstruction. Scientific novelty. The source of this study has been archived unpublished, secret Communist Party materials, as well as periodicals of the communist and national-democratic press. Conclusions. In the process of Ukrainian land's national-democratic revival of the perestroika period informal cultural societies occupied a significant place. In its educational activities anticommunist component was well visible, which enabled the regeneration of patriotic population's national self-awareness and further anti-Soviet political transformations of the region. These factors contributed to the restoration of Ukraine's state independence in 1991. ; Научная статья прослеживает развитие самодеятельных объединений культуры Волынской области УССР в 1988–1991 гг. на фоне фестивального движения. В этот период в среде демократических преобразований перестройки возникли самодеятельные культурные сообщества, которые со временем политизировались и пополнили украинские антикоммунистические партии и общественные организации. Их деятельность еще недостаточно изучена в таком важном аспекте возобновления украинской государственности, как начальные процессы возрождения ее национальной культуры на этапе перестройки. Цель исследования – проследить хронику перерастания неформальной среды Волынской области в антикоммунистическое освободительное движение на фоне зарождения фестивального движения. В число таких сообществ входили просветительские, краеведческие, вокальные, хореографические, театральные и эстрадные коллективы, которые сформировались как неформальные, то есть не были подконтрольными коммунистической власти. Они, не в последнюю очередь, активизировали национальный ренессанс, одним из проявлений которого было возникновение множества фестивалей, которые, хотя и скрыто, но позиционировали себя как антисоветские. Их количество заметно увеличивается в 1988 г., что было следствием ХІХ Всесоюзной партийной конференции. Она инициировала политическую реформу в СССР, а поэтому сделала возможными демократические реформы в культурной среде страны. Участие в этих фестивалях нередко принимали самодеятельные исполнители, которые не были членами советских творческих союзов, а поэтому выходили за рамки официальной доктрины развития коммунистического искусства. Как следствие, развитие фестивального движения в контексте национального возрождения во многом сделало возможной регенерацию патриотического самосознания жителей региона. Понимая, что неформалы выходят за рамки социалистического реализма, а потому являются оппозиционными, коммунистическая власть воспринимала их благосклонно только формально. На самом деле партийные структуры препятствовали, пытались подчинить неформалов и направить их в коммунистическое русло. Но стремительное развитие национально-освободительного движения на западноукраинских землях не только консолидировало неформальные организации, а и политизировало их, трансформируя в сторонников возобновления государственной независимости Украины. Методология. Методологическим инструментарием научной статьи является проблемно-хронологический метод как основной в процессе реконструкции событий культурно-исторической ретроспективы. Научная новизна. Источниковедческой базой предлагаемого исследования являются неопубликованные архивные материалы, секретные компартийные документы и периодические издания коммунистической и национально-демократической прессы. Выводы. В процессе национально-демократического возрождения украинских земель периода перестройки неформальные сообщества культуры занимали значительное место. В их просветительской деятельности хорошо просматривалась антикоммунистическая составляющая, которая не в последнюю очередь сделала возможной регенерацию национального сознания и последующие политические трансформации в Волынской области. Эти факторы во многом способствовали возобновлению украинской государственности в 1991 году. ; Наукова розвідка простежує ґенезу самодіяльних спілок культури Волинської області УРСР у 1988–1991 рр. на тлі розгортання фестивального руху. У цей період у середовищі демократизаційних реформувань перебудови утворилися самодіяльні мистецькі колективи, які згодом політизувалися й поповнили українські антикомуністичні партії та громадські об'єднання. Їх діяльність ще недостатньо вивчена у такому аспекті відновлення державної самостійності України, як початкові процеси відродження її національної культури на етапі перебудови. Мета дослідження – простежити хроніку переростання неформального середовища Волинської області на антикомуністичний визвольний розвій на фоні зародження фестивального руху. До зазначених товариств входили просвітницькі, краєзнавчі, вокальні, хореографічні, театральні та естрадні колективи, котрі сформувалися як неформальні, тобто були непідконтрольними комуністичній владі. Вони активізували національний ренесанс, одним із проявів якого було виникнення великої кількості фестивалів, що, хоча й латентно, але позиціонували себе як антирадянські. Кількість фестивалів значно зростає у 1988 р., що сталося внаслідок ХІХ Всесоюзної партійної конференції, яка започаткувала політичну реформу в СРСР й уможливила демократичні новації у культурному середовищі країни. До участі у фестивалях нерідко потрапляли самодіяльні виконавці, які не були членами радянських творчих спілок, а тому виходили за межі офіційної доктрини розвитку комуністичного мистецтва. Тому розвиток фестивального руху у річищі національного відродження багато у чому уможливив регенерацію патріотичного самоусвідомлення мешканців регіону. Розуміючи, що неформали виходять за рамки соціалістичного реалізму, а відтак є опозиційними, місцева комуністична влада ставилася до них сприятливо лише формально. Насправді партійні структури чинили перешкоди й намагалися підпорядкувати самодіяльні спілки та ввести їх у комуністичне русло. Однак стрімке розгортання національно-визвольного руху на західноукраїнських землях не тільки консолідувало неформальні організації, а й політизувало їх, трансформуючи у прихильників відновлення державної самостійності України. Методологія. Методологічним інструментарієм наукової роботи є проблемно-хронологічний метод як визначальний у процесі реконструкції подій культурно-історичної ретроспективи. Наукова новизна. Джерелознавчою базою даного дослідження є архівні неопубліковані, таємні компартійні матеріали, а також періодичні видання комуністичної та національно-демократичної преси, опубліковані вперше. Висновки. У процесі національно-демократичного відродження українських земель періоду перебудови неформальні товариства культури посідали значне місце. У їх просвітницькій діяльності була добре помітною антикомуністична складова, яка уможливила регенерацію національного самоусвідомлення патріотично налаштованого населення та подальші антирадянські політичні трансформації краю. Ці фактори не в останню чергу спричинилися до відновлення державної самостійності України 1991 року.

Мета: дати характеристику стану здоров'я дітей із зони антитерористичної операції (АТО) на сході України з кардіоревматологічною патологією і вивчити у них показники стрес-регулюючих систем. Матеріали та методи. Проведено клініко-інструментальне обстеження 126 дітей віком 8–18 років, із них 92 дитини із зони антитерористичної операції і 34 дитини-переселенця з Донецької та Луганської областей. Групу порівняння становили 509 дітей того ж віку з Харківської області і міста Харкова. Інтенсивність стрес-реалізуючих систем визначали за рівнем кортизолу, ТБК-активних продуктів і дієнових кон'югатів у сироватці крові, адреналіну і норадреналіну в добовій сечі. Стан стрес-лімітуючих систем оцінювали за вмістом серотоніну, відновленого глутатіону, активності глутатіонпероксидази і супероксиддисмутази (СОД) у крові і мелатоніну в сечі. Результати. У структурі соматичної патології у дітей і підлітків із зони військових дій на сході України кардіоревматологічні захворювання посідають друге місце, перше місце належить хворобам органів травлення. У 34,1 % дітей, які вперше потрапили в клініку інституту, погіршення стану здоров'я настало на тлі психоемоційного напруження і відсутності умов для лікування за основним місцем проживання. У структурі скарг пацієнтів переважали астеноневротичні, які вірогідно частіше зустрічалися у дітей першої групи. Також найчастіше діагностували різні психосоматичні розлади, захворювання органів травлення і ендокринопатії. Вивчення стрес-регулюючих систем у дітей із зони АТО виявило деякі відмінності в показниках з урахуванням нозологічної приналежності. Так, у хворих з серцево-судинною патологією відзначалася активація стрес-реалізуючих систем, а у дітей з ревматичними захворюваннями — напруга стрес-лімітуючих систем. Виявлені зміни рівня мелатоніну та активності СОД у пацієнтів із захворюваннями органів кровообігу із зони АТО свідчать про дисбаланс антиоксидантів ферментної і неферментної природи, що може призвести до виникнення оксидативного стресу як однієї зі складових посттравматичного стресового розладу. Таким чином, отримані дані необхідно враховувати при складанні індивідуальних програм відновного лікування дітям і підліткам з кардіоревматологічною патологією із зони військових дій з урахуванням супутньої патології. Висновки. У дітей із зони військових дій виявлено дисбаланс компонентів антиоксидантного стресу, відповідальних за стресостійкість організму до факторів пошкодження. Встановлено активацію стрес-реалізуючих систем при хворобах органів кровообігу і напругу стрес-лімітуючих систем при ревматичних захворюваннях. ; Цель: дать характеристику состояния здоровья детей из зоны антитеррористической операции (АТО) на востоке Украины с кардиоревматологической патологией и изучить у них показатели стресс-регулирующих систем. Материалы и методы. Проведено клинико-инструментальное обследование 126 детей в возрасте 8–18 лет, из них 92 ребенка из зоны антитеррористической операции и 34 ребенка-переселенца из Донецкой и Луганской областей. Группу сравнения составили 509 детей того же возраста из Харьковской области и города Харькова. Интенсивность стресс-реализующих систем определяли по уровню кортизола, ТБК-активных продуктов и диеновых конъюгатов в сыворотке крови, адреналина и норадреналина в суточной моче. Состояние стресс-лимитирующих систем оценивали по содержанию серотонина, восстановленного глутатиона, активности глутатионпероксидазы и супер­оксиддисмутазы (СОД) в крови и мелатонина в суточной моче. Результаты. В структуре соматической патологии детей и подростков из зоны военных действий на востоке Украины кардиоревматологические заболевания занимают второе место, первое место принадлежит болезням органов пищеварения. У 34,1 % детей, впервые поступивших в клинику института, ухудшение состояния здоровья наступило на фоне психоэмоционального напряжения и отсутствия условий для лечения по основному месту проживания. В структуре жалоб пациентов преобладали астеноневротические, которые достоверно чаще встречались у детей первой группы. Также чаще всего диагностировались различные психосоматические расстройства, заболевания органов пищеварения и эндокринопатии. Изучение стресс-регулирующих систем у детей из зоны АТО выявило некоторые различия в показателях с учетом нозологической принадлежности. Так, у больных с сердечно-сосудистой патологией отмечалась активация стресс-реализующих систем, а у детей с ревматическими заболеваниями — напряжение стресс-лимитирующих систем. Выявленные изменения уровня мелатонина и активности СОД у пациентов с заболеваниями органов кровообращения из зоны АТО свидетельствуют о дисбалансе антиоксидантов ферментной и неферментной природы, что может привести к возникновению оксидативного стресса как одного из составляющих посттравматического стрессового расстройства. Таким образом, полученные данные необходимо учитывать при составлении индивидуальных программ восстановительного лечения детям и подросткам с кардиоревматологической патологией из зоны военных действий с учетом сопутствующей патологии. Выводы. У детей из зоны военных действий выявлен дисбаланс компонентов антиоксидантного стресса, ответственных за стрессоустойчивость организма к повреждающим факторам. Установлена активация стресс-реализующих систем при болезнях органов кровообращения и напряжение стресс-лимитирующих систем при ревматических заболеваниях. ; Background. To characterize the health status of children from the antiterrorist operation zone in the east of Ukraine with cardiorheumatologic pathology and to study the indicators of stress-regulating systems was the purpose of our work. Materials and methods. A clinical and instrumental exa­mination was performed in 126 children aged 8–18 years, 92 of them from the anti-terrorist operation zone and 34 immigrant children from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The comparison group consisted of 509 children of the same age from the Kharkiv region and Kharkiv. The intensity of stress-realizing systems was determined by the level of cortisol, thiobarbituric acid-active products and diene conjugates in the blood serum, epinephrine and norepinephrine in daily urine. The state of stress-limiting systems was assessed by the content of serotonin, reduced glutathione, activity of glutathione pe­roxidase and superoxide dismutase in the blood and melatonin in daily urine. Results. In the structure of somatic pathology of children and adolescents from zone of military operations in the east of Ukraine, cardiorheumatologic diseases rank se­cond, the first place belongs to diseases of the digestive system. In 34.1 % of children admitted to the institute for the first time, the deterioration of health occurred against the background of psychoemotional stress and lack of conditions for treatment in the main place of residence. In the structure of patients' complaints, astheno-neurotic ones prevailed, which was significantly more frequent in children of the first group. Also, various psychosomatic disorders, diseases of the digestive system and endocrinopathy were diagnosed most often. The study of stress-regulating systems in children from the anti-terrorist operation zone revealed some differences in the indicators, taking into account the nosology. Thus, patients with cardiovascular patho­logy had an activation of stress-realizing systems, and children with rheumatic diseases — stress of stress-limiting systems. The revealed changes in melatonin level and superoxide dismutase activity in patients with diseases of the circulatory system from the anti-terrorist operation zone indicate an imbalance of enzyme and non-enzyme antioxidants, which can lead to oxidative stress as one of the components of post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus, the obtained data should be taken into account when developing individual programs for medical rehabilitation in children and adolescents with cardiorheumatologic patho­logy from zone of military operations, taking into account the concomitant pathology. Conclusions. Children from the war zone have an imbalance in the components of antioxidant stress responsible for the stress-resistance of the body to damaging factors. The activation of stress-realizing systems in diseases of the circulatory system and the stress of stress-limiting systems in rheumatic diseases have been established.

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I'm
a political scientist—with an emphasis on the science.  I've viewed my role in the public sphere as inserting
into debates what political scientists have learned about political processes
and institutions—and to try to keep both sides faithful to the empirics. At
heart, I've always been a skeptic and my training as a political scientist
makes me even more so. I'm not one to join partisan frays. It's not my style. I just go where data lead.



The election of Donald Trump, someone who had zero political
experience, certainly sent my skepticism into high gear given the data. Limited
political experience does not often equate with political success. One major
exception is Dwight David Eisenhower, but he is the exception who proves the
rule. Eisenhower was an exceptional student of leadership and, as Supreme
Allied Commander in Europe, developed a well-honed ability to convince,
negotiate and compromise with many talented, egoistic generals as they fought
the Third Reich to rid the world of Nazism.


During the fall campaign, a video of historian David
McCullough made the rounds on social media. I've long admired McCullough's accessible
and well-written history, especially his biography of Truman.





In the video, McCullough draws our attention to Eisenhower's
four qualities of leadership, noting that Trump exhibited none of those
qualities. He had neither character, ability, experience, nor responsibility. In
short, McCullough did not believe Trump was suited for the presidency. He
was especially not suited to articulating a clear moral purpose and acting as
the conciliator in chief in times of national sorrow and crisis.



Trump's repeated failure as a leader over the past eight
months should not surprise. He was as prepared for the presidency as I am to do any kind of home or car repair.



Yet the president can be a poor leader and the nation can survive:
We managed the ineptitude of Hoover and Carter. What is most troubling is that
Trump himself, through apparently carefully contrived acts, may be encouraging
values antithetical to the Republic itself.



That causes me great alarm and concern, as it should every
American regardless of party.



There are certain moral certainties, bright lines in the
sand, that are not debated in civilized society. Racism, white supremacy, and support
for Nazism are among them. No race, no people, no ethnicity is superior to any
other. Advocating violence against someone else because they are different than
you is wrong. Killing innocent people is wrong. Full stop.



An easy test of leadership, methinks, is denouncing
yesterday's terrible events in Charlottesville with clarity and precision. "Nazism,
racism, and violence are acts of terrorism, and have no place in our Republic
and receive my strongest condemnation" would've been a good start. Perhaps you might have taken a cue from Vice President Pence, who had no problem naming who was the blame for yesterday's events: "We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists,
neo-Nazis or the KKK," said Pence, calling them "dangerous fringe groups" today in Colombia.



Instead, the President issued a statement that was ambiguous
at best, but spoke volumes: Calling out racism, Nazism, and white supremacy wasn't
on the table. Best case? He's a coward and inept. I'm less inclined to believe this is the case: He's spoken out clearly concerning acts of terrorism undertaken by Muslims in the past. And Trump certainly has no trouble telling us what he thinks most of the time. That leaves the worst case: He's sympathetic
to their cause.


Many Americans voted for Trump because they were angry at
what they believe our country had become. Others voted for Trump simply because
he was the Republican nominee. Still others voted for him because they couldn't
stomach Hillary Clinton. It is not for me to judge a person who voted for
Trump. That's their business, and frankly, that's water under the bridge



We've seen Trump can't stomach doing what's right when the
path is clear, and may be conspiring with forces seeking to undermine the very
foundation of our Republic. It doesn't matter how you voted, but how you answer
the question: "What now?"



If you are troubled with what you've seen, at least we have
a constitutional system with multiple points of access. Write to the president;
tell him how you feel (although I'm skeptical that would matter). Write to your congressional delegation: Remember,
ambition counters ambition in our system of separated (but shared) powers. Write
to your state parties and tell them to make changes to the primary system that
will make it more likely better candidates survive the nomination process
(ironically, that may mean a little less democracy in the primaries and more
control to party elites who were overwhelmingly opposed to Trump). But do
something. Be heard, while you still can.



We have a democracy. That is, as Ben Franklin said, as long
as we can keep it. We've kept it for more than 200 years.



Whether we keep it for another 200 depends on the choices
you make now.



Just in case you need a refresher course on leadership, here's
how great leaders should behave:



1.      
Responsibility. Eisenhower, on the eve of D-Day,
prepared this statement should the landings fail:









"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed
to gain a satisfactory foothold and I

 have  withdrawn
the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on  the  best information available. The troops, the
air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches
to the attempt it is mine alone."



2.      
Character. George W. Bush after 9-11.





3.      
Ability and Experience. LBJ and the Voting
Rights Act.





4.      
Fortitude. Ronald Reagan in Berlin at the
Brandenburg Gates.





5.      
All of the Above. Churchill. 1940, as France
fell and Britain stood alone.





Ask our members of Congress to display the leadership our President will not.

National drug control policies and strategies are heavily dependent on the international legal framework. International standards set by United Nations drug control conventions serve as basic principles for the development and shape of national drug control systems. International drug control system has its own, a very specific history and dynamics of development in which the United States definitely did play a very important role promoting prohibitionist approach based on the abstinence paradigm. According to this paradigm drug use is acceptable only for scientific and medical purposes. Unsurprisingly, recreational or experimental use of drugs is considered as unacceptable and inevitably leading to addiction. This hard-line approach dominated in public discourse during the 20th century and the drug use was seen either as a sin or as a disease. However, it seems that from the beginning of the 21th century, international drug control regime, ideologically based on the abstinence paradigm, is facing big challenges and it is not entirely clear what to expect in the future. Ironically, the United States is the most important player again, but this time in quite the opposite role. Moralising teetotaller Dr. Jeckyll suddenly turned in a pothead Mr. Hyde. So-called "cannabis capitalism" process in several states of USA, when the sale of recreational cannabis was fully legalised, raised serious questions about the perspectives of international drug control system, because such practice is obviously in breach of the international law. Also it is important to note other signs of moving towards the drug policy with a human face, especially raising the popularity of the harm reduction approach to the drug problem and process of "soft deception' related to that. The latter means that some countries are choosing more tolerant approach theoretically not infringing legal boundaries set by the conventions. Considering the context provided above, the main purpose of this study was to make the analysis of the peculiarities of global drug control system and their interrelation with the national drug control policy in the light of personal drug use. In order to fulfil this goal historical analysis of the development of United Nations global drug control system was made, peculiarities and characteristic features of the legal framework of this system as well as legal boundaries set for countries by the conventions were analysed. Particular attention was paid to the international legal framework regarding personal drug use, different national practises in this perspective as well as possible directions of the future development of global drug control system were discussed. Finally, Lithuanian drug control policy in the context of United Nations drug control regime was discussed. Main research methods were: logical-linguistic, systemic, comparative as well as analysis of documents and secondary data. Moreover, relevant scientific literature, national and international legal acts in the area of drug control were studied. The drug control and drug policy primarily were explored from criminological and sociology of law perspectives. In author's point of view these interdisciplinary social sciences enable to achieve deeper understanding of drug control phenomenon than it is possible to attain using only narrow legalistic analysis of laws and legal norms. According to the findings of the study the drug control policy (national, regional or global) is a complex phenomenon influenced by many cultural, social and other factors as well as different interest groups (physicians, law enforcement agencies, etc.) operating in the drug control field. It is important to stress, that usually legal control has a very limited (if has at all) influence to the prevalence of illicit drug use, which is mostly determined by the culture, social policy and social context. On the other hand, the drug control remedies are significant when dealing with the high-risk/problem drug use. The United Nations conventions set legal boundaries to the countries, but there is a certain room of interpretation. United Nations institutions (especially International Drug Control Board) support the narrow interpretation of the treaties and usually criticise countries (as sending "wrong signals") that are leaning towards less strict drug policies. Accordingly, various harm reduction practises are on the edge of violation of international law but this is a matter of interpretation. The United Nations conventions and European Union documents make a clear distinction between drug dealing and activities attributed to personal use. The drug dealing is always a matter of criminal law; accordingly criminal sanctions should be strict enough. As regards to the personal drug use countries have more flexibility and other measures (administrative sanctions, medical treatment, etc.) could be applied. On the other hand, legal market of substances controlled by the Schedule IV (e.g. cannabis) could not be created at the same time not infringing international law. In the 21th century a gradual weakening of international drug control regime could be observed. The main feature of this phenomenon is a soft deception, which is related to the increasing popularity of the harm reduction doctrine. It goes hand in hand with the decriminalisation and/or the depenalisation of activities related to personal drug use shifting from punitive approach to the more health oriented. The main challenge to the existing global drug control system is de jure legalisation of cannabis in several USA states. It is related to the process of cannabis use "normalisation"; then such practice is not regarded as a pathological behaviour anymore. It is important to stress that this approach contradicts the abstinence paradigm, which is an ideological core of the United Nations conventions. It creates a high tension and the future of international drug control system in existing framework becomes uncertain. In order to maintain the stability of the system in particular and the trust in international law in general, the revision of UN drug control conventions seems to be inevitable. Lithuanian drug control policy is oriented to the strict control measures and prevention. As regards to the personal drug use till 2017 the drug gaining and possession were partially decriminalised because such activities were subject of either criminal or administrative liability. From 2017 onwards such activities are subject of criminal law only without any explanation of this change of law. Therefore, the Lithuanian drug control policy is moving to the opposite direction than in the Western world, i.e. to more strict measures regarding personal use of drugs. In this context, it is important to stress, that criminal law is considered as ultima ratio measure which has multiple side effects, thus criminalisation of certain activity or introduction of criminal sanctions must be strongly grounded. Preferably, not only by arguments, but also by hard empirical data supporting those arguments. It could be concluded, that decriminalisation in the sphere of personal drug use has legal and pragmatic assumptions. Such policy does not violate legal boundaries set by the United Nations conventions and reflects the newest tendencies of how modern drug control policy should look like. Last but not least, it is important to stress, that effective drug control policy should be evidence based. That means that drug policy changes should be supported by science innovations, empirical data, cost-benefit analysis, etc.

After having accompanied the industrial revolution in the 19th century, rail transport difficultly adapt to the challenges launched by the road since a hundred years. Nowadays, European rail transport suffers from competition from the road, both for travellers and cargo. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the role of the railways in the goods and passengers transport has been declining. In the countries of the European Union, it now does ensure only 6% of passenger transport and 16% of goods transport. The European rail transport renewal is also marked by the development of the high-speed train. Total passenger "high speed" traffic is 15 billion passenger-km in 1990 against 111 billion passenger-km in 2014, that is an overall growth of 740%. The share of total passenger "high speed" traffic has increased from 4% in 1990 to 25% in 2014.The obvious observation is that, since the beginning of the 1990s, the railways have lost market share and therefore required growing subsidies.The need to improve this situation led to imagine a wide range of possibilities for action by national and European public authorities. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the European Commission is engaged in a vast reform aiming at the construction of an integrated railway area.In a context of European rail slump, we want to appreciate the performance of the railways in order to identify the main factors that will avoid the decline. We start from the idea that railways must be efficient in terms of production and commercialization of services.Each of the four chapters of this thesis uses various methods to contribute to the growing field of the rail transport.The first chapter uses the partial measures of productivity indicators to evaluate the performance of a panel of four European railway companies, the DB in Germany, SNCF in France, the RENFE in Spain and FS in Italy, observed between 1990 and 2012. Our aim here is twofold, to take stock of the current situation and reveal the path of major European rail companies on a period starting a little before the railway reforms initiated by the European Commission. These indicators help us to evaluate four areas of performance: productive performance, business performance, economic performance and financial performance. It is for us the opportunity to evaluate the efficiency of the directive 91-440 of 29 July 1991 relating to the development of Community railways, directive that recommends to promote the independence of management of railway companies, as well as their financial clean-up, especially their deleveraging. The second chapter shows the theoretical framework of technical efficiency, by a review of the theoretical foundations and by presenting the methodology of the borders. To complete this analysis, we propose a review of non-exhaustive literature of empirical studies on the evaluation of the performance of the railways. The third chapter suggests empirical contributions to the measurement of the performance of the railways. It is for us the opportunity to evaluate, compare and explain the differences in performance of some countries of the European union. Four performance indicators have caught our attention: productive efficiency, trade efficiency, technical efficiency and the variation of the total factor productivity. To this end, we simultaneously estimated three parametric and stochastic borders, namely, a production-oriented input border, a border of consumption and a border of technical efficiency-oriented input. ; Après avoir accompagné la révolution industrielle au XIXe siècle, le transport ferroviaire ne parvient que difficilement à s'adapter aux défis que lui a lancés la route depuis une centaine d'années. Depuis le début du XXe siècle, le rôle des chemins de fer dans le transport des marchandises et de voyageurs n'a cessé de décliner. Dans les pays de l'Union Européenne, il n'assure plus désormais que 6 % du transport de voyageurs et 16 % du transport de marchandises. Le renouveau du transport ferroviaire européen est aussi marqué par le développement du train à grande vitesse. Le trafic total de voyageurs « grande vitesse » est de 15 milliards de voyageurs-km en 1990 contre 111 milliards de voyageurs-km en 2014 soit une croissance globale de 740 %. La Part du trafic total de voyageurs « grande vitesse » a progressé, elle est passée de 4 % en 1990 contre 25 % en 2014. Le constat évident est que, depuis le début des années 1990, les chemins de fer ont perdu des parts de marché et ont donc exigé des subventions croissantes. La nécessité d'améliorer cette situation a conduit à imaginer un large éventail de possibilités d'action de la part des pouvoirs publics nationaux et européens. Depuis le début des années 90, la Commission Européenne s'est engagée dans un vaste chantier dont la finalité est la construction d'un espace ferroviaire intégré. Dans un contexte de marasme ferroviaire européen, nous voulons apprécier les performances des chemins de fer afin d'identifier les principaux facteurs qui permettront d'éviter le déclin. Nous partons de l'idée que les chemins de fer se doivent d'être performants sur le plan de la production et de la commercialisation des biens et services. Chacun des quatre chapitres de cette thèse utilise diverses méthodes pour contribuer au champ croissant de l'économie du transport ferroviaire. Le premier chapitre utilise les mesures partielles des indicateurs de productivité pour évaluer la performance d'un panel de quatre compagnies ferroviaires européennes, la DB en Allemagne, la SNCF en France, la RENFE en Espagne et les FS en Italie, observées entre 1990 et 2012. Notre objectif ici est double, dresser un bilan de la situation actuelle et révéler la trajectoire des entreprises ferroviaires européennes majeures sur une période débutant un peu avant les réformes ferroviaires initiées par la Commission européenne. Les indicateurs retenus nous ont permis d'évaluer quatre domaines de performance : la performance productive, la performance commerciale, la performance économique et la performance financière. Il est question pour nous d'évaluer l'efficacité de la directive 91-440 du 29 juillet 1991 relative au développement de chemins de fer communautaires, directive qui recommande de promouvoir l'indépendance de gestion des entreprises ferroviaires, ainsi que leur assainissement financier, en particulier leur désendettement. Le deuxième chapitre aborde le cadre théorique de l'efficacité technique, en passant en une revue les fondements théoriques et en présentant la méthodologie des frontières. Pour compléter cette analyse, nous proposons une revue de littérature non exhaustive des études empiriques portant sur l'évaluation des performances des chemins de fer. Le troisième chapitre propose des contributions empiriques à la mesure des performances des chemins de fer. Il est question pour nous d'évaluer, de comparer et d'expliquer les écarts de performances de certains pays de l'union européenne. Quatre indicateurs de performance ont retenu notre attention : l'efficacité productive, l'efficacité commerciale, l'efficacité technique et la variation de la productivité totale des facteurs. Pour ce faire nous avons simultanément estimé trois frontières paramétriques et stochastiques, à savoir, une frontière de production orientée input, une frontière de consommation et une frontière d'efficacité technique orientée input.

Hintergrund: Die Delegation ärztlicher Leistungen an nichtärztliches medizinisches Fachpersonal wird in Deutschland vor dem Hintergrund eines absehbaren Hausärztemangels bei gleichzeitig wachsendem Bedarf an hausärztlichen Betreuungsleistungen seit einiger Zeit diskutiert. Inzwischen wurden unterschiedliche Qualifikationsmodelle für Medizinische Fachangestellte (MFA) (z.B. die Versorgungs-assistentin in der Hausarztpraxis, VERAH) konzipiert und implementiert, die für eine Delegation von Leistungen qualifizieren. VERAH sind v.a. in Baden-Württemberg in Hausarztpraxen tätig, da deren Einsatz dort im Rahmen der Hausarztzentrierten Versorgung (HzV) seit 2008 finanziell honoriert wird. Dabei ist es den Praxen freigestellt, wie sie das VERAH-Konzept und damit auch die Delegation umsetzen. Auch gesetzliche Vorgaben zur Delegation lassen erheblichen Spielraum bei der Umsetzung. Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass weiterhin Unklarheit darüber besteht, welche Leistungsübertragung als "Delegation" und welche eher als "Substitution" zu verstehen ist. Zielrichtung der Arbeit: Ziel dieser publikationsbasierten Dissertation ist eine Darstellung der Formen und Graduierungen von Delegation, d.h. der tatsächlichen Umsetzung von Leistungsübertragung in der Hausarztpraxis am Beispiel der VERAH in Baden-Württemberg. Es können Empfehlungen für das Gelingen der Delegation aus der Analyse von Ergebnissen auf Patienten-, Praxis- und Teamebene abgeleitet werden. Resultate: Diese Dissertation basiert auf sechs Publikationen, die im Rahmen von zwei Projekten zur Evaluation des VERAH-Einsatzes in der HzV in Baden-Württemberg entstanden. Die Evaluationen basieren auf einem Mixed Methods-Design, d.h. auf der Analyse von querschnittlich erhobenen quantitativen Daten sowie qualitativen Daten zu verschiedenen Fragen des VERAH-Einsatzes. Es existiert ein breites Spektrum an Formen und Graduierungen der Delegation in Hausarztpraxen, die am HzV-Modell teilnehmen. VERAH übernehmen einerseits supplementäre (zusätzliche) ärztliche Tätigkeiten, wie z.B. Geriatrisches Assessment oder Impfberatungen, aber auch komplementäre (ergänzende) Tätigkeiten wie z.B. die Beratung der Angehörigen zu Hilfeleistungen im Gesundheitssystem. Vor allem im Rahmen von Hausbesuchen üben VERAH auch substituierende (ersetzende) Funktionen aus. Auf Patientenseite sind gerade ältere, multimorbide und pflegebedürftige Patienten Empfänger delegierter Leistungen. Sie erhalten eine umfassende Betreuung und werden beim Erhalt ihrer häuslichen Selbständigkeit unterstützt. Die Patienten sehen in der VERAH eine zusätzliche Vertrauensperson in der Praxis und akzeptieren sie als kompetente Ansprechpartnerin. Die Hausärzte profitieren durch die Delegation von Tätigkeiten an VERAH, indem sie entlastet werden und Zeit für wichtige medizinische Aufgaben gewinnen. Für VERAH stellt die Delegation eine Erweiterung ihrer Tätigkeits- und Kompetenzbereiche dar und kann insofern als ein Schritt zur Professionalisierung des nichtärztlichen Personals einer Hausarztpraxis gelten. Viele Faktoren, die zum Gelingen einer Umsetzung der Delegation beitragen, können vom hausärztlichen Team selbst beeinflusst werden. Darunter fallen das Engagement der MFA, die Qualifikation, zeitliche Flexibilität, ausreichend Gestaltungsspielraum, Grad der Autonomie, Abgrenzung des Verantwortungsbereiches und auch adäquates Equipment. Entsprechend richten sich die hier formulierten Empfehlungen meist an die Praxis, aber auch an den Gesetzgeber. Bedeutung für die übergeordnete Fragestellung: Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen, dass mit dem VERAH-Konzept erste Ansätze einer teambasierten Versorgung vorhanden sind, und dass sich die Analyse dieses Konzeptes eignet, um Desiderata für die Zukunft von Delegation (haus-)ärztlicher Leistungen an nichtärztliches Personal formulieren zu können. Teambasierte Ansätze bedürfen, wie auch internationale Beispiele verdeutlichen, einer Weiterentwicklung der bestehenden Delegationskonzepte in deutschen Hausarztpraxen. Idealerweise mündet eine mit Delegation einhergehende Aufgaben- und Rollenneuverteilung in einer Betreuungsform, in der alle Teammitglieder entsprechend ihrer Qualifikation an der Versorgung der Patienten in der Hausarztpraxis beteiligt sind. Daher kommt die Einbindung von Pflegekräften in die hausärztliche Versorgung genauso in Frage, wie auch speziell ausgebildete VERAH/MFA. In jedem Fall sollte über Schritte der Professionalisierung nichtärztlicher Berufsgruppen nachgedacht werden. Ob sich in Deutschland, wie in den USA und in Kanada, aus diesen Delegationskonzepten im Laufe der Zeit Substitution (im Sinne der Verantwortungsübertragung an nichtärztliche Berufsgruppen) entwickelt, bleibt abzuwarten. Die Ergebnisse der Dissertation zeigen, dass es mit der gegenwärtigen Umsetzung der Delegation an VERAH zu einer Erweiterung des Leistungsspektrums in den Hausarztpraxen kommen kann; eine Ausweitung der Delegation sollte jedoch zeitnah vorangetrieben werden. ; Background: Against the background of a foreseeable shortage of family doctors and a simultaneously increasing need for primary care services, the delegation of medical services to non-physician medical professionals has been a subject of debate for some time in Germany. As a result, various qualification models for health care assistants (e.g. specially qualified health care assistants in the family practice, or VERAHs) that are trained to perform selected services have now been drawn up and implemented. Since 2008, the deployment of VERAHs has received financial support as part of the GP centered health care program (HzV) in Baden-Wuerttemberg, and as a result VERAHs are widespread in the state. Practices are free to implement the VERAH concept and to delegate services as they see fit. Legal guidelines also provide much scope in the means of implementation. It is also difficult to define which transfer of services should be considers delegation and which substitution. Aim of the study: The aim of this publication-based dissertation is to present the types and degrees of delegation that take place, i.e., the actual implementation of a transfer of responsibilities in the family practice, using VERAHs in Baden-Wuerttemberg as an example. A further objective is to develop recommendations on how to delegate successfully from the analysis of results on a patient, practice and practice-team level. Results: This dissertation is based on six publications that stem from two projects aimed at evaluating the use of VERAHs in HzV in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The evaluations use a mixed-methods design, i.e., they analyze cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative data relating to various questions concerning the use of VERAHs. There is a wide range of types and degrees of delegation in use in family practices participating in the HzV model. On the one hand, VERAHs take on additional tasks normally performed by the doctor, such as geriatric assessments or vaccination recommendations, but also complementary tasks, such as advising relatives on services provided within the health system. VERAHs also substitute for the doctor by performing home visits. As far as patients are concerned, VERAHs are mainly delegated to provide services for the elderly, the multimorbid and those in need of high-maintenance care. They receive comprehensive care and are supported in preserving their domestic independence. Patients see VERAHs as additional health professionals in the practice and accept them as competent contact persons. The delegation of tasks to VERAHs unburdens family doctors and enables them to gain time for important medical tasks. For VERAHs, the delegation means their field of activity and competence is broadened. It can further be regarded as a step towards the professionalization of non-physician staff in the family practice. The analysis of the implementation of delegation shows that many of the factors which enable delegation to be successful can be influenced by the family practice team, such as the dedication of the health care assistant, the qualification itself, temporal flexibility, sufficient organizational freedom, the degree of autonomy, a clear definition of responsibilities, and adequate equipment. The recommendations made here are mostly directed towards the practice but also towards legislators. Relevance to the primary question: The results of this study show that the VERAH concept represents the beginnings of a team-based approach, and that the analysis of this concept is well suited to the formulation of requirements for the delegation of physician services to non-physician personnel in the future. International examples show that team based approaches require the further development of existing delegation concepts in family practices. Ideally, the redistribution of tasks and roles that result from delegation will lead to a form of health care in which all team members are involved in caring for patients in line with their qualifications. Thus the involvement of nurses in family practice-based health care should be considered, in addition to specially trained VERAH/HCA. It is essential that thought is given to the professionalization of non-physician health occupations. In the U.S. and Canada, substitution (in the sense of the transfer of responsibilities to non-physician professions) developed out of such delegation concepts, but it remains to be seen whether this will also occur in Germany. The results of the research described in this dissertation show that the way delegation to VERAHs is currently carried out can lead to an expansion in the range of services provided in family practices. However, the extension of delegation should be promoted promptly.

Food packaging is a rapidly evolving field. Packaging keep food safe and retains its nutritional properties and sensory characteristics; furthermore, it provides additional features that are important for consumers. Packaging system, as well as other food contact materials (FCM) such as adhesives and printing inks, are the main sources of chemicals in food products and beverages. Human exposure to chemicals from food contact materials may occur as a result of migration, a mass transfer phenomenon resulting from a tendency to balance all chemical potential within a system from the packaging into foodstuff. There are several parameters affecting migration, which are related to food, to packaging and to chemicals that are involved. The food packaging legislation establishes an overall migration limit (OML), which measures the inertness of the materials and that regards all chemicals in a packaging, and a specific migration limit (SML) for specific substances that may be dangerous for human health. An important tool to evaluate the compliance of FCM with the limits are the migration tests. Food simulants as well as temperature, time and contact conditions for migration testing are regulated for plastic materials, but not for paperboard material, so that contact condition are derived at least partially from plastic legislation. A very important class of contaminants involved in migration from packaging into food are hydrocarbons, in particular mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOHs) consisting of MOSH (mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons) and MOAH (mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The MOSH fraction may include polyolefin oligomeric saturated hydrocarbons (POSH), oligomers of polyolefin, which can migrate from plastic bags, heat-sealable layers and other laminates as well as adhesives and plasticizers. Different studies have demonstrated that MOHs, POSH and PAHs migrate from packaging into food and contaminate it with negative effects for human health. In the first part of this PhD work a rapid migration test, using simple and cheap commercially glass weighing bottles was developed to assess the migration of mineral oil from cardboard. At the end of the test, mineral oil was extracted from cardboard and from Tenax® and the entity of migration was calculated both in terms of direct migration (amount of MOHs found in simulant) and in terms of indirect migration (contamination lost by cardboard). The two measures were in good agreement demonstrating the mass balance in the cell. The migration test performed was subsequently used to evaluate the efficiency of a new sequential polymer treatment of paperboard to develop a barrier against the migration of mineral oil. The material consisted of two layer deposited on the cardboard. The first, poly (methyl methacrylate) protective layer, gave hydrophobicity to cardboard, while the second, cyclic olefin copolymer, filled the open pores of the material surface and reduced the mineral oil hydrocarbon migration. Subsequently, the developed migration tests was also used to study the migration of MOHs from recycled cardboard into dry semolina and egg pasta under accelerated condition (40°C 10days) to determine the influence of some parameters on migration process. Amount of pasta, type of contact pasta/cardboard, food size and head space volume, were studied parameter that showed a great effect on MOHs migration from cardboard. They influenced the entity of the migration, but also the molecular weight range of hydrocarbons that can migrate into the pasta. The study of these parameters pointed out that the migration tests suggested to evaluate the compliance of the packaging material, do not always reflect the real mechanisms involved in migration in real food. Semolina and egg pasta behaved very differently: egg pasta tends to have a higher absorbing effect than semolina pasta, especially when low amount of pasta are in contact with the cardboard. This is not only attributable to the fat content but also at structure and porosity of the matrix. A correlation with data obtained from migration test with Tenax® was finally carried out. Tenax® tended to overestimate the migration in semolina pasta and, at the opposite, to underestimate the migration in egg pasta. Another part of this work regarded the investigation on the presence of selected hydrocarbon contaminants (mineral oil and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in pizza boxes collected in different areas of Italy. From the analysis of cardboards, three sources of contamination were clearly identified: illegal presence of recycled paper, printing ink containing alkylbenzenes, and refined paraffin (food-grade mineral oil used in the waterproofing of paper). All of the cardboard boxes showed low level of PAHs. The potential of these contaminants to migrate from cardboard into the pizza was demonstrated carring out migration tests using Tenax® as simulant. The per capita daily intake from "take away" pizza was calculated both for MOHs and for PAH8, showing a negligible (0.005%) global diet intake contribution for PAHs, but not for mineral oils, for which, the average contribution ranged between 7.3% and 12.8%. Regarding plastic materials, a study on the presence of POHs in ready-to-eat vegetable soup, packaged in polypropylene container, was conduct. The analysis of food before and after microwave heating demonstrated that a part of POHs contamination was from the production of the soup and another part migrated from PP container. The migration depends on fat content of the soup, on original amount of POHs in the container and on heating conditions. Different simulant were tested to assess the migration of the POH from containers and their performance was compared with those in real food. Vegetable olive oil as simulant tends to overestimate the contamination, also when fat reduction factor was applied. Instead, the ethanol 95% seems to be the best choice for the migration test. Finally, the last part of the work a simple method based on a liquid–liquid partition step to eliminate the bulk of the saturated hydrocarbons, followed by DI-SPME using a Carbopack Z/PDMS fiber, was employed for selective uptake and concentration of BaP (Benzo(a)pyrene) in the analysis of microcrystalline waxes. A preliminary step using liquid-liquid partition was necessary to remove the bulk of saturated hydrocarbons. Wax sample was dissolved in cyclohexane, and BaP was extracted with dimethyl formammide (DMF)/water 9/1 (v/v). A mixture of water and hexane were added to the residual DMF/water in order to change the coefficient partition of BaP and extract it in hexane. The latter was the most suitable solvent to carry out the final enrichment step by direct-immersion solid phase microextraction (SPME). The method showed good performances of repeatability and recovery. Characterization of gas chromatographic profile of waxes was also evaluated. They show different profiles of distribution ranging from n-C20 to n-C60. All of the samples presented less than 5% of hydrocarbons below n-C25 In addition, artificial saliva from chewing tests was collected and analyzed in order to evaluate possible release of hydrocarbon particularly BaP from waxes, gum bases and chewing gums during their contact with human saliva in the mouth. No detectable amount of contaminants were found in samples.

After having accompanied the industrial revolution in the 19th century, rail transport difficultly adapt to the challenges launched by the road since a hundred years. Nowadays, European rail transport suffers from competition from the road, both for travellers and cargo. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the role of the railways in the goods and passengers transport has been declining. In the countries of the European Union, it now does ensure only 6% of passenger transport and 16% of goods transport. The European rail transport renewal is also marked by the development of the high-speed train. Total passenger "high speed" traffic is 15 billion passenger-km in 1990 against 111 billion passenger-km in 2014, that is an overall growth of 740%. The share of total passenger "high speed" traffic has increased from 4% in 1990 to 25% in 2014.The obvious observation is that, since the beginning of the 1990s, the railways have lost market share and therefore required growing subsidies.The need to improve this situation led to imagine a wide range of possibilities for action by national and European public authorities. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the European Commission is engaged in a vast reform aiming at the construction of an integrated railway area.In a context of European rail slump, we want to appreciate the performance of the railways in order to identify the main factors that will avoid the decline. We start from the idea that railways must be efficient in terms of production and commercialization of services.Each of the four chapters of this thesis uses various methods to contribute to the growing field of the rail transport.The first chapter uses the partial measures of productivity indicators to evaluate the performance of a panel of four European railway companies, the DB in Germany, SNCF in France, the RENFE in Spain and FS in Italy, observed between 1990 and 2012. Our aim here is twofold, to take stock of the current situation and reveal the path of major European rail companies on a period starting a little before the railway reforms initiated by the European Commission. These indicators help us to evaluate four areas of performance: productive performance, business performance, economic performance and financial performance. It is for us the opportunity to evaluate the efficiency of the directive 91-440 of 29 July 1991 relating to the development of Community railways, directive that recommends to promote the independence of management of railway companies, as well as their financial clean-up, especially their deleveraging. The second chapter shows the theoretical framework of technical efficiency, by a review of the theoretical foundations and by presenting the methodology of the borders. To complete this analysis, we propose a review of non-exhaustive literature of empirical studies on the evaluation of the performance of the railways. The third chapter suggests empirical contributions to the measurement of the performance of the railways. It is for us the opportunity to evaluate, compare and explain the differences in performance of some countries of the European union. Four performance indicators have caught our attention: productive efficiency, trade efficiency, technical efficiency and the variation of the total factor productivity. To this end, we simultaneously estimated three parametric and stochastic borders, namely, a production-oriented input border, a border of consumption and a border of technical efficiency-oriented input. ; Après avoir accompagné la révolution industrielle au XIXe siècle, le transport ferroviaire ne parvient que difficilement à s'adapter aux défis que lui a lancés la route depuis une centaine d'années. Depuis le début du XXe siècle, le rôle des chemins de fer dans le transport des marchandises et de voyageurs n'a cessé de décliner. Dans les pays de l'Union Européenne, il n'assure plus désormais que 6 % du transport de voyageurs et 16 % du transport de marchandises. Le renouveau du transport ferroviaire européen est aussi marqué par le développement du train à grande vitesse. Le trafic total de voyageurs « grande vitesse » est de 15 milliards de voyageurs-km en 1990 contre 111 milliards de voyageurs-km en 2014 soit une croissance globale de 740 %. La Part du trafic total de voyageurs « grande vitesse » a progressé, elle est passée de 4 % en 1990 contre 25 % en 2014. Le constat évident est que, depuis le début des années 1990, les chemins de fer ont perdu des parts de marché et ont donc exigé des subventions croissantes. La nécessité d'améliorer cette situation a conduit à imaginer un large éventail de possibilités d'action de la part des pouvoirs publics nationaux et européens. Depuis le début des années 90, la Commission Européenne s'est engagée dans un vaste chantier dont la finalité est la construction d'un espace ferroviaire intégré. Dans un contexte de marasme ferroviaire européen, nous voulons apprécier les performances des chemins de fer afin d'identifier les principaux facteurs qui permettront d'éviter le déclin. Nous partons de l'idée que les chemins de fer se doivent d'être performants sur le plan de la production et de la commercialisation des biens et services. Chacun des quatre chapitres de cette thèse utilise diverses méthodes pour contribuer au champ croissant de l'économie du transport ferroviaire. Le premier chapitre utilise les mesures partielles des indicateurs de productivité pour évaluer la performance d'un panel de quatre compagnies ferroviaires européennes, la DB en Allemagne, la SNCF en France, la RENFE en Espagne et les FS en Italie, observées entre 1990 et 2012. Notre objectif ici est double, dresser un bilan de la situation actuelle et révéler la trajectoire des entreprises ferroviaires européennes majeures sur une période débutant un peu avant les réformes ferroviaires initiées par la Commission européenne. Les indicateurs retenus nous ont permis d'évaluer quatre domaines de performance : la performance productive, la performance commerciale, la performance économique et la performance financière. Il est question pour nous d'évaluer l'efficacité de la directive 91-440 du 29 juillet 1991 relative au développement de chemins de fer communautaires, directive qui recommande de promouvoir l'indépendance de gestion des entreprises ferroviaires, ainsi que leur assainissement financier, en particulier leur désendettement. Le deuxième chapitre aborde le cadre théorique de l'efficacité technique, en passant en une revue les fondements théoriques et en présentant la méthodologie des frontières. Pour compléter cette analyse, nous proposons une revue de littérature non exhaustive des études empiriques portant sur l'évaluation des performances des chemins de fer. Le troisième chapitre propose des contributions empiriques à la mesure des performances des chemins de fer. Il est question pour nous d'évaluer, de comparer et d'expliquer les écarts de performances de certains pays de l'union européenne. Quatre indicateurs de performance ont retenu notre attention : l'efficacité productive, l'efficacité commerciale, l'efficacité technique et la variation de la productivité totale des facteurs. Pour ce faire nous avons simultanément estimé trois frontières paramétriques et stochastiques, à savoir, une frontière de production orientée input, une frontière de consommation et une frontière d'efficacité technique orientée input.

Since 2007 the Mexican Govemment introduced the fight against poverty as a top priority in its agenda,thus increasing the amount of resources allocated to minimize this social condition. Nevertheless, poverty levels in Mexico have increased by 6.56% between 2008 and 2010. Households living under extreme poverty conditions also increased from 11.7 million people in 2008 to 12.8 million people in 2010. Two out of three individuals living under this condition reside in rural areas. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) proposed in 2002 the implementation of a new strategy to fight poverty: the Strategic Project for Food Security (SPFS, Proyecto Estratégico para la Seguridad Alimentaria PESA). This poverty reduction program includes methodological and technical support measures that aim at improving the subsistence, production and income systems of beneficiary communities. In this doctoral thesis I propose to evaluate whether the implementation of the PESA program creates the conditions to decrease poverty levels through the creation and capitalization of human capital, and whether the implementation of this program has a positive and significant influence on the welfare level of beneficiary households. Furthermore, we test for the existence of a return on the program's investments. By evaluating the strategy of the PESA program, we move away from conventional measurements of human capital and we adopt a more holistic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of poverty reduction policies, acknowledging the multidimensional nature of territorial development in which aspects related to the economy, housing, education, healthcare and culture play a central role. To achieve the objective of this thesis a sample of 2,240 households was created, including 1,122 households that participated in the PESA Program and a control group of 1,118 non-beneficiary households residing in the same communities. Variables linked to household's income , schooling, healthcare, as well as demographic factors were used to determine if welfare improvements followed the enrolment in the PESA among beneficiaries, compared to the control group. Additionally,different statistic models (treatment and selection specifications) were proposed to test whether support policies that rely on community involvement, such as PESA, increases different dimensions of welfare related to investment in education and healthcare among beneficiaries. The empirical findings presented in this dissertation support the argument that human capital formation is a key ingredient that contributes to increase well-being levels in marginalized communities. This paper has important implications for how policy makers can match solutions generated by poverty reduction programs with the objective of breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty via investments in territorial capital. Poverty reduction programs, such as PESA, have proven themselves efficient in narrowing the income inequality gap in deprived communities.The program's methodology and permanent technical support and supervision are key elements that help comba! certain poverty dimensions. These components should be included in ali support programs oriented to the minimization of poverty levels in rural areas. Finally,welfare-enhan cing support programs that seek to comba! poverty should not be restricted and exclusively implemented in regions exposed to severe poverty conditions.On contrary, these policies should be part of the country's development strategy and should be included as a transversal policy in the different settings of the government at top administrative levels. ; Desde el año 2007 el Gobierno Mexicano introdujo la lucha en contra de la pobreza como una prioridad en su agenda. Derivado de ello, montos crecientes de recursos fueron destinados para tratar de minimizar esta condición social. A pesar de lo anterior, los niveles de pobreza en México se han incrementado en 6.56% entre 2008 y 2010. Los niveles de pobreza extrema también se incrementaron de 11.7 millones de personas en 2008 a 12.8 millones en 2010. Dos de cada tres individuos que viven bajo estas condiciones residen en áreas rurales. La Organización para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO) propuso en el 2002 la implementación de una nueva estrategia para combatir la pobreza, el Proyecto Estratégico para la Seguridad Alimentaria (PESA) . Este programa se basa en otorgar apoyo metodológico y técnico buscando mejorar los sistemas de subsistencia, producción e ingreso de las comunidades beneficiarias. En esta tesis doctoral propongo evaluar si la implementación del PESA crea las condiciones para disminuir los niveles de pobreza a través de la creación y capitalización de capital humano, así como si la implementación de este programa tiene una influencia positiva significativa en el nivel de bienestar de sus beneficiarios. Además, examinamos la existencia del retorno en las inversiones del programa. Al evaluar la estrategia del Programa PESA, nos apartamos de la medida convencional de capital humano y adoptamos una aproximación más holística para evaluar la efectividad de las políticas de reducción de la pobreza, reconociendo la naturaleza multidimensional deldesarrollo territorial en la cual,aspectos relacionados a la economía, el hogar, educación, servicios de salud y cultura tienen un papel central. Para alcanzar el objetivo de esta tesis, se creó una muestra de 2,240 individuos, incluyendo 1,122 personas que participaron en el Programa PESA y un grupo control de 1,118 de no beneficiarios que residen en las mismas comunidades. Variables ligadas al ingreso familiar, escolaridad, acceso a servicios de salud así como factores demográficos. se emplearon para determinar si existió mejora en el nivel de bienestar en los beneficiarios del Programa PESA en comparación con el grupo control. Adicionalmente, diferentes modelos estadísticos (tratamiento y datos específicos de selección) se propusieron para probar si las políticas de apoyo que se sustentan en el involucramiento comunitario como el PESA, mejoran diferentes dimensiones de bienestar, relacionadas con la inversión en educación y servicios de salud entre sus beneficiarios. Los hallazgos empíricos presentados en esta disertación sustentan el argumento en el sentido de que la formación de capital humano es un ingrediente clave que contribuye a mejorar los niveles de bienestar en comunidades marginales. Este trabajo tiene implicaciones importantes para que quienes diseñan políticas y programas, puedan conjuntar las soluciones generadas por los programas para reducción de la pobreza, con el objetivo de romper la transmisión intergeneracional de la pobreza a través de inversiones en capitalterritorial. Los programas para la reducción de la pobreza como el PESA, han probado ser eficaces para disminuir la brecha de desigualdad en comunidades pobres. La metodología del programa y el apoyo técnico permanentes, así como la supervisión, son elementos clave que ayudan a combatir algunas dimensiones de la pobreza. Estos componentes deben ser incluidos en todos los programas de apoyo orientados a la minimización de la pobreza en áreas rurales. Finalmente,los programas de apoyo para incrementar el nivel de bienestar que buscan combatir la pobreza, no deben restringirse y ser solamente implementados en regiones en condiciones de pobreza extrema ; por el contrario, estás políticas deben ser parte de la estrategia de desarrollo del país y deben ser incluidas como una politica transversal para las diferentes áreas gubernamentales al más alto nivel administrativo ; Postprint (published version)

Numerose formulazioni probiotiche sono reperibili sul mercato e vendute sotto forma di integratori alimentari in grado di migliorare il benessere fisico del consumatore. In realtà, per molti preparati probiotici esistono specifici health claims, preventivamente approvati dall'EFSA, che vengono utilizzati per indirizzare il consumatore al loro impiego nella prevenzione o la cura di differenti malattie. Dunque, in presenza di un effetto salutistico dichiarato, il formulato probiotico dovrebbe contenere particolari ceppi, con adeguate cariche di microrganismi vivi e vitali, in grado di agire a livello intestinale per alleviare i sintomi o coadiuvare la cura di specifiche patologie. Non a caso, fra i criteri dettati per l'uso appropriato del termine "probiotico", c'è l'accertamento dello specifico effetto benefico che il microrganismo, o il pool di microrganismi, è in grado di apportare al consumatore. Altro importante criterio di valutazione è rappresentato dalla capacità di sopravvivenza al transito gastroenterico per arrivare nel colon con elevate cariche di microrganismi vivi e vitali. Tuttavia, a differenza dei farmaci, che sono intensamente ispezionati dagli organismi di controllo per verificarne la sicurezza d'uso e l'efficacia, i probiotici sono controllati con minore rigore. Di conseguenza, è molto più semplice approfittare della lacuna legislativa esistente in tale ambito per immettere sul mercato nuovi prodotti probiotici la cui sicurezza ed efficacia sono state spesso solo sommariamente testate. Alla luce di tali premesse, la prima parte del lavoro di tesi di dottorato ha inteso valutare la corrispondenza dei ceppi dichiarati in etichetta con quelli realmente presenti in differenti formulati probiotici farmaceutici, valutandone anche la sopravvivenza quando sottoposti agli stress tipici del transito gastrointestinale. Tale valutazione, a differenza di quanto riportato in numerosi studi consultati, è stata condotta eliminando la fase preliminare di rivitalizzazione delle preparazioni liofilizzate, dal momento che la loro ingestione da parte del consumatore, e il successivo passaggio lungo il tratto gastrointestinale, non prevede questa condizione. L'attività successiva ha quindi previsto la valutazione della sopravvivenza alla conservazione e al transito gastroenterico simulato di alcuni ceppi probiotici commerciali quando integrati in una matrice alimentare, al fine di valutarne le capacità protettive. Da questo punto di vista, gli alimenti possono essere in grado di influenzare positivamente la sopravvivenza dei microrganismi nel tratto gastrointestinale, svolgendo pertanto un ruolo importante di veicolo dei probiotici con la dieta. Il loro impiego può divenire un approccio vincente dal punto di vista economico e lodevole per il carattere nutrizionale, a patto che la scelta dell'alimento ricada su matrici adeguatamente presenti nelle diete dei consumatori e che, eventualmente, siano già in possesso di componenti di interesse salutistico nonché accattivanti per le più ampie fasce di età. In tale ottica, la scelta è ricaduta sul cioccolato fondente. I risultati ottenuti hanno tuttavia evidenziato che tale matrice alimentare, nonostante la ricchezza in ingredienti di pregio dal punto di vista nutrizionale, emozionale e salutistico, non può costituire un veicolo preferenziale per proteggere i microrganismi durante il loro viaggio verso l'intestino. Da questa considerazione è scaturita un'ultima attività di ricerca, caratterizzata dalla valutazione dell'influenza di ciascun fattore di stress gastroenterico sulla sopravvivenza di ceppi di Lactobacillus rhamnosus isolati da matrici alimentari, campioni fecali e probiotici del commercio. Tale indagine ha restituito risultati particolarmente interessati non solo con riguardo alle condizioni che maggiormente influenzano la vitalità dei ceppi durante il transito ma anche alle matrici di origine alimentare (caseina) in grado di svolgere un ragguardevole effetto protettivo contro le ingiurie dovute a tali condizioni. ; Many probiotic formulations are available on the market and sold in the form of food supplements that can improve physical health of the consumer. In fact, for many probiotic preparations, there are specific health claims, previously approved by EFSA, that are used to direct the consumer to their use in the prevention or treatment of different diseases. Therefore, in presence of a healthy effect stated, the formulation should contain particular probiotic strains, with appropriate amount of live and viable microorganisms, able to act in the intestine to relieve symptoms or assist the treatment of specific pathologies. Not surprisingly, among the criteria dictated by the appropriate use of the term "probiotic", there is the determination of the specific beneficial effect that the microorganism, or the pool of microorganisms, is able to give to the consumer. Another important evaluation criterion is represented by the ability to survive to the gastrointestinal transit, in order to arrive to the colon with high amount of live and viable microorganisms. However, unlike drugs, which are intensively inspected by the inspection authorities to ensure safe use and efficacy, probiotics are controlled less rigorously. As a result, it is much easier to take advantage of the existing legislative gap in this area, to bring to the market new probiotic products whose safety and efficacy have been often only slightly tested. In light of these circumstances, the first part of the PhD research was aimed to the identification of microorganisms composing different lactic acid bacteria based pharmaceutical formulations and the ascertainment of their ability to survive gastrointestinal (GI) stresses, the main requisite to produce beneficial effects. This evaluation, unlike what is reported in numerous studies available in literature, was conducted without a preliminary rehydration step, since their ingestion by the consumer, and the next step through the gastrointestinal tract, does not contemplate this condition. The next activity was focused on the evaluation of viability, after the conservation and simulated gastrointestinal transit, of some commercial probiotic strains integrated in a food matrix, in order to evaluate the protective capacity. From this point of view, food may be able to positively affect the survival of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract, thus playing an important role as a vehicle of probiotics in the diet. Their use can therefore become a winning approach from an economic and nutritional standpoint, as long as the food choice falls on matrices that are not only adequately present in consumers' diets, but also already have healthy interesting components and are appealing enough to the widest age range of people. In this context, our choice fell on dark chocolate. However, the results showed that this food matrix, although is rich in valuable ingredients from the nutritional, healthy and emotional point of view, can not be a preferential vehicle to protect the organisms during their passage through the intestine. From this consideration, in fact, derived one last activity: the assessment of the influence of each gastrointestinal stress factor on the survival of Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains isolated from food matrices, fecal samples and probiotics pharmaceutical formulations. That analysis furnished results particularly interesting not only with regard to the conditions that mostly affect the viability of the strains during transit but also to food-borne matrices (casein) that are able to play a substantial protective effect against the injuries caused by these conditions. ; Dottorato di ricerca in Biotecnologia degli alimenti (XXVIII ciclo)

Brazil-China agricultural trade mushroomed since 2000 to become one of the world's largest flows of agroindustrial commodities and capital, reigniting and transforming agrarian questions in a new, multipolar world order. After the conjunction of food price and financial crises in 2007-2009, this burgeoning trade gave rise to a very palpable boom of Chinese investments in Brazilian agribusiness. My dissertation is the most in-depth and extensive study to date about this phenomenon, and its background in historical relations between Brazil and China. As this growth of Chinese investments abroad took place, a broader rush of investments in farmland and agroindustrial production, processing, trade, and infrastructure unfolded worldwide (often called the global land grab) – and China was identified as a major new investor, while Brazil was recognized as one of the foremost targets for transnational agroindustrial investments. State and corporate actors across both China and Brazil promoted this leveraging of investments as a new form of South-South cooperation, claiming it strengthens domestic agribusinesses and governments in these countries in relation to the hegemonic agribusiness and state interests from the Global North. On the other hand, some critics feared this new wave of investments establishes a neocolonial relation that deindustrializes Brazil, dragging it back to an extractivist and export-oriented agriculture that curtails employment and the standard of living of Brazilians, and locks the country economically into dependent international relations. In this dissertation, I set out to investigate where and how Chinese investments are taking place in Brazilian agribusiness (both direct and indirect, targeting everything from seeds, agrochemicals, and other inputs, farmland and agricultural production, agroindustrial processing, and the related logistics infrastructure such as warehouses and ports). My findings indicate that Chinese investments in Brazilian agribusiness did expand rapidly in recent years, but they are still far dwarfed by capital from the Global North – particularly in farmland and agricultural production. The prominent discourse that "China is a (or the) major land grabber" is debunked, and I argue it has actually been constructed through a complex conjuncture of social interests that range across rural social movements, commercial farmers, landed elites, and industrialists in Brazil, alongside agribusinesses and financiers from the Global North. This indicates also a form of sinophobia, which I argue must be understood in its 200-year history of shifting and sedimented Orientalist discourses about the Chinese in Brazilian (and other "Western") imaginaries. Tracing a genealogy of this sinophobia, I also reconstruct the emergence of a transnational class of boosters, brokers, bureaucrats, and (agri)businessmen (mostly men), who I call collectively "agribusiness professionals." I argue these agribusiness professionals have not only been at the forefront of constructing Brazil-China relations for over 200 years, but also it is examining their work of assembling Chinese capital with Brazilian land, labor, and expertise that we can comprehend the nature and denouement of Brazil-China agroindustrial partnerships. Thus, I combine political economic and historical methods with a critical global ethnography of the transnational agribusiness professionals assembling Chinese capital with Brazilian agribusiness – rooted in in-depth interviews, life histories, and some participant observation undertaken from the fall of 2010 through the spring of 2017. This period included fieldwork in China during the summers of 2011 and 2013, and the spring of 2015. In Brazil, fieldwork was undertaken during the summer of 2012, and between January 2014 and August 2015. In total, I spent over 20 non-consecutive months undertaking fieldwork in Brazil and 7 non-consecutive months in China, working in about 14 Brazilian states and 8 Chinese provinces (and provincial-level cities). This research reveals that Chinese agroindustrial capital is not homogeneous, centralized, or directed "from Beijing", and rather than treating it as a "global force" that has "local impacts" in Brazil, I reveal how Chinese and Brazilian agribusiness professionals co-produce the emerging Brazil-China agroindustrial assemblage in the pursuit of their own affluence and influence. On one end of the spectrum, there are companies and projects that I term "Paper Tigers." These are companies that invested (or attempted to invest) primarily in farmland and agricultural production, and so were feared to be menacing land grabbers, but nevertheless turned out to be quite ineffective. Through a combination of insufficient financial and political resources, inadequate operational capacity among agribusiness professionals, and social resistance across various scales, these Paper Tigers either failed to operate profitably or even establish themselves in the first place. On the other end of the spectrum are companies I call (adapting a term from the Chinese government's recent policies) "Dragon Heads." These are companies that play leading roles in their sectors domestically, and launched foreign investments primarily through global-level mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of existing transnational or local (i.e. Brazilian) companies, focusing primarily on agroindustrial trade. While these indirect investments through M&As actually amount to the largest influx of Chinese agroindustrial capital into Brazil, and show clear signs and potential for converging with the agribusiness corporations from the Global North that had hegemony over much of Brazilian and transnational agroindustrial assemblages, this is still an underexplored phenomenon. A central contribution of my dissertation is discerning Chinese agribusiness investments in Brazil as Dragon Heads or Paper Tigers, showing this to be a much more useful lens for analysis than simple categorization across ownership structure as private companies or state-owned enterprises. My main argument is that, whether Brazil-China agroindustrial partnerships collapse as Paper Tigers or advance as Dragon Heads, these projects ultimately benefit the transnational agribusiness professionals who assemble them above all others. While transnational agribusiness professionals cultivate their own wealth and power through these projects, they also aggravate the exploitation of natural resources and workers, and the marginalization of peasants and agroecological alternatives. Therefore, what I call the "South-South question" – how Brazil-China agroindustrial partnerships constitute new linkages of agroindustrial capitalism within and between these previously-peripheral spaces that emerge now as new hubs of capital, and with what implications for the society and environment, particularly struggles for democracy and social justice – brings into the spotlight this group of agribusiness professionals as the key intellectuals (in the sense that Gramsci used in his examination of the "southern question") who construct capitalist hegemony through transnational agribusiness development. In turn, the struggle for democracy, land redistribution, agroecology, agrarian reform, food sovereignty, and social justice must contest this intellectual and political terrain of transnational agribusiness professionals. Agroecological alternatives for Brazil-China agroindustrial partnerships exist, and are illustrated in the conclusion of this dissertation, but their pursuit is fundamentally a project of internationalist class struggle – uniting peasants, workers, and their allies in both China and Brazil against an increasingly transnational capitalist class.

The object of this research is the Zaberezinskis family among the political elite of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the association of the family's history (its genealogy, economic, political, foundational activity) with the rest of the environment of the GDL rulers of the Jagiellonian Dynasty. The general backdrop of the political life of the GDL makes it possible to see and evaluate the weight of the Zaberezininkis family among the country's ruling elite. From the late 15th to the middle of the 16th century, the aristocratic authority with its ages-old roots acquired institutional form. Foreseeing the possibility of rulers residing outside the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (as during Kazimierz Jagiellonian's rule), Alexander Jagiellonian's privilege of 6 August 1492 authorized broader prerogatives for the Council of Lords. At the same time, on the eve of the proclamation of the Grand Duke, the summoned parliament initiated the tradition of representation of the nobility. Institutional changes were accompanied by the reception of humanistic ideas, legal culture and political theory, linked to the custom, increasing at the time, of nobility sending their offspring to universities to pursue higher education. The story of the Zaberezinskis family, descendants of Rimvydas, is presented In the context of the formation of the GDL Republic (Respublica Magni Ducatus Lithuaniae), a political nation of descendants of the Romans (as the Lithuanian nobility portrayed themselves). The earliest data on the kin are associated with the times of Sigismund Kęstutaitis, and the latest with those of Sigismund Augustus. Members of the family played a particularly significant role in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the times of Kazimierz Jagiellonian and his two sons Alexander and Sigismund the Old, from the 1480s until 1544. Responding to the postulates of the modern science of genealogy, the story of the family is presented according to its different branches. Against the background of key events in Lithuanian history, beginning from Jurgis Rimvydaitis and Jonas Jurgaitis Zaberezinskis, the careers of the latter's children and their descendants, their interrelationships, and factors influencing their careers are analysed. Due to the different status of different members of the family and the different amounts of data available in the sources, the questionnaire applied to different members of the family differs. Jonas Jurgaitis and his son Jonas Jonaitis Zaberezinskis, who reached the highest posts, are the most significant, and the most extensive treatment is given to their biographies. The composition of the landholding and the development of the network of towns are discussed in a separate part of the study. The available data (including property holdings) do not directly confirm a family relationship between the Zaberezinskis and the Manvydas families. No sources have been found in which the Zaberezinskis in any way mention Manvydas or his brother, or a family relationship with them. In the view of the author of this work, the success of Jonas Jurgaitis Zaberezinsky's career can be attributed to his holding the strategic post of Vicar of Polotsk at a key moment, the favour of Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander and strong personal abilities. In consequence, Jonas Jurgaitis Zaberezinsky proved one of the most prominent personalities on the Council of Lords, achieving the particularly high offices of Voivode of Trakai and Grand Marshall, and personally taking part in the most important events in the interstate relations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For a variety of reasons (often due to early death), the only descendent of Jonas Jurgaitis Zaberezinskis who achieved a significant political career was his son Jonas Jonaitis Zaberezinskis (~1473-1538), who ultimately, like his father, assumed the posts of Voivode of Trakai and Grand Marshall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His relations with the other most influential high-ranking noblemen of the period are considered, especially the meaning of marriages contracted by him and arranged by him for his descendants and relatives. The gathered data regarding the formation and distribution of the family's latifundium show that the most important stage in the formation of the estate was the time of Jonas Jurgaitis Zaberezinskis, although later the family also acquired significant properties through marriage and purchases. A major step in this process was the marriage of Jonas Jurgaitis Zaberezinskis to the daughter, Ona, of Jonas Nasuta, who held large properties in Palenkė (Podlasie). Other ways land was acquired were purchases and gifts of the rulers (Casimir and Alexander). One such event that stands out is Alexander's gift in 1506 of the regions of Alytus and Simnas. Many of the surviving papers written by Jonas Jonaitis Zaberezinskis in the final period of his life, when he resided in Alytus as Keeper of the City and the Region, testify to intense internal colonization of the area of Alytus and Simnas by the Nemunas River. Alytus and Simnas also include the most noteworthy church foundations made by Jonas Jonaitis Zaberezinskis and his family, a clear witness to the founders' piety. As he gave the decisive impulse for Alytus and Simnas to become city-like settlements, he can properly be considered the founder of those cities. The political self-awareness of the Lithuanian aristocracy is best captured by the term from that period "the Republic of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania" (Respublica Magni Ducatus Lithuaniae), as D. Kuolis has accurately observed. The theory of the Roman origins of the Lithuanian nobility, with all its consequences (such as e.g. the rule of law), can be considered the highest peak of the political culture of the ruling elite of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1525 (well before the Union of Lublin, which is often associated with Lithuanian republican traditions) Albertas Goštautas's memorial to the Grand Duchess Bona associated the notion of nobility with loyalty to the ruler and responsibility for the commonwealth (the republic). Although it can be said that certain Republican ideals drawn from antiquity thrived among the Lithuanian aristocracy, their dominant trait was conservatism (unwillingness to admit lesser nobility to the structures of power). The high-rank nobility clearly recognized the ruler as the head of the political body of the Grand Duchy, and sought for him a crown. The programme for a Kingdom of Lithuania should be linked to the need, fostered by aristocracy, for the GDL to have its own distinct identity, though having a separate ruler was important also for practical reasons: the unquestioned centralized government accelerated the defence mechanisms of the state. A contemporary observer testifies that, when the ruler was absent, the Lithuanian lords "did not know what to do, remained undecided and did nothing." The ruling elite of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, both in their actions and in what they wrote (in the Lithuanian chronicles and elsewhere), unequivocally showed that no agreements with the Polish Crown bound them. The role of the aristocracy in the political emancipation of the lesser nobility and the importance of the latter for the maturing of the Lithuanian-Polish Union are issues that still require further research. Jonas Jonaitis Zaberezinskis gave some of his nobles personal freedom and economic autonomy, which can be regarded as a precondition for political emancipation.